Surah Ghafir - Ep.15 - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 08/27

Opening Du'a

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Peace and blessings be upon our Master Muhammad and his family.

Recitation of Surah Ghafir (Selected Verses)

Sadaqallahul Azeem.

Opening Dhikr Session

Like we did last week, inshallah we will begin our weekly Dars with a short Dhikr. Just because we are not able to at the end complete it. And because of the Q&A and other things which are coming earlier, many times we were not able to get to the Dhikr, so I said inshallah we will begin our Dars with a short Dhikr, inshallah.

Also I have the Slido QR code up here. Those of you who are regulars know that you probably noticed by now it's the exact same code every week. So please just keep it saved. Or keep the link saved. Keep the number saved. And inshallah, when you come in, instead of waiting all the way till the end, if you have anything that you would like us to share, if Allah gives us time inshallah, we'll try to cover it. But you don't have to wait till the end of the Dars, the last few minutes to share it. You can keep this code here, and ask at the very beginning as well.

The Meaning of Lā ilāha illallāh

When we do the Dhikr of لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ, let us remember and focus on the fact that all of our false deities and false gods that we have in our heart — shirkul khafi — anything that we're trying to please besides Allah, anyone we're trying to please besides Allah, anyone who we are afraid of more than Allah, anyone who we look forward to more than Allah, anyone we have expectations from besides Allah, we negate all of that through لَا إِلَهَ. And then إِلَّا اللَّهُ, we reaffirm that any benefit and harm that comes to us, or comes to anyone else in this world, comes only from Allah. And the only deity, the only one worthy of worship is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And all other forms of obedience to anyone else, we absolve ourselves from that. So we should focus on that concept as we make nafi and ithbat — breaking the false idols from the heart, and reaffirming our firm belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Sending Salawāt Upon the Prophet

Next, when we send salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ, focus on the fact that how indebted you and I are to him. If it wasn't for him ﷺ, we would have never known who Allah is. He introduced us to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He became the means of all of us receiving the Qur'an, and countless blessings.

So we're asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to raise his status. And in reality, who are we to ask? We're only saying this because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has asked us to do this. And at the end, who stands to benefit? We do. Because for every single salutation we send upon him, Allah sends 10 salutations upon us. And Allah forgives 10 of our sins. And Allah gives us 10 rewards. And Allah increases our levels in paradise by 10 levels. Amongst so many other beautiful virtues a person gets by sending salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ.

Istighfār — Seeking Forgiveness

Then lastly we'll do is istighfar, seeking forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When we do that, we should focus on our own mistakes. If a person says, I don't know what mistakes I'm doing, we need to cry over the fact that we cannot realize our own sins. Countless things I have said, done, thought — with eyes, ears, hands, feet, mouth. Every limb of ours is filled with sins. A person should think about those mistakes past and present. Small or large. Done once or many times. And we seek forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for that with sincerity.

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1518; also narrated by Ibn Majah, Hadith 3819)

Whoever holds on to istighfar — whoever does istighfar abundantly — Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will grant him an avenue out of every source of pain, agony, worry, and concern. Number two, مِنْ كُلِّ ضِيقٍ مَخْرَجًا — Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will create an exit from every difficult spot he finds himself in. And number three, Allah will provide for him sustenance from places where he could never imagine.

And what else do you want? Allah is getting you out of every tight spot. Allah is getting you out of every worry, concern, depression, sadness. And Allah is providing unlimited sustenance from places where he can't imagine. So this is the benefit of doing istighfar abundantly.

The Annual Salawāt Goal Campaign

We know that through the Sira Conference coming up in two weeks' time, we have our annual Sira Conference. With that we have our annual Salawat Goal Campaign. And this is a yearly effort that we make here at Darussalam to create an environment in this institution and all around it across the globe — whoever is listening — to join, to make a campaign of sending excessive amounts, massive amounts of salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ, whereby we can see and usher in peace, comfort, and happiness into the world. Into our world, into the world of others as well.

So in the previous years, collectively we have been able to accomplish with the will of Allah all the way up to approximately 75 million, within a matter of a few weeks. So if we all work together on doing our own 5,000 a day, 10,000 a day, from each home, if we can get every member of our household to do 2,000–3,000 a day, alhamdulillah we can even outdo that number. And we dedicate it to our own issues, we dedicate it to the issues of the ummah.

There isn't a short list that we have. The amount of problems the ummah is going through from east to west, north to south, across the entire globe — where do we start from? So salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ is a great way for us inshallah to bring upon sakina upon the world and to hopefully bring Allah's happiness, whereby inshallah things will of course change.

Tafsir of Surah Ghafir — Ayah 67 Onwards

The Stages of Human Creation (Ayah 67)

Allah in Ayah 67 mentions the different stages of the human being, reminding us of how we are absolutely in need of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala throughout every stage, and how can it not be that we submit to Him completely.

If you remember the last ayah, Allah says to the Prophet ﷺ: inform the people — I have been prohibited from committing any shirk. I have been prohibited from calling out to anyone besides Allah, attributing any failure or success to anyone besides our Lord Almighty. Everything comes from Allah. And then I have been commanded to submit entirely, my entire being, to the Lord of all worlds.

Submission is not about just performing salah. Submission is in every aspect of our life, in all of our relationships, in all of our actions, outside of the masjid, outside of Friday. Every day, whatever we do is being governed by what Allah says to do. And to be 100% pleased with the decisions of Allah. To be content with whatever He has asked us to do. This is all part of istislam. This is all part of submission.

The question is — why only to Allah? Why should I submit to Allah? These ayat explain.

