Surah Ghafir - Ep.2 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Opening & Intention

Let us all please move forward, sit close together. Be mindful of if anyone is performing their sunnah right now. Let's sit as close as possible. Let's ensure there's no gaps in between. Let's renew our intention. We're here to please Allah. We're here to get the guidance of the Qur'an. We're here to allow the Qur'an to change our lives. We're here to allow the Qur'an to teach us what we need to do in whatever situation we find ourselves in.

Each one of us should be reminding himself or herself that there's no one more in need of the guidance of the Qur'an than myself. And the humility that we show to Allah inshallah tabarak wa ta'ala will be extremely beneficial in allowing us to achieve something beyond what we're ever expecting.

The Verses of Surah Ghafir

We began the first session of Surah Ghafir last week, and we were covering the first three verses — a great deal of which spoke about the first ayah, حم, the revelation of the Book, what is the role of the Qur'an in our lives, and what is your connection and my connection with the Qur'an today.

We begin today with verse four — مَا يُجَادِلُ فِي آيَاتِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا — none argue concerning the signs of Allah except those who disbelieve. فَلَا يَغْرُرْكَ تَقَلُّبُهُمْ فِي الْبِلَادِ — so let not their moving about freely to and from, seeking worldly gain in the various lands, delude you, O Prophet ﷺ.

The Nature of Human Argumentation

SubhanAllah — this mujadalah, this argumentation, is something that is part of a very unique part of human nature. Something that humans have and other creations of Allah do not have. In this argumentation, philosophers have spoken — Aristotle and those who were before him and those who were after him have spent so much time and energy speaking about the various ways a person becomes a powerful orator, a powerful debater, and how to win over your audience no matter what the issue may be.

This is an art that human beings have — an art that takes something which is completely false and argues on behalf of it to make people believe that there is nothing more truthful than that. There are entire professions dedicated to this job, and even if you are not in that profession, still all of us have our fair share of experience of this since childhood. Look at little children — two-year-olds and three-year-olds of today — how they argue with their parents, subhanAllah. How they go back and forth. Little kids, toddlers barely know how to speak, and yet the first thing they learn is "no." All of us know that. They say "no," and you explain, you're trying to reason with them, but they'll come up with a whole new different type of logic that you never heard of — you never studied that in your MD or PhD class — and you wonder, how am I supposed to speak to this kid who is now using some sort of crazy logic against me right now?

As a parent — and fellow parents, you've been there, done that — you might have tried that years ago when you were a little child with your own parents, and your parents just said, "Keep quiet and don't try to act smart with me." That was it. Just keep quiet, don't act smart. What were we doing? We were using some sort of logic. This is subhanAllah the fitrah of a human being.

The Gift of the 'Aql — The Human Intellect

Allah says — really argumentative, that's what you are. Human beings are very argumentative and they have this excellent ability to use their intellect for good or for bad. The ulama have said the intellect of a human being — the 'aql — is one of the greatest creations of Allah. It is so amazing, so great, that it's hard for this human being to understand his own intellect. To use your intellect to understand what intellect itself is — what is 'aql — it will take you many lifespans and you still won't get to the bottom of it. How does this 'aql work? There's one aspect of the psychology of it, one aspect of the neurology of it, one aspect of the anatomy of it — so many different aspects — and then there's a whole aspect of the connection between the mind and the heart, the soul, where does the ruh come in? And it's endless. SubhanAllah.

This 'aql is not something we're speaking about just connected to the brain — it's beyond that. This ability to think, ponder, come up with solutions and problems — this is something Allah has given the human being, really powerful. And since Allah has given this human being this very powerful tool, hence Allah has an expectation from him that He doesn't have from anyone else — the expectation that you not only use this most powerful tool to understand Him, but you also now need to become His representative on earth. That is an amazing honor.

Indeed I am going to place a khalifah, a vicegerent, on earth — whose job is to establish my laws. That job Allah is not giving to the angels. Allah is giving it to Adam alayhi salam and his children. How do we end up deserving this? We don't deserve this. But how did Allah give this to us? Because Allah gave us 'aql.

From angels, Allah made it part of their fitrah that they must follow the deen. But when it comes to us as human beings, Allah gave us 'aql and He says: We have guided you to both paths. You want to use your brain and your mind towards goodness — go ahead. If you want to use it towards sin — go ahead, do as you wish. Whoever wants to believe, he may believe. Whoever wishes to disbelieve — go ahead, disbelieve. You have an option and a choice.

