Surah Ghafir - Ep.9 - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 7/16

Surah Ghafir – Episode 9: The Believer of Fir'aun

It's a blessing to be back for our session with all of you, alhamdulillah. I just arrived this morning, and I wanted to make sure I get an opportunity to see everyone here, alhamdulillah, on our weekly Tuesday Tafsir. And I ask Allah to reward immensely all those who, for the past many weeks, were covering — Ibn Hajj, Maulana Ammar, and other ulema who were covering in the different weeks. We ask Allah to allow all of us to benefit from whatever was shared in the past and whatever will be shared moving forward as well.

In Surah Al-Ghafir, we have reached ayah number 38. This is speaking about the رَجُلٌ مُؤْمِنٌ مِنْ آلِ فِرْعَوْنَ — the person who accepted iman from the people of Fir'aun — and the incident that happened between him and his nation.

The Day of Ashura

Today, being the day of Ashura, with the majority of people fasting, alhamdulillah, from suhoor and tahajjud and what not, alhamdulillah, on this blessed day, Allah has allowed us to discuss this topic. And we hope that all of us are beneficiaries of this day — Ya Allah, through the barakah of whatever amal we're doing, may Allah allow us all to receive His immense forgiveness.

As we're well aware, this is the day that Allah gave najat to Musa alayhis salaam from Fir'aun. And speaking about the same topic, here as well, you hear the story of Surah Al-Mu'min, Surah Al-Ghafir. The entire surah has been called Surah Al-Mu'min — because of who? Because of that person who accepted iman from the people of Fir'aun.

Imagine that — an entire surah is dedicated for someone who's not from this ummah. Thousands of years ago, we don't know his name. All we know is he was a believer, and that's all that counts. Because the circumstances were so difficult and against him — there was absolutely no mahol, no environment of being a Muslim. If anything, it was a complete opposite. And in that situation, someone chose to become a believer.

And that is something so liked by Allah. Allah mentions his whole dialogue in the Qur'an. And Allah names the whole surah after him. Surah Al-Mu'min is not speaking about you or me. Surah Al-Mu'min is speaking about Mu'min Al-Fir'aun — the believer from the people of Fir'aun, at the time of Fir'aun.

Your reward is based on the amount of sacrifice you have to do. Something which you do against circumstances, going against the trend, going against the waves and the flow of society, will get you a reward far greater than someone who sits in a society that encourages everything positive.

Reflections from Travel: The Blessing of Being Here

I just came back from a trip after Hajj, alhamdulillah, from Malaysia and Australia this morning. And coming from a Muslim country, coming back to a non-Muslim country, you constantly have to compare and contrast naturally of what's going on. There are loads of blessings in a Muslim country which we cannot even begin to enumerate — from being able to hear the Adhan at any given time, Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha, from four or five different minarets; from seeing these unbelievably huge, massive, beautiful architecture of masajid; from having everyone on the street a Muslim; from hijab being worn very commonly, and things of that sort. The list goes on. Lots of blessings.

One thing I noticed — subhanAllah — is that people over here should be thankful. If you're in a masjid and you're a youngster, you should really, really be so grateful and thankful to Allah that He has allowed you, and He has given you the tawfiq, to be connected to the house of Allah while living in this type of environment, in which it's not conducive to do so. Because while I was over there, I noticed that youth, the college students, were absolutely not present in the masajid. And I brought it up multiple times to the administration of the masajid, to the imams. And everyone said, "Hey, you know what, that's how it is."

The older people, they come and listen to the talks. There are a lot of talks — every day after Fajr and Maghrib, every masjid has a talk. A talk not of a short khatira, but a talk from Fajr till Ishraq, from Maghrib till Isha. MashaAllah. But all older people sitting there, and there's simply no youth present. And the youth there speak English, and I really wanted to meet with the English-speaking youth. But it was really hard to find, because they simply weren't coming around.

And then I look at this crowd over here, our Tuesday audience, and to see the vast majority being younger people — what a blessing. What a blessing upon me, upon you, upon Muslims in this country, that Allah has given us the ability, the desire to be in the house of Allah, even though it's absolutely not conducive. And there's nothing around us that's supporting us, pushing us towards that. But Allah has facilitated for you to be here. Allah facilitated for you the desire to come to His masjid to learn the ilm. These are blessings that we should truly thank Allah for, and understand how lucky we are, that insha'Allah we will be recognized on the Day of Judgment — simply because we are practicing the deen in an area, at a time, where there is not as much support.

Of course, in the city of Chicago, alhamdulillah, the mahol is there compared to even other cities. So the reward and ajr for people who are living maybe in other parts of the world, where there is not this type of setup, and they are still trying to follow the deen — that is as well extremely noteworthy.

Ashura: A Day of Lessons — Musa and Hussain

And the Day of Ashura reminds us — whether it's a story of Musa alayhis salaam being saved from Fir'aun, or it's a story of Hazrat Hussain رضي الله عنه being shaheed — that this world is not a place where you will see results for everything. Certain things will happen and you will wait for your day in court. And you'll get your day in court here in this dunya — like Musa alayhis salaam and his community was saved from Fir'aun on this blessed day. Allah saved many nations from their oppressive rulers on this day. And that's why we fast on this day, hoping for sins being forgiven — Rasulullah ﷺ has told us. That's why we make lots and lots of du'a on this day. That's why we give sadaqa. That is why we do so many good things, hoping to gain the barakah of this day.

But at the same time, Allah has shown us that there are certain things that will not happen as you plan. And your day in court doesn't come here. Your day in court is yet to come in the akhirah. And that is the story of Hazrat Hussain رضي الله عنه — the shahada — something which is extremely painful, filled with lessons, heartbreaking, heart-wrenching.

