Surah Ghafir - Ep.1 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Surah Ghafir – Episode 1

Please come close together. Sisters as well, if you can sit in the sisters' prayer hall. Close together, move forward. Brothers here as well, please make your way forward.

O Wahab, O Wahab, O Wahab, O Fattah, O Fattah, O Fattah, O Jabbar, O Jabbar, O Jabbar.

As for the rest, Allah Almighty said, after I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan:

Hameem. The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing. The Forgiver of sins, and the Receiver of repentance, severe in punishment, all-reaching. There is no god but He, and to Him is the destination.

Sadaqallahul Azeem.

There are, alhamdulillah, notebooks available here. For anyone who would like to be a dedicated student of knowledge and would like to take notes. This has been graciously purchased on behalf of all of you by one brother. So if anyone would like to get a pen, a paper, and a notebook, and inshallah start taking notes as we embark on a new surah, feel free to take one. This has been gifted by one of the brothers. May Allah reward him and increase him in his knowledge and his amal. May He increase him in all his blessings for his gift to all of you here. And of course, the benefits are huge when a person sits, focuses, and takes notes. So much a person can reflect upon afterwards as well. It will help you also, inshallah, stay connected with the surah long after you have left the gathering.

Introduction to Surah Al-Ghafir (Surah Al-Mu'min)

We begin this new surah invoking Allah's blessings and His mercy upon all of us, and our loved ones, and our family members, asking Allah that He allow everything that was shared in the previous weeks to be guiding us to lead a much more productive life. And we ask Allah as we embark on a new surah — Surah Al-Mu'min, Surah Al-Ghafir — that He allows us to share those things which are absolutely most relevant to every one of us. May He allow us to hear, and may He allow us to share, may He allow us to discuss those things that will be a source of encouragement for all of us, a source of finding answers to our difficult issues. May we find the solutions to all of our problems in the house of Allah and within the lines of the Qur'an.

We ask Allah that He does not allow our sins to become a reason for us being deprived from the nur of the Qur'an. We ask Allah that He allows all of us to benefit from the company of one another, and from the company of the righteous angels that are present here. Whatever good we hear, may Allah allow us to put it into practice immediately. We ask Allah that He does not allow whatever we learn to become a burden upon us, or a reason for us to be punished for it on the Day of Judgment.

So we have three ayat of Surah Al-Ghafir that we'll be covering today. This surah is in the 24th juz, the 40th surah of the Qur'an.

It is called Al-Mu'min because there is the verse of the Qur'an:

"And a believing man from the family of Fir'aun said..." — there is a story that comes up later in the surah. The word Mu'min is there: the believer from the family of Fir'aun spoke up and stood on behalf of the true deen, even though he was just one man. That is why the surah is named after him — Mu'min. Or Ghafir — the Forgiver — because in the very second ayah of this surah, Allah is speaking about forgiveness.

I remember when we were studying in Darul Uloom Zakariya, we were visited by a great scholar from Makkah Al-Mukarramah — Shaykh Farooq — who was originally from Karachi and has been residing in Makkah for many decades. He was very close to Mawlana Saeed Ahmed Khan. He sat down and did tafsir of the entire Surah Al-Mu'min, this whole surah, in one shot — maybe an hour — in front of the whole madrasa. What was very unique about his tafsir was the fact that he connected every single ayah here to some aspect of da'wah. He is the ameer of the effort of da'wah tabligh of Makkah.

It is just amazing — this surah, like any past surah that we've covered, or any other surah you read on your own — how Allah guides you to see something from it based on where you're coming from. It's a lens you wear. If I were to wear colored lenses right now, this whole masjid would look different depending on what color lens I'm wearing. Same masjid, but it will look different to me. Think about that. When a person has a certain perspective and a certain fikr, then you'll actually find answers to what you're looking for anywhere and everywhere you go. And especially when a person has built himself on taqwa, purified his heart from the shahawat — the desires — then that pure heart becomes a recipient of the nur of Allah, whereby he will be able to see things from the verses of the Qur'an that others are simply not able to see. So this was a very special surah that, 25 to 30 years ago, I was blessed to attend a gathering in which he completed the entire tafsir of the surah.

Virtue of Reciting the Opening Verses

The ayat of this surah are very special. There are virtues mentioned in different ahadith regarding the opening of this surah. The Prophet ﷺ is mentioned in one hadith related by Imam Tirmidhi on the authority of Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him). He said:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2879)

"Whoever recites Ayatul Kursi and the opening verses of Hameem Al-Mu'min — he will be protected that day from every evil."

Why is Hameem Al-Mu'min specifically mentioned? Because there are seven Hameems — many Hameems back to back in the Qur'an. So the Prophet ﷺ is identifying which Hameem he is speaking about. We should try to make a habit of reciting these three verses every morning. Try your best to memorize them — they are very short. Every single morning after you read Ayatul Kursi after Fajr, read these three verses. Through the barakah of that, inshallah, Allah will grant us protection for the entire day.

The Huruf Al-Muqatta'ah — The Broken Letters

Hameem itself is known as the huruf al-muqatta'ah — the broken letters. What do these broken letters mean?

Number one: This is the beginning of the names of Allah. So ح is representing one of the names of Allah, م is representing one of the names of Allah.

Number two: This is the beginning of the names of the Prophet ﷺ.

Number three: Hameem is referring to the fact that the Qur'an is constructed and made of these letters — Hameem amongst many others. So what are the building blocks of the Qur'an? They are the letters of the Arabic alphabet — ح، م، ع، س، ق، ك، ح، ي، ع، ص — all of these are the building blocks of the Qur'an. And letters are letters. But when Allah's tajalli, when Allah's nur, when Allah's blessings, when Allah's immense attention focuses on those letters, those letters all beautifully come together and they form the kalam of Allah — the speech of Allah. And that speech of Allah is no longer just a bunch of Arabic letters. They have the capacity to bring change in the entire globe. They have the capacity to bring change within the hardest of hearts.

The fourth opinion of Hameem is:

Allah knows best what it means. That's it — we don't get into it further. It is the opening words: names of Allah, or the letters of the name of Allah, or the names of the Prophet ﷺ, or the fact that it is the building blocks of the Qur'an — and that through those building blocks something amazing is achieved when Allah's attention and Allah's nur is connected to it. And lastly, that Allah knows best.

So when we talk about the fact that the Qur'an is mu'jiz — that it is a miracle — it starts off from these letters. When we read الم from Surah Al-Baqarah, this is a reminder — although we've covered it many times before, since it appears here we'll still cover it again, especially since many new brothers join the tafsir who may have missed previous explanations.

