Surah Ghafir - Ep.11 - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 7/30

Protecting the Family from Corruption

My brother, may Allah grant him success, mentioned — subhanAllah — there's nothing beyond getting the money of the husband, right? Because the wife knows that counts. So this guy has become too rich. I need to use this money for my own shahawat.

Usually you'll see the correlation when the shayanic stuff happens. Not only are they going for divorce, but the hijab comes off, the niqab comes off, the jilbab comes off. All of a sudden, haya comes out, deen comes out, Qur'an comes out.

This is the same thing you'll see. It works together, hand in hand. Hand in hand.

Whenever they're filing for divorce, you'll see all the deen also going out the door. Because actually it's not really about rights. It's about the unbelievable level of desire — greed for wealth.

I want wealth. So the type of accusations that they make — I was shocked. And I'm gonna share it. May Allah, I hope the brother doesn't mind, but for you to understand. The boy is 11 years old, and she's in court saying my husband — or ex-husband — is trying to make my son, 11 years old, recruit for ISIS. ISIS is finished. We didn't even hear about ISIS. It's gone. Where does it come from? But what about an 11-year-old? SubhanAllah.

Pure, just the desire to use this to get money from the husband. And we talk about this — unfortunately, most places we don't get a chance to speak about it. How? What level? Because a lot of people are going through this and they think that they're alone. No, you're not alone. This is a big disease that's happening within our community.

Just like — because why? The lady is the key to the door, and she holds the key to the house. If you grab the lady and corrupt her, the kids are automatically out. That's one thing. Number two: make each other fight with one another.

And so what happens when you have the father lion and the mother lion fighting with each other? Even if they're lions, what happens to the cubs? Even if the cubs are of a lion, they're still cubs. They become easy prey — whether it's bears, lions, and of course what about deer and antelope and other things. So make the parents fight with one another, while the kids become easy fodder for the shayateen, for the wolves.

So these are two things to reflect upon, that we should ask Allah's protection. And make lots of shukr and concern for not only ourselves but the women of our home. And that tarbiyah has to be done — it has to come through du'a, and through organically having ourselves and our women sit in good gatherings. We cannot say, I'm gonna sit and sin, I'll send you — go listen to the tafsir. It doesn't work like that. We have to lead by example, and we have to take the entire family and allow us to grow.

But now — why did my thought go here — may Allah grant this brother success in protecting himself from this evil. But mashallah, what did he tell me? He said, I'm ready to lose all my money, but my worry is just my son. May Allah grant his son hifazah and protection, his wealth hifazah also, and protect him from this harm. And all those men and women — not to say there aren't women who are suffering, of course there are as well, but I'm speaking about a specific type of issue here. And all those women also who are suffering at the hands of abusive husbands, or just not good husbands, may Allah grant them protection from harm. Ameen, Rabbil Alameen.

Entrusting Your Affairs to Allah

But someone who is in that situation, what do you need to do? You make your effort, and then you say:

"I entrust all my affairs to Allah."

Ya Allah, I did all that I need to do — talked to the lawyer, did this, did that, got all my documentation, everything is set. Now you need to have true trust that Allah would not let me down. Why am I in this fight?

And I know most of the husbands — and many, by the way, many, I would say well over ten have reached out to me, and I have personal relationships with these brothers who are suffering. It's always about the honesty of deen. They're like, "Sheikh, you know, we don't care about the money. خَلَاص — all money you want to take, you want to take this, take it man, go, get out of here. I don't care about that. I just am worried about my children. I don't want — you're off track, you've lost all the deen. I married you for the sake of your deen. Now you've switched on me like this. And I don't want my kids to lose deen. That's all I care about."

When you have that type of fikr, and you beg Allah, Allah will not let you down.

Allah saved him from that great evil that they plotted. And I have — alhamdulillah — seen the same success in all these cases, where people said, "I'm gonna do my a'mal, I'm gonna do my adhkar, I'm gonna give sadaqah. But in my heart, I'm never for once going to think that Allah has let me down."

Ya Allah, what was this about? I married a righteous girl thinking — I played by the books, I didn't do zina, I didn't do dating, I played by the books. What's this? But this is imtihan from Allah. That's all it is.

A Story of Spiritual Transformation Through Trial

I've shared this story in the past of a brother who came to me one day at Fajr time. He said, "I've come to meet with you from so far." He took a flight and came at 1 a.m. the night before, and came for Fajr at 4:45 a.m. to talk to me — from hours away he flew. And he shared with me his situation of the same thing: wife and what was going on.

Listening to his story, I was emotionally struck. I was shocked. I was like, "Man, this is horrible. What would I do if this would happen to me?" I was overwhelmed with his powerful and sad story.

So what he told me was the same thing. He said, "Sheikh, I want to tell you that as much as I'm suffering, a part of me does not want this suffering to end." And I said, "What?" He said, "Because I have cried so much in front of Allah in these past months. And I have learned to enjoy my relationship with Allah — that I'm afraid if Allah were to take this situation away from me, I may not be able to enjoy this level of connection with Allah again. So although I'm making du'a to Allah to remove this problem, a part of me says, 'Ya Allah, you know, maybe not.' Because this has really got me down to my knees. And it's brought me down to the musalla. And the musalla is wet with tears every night. Am I gonna get this again? I don't know."

And that was a very powerful moment on an early morning, post-Fajr discussion. Very spiritually uplifting for me to see that. And mashallah, that's exactly what happened. He's happy, he's married again with kids and whatnot. Alhamdulillah, his life is far better than where he was before.

The Sayings of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq: Four Causes for Amazement

So to those women and men who are in distress because of whatever issue, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq is saying: "Come on, I'm surprised if you don't reflect on this ayah." Your ex-business partner is plotting against you. Your siblings are plotting against you. A non-Muslim is plotting against you. Whoever it may be — do your work and turn over all your affairs to Allah, and Allah will protect you.

Third Cause: Running After the Dunya

Number three, he says:

"I am surprised at the one who is running after the dunya and the beauty of this dunya, and yet does not turn his attention to the saying of Allah Most High: 'What Allah wills — there is no power except with Allah.'"

He doesn't turn his attention to Ayah 39 of Surah al-Kahf. The person — he saw his friend who had two big gardens, and he was boasting about his gardens. And the other friend was a righteous, pious man, but he didn't have much money. What did he say? He said, "Oh, mashallah — there is no power except for the power that comes from Allah. I don't have much money, I have deen. But you shouldn't be haughty over this."

What happened? Allah says, after that — Ayah 40:

"Perhaps my Lord will give me something better than your garden."

He says, "You've got shirk and kufr and you're boasting about your gardens. I am hopeful that Allah will give me a much better garden than you." So it is no point in running after the dunya with disbelief in our heart or sins in our lives. Instead, the better way is to have deen in our life and work towards, of course, a dunya and akhira. And whatever you get, alhamdulillah. And whatever you don't get, you're going to get something far, far, far better than what the kuffar have in this dunya — far better than what the fusaq have.