This is something that the trees were not given. The mountains were not given a chance. Allah told them: come to me obediently, happily or upset and forced. Allah is speaking to the heavens and the earth, my dear friends. Allah is speaking to the sky — whatever you see is all part of the first sky. Our satellites, our space stations, our telescopes — they are all focusing on the first sky. Above that are six more heavens, the likes of which we cannot even comprehend. Allah is speaking to that sky and to that earth and says: come to me. And they say — we come to you obediently.

But on the other hand, Allah told the human being — you have an option. You want to believe, you want to believe. You don't want to believe, it's up to you. I've given you 'aql.

The Responsibility of Parents — Tarbiyah Has No Age Limit

You know, when children are kids — mom and dad run after them: come on, get up, do this, do your homework, pray your salah, go take care of this. Once a child hits a certain age, he becomes a young man, and then the parents say, "I'm done. I've taught you enough. I told you what's right and what's wrong. Now you're a grown man — I'm not going to babysit you. You make your own decisions."

Although I don't agree with that. Allah has created us as moms and dads, and we are moms and dads till when? Till we die. And on the Day of Judgment, our children are going to be raised with whom? With our name. You never came into this world alone. You're not going to die alone. You're not going to get raised alone. Every one of us is going to be raised on the Day of Judgment with our name and our parents' name — that's how Allah made it. So we're stuck with our kids and our parents are stuck with us — for good or for bad.

So the fikr and the concern that a father and mother have to have for the child — where did you get this idea of age 18? Where did this come from? This arbitrary number — age 18, age 16, age 21 — what is this supposed to mean? This has nothing to do with our deen. If anything, the deen gives you is bulugh and non-bulugh, that's it, at a much earlier age. But this concept of, "you're a grown man, you make your own decisions" — I'm trying to say that's kind of like what Allah says: I've given you 'aql. I didn't give the poor animals in the jungle what you have, so they're going to be forced to do sajda. That's why everything in the creation of Allah does sujood. He himself says that everything in the heavens and the earth, living and non-living, all do sujood. But the human being? No — Allah didn't force him, because why? You're old enough now, right? You've got your 'aql, you've got your brains.

To prove that one extra side point — where parents need to be responsible for their children's tarbiyah till the very end — I'm going to share with you the verse of Surah al-Baqarah, the second-to-last page of Alif-Lam-Meem. Allah speaks about Ya'qub alayhi salam as he's dying, giving advice to his children:

Ibrahim alayhi salam is also speaking to his children: make sure you don't die except as Muslims. They didn't say, "Baba, you're Khalilullah — the whole day, all night we've been hearing you, subhanAllah." It doesn't make a difference. "I am your dad and I have to tell you again and again that you better remain a Muslim even after I die." That is his fiqr. Nabi Ibrahim, Khalilullah, and Nabi Ya'qub alayhi salam his grandson — doing the same thing:

Were you all there when Ya'qub alayhi salam was passing away? When he began to speak to his sons: "What are you going to worship after I die?" So you see — at the time of death, these prophets are speaking to their kids. They're not saying, "I taught you enough. 800 years, 600 years, 500 years — however many long years they lived — done, come on, let me die peacefully." As they are dying, their fiqr is their kids.

So let's please make a correction here — it's not that as soon as your child hits 18 or 21, or is now a senior in school or a freshman in college, that we wipe our hands of him. This is American society — they say get out of the house, go get your own job, go get your own insurance, go get your own car, go get your own apartment, do whatever you want. How did we adopt this style? Specifically, I'm speaking about the aspect of today's parents thinking that they are not responsible for their children's tarbiyah.

For example, summers are around the corner. I'll ask many parents — your sons, your daughters, where are they? We've got the summer school going on here, the Tawheed intensive, the Arabic intensive. Why don't you bring your sons? But I keep hearing, "I don't know my kid's schedule." What do you mean you don't know your kid's schedule? Who makes your schedule? Maybe they're 16 — big boys. But how does that happen? You pay for every single thing, they stay under your roof, and yet you don't make their schedule, and you don't make mashura with them, and you don't have a say in that? That's where I see things going out of hand — when we have such a hands-off approach with our kids, thinking that they have now mastered the art of controlling the nafs. That's foolishness on the parent's part.