Humility as a Condition for Growth

When we read these broken letters, whose meaning we don't fully know, we are reminded of a key thing when we want to study the Qur'an — and that is humility and humbleness in front of Allah. And that is a condition for growth anywhere. Most definitely when it comes to the growth of your relationship with Allah and your connection with the Qur'an.

This past weekend, we welcomed thousands, alhamdulillah, of brothers and sisters from across the country — many outstanding youth who came for the first time ever to Chicago, and first time ever to Dar Es Salaam. Naturally there were a lot of questions that many had at the retreat, and many who had heard about the one-year program and maybe even applied. There were multiple instances where they kept on asking: why is it like this, why is it like that? I attended one class, why did the teacher explain it like this? I attended a fiqh class, how come I didn't hear all the daleel and hadith for every single thing mentioned? Aqeedah class — that didn't make sense to me. Why is this book not taught? Why is that not taught?

At the end, some of the youth I had to tell them: listen, honestly, you're not coming here to teach the course, you're coming here to learn. And if you're coming here to learn, then you have to learn how to stay silent — until you get enough knowledge to then interact and ask. But if you're always asking and always talking, you're never going to hear anything. And that will actually lead you to a lot of confusion. That reminded me of the story of Musa and Khadr, that we covered here in Surah Al-Kahf.

The condition that Khadr put on Musa was:

"Do not ask me questions."

You are a Nabi of Allah, with all due respect. You are Ulul Azm — among the top five prophets that have ever walked on the surface of the earth. And Khadr is not of that caliber. But now you've come as a student to him, sent by Allah. And the condition is: you need to stay silent. Because I'm going to be doing things that are outside of your background, and you will not understand them. But if you object, you will lose out on the barakah and the blessing of this journey.

And the Prophet ﷺ himself said that he wished Musa (peace be upon him) would have remained silent more, so that we would have learned through his story many amazing things via Khadr. But being a prophet who has to stand up and fulfill the rules and dictates of the Shari'ah, he couldn't watch what he regarded as sin — which was actually not sin, but was a direct command of Allah to Khadr to do what he did — whether it was the killing of the child, making a hole in a boat, or fixing a wall without charging for it. Those things would seem obviously wrong to the student. Who was the student? Nabi Musa. It seemed wrong to him. But for Khadr it did not seem wrong, and it wasn't wrong. And eventually he explained, as mentioned in the Qur'an, why he did what he did.

So I mentioned this to a few students: when you enter the classroom, that level of trust you have to have on your teacher, that level of respect and humility — then you will grow so fast, and you will continue to grow beyond your expectations. But when a person questions everything that is presented to them — because we come from a background of always questioning everything — then we lose out. That's it.

I said: look at some of the most intelligent people sitting in your class, who have excelled in their dunya way beyond what you have, but yet they have the capacity to sit silent and take notes. Do you not get a chance to ask questions? Of course you do. But if you keep on criticizing how things are taught — for example, let me just answer that question: nowhere in the world do you teach a kindergartner the dalil for why you wash your right hand before your left, or the proof of why you face the qiblah, or the proof of why you put water in your nostrils three times. That's not what you do for kindergartners. The one-year program is kindergarten in that sense. This is how it's taught across the globe: you first teach what you're supposed to do — the fiqh — and then as you grow, you have the capacity to even know what a dalil is.

But we have this extremely uncultured method right off the street: "No, man, I want to know what the proof is." Relax — it will come at its time. Unfortunately, the system of jahala in this country is such that a person reaches the level of Masters and PhD, but in the knowledge of Islamiyat and Islamic studies, is at kindergarten level. What should we do? That's our educational system. And our parents don't help, our community doesn't help, by not focusing on Islamic education from the very beginning. So much focus is on school studies, or studies that will help us get a job — with no one saying that Islamic studies should also be a part of it.

Not having that creates a cognitive dissonance. A person says: I am 22 years old, I have a 4.0 GPA in undergrad, so that means I know everything — everything about Islam, everything about tafsir, everything about Arabic. In his mind, he has reached some high level. But in deen, because he or she simply didn't study, they don't know much. So that creates a tension internally: "I should know everything, but now I'm sitting here and I don't know much. So maybe I do know much, but everyone else around here doesn't know anything." That's what happens — this confusion within the mind. We have to fix that. We have to recalibrate and say: outside in certain circles I may be very knowledgeable, but in the circles of ilm, I am a beginner — and inshallah I will also become advanced in this, if I simply do as I'm told and move forward with that.

This is where Alif Lam Mim and Ha Mim come in — that the beginning of the surah contains such letters that a person is forced to concede and say, "I don't know what it means." Especially the extremely arrogant, jahili Arabs, who were masters of the Arabic language and who had competitions over language. They were so madly engrossed in their love for poetry and the Arabic language that they would gather outside of Makkah, in Mina, and sometimes in Makkah, having multi-day fairs where they would sit, discuss, and share with great arrogance and pride their works. So the Arabs of the time of the Prophet ﷺ — their fakhr, their joy, their honor lay in the Arabic language.

So now you hit them where it hurts most — and you give them an opening verse of the Qur'an in which they have to concede and say, "I don't know what this means." It's very tough on the nafs. But once a person understands that and is ready to put his foot down on his nafs, the rest is history.

And you remember — we have heard this many times — the reason why we have this epidemic of atheism, agnosticism, post-modernism, and every other issue we are dealing with today: it squarely starts off with one main issue, and that is arrogance. Arrogance leads to all of these problems. It is the fact that a person doesn't want to listen and take orders from someone else. And that arrogance is what leads to a can of snakes and scorpions, which ends up all the way to kufr. So let us train ourselves to be humble in front of the deen, to be humble in front of the Qur'an, to be humble in front of Allah. And that comes through Ha Mim.

Tanzilul Kitab — The Revelation of the Book

Tanzilul Kitab — the revelation of this book is from Allah. Al-Aziz, the overpowering. Al-Alim, the All-Knowing. So this means that every single time we are in front of the book of Allah, understand that you and I are in front of the greatest, most powerful tool — the most powerful, not creation, but the most powerful thing in existence. The Qur'an is not the creation of Allah, but it is an attribute of Allah. Just as Allah is pre-eternal, the speech of Allah is also pre-eternal. And just as we cannot imagine the power of Allah, we cannot also imagine the power of the book of Allah.

This is why the Qur'an remains relevant no matter when, where, or who studies it. At whatever time you look, the Qur'an will always provide solutions. So when a person has azama — greatness of Allah — in his heart, then the azama and greatness of the Qur'an will be in his heart. And as soon as the greatness of the Qur'an is in the heart, you will see that one verse can change a person's life. One recital of one page can change a person's life. One recital with tadabbur — with focus — can change a person's life. But it requires a person to genuinely feel the awe and greatness of the Qur'an. And that can only happen when you know who Allah is.

