Surah Ta-Ha - Ep.9 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Surah Ta-Ha — Episode 9

Respected elders and brothers, dear mothers and sisters, dear listeners, students. Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. We thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for giving us the opportunity to sit in His house and to sit in a dars of dhikr and ilm.

And I ask Allah azza wa jal to make this gathering a source of great benefit to all of us here and all those who are listening afterwards. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in every lesson of ours that we sit, in any gathering of knowledge, may Allah azza wa jal make what we hear not a proof against us but rather a proof for us on the Day of Judgment. And may He allow the speakers and the listeners to be inspired to practice on what they hear and to be able to propagate it to others.

And along with that, allow us to hear all those things that we are required in our life right now. Whatever type of difficulties, struggles, trials anyone of us are going through, may Allah azza wa jal make this dars a means of removal of that, a means of answering questions, a means of removing any and all confusions from our minds. Ameen Ya Rabbal Alameen.

Recap: The Story of Musa and Fir'aun

Alhamdulillah, last week we covered from مِنْهَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ وَفِيهَا نُعِيدُكُمْ — we covered the whole section of the burial: what happens, where the body starts from, where it goes into, and when it comes back. That whole gist of life. And moving on with Musa alayhis salam and Fir'aun's story, where he was not happy with what Musa alayhis salam was presenting. He was thinking that the invitation of Musa alayhis salam was going to be an effort to take away power. He thought this was about power — a power struggle.

And we talked a lot about how we can learn lessons for today, and how batil works today. It's like out of the same playbook. Whatever Fir'aun used, whatever he said, whatever propaganda tactics he used at that time, are the same things we hear today.

And one of the things we highlighted was:

That he presented Musa alayhis salam and Harun alayhis salam as people who are trying to take away the amazing lifestyle that they had. And so the common phrase — "they hate your freedoms" — comes from the same thing. If you want to not engage with someone and listen to the truth they have, but rather block them off because of the fear that you're going to lose prominence and lose love in your community, then you paint a picture as though they are evil people, that they hate you and they want to ruin your life.

So everyone who listens to something like that gets intimidated. They're like, oh really? They're after us? Okay, then I guess I shouldn't like them. I'm not going to even listen to what they've got to say.

This is what Fir'aun tried against Musa alayhis salam and Harun alayhis salam.

The Confrontation: Musa and the Magicians

So Allah azza wa jal then mentions this story of how they came face to face. A time was appointed, they came face to face, and Fir'aun's magicians told Musa alayhis salam, "Go ahead, if you want to go first, go first — or you choose." And Musa alayhis salam said, "You go first."

And when they did, everything started moving around. Those ropes and those sticks began moving.

Through their sihr, through their magic, they made it seem to people that it was moving. There are different explanations of what happened. One is that the sihr was done on the eye, so it makes it seem like that. Or they were actually just being quick and sharp with their hands — they took these sticks, made them hollow, filled them with mercury, and colored the sticks with the colors of a snake. When that mercury got heated up, it started flowing out and it seemed as though it was a snake slithering on the ground. So they used some fishy tactics, magic tricks, in order to play around with the crowd.

The Fear of Musa Alayhis Salam

And Musa alayhis salam:

He sensed some fear. One fear is the fear of a snake, but more importantly — what some scholars have written here — is the fear that people will fall into the fitnah and start believing in the magic of the magicians of Fir'aun, and will not even give a chance to listen to what Musa alayhis salam has to say in response.

So the word أَوْجَسَ comes. The word أَوْجَسَ is one degree less than هَاجِسَ. وَاجِسَ is when you fear something but the effects of it are not seen on your body. And هَاجِسَ is when you fear something and your pulse goes up, your face may turn white or pale, and you start externally showing signs of fear. So أَوْجَسَ or وَاجِسَ is one degree less — a very small amount of fear. فَأَوْجَسَ فِي نَفْسِهِ خِيفَةً — in himself he started fearing a little bit.

What was again the fear? The fear that: what if these people get so impressed by this and they don't give a chance to listen to what I've got to say?

We told Musa alayhis salam — لَا تَخَفْ, don't be afraid. Indeed, you will be the uppermost. So eventually, batil, it takes the first step and it leads — it apparently becomes very big — and haqq always quietly comes in. Not with a lot of fanfare, not with a lot of noise. And batil has a lot of noise, a lot of fanfare.

Batil and Haqq: Fire and Mud

This is mentioned in other places in the Qur'an as well. Look at Shaytan. What is he created from? Fire. And fire is always — no matter how much you push it down, it goes up. It comes with rage in the human being.

The human being was created:

Coming from mud, soil. Which one looks more exciting? Does mud look more exciting or fire look more exciting? Which seems more powerful — mud or fire? But there is no profit from the jinns. There is no profit from anyone besides human beings. Human beings have been made khalifah on earth. And that's what stings Shaytan. Deep down he knows it — that although he seems powerful and looks powerful, the human being is way superior to him. And that's what really upsets him. It stings him.

Instead of simply saying, okay, I'll follow the way of the Prophets and accept Islam, the ego comes in. This happened — or even happens to our children or us. We know we are doing something wrong. But the fact that we are proven wrong by someone who is not superior to us at work, or someone who reports to us — that is a difficult pill to swallow. Your subordinate corrects you. Your child corrects you. The younger sibling correcting the older sibling. You know you're wrong. How many of us can say, "You have a very valid point. I'm sorry. You're right, I'm wrong." That takes a level of humility to say that. And many people will outright don't have the humility. Very narcissistic. And so they will just completely deny anything anyone says to them, and they'll continue in the direction which they know very well is 100% wrong — which they will be sad about later.

What is suicide? What is anger? What is shooting up people? Mass murders and double homicides. All this stuff that you see. Many times people know exactly what they are doing is wrong. But it's in that rage or it's in that battle of ego that they just cave in. And they do something which they know later on, definitely, they are going to feel bad about.