If a Nabi is worried — you don't think about how much tarbiyah Nabi Ibrahim gave to his kids? Think about what I'm saying — how much tarbiyah did Nabi Ibrahim give to his kids? How much tarbiyah did Nabi Ya'qub give to his children? How can you compare — all the ulama and the sahaba of the world cannot compare to one prophet. That great prophet, how much effort he made, and yet before he dies he's worried about his kids. So as parents, we cannot have a hands-off approach.

We need to repent from this type of mentality and we need to take ownership of the tarbiyah of our children till our last breath — while acknowledging that tarbiyah comes only from Allah. We cannot make our own tarbiyah, so how can we make tarbiyah of someone else? We are simply moving our hands and our feet and our tongue and our mind, and we're asking Allah: Ya Allah, You are the Murabbi Haqiqi, You are the real Murabbi — put effect in my words, put effect in my efforts.

Allah is saying: Ya Rasulullah, when you threw, you didn't throw — when you threw, Allah threw. But Allah didn't tell Nabi ﷺ to not throw. He still threw sand into the face of the disbelievers. So you have to make an effort, while acknowledging that your effort and my effort does nothing — the One who does is Allah. But we are mukallaf and we are expected to make an effort.

'Aql — The Meaning of Intellect

Allah has given this human being this 'aql, and that is why He has said: I am making you the vicegerent on earth, and I'm not going to force you to do anything — you figure it out.

'Aql means to tie. Iqal — or colloquially pronounced in the Middle East as agal — is the black rope that the Middle Easterners place over their ghutrah, their shawl and scarf, on top of their head. It's a rope, and they place it on top of their head. This was actually a rope in the olden times — about 70 years ago, when the Arabs were nomadic herders — they used to use this as a parking brake for their camels. You make the camel sit down and you take a rope and tie it around its knees so that the camel doesn't run off. Then when you disengage the parking brake and you sit on the camel, you need a quick, easy spot to put it — like an engineer or architect who puts his pencil above his ear — so they would put the rope parking brake on top of their head. That's it. It's a parking brake. But subhanAllah, people have forgotten that, and now you can buy one for 400 or 500 riyals — from the king to the minister, everyone wears it.

It's called Iqal, and 'aql comes from the same root. 'Aql means to tie. The intellect is a rope that you use to tie your desires, your lustful desires, your appetite, your nafs — that is what 'aql is. When a person says, "I just want to do this, I want to jump into this, I want to drive this," you use your 'aql — are you crazy? What does "crazy" mean? It means you don't have 'aql. You've lost your rope. If you don't have your rope, then your nafs and shahwat and lustful desires and shaitan will make you do the unthinkable.

And so when a person grows older, that 'aql becomes stronger and matures — that rope becomes stronger. That is why the Prophet ﷺ said that the youthful years — when you're young — you actually are suffering from a portion of insanity. When you're young, you do things which make no sense to an elder. There's some good and bad in this — of course the bad is that you harm yourself. Young people do lots of harmful things — they put their life at risk, harm themselves by doing things which an adult would never do. But also because you're a little crazy sometimes, you need to do big things in order to achieve great things in life. Sometimes you gotta be a little crazy, because if you think everything logically, you will not be willing to take big risks. And the deen requires you to also take risks. You gotta do mujahada.

The Need for One Majnoon — The Devoted Soul

When you see the sahaba lunging themselves toward shahada and martyrdom — little kids, adolescents — fighting with one another, vying with one another to be chosen not to play basketball but to participate in an expedition. We can't even hold a sword today, and they would have a sword that might be as tall as them, and they said no, we're going to go in the battlefield. What makes you say that? That's that junoon, that crazy 'ishq and love for Allah and belief in the akhirah, that an outsider thinks, "You've really lost it." And the believer says, "No, I haven't lost it — you lost it. If you only knew what the stakes are, what I'm going to get at the end of it, you wouldn't say that."

Many people say they want to start a madrasa, a masjid, a successful deen institution. All the time they ask me when I travel — what are the key elements? And something which I've heard from my elders, I say: the number one element is you need one majnoon. You need to have one crazy person, and on top of him or her, everything will get built. Unless you don't have that person — what do you mean crazy? Someone who says, "I will give my entire life, entire savings, I'll give my shoes, but I want to make sure this project — this non-profit, this deeni madrasa — it has to succeed at all cost." You have to put all your cards on the table. Nothing hidden. That's when Allah gives.

