Turning Back to Allah عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

Khutbah Opening

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ تَعَالَى نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ

No Escape from Allah Except to Allah

One of the highest levels of iman and one of the greatest ways in which to attain the full meaning and the complete meaning of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ is when the Muslim knows that they must completely submit all of their affairs to Allah, rely upon Allah, trust in Allah alone, have certainty in the statements of Allah and in His promises alone. It is when a person realizes that in this dunya there is no escape from Allah except to Allah. There is no protection from the wrath of Allah or the anger of Allah or the punishment of Allah except by turning back to Allah, to His mercy and to His pleasure and to that which He loves.

This concept of fleeing from Allah turning to Allah — it is a concept that is repeated in the Quran and the Sunnah, and it is a principle that was understood by all of the Prophets of Allah and by those who follow them, such as the companions of our Prophet ﷺ. It is something which is important because of the circumstances that we are all going through — whether individually, whether within our family life, or whether as an ummah — the oppression and the difficulties that we see around us. When a person realizes that everything that happens is by the decree of Allah and there is no escape from that which Allah has decreed except by turning back to Allah, it is one of the most powerful principles that the believer can have and apply.

The Story of Ka'b ibn Malik and the Three Companions

In the Quran, in Surah At-Tawbah, Allah gives us an example of this in the Battle of Tabuk — in the story of those three companions that didn't participate in the Battle of Tabuk: Ka'b ibn Malik and his two companions Hilal ibn Umayyah and Murarah ibn Rabi', رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ. These three companions, when the Prophet ﷺ left for Tabuk, they had no valid excuse for staying behind, but yet they stayed behind. It is a long story and a long narration and it has many lessons and benefits. But when Allah summarizes the story in the Quran, He says concerning these three that when the earth became restricted for them — when they found that there was nowhere that they could go — because for 50 nights the Prophet ﷺ commanded that they should be boycotted: no one spoke to them, no one gave to them salams, even when they came to the masjid to pray no one would greet them. To the extent that after 40 of those 50 nights, the Prophet ﷺ even commanded their families, their wives, that they should stay away from their husbands.

50 nights. Ka'b ibn Malik said that he went to the house of the closest of people to him — his cousin Abu Qatada, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ — and he gave him salams. He said: "O Abu Qatada, don't you know that I love Allah and His Messenger ﷺ?" And he wouldn't respond. He asked him a second time, asked him a third time, and eventually all he said to him was: "Allah and His Messenger know best. Allah and His Messenger know best."

50 nights they went through that. When Allah describes this in the Quran, He says that they came to a realization — and because of it He revealed their tawbah in the Quran in verses that me and you recite until yawm al-qiyamah:

They came to the realization that there is no escape, no shelter, no refuge from Allah except by turning back to Him. This was an ordeal and a trial. They came to that realization that they could only escape that difficulty by turning back to Allah. Then Allah accepted their repentance from them, that they would continue to make repentance to Him. Allah had already decreed that He would reveal these verses about them — that Allah would accept their tawbah, that Allah would forgive them, that this would be a lesson that all of the believers would benefit from. But they came to that realization.

Ka'b ibn Malik says that Allah gave to him eloquence, Allah gave to him speech. Had he wished, he could have sat before the Prophet ﷺ and made an excuse, and he would have been more eloquent than some of those hypocrites that came and made their false excuses. But he knew that even if today he escaped from the anger of the Prophet ﷺ, it was only the matter of a short time before Allah revealed his true state to him — he would realize that he was lying. So he chose to be honest. He chose to be truthful. He chose to obey Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. And as a result he went through a difficult trial, but because he turned in that difficult trial back to Allah, Allah accepted his repentance.

Ka'b ibn Malik says that during that ordeal of 50 days of boycott, there came to him a letter from the king of Ghassan — Ghassan being a province towards the northern part of Arabia, a kingdom at that time. He wrote a letter, because he had heard of the case of Ka'b ibn Malik, sent with one of his emissaries, that said: "I know what your companions have done to you, the way they're treating you, this boycott that they have against you. So come to us and you won't regret it — we'll look after you, we'll give you money, we'll provide for you." So Ka'b ibn Malik took that letter, he ripped it up and he threw it in the fire. And he said: "And this is also a trial from the trials." So when he realized that there was no escape except by turning back to Allah, Allah forgave him and Allah accepted his repentance.

