Deen WITH Dunya (It's Not One or the Other) | Khutbah By Nouman Ali Khan

Opening Du'a

We believe in Allah and rely on it. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our actions.

Whoever Allah guides, there is no misguidance for him, and whoever He misguides, there is no guidance for him. We bear witness that there is no god but Allah. He is alone and has no partner.

We bear witness that Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger. Allah sent him with guidance and the religion of truth so that he may manifest it to the whole religion. And Allah is sufficient as a witness.

The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, submitted to Allah many times. The Hadith is the book of Allah. And the best guide is the guide of Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

And the worst of all things are its events. And every event is an innovation, and every innovation is a misguidance. And every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Central Ayah: Surah Al-A'raf 7:32

Allah Almighty said in His Noble Book after I said, I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan:

Say, "Who has forbidden the adornment of Allah, which He has brought forth for His servants and the good things from the provision?" Say, "It is for those who believe in the life of this world exclusively on the Day of Resurrection." Thus do We detail the verses for a people who know.

O Allah, make us of those who know. My Lord, open my heart and ease my affair. And untie the knot from my tongue, so that my speech may be understood. O Allah, make us steadfast when we die. There is no god but Allah. O Allah, make us of those who believe and do righteous deeds. And endow us with the truth and endow us with patience. Ameen, O Lord of the worlds.

And for those of you who would like to look this up after the khutbah is done, this is the 32nd ayah, ayah number 32 of Surah Al-A'raf.

Context: After the Story of Adam (peace be upon him)

Before I talk about this ayah, just something about where this ayah is placed. Allah talked about this concept that He's teaching us in this ayah, after describing the story of Adam عليه السلام. One of the features of the Quran is Allah will tell us a story in the Quran. The story itself is full of many lessons. And then at the end of that, there's a follow-up conversation that gives us some key, very important takeaways that you must remember. So it's like concluding commentary after the story. So even though the story itself had many lessons, there's also this concluding remarks. And so this ayah is part of the concluding remarks from the story of Adam عليه السلام. The takeaways that we're supposed to carry with us forever.

The Christian Interpretation vs. The Quranic View

Briefly I'll mention, something I've mentioned many times before, that the story of Adam عليه السلام is not exclusive to the Muslims. It's at the center of the Jewish religion. It's also at the center of the Christian religion. The Bible, the Old Testament, starts in the Book of Genesis with the creation story, the story of Adam عليه السلام. Just like in the Quran, the first story mentioned in the order of the Mushaf is the story of Adam عليه السلام in Surah Al-Baqarah.

But their version of the story, particularly the Christian version of the story, the way they interpret the story, is very different. And their concept, essentially, is that because Adam عليه السلام made a mistake, and because Adam عليه السلام ate from the tree, or Hawa ate from the tree, because of that, Allah was very angry with both of them, and He cursed them and the devil. And as a punishment, He sent them to this world. This is all coming from the Bible. And now, the rest of us are stuck here as part of that punishment. So the earth is a cursed existence, and we are here because of the mistake of our father, Adam عليه السلام. And we all have to pay the price for his mistake. His was the first sin, and all of us are born in original sin. Meaning we're carrying over that sin from him, and it's being passed down. So before you even did anything, you're already sinful. And you're already paying a price. This is the Christian concept of what happened with the beginning of creation.

The Quran tells the same story, but tells a very different story. The Quran is not, in fact, the Quran is going to describe, and the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is going to describe, that every human being is born on fitrah. They're not born sinful, they're born innocent. They're born on the fitrah that Allah Himself designed. Human beings are innocent. So you're not born with the burden of sin on you already. You're not born condemned.

And one of the reasons the Christians did this, by the way, is because if you're cursed, and you're already drowned in sin, there's nothing you can do about it, you need someone to help you out. Because you can't help yourself. Well, thankfully, we have Jesus to take care of all of your sins. Because without Jesus, you were drowning anyway. So they made humanity drowned in sin, drowned in darkness, hopeless, so that the only hope left would be Jesus. That was the whole idea. That's why they interpreted it the way that they interpreted it.