For us to be engaged with the Qur'an, to fall in love with the Qur'an, to feel that the Qur'an is something amazing — it will require us to truly believe in Allah being our Rabb, and being the most powerful Being. We will understand that the i'jaz of the Qur'an — the fact that the Qur'an cannot be imitated — is not only in its words, but also in its meanings, in the specific order in which Qur'anic verses are placed, the specific selection of the names of Allah in each place, the way the stories flow, where there is extra detail and where there is less, how the verses begin, how the verses end, whether the endings all rhyme together. There are dozens and dozens of ways in which the Qur'an possesses this i'jaz.

As a born Muslim — especially one who doesn't speak Arabic, and maybe even one who does — we may just believe: "Yeah, it's the book of Allah, I trust it. Of course it is." But when you talk about it being mu'jiz, that it is inimitable and powerful, we kind of accept it intellectually without deeply feeling it. You know who you should ask? Ask someone who is a convert, or a non-Muslim who recently picked up a copy of the Mus'haf and is beginning to read it. Of course he doesn't know Arabic. Ask him: what is it doing to you?

And you'll see, nowadays because of the crisis in Gaza, loads of non-Muslims have picked up the Mus'haf. They're flying off the shelves, and people are reading and capturing their sentiments online. You can see short clips and videos of non-Muslims reading the book of Allah — not reading the Qur'an, reading an attempted translation of it — and they're just mesmerized. I saw one youngster who had gone through the entire thing, perhaps in 18 hours or so, and he was just saying: "This is crazy, this is so powerful, this cannot be fake. What's going on?" It was an attempted translation. He is a non-Muslim.

There was a TED Talk I saw long ago — you can find it somewhere — of a secular Jewish lady who talks about the Qur'an. It's very powerful. She speaks about how when you cuddle up with the Qur'an and read the description of paradise, the description of hell, the description of the gardens of the hereafter, the stories of the past — this is unlike anything else. She gives a masterpiece presentation of the Qur'an, even though she's not even a believer in it. Even not believing in revelation, she says this has got to be the most powerful book she's ever read. There are people who are not even Muslims whose hearts are being so touched by it. That is the i'jaz of the Qur'an — there's something in it that if a person reads with a clean heart, and is looking for something, he'll find the answers.

My dear brothers — when you're not looking for something, how many times if you go ask what's on your kitchen table right now, you won't know? Was it there when you sat down for dinner? You can't remember. But if you're looking for your keys or a bottle of medication, you'll know very well whether it was there or not. You and I have to be searching for hidayah in the Qur'an — then we'll find it. If you search for it, it won't take you more than 10–15 minutes, or less, to feel that your heart is being attached to the Qur'an, and that the Qur'an is speaking with you, and that there is something in it that is really hitting you. That's if you search for it.

If a person does not search for it, he can literally memorize the whole thing because his mom and dad told him to, or because it's expected of him, or because he was told it's rewarding — but he won't get anything out of it, possibly. Because he's not looking for that solution. He's not looking for the Qur'an to actually bring a change. Allah says:

"Allah chooses whoever He wishes, and guides whoever turns to Him."

Remember that — inaba is a key thing. يَهْدِي إِلَيْهِ مَن يُنِيبُ — Allah guides whoever turns to Him. So if we want the Qur'an to have a powerful effect on us, dear beloved brothers and sisters, then we have to have inaba towards the Qur'an, towards the kalam of Allah.

The Qur'an Is Relevant in Every Age

Sometimes a person may think that verses of the Qur'an are not relevant. You'll hear this amongst colleagues, co-workers, and maybe even relatives, unfortunately. The Qur'an is speaking about riba — how is that possible? The Qur'an is speaking about lowering the gaze — how is that possible? The Qur'an is speaking about ensuring that a person is always kind to their parents — that's very hard. But on the other hand, the Qur'an says:

"Allah will never place a burden upon any soul more than it can handle."

How is it possible that Allah could reveal a Qur'an to us, expect us to follow it, but then make it too hard? That is unbearable. This is a very big criticism against Allah — almost a matter of kufr. Why would Allah do what we call taklif ma la yutaq — ask us to do something we cannot handle? It is impossible for us to believe that there are verses of the Qur'an which are too difficult to follow. Yes — where there is a will, there is a way.

So:

"Say to the believing men that they lower their gaze."

A person may say that seems so difficult. But the Qur'an is asking us to do it. And if a person wants to do it, he will do it. Not shaking hands with the opposite gender — the hadith tells us about that. We talked about that last week very briefly — we talked about the bay'ah, about how the Prophet ﷺ took bay'ah upon the women without physical contact. A person may say, how is that so hard? Again — where there is a will, there is a way.

There are stories of multiple Muslims in Europe — in some of those extremely over-secular countries, which are not even just secular but are anti-Islam, having made secularism into a religion more hardcore and zealous than any other. At a citizenship ceremony, there was a female secretary handing out passports and shaking hands with new citizens. This person refused to shake her hand — in a respectful manner, he put his hand on his chest. And SubhanAllah, they rescinded and canceled his citizenship. They said this goes against their culture. You can read about it — it has happened not once, but multiple times. Imagine, do you think this will go unnoticed by Allah?

The Story of the Student and the Medical School Scholarship

I'll share with you a story of one of our students. He came here, like many amazing students who come here with all sorts of different backgrounds. He came after finishing his undergrad and had been accepted into the best medical school of his state. But after attending the fiqh class, he learned that taking on interest-bearing loans is not permissible. So, although he had heard other opinions, after thoroughly studying the issue of riba with the fiqh teacher, he arrived at the conclusion that this is not halal for him. Now how do you explain that to mom and dad who don't have this education, who have never attended the madrasa? Big problem. "What are you talking about? You're becoming a zealot, a fanatic." Because naturally, if they don't have connection to the deen, that's going to happen.

He went back and forth. The teachers kept giving him advice: have your hope in Allah, do your adhkar, do your salawat, do your istighfar, give your sadaqah, fast nawafil fasts, and keep on asking Allah to open a way for you. And recently he came to me and said: "You know what? I got some great news." I said, "What is that?" He said, "Something major happened in my life. I decided one day that I am so opposed to paying riba, and I'm not going to go at war with Allah at all cost. And if that means I don't go to medical school, then I won't go."

Now ask yourselves — how many of you dads sitting here would be okay with that? Once your son gets accepted into the best medical school, are you willing to sell something in your home? Sell your house? Move into a smaller apartment? Get a loan from your siblings? Or are you willing to say, "Just go ahead with the interest-bearing loan"? Or are you willing, after everything has failed, to say, "Let's go into a different field"? SubhanAllah.