Because He is the one who created all of you. Created you from dust. Creating us from dust could mean referring to Adam ﷺ — Allah created Adam ﷺ from that soil. Or it could mean that the substance by which a child is born comes from nutrition of the human body, and the human body produces that after what they eat from the ground. So we've come from the ground. Because parents eat nutrition that comes from the earth. And through the barakah of that nutrition, Allah makes those secretions come out through which a whole human being is born. So if you trace it back, every single human being is coming straight from the earth.

A third explanation could also mean that once a child is born — born 5, 6, 7 pounds — and then within a few years, those 5–6 pounds become 60, 70, then 160, 170 and beyond. Where are these pounds coming from? Where is the length and breadth of this body coming from? It's obviously coming from the nutrition that they get from the earth.

Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

ثُمَّ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ — Then from a sperm drop, which comes from the turab, which comes from the dust. ثُمَّ مِنْ عَلَقَةٍ — Then from a clinging clot. ثُمَّ يُخْرِجُكُمْ طِفْلًا — Then He brings you forth as children. ثُمَّ لِتَبْلُغُوا أَشُدَّكُمْ — Then so that you may reach full maturity. ثُمَّ لِتَكُونُوا شُيُوخًا — Then so that you may become elderly. Ashud is reaching full maturity, and then shuyukha is the next step, where a person reaches old age.

Then Allah mentions, وَمِنكُم مَّن يُتَوَفَّىٰ مِن قَبْلُ — there are those who end up passing away prior to this, meaning before reaching old age. وَلِتَبْلُغُوا أَجَلًا مُّسَمًّى — so that you may all reach a preordained term of death. وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ — and so that you may all come to understand that Allah alone could do this.

So Allah has created us through stages. It's not that a person is just manufactured and that's it. For us, every single second, Allah's amazing powers become obvious. From the growing of the nails, to the growing of the hair, to the strengthening of the body, to the wisdom that comes about as a person gets older. It's amazing.

You know, there's a story — it's like a joke, but it's not a joke also. A child tells his dad: SubhanAllah, it's amazing, now I am 18, 21 years old. I remember you and the things you used to tell me when I was 10. It's amazing how you have grown in these past 10 years — telling his dad. Now you make so much more sense. Before, 10 years ago, the things you used to say didn't make much sense. But mashallah, I'm impressed with you — for the past 10 years you've really, alhamdulillah, done well, you've grown very well. Not realizing that his dad hasn't changed anything. The son is the one who's actually growing older to a degree of maturity where he can appreciate his father.

This is the insan, right? This growth — where did this wisdom come out? How every single one of us is evolving. Even if we are not growing taller, but the way our thought process is changing, the way experiences teach a man — so amazing. How we're constantly developing. And it's definitely marvelous to see machine learning. But we should look at our own selves, to see what type of intelligence Allah has given us, and what type of growth comes within us, that Allah has allowed humanity to be at a level now to create something called machine learning. Where did that come from? That came from a God-given intelligence to us as humans.

So every single moment, we're constantly dependent upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and we're enjoying His blessings — from the water that we drank, to the chai we'll have. All of that, we're constantly indebted to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala every single moment. So this is the numu, this is the growth that is happening, stage by stage, until a person reaches old age.

Shuyukha — Old Age

Regarding shuyukha, Allah says in Surah Maryam, the du'a of Zakariya ﷺ:

Oh Allah, Zakariya ﷺ says: Indeed my bones have become weak. And my hair is lit up with whiteness — lit up, like the way fire lights up. What happens when a forest fire starts? It doesn't usually get contained, it spreads to a much larger area than where it started. Once the white hair starts, it's not stopping. It's moving. You can try to cover it up, but it's moving. So ishti'al — it's lit up. And he mentions: I've never ever lost out in asking You, oh Allah. You've always been there for me. Whenever I ask, alhamdulillah, You grant me.

So this is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is speaking about here of shuyukha — when a person's hair becomes white, when a person's bones become weak. And there is one stage after that, which the Nabi ﷺ sought refuge from. Allah mentions in Surah Al-Hajj, Ayah 5:

A state comes when you don't know anything after you knew a lot. A person suffers amnesia, a person suffers dementia, a person suffers some other type of diseases, and a person loses eyesight, loses the ability to communicate, loses the ability to connect and to walk around. And now a person seems, as Allah mentions in Surah Ya-Sin:

Whoever we give a lengthy life, نُنَكِّسْهُ فِي الْخَلْقِ — he starts going backwards. Tankis, munakkas is something to be upside down. When it comes to the matter of creation, he becomes upside down. So there's growth, growth, growth happening, and once you reach the pinnacle, from there you start going downhill. Just like there was numu, growth going up, here now there is nuzul, going downhill. Every single time you move forward, it gets weaker and weaker. This is how Allah made it.

There are many ahadith about intelligence — those people who study the Qur'an and hadith, who are teaching Qur'an and hadith, who are connected with hadith, how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protects their intellect. And there are many examples of people who are extremely advanced in their years, and physically maybe very frail, but through the barakah of the Qur'an, and especially the khidmah of hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, Allah gives them a sharp intelligence till the very end. And you see that many of the awliya passed 100 years old — mashallah tabarak wa ta'ala — with such a level of sharpness, and they continue to come and teach at this old age.