The Quran's Beautiful Description of This World

But the Quran is offering a very different picture, and this has very important consequences. One of those consequences is, the Quran does not describe this world as a curse. The Quran does not describe this life that you and I are living as a punishment. Over and over again in the Quran, Allah will describe this world as a place that Allah made beautiful, where He gave us amazing food.

Like Surah Al-Rahman, many other places.

Do you see what you grow and crop? Look at the grass your animals eat, look at the animals you eat, look at the different kinds of meats you eat, look at the seafood that you consume, look at the clouds, look at the mountains, look at the trees. The Quran is constantly describing how beautiful this world is.

This World as a Preview of Jannah

In fact, when Allah describes Jannah in the Quran, Heaven in the Quran, then He uses the language that we only know, because we don't know what Jannah looks like. No one knows actually what Jannah looks like. But Allah will describe trees in Jannah, and Allah will describe rivers in Jannah, and Allah will describe beautiful homes in Jannah. How would you even know what a tree, or a river, or a home is, if you didn't have some idea of it? Where do you get that idea? You get that idea in this world.

And when people make it to Jannah, and they're given fruit, وَأُتُوا بِهِ مُتَشَابِهًا they look at the fruit and they say, هَٰذَا الَّذِي رُزِقْنَا مِن قَبْلُ we used to get the same fruit back in this world. So Allah is saying, even though Jannah is beyond our imagination, some of it is going to look familiar. There's going to be homes, there's going to be gardens, there's going to be food.

There's going to be barbecued, grilled meat of birds, roast duck, chicken, some kind of Jannah chicken. And Allah describes it in the Quran, why would He describe, and how would we know what that is if we didn't have some idea of it in this world?

So instead of describing this world as a prison, and a curse, and a dark place, a hopeless place, Allah is describing this place almost as a preview of the next world. If you can imagine the beauty of this world, then you should only wonder how much more amazing Jannah is going to be. This is the mindset that Allah projected in the Quran, very different from how the Christians looked at this world. Very, very different.

Foreign Influence in Muslim Thinking

But unfortunately, over the centuries, Muslims, as we became intellectually, and in our thoughts, in our remembrance, we became distant from the Quran, we started developing ideas about this world, Muslims started thinking about this world, in ways that are more similar to Christians. Ya Akhi, this dunya is nothing. This dunya is just a place of fitna, and this dunya is a place where just, we're just going to have to go through one difficulty after another, there's nothing good that can happen, we just have to wait for the akhira. At least we're gonna get our reward in the akhira. I just wanna be a shaheed, so I can just leave this place. Because this place is just trouble.

Now this idea, even though Muslims are saying it, the root idea is not coming from the Quran. The root of that idea is actually coming from another society, another religion, not ours. So we have to detox, we have to undo, some of the things that we've developed, even though we think we're sounding Islamic when we say these things. This dunya is nothing. Really? This dunya is nothing? Why are so many ayat describing the beauty of this dunya? Are the ayat of the Quran talking about nothing?

Your parents are valuable, are your parents not part of this dunya? The rules of Allah that you have to apply, the ahkam of Allah that you have to apply, the zakat that you have to give, the halal money you have to earn, all of the revelations that came talking about matters of this dunya, how can you just say this dunya is nothing? If this dunya is nothing, why is the word of Allah dedicated to matters of this dunya? How can you reconcile both of those things?

So we stopped thoughtfully engaging, we stopped really thinking about what Allah is saying. And that became a problem. That became a problem. And the only way out of that mess is the ummah has to wake up, and really consciously start contemplating and studying and thinking about the word of Allah again, so we can remove what I can only call foreign influence. We have to remove foreign influence from our thinking.

The Earth: A Gift, Not a Curse

And the ayah I chose today, ayah number 32, is part of that. Because it was the same story, the story of Adam عليه السلام, was used to tell the world that this world is a curse. And Allah is using the same story, in fact, right before he told this story. Again, I'm reminding you, in the Bible, according to the Bible, we're on the earth because we're being punished.

In the Quran, before Allah even told the story of Adam عليه السلام in Surah Al-A'raf, in Makki Surah, He said:

He said, we put you, we gave you stability in the world, and we gave you everything you need to live a good life, how little you show gratitude. He said that, and then he told the story. Then he told the story of Adam. What does that tell you? Does that sound like he's describing a curse, or a prison, or a damned place, or is he describing a place that when you live there, and you have everything you need to live, you should be grateful. Who's gonna be grateful living in a prison? These cell bars are amazing. The darkness inside this dungeon is... I love it. The lack of air conditioning, super good.

