Challenges Faced by the Prophets-Mufti Minhajuddin Ahmed

My dear respected brothers and sisters and young students and respected elders in Islam, assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. These are the opening ayat from Suratul Qasas that I have recited. And during the nightly tafsirs in Ramadan one night I had discussed this, and the brothers they mentioned that this should be shared again.

This is something very beneficial and something that is timely for us, a timely reminder for us from the Quran, from the words of Allah to give us strength in these tides of crises that we are going through. So I will be going over some of the points from these beginning ayat of Suratul Qasas and relate it to our present condition. Allah starts, Suratul Qasas, Qasas means stories, various different stories are mentioned in this surah.

This is the 28th surah of the Quran, starts in the 20th juz of the Quran, and all of the stories that are mentioned in the Quran are a lesson for us. Allah says:

Indeed in the stories mentioned in the Quran, there is a lesson for those who have intelligence.

They are not fabricated things that are made up.

They testify to the truth of the previous scriptures. And they mention the details of everything which is required for us. And a source of guidance and mercy for those who believe.

So this is a source of mercy for us. This is a source of guidance for us. And this is a lesson for us.

Allah also says to Rasulullah ﷺ that these stories we have revealed unto you:

So that we can give consolation to your heart. So there is one of the purposes for the stories mentioned in the Quran is that we can gain solace and comfort. Rasulullah ﷺ was informed about the challenges that the previous prophets ﷺ faced and the opposition they faced from their respective nations and how they persevered under those trying circumstances and how courageous they were and how determined they were.

And this became a means of comfort for Rasulullah ﷺ and a means of inspiration for Rasulullah ﷺ. So we also, if Rasulullah ﷺ gained inspiration from these stories, we can also gain inspiration from these stories definitely. Allah begins the surah with حُرُوفِ الْمُقَطَّعَات Some of those letters Allah alone knows the true meaning of them.

These are the verses of the book, Al-Mubin, which clearly delineates and explains to us that which is necessary. Al-Mubin, the one that makes bayan and explains that which is necessary.

We are revealing unto you some of the news regarding Musa ﷺ and Fir'aun. Bilhaq. And what I'm revealing unto you, Allah is saying to Rasulullah ﷺ, this is Bilhaq, this is the absolute truth. Nothing is made up, nothing is weak in this narration.

And this story will be beneficial for those who believe. Those who disbelieve in the words of Allah, those who disregard it completely, they will not gain any inspiration, they will not gain any strength. Those who believe in the words of Allah, they will be the ones who will benefit. Then Allah says:

Really, Fir'aun, he was very arrogant over the earth of Allah. This earth which belongs to Allah, this land which belongs to Allah:

He grants it to whom He wishes from amongst His slaves. So Fir'aun was granted authority, but he misused this authority.

He chose to have aloo and greatness over the creation of Allah.

And he divided the people into different groups. These are the Qibthi people, the Egyptian Copts, and these are the Palestinians origins. These are the Bani Israel who came from Palestine.

One of the groups, he demoted them, he ridiculed them, he enslaved them, he took away their rights. And what was he doing?

He was slaughtering all of their male children.

And he was keeping alive their daughters.

Verily, he was amongst one of those who was creating great corruption and fasad on the earth. So this is how Allah introduces this great tyrant of all times. One of the greatest tyrants of all times, Fir'aun. There's none that can match him in his tyranny, in the oppression, in the dhulm that he did. He went so far as to declare himself to be Allah, to be the Lord, as is mentioned in the Quran.

I am your Lord, the Most High. So when we see the tyrants of today, we see the oppression that is committed by different dictators throughout the world, different arrogant people who have been granted authority then we should not become so shocked or depressed that how are we going to deal with this? What is going to happen? Because history has witnessed greater tyrants than them in the past. And Allah mentions this tyrant Fir'aun as well.