So ego, my beloved brothers, is a horrible thing. May Allah protect you and I from the evil of our nafs and the evil of our egos. Because this is so bad when you know something is wrong. The Qur'an says:

They were in denial of the truth. وَاسْتَيْقَنَتْهَا — what word does this come from? From يَقِين. وَاسْتَيْقَنَتْهَا أَنفُسُهُمْ — their nafs had yaqeen that this is the truth. وَجَحَدُوا بِهَا — they were absolutely rejecting it. Why? ظُلْمًا وَعُلُوًّا — out of oppressing themselves and out of animosity for the truth.

Similarly, the Qur'an speaks about the People of the Book, especially the Jews. Allah says:

They know the Prophet ﷺ as well as someone knows his own son. And a person has a relationship with his son that lasts longer — the daughter may get married and leave, but the son is there with him. He knows the son really well. That is why the Qur'an uses the word "son" possibly, instead of the word "daughter" here — because that is a relationship, especially in those days, between sons and fathers, compared to daughters, given all the jahiliyyah that was going on and the murder of daughters and so forth. So the relationship between father and son is special. And the Qur'an says they know Rasulullah ﷺ as well as you know your own sons — like the back of your hand. But they refused to accept him. And that is again jealousy, that is an ego. Why is the Nabi ﷺ not coming from the children of Ishaq alayhis salam? Why is he coming from the children of Ismail alayhis salam? Why is he not from the Jewish tribes? SubhanAllah.

So ego and nafs is horrible. It makes you blind to the truth.

The Truth Will Always Prevail

So Allah azza wa jal says, we told Musa alayhis salam: don't be afraid. Indeed you will succeed. The truth comes in stealthily, quietly — it doesn't make a big sound, but it goes far ahead.

This is mentioned in Surah Ra'd. Allah mentions regarding the flood — when rain comes in and floods the rivers, Allah speaks about what floats on top. After rain comes, you've got garbage, Coke cans, plastic bags — these are the things that float on the top. And where do the gems lie? Where are the pearls? You've never seen a pearl floating on top — they go all the way to the bottom. The pearls are at the bottom while the garbage flows on top. Or you may call it foam, as the Qur'an mentions the foam:

The foam — it seems so enormous, like you have soapy foam on top, it seems like so much white stuff. You put one hand over it, it's gone, nothing. That's how batil is. It's got big fanfare, a big name, but it is not long-lasting. It has no basis — it's floating. Shaytan is the only reason it's staying afloat. Otherwise, it's got no foundations. SubhanAllah. There's no ethics, no morals, no value, no true muhabbat, no ikhlas. That's the key thing — ikhlas is everything, which others don't have.

الإخلاص يصنع العجائب — Sincerity Works Wonders

There is a very famous statement — it is written in his books, and when we visited him three years ago, he said the same thing in Turkey. He is a great scholar from Syria. He said:

Sincerity does amazing, wondrous things. Meaning when a person is sincere — he's only one person — but if you're sincere, you can achieve something that a thousand cannot achieve. You can achieve so many things without means, without even having the ability to speak properly. You could be mute, deaf, or have some physical disability. But because of ikhlas and sincerity, you'll be able to do the work which ten thousand strong won't be able to do. That's what it means: الإخلاصُ يصنعُ العجائبَ.

If only we can get this great blessing of ikhlas within ourselves, my beloved brothers and sisters, what we'll be able to achieve is something great. This is what people who don't have iman lack — there's no ikhlas there. Because ikhlas is for Allah. When you don't even understand who Allah is, you don't have tawhid — tawhid of the dhat, tawhid of the sifat, believing in one Allah and all His traits — then where is ikhlas going to come in? Ikhlas is something so rare — the most rare gem of all.

So civilizations that are based without ikhlas, cultures that don't have ikhlas in them, systems that don't have ikhlas — they may seem very powerful, full of pomp and show, but in reality they're hollow. As Allah azza wa jal says about the munafiqeen:

You regard them as one strong alliance, but their hearts are absolutely separated from one another. Why is that? That can happen within Muslims as well. When there's no ikhlas, that happens. When you don't have ikhlas, then you can have big numbers, but they mean nothing. Everyone is working toward their own ulterior motives.

All strategic alliances of the dunya — what are they based on? Personal interest. If a country starts losing out on an alliance, if there's a trade gap where they start losing money, more imports than exports — done. We have to rewrite it or end that alliance. What does that tell you? There's no ikhlas in any of this. It's all about me, myself and I, my country, my power — not even my country, but my votes. It's just about my own power, my own dhati power. SubhanAllah.

So that is a khulasa of alliances in the world — they're all waiting to be broken. The only things that cannot be broken are those friendships and relationships that are based on ikhlas. That's why the Nabi ﷺ said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22428)

The most beloved action in the sight of Allah is love for one another for the sake of Allah. When we have ikhlas in our relationships, that's one of the most amazing, strongest things we can imagine. And you can conquer whatever you want. So may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to taste the sweetness of ikhlas, and allow us to retain ikhlas till our last breath. Ameen, Rabbil Alameen.

Allah Is Both Referee and Coach

So when Musa alayhis salam — Allah told him, don't be worried, you will be the uppermost. I want us to understand what was happening here. Allah was telling Musa alayhis salam: you are with the truth. No one will be able to harm you as long as you are with the truth.

Allah says in Surah Yusuf — our ustad would say, this is the khulasa of the whole Surah Yusuf:

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is all-powerful in fulfilling His decisions, in His affairs. However, most people are unaware. Most people are unaware that Allah always gets what He wants. There's no such thing as sometimes this way and sometimes not. Whenever Allah wants to do something — as they say, Allah's irada is wujud. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala simply intends it, it happens. That's in everything.

As soon as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — that's why there's one du'a:

"O the One whose command is between Kaaf and Noon." What is Kaaf and Noon? كُن. So His command is between Kaaf and Noon — meaning He doesn't even need to fully utter كُن for something to happen. His simple irada and will for something means it happens. It comes into existence.

So when a person is connected with Allah azza wa jal, you realize that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always gets His way.