So this ayah 39 and 40 — I'm surprised that someone is running after the dunya without having this trust that if I follow the deen, Allah will give me something far better.

How many of us are thinking about this situation — that I want my children to follow the deen and have a successful life? Unfortunately, a big chunk of the ummah says, "I want them to have a successful dunya life and if they have a little bit of deen, alhamdulillah. If not, no problem." That's exactly what the norm is today. The key thing is I need to have material success at all levels.

And if deen comes — so many of our beloved students who study here, each one I tell you, brothers, sit down. More powerful than my speech here are the stories of our students. Listen to their stories. Have a cup of tea after Isha. Grab a new face and say, "Hey, you know what, how did you end up here?" And I promise you, each and every one's story is more shocking than the previous one. And it's inspiring.

But what you'll see for most of our youth here is that they don't have the support of their parents — instead they have opposition. Because their parents simply don't understand.

MashAllah, this year we're blessed to have — in our one-year program, which has not begun yet, starting August 12th — especially if there's space left on the sister side. So if there are women who want to apply, please go ahead and quickly do it. MashAllah, I'm happy we have working professionals this year — mothers of many children, lawyers, doctors, alhamdulillah, who are joining the program. So there are many women who are professional career women as well. You want to take some time off and study? Or you are a homemaker and you want to come study? Please by all means apply. Or even an 18 or 19-year-old sister before going to college — go ahead and apply.

But inshallah, this year I'm told we have 10 reverts in the program on the boys' side. MashAllah. So there are stories you ought to hear. Complete opposition. I got a message a few days ago, while I'm in between talks and about to go to the minbar. A student calls me and I said, "I can't, I'm going up to speak. What's going on?" He said, "I've been kicked out of the house. I've been kicked out." Born Muslim, kicked out of the house. "What should I do next? Because I'm studying at Darussalam. This is too much."

This is the Sahaba's age, you see it — sacrifices. Why are you being kicked out? Because the level of deen that Allah has opened up to you, your parents just simply can't get it. They don't understand the importance of studying the deen. They don't understand that it's more important to protect yourself from the fire of Jahannam than everything else. Number one: protect yourself from the fire. And then after that you do everything else.

It makes no sense. Your house is on fire and you're like, "Hey, can I have some chocolate chip cookies and some milk? Can I have my favorite blanket?" You've got to run out of the house and then from outside try to save the house. We — our ummah — are running towards Jahannam, and yet parents and youth alike, their mind is somewhere else.

So what does He say in Surah al-Kahf? Say, مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ. Focus on your deen and work hard for your dunya as well. And Allah will give you inshallah a dunya better than those. And an akhira definitely better than those who only cared about their dunya.

Fourth Cause: Grief Without the Du'a of Yunus

And number four. He says:

Ayah 87 and 88 of Surah al-Anbiya.

He says, "I am surprised at the one who is worried, who feels depressed, who feels constricted — that's half of the ummah, right? Who feels depressed, constricted, in difficulty. And why does he not focus on Ayah 87 of Surah al-Anbiya and start reciting:"

"There is none worthy of worship besides You, Ya Allah, glory be to You. Indeed, I am from amongst the oppressors."

"Because I have heard Allah mentioning the du'a of Yunus, and He mentions right after that:"

"Indeed, We accepted his du'a. And We saved him from that gham — depression, worry, anxiety. And in this manner, We shall save all the believers."

Allah in this last ayah — mashallah, it's like a home run for us. Allah is declaring in this ayah a promise — that this is not only for Nabi Yunus. The way I helped Nabi Yunus, I will help every single believer, if you play your cards right, if you do your proper job — which is turn to Allah and say:

Most of us know this du'a — in the subcontinent this is known as Ayat al-Karima. And again, all of these verses are not to be merely recited. They have to be said with full conviction.

The Story of Mu'min Aal-i-Fir'awn and the Punishment of the Oppressors

So this is something I want to begin our dars today with. Allah mentions — He doesn't mention what happened, He just says Allah protected him, so he got saved somehow. How did he get saved? We spoke about it last week. We don't know, we don't need to know. He said, Allah said He saved him — done deal. He miraculously saved him however He saved him.

And then He didn't just save him — the entire family of Fir'awn ended up in a huge punishment, and they were all perished in the sea.

Now what happens when you get perished in the sea? It's over, they say. "Oh, he died a peaceful sleep." "He died peacefully in his sleep." When they talk about these kuffar, and these zalimin, and these oppressors of today and the past — and they have a big state funeral and they say, "Look at him," they embalm the body and say, "Look at his smile" — you don't know what he's going through. You don't know what he's going through.

The azab happens in the dunya. Al-Fir'awn died in a painful punishment — not just drowning. Drowning alone — if someone just dies peacefully at home, there's no peace at home. You have no idea how painful death itself is. Without burning, without electric chair, without drowning, without gunfire — just a so-called normal death.

Allah says in Surah al-Waqi'ah:

"Then why, when the soul reaches the throat — and you at that moment are looking on — and We are nearer to him than you, but you do not see."

Until the soul reaches the throat — it's coming out but it's stuck. One brother was telling me about his aunt. He said she was — for one hour he watched her, subhanAllah — with the soul stuck at the throat. One hour. It just wouldn't come out. She was in the naza', what we call the naza' — the soul being pulled out. And he said, "We sat there for so long." Then eventually a scholar went there and read Surah Yaseen. He said, "Literally as I finished Surah Yaseen, she passed away." This is why it says that Surah Yaseen should be recited upon those who are muhtadar — those who are passing away — to make the naza' easy. Naza' means the soul being pulled out.

So that itself — you might read Imam al-Qurtubi's Al-Tadhkira fi Ahwal al-Mawta wa'l-Akhira. That book — Al-Tadhkira, the Reminder — is filled with detailed stories about death, the spectacle of death, and what happens after death. It's very important to read.

So death itself — the ulema mention — that death for a disbeliever is so painful that if there were no Jahannam after that, death itself would be sufficient as a punishment.

So what does that passage say? Allah says, "We are closer to him than you." وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنكُمْ — We're closer to the dying man than all of you rather — closer to him than the husband or wife holding the hand of the dying person, kissing his forehead. Allah says, we're closer to the dying man than the rest of you. وَلَٰكِن لَّا تُبْصِرُونَ — but you all can't see. You can't see where we are. What does "we" mean? That is, us and our angels are all present. The Angel of Death is there. And this is how it is.

Three Stages of Punishment: Dunya, Barzakh, and the Hereafter

So one death — one punishment of Fir'awn and the disbelievers and the fusaq — happens where? In the dunya, at the time of death. Number two is the Barzakh.

"The Fire — they are exposed to it morning and evening."

This is happening in the grave. This is the proof that there is punishment in the grave. The Day of Judgment is not here yet.

Allah says:

"And on the Day when the Hour will be established — 'Admit the people of Fir'awn into the severest torment.'"