Breaking Down the Ayah: The Beauty of Allah

And at the end of the story, listen to this carefully. This is the word of Allah. وَكَلِمَةُ اللَّهِ هِيَ الْعُلْيَا He says:

Tell them, declare, make an announcement. Who dares to make, who dares to prohibit, who dares to make haram, who dares to condemn the beautiful things that Allah made, the beauty that Allah created, the beauty of Allah Himself.

Allah didn't say, زِينَةَ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ, زِينَةَ خَلْقِ اللَّهِ, فَحَذَفَ لَفْظَ الْخَلْقِ — He didn't mention the word خَلْق, he said زِينَةَ اللَّهِ.

So I'm translating, who dares to prohibit the beauty of what Allah created, or the beauty of Allah's creation. But the word creation is not mentioned in the ayah. What does the ayah say? Who dares to make haram, the beauty of Allah. Not the beauty of Allah's creation, but the beauty of Allah.

There's a very powerful statement in the Quran, by removing the word خَلْق, it's as if Allah is saying, when you see something beautiful in this world, when you see a beautiful baby in this world, when you see a beautiful sky in this world, when you see the ocean in this world, when you see beautiful gift, beautiful rizq in this world, when you see beautiful business opportunity in this world, all of the things that make this life beautiful, are actually a reminder of how beautiful Allah Himself is. It's زِينَةَ اللَّهِ. It's not even زِينَةَ مَخْلُوقِ اللَّهِ. That just becomes a means to the beauty of Allah Himself.

These Blessings Are For Believers

This beauty that Allah owns, that He brought out for His slaves. لِعِبَادِهِ, for His servants.

Tell them, these beautiful things that Allah made, they were made for those who believe in this life. They were made for those who believe in this life. Very powerful statement.

Now Allah is saying, this world is filled with beautiful things, materially beautiful things, wealth, health, blessings, good clothes, good food, good rizq, security, beautiful climate, all the things that make this life beautiful. All of those things Allah says, I made them for believers to enjoy. I made them for believers.

But then you look around and you see that non-believers enjoy it, and sometimes they enjoy it a lot more than you do. And so if this ayah is telling us, the ayah is making it clear, they happen to enjoy it because Allah allows it, but it was actually originally designed for believers. The beautiful things of this world were designed for believers, and then by extension, other non-believers happen to get the benefit of it.

It's as if had it not been for believers, Allah would not have made this world beautiful. Can you imagine how grateful you and I should be that we are believers, and how special we should feel that everything beautiful in this world is actually designed for us, for believers, for His slaves. So He says, لِعِبَادِهِ قُلْ هِيَ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا.

Then He says, خَالِصَةً يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ — And these beautiful things that Allah made, it's not just limited to this life, there's another beauty coming in the next life, on the day of resurrection, and then it will be only for believers. خَالِصَةً يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ.

The False Dichotomy: Deen OR Dunya

What does this ayah teach us? This ayah teaches us that this world, instead of being afraid of it, instead of being afraid of success, being afraid of your career, I see young people sometimes, they wanna get closer to their deen, and they're studying engineering, and they're like, Ustadh, I'm studying engineering, it's a lot of dunya, it's gonna take me away from my deen. I just wanna become closer to Allah, and I don't wanna study engineering, because it'll make me a person of dunya, and I'll no longer be a person of deen.

This question, behind this question is a thought process, and that thought process is basically secularism. Secularism means you separate this world, and everything you do in this life, from your religious life. Your religion belongs somewhere else, everything else in your life belongs somewhere else.

And when someone comes sincerely, looking to protect their religion and says, I don't wanna study engineering, or finance, or app development, or I don't wanna become a specialist in AI, or whatever else, I don't wanna do that, because it's too much dunya. It's too much dunya. I don't wanna corrupt my deen.

Why did Allah bring out all of these means to pursue rizq? You know, these are ways by which people make money now. What was the old ways in which people made money? People sometimes, they didn't have enough job opportunities, enough business opportunities where they live. So they would leave home, they would get on a ship, risk their life and travel the ocean, they could drown in the middle of sea, to go find a new land, to find new opportunity.