So this young man — I don't know if he communicated with his parents — but he said: "I made a decision in my heart that I'm ready to give up medical school if I cannot get a non-interest-bearing loan." This was a very big decision he made. When that decision hit the throne of Allah, new decisions came down. And what happened? He came to tell me a couple of weeks ago that the university gave him a full, free four-year scholarship for the entire medical school. How often do you hear something like that — a full ride, free medical school? And I asked him how it happened, and he answered: "I don't know, I don't have an answer. But what I did is I made a commitment that I'm going to give up medical school if I have to."

That's the answer. When you put your foot down and say, "I want to follow the deen at all cost," Allah will make miracles happen at your hands, and you'll start seeing things you never imagined. And that's exactly what the Qur'an says:

"Whoever fears Allah, Allah will create an exit out for him. And Allah will provide for him from avenues which he can never imagine. And whoever puts his trust in Allah, Allah shall suffice him. Indeed, Allah has already decided that He will fulfill His affairs. However, Allah has an appointed time for everything."

Remember — this rizq is not just about jobs. It's about anything. If you trust Allah and have taqwa, Allah will get you out of every difficulty. So all those people in different jobs who are going through various difficulties, or people in positions who are being pushed to water down the deen in order to accommodate — the message is clear: if you take a strong stance and say, "At all cost, I shall never engage in haram of any sort," it may apparently seem that you're going to lose your job. You may lose your job. You may suffer an apparent loss initially. But have this extreme level of yaqeen and conviction that it is not possible for Allah to allow you to fail. Behind that apparent failure is success upon success upon success. Just like the prophets — they did not always win every battle. The Prophet ﷺ led the most difficult life. But in that extreme difficulty, there was success.

This is something where we need to understand that the Qur'an is not irrelevant — I seek refuge with Allah. This is a huge accusation against the Qur'an, a huge accusation against the deen. I've had people who've literally told me straight up: "Riba — we're not in the stone age anymore, we're in 2024. How is this not permissible? There's no way you can function without it."

Riba and the Enslavement of the Ummah

And dear beloved brothers — if you look deep down into the system of slavery that the Muslims are in, after being over 55 countries, after having collectively well over a trillion in GDP — many more than a trillion — and after having armed forces and navy, and having 1.2 billion adherents — the slavery and humiliation that we are all collectively suffering is profound. We heard about the genocide that happened in Bosnia. Just this morning the news was that they uncovered a mass grave of 550 people — 550 shuhada — in a Gaza hospital. And life is moving on. We have a senator who this past weekend, on live TV, suggested that a nuclear bomb should be used in Gaza. When asked about it, he said, "Well, they're all the same — Hamas, civilian — there are no civilians there." And the fact that this type of statement is being shared on our airwaves, and we can't do anything about it, is something to really ponder — to see to what degree of disgrace we have reached as an ummah.

And then you realize where the system goes — it's all tied to money. Whoever runs the money, runs the world. And so the banking system, and especially the issuance of bonds and loans, and making people enslaved through the ribawi system, is the crux behind the evil ruling the world. You don't have to be a financial expert to know that. But now you understand why riba is something so hated by Allah. If you accept the ribawi system, you end up becoming a slave.

A few weeks ago I spoke to someone who was doing extremely well for himself in a corporate environment. And this is very important news for our young brothers here — we think that we can save the world by making a lot of money. This is the innocent 20-year-old, 22-year-old, 19-year-old young man who says, "Don't worry, Sheikh, I don't have time to come for tafsir, because I'm opening my sixth shop, or I'm busy investing." Why? "Don't worry, I'll be a dedicated scholar for life. Right now I just gotta make my first billion. Then after that, you'll see — I'll be in the front row. You tell me to leave but I won't leave." As childish as I sound, Wallahi al-azeem, I promise you some of the most intelligent people speak to me exactly this way — that we're going to save the world by making billions. SubhanAllah. Everyone else is foolish, you're the only 22-year-old smart enough to figure out that success comes through money? No one else figured this out? Such naive thinking. If money brought success, we should have been ruling the world long ago. We have the most money right now. But SubhanAllah, we're still suffering beyond what we've ever done.

And what you need to understand, young brothers and sisters, is that when you start playing with money, money is a shaytan itself.

(Reported by al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab al-Iman; attributed as a saying of the Prophet ﷺ and of the salaf)

"The love of this world is the root of all sin."

And the Prophet ﷺ mentioned why the ummah will be victimized by all of the kuffar and devoured — the disease of the Muslims, even though they'll be huge in number, will be hubb al-dunya — love of this world. This doesn't mean that wealth is not a good sabab and a means. But understand that the ribawi system — of stocks, of investments, of corporations from the ground up — is built in such a way that no matter how much money you have, you will always be serving someone else. Think about the banking system: you say you have a billion. When you place that billion in a bank, is it sitting there? No. Millions upon millions are being made from it. And we are all part of it — because in this country or anywhere, how do you function without depositing your money in a bank? Very hard. So no matter how much money you have, in reality, you're actually assisting the oppressor.

As you grow higher and higher on this corporate ladder, you'll realize that at the end, you will always remain a pawn. It may seem delusional to you — they make you think you're in power, but you're never in power. And if you have any doubt, look at the multi-billionaires of the Muslim world, sitting on 500 million, 700 million, 15 billion, 20 billion — but they are like little kindergartners, like preschoolers. They're so scared. Every single thing, they're scared. Why? You have trillions — why are you scared? Because at the end of the day, they remain puppets. They know that. Anything can be frozen. All of their business and tijara is dependent upon other people.

So through pure raw money, success doesn't come. And one big reason money provides a bigger problem for us than ever before is the ribawi banking system. You can't run away from it. And if we are involved in it, in reality what is happening? We're helping build that system further and further. I don't have a solution right now — I'm not about to unveil a brand new Islamic financial system tonight. But I'm trying to say: let's not be naive. Utilize your good talent as much as you can for the deen. But understand that riba is a big musibah. And when we say that deen is not practical anymore, this is a massive attack and assault on the Qur'an and Sunnah, and upon Allah as well. Allah has sent this book till the end of times, and it will always remain a source of guidance.

"Indeed, this Qur'an guides to the path that is most straight." — Surah Al-Isra, ayah 9. The Qur'an is the guide for all of us. The one who leads his life according to the Qur'an — what is the guarantee from Allah?

"Whoever follows My guidance — there will be nothing to worry about the future, and nothing to grieve over the past." If you follow the Qur'an, your nafs will not become despicable, your intelligence will not be lost, and you will have no fear of what's going to happen.

What happens when the Qur'an is not in our life? The smallest thing makes us scared. Allah talks about the munafiqoon:

"They think every cry is against them. They are the enemy, so beware of them. May Allah destroy them — how are they deluded?" Any scream, any yelling, any loud voice, and the munafiq thinks, "Oh, I'm under attack!" Allah says they are the enemy, Ya Rasulullah, stay away from them. Why? It is because since they have no Qur'an in their heart, they're always scared.