But most people unfortunately — majority of the dunya doesn't know this, and majority of the dunya will never know this. They think we run the world. We control. We call the shots. And this keeps on — we, we, I, I, I — until you die. And you'll realize SubhanAllah it's too late now.

Allah azza wa jal says in another place:

Allah will never allow the disbelievers to have an upper hand over the believers. And Allah azza wa jal says:

The good result, the good ending is for the muttaqeen. As the Shaykh mentions:

The train keeps on moving — where is it going to stop? The halat keep on changing. Every day you're going through a roller coaster in your life. Non-stop things are happening. Changes are happening. But at the end, where does this train stop? The train stops with the muttaqeen. The final stop — you keep flipping a coin, which direction is it going to go? You do it a hundred, a thousand, a million times. Eventually that side of the coin that has the muttaqeen will be on top.

Today you may not see the muttaqeen winning. Tomorrow you may not see it. The day after also you might not see it. But the end — aqibah means the end result, the last day. Who's going to have the last laugh? The muttaqeen will have the last laugh. The mumineen will have the last laugh. The people of haqq will have the last laugh.

And that's the Qur'an literally — this is actually mentioned in Surah Mutaffifin:

Today, the day has come — today the believers will be sitting on thrones, looking at the disbelievers, laughing at them. They'll be sitting on their thrones laughing and looking at the disbelievers as they are being dragged into hellfire. "Have the disbelievers been given anything besides what they deserved?" You sowed the seeds of this. You made fun of the people of haqq. You attacked the people of haqq. And you thought you were going to have the last laugh. Well, today you get what you deserve. SubhanAllah.

Genuinely, straight from Surah Mutaffifin, the Qur'an is saying the last laugh will be for the believers. We as Muslims — the people to whom Allah has given from the truth — need to be reminded of this message every day. Stop getting affected by what you see outside. Stop getting impressed by what you read in the newspaper and what you read online. Stand with the truth all the time. And no matter how many people say what they say, the truth will always succeed.

So Allah azza wa jal says:

Whatever you've been given in this world is just enjoyment of this worldly life and its adornment. And whatever Allah has with Him is far superior — خَيْرٌ — and far longer lasting — وَأَبْقَىٰ. Because every paycheck will come to an end. Every luxurious food, no matter what it costs, will come to an end. Every most luxurious hotel room — the night will end. Whatever you look at in this dunya, every blessing must end. However, what blessings Allah has will never end. أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ — do you not understand? Do you not comprehend?

Throw What Is in Your Right Hand

So this is what the message of قُلْنَا لَا تَخَفْ means — don't be afraid, you're going to always win.

"Throw to the ground what is in your right hand — it shall swallow up whatever they have wrought. For what they have wrought is but the scheme of a sorcerer, and never shall the sorcerer succeed wherever he may go."

This is a very amazing, powerful ayah. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says: O Musa, now it's your turn. Allah azza wa jal is not just the referee — Allah is also the coach. Allahu Akbar. How can you win a game in which Allah is the referee and the coach? They were outnumbered, but they have Allah on their side. Allah is the one giving the next move: "Come on, do this, do this. O Musa, أَلْقِ مَا فِي يَمِينِكَ — throw what's in your right hand."

Now Allah azza wa jal could have simply said, throw your staff. Why didn't He say that? Allah did not say وَأَلْقِ عَصَاكَ — throw your staff. He said, throw whatever is in your hand. Because what is in your right hand is not a staff — what is in your right hand is what Allah wants it to be.

This is a very powerful lesson: that every single thing you and I own is what Allah wants it to be, not what you think it to be. You say, SubhanAllah, alhamdulillah, I'm so happy — I just got a new home, a new car, a new business. You think all of these are automatically means of bringing happiness to your life. How many times has it been that as soon as a person moved into a house, musibah upon musibah came his way? Since he moved into the home, fights have broken out. Since he moved into the home, people start falling and hurting themselves, injuring themselves. All kinds of masaib, difficulties are happening. People getting bad dreams. It happens.

A person gets a brand new car and says, SubhanAllah, now after that I almost had three near-miss accidents or maybe an accident itself. And so many bad things are happening. These are not just a figment of your imagination. Things like this do happen. You don't know what is khair — that's what I'm trying to tell you.

On the other hand, a person's marriage breaks — it's very sad. A person loses his business, loses his job. Now you think this is the worst possible thing that could have happened. But in reality, this person was very far away from the deen. And this situation of losing his business, losing his spouse, or some other thing, brings such a change in him that he gets the wilayah and friendship of Allah that he never had before. SubhanAllah, I myself have witnessed this so many times in my travels and here and other places as well. People come up to me and share their story within 30 seconds: "I was totally messed up. You would never even see me a mile away from a masjid. But here I don't miss a single salah, and I'm reciting for every program." What happened? "I lost my job, I lost my spouse." And that was the biggest blessing of Allah.

So issues and difficulties in life do not necessarily mean punishment, and achievements and acquiring new material things do not necessarily mean blessings. It is what Allah wants it to be.

Someone who doesn't have children may think SubhanAllah, it's the biggest museeba. But actually, it might be the biggest blessing. Because you have no idea if the child that was born may have been born to become a very difficult child, very difficult to handle — maybe born with very difficult circumstances, or aasi, meaning disobedient. SubhanAllah. If you look at the people who are being tested with extremely disobedient children who are leaving the fold of Islam and doing so out of spite for the parents — who would want to have a child? Seriously. There is one of the du'as:

"Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You from a child that becomes a test for me. And I seek refuge in You from a spouse that makes me old before old age." SubhanAllah. All right — if you get the wrong spouse, you get stressed out and you lose years very quickly and you grow white hair very quickly.

SubhanAllah, it's amazing — people who want to get married or want to have children should ask for the right spouse, not just anyone. And don't ask just for children — ask for righteous, healthy, pious children that will be a source of coolness of your eyes, not the opposite. Then it's a blessing.