Mawlana Adam Sahib passed away a few months ago in England. Alhamdulillah I had the opportunity to meet him last summer. And I knew he was very advanced in age, but after he got hit with so much — he got a stroke, he got this, he got that — and subhanallah he was so bent over when I met him. Extremely frail, extremely weak and sick. But he started teaching Bukhari for that year, and he said: I don't care what happens, I'm going to finish my dawrat al-hadith, I'm going to teach Bukhari Sharif. And he ended up teaching. In that state, subhanallah, he came and he taught the whole kitab. May Allah elevate the status of all those who passed away — from the shuhada, and the ulama, and the sulaha, and our elders — ameen, Rabbil 'alamin.

So this is one way to protect our intelligence — to be in the khidmah and service of studying and teaching Qur'an and hadith. So the Nabi ﷺ said:

O Allah, I seek refuge in You from being sent back to the most lowly age. And so we should remind ourselves that the Prophet ﷺ passed away at what we see today as a very young age of 63. What Nabi ﷺ accomplished — Allah did not give him 100-plus years of life. But the productivity that happened in those 63 years is just unbelievable.

Barakah in Time

So many times we complain about a lack of time. But in reality, it's my lack of barakah in my time. That's what it is. It's not the fact that we don't have time. It's the fact that we are not being efficient with our time.

Remember, brothers, that barakah in wealth comes through earning from halal, spending in halal, and giving sadaqah. And barakah in wealth goes away through extravagance — when a person is extravagant, the barakah is gone, meaning he will not be able to spend it in good causes. The same can be said about time. Barakah will come in time when there is no extravagance in time, no wastage. When we don't waste time, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will put barakah in our time. So just like we are hopefully very careful of how we spend our money, we also need to be very careful of how we spend our time.

Every single time someone says, let's go have tea, let's sit down and chitchat — there's nothing wrong with it, sometimes you need to sit till Fajr. But every single time you sit with someone or go somewhere, you have to calculate the cost. What is the purpose behind this meeting? What am I going to get out of it at the end? Either you're giving or taking. You can't be lost. There has to be something you are giving to someone — that's alhamdulillah for the sake of Allah, for the akhirah. Or that you're taking something. That benefit could be in this dunya or the hereafter. But if a person gives his time for no reason — that's a problem. That is israf.

It was mentioned in قِيمَةُ الزَّمَنِ عِنْدَ الْعُلَمَاءِ — a book on the value of time by Shaykh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghuddah. Really powerful book. It gets you — if you were to read one page out of that everyday, you and I would really begin to value our time much, much more. So this book mentions one story — it says one scholar was sitting there, and someone came and said: Shaykh, I need to talk to you. Can you give me some time? He probably knew that this person loves to just chitchat and waste time. He said: أَمْسِكِ الشَّمْسَ — stop the sun first, then we'll talk. If you can't stop it, then I have no time. Because you're going to waste my time. Stop time, then I'll give you time. Because I know nothing is going to come of this.

This is how we're supposed to be with our time. And not only not wasting it with people, but number one — wasting it with our phones. Wasting it chatting with people on the phone, texting people, or more than that, just watching useless binge-watching, social media surfing, Netflix, YouTube, and all this other nonsense.

If you look at our culture — I know I'm stating the obvious, but we need to do that. There are hundreds of millions of people watching someone boarding a flight. Hundreds of millions of people watching someone eat sushi. Hundreds of millions of people — they don't get married themselves, they're watching someone else's wedding. Why don't you get a life, get married, and take your own children to kindergarten? Why are you watching someone else's kindergarten? This is the ridiculousness. I don't think anyone a hundred years ago would have ever imagined that this is how humanity is going to become — that we would actually sit and spend hours watching other people's mundane things. From cooking, to sleeping — anything you want to find, there'll be a live stream for it, there'll be a vlog for it, there'll be an influencer talking about it. And you look at the views — a bayan in the masjid will have 7–10 views, and that will have 150 million, 200 million views. This is the craze of humanity today.

So this is something we have to talk about — how much time on social media and Instagram we are literally doing israf with. There's nothing more valuable than time. If you want to make money, you need time. If you want to get married, you need time. You want to read a book, you need time. Everything needs time. But our most valuable thing is being spent watching other people doing things. Astaghfirullah.

When I was visiting one city, one hifz ustad said: I picked up my hifz student's phone and looked at the stats. And it showed, for this week, 15 hours on social media — TikTok especially. Just TikTok, 15 hours. And this anime addiction as well — one student who I personally interacted with ended up failing in school and many other things happening. Fathers and mothers — if you see your son or daughter all of a sudden failing and just not being present, there are a number of things that could possibly be going wrong. One of those things is anime addiction, from amongst the many addictions out there.

Just to give you what an anime addiction sounds like — this boy himself confessed to me. He said: in 2 weeks, he had watched 500 episodes of anime. Each episode is 20 minutes long. 500 times 20, over 2 weeks. Video games, anime, and series and Netflix — all of these things are the biggest wastage of our time.

Everyone can look at their screen time. All people who listen to me — youngsters especially, men, women — look at your screen time and look where you're using it. Where are you using 20 hours on Netflix or 30 hours on Instagram or Twitter? By reading what someone else said, how does that help us in anything? Astaghfirullah.

So this is why there's no barakah in my time. The Nabi ﷺ and the ulama of the past and the sahaba — in short spans, they made amazing impacts that the world is enjoying the barakah of 900, 1,000, 1,200, 1,500 years later. And what they wrote in 30 years — one scholar — all of us put together, I promise you, in 30 years cannot even read that. These ulama actually researched, prepared, wrote, published, and died. Some of them at the young age of 40, some of them at 50. And they left a wealth of knowledge — it takes 4 or 5 years of the alim course just to understand what they wrote. And then we read one volume, we read 50, 100, 200 pages, while they've written thousands of pages.

