Surah Ghafir - Ep.12 - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 08/06

Opening Supplications

Beloved brothers and sisters, dear listeners — السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

I ask Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ to make this gathering beloved in His sight and I ask Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ to allow all of us to tremendously benefit spiritually, academically, and in many different ways. May Allah allow us to leave much more inspired and much closer to Him than when we entered His house. May Allah allow us to benefit from each other's good and protect each one of us from each other's evil. May Allah allow all of our issues and problems — the solutions to that — to be found right here in the house of Allah, in the book of Allah. Ameen, O Lord of all the worlds. And whatever khair and good is being mentioned here, may Allah allow these words to ring true across the globe and allow this majlis to become a source of great goodness coming across the globe. Ameen.

The Verses of Surah Ghafir Under Study

Where We Left Off: The Promise of Allah's Help

Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ in the last ayah — what we ended on last week — Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ says: We are going to assist the believers, We are going to assist the prophets and the believers on the Day of Judgment. In this world and on the Day of Judgment, when the witnesses will stand — that day when giving of excuses will be of no benefit for the oppressors — they will be in big trouble, and there will be nothing but curse for them on that day. Also, Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ will show the true believers their strength and the fact that they are close to Allah.

But here — in this world — Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ has made this a place of imtihan. And as we see, non-stop the continuous information that keeps flowing to all of us from different parts of the globe — as well as of Palestine, naturally — this thought always comes: مَتَىٰ نَصْرُ اللهِ — when is the help of Allah coming? The type of abuses that even the large newspapers of our own country are talking about — the abuses that are happening in the prisons — besides those that are being killed — just the torture that is happening: the releasing of dogs, the waterboarding, the rape, the various forms of torture and massive inhumane types of beating for 50–60 minutes at a time. All those things — when a person reads them, and you see that not only is that happening, but they are actually extremely proud about it — the fact that someone says: ever since I have become in charge of the prisons, I have made sure that they are in a living hell.

When you read all of that and then you come across the verses of the Qur'an where Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ promises His nusrah — and you know that there is no way the words of Allah could be wrong, there is no way that the verses of the Qur'an can be proven wrong — what exactly is happening?

Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ says He purifies — He strengthens — the believers through tests. Anything you want to cook — the best dessert, the best main course — whatever it may be, you put it into the oven, you put it over a stove, you cook it to very high temperatures and it's boiling. Even the nice tea that we enjoy — our chai — if you don't cook it properly, if you don't boil it for an extended period of time, it doesn't taste right. SubhanAllah, this is the system. Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ is saying: I have made the system in this dunya such that the believers — the believers — will go through untold tests. And eventually Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ says:

Do you think that you will be left alone? Do you think you will be left alone and Allah will not know — will not be aware of — those who are willing to sacrifice amongst you? Do you think you will be left alone merely on the fact that you say you're a Muslim? And in another place Allah says:

Do you think you will be able to enter Paradise without Allah putting you through a test?

So the help and the nusrah of Allah, my beloved friends — most definitely it is there. And we don't realize — like we talked about, we ended on this note — that these people are giving their lives in these difficult months or years of difficulty. What is happening? They are sealing their fate with Allah — that one death is guaranteeing that they have a never-ending life. That's it. They are going to be:

They are going to be alive in the court of their Lord, being provided with sustenance. They are not going to perish forever — they are alive. This is the power of shahada that Allah is giving to all of these individuals.

Nusrah Requires Real Islam, Not Just Claims

And number two — when we want to see nusrah across the globe, we have to see our Islam. And this was from last week, but I'm just repeating this extremely important point: there has to be Islam. Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ never promised help for people who claim to be believers. There is not a single ayah:

— for those who merely claim to be believers. There is no mention of that. Instead, Allah speaks about people who actually walk the walk — not just simply speaking. And today's deen is so philosophical. People love to speak about the various philosophy of deen, and when it comes to the tatbiq — the practical application of it — this is where we are running away.

Today's deen might be reduced to: what is deen? Deen is that you can go to any soccer match or Olympics or some other international arena and just, you're a Muslim and you win the championship — and this is how we've done nusrah of deen. This is how you've practically showed deen: alhamdulillah, I am the best basketball player, the best boxer, the best swimmer, the best XYZ — this is the nusrah we're thinking we're giving to deen.

إِن تَنصُرُوا اللهَ يَنصُرْكُمْ — Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ does not need sports to whitewash Islam. Islam does not need whitewashing. Islam does not need to be cleansed through gold medals from anywhere, through trophies from anywhere. What Islam needs — or rather, what we need — is Islam to be fully practiced within our own lives. And when that happens, the world will change. All of these gold medals put together and world cups put together will never — and you're seeing it till now — it hasn't changed much, has not brought honor to the believers.

The Story of Maulana Kalim Siddiqui

When Maulana — Maulana Kalim Siddiqui — one of the great ulama of India who was imprisoned — mashallah, a great da'i through whose hands many thousands of Hindus accepted Islam — he was in prison for a couple of years and was just released recently. I came across a powerful bayan of his. I think he was speaking to hajj students or something of that sort. He was wearing his typical sherwani and his topi, his beautiful beard, and he was saying: I got arrested and I was taken to this huge prison in Lucknow, the capital of that state. And SubhanAllah, the police officers who came to arrest me — even when they arrested me — they said: "Sheikh, we know who you are. Don't think we're going to ever manhandle you." And with so much respect they took him in.

So when he went there, he saw so many different Hindus and Muslims — high-ranking officers within so many different branches — also in jail. But he said, honestly, there was no one who was more respected than himself. And even the warden said: anytime, if any guard here addresses you using the word tu or tum — which is an informal or diminutive form of address — instead of using more honorable words, you need to come and tell me. I will not accept that.

And he kept on talking about what happened in the prison, and he said: "What is this?" He said: "This is all respect for this uniform — all respect for the Qur'an, and the teachers of the Qur'an, and the people of the Qur'an — that there is so much respect that even the kuffar know that okay, khalas, this person we have to honor." Wallahi, this is true. There is genuinely — when a person follows his deen and is a person of principles — then you will be respected. So much — the whole dunya will respect you.