Many people are scared, many people are depressed, many people are very anxious and worried what is going to happen if a particular candidate, for example, we don't even want to spoil our Muslim by taking his name, if he wins the election, what is going to happen to our rights? So no matter how corrupt this individual might be, how racist the individual might be, definitely he cannot be worse than Fir'aun. He cannot be worse than Fir'aun. Look at what Allah says about Fir'aun.

The way he was committing dhulm and oppression on the Bani Israel, the children of the Anbiya a.s. Bani Israel means the children of Israel. Who is Israel a.s.? Israel a.s. is the name of Ya'qub a.s. So these are the children of the Anbiya a.s. Allah says about them in the Quran that Allah had chosen these people and had selected them and sent thousands of His Anbiya a.s. amongst them. Allah says:

Remember when Musa a.s. said to his people O my people! Remember the favors of Allah upon you: He has created thousands of Prophets amongst your nation, amongst your tribe and has created Kings amongst you and He has given you Virtue and Fadila over everyone else in the world. Meaning in their era, in their time. Of course, this Ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ, Allah very clearly states:

You are the best of all the nations. So this Ummah as it has the best of all the Prophets is the best of all nations. But in their respective time, they were the best of the people, selected by Allah. One of the Mufassireen, Zajjaj, he mentioned a very interesting point. He says that this was something very illogical that Firaun was doing, killing all the children. Everyone knows that. Why he did this was one of the astrologers and those who would prophesize events had told him that there will be a child that will be born in the Bani Israel and this child will grow up and will become the means of your destruction and will be the means of the end of your kingdom and he will take over your kingdom and you will lose your kingdom. So he was so scared about this. Just because of this one report, one prophecy of one of his ministers, then he passed the decision that every child that will be born, every male child that will be born to any family in the Bani Israel, the police were on the lookout, his soldiers were there in the streets. As soon as they found out any indication, they would go to the house and snatch the newborn baby and take it to its death. Such a heartless man he was. And he would keep the daughters alive for fulfilling their passions and their desires and for khidmah and service of their homes, to keep them as maids. And this continued on.

So the judge mentions that there are two possibilities: either this prophecy is true or is false. There are only two possibilities. If the prophecy is true, then that means it's going to happen no matter what. The child will be born. The child will become the means of the destruction of Firaun and he's going to lose. Because the prophecy is true and the prophecy will occur exactly as prophesied. That is one option. The other option is that it's false. And if it's false then nothing is going to happen. So either way you look at it, there's absolutely no point of killing all the boys. Because if the prophecy is true, you kill all the boys, he's going to escape somehow. And if the prophecy is false, then why are you killing all these innocent thousands of children? But he did not have logic. He was overcome by fear. Despite having all the authority in the land, the army, the government, he was still so afraid. He went ahead and did such a great tragedy he committed. But then Allah says that this is what's happening outwardly. But on the other hand, there is a hidden plan of Allah. And that plan is unfolding behind the scenes. No one knows that Allah is planning. Allah says:

We had already intended that we are going to favor and grant our favor, His favor, to those people who are treated as very weak and downtrodden, the downtrodden people, the suppressed people, the oppressed people. I had decided, Allah says, that I was going to favor them.

And I had decided I was going to make them the leaders.

And I was going to make them the inheritors. Just like a son inherits the wealth from his father intact, he receives it. And this is one of the strongest ways of milkiya, of gaining ownership. If you buy something, and there could be a problem and it has to be returned. But when you inherit something, then you do not return it back to the one who has gone already into the grave. It is a solid form of ownership. And it is your birthright. You inherit because you are the biological son of the deceased. No one can take that away from you. No one else can come and say that you are not the son, you don't deserve it, it is mine. So this is a solid form of ownership. Allah uses that strong word here:

We are going to make them the inheritors of everything that Firaun and his soldiers and his army and his group will leave behind. How did that happen? There was no civil war where possibly there could be some collateral damage to the palaces. Allah says that regarding:

Kunuz means treasures and maqam and kareem are beautiful places to live. In other places Allah says:

and fields and palaces and blessings:

that they were enjoyed:

means exactly in the same way they were preserved, they were transferred. The ownership was transferred to the Bani Israel. Pharaoh and his army and his court, they left their palaces. They left their gardens intact as is and went out to follow the Bani Israel. And we know they were drowned. And the keys were handed over to the Bani Israel without a single scratch. So Allah has a plan.

