Team Fajr with Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 12/9/2023

Opening Supplications

We ask Allah to gather all of us the way He has gathered us here today, and to gather us under His Throne on the Day of Judgment. We ask Allah that He allows our coming here this morning to become a means of our forgiveness, and may He make our presence here a means of us enjoying the protection of Allah the entire day, as mentioned in the hadith. And may all of us get the reward of spending the entire night in qiyam, as also mentioned in the hadith. And may Allah allow our coming in the hours of darkness to become a means of all of us receiving nur on the Day of Judgment — when there will be no nur besides the nur that Allah will give.

We ask Allah that our presence here — may He allow us to receive and listen and hear, share and hear — such things that will become a source of inspiration and rejuvenation of our iman. Allow us to walk away in a state far superior and better than we were when we entered. And whatever issues and difficulties we are going through, we ask Allah through the barakah of the dars al-Quran and hadith that He allows those issues to be addressed. Ameen Rabbil Alameen.

Understanding the Quran: Levels of Comprehension

Ibn al-Qayyim rahmatullahi alayhi mentions that there are different levels of people understanding the Quran. There are people who understand from a verse one injunction of Allah, or two — one command or two. And there are those who understand ten commands of Allah, ten injunctions, or more. And then there are those who understand from the ayah only the translation of the word and that is it — they have no idea about the context, they have no idea what the ayah may be alluding to, what the ayah may be pointing out, what the ayah may be referring to. They just focus on the translation.

A degree that is more specific and more special than this level of understanding — even if someone understands the context — is a degree of understanding that goes further and deeper: having every single verse connected with other verses. By joining verses of the Quran together, he understands something which he would never be able to understand by focusing on a verse separately. This is a very outstanding, amazing door of Allah's ilm opening up upon a person when it comes to understanding the Quran. Very few people have this knowledge, because many times the mind does not go towards the fact of how these verses are connected.

So this is genuinely saying something so beautiful — it is truly something very special. The connection of the verses of the Quran is just outstanding. For most of us, the first time we heard anything like this in a general public bayan was Mawlana Tariq Jamil Sahib in the 90s — and long before even these online things were cassettes — where on one topic Mawlana would bring 10–15 verses of the Quran, whether it was describing the rivers of Jannah, describing the food of Jannah, or describing some other aspect of sacrifice for the deen. We never heard this type of talk where you would bring 10–15 verses back to back on the same topic. It was genuinely very outstandingly inspiring. And you know, a person who has even memorized the Quran would never imagine that all these verses are all over the place.

Then when you sit in a specific tafsir of a certain individual who has a mastery of this connection, you will start not only hearing the fact that these verses are in the same place and they are connected, but then you start seeing the connections between each of those verses. So there is a reference of a tafsir I have given before as well —

— in about 30 volumes, dedicated to the connection of each verse with the next one. What is the connection of each verse with the next one? So if this ayah ends, why does it end with عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا? Why does it end with عَلِيمًا بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ? Why does it end with this name of Allah and not that name of Allah? It is not just random. You do not just go up and say, as long as it sounds right in Tarawih, حَكِيمًا عَلِيمًا — everything sounds the same. No. Nothing is the same. Every single name of Allah that appears is there for a specific reason.

The Hur of Jannah and the Concept of Haya

We are not just talking about the names of Allah, but we are giving an example. Similarly, someone just shared with me a glimpse from a tafsir regarding some of these connections between verses. SubhanAllah. He was talking about the hur of Jannah and the different places where Allah speaks about them. He mentions that in one place Allah says that they are in Jannah — such hur who have their gazes lowered. And in another place Allah mentions that they are protected, preserved and sheltered in their tents.

The wording was just so beautiful — he says something along the lines that there is no doubt that the one who has her eyes lowered herself is far superior to the one who has been secluded in a tent where her situation has been arranged so that she keeps her eyes lowered. The one who is, SubhanAllah, in a place where there is no protection like a tent — yet she still decides to keep her eyes lowered — her level of haya is next level. Hence that hur is for a higher degree of people, because she possesses a quality that goes beyond what the other hurs have — an extra added level of haya.

Then it mentions the fact that the hur have been described in Jannah in Surah ar-Rahman, Surah al-Waqi'ah, and all these other places. Allah — along with physical beauty — constantly brings one particular aspect when describing the hur of Jannah: haya. Along with that is the aspect that no human or jinn has ever touched them. The aspect of haya is supposed to be the most beautiful quality that a man should desire in his wife, in his partner — more than physical beauty. The thing that is really supposed to attract a human being who has a fitrah, who is on a proper human innate nature, is the haya of his spouse. That is why Allah mentions this whenever He speaks about the hur. It is just an amazing thing.

