Surah Furqan - Ep.9 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Opening Supplications

Insha'Allah, please move forward. Try your best not to keep any gaps in between. Sit as close as possible. If you need some support, bring your chair close up, insha'Allah. JazakAllah khairan. Sisters as well in the Musallah, if you're here, some of those sisters, if we can insha'Allah sit also close together and listen with tenderness, insha'Allah.

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant all of us ikhlas, sincerity, deep understanding of whatever we share and we hear. We ask Allah azza wa jal to make whatever we share and we hear a proof for us, not against us. And may He enable us to immediately put into practice, share with others. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us istiqamah, steadfastness.

And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us all those etiquettes that are required to benefit from His book. And save us from any such action which would make us deprived from benefiting from His book. And we also ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He allow us to enter the study of the Qur'an with an open mind, open heart — knowing and with this conviction that all the solutions to the problems of the current, past and present, at the international level, domestic level and in our homes, all the solutions to those issues lies 100% in the deen and in the teachings of Allah and the Qur'anic verses and in the sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. May He allow us to be able to find those answers and solutions for our issues. Ameen.

Review: The Wisdom Behind the Gradual Revelation of the Qur'an

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, in the verses that we covered last week, mentioned what the disbelievers were asking — how come the Qur'an is not revealed collectively in one shot. And the response was given that no, the purpose of it is for the Qur'an to be present for you, to give you strength and to be revealed at the right moment for your needs. And it's far more effective when we study and when we receive a revelation that is connected with the issues at hand.

I give examples of how that lasts till today — that when you are going through an issue and you open up the Qur'an, any surah, with sincerity, you will find something, you will come across something that really hits you. As long as you are reciting with tadabbur, with focused concentration. You'll find something in the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that is extremely relevant to your situation. And you say, how is this? So this is very powerful.

That's why, masha'Allah, many times our imams — may Allah reward them — who lead salah here, they choose verses of the Qur'an that are very relevant to what's happening at the moment. And so it is very powerful for those who know what is being recited and know obviously what's happening in the news and what's happening in the world — can link it up and see the connection. And so this is one of the intentions we should also make of learning the language of the Qur'an. So a day comes insha'Allah where we're able to follow along.

The Importance of Learning Arabic

Especially for our younger generation who are studying two, three, four majors, and they keep on also changing majors, and they also get multiple masters — alhamdulillah, so many different things they're up to. But if we simply, as young twenty-year-olds, make this niyyah that I also, as part of my studies, want to focus on learning the Arabic language, the language of the Qur'an — so that by the time I am 23, 24, I can understand the Qur'an being recited — this is not a very hard goal.

Basic level of Arabic where you can understand — as they say, موتى موتى ترجمة — very basic translation of the Qur'an. We're not talking about the ability to do tafsir and to have deep insight. Just simple ترجمة. It's something very doable if we simply make intention of that. And so then you'll be able to enjoy the Qur'an wherever it is recited.

I know in the Haram also, many times the imams will recite verses based on the weather. Sometimes it's raining, so they will recite all the verses of the Qur'an related to rain. Sometimes windy, they'll recite regarding the wind. Sometimes it's cold, sometimes it's hot — based on that situation, they recite. And so a person who understands it will be able to truly enjoy that.

And then this reminds me of the statement of Umar رضي الله عنه, where he said:

(Athar of Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه)

"Learn the Arabic language. Because it will strengthen your intelligence — تُثَبِّتُ — it will make your intelligence firm, strong. And in terms of your own character and akhlaq, and your dealings with one another, you will improve."

This is a statement of Umar رضي الله عنه, speaking to obviously the Arabs as well as the non-Arabs, that learn the Arabic language. When a person learns the Arabic language with the niyyah of benefiting from the Qur'an — not learning Arabic for some other reason, but rather learning Arabic to benefit from the Qur'an — this will have an impact on us, insha'Allah, in making us stronger, better believers.

The Science of Connections Within the Qur'an

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then mentioned to the Muslims and non-Muslims that the way the Qur'an is revealed is intentionally done so that people can receive something based on what they are going through.

And one thing I may have mentioned last week — just because the Qur'an is revealed based on circumstances, does not mean now when you read it, there's no connection. There is deep connection. This is part of the sciences of the Qur'an.

You're going to get, insha'Allah, a glimpse of this Saturday morning in the workshop that we have here for all of you. Open to everyone. There's no registration cost or anything of that sort — open to the whole community. إعجاز القرآن — How is the Qur'an a mu'jiza? It is a huge science. And from amongst the many different wujuh and ways that it is proven that the Qur'an is mu'jiz — that it's a miracle and not replicable — is that there is an entire massive sub-science dedicated to studying the connection between the verses of the Qur'an.

A whole science. I've shared this with you before — just in our library here, there are books, voluminous books. Some of them are about 25 to 30 volumes, dedicated on one thing. What is that? The connection between one verse and the other. The book of Imam al-Biqa'i rahmatullahi alayhi:

It's focused on just this — not the different qira'at, not the different fiqhi ahkam, not the differences of opinion on how ulama have extrapolated different things. No. The connection between one verse and the other. 25 to 30 volumes. Just think about what that signifies.

Unfortunately — Allah forgive us — as we just took some ulama yesterday to tour the library, they were saying: look at the era where the ulama wrote. They wrote and wrote and wrote. They didn't leave anything untouched. And today we don't have the tawfiq to read. No, we don't even have the tawfiq to look. We don't have the tawfiq to just pick up the book, flip through it, kiss it and put it back. And say, ya Allah, this is Your ilm. One day, ya Allah, give me the tawfiq to study this. That's something we should do — it's a spiritual exercise to go, sit and be awestruck by the books that are written on our deen by the ulama. Especially on the Qur'an. How has this one simple book that I carry in my pocket, or I have downloaded on my phone — to what degree have the ulama written on this?