So what is this ayah telling us? That your means of security are not what they mean unless Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants them to be a means of protection. Your gun that you have to protect yourself may actually become the means of harming yourself or your child — and we see this in the news. The seat belt is supposed to be safe. But there are instances where if the seat belt was there, the person would have burned to death. He didn't have it — luckily he rolled out to safety and the car burst into flames. It happens. So safety — this is going to help you as long as Allah makes it a source of benefit.

You have window bars to protect from people intruding. But the window bar itself that is supposed to protect you — Allah forbid — may become a means of the whole family dying if the house catches on fire and they can't leave through the windows. Think about that. So whatever seems to be the means of safety, it itself is not a means of safety unless Allah wills it to be. And whatever seems to be a means of destruction and harm is not what it is unless Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants it to be.

This is the khulasa. This very important aqeedah: everything I have, any effect it gives me, it's giving that effect because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants it to give that. So medication by itself can give me no benefit. Medication may actually harm me. Medication may actually end up taking my life apparently earlier. Medication may itself do all kinds of things unless Allah wants it to be the means of shifa. That's why we cannot blindly just take medication. At least say Bismillah. At least read:

"In the name of Allah, nothing can harm me in the world as long as I take His name." Recite this du'a, beloved brothers and sisters, every single time you take medication. You're taking mind-altering medication, body-altering medicine. These medicines are all kinds of chemicals that we're throwing into our body — not natural. You're not playing with your car here, you're not playing with your computer at home. You're playing with your whole human body — an amanah from Allah. So at the very least recite this du'a.

Take, recite a du'a — whether it's gulab jamun or medication. Recite the du'a, whether it's sweets from your store, recite the du'a every time we eat. And especially don't just recite Bismillah — recite بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الَّذِي لَا يَضُرُّ مَعَ اسْمِهِ شَيْءٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي السَّمَاءِ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ. Three times — Rasulullah ﷺ told us that anyone who recites it in the morning and evening, Allah will protect him from any evil.

So similarly, whenever we eat, recite this. That's the first point: the stick is a snake, and the snake is a stick. And anything else you want it to be — it's what Allah wants it to be. That's all.

The Mu'jizah versus Sihr

Number two — when Musa alayhis salam threw it, what happened? تَلْقَفْ — it swallowed up. That's not what usually happens, but this happened. This snake became a real snake. Because what they did was fake — those were not real snakes. And so this is where you understand the difference between a mu'jizah and sihr.

The mu'jizah is real and sihr is not real. Sihr is playing with your eyes, your mentality, your vision, your senses. And mu'jizah is not messing around with anything — it's what we call qalb ul-haqiqah: to change the reality. Mu'jizah actually changes the reality of things.

The Hour has come near and the moon has split. That was not a magic show. That was not playing with the eyes of the people. The moon actually split. Every miracle of Rasulullah ﷺ, every miracle of the previous prophets, was not playing with the minds of the people. It was not hypnosis. It was in reality something real happening.

All they have done, these magicians, is just scheming. They're scheming. And that's what sorcerers do — they plot and they scheme. And then eventually, wherever a sorcerer goes, he will never succeed.

This is one of the ayat that are very powerful to break sihr. I'm sure you've heard of this. This ayah is very powerful to recite when trying to break and combat sihr. And Allah azza wa jal just wrapped them up and threw them in the garbage, essentially. He said: you and all your magical powers are nothing. You're just attempting to plot and plan. But remember — you will never succeed.

Can magicians cause harm in this world? Yes, they can. But who's going to have the last laugh? Not the magician. The last laugh is going to be the people of the truth. It's like a murderer or any other abuser who's trying to harm people, an oppressor. Can he cause harm? Yes. But will he be successful in the long run? No. Eventually it will catch up to him.

Sihr: How It Works and Its Ruling

Sihr is one of those major sins which — if a person goes to a sahir and employs a sahir and utilizes all that — is an act of kufr. His salah is not accepted for days. And if he believes in that stuff or engages in it, then as I said, it's not just a major sin, it's kufr. Because in order to commit sihr, basically, in a nutshell, you have to pledge allegiance to Iblis. That's what it is.

Allah azza wa jal has given Iblis in this world a lot of powers. From among those strange powers is that he is continuously crawling and moving around our body — he flows through us like blood flows through. We can't do that to anyone else. Shaytan can do it to us. We can't flow into Shaytan's blood, but Shaytan can do it to us. We all have a qareen — this shaytan that's stuck with us. We can't separate from it. It's always with us, even in the masjid, wherever we are. That internal shaytan — one is the external ones, one is the thing stuck with us all the time, injecting us with wasawis and things.

So Allah azza wa jal has given Shaytan a lot of dheel — given options to commit evil. Just as Allah azza wa jal has given the people of batil, from the past and today, more arms, more power, more wealth than the people of haqq. Throughout the ages, the people of batil have usually had more resources than the people of haqq. That's how the world runs. Because Allah azza wa jal wants it to be an imtihan and challenge for the people of the truth, as well as an imtihan for the people of falsehood — are you going to fall into sin with all the power I've given you? Are you going to allow this to make you arrogant? Or are you going to be humbled?

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has apparently given the people of batil more power. And who's the leader of the people of batil? Shaytan. So he's been given all kinds of things. The Qur'an says in Surah Al-A'raf:

Indeed, he and his tribe see you while you cannot see them. What else do you want? They're in your home. They're around you right now. We can't see them. So they have all these apparent upper hands that have been given to them.

And they have much more foresight than humans. They look at a child and can sense — you know, if you have an expert athlete who's a coach for 30 years, he sees a kid walking onto his basketball or soccer field and immediately knows which one has high potential. There's that within humans too. So Iblis has been at this for hundreds of millions of years. He can see very early on who has a lot of potential to cause damage to his armies. And that's why he makes them his focus — people who are very intelligent, who have within them concern for the deen. He also sees who are easy targets, who have a huge nafs and fall for it all the time. He senses things and says, okay, we gotta focus on these people. That's his business.