Today you see the people who don't have deen in their life are the ones who say: "Brother, it's election season, don't go to the masjid, you're being watched. Don't dress a certain way, you're being watched." There's a lot of fear-mongering happening within the Muslim community. That if you go to the masjid, if you become a student of knowledge, if you sit in duroos, you're going to get caught, this is going to happen, that's going to happen. There's a lot of chatter. And why? Chatter from who? From people who don't read the Qur'an, whose hearts are unaffected by the Qur'an. Otherwise, if you have the Qur'an in your life, then you will lead the life of a lion. And you'll say, "I'd rather lead a life of a lion than the life of a sheep." Or a hiding fox. I'm going to lead like a lion. And if a lion gets caught — fine, whatever. But I refuse to let worry about what's going to happen cause me to involve myself in haram.

The CFO Who Stood Firm for Jumu'ah

I'll share with you a beautiful story. A person who is very high-ranking — a CFO of a very large German company. I recently met him after a long time and he shared with me a story. He said his CEO and president of the company — a multinational, multibillion-dollar company — came to meet him, with a meeting set at around 1:15 p.m. The president showed up at 1:30 p.m. to his office. He was visiting from overseas. What did this brother say? "Dear president, the meeting was supposed to start 15 minutes ago. It's 1:30 — I have to catch Jumu'ah. I'm sorry, I won't be able to sit for the meeting. I've got to leave." A one-on-one meeting. The president was just shell-shocked — he had never seen anything like that. He said, "Okay, go ahead. If you have to pray, go ahead." He said, "I went to pray Jumu'ah."

I don't know if it was the same day or the following week — the president contacted him and said: "I would like to reschedule the meeting, but I want to come to your house. I want to meet you at your home." So the president comes to this brother's home, sits down, and says: "I came to see you because I want to learn about you. Forget the meeting — I came to learn about you. In all my decades of corporate experience, I have never had anyone have the confidence to speak to me the way you did that day. You just said, 'I'm not going to have time for the meeting because I have to go pray.' How did you get this? What power did you have?" He wasn't angry — he was just amazed.

So of course this brother gave him full da'wah — spoke about deen, spoke about what Islam does. And he talked about how his house is paid off, he doesn't take loans, he stays within his own means. "I don't need you. If I get fired, no problem — I'm not sitting in millions of debt. That's what the American system does. I only spend what I have. So I don't need you or the job. If it comes, alhamdulillah. If not, I'll find something else. That's why I don't have this fear."

The next day there was a company-wide meeting with the president. In front of all the employees, the president shared this story — that this colleague of theirs shared this with him and he was just amazed. SubhanAllah — you never know the impact your actions can have on others. This is an example of someone who follows the Qur'an. Allah, in this very world, will keep you safe from fear.

The Young Brother at the Airport — 2006

He told me he took me back to a story from 2006 — there was no Dar Es Salaam at that time, I was just a fresh graduate about a year out of my studies. He said: "I was a young Pakistani student in America, involved in the MSA, and I was trying to balance post-9/11 life while trying to practice my deen. I wanted to wear my thobe or shalwar kameez with a kufi, but people were telling me that if they catch you wearing that, they're going to deport you, you're going to lose your ability to study in America. So they were intimidating me, and I was so conflicted about what to do. Then our local masjid said there's a guest speaker coming and asked me to go pick him up from the airport."

He said: "I went to pick you up from the airport. And that's it — the fact that I saw someone coming out of an airport who was born and raised in this country, who was coming to give khutbahs in our community, and he's wearing a thobe and a kufi and a turban — I got my answer. I didn't need to listen to other people who are fear-mongering." I never even knew this — he's telling me this, what, 18 years later. You never know the impact your actions can have. It turned out to be this.

Another brother who had a very high position — almost VP level in a huge company. He said: "Make dua for me, I might lose my job — because I'm not choosing to have my preferred pronouns mentioned in my email, and I'm not hiring enough of certain types of people or females in my team." He told me this on Sunday. On Monday when I met him, his entire team had been closed down and he had been let go from a very high-level position. But as I sat and spoke to him, and compared him to many others who are earning double that and still afraid — making double the money and stressed about house payments, car payments — he had this level of peace that you simply cannot find in people who are earning double what he was. Because there's no deen in their life. If a person has Qur'an in his life:

"There will be nothing to fear and nothing to grieve." This is not only at the time of death — in this dunya itself, Allah will give you this type of life. I'm not saying your life will become easy — you may lose your job, you may have many other issues — but you will be content with whatever Allah has decided for you.

Look no further than Gaza. The unthinkable is happening as we speak. Are they crying? Of course they are. The Prophet ﷺ cried when he lost his son — this is normal, you have to cry. But when you cry, you never say anything that shows you are displeased with the decisions of Allah. That is the outstanding power of Qur'an in your life — that you have this contentment that Allah will take care of your needs. As mentioned in the hadith of Imam Tirmidhi:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2926)

"Whoever gets so busy from asking Me in dua because he is involved in My dhikr — I will give him more than I give those who are asking Me."

Those who are reading Qur'an continuously will get the sense of this. I know we are suffering unprecedented levels of depression, unprecedented levels of sadness. Quick solution: sit down and start reading Qur'an. Just go do a fresh wudu, open up a Mus'haf — don't worry about where you stopped last, just read. Read Surah Yaseen. Read anything. Just pick up the Qur'an and start reading, with this niyyah: "Ya Allah, whatever I'm feeling — this fear — please remove it." Because fear is a natural thing, it happens. And shaytan nowadays is going to continue to instigate fear within you to stop you from practicing your deen.

This yaqeen will come when you understand that this book — this revelation — is coming from who? It's coming from Allah. Not from any scholar, not from anyone. It's coming from Allah. Who is Allah?

"Say: O Allah, Owner of sovereignty — You give kingdom to whoever You wish, and You snatch it from whoever You wish. You honor whoever You wish, and You disgrace whoever You want. In Your hands is all good. Indeed, You are capable of all things."

Notice — Allah could have said بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُ وَالشَّرُّ — "in Your hands is good and evil." But He doesn't say that. He says بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُ — "in Your hands is all good." Because sometimes in disgrace lies goodness. Sometimes in having your power, your position, your job snatched away lies goodness for you. People become haughty and arrogant, and the only way to fix them is for them to get a little pinch. A divorce. Loss of a job. Physical pain. Financial loss. Disgrace among friends. Getting caught for doing something sinful. Then what happens? You are disgraced among five or ten people or a family — in this dunya. Is that not far better than the disgrace in front of billions and trillions including the Prophet ﷺ on the Day of Judgment? Is it not far better than being punished on the Day of Judgment? So بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُ — even in the most difficult things happening to you, there is goodness from Allah if you want to find it.