How have the ulama written so much on it? Because there is so much. It's endless. And right now as we speak, there are probably hundreds of masters and PhD theses being written on different aspects of the Qur'an across the globe.

The 'Ushshaq of the Qur'an — Lovers of the Book of Allah

I remember Mufti Saeed Palanpuri rahmatullahi alayhi rahmatan wasi'a — the Shaykh of Hadith of Darul Uloom Deoband for decades, and the scholar of hadith for decades and decades, who came here multiple times. His wife passed away. People said, Hazrat, it's old age — it would be nice to have someone to give you company. Why don't you get married again? And he said, "I've already married." We weren't aware of it. He said, "I'm married." Who did you get married to? He said, "I married the Qur'an now. Before I die, I want to make sure I write a tafsir." And so he dedicated his last years to writing a tafsir, even though he had been a teacher of hadith and many other things. But the last years of his life he dedicated to writing a tafsir.

What I'm trying to say is — this is the burning desire that the ushshaq of the Qur'an have: that I want to be able to get into it. Mawlana Sulayman Mulla, one of our asatidha — if you can, listen to him online. This past year, when we went with our students to Africa, I requested him to share some words. It was a sight to see. He was just sitting in the mess hall — the cafeteria where students finish eating — and the workers were finishing cleaning up the aftermath of 600 students eating lunch. They're sweeping the floor, picking up the bones. It was quite a scene. But we didn't have a spot to sit. He said, okay, let's just sit here. I grabbed him a chair, and he started.

And it was a sight to behold, subhanAllah. He was speaking about tafsir — specifically about Bayan al-Qur'an of Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi rahmatullahi alayhi. But as he was speaking, you could see — not only was he saying it, but he was going through it. It's what we call wajd, or a hal — a specific spiritual ecstasy. His hands and feet were shaking. His eyes were wide open. He seemed like he was just going to burst out of excitement about the Qur'an.

And as he was speaking to us, he said sometimes literally at night, he can't fall asleep — swaying from side to side, just pondering over a verse. Just amazed that Allah said this in the Qur'an. Amazed at reading how deep down a scholar went and pulled out a gem, pulled out a pearl from the ocean. And you're looking at it and say — what do I do? How do I compare? What I caught today, what I caught last night, what I'm looking forward to tomorrow. And then the fact that the knowledge, the enjoyment you're getting from the Qur'an, unfortunately 99.99% of the ummah is just not going to feel.

So that creates a frustration. How do I make you all understand that? SubhanAllah. And so this is exactly what the Qur'an does to you. That's what I'm trying to say. Once a person starts studying the language of the Qur'an and starts spending time with the books, it will create within you, insha'Allah, this level of ishq and love of the Qur'an — where you will be forced to want to go share this with others. And then if you don't see appreciation, it will make you very sad.

And now imagine — we are 1,500 years later, ummatis who are born not from Quraysh, who are not from the family of Rasulullah ﷺ, whose forefathers were Hindus or Sikhs or something else, and who live in a non-Muslim country surrounded by kufr. But yet if you were to study even a couple of years of this language and the Qur'an, it will create within you excitement and the desire to share.

Imagine what must be the condition of the heart of Rasulullah ﷺ, who actually received this revelation, who had full depth and deep understanding of the Qur'an like no other person. Imagine how much desire he had that the gift of Allah that he received — how much he must have desired that every single person, including every disbeliever, should understand that.

Now it makes sense why Rasulullah ﷺ had to be consoled and held back by Allah, by saying:

That you may end up killing yourself over the fact that these people are not accepting your message. Rasulullah ﷺ was burning up inside with this desire that people should understand the Qur'an. And not just for intellectual inquisitiveness — no. Because in it lies our salvation. That if you have this, you're going to be safe from the eternal fire of Jahannam. And if you have this, you're going to have a wonderful life on earth. And if you don't have it, you're going to suffer — not only in this world, but the great suffering of the hereafter.

Now you understand every single nabi — and especially Rasulullah ﷺ — why they were so desirous of their ummah seeing what they saw. And the ummah simply just couldn't get it. So if a person walks in the manhaj of nubuwwah, walks in the footsteps of Rasulullah ﷺ, studying the Qur'an, studying the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ, and also inculcating within himself the sifat of Rasulullah ﷺ — the sifat which is, as part of the big sifat, love for the ummah — then you and I will also go through the same thing. You and I will also be bubbling over with excitement, and at the same time, concern about our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters who are far away from the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us this chaska and this love of the Qur'an. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the love of this language. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us a deep understanding of these beautiful gems of the Qur'an.

Practical Advice: What If I Am Older?

If a person says, "Now I'm 50, 60 years old, should I start taking Arabic classes?" Honestly speaking — in my opinion, no. Right now, there are enough books written in Urdu, enough books written in English. You start studying those, reading those, and go through the translation. Because learning a new language — especially Arabic, one of the most challenging languages of the world — the amount of time it will take for you to learn it, in that time you could have read many books of tafsir.

I don't want to completely discourage someone — we have to make the best return on our investment. Not everyone is the same; different people have unique capabilities. There are people at the age of 65 who start memorization of the Qur'an and by the time they're 70, they finish. Alhamdulillah. There are people like that as well.

But generally speaking, because sometimes people get excited and then say, "I want to start learning Arabic," and two weeks in, they realize it's way too hard. Then they get disappointed, get disgruntled, get mayus, and everything else. Instead, pick up Ma'arif al-Qur'an in Urdu, Ma'arif al-Qur'an in English, start reading from there, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, and other tafsirs written in English and Urdu. Start from that. And of course, those who know Arabic, masha'Allah, start reading in Arabic. And eventually you'll start developing a true love for the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And there are many tafsir audio recordings — if you can't find time to read, start listening: lesson after lesson, tafsir of the Qur'an done by so many different ulama. Listen to those, and insha'Allah this will create within us the similar type of attachment to the Qur'an.