And there are many other amazing stories I can share with you — of law enforcement agencies, of intelligence agencies, people who have dealt with them — and have said: while other people were becoming moles and spies because they were afraid, one person was saying: I stood my ground and said, "These are our usul, these are our principles." And he said: honestly, Allah gave me such honor way beyond all those people who turned themselves in and said, "We will backstab our religion, our community." And these very law enforcement people said: "We know who you are — because if there was a time to change your colors, it would have been now. But you didn't. You stood your ground. And we would much rather deal with people who we know long term — these people are single-minded, focused individuals. We know where they stand — as opposed to anyone you can buy out. Today he is working for you, tomorrow he is working for someone else." The double agents that are out there — available for the highest bidder.

My point is: when deen is practiced properly — not as just a philosophy, but genuinely within our own life — then you will see the nusrah of Allah happening. And this is my invitation to myself and everyone here: please bring deen into the practical sense — for your kids, for yourself, and for the elders and the uncles — not just the youth. Many of the uncles and aunties love to talk about various philosophical discussions about Islam. It's like someone looking at the sun on a bright sunny day outside. He looks at it and says: "Wow, the sun is up in the sky, it's not cloudy today — الشَّمْسُ سَاطِعَة — the sun has risen." How have you helped? What does that do? That statement is useless.

When someone says "Islam is a true religion, Islam is a complete religion, Islam has a solution to the world's problems" — and then let's go to sleep. That's what it is. Talk is cheap. What is that supposed to mean? By you saying Islam is true, it didn't make it more true. By you saying Islam has got the solution to the world's problems, it didn't actually create any more solutions. It is what it is. The question is: am I using Islam to solve the problems? Forget about the world — in my own home, when there is disrespect between children and parents, between husband and wife, when there is not good communication, good chemistry — when there is a time to purchase something, what are we using? Are we using Islam as a guiding principle, or are we using our hawa and our desires?

So before we talk about what should Pakistan do, what should Bangladesh do — what is your house becoming like right now? That's the question. What type of deen — what is the constitution of your home? What is the constitution of your 2,000-square-foot home? First figure that out before we speak about the constitution of the globe.

And you know why we love to talk about that? Because you don't have to do anything. You don't even have to pray Isha — you can just go to sleep — and no one's gonna say anything, because you're speaking about something so philosophical and it's very interesting and it's an enjoyable discussion. But when we talk about practical things, people don't like it.

The Call to Action

That's why this effort of da'wah and tabligh — why is there so many people who are so irritated by it? I'll tell you one reason. If you look deep down, you'll realize it's the truth. In da'wah and tabligh, at the end — after the talk — what happens? They stand up and say: "Brother, who's ready?" Usually people love to say: "What a talk, man! What a motivational talk, what an inspiring talk — amazing delivery!" And then go to sleep. But when you go out in khuruj, in an ijtima', or in any jaula in your local masjid — if there's five people, or five hundred people, or five million people — the question is always: who's ready? Meaning: if you enjoyed the talk or didn't enjoy the talk, we don't care. Now is the time for action. And people don't like that.

People love to listen, sit back, and say mashallah, I enjoyed, this is barakah. I was just listening to one of our ulama — he said that many times people attend talks for the sake of barakah, and that's all they get out of it: "Oh mashallah, I was there Tuesday night, I got some barakah." That is a very, very lowly intention. Our intention needs to be: I'm not here just for barakah — I'm here for change, I'm here for islah, I'm here for tarbiyah. I'm here to really bring complete rectification in my life. I'm here to make sure my life comes according to Sunnah, and so whatever call to action will be made in the talk, I'm ready for it. And whatever was not made explicitly but implicitly, I'm ready for that as well. Then you will see — six weeks, six months — a massive change within a person.

But if a person comes for the sake of barakah only, then you'll get the barakah of the talk — and more importantly, the barakah of the tea outside — and that's it. Lives are not changing. Why is ziyarah to Mecca and Medina not changing people? Because it was only barakah. They never made intention to change. Entire three weeks of Hajj and $30,000 down — still exactly the way they were before they went for Hajj. Involved in haram still — buying and selling haram, dressing in haram, speaking in haram, haram relationships — because the desire to change was never there.

My beloved brothers — this call to action. Our honorable ustad, Hazrat Mufti — he would always say — it stuck to me — he would say: any lecture after which there is no call to action is a useless talk. There has to be a call to action — even if it simply means: start reading the du'a before you go to bed, start eating with your right hand, enter the masjid with the right foot, come pray Salat al-Fajr. There has to be a call to action. And if there is no explicit call to action made by a speaker, every one of us — on the way back home, from any conference or any talk — we have to ask ourselves: what's the call to action for myself? Even if you took one thing back home from any talk — from a Jumu'ah, from a talk after Isha — just take one item back home. That insha'Allah is the intention. And if you and I never even make a mental note, or don't write it down in a notebook — then what's going to happen?

People change. I promise you. One brother — wealth-wise he reached the top, position-wise reached the top in so many different things — he's way at the top. But his life spiritually was in shambles completely. He was involved in all sorts of major sins. His family was about to find out. All kinds of horrible things. What happened? He prayed salah somewhere, and after salah a brother stood up and said: "Insha'Allah, after the remaining sunnah there will be a talk on iman and yaqeen. All brothers are requested to stay back." You've heard this announcement before — at least once or twice a week, all of you probably do. So that day it hit him. He said: "You know what, let me just sit down." He sat down. There was a little reminder after Maghrib. Then they made tashkeel — who's ready to go for three days? There was a jama'at going out from that masjid to another town nearby, and he just went with them. And SubhanAllah — he's telling me his story — where spiritually he had hit rock bottom, involved in so many major crimes and major sins, while having reached a lot of success. And the fear was: if people were to find out, I will never be able to show my face in society. But SubhanAllah — look at that one announcement that was happening after Maghrib. It hit the man in his heart and he did a complete 180-degree change.

So it does not take a lot to bring change in your life. What it does take is humility. What it does take is a desire to change. And may Allah make that a burning fire in my heart and in your heart — that wherever we go, every day, it's like: ya Allah, I'm the worst of the lot. I need to improve. My character needs to improve. My akhlaq needs to improve. My iman needs to improve. My Islam needs to improve. When we have that type of fikr, then Allah will bring change.