Three Ways to Know the Qur'an Is the True Word of Allah

So how do I know that the Qur'an is actually the kalam of Allah — practically? So I can feel content. The ulama have given a few ways.

1. Al-Hayah Al-Tayyibah wa Al-Hayah Al-Marra — The Good Life and the Bad Life

Compare the lives of those who follow the deen and those who don't. You will always see that the one who follows the deen — in his poverty, in his sickness, by Allah — is happier than the person who doesn't follow the deen, in his wealth and his health. Allah promises:

"Whoever does good deeds — be they male or female — as long as they are a person of iman, then most definitely We will give them a good life. And We will reward them — the best of the actions that they used to do."

The Qur'an is promising: if you have faith and do good deeds, Allah will give you an amazing life. It cannot be lying — it is the truth. And what is the opposite of this?

"Whoever chooses to turn his back to My remembrance — for him will be a very constricted life. And We will raise him on the Day of Judgment blind."

There are too many examples, but one that comes to mind and which I've shared before: this masjid's property was owned by a certain individual. When the purchase was completed in 2007, this man sold it for millions — he became a millionaire overnight, even though he had nothing before. He had been living in complete squalor. But within six months he died of cancer. He couldn't enjoy anything. And then he left behind a son who had a very big business — an exotic car dealership, among many other businesses. The most expensive, coveted cars, three to four hundred thousand dollars each.

I still remember a conversation my father and I had with him as we were discussing the purchase of the adjacent lot. We were leaning against a three-hundred-thousand-dollar Maybach as we were talking. And he said in extreme frustration: "People think I have a good life. People look at the cars in my dealership and think I have an enjoyable life." He got frustrated and said: "I live in hell. I live in a prison. I live in a jail. I am a slave to the banks. All of this inventory — I borrowed money from the bank for it. And if I don't make my interest payments on time, the bank can come and I can lose everything." He said that with so much frustration. I wish I could have captured that for all of you — the man surrounded by millions of dollars of jaw-dropping sports cars, telling you he lives in hell, that he lives in prison, that he is a slave to the banks, and that he is not happy.

That's the reality of kufr. That's the reality of anyone involved in sin — he can never be truly happy. Allah is not lying when He says that if you turn away from My remembrance, I'm going to make sure you have a very difficult life. It may not seem difficult from the outside, but internally there is no sukoon, no peace. Normal sins create bechaini — a discomfort within you. Imagine what kufr does. Eventually that man came here one day, and my father taught him how to do wudu. He came and sat down, prayed — I think it was Maghrib salah. And he confessed: "This is the most peace and comfort I've ever felt in ages." Not even as a believer — simply doing wudu and coming to watch other people pray.

My beloved friends — we many times do not appreciate the blessing of iman. We don't appreciate the masjid. We don't appreciate the gift of the Qur'an. May Allah never test us by having us lose this. But have this conviction: following the deen will give you an enjoyable life, and not following the deen will give you an unenjoyable life.

Allah says in Surah Az-Zukhruf:

"Whoever turns away from the remembrance of the Most Merciful — We will appoint for him a shaytan, and he will be his constant companion."

This is not your normal shaytan that is with all of us — this is an added shaytan. If you turn away from the remembrance of Allah, Allah says, "I'm going to send a shaytan after you, and he will stick with you." So now every single time you want to come to the masjid, he'll create obstacles. There are people who never miss golf, never miss cricket, never miss basketball. Even presidents — the whole world is on fire and they still go do their golfing, their vacation. No shaytan comes between them and that. But any time you want to come to the deen, how many obstacles? Every single Tuesday I see it: we have a new group of people, and something came up for others. There's always a shaytan that will come between you and salah with jama'ah, between you and the dars, between you and the retreat.

This retreat that we had, for vast majority of you locals, SubhanAllah — we had thousands of people, packed to capacity, mashallah. I don't remember any retreat in which Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Isha, Maghrib, were all packed. Friday Asr at 4pm — the masjid was full all the way to the courtyard. I've never seen that before. Fajr salah was like Ramadan — all the side prayer halls, lobby, and masjid packed to capacity on all days. But where were the people of Chicago? Where were the people of Lombard, Villa Park, Glen Heights? Sleeping. In appointments. And you tell them, "Sheikh, I really had planned to come." The masjid is a mile or two away — you couldn't come for even one or two hours? People from other parts of the country spent thousands of dollars on tickets and buses. Many drove 26 hours to come here from the other end of Canada. People drove from California, from New York. Young children, moms with nursing babies. But our fellow Chicagoans were too busy. What is that? That's a shaytan.

When a person distances himself from the house of Allah, then the masjid can be right in front of his eyes and he still won't be able to go. This is a punishment from Allah in this very world: when a person does not play his cards properly with Allah, Allah says, "You think you can turn your back to Me? I will make it so you will not even be able to turn towards Me even if you want to." And that's exactly what we witness. Once a person starts missing his salawat in jama'ah, missing his tilawat of the Qur'an, missing his dhikr, missing his dua — to get back on track becomes next to impossible. And for that, we have to repent and say: "Allah, forgive me for showing You disrespect. Forgive me for not valuing and giving priority to the deen. Forgive me for thinking that the solutions to my problems lie outside of the masjid." Until a person has the humility and humbleness to seek forgiveness from Allah, that shaytan may not be pulled back, and that tawfiq may never come.

2. Af'al Allah ma'a Al-'Asin — How Allah Treats the Disobedient

See how Allah eventually treats those people who disobey Him. As Allah says:

"Allah will destroy riba, and He will give growth to charity."

This is a strange word — riba means to increase, because it seemingly increases, but in reality it is decreasing. Allah will destroy riba. A country whose economy runs on riba — no matter how great its industries, factories, and hardworking people — will be destroyed. My dear brothers, let's not for one moment think we're doing well. We are in the greatest debt more than anyone else. What is our hospital system? The most broken system in the world. Our roads — the most broken roads in the world. Our public education system — shameless, completely broken. What type of food is being made available to people? We don't realize how many problems there are in this country, how many people are suffering. We should have had the ability to uplift the entire globe, but we haven't been able to uplift our own people. There are places in this country where people still have issues with clean water — remember what happened in Flint, Michigan? The issue is not gone. Just because it doesn't make the news doesn't mean it's solved. Go look at the textbooks and the physical condition of many public school buildings. This is going towards failure in every direction — but a persona of greatness is put out there. It's fake.

SubhanAllah — this is the example of يَمْحَقُ اللَّهُ الرِّبَا that you see in this country. How does a multi-billion-dollar company go bust? How many companies every single day are going bust — valued at billions — and overnight 20,000–30,000 employees are laid off, while the CEO walks away with a multi-million-dollar severance package, while other people don't have money for food? It's a crazy situation. This is the proof that the Qur'an is true.