We have technologies, we have voice to text. You don't need ink, you don't need a pen, you don't need paper. You literally, while driving or walking, could be dictating a book. What other amazing things we could be doing? The technology is present to produce outstanding works. But I don't have time to read because we're doing this other stuff. The main issue is that there's no barakah in our time. And the barakah is gone because of wasting time. Just like wasting money takes away barakah in money, wasting time takes away barakah in time. And spending our time in haram will not allow our time to be used in good.

So that's why one of the things we encourage students when they come to study here — and for that matter anyone else who wants to change — is that you cut down and get rid of social media. Try it out for 40 days. Try it out for 6 weeks at least. Usually habits change within 6 weeks. So anyone who wants to have a productive life right now — say, okay fine, for 6 weeks I'm absolutely going to delete these apps. I'm going to have an app lock placed on my phone, have someone type it in so I don't have access to it. And let's see my productivity. There's 100% no doubt that you will be able to do things that your whole life you've been waiting to do but have not been able to do. Because it's being sucked out through this.

Death Does Not Come Only in Old Age

So the Prophet ﷺ was seeking refuge from ardhal al-'umur. Because when you reach that stage, all those things that you wanted to do, you're not able to do anymore. As one of my teachers would say: a successful day for a 1-year-old is that he walks 10 steps without falling. And subhanallah, time comes that a successful day for an elderly person is that you walk without falling. That's it — the same.

My beloved friends, that's going to happen to all of us. Either that, or we're going to die early. There's no third option. We're going to go down well, or we are going to die early before we even reach the top of the mountain. And that's what the Qur'an is saying:

وَمِنكُم مَّن يُتَوَفَّىٰ مِن قَبْلُ — some of you are going to die before reaching old age, while you're young. At the end of the day, أَجَلٌ مُّسَمًّى — the time of your death is set.

وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ — and you need to understand: the strength you have now, it's not your own. This strength came from Allah. And Allah can take it away whenever He wants.

He is the One Who Gives Life and Death (Ayah 68)

One thing I want to mention here about وَمِنكُم مَّن يُتَوَفَّىٰ مِن قَبْلُ is the idea that we should remove from our mind that death comes only in old age. That misconception becomes such a big deceiver. So many people will actually think: inshallah I'll make tawbah afterwards.

Literally there was a person in my Hajj group this year who mentioned a young couple — got married, alhamdulillah had a job, saved up money, went for Hajj. And while they were coming for Hajj, literally people told them: you're still so young, enjoy life, sin whatever you want, and then do Hajj towards the end of your life. He said — older people told them this! It's like: you're too young to get a clean slate. Enjoy life first, then do the master reset. Allahu Akbar.

How long is a person going to live? Allah alone knows. A person needs to be prepared. Especially nowadays, you see so many people are passing away young. Car accidents are a big one. We had a recent passing away in the community — a young student from one of our schools here, who passed away and left everyone in shock. And this is not the only incident. Cancer and other diseases are happening at a much younger age. A person should use this as an opportunity to reflect: am I prepared to be called by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?

Allah may give you life and may give you death anytime He wishes. The same one who gave you life — He didn't ask your permission to give you life. He didn't tell you before He gave you life. You and I came into this world at our appointed time. Similarly, He does not have to tell us, and will not tell us, when He is going to call us back. And without our permission, without our knowledge, He may choose to call us back anytime He wants. For whenever He decrees a matter, He but says to it — Be, and so it is.

One of the most amazing verses of the Qur'an — كُن فَيَكُونُ. Allah says to the alaqa, or Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says to the soul — come into this dunya. And not only to the soul, but to anything and everything. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not need to do anything but كُن. And remember, كُن is simply for you and I to understand. That's why there is a beautiful du'a of Rasulullah ﷺ:

Oh Allah, whose command is between كَاف and نُون. What is كَاف and نُون? كُن. Meaning Allah's hukm, His amr, His power — it's not at the end of كُن. It's in between the كَاف and the نُون. كُن is for us human beings to understand how quickly Allah can do something.

We talk about the human-made calculator, the human-made computer, at the speed of its processes. And now we're seeing ChatGPT 5 coming out. My brothers, let's look at this and understand — this is what Allah is allowing our intelligence to do. Imagine where Allah is. Just think about simultaneously how many countless — there's no word for it — how many processes are happening in the world. Just these hundred people sitting here: how many different full human beings are sitting here, whose eyes are different, whose ears are different, whose minds are different. Allah is running the affairs of what you're all thinking right now, what is going through your stomach, every system of your body — a hundred percent, Allah is monitoring it, running it.

How does this happen? Allah's irada is existence. Allah doesn't need to do anything. Allah simply intends it and it happens. That's the power. So similarly, how quick does it take for Allah to bring someone down? Instantaneously. How quick does it take for Allah to raise someone up? Instantaneously. How quick does it take for Allah to make someone wealthy, to make someone poor, to make someone healthy, to make someone sick? Just like that.

So when you're dealing with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you know your results. The turnaround time is almost non-existent. As soon as Allah decides that this is how it's going to be, it shall happen. So this should make us further push ourselves to become amongst those who beg Allah profusely. Because we just have to convince one Person — as soon as Allah says okay, gives us the green light, how He will make it happen, you don't worry. The asbab come into place from ways you can't imagine.

