Protecting Oneself & Your Household - Sheikh Abu Abdillah Yunus Mahmud

Opening — The Hadith of the 70,000

In Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, ask for His help and ask for His forgiveness, believe in Him and put our trust in Him. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, no one is misguided. Whom He misguides, no one is guided. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, no partner. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

My dear brothers and sisters, we find in a hadith of Ibn Abbas رضي الله تعالى عنهما in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, in which he mentioned that the Prophet ﷺ said:

"The nations were presented before me. And I saw a Prophet with him was a group of people. And I saw another Prophet with him, one or two followers. And then I saw a Prophet and he had no followers."

Then he says a large group of people were displayed before him. So he thought they were his ummah, his nation. And he was told, "No, this is Musa's nation." And then he was told to look, and when the Prophet ﷺ looked, he saw a large group of people that had covered the horizon. And he was told, "This is your ummah. And from them 70,000 will enter paradise without any reckoning."

Then the Prophet ﷺ entered into his house and left the companions. The companions started to discuss among themselves. One of them said, "We believed in Allah and we followed his messenger — so perhaps it's us." Others said, "No, rather it must be our children, who were born into Islam and never associated, never committed any shirk ever." And then the Prophet ﷺ exited and was informed of what they were discussing. And then he mentioned the characteristics of those 70,000:

He said: "They are those who don't request others to perform ruqya on them, nor do they do any type of cauterization using fire or branding as a form of treatment to cure their problem, nor do they believe in bad omens. And upon their Lord they have complete reliance, tawakkul, and dependence."

Then the narration continues with Ukashah ibn Mihsan, one of the companions, who shot up and asked, "O Messenger of Allah, make du'a to Allah that I am from them." And then in some of the narrations, the Prophet ﷺ said, "You are from them." In other narrations — in Sahih al-Bukhari — he said, "O Allah, make him from them." We'll finish the narration there, my dear brothers and sisters.

The Reality of Possession, Black Magic & the Evil Eye

This is a problem that many brothers and sisters face — either they themselves have been afflicted with black magic or possession. And possession, my dear brothers and sisters, there's no dispute. A person doesn't say that they're a different type of Muslim, so they don't really believe in possession. A number of the scholars of the past have quoted a consensus — an agreement — that all of the scholars of Islam agree that a person can be possessed.

When Abdullah, the son of Imam Ahmad, asked his father, "O my father, there are some people who claim that you cannot be possessed by a jinn," he said, "O my son, they lie. Have you not seen how the jinn is able to express himself through his tongue?" And the scholar Ibn Qudamah, may Allah have mercy on him, comments — meaning the person who is possessed may be speaking in a different language. For example, they speak English, but now they're speaking Urdu. Or a completely different language, one that they never knew, they've never studied, and they're speaking it better than many of those who were actually born and raised speaking that language. Or they might even be speaking a language that you cannot understand whatsoever. Or they are struck so badly that if you were to hit a camel the same way, that would be the end of the camel — yet the person feels nothing whatsoever.

The same applies to many who are afflicted with black magic, because someone wanted you to marry their daughter, or someone wanted their daughter to marry you, or something similar, and you refused or declined — or maybe you didn't even know, and it was your family who were aware — and now a person has all of these problems. They struggle getting married, or even after getting married, they struggle with consummating the marriage, or struggle having children, or they are semi-paralysed, and so on. There are a number of things, my dear brothers and sisters.

And the third affliction is الْعَيْن — what is normally translated in the English language as the evil eye. And as found in Sahih al-Bukhari and elsewhere:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5740; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2187)

The evil eye is a reality, my dear brothers and sisters. A person could afflict themselves — when a person is amazed with something, they feel that amazement and then do not invoke Allah's blessings upon it. Or sometimes it may even involve jealousy and envy. This normally only happens from a person with an evil soul.

Warning: Ruqya Practitioners Who Are After Your Money

No doubt, there are many brothers who, when they perform ruqya — meaning a person is called a raqi who does ruqya, who recites on a person — many of them do it for the sake of Allah with a clean intention. But then there are many others who don't. And it has become just a money-making business. As soon as you come to them, they already know your problem. It's like you go to a doctor, the doctor diagnoses you, and he knows all it requires is a simple prescription that costs no more than five pounds. But instead, this person says, "Perhaps you need a scan — that's going to cost you a certain amount. After that, oh, that's not good enough, you need an X-ray. Try this, try that." A person's pockets are empty, they've spent everything they had, and all it was, was a simple thing — a simple problem which, with Allah's permission, a person would have been cured of.

They've done this deliberately. Why? Because they want you to depend upon them. They don't want you to be a one-time customer — they want you to continue coming again and again. So unfortunately, some have used it as a money-making business.