So Allah azza wa jal has given him this power. And then Allah made it clear — there are two armies here. Two teams. Team A is called the team of Rahman. Team B is called the team of Shaytan. This is the battle between truth and falsehood:

Obviously, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the referee — He's not putting His full force in to say, done, because if He enters the playing field there's no competition. So He created A and B, and He will ensure A will succeed. But He allows B to put full effort until A thinks, "Oh my God, we're going to lose." So Allah azza wa jal has told the humans — straight from the Qur'an in Surah Mujadila — Hizbullah and Hizb al-Shaytan. You've got two armies, you choose whatever you want.

There are certain people who go to people of batil and kufr and to shayateen. Magicians are like the shayateen on earth. So an individual goes to a magician and says, I want to employ you, or I want to become a magician. And part of those rituals — just like if someone comes to study the deen or comes to be a sheikh, what do you say? Go do wudu first. Go do ghusl first. Change your clothes. When someone accepts Islam — take a nice bath, put on nice clothing, itar, deodorant, brush your teeth, do miswak, look presentable, take the shahadah. It's all purity, purity, purity.

Allah loves those who repent to Him immensely and loves those who try to attain a lot of purity — multiple layers of purity. So Islam is based on purity of thought, purity of heart, purity of body. As the hadith says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 223)

Purity is half of iman. This is a huge part of iman. While kufr is based on najasa, evil, filth, dirt — everything about it. As the Qur'an says:

The mushrikeen are najas — impure. What does that mean? Even if they come out of the shower, they're still najas. Why? Because the aqeedah is najas. The fact that a person puts his head down to anything besides Allah will automatically attract the shayateen around them.

So what happens is when a person goes to these magicians, he's basically getting into a pact. Many of the artists today openly speak about this in their lyrics — making a pact with the devil. Many of these songs are written when they're high, on drugs, hallucinating. And they talk about who's inspiring them. Whoever reads those lyrics and still listens to it — may Allah guide them. Once you read these lyrics, they say this is "divinely inspired" — this is 100% Iblisi inspired. These artists are attracting more followers than any prime minister or president. 400 million, 500 million, a billion followers. They've got the stage. They've got the control of the crowd. These are pure, solid agents of Shaytan.

I've had people who made tawbah from clubs — raves and whatnot — who've shared with me what used to happen all night. They would say, once you take those mind-altering drugs, drinking and so forth — Allah protect us all from such filth. SubhanAllah. Muslims unfortunately involved in huge numbers. And now being hosted in Muslim countries. The largest of these events. May Allah protect us all. SubhanAllah. May Allah guide us and our leaders.

He said, non-stop dancing for nine to twelve hours. How do you physically do something like that? What he said was that literally, through those drugs, they would see fire on the club floor. They would actually see a horned, two-horned creature — literally at the gates of hell. And the disc jockey who was controlling the music would, through the music he was playing, be making them see different things. And it was absolute selling of your soul to the devil the whole night — reaffirming it throughout. Like ibad do qiyam al-layl in the masjid — selling your soul to Allah and reaffirming it every second while crying. This is what's happening in the nightclubs.

How Sihr Works — The Reality

So you may wonder: how does a magician do his things? Is there a reality to it? Yes, there is. Allah has given Shaytan the ability to do things that you and I cannot do. I can speak, but I can't get into your brain. When you go home, I can't be getting into your head. Shaytan is allowed to do that. He can't force us, but he can really push us. All of a sudden make you angry. All of a sudden make you happy. I can't do that. Shaytan can do all those things. That's how Allah has created the fitrah for human beings.

So similarly, sihr is basically Shaytan being utilized to do things. An individual goes to a magician or a magician goes to a devil and says: I am ready to make ibadah for you as long as you take care of my needs — like we tell Allah, ya Allah, I'll be yours, You take care of my needs. These people go to the devil's representatives and say, we are ready to do najasa.

If you read the chronicles of these people — what is required to go through sihr — crazy things. The most filthy things in the world. The most abnormal things you can't even say. The level of disrespect to the Qur'an that must be done. What they must do with the masahif. What they have to do with the name of Allah azza wa jal. How they have to desecrate it again and again. Because you're on team A or team B. What happens when you become a prisoner of war to the other side? They're not just going to let you go because you might be a spy. You have to prove your allegiance to this side and you have to prove your bara'a — that you have absolutely nothing to do with the other side.

That's why Iblis wants to know that you don't have a shred of iman. Before he allows you to join his army, he says: I have to make sure you have not a single shred of iman. Throw it all out, throw it all out, until you prove that your heart has absolutely nothing left of iman. Then — now you worship me and I'll take care of your needs.

So you say, well, how is that possible? Like a doctor, lawyer, engineer, builder, electrician doing things — Allah is doing it, but Allah has allowed them to do things. Similarly, Allah has allowed Shaytan to do things. Allah allows Shaytan to then come up with ways to attack someone, to kill someone, to cause diseases, to cause a husband or wife to fight, to break their marriage, to cause someone to love a disbeliever. Strange things. And as some of the ulema have mentioned — through observation and experience, not from Qur'an and hadith — that the same-gender attraction we see is actually shayateen on both of them. A male and a female shaytan that are attracted to one another, and that attraction forces the ones they possess to be attracted to one another.

Within three decades, four decades, we had less than 1% of same-gender attraction in this country. Now we're at 23% or 24%. How does something move from being a psychological disorder in the 70s all the way to: if you say anything, you get cancelled? There's some very big, massive play of Shaytan happening. And we can agree on that.

A magician can never be successful — this means aqibah, end result. The magician will never succeed. The harm he can cause in this dunya doesn't go against this verse of the Qur'an — just like a murderer or a tyrant can cause harm but eventually faces the justice of Allah. So a magician can cause all sorts of harms through utilizing the evil effects of Shaytan and the powers that Allah has given Shaytan.