How far from where we stand today — that not only is haya leaving our society from the women, but it is also leaving from the men. This is not something desired by men either. Now people will clearly say when looking for a wife that they want someone non-hijabi, or they are looking for a trophy wife, an attractive spouse. I have heard this from people myself — SubhanAllah — someone said, "So-and-so person, if you check their social media profile, unfortunately they are doing all kinds of strange things, already have relationships with other people." "No problem, I can handle that, it is okay. But I want someone that at least when I walk out — like you have an attractive car, an exotic car — I should have an exotic spouse, so that wherever I go people are talking about my car and my wife as well."

What can we say? This is how we have lost our basic sense of ghayrah. And unfortunately, people think that if you send your kid to a madrasa everything is fine. This young man who is saying this is a hafidh of Quran. He is a hafidh of Quran who is saying this — but he does not have haya. The concept of haya, the concept of the basic things that human beings — not even a Muslim — used to have before. Unfortunately, we are losing that. So when you study — a person has memorized the Quran but does not understand how intrinsic haya is. That when Allah speaks about what a man should desire in Jannah, He constantly, in every single place, brings the concept of haya — because that is what is really supposed to make a person desire that.

Anyway, this was the introduction of Ibn al-Qayyim — how a person should study the Quran, and how fortunate are those people who have access to such ulama upon whom Allah has opened up the secrets of the interconnectivity of the Book of Allah.

Mujahada and Sacrifice: Ten Verses of the Quran

Now let us study something for today's topic. Allah mentions throughout the Quran: mujahada, sacrifice. Sacrifice with sincerity is the name of the game. This is what the deen is, this is how the deen has reached us, and this is how the deen is going to move forward. Sacrifice with sincerity according to the sunnah of the Prophet — the more sacrifice we do, the more sincere we are, Allah's nusra and help will come. That is what our belief is.

So the Quran has multiple places where the word mujahada and jihad have been mentioned. But there are ten places where Allah brings jihad bin nafs and jihad bil mal together — ten places where Allah brings sacrifice with wealth and sacrifice with life together. Out of those ten places, nine out of ten, Allah brings the sacrifice of wealth before the sacrifice of life. Nine out of ten. And so we would like to go through these verses today.

First Verse: Surah at-Tawbah (9:41)

Allah says: Travel and move forward, whether you have your means or you do not. خِفَافًا means you do not have your means of fighting — you do not have a horse, you do not have a camel, you do not have a sword, you do not have a shield, you do not have an arrow. You are light — you do not have the means of jihad. وَثِقَالًا — or you have enough means and wealth. Whatever your situation, travel. It does not make a difference how much you have or do not have.

So this is debunking the myth that deen and the effort of deen — when we speak about jihad and mujahada, and I am not going to only mean warfare, let us take it into the general context of sacrificing for deen — people think that sacrifice for the deen is dependent upon the abundance of material things. If you have extra time, extra wealth, extra health, and this and that, then inshallah you can go ahead and make sacrifice. You volunteer when you have nothing better to do — you are retired, you have nothing else to do, then go to the masjid and sacrifice. You go early to the masjid because you are not really doing anything at home.

Our society begins to think that sacrifice and volunteering for the deen selflessly is the job of people who are not busy or who do not have anything else to do. On the other hand, Allah is saying: whether you have anything or you do not have anything, go — travel, move. وَجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ — sacrifice with your wealth, number one. وَأَنفُسِكُمْ — and your life. فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ — in the path of Allah. ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ — this is far superior and better for you, if only you know.

Second Verse: Surah as-Saf (61:10–11)

How does Surah as-Saf begin?

O believers, why do you say that which you do not do? You say, "Ya Allah, we are ready, we are ready to make sacrifice, anything!" And then when Allah reveals the verses of sacrificing your wealth, health, and life, you start backing down. كَبُرَ مَقْتًا — Allah hates it when you say something which you do not do.

Meaning, you say: "If only Allah changes my situation, I will do that." You see, this is a big problem today as well — we always blame our circumstances for not being able to serve the deen. "I am not able to come to the masjid as often as I want. If my situation would change, you see, I would be in the front row." Instead of simply saying, "Pray for me. I am also working hard that Allah allows me to conquer my nafs and allows me to bring some time management skills into my life. There is no reason for me not to be in the masjid. There is no reason for me not to take out time to read Quran. There is no reason for me not to do all these things." We like to blame our situation — so that we shift the blame away from our nafs and our own self to our circumstances. When someone hears that your situation is difficult, they say, "Oh, it is not your fault." But it is my fault. I am not the only one in this situation.