So let's be honest with ourselves. Put our foot down on our nafs and stop saying that I'll only do things which make sense to me or which I like — because then that is the way of shaitan, and shaitan is not going anywhere.

Ayah 53–54: Musa's Guidance and the Inheritance of the Torah

So this is where we ended last week. Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ then says: and indeed, truly We gave Musa عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام guidance. As well, Musa عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام gave guidance — while Fir'awn was on the opposite side of him. He did not get guidance even though he had wealth, prosperity, and everything.

And We bequeathed to the children of Israel the Book of Torah. Allah says that the Torah, Injil, and Zaboor — all of those were given to the children of Ya'qub عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام — Israel — and Musa عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام was given that guidance first. So Islam has come as a source of guidance and happiness and ease for us — not to make our life difficult.

هُدًى وَذِكْرَى — as a means of guidance, as a means of the path to salvation, as a reminder of the divine law. لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَاب — for those people of understanding. Lubb means brains — meaning: who is going to get guided towards Islam and who will take benefit from the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ? People who have intelligence. This is according to Allah — the intelligent person is a follower of the Sunnah. According to Allah, the intelligent person is the one who recites Qur'an and ponders over its meaning — that how can the Qur'an come into my life?

My beloved friends — the one who is not intelligent will think that this is all just a game of intellectual discussion. Let's discuss it, study, do a Qur'an circle and call it a night. That's not what the Qur'an came for. The Qur'an is a living book — كِتَابٌ حَيٌّ يُحْيِي الْقُلُوب — the book of Allah is supposed to be alive, and you have to interact with it. A proper method of reading Qur'an is that when you're reading it, your heart is taking effect. Sometimes you're smiling, sometimes you're crying, sometimes you're sad and sometimes you're worried. It's an actual emotional connection with the book of Allah — because these are not mere stories we're reading. This is definitely the book of Allah.

The Crisis of Hifz Without Iman

And I want to remind all of us again: memorization of the Qur'an that I mention quite often is there, but studying and connecting with the Qur'an is far more important. And so all those hundreds of families who are sending their sons and daughters to memorize the Qur'an — congratulations to you and the efforts you're making. But I promise you — much more important along with that is that your son and daughter believes that this is the book of Allah, and understands that this book of Allah is not just something they did as a child and then moved on.

Why is this the issue today? It's because the belief in the Qur'an is not present. It's not there. There was a 20-year-old sitting in this masjid — 6–7 years he's in Ramadan. He comes to me after my tafsir one day and says: "This is the first Ramadan I have spent as a Muslim believer in the Qur'an." He'd already memorized the Qur'an — a local community member — memorized the Qur'an, perhaps even led taraweeh. But he said: "I never believed in this stuff, and even when I was memorizing, I never believed it." But his parents put him into it so he just did it. These are not unique stories — I promise you, these are normal stories.

Actually, I was in Australia — I was speaking about these issues of atheism — in a post-Fajr talk. A father came up to me and said: "Your words have really resonated with me." His son is an 11-year-old kid. He said two kids were talking to each other in class: "Why are we sitting here memorizing Qur'an all day — 8 hours we're sitting here memorizing — what's the point of this?" So one kid said to the other: "You know why? Because our parents want a crown on the Day of Judgment." So the other kid says: "Wait — they want a crown? But why are we here? If they want a crown, they should be here! But why did they send us over here to work 8 hours a day for 3 years for their crown? How does that make sense?"

SubhanAllah. I said: "You've summed it all up." It's not just America — it's Australia, it's Malaysia, it's Indonesia, it's Pakistan, it's Saudi, it's Bangladesh — it's everywhere. People don't even know what they're doing. Just moving, going through the motions — not knowing what they're doing or why they're doing it. And this is why as soon as they get a chance to grow older — a chance to make their own decisions — they say: "That's it. We have nothing to do with this anymore."

So tatbiq — making sure that the yaqeen in the Qur'an and the belief that this is guidance — this is so important. Alhamdulillah, we have the one-year program which starts this Monday. Why did we begin it? Honestly, I tell you — as alhamdulillah one of those first ones who started this program here — the fikr that came to me was: I looked at my hifz students in 2008, 2009. I said: I'm hearing of all these huffaz who are leaving Islam all across the country. I've been hearing it from 2002 — 22 years I've been hearing this of people leaving Islam even though they've memorized the Qur'an. I said: I don't want our students of Darussalam to follow this path. So initially my mind was: let's create a program for our own students first, and then mashallah — whoever else comes.

Unfortunately, not too many of the kids who memorize Qur'an here have the value of it. I'll be honest — they don't understand. It's not their fault. It's their mom and dad's fault. I blame the parents squarely for misappropriating the resources and time of their kids when they say: "No, you just need to memorize — rote memorize the Qur'an" — and then go out into the dunya without even focusing on learning how to believe in this book, learning the meanings of this book, going through the logical proofs, knowing that the book of Allah is truly the book of Allah.

I know what I'm saying and I mean it. I'm very upset over parents who make such wrong decisions for their kids — just in the name of "oh, he's going to fall behind in school." You won't even fall behind in school — you do schooling with it. But they're so focused on the dunya. You got the title of hafiz — which that kid is saying: "You want it for your crown, to be called 'the father of a hafiz.'" And for that title, SubhanAllah — what are we doing? Yes, by studying the deen for one year you might not have a big title — but honestly, what's more important: just a title, or for a child to say: "Alhamdulillah, dad — I will deconstruct in 10 different ways the arguments of atheists. I will tell you in 5 different ways how I can prove the Qur'an is actually the book of Allah. Dad, mom — I will tell you how I believe and why I believe that Muhammad صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was genuinely a prophet of Allah — a ma'sum, protected, sinless individual."

These things on top of hifz of Qur'an — I'm not saying don't do hifz, of course it's beautiful — but don't stop there, because we're dealing with this massive crisis of youth not realizing that the Qur'an is هُدًى وَذِكْرَى لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَاب — that it's guidance, it is a reminder. They're not understanding that. They're just thinking: "My mom and dad told me to memorize it, so I did it."

