Strengthening our Relationship with Allah (SWT) - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

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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 إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلِّمْ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا

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

The Greatest Challenge Every Muslim Faces

One of the greatest challenges that every single Muslim faces — every single one of us, irrespective of our age, our gender, our position in society, our level of knowledge — is how to keep on strengthening the relationship with Allah. One of the greatest traps of Shaitaan and one of the greatest ways that Shaitaan enters upon a person is by weakening and diluting that link between us and our Lord and Creator, Allah. And if he can sever that link then he will do so. That is his objective in life.

It is our objective in life and our purpose in this dunya to strengthen, to the best of our ability, that connection with Allah. And everything within this religion revolves around that central principle. That is the essence of Tawheed. It is what we find in the example of our Prophet ﷺ. It is what Allah wants from the Quran. It is the role and the purpose of the khateeb and the scholar, the imam and the da'i — to connect the people to Allah, to help them to find those things that motivate them and strengthen their relationship with Allah.

The Prophet's Own Connection with Allah

When we look at the life of our Prophet ﷺ, you will find that even he was given things by Allah that would be used by his ummah as well — means to strengthen and to bring him closer to Allah. There is no one who is closer and stronger in their relationship with Allah than our Prophet ﷺ. No one who is more beloved to Allah than our Prophet ﷺ. No one who has a higher state of Iman or a greater reward in the sight of Allah or a greater status in the sight of Allah than our Prophet ﷺ.

Yet there are a number of verses in the Quran that show that the Prophet ﷺ would become sad, and it would grieve him — what the mushrikin of Quraish used to say about him, and what would happen to the Muslims, especially in those early years of Mecca. It would be something that would weigh heavily upon his shoulders. The responsibility that he was given of conveying this message, spreading the religion of Islam, teaching the people, and bringing them to Allah and His Tawheed — it was something which used to have a physical effect upon him. It wasn't just something mentally draining, something difficult to think about or comprehend, but even physically it would manifest itself upon our Prophet ﷺ.

The Year of Grief and the Three Gifts from Allah

The Prophet ﷺ lost his wife Khadija رضي الله عنها and then a few months later he would lose his uncle Abu Talib. In the books of seerah — the life of the Prophet ﷺ, his biography — this year is known as Aam al-Huzn, the year of grief and the year of sorrow. Two of the closest people to the Prophet ﷺ died, passing away a few months apart.

It is after this that Allah gave to the Prophet ﷺ three things that would help console him and would help him to become even stronger in his connection with Allah. It is as if Allah is saying to him: yes, Khadija رضي الله عنها was the one who would inspire you and you would confide in her and she would motivate and encourage you; and yes, it was Abu Talib who, in public, outside in the public eye, would defend you and protect your honor. But it is ultimately Allah who protects and gives divine care and protection. So even if all of them were to pass away — these people and others from amongst the Muslims — Allah is with you.

Allah gave to the Prophet ﷺ three things. One is specific to him — we as his ummah do not share in it — but two of those three are things that we too participate in and have a share of.

The First Gift: Al-Isra wal-Mi'raj

The first of them was the Isra and Mi'raj — the night journey. In a single night the Prophet ﷺ went from Mecca to Jerusalem, to the seven heavens, and back. That is unique to him. But it was done to show the Prophet ﷺ the amount of love and care and protection that Allah has for His Prophet ﷺ.

The Second Gift: The Salah

Yet within that journey, and then after that journey, there are two other things that every single one of us can take from — in our problems, in our issues, when we're struggling with our Iman, when we perhaps look at the world events and find that there is a test that has come to us that we need to face up to as individuals personally.

Allah gave to the Prophet ﷺ, and by extension to this ummah, the salah — the prayer. Five times a day and night you have that connection that is unique between you and Allah. It is a connection between you and Allah that, even though every single Muslim is praying and you may well be in a masjid praying with hundreds or maybe even thousands of other people, your prayer is your personal connection with Allah. And that is why people pray but they differ in their levels of reward and what they take from that prayer — people pray but the benefit that they take from that prayer will also vary.

The Third Gift: The Contemplation of the Quran

The third thing that the Prophet ﷺ was given was the revelation of certain surahs after the death of those two people. Certain surahs were revealed to the Prophet ﷺ. The contemplation of the Quran, understanding the Quran, reading the Quran, and merging them with these hadith where the Prophet ﷺ pinpoints a surah or a verse or a passage and says that this is how it affected him — well, these are the benefits that you can extrapolate from it. That is contemplation of the Quran — understanding the Quran at a deeper level, because reciting the Quran without understanding and contemplation will only take you so far.