Remember the story I mentioned last week — how that kid made a decision that if he has to take an interest-bearing loan, he's going to leave medical school. You put those cards on the deck — that's when Allah gave him a four-year full scholarship ride to medical school, which is very unheard of. But that's what we're talking about — where you make sacrifice, you put it all out there. When you want to run a successful institution, this is a key thing. It doesn't happen through amazing bylaws. It doesn't happen by having a 30-year vision. It doesn't happen simply by having a lot of money. The main thing you need is one majnoon.

Like a pilot — an entire 737 or 777, with all the passengers, the stewardess, all the ground crew available — but if you don't have that pilot, that plane is not going to get off the ground. It will be sitting there until the pilot arrives. That pilot is what makes that thing run. This is the role of that majnoon.

And of course, majnoon in the eyes of the people — like the Prophet ﷺ himself, about whom Allah said:

Your companion is not the majnoon. He is the most intelligent, he has the most foresight of anyone you can imagine. But because of the sacrifices he was making and because of how he was speaking — as though he could see a million years ahead — he spoke about the Day of Judgment, he spoke about the signs of the Hour, he spoke about what I would say is the AI era, in a manner as though he is reading today's newspaper. The Prophet ﷺ's ahadith on all of the fitan are just amazing — how did he say this 1,400 years ago? He was absolutely no fool. He was absolutely not a majnoon. He was the most intelligent of people. And of course he was receiving wahi — how could he not be? But in the eyes of the people, him and his sahaba were all majnoon.

So that's what I'm trying to say — many youngsters here repeatedly want to say, "I want to do something great. I don't want to have a mundane life." Okay, mashallah, kudos to you, alhamdulillah. But my dear brothers — are you ready to be majnoon? That's the question. Are you ready to sacrifice everything you have for the deen?

May Allah make all of us majnoon like that for the deen. May Allah make our children majnoon for the deen. May Allah grant us such level of conviction in the hereafter that we are willing to give up everything we have in order for Islam and for the deen to succeed. And on the Day of Judgment, these will be the most intelligent people — sitting on mounds of musk, the center of envy, those who sacrificed for the deen. SubhanAllah.

'Aql — A Double-Edged Sword

When a person uses his 'aql properly — and I said 'aql is a rope — when 'aql is used properly, you will be able to keep your nafs in check, your shahwa in check, the shaitani waswasas in check, and propel yourself ahead. But my dear friends, 'aql is a double-edged sword. This same intellect is what made the human being the only creation of Allah to not only disobey Allah, not only deny His existence, but then have the audacity to claim divinity themselves. No mountain, no Mount Everest ever said أنا ربكم الأعلى. The Pacific Ocean never said أنا ربكم الأعلى. Jibril alayhi salam never said أنا ربكم الأعلى. But this tiny man — the Pharaoh.

Have you seen the mummy of Pharaoh? Is he tall? He's very short. I don't know the exact height — 5'7, 5'6, 5'5, something like that. You can search it. The Qur'an says: today We are going to protect your body so that it remains a sign for the people who come after you. The Qur'an gave the promise that We are going to keep your body preserved — so more than likely that's what it is. He couldn't even be called 6 foot, and he says, "I am your God."

But my dear brothers, Pharaoh is not the only pharaoh out there. There are a lot of pharaohs today. Some of them say the exact same thing, and some of them don't say it with their tongue, but definitely their actions speak louder than their words and they claim to be fully in power. There are like thousands of people like this. Your average agnostic atheist sitting in his basement on his computer 16 hours a day eating cereal and Domino's pizza — what is he? He's also claiming to be god. He says, "God doesn't exist — who did this? We did it, I did it." What type of kufr is this? How did this happen? How does a 14-year-old, a 24-year-old little kid — jahil — who cannot control how many times he blinks his eyes, who cannot control how many times he yawns or sneezes, cannot control how many times he has to use the restroom — claim that there's no God? Ajeeb. Where did we end up in this situation?

Because of what? Because of 'aql — he misused his 'aql. If you sit and speak to an atheist or agnostic, they will become extremely argumentative. They'll argue about everything. And this is an example that 'aql is a double-edged sword.

