Allah Has Purchased from the Believers

Occasion: Transcription of an Isha khatira delivered on 9 November 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Three points at which I paused during the recitation, the first of which is His saying, Exalted is He: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشْتَرَىٰ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُم بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ﴾ (Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth in exchange for Paradise).^[1]

What Is Purchased from One Who Has Already Given?

What did Allah purchase? He purchased the lives of the believers and their wealth. And the believers believed in Allah, so they are naturally subject to Him, and nothing needs to be purchased from them, for they gave themselves to Allah in the very root of the matter. So what is the need for the Lord of the Worlds to say this? Then our shaykh repeats to us that Allah is the Owner of the heavens and the earth, so the whole of lives and wealth falls within the whole of the heavens and the earth owned by Allah, glory be to Him, Exalted is He. So what is the reason for this expression with the word "purchase"?

The reason in that is that the Lord of the Worlds, glory be to Him, makes us feel our selves, and that we have choice in doing what we wish, and that this choice has consequences of reward and punishment from Him, glory be to Him. So even as He tells you that you are owned by Allah, He makes you feel your self and your capacity to make a decision, even as you are dealing with the Lord of the Worlds. Or the possibility is that when the people of faith believed, their lives and wealth came to have a value beyond their being owned, subject to the Lord of the Worlds, and they became worthy of being granted that in return, given what they know of the generosity of the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, exalted in His majesty.

The Terms of the Deal

If we agree on this matter in principle, what are the terms of this deal? The Lord of the Worlds, glory be to Him, says: ﴿التَّائِبُونَ الْعَابِدُونَ الْحَامِدُونَ السَّائِحُونَ الرَّاكِعُونَ السَّاجِدُونَ الْآمِرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَالنَّاهُونَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَالْحَافِظُونَ لِحُدُودِ اللَّهِ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾ (Those who repent, those who worship, those who praise, those who travel, those who bow, those who prostrate, those who enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and those who observe the limits set by Allah; and give good tidings to the believers).^[2]

Notice that He returned us to "the believers" at the end, just as the speech began with "the believers," so I understood that there is a link between the beginning and the end, and that what lies between them are the terms of this deal.

Those who repent. Can you imagine that people who sold their lives and wealth to Allah after their faith in the Lord of the Worlds, glory be to Him, still have something to repent from? Imagine the scene with me: we are speaking about Allah having purchased from the believers, so without doubt they have sold, and the deal is complete and the matter is over, and their lives and wealth have become Allah's, glory be to Him. And yet they have errors from which they repent! So the Lord of the Worlds raises the ceiling of our conception of errors in the lives of human beings, to the point that among the likes of these believers who sold their lives and wealth, and for whom is Paradise, God willing, there is one from whom error is possible.

And imagine that He raises the ceiling to what is higher than that, for the verse shortly after says: ﴿لَقَدْ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنصَارِ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ فِي سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ﴾ (Allah has already forgiven the Prophet and the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār who followed him in the hour of hardship).^[3] Consider the description that the Lord of the Worlds mentioned of the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār: they submitted to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the hardest times he went through. Is there anything above that in ransom or sacrifice or giving or bestowal or charity? And is there anything above that as proof of sincere belonging to the call, to work and to striving? And yet the expression comes with the word repentance: «لقد تاب على النبي» ("Allah has already turned in forgiveness to the Prophet"), and then to the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār. Allāhu akbar! How is that? He says to you: Be careful, for there is no ceiling to the possibility of disobedience occurring in some form. And if disobedience did not come from the Prophet ﷺ in the form that we know it, then it is a notification to the community that there is a possibility, even if only of shortcoming in work, for we have not performed what we ought to perform, and we have not reached the ceiling of giving.

Then we return: those who sold their lives and wealth, to whom? To Allah, so is it possible to be given anything beyond that? What do you think? One who has given himself, does he possess anything beyond that? There is nothing else. So what is the reason for the expression with the word repentance at all? He says to you: It is possible that something of regard for your self and your person may enter you, that there may enter you: I am a respected imam, I am a caller to Allah, I am a great giver of charity, I am one who spends, I am one who strives for good things, I help people, I do and I am the owner of such-and-such. These inner things, hidden or apparent, few or many, are not required, and if they occur we will not turn their owner away, rather a little repentance is enough. So Allah says: "Those who repent."

Those who worship. Then, when repentance has occurred, worship is sincere, so what follows comes: those who worship. And what are the manifestations of this worship? That a person be clothed in it in its various forms: prayer, fasting, zakāh, ḥajj, dutifulness, truthfulness, fidelity and other things, until he feels that he has been filled within himself by this devotion, so that he becomes one who praises Allah for the blessing he is in. And I ask a very simple question: the one who praises, is he one who finds the obligation heavy, or one who is happy with the practice? Is he finding it heavy: I will get up to pray four rakʿahs and perform wuḍūʾ while the world is cold? Or am I very happy with what I am in?