Ayah 35: Allah Consoles the Prophet ﷺ Through the Stories of Previous Prophets

That indeed, truly We have given Musa alayhis salam al-kitab, the book of the Torah, before you. And along with him, We appointed his brother Harun as a minister. Then We said to them: Go forth both of you to the people who have denied Our signs. Thus We demolished them and demolished them utterly.

Moreover, remember the people of Nuh — when they denied the divine mandate of Allah's messengers, what did We do to them? We drowned them. Thus We made them a sign of forewarning for all of humanity. Yet We have prepared for the wrongdoers who denied the messengers — and are godless in heart — not just drowning, but adhaban aliman — a more painful torment in the hereafter that shall come to them after their death.

And remember the people of Aad and Thamud, and the dwellers of the well — Ashab al-Rass — and many generations between them. Thus for each of these communities We have set forth revealed examples of forewarning as well as destruction. We've given examples through these nations — how We forewarned them, some of them believed, some of them didn't, and those who didn't, We destroyed them. Tabbarna tatbiran — each We shattered to bits, shattering them utterly.

The town — rather, the trace of the town — the town of Sodom, upon which an evil rain was showered — not a normal rain, but a rainfall of stones. Have they not then seen this destruction? No, they didn't — because if you see and you don't learn a lesson, it's as though you haven't seen. On the contrary, the reason they're not taking heed from all of this is because they do not anticipate any resurrection on the Day of Judgment. They don't anticipate meeting with Allah.

Therefore when they see you, O Prophet ﷺ, when the disbelievers see you — in yattakhidhunaka illa huzuwa — in is a negation. They don't treat you in any manner except as a mockery. The only way they look at you, the only way they speak with you, the only way they listen is with an intention of making a mockery out of you. Oh, is this the one whom Allah has sent forth as a messenger?

In kada layudhilluna 'an alihatina — He was very nearly leading us astray from our gods! Not guiding us away from them — no, he almost led us astray to Allah by taking us away from our false gods — false according to us, true according to them. Lawla an sabarna 'alayha — as though sarcastically, had it not been that we adhered patiently, he was pulling us away towards Allah and towards Tawheed, but we fought back and remained patient and strong on these gods.

But they shall soon know — hina yarawna al-adhab man adalla sabila — when they see the torment, they shall know who is furthest astray from Allah's way.

Lessons from the Stories of the Prophets

Every Prophet Faced Enemies — You Are Not Alone

Let's start from Ayah 35. Allah Azza wa Jal, in this ayah, is reminding us of what we talked about last week — that every single prophet has enemies. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying here: it should not be a surprise that every prophet is faced with enmity — you're not the only one. Because the prophet comes to stop injustice and to stop people from following their desires. And people who follow their desires and are unjust — they are in hundreds and thousands and millions. So when a prophet comes, the people of hawa, they hate him. Because now they're not going to be able to follow their desires.

Ya Rasulullah ﷺ, you're not alone. Musa alayhis salam had to face the same thing. We gave him the book — the Torah — but it wasn't easy. He knew he was tasked with speaking to Fir'aun and his nation, and it wasn't going to be easy. So even though he's a prophet and he trusts Allah, he said:

O Allah, please send my brother Harun with me. Send him as a wazir, as an assistant. He is more eloquent in speech than I am — at least he can stand up next to me and say, "Hey Fir'aun, my brother is speaking the truth." He can at least confirm I'm speaking the truth, otherwise I'm alone. So he's a prophet, Kalimullah. But he's saying the task I've been given is very hard, very tough — and that's why I need assistance. So, ya Nabiullah Muhammad ﷺ, you're not alone in feeling overwhelmed. It's completely acceptable and understandable that you feel the task at hand is huge. Nabi Musa also asked for reinforcements.

Softness in Da'wah: A Lesson from Allah's Command to Musa

And so that's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said — both of you go. Oh Musa, you go as a prophet. Harun, you go as his wazir. Go where? Go to Fir'aun. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala spoke about Fir'aun's nation — how does He describe them? As the people who have denied Our signs. Fir'aun didn't just deny the signs — he claimed divinity himself. He claimed to be God. It's a much graver sin than simply belying God's signs.

But this is called irkhaa' al-'inan — we alluded to it last week. Where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always keeps the door open for people to repent. Even the harshest of people — there's no one harsher than Fir'aun, an enemy against Allah. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told in those same verses of Surah Taha, to Musa and Harun:

Speak to him in a soft manner, so that he may take heed, or he may become afraid of Allah's punishment. Allah knows in His infinite knowledge that Fir'aun is not going to take any heed. But He wants all of us to learn that softness is the way to go.

Because you already have a big problem — there's a man who is following his desires. And now you're telling him: you can no longer worship these idols, you can no longer worship your own self, I need you to change. To make that U-turn — it's not an 18-wheeler truck, it's like a whole oil tanker trying to do a U-turn. That's hard enough. And now you want to whip him? You want to get mad at him? You want to scream at him? You want to debase him? You want to mock his intelligence? That is only going to make the job even more difficult.

We have to know that you don't treat stubbornness with stubbornness. Your own son or daughter is being stubborn? Back off — this is not the time. You have to know how to deal with the situation. Like — if someone wants to jump off a bridge, Allah forbid, he's going through depression and whatnot. This is not the time to say, "If you want to jump, go jump." You have to learn how to de-escalate the situation and bring him off the bridge. This person is not stable.

So when a person is ziddi — stubborn — saying "I don't want to listen," we need to know how to deal with our spouses when they become stubborn, and our spouses should know how to deal with us when we become stubborn. Don't attack stubbornness with stubbornness. It will fail. No matter what situation you're dealing with — no one is like Fir'aun.

There's a famous story where a king — one of the khulafa — asked one of the scholars of his court to come give advice. So the alim came. But sometimes they have ilm and they don't have hikmah. Allah protect us from such scholars who have ilm and don't have hikmah — they can really cause a lot of damage. So he went on and started speaking to the king in a very harsh manner. The king said, "Take it easy." And the king at that time was also very knowledgeable — he said: Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent two men who are far superior to you. You're a scholar, but they were prophets. To someone who is far worse than me — Fir'aun. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told His prophets: speak to him softly. So why are you being harsh with me?