It is written in Nafahat al-Arab — the story of how Sulaiman ﷺ saw Malak al-Mawt. He looked puzzled. Then after a while, he sees him again, and Malak al-Mawt takes the life of a person nearby. So it is mentioned that Sulaiman ﷺ asked him: Oh Malak al-Mawt, I saw you earlier — you looked surprised, what happened? He said: I was given the command to take the life of someone at a certain location. And I was puzzled at the fact that we are so far away from that location, and the time of his death is approaching. What's going to happen? And then I saw this person sit on your throne — غُدُوُّهُ شَهْرٌ وَرَوَاحُهُ شَهْرٌ — the throne of Sulaiman used to travel across the world at great speed. He happened to travel with you to the other end of the world where his death was written. So I was puzzled at the fact of how he will reach there in such little time. And what happened? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed him to come through you, and his life was taken.

So this is where it's mentioned that when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala destines death for someone somewhere, Allah puts a need and desire in his heart to ensure he gets there at that time. Your death literally calls you to that place. And the man was sitting normally — why in the world did you go to that street? Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala pulled him there. His death pulled him. He had never gone there before. Today was the day he went, and that's when the accident happened. Nothing is coincidental. It's the haja. Allah ensures you are there at that right time for Malak al-Mawt to do his job. So this is what it means — كُن فَيَكُونُ.

Those Who Dispute the Signs of Allah (Ayah 69–70)

Have you not considered those who argue against the revealed signs of Allah to nullify them? أَنَّىٰ يُصْرَفُونَ — How then are they turned away from the self-evident truth? Allahu Akbar.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying — are you looking at these people? They're arguing with you about something which is so obvious, the signs of Allah. They are ayat kawniyya — natural signs of Allah, like the sun and the moon. They are ayat al-mu'jizat — miracles that the Prophet ﷺ brought. And there is ayat al-Qur'an — the verses of the Qur'an. They sat and argued that the miracles are sihr, magic. They said the Qur'an doesn't make sense. They always tried to find fault in the Qur'an.

And of course, when it came to the sun and the moon — previously, that was hands off. Why do I say previously? Because the Qur'an says:

If you would ask them — O mushrikun of Makkah — who created the heavens and the earth? Allah says: لَيَقُولُنَّ اللَّهُ — most definitely they will say, Allah created it. But today the average person out there — where is he believing in the power of God regarding the starting and the running of the universe? So we've gone way beyond that too. Now literally people are arguing even about the ayat al-kawniyya. They don't attribute it to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Look — there are people who argue without any benefit, trying to nullify the signs of Allah. Honestly, the problem is not with the signs of Allah. The problem is with their heart — they've been turned away from the self-evident truth. When your heart is turned away, you can't see the light. If someone chooses to put his hands over his eyes on a bright sunny day and says: I can't see anything — what can we do? We can't help you if you choose to cover your eyes.

Just two days ago, one scholar told me that he got a phone call from someone who said: we have a student in a very famous international madrasa of the world, in a center of learning — this student is in the 5th year of the alim program, and he is a pure mulhid, a pure atheist. He comes to class every day as an atheist. SubhanAllah. How many people are like that? Their purpose is to find holes in the Qur'an and the Sharia and start up a new website. We feel sorry for such people. May Allah guide them. How wretched a person must be — sitting in the center of Qur'an and Sunnah, in front of the greatest of ulama, in front of this original text, and yet still remaining or becoming an atheist. It's scary.

أَنَّىٰ يُصْرَفُونَ — where are they being turned away? Where did they make this wrong U-turn? And so we're seeing that a lot today — people are simply becoming lost. I've heard of other places as well. When I went to South Africa, one of the madrasas said — an American student studied all the way till the third, fourth year. After that he left. And subhanallah, they heard he left Islam, changed his gender, did all kinds of things after studying.

Ya Allah, do not allow our hearts to become crooked after You've given us guidance. It can happen. The eyes can become blind. What becomes a big issue is that a person begins to think: I don't need Allah.

الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِالْكِتَابِ وَبِمَا أَرْسَلْنَا بِهِ رُسُلَنَا ۖ فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ — It is those who have belied the Qur'an as the book of Allah, and who have belied all the commandments which We have sent down with our messengers. Thus they shall soon know the consequences of their denial.

Allah is saying here that He wants us to always be aware and cognizant that we're going to come face to face with Him. If you're constantly thinking about meeting Allah, this will stop us from committing sins. This will stop us from cheating someone in business. This will stop us from oppressing our spouse. This will stop us from looking at haram, drinking haram, smoking haram, committing any type of devilish act. When we're constantly thinking: I have to meet Allah. And if that's not present, then the nafs and shaitan will make a person do the worst type of things.

Today, we see why there's so much cheating in business all across the globe. Why there's no amanah, no trustworthiness. The Nabi ﷺ has said that a time will come when trustworthiness will become so uncommon that people will travel to see someone who they have heard is a trustworthy person in a certain town. We're not there yet. But it's going to become like that. A time will come where literally you will not find in a whole room full of people one person you can trust. You can't trust a student, you can't trust a teacher. You can't trust a mentor, you can't trust a mentee. You can't trust a business partner, you can't trust a spouse. Ajeeb.

But remember — hal-hazm, being cautious, is very good and beneficial. But this should not lead you to a degree of pessimism where you lose hope in the entire world and say: khalas, I've heard of so many divorces, I'm not going to get married anymore. That's not what the deen teaches us. Imagine if you were to say: all these businesses are failing, I'm not going to do business. That makes no sense.

We should not become so pessimistic when we hear these things and say: from now on, no more marriage. From now on, no more kids because my children might leave Islam. For every single era of fitna, there will always be that strong group of people whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will raise up. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4341; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3058)

The one who stays firm on the deen during those days will get the reward of 50 people. And the sahaba asked: 50 from amongst us, or 50 from amongst them? And he said: 50 from amongst you. Now, obviously understand how difficult it will be if the reward is 50 times that of the sahaba. That doesn't mean you become a sahabi — this is called thawab al-fadl, honorary reward. But it's a huge reward.