SubhanAllah, did you see the images that came — I heard about and saw a video of a Jumu'ah khutbah in Gaza? Allahu Akbar. Literally 90% of the masjid is demolished, and the khatib is still giving a Jumu'ah khutbah in front of people inside the rubble. And what is he saying? "We do not care. No one can harm us. No one can do anything. Look — they did everything, and we are still here. We are still here. We are going to stay here till the end. We are going to give our Jumu'ah khutbah. We are going to pray our salah. Nothing is going to stop us. No matter how many things you warn us about, we are going to continue coming to the masjid, continue doing our khutbah, continue doing our adhkar."

How does a person — SubhanAllah — if they can make it out for Jumu'ah, my friend, anyone can. If they can pray in the rubble, anyone can. If they can perform salah with tayammum because they do not have water and have nothing available — SubhanAllah — we can all do that. But what happens? We start blaming our situation. And this is a means of shifting the blame from our nafs, from feeling self-guilt.

So this is not acceptable. Allah says He hates that you say something that you are not going to do. If you say it, we should all say it — that we are ready, we are ready to sacrifice, we are ready to do anything for the deen. And whenever that opportunity comes, we have to be ready. We have to ask Allah to give us the strength. And if we start going backwards, we should blame no one besides ourselves and say: "My nafs is too weak."

This is why it is important to constantly be reflecting on what is happening in Gaza and Palestine in general, and the Muslim world more broadly — our brothers and sisters who are disadvantaged materialistically speaking, SubhanAllah, but advanced in level of iman. How they are handling that situation. If a small fraction of those issues were to come our way, we would never be able to handle it — because of the weakness of our faith.

So in that same surah, Allah says:

O believers, shall I not point out to you a business — تِجَارَةٍ — which will save you from a very painful torment? Allah is speaking to us because He knows we love business and money — so He speaks to us in that language. What is that business? What should we do?

Today, one person was telling me — someone heard he was investing money somewhere — SubhanAllah, he said he got calls from people he does not even know, telling him, "I am not even at home, but I have got 30,000 in my living room. Someone will give it to you. Just please stop by and pick it up." 30k, 40k, 50k, 60k — people are calling him saying, "Please, please, come pick it up." He had no idea what was going on. They just heard he was doing some business and everyone wanted to become an investor.

This is our community — if a person thinks they may get some worldly benefit, they will not even write a contract. That is what he was telling me — no contracts written for where the money came in and where it was invested. And now, of course, he is very worried because the other person is not paying. May Allah make it easy.

And on a side point — we are having many levels of Ponzi schemes happening within the Muslim community, many times starting where? In the masjid. By people who look like they are very practicing Muslims — that is the whole front they put on. Their beard, their thobe, their kufi — they sit in Islamic gatherings, and this is how they build trust, and then they milk the community. There is one going on right now. I do not know how many there must be — at least one or two within our communities.

So one thing I would say: if Allah has blessed and tested you with some money, let us not be foolish with it. Do not just look at the first person who says, "I will make your 5% return," or "I will make your 500,000 into 5 million — give it to me." Please, my friends, Allah has given you aql, Allah has given you intelligence. Do not make foolish mistakes like this. Something which Allah has given is an amanah.

What is this? Curiosity killed the cat — and greed kills the man. That is what it is. Greed. Alhamdulillah, you are doing better than others, you have a little business — why do you have to be so greedy? "Wherever he is promising me 25%..." — no one gets 25% returns. It is all fake. "Get 12%, 15% return? Let us just do it, everything is going to double my money!" This greed kills a person.

Whoever is protected from the greed of his own self — those are the most successful people. So — side point — do not be fooled by people's external veneer when it comes to money. Be very smart and be shrewd when it comes to giving your money for investment.

For sadaqah, no problem. There is a hadith that mentions a person gives sadaqah, and the next morning he finds out he gave it to a thief. He says, "All kinds of people give sadaqah to a thief." Then after that he gives sadaqah again and finds out he gave it to a fornicator. He says, "No problem." Three different instances he gave sadaqah to a person who definitely did not deserve it — but the gist of the hadith is that because he was a sincere man going out to give, Allah accepted it regardless of who received it.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1421; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1022)

So if you are giving sadaqah, do not worry about it. Sometimes you give sadaqah to a person and then you find out he said he needed food but instead bought something else — hopefully not drugs, but even if he did, you get your ajr. That is not your fault. So sadaqah is something different. But when it comes to investment, please be smart.