Reading Is Not Enough: The Hadith of Ziyad ibn Labid

The hadith of Ziyad ibn Labid in Sunan Ibn Majah — Ziyad ibn Labid رضي الله عنه said that our Prophet ﷺ spoke about the signs of the Hour and he mentioned a number of them, and then he said:

That will happen when knowledge is taken away from the people.

So Ziyad رضي الله عنه said: "O Messenger of Allah,

"How can knowledge possibly be lifted? How can knowledge be removed when we read the Quran and we teach our children to read the Quran, and our children will then teach their children how to read the Quran, and that will continue until Yawm al-Qiyamah?"

That's the case. We learnt the Quran from the generation above us — our parents, our teachers, people who are older than us in age. Now we teach it to our children. They will teach it to their children. From generation to generation the Quran passes on, and that is from the miracle of the preservation of the Quran.

The Prophet ﷺ replied and he said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4048)

"May your mother be bereaved of you" — and this was an Arabic expression to show someone the gravity and the seriousness of the situation and how important it is that they grasp what is being said — "May your mother be bereaved of you, O Ziyad. I used to think that you are one of the most knowledgeable people in the city of Medina. Do we not have amongst us the Jews and the Christians who read their scriptures, the Torah and the Injil, but they take very little benefit from it?"

So the Prophet ﷺ is saying: it is not simply about the act of reading. Reading will only take you so far. And the Quran is blessed even in its recitation — we know that for every word that you read you have ten rewards, and those people who memorize the Quran, according to their levels of memorization, Allah will increase them in rank and station on Yawm al-Qiyamah in Jannah. These are virtues of the Quran, but they will only take you so far.

The Prophet ﷺ would stress to his companions the importance of understanding and contemplating the Quran, and that's why the companions would often take months and sometimes years over a single surah, delving into its meanings, pondering and reflecting over what Allah is saying. And the Prophet ﷺ would turn their attention towards certain surahs, towards certain passages and verses, so that they would go back and contemplate it even more.

Surah Hud: The Surah That Made the Prophet Grow Old

One such example that I want to bring to your attention is the surah that was revealed after this year of grief and sorrow, after the Prophet ﷺ went on his Isra and Mi'raj, after Allah had obligated and legislated the Salah upon all of the Muslim Ummah. Allah revealed to him, from amongst the surahs that were revealed, a surah by the name of Surah Hud.

Now Surah Hud in the Quran isn't one of those — maybe you could say — more popular, more famous surahs, in the sense that people don't normally wish to read or listen to the recitation of this surah. It's not like Surah Maryam or Surah al-Rahman or Surah al-Kahf or Surah Yusuf from the Quran that people are more familiar with. But the Prophet ﷺ made an interesting observation concerning this surah.

In the hadith that is collected by al-Tirmidhi and al-Hakim and others, on the authority of Abdullah ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما — who said that the Prophet ﷺ was one day in the company of his companions and Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه said to him: "O Messenger of Allah, you have gone old" — meaning that your hair has white in it.

Now the Prophet ﷺ was the most youthful of people, the most courageous and the strongest of people, even from amongst the companions. He was known for his courage and for his strength and for his youthfulness. And the companions say that at the time that the Prophet ﷺ died, as Anas ibn Malik رضي الله عنه said in the narration of Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ didn't have more than 20 white hairs in his head and in his beard. No more than 20. The younger companions would sit and they would count the white hairs of the Prophet ﷺ — such was their love and their adoration and admiration for him. Anas ibn Malik said he didn't have more than 20 white hairs; the vast majority of them were in the hair around his lower lip.

20 hairs — yet even that slight change was noticeable to the companions. That slight graying of the hair of the Prophet ﷺ was noticeable to the companions, and that's because the companions used to pay so much attention, so much care, to every single statement and every single movement and every single action of the Prophet ﷺ.

It is normally unusual for a person that you see every day to notice slight changes about you. Your family members who see you every day — your wife, your husband, your children — because they see you every day, they don't normally notice the slight changes within you: if you're going more bald, going more gray, if you've put on weight or lost weight. It is normally others who, when they see you after a few weeks, will look at you and say you look different. But the companions, despite seeing the Prophet ﷺ on an almost daily basis, would see even the slightest of change.

So the Prophet ﷺ replied to Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه and he said:

"It is surahs like Surah Hud that have made me grow old." (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3297; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak)

In another narration he said:

"Five surahs have made me grow old from the Quran: Surah Hud, al-Waqi'ah, al-Mursalat, 'Amma yatasa'aloon (al-Naba'), and Idha al-shamsu kuwwirat (al-Takwir)."