If there's Dajjal, there's also 'Isa ﷺ and the Mahdi. They have people with them. So if you think: oh, my son may become a follower of Dajjal, so I don't want any kids — but hey, Mahdi and 'Isa ﷺ are going to have followers as well. So what about their army? Why don't you be optimistic? So this is something — I've heard these types of statements from people, and I want that removed from our minds.

When you hear about these issues, the purpose — when you hear there's a lot of robberies happening in the area, what do you do? You put on extra locks. You put on a more secure alarm system. That's all the reason why I share the gloom and doom — because we need to put on extra locks on ourselves and our children.

A Warning to Parents

Like for example, today, someone reached out to me crying. Allahu Akbar. There are thousands of people like this. I'm going to share it with the fathers — and the mothers who may be listening.

We are so okay with sending our kids to college and to work, far away from home. Just because that's what you've got to do — you've got to get a degree, you've got to get a job, no matter where life takes you, you move on, son. Without preparing them and teaching them how to swim. We throw them into the deep end. Your son might be great at math. Your daughter might be great in English. But if you never taught them swimming, it makes no sense to go to the Pacific and say: you got a 4.0 GPA in high school, yalla, go. And you dump them. Obviously he's going to struggle, if he doesn't know how to swim.

Swimming in math and swimming in English is a different thing from swimming in the water. So teaching people good academic skills is one thing. But teaching them how to adapt to the kufr environment around them is a different thing entirely. So just because we got a good GPA and graduated from a good private school doesn't mean anything regarding their ability to survive the kufr at university. And the fisq and fujur. There's no connection.

So this son, subhanallah, shared with me crying about all the crazy things he's involved in. I said, does your dad know? Of course his dad doesn't know. His mom doesn't know. And I said: can I speak to your dad? He said: no, we're not on talking terms. Why? Because my dad wanted to see my phone last time and I said no. I was ashamed, I didn't want to disappoint him. So his dad got angry and he walked away.

Your son doesn't want to show you his phone — obviously because it contains something not good. So this is the reason we share these stories — because dads and moms have no idea what's going on. Take charge before you lose your kids. Be wary of exactly what they could be involved in. If you're blind, you just throw them into college and university without teaching them how to swim — don't blame anyone besides yourselves.

Ibn al-Qayyim rahmatullahi alayh, and also Imam al-Ghazali rahmatullahi alayh — both of them wrote about this almost a thousand years ago. Ibn al-Qayyim rahmatullahi alayh wrote:

(Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuhfat al-Mawdud bi Ahkam al-Mawlud)

He says: How many fathers and people have destroyed their son — who is the piece of their liver — in this dunya and the akhirah. By neglecting him and not disciplining him. By giving them an unlimited credit card, car, phone — do whatever you want, as long as you bring the grades. And this father thinks that he is honoring his son — when he has in fact disgraced him. He thinks he is showing mercy to his children — when he has oppressed them and deprived them. So he lost out benefiting from his own children in this dunya and in the akhirah. Because they're not going to be a sadaqah jariyah for him. They will be a source of perpetual punishment, if the corruption of the son and daughter came because of the parents' ihmal — negligence.

Then Imam Ibn al-Qayyim says:

(Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuhfat al-Mawdud bi Ahkam al-Mawlud)

When you start looking and searching for the corruption and chaos in the children, you will see that the majority of it comes from the fathers. How true these words are. May Allah allow all of us to wake up to this. And if we suffered a bad childhood, may Allah save us from repeating that to our children. May Allah allow all of us to be future good fathers and current good fathers.

Right now, parents are simply unaware of what their children are going through — and hence they don't prepare them for success. They don't give them survival skills. And when the father or mother finds out, the amount of parents that actually feel pain is also few. They say: brother, he has grown up, he will understand his hereafter himself. I honestly take more pain than the dads and moms sometimes.

One day a powerful story was shared — a person was crying during a fundraiser. After the bayan, he said: all my life I made a mistake. My whole goal was dunya-wi success. If my son gets into MIT, that's it. And for 15 years he worked on him — every application, every training. Until that beautiful day came when he got his acceptance letter from MIT. But it was not even 2 years until his son came and said: I have officially left Islam. No longer a Muslim. And he cried so much and realized: subhanallah, I was chasing the wrong dream. My priorities were all so messed up. In the desire for MIT, I did not give my son the basic skills of survival in this world. How many parents are making this exact same mistake? May Allah open up our eyes, ameen, Rabbil 'alamin.

The Consequence of Denial (Ayah 70) and Dhikr as Protection

So Allah says: those people who are denying the Book of Allah and those things which our prophets have been sent with — فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ — soon they shall know the consequences of their denial.

This all started off with the point that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants us to constantly remember that we are going to meet Him. And that constant reminder is what keeps us in check. So if this taqwa is not created in the hearts of the young ones, how long is mom and dad going to be around? Once they get in the car and drive away, that's it. It is not the fear of the parents that should be the means of children doing righteous things. Rather it must be the fear and love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And one great way to keep us focused and make us realize Allah is watching us and with us — what is that? Dhikr of Allah. So once again, I make a strong appeal to all of you: push your children and yourselves to keep your tongue busy in the remembrance of Allah. Make that a goal, my dear sons and yourselves — every single day, inshallah, we'll do at least 2,000–3,000 durud sharif.