The Alarming Trend of Leaving Religion

I've been studying and reading this past week — and I encourage you all to read. I want you to go online and start reading the trends in this country of shift in religious beliefs, all across different parts of society. Just read why there is such a big shift from people of religion to people of "nones" — those who say they have no religion. And that rate is not stopping. It's just moving at such a fast pace.

I was reading a report — a five-year report that's available for free — studying post-COVID trends. You'll see all across — a massive decrease: churches going for sale, a huge drop in Sunday school attendance, Bible studies going down, Christian summer camps going down, a much larger audience online than in person. And churches that are not doing online services are just going bankrupt because people want to do things online now.

The interesting study was: why? What was the main reason why people left religion? They said this new generation — people under 30 — the main reason was, honestly, the most mundane reasons. Like: "I was just not matching my schedule, so I stopped going to church and I gave up on Christianity." Or: "The priest was not very engaging, so I stopped going to church and gave up my religion." Or: "They didn't have someone of my gender or someone who understood where I'm coming from, so I gave up my religion." Or: "The church is too conservative and they don't understand LGBTQ rights and transgender rights, so I gave it up."

And we need to understand that the Muslim community is just a few years behind this. If this is happening to the dominant religion of this country, you can imagine us as a minority — where we're headed. If we're not already there, we're very close to that. The people are just — they don't even need to have some major fallout from Islam.

Because I know most of you are thinking: "Why is this happening? Why is there a mass exodus from Islam?" For a lot of times, yes — we talk about doubts, we talk about desires, and we talk about the breaking of the nuclear family. That's there. But also — it's just that the importance was never there in the first place.

So they're saying this new generation — those under 20 — they don't even call themselves atheists or agnostics. They don't call themselves ex-Christian or ex-Muslim. They say: "It's weird, but even saying we're atheists or agnostics or ex-something — we're giving ourselves some identity of religion, and we don't even want to waste our time doing that." Do you understand? They say: "We don't even want to call ourselves ex-Muslim or ex-Christian or atheist or agnostic, because that means we are giving religion some sort of space. And religion should have zero space in my life."

So please read. Go ahead — there are many books, many articles, many websites. And I want you to understand that this is not happening in a vacuum. This is right around us. So if we do not wake up today — we're thinking Allah is going to help — SubhanAllah — we have to bring Islam into our hearts and into the hearts of our younger generation. Then we can expect some sort of assistance and the end of this difficult era that we're living in.

What is needed is for every single son and daughter of the ummah to say: "Wallahi, I believe the Qur'an is the true word of Allah. I believe the Qur'an has a solution to all the problems. I believe the Qur'an has a solution to my depression. I'm feeling angry — the Qur'an has a solution. I am upset about something — the Qur'an has a solution. I'm worried about what to do — the deen has a solution. I need to get married — the Sunnah will teach me what to do." Like that — every aspect of my life, I have to look no further than the Qur'an and Sunnah. That needs to be on the tongue and in the hearts of every young and old, man or woman. Then after that you memorize 30 juz and you know the seven or ten qira'at — alhamdulillah — or you know 10 surahs — alhamdulillah. But the key thing is this yaqeen and conviction has to be present.

Ayah 55: Be Patient — Allah's Promise is True

Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ then says to Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ — and imagine, to us — فَاصْبِرْ — and who said it's going to be easy? Who said it's going to be easy? You've got to be patient. How can I be patient? It's so hard. إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللهِ حَقٌّ — because indeed the promise of victory from Allah is ever true.

You can promise and I can promise — and we might not be able to fulfill that promise. But there's only one Being — if He says it, it must happen. And that is Allah. He doesn't even need to say إِنَّ. He doesn't need to say "indeed." He doesn't even have to say حَقٌّ. He could just say وَعَدَ اللهُ — Allah's promise is coming — done. But look at the emphasis He has placed here and in other places: I am telling you as a Rabb, as a Malik, as a Raziq — that the truth, the help of Allah, is definitely coming.

My beloved brothers — no one can say this for us. We have to say insha'Allah. That's why Allah says:

Never say something that you're going to do tomorrow unless you ensure that you say insha'Allah with it — because we don't have the capacity to fulfill our words. Only if Allah allows it can we do it. But Allah is that only Being — when He says something is going to happen, it shall happen.

True Sabr Requires Tawbah

But it will require sabr. My beloved brothers — sabr. If someone didn't study, the exam is here, he played around all night — and he gets 20% on it — you hand it to him, he looks at it and says: "Chalo bhai, main sabr kar leta hoon — I'll do sabr." If I were a teacher, wouldn't I get upset? Sabr? You're blaming me? You're lucky I gave you 20. This is, by the way, a real situation — I've had to give people 20 when they deserve 0. So why are you telling me you'll make sabr on the 20% I gave you? You deserve 0 — I've already been kind.

When a person — when Allah sends down difficulty and a person says "I'll just do sabr" — well, hold your horses. Have you done something by which you would be deserving of good conditions? You see the question? If you've never done something to deserve the rahmah and mercy of Allah, what are you talking about with sabr?

You know what this reminds me of? This is from the Qur'an. Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ says that on the Day of Judgment, Shaytan will say to his fellow dwellers of Hell — they'll be fighting with each other, they'll blame Shaytan — and he'll say: "I didn't do anything. I never forced you. I told you, but you decided. You're the one who chose to willingly follow me." Then his last statement is: "Whether you make a big deal and cry, or you remain patient — it is the same. You're not moving out of this Hellfire." Shaytan will be telling his fellow kuffar and sinners in Hell: it is the same whether we make a fuss or we remain patient. Now — is he going to get a reward for that sabr? You understand what I'm saying?

So people in Jahannam — Allah Himself is saying — have patience. But that sabr is of no benefit. My point here is: we many times say, "Brother, everything is falling apart in my life, I'll just do sabr." But brother — you're indulging in riba, indulging in zina of the eye, listening to haram, watching haram. Look at how you treat your parents. Look at how you treat your spouse. What do you mean, sabr? All of these things are happening to wake you up. You're not going to get any ajar for this sabr. Sabr in this case means: I'm going to make tawbah. That's your sabr. Ya Allah, I'm so sorry. I make tawbah and I will remain patient until You change the conditions.