But the fact that it happened and the world moved on — the world did not fall apart.

The sun being thrown, the stars falling, the oceans being set on fire, the mountains moving — the end of the Day of Judgment — it did not happen. Based on how horrible of a crime that was and how painful it is — even if you read it a thousand years later, it hurts. A person feels the pain and cries. But the world moved on. Because this is not a place of jizah (recompense). The dunya is not a place of immediate rewards or punishments.

Allah says:

Master of the Day of Judgment. Is He not master of today? Of course He is. But Allah chooses to manifest His being a Master not necessarily in this world all the time. He manifests that in the hereafter. That's why in Surah Al-Kahf and other places as well, Allah says:

Hunalika — meaning on the Day of Judgment — it will become apparent that full control and full power is in the hands of Allah. What about now? Of course it's now as well. But Allah doesn't manifest it that fully at all times.

Palestine and the System of Allah

I'm sure all of you are making a connection to what is happening in Palestine. As of today, as of this morning, as of yesterday — the relentless, ruthless, heartless bombings that are taking place of schools, where no one is dying besides women and children. If you have not done so, go ahead and just read an article from this morning — not even from some so-called Islamicized version of it, because there is no Islamicized version of it. It's straight. Any mainstream news media — read as they describe the chaos and the absolute level of horrific murder and genocide that is taking place as we speak, as we listen.

And Allah is watching — for the past eight months. Some of the most God-fearing, most pious people on the earth, most innocent of kids being mutilated every single day. And those who are alive, losing both limbs. Naturally a person says, "Ya Allah, where is Allah?"

But we have to remind ourselves that Allah was present when Rasulullah ﷺ almost became shaheed in Uhud. And Allah was present when one after the other, Sahaba رضي الله عنهم, including Hamza رضي الله عنه, suddenly became shaheed. Allah was present in all those difficult nights of Makkah, and all those difficult nights of Madinah where the women and children were crying out of hunger. Allah was present through all the various eras of torture against the Muslims, including the famous incident of Karbala and the shahada of Hussain رضي الله عنه.

Allah was present. Allah watched everything. And nothing happened without the permission of Allah. But this is the system of this dunya. And in this dunya, horrible things happen, painful things happen, and sometimes at the hands of your own people.

Anyone who feels backstabbed, anyone who feels that someone has dealt with him in a treacherous manner, anyone who feels that he's been cheated in business by a close family member, anyone who feels that someone they loved decided to file for divorce against them and accused them of things they never dreamed of doing — that's happening all around us, and there are people who are suffering tremendously because of that.

Well, let us focus on the shahada of Hussain رضي الله عنه and think about what type of treachery took place over there. And you understand that this is this dunya. The mazloom — the oppressed one — will have the last laugh. And the last laugh does not need to be in this dunya. If you didn't believe in akhira, then you would think that everything has to be taken care of now. The akhira is definitely coming. This is what these ayat are going to speak about. That's all we can think of when we see what's happening today in and around Al-Aqsa — that Allah will be rewarding the oppressed ones, and Allah is taking the oppressors to task.

For those who passed away and became shaheed in these eight months, all we've got to say is that Allah decided to protect them from the fitan of this world and to give them a status in the akhira far beyond what we can ever imagine.

I was just listening to a talk about Isra and Mi'raj recently — the fact that Rasulullah ﷺ performed his Mi'raj from the Dome of the Rock, and that the soul of Rasulullah ﷺ ascended into the heavens and went on this powerful journey. Isra is happening every day. Every single day, hundreds of souls of the people of Palestine are going up from that same corridor. From that same corridor that became a mubarak corridor in which Rasulullah ﷺ ascended.

From that same region — barakna hawlahu — from Sham, from the place that is filled with baraka, Allah is sending thousands of innocent souls through that same pathway from which Rasulullah ﷺ ascended into the heavens. It is their honor, if you think about it, that they are going through that same pathway.

This is in reality the system of Allah — that He chooses to irrigate the beautiful garden of Islam not through water and torrential rains, but through the blood of Muslims. Today we are sitting here, looking at the beauty around us in this beautiful masjid surrounded by hundreds of people. But millions of gallons of Muslim blood have gone before us. The many Muslim slaves who went through unbelievable torture and eventually died in this country — what type of du'a they must have been making? They are the first people who came here. How much effort for the past 400-plus years has happened in this country? Today we are sitting here enjoying this dars, enjoying this beautiful structure, not realizing what type of effort has gone before us.

Similarly, the amount of effort, the amount of jihad, the amount of sacrifice, the amount of shahadat against the external powers that came and ruined our countries of origin — all that stuff that happened from our previous generations. We are sitting here plucking the fruits of the sacrifices of the people prior to us. You cannot imagine that a car can move forward without petrol. Similarly, this vehicle of Islam moves forward with sacrifice — sacrifice of your nafs, sacrifice of your life, sacrifice of your time. All of this put together helps move the vehicle of Islam forward. So today we are running on the momentum of the previous generations.

Shaytan's Strategy Against Our Children

One scholar recently told me something that really gave me — Allahu Akbar — the shivers. He said in Urdu:

"Iblees, shaitaan ka bas intizaar hai — ke yeh jo bade hain, yeh mar jayein, toh bachon ko toh luqmah bana kar kha jaayega. Woh toh bas intizaar kar raha hai. Jin ko thodi bhi deen ki baseerat hai, woh bas intizaar kar raha hai ke yeh log chale jayein, toh phir hum bachon pe hamla kar sakein."

How true these words are — that Shaytan and the efforts of Iblees are such that he is just waiting for those who have some deen in their lives, those elders who saw deen, who smelled deen, who grew up in deen, who heard deen while they were growing up, who have Islamic identity and are trying a little bit here and there to guide their kids. They are that wall between their children and the full-fledged effort of atheism, the full-fledged effort of Iblees.

It is like Umar رضي الله عنه being that door that protected the ummah from fitnah. And how Hudhayfah رضي الله عنه spoke about the hadith that once that door is broken, he can narrate Rasulullah's hadith — once that door is broken, the fitnah will come and it will never be fixed.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 525; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 228)

Umar رضي الله عنه did not say his name. Umar رضي الله عنه asked Hudhayfah, "Did Rasulullah ﷺ say it will be broken or opened?" He said, "No, he said it will be broken." He said, "Okay." So afterwards people asked, "Did Umar رضي الله عنه know that you are referring to him?" He said, "Of course he knew it" — that this is referring to his martyrdom. More than you know tomorrow the sun is going to rise — more than that, Umar رضي الله عنه knew what this was speaking about.

In one sense, all of the parents and grandparents are like that door for their children. The reason there is some level of deen in the kids is because of the presence of those elders. How many days and months and years are left for those elders, Allah knows best. But understand, dear sons and daughters of the ummah — we need to appreciate our elders, we need to appreciate our parents. Because we think we have it easy — it's not. It's because of their presence amongst us. And no sooner do they leave from amidst us, we will see a whole different world.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

Blessings are with your elders. (Reported by Ibn Hibban and al-Hakim; graded sahih by al-Hakim)

But now we are living in a generation that has not seen and heard what the elders have seen. This young generation has not seen and heard what the elders have seen. It's a completely different dynamic from 60 years ago. And so, if we do not make a proper effort and we do not work extra hard in preserving the iman of our children today while we are present — if we take it easy and live a very relaxed life — then, Allah forbid, what shall happen once we are gone?

And the experience, I'm sure all of you have it — of so many pious people. Father was a khalifa. Father was a sheikh. Father was imam of the big jami masjid. And then he passes away. What happens to the kids? What they call sajjada nasheen — the one who takes over the musalla on behalf of his father or his khalifa — it's not the same thing anymore. To what degree is there change between my father and myself? Between my grandparents and myself? It's going downhill. So what's going to happen after us, with our kids? What are we empowering them with? What effort are we making for their tarbiyah so that after we're gone, they'll be in a good, safe place?

Shaytan is waiting for us to die. And as soon as we die, he'll make munchkins of them, because they have not been trained to be able to handle the onslaught of fitan, or to prepare themselves emotionally, physically, spiritually to have the jazbah — the desire for deen, the ghairah of deen, the anger for deen.

We talked about ghadhab lillah — to be angry for the sake of Allah — many months ago. That's a big concept of our deen. That you have your emotions of anger and love, and both of them are supposed to be connected to deen. We're supposed to have anger for Allah and anger for the deen. Do we get upset when the orders of Allah are broken? When haya goes out the door and loss of haya becomes the norm — does that create any frustration within us?

One of the du'as I've heard from our elders — beautiful du'a — it says: O Allah, create within our hearts the absolute pain of deen being diminished, of deen losing ground. We need to feel the pain. When you hear a new club has opened, drugs have become more common, people leaving the fold of Islam — these should not be statistics we simply hear from one ear out the other. They should actually create pain within our hearts.

The Global Rise of Atheism in Muslim Countries

Atheism is something I speak about extremely often and regularly throughout my talks. Traveling abroad — subhanAllah — what was the situation? Same thing. In Australia, the numbers are quite similar to what we have over here. And I was speaking at one university in Malaysia, and one of the Bangladeshi students, after I finished speaking, said, "Sheikh, your talk really resonated with me. I co-authored a paper on this." He shared the PDF, and I just read the abstract — and it was shocking. The abstract spoke about how Islamophobia is on the rise. Where? In Muslim countries. The highest rate of Islamophobia is within Muslim countries. The Muslim youth — or ex-Muslim youth — in Muslim countries are the most Islamophobic.

It was a very telling paper talking about the rate of atheism in Bangladesh as a case study. But is it just Bangladesh? No. It's Pakistan, and it's Saudi Arabia, and it's everywhere else. Some of the percentages coming out of the Middle East are shocking — above 20% already identifying as atheist. In Malaysia, although it looks like a very strong Muslim country in terms of deen, when you start speaking to people doing the research — the exact same things: from atheism to LGBTQ, all of that.

As soon as you speak, after the bayan finishes, someone will come and say, "Number one, no one has spoken about this before. Number two, my niece is like this, my nephew is like this, my son is like this, my grandson is like this." The issue is rampant in the Muslim world as well.

One big reason, amongst many, is that people in Muslim countries take deen for granted. And it becomes part of the culture. When you start mixing religion and culture together, it becomes dangerous. Why? Because religion is gone and culture is present, and you still think everything is fine. People are looking at their children practicing Malaysian culture, or Pakistani culture, or Bangladeshi culture, and they think, "Oh, it's all good because we have Islam." This has nothing to do with Islam. That's pure culture.

And the same is happening in our country — many parents are in for a complete surprise when they find out their children have left Islam, because all along they had been focusing on the fact that their kids were culturally practicing the deen. When the termites have eaten out the entire tree, there is nothing left.

Our Dual Responsibility as Muslims in the West

As Muslims in the West who are connected to the masjid and house of Allah, our job is twofold. One is to make sure that the deen that we have, we must pass it down to our next generation. All of our mashayikh and our elders — and I don't mean ulama only, I mean all our senior citizens, the grandmas and the grandads — you have a responsibility which, mashallah, many of you are doing. But many of us maybe are not so keen on it, or haven't thought it's important enough.

For example, the dressing of women, of girls — if a grandma doesn't speak up, no one's going to get it, because the younger generation simply doesn't understand. Coming back from Malaysia, where the culture is the scarf — I seriously cannot recall seeing a lady without a scarf the entire time I was there: not at the airport, not at a hotel, not on the streets, not in the university, nowhere.

However, of course, it's become so common that it's become cultural. So you'll have a lady wearing a scarf, but her arms will be fully exposed, maybe even her legs, or she'll be dancing to music, like a pop star wearing hijab. What happened? It became synonymous with culture and not necessarily with someone who's practicing deen. If you have talks and khutbahs and lectures about the importance of what hijab truly is — that hijab is not simply covering the hair, it's an entire lifestyle — then I'm sure they would listen. But if that discussion does not happen, then shaytan will mislead them.

The older generation, the parents and grandparents, need to teach the younger children. The younger children — meaning the moms and dads in their 20s and 30s — are simply following what's normal culture over here. And the normal culture here is absolute nakedness. And it's getting really, really bad. What type of exposure the LGBTQ culture is creating — things that I would never read out. Happening right here in our country. These type of fitan are happening. Loss of haya has become the norm.

Who is going to speak about haya? Grandma. Granddad. They are the ones who have to teach the kids and grandkids. Fathers and sons need to say, "I'm not going to be here that much longer — please dress appropriately, act appropriately, talk appropriately." That effort has to be taken. The moms and dads need to understand that you cannot just focus on the college fund for the kids. We have to make a lot more effort about other aspects of the deen as well.

Second thing: our responsibility is that we must take Islam to the East. We have to take Islam back home — wherever you come from. Because you're from America, because you speak English, because you're from the West, people will listen to and absorb whatever you have to say. Your own family will listen to you more intently than they will listen to their own khateeb, even though you might not be a scholar. You have a perspective that they don't have, because you're in the eye of the storm. And you're going to explain things to them in ways that their own community members will not be able to. I have witnessed this in this past month of traveling — how true this is.

Ashura: Lessons and Boundaries

So these are, subhanAllah, some reflections I wanted to share with you on this trip — connected to what we're speaking about. The fact that this Ashura is a blessed day filled with blessings. But it's a day that's got a lot of lessons to be learned. And we don't ignore the martyrdom of Hussain رضي الله عنه. But at the same time, we do not say Ashura has now become a day of mourning because of that.

My dear brothers, if there was any day to mourn, what day would that be? The death of the Prophet ﷺ. Can it seriously be that the death of the Prophet ﷺ is eclipsed by any other event? When he himself said:

(Reported by Ibn Sa'd in al-Tabaqat al-Kubra; and referenced by scholars of seerah)

He's saying this obviously while he's alive — that you reflect on my death because you will never be afflicted with a greater calamity than my passing away. And just focus on how the ummah stood up and moved forward. Well then, whatever problem you've got going on in your life — if the ummah moved on after the death of the Prophet ﷺ and survived by the grace of Allah, then I can survive as well. No matter how difficult this may seem, I can make it through.

But we see no ijlaas (mourning gatherings). We see no black flags. We see no ma'tam (mourning ceremonies). No one is crying and screaming. Our ummah is such a pragmatic, outstanding group of people — Allahu Akbar.

There's no one who loves Rasulullah ﷺ more than Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه. Allah calls him his sahib, his companion, in the Qur'an. And Rasulullah ﷺ said, "I have paid back everyone except for Abu Bakr. Only Allah can pay him back." That level of connection. You think it was not hard for him to see the dead, lifeless body of Rasulullah ﷺ? He came running when he found out, kissed the mubarak forehead of Rasulullah ﷺ and said, "You are blessed — beautiful while you're alive and while you've passed away."

Imagine the courage he had to go up on the minbar and say:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3667; Sahih Muslim, Book 44, Hadith 2382)

"Whoever was worshipping Muhammad, know that Muhammad has died. And whoever was worshipping Allah, know that Allah is alive and never dies." Those were words we cannot imagine how hard it was to roll off the lips of Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه.

My dear brothers and sisters — regarding those who are crying over the martyrdom of Hussain رضي الله عنه in absolutely despicable manners, mutilating themselves, making themselves bloody, stabbing their backs — this is not fitrah. This is not deen. None of this is deen.

Our deen tells us that mourning is for three days. The Prophet ﷺ said:

He is not from amongst us who strikes his cheeks, tears his garments, and calls with the calls of Jahiliyyah. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1294; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 167)

Do not let anyone try to convince you otherwise. Do not let anyone say, "Oh brother, you are a Sunni and you are a hater of the grandson of the Prophet ﷺ because you're not wearing black today and not crying today and not stabbing yourself." This is shaytan's iftira. Shaytan has misled millions of poor people — may Allah give them guidance — into completely manipulating Islam into something it's not supposed to be.

Think about it yourself — the first of Muharram is the shahada of Umar رضي الله عنه, just ten days ago. We love Umar رضي الله عنه, we love Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه, we love Rasulullah ﷺ. But where are we sitting there dedicating an entire day to cry? If you love them, you do what they asked us to do. If you love them, you follow in their footsteps. If you love them, you follow their sunnah.

The Rasulullah ﷺ even mentioned — don't build a structure over my grave, or build structures over graves so that people come and make sujood. He instructed us to make graves very simple, so that after death people do not elevate them to the status of what people did with previous prophets and made them into deities and gods.

So this is the teaching of i'tidal and moderation in our deen — that tells us to feel the pain, of course. How could you not cry if you read that incident? Reflect upon it, learn lessons from it, make du'a, read Qur'an and say, "Ya Allah, whatever Qur'an I've recited today, or whatever nafl fasting I've done, I dedicate this ajr to all the Muslims of the past who passed away, including Hussain رضي الله عنه." You can do that. Why not? You should do that. Feed people. Give sadaqa and dedicate it to the entire family of the Prophet ﷺ. This is what our deen teaches us.

A Warning Regarding Shia Da'wah

Unfortunately, we'll see now that there is a lot of misinformation spreading, and I want to warn our moms and dads here: your sons and daughters are being greatly affected by some powerful da'is within the Shia sect. I got a message while I was traveling — someone said, "Sheikh, I need to get a fatwa from you." He said, "I was told that you can get married to a Shia, but you just need a fatwa from the Mufti." The fatwa is that you should not get married to a Shia. There are enough Sunnis. The number of people I'm seeing who want to get married to Shias — there is a lot of conversion happening. The Shia da'wah is strong — very strong on campus, very strong on YouTube. Not just in Iran and Pakistan; this is in America, and in Africa, and across the globe.

And they will take a hadith, an ayah of the Qur'an — and of course, the ones who are giving the da'wah are super strong. An average Mawdudi Qadiani or Shia knows about his faith way more than a Sunni, because we are the dominant group. We are relaxed. The Shia and Qadiani says, "I am a minority. I have to know my stuff. I gotta be prepared — not just to defend myself, but to convert someone on the way to school and on the way back."

I don't know of any Sunni kid over here who's actively giving da'wah to Shias. But if you go to a Shia masjid or Qadiani gathering, normal — everyone is trained to sit and sow doubt into the hearts and minds of Sunni Muslims about their faith. So this is something not to take lightly. I promise you — please don't take this lightly, moms and dads, and kids. Know your deen. Learn about Shiaism. Learn about Sunnism. Learn about the differences. It's not a joke.

If the mainstream Ithna Ashari Shia are so different from us, then you've got the Ismailis and the Agha Khanis who are even more different — even considered heretics according to mainstream Shia. So there are so many differences from top to bottom. Some ulama say, "Please don't make your whole life about Shia-Sunni." The purpose of that is they're trying to say: please don't kill one another. But no one is saying we are the same, because we are not the same. If they were the same, then no Shia would try to convert a Sunni. Why are they putting in a full effort to convert us? Sowing doubt in our hadith tradition, sowing doubt in our Qur'anic tafsir?

I would not recommend you to ever get into a debate or dialogue, because you are simply not prepared — it can be very confusing. If you don't have the knowledge and you watch a YouTube video by a Shia English-speaking channel, very easily you will lose your faith. Am I saying close your ears and look down? No. I'm saying first learn your Aqidah, learn your Fiqh, learn how to pray salah properly, learn your mu'amalat, learn mu'ashara — how to deal with your spouse. Take care of that first. Then, I would definitely say — go ahead and study about Shiaism under Sunni scholars. Take a course on it. There are courses taught by ulama online, and books available that I can refer you to.

And what they regularly spew on podcasts and YouTube channels and Pakistani channels about the beloved wives of the Prophet ﷺ — you will be shocked. They use the worst swear words imaginable against Aisha رضي الله عنها — publicly, on podcasts — laughing and joking as they curse her. These are people with beards, people with their scarves, the mullahs of the Shias, because they have been taught that the more you curse Aisha رضي الله عنها and Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه, the greater their reward.

If you are married — as much as you maybe don't get along every single day with your wife — and someone comes and swears your wife in front of you, says horrible things about her, you're not going to take that. How can you sit and love such people who not just swear, but actually say: before Qiyamat, Hazrat Mahdi will come and dig up Aisha's رضي الله عنها grave and give her 80 lashes? How can Rasulullah ﷺ like such people? So this is misguidance — just as you have billions of misguided Christians, millions of misguided people of other faiths, and hundreds of millions of misguided atheists. Unfortunately, that's what it comes down to. It may have started off with something, but now it's misguidance. That's all it is.

Can I get misguided? Yes, I can. Can you? Yes, you can. All of us can. We're not here because we're special. We're here because of Allah. Allah says:

Allah, He blessed you with His favor by guiding you to Iman. Allah Himself has chosen us and given us hidayah. And this hidayah can be taken away from us at any time. So we must never be complacent.

The Importance of Following a School of Thought

Where do we begin our tafsir today? We said this entire surah is named after one man — Mu'min Al-Fir'aun — the person who believed from the family of the people of Fir'aun. And it was because of the sacrifice he had to make, because everything was against him, and he chose to stand up and make that sacrifice. And Allah named that entire surah after him.

And hence we, while we are in the West practicing the deen, should try our best to also think in the same way — Ya Allah, I'm nobody like Mu'min Al-Fir'aun, but my circumstances are such that to practice Islam on a university campus here, when everyone is becoming an agnostic or atheist, is very hard. Ya Allah, please give me this nisbah and connection with Mu'min Al-Fir'aun. He was not a nabi, and neither am I. But You raised his status such that You named the whole surah after him. Please raise my status as well in this world and the next, that I'm able to remain such a strong Muslim that, alhamdulillah, after I die, my legacy continues. Say ameen.

Ayah 38: "Follow Me — I Will Guide You to the Path of Guidance"

What is Mu'min Al-Fir'aun's advice? Allah says:

And the one who believed said: "O my people, follow me — I will show you the path of guidance."

The first thing we learn is that Mu'min Al-Fir'aun is basically saying that in order to get guidance, you have to follow someone. This concept that some people have — "I don't want to follow an imam, I just want to follow Allah and His Rasul, I don't need a teacher, I don't need a scholar" — that's foolishness. When you say that without having a teacher, you end up in a big mess.

In Hajj this year, with so many people from different backgrounds, there were non-stop questions and so many conflicting answers. I give one answer, someone else gives another, you go Google and find three or four other answers. I remember two brothers from Egypt who were with me in my group. In Mina, they said, "One thing we've decided after Hajj — we're going to go back and learn the Shafi'i madhab and follow a madhab." And they were coming from a town in America where there are no real scholars following specific schools. And I said, "Wow, how come?" And they said, "Because following Hajj rules was so confusing. You have literally one to ten different answers. Who am I — with no knowledge — to decide which opinion is more authentic?"

I said, "MashaAllah, alhamdulillah, you understood this." It's true. If you don't have one person you follow, it's like a person who says, "I take advice from every doctor, I take medicine from every pharmacy." What's going to happen to your body? You have to have one GP, one family doctor. Similarly, when it comes to following the deen, you have to have one school of thought that you follow. Otherwise it will become complete confusion.

This was my first tafsir after many weeks of absence, and I'm sharing stories from the trip that I think are genuinely eye-opening. In Hajj, I had a conversation with a leading scholar who is a secretary of a very large fatwa organization. So I asked him, "Which madhab do you follow and give fatwa on? Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanbali? What do you follow?" He says, "None of the above." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "We have scholars who have studied all the schools of thought. But none of us give fatwa on any of them." I said, "What do you give fatwa on?" He said, "I listen to your question, I look at all the volumes of knowledge on the issue, and whatever I find easiest, I let you know."

I said, "What about usul? Some type of principles?" He said, "No." I said, "So what if you don't like me? You can literally make my life difficult, because you can find the hardest opinion out there that no one even practices on." He literally didn't have an answer. I said, "My God, that is so scary. I trust you're a God-fearing person. But what's going to happen 50 or 60 years from now, when all the elders have passed away and a new TikTok generation has the power to give fatwa? If you do mix-and-match, if you don't have usul, this is just the beginning of what is to come — where everything gets made permissible."

He also told me of a Darul Ifta in the West — a huge organization — where the question of Jummah timings came up. They found a marginal opinion that Jummah time is the same as Eid — so it can start after Ishraq. And then they found another very rarely-practiced opinion within the Maliki school that Jummah can be performed until Maghrib. So the official fatwa they issued was that Jummah can be performed anywhere from Ishraq till Maghrib on Friday. Khalas — pray at 6pm or 7pm, no problem. Where did that come from? When you do mix-and-match, when you don't have usul, this is the future. Where everything is made permissible.

And this is why I'm mentioning: you have to follow someone. If you don't, it'll lead to this. You have to have a usul. Do we say follow Imam Abu Hanifa alone? Or Imam Shafi'i alone? We say follow a developed school of thought — founded by Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Shafi'i, Imam Malik, Imam Ahmad — but refined and developed for literally twelve centuries. That is far more likely to be correct than following one random imam currently in your masjid who could be fired next year.

That's exactly what's happening in America. The imam says we're going to have moon sighting. The next imam comes and says global sighting. The one after that says calculations. One says everything hand-slaughtered only. The next says we eat from anywhere. That's blind following. Whoever stands and gives a khutbah — I heard that this past Friday some khatib somewhere said, "I challenge you to find me a single hadith on the coming of the Mahdi." You can do a Google search right now in this masjid and find so many hadith on the coming of the Mahdi. You should not be just a passive listener — please, even of me. If I say something out of line, by all means come and ask me.

And when it comes to not just our fiqh but our spiritual dimension and ruhaniyat as well, we have to have a spiritual mentor — a spiritual guide. Otherwise the world will eat us alive. I heard of an incident just a few days ago — a student said to his shaykh: "I came to a place where there were men and women not appropriately dressed, so I took off my glasses. But when I saw these women, I felt so bad. I started making du'a: Ya Allah, these are non-Muslims, they're going to go to the fire of Jahannam if they don't get hidayah. Ya Allah, give them guidance." So the shaykh told him: this feeling of making du'a for them, this emotional attachment from looking at them — this too can be from Iblees, to legitimize you continuously looking. He said, "I'm not physically attracted to them — I'm feeling sorry for them." My point is: he asked the question and got an answer. You see how many people are making such mistakes that will ruin their deen, but they have no mentor to ask, "Am I doing right or wrong? Is this deception of Shaytan or is this real?" This is what we're talking about.

So having a murshid — someone you follow for your spirituality — is super important. Now that's what Mu'min Al-Fir'aun said: "Follow me." Everyone else was a kafir, he was the only believer, and he's telling people to follow him. "What will I do for you? I will show you the path of guidance."

So we learn from here: number one, people must follow someone — you might as well follow people who are guiding you towards Allah. The number one we have to follow is Allah. Then Rasulullah ﷺ. Then the Sahaba. Then those who follow in the footsteps of the Sahaba.

The Qur'an in Surah Fatir says:

No one can inform you and teach you the way Allah can teach you. Khabir is Allah — the Most Knowledgeable. Allah Himself says:

Allah is the Noor of the heavens and the earth. He brought light to the heavens and the earth. Who can know what's right and what's wrong besides Allah? That's why, when in confusion, ask Allah. Ask Allah — "Oh Allah, please, I'm so confused what to do."

Oh Allah, allow us to see the truth as truth and enable us to follow it. Allow us to see falsehood as falsehood and enable us to stay away from it.

Whenever in confusion, ask Allah. Make istikhara. If you don't have time to make the full istikhara salah, make the short istikhara:

Oh Allah, choose for me and select what is best for me. And the longer istikhara du'a:

Please make a habit of reciting this. Keep it on your phone. Read it whenever you're in confusion. And also:

Oh Allah, inspire us with the most correct affairs in my life, and Ya Allah, protect us from the evil of our nafs. Because the nafs comes in and ruins it all.

Allah told Rasulullah ﷺ in Surah Al-Kahf:

Oh Rasulullah, do not obey the one whose heart We have made heedless from Our remembrance and who follows his desires. The message is obviously to me and you — when taking a scholarly opinion, take it from someone whose heart is connected with Allah, not someone who simply has knowledge alone. And do not sit in the company of those who don't remember Allah and who follow their desires.

Point three that the ulema have mentioned here is that the most important person in your life is the one who holds your hand and guides you to Allah. There is no one you owe more to than that. We owe our du'a, our sadaqah jariyah, we owe everything to the people who have guided us towards deen. And this is why in our deen there is such a high status for parents and teachers. We must remember them in our du'as immensely.

Point four is that it is a responsibility of the one being followed — that he does not mislead people or guide them to his own desires, but shows them the path of guidance. That's why the ulema and parents have a huge responsibility. If we do not guide those looking to us in an appropriate manner, and if we give them a wrong answer, we will be in big trouble.

Ayah 39: The Dunya is Temporary, the Akhira is Permanent

What was another piece of advice Mu'min Al-Fir'aun gave to his nation?

"O my people, this life of the world is only a momentary benefit, and indeed the akhira is the place of permanent living."

What is the first important lesson of Mu'min Al-Fir'aun to his people? That the world is not a place for you to keep yourself attached. The world is like an airport, or it's a restroom — you rest briefly, you do your business and move on. No matter how beautiful a toilet is — and nowadays people spend a lot of money on bathrooms. Our Ustad Mullah Abbas Sahib would say: "Baaz daf' bathroom mein insaan jaata hai, andar daakhil hone ke baad insaan bhool jaata hai kis wajah se aaya." — "Sometimes a person goes to the bathroom, and after entering, he forgets why he came. He doesn't even feel like relieving himself. This place, I don't want to dirty it." So Shaytan, subhanAllah, has his strange ways. Allahu Akbar.

Dunya is a bathroom — you do your stuff and you move on. What does he say? Mata' — momentary benefit. Mata' is something which you use. Part of the word mata' is that intrinsically it doesn't last long. The mata' in reality is the washcloth you use in your kitchen — very handy, it starts off clean. But no one says, "Oh, this has helped me so much, let me keep it on my nightstand." It's use and throw. That's what dunya is.

Allah says:

The kuffar, they only know the external aspects of the dunya. But they are unfortunately completely unaware of the akhirah. Dunya is attractive in that it makes us forget the reality.

One alim gave an example of the dunya — he said, imagine someone filled a beautifully gift-wrapped box with garbage, put ribbons and balloons on it, and left it at the door. A thief comes and steals it — so excited, tearing through the wrapping as he runs away, ribbon after ribbon, layer after layer. And at the very bottom? A rotten apple. He said: this is dunya. When you grab the dunya, initially you think, "I got it!" Every young person thinks they want to be a millionaire. But as you hit middle age, the value of money and dunya starts diminishing. And by the time you're a senior citizen, a person keeps saying, "Beta, money is not everything." But it's very late by then, because they wasted their youthful years running after the dunya. The youth should listen and learn: if you're youthful, don't be over-excited by the ribbons and the balloons thinking there's something great in this box. Focus on preparation for the akhira.

Number two we learn here: dunya is a place of mashaqat. There is no one in this world who has everything complete. Whoever you ask — "Tough times, tough times." No one has absolute ease. Why? Because that ease is only in the akhira. If Allah has given someone no tough times in wealth, he has a disobedient spouse, or disobedient children, or a very harsh manager. Somewhere or the other, you've got problems. That's just how dunya works.

Allah says:

Indeed, those who have no expectations of meeting Us, who are content and happy with their worldly life and feel tranquil in it, and those who are completely unaware of Our signs — their abode is the hellfire, because of what they used to earn. Meaning, being overly content with dunya and not thinking about the akhira is a major, major problem.

If you feel like today is a tough day for you, this year has been a tough year — understand that this is part of a believer. I was in Singapore for a day on a stopover, and someone was telling me how Singapore — a tiny little island, 45 minutes across — has a powerful navy, powerful air force, even air force bases in other countries. And then I look at the Muslim countries — so poor, so weak. Allah is giving non-Muslim countries the dunya. Not to say we shouldn't make an effort — the big problem in our countries is corruption. If we got rid of corruption, we would not be where we are. But don't get intimidated. Why do non-Muslims have so much wealth and power? Dunya is for them. Akhira is for us.

If anyone should have had immense power, it should have been Rasulullah ﷺ. But what a simple life Rasulullah ﷺ lived. And yet he was the most hardworking of creation. Don't blame Islam for things. You can blame Muslims, but don't blame Islam. And don't get intimidated by the wealth and power of others to say, "If Islam is true, we'd have more money and more air force." That's not how Allah judges things.

Number three:

Indeed the akhira is the place of permanent living. You have to make sure you get your iman before you get to the akhira. If a person becomes a believer at the time of death, then it's too late. Even Fir'aun — the one from whom Allah saved Musa today — even he accepted Islam. But it was too late. When he saw in front of him Jibreel and Malak al-Mawt coming, then he said:

"I believe in that in which the Children of Israel believed, and I am from amongst those who submit to Allah." But Allah said: now it's too late.

Ayah 40: Justice in the Akhira and Rewards Beyond Reckoning

And then this is the principle he mentioned:

The one who does something evil will not be punished except in its equal proportion. This is the beautiful usul of Allah — you're not going to get any more than you deserve. If anything, you'll be forgiven. What is the beautiful hadith?

Whoever intends to do a bad deed but does not do it, Allah records it for him as a complete good deed. And whoever intends to do a good deed and does it, Allah records it as ten good deeds. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6491; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 233)

Anyone who makes niyyah to commit a sin — Allah will not grant him the punishment of that sin until he actually commits it. Once he commits it, Allah writes one sin in his book of deeds. And no sooner does he repent, Allah forgives instantaneously. And a person who intended to commit a sin but then out of fear of Allah he backed out — what happens? He gets an ajr for it. Can you imagine? A sin leading to reward because he backed away from it due to the fear of Allah.

And a person who intended to do a good deed — as soon as he made that intention, Allah gives him a reward. When you make the intention of sin, you don't get sin. When you make the intention of a good deed, you get reward. And then when you do it, you don't get reward once. How much? At least ten times. This is the rahmah of Allah.

But the one who does a righteous deed — be it male or female, as long as you're a believer — those are the people who will enter Jannah, where they will be provided with bounties bighayri hisab — beyond reckoning.

Closing Reflections

My beloved brothers, we could speak another whole hour on this, but we'll end here insha'Allah. If you want more dunya, remember there's a place for it — it's called the Akhira. In the Akhira, Allah will give you an endless buffet every single day, in every single thing. Endless. In dunya there are so many restrictions. Just hold yourself from haram, and Allah will give you as halal over there.

The test today is to protect our eyes from haram, our ears from haram, our minds from haram, our tongues from haram. But by Allah, if we protect ourselves from haram and today we repent from all the haram we've committed — then what awaits us in the Akhira, bighayri hisab, we cannot even comprehend. No matter how much dunya any kafir gets — even if it's billions or hundreds of billions — it's still finite. But what even the lowest amongst the believers will get in Jannah will be bighayri hisab. But it requires us to control ourselves from haram. May Allah give us the strength to do so.

Dhikr and Du'a

When we do dhikr of Allah — لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — let us focus on ma siwallah: every single thing besides Allah — all wrong thoughts, wrong desires, wrong love, and attachment to anything besides Allah — coming out of our hearts. And only the attachment with Allah and that which Allah wants us to be attached with, coming into our hearts. This La ilaha is a sword to break all false idols from our heart. Illa Allah is how we bring Allah into our heart. And then after that we'll send salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ. And lastly we do istighfar. When we do istighfar, we fill our heart with absolute remorse and nadama, and we beg Allah to truly change our lives.

Du'a

O Allah, we ask You to accept the fasting of all across the globe who fasted on the day of Ashura — those who fasted the day before, those who fasted the day after. Ya Allah, accept everyone's fast. O Allah, accept everyone's intention who wanted to fast but for some reason was not able to. O Allah, grant them the reward of those who fasted as well.

Ya Allah, just as You made this day a day of delivery for many of the previous nations from their tyrants — O Allah, make this day a delivery for our Palestinian brothers and sisters. Ya Allah, and for the entire Ummah wherever they may be suffering at the hands of oppressors — Ya Allah, make this a day of reckoning for the oppressor, and a day of najat for the oppressed. O Allah, we beg You — collectively, individually, from our hearts — Ya Allah, have mercy upon the bleeding Ummah. Upon the Ummah that is bleeding not only physically, but spiritually as well.

O the Rabb of Musa, O the Rabb of Nuh alayhis salaam, O the Rabb of Ibrahim, and O the Rabb of Muhammad ﷺ — O Allah, we ask You to have mercy upon the Ummah in these difficult circumstances that we find ourselves in.

All those who are sick, Ya Allah — those whose parents are sick, whose children are sick, whose siblings are sick, whose relatives are sick — be they sick physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, or going through any type of financial difficulty — Ya Allah, through the barakah of this gathering on this blessed day, through the barakah of those who are breaking their fast now, O Allah, we ask You to remove all of our difficulties from our lives.

Ya Allah, the greatest thing we need is najat from Your anger. O Allah, we need salvation from Your anger and Your wrath. We have certainly done sins that make us deserving of Your anger. O Allah, but we are too weak to suffer Your anger. O Allah, test us by anything else — besides Your mercy, besides Your pleasure. O Allah, become pleased with us. Ya Allah, become pleased with us, become pleased with our spouses, become pleased with our children.

O Allah, turn the direction of our hearts away from dunya towards akhirah. Away from simply earning money towards earning amal. Away from trying to please Your creation to pleasing You, Ya Allah. O Allah, we ask You to protect all of our masajid, madaris, deen institutions, all our khanqahs, the efforts of da'wah and tabligh, and all other deeni efforts happening with ikhlas. O Allah, grant all those who are doing it ikhlas. Allow all those who are supporting it ikhlas.

O Allah, we ask You to allow the elections in this country and elections in other parts of the world — wherever they may be happening — to bring khair for the Ummah, Ya Allah. O Allah, we ask You to protect us from any and all evil that is meant for the Ummah. O Allah, please do not put us into trials more than we can handle. O Allah, in these trials that our youth are going through, allow them to remain steadfast in their deen. Allow them to know the right from wrong, and allow them to follow the truth and stay away from falsehood.

O Allah, all those who are going through any and all types of difficulty in their own personal lives and who are making du'a right now — Ya Allah, accept all of those du'as.

And before we break the fast, also remember to recite:

The thirst is gone, the veins are moistened, and the reward is confirmed, if Allah wills. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 2357)

O Allah, for You I have fasted, in You I believe, upon You I rely, and with Your provision I break my fast. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 2358)