So in the grave itself, the punishment takes place — how many times a day? Twice a day. Imagine a warden comes and bangs on the prisoner's door, opens it up, drags him to a dungeon further, and electrocutes him and punishes him — once a day. Imagine hearing the warden coming to your room. The fear: "Oh my God, I'm going to get electrocuted now. I'm going to get waterboarded now. I'm going to get punished now. My nails are going to be pulled out now." Allahu Akbar, whatever happens. SubhanAllah. But imagine that happening twice a day. That's the Barzakh.

Allah says the family of Fir'awn and Fir'awn are going through this in the grave twice a day. He already died 5,000 or 6,000 years ago — Allah knows best how many exact years. It's happening till today. And how many years till the Day of Judgment? This is going to continue to happen.

And anyone who follows the footsteps of disbelievers and fusaq and fujjar — there's no such thing as "he died peacefully." There's none of that. Not only do you not die peacefully, death is not an end to it. Instead, death is only the beginning of the real punishment in the hereafter.

The Grave: Morning and Evening Exposure

Allah mentions in many places of the Qur'an how this works. I'll share with you a hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1379; Sahih Muslim, Book 53, Hadith 2866)

"When one of you passes away, his place in the hereafter is shown to him every morning and evening. If he is of the people of Paradise, then from the people of Paradise. And if he is of the people of the Fire, then from the people of the Fire. And it is told to him: 'This is your seat, until Allah resurrects you on the Day of Judgment.'"

Every morning and evening in the grave. Every morning: "This is where you're headed. You think this is bad, look where you're headed." Or: "Are you enjoying this blessing of the grave? MashAllah, good believer."

Brothers, move forward please. Brothers in the back, please move forward. Let's try our best to sit as close as possible and not leave any gaps. May Allah reward you all. InshAllah, this is our sincerity that we show to Allah. Sit as close as possible. BarakAllahu feekum. Sisters as well in the prayer hall, I encourage you to please sit close together. Sit together, sit forward, inshallah. Let's try our best not to lean against the wall unless we really need to. Use the chair if we need to.

So every morning and evening, the place in Paradise or Hellfire is shown. If he's headed to Paradise, he will see his spot in Paradise. And if he's headed to Hellfire, then he's shown his spot from Ahlul Nar. And it is told to him: "This is your spot. Keep on enjoying it until Allah raises you to that Jannah." Or: "Keep on suffering until Allah takes you towards that place in Hellfire."

The Disputation in Hellfire

Allah says on the Day of Judgment, what will be said to the people of Fir'awn — "Take them all into the severest torment."

My dear brothers and sisters, what we learn from here is:

"And behold, when they will dispute with one another in the Fire, the weak will say to those who were arrogant: 'Indeed, we were your followers — so will you avail us against even a portion of the Fire?'"

Very important ayah. Allah clearly mentions that there is a stratification in this world. There are the movers and shakers of society. There are the leaders of society. There are the trendsetters in society. And then there are the majority of the people — simple followers. So now you have to ask yourself: which one of these two are you? Number one. And number two: if you are a follower or a leader — leader in what?

If you look at this entire social media phenomenon — the entire online presence of various things — let me talk about one section: high-end fashion. What does it come down to? It's all about someone said, "This jacket will make me look good. These pair of shoes will make me feel that I'm somebody of worth." That's all it is. So he said, "So-and-so basketball player wears that, so-and-so singer wears this, so-and-so model wears that, so now I have to wear it."

This craze — and I'm told from brothers and sisters from Pakistan, I mean everywhere is crazy, but they say about Pakistani culture too, it's crazy. But the women — the women who are listening can attest to this — that there is this unbelievable level of culture of fashion. Spring fashion, summer fashion, fall fashion, winter fashion. And I'm told that these designers — brothers here have told me — some of these wedding designs and clothes, they're booked out two years in advance. Two years in advance. SubhanAllah. And the amount of money spent on that is unbelievable.

Of course we just heard about the marriage that happened — astaghfirullah al-azim. This is a perfect example of what we're speaking about here. A most despicable leader, leading all the despicable people to falling. The whole world — while our Muslims are being butchered — so much of the world is putting attention on a 650 million dollar wedding. I read an article today: 650 million dollars. What is that? What is this level of gluttony, hedonistic gluttony? It's a perfect example of this. A fool leading fools. And this is exactly — this whole excitement — "I have to wear a purse, I have to wear this."

What they're telling me — the sisters — is that there is such excitement, "I cannot walk out with old fashion," that they pay designers or store owners well in advance, to say, "As soon as that clothing gets released, you have to mail it to me first." You know, I remember in the 90s, we used to play computer games — that's the last time I played games. We used to find out, "When is the new release?" Like Command & Conquer, whatever the case may be. And we'd call in advance and say, "Please keep it for me. I'm gonna come Friday evening after school to pick it up." SubhanAllah. You wanna get there first, then you can brag — bragging rights the next day in school. "Hey, I beat these levels." So this is kind of what it is.

The craze over this culture of clothing — within our Muslims, of course the children are going to be led astray. If all you care about is fashion, and you are simply wearing what the such-and-such actress or actor has, what's going to happen? What is going to happen to the deen of the kids? So why can't you wear this? Why do you have to wear it? "Because so-and-so actress, so-and-so model is wearing it, so now I have to wear it." This is the craze in all the weddings. Everywhere.

We went to one of our mashallah ulema — our graduates — yesterday to their wedding. So nice. MashAllah, Allah has blessed them with a lot of wealth. But such a simple, clean wedding — with the least expense. And he himself, the father of the son, said, "What do you think, are you happy? How is this?" I said, "Very good. It's really good. Alhamdulillah, am I happy? You'll be happy." Save your money for something. Save your son-in-law and daughter-in-law for a nice honeymoon — no problem. Save the money from these useless expenses. Simplicity. Did he lose face in society because he had a simple wedding? No.

Don't say you can't serve good food — but over the top craze? 650 million — أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم. What is this? But you'll see people — all of them — everyone's following them on Instagram, on TikTok, everyone's watching that. So they're both the same. All these guys — if they had the money — they'd do the same. And we ask them: "If you had a billion, would you not spend 650 million on the wedding?" They say, "Of course." 10 million given to one singer to come for 10-15 minutes.

This is a perfect example of when you become عَبْدَ الْهَوَى — when you become a worshiper of yourself. Wallahi, no brains. Which man would give 10 million dollars to a person for 15 minutes? Even Jibreel Ameen wouldn't charge that — you know what I mean? Astaghfirullah al-azim.

This is the idea of what I'm trying to say. We should take this as an example and learn from it. You've lost your mind, you've got hijab over your عَقْل, and you've become a worshiper of the nafs. It's a perfect example of that.

The Influencers of Hell

Allah says they're going to fight. All the influencers — kuffar influencers, fusaq, fujjar influencers of the world, who are promoting different types of clothing and brands and cars and whatever — halal and haram and israf, all of it put together. Allah says on the Day of Judgment, every influencer will be fighting with his followers in Hell. Every haram influencer will be fighting.