Allah says in Surah ar-Ra'd:

Allah will not change the condition of ease and security and peace and goodness until you decide to turn your backs upon Allah and you change your condition from righteousness to sin. Meaning: as long as the ummah is righteous and God-fearing, Allah does not enjoy punishing them. He Himself says:

What shall Allah do with your punishment — if you are grateful, if you have belief and iman?

A Story of Reflection: Connecting Difficulties to Our Own Actions

Someone told me their own personal story. He was saying: "Listen, Allah is Hakeem when He does what He does. Don't blame Allah. When Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ gives a whipping to someone, you don't know what's going on." So he said: one day I sacrificed an animal, made a packet of meat, and went — not too far from here — and I knocked on a door to give meat to the poor. A Muslim opened the door, and I saw this house — there was no furniture, everyone was on the floor, everyone seemed to be in bad shape — and I felt so bad. I gave all this meat and maybe even more.

He said: afterwards, a few weeks or maybe even a year later — I'm not sure — a report came in a local newspaper that they had arrested a huge racketeering mafia doing illegal money laundering and stealing, happening locally. He said: I looked at the dates and found out that the house I had visited — they themselves had invested $10,000 in this whole scheme of racketeering and stealing within that same day or same week. And he said: SubhanAllah — I started thinking: here you're spending $10,000 in haram, and here you're sitting on the floor putting on a position that you're in need. I felt bad — but now I understand. Things may have gone bad, but it's because you did haram.

How many times is that the case — that a person does a mistake, and we're only looking at the end result: he's sitting there in the corner crying about something that happened. But if you look at what caused it... I was in one small town and a brother was sitting there, very upset — sort of crying, very emotional. So I said: "What happened?" He said: "I had my children born in the Haram in Mecca. I took my kids to the Maqam Ibrahim as soon as they were born — right next to the Ka'bah. I named them beautiful names of the prophets right there — like 30–40 years ago. I did all this and then came to America, sent them to college..." and you know how that typical story ends. The kids became rebellious, they dumped their father, became big sinners, and honestly just ran away. And he's sitting there — the local people told me he's there all day, from Fajr to Dhuhr to Asr — he's an old man, just sitting there crying, grumpy and sad about how all his kids left him.

You're seeing the end of it. But one of the other brothers who had been there for many decades said — and this gives me goosebumps sharing this story: "Sheikh — listen, I just want to tell you one thing. Be careful about your tongue." He said: "The same person — for the past 20–30 years in this small town, we would have jamaats coming from far foreign countries — India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Egypt — and they would come to our town. And this person, due to his complete misunderstanding and whatever else, would say to them: 'You're from Egypt, you're from Saudi Arabia, you're from Pakistan — and you're sitting all the way in this small town. How do you know who your wife is sleeping with today? How do you know if your son is running away with another girl today?' And he would literally taunt them about their own families — 'Why are you wasting your time in tabligh? Why are you wasting your time in this masjid when your own family is probably doing this and that?'"

Imagine — that poor man is out on the path of Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ — and this is what someone is telling him. His heart is being broken. Allah knows best, but the hadith mentions:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6502)

Whoever harms any of My friends, I declare war against him.

And the Qur'an says:

The evil plotting only comes back to surround the plotter. Allah is not oppressive — Allah is the most just. So look at your own selves. I look at myself, you look at yours. Let's not look at each other. If something is not going right in your life, ask yourself: what have I done that may have caused this? Where are the mistakes I have made? How many sunnahs have I neglected? How many fara'idh have I neglected? How many bad thoughts have crossed my mind that I entertained about other people? How many times have I looked at that which I shouldn't, heard that which I shouldn't, said that which I shouldn't? And each of those sins is worthy of me being thrown into the deepest part of the earth — but Allah has been so kind. He hasn't destroyed me like that. He's simply testing me, simply prodding me to wake up.

Indeed We will make you taste a small punishment compared to the bigger punishment of the Akhirah — anything that happens in this world, Allah says, is just a small punishment. Why? لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ — so that you may turn around and turn back towards Allah.

So the intelligent person — when he does sabr — it's not that he's just going through pain and making sabr. Along with sabr, what does he have to do? Tawbah. Recognize: why am I going through this difficulty?

A beautiful story — once a person came to me crying. An older person. I said: "What happened?" He said: "I'm a very good driver — I never have any accidents — and today an accident happened. I crashed into a parked car, which I've never done. I have no idea how I did it. I caused so much damage." I said: "Okay — why are you crying? Allah is giving you so much — what's a thousand dollars, eight hundred dollars — why are you crying?" He had tears and he said: "Because I realized — a few minutes before I entered the parking lot, as I was entering it, I had some wasawis, some thoughts — I'll tell you what they were." And he told me. And he said: "Most definitely, I feel Allah has punished me for that — for me thinking in that manner. The justice was swift because I've never done something like this before. When I'm just parking the car — why in the world did I just accelerate and hit a parked car?" And he linked it back to that thought. I said SubhanAllah — honestly, you are very lucky. How many people think like this? How many people connect the dots — that this is happening because of what I did?

Allah knows best — we cannot say with certainty. But the fact that you reflect on what's going difficult in your life and connect it back to your own sins — that is a gift of Allah. This is what we're inviting each other to do. Part of our sabr should be: figure out what did I do wrong in the past day, week, month, or year — because of which Allah is possibly sending me this — and then the goal is not to say "Oh my God, ya Allah why are you doing this?" The goal is: "Ya Allah, I'm sorry. I make tawbah. I seek forgiveness from You for every such sin which has brought upon me Your wrath. I seek forgiveness for every such sin which is bringing Your punishment upon me in this world or the next." That's what the sabr requires.

Then don't worry — Allah will accept your istighfar and tawbah and the tide will turn. Look at the connection Allah makes — He tells Rasulullah to be patient and then asks him to do istighfar. What sin did the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ commit? He is ma'sum — what sin could it be?