One is called the plan of Allah, is the Taqween of Allah, in his cone, the planning of Allah, in this world. And one is the Tashreeh of Allah, the commandments of Allah, that we are obligated to follow. So we are not mandated to interfere in the Taqween of Allah. Our responsibility is to make sure we are fulfilling the Tashreeh of Allah.

Many times what happens is that we look at the Taqween, what's happening in the world, and then we become very depressed, very anxious. What is happening? We are responsible to see: what am I doing? Am I doing everything right according to the order of Allah or not? Am I bringing the Sunnah of Rasulallah ﷺ into my life or not? To the best of my ability, am I implementing the Deen in my life, in my wife's life, in my kids' life, in my neighbors, in my community? Am I doing an effort, am I becoming an agent of positive change? That is what we are responsible for, to the best of our ability. The conditions of the nations, the rise and fall of nations, this is in the hand of Allah. Allah might decide to test different people for various reasons. He might be deciding to punish people. He might be deciding to elevate the status of people. He might be deciding to grant them greater rewards in the hereafter. And that is Allah knows best what is the Hikmah and Wisdom behind His Taqween. We are not responsible for all of the events in the world; we are responsible to make sure that we are doing the best of our ability.

So this is comforting for those who might be overcome by anxiety. Of course, the flip side of this is that we cannot resort to becoming completely complacent and have no concern whatsoever. That is the other extreme, where a person is not concerned about anything in the world, does not even have the level of concern to raise his hands and make دُعَاء for what is happening. We can, we are addressing one issue at a time. That is a separate issue. The reality of الْإِيمَان بَيْنَ الرَّجَاء وَالْخَوْف, the reality of faith is between hope and fear. So those who are just worried about fulfilling their desires and passions and they are not stressed about anything that is happening in the world, have no concern whatsoever, that is not a way of a believer as well. A person has to have concern and has to be making efforts. What I am addressing now are those who are totally overcome by depression and a level of anxiety that they are not being able to be productive in their lives, not able to lead a productive life with their family, with their kids, because they are always stressed about the conditions of the world. For them, they can rely on Allah. They should rely that Allah is in charge of everything.

Whenever Allah speaks about governments changing in the Quran, and authority in the land changing from one hand to another hand, He always mentions that I am in control. For example, in Surah Al-Rum, Allah says these are current events from the time of Rasulullah. There were two superpowers: there was the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire, and they were competing with one another. The Persian Empire was based in Iran, and Madain was their capital, the Sassanid Empire. And then the Roman Empire. When we say Roman Empire, it is actually the Eastern Roman Empire. The Roman Empire broke into the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire was based in Rome. The Eastern Roman Empire was based in Constantinople, Constantinia, which later on is now called Istanbul. So this Eastern Roman Empire. These two empires were fighting with each other. One is based in present day Turkey, and one is based in present day Iran. And the land in between them was Iraq and Sham, west of Iran, east of Turkey. And they were competing over this middle territory. And what happened was the Persians, who were fire worshipers and Mushrikeen. The Quraish, who were also Mushrikeen, used to root in their favor and would support them and would be happy with their success. And the believers in the early Meccan era used to be on the side of the Romans. They used to prefer the Romans because the Romans were believers in Allah, believers in divine revelation, and believers in the last day. Of course they committed a big mistake of believing Isa to be the son of Allah. So the Persians, they defeated the Romans and they routed them from Iraq and Sham, and they're literally coming near to the capital in Constantinia and had completely defeated. The Persians, they had kicked them out of the area in between. And Allah, contrary to all the conventional wisdom of the time and what everyone would understand as possible, prophesied something which was very strange. Allah says:

The Romans have been destroyed, have been vanquished, have been decimated in the nearby land just north of Arabia. But Allah says that look, despite how heavy the odds might seem, in a very short period of time they are once again going to recover all the lost territory and they are going to beat back the Persians. When is this going to happen?