Dajjal — The Greatest Magician

What is Dajjal? Dajjal is the biggest magician the world has ever seen. Remember that. When you read the hadiths about Dajjal, you realize that he's going to be using a next level of unbelievable magic. And what does that magic employ? Shayateen. For example, he killed someone and then makes it seem like he brought them back to life. He doesn't actually make them come back to life. Of course not. He makes a shaytan who looks 100% like that person walk around. How hard is that? That can even happen right now. A shaytan can look like you and I and walk around. So you kill someone and then another shaytan looking like them is walking around — that's exactly what he's going to be doing. The people watching it are not going to think about all of this. They're not going to realize it's just a big deception. And they will actually fall for it.

SubhanAllah, the Islamic explanation for all these things — you lead such a peaceful life when you understand it. That's why I keep saying I love this deen. There's an explanation for everything. There's no such thing as "unexplained." We have alhamdulillah an explanation of everything. The role of Shaytan, the role of nafs, the role of the human being, the role of jinn — everything so nicely laid out. And at the end it's all well placed, well balanced. And they're all, at the end of the day, puppets. They're all trying what they can. But the One who controls the entire world is Allah azza wa jal.

Iblis himself knows better than anyone else that he is going to suffer in hell forever. The worst punishment that anyone has ever known. He knows that. SubhanAllah. But it's that ego — he says, no. Why should I bow down now? So nothing can save you and I from Iblis plotting and planning. Nothing can save you and I from Dajjal and his plotting and planning. Nothing can save you and I from sihr except for Allah's mercy. That is why every single day we need to be asking: O Allah, I seek refuge in You from Iblis and his army. O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the fitnah and the test of Masih al-Dajjal. And reading the morning and evening adhkar every single day. All of these ayat in the morning and evening du'as — we have to recite these for the protection from all of this evil. Because we don't see it. We don't understand how it works.

People say, "How can something that you don't see harm you?" Well — COVID. What's COVID? What are all the diseases? Can you see these things with the naked eye? No. But they're killing people. So why is it when it comes to these type of things people say, "Oh, if I don't see it, I won't believe it." What nonsense is that? That skepticism is what Shaytan preys upon. As they say, the biggest trick the devil played upon us is to make us believe that he doesn't exist. Because that's exactly how he's attacking us every single day. And that's exactly how Dajjal will attack us too — because no one is going to be thinking that this is one big magic show happening. That's why reflecting on these verses of the Qur'an is so important.

All a magician is doing is plotting and planning. And a magician will at the end of the day never be successful. What will be successful? Miracles of prophets. Miracles of believers. That's what's going to be successful.

The Magicians Fall Into Prostration

Allah did not say they prostrated — they were forced. They fell to the ground. أُلْقِيَ — passive word, majhool, fi'l majhool. We don't even know who did it. It's like out of nowhere — out of nowhere, أُلْقِيَ. You don't even know who pushed them. They were pushed into sujood. What pushed them into sujood? It's the power of the mu'jizah. It's the power of truth. That the people who were the leaders of falsehood — but they were sincere. They were just employees of their own work. They were good people, but they were in the wrong company. When they saw the truth, they said: that's it. The power of truth is so strong that if hidayah is written for you, it won't even take a second for you to fall to the ground.

What an amazing description of that scene. Allah did not say they went and prostrated. Allah says they fell to the ground in prostration. The moment — as soon as they saw that Musa alayhis salam's stick turned into a snake and it started eating everything up, and they are experts of the trade — they know what magic is and what magic isn't. And they realize this cannot be magic. Because what we do is fake, and this is the truth.

Lessons From the Magicians' Instant Conversion

What do we learn from here? So many things. One thing is: you and I see the signs of Allah every day. We are not the magicians of Fir'aun. We are Muslims. We are the reciters of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ. When was the last time we fell into sujood al-shukr and said:

"O Allah, You are the ultimate truth. Your promises are true. Jannah is true. Jahannam is true. Meeting You is true. The prophets are true. Muhammad ﷺ is true." From this yaqeen, from the heart pouring out — "ya Allah, I just saw the greatest miracle today. I'm going to stop leading a life of my nafs and fall into sujood." How many times you and I have seen signs?

Every child that's born in a hospital or at home. Every single child that starts learning how to walk. Every single child that starts learning how to talk. Every single meal that you prepare, that you are fed — every single meal, wallahi, is a miracle. If you start thinking about the components, where from, how Allah azza wa jal has brought it all together — it's unbelievable how many things have come together for that meal.

My beloved friends, every time we use a restroom, every single time we drink a glass of water, every single time we go to bed and fall asleep, every single time we wake up refreshed — all of these are miracles. And the only reason we have this massive multi-trillion dollar medical system in the world with hundreds of thousands of doctors and specialists and nurses, all these billions of dollars being spent and hundreds of millions of medical professionals working on this one human being — if this is not the greatest sign of the existence of Allah, then we don't know. You spend 20 years focusing not on the eye, but on one portion — one-tenth of an inch of an eye. Another person is focusing on one-tenth of an inch of another portion of the body. To what depth — SubhanAllah — this body is so intricate that one-millionth of an inch change happens and the whole body falls out of order. One small change in the chemical balance, one small change in some cellular behavior — done. One small apparently mix-up in a DNA — done.

What is this telling us? That a healthy human being, or even a sick human being — regard both of them as the ultimate sign of the greatness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Yet this human being today — this Muslim, unfortunately, after being given لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ — still wants to lead a life following the nafs. Still wants to just "do it." Instead of saying: I'm done. I'm done following my nafs. Let me fall into sujood because I've just seen a miracle.

Allah shows you and I miracles every single day. Look at these magicians — you and I have never practiced sorcery. We've never been at that level of kufr and shirk. We've never stood up against the truth like this. But look — instantaneously when their hearts changed, when they saw the truth, they gave up. Because they were not following the nafs. They were doing their job. And they said: forget this. We see the truth. Let's leave our job and follow the truth.