How many times have we heard of females who've taken off their hijab? Because the hijabi influencer who did hijabi tutorials — who made her money by selling hijabs — decided one day she's going to take it off. And guess what happened? 100,000 of her followers — God knows how many of them took off their hijab because the influencer took it off. Many sisters have shared this.

And the amount of other unbelievable things that are happening today in the dunya because of the influencers, we don't know. We say, "I give bayan every day to you, you don't listen. The mufti said this, the scholar says this, why are you turning out this way?" Because they don't listen to what the scholar says, or to what the bayan is happening in the masjid. They're not present here. They're non-stop watching and consuming Instagram, and TikTok, and Facebook, and all this other stuff — Snapchat. And that's exactly what they're thinking.

Ask yourself: before you buy anything, why are you buying it? What is the motivation? And if the motivation is because others have it, because so-and-so has it — that's a problem. We cannot live a life based on following others.

The Qur'an says the followers will be telling these arrogant leaders: "We followed you in the dunya all the way to this pit of hell — are you going to please, please, please save us from the fire of Jahannam now? We're burning here, we're being punished by Allah — can you please save us here?" This has been mentioned in multiple places in the Qur'an.

Allah mentions in Surah 7 as well:

"Those who were arrogant will say to those who were weak: 'Did we stop you from guidance after it had come to you? Rather, you yourselves were sinners.'"

"Did we force you to leave the masjid and come to our rock concert? Did we force you to take off your hijab? Did we force you to watch haram? Stop blaming us for your problems. Yeah, we have problems, but you know what — you yourself are sinners. You followed your own desires and now you blame it on us." Allah is saying this in the Qur'an, ya ikhwan. This is going to happen. And this is exactly what we're mindlessly doing today.

"The followers will say to the arrogant: 'Rather it was your scheming day and night — when you commanded us to disbelieve in Allah and to set up rivals to Him.'"

The influencers used to figure out different ways of how to make people disobedient to Allah and become their followers. That's exactly it. Algorithms, all of the various ways they use to popularize themselves, how to get you addicted to watching them and following them — it's a whole science. A very deep science. Just like you have drug dealers who know what they're doing and how to make someone an addict — similarly, all of these people online who are selling different products or are influencers and pop stars, they're very smart. They know exactly what they're doing. They know exactly how to take control of the masses. And we are literally experiencing mind control, ya ikhwan. Mind control.

Just go outside to see the stores. Even our Muslim stores — places where young men and women are gathering. SubhanAllah. Just walk around and you see where the ummah is going. It breaks your heart. And you see where the ummah is so lost, so lost, so lost. And we wonder: where is the help of Allah?

The help of Allah — as today's dars is going to be about as well, inshallah — is not with people who claim to be Muslim. Allah never said that anywhere in the Qur'an. "I will help those who claim to be Muslim." He never said that. "I will help those who claim to be believers." He never said that. Claim doesn't work. It has to be truth. There has to be a shakal and surah — there has to be external and internal aspects to it.

Double Punishment for Those Who Misled Others

So Allah then mentions in another place — in the 22nd juz', and also in Surah al-Ahzab — Allah says:

"Our Lord, give them double the punishment and curse them with a mighty curse."

They'll say: "Oh Allah, we're suffering. The followers will be so upset at having followed these influencers into hell. They'll say, 'O Allah, please double the punishment of these people. Just double it. So at least, as we're suffering and screaming here, we can see someone is going through more than us. Because we feel so bad — we honestly just didn't know better. We just sat there and scrolled and scrolled and scrolled. We're just the miskeen. We're the poor guys who just followed. He said, "Buy this $400 purse." We said, okay. "Buy this $1,000 suit." We did that. "Buy this phone, you'll be happy." "Buy this car, you'll be happy." And that's what we did. "Take off your hijab and you'll get freedom." "Don't go to the masjid, you'll feel happy." "Go and dance over here and do that, you'll feel good." We did that. Honestly, we didn't want to go to hell. But we just followed. Can you please give double punishment to these people?'"

This is mentioned in the Qur'an. آتِهِمْ ضِعْفَيْنِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ — Ya Allah, please double the punishment on these people. وَالْعَنْهُمْ لَعْنًا كَبِيرًا — and Ya Allah, curse them with a huge curse. Cursing means to be far away from the rahmah of Allah.

Allah says, "No, not like that." Allah says:

"For each is a double punishment."

"Both of you are going to actually get it." You cursed him — guess what? I'm going to increase the punishment on both of you. So privately speaking, most definitely those who misled others — 100% their punishment is going to be more. There's no doubt about that. But Allah does not want the followers to even feel satisfaction at seeing the one who misled them getting double punishment. Do you understand that?

Because to see someone who misled you getting punished double — that's a sense of sukoon, at least, right? "Alhamdulillah, I'm punished but he's going through double." Allah says, "No, I'm not gonna give you that level of enjoyment." So you're not going to be able to see it. This punishment is going to happen to both of you. But the other guy is not going to get just double — he's going to get punishment for every single person he misled. So this is a warning to all of us.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 16, Hadith 1017)

"Whoever starts a bad practice, he will bear the burden of his sin and the burden of whoever follows it, without their burden being reduced in the least."

My beloved brothers and sisters, be careful. None of us are free from sin. But for Allah's sake, if you sin, sin in private. For Allah's sake, if you sin, don't popularize it. For Allah's sake, if you sin, don't try to legitimize it in public — "misery loves company, I'm doing it, you should join me." Don't do that. Quietly sin and beg Allah for forgiveness if you're sinning — not just forgiveness, but rather beg Allah to allow you to repent from that.

I understand some people are addicted to various things, but don't legitimize it. Because if you encourage someone to do it, then you will get the sin of whatever actions they do for the rest of their life. And this is what's happening today. And this is a warning for us — especially for people who are in a position of fatwa, or a position of so-called scholarship. Our actions may be weak, and that's between us and Allah. But we have to be super careful what we teach the people. If we teach the people something incorrect and give fatwa on something which is wrong, how are we going to face Allah with the sins of thousands of people?

This is why — one of the ulema who was visiting here this past Friday was saying about one of his scholars, still alive. He said, when a young mufti brought a fatwa to the head mufti and said, "Can you please sign it?" the head mufti said, "Okay, put it on my desk." One day happened, two days happened — he said, "Can you please sign it? I need to publish this fatwa. It was a very landmark fatwa." And when he asked him what the problem was, he said, "I just have so much hesitation to put my pen on something. Because I know whatever happens after this fatwa is going to be on my name." Why? As they say, "I am signing on behalf of Allah. I am saying: Islam says this is permissible."

So nowadays that fear is not there. People give fatwa left and right. But before, it was like you think a hundred times: "Brother, I don't know. Please ask my ustad. Please ask an elder." Today a person, before you finish a sentence, says, "Brother, this is the answer" — having never spent one week studying the deen. But we love to be the loudest in giving any answer. Understand: if you give a wrong answer, you're going to pay the price for it in the akhira, for all the years that person was misled.