Now Surah Hud is a surah that the Prophet ﷺ received at this time in his life, because Allah gave to him within this surah the example of those who came before him — the stories of those who came before him: Nuh, Hud, Salih, Ibrahim, Lut, Shu'ayb, Musa عليهم السلام. Prophets who came before him and the stories and the interactions that they had with their people. Because now that the Prophet ﷺ had lost Abu Talib, the Quraish increased in their oppression and transgression towards the Muslims, and they even harmed the Prophet ﷺ more personally than they would do during the life of Abu Talib. Now Khadija رضي الله عنها has passed away, so when the Prophet ﷺ returns home he only finds his children — he doesn't find his wife; he finds children who have lost their mother. Yet still the Prophet ﷺ continued upon his path, because Allah revealed to him surahs like Surah Hud.

Key Lessons from Surah Hud

Allah mentions at the beginning of this surah that every single thing that we need in order to keep that connection strong with Allah, and that we need in order to be successful Muslims, you will find it within the Quran:

"This is a book whose verses are manifest and clear, and then they have been explained from the One who is All-Aware, All-Wise." Every single thing that you need as a Muslim to be successful — not only in your religious life but in your worldly life — you will find within the Quran.

So Allah begins by mentioning a couple of those things that are extremely important. First:

That you should worship only Allah. And then Allah says:

"And that you should seek Allah's forgiveness and repent to Allah, and Allah will give you good and He will increase you in good, and He will give you enjoyment within this life, and He will give you from His bounty and from His grace — provision, success, happiness." All of this revolves around your relationship with Allah. And that's why Allah then says:

"There is not a single creature upon the face of this earth except that it is Allah who provides for that creature." It is Allah who provides for His creation. It is in the hands of Allah to give happiness to people, to give them success, to grant them the straight path.

The Stories of the Prophets in Surah Hud

Allah mentions the two types of people when it comes to this message of the Quran and the message that was brought by the prophets — those people who will accept and persevere, who will work and put in effort and determination and sacrifice for the sake of Allah; and then those people who will turn away, who will choose a different path, who will rather want to enjoy everything they can in this life and won't give any thought to what will happen after their death. Allah mentions both of them, and then He goes on to mention those examples in practical terms.

With the people of Nuh عليه السلام — the people of Nuh refused to believe in him. One of the reasons that they refused to believe, as Allah mentions in this surah, is because the people who followed Nuh were the weak and the poor. So they said: "Should we believe in you when your followers are the weak? When your followers are the poor? When your followers are those who don't have a noble station in society?" But Allah doesn't care about those things.

Allah mentions the story of Hud عليه السلام. Hud's people were known to have military prowess — they had the ability to construct fortresses everywhere. And Allah says in this surah that Hud said to them: "If you return to Allah and seek His forgiveness, then Allah will increase you with even more strength in addition to the strength that you already have." But when they turned away from Allah, Allah didn't care about their military power, about their strength, about the fact that they could go and conquer other lands and other peoples.

Allah mentions the story of Salih عليه السلام, and his people were given technological advances to the extent that still today in the world you can go and see the dwellings of Salih عليه السلام and his people — Madain Salih, where they built houses and palaces into the sides of mountains, carved into them thousands of years ago. Yet when they turned away from Allah, when they rejected their prophet Salih عليه السلام, Allah didn't care about those technological advancements that they had.

You have the story of Shu'ayb عليه السلام, whose people were given economical means — they had money and they had wealth and they were extremely prosperous, but they would do so by cheating others and by being unfair in the way that they used to buy and trade and sell. So Allah mentions in the Quran that Shu'ayb عليه السلام said to them:

"Be just in the way that you weigh. Be just in the way that you buy and sell." But they too turned away from their prophet and from Allah. So Allah didn't care about their wealth.

So what does Allah care about? And all of these things are being leveled against the Prophet ﷺ and the few Muslims that he has with him during that time in Mecca. The Quraish are more powerful, they're more noble, they have better weaponry, they have more advances in every single form. The companions of the Prophet ﷺ, the vast majority of them, are weak and poor — they're women and children and slaves. Here Allah is showing through this surah that Allah only cares about those people who believe in Him, who turn to Him, who hold on to the path of Allah. They are the people who are given success. They are the people who, if they strive and they persevere and they are determined to reach what Allah has promised them, then Allah will make their path easy for them.

The Prophet's Deep Contemplation of Surah Hud

The Prophet ﷺ took away these lessons and he would think and he would ponder and he would contemplate — revolving around this surah so much that years later when people notice a physical change, this is how the Quran affected the Prophet ﷺ: that it would manifest within him a physical change. So the Prophet ﷺ is saying: it's not my worries that have made me grow old, it's not age that has made me grow old or go white, but rather it is the Quran.