You and I — what are we compared to the sahaba, to the prophets? Zero. And however bad I am, I'm still a believer in La ilaha illAllah, Muhammadur Rasulullah — nowhere near Fir'aun. So take it easy. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always keeps the option open for anyone who says, "You know what, I want to turn back." Allah doesn't want to close the doors.

So that's why, even in this ayah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't say "go to that king who thinks he's a god himself." He could have said that, but He didn't. He said: go to those people who have belied My signs. That includes Fir'aun — but this is a notch down from calling him out directly. Because right now, it's a decision of engagement. When you're engaging people, you don't want to paint them with a brush of being evil. These are the akhlaq that we need to learn from the Qur'an.

I said last week as well — the ulama say that the Qur'an teaches us how to teach. You have to take it step by step. You cannot go all out. You have to lead people step by step. You cannot offload all of it suddenly — just like the Qur'an was not offloaded onto the ummah suddenly. It has to be spaced out, bit by bit, as they get ready.

Bid'ah, Money, and the Corruption of the Deen

One story came to mind — discussing how when prophets come, anyone following his desires and doing injustice hates it. Like what was happening in Makkah before Rasulullah ﷺ came. What happened to the rights of women? The women were being inherited. The mothers were being inherited. There was no concept of them having any rights over property — they were treated like property. Inheritance was usurped from them. Children, women, the weak — all were being oppressed. Whoever had might, won. Like you're seeing happening today in the world.

This reminded me that when I was studying in Pakistan, some of my classmates were telling me about experiences they had when they would go in Jamaat to some very remote provinces. One of my classmates told me he went to somewhere in Sindh. Besides being extremely hot — 120 degrees — there's no water for miles. People have to go get it from wells. As they were going to the town, someone came running from the village to see who it was. He said, "Oh, there are brothers in Tabligh coming." He went back on a motorcycle to the town and gathered everyone together.

And literally, at 115, 120 degrees temperature, walking jamaat — as you are aware, Pakistan has these walking jamaat from one side to the other, with hundreds of people, sometimes in their 80s and 90s. When they arrived, the people said, "Nope, we will not allow you to enter." Forget about staying in the masjid — it was a hot summer day, and they did not even allow them to drink from the well of the town. Muslims, all with Muslim names, they have a masjid there, everything. They said: no, you cannot drink from here. And they literally forced them out.

And my classmate told me — subhanAllah — as they were forced to leave, they got pelted with stones. All the kids came and started pelting them. He said, as though we were in pain, possibly even bleeding, but we were crying tears of joy that Allah used us to revive the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ in Ta'if. That only for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when they went to go invite people toward the deen — even Muslims — they got pelted with stones.

Now why this level of animosity? Because these villages are controlled by deviant people — deviant sheikhs who make money. They'll come once a year and say: come together, every single house that wants a zabeeha knife must bring their butcher knife here, and we will recite the duas on it. You have to give your yearly 500 rupee dues. So imagine all the villagers, poor and needy, are bringing their knives for this corrupt, fake scholar to sit there, blow on it, and say, "Good to go for the next year. Give me your 500 rupees." They will never teach them tasmiyah, never say how to slaughter an animal properly.

And then these corrupt people would come and say, "Anyone who doesn't have children, come, we'll read dua on you" — and you can imagine how the story goes. Sitting in seclusion with the women, claiming to read duas on them. A'udhu billah. Lots of horrible things. So literally, when these brothers would come of da'wah and tabligh and say La ilaha illAllah, Muhammadur Rasulullah and teach the people — in sabki dukan band ho jati. The way these people are making their money is going to be shut down. Because the community learns: this is all wrong. We've learned the tasmiyah, we've learned Surah al-Fatiha, we've learned salah — we don't need you. And by the way, these people won't even teach how to pray. It's a money-making business.

Another teacher of ours, Mawlana Choksi Sahib, said one day an alim went to meet a bid'ati scholar who was misleading the people — as happens all over the globe. In Africa too. So much bid'ah and so many wrong things happening. Even the BBC reported about it — these so-called fake Qur'an healers. Black magic, sexual abuse and so forth in the name of Qur'anic healing. Horrible. Lots of this happening all over the world in the name of Islam.

So he went and told that scholar: "You know better. Come on — there's no one watching us, me and you, let's speak. What is this? You're misleading the people. Why are you doing this?" And I still remember Mawlana Choksi Sahib — he leaned back and said: the scholar started slapping his stomach and said, "Mawlana Sahib, what should I do? This is a matter of the stomach. I know it's wrong. But I've got to pay the bills, buy the motorcycle, buy a new house. Bid'ah pays the bills. Innovation pays the bills."

So it's not just happening overseas. It's happening in this country as well. Don't think bid'ah is just worshipping a grave. There are many forms of bid'ah. Anything that's different from the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ is a bid'ah. Don't just think adding to the deen is bid'ah — subtracting from the deen is also bid'ah. Anything that's part of the deen you took out, or added something that's not in it. And there's money, fame, and name attached to it. That's how it works.

So a lot of stuff that's going on today — you might sit down and say, "Sheikh, I don't understand this. There are scholars who are doing this." Well, now you have the answer. It goes back to money. A lot of it goes back to money. It's the same stuff happening overseas as is happening over here. Whatever sells.

Why are Muslims in Muslim countries — who steal, who cheat — running the drug business in Pakistan, in Syria? Is it the fault of everyone else? I remember one of our Ustads said, "By our problem is — if one fish fights with another fish at the bottom of the sea, this is also blamed on someone else. Start taking responsibility for your own problems. Stop looking for scapegoats." Because that's our mentality. There are certainly external enemies responsible for some problems. But not every single problem in our house can be blamed on them.