A human being has never achieved the status that an angel has, and a human being has never fallen this far below — below the level that any other creation has reached. To the extent that he's also become a shaitan. From the Qur'an — شَيَاطِينَ الْإِنسِ وَالْجِنِّ — from among the jinn and the humans. بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ — they're not like livestock, they're worse than livestock, more lost than livestock. The Qur'an says this happens because we start misusing the 'aql.

All the isms of today and the new isms that will continue to be formed — this is all a product of 'aql that has been untamed. Where do we start? We have our shahwa and our nafs, that needs to be tied up by 'aql. When you do not have revelation and the guidance of wahi, then like a parasite, that nafs and shaitan end up eating up at the 'aql, and the things switch around.

I saw the other day in the metal fence of the masjid — one tree ended up literally growing around the whole fence. It separated the bars of the fence and literally took in the entire thing. The whole metal rod is inside the tree now. That's the example of a nafs and shaitan taking over the 'aql. Now the 'aql is completely tied up. The fence was supposed to protect — it can't protect anything now. It's been absorbed. 'Aql was supposed to save the human being from the harms of nafs and shaitan. Now the nafs and shaitan are in the driver's seat and they're going to make this human being do things that are unthinkable — that no jinn thought of, no animal of the jungle thought of — worse than that.

'Aql and Wahi — How They Work Together

My dear brothers and sisters — hence we understand that 'aql is one of the most powerful creations of Allah. If used properly, it can get you above the angels. If misused, it can get you below the shayateen. It's a very powerful tool, and we have to make sure that it stays under the light of wahi, under the noor of wahi, to be able to do its job. Otherwise it can cause huge harms.

How does wahi and 'aql work together? A beautiful example is a horse. You ride your horse — a hundred kilometers, fifty kilometers, a thousand kilometers in the old days — until you arrive at the door of the palace of the king. Once you arrive at the palace, you do not knock and go in with the horse. You don't go to the bathroom with the horse, you don't go to have dinner with the horse, you don't go meet the king with the horse. No — you park it outside and you walk.

'Aql and intelligence is that horse that you use to get to Islam, to get to the Qur'an, to get to the oneness of Allah. Once you arrive there, then you get off that horse and you follow the rules of Qur'an and Sunnah, and what Allah is asking, and what His Nabi is asking. But even after entering Islam, if we say, "No, no, I want my horse, I want my 'aql" — then that's where the problem arises.

We are in an era where the nafs has overtaken the 'aql and people have lost their wits — whether it's the LGBTQ issue, whether it's the gender issue, whether it's the Palestine issue, the definition of marriage, what is the definition of what a man and a woman is — all of these things. This is where you say the nafs and shaitan have literally overtaken the 'aql. And now a person says the most craziest things on all these topics, and if you try to explain it, you're the weirdo. You are the one who needs to leave. You're the one who needs to get cancelled. You're the one who needs to lose your job. And you're like — I don't understand what's going on.

We are now in an era where every man is completely content and impressed with his own opinion. We are in an era — it comes from a hadith — where desires will be what is followed. The criteria of what is right and wrong is no longer going to be dictated by intelligence, pure intelligence — it's going to be dictated by pure desires, lezzat, temptations. That is what's going to say what's right and what's wrong.

We are in an era where the 'aql has lost its spot. The fact that we are in a country where an election is going to happen with two old senile people — that's an example. Like we've lost our wits, seriously. What are we witnessing? The whole country cannot give you one intelligent 40 or 50-year-old? That just tells you something is really wrong with where we're headed. The Prophet ﷺ — that is why all the signs of the Hour, I'm telling you, read them — where he talks about how سَادَ الْقَبِيلَةَ فَاسِقُهُمْ وَكَانَ زَعِيمُ الْقَوْمِ أَرْذَلَهُمْ — every tribe will be led by the biggest transgressor and sinner, and every single nation will be led by the most despicable, the most lowly person — no 'aql, no understanding, no akhlaq, no chivalry, no morals, no values. The only thing they worship is their nafs. Those are the people who the Prophet ﷺ said will become the leaders everywhere.

What should we talk about with non-Muslim countries — what about our own Muslim countries? Anyone who's got any sense of haqq and truth — throw him in jail. Even if he's from the prime minister's house, you'll find him in 10 days in the jailhouse. How did this happen? These are all the signs of the Hour — when desires take over everything, it's game over.