And in His saying "those who repent" is an indication of the constant self-review that takes place in the minds of the believers, so they do not rest assured about themselves, for fear of leaning on self-satisfaction through which Satan enters, slips in and tempts them with what they have, so that they go astray. So this is repentance. That is why we say: I seek Allah's forgiveness, I seek Allah's forgiveness, I seek Allah's forgiveness after the prayer, after the prayer which is itself worship, we seek forgiveness of the Lord of the Worlds for the possibility of shortcoming, however slight. Then we are in the pattern of worship in which we reach a limit at which we feel the good pleasure of Allah upon us, and so we begin the stage of praise.

Those who travel. And the next term: those who travel. What is the significance of this word? We read His saying, Exalted is He: ﴿مُسْلِمَاتٍ مُّؤْمِنَاتٍ قَانِتَاتٍ تَائِبَاتٍ عَابِدَاتٍ سَائِحَاتٍ﴾ (Muslim women, believing women, devout women, repentant women, worshipping women, travelling women).^[4] And the shaykhs say regarding the women who travel, or the men who travel: they are those who continue fasting night and day, that is, they live in this state. And the word travel in general gives you a kind of ease in the place you are in or the state you are living in, does it not? So these are not only grateful to Allah, Blessed and Exalted, because He favored them with the blessing of worship and so they praised Him; rather they are in the meadows of this blessing, traveling through it: praying one prayer after another, fasting after fasting, remembrance after remembrance, reading after reading, recitation after recitation. They live in another world! They feel the blessing of the Lord of the Worlds in everything, and in all in which they feel the good pleasure of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, upon them: in the ease of souls, their tranquility and their calm. The world is shaken and overturned around them while they are at peace with what comes from the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, Exalted; they follow the means and live life and strive, but their hearts are at peace.

Those who bow and prostrate. Then the Lord of the Worlds says: those who bow, those who prostrate. Does this not fall under "those who worship," which came at the start? We agreed on "those who repent, those who worship," so why do we say "those who bow, those who prostrate"? He tells me: because of the breadth of the term worship in the first place, then the specification. You have a car, so what do you do in maintenance? It is not that you wipe the car and wash it from the outside, rather we go into the engine, and see the things we need to attend to and the oil we change, very precise things. So maintenance of the great worship comes about by emphasizing the joints. And the joints of worship are in those pillars: they establish the prayer, those who bow, those who prostrate.

Those who enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. Then the next stage comes. When they reached a station in which they felt the good pleasure of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, upon them, and sensed the blessing of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in their conscience and their being and their whole life, they felt compassion for the rest of creation, and so became an intermediary between the way and whoever wants to follow the way, and so became guides for people to Allah, and directors of creation to the Creator, and guides of the rest of the people to how to worship and draw near to the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, Exalted.

Those who observe the limits set by Allah. The Lord of the Worlds says: ﴿وَالْحَافِظُونَ لِحُدُودِ اللَّهِ﴾ (and those who observe the limits set by Allah). So what is the meaning of those who observe the limits of Allah after the term those who enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong? They have moved from the level of the narrow view of individual, temporary worship to the concern of the community and the future of this life. They are not thinking of themselves in terms of individual salvation in Paradise and being rid of the Fire, rather their concern within them has become the concern of the community. Then the Lord of the Worlds says: ﴿وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾ (and give good tidings to the believers).

This was the first point. And the second point, in His saying ﴿لَقَدْ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنصَارِ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ﴾ (Allah has already forgiven the Prophet and the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār who followed him), we have included in the discussion.

The Supplication

We ask Allah, glory be to Him, Exalted, to bless us and you in the good things that are in our hands, to grant us sincerity in what we say, to favor us with the blessing of understanding His intent in His Book, and to make us among the people of guidance in this world and the Hereafter. O Allah, we seek refuge in Your greatness from being deceived by ourselves, or from saying what we do not do, or from being tried by the whispering of Satan and the misguidance of the self. O Allah, we ask You to keep our hearts and minds safe for us. O Allah, we ask You by Your might and Your authority to preserve for the people of Palestine their security and safety, and to fill their hearts with certainty in what is with You. O Allah, accept their martyrs, and preserve for them their well-being and their security in themselves, their families and their land. O Allah, amen, O Lord of the Worlds. Be gentle with the people of Sudan, and have mercy on every oppressed one on earth, and be gentle with us, O Allah, and have mercy on our weakness. And may Allah send blessings upon Muḥammad, and upon him the peace of Allah.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Tawba, verse 111. The body is limited to the portion the speaker recited. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Tawba, verse 112. In the transcript it came as «الحاملون» and the context (his explanation: "so he became one who praises Allah") indicates «الحامدون». ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Tawba, verse 117. The body is limited to the portion the speaker mentioned. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Taḥrīm, verse 5, which appeared garbled at its beginning in the transcript, so it was limited to the point of citation.