When you blindly follow money, subhanAllah, everything goes down the drain. And when you educate people that Allah is the One who does — and all this other nonsense is falsehood — those who make money off of misguidance have to close shop and leave. So they are the ones who write all the fatwas. They are the ones who motivate the people against da'wah.

I know one person — subhanAllah — he told me his father-in-law was an imam for decades in a masjid. They came to him and said: you have to read out the official khutbah that's been sent by the higher-ups. And the entire khutbah was written — in Arabic of course — mandating that all khateebs give a khutbah saying the effort of da'wah and tabligh is bid'ah. As if they actually care about bid'ah. So he realized: I'm being manipulated. He acted sick and didn't show up. And in the next couple of months, they said: you have to give the khutbah again. This time, the police came and said: if you don't, we will imprison you or deport you. Either imprisonment or deportation for good.

Many of you don't know about this type of thing, but it's there — it's all clearly written. My point, beloved brothers and sisters, is: understand that when you do something right, expect mukhalifa, expect retaliation. There are a lot of people saying a lot of fatwas on Twitter and elsewhere about XYZ thing being wrong. Okay — let's go study the issue. Let's sit with the scholar and study it. Don't jump on the bandwagon of calling things bid'ah and kufr just because people are saying it, because you do not know what ulterior motives are behind all of these fatwas.

The second point we learn here is that the way there's bid'ah in other parts of the world, there's bid'ah over here as well — and it's connected to money. So we have to stay away from any and all forms of innovations. And then ask Allah:

O Allah, allow me to be able to see the truth as the truth, and enable me to follow it. Allow me to see falsehood as falsehood, and enable me to stay away from it.

The Story of Nuh and the Lesson of Hidayah

Fadammarnnahum tadmiran — when they are not going to listen to Musa alayhis salam's advice and Harun alayhis salam's advice, then We definitely will demolish them, and have already demolished them. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala after mentioning Musa alayhis salam, mentions Nuh alayhis salam's story.

Why Nuh alayhis salam? Because Musa alayhis salam was faced with a man who claimed to be God — that was a tough one. Oh Rasulullah ﷺ, you're not dealing with that. And Nuh alayhis salam had to deal with over nine centuries — almost a whole millennium. You're not dealing with that. You have 63 years of life. Every single prophet had a very unique type of circumstance.

Kadhdhaba al-rusula — when they denied Allah's messengers. How many messengers were sent at the time of Nuh? Just one — Nuh alayhis salam. But why is "messengers" in the plural mentioned? Because when you deny one messenger, it's as though you're denying all the messengers — because the message of all the messengers is the same. So those who deny Rasulullah ﷺ are also belying Musa and Isa alayhimus salam.

If you look at Nuh alayhis salam's story — read Surah Nuh. Read Surah Nuh. A powerful, powerful story. It can be found in the 29th juz. Just going through the translation will bring tears to your eyes — of how much suffering Nuh alayhis salam went through. How much difficulty. And to what extent he went out to invite these people toward the deen. And to what extent they decided to put their fingers into their ears, put their thobes on top of their faces — so we don't want to see your face, we don't want to even accidentally listen to what you've got to say.

Another thing — Nuh alayhis salam's story is also a powerful lesson on how, when it comes to the prophets, their nubuwwah and lineage is not based on blood. It's based on following the message or not. Nuh alayhis salam had children. He had a child he asked to board the ark with him:

Come board the ark with us. Do not be from amongst the disbelievers. And he responded:

"I am going to take shelter on a mountain. Don't worry about me, Baba — I'll be safe from these waves and this rising tide of the ocean." He responded:

No one can protect you from the command of Allah, except only that person who is under the mercy of Allah. And you're not going to be under the mercy of Allah if you stay there. And as he was speaking:

A huge massive wave came and separated father from son right in the midst of the conversation. And he became amongst the drowned ones.

So now, Nuh alayhis salam is asking his Lord — these are really, really powerful verses, Allahu Akbar. He calls out to his Lord:

O Allah, my son — he is from my family, please. Can you let him in? I know he drowned, but he's my son. And what have I got to show? 950 years of relentless da'wah for the sake of Allah. Can I please have my son with me? And what is the response from Allah?

Oh Nuh, he is not from your family. Do not say that. Indeed, his actions were not righteous — unacceptable. Do not ask Me about what you have no knowledge of. I advise you from becoming from amongst the ignorant ones. Look at who Allah is speaking to. I advise you from going in that direction.

So what we learn — one point is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has full control over hidayah. And Allah will give it to whomsoever He wishes, whenever He wishes. And He will deprive whomsoever He wishes, howsoever He wishes. No one can claim anything. And if you talk too much, you will also lose whatever you have. If you try to criticize and object, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can take it away from anyone of us.

If Allah gets angry — what can He do to you and I? That's why we have no option to criticize. We simply cannot criticize. We have to make lots and lots and lots of dua for hidayah — for us and for our children. If a person sees that someone's son or daughter has been deprived of hidayah, someone's parent is deprived of hidayah — we cannot get angry at Allah. Cannot get angry. All we can do is increase in our humility and begging of Allah: ya Allah, please, please, I beg You — give hidayah to my children, to my parents, to my siblings.

If you want anything from Allah's court, you're going to get it through humility and humbleness. So this is what this ayah teaches us. Hidayah does not get inherited. Money gets inherited — hidayah doesn't. You have to make lots of effort. Our parents have to make efforts. Our children have to make effort. Don't take it for granted that your mom and dad have hidayah so you're going to get it. Or that because you apparently follow the deen, your kids are going to get it. We have to make tons of effort for it. And then beg Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that it gets passed down. And Allah Azza wa Jal can pull the plug anytime.

Another thing we learn from here — the lineage of the prophets is not based on blood, it's based on deen. So any muwahhid and believer in the Prophet is a spiritual child of the Prophet. And the Prophet may not have blood children if they're all disbelievers — but he can have spiritual children.

