Qiyam: Unveiling its Superiority | Tafseer Surah Al-Insan | EP. 9 | Ustadh Mohamad Baajour
By Ustadh Mohamad Baajour | 2026-06-05T02:10:22.92184+00:00 | Topic: Quran
Continuing Our Journey Through Surah Al-Insan
We continue insha'Allah the tafsir of surah al-insan, begging Allah azza wa jal to make us from the people who listen and apply. Listening is very easy and talking is cheap. It's applying, it's the whole thing. And the more we sit down here, the more we are responsible. The more I talk, the more I have more burden to apply when I'm preaching.
But at the same time, we have to keep in mind that Allah azza wa jal is the one who facilitated and made every single one of us able to attend without his permission, subhanAllah. As we speak, there are millions of Muslims are disobeying Allah azza wa jal and he chose us to be in his house. First, may Allah guide them and bring them back to the deen. And second, may Allah keep us this way till the day we meet him. Ameen Ya Rabbul A'lam.
The Revelation and the Command for Patience
After Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us about the people of Jahannam and the people of Jannah, then he started talking to Rasulullah:
This Qur'an is gonna bring you - even though it is the word of Allah, but they're not gonna be accepting it just like that. They're gonna call you names, even though subhanAllah, Rasulullah was known among them. He was known. It's not like something new. He was known that he is truthful, he is honest, he's trustworthy.
He was known to them - to show you the people, to show you, put your trust only in Allah. All we have to care about is Allah pleased with me or not. Otherwise, look at this. This man grew up with them for such a long time. They trusted him with their wealth, with their children, with everything. They trusted him with everything. And the minute he said, I am Rasul, they start calling him names. Majnoon, poet, sahir, magician, and you all know the story.
With all of that, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, you know, we revealed the Qur'an for you in stages, in different times. All this is not happening to you. This is from the hukm of Allah. Be patient. And do not obey from the kuffar.
The Wisdom in Allah's Words
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he could have said, why didn't Allah say? Do not obey the sinful or the kafir, and the kafir. Subhanallah. Every letter in the Qur'an is there for a reason. If Allah said, do not obey the sinful and the kafir, then I can linguistically, I can obey the athim, the sinful. And I say, ya Allah, you ordered me not to obey both. I'm obeying only one of them. No, no, no. Allah said, either this or that. Do not obey any of them. Do not fall for these tricks.
Because like I mentioned last week, we will give you whatever you want, ya Muhammad. Just leave this da'wah. Just leave it. What do you want? That's why, subhanallah, we should teach our youth and engrave in their hearts the love of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And look what he was, what he went through to bring us this deen.
The Sacrifice for Our Deen
He went through so much to bring us this deen. He went through so much for me and you to be sitting here in Plano after fourteen, fifteen hundred years. He went through so much to show us the path to Allah azza wa jal. And then I come and I tell you, ya akhi, do this sunnah. You say, it is just a sunnah. Who can raise his hand and dare to say this is just a sunnah in front of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? It's just a sunnah. You know how long did it take for this just a sunnah to get here? And how many people have to suffer to get us just a sunnah? So many.
And we got it on a golden platter, wallahi. How many of us suffered like Bilal? Or like Khabab? How many? We get stopped at the airport for fifteen minutes, we start complaining. What if we were tortured? What if we big rocks are put on your belly? Or you're whipped for hours in the heat and stayed, how long was the, they stayed without food? Three years? When they boycotted them. It was three years. You're not allowed to talk to any Muslim. You don't marry any Muslim. You don't give food to any Muslim. They were eating leaves. For me and you to be here, subhanallah.
How to Achieve Patience
So, فَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ - Allah is telling him, be patient. وَلَا تُطِعْ مِنْهُمْ آثِمًا أَوْ كَفُورًا. Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and every Muslim afterward how, how to achieve that sabr.
This is how we earn the patience.
The True Meaning of Remembering Allah
Number one, وَاذْكُرِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ. Constantly remember the name of Allah azza wa jal. Constantly remember - not only, they see the remembrance when we hear remember Allah. The first thing that comes to our mind, let me ask you, when I say remember Allah, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? Most people, if I tell them remember Allah, subhanAllah walhamdulillah, which is good, this is a form of remembrance but the best remembrance is to remember that Allah - my young brothers, mom is not home, baba is not home - Allah is watching. This is what it means remember Allah. Allah is watching.