In a few years. Bid'un means between three to nine. And then Allah says that okay, now the Persians, first the Persians are on top, now the Romans will come on top in the future. Allah says:

But in reality, all authority rests with Allah. Allah alone, before as well as afterwards. When the Persians are in charge, who is really in charge? Allah is in charge. When the Romans win, who is in charge? Allah is in charge. If the Republicans win, if the Democrats win, who is in charge of all affairs? Allah is in charge. To Allah belongs all affairs. Before the election, after the election. If the Democrat is there, if the Republican is there, this is all a drama. In reality, all authority lies with Allah.

And when this prophecy was made by Allah in the Quran, then Obey Ibn Khalaf, he scoffed at it. He said, this is absolutely ridiculous, this can never happen. And I'm ready to even make a bet of a hundred camels. Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu took up the offer. And he eventually had to pay that. When did this happen? On the same day of the battle of Badr. It was a coincidence. Allah ta'ala knows there's no coincidences. Allah had decreed such that the day the believers, the believers of Medina, defeated the Mushrikeen of Mecca in the battle of Badr, on the same day the Romans, they vanquished the Persians. Allah ta'ala says:

and on that day the believers will be very very happy with the help of Allah. Allah ta'ala says:

it is up to him. He will help whoever he wishes. So Allah helped the believers and they defeated the Mushrikeen. And the same day the news arrived that the Romans had defeated the Persians. Then Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu got the hundred camels from Ubaid bin Khalaf and he distributed that in Sadaqah. He did not enjoy that himself as winning a bet, as you would perhaps, but rather he gave that all in Sadaqah. He was a Siddiq of this Ummah. Allah also says in the Quran, ala lisani Musa alayhi salam, as Musa alayhi salam is addressing his people:

This earth belongs to Allah. He will grant authority over this earth to whom he wishes from amongst his slaves.

Yurithuha man yashaa min ibadi, means he will grant authority over this earth to whom he wishes from amongst his slaves. Meaning it is not a requirement from Allah that only the most righteous ones will receive authority over this earth, only those who have taqwa will have authority on the earth. No, it's open, it's general. Man yashaa, whoever he wishes, for whatever reasons he has in his infinite wisdom, he will grant authority over this earth to whom he wishes. Sometimes good and just people, sometimes oppressive people. He knows why. Is this the same thing with regards to the Hereafter? No, when it comes to the Hereafter, there's a difference, and that is mentioned right after that:

And the good final ending of course is reserved for the muttaqeen. You see the difference. One is authority over this earth: Yurithuha man yashaa min ibadi, he will grant authority over this earth to whom he wishes from amongst his slaves. Wal aqibatu lil muttaqeen. The beautiful ending is reserved for the muttaqeen. It belongs only to those who have taqwa in Allah. Allah ta'ala says, we decided to give authority to the Bani Israel in the earth. And we wanted Fir'aun and Haman and his armies that they are going to see and witness with their own eyes that which was their greatest fear, that they will be destroyed.

How did this happen? The time has now ended. We do not have time to continue with this passage. But it's very beautiful. The most beautiful part of it is still to come. But I will summarize it within one minute inshallah and conclude. Is that Allah could have made it happen in any other way. But Allah wanted to show his actual power and wanted to show Fir'aun that no matter how much he is plotting, he cannot go against the plan of Allah. The plan of Allah is supreme.

