Sh.Waleed Basyouni

The Quran: A Book of Light, Guidance, and Life

My brothers and sisters, Al-Qur'ān is the book that Allah has sent to us. And Al-Qur'ān is Allah's speech, His words. He sent it for us so we accept it, believe in it, follow it.

He sent it to Muhammad ﷺ and it was revealed to us and saved. And it will be saved until the end of days. And Allah has promised that it will be saved and it will not be lost.

So we always have that reference to it. And not only that He saved it, He saved with it what will explain it, which is sunnat al-Nabi ﷺ. This book — the book that brought life to the hearts and to the souls after death.

In this verse Allah described Al-Qur'ān with an amazing description. He said it's like a soul. And without a soul the body is dead. And without Al-Qur'ān's guidance and Al-Qur'ān being part of your life — an integral, important part of your life — your life is meaningless. It's like a body without a soul. And He said in this book, we have made it light; without it you are in darkness. Guidance; without it you are confused.

Allah said: there have come to you from your Lord a light and a clear book. Allah guides through it whoever is seeking the straight path, whoever is seeking the way to Jannah. So it will guide them from darknesses to light by the will of Allah. It will guide you to the straight path.

This book is a guidance. And that theme keeps repeating again and again and again. And Ibn Abbas was reported to have said about this book:

(Reported by al-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2906; and related narrations in Musnad Ahmad)

It has the information about what happened in the past. As you know, history rhymes. So learning from the past is one of the best ways to prepare for the future. The Qur'an doesn't only give you feedback about what happened. The Qur'an gives you something very useful — something well known to people in business — it's called feed forward. Because there are two types of information you can relay to a person: you give him feedback about something that happened, and feed forward about something that will happen in the future. Like I tell you, "Hey, by the way, if you go from this route, there is a tree ahead of you." I'm telling you about what you're going to meet, what you're going to face. And the Qur'an gives you all of that feed forward.

Also:

(Reported by al-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2906)

It's a book that if you use it as a guidance, you will be guided. As a reference, you will judge between people with justice. And if you speak accordingly — according to the book of Allah — you will find you are always speaking the truth.

Allah said:

"We have sent down to you" — and that, by the way, applies to all of us. Not only to Muhammad ﷺ and the companions. It was sent to all of us. What does He say?

Meaning: a book that will elevate your status, that will make you mentioned, that will make you remembered. It is a dhikr — and dhikr is only for something that is honorable, something that is high, something that is elevated. Shifa — it is a healing.

Why Is the Qur'an Not Impacting Us the Way It Should?

I can go on and keep sharing all these descriptions. But the question is: why don't we see the impact of that book on our life the way it was described? On us as individuals, on our homes, on our families, on our communities, on our ummah. Why does the ummah of Muhammad ﷺ live in darkness?

I'm happy — and I was happy — for the winning of Morocco over Spain in the game. I celebrated that. But that never let me forget that as Moroccans so proud, and Muslims and North Africans proud of being victorious over a soccer game, there are still hundreds of Moroccans and North Africans and Africans who risk their lives every day just to go live any type of life in Spain or in Europe. There's no victory there. Why is the ummah so weak? Why is the ummah so divided? It's a question that is required from us to think about.

I read the Qur'an every day. We read the Qur'an every day. We have so many huffādh — in a country like Bangladesh there are over a million hāfidh of Qur'an. In Senegal, almost the same number. In Pakistan, in Egypt, Indonesia, you name it. Beautiful voices. Why is the Qur'an not impacting and changing us the way it changed the companions of Muhammad ﷺ?

Simply because of the way they received Al-Qur'ān. The way they were receptive to it. The way they dealt with the Qur'an. The way they understood what the Qur'an means. There is a huge difference between them and the way we are dealing with it today.

The Story of the Antibiotic

A friend of mine told me this true story. It might seem funny, but it's not really funny because it represents a sad reality. He said his uncle is a doctor in southern Egypt, and he had a patient with an ear infection. So he gave him medicine — an antibiotic in capsule form — and said, "Take this twice a day and I'll see you in a week." The next day, for whatever reason, they called the house. The patient said, "My ears are driving me crazy. It's getting worse." It seemed impossible; the antibiotic should work. When the doctor came to see him two days later, the ear was inflamed and there was all this strange matter inside.

What had happened? This man — a farmer who didn't know much — had taken the capsules, opened them, and started stuffing the powder into his ear. He thought, "This is a capsule for ear infection, so I should put it inside my ear." So it was all stuffed with antibiotic. The doctor cleaned it up and said, "No, no — I'm sorry I didn't explain this to you, but you need to swallow it."

That's a true story. The antibiotic didn't work on the infection because it was used in the wrong way. The antibiotic works. Al-Qur'ān works. But if you stuff it inside your ear, it's not going to work.