So we should not make jur'ah — we should not jump up and try to give answers. Instead we should refer people to the people of knowledge. And a person of true knowledge will always think twice — he will not take fatwa easy. May Allah help our Muslim scholars to remain firm on the deen. May Allah preserve and protect them wherever they may be, from ever being misguided — and more importantly, from misleading the public.

Allah mentions after that:

"Those who were arrogant will say: 'Indeed, we are all in it together. Indeed, Allah has already judged between His servants.'"

They will say, "Sorry, we cannot help you. Indeed, we are all of us steeped into this hell. If you think we could help you — don't you think if we could help you, we would help ourselves? If we can't help ourselves, how can we help you? Done — it's too late. Indeed, Allah has already judged between all His servants with justice." The gates are closed, the judge has made the final ruling. Case closed.

The chief justice — the biggest chief justice — is who? Allah. Once Allah has signed off on it, there's no possibility of opening up the case again. There's no possibility of trying to challenge it in court. Because Allah is not just the qadi and the judge — what is He? مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ. He owns the Day of Judgment. All branches of government are in one hand. Alhamdulillah, He's merciful, He's loving, He's caring, He's kind.

And that is why one Bedouin, when he heard الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ — I think it's these verses, or it may have been a different verse. He said, "Who is in charge? Allah is in charge?" He said, "I'm happy." He said, "What are you talking about?" He said, "Allah is al-Rahman al-Rahim and Allah is Rabb — He will never do injustice. As long as I know the one who judges is Allah and He is most merciful, I'm not afraid." And Allah will never let that person down who has this type of good expectation from Allah — because you're not going to have such good expectations from Allah unless you also walk the walk. You obviously do things to deserve Allah's mercy.

The Plea of the Dwellers of Hellfire

"And those in the Fire will say to the keepers of Hell: 'Call upon your Lord to lighten for us one day of the punishment.'"

Then all of those in the fire of Jahannam will speak up — to the keepers of hell. خَزَنَة — plural of خَازِن — the keepers of hell. They will say, "Call upon your Lord to lighten from us — just one day. Can we have a break? One day?" This is trillions of years of non-stop torment. "Can we have one day off? No punishment."

And it comes in another verse:

"And they will call: 'O Malik, let your Lord put an end to us!'"

O Malik — Malik is who? The angel in charge of all the angels who oversee Jahannam. "O Malik, we beg you to ask Allah to just end us." The biggest blessing at that moment would most definitely be death. And the answer — it comes in narrations — they will call out to Malik for a thousand years, just to feel disgraced and hopeless. That's the purpose: feel disgraced and hopeless. A thousand years later, imagine you ask someone something and for three or five seconds they're not paying attention — how upsetting that is to you. A thousand years of begging Malik. And why are they begging Malik? And even here, why are they speaking to the angels? Because they know they don't have the standing to speak directly to Allah. A thousand years later, the angel asks, "What do you want?" "Please ask Allah to give us death." The answer, a thousand years later, is:

"Indeed, you will remain."

"You're going to stay here forever." Now they'll again have to keep on asking. And that's when Allah will say: "Seal their mouths." Now even the ability to take out one trillionth of your stress by screaming — you're not going to be able to do that either. That avenue is shut.

May Allah protect us from the fire of hell. It's important to read and study about Jahannam and Jannah both — so that it motivates us to do good and protects us from sin. And so that we don't look at those who are sinning with eyes of envy. No matter how much dunya they have, no matter how much strength they have, no matter how great their armies are — this is where they're headed. Why are you envious of them? What is there to be excited about?

So here they're asking, "Ya Allah, give us one day off." The keepers will say:

"Did your messengers not come to you with clear proofs?"

"Did you just wake up and end up in hell? No — our messengers came with the verses of the Qur'an. You got white hair. You got back pain, knee pain. You saw people dying around you. These are all signs from Allah. You saw natural disasters. Why didn't you wake up?"

"They will say: 'Yes indeed.'" The dwellers of Hellfire say, "Yes, indeed, we did receive the messengers. We did hear about that." The keepers will say:

"Then keep on calling — and the call of the disbelievers is nothing but in vain."

And it comes in another place:

"Do not call today for one destruction — call for many destructions."

Look at the ayah, man. The taunting. Psychological punishment to the highest degree. They'll say, "Ya Allah, please give us death." What is the answer? "Don't ask just for one death. Why are you asking for one? Ask Allah to give you death a thousand times." Guess what? You're never going to die. Keep on asking for death multiple times. From Surah al-Furqan — we did that.

So here as well, the angels will say: "Keep on crying." But the cry of the disbelievers in Jahannam is going to be nothing but misguided. Like when a person shoots arrows in the wrong direction — the arrows miss their target. Similarly, your du'a is never going to hit its target. No one's going to listen to you. Everything has been closed up.

Allah's Promise of Help for the Believers

Then Allah, after mentioning how Mu'min Aal-i-Fir'awn came out of nowhere and helped Musa's message — this whole surah, for those of you joining us for the first time, is called Surah al-Mu'min. Named after who? Mu'min Aal-i-Fir'awn. Allah chose him from among the disbelievers to speak out. And that's what we're seeing — throughout the times and even today, Allah has given hidayah to people you would never expect. Some of the people who made the most Islamophobic videos and movies — Allah guided them to Islam. Some of the most vile Islamophobes in the world — subhanAllah — Allah has chosen to give them hidayah. We've seen that happening right now. So many NBA players, and football players, and even musicians, mashallah, are accepting Islam.

I was speaking to one sheikh who is connected with some of them. He was saying, "You'll be amazed at how many, alhamdulillah, are accepting Islam. He's giving them shahada. But they don't wear it on their sleeve at the moment." He told me about one musician — I don't know who she is, he didn't mention because it's not public knowledge yet. But nonetheless, he said she became a Muslim. And he told her, "Well, you know what, you have to cut out the music." And mashallah, when someone comes towards Islam, alhamdulillah, they come in fully. "Okay, we came here — we're not messing around. We came in full to Jannah, not one foot in hell and one foot in paradise." So they've got to give it up, but gradually. He told me that wherever she's presenting or doing concerts, she now started throwing on a robe — that's her jilbab.

Don't go searching for this stuff now, okay? But the point is — mashallah, there are amazing things happening. As much as Islam is being pushed, this is the beauty of Islam. The more you put pressure on it, the stronger it comes back. You push it in a corner, Islam pushes back stronger. That's just the beauty of this deen. Honestly, just look at Palestine any day.

Last week I saw a video of a lady who lost — you've got to watch it to believe it — she lost four kids. And she's sitting there, wallahi, she's smiling. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. And someone's asking, "Why are you happy?" She said, "Alhamdulillah, thumma alhamdulillah. I have four of my children as shuhada. Four of my children are shuhada. They're not dead. They're alive. And I look forward to joining them soon." Just like Khansa, radiallahu anha.