So this killing continued of the boys. But it became so worse and so bad and disastrous for the economy as the slave labor that they had for building their projects was diminishing. And finally the advisors told Fir'aun, you cannot keep up this killing of the boys. We need more labor for our projects. So he was stuck now. What should he do? So then he said okay, if I cannot kill all of them, I'll try my chances. One year I'll kill the boys and one year I'll let them live. At least it's better than nothing from his perspective. So he started killing the boys one year and letting them live one year.

Allah could very easily have allowed Musa alayhi salam to be born in the year when the kids are not being killed. But Allah ta'ala wanted to show his power. He allowed Harun alayhi salam, who actually happens to be the older brother of Musa alayhi salam, to be born in the year when the boys were not being killed. So Harun alayhi salam was born in that year safely, soundly was born. And he was raised, no problem. No one came to take him and snatch him. But Musa alayhi salam was born in the year when the children were being killed, taken from the arms of their mothers. Allah ta'ala says, and we sent the revelation to the mother of Musa alayhi salam:

Continue to suckle your baby. When you are afraid about him. When you see the soldiers are knocking on the door, breaking it down, then do something which is the most unreasonable thing ever imaginable, most illogical thing. But this is an order from Allah. And this is a matter of trust. Do you trust in the order of Allah? When it makes sense, you follow the order of Allah. When it does not make sense, you follow the order of Allah. She was so closely attached to her baby, a suckling baby. And this is the closest attachment between any two humans, physically possible, is the attachment between a mother who is suckling her infant, between the mother and the infant. Every two hours she is feeding that baby. She is so closely attached. What is the order? Throw him in the water. Throw him in the river. Throw this defenseless baby in the water. And then on top of that, don't be afraid. What is going to happen to him? How can you not be afraid? How difficult is this command?

And do not grieve. Because I am promising you, I will return this baby back to you. And on top of it, bonus, is that I will make him a prophet as well. سُبْحَانَ اللهِ. So Musa a.s. mother fulfilled this order of Allah. She passed this test. She told the sister of Musa a.s. to follow the baby. And she went and she saw that the baby is going right into the palace, into the center of the evil, into the palace of Firaun. The wife of Firaun, she falls in love with the baby. She says to Firaun, this is the coolness of my eyes and your eyes. Do not kill him. Then they try to suckle the baby. No, the baby is not drinking the milk of anyone. Allah had made the milk of all the women haram for him. And then Musa a.s. says, shall I not inform you of a beautiful good home? There is a lady who can suckle him. And then they bring the mother of Musa a.s. And he accepts the milk of his own mother. And the queen says, stay here with us. And she says no, I have a husband, I have a duty. I have to go back home. She begs her to stay. She says no, I cannot. Now she has the leverage. And then she says okay, take all these gifts. Take all these presents. And take all this monthly stipend and money and gold coins and take care of the baby. But return him after he passes the age of suckling. Allah a.s. says in conclusion:

So we return the baby back to the mother. How long was she separated? Only a few minutes. But you have to take that leap of faith. When the order of Allah a.s. comes, don't look at ifs and buts and the circumstances. If you take that leap of faith, follow through with the order of Allah a.s., no matter how difficult outwardly it might seem, then success is yours. That is what Allah a.s. is saying. That is a lesson for us. This is the last ayah we will cover today. That Allah a.s. says, we return the baby back to his mother:

So her eyes will be cool with seeing the baby in her arms, and she will not have any grief. Relief for her and relief of her grief. And so that she can realize:

That the promise of Allah is the truth. The promise of Allah is the truth. The promise of Allah extending towards us is also the truth. The promise. All the promises of Allah. Allah does not break any of his promises. The promise of Allah is the truth. But sad reality is still many do not understand. Many do not believe. May Allah not make us among those many. May Allah make us among the few who believe in his promises and fulfill his orders and see success coming from Allah a.s. in all conditions. Perform sunnah inshallah.