The other day downstairs in the Hajj class, I asked the students, and there's one kid — they said who's done the most on a daily basis — 16,000 salawat a day. Some of the girls doing 25,000–30,000 for an entire day while having an 8-hour study schedule. Is it possible? Yes, it is. This is what you call barakah in time. The more salawat we do, the more dhikr and istighfar we do, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will put great barakah in our time. And you'll realize: Allah is with me, watching me. How can I then sin?

فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ — soon. Meaning either in this dunya, Allah will show the punishment for those people who belied the Qur'an and the message sent with the prophets. Or Allah will show them in the akhirah. The Qur'an says:

Indeed, We may show you a portion of what We are promising them, Ya Rasulullah, here in this dunya. Or We may give you death and show them afterwards. So فَسَوْفَ — soon — is just Allah keeping us on edge. They may see the punishment in this dunya, or may see the punishment in the akhirah.

I'm going to share something that's very obvious, but sometimes not obvious. Like after Jummah, a brother came up to me, he said: I'm losing hope. I'm giving up. Where is Allah's help? Everything happened in Palestine. You have to have the right perspective. I reminded him: okay, all the Palestinians, all the Muslims and non-Muslims of this world today and in the past and tomorrow — how are they compared to the Prophet ﷺ? Are they more valuable than Rasulullah ﷺ? No, of course not. Then look at the Prophet ﷺ. How much was he injured, wounded, emotionally, psychologically, physically — left and right, burying his own children. Six out of seven of his own children, he had to bury them. Is that an easy life? And Allah was watching it. Where is the help of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?

Allah has a tarteeb. Why don't you just do your work? Let Allah do His work. Allah asks you to do Tahajjud. Allah asks you to stay away from haram. Allah asks you to do dhikr. Allah asks you to eat halal. Allah asks you to be just in business, just in your speech. Just do that. And of course stand up for the truth, speak about the truth, forbid from evil. But bringing decisions — that's not your job. When a person does not have this perspective, they leave their own work and say: I want to play God. Why is this not happening? Why is that not happening?

فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ — Allah is watching what the dhulm is being done. You don't have to worry about that. When Allah will strike, how He will strike — honestly, every enemy of Allah should wish that he gets punished in this dunya and not in the akhirah. Because if he gets cut up into a trillion pieces and punished in every sense of the word, it's nothing compared to the punishment of the akhirah. The best case for every fasiq and fajir is that Allah forgives them, or punishes them in this dunya. Because the punishment of the akhirah — just the fire is 70 times more in intensity. Where do we even begin?

The Punishment of the Deniers — Yokes, Chains, and the Hellfire (Ayat 71–76)

إِذِ الْأَغْلَالُ فِي أَعْنَاقِهِمْ — When yokes are about their necks. Aghlal are the yokes that are around the neck. وَالسَّلَاسِلُ — salasil are those chains that go around the feet. Imagine the yokes around the neck, and then the chains around the feet. What type of disgrace this is. As though that were not enough, they will be dragged. Where are they being dragged?

فِي الْحَمِيمِ — Into the scalding fluid. You can imagine — just one hot tea, or one drop of frying oil that falls on your hand, how much pain it causes. Imagine being submerged into a fluid coming from the pus and blood of Jahannum, brought to a boiling point of the akhirah — not the boiling point of the dunya. And then after that, فِي النَّارِ يُسْجَرُونَ — then in the fire of Jahannum, they shall burn as fuel. Yusjar means to be used as fuel, as waqud, through which Jahannum will get even hotter and hotter. So the human beings will be used as fuel.

ثُمَّ قِيلَ لَهُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ تُشْرِكُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ — Then it shall be said to them: where now are those who you used to take as associate gods? Now these are just normal mushrikun who did not kill millions of Muslims, who did not torture innocent people and commit the worst despicable crimes. So-called normal mushrikun. You follow what I'm trying to say? This is for them. Imagine a mushrik who does zulm on the planet, zulm on humanity, zulm on innocent people. Where is that punishment? Multiple, multiple fold beyond this.

قَالُوا ضَلُّوا عَنَّا — They said: they have strayed far from us. بَل لَّمْ نَكُن نَّدْعُو مِن قَبْلُ شَيْئًا — Rather, we were calling on nothing but illusions before in the world. كَذَٰلِكَ يُضِلُّ اللَّهُ الْكَافِرِينَ — Thus does Allah leave the disbelievers to stray.

Meaning, Allah will say: bring them on. You kept on saying: the banker has my back, I'm going to involve in riba because the banker will save me. I'm going to involve in this haram system because the lawyer will save me. I want the decision of the courts for my issue instead of the Islamic decision because that's what's going to be helpful for me. These are all forms of shirk in that one sense — using the law of the land to oppress someone. Allah says: okay, bring on those gods that you had. And they will realize those gods themselves are in big trouble. How can they help him?

كَذَٰلِكَ يُضِلُّ اللَّهُ الْكَافِرِينَ — When a person himself chooses kufr, Allah says: okay, I'm not going to stop you. Go on, be my guest. But Allah also says: وَالَّذِينَ اهْتَدَوْا زَادَهُمْ هُدًى وَآتَاهُمْ تَقْوَاهُمْ — those who try to remain steadfast and guided, Allah will increase them in guidance and Allah will give them taqwa.

My beloved brothers, understand that you have to choose guidance first. When a person chooses guidance, Allah will open up the ways. But if we ourselves are not wanting to make that decision, no one can help you. You can bring a horse to the well, but you cannot force the horse to drink. If a person himself chooses kufr, no one can assist him. And don't expect Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to yank you out of fisq and fujur. No — if a person wants to lead a sinful life, then it is what it is. This is a grave warning for all of us.