Checking Your Connection with Allah

For a person who is afflicted, we would strongly advise the brother or sister to check their connection with their Creator. For most brothers and sisters who have a problem — who are possessed by a jinn, or who have been afflicted by black magic, or the evil eye — normally their connection with Allah is feeble, very weak. So they are a vulnerable person from the beginning. They are easy prey. The shaitan or the jinn will deal with them very easily.

So a person checks — you find a number of them whose prayer was not on time. The fact that a person's Fajr prayer is not on time is a massive problem, my dear brothers and sisters. Work starts at 9 o'clock, and the attitude is: "The main thing is we'll wake up about 7:30, have breakfast, pray our Fajr, then go to work." What do you expect then? Of course a person is going to be vulnerable if this is the attitude. Fajr is set at a specific time:

A prescribed time — not when we prescribe it, my dear brothers and sisters. When Allah prescribed a specific time, we pray it during that time.

We also check our adhkar — our morning and evening remembrance. A person buys a Fortress of the Muslim or something similar, and they make sure they recite after Fajr — before sunrise — and after Asr — before Maghrib. And also the adhkar the Prophet ﷺ would recite before going to sleep, when entering the bathroom, when leaving. Even a sister who is on her time of the month is not excused from these adhkar, my dear brothers and sisters. She is not excused from the morning and evening adhkar — it is not linked with the Fajr prayer. As soon as Fajr time starts, you are allowed to recite the adhkar. You don't have to pray Fajr and then recite. As soon as Fajr time starts, that is when it begins. Same applies to Asr. And this does not really take longer than 5 to 7 minutes at most — a person who recites it will be protected, with Allah's permission, إن شاء الله تعالى.

Also check the Qur'an — how much do you actually recite? Are we only Muslims who recite in Ramadan? Or are we Muslims who try to recite to the best of our ability — so that every time we leave the Qur'an for a day or two, it is like we feel our heart in pain? An indescribable pain that you feel in your heart, because your connection with Allah's book is incredible. And you always have a daily portion which you recite on a regular basis.

Three Prophetic Sunnahs for Protection

Many brothers and sisters, alhamdulillah, Allah has protected them and they are not possessed by a jinn, nor have they been afflicted by black magic or the evil eye. But just because you're not afflicted right now, does that mean you won't be afflicted tomorrow? Or next week? Or next year? Just because you don't have cholesterol, or blood pressure, or diabetes right now, does that mean you won't have it in five years' time? Same applies here, my dear brothers and sisters.

There was a famous sheikh I came across a couple of months ago who is actually a specialist in this particular area — he has dealt with magicians for a very long time. And he mentioned three very powerful things that I wanted to share with the brothers and sisters today to take as a precaution. He himself uses these, and they are all directly from the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. If a person starts to implement them, with Allah's permission, they will always be protected.

We find in the narration in Sahih Muslim that the Prophet ﷺ tells us that Iblis places his throne on the sea, then sends his troops, and then asks them to come back and narrate to him what corruption they have spread among the creation. And one of them says, "I remained with him until I split between him and his wife — that is when I departed." So Iblis says, "You — yes, you. Come closer." He brings him close to him. Because he knows that the breakdown of a household will eventually break down a society.

First Sunnah: Reciting Surah Al-Baqarah in the House

The first one concerns the household, where we have all of these disputes between a husband and wife, or a person struggling to nurture their children who are not obeying them. One of the reasons, my dear brothers and sisters, is that the devils are in the house, creating and spreading corruption. So the Prophet ﷺ has given us advice. In Sahih Muslim, on the authority of Abu Umama al-Bahili رضي الله تعالى عنه, he says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 804)

He says: "Recite Surah Al-Baqarah. For one who recites it, he mentions three things: first, a person wants barakah in their household — this is the way of doing it. Second, leaving it is a cause of loss. And third: وَلَا تَسْتَطِيعُهَا الْبَطَلَةُ — the magicians cannot overcome Surah Al-Baqarah. They cannot play with this. With Surah Al-Baqarah, they are not getting close to you. It is like your house is fortified."

And in some of the narrations outside Sahih Muslim — such as in al-Nasa'i and elsewhere — it mentions that a person has protection for three days when they recite Surah Al-Baqarah.

Not only that, but the Prophet ﷺ said in Sahih Muslim, on the authority of Abu Hurairah:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 780)

"The shaitan flees — distances itself — from the house in which Surah Al-Baqarah is recited," my dear brothers and sisters.

A person says, "I find it too difficult to recite. Surah Al-Baqarah takes too long. I take one hour to finish half a juz." At least a person tries their best. And if a person can't, then at least they can play a recitation of Surah Al-Baqarah. Maybe your child is faster in reciting — then get him to recite it. But ideally, a person slowly and gradually speeds up their recitation and recites it themselves, بإذن الله تعالى.