One answer: every single day the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ would have a higher degree of understanding of Allah — a higher level of ma'rifah — so every day he would be at a higher stage of knowing Allah than the previous day. So every day he would seek forgiveness from Allah for the level of understanding he had on the previous day. A person comes in, doesn't know who the principal is, doesn't know who the teacher is, and starts messing around and joking around. And then the next day someone says: "Hey, who was that?" "Oh, that was the teacher." Now he has ma'rifah — he knows the teacher. He didn't know yesterday. Now he knows today. What happens? He feels bad. That's what we're talking about. Every day, Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was getting to know Allah more and more — so Allah is asking him to seek forgiveness for the previous level.

Number two — the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ would do ijtihad. There are things for which he did not have clear-cut answers given to him, and his job was to make a concentrated effort to make the best decision he could. And there were times when Allah corrected him. And so if he made a decision incorrectly — there are many examples of that — Allah is asking him to seek forgiveness.

For example — how did Allah forgive His Nabi in the incident of the Battle of Tabuk? The Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ allowed some people who wanted to take leave of absence. He said okay. Allah reprimanded him — but before the reprimand, what did He say?

Allah has already forgiven you — but why did you give them permission? It's possible that the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was thinking: these people asking permission to not participate — if they have a true excuse, let them go; and if they're making up an excuse, then good riddance. But Allah did not want that to happen. Allah wanted him to make a clear declaration: I don't give you permission — and if you're leaving, you are openly disobeying me. Let it be known to the whole army.

So before Allah even corrected him, He said: عَفَا اللهُ عَنكَ — Allah has already forgiven you. So وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لِذَنبِكَ — seek forgiveness for your sin — is a reminder to you and I: how much istighfar we should be doing — at least a hundred times in the morning and a hundred times in the evening.

When we are doing istighfar, we don't just move the tasbih while watching something on our TV screen or computer screen. Instead, while we're doing istighfar, our heart should be in pain — thinking about the thousands of mistakes we have committed in the past three, four, five, six decades — and saying: "Ya Allah, if You don't forgive me, I'm done. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." It has to be sincerity.

And then: exalt and highly exalt your Lord with all praise in the evenings and the mornings. Ashiyy is between Asr and Maghrib. Ibkar is from sunrise till Dhuhr. Then you've got your Dhuhr salah, your Isha salah, your Tahajjud salah — basically throughout the day and evening, make sure you get food for the soul by doing tasbih. What does tasbih mean? Tasbih means to say: Allah is free and pure of all deficiencies. Imagine if someone said: "You have a perfect dad, you have a perfect mom, you have a perfect teacher." How do you feel? How should we feel that we have a perfect Lord — a Lord who is absolutely flawless in every sense of the word.

Ayah 56: Those Who Argue Without Proof — It Is Only Arrogance

Indeed, those people who argue against the signs of Allah — they have no divine authority ever having come to them, no proof — and they sit there and they argue about the verses of Allah.

Jadal — جَدَل الْحَبْل — is when you take a rope, take the strands, and tie them together and braid them to make a strong rope. This is what jadal is — when you take different opinions, different proofs, and you strengthen your position — or at least attempt to. Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ says that these disbelievers who are arguing with you about Islam not being true — arguing about the ayat of Allah — this could mean: one, the verses of the Qur'an; two, arguing about the miracles of the prophets; or three, the signs of Allah in nature — where people today say the earth was not created by Allah, the heavens were not created through design, the big bang did not have a being behind it, it just happened. There are many different types of arguments in the world today where people are arguing even about nature, attributing everything to chance as opposed to an intelligent designer.

إِنْ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ إِلَّا كِبْرٌ — the only reason is because they have arrogance in their heart. People don't like to be told to change. I remember one scholar said he was studying in South Africa and a student in the second or third year of the alim course had very long hair and used to come dressed in a very unique way to class — completely against the norms and the uniform of the madrasa. The teacher told him: make sure you take care of your haircut before tomorrow. This happened once, twice — on the third day, the teacher came in and the young man from America studying overseas still hadn't gotten his haircut. So the teacher told him: listen, you have to either choose this class or choose your haircut. And Mawlana Tamim shared this story — he said: "I choose my hair." And SubhanAllah, he closed the book, he walked out — in the middle of his studies.

Mawlana said: that same person — of course he left the madrasa after that — they found that SubhanAllah, he's on the streets of California dealing in drugs. What happened? It was all the arrogance. That's it. Arguing back and forth. Whether the rule makes sense to you or doesn't make sense — who cares? Once you enter somewhere, you follow the rules. You don't go back and forth on it. You don't go back and forth with your parents, you don't go back and forth with your teachers. That's the point. Arrogance kills us.

And so Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ is saying that these people who deep down know the Qur'an is true — Rasulullah, Islam is true — but they're arguing because they have an issue. "How can a nephew of mine be more superior? How can this person who is poor be more superior than all of us?" This is what the Quraysh would say. On the other hand, Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) — a senior uncle — when asked: "You're following your nephew? You're older and he's greater?" — would just say: هُوَ أَكْبَرُ مِنِّي وَأَنَا وُلِدْتُ قَبْلَهُ — "He is greater than me, and I happen to have been born before him." He is greater than me. When that type of humility comes, then SubhanAllah — anything can happen. You can achieve great things.

Take-home lesson from this ayah: as they say, curiosity killed the cat — arrogance is what's killing our new generation. This is one of the main root causes of why people want to not practice Islam. The youth do not like to respond to authority. They do not want to make themselves subservient to any law or any system. They love the idea of freedom — which in reality is being a slave to your desire. That sounds like freedom to them. So whenever you say — you'll see it — they don't want to listen to parents, they don't want to listen to teachers, and eventually: "I don't want to listen to God. I want to do whatever I want."

Little children speak like this today. There's no concept of: "Your teacher said it. Your parents said it. You have to do it." Everyone's following their nafs. We have to beg Allah — seek Allah's protection from our nafs. What made Shaytan into what he is? His nafs. Iblis — why did he say: "I'm not going to bow down"? It was his ego. That ego, that nafs, is what killed it. So if the nafs is so horrible that it can make Iblis into who he is today — what is it going to do to you and me?