Now, why did I speak about that? I was just saying that people, when it comes to investment, are running because the dunya should be made at all cost — so they run towards that. But that same person, when his local masjid has a fundraising dinner and someone asks him to purchase a ticket — he will say "inshallah." So what is going on? The love of dunya is there. That is why Allah says: shall I tell you of a business which will save you from the painful torment? What is that business? Allah wants you and I to believe in Allah, believe in the Prophet, and sacrifice in Allah's path with your wealth and yourself. This is better for you if only you knew.

Third Verse: Surah an-Nisa (4:95)

There are those who are sitting back and not participating in expeditions, not participating in the call of the hour. And there are those who are actually doing it — who are standing up and making sacrifice. Today as well, sacrifice is the name of the game. There are those who are volunteering in the masjid, volunteering in soup kitchens, volunteering in their mornings teaching children — SubhanAllah — just doing things. And there are those who are simply making more money. There are those who are giving in the name of Allah, and there are those who are hoarding in the name of their kids.

And those who are giving — that does not mean they do not have children. They have a wife, children, everything. What they are giving, Allah says لَّا يَسْتَوِي — they can never be equal. Who can never be equal? الْقَاعِدُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ — those who sit back from the believers, who do not make sacrifice, who do not stand up to the call of the hour. غَيْرُ أُولِي الضَّرَرِ — even though they have no excuse, no physical ailment. Yet they do not want to stand up. Who are they not going to be equal to? الْمُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ — to those who sacrifice in Allah's path with their wealth and with their selves.

فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ الْمُجَاهِدِينَ بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ عَلَى الْقَاعِدِينَ دَرَجَةً — Allah has given preference, has preferred those who sacrifice with their wealth and their selves over those who sit back. Because many times those who sit back will make this comment: "Oh, you know, it is good, mashallah, keep it up. May Allah give you more tawfiq." They will not ask for their own tawfiq. They will say, "May Allah give you more tawfiq" — because in the back of their mind, this sacrifice is either in vain, unnecessary, or just a nice thing to do. Not realizing it is not just a nice thing to do — it is a must. It is a must. And there is no chance of our survival without sacrifice for the deen.

Fourth Verse: Surah al-Anfal (8:72)

Indeed, the believers — and those who did hijrah and those who sacrificed with their wealth and themselves in the path of Allah — and those who opened up their doors, opened up their homes and gave shelter to the muhajireen — they are each other's friends and each other's support. SubhanAllah.

The sacrifice that Allah is speaking about must happen. Either you do hijrah or you do nusrah — هَاجَرُوا or نَصَرُوا. The Sahaba were of two categories: those who stood up and left from Mecca to Medina, or left to Abyssinia — those who did hijrah for the sake of Allah. وَّنَصَرُوا — and those who opened up their doors and said, "We will assist you."

So every one of us has to choose one of the two. There are going to be people who are going to be on the front line and standing up — you can choose to be that. Or you can choose to be support staff. You have to be support staff. People who stand there and give them the help that is required.

For example, a person wants to go study knowledge — it is not easy in this day and age to get up and study ilm and become a full-time scholar. So he is making hijrah — he left his home to go study. It is overseas or here locally in another state. Now the nusrah is a person who says, "Let me take care of and assist your home. Let me assist your studies." It is a big enough sacrifice that you are spending — you left your job or your college to go study the deen. But at the very least, let me make your nusrah by taking care of your expenses, your food, your housing where you are going to study, your travel back and forth — because I am going to be a sleeping partner who invests in you.

You are the person who is actually doing the work. You know how business works — one person gives the 100,000, another puts in 25,000 but he is working, and they split the profits. Similarly, here is an investment scheme: you invest in people who are doing khidmah of deen. You say, "You are a student of knowledge and I would like to support and invest in whatever you are doing, because I cannot do the level of sacrifice you are doing."

Or assisting their family — a person who is doing the work of deen, his children may need help. How many married couples there are who would love to come and study the deen — whether they are reverts or whoever, young couples — they want to come study the deen. That is where an opportunity for us to do nusrah. Where either we take a lead role in sacrifice for deen, or we take an assistant role in sacrifice for deen. And we will become أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ — we will become assistants for one another. We will get, like the Muhajireen and Ansar, together. This is how, inshallah, today's muhajireen and ansar are together.

And this is something in this institution — for those of you who do not know — alhamdulillah, we have a policy that we allow people to study regardless of their ability or inability to financially pay their way for their studies. And that is why the only way we can do that is if the community constantly supports the students of knowledge, taking them under their wing, and saying that their expenses — inshallah, our family will share. This is how madaris have run all over the world. In India and Pakistan, for example, most madrasas do not even have tuition — it is all 100% through sadaqah and zakat. Of course, those who have wealth should not be using that zakat money — they should pay for their own. But since there are not that many people who have the ability to both pay and study, that is why the system is different. Yet 10,000–15,000 people are studying in those institutions. How is that? Because people are supporting and saying, "Alhamdulillah, we are going to have a share in this khayr that is happening."