The Story of Nuh and His Son

This concept is one that is repeated in the Quran — numerous stories of the Prophets of Allah. For example, in the story of Nuh, عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ, when Allah decrees the floods that would come upon the earth, and from those people who refused to embark upon the ark of Nuh was his own son, as Allah mentioned in Surah Hud. When Nuh calls to his son and says to him: "Come upon this ship, come with me," he says: "No, my father — I will go and climb the peak of the highest mountain and that will save me from the floodwaters." How does Nuh respond to him?

There is no one that will escape from Allah's command on this day except that Allah showers His mercy upon you. You can't run from Allah's decree. There is nowhere else that you can go — no escape, nowhere for you to go, no refuge, no shelter, no protection — except by turning back to Allah. And that is the beauty of ibadah. It is the beauty of iman. It is the beauty of tawakkul in Allah — when you realize that there is no source of hope, no source of joy, no salvation, no success, no reward, except by turning back to Allah.

And that is why we have these concepts in our religion of fear and hope — you fear Allah but you hope in Allah. You fear Allah's punishment and His wrath and His anger — so what do you do about it? You go towards that which will bring you hope and safety from that fear, by turning to Allah's pleasure, by turning to that which is rewarding from Allah, by turning to that which is beloved to Allah.

Ibrahim and the Fire — حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ

When Ibrahim, عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ, was being thrown into the fire by his own father, his own people — they built a raging fire. Some of the narrations in the books of tafsir say that they let it rage, that fire, and kept adding fuel to it, so much so that when it came to the time to throw Ibrahim in, they had to catapult him in because of the severity, the voracity, the voraciousness of that fire — they had to catapult him in from a distance. It is said in some of those narrations in the books of tafsir that Jibreel, عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ, came to Ibrahim when he was being thrown into the fire and said to him: "O Ibrahim, what need do you have? What do you need?" And he said: "From you, Jibreel? Nothing. But from Allah — His help." That is understanding that even in the most difficult situation, you turn back to Allah.

As Ibn Abbas, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ, said concerning that verse in Surah Ali Imran — when the people were gathering against the Muslims in the time of the Prophet ﷺ and it was said to them:

The people have gathered against you, so fear them — but it only increased them in iman, and they said: "Allah is sufficient for us, and what a blessed protector." Ibn Abbas said: that is what Ibrahim said on the day that he was thrown into the fire, and it's what the companions of the Prophet ﷺ said when the people told them to be fearful of the forces against them. Nothing in the dunya can harm those that Allah protects. No one can stand before Allah's command. No one can come between Allah and His will and His decree. So the believer holds on to that which Allah finds beloved.

When you turn to Allah, when you flee to Allah, as Allah mentions elsewhere in the Quran:

Flee, hasten, run — where? Towards Allah. And what are you running away from? From the punishment of Allah, from His anger, from that which will incur His wrath. You turn towards Allah. And that is why in so many of our du'as, so many of our adhkar, this principle is one that is repeated.

The Sorcerers of Pharaoh

In the story of Musa, عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ — the sorcerers that Pharaoh came with in order for them to challenge, to battle, to duel with Musa, because he thought that the miracle that Musa was bringing was a form of sorcery and magic — he gathers his sorcerers, he gathers his magicians, and he tells them to duel with Musa. And we know the story because Allah mentions it a number of times in His book, the Quran. But when those sorcerers realize that it is no magic, no sorcery, no trick — this is a sign from the signs of Allah — they fall in prostration and they declare their tawheed.

So Pharaoh becomes incensed and angry and says to them: "How dare you collude with Musa and believe in a god that I gave you no permission to believe in!" What do they say? They know that what they did would bring them certain death, it would bring them torture, it would bring punishment from Pharaoh. But they said — because they realized that even if that is what it leads to, ultimately success is that which Allah determines: "Do as you please, because all that you please can only be done in the dunya. You have no control over anything else. You have no overall control over the heavens and the earth. It is only what Allah decrees." And Allah praises them — even though, according to many of the scholars of tafsir, the incident led to their death, led to their crucifixion, led to their end — but Allah praises them because they realized at that moment that there was no escape except by turning back to Allah.