The stories really bring the life of the Sahaba alive. And you see — we haven't seen stories like this. When is the last time — honestly, in 60, 80, 90 years of your life, or your dad's life, or your grandfather's or grandmother's life — have we been able to witness true manifestations of the way of the Sahaba? Where someone is literally telling the world: "You've killed four of my kids. Thank you. They are alive forever in Jannah."

And I was reading for today as well — what is shahid? Shahid is your protection from death. Because Allah says:

"And do not think those who have been killed in the path of Allah are dead."

So once you become a shahid — you gave your life for Allah — Allah says: "Guess what, I'm never going to allow you to die." Allahu Akbar. So four young men are now alive forever in the akhira. And how that mother says: "I'm waiting to join them soon." She's not saying, "I hope I can hide, I'm going to try to get immigration to another country, please help me." You will never see that. Find me one video coming out of Palestine where someone is saying, "Please send an airplane, we want to go to a first-world country." Find me one footage. These people put us to shame.

They say, "Oh, 2024, brother, how am I going to grow out my beard? 2024, how am I going to wear hijab? 2024, how can I demand halal food? 2024, how can I not go to a mixed gathering?" Just last week, apparently, after I said these things, one person in the dars said, "This sheikh is way too hardcore, man." He said, "I had to take a walk when he said mixed gatherings. It was just too much. Because it's 2024 — we have to have men and women sit together."

And here — what are you going to say on the Day of Judgment when Allah brings these Palestinian shuhada face to face with us? What answer are you going to give? "It's 2024"? But look at their iman. Look at how they left. Find us one example of them saying, "Please get us out of this." They say, "Send food, send help" — yes. But they're not saying "We're ready to leave here." No. They don't want to live in suburban America even one day. They don't want this. Because they know what's out here. So: "We will live or die here, because this is ardul muqaddas — this is a sacred land." SubhanAllah.

May Allah protect them, protect their honor, protect their lives. Accept the shahada of those who passed away. Grant complete shifa to those who are sick. Miraculously — the way He's taking care of the shuhada — may He take care of the ones who are alive. And provide for them an unbelievable level of victory from places we cannot imagine. And may Allah allow the entire sleeping ummah to wake up. And to truly repent from our collective and individual sins, and be inspired to lead a life for the akhira. Ameen.

So this is where Allah mentions that these things will happen on the Day of Judgment. And the du'a of the kuffar — it's not getting anywhere. Now — Mu'min Aal-i-Fir'awn — I was saying this example of how he came out of nowhere — Allah mentions this ayah:

"Indeed, We shall most surely support Our messengers and those who believe in the life of this world and on the Day when the witnesses will stand forth."

Very powerful ayah here. If Allah had stopped there, we'd say, "Okay, Allah gives success to His prophets — mashallah. Next." No, no, no, it doesn't stop there. وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا — And all of those who believe — Allah is saying, most definitely — إِنَّا for emphasis, لَ for emphasis, نَنصُرُ is a verb which gives the meaning of continuity — indeed, We will continuously and constantly be helping Our prophets. And the prophets have passed — they got assisted. And وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — and those who are believers. Where? In the akhira? No — فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا — in this world. Allah says, "I want to help you." And on the Day of Judgment, when the witnesses of Allah's messages to the nations shall stand forth — the shuhada, the witnesses — did the prophets do the work? Yes, Allah, we are Muslims only because our prophets did their work. Okay. All of you millions of people who didn't follow — see, the prophets did do their work. And now what have you got to say for that? And they will have no answer.

So Allah says — the believers, Allah will assist them in the dunya and will assist them in the akhira as well. Now my beloved brothers, we need to stop here and spend some time.

"The Day when their excuses will not benefit the wrongdoers, and for them is the curse, and for them is the worst abode."

What is the Day of Judgment? The Day when the witnesses will stand forth. And the Day of Judgment is that day when the godless wrongdoers shall not benefit from their excuses. Today we give an excuse — حَالَة, conditions. "Ya akhi, conditions make it such that today we need to water down the deen a little bit. We need to make the deen more accessible. If too much salah — no one's gonna come to the masjid." Ya brother, ya ikhwan, I'm sorry. Success is only in the masjid. Figure out a way how to get people in the masjid. I agree. But you cannot expect success outside the masjid. It's not going to happen. The flight leaves from the airport, not from your home. You have to figure out how to get to the airport. We have to get the youth in the masjid.

Ask Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Qatar — wherever you go, the issue is that our youth are not in the house of Allah. The issue is the same situation everywhere — all old people. MashAllah, that's why this crowd makes me happy. But this is not it — this is too little. It should be ten times this. What's an average college student or high school student in the summer doing at 9:30 on a Tuesday night? Why not? We have to make a lot more effort. There's no weddings, there's nothing happening on a Tuesday night. But we are lacking in our effort. We need to connect ourselves and all of our friends with the house of Allah.

No matter what excuses we're giving ourselves today, Allah says on the Day of Judgment, these excuses will not work. Stop giving excuses of scheduling, time, friends, job — all that stuff. Allah says it's not gonna help. And rather for them there will be nothing but the curse of Allah in the hereafter. And for them, in just recompense, there is the most evil abode — equivalent to how much sin they have committed, their abode in hellfire is awaiting them equivalent to that.

You can say, "I got confused about this, I had bad friends." Yeah, you're right. But why did you stick around with bad friends? You need to change your friend group. How many people are friends with kuffar all day? And when I say "friends," I don't mean workout partners, playing basketball, doing homework, or doing business. I mean you're chilling with them in lounges, going to various clubs, spending time with them in your basement. What happens? The person from top to bottom — shaytan is surrounding him, kuffar are surrounding him. You're sitting with a person who's infected with all sorts of diseases — he's coughing at you, sneezing at you, breathing on you. How are you not going to get sick?

If we're going to stick around with people whose aqeedah is corrupted, who are completely lost — you can go as a doctor to help them, that's a different thing. But most of us are not doctors. As a patient, we ourselves are suffering — now you sit with someone who's infected. Right now I'm dealing with someone. He ended up — I don't know what shaytan got to him — watching a bunch of Christian videos against Islam. Not one. He started binge-watching them. Like people binge-watch haram content. He started binge-watching non-Muslim, Christian videos against Islam.

Now I have ulama speaking to him — he's a young boy, not very intellectually developed, 16 years old. The ulama are giving him answers and he has no response to that. But then after 10 minutes, he'll still say, "How do I know the Bible is not true? How do I know Jesus is not God?" Our desi Muslim — born and raised from a Muslim family, not too far from here. Is he the only one? There are thousands like this. Where did he start? Watching those videos.

When he came to me after a month of working with him — nothing was helping. I said, "Listen, this is not an intellectual problem. This is a spiritual problem." So alhamdulillah, may Allah guide him and make it easy for him — he started adhkar, I gave him adhkar to read and to listen to. InshaAllah, Allah will make it easy for him to get out of this rut. But he doesn't understand why this waswasa keeps coming to him that maybe Christianity is the truth. This is what I'm trying to say. These infections are real. If you stick around watching movies and videos of wrong stuff, you're going to get infected. If you stick around with non-Muslim friends, you're going to get infected.