The Attack on Deen from Within

How many times will you attend a gathering, a wedding, a family get-together, a post-Jumu'ah lunch, and people will sit there and talk about all sorts of things: "I think Islam should be like this," "I think Islam should be like that," "this doesn't make sense," "I'm a Muslim but I think prayer is over-emphasized so I don't pray — but I'm still a solid Muslim and I run for Muslim politics." What's going on?

I was watching a certain graduation in which a Muslim — we're so proud, anytime a Muslim is a valedictorian or achieves something great, mashallah — and someone is sitting there quoting verses of the Qur'an in their graduation speech, mashallah, but if you look at how they're dressed — open haram from top to bottom — what kind of representation of Islam is this? At least when you're on stage, put on your scarf. At least when you're on stage, don't wear short sleeves. At least fulfill the basic rules of satr when you're quoting the verses of the Qur'an.

What are we pushing forward as an agenda? The agenda is: Islam is what it means to you. It's about what you feel comfortable with, what you feel okay with. You gotta chalk out your own journey. No — it's not about you. I'm sorry, it's not about me either. It's about what Allah and His Rasul want. Either you're in or you're out. Enter into Islam with totality. You cannot sit there and logically say, "We're in 2024, things gotta be different."

There are people who are trying to legitimize riba, not even from a fiqh perspective — just like, "Come on, you can't run away from it." There are people who are trying to legitimize intoxicants. And then you have people legitimizing mixed gatherings, all sorts of intermingling between young men and women. And if you ask for proofs for any of this — no proof from Qur'an and Sunnah, no proof from the salaf. It will simply be anecdotal evidence. This is all under the ayah of mujadalah.

And I tell you this — I'm not making up my own tafsir. I'm telling you what the ulama have written. I promise you, these are the exact same examples that you will find in the tafsir. This is the example of how a modern man today will say that morality has become completely subjective, and so what was haram before should be made halal today. They'll use examples like, "Brother, we didn't have the printing press before but we use it now — would you like to do tawaf on a camel because the Prophet ﷺ did tawaf on a camel?" They just take random stuff and throw it at you. And you're like — so just because the Prophet ﷺ didn't sit with men and women together, how can we follow that now? Just because it happens in college, why shouldn't it happen in the masjid?

All sorts of — what do you call it — pure messed-up 'aql. No naql — no tradition — it's all pure 'aql. Completely flawed logic. If you have time to listen, we can deconstruct all of these arguments. But they're just flawed logic. And what happens — the guy in front gets caught off guard.

If you listen to the biggest mufsidin today — till today the vast majority of the entire world says, "No, there's no genocide happening. What are you talking about? Don't we have a right to defend ourselves?" Are we shocked? Are we not in shock that people are still stuck in this — how have these kuffar and these ahlul-batil been able to legitimize the killing of 30-plus thousand young men, women, and children? How? What have they used? They've used their 'aql to come up with these statements, and they have literally made the majority of the world believe in it. That's the power of propaganda. That's the power of rhetoric. That's the power of speech. And that goes back to a crooked 'aql. The people who are doing this — they honestly believe that what they're doing is right. How did they fall into this deception? Through 'aql.

So understand today how the deen is being attacked from within. The deen is being watered down, the deen is being changed. And it is because we're living in an era of 'aql — 'aql — where people say, "Ya Allah, give you brains, use it."

I just came across a person this past week. He said, "I'm a researcher of Qur'an." Didn't look like a researcher to me — no outward signs of scholarship. He said, "My goal is — the Qur'an has been misunderstood because too many people have done tafsir. Too much tafsir has happened and too much explanation has happened, so we've lost the original Qur'an." So some guy shows up out of nowhere, who has never been to a madrasa, whose Arabic is not his first language, and he's decided to become a world-class researcher to bring the "unadulterated Qur'an." And he started telling me how iman is mistranslated, kufr is mistranslated. I said, brother — the conversation ends here, I gotta go. Because if you translate kufr like this, you know what happens — it becomes politically incorrect. So now we gotta come up with a new politically correct Qur'an.