Umar and the Plague of Sham

This is a concept that the companions understood, as we gave in the example of Ka'b ibn Malik. It is said that in the time of Umar, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ, as he was going towards al-Sham during his khilafah, there was a plague that was ravaging that part of the world, in which a number of the major companions of the Prophet ﷺ would also pass away — from the companions settled in al-Sham, from them would be Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah and from them would be Mu'adh ibn Jabal, amongst others, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ. Umar, with his entourage from Medina, was going towards that area, and when they heard of the plague, he decided that he would go back to Medina — he wouldn't continue.

So Abu Ubaidah came out, before he had been afflicted by the plague, in order to greet Umar and welcome him — because he was the general of the armies in al-Sham — and he said: "O Umar, how can you run away from the decree of Allah?" So Umar said to him: "O Abu Ubaidah, if anyone had said this other than you, I would have made an example of them. If we run away from Allah's decree, we are only running towards Allah's decree." That is the understanding of this concept — to turn to Allah, to believe in Allah, to have trust in Allah, to hope in Allah. That is what allows the believer to have that strength of iman even in the most difficult and trying and challenging of times.

The Du'a Before Sleep

And this is why the Prophet ﷺ would include these words in his adhkar, in his du'as. In the hadith of al-Bara' ibn Azib, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ, the Prophet ﷺ mentioned a du'a that you make before you go to sleep. He said: "Whoever makes this supplication as the last thing that they say before they go to sleep at night — if they were to die that night, they would die upon fitrah, they would die upon iman, they would die upon the natural way in which Allah had created them."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 247; Sahih Muslim, Book 35, Hadith 6549)

Their reliance upon Allah, their pleasure in the decree of Allah — whatever is decreed, that is what the mu'min does, it is what the believer does. And these words should be ones that we repeat over and over again when we go through the challenges that we go through and we see the difficulties that we see and we go through the trials and tribulations that Allah has decreed as a test for me and you and for others — to see how we will respond and how we will behave. May Allah keep our feet firm upon iman. May Allah shower upon us the knowledge and the understanding of this religion.

The Du'a of the Prophet ﷺ in Qiyam al-Layl

I want to conclude and leave you with another du'a of our Prophet ﷺ, this time narrated by his wife Aisha, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا. She said that the Prophet ﷺ would pray during the night, and often he would make this du'a in his Qiyam al-Layl:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Hadith 1092; Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 879; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3493)

O Allah, I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your anger, and O Allah, I seek refuge in Your protection from Your punishment. O Allah, I seek refuge in You from You — for no one can praise You as You have praised Yourself.

An amazing du'a — to seek protection in Allah, in His mercy, in His protection, in His benevolence, in His grace, from Allah's anger, from His wrath, from His punishment. وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْكَ — "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from You" — meaning in that which You have decreed against me, or in that which You have decreed that will be difficult for me, from Your punishment, from Your anger, from Your wrath. O Allah, I seek protection in You, in Your mercy, in Your worship, in Your iman, in that which is beloved to You.

So when you know therefore that no one can harm you besides Allah and no one can benefit you besides Allah — that is something which strengthens the iman of the believer, something which gives them certainty and increases them in tawakkul in Allah.

The Tawakkul of the Prophets in Surah Ibrahim

Allah in Surah Ibrahim mentions the story of the Prophets in general — how their people used to respond to them, often with rejection, often with threats of punishment and torture. And Allah in those verses twice refers to the tawakkul of the Prophets:

In Allah the believers should trust. And then they said: "Why shouldn't the believers trust in Allah when He guided us to this path? He showed you iman, He told you the straight path, He gave to you the Quran and He gave to you the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — why wouldn't you trust in Allah? And we will have patience and trust in Allah despite all of the harms and difficulties that we go through." So let those who wish to rely and place their trust, place their trust in Allah.

Closing Du'a

We ask Allah for an increase in iman, an increase in yaqeen, an increase in tawakkul. We ask Allah that He showers His blessings upon us and His mercy on our families and our communities. We ask Allah that He makes the affairs of the Muslims easy wherever they may be — that Allah lifts their oppression and their hardship, that Allah gives them fortitude and patience and steadfastness, that Allah allows us to live upon iman and die upon iman and be resurrected with the people of iman.