We love our non-Muslim brothers and sisters. We pray for their guidance. But you have to go in with the intention of guiding them — you cannot be the one who takes from them. You have to be the one who gives. How many of you young brothers and sisters who have non-Muslim friends — how many of you are giving, versus how many of you are taking? That's the question. The relationship should be such that you are actually giving and not taking. Then alhamdulillah, there's going to be benefit in that.

So I discourage those moms and dads who say, "I want my son and daughter to be fully integrated into the community — hence I'm going to take him to a bunch of places where he can mix with non-Muslim friends and be purely American." Many parents do this. And those very same parents, 20 years later, are crying tears of blood. "Part of being American — I didn't know he's going to disrespect me." "Part of being whitewashed — I didn't think he's going to curse me out." Well, you got what you wanted. This is the full package. You got the fries and the drink with the burger. If you welcome kufr into the home, you get the full package.

So this is another very important thing. Make sure out of school, out of class, the people we hang out with are not just Muslims in name. Sometimes the Muslims are honestly worse than kuffar — astaghfirullah. The Muslims have to be good Muslims, God-fearing Muslims who remind you of Allah, who connect you with the masjid. When you start looking somewhere else, "Watch your gaze." When you haven't prayed Dhuhr or Asr — "Hey, go pray." Constantly on each other's backs. This is what I call spiritual buddies. We have to create them.

And what better place than this to use the night tafsir. Find sisters amongst the sisters. Brothers, find brothers over here. Connect yourself. Exchange phone numbers. And say, "We're going to push one another to come here every Tuesday." And not only that, follow up with one another throughout the week. "Did you pray your Fajr today?" Call each other. And let's send a picture of the musalla where we prayed. You know how in detective movies they send a picture of the phone with the date on it — previously they used the newspaper. "I'm not sending you yesterday's picture from the masjid." This is the type of spiritual buddies that we need to create here. This is what this platform is here at Darussalam. You're here not just to listen to dars and walk away.

Because I look — don't think I don't notice. Alhamdulillah, I notice quite a bit. Who's coming, when they're coming, how often they come, how often they don't. Who wasn't here last week? I can see it. I take this as a class. And what happens? Why are you not coming? For those of you who came six weeks and then dropped six weeks — it's because you don't have that spiritual buddy. If you had someone who reminded you every single week, you'd be here. And you'd be reminding someone else.

And the benefit will only come through istiqamah. You come six weeks and you don't come for ten months — it doesn't work like that. That's why we're not going anywhere. You have to be consistent. And you only must come here? No. If you don't want to come here, don't come here. But find one dars that you're going to attend every single week — whatever it is. I know you cannot attend three or four. I'm not asking you to do that. Just take one dars a week that you will attend without fail. And connect yourself with someone who attends it and say, "I'm going to remind you."

How many of you, inshallah, will work on finding a spiritual buddy? Raise your hand. Raise your hand high. I want you to work on that today. Those who are married can have their spouse as their spiritual buddy. And those who say, "No, forget about my spouse being a spiritual buddy — he or she is very different at the moment." Okay, no problem. You first get yourself in line and then after that someone else will follow suit.

Where Is the Help of Allah? Answering the Doubt

Now — why did I say we have to spend a little bit of time over here? The question is: where is the nusrah of Allah? Allah is saying He promises help for the believers. Where is that help? I don't see it. And the answer is: Allah did not say those who claim to be believers. Allah says those who are believers.

You have a fruit — like a banana. You peel it, take out the inside and fill the peel up with something else. It looks like a banana from the outside. But it's empty. It does you no good. That's our iman today. It looks like a banana, feels like a banana, smells like a banana — but you open it, there's no banana inside. We are Muslims who dress the part, we're in the masjid — look at the state of our masajid, look at the masjids of Muslim countries. Till the eye can see, fitting 25,000 people. So what? If Darussalam was just a beautiful piece of architecture — wallahi, mayanfa' — there's no benefit at all. It's going to become a source of punishment on us. We cannot focus on external things. That's where the ummah has gone.

We have made Islam very philosophical. We have made it about maqasid. All the maqasid discussion — "The purpose of this and that, let's focus on the big picture." Brother, the big picture starts off with you praying salah. With you being respectful towards your parents. With you staying away from haram — watching haram, listening to haram, talking haram, thinking of haram. After that comes everything else.

Before you talk about Muslim khilafah, before you talk about Muslim countries, before you talk about large Muslim political involvement — how is political involvement going to help us when you can't come for Fajr? Everyone is talking about politics: "We need political..." Yes, I believe — I've given talks here about the importance of voting, at least in local elections. But they're not going to do you any good when 55 or 60 Muslim countries can't do us any good. How can one Muslim representative in some town hall do us any good? Bring deen into our lives first.

Islam has become very abstract. People say, "I want to study the Shah Waliullah tradition. I want to study Hujjatullah al-Baligha." Brothers, first read Ta'limul Haqq and learn how to do wudu. People don't want to learn wudu. That's how the Arabic intensive in 2008 started. I tried to say, "You want to learn salah and wudu?" "Yeah brother, we're not interested." "You want to learn Quranic Arabic?" "Yeah, I want to learn Quranic Arabic." Honestly, that's what it is. We said, "We're going to get people in through Quranic Arabic." But what's more important than Quranic Arabic? Your wudu, tahara, salah. The rights of your mother and father. The rights of your spouse.

It's more important than any Quranic Arabic — because my grandparents, your grandparents, they didn't know any Quranic Arabic. By Allah, they practiced deen far greater than us. How? Because you don't need to know Arabic to practice the Qur'an. Abu Jahl knew the best Arabic in the world — and after ten years of studying Arabic you're still not going to match Abu Jahl's Arabic. But studying the Arabic language does not make you necessarily a believer. Who is teaching Arabic at the top universities of the globe? Kuffar, Yahood, Nasara. Who are the masters of hadith criticism and seerah? They never made one sajdah in their life. And they have double PhDs teaching and graduating scholars all over the globe.

That tells us: one is the external aspect of Islam, and one is the haqiqah. So stop thinking Allah is not helping the believers. Don't ever say that, and don't ever think like that. Allah would rather have the whole world collapse than have one of His verses be proven false.

"And who is more truthful than Allah in statement? And who is more truthful than Allah in speech?"

If Allah is saying this, He means it. But the issue is, we do not have the qualities of a believer — we do not have what it takes to be a believer. And that is why the help of Allah is not present. Allah didn't just promise us help — Allah promised us khilafah. Allah promised us control. Allah promised us tawfiq. Allah promised us paradise. There are so many ayahs about this.