My wife is not home, Allah is watching. There's no Muslims around me, Allah can hear me. Allah is Sameer. This is what it means remember Allah. I'm offered and offered, it's haram. Even though it's going to bring me $50,000 a week, remember Allah. Remember, it's not worth it. This is what it means remember Allah. Remember Allah when you want to make a decision. Remember Allah when you want to go on a vacation.
Many people take vacation from Allah when they go on a vacation. Did you pray? Shaykh, vacation. Vacation, Habibi, from who? There's no vacation from Allah. Vacation from work, from your community, from this, but there's no vacation from the deen. Salat is always, it's a must. Lowering the gaze is always a must. Feeling Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is always a must. Remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The Superiority of Dhikr
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us: وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ. Now listen to this. When I say, Brother Muhammad Atwal, and I stopped. He is taller. What does that mean? There's nobody taller than him. I did not say, Muhammad Atwal min Mahmood. I said, Ahmed Atwal. Akbar from what? From everything. From everything. وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ. Period. Stop. Akbar. Because why?
(Narrated by Abu Darda, Tirmidhi)
Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, would you like me to tell you about the best and the purest of your deeds and the most beloved to your Rabb and will raise you the highest degrees and better for you than spending gold and silver and better for you than meeting your enemy striking their neck and them striking your neck? What is that, ya Rasulullah? What is better than the above? Dhikru Allah. Remembering Allah.
If I am in a constant state of remembering Allah, honestly, would I stare at something haram or watch something haram? Would I smoke? I'm constantly remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I'm in constant remembrance of Allah. Would I cheat and lie to my customers? Allah is watching me. Don't you know that Allah is watching?
Morning, Evening, and the Special Night
What does bukra mean? Early. Early morning. When I say remember Allah bukra, early morning, morning wa asila is evening. What does that mean? Remember Allah all the time. But you forgot the night. The night is a different story. There are people who daydream about the night. They cannot wait for the night to come to be alone with their Creator.
The Power of Tahajjud
You want to be patient, keep remembering Allah and prescription for anyone that is going through any kind of difficulty, any kind of hardship, tahajjud. I mentioned this many times before and I mention it again because it's a topic. I am going through financial hardship, marital hardship, health issues. I sit down with my brother in the masjid for 45 minutes or more telling him or her about my problem and I forgot or I do not make any effort to talk the same talk or maybe more deeper from my heart to the one who has the solution.
It does not make any sense if I tell you listen you come to me only I'm gonna do is listen go to Ahmed he has the solution you will come and sit down and talk to me for hours for what go to Ahmed Ya Akhi. Ya Ikhwan listen carefully Allah Azza wa Jal is asking at the last third of the night - from probably 2:45 till 6 o'clock till Fajr comes - Allah is asking:
Is there anyone who's asking for anything so I can give him? Is there anyone who wants me to forgive him so I can forgive him? Is there anyone who wants to repent so I can accept his repentance?
You have this whole load this whole burden on your back and you're going to me to sit down and talk for hours and the one who has a solution is asking at 3:45, 4:30 a.m. and you're sleeping and snoring and you are serious about having a solution to your problem? You're not serious 100% you're not serious because if you're serious you get up in the middle of the night every single night and you keep begging Ya Rabb you can hear me and I cannot hear you you can see me and I cannot see you Ya Allah I am faqir and you are ghani Ya Allah I am da'eef I am weak and you are qawi Ya Allah you know what I'm going through Ya Rabb please Ya Allah I beg you Ya Allah Wallahi if I have the solution I will give it to you how about the most merciful.
Standing in the Night
Ya Ikhwan that's why I said in the beginning we listen we have to apply we every single one of us have an issue either with your son with your daughter with your wife with your in-laws with your health with your job - get up get up in the middle of the night for the tahajjud Allah is telling the best man who's guaranteed Jannah to get up in the middle of the night. وَمِنَ اللَّيْلِ فَاسْجُدْ لَهُ. Get up at night and make sujood. What does make sujood mean? Make sujood does not mean get up and make sujood no sujood here means qiyam salat. Make salat.