That's why today's latest translations out there, with the latest commentaries, are all being changed. The famous Noble Qur'an that has been printed for decades from Saudia — with all the commentary on hijab — you'll see it honestly. You know, I sound like someone who's too hardcore about purdah and hijab. Brother, just go back to the 90s. Ask anyone from the 90s. Pick up any Islam Q&A website out there and ask what are the rules of hijab. Pick up any translation of the Qur'an and read the footnotes of Surah al-Ahzab, read the footnotes of Surah an-Nur — these are the most popular translations of the Qur'an that have been exported across the entire globe. Look at all the ahadith of Aisha and all the different rules of hijab mentioned there. SubhanAllah, how the world has changed, that now a person who speaks about hijab sounds like a fanatic. And just 30 years ago, subhanAllah, that was the dominant thing — everyone understood it, whether I did it or not is a different thing, but I know this is what the deen is. I'm not going to use my intellect to try to deconstruct it.

Today the deconstruction is happening from within our circles. That's why that translation of the Qur'an is now being rescinded — all of the commentary that explains the Qur'an the way it's supposed to be explained is all being removed, and new versions of those same Qur'ans are now being published and exported across the globe. And effort is being made to collect those old ones and dispose of them. This is a huge effort across the globe to reinterpret the Qur'an.

What is the common ground on all these people? It's 'aql. When someone says, "Aisha's marriage doesn't make sense to me" — brother, you know what, it doesn't need to make sense to you. It doesn't need to make sense to you. Just learn how to accept it. There are certain things in life — this is a symptom of a person who has become a slave to his 'aql, and his 'aql has become a slave to his nafs or the world.

You think everything that's happening — a guy marrying a guy is okay, you have no shame with that — but someone getting married with permission, because the culture allowed it, to someone who is younger — that's something you're stuck upon? Look at the hypocrisy. Pure hypocrisy. If Islam says it, I've got a problem with it. But if the world says it — the most debased, morally bankrupt opinion — we say, "Well, society says that, we have to accept it." Ajeeb.

We have to understand we're living in a very ajeeb era. Slowly, this group of people attending the tafsir is going to get smaller and smaller. The people who understand the concept of what's right and wrong is going to get smaller and smaller. You and I — we're already the minority. We're going to become a minority of a minority. That's how the world is, because we are entering into an era of pure following of the hawa. Right.

And so Allah is speaking about the disbelievers — that that's exactly what they are expert at. They are expert at debating, expert at using their intellect to prove what's wrong as right. And that's not something new — this is what the kuffar have always been doing. So do not fall into the same category, where you find yourself arguing about things to try to prove them right.

The Way of Adam — Silence and Repentance Over Argument

This is what our ustad — the honorable Mawlana Choksi, damad warakatuh — when someone would make a mistake, he would say: apologize, say "I'm sorry," and move on. If someone tried to give an explanation, that's what we learn from madrasa — even if we were wrong, honestly we'd never say anything. We'd just take the beating or get yelled at and stay quiet. We'd explain it afterwards maybe, because it was said to us in a rude way — and that's not ideal — but at the end of the day, we were trained to stay silent.

Now — and not just American kids, kids in general today, the new generation that's been exposed to this filth — there was a time, honestly, if you did something wrong and you got hit for it, you'd stay quiet. You'd say, "My parents or my elders misunderstood me. I'll explain it afterwards. But right now, let me just stay quiet." Now, even when they're wrong they won't accept that they're wrong. Everything — they have to prove they're right. "My grade should have been 99." They'll fight with the professor, fight with the teacher, fight with the mom, fight with the dad. Never wrong.

Our ustad would say to us — he would say: listen, don't argue. Don't even give an excuse to me. He said you have two ways when you make a mistake — the way of Adam alayhi salam and the way of Iblis. Both made mistakes. Adam alayhi salam made a mistake and then:

"Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, most definitely we will be from among the losers." Immediately he repented and Allah gave him the status of being the father of humanity, the first prophet, and the first khalifah on this earth.

And the other one — Iblis made a mistake but tried to be smart and tried to come up with excuses in front of Allah. And Allah told him:

"Get out from here — you're expelled, and you are cursed, and you will suffer My curse till the Day of Judgment." And what happens after the Day of Judgment — we'll see — much worse than that.

So our ustad said: you choose. Do you want to lead the life of Iblis or do you want to lead the life of Adam alayhi salam? My dear young men and women — we need to train ourselves, with all due respect, to stay silent at times. I know it's hard. Break your nafs. Break your nafs. If you can do it with your mom and dad, it will help you later on in life. Who said football practice is the only training?