If the ultimate goal of Muslims is just to graduate Huffādh al-Qur'ān — people who memorize the Qur'an, people who have beautiful voices when reciting the Qur'an — that alone is not going to work. That has zero impact on changing people. The Qur'an has impact when you understand it, when you live it, when you apply it.

The Example of Abdullah ibn Umar

When you see somebody like Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) — it took him 8 years to memorize Surah al-Baqarah. Not because he was slow. Why? He said, "There are so many verses in this surah that I need to practice. I do not pass 10 verses until I understand them fully and know how to practice them." That is the difference.

Was the Qur'an sufficient for them? It's amazing. Labīd — one of the most famous poets in Arabia, known for shi'r al-hikmah (poetry of wisdom). When he heard Allah say:

"Is it not sufficient for them that We have sent down to you the Book which is recited to them?" — Labīd stopped composing poetry altogether. So Umar one day said to him, "You haven't recited any poetry lately — tell me one of your poems." And do you know what he did? He recited Surah al-Baqarah for him. He said: "I don't do poetry anymore."

When the Qur'an holds that high a level in our hearts — it's not just about the voice, it's not just about the recitation as a performance. Today it has become more like singing than reciting. Yes, it is good to recite the Qur'an in a beautiful voice. We should memorize the Qur'an. But that should not be all there is.

Don't worry — the one thing that Allah promised He will take care of is saving the Qur'an. And you are contributing to that through memorization, which is good. But there is a higher level than that: it is to reflect.

Allah says He sent down this book so you can reflect upon these verses — so you can live it, relate to it, apply it in your life. So make sure, as we go through our lives today, that when we read the Qur'an, the Qur'an truly moves us. Make us people who really listen to what Allah says and apply it — as it did for the companions.

A Word on Political and Moral Vigilance

My dear brothers and sisters, it is not a usual thing for me to comment on political issues in khutbas, even though I do believe it is important. But I see how important it is for us to be very vigilant and very aware of how politics can be very misguiding. All these terms that are ambiguous can be used to mislead people — to promote what is evil, to promote what is immoral, to promote things that should not be promoted, and to strip things from their real values.

The passing of legislation — signing into law what is called the "Respect for Marriage Act" — has nothing to do with respecting marriage. That is destroying marriage. It is so sad to see how our society — and we are part of this society whether we like it or not — is heading in this direction. You are not going to only enjoy the good things in society. You experience the good and the bad. You have a voice. You have an impact to make. You have principles to stand for.

As this issue keeps coming and has become central to our politics today — do you know what dictatorship looks like? You know when you have a dictator in your country? When there is an individual or a group of people that you cannot speak about. You open your voice and you lose your job. You lose your freedom. That's what dictatorship is. Anytime there is a society where an individual or a group is untouchable — you can't discuss them, you can't criticize them — and I'm not talking about being disrespectful, being harmful to people. No. I'm talking about objecting, challenging.

And unfortunately, that is being empowered by the very people who call for freedom of speech, who are anti-hate speech — the same people who have adopted cancel culture and drawn red lines you cannot cross. SubhanAllah, the more I see how things are going today, the more I say alhamdulillah for the blessing of Islam. Because Islam teaches us where the real lines are — how to talk, what to talk about, what to do.

So make sure that you, as Muslims, do not cross these lines. Don't be complicit about it. Make sure that you speak up. Do not accept changes in principle that will destroy all of us.

Remember what the Prophet ﷺ said — we are like passengers on a ship. Some are on the upper deck, some are on the lower deck. The people on the lower deck said, "Let me make a hole so I can access water easily." If you let them do that, the whole ship will sink.

There will be another time, inshallah, to speak about this topic in more depth, but it is something that should not go unnoticed by us.

"Sheikh, they're not going to touch the freedom of religion." I've seen other countries in Europe — how things change, how people are impacted. I've seen some Muslims who have been impacted by that. I've seen a so-called imam call himself gay. I've seen people come to rallies wearing a rainbow-colored kufi. A kufi. I've seen the impact of it. I've seen young Muslims saying to me, "So what? It's not like we're asking people to make it an illegal act." I don't know anyone calling for that. We are saying: whatever you want to do in your personal life, do it. Who cares? I don't care about what you do in your personal life. But don't make it obligatory on me. Don't change the structure of my language for you. Don't change science and biology for you. Don't make our children confused about the most basic and simple things.

Dumbing people down is not good for society. We make fun of some countries across the ocean for how they have abandoned common sense in their laws and ideas. How can people accept this kind of nonsense? Some of the most nonsensical things are happening in our days.

May Allah protect all of us. May Allah protect us and protect the country where we are living, and guide us to the straight path. May Allah heal the sick, forgive those who have passed away, and raise our level in Jannah.