Beloved friends, we have to make this commitment today that we will not turn a blind eye to Allah's signs every single day that He shows us. And instead we should ask Allah: Ya Allah, allow me to clearly see every sign that's in front of me. And allow me to not turn my back to it. As Allah says:

How many signs there are in the heavens and the earth that these individuals pass right by while looking the other way. Every canyon, every river, every lake, every mountain range, every sunrise, every sunset, every single bouquet of flowers, every rose garden, SubhanAllah — every colony of ants. All of these are great signs of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Enough for anyone to accept Islam. Enough for anyone to say: I will stop leading a life of following my desires and I will fall into sujood in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Expertise as a Path to Hidayah

Another beautiful lesson we learn from here: when we are an expert about something, sometimes hidayah comes through that direction. Someone who is an expert of medicine may look at the verses of Qur'an that deal with human anatomy or human embryology, and that might hit his heart. Someone dealing with physics or astronomy will look at verses of the Qur'an where things are alluded to in his field, and that may be the means of his hidayah. A meteorologist who focuses on weather patterns will look at the water cycle of the Qur'an and other aspects that the Qur'an speaks about weather, and he will say: this is haqq.

So this is the beauty of the Qur'an, the beauty of the deen: if you're an expert on something, go research what the Qur'an has to say about it. And if you're looking for the truth, you'll find it. I want to say something here — it boils down to looking for the truth. Any Muslim or non-Muslim, if you look for the truth, you'll find it.

I was traveling in one of the cities and there was a Muslim brother who brought a non-Muslim friend to the talk. He had told me that he's been working on this non-Muslim friend for some time, but he always had more questions. After the talk finished, we had one-on-one sessions and SubhanAllah, we sat down. He had questions from my talk and general questions — five, six questions. Alhamdulillah, with Allah's grace and Allah's fadl, I kept on answering, and he kept on smiling. "Oh my God, this is just amazing. I never thought an answer like this would come in." So after six, seven answers, I told him: anything else? I have to go for my next program.

He said — I said: listen, we can go on till Fajr here asking questions. But the thing is, iman is not about getting your questions answered. You can ask five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, fifty — however many. You cannot just keep it endless. You have to now start asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to put the nur of iman in your heart. Because it's like a light being switched on — and when the light switches on, automatically your questions will be gone. If you just go and study Islam from an academic perspective, your whole life will be spent and you won't get hidayah.

Look at all the people in university who are teaching Islam, or studying Islamic studies, who are running Islamic studies departments. Forty, sixty years sitting there — they have not gotten a chance to do one sujood yet. Because they're not looking for the truth. They're studying it as a subject. You're not going to get hidayah like that. Hidayah comes when you say: Ya Allah, I'm looking for the truth. And when you present yourself like that to Allah azza wa jal, it takes one second.

I went back to my program. Five minutes into the program, SubhanAllah, the youngster comes back. He comes and I said: what's wrong? What's going on? He said: I want to take the shahadah. I want to take the shahadah. So he was given the microphone and he took the shahadah. Ethan — brother Ethan, may Allah keep him strong and grant him the hidayah to study ilm as well and make him a means of hidayah. SubhanAllah. The brother who made effort on him broke down, crying so much, because it was such an amazing turnaround. He had been working on him for so long. And I was thinking how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had been so kind upon me — I just came to town for a few hours, and Allah azza wa jal wrote the shahadah in that sitting without me even making a major effort. Alhamdulillah.

On the other hand, in my travels, I came across another individual. A person told me: oh SubhanAllah, he knows so much about the deen. I've been working on him for so many years. Can you please talk to him? I said sure. So this individual — I spent with him half an hour, twenty minutes, just listening, not giving him da'wah. Because he knows too much about Islam. He recited to me the entire Surah Fatiha. He knows in and out — spent time in the masajid, even prayed, did wudu, prayed salah. He's eaten from falafel to biryani to everything else in between.

But within fifteen, ten minutes, I realized — okay, let me just keep on drinking my water bottle and make du'a. It's not going anywhere. Why is that? Because there was no sign of seeking the truth. The words he was using were: "I'm excited to learn about new cultures. I enjoy eating different foods. I enjoy visiting different places." This is not about enjoyment — are you learning the truth or not? That's why he hasn't been guided. Because the niyyah is not there. The niyyah is exploration. Could be this, could be that. Put your foot here one day, put your foot there one day.

May Allah guide him as well. And may Allah azza wa jal put it in his heart to start focusing on the truth instead of just experiencing things. That if we want to look for the truth and ask Allah: allow me to see — show me the signs. You'll see it.

I've had people who are on the verge of leaving the fold of Islam, or even disbelievers — give me some advice. And many of you have got non-Muslim friends — tell them: listen, just every single day ask God. You don't want to say Allah, feel allergic to it — ask God, ask the supreme being: guide me to the truth. Show me signs and guide me to the truth. I don't want to be misled. I want to be on the right path. I don't want to burn in hell forever. But I'm so confused. And inshallah, if you are sincere, if you have ikhlas, Allah will not let you down.

Some people have told me: oh, I'm not sure if I believe in Allah. I said: just — before you go to bed or get up in the morning — say: O Almighty, guide me to the truth. I cannot handle getting burnt on the stove or holding a hot spoon. How can I handle Your wrath or burning in hell if it exists? I don't even know if it exists. But what if it does? Then how am I going to handle that? So just ask the Almighty to guide you to the truth. And if you're sincere in this plea, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will guide that individual.

So they fell into sujood. Whatever expertise you have — look for that in the Qur'an and Sunnah. See what the Qur'an and Sunnah speak about it. And inshallah that might increase you in your strength of deen.

I've shared with you that there was an astrophysicist — a very smart brother — who attended one khutbah and afterwards told me he was actually from Bangladesh. SubhanAllah, he told me: I'm a new convert. I said: whoa, I didn't know there are many non-Muslims in Bangladesh. And he said: no, I was actually an atheist — or secular basically. A secular person raised his whole life in a Muslim country but not really believing in it. And then what guided him to Islam was a verse of the Qur'an. I said: which one? He mentioned the ayah of Surah al-Dhariyat:

"And indeed the heavens — We have built it with strength, and indeed We are continuously expanding it." He said: this concept of the expansion of the universe is at most 500 years old. No book, no science, no group of scientists had been discussing this aspect of the expansion of the world until 500 years ago. How can a book and scripture speak about this 1,400 years ago? That's it. He said: that's it. That led me to Islam.