It's a miraculous sign from Allah that we boarded people onto ships that are loaded. People boarded their children onto boarded ships so they can go find a better life. This is an ayah of Allah we should be grateful for. Economic activity of the world. Sea travel is responsible for the majority of human activity, human business activity on earth now. Allah says that's one of His gifts.

When Does Dunya Become Fitna?

But the Christianized mindset, the Catholicized mindset says, no, no, no, trade, business, worldly, this is all just lust and temptation and worldly things, this is dunya, it's a fitna. You know when it becomes a fitna? When you don't see those things and instead of making you grateful it makes you arrogant. That's when it's fitna.

Instead of that dunya that you're earning and instead of these good things that you're enjoying, instead of those good things making you more grateful, more mindful, more purposeful, more capable of doing more good, instead of doing that you become more absorbed inside of yourself. That's when it's fitna.

Jumu'ah: Balancing Deen and Dunya

Even this idea that it's gonna take you away from Allah. Let me help you with that concept. If I pursue a good career, a higher education, it's gonna take me away from Allah. Muslims never thought like this in their history. This wasn't an original Muslim kind of thinking.

The most spiritual day of the week is Jumu'ah. We get here, we leave business, everything else, we come here, pursuing the favor of Allah, pursuing the pleasure of Allah. You're sitting here, you left your job, you left your university, you left your business meeting, and you're sitting here only for the sake of Allah, for no other reason, no other event. Every other event you have to have marketing and an announcement and text messages and reminders. Where's the announcements for Friday? It's the most attended event. It's the biggest convention every Friday and everybody just shows up. Why? Because Allah says, leave the world behind.

But what does He say in the Quran about even the Friday prayer?

When the prayer is done, go, spread out everywhere in the world, and seek the favor of Allah. Go make money. Go get a better education. Learn a new skill. That is a favor of Allah. And then He says, and while you're doing that, while you're pursuing your business, while you're pursuing your education, while you're studying for your exam, وَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا — remember Allah a lot.

As if to say, you doing business does not take you away from the dhikr of Allah. Those two things have to go together. And the purpose of Jumu'ah is that you get recharge, so you can do both of those things correctly. It's not one or the other. It's not deen or dunya. It's deen with dunya.

The Du'a of Hajj

That's why even in the most spiritual event in the believer's life, when they get to go make hajj, what do they say every time they finish a tawaf?

We have to carry both. It's not one or the other. That's the beautiful balance of this religion.

He says, قُلْ هِيَ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا خَالِصَةً يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ — And so, كَذَٰلِكَ نُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ — And Allah says, this is how we explain the ayat for people who want to know.

The Condition for Allah's Blessings

Look at the ending of this ayah. Allah says, we're explaining this for people who are trying to know, trying to find out. Which means there's a lot of people who don't make any effort to try to find out. And when they don't make an effort to find out, then they either become people of this dunya or the people who reject dunya. They fall in one extreme or the other. And the only people who find the balance are the people who are trying to find out what does Allah want? Does Allah want a balance from me or not? And how do you find that balance? كَذَٰلِكَ نُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ.

Look at what Allah says. This is again in Surah Al-A'raf and I'll leave you with this thought. This is ayah number 96.

If the people of different cities and towns, the people of the towns, even if they just believed and developed an awareness of Allah, they developed taqwa, لَفَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَرَكَاتٍ مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ — we would have opened up the blessings of the skies and the earth for them.

Another place in the Quran, he talks about the Jews and the Christians and says:

If they only lived by the Torah and the Injil, if they applied their book, they would have eaten, they would have consumed from above them and below their feet. They would have been wealthy from the sky and wealthy from the earth.

Allah is not just saying, your blessings will come in the next life. You will get a good life here too. You can get a good life here too if you find that balance. And that's what makes you a grateful believer.

The Example of the Prophet ﷺ

Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم is more spiritual than anyone else. You know, the Catholics, interestingly, they said, everything in this world is a fitna. The Christians said, everything in this world is temptation. It takes you away from God. So the farther you get away from this world, the closer you will get to God. That was their idea.