Fifth Verse: Surah at-Tawbah (9:44)

Allah speaks about those people who took permission at Tabuk — not to participate. Allah says: those people who truly believe in Allah and the Day of Judgment will not take permission from you to not participate. They will not ask, "Ya Rasulullah, we cannot come and make sacrifice with our wealth and ourselves." وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالْمُتَّقِينَ — Allah knows very well those who have taqwa.

The Lesson of Tabuk: Sacrifice at the Hardest Moment

These verses of Surah at-Tawbah — around ayah 35–37, which is exactly halfway through the para — are just really powerful. We were studying them in class and I was telling the students: this is one page of the Quran that really gets to you. Because Allah speaks to the Sahaba and the community of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam regarding the final battle of Tabuk — one of the most difficult ones at the end of his life.

The words and the targhib — if I can call it that — is so harsh and so strong. We are not talking about new Muslims or little kids. We are speaking about the tenth year — all the way towards the end of the life of the Prophet, speaking to those who have been with Rasulullah from day one, as well as those who have newly come in. Thousands of them. And it is the final year of the life of the Prophet. But Allah is saying: what is wrong with you? When you are asked to sacrifice in the path of Allah, to move, to travel — you cling to the earth. Why are you clinging to the earth?

Now imagine a person who accepted Islam long ago and sacrificed. He has been in so many expeditions. And what is Allah telling him? "What is wrong with you?" He might think: "I participated in seven expeditions. I have participated for the past nine years. Ever since I became a Muslim, that is all I have been hearing — sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. I have been there. I have always been in the front line. I have been there from day one. Can I please not go this time?"

And Allah tested them: for years they did not have a good crop. For years in Medina, the date palm trees were not giving dates. People were starving, malnourished, without means. And now — there is no battle that was fought in this level of heat, this level of distance, and against an army of this strength and size. And then on top of that, Allah chose that year for the date palm trees to start giving a lot of dates. The gardens were replete and filled — filled with dates just hanging. You literally throw a stone and they fall down.

"And now you tell us to leave all of this? This is food — this is not extra scam money. No, this is basic — for my wife and my kids, for myself. We cannot even take it with us on the journey. Give us a couple of days, let us harvest it, put it in bags and take it with us so we can eat on the journey — because we do not have any food."

Allah says: I do not care. Why? Because the fact that these date palm trees gave dates this year is all part of the big test of Allah. This is all a test. Allah wants to know — what do Allah and His Rasul's promises mean to you? Are you able to give up what you have in your hand for what you cannot even see? For what you have no guarantee you are going to be able to get — the akhirah? The dunya is in your hand, it is in your wallet, it is in your lap. Are you able to give it all up for something that is going to be coming in the future, based solely on the word of one man who says, "I am a nabi, I am a prophet — you are going to get this"? That level of sacrifice that Tabuk required is unparalleled.

And that harshness — Allah says: why? I like this because I think it speaks to my nafs, and it speaks to maybe the nafs of many people. These verses — go read them — halfway through the tenth juz, the third quarter. Powerful ayat. Allah explains to us: is it because you are simply content with a worldly life instead of desiring the hereafter?

I tell you, if that is the case — and of course it is the case, if Allah is saying it, it must be the case — if you compare the materialistic worldly life in lieu of the akhirah, then this dunya life is قَلِيلٌ — it is not worth it. You are making a bad sale. You are making a bad purchase by switching your dunya for the akhirah.

If you do not travel and leave your homes, Allah will punish you — a painful torment. عَذَابًا is emphasis, أَلِيمًا for more emphasis. Allah will give you a very painful torment. وَيَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْمًا غَيْرَكُمْ — and then Allah will replace you with a new group of people. وَلَا تَضُرُّوهُ شَيْئًا — and you will never be able to harm Him in the least. وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ — and Allah is all-capable over everything.

If you do not help my Nabi right now — Allah says — I do not need your help. Do not think I need you. I assisted him miraculously, without any other human being around. When? In the night of hijrah. When the disbelievers exiled him from Mecca. When both of them — Abu Bakr and Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam — were in the cave. When Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam was telling his companion, لَا تَحْزَنْ — do not grieve. إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَنَا — Allah is with us. They had no one there.