The Power of Water: Salvation and Destruction

Another thing we learn from Musa and Nuh's stories together — the connection, the rabt — why Allah mentioned these two back to back. Musa and Nuh's stories are an example and manifestation of Allah's greatness: that Allah used the very same power of nature to save the prophet and to destroy his enemies. And what power is that? Water.

Water was used for Musa alayhis salam to gain salvation. It was the water that separated him and Bani Israel when they reached the sea — with Fir'aun and his armies coming behind. What did they say?

We're caught. You have the sea in front of you, the army behind you — you are caught. But Musa alayhis salam said something that belied the five senses, that belied what he saw with his eyes, what his nation saw with their eyes, what the reality was. The reality is: we are caught. But his answer is: we're not caught.

Never. Indeed with me is my Lord who shall guide me. He wasn't speaking on the basis of what he saw with his eyes. He was speaking with the nur of iman. His nation didn't have that level of iman — they were judging the situation based on what meets the eye. And notice — Nabi Musa said ma'iya Rabbi — "with me is my Lord." He said "me," even though he had thousands of Bani Israel with him. He didn't say "with us is our Lord."

And then the flip side — during the night of Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr al-Siddiq رضي الله عنه are in the cave, with the Meccans literally feet away. All they had to do was look down — the opening of the cave was right there. They could have seen the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه right there. Nubuwwah over. The whole Ummah Muhammadiyah done. They were seconds away from it. And the Prophet ﷺ consoled Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه:

Don't grieve. Indeed, Allah is with both of us. Ma'ana — us. He didn't say "Allah is with me." Look at the difference between this ummah and the previous ummah. Over there — thousands of Bani Israel, but Musa alayhis salam says "Allah is with me." Here — one ummati with Rasulullah ﷺ, and he says "indeed Allah is with us." This ummah is very special. Because we have the most special of Prophets. And we are tasked to do what the prophets do — inviting people toward good and forbidding from evil, even after he is gone.

Imani Basirah in Times of Fitna

So Musa alayhis salam, with that basira and foresight of iman, said: we're not caught. And hence I also want to add a point here. As we come into the era of fitna now — what's happening, what we are witnessing, is a huge fitna. And we talked about last week how difficulties will arise. These fitna are here to stay for some time. As we ask Allah Azza wa Jal for nusra and help — through our adhkar, through our duas, through our financial help, through all our political means, whatever we can — we need to understand that the help of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala seriously is still, always, with the believers. Although it doesn't seem like it at times.

Because our very own Muslim countries do not support us. You'll barely find one or two who stand up and actually do something, not just make a hollow statement. So now an average Muslim in high school or college says: what's the point of being a Muslim anymore? You get bombarded from every direction, and all the leadership, and the thousands of soldiers, and the thousands of arms that apparently belong to Muslim countries — of no benefit. What's the point? There are weak Muslims who will leave Islam because of this.

Now you have to have that same level of imani basirat — the way Nabi Musa spoke, and the way Rasulullah ﷺ spoke — that you know what? Allah is with us. And Allah will guide us, no matter how bleak it looks, no matter how challenging it looks, no matter how bad the odds are stacked against us. We firmly believe — there is no way we will waver in our conviction.

And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has said this in the Qur'an — in Surah al-Saffat:

Indeed, Our decree has been solidified — written and dried in the books of the Lawh al-Mahfuz, already ordained. Our speech, meaning Our decree, has been set in stone. And what is that decree? For Our sent messengers — innahum lahumu al-mansurun. So much emphasis: inna is for emphasis, lam is for emphasis, the addition of hum is for emphasis — indeed, they are the ones who will be assisted. And indeed, Our army will be the one that will be victorious. The Qur'an is saying this. Who can be more truthful than Allah?

You will be on top as long as you are believers. Allah Azza wa Jal has promised assistance. But look at Nuh alayhis salam's story — where did the help come? First day? Second day? One year? Two years? Three years? Ten years? Not even ten decades. Almost nine centuries later. That's just the way how Allah works in this dunya. Things take time.

The ulama of tafsir say — regarding Musa and Harun — that after trying, trying, trying, they made dua: ya Allah, please destroy Fir'aun. Two prophets making dua and saying ameen to each other's dua. Then the verse was revealed:

Indeed, your duas, O Musa and Harun, have been accepted. The ulama of tafsir write — in the 11th juz — that after Allah told His prophets their duas were accepted, it took full 40 years before Fir'aun was actually killed. This is how this dunya works. Don't expect everything to happen in one night. And don't say: how come it's not happening? Forget it. Let me go knock on another door. You're a fool if you do that.

There's only one door you have to knock — and that's Allah's door. All the time, for every situation, at home, outside, or on the international scene — always only knock on one door. Allah is the only One. Imagine you got locked out of your own house. You wouldn't say: let me just move into another house because my door is not opening. That's your house. You'll find a way to get in. There's only one door we have to knock, and that's the door of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

We see — going back to the story of Musa alayhis salam — we require this level of conviction. Because the ummah will tell you — when Dajjal comes, and the Dajjali fitna will come, that it's over. Leave Islam. Look at how AI and fake news, and fake videos, have flooded the internet. Completely false things taken from computer games, taken from video games, taken from different countries, and placed together. False fabrications about what Muslims have done, to fuel more anger, more rage, and a further onslaught — an effort to annihilate the Muslims. This is all part of the Dajjali effort. What does Dajjal mean? It is fabrication, misconception, misrepresentation. What you're seeing right now in the news is dajjal.

So in the face of the biggest fitna — in the face of dajjal, the greatest dajjals yet to come — you and I need to know: do not believe what you hear, do not believe what meets the eye, do not believe what your five senses tell you, do not believe what those around you will tell you. But have belief in what Allah and His Rasul have promised. That's not easy. That's why that test has been called the most difficult test. If you just look around and listen to everything you're told and say, "It's over, khalas, let's leave Islam" — that's exactly what most people will do at those times.