The majority of the fighting between people today — argumentation between husband and wife, parents and children, and unfortunately many times between scholars — or rather, pseudo-scholars, not real scholars — is because of the nafs. That's the issue. And that is why when you're listening to someone bashing another person, you have to think about all the possible ulterior motives that could be present, and listen to criticism with a pinch of salt. It's very hard to find genuinely sincere people nowadays who'll say: "No, this is what it is." Many times there's some sort of agenda — and the agenda many times is: "I should be superior to him. His status, his circle, should be smaller than mine." May Allah protect us from hasad. May Allah protect us from arrogance.

Allah says: for it is an aspiration to which they shall never attain. You're never going to get what you want by being arrogant. And the only way to ensure you don't fall into arrogance, don't fall into this jealousy — keep on seeking protection of Allah from the accursed Shaytan. "Will Allah listen to me? Will Allah accept my prayers?" Of course — Allah is all-Hearing, all-Seeing. He knows your situation, He hears your cries, and Allah will accept that.

My dear brothers — when you want to discuss philosophical issues or aqeedah issues, don't do it in a group. Don't do a group study on this. Spend time privately and quietly with a scholar, or on your own. Don't think things out in public over biryani at a wedding — because what happens is you're sitting with all different sorts of people, and it will become a khichdi — very confusing — with a mixed set of ideas. Instead, if a person has some thought about this and wants to give it some thought — spend some time on your own, and Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ will guide you.

Ayah 57: The Creation of the Heavens and Earth is Greater Than the Creation of Mankind

Indeed, most certainly the creation of the heavens and the earth is a far greater wonder than the creation of mankind — however, most people do not know. What does that mean here? Allah is saying: how dare you doubt in the power of resurrection? Why do you think I'm not going to resurrect you — not going to ask you about every single thing you did? Look at how this ever-expanding universe was created by Allah — and He will destroy it — and then the Day of Judgment will come. You know very well that the idols did not create the heavens and the earth, the idols did not create the sun and the moon — even the kuffar of Mecca never said that. So if Allah is able to do something so massive and great, how easy will it be for Allah to put the soul back into your body?

Number two: these massive creations of Allah are subservient and obedient to Allah. How can this small human being not be subservient and obedient to Allah? In one other place, Allah says: do not walk arrogantly on this earth. Even if you stomp your feet — as kids sometimes do when they're mad — Allah says: take it easy. Because you can try stamping your feet on the ground as much as you want — you're never going to be able to crack open the earth. You're going to crack open your feet, break your legs — but you're not going to make a hole in this earth. And sometimes people want to walk tall — they stand on their tiptoes or wear high heels — but Allah says: no matter how high you act, your neck will never reach the height of the mountains.

So if Allah is the master and creator of these massive elements in nature, He is definitely our Creator. If those elements of nature are subservient to Him, how does it make sense for you and I not to be subservient to Allah? Sadly, majority of people do not understand — even though they see with their own eyes, they're not understanding.

One point over here — I think in ten or more places in the Qur'an, wherever the word majority is used — except for one place, if I remember correctly — all places the word majority has been used in a negative sense: أَكْثَرُ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ، لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ، لَا يَشْكُرُونَ، لَا يَعْقِلُونَ — majority don't believe, majority don't think, majority are not grateful, majority don't have faith. And when Allah speaks about the minority, it's in a positive sense. And that's such an important take-home lesson: stop looking at what the Joneses are doing — because the Joneses of the world are doing haram, the Joneses of the world are doing kufr. Why are we changing what we do in our home because of our neighbors or because of what society is doing? We have to do what we know is right and pray for the guidance of others — not neglect the right we're doing and change our ways simply to so-called fit in.

Ayah 58: The Blind and the Seeing Are Not Equal

Can you ever say that a person who is completely blind and a person who can see will have an equal time going from here to across the street? Of course not. The one who can see will be able to protect himself much more. Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ is saying: similarly, these people who are blindly passing by the verses of the Qur'an and Sunnah — who do not comprehend, who don't reflect, who don't think — they are blind. And you who are listening and studying the Qur'an, studying the Seerah, trying to implement in your life — you've got basira.

SubhanAllah — just a couple of hours before today, I was so pleased to hear from one youngster from a foreign country studying in a top-notch university on the west coast. I had gone to speak there once after Fajr — about six months ago at Berkeley — and SubhanAllah right after that he came for the Seerah conference, and just today about two or three hours ago he called me and said: "SubhanAllah, if the application is open, I would like to join the one-year program." He's a computer science student, and he said: "The more I study, the more I realize I really have to choose deen. I want to study the full seven-year program." And by his own admission, he said: "I have 50-plus cousins — they don't understand the deen. Born Muslims in a Muslim country, but they have no appreciation. And the more I spend time with the book of Allah, I realize I can do my computer science degree on the side, I already have a job, but I want to come study."

Now obviously when he says something like that to his cousins — what are they going to say? "You're crazy, you're cuckoo." And majority of our students here are the same — their parents don't appreciate them coming here, their siblings don't appreciate them coming here. But the one who can see is not equal to the one who cannot see.

My message is to those who are trying to follow the deen: do not allow the discouragement of your family and your friends to push you back or pull you back from the goals you have kept for yourself and your kids. Do not try to convince your mom and dad and your siblings — say it nicely, make du'a for them — but don't say: "Okay, if you don't change, that's it, I'll give up." Make du'a for them. It's like a person who can see getting mad at a blind person: "Why can't you see?! What's wrong with you?!" But how is he going to see — he can't see.

Even if there's 50, if there's 100 blind people going in one direction, and you know it's a wrong direction, it's a harmful direction — you will have the brains to turn around and say: "I don't care what you all say. I can see what you all don't see." And that's exactly what happens when a person is gifted with the noor of iman — he can see what the Qur'an will do to you, what the Sunnah of Rasulullah will do to you, what a life according to the deen will give you. And he will make decisions for himself and his kids that will look like crazy decisions to the rest of the world. But do not allow those naysayers to stop you from doing what you need to do.