The kuffar, as you know in the well-known story, were inches away from Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. They were at the opening of the cave. If you have seen pictures of Jabal Thawr, you will see it was below and they were above — all they had to do was look down and they would be able to see at the feet of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam hiding. Which human being was there on that night? Which mighty power from the Muhajirun or Ansar was there? No one. The only One who veiled Rasulullah and Abu Bakr from the disbelievers was Allah — Who brought the pigeons to lay eggs there, Who brought the spiders to draw their webs, Who made the disbelievers blind to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. It was none besides Allah. Allah says: I do not need you. Go. I am giving you an opportunity to gain a huge ajr through sacrifice. But do not ever think that I need you — because I can take care of whatever needs to be done without any human intervention. SubhanAllah.

Now these verses — and it even gets more strong as you read through — teach us that in the deen, as you become senior and more invested, the expectations from you do not go less, they go more. What is needed and what is desired from you does not go down. Not "I have done alhamdulillah enough." No — if you have genuinely done a lot, this is how deen goes: trajectory up, up, up, all the way until when? Until the day you die. It should be at the zenith of your life where you have sacrificed like you have never done before — your time, your wealth, your life, everything else. That is how the deen works.

This is not the deen where someone says, "I have done enough, now I am going to take a backseat." Like we have people who say, "Ramadan, alhamdulillah, I have done a lot of fasting — now I am going to spend a month at a golf course. Resort, Las Vegas, here and there. Because I have done a lot. It is called Ramadan fatigue." Is this real?

One of the brothers told me — he was stopping by his neighborhood and said, "Let me bring someone for Jumu'ah." As it was Jumu'ah time, he stopped by and spoke to a person. "Let us go for Jumu'ah." The brother said, "No brother, Ramadan just ended. I did a lot of ibadah, alhamdulillah, and now I need to take a break." So what is he doing? He is missing Jumu'ah.

What comes to my mind is: Allah pushed the demand for sacrifice so hard right at the end — because He knew the Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam was leaving. He wanted to make a litmus test of the Sahaba: you need to carry on the legacy of the Prophet. Just because the Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam is passing away does not mean the spreading of Islam can stop — you have to spread it even further and keep on going. That is why the demand from the Sahaba was pushed. No matter how many years of sacrifice — right now it is called Ghazwat al-Usra, the Expedition of Difficulty. That is what the name is. سَاعَةُ الْعُسْرَةِ — the hour of hardship. This has been called the battle of difficulty because it genuinely was the most difficult.

And the goal — Allah knows best — what comes to my mind is to make sure the Sahaba are ready to lead and carry the baton after the demise of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Because it is not going to be easy without his presence. And so your level of iman, your level of mujahada, cannot go down — it has to go up.

The Warning About Wealth: A Hadith of the Prophet

My beloved brothers, we have covered four of the ten verses. And from those ten, nine of them show us that Allah constantly puts the sacrifice of wealth first. And as a community I want to say: we have grown in numbers and are continuously growing, mashallah — physically, the number of people within the Muslim community through conversion and through families growing. The economy of the Muslim community, alhamdulillah, is continuously improving. In a very good way — yes, there are people no doubt who are suffering, all the way in Palestine and also within our communities as well. We do not deny that. But generally speaking, the health of the Muslim economy in this country is very good.

But if this wealth is not used in the proper manner, then this will become the reason for our destruction. This will become the reason for our downfall. As Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said:

I am not worried about poverty. I am not worried that you are all going to become poor — and he is saying this when they have tied stones on their stomachs and have not eaten for days. He said: what I am worried about is that you are going to become too rich. The dunya is going to open up upon you the way the doors of the dunya opened on the previous nations. And then all you will do, instead of focusing on sacrifice, is compete with one another and gather more. Instead of saying, "Alhamdulillah, we have so much money — let us give," all you will do is hoard and compete with one another. And it will destroy you the way it destroyed them.

What has happened in the Middle East — what we see today, the silence of the Middle East — would never have happened a hundred years ago. In that poverty it would have never happened. It is this wealth that has made us cowardly. It is the abundance of this wealth, and the desire for more, that has made us a bunch of cowards who cannot do anything — who cannot even speak. At least talk. Talk is cheap. But that even — we cannot do. No talk also, nothing. We have lost all soul, all spirit, all strength due to the life of luxury that the Muslims are living in.

A certain lifestyle that we do not want to fall from — because the fear is: when you are already on rock bottom, there is nothing further to go down. But when you are on the chair, you say, "Oh, I do not want to lose my chair. I do not want to sit on the floor." When you are on the floor, where are you going to go? That is what poverty is — "Bring it on. This is who we are. We are people of principles. We do not care. What are you going to take? We do not have anything in the first place." But when a person has the dunya, and the dunya is deep in the pocket — deep in the heart — then that is what he is afraid to lose.