You see what's happening in Gaza? A time will come — Allah knows best, I am just speculating — that every single house will become like that. Where you have full control over everything. We get excited about smart phones and smart houses — I can open my garage from the other end of the world, I can turn on my dishwasher from work. We get all excited about Alexa, about Google. Honestly, it gives me the creeps when I see all this. It makes me really afraid of where this is headed — where they have complete control, and if your views are not consistent with what is acceptable, your fridge is shut, your electricity is off, your water is off, you can't even unlock your own door. Because everything has been recorded. And now they are proposing — one of the ministers in the UK said — that simply waving the Palestinian flag and saying "Free Palestine" should maybe be regarded as a statement of terror. Allah protect us.

At that time, for a person to say: "No, I'm going to stand and believe what's right, and not get phased and go with the rest" — that's not easy. That's why you have to have this level of yaqeen that these prophets had. Don't look at what's happening — just believe in the verses of the Qur'an.

The Condition for Allah's Help: Remaining in His Army

What is the only condition? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

Listen — the army and the party of Allah must succeed, will become victorious. And the army of Shaytan will definitely lose. You have to remain in Allah's army. If you choose to switch sides, then you're not going to win. And in order to stay in Allah's army, you have to have sunnah in your life. The uniform of the Muhammadi — you have to wear it. If you take it off, then you go to the other side.

The Battle of Uhud — Rasulullah ﷺ was present. He had 50 archers set at Jabal al-Rumat. He told them: stay there, no matter what happens. Even if you see the vultures coming down eating the bodies of your dead companions, don't you descend. Stay there. But some of them misunderstood, mistakes happened — some of them moved forward, descended, and they suffered. 70 sahaba were killed as prisoners of war, and Rasulullah ﷺ himself got hurt. What happened? Even though Nabi ﷺ was there, Allah could have easily stopped it. But He wanted the ummah to learn a lesson: if you leave the command of your Nabi and the sunnah of your Nabi, even if your Nabi is present there, I am not going to help you. So imagine if your Nabi is not there, and you leave the sunnah — how do you think you're going to get assistance?

The sad reality is — as much as we're getting pounded all over the globe, in Afghanistan with thousands dead, in Libya with 15,000-20,000 who died, in Morocco with thousands died, and now in Gaza with thousands — are all the liquor stores of the Muslims closing? Are the nightclubs of the Muslims closing? Are all the women starting wearing hijab? Are all the men rushing to the masjid? Honestly, this is the real hard question we have to ask ourselves. When are we going to wake up? How much more suffering, how much more bloodshed, how much more slaughtering will it take to wake us up?

If you know what's happening, if you realize what's happening, if your heart is in pain — then let it translate into actions. Ya Allah, what's happening with the ummah? Let me now start coming to the masjid. Let me start doing dhikr. Let me start making dua. Let me start reading the Qur'an. That change should happen. Unfortunately, the ummah is still sleeping.

This is where Allah Azza wa Jal says: if you're not going to follow the sunnah, you're not going to come to deen, then you're not part of Allah's subhanahu wa ta'ala's army. Talk is cheap. "I care about the ummah." Okay, but what are you doing? If you want the help of Allah, it's not like Allah left you in the dark. Allah Azza wa Jal has made it very clear — the help of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will come when we have the deen.

Remaining Nations: Aad, Thamud, and Ashab al-Rass

Now this beautiful description we covered — on why Nuh alayhis salam and Musa alayhis salam's nations have been mentioned here — was hopefully insightful. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then quickly mentions the other nations as well: Aad, Thamud, Ashab al-Rass.

One interesting thing about Ashab al-Rass — some ulama have said they were actually a nation that was similar to Lut alayhis salam's nation in their actions, but it was women — that it was women who were leading a life of fuhsh and desires, like the men were doing so in Lut alayhis salam's nation. And many other generations that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions — We have the same system for all of them. We gave you examples. We sent prophets, they belied the prophets, and then every single one of them was shattered into pieces after they decided to turn their backs to the message of Allah's prophets.

And then Allah Azza wa Jal says: that even the Meccans — what's wrong with you? You pass by Sodom on your trips to Syria, to Sham:

You pass by them in the morning and the evening. Do you not ponder? The same thing goes for us. As we see the forces of nature pounding upon the Muslims throughout the globe, and the enemies of Allah pounding upon the Muslims throughout the globe — afala ta'qilun? Do you not ponder? Do you not reflect? How are we different? Seriously — how are we different?

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling the mushrikeen of Mecca: you pass by entire nations that I demolished and destroyed because they didn't listen to the message of My prophet — why are you doing the same? We're seeing how people are being destroyed left and right. Why are we not filling up the masjids for salah? Why are we not sending our children to the maktab, getting our children connected to the Qur'an, starting reading Qur'an at home, starting dhikr at home, getting our women to start dressing appropriately, getting the men to dress appropriately, stopping haram relationships between boys and girls, protecting our sons and daughters from falling into haram? By when are we going to wake up?

I was telling this to the boys earlier this morning: every time you have a desire to sin, or to look at haram, listen to haram — just go pull up the news. Just see the path of destruction happening in Afghanistan right now, with bodies upon bodies of women, children, entire villages destroyed. And then the continuous assault — hundreds and hundreds of attacks per night as we speak — full blown-out destruction happening in Gaza. Read that, just watch that. Hopefully you won't need to look at it for more than 45 seconds to wake you up into your senses. How are you spending your night sinning? How are you spending your day sinning? How are you wasting your time when this is what's happening?

Get off that phone, get off whatever you're doing, do fresh wudu, go pray two rakat salah, pray your Isha if you haven't, pray your Fajr if you haven't, pray your Dhuhr if you haven't, pick up the mushaf, pick up the Qur'an all day. Do something good. Look at what people of our background, our ethnicity, our deen are going through. Hopefully this will be a wake-up call.