And also be careful — if Allah allowed you to see today, He may take away your sight tomorrow. I've seen that too. May Allah protect me and protect all of you. People who spoke — even like I'm speaking — "may Allah guide my brother, may Allah guide my dad, may Allah guide my mom" — and SubhanAllah, they themselves within 2 months flipped. So we've got to be careful. Don't ever say anything that could be taken as disrespectful or looking down upon anyone. We're not looking down — we're just thankful to Allah that He's allowed us to open one eye, a portion of one eye. We hope we can all have both eyes open — and most importantly, the eyes of our hearts open.

Similarly: those who believe and do good deeds can never be equal to those who are committers of misdeeds. But little are you human beings mindful. Look here — the word قَلِيلًا is used here in a good sense: who is mindful? Very few people. Qaleel — very few people are reflective and thinking. Let me walk away changing from this tafsir today. Let me walk away reflecting on these verses of the Qur'an. Let me open up ayat 50 and 58 of Surah al-Ghafir and go read them again. Let me really try to make decisions that reflect that I have been affected by the book of Allah.

Ayah 59: The Hour Is Coming — Yet Most Do Not Believe

Allah says: okay — you all are not going to be equal. Your directions are different, your lifestyles are different. But how long? Indeed, the Hour of Doom is most surely around the corner — it's coming. Again, same thing: unfortunately, most people simply do not believe. They are neglecting the signs and they do not believe in the Hereafter. Again, أَكْثَر has been used in a negative sense. And Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ is saying: your time is limited to choose the right path. But how will you choose the right path when you don't even believe in the Akhirah?

We will end here insha'Allah. A powerful and beautiful ayah — ayah 60 — will be next week. It is the ayah on du'a that you hear for years and decades in your khutbah — the ayah the imam recites in the Jumu'ah khutbah. I've been hearing it since childhood from my khatibs. Insha'Allah we will begin with ayah 60 next week.

Q&A Session

How do I come to terms with something not going the way I want and understand that Allah has something else planned?

This has to do with your faith. The more you start reading and thinking about Allah's qudrah and power, the more you start reflecting on Allah's names and attributes, the more you read the stories of the prophets and the Sahaba and their relationship with Allah — the more you'll realize that this is not just with me, it's with everyone. Do you think Yusuf عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام wanted his life to go the way it went initially? Do you think Musa عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام wanted his life to go the way it went? Do you think Ayub عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام wanted that? Tell me which prophet's life was easy. The best of the best — the prophets of Allah — had the most challenging lives. And they stayed firm, knowing that at the end they would be successful and victorious. Allah has a specific plan for us.

So when you read the Seerah of Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ, this will help you remain strong. And if you are going through any difficulty, reflecting over the ayat of the Qur'an on sabr and the tests of Allah will also assist you.

Sometimes I have doubts that I'm practicing the right religion — I've looked at other religions and some seem more solid than others.

Dear brother or sister — I don't know if you're a revert or a born Muslim, I don't know if you already have knowledge and are confused or you don't have knowledge. But one thing I'll say is: reach out. Don't do things on your own. You need to reach out. Just recently we came across a person — a born Muslim, not too far from here — a poor young boy who started watching videos made by Christians against Islam, and now he has lost his faith. One day he says he's Muslim, the next day he says he's Christian. We were dealing with him just last week — may Allah make it easy for him. But what happened? Because of just randomly watching things.

So I would suggest to this brother or sister: please reach out to a scholar and share exactly what your issues are. Sometimes we actually have the knowledge — it's all a waswasah — a whisper of Shaytan. You don't need more knowledge; you need more spirituality. Sometimes you simply need to read أَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ and kick the Shaytan away, do your wudhu, and sit in a gathering of ilm and dhikr. Sometimes there are actual genuine confusions that need to be addressed with a scholar.

How do you get rid of waswasah?

Seek Allah's protection:

Some of the ayat of Surah al-Mu'minun towards the end — and of course Surah al-Falaq and Surah an-Nas.

Another way to get rid of waswasah: don't give it any thought. Just ignore it — and ignore the fact that you're ignoring it. Just act like it doesn't exist.

Can you walk around in your house and make du'a?

Yes, you can. You don't have to sit down in one place.

Are neck chains permissible for men?

No, they are not permissible.

Will saying istighfar without much thought be beneficial?

You're taking Allah's name — of course Allah's name will always be beneficial. But more effectiveness will come when you are focused on it and lamenting over what you have done.

I'm a sinner — how do I know if something is a test or a punishment?

It could be either — but just use that difficulty as a means to reflect on your mistakes and say: "Allah, I deserve much more. The way I have broken Your orders — I deserve much more. But ya Allah, I am very weak. I just can't handle it. So I request You, Allah, to please forgive me for what I have done and allow this to become a means of purification for me from any sins I have committed in the past — so that I don't have to pay a price for it in the grave or in the Akhirah as well."

Upcoming Programs at Darussalam

Next Friday, August 18th, will be our monthly seminar — From Cradle to the Grave — by Sheikh Tahseen Khan. He has written an authoritative book on evolution which should be available in the lobby at the book stall. He is alhamdulillah a staff member here at Darussalam.

Additionally, the fall semester of the Tafim Program begins August 17th. This semester we will be covering: fiqh of fasting, zakat and Hajj; signs of the Hour; and the Seerah of the Madinan period. The Sunday track will cover: sciences of the Qur'an, fiqh of finance, and the Prophet's صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ family. These classes are offered on-site and online for men and women of all walks of life.

As mentioned earlier, the Tanweer Intensive One-Year Program begins this Monday. The high school program also begins this Monday. Additionally, for girls wanting to start from 8th grade — integrated with the alimah program — that also starts this Monday. There are a few seats left. If you're interested or your family member is interested, please visit the office or email us at office@dsfindy.org.

Starting next week: our new Seerah Program after Maghrib — in Urdu — a weekly Seerah program: Seerat al-Nabi Qadam ba Qadam. Alhamdulillah, we had our first session last week with PowerPoints in English, and we will have weekly PowerPoints taught by our new staff member insha'Allah.

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وَصَلَّى اللهُ تَعَالَى عَلَى خَيْرِ خَلْقِهِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ بِرَحْمَتِهِ وَرَحْمَةِ أَرْحَمِ الرَّاحِمِينَ وَالْحَمْدُ للهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