And so we learn from these ayat: the mujahada with wealth is number one. If you cannot give your wealth, do not even think about bringing the sword and joining the battlefield — that is way harder. The first thing is: give your wealth. So our community in this country needs to have these lessons stressed again and again. Allah has given the Muslim community in the US the ability to assist Muslims in all parts of the globe, in all continents of the globe. Our own zakat and our sadaqah can do amazing wonders across the globe — if we simply start fulfilling our responsibilities.

And if we do not, then instead of walking away into the grave with the ajr of all the khair in the world, unfortunately we will have to pay a very hefty tax. We think taxes are a lot here — the tax that a person will have to pay in the qabar and the akhirah, we do not even want to go in that direction.

As someone said: we are enjoying America and the wealth here, and we are going to pay taxes in the form of our kids. We are going to lose our children. We are going to lose our grandchildren. That is exactly what is happening. The opulence and the life of luxury, and the desire to compete with one another in that, is making people become absolutely oblivious to the deen of their kids.

A Call to Action: Spend in Allah's Path

My beloved brothers and listeners — sisters, mothers, whoever and wherever you may be — let us take this as a call from the Quran. If we want to thrive — no, if we want to survive — we have to learn how to spend in Allah's path. In all different causes, in any and all different causes. Spend in Allah's path and make sure that the money always remains in the pocket, not in the heart. Use it, but do not allow ourselves to become lovers of it the way we see other faith groups — or so-called faith groups — love and worship their money. What difference will be between us and them if we do the same? For us, the money is a means of earning our akhirah.

So this is something we need to ask Allah for. Today's dua — the dua of the nazilah — was:

Oh Allah, do not make the dunya the biggest of my worries. Do not make it the extent of my desires. And do not make it the reason that I go to Jahannam.

So we have to ask Allah for protection from the dunya falling into our hearts. And one of the best ways is to give, give.

Tonight's Fundraiser — Ten Years of Darussalam

Tonight, of course, is our fundraiser — our once-a-year dinner. This is one of many options in the world that you have to give. But since today, alhamdulillah, is our dinner — if you have your tickets, inshallah, hopefully by now you will be coming. There are many who did not purchase their tickets, even though we tried everything we could to keep announcing — I think for three or four weeks in a row, we announced every day after Fajr, and every jamaat, and every Isha. But people did not, and now when tickets are gone, people are asking — SubhanAllah.

But if you did not get a ticket, the dinner is available virtually. The maqsad is not to eat food — you have better food at home, alhamdulillah. The maqsad is to give in Allah's name.

So join us in person. Salatul Isha is at 5:50, and the program will begin promptly at 6:10pm inshallah. If you do not have a ticket, there might be some empty seats later on — you can email us at the office or the masjid number and contact one of us, and if a little bit later in the night there is a space, we will let you know.

If a person cannot come, then at least two things I will say. One is to make dua — that is your nusrah. Your nusrah is to make an extra two rakat salah. You are going to have breakfast downstairs and you are going to pray two rakat salatul ishraq — salatul ishraq, salatul haja, salatul shukr all combined together — and say, "Ya Allah, please make tonight's dinner extremely successful and protected from all evil effects of hasad, nazar, ain, sihr, and the evil effects of our own sins. And we ask Allah to make it worthwhile and profitable for the deen." Give the brothers the jazbah. We have a thousand people who will come, inshallah. But the idea is: will they be accepted or not? Let this dinner become a means of a thousand families being accepted in Your court — that is how it should be. Because once a person opens up this door of being able to give in Allah's name, SubhanAllah, khair will pour down his alley if he creates this level of generosity with the deen, in all causes.

And number two — please do listen online if you are not able to come in person.

This year is very unique, as this marks ten years since Masjid Darussalam opened its doors — July 3rd, 2013. We have our graduates of the one-year program and graduates of the seven-year program, on the boys' and girls' sides — inshallah they will be coming, and some of them are flying in, mashallah. They are going to be sharing on a round table discussion their stories of the impact Darussalam had on their lives, and the impact they are having in society. And I want the patrons of Darussalam, the donors, the well-wishers, to know where your support has gone for the past ten years. So we need all of you, inshallah, to witness and be inspired by that.