So this is afala ta'qilun — Allah Azza wa Jal did not just speak to the Quraysh of Mecca. He is speaking to us as well. And He says — bal kanu la yarjuna nushura — you know why they don't take effect? Because they don't even believe in the akhira. It really speaks volumes about the weakness of our iman. Do you really believe that you and I are going to face Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on the Day of Judgment? If that's the case — how can the events of today, and this era that we're living in, not push us? It needs to push us.

A Call to Action: Salawat, the Seerah Conference, and Personal Tawbah

What I've asked people — and have been sharing with some — is one very tangible thing: we've been pushing salawat, sending salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ. This will bring the mercy of Allah. This will bring forgiveness. This will bring blessings. We've been talking about this for the past three weeks. We have our 25 million goal. Now the Seerah Conference is coming in four days, on Saturday night. We want to have a collective dua. If you haven't done a solid amount — 5,000, 10,000 — utilize these four days. It's the month of Rabi' al-Awwal of course as well. But don't just do it because it's Rabi' al-Awwal. Don't just do it because of the Seerah Conference. And don't just do it because of the Gaza or Afghanistan circumstances.

Do it because you and I need Allah every day. We don't need to have calamities to seek the help of Allah — we need Allah's help every night, every single day. So I implore all of you who are listening: on the way out, please take the cards. Make this commitment. If you haven't started, do it. Four days — try to do 2,000, 3,000 a day. Just do it in your car. Stop listening to the news in the car. Stop being on your phone in the car. On the train, wherever you are. I promise you, we can easily do it. There are children doing 20,000, 25,000 a day — here in Darus Salaam, little Hifz class kids, Maktab kids, Sunday school kids, Alim course kids — 20,000, 30,000 a day. If you've got an hour on the train every day, two hours, you've got flights, airports, coming back from home stuck in traffic — you can. It's just our minds not going toward that.

Just imagine — if our community, hundreds of families here, their tongues are moist in the remembrance of Allah, doing salawat, doing istighfar. Just imagine what type of mercy of Allah will come — not only in this community, but the ummah at large. That's what we need. We need an awakening. These events should truly awaken us toward coming back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, reviving the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

So I implore all of you — on the way out, pick up those cards. And number two, is the Seerah Conference here this Friday. Maybe you weren't planning to come. But now you know — it's happening Friday after Isha. Just 24 hours, that's all it is. Those of you listening online — if you can afford a ticket, purchase a ticket and come. Drive and come. It will be well worth your time. We're speaking about the miracles of the Qur'an, the miracles of Rasulullah ﷺ. And this is the time for us to speak about miracles, because the ummah needs a miracle. If you don't believe in miracles, why is Allah going to send a miracle? And that's it. The entire theme of this year's Seerah Conference is going to be about the miracles of Rasulullah ﷺ.

So I request you, insha'Allah ta'ala, to join us for that. And as has been mentioned, we have our first women's parallel conference taking place — also at the exact same time, led by 10 female scholars of Darussalam. This is an amazing opportunity for our girls, our daughters, to witness female scholarship — for them to say, this is who I can become when I grow up. This is how I can serve the deen. Our girls need to see role models. I encourage you to make sure all the women who are hearing this come with their daughters and sisters to the first women's exclusive Seerah Conference.

Friday after Isha, and Saturday from 10 AM till 10 PM. This is also our Qur'an night — we're going to have Qur'an reciters coming from Canada and local Qur'an as well. Insha'Allah it will be a very beautiful night. There is no cost. If you want to sponsor the dinner, please contact me or any one of us, or text the masjid number. It's going to be a free dinner for everyone as we usually do — but of course there are costs to feed 1,000, 1,500 people on such a blessed occasion. So if you are able to pitch in, please do so. And please register at masjiddeas.org/seerahconf so that we can make proper arrangements. There are sleeping arrangements here on Friday and Saturday night for brothers from out of town who are coming and need to do i'tikaf. There is also a hotel you can book from our website. The entire detailed schedule — who's speaking, on what topic — is all available on our website.

Closing: A Moment of Tawbah and Dhikr

I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to inspire all of us to increase in our salawat. And I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow us to feel the pain of the ummah — and to allow that pain to make us wake up and stay away from sin. And allow us to do one action that we are not doing. Maybe start coming to the masjid. Maybe start reading more Qur'an. Maybe start wearing the hijab. Maybe start wearing appropriate clothing. Maybe stop listening to music. Maybe stop watching movies. Maybe stop watching other haram content. Maybe unsubscribe from Netflix, from Hulu, from whatever we are wasting our time on.

That's one big achievement. Ya Allah, I do this for You. For whatever is happening in Gaza, whatever is happening in Afghanistan — khalas, from today, I make tawbah from wasting my time watching YouTube shorts and TikTok. Honestly, I ask you all to do that. That's one step you can do for the sake of Allah, to attract Allah's mercy. You think Allah's mercy is coming when we sit there watching TikTok? When we watch shorts? When we watch movies? Of course not. We need Allah's mercy, brothers. We can't afford to have Allah on the opposite side. We'll never win this battle. We have to have Allah on our side. And Allah is not going to come on our side if we indulge in sin — looking at haram, listening to haram, thinking of haram, indulging in haram, purchasing haram, selling haram.

So let's make this a moment of tawbah. And insha'Allah, let's do some dhikr now and then end with a dua, insha'Allah.

[Note: A question was raised about praying for vs. praying to the deceased.] Praying for a person who passed away is acceptable — and it is rewarding as well. But praying to the person who passed away is obviously not acceptable. You're praying to the person who died — that's never going to be permissible.

And there are seerah books and other Islamic books at the table — please take a moment, pick them up and read through, even if you are not purchasing. And there are dhikr counters available if you do not have one, so you can do 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 durood sharif — please pick one up or purchase one from the bookstall outside. JazakumAllahu khairan. Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.