Ya Ikhwan you know they used to get up wallahi there are people till now I know them personally and they did not tell me this to show off. Every raka'a one juz' at night every raka'a one juz' they finish two three juz' every night in tahajjud only and this is nothing compared to our sahaba we all hear their stories that blow your mind.
We all know the story of the sahabiya female she had the ropes in order to keep balancing her qiyam. Does she have to do that? Not to fall and forget about all these people how about our Habibi our Habib Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Let me ask you when was the last time your feet hurt from ibadah and me and you are guaranteed nothing. He's guaranteed Jannah and the feet are swollen from tahajjud. Swollen. Should I be grateful for this favor?
A Call to Action
Ya Ikhwan what are we doing? Wallahi what are we doing? Everyday janazah janazah. We not waking up? We have become desensitized. Doesn't matter anymore how old is the person dying? Tomorrow we have janazah 37 years old after the first Jummah. Younger than many of us. So get this habit while now we have subhanallah the longest nights of the year the longest nights of the year from now all the way till 6:17 a.m. Can you imagine?
All of that is time for qiyam. I'm not gonna tell you read a juz ya akhi. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and then upgrade every time you upgrade a little bit. By Ramadan, Allahu Akbar, you're ready for tarawih. Not like after three days, khalas, Allah is tired. This is what happens in Ramadan. I have never fasted for the whole year, I've never prayed qiyam for the whole year, I have never read Quran the whole year, and boom, I want to do them all together. So I give up three, four days, the masjid is empty. First three, four days everybody, but because we have not done anything, it becomes very hard.
Here سَبِّحْهُ لَيْلًا طَوِيلًا - it could mean make the qiyam very long. And because the qiyam is called qiyam, why it's called qiyam? Because the standing up part is the longest of the whole process. You read longer than your normal reading because you're praying alone, you're not bothering people behind you, you know. Or it could mean linguistically: look for the longest nights of the year and pray qiyam in them and make a lot of tasbih in them. وَسَبِّحْهُ لَيْلًا طَوِيلًا - Look for the طَوِيل لَيْل and make a lot of tasbih in it. The first one is more agreed upon.
Okay. One more ayah and we're done. You want to wait till I come back. One more ayah.
Surely these kuffar, they love the عَاجِلَة. عَاجِلَة means dunya. They love the عَاجِلَة. عَاجِلَة from عَجَل. What does عَجَل mean? Quick. They love the instant gratification. Yalla, I did this, I invested, I saw the money. They see, they want quick. Now I'm fasting, nothing happened. I pray every day. What is this? Nothing happened. إِنَّ هَٰؤُلَٰئِ يُحِبُّونَ الْعَاجِلَةَ وَيَذَرُونَ وَرَاءَهُمْ يَوْمًا ثَقِيلًا - And they are ignoring a day that is very, very heavy. We spoke about it before.
Now Allah is talking about the kuffar here. But we Muslims love also the dunya. Who doesn't like to have money and have a comfortable home and comfortable car? Who? Everybody loves that. There's nothing wrong with that. What is the problem? Why Allah is here talking about them in a negative manner? إِنَّ هَٰؤُلَٰئِ يُحِبُّونَ الْعَاجِلَةَ - Because قَالُوا إِنَّمَا حَيَاتُنَا الدُّنْيَا نَمُوتُ وَنَحْيَا. Because their goal is this dunya. There's nothing else. No.
We are Muslims. We can enjoy all this. But this is not my goal. I'm using all this to get to there - to the akhirah. يَذَرُونَ - They ignore the akhirah. This is it. Khalas. Enjoy your life. YOLO. You know YOLO? You only live once. That's it. Enjoy it. Take advantage of it. It might finish. This is the concept. إِنَّ هَٰؤُلَٰئِ يُحِبُّونَ الْعَاجِلَةَ وَيَذَرُونَ وَرَاءَهُمْ...
Now, let me ask you a question. What does وَرَاءَهُمْ mean? Behind, right? How can they leave behind them يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ? And يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ is ahead of them. And وَرَاءَ is very well known. وَرَاءَ means behind. Always وَرَاءَ. Ahmed is behind - وَرَاءَ.