Now I've recited this ayah so many times. I've led it in salah so many times. But it didn't give me that effect that it gave him. Until he brought it to my attention — I was like, wow. So this is what I'm trying to tell you: whatever field you're in, find verses of the Qur'an and Sunnah that deal with that, and it might help you and increase you in your deen.

Just like the magicians — that was their expertise. But then when they saw something they knew was not magic, done — they accepted Islam. "We believe in the Lord of Harun and Musa." Meaning: we not only believe in Allah, we believe in Musa alayhis salam and Harun alayhis salam as prophets. We believe in both of them as prophets.

Q&A Session

We will inshallah continue — there's a beautiful section here still — but we want to have some Q&A and then do some dhikr before we end inshallah.

I want to remind all of us here who are attending the tafsir — alhamdulillah there are a lot of new faces. All the returning faces, please try to bring back your old friends. And the new faces — stay consistent. I know we were on break for a few weeks, but let's try our best to come with others and invite as many people as we can. Yes, we can listen online, but it's not the same thing as sitting in the gathering of angels.

So why is أَلْقِ عَصَاكَ used in some places? The same story has been mentioned in many different places in the Qur'an with slight variations, and all of those variations are there for a specific purpose. Those places where Allah azza wa jal mentioned أَلْقِ عَصَاكَ — throw your staff — it's because that explains exactly what he had in his hand at that moment. And وَأَلْقِ مَا فِي يَمِينِكَ was to explain that what he has has a potential — it has a potential to be whatever it is. For example, three words have been used to describe what it turned into. Some places use ثُعْبَان — a huge snake. Other places use حَيَّة. And there's another word used as well. So ثُعْبَان is a massive snake — and it looked like a massive snake, but it was moving and slithering at the speed of a small snake. Multiple words have been used to describe the same thing.

Continuously falling into sin — what's the advice? We have to recognize what the sin is. We have to speak about exactly what the issue is to figure out: is it because of the environment? Is it because of a specific friend? Is it because of our sleeping habits, our eating habits? What specifically is the type of sin — is it because we have low self-control? Then you can adjust those things. You have to be very focused on what sin you're speaking about. Additionally, the more we sit in spiritually uplifting gatherings, the stronger we're going to get. Be punctual in our dhikr. Try to stay in the state of wudu as much as possible — even before going to bed. Perform wudu before sleep. And try your best to stay in the state of dhikr, even لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — these are things that will keep us focused.

Can I shave my beard to grow it better? MashAllah, that's a good question. To make your beard presentable, use beard oil, a comb, things of that sort. Trimming in a few places here and there might be acceptable, but shaving it should not be done to make it look better.

If a person says, wallahi, I won't commit a sin, and there's more motivation to not commit a sin, and then he ends up committing it — what will happen? In this case this is obviously a sin that he has done, so we should try our best to be careful in utilizing these words.

Many family folks visit maulanas — how do we know which ones are legitimate? If you're talking about going to, as they say, babas or random people out there who do different things — yes, you have to be very careful. Ask the scholars: is this person legitimate or not? Number two — do they follow the Shari'ah? Are they following the Sunnah? Anyone who doesn't follow the Sunnah, anyone who doesn't follow the Shari'ah — they're no good, no matter what people say. Sometimes you say, "But they're effective." Who makes them effective? Shaytan makes them effective. You understand that? So if they're not following the Sunnah and they're effective, you have to stay away from them.

Living amongst non-Muslim high school students — how do I maintain my faith? Again, it's not easy. That's why you have to be smart. It's like going down into the ocean — you need a scuba diving tank, otherwise don't go down. If you're going to go into an environment that is not conducive to remaining a Muslim, you have to choose: can I handle this or can I not? If I can handle it, how am I going to handle it? Do I have ilm and dhikr in my life? Do I have good friends? Do I have a spiritual light within my heart that can distinguish right from wrong? If I don't, I better get it before going in. And until I have it, I have to stay away from it — study at home, do homeschooling, or whatever the case may be.

People don't think about it. Who told you you have to go to that high school? You have to save your iman. Is that an answer you can give in the grave — "I had to send my child to a public school and I couldn't keep him at home, and that's why he lost his iman and his haya and everything else"? Is that an answer that's going to work? I don't think so. And you know it's not going to work. So — as students and college students and high school students — prepare yourself. That's why we have the deen intensives. We have the Arabic intensive. We have the one-year program. We have these retreats. We have the Divine Reality workshop happening here next weekend. Every one of you should be here. Every one of you should bring every single high school and college-going boy and girl to this program — Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. This is a game changer. This will be a life-changing experience and a very strong protective thing for our sons and daughters who are going to school, because it will address the topics that in the modern world our boys and girls are being attacked with and getting confused about.

Could you differentiate between a true magician and an illusionist? From the outside, you'd have to know what's happening to be able to differentiate. Allah knows best. You can't tell if they're using jinns or not because you're not going to be able to see that — unless someone is into that field. So is whatever's happening on TV or Netflix or YouTube: are they magicians or illusionists? I would presume most of them are illusionists, but you do have some magicians out there who are using sihr. Like for example, making a whole Statue of Liberty disappear or whatever the case may be — you could use jinns for this type of thing. It's not very hard. To make things disappear, to cover things with certain things — this is very easy. So people could be illusionists, people could be magicians.

There is a book in the bookstore downstairs — one of them is on doing dhikr out loud, Jahr bil-dhikr, newly translated and published, through the proofs of Qur'an and Sunnah. It's only 30 pages long. I would definitely recommend everyone to get a copy of it.

Dhikr Session