And then tonight, we are going to be raising funds primarily for our project of this year — the redevelopment, upgrade, and construction of the entire site of Darussalam. All these acreage that we have here, alhamdulillah, we are going to be redoing everything around it. You will watch an amazing presentation inshallah. We will be tripling our parking from about 415–420 to around 1,200 spots. You will see the image of it today and you will not recognize it — "Wow, this is somewhere else!" Alhamdulillah. The whole site plan will be completely changing. Traffic flow will completely change. New walkways, new flower patches, new benches, sidewalks to facilitate women and men walking back and forth, safety in the parking lot — lots of amazing improvements will be done inshallah in this project. We hope to break ground this early spring, so we are looking to raise the money for that tonight, inshallah.

And number two, we will also be raising money for our endowment fund, which will help take care of — inshallah for years to come — the expenses and overhead of the masjid. So I encourage all of you to not hold back, and to give in the name of Allah tonight. And think about all these verses that we spoke about — the name of the game is sacrifice. And it is only going to get more difficult as we move forward. If we cannot part with our wealth tomorrow, how will we be able to retain our iman at all costs — even if it means our life is on the line? That is not easy. The smallest way to start is with wealth. So let us make that a small step tonight, and inshallah Allah will give us the strength to have the level of iman of our brothers and sisters in Palestine as well. SubhanAllah.

Closing Du'a

Oh Allah, we ask You to accept our host of today, Hafizul Mukarram, and his family, ya Allah, for hosting the breakfast. Ya Allah, put barakah in their health, put barakah in their wealth, put barakah in their business, put barakah in their children's deen and dunya — put barakah in anything and everything that they put their hands in. Oh Allah, we ask You to allow this khidmah, and all the other khidmah that their family does for the masjid — oh Allah, we ask You to make it a means of their qubuliyah and acceptance in Your court. Oh Allah, make it a means of their fathers and their mothers and their children all becoming accepted in Your court, and them and their spouses.

Oh Allah, make it a means of them and all of us being inspired to follow the sunnah of the Prophet alayhi salam. Oh Allah, all of us who are here — our loved ones, our family members, oh Allah, whoever and wherever they may be — we ask You to grant all of us forgiveness, all of us hidayah, all of us tawfiq.

Oh Allah, whatever was shared and said today — ya Allah, make it easy for myself and all of us to practice. Oh Allah, make it easy for all of us to become amongst those who sacrifice for the deen and who are in the front line of sacrifice — with our wealth, with our health, with our life, and with our time. Ya Allah, enable all of us to make huge sacrifices for the deen. Oh Allah, allow us to love the deen more than we love ourselves. Allow us to love You more than we love anything else. Allow us to prepare for the akhirah every day that we live here. Allow us to always be thinking about the akhirah every moment.

Oh Allah, give us long, beautiful, beneficial, healthy lives. Give all of us, ya Allah, long beautiful lives. But every day allow us to live as though it may be our last. Oh Allah, save us from wasting our time, save us from wasting our money, save us from wasting our resources.

Oh Allah, grant shifa to all those who are sick — our mother who is also, ya Allah, sick — oh Allah, we ask You to grant her shifa. Oh Allah, all those brothers and sisters from our community and beyond who are sick — we ask You to grant all of them shifa from any and all physical and spiritual illnesses.

Oh Allah, those who have passed away — fill their graves with nur and be pleased with them. Oh Allah, have special mercy and assistance upon our brothers and sisters in Palestine. Oh Allah, we ask You to remove their difficulty, remove their torture, remove their destruction — and allow everything that they have gone through so far to become a means of them receiving such rewards of the akhirah that will make them forget all the pain that they and their loved ones have gone through.

Oh Allah, through their dua and through their crying — grant us hidayah. Through their dua and through their beseeching — wake up the ummah, ya Allah. Remove all of us from the slumber of laziness that we are in. Oh Allah, wake us up. Wake the entire ummah. Stir up the emotions of iman within the ummah, ya Allah.

Oh Allah, protect this masjid, this madrasah, its students, staff, volunteers, patrons, and well-wishers from wherever they may be. Ya Allah, protect every one of us — protect our iman, protect our health, our wealth, our deen, our dunya, our children, and our spouses. Oh Allah, whatever dua request any one of us has, or is expecting, or is wishing — oh Allah, we ask You to grant us all more than that, more than what we could ever wish for.

Closing Announcements

Since Ishraq has begun — the Hifz class comes downstairs and has class at 8 o'clock. We are requesting everyone, inshallah, if you can please move downstairs, eat, and then come back and pray your Ishraq.

We are also requesting a few brothers — every Saturday — who can spend 20–30 minutes in the kitchen helping after breakfast is served. We are requesting, inshallah, 3–4 brothers who can spare some time to help clean up after the Fajr breakfast. Jazakumullah khayran. May Allah reward you immensely for being ready for that.