Don't say, "Why are the Palestinians not being helped? Where's Allah's help?" Brother, Allah is granting them shahada. If we were to see that — trillions and trillions — the entire world cannot equal shahada. Cannot equal shahada. Allah knows — on the day when we find out who's the winner and who's the loser. The issue is us, in America, in the West, in the luxurious life we're leading — we're losing. They're not losing. We're losing. After watching all of that, still for someone to be involved in haram — Allahu Akbar. This is the issue.

So we need to understand: intellectually calling yourself a Muslim, culturally calling yourself a Muslim — does not cut it. Our life has to be in line with Islam. And this is where Allah says — and even shaytan says:

"By Your honor, I will surely mislead them all."

Surah Sad, Ayah 82. Shaytan — Iblis — says, "I take an oath on Your honor. I will definitely mislead all of them." Did you hear what I just said? Who said this? Iblis, la'in. He's taking an oath on the honor of Allah. He not only believes in Allah — he believes in the honor of Allah. But he's Iblis. That's an intellectual belief. It does him no good. He's Iblis — cannot get worse than that. And what is he saying? "I'm going to mislead all of them."

So today's Muslim has an intellectual, cultural belief — and it doesn't cut it. Start off by leaving haram. Get yourself onto the fard. And the best way to do that is the suhbah of the pious. Find one good spiritual buddy. Find a good mentor. Find a good environment. Just this way — this one environment, like this weekly gathering — if you come consistently, inshallah I have hope in Allah that someone who comes consistently every single week without missing will slowly but surely see massive change in his life. I've said it because I've seen it. I know it. It will happen. That is the barakah of the Qur'an. That is the barakah of the angels who are present here. That is the barakah of the pious people who come here. That is the barakah of the masjid. How can a dars of the Qur'an not change our lives? But we have to be consistent.

This is what we need to, inshallah, do. I ask Allah to grant us tawfiq.

Q&A Session

If you've got any questions, we have 10 minutes for Isha. You can scan the QR code or go to slido.com — code 2060868. Try to be as relevant to today's dars as possible. inshallah.

Q: My spouse does not view mixed gatherings as wrong, and our extended family has mixed gatherings.

You have to take things easy. Stay away from where there is outright dancing, music, inappropriate dressing, guys and girls together — that's something you need to by all means stay away from, as there is haram on so many levels. Now if you have a family gathering where all the cousins or uncles and aunts are picking up food from the buffet table — okay, we don't need to immediately give a fatwa that everything is haram. Take things slowly. If women are taking food, you can wait until they finish and then go. And obviously sit with someone from your own gender, or a mahram from the opposite gender. Take things easy. When you're working with your family — not even your spouse is on the same page in all things — how can you expect the extended family to be on the same page?

Q: What are some ways to protect yourself from nazar (evil eye)?

One thing is to not share everything you're doing with everyone. Say مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ and thank Allah for His blessings. Give sadaqah on a regular basis. Read the ayat of protection — specifically the Manzil (M-A-N-Z-I-L) — the 33 verses of protection. You can download a PDF and read it every single day for protection. If things are still not seemingly right, then you can reach out to us and with your specific situation, inshallah, we'll try to help you.

Q: How can a person stop bad habits if they are really addicted?

The best thing is to have a spiritual buddy. Work with someone who can help you get off of it. You might need a mentor, you might need a therapist, you might need a scholar. Connect with someone — even if it means through text. For example, a brother reached out to me anonymously. He was struggling with same-gender attraction, strong urges. He didn't want to act on it — alhamdulillah there was still some hope in him. He found an anonymous number and set it up so I wouldn't know his name. I said, "No problem, I have no interest in knowing who you are." And alhamdulillah, I was able to assist him. So reach out for help. You can use whatever means of anonymity are available — I will safeguard your anonymity. Seek assistance no matter what the situation may be.

Q: I'm trying to grow my beard the sunnah way, but my wife doesn't find it attractive and says it's already long enough. Do I listen to her or follow the sunnah?

You already know the answer. But make sure your beard is presentable — use all the nice grooming techniques, different styles, etc. And instead of just breaking someone's heart, make her realize: "I want my face to resemble the face of Rasulullah ﷺ and the Sahaba." Even in pictures of Jesus, or anyone else — what do you always see? That beard. So this is the key thing. You want your face to look like Rasulullah ﷺ's face. And hopefully, inshallah, slowly but surely — maybe start attending the dars of Seerah together. Once she falls in love with Rasulullah ﷺ, it will be easier for her, inshallah, to allow you to do that.

Q: Should I marry a woman I'm involved with in a haram relationship?

Before you do that, you need to repent. Repent and go clean. Repent for some time. Go cold turkey for some time. And then reassess: is this relationship actually beneficial? When you're in a haram relationship, remember — shaytan will paint it as the most beautiful thing. And as soon as you make it halal, that's why most of these people who were dating in a haram relationship, as soon as they get married, they're like, "He's no longer attractive. What happened?" Because shaytan pulled himself out as soon as you made it halal. So go cold turkey — stay away from haram. Take a couple of months of a break. Do istikhara, mashwarah, ask Allah for help. And then if things look good, you can start over and do a proper proposal.

Announcements

Friday, August 16th after Maghrib: Sheikh Tahseen Khan will be speaking on "The Obligation of Learning: Cradle to the Grave." MashAllah, he has also written one of the best books available refuting the popular theory of evolution — titled The Providence of Man. It took five years to publish. It is one of the best books available right now to explain to our young people that there is no contradiction between sharia and intelligence, between aql and the deen. There are a few copies outside — please try to get a copy, inshallah.

Starting this Thursday: For the first time in the 12-year history of Darussalam, we are launching a weekly Urdu program — a dars on the Seerah of the Prophet ﷺ — by a new staff member, Mawlana Abdul Basit, who hails originally from Islamabad, Pakistan. He has a powerful connection with Seerah and has taught adults for many years. MashAllah, tens of adults have taken courses from him. He earned his B.S. in Economics from the University of London and completed his four-year Sharia studies from the Kulliyyat al-Sharia of Jamia Rashid, Karachi. He holds certifications in personal development and training — including strategic vision, parenting, time management, and bridging differences. He is also supervising the Islamabad chapter of Ihsan Courses, educating western-educated professionals about deen in Pakistan. We are very excited to welcome him to our teaching staff. The dars will be every Thursday after Salatul Maghrib.

Since this is the first announcement, please spread the word to all Urdu-speaking men and women in your circles.

"Join the weekly dars of Seerah and illuminate your lives with the message of the Prophet ﷺ."

Tanweer Intensive begins August 12th. And our integrated high school program — 8th grade and above on the girls' side, 9th through 12th on the boys' side — admissions are open for those interested in studying the alim course alongside the high school program. On the boys' side it runs 7:45 to 12:15 for the alim program, then high school after Dhuhr. On the girls' side, the high school and Sharia program are integrated throughout the day. Please spread the word — many parents are not aware that Darussalam has been offering high school studies since 2012.

If you are visiting for the first time and have not received messages from our announcement group, please scan the Masjid Darussalam WhatsApp group QR code to stay connected to all our announcements, inshallah.

والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته