Surah Qasas - Ep. 8 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

أَمَّا بَعْدُ — Allah says, after seeking refuge in Allah from Shaytan the accursed:

Beloved respected brothers and sisters, dear friends and guests of the house of Allah, and students and listeners — السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

We thank Allah that has allowed us to meet once again. I know the weather is mashallah tough out there. The roads are tough and there are brave souls like you all who've came out to Salatul Isha and alhamdulillah are sitting here for the tafsir. May Allah make the sacrifice of yours a means of your salvation and a means of deen remaining strong and alive in your generations. And may Allah grant all of us istiqamah and steadfastness. Ameen.

Alhamdulillah, continuing from the last two weeks with Mufti bin Hajj, alhamdulillah, jazahullah khairah for taking care of this dars. And inshallah we'll continue from where he left off — ayah 57, Surah Al-Qasas.

Ayah 57 — The Excuse of the Disbelievers

Allah says, thus the disbelievers say to you, O Prophet:

إِنَّا نَتَّبِعِ الْهُدَىٰ مَعَكَ — "If we follow the Guidance along with you" — نُتَخَطَّفْ مِنْ أَرْضِنَا — "We would be snatched away from our land." We'll get in trouble, our dunya will be lost, we will get attacked. Lots of horrible things will happen to us. We will lose our power, our authority on earth, if we begin to follow Islam with you. This is the reason why we don't want to follow Islam. This is what the mushrikeen said.

How often do we hear the same thing that Muslims say today? That if we follow the sunnah, follow the deen, it's gonna make us lose our position. If we follow the deen when it comes to our practices, our cultural practices, our things at home, then we will lose status in society. We will lose our position in society if we follow the deen. We hear this so often. Many people will be encouraged when they see people following the deen, but when it comes to their own turn, they will say that I can't do that — it will end up jeopardizing my job at work, it will end up jeopardizing my place in society and my friend circle, etc.

So this is something we cannot fall for. We cannot give up our commitment to Islam simply because we are afraid that we are going to lose out on some aspect of this world. And this is a discussion we have to have repeatedly.

You Cannot Get Something for Nothing

So what? If you lose out — so what? That's a price you have to pay. Think about it — you have to go buy a loaf of bread or a beautiful luxurious car, whatever it may be. In order to get that, you have to give something. Two dollars to get a loaf of bread, and fifty thousand dollars to get a car. You are going to give something to get something. Nothing is free. You can't get a loaf of bread for free, you can't get a luxurious car for free, you can't get a house for free. Nothing.

So imagine someone is saying, "I'm very hungry, I want to eat" — but why can't you? "Because I'm going to lose out on ten dollars for this burger." It doesn't make sense. Okay, you cannot afford ten dollars — give five dollars, buy something for five. If you can't afford five, buy something for a dollar. You have to give something to get something.

So if we want akhirah, we want jannah — how can we say that I want jannah without losing out anything in my dunya? It just doesn't work like that. You have to be willing to lose in your dunya to get your akhirah.

This is something we need to talk about every day. Because the world is being shown Islam — or for that matter any religion — as an afterthought. Focus on your professional career, focus on your stay on this earth, and religion should be an afterthought. It's just a little extra thing to do on the side, once a week. As long as deen does not interfere in your dunya, in the progress of your dunya, no problem — we like this religion. And as soon as deen starts having an effect on your livelihood, have an effect on your fun and entertainment — then we don't want this deen.

The False Marketing of Islam

So this is what we have made our children accustomed to. This is what this new generation is accustomed to — a deen that absolutely gives you a stamp of approval to anything and everything you want to do. You see these fake diet ads all the time: "You're craving for a donut? Go ahead. You're craving for a bagel? Go ahead. You're craving for a plate of lasagna? Go ahead. This diet works — just pop in a couple of pills and eat whatever you want." That's what deen is being shown today.

This is a fake ad of Islam — that you can mingle with whatever you want, hang out wherever you want, earn however you like, dress however you like. Do whatever you want and you can still be Muslim. You can still be cool. "This version of Islam that tells you what you can't do — that's the backward mullahs from the village who didn't have fun themselves, so they want to ruin it for the rest." Who said so? "You can do whatever you want and still be Muslim." This is the new marketing of Islam.

And naturally, that will attract a huge crowd. Everyone likes that. Who would not like a diet that says you lose all your extra pounds while eating every single unhealthy thing? That sounds amazing — too good to be true, because it's not true. That's why. Similarly, anyone who says you can follow Islam while fulfilling every desire of yours and still be a Muslim and still get to paradise immediately, without having to go through hellfire — unfortunately, that's false marketing. That's a false representation of Islam.

The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith: whoever loves his dunya shall harm his akhira, and whoever loves his akhira shall harm his dunya. This is very straightforward. If you love your akhira, your dunya will take a hit. And if you love your dunya, your deen will take a hit. So give preference to that which is everlasting over that which shall perish.

There's no such thing as you can eat the cake and have the cake. You cannot have success here and there — "I'm gonna get everything in the dunya, whatever I want, fulfill all my desires, and then claim that I've got success in the akhira." This is part and parcel, actually the fundamental step towards jannah — that a person needs to deprive his own self from its desires. The nafs must be starved. The nafs must be punished. The nafs must be battered up and not be given whatever it asks for. Then jannah lies ahead. And if we give our nafs whatever it asks, and then say we're also gonna get jannah —

No nafs knows, no soul knows, what has been prepared for it in the akhira — قُرَّةِ أَعْيُنٍ — that's gonna be a source of bringing joy to the eyes. مَا تَشْتَهِيهِ الْأَنفُسُ وَتَلَذُّ الْأَعْيُنُ — whatever the nafs desires and whatever the eyes cherish to look at — that's what jannah has. And who is it for? For people who deprive themselves of all that enjoyment here.

Within the boundaries of halal, within the boundaries of sunnah, a person can of course benefit from the dunya — no doubt. But you have to ensure that it's halal and you're not falling into israf and extravagance. That's a key thing. So don't get me wrong — I'm not saying a person cannot live a comfortable life. We're saying that that comfortable life has to be within the boundaries of halal.

Any place where you allow the nafs to do whatever it asks — the ummah is gonna go there, that's it. And any place where you say, "No, you're gonna batter the nafs — go sit with the shaykh for a month or a year, do his khidmah in some khanqah, in some zawiyah" — that sounds pretty hard. Go to the desert and sit with the shaykh and study ilm — that sounds pretty hard. Go out in the path of Allah for an extended period of time — that sounds pretty hard. So these things that go against the nafs, people run away from. And anything that the nafs doesn't mind, people run towards.

So this discussion is really important for us to have with ourselves and our children — that deen is not about the easy way out. Deen is struggle. Honestly, it's struggle. It is a struggle. This is jihad all day, every day, until we meet Allah.

"O human being — indeed you are going to be struggling and striving continuously till you meet Allah." All of us. If we're not struggling, we're not alive — that's part of our existence, that we have to struggle. However, the struggle is different. Some people struggle in this world simply to build their dunya, and some people struggle in this dunya to build their akhirah.

All of those people in power today, all the tyrants of the world — do you not think they're struggling? They're all working. The most powerful tyrant of today — don't think they sleep an easy sleep every night. Each one is afraid of losing his power and grip. Everyone is thinking: how can I continue to expand my dynasty, my power, and how can I ensure I eliminate my enemies? Continuously they're thinking. So they're struggling — but their striving and struggling is only limited to this worldly life. They have absolutely no consideration or regard for the hereafter.

So we're all in some way or the other struggling. The question is: what are you struggling with? What are you striving for? What keeps you awake at night? What makes your hair turn white? We're all getting old and we're getting weak and we're getting tired — but what is it that keeps you awake? Is it only the dunya? Or is it along with that, the akhirah?

Allah's Response — The Blessing of the Haram

So Allah then tells them — أَوَلَمْ نُمَكِّن لَّهُمْ — "Did we not establish for them a secure sanctuary?" يُمَكِّنُ، تَمْكِينٌ means to secure a sanctuary. حَرَمًا آمِنًا — آمِنًا means safe and secure, حَرَمٌ is sanctuary, and نُمَكِّن means established. Did we not establish for the kuffar and all the people of Makkah a secure sanctuary?

What happens in Makkah? يُجْبَىٰ إِلَيْهِ ثَمَرَاتُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ — يُجْبَىٰ means to be brought, and ثَمَرَاتُ is provision of every single thing. The fruits of everything are brought to them in Makkah — رِزْقًا مِّن لَّدُنَّا — as a provision from us. وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ — however most of them do not know, do not realize that this is from Allah.

So what Allah is saying is: have you no shame? That I have given you everything, including this — the safety that you enjoy here in Makkah — and you are telling me that if you begin to believe in Allah, then Allah is going to allow everyone else to trample you?

That's basically like when we say to someone who is earning haram money — "Why are you saying that if you give up riba you are going to die poor? If you give up your haram business you are going to suffer huge loss and your children are going to become hungry?" That person — you would say: wait, look — you are involved in haram, yet Allah is providing tens of meals to your family every single day. Breakfast, lunch, dinners, midnight snack, midday snack, and Allah knows what, for every member of your family — and there is so much left in the fridge and the freezer and the storage room. So even though you are in haram, Allah is providing you so much. Imagine if you turn to halal, how much Allah will provide.

A person is worried that if I start following the deen, I am going to lose my friends. If I start wearing hijab, I am going to lose my friends. If I start growing out my beard, I am going to lose my friends. If I start going to the masjid more often, I am going to lose my friends. It's as though we are not responding to say — you are breaking all the orders of Allah, yet you have respect in society. Yet you have respect amongst your family. Why do you think that when you leave haram and come towards halal, Allah is going to snatch this away from you? That Allah who is continuously allowing you to enjoy friendships and position within the community, even though you are in haram — He will increase it if you turn towards halal.

So now apply that — this is what this ayah means. That Allah is saying: here you are being provided a safe and secure sanctuary in Makkah, even though you are worshipping idols. What shall happen if you turn your back to idolatry and come towards Islam? Why would Allah make you suffer?

The Tamkeen of Makkah

This word tamkeen comes in Surah Yusuf and other places as well. And in this manner, we gave a makan, we gave a space for Yusuf alayhi salam in Egypt. Allah is saying that the entire haram here is safe. How safe? That the Meccans knew — if you found the killer and the assassin of your father around the Kaaba, and you've been chasing him and now you found him there — hands off. You can't touch him. He killed your own father, but this is haram — we cannot retaliate. You gotta wait until he leaves. That's what the haram meant.

If there is an animal that you're hungry and want to hunt — you cannot hunt the animal. There are some trees or plants that you need to cut for some reason — you can't do that. To the extent that even the rocks we throw in jamarat — in hajj we throw the stones at the place where shaytan had stood, to try to dissuade Ibrahim alayhi salam from slaughtering Ismail alayhi salam. But in the haram, we're going kissing the rock — Hajarul Aswad. Even a rock is honored when it comes to the haram. That's how sacred that place is.

The Du'a of Ibrahim Alayhi Salam

So Allah had planned it such that Ibrahim alayhi salam would come. He ordered Ibrahim alayhi salam to leave his wife and his child in the middle of nowhere. And then he made du'a. Allah says that Ibrahim alayhi salam said:

"Oh Allah, I am now leaving my family, my child, my wife — بِوَادٍ غَيْرِ ذِي زَرْعٍ — without any vegetation — عِندَ بَيْتِكَ الْمُحَرَّمِ — this valley is right next to Your honorable, sacred house." Meaning: Ya Allah, this place I am leaving my wife and my child — there is nothing whereby they can live a normal life. There is nothing there besides air, the oxygen there — that's it. There is no water even, there is no vegetation, there is no crops. How can you live there?

That's what Hazrat Hajar — when she saw her husband leaving, she couldn't believe it. "What are you doing? You're leaving us here?" It is mentioned that when Ibrahim alayhi salam brought Hajar and her son Ismail, while she was still nursing him, and he placed them both near the Kaaba, near the Baytullah, above what we now know as the Zamzam well — and at that time there was no Makkah and there was no Zamzam, there was no water — and he placed a leather bag with water in it and some dates, and then Ibrahim alayhi salam turned his back and left.

The mother, his wife, the mother of Ismail, began to chase after him and began to say: "Ya Ibrahim — oh Ibrahim, oh Ibrahim, where are you going? Where are you leaving us? In a valley in which there is nothing at all — no humans, and no anything else." She kept on repeating this to her husband. However, the husband did not turn around and look at her. How can he? What is he going to say? It's not hard enough — it's extremely hard. For her and extremely hard for him. But if he were to look and look at her into the eyes and say "I'm leaving," then he would not be able to leave. So he had to swallow the bitter pill. Allah has asked him to do what He has asked him to do, and you have to follow it at all cost.

You see what I mean? This is jihad. This is sacrifice. We're sitting here because of that sacrifice. Deen doesn't come without sacrifice. You want to say everyone's got to be happy — my wife's got to be happy, my husband's got to be happy, mom's got to be happy, dad's got to be happy, son, daughter, neighbor, employer, employee, everyone's got to be happy, the whole world's got to be happy. Doesn't work like that. In order to follow the deen, sacrifices have to be made.

"I can't tell my son to follow the deen because he's going to get angry. I can't tell my daughter something about the deen because she'll get angry. Can't tell my husband, can't tell my wife." What are you going to do? You want to keep everyone happy? You'll never keep Allah happy like this. Things must be told — and of course with wisdom and hikmah. The takaluf we have — we've got to keep everyone happy. This is what everyone says: "I can't speak up, I can't say, because she's going to get angry, he's going to get upset." In this whole regard, we're watching — no one's looking at Allah, how upset He's getting. We're just worried about each other.

The Story of Umar and the Torah

This reminds me of the famous story of Umar radiallahu anhu, when he came across the Torah and was just reading through a passage. He was very enamored — affected by something he read; it touched him. Because at the end of the day it's based on revelation from Allah. Things have been added on afterwards, but there's revelation in there. And he was so focused on it, he didn't realize that a few feet away from him, Abu Bakr Siddiq radiallahu anhu was sitting — and also the Prophet ﷺ himself. And he did not notice that the Prophet's ﷺ face, the color of his face, was changing — and he was getting red out of anger.

So Abu Bakr Siddiq radiallahu anhu quietly signaled to Umar radiallahu anhu to look up. And he looked up and saw Rasulullah's ﷺ face, and he immediately realized the mistake. He fell down to his knees — جَثَا عَلَىٰ رُكْبَتَيْهِ — and he began to say: رَضِيتُ بِاللَّهِ رَبًّا وَبِالإِسْلَامِ دِينًا وَبِمُحَمَّدٍ ﷺ رَسُولًا وَنَبِيًّا — "I am pleased with Allah as my Lord, Islam as my religion, and Muhammad ﷺ as my prophet."

And the Prophet ﷺ told him — the gist of what he said — "You are reading from the Torah in my presence? That prophet upon whom the Torah was revealed — Musa himself — لَوْ كَانَ مُوسَىٰ حَيًّا لَمَا وَسِعَهُ إِلَّا اتِّبَاعِي — if Musa were to be alive himself, he would not be able to move forward without following me. If Musa himself were alive, he had to follow me. Now you are reading his book — and also that book that was revealed to him, which has had things added in — in my presence."

The idea was — sometimes we are so focused on something, we don't realize what's going on. Here he didn't realize Rasulullah ﷺ was getting upset. So how many times are we doing things in our life that are upsetting to Allah? The name of the game is sacrifice.

Mawlana Rumi's Story of the Lion Tattoo

You've heard the Mawlana Rumi story of the tattooing of the lion on the back — I'm sure you've heard it multiple times. How a person came to a tattoo parlor and said, "I want to get a tattoo of a lion." And the artist said, "Okay sure, let's get started." And in the traditional way of poking people with their huge deep needles, he began to poke him — and the man yelled out, screamed. He said, "That's so painful, what are you doing?" "I'm making a tattoo of a lion as you requested." "What part of it?" "I'm doing the tail." "No — that's too painful, let's get rid of the tail."

Then he poked him on the other side. He said, "What's this? Why does it hurt so hard?" "I'm doing the mane — the beautiful, big male lion. You've got the lion, the king of the jungle." "No, no, man — let's go with less. This mane is too painful, let's do less." Then he poked him again — he screamed. "What are you doing?" "I am tattooing one of the legs." "This lion, he got out in a fight, and in the fight he ended up losing one of his legs." So he said, "Forget it, get out. You have no ability to handle this pain. Why did you come here in the first place asking for a tattoo?"

So Mawlana Rumi gives this example of people who want to follow the deen but are not really ready for any sacrifice. He said: if you're not ready to sacrifice, then why are you saying that you want to follow the deen? You want to get jannah, you want to please Allah, you want to be this and do that — what are you doing? You're in the wrong place. If you want to follow the deen, you have to be willing to make sacrifice. You have to be willing to give up things that you like. Yes.

So how do we speak to our kids like this? Do we speak to our family members like this? Do we speak to our spouses like this? Everyone is just caving into what another person says. "Oh, I don't like this." So what? You don't like it — neither do I. There's a ton of things I have to do that I don't like. So what? What is that supposed to mean? Deen is not about what I like and what I don't like. No — it's about what Allah and His Rasul want. So stop bringing in this "I like and I don't like" business. This is what we're learning from here.

The Sacrifice of Ibrahim, Hajar, and Ismail Alayhi Salam

How hard it must have been for Ibrahim alayhi salam and his wife, subhanallah. He did not look at her, he didn't turn back. And then eventually she asked that million dollar question: "Did Allah order you to do this?" And he said yes. And then what an amazing response she gave — she said: "If that's the case, then Allah will not allow us to perish." That is the yaqeen of this amazing lady.

The mother of this ummah — that's what we're supposed to be thinking when we're doing sa'i between Safa and Marwa. The sacrifice of Hazrat Hajar and Hazrat Ismail — and of course Hazrat Ibrahim. And as we run from Safa to Marwa, we're thinking about those sacrifices and we're asking Allah to make all the children of the ummah like Hazrat Ismail, and all the adults of the ummah like Hazrat Ibrahim, and all the women of the ummah like Hazrat Hajar.

And I must add here one point. You have repeatedly heard from our elders and from me as well — the power of one righteous lady is something that cannot be undermined. Similarly, the evil effects of an unpious lady cannot be undermined. It takes one to make it all, it takes one to ruin it all.

And so this is a great example of one outstanding lady — Hazrat Hajar — who with great sacrifice, mashallah, allowed her husband to leave her. And then herself took care of her son. And when everything fell apart, then turned to Allah and begged Him to such an extent that the unthinkable happened. Out of nowhere a blessing came — and that blessing came only through the pain of Ismail and Hazrat Hajar. In the middle of nowhere, a thirsty young boy crying for water, begging — his mom is begging — and his feet are going up and down in pain as he is so thirsty. That sacrifice reached a certain threshold, after which Zamzam came out. And due to that sacrifice, till today, billions and millions of people, for the past thousands of years, have enjoyed Zamzam and die for Zamzam.

Where did all this barakah of Zamzam come from? The sacrifice of a mother and her son. So my dear women of the communities, subhanallah — do not undermine your role. If you take it to your heart that you want to make a sacrifice for the deen and for the baqa and for the long-lasting deen of your children, I promise you, you will become a means of so much khair. You will be shocked at how it all happened. And look no further than the story of Hazrat Hajar and how Allah used her. She probably never knew — I'm sure she didn't ever expect — how much khair the world would enjoy for hundreds of thousands of years due to her sacrifice. And today we are all beneficiaries of her sacrifice. And our Nabi ﷺ is from that same family.

The Du'a of Ibrahim Alayhi Salam — Full Context

So what is the du'a he made at that time? "I'm leaving my child, my wife, in a valley that's got no vegetation, by your sacred home — so that they may establish the salah, and make the hearts of the people run towards them." يَهْوِي — هَوِيَّةٌ is one of the names of jahannam, one of the places where things fall to the bottom. هَاوِيَةٌ — so when something is falling from the top, there's no way to hold it down. It's just falling down, it cannot stop.

Similarly, scholars of tafsir say that the one who is going towards the haram and going to the Kaaba — it's as though he's falling onto the Kaaba. Nothing can hold him back. He has no idea why, but he's got this burning desire to go towards the Kaaba, burning desire to go to the house of Allah. Even if he doesn't have the means, he says: "Ya Allah, please provide me the means — I just want to go." This is in the heart of every believer.

So this is how he made the du'a — Ibrahim alayhi salam: "O Allah, allow the hearts of the people to just fall upon my family and the Kaaba. And O Allah, please provide for them thamarat — fruits." Thamarat means two things: one is the actual fruit — a fig, an apple, a banana. And number two, as we say "fruits of one's labor" — the results, the nateejah of someone's labor. So fruits can be taken in the meaning of a fruit that you eat, and fruit can also mean the end result of some sort of production.

Allah says — Ibrahim alayhi salam said: "O Allah, provide for them fruits so that they may become grateful." How amazing — "I want my wife and my son to become grateful to You — that's why I'm asking You to give them blessings." Whoever thinks about it like that? "Ya Allah, I want my son and daughter to be wealthy and healthy and live in a very comfortable home" — we should all make this du'a, we already do. But how often do we say: "Ya Allah, I want my children to have a comfortable job and a comfortable home so that they may become grateful — so that they can spend the money You give them in sadaqa and khairat, and so that they can thank You for all the blessings they have." We stop short. The du'a should be all of it — لَعَلَّهُمْ يَشْكُرُونَ — "Ya Allah, I want my children, my future generations, to become grateful to You. And I want them to enjoy Your blessings, and then thank You for that." Not just "I want them to enjoy blessings" — I want them to enjoy Your blessings and then become grateful to You for that. That's how our du'a should be.

The Fulfillment of Ibrahim's Du'a — Makkah Today

So Allah accepted that du'a. And now let's look at this ayah — what I just recited to you was from Surah Ibrahim. Here in Surah Al-Qasas, Allah says that the fruits of all things are brought in abundant provision from us. And we see that happening today.

Two things are happening. Allah blessed us to go for our umrah journey, and I thought about it many times — subhanallah, how did Allah accept the du'a of Ibrahim alayhi salam? Now this is not a hajj season but there are many, many thousands, mashallah, who are going. Many brothers sitting in our tafsir here today also were on umrah. So whether you go in December, November, or January — I asked many of the people there, the barbers and others — how is the rush? They say, "Oh, it's the same. It's the same." Non-stop. And now they've made a condition that anyone in the mataf right around the Kaaba — only people with ihram are allowed to do tawaf there. So the vast vast majority of people you see in the mataf are people who are in umrah. Any given time when you look at the live video stream from the haram, you see the mataf packed with thousands of people. These are not just people doing nafil tawaf — these are people doing umrah, new people doing umrah. How many thousands of people are coming every single day — you just can't imagine. No city, no city, no city is like this. There is absolutely no city that's got continuous people moving the way Makkah does. Not New York, not Singapore, not Hong Kong. No one can say 24/7 there is movement — the only time the haraka stops is for salah. As soon as you say assalamualaikum warahmatullah, haraka starts again. It literally is a town that never stops, never sleeps. How Allah accepted his du'a — Ibrahim could have never imagined.

And number two — fruits. I remember one day we were sitting in Arafat — may Allah open up the doors for hajj for all of us. Arafat finished and we were about to board to Muzdalifah, and I grabbed an apple from a box there. Someone else was sitting there and said, "Wait — this is a nice apple." And it turned out to be a Seattle apple, a Washington state apple, sitting there in Arafat. Then someone brought later on another fruit — pomegranate or something else — with a sticker from Chile. This ayah came to mind — how Allah is bringing literally fruits from the west coast of America, to southern America, to all different parts of the world, continuously.

There are no mangoes growing in Saudi Arabia and Makkah right now, yet they were selling mango juice, fresh mango milkshake. You go to the shopping mall — stuff from China to Turkey to everywhere else, everything, every single thing is present. Every single thing. This is a fulfillment of this prophecy — Allah saying: every single fruit, real fruit or the fruits of labor, fruits of factories, are going to be brought as a sustenance from us. وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ — however, most of them do not know that this is from Allah. They just don't get it. And that's a problem with the Muslims today as well — in those lands and all over, and in us as well. We're enjoying Allah's blessings but we're unfortunately not able to make that connection — that this came from Allah, and Allah is giving me all of this even though I'm disobedient. What shall happen if I become obedient?

The Two Du'as of Ibrahim Alayhi Salam for Makkah

Allah mentions another du'a that Ibrahim alayhi salam had made: "O Allah, make this city peaceful, make this a safe city." There are two du'as — one in Surah Al-Baqarah and one in Surah Ibrahim. The first du'a is to make this empty, barren land into a safe place where you actually have food to eat. Because if you don't have food, you can't live there. So the first du'a is to make Makkah a place of vegetation, water, land that is tilled properly and has things to provide. That's the first du'a. And then the second du'a is about making this land, now that it has food and the things you need to live on earth — وَمَن دَخَلَهُ كَانَ آمِنًا — an extra layer of safety and security, such that a person, a human being, an animal, even the plants and grass, even the rocks and stones — everything feels safe. That was the second part of the du'a.

"Whoever enters it is safe." Allah has fulfilled that du'a of Ibrahim alayhi salam. Now a question arises here — in the history of Muslims ruling, of Muslims being in Makkah, there have been instances where there was bloodshed happening within Makkah, where rebels went against the leader and the leaders fought back. So Allah says whoever enters it will be safe and sound — وَمَن دَخَلَهُ كَانَ آمِنًا. The interesting answer is that instead of taking this as a khabar — a piece of news that Allah is informing us of — we should understand this as a command from Allah: whoever enters it should be regarded as safe and sound, and you should respect the sanctity of the haram.

Like Allah says in another place:

Evil women are for evil men, evil men are for evil women. Great, pious, clean men are for clean women, clean, pure, good women are for pure, clean men. Some may say — well, I know this one got married to that one, one's tayyib, one's khabith. What's going on? So it doesn't mean no marriage will take place like this — it can very well happen that a very good person ends up marrying a very bad person. This, instead of saying it as a khabar — a piece of news that Allah is sharing with us — is instead a command. That I want it to be like this, that good people should marry good people, bad people should marry bad people. Don't ruin someone else's life. If you don't want to change your life, if you don't want to be a good person, don't take a pious person and make them horrible. So it's not something that will happen all the time — it's Allah's command, it's up to you to uphold it or not.

Similarly, وَمَن دَخَلَهُ كَانَ آمِنًا is Allah's way of saying that you should try, you should do your best to preserve the sanctity of the house of Allah.

Ayah 58 — The Destruction of Ungrateful Nations

وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا — then how many a city — كَمْ, how many, meaning a lot — أَهْلَكْنَا, we have devastated — قَرْيَةٍ, city. How many cities have we destroyed — بَطِرَتْ مَعِيشَتَهَا? They insolently exulted in their bounteous livelihood. These villages got destroyed because they became ungrateful to Allah, and they were simply enjoying Allah's rizq but they didn't care about appreciation.

فَتِلْكَ مَسَاكِنُهُمْ لَمْ تُسْكَن مِّن بَعْدِهِمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا — so there are their dwellings, which were never inhabited after them except for a very few. وَكُنَّا نَحْنُ الْوَارِثِينَ — rather it is we alone who are the inheritors of all of it.

What does بَطَرٌ mean? بَطَرٌ means to use the blessings of Allah in order to disobey Him. To use Allah's provided sustenance — Allah provided the sustenance and the money, and we use that to disobey Allah.

"Oh Allah, I seek forgiveness from You for every single blessing that I have used to disobey You."

بَطِرَتْ مَعِيشَتَهَا means those people who used Allah's blessings in a manner that He doesn't approve of. Or to diminish the value of Allah's blessings — to regard it as insignificant. To degrade it, to debase it. Like someone who's given food and says, "This is not good enough, I don't want this," and he looks down upon the food. So these are people who similarly do this with Allah's blessings.

Allah says — مَعِيشَتَهَا — what does مَعِيشَةٌ mean? Livelihood. يَعْنِي أَسْبَابَ مَعِيشَتِهَا — the means of the livelihood. These people don't care about it.

Dear respected friends — one of the worst sins that we can commit is ungratefulness. Ingratitude to Allah. We have to ask Allah protection from that. So after every salah we're supposed to say:

"Oh Allah, assist me in three things: ذِكْرِكَ — to remember You; وَشُكْرِكَ — to be grateful to You; وَحُسْنِ عِبَادَتِكَ — and to worship You properly." After we just finish praying salah, we make this du'a. Oh Allah, I couldn't pray salah if it wasn't for Your help. Please help me to worship You and to remember You. Salah is just one form of dhikr — you should be remembering Allah from one salah to the other.

Allah says — فَتِلْكَ مَسَاكِنُهُمْ — now look, where are these people? They're all gone because they're dead. There are just a few that Allah let live — to share this tale, share this story. So few of them live — قَلِيلًا either means the number of people who are alive is few, or it means the number of days they were living for is few. Or it could be both — few people living for few days, with the vast majority of people dead.

When you have an entire society, community, village, town that is no longer inhabited because the people are dead — what are you gonna do with that town? It moves on. The ownership moves on to Allah. Because it always belonged to Allah, but Allah allowed certain people to act as though they have it. Now Allah says — it's gonna come right back to us, because there's no one claiming it. Where are you? You're all dead. No one is claiming it, so I claim it. وَكُنَّا نَحْنُ الْوَارِثِينَ.

Ayah 59 — Allah Does Not Destroy Without Sending a Messenger

"But never would your Lord destroy the cities of a disbelieving people — حَتَّىٰ يَبْعَثَ فِي أُمِّهَا رَسُولًا — until He had first sent forth a messenger in the midst of their mother town — يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِنَا — He recites to them our verses. وَمَا كُنَّا مُهْلِكِي الْقُرَىٰ إِلَّا وَأَهْلُهَا ظَالِمُونَ — and we would never destroy any communities unless their people were wrongdoers."

In this ayah, Allah is explaining to us that the manhaj and the methodology is that a nabi must come and a nabi must inform the people of what awaits them. He must instruct them to do good, forbid them from doing evil, and it's up to them whether they believe or not. This is the system that Allah has. The ulama have said:

"There is no punishment without a crime being committed. And there's no crime being committed unless it goes against the clear text. And there's gonna be no given text to you unless Allah informed you in advance of what it is." So: number one, there's no punishment without a sin being committed. And there's no sin being committed unless there is a textual evidence — not through someone's own ijtihad or someone's own gut feeling that this should be haram. And there is no textual evidence until there is an effort made to share the message — إِعْلَامٌ.

So Allah ensured that He sent prophets to share the message. قَرْيَةٌ is a village. نَجْعٌ is a town in which only one family lives. Then كَفْرٌ is a town in which multiple families live. Then comes قَرْيَةٌ, which is a normal town, a normal village. Then comes أُمُّ الْقُرَىٰ — the mother of all towns. Like a mother looks after her little kids, this large town is such that it looks after the smaller surrounding towns. So أُمُّ الْقُرَىٰ, the mother village, is referring obviously to the Kaaba.

وَمَا كُنَّا مُهْلِكِي الْقُرَىٰ إِلَّا وَأَهْلُهَا ظَالِمُونَ — nor would we ever destroy any communities unless their people were wrongdoers. Allah is saying: I am not oppressive. I will ensure that a prophet has come to inform the people about what needs to be done. So this i'lam has already taken place. The Prophet ﷺ came into this world as the final prophet, so now the message has spread.

Sometimes the question people ask me is: "Oh, but there's a lot of right-wingers and they are misinforming people about what Islam is. So does it really count? Do people really know about Islam because of so much misinformation?" And now think about Makkah. While Rasulullah ﷺ was there, how much misinformation was taking place? There were people waiting right at the outskirts, telling people: "Don't listen to this madman, don't listen to this magician, don't listen to this astrologer, don't listen to this poet." There was so much propaganda happening. We're not going to say that just because of the presence of propaganda, a person is excused. It's up to a person — like the story of Abu Dharr al-Ghifari radiallahu anhu — to make his own individual effort. To say, "Yeah, propaganda is happening — but you know what, I'm gonna go beyond that and search. I'm gonna at least do my own effort." And that's what you see today — with all that's happening, still, mashallah, alhamdulillah, new people are accepting Islam. Because those are the people who are making that extra effort to go find the truth.

Ayah 60 — The Dunya Is Mere Enjoyment

"Now all that you have been given of anything in life, O humankind — فَمَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتُهَا — is no more than the mere enjoyment of the life of this world and its adornment. وَمَا عِندَ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَىٰ — but what is awaiting with Allah is far better and everlasting. أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ — will you not then understand that life is fleeting?"

Allah is saying: whatever blessings you have been given to earn your livelihood — your job, your profession, your bank accounts, your home, your car — all of these things that you have been given, no matter how much or how little — فَمَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا — it's mere enjoyment of this life. وَزِينَتُهَا — it's adornment. Every single thing at the end will come to perish. It will all end.

As Allah says in Surah An-Nisa:

"Say, the enjoyment of this worldly life is little — وَالْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لِّمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ — and the hereafter is far better for those who have taqwa."

Allah is telling us here as well — do not become so involved in your materialistic lifestyles, do not become so involved in the blessings of this dunya that you are not able to focus on the hereafter. In this dunya, your rizq is written based on whatever Allah has decided. How often it's seen that someone who has no education ends up earning a lot more than someone who has education — it happens. But in akhira, Allah will make it such that a person will earn far more than he could ever imagine. His reward will be far greater and exceeding whatever he has done to deserve it in this dunya.

So this dunya life, no matter how much we have, is gonna end soon. The dunya may not end, but we shall end in a few years' time. And akhira — that's gonna be everlasting. People say, "Life is short, so enjoy it." But what they don't think is — not only is life short, but also akhira is everlasting. So if life is short and you should enjoy it, then what about the other side — which is never ending — shouldn't I prepare for it? Because that's a never-ending life.

وَمَا عِندَ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَىٰ — whatever Allah has kept prepared for you, waiting for you in paradise, خَيْرٌ is far better, and أَبْقَىٰ — it's far more long-lasting. أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ — do you not understand all of this? Meaning, if you use your aql, you will balance these two out. You'll say: it makes no sense — why should I care about what people say and not care about what Allah says? Because people will end, and I will die before people die, even maybe. But Allah is حَيٌّ قَيُّومٌ لَا يَمُوتُ — Allah is everlasting, shall never perish. Similarly, Allah's rewards are the same — never to perish.

Allah says in Surah At-Tawbah: "O Rasulullah ﷺ, tell them — هَلْ تَرَبَّصُونَ بِنَا — you are not waiting for us for anything except — إِحْدَى الْحُسْنَيَيْنِ — one of two things, one of two successful things." What are the one of the two successful things? One is victory on this earth. And what's the other one? Martyrdom.

You see this today — just because we're not watching the videos coming out of Gaza doesn't mean that the genocide has stopped. Just because we're not talking about it doesn't mean it has stopped. Just now before Isha, I saw a picture — a video of a father — Allahu Akbar — and I have children like many of you — and I see this young boy, completely damaged face, he's got all bandages, you can hear the crying of kids in the back of the hospital. His face is all bloody. And the father is also injured — he's sitting, but the father naturally is not worried about his own pain, he's worried about his son. So he's leaning over from his bedside to the other bed where his son is, subhanallah. Allahu Akbar. And the son is telling the father: "Father, I'm okay, don't worry, don't worry about me, we'll be okay — just make sabr." The young son is consoling the father, who knows that his father, more than his own pain, is looking at his face. Because the son cannot see his own face, but the father can see the face, and it's horrible.

What is that? This is the إِحْدَى الْحُسْنَيَيْنِ. Find us one kafir who's speaking like this. One kafir who can speak like this. It's only these people of iman who have the ability that even a young boy can console his dad. It's unbelievable, subhanallah. What is iman? May Allah ease the suffering of our brothers and sisters. May Allah give victory to all the oppressed ones. And may Allah accept their duas on their behalf and on our behalf. May Allah awaken the ummah. Allahu Akbar.

A Note on the Era of the Mahdi

One point I was mentioning today in class — one of our asatidah was saying, many people ask about Mahdi. And he said — and I've quoted Mufti Ghazali on this issue, but hearing it this time around from another teacher was different as well — he said that right now, today, so many people across the globe are voicing their support for Palestine and their anger towards the genocide. He said: Mahdi is not coming now. He said Mahdi will come when widespread killing of Muslims will become the norm all across the globe — but it will be so bad that people will simply not be able to even voice their anger, or frustration over the plight of the Muslims, for fear of losing their own life. He said, that's the era of the Mahdi. The era of the Mahdi is when there's so much widespread oppression against Muslims, and on top of that, Muslims will not be able to speak up. He said: did everyone — alhamdulillah — many are still speaking up. So I just kind of put things into perspective, a repetition of what I've heard from other teachers, that we still have a long way to go. This is the beginning of however long of challenges — Allahumma a'alam. But while we have an opportunity to voice our opposition to zulm, we should. Because the time may come when we're not able to do that even.

So Allah is telling Rasulullah ﷺ, tell them that you have to wait for one of two things — either it's victory or martyrdom.

"And we're also waiting for you all — أَن يُصِيبَكُمُ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابٍ مِّنْ عِندِهِ أَوْ بِأَيْدِينَا — either Allah is gonna send you a punishment from His own end, a natural disaster to destroy you, or He's gonna use our hands to destroy you." We're only waiting for bad to happen to you, while you're only waiting for good to happen to us. This is the benefit of iman, and nothing else.

"Rather you give preference to the worldly life over the hereafter, even though akhirah is خَيْرٌ — far better — and أَبْقَىٰ — far more long-lasting." أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ — do you not understand? Meaning, people have to use their intelligence and then they will arrive at the conclusion that akhirah is much longer lasting than dunya. It makes no sense for me to deprioritize my akhirah over dunya.

Ayah 61 — The Promise of Jannah vs. Passing Enjoyment

"So is he the one whom we have promised the fair promise — the good promise of Jannah — فَهُوَ لَاقِيهِ — and who will attain it in everlasting fulfillment — كَمَن مَّتَّعْنَاهُ مَتَاعَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا — can He be like the one whom we have bestowed the passing enjoyment of the life of this world — ثُمَّ هُوَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مِنَ الْمُحْضَرِينَ — and then on the Day of Judgment, he will be brought forth in front of us for eternal torment?"

Allah is promising — and who speaks more truth than Allah? — وَمَنْ أَصْدَقُ مِنَ اللَّهِ حَدِيثًا — the one whom we have promised the fair promise of Jannah — if he becomes a believer and stays as a believer and dies with iman and amal al-salih — how can he be like the one whom we have bestowed passing enjoyment, and then on the Day of Judgment will be brought forth for eternal torment?

This Allah is telling me, telling you — stop comparing your financial stability and your dunya with the dunya of disbelievers. Stop saying, "The Jones next door are so rich, how come we're not?" Stop thinking, "How come non-Muslim countries have this type of prominence, how come not in the Muslim countries?" Allah is saying here: if I am giving you Jannah because of your iman and amal al-salih, then don't ever sit there with eyes of envy looking at any disbeliever for what they're getting in this dunya. Absolutely not. Because this is just a mere amusement. يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مِنَ الْمُحْضَرِينَ — on the Day of Judgment, they will be brought forth for eternal torment. Do not envy them. Do not envy them for what they have now. Because all of this is gonna come to a crashing end — an everlasting punishment in front of Allah.

مُحْضَرٌ — the one who's been brought forth — it's used exclusively for punishment. Like Allah says in Surah As-Saffat:

A friend will look at his friend who's burning in hell — and he, alhamdulillah, made it to Jannah — and he will be saying: "If it wasn't for the blessing of my Lord upon me, I would also have been with him in hellfire." The word which has been used is مُحْضَرٌ — someone who's been brought forth for punishment.

Ayah 62 — The Day Allah Will Demand an Answer

وَيَوْمَ — and the day — this is ظَرْفٌ, this is مَفْعُولٌ فِيهِ — اذْكُرْ يَوْمَ يُنَادِيهِمْ — O Rasulullah ﷺ, remember the day that Allah will call them for judgment. فَيَقُولُ أَيْنَ شُرَكَائِيَ الَّذِينَ كُنتُمْ تَزْعُمُونَ — and He will say: "Where are my associate gods that in the world you used to allege that I have? Where are my false gods of yours that you had attributed to me?"

In this ayah, Allah is telling Rasulullah ﷺ to jolt up the disbelievers and remind them — a day will come when you will lose all of this apparent power and authority in akhirah. And what will you do on that day? Allah will demand to see where are His partners — and you'll have no answers. If they had answers, Allah would have mentioned it. There is no answer, because there is no partner. It was all a complete concoction by the disbelievers.

The fact that kufr throughout the ages has stood up to Islam and tried to suppress it — and they are suppressing it with this genocide — tells you that kufr is actually scared of Islam. If they weren't a force that could challenge it, they wouldn't pay attention to it. The fact that they pay so much attention to it means that they are actually genuinely afraid — and they should be. Because Islam is something that honestly puts everyone on the floor — me, you, and anyone else. It comes as the system of justice: all of you who've got your ways of deception — you gotta stop it. When the proper deen-based rule comes in, all the deception stops, all the cheating stops. That's what Islam does — it comes and levels everyone.

So Allah is saying that on the Day of Judgment, Allah will be asking these people: where are My associate gods? And of course they will not have an answer to give, because there isn't any.

InshaAllah we'll end at this section here, and we'll continue from ayah number 63 insha'Allah ta'ala.

Q&A Session

When is the right time to tell someone something is haram, knowing they'll get upset?

The right time is before they get involved in it. Or as soon as you know that they've gotten involved in it. Once they get deep into it, it becomes very hard — and we have to come to it slowly. You can't jump right to it: "Hey, this is haram." You have to talk about what Islam is, you have to talk about sacrifice, you have to talk about the benefits of practicing Islam, and then the benefits of leaving haram, and then the harms of indulging in haram. Once you explain all those benefits, then you can become more specific about what the issue is at hand.

Is it okay to get a fade haircut?

A fade haircut — it depends on how uneven it is. The more uneven it is, the more incorrect it is. However, even if it's not so uneven, this is not the haircut of the people associated with taqwa and piety. We want to associate with and look like people who are awliya and the friends of Allah. You cannot find mashayikh, buzurgan-e-din, ulama, righteous, pious people that you and I look up to, our elders look up to, having fades of that sort. It's not a sima — not a symbol of ulama. So a person should try to avoid that. It's not about haram or not haram — it's about: if the ulama are not doing it, why should I do it? If the pious of the community are not doing it, why should I?

How do we know when working becomes the primary maqsad of our life?

If you end up leaving out fara'id in the process of work — you leave out all deen and just focus on your work, you can never come to the masjid to pray, you have no chance to sit in a halaqa of ilm, you cannot do any dhikr — then that's a problem. As long as you are able to follow the deen while working, then that's fine.

Should I quit my job to pray all five salawat in the masjid?

No, you should not quit your job. You should try to pray salah at work. And when you come back from work, you can pray your fajr and isha. Take it step by step like that.

Should I marry a girl who has good character but has trouble praying all the prayers? Can I marry a non-hijabi?

I think some months ago we got that question too — probably people are asking because of the ayah about الطَّيِّبَاتُ لِلطَّيِّبِينَ. One great scholar — an imam of one of the masajid in America — told me that after he graduated from the alim course, his ustad, a very great scholar of the world whom I had the honor of visiting, said to them: the main thing when marrying is to look for character. If the character is there, you can get someone to start praying. But to change character is almost next to impossible.

That's interesting. I would say: the easy way is to find someone who has great character and also prays. I can't think that in the whole dunya you cannot find one person like that — every single person who has good character doesn't pray? I don't think so. You can find people who pray and also have good character. Yes, do not just judge someone by their salah — do a proper background check on character. One person came to me with an app he made for rishtas. He said, "People nowadays are getting married, the guy says I have this job, I earn this much money, and afterwards you find out it was all false — so we do a background check." I said, "What about akhlaq?" He said, "Oh, we don't do that." And I told him — as an imam, the thing I see every single day is people saying, "Man, we thought they had good character, but did he turn out to have horrible character. Did she turn out to have bad character." That's like normal. So this background checking — you need to check on akhlaq.

Some guys have told me that when they go to get married, the girl's family literally asks: "Please send us your W-2." And no one says: "Can you send us your attendance record from the masjid? How many times have you been in the masjid for fajr in the past month?" I want the girl's dad to ask this question. I want the girl to ask this question: "How often do you go to the masjid?" We won't see that. Similarly, we want boys to be asking — instead of the bare minimum — to what degree is her level of haya? To what degree is her level of connection to the deen?

So inshallah, if we keep that in mind — remember, if we marry on just the very bare minimum, what will happen to our children? If we just marry the bare minimum, it's getting tougher to follow the deen outside. You should try your best to become the best and marry the best, so that your kids have a chance to survive. But if you don't work on yourself and you marry someone who is not working on themselves, then your children don't have a very bright future. So for the sake of your future generation, try your best to work on yourself and work on your spouse as well.

The Ayah of الطَّيِّبَاتُ لِلطَّيِّبِينَ — How Does This Apply in Reality?

The question was: I know certain people who marry — good people marrying not-so-good people. So how does this work? Allah says good men are for good women and bad women are for bad men. Is Allah saying something and it's not happening? No — that's why we said, Allah is not sharing in this verse how things will happen in the world. Allah is saying how things should happen. That people should marry the type of person they are. So if you are a person who cares about the deen, then marry someone who cares about the deen.

You hear me talk about the amount of people leaving Islam every day. Sometimes people listen to me for the first time and say, "Where are you living? We never heard of this." Just because you didn't hear of it doesn't mean it's not happening. I'll give you a case of someone who told me — he was talking about what a lavish wedding he had. Thousands of people, in multiple events. And then he mentioned a close relative of his who got married in an extremely lavish wedding. And he told me bluntly: "That relative of mine is an atheist." But they had a qazi and a maulana sahib come and perform the nikah. He said, "Don't tell anyone." Then I said, "What about the poor girl he married — does she know?" He said, "Don't worry about it — they are the same, she is an atheist too." And they were both of Indian-Pakistani background, with I'm sure biryani, chaat, and gulab jamun for dessert, and a maulana sahib came and performed the nikah. They probably even had an opening qira'at. But no one knows that this is all fake — there is an atheist marrying an atheist, with thousands of people attending all their events. The moms and dads don't even know that my son is an atheist, my daughter is an atheist. No one knows. This is happening right under our nose, in this city, all around us. SubhanAllah.

So this — الْخَبِيثَاتُ لِلْخَبِيثِينَ — evil people marrying people who don't care about the deen marrying people who don't care about the deen. What you don't want to have is someone who doesn't care about the deen marrying someone who cares about it and then ruins it — and I see that unfortunately sometimes. So that's what this ayah is speaking about.

May Allah grant us all understanding. May He protect us from having a bad ending. May He make it easy for all those who are not married to find the very best of spouses. Those who are married — may Allah allow them to build their relationship with Allah in their marriage. May Allah allow husbands and wives both to grow in their deen, and allow their children to go even further. Ameen.