As Aisha رضي الله عنها mentioned to us, the Prophet ﷺ would sometimes see a cloud, and when he would see the cloud he would become agitated. He would walk in and he would walk out of his house and he would become upset. So she said: "O Messenger of Allah, when the people see clouds they rejoice, because it brings rain — especially in a climate like Arabia where it's desert and hot. When people see rain they rejoice, they see clouds they become happy. But you, O Messenger of Allah, you become agitated and upset."

He said: "O Aisha, verily there were people who came before us who would see clouds like this, thinking that it brought rain and mercy from Allah, but within it there contained punishment for them." He is referring to the people of Hud عليه السلام. Those people of Hud were given a drought and famine — that's how they were destroyed. And Hud عليه السلام promised them that the punishment of Allah would come. They saw drought and famine for a number of days and were extremely hard up. But then eventually clouds came. So when they saw those clouds they rejoiced and said to Hud: "We knew that you were lying. Clouds have come, rain has come, relief has come. Therefore you are not true, your God is not true."

They saw those clouds. They said: "These are clouds bringing rain." But Allah says: "Rather it is what you hastened — what you wanted, meaning the punishment of Allah, when you would say: if you're true then ask Allah to punish us. Rather it is what you hastened. It is an extremely painful torment and a wind. It will destroy everything — everything — so that the next day you will not see anything standing except their houses." Other than their abodes, everything was destroyed.

The Prophet ﷺ, when he would read surahs like Surah Hud, he wouldn't just read them and pass on, but he would understand and contemplate to the extent that if he saw something that is mentioned within that surah — something that happened to a people who came before us by thousands of years — the Prophet ﷺ would fear the same for his ummah. The Prophet ﷺ would contemplate and he would even manifest a physical change in his appearance. This is how a person connects to the Quran.

The Quranic Command to Ponder

This is how we strengthen our relationship with the Quran. Allah has given us the Quran, He's given us the salah, He's given us all of these means, but often the way that we treat them is very haphazard. We don't connect, we don't stop to think and to ponder — even though Allah says in the Quran:

"Do they not contemplate and ponder the Quran, or are their hearts locked and sealed?"

Second Part of the Khutbah

بسم الله، والحمد لله، والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وصحبه ومن والاهم، أما بعد.

This khutbah is not meant to discourage people from reciting the Quran, or reading as much of the Quran as they can, or to memorize the Quran. Rather, it is to add another aspect and a different way of also interacting with the Quran — one that is equally important and perhaps in some cases even more so. And that is the importance of understanding and contemplating what you understand — not just simply reading a translation or even a book of tafsir, but to stop and to think about it.

Abdullah ibn Umar رضي الله عنهما — and in some narrations it is said that it was his father Umar رضي الله عنه — spent 10 years over Surah al-Baqarah. 10 years.

Abdurrahman ibn Abi Layla رحمه الله, one of the famous scholars of the Tabi'een from the students of many of the great companions, was once reciting Surah Hud, and an elderly woman passed by and said to him: "O Ibn Abi Layla, do you recite Surah Hud with this speed?" — and he was reciting normally, he wasn't reciting very fast, he was reading normally. She said: "Do you recite Surah Hud with such haste? It's taken me 6 months and I'm still on this surah." 6 months and still on this single surah.

Because that's how the companions were, that's how the scholars were. Yes, they would have a portion of the Quran that they would read daily in order to finish the recitation of the Quran as often as they could. But they would also have portions of the Quran where they would stop and ponder and contemplate. And some of the companions would simply take a surah and they would spend as long as they needed in order to take everything that they possibly could from that single surah of the Quran.

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه said: "Do not read the Quran with haste. It is not poetry that you're reading, nor is it a fable or a story that you're simply trying to read to pass time. Rather, stop and ponder the amazing signs of Allah contained within every single verse." That is how you ponder the Quran — you contemplate the Quran.

If the Prophet ﷺ tells us that a surah like Surah Hud made him grow old, that it is something that brought fear within him, that it would make him fearful at times — then shouldn't we, as people who love Allah and the Quran and the Prophet ﷺ, want to go back to surahs like Surah Hud and see why? What does Allah say? What is the message that Allah wants us to take?

Conclusion

So the message from this khutbah, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, is to connect with the Quran. It is one of the greatest ways of strengthening your Iman and keeping that relationship with Allah strong — but not just simply by reading the Quran; also by contemplating and understanding the Quran.

We ask Allah that He makes us from amongst the people of the Quran — those people who are His Awliya, those people who are His special people that He has chosen from this earth. May Allah give us the ability to understand the Quran, to implement the Quran, to follow the Quran. May Allah make it a means of our intercession on Yawm al-Qiyamah, and through the Quran may Allah raise our ranks in Jannah. May Allah protect us and our families from every evil.