Here, I'll give you an example.
And as for the people, for the boat, in Surah Al-Kahf - كَانَ وَرَاءَهُمْ مَلِكٌ. But the مَلِك was not وَرَاءَهُمْ - the مَلِك is coming up. So وَرَاءَ is one of these words that means itself and it means its opposite. Just like the word in the Quran, ظَنَّ - ظَنَّ in the Quran, it means doubt and it means 100% sure. Same word. It means doubt and it means 100% sure. So here, they leave ahead of them, they that... SubhanAllah.
Now, we, like I said, we also love the dunya.
Allah said, it has been beautified, became زُيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ. And we are from the نَاس. حُبُّ الشَّهَوَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ وَالْبَنِينَ وَالْقَنَاطِيرِ الْمُقَنطَرَةِ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ - We love gold and silver and women and children. This is by default. By default.
But here, our goal is not this. This is not a goal. These are means. For them, it's a goal. You see the guy, what's your goal? My goal is to have this company do this and do this and do this and do this. What about your family, your life, your deen? No, no, no, it's okay. I can wait when I retire. When I retire. And unfortunately, there are some Muslims who do the same.
I will tell you a story. One of our sheikhs, he was visiting New York once. And I'm talking 15, 20 years ago. And the imam of the masjid, he told him, "Ya sheikh, our neighbor here is a Muslim. He has five, six supermarkets. He makes millions of dollars. And ya sheikh, not one dollar donation. Maybe if you talk to him, try." So the sheikh said, "Absolutely. Bismillah."
So the sheikh is telling the story. He said, "I went to him. And I said, mashallah, may Allah put barakah, this and that. The sheikh said, I come left, he comes right. I come east, he comes west. No way to get a penny from this guy. He did not leave anything, he did not remind him. And then the sheikh, he gave up. He said, ya sheikh," and as the sheikh is leaving. So the owner, he said, "Ya sheikh, one second. When I retire, I'm going to build a masjid in my city. And I'm going to sit in it and remember Allah all day."
So the sheikh, "Hurry up. Go get a piece of paper." He said, "For what?" "Hurry up, go get a piece of paper." So he went and he got a piece of paper. He said, "Write down. When I retire, I'm going to build a masjid. I'm going to spend the whole day in it." So the man wrote down. "When I retire, I'm going to build a masjid. And I'm going to spend the whole night in it." He said, "What do I do now, sheikh?" He said, "When the angel of death comes, give him the paper. Maybe he will give you a break." As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
We love the عَاجِلَة, the instant, and we forgot the akhirah.
The Word Thaqeel in the Quran
Last thing. The word ثَقِيلَة is mentioned in the Quran twice. Once here, that the day is very ثَقِيل, the Day of Judgment. And once in which surah? Who's going to tell me the ayah? You're going to recite the whole Quran? Surah Al-Muzzammil is right. What's the ayah that has ثَقِيلَة in it? Everybody is reciting Al-Muzzammil. Huh? Hamad, which one? ثَقِيلَة.
So one of our scholars, he said something beautiful. He said, in order to be saved on that day, that is ثَقِيل, the only solution is to get strong relationship with the book that is ثَقِيل, which is the Quran. And this is the only time it's mentioned in the Quran. The Quran is ثَقِيل, and the Day of Judgment is ثَقِيل. May Allah save us all. May Allah protect us all. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make our last deeds our best deeds, and our last words, لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللّٰهُ.
Closing Words
I'm going to miss you a lot, wallahi, and I'm going to, I promise you, I will keep you all. I'm going to make this du'a. That's why it's very important to attend. I say, "Ya Allah, whoever attend the Thursday halaqa, from brothers and sisters, and whoever is watching, ya Allah," and I start making du'a. So if you don't attend, you're missing the du'a. May Allah bless you all and keep our hearts united. Jazakumullah khair.
Please come to fajr tomorrow at 6:30. And this is the most beloved salah to Allah, azza wa jal, and make a lot of salat on Rasulullah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And if you came for the candy, this is the time to come. Jazakumullah khair.