But I would also like to advise: do not be one of those builders who builds a house during the day and at night-time bulldozes it down. How so? A person recites Surah Al-Baqarah for two or three hours, and after that plays things in their household which are displeasing to Allah — that is counterproductive. You are not helping yourself. Make sure that after reciting, you try to please Allah the Almighty. Here we have protection in the household for the person who recites it regularly and ensures there is nothing in their household which displeases or angers Allah.

Second Sunnah: Du'a When Leaving the House

Secondly, we are not going to be living in our houses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — we have to leave. So what happens when we leave our house? Again, we are vulnerable. So the Prophet ﷺ, in the hadith of Anas ibn Malik in Sunan Abu Dawood and Sunan al-Tirmidhi, gives us guidance. He says: إِذَا خَرَجَ الرَّجُلُ مِنْ بَيْتِهِ — "When a person is leaving his house, then they say:"

"In the name of Allah, I place my full reliance and dependence upon Allah the Almighty. There is no might and no power except by Allah."

What will happen? It will be said to him: هُدِيتَ وَكُفِيتَ وَوُقِيتَ — "You have been guided to the right path. All of your matters, all of your affairs that you wanted to achieve — they have been taken care of. And you are protected from all types of evil."

And not only that — أَن تَنَحَّى لَهُ الشَّيْطَانُ — the shaitan distances itself from you. Another shaitan comes to go for you — what happens? The first shaitan says: كَيْفَ لَكَ بِرَجُلٍ قَدْ هُدِيَ وَكُفِيَ وَوُقِيَ — "How can you even get close? How can you deal with a person who has been guided to the right path, whose affairs have been taken care of, and who is protected from all types of evil?" (Sunan Abu Dawood, Hadith 5095; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3426)

And as a side point — this person should try their best to implement this du'a when leaving their house and also teach it to their children. As we know, exam times are very soon. This du'a is for all times — whenever you want to get something, it's saying your affairs are taken care of, my dear brothers. Not just protection — your affairs. You want to go for an interview, you want a promotion, you want to go to pass your exam — a person tries to implement the Sunnah and there is only barakah and blessings when a person does so.

Third Sunnah: Du'a When Stopping at a Place

Thirdly — and this is more of an ijtihadi application — again in Sahih Muslim, the hadith of Khawla, the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2708)

"A person who stops at a place and then says:"

"I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created" — nothing will harm him until he departs from that place. He is protected. So a person — whether they descend at an airport or arrive anywhere they don't feel comfortable — they recite this du'a and they will be protected, with Allah's permission.

Summary of the Three Sunnahs

So a person, my dear brothers and sisters, if they try to take precautions from now — whenever they start reciting Surah Al-Baqarah in their house; and when they're leaving, they recite the du'a:

And thirdly, when a person gets to their destination and descends at a place they don't feel too comfortable about, they recite:

They will be protected at all times, with Allah's permission.

A Call to Return to Allah

Hopefully from today, a person will try to implement these sunnahs that we've just mentioned. And for the brothers and sisters who have been far from Allah and are worried — maybe they've seen someone who has been afflicted — let them at least return back to Allah. Alhamdulillah, you still have a chance to return back to Allah.

Advice for Students During Examination Time

Finally, we'd like to say — to close the khutbah — that a number of the brothers and sisters, the young brothers and sisters, have their time to do GCSEs or A-level examinations in college, or also in university. It is important to remind their parents as well as siblings to try to encourage them to balance between their academia and their revision, and at the same time not to forget their Lord during this time.

Because sometimes a person is struggling and trying their best to get a first in their degree, or to get 100%, and they die in the process. Just like a sister passed away literally about 2 or 3 weeks ago in one of the universities we have in London — just outside, she passed away — and it was just before exam times. A person really doesn't know. So at least if they had a solid connection and they did their part, alhamdulillah, at least they will be pleased that they did not forget their Lord during the examination period.

The second thing is: there are no specific du'as in the Sunnah which are prescribed for exams — "Before you start your exam, say this du'a; when you finish, this du'a; when you struggle with a question, this du'a" — none of this exists in the Sunnah. But what a person can use are the du'as that are already in the Sunnah for all times. For example, the du'a we mentioned when leaving the house — "your affairs being taken care of" — this should be a practice anyway, whether it's on exam day or any other day.

And also, for example:

Seven times in the morning and seven times in the evening. And also the du'a the Prophet ﷺ would make at times of difficulty and hardship — because obviously a person struggling with an exam is experiencing a type of difficulty and hardship:

"O Allah, there is no ease except what You make easy, and You make difficulty, if You will, easy." A person can use these du'as, بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى, during the examination period. And hopefully we ask Allah to grant them all — and to grant all of you — success in this life and success in the next life.

Closing Du'as