3. Wuqu' Al-Wa'd wa Al-Wa'id — The Fulfillment of Promises and Warnings

The third way is how the promises of goodness and the warnings of difficulty actually come to pass — not only in this world, but in the hereafter. Of course in the hereafter we will find whatever Allah promised. Wa'd means the promise of good; wa'id means the warning of punishment. How in this dunya you will see all of it falling in front of you.

So I repeat again — the three ways the ulama have said a person can know that the book of Allah is truly from Allah: Number one, comparing the good life and the bad life found in those who believe and those who disbelieve. Number two, how Allah specifically treats those who are disobedient to Him. Number three, how Allah manifests the promises for virtue and the warnings of vice.

The Four Attributes of Allah in Surah Al-Ghafir (Ayah 3)

Now this book of Allah is coming from two attributes — Al-Aziz, the overpowering: you can't run away from Him, He's not a weakling who cannot follow through on His promises. And Al-Alim, the All-Knowing: He knows the past, He knows the future. Don't say the Qur'an is not relevant, because Allah knows exactly what's going to happen until the Last Day and beyond. That's why the Qur'an is obviously full of relevance.

Now four attributes of Allah have been mentioned in the third ayah:

Number one: Ghafir al-dhanb — Forgiver of sin.
Number two: Qabil al-tawb — Acceptor of repentance.
Number three: Shadid al-iqab — Severe in punishment.
Number four: Dhi al-tawl — All-reaching, possessor of bounty.

And then: La ilaha illa Hu — There is no God but Him. Ilayhi al-masir — To Him alone is the ultimate destiny.

Very beautiful — look at how four attributes are mentioned here. Out of the four, three are connected with Allah's mercy, and one — shadid al-iqab — punishment — has been sandwiched in. Correct?

The Story of Umar ibn al-Khattab and the Sinner in Al-Sham

There is a very beautiful story related to this. During the Khilafah of Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), it was mentioned to him that a man from the people of Al-Sham who had come to Madinah had gone back to the Levant — Syria, Palestine, those areas — and had gotten involved in major sins, become a drunkard, and had left the deen.

And so Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), when he heard about it — what is your response when you hear about someone who used to come to the masjid but is not coming anymore? Did you hear about it? You ask one person and he tells you. Then you wonder: how bad are the drugs? What level? You want more details. And a person goes into unnecessary details, and starts spreading. Instead of wondering that, let's go help him out. We start spreading the sin to others, and a person doesn't feel that he should try to get that person back to the masjid. Instead it's: "Yeah, too bad, let's move on."

Umar ibn al-Khattab, with thousands of things on his mind, notices one man is not showing up. On inquiry he is told the man has gone back to Al-Sham and gotten involved in sin. Umar ibn al-Khattab tells his secretary to write a letter. And he writes:

Then he sealed the letter and told the messenger: "Go and find him, and give this letter to him. But ensure that you do not give it to him except when he is sober and conscious — not when he is drunk."

So when the messenger found him in that state, he delivered the letter. The man opened it and began to read it, and he began to say:

"Indeed, Allah has promised me to forgive me, and has also warned me of His punishment if I don't." He kept on repeating this, over and over, until he began to cry. Then he made sincere tawbah from drinking — a proper repentance.

When the news reached Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), he said:

"This is how I want all of you to treat sinners. When any of you sees someone who has slipped into sin — grab him and support him. Supplicate to Allah that He accepts his repentance. And ensure that none of you becomes an assistant of Shaytan against him."

What does it mean to be an assistant of Shaytan? When we start bad-mouthing someone, when we start backbiting about them, when we start spreading their story — this is when we are assisting Shaytan against them. My dear friends, how many times have you heard about someone who is not coming anymore to family gatherings or masjid gatherings, and instead of feeling pain and crying about their hidayah, you made dismissive remarks: "I always thought this guy was shady." You may not say it openly, but your actions speak louder than your words. Where is the pain? Where is the worry? That is a servant of Allah — let me go to them. We should always have this hope that Allah will guide them, but they need — like a person who is in the hospital — they need someone to go sit with them and make dua for them.

My uncle gave me a beautiful example I cannot forget. He said: when you see a sinner, treat him like someone walking into the masjid on crutches. You don't push him down. You don't snatch the crutches. You don't pull the chair from behind him as he's about to sit. When you see someone who is handicapped, who has special needs, your heart softens and you go make an attempt to make things easier for him. He said: that's exactly how you're supposed to treat a sinner. You need to be empathetic and understanding.

Just this morning I was speaking to a mother dealing with her daughter's issues. She said, "I tell her so much, she doesn't listen." I explained: your daughter is sick. Your words don't help. Shaytan has grabbed her mind in certain ways. And as much as you think your daughter doesn't want to listen, I promise you, she wants more than you know to be in the state you're asking of her. But when the shaytan has grabbed you by your forelock, it's like telling someone who is crippled, "Start running!" He can't — do you think he doesn't want to? He is in pain already. That doesn't help by getting upset at him. When someone is going through an emotional or spiritual turmoil, by screaming at them, yelling, demanding — it does not help. That is when you pair up with shaytan against them. And then they say, "Get out of here, leave me alone. I don't want to pray." Why? Because you ganged up with shaytan against them. Shaytan wants you to do that. Instead, understand that this person needs your help — they need sympathy, they need empathy, they need a shoulder to cry upon, they need a spiritual boost — not someone breathing down their neck, because shaytan is already doing that.

The Story of Malik ibn Dinar and the Drunkard

There is another beautiful story mentioned about Imam Malik ibn Dinar (may Allah have mercy on him). He was a great scholar of the past. He was walking on the street somewhere and he saw a man who was drunk — fallen on the ground, foam coming out of his mouth, in a horrible, horrible state. But in that horrible state, somehow this man was saying, "Allah... Allah... Allah..." So Malik ibn Dinar wondered where this sound was coming from, and he saw that this drunk man was taking the name of Allah. And Malik ibn Dinar felt bad — that Allah's name is being taken from a mouth that is so dirty.

Although the man was drunk, Malik ibn Dinar came with a cloth and he wiped his mouth clean. He said: "I don't want this dirty, filthy mouth that's got khamr on it to be taking Allah's name." So he cleaned it. Now the next day, Malik ibn Dinar goes for Fajr salah. He sees a person performing his salah — his sunnah or nawafil or tahajjud — and he is crying relentlessly, shaking you to the core. So Malik ibn Dinar asks someone: "Who is this new person in the masjid today?" After the man finishes his salah, he answers and says:

"The one who guided me has already informed you of my situation."