Allah says: ذَٰلِكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَفْرَحُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ وَبِمَا كُنتُمْ تَمْرَحُونَ — That is because you used to exult in the land without any right, and because you used to be elevated by your worldly indulgence. The aspect — the word farah has been used here, and there are many different applications of farah.

So inshallah, next week we will begin with Ayah 75, where we will be addressing and discussing how farah has been used in the Qur'an — what type of happiness is permissible and acceptable, and what type is not. Inshallah ta'ala.

Q&A Session

We have a few minutes. Again, this is the Slido — 2060868, 2060868. Please send in your questions if you haven't already done so. This is the same number we use every week.

Question: A Student of Knowledge Who Commits a Major Sin

Question: How does a student of knowledge who commits a big sin go about life when they feel that their studies were useless to them as they still committed that sin?

Very good question. When a person commits a sin after having knowledge, and after being so-called good and righteous — went for Hajj, went for 'Umrah, prayed salah in the masjid most of the time — but ends up committing a major sin. Remember: no matter how pious and knowledgeable you become, there's no such thing as ever becoming ma'sum, sinless. Committing sin is part of who we are. We are human beings, we are sinners. And the simple thing is: when you make a mistake, you feel guilty about it and you repent.

One beautiful ayah that gives me hope — Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says Jannah has been prepared for those people who have taqwa:

Compete with one another for that Jannah prepared for the people of taqwa. Who are the people of taqwa? He explains:

Number one — الَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ فِي السَّرَّاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ — those who spend in times of ease and times of difficulty. Number two — وَالْكَاظِمِينَ الْغَيْظَ — those who control their anger. Number three — وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ — those who forgive people. وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ — Allah loves those who do ihsan. And then number four — what is the fourth quality? وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ — those people when they commit an act of lewdness, a fahhisha — an act of zina or something smaller or larger, whatever it is — that has been clearly mentioned here. Or oppress themselves through any other form of sin. ذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ — they immediately remember Allah. Because sin happens when you are in a state of heedlessness. As soon as a person sins, what happens? Astaghfirullah — what did I just do? And he does dhikr of Allah. فَاسْتَغْفَرُوا لِذُنُوبِهِمْ — and then he begins to seek forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. وَمَن يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — Who can forgive sins besides Allah? وَلَمْ يُصِرُّوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلُوا — and he does not remain adamant on what he's doing. He backs off.

This tells us that the people going to Jannah — the people of taqwa — can also commit sins. Not any small sin — even a major sin can happen from them. So remember: just because you committed a sin because of your nafs and shaitan or a bad environment, you should not write off everything you have done in the past. Because that's exactly what shaitan wants you to do. He wants you to think: this is khalas, game over. He makes people lose hope. He says: shame on you — you go to the masjid, you attend tafsir, you go to class, you do all this, and then you commit this sin. Forget you. There is no hope in you.

And that is not the case. The fact that you feel guilty about what's happening is a sign that you have iman. If one makes tawbah from a sin but knows himself that if the perfect situation were made for that sin, he would do it again — then ask yourself: why would you do it again? Is it because of your nafs? Or because you enjoy committing sin? Ask yourself. If a person says: my nafs is so strong that I'll probably end up committing sin again due to my nafs — you're just being honest with yourself. And that's exactly how we should be. We should never underestimate the evilness of our nafs. It's better to always overestimate it.

Always think and be suspicious of yourself, not your neighbor, not your business partner. I heard one scholar say something very profound. He went to visit his sheikh back in Yemen, and he told him:

My dear student, remember that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put you in a state — as an imam, or a student of knowledge, or a scholar — the only reason He gave you this position is because He knows how weak you are. He knows you would not be able to survive the outside world. And so He put you in a place where your temptations are less.

So understand that you need to always be doubting yourself. When someone says: oh, I did this sin — don't say: astaghfirullah, I could never do that. The reason I didn't commit it is because my situation wasn't that. Put me in a situation just like that — how would we act? If there's a hundred dollars sitting here, you say: ustad, I would never steal it. Yeah — but if you don't have four hungry mouths to feed, and no medicine, no money for medication for your kids, and it's just sitting there — what would you do? Our situations are different. And so this is the reason we should never judge anyone when we hear about their sins. Instead say: Allah, alhamdulillah, saved me from being in that situation. Allah knows best — if I was in that situation, I would probably end up doing the same thing.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us tawfiq to constantly be wary, to protect ourselves from our own nafs, and to always take refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from the evilness of our nafs and shaitan.

Announcements

For those who are listening online, please make note of the Sira Conference — please book your tickets if you're coming from out of town. September 13th and 14th, this year's beautiful topic: the Prophet ﷺ's family — Ahlul Bayt in the Sunni Tradition. This is going to be an outstanding Sira Conference. Please do thousands of salawat for it. You can deposit the salawat at masjiddarussalam.org/salawat. We have alhamdulillah a great lineup for this year's conference, including women and female speakers for female-only sessions, youth sessions, Sira Jeopardy, and all kinds of amazing interactive things for our kids. Please bring the children and youth to the conference, inshallah.

The weekly online Sisters' Urdu Dars resumes August 29th inshallah — it will actually be on site now, second floor of the Sisters' Prayer Hall. Please share the message, as after a very long time post-COVID we are starting back on site for this program.

Our Annual Benefit will be October 5th, so please purchase your tickets. We are honored to have Shaykh Hussain Abdul Sattar joining us inshallah as the keynote speaker for the event.

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Wassalamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.