So that's why they built these giant monasteries, and they became monks, and they never got married because marriage is temptation, so we're not gonna get married. They only ate one kind of food, because if you eat too much kind of food, you'll become gluttonous and you'll become a person of this world. They wore uncomfortable clothes to remind themselves, I'm not here to be comfortable. This world is about discomfort. They developed rituals like stigmata, where they would beat themselves, because you're not here to... you're here for suffering. Jesus suffered, so you have to suffer. Suffering, suffering, deprivation, deprivation. This was their religion.

Allah says, فَمَا رَعَوْهَا حَقَّ رِعَايَتِهَا — they were not able to live up to the standard they created. They created this artificial spiritual standard, and they were not able to live up to it.

Did our Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم have favorite foods that he enjoyed? Did our Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم get married more than any other believer? Did our Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم enjoy good clothes? Enjoy good gifts? There's no one more spiritual than Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. And yet, you see that he's living what the Christians would consider a non-spiritual approach. They would think it's non-spiritual. But the Quran has a... the prophets were given mizan, they were given a balance. We live the best of this life and the best of the next life, all together. We carry deen and dunya together. That is what Allah has taught us in these ayahs.

The Importance of Having a Mission

I'll leave you with this. One thing I meant to share in this khutbah, I didn't get to. There are people that say that if you get involved in this dunya, you're gonna get distracted. You're gonna get distracted. Let me just make a quick comment about that.

If you have an exam in five hours, then as soon as the salah is done, what are you gonna be doing as a student? You're gonna be studying for that exam. You're not gonna be distracted. You're not gonna be like, hey, let me just... maybe 45 minutes more on Roblox before I go back to... No, no, you're gonna study, because you have an exam.

If you have a business meeting, you have to prepare for it. If you have a job interview, you have to prepare for it. If you have a deadline, you have to complete. When you have a goal in front of you, you don't get distracted. You go and you drop everything else, even lunch, you're like, I'll have lunch later, I need to finish this job. Oh, my friend's calling, I'll send him the voicemail, I'll talk to my friend later, I need to finish this meeting. Isn't that what happens?

When you have a serious task in front of you, when you have a mission in front of you, then other things that are less important, go back.

The Mission-Focused Sahaba

The original teachings of Islam were, the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم أجمعين were on a mission with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. They were on a mission, and every part of that mission had a deadline. There's Badr, there's Uhud, there's Ahzab, before that there's Hijrah, there's Dawah, there's all these missions, many missions in the Prophet's life صلى الله عليه وسلم. And every one of those missions requires focus. And when you're focused on a mission, you don't have time for what? Distractions.

So these ayat were actually talking about being mission-focused. And even when an athlete is mission-focused, when a student is mission-focused, when an employee is mission-focused, then they don't get distracted by less important things. But in the absence of a mission, when there's no mission, and you say, well, I don't want to do anything, everything else is a distraction. No, the concept of distraction doesn't even make sense when you don't have a mission in front of you. It doesn't even make sense. Distraction from what? From what?

A Call to the Youth: Set Your Objectives

So a message to the younger audiences here in particular, is you need to identify a mission in your life. You need to have clear goals and objectives in your life. Objectives for your deen, objectives for your dunya, both. You need to have educational objectives, you need to have career objectives, you need to have business objectives, you need to have health objectives, you need to have Quran objectives, you need to have tajweed objectives, you need to have objectives. And you have to set deadlines for those objectives. And when you set those objectives, then don't let distractions get in your way. That's what was actually being talked about.

When you live a life without objectives, without purpose, without clear deadlines, without putting yourself, nobody can discipline you except you. You have to discipline yourself. No police comes and makes you pray dhuhr and then asr and then maghrib and isha. You have to discipline yourself. The entire religion is self-discipline. So when you have that, then you will not get distracted.

Closing Du'a

May Allah عز و جل make us the generation and make our youth the generation actually that brings back a sense of purpose to this ummah and restores a correct, a balanced understanding of our powerful, beautiful religion, and that they are able to walk the best of this life and the best of their preparation for the next life together.

May Allah عز و جل make us the generation that brings back a sense of purpose to this ummah and restores a correct understanding, and that they are able to walk the best of their preparation for the next life together.