What had happened? Allah had informed Malik ibn Dinar through a dream. In that dream, someone told him:

"O Malik ibn Dinar — you cleansed his mouth for Our sake, because you felt it was not appropriate for a dirty tongue to be taking My name. You lowered and humbled yourself to that degree to cleanse his mouth even though no one would want to touch a drunkard man on the street. So We cleansed his heart for your sake."

SubhanAllah. How Allah gave this man hidayah because he was truly touched by the humility of this person. People came to that man and said: "Do you know who came and washed you up while you were lying in the gutter?" He said, "I don't know." They said, "Malik ibn Dinar came" — and everyone knew Malik ibn Dinar was the greatest scholar of that entire era and area. And he was moved — that this person so honorable came to him in such a dirty, filthy, impure state and cleansed him. And he immediately repented.

What that tells you is: when actions are done honestly with ikhlas and sincerity, the impact is unbelievable. Any action — when you show love, empathy, and sympathy to someone out of genuineness for the sake of Allah — is more powerful than the most powerful speaker, the most powerful bayan, and the most powerful environment. It will not have an effect on a hardened heart compared to the action of one sincere, concerned individual. So if we bring sincerity within our lives, we can bring a massive change within the lives of people around us. That's the call to action: bring sincerity within yourself, and begin to work not only upon yourself but with other people.

When we hear about people committing sin: don't attack them. Don't gang up with shaytan against them. Do not spread their sins in front of other people. Instead, go visit them at their home. Go talk to them. Extend an olive branch. They will be shocked: "Really? You just came from the masjid, and you're coming to my house?" They'll be shocked because shaytan has made them believe that you have joined his party, and anyone from hizb Allah will never come to them. You have to break that stigma. You have to say: "Who cares what sins you're involved in — I'm here to help you, man. I'm here to assist you. You are beloved to me." And they'll say, "Why would I be beloved to you? I'm a drunkard, a druggy. Look at your turban, your beard — why would you have any love for me?" "Because you are a servant of Allah. And my job is to connect the servants of Allah with Allah. So no matter how low you fall, I am always going to try to pick you up and bring you back to Allah."

A mother who is reunited with her lost child by some good person who found that child — she can never, ever, ever forget that person. When we bring the lost servants of Allah back to Allah, the type of love you and I will get from Allah is second to none. Allah will do so much for you, because you brought that lost servant of His right back to Him. Of course Allah could bring him back Himself — Allah doesn't need you and I. But the fact that Allah is allowing you to become an agent on His behalf is something beautiful.

Ghafir al-Dhanb and Qabil al-Tawb — Two Separate Actions

Ghafir al-dhanb and qabil al-tawb have a waw — "and" — between them, meaning these two things are separate. If they were the same thing, Allah would not have used "and." So forgiveness of sin is different from acceptance of repentance.

When a person commits a sin, number one: you have to stop committing that sin, and inshallah Allah will forgive it. But number two: you also have to repent. It's not sufficient to stop sinning — it's important beyond stopping to actually seek forgiveness from Allah for what already happened. And here you clearly see that these are two separate actions. Don't stop sinning only. Go back and show pain in your heart, tears in your eyes, sadness in your voice, and show to Allah al-nadama — genuine guilt over what has happened. Allah wants to see that. Once Allah sees that guilt, qabil — He will inshallah accept that repentance.

Dhanb — like dhanab, the tail of an animal, it's at the end. Similarly, a sin makes a person at the extreme end in his relationship with Allah, pushes him into the corner. The way to get back close to Allah is seeking forgiveness from Him. The Prophet ﷺ has said:

"Indeed, I seek forgiveness from Allah, and I repent to Him — one hundred times every single day."

Two things: istighfar is one, and tawbah is the other. He does both, one hundred times every day. Imagine how often you and I should be doing this on a regular basis.

However, if a person does not repent even after committing sins — shadid al-iqab — Allah says, "I am also very severe in punishment." Sometimes a punishment is to jolt a person up to get him to repent. So many times we start suffering after we commit a sin. We committed a haram, and things start going south in our lives. We start losing jobs, losing health, or our children or spouse get into a big painful accident or disease. Reflect: what sin did I possibly commit, because of which this is happening? So Allah gives severe punishment, and the purpose of that severe punishment is also to get a person back to Him.

Dhi al-tawl — tawl here means length, far-reaching. That Allah's blessings are very far-reaching. You ask for a hundred, He'll give you a thousand. You ask for one, He'll give you ten. Allah will envelope you with His blessings.

La ilaha illa Hu — There is no reason for you to seek forgiveness from anyone else when it's a sin against Allah. You don't need an intermediary between you and Allah. You don't have to confess to anyone. There is none worthy of worship except for Him. You need to clear your record? Just go straight to Him. You don't need to go to anyone else. The only reason you go to someone else is to get assistance in breaking your addiction or getting out of a vicious cycle of sin — that's when you consult a scholar or so forth. But when it comes to the actual act of seeking forgiveness, we don't need to and should never confess to anyone else. You confess only to Allah.

Ilayhi al-masir — A person can run, a person can hide. At the end of the day, we're all going to go back to the final destination, which is Allah. The good and the bad lies with Allah. So it only makes sense that we utilize three-fourths of these attributes — which are of forgiveness — and turn to Allah. Turn to Allah now and say: "Ya Allah, allow me to become more punctual in the masjid, more punctual in my salah, more punctual with my tilawah of the Qur'an. And whatever sins I have started committing after Ramadan especially, Ya Allah, allow me to get rid of those sins from my life. Allow me to repent properly from those major mistakes I may be involved in."

Closing Du'a

I ask Almighty Allah that He allows us to appreciate whatever was shared today. May He allow myself and all of us to put it into practice. May He allow us to propagate it to others. May Allah allow all of us to fall in love with the Qur'an and remain in love with the Qur'an — with its meanings, with its recitation, with its tajweed, with its fahm and its tafsir. May Allah allow all of us and our family members to remain servants of the Qur'an. May He allow our lives to grow — spiritually, academically, physically, financially, in every sense of the word — through the barakah of the Qur'an.

This Friday, we will have our annual Hajj seminar. This Friday, after Salatul Maghrib — please spread the word. Anyone who is going for Hajj, please join us here after Salatul Maghrib. It will go on till after Isha. All questions will be answered. There will be a practical workshop, inshallah — the spiritual dimensions and the practical dimensions of Hajj, the fiqh of Hajj — this Friday evening, inshallah.

If you've joined us for the first time — listening online or here in person — please take your phone quickly and, as the adhan will be called now, take a picture of the community group link if this is the first time you're joining for tafsir or any other program. This is where all of our flyers and links to all of our talks are shared. Even the links for our retreat will be shared there, inshallah. Please join the events group. Jazakallah khair. We will have the adhan and begin the salah.