‹This Is Our Gift›: The Blessing of Faith and the Qur'an

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on August 19, 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

He began by asking Allah, the Most High, the All-Powerful, to record our traces in our first and our last, to make us among those who hasten to His good pleasure, and to write us among the people of sincerity for whom He appointed righteous work in this world and granted acceptance before Him on the day of meeting Him.

Two Phrases That Indicate Man's Weakness Before Receiving Blessing

He said: In the recitation we heard two phrases that indicate the reality of man's weakness before receiving the blessing of Allah, Glorified and Exalted. His saying: ﴿إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَرِزْقُنَا مَا لَهُ مِنْ نَفَادٍ﴾ (Indeed, this is Our provision; for it there is no depletion)^[1] is a phrase that makes the servant stop before the good things in his hands. And what is repeated in speaking about blessing is that people look at numbers, and they must turn their attention to the other kinds of provision they have.

But when the Lord of the worlds says: ﴿هَٰذَا عَطَاؤُنَا﴾ (This is Our gift)^[2], this word made me pause during the prayer, to picture the gift of the Lord of the worlds, Glorified. For when you go to visit someone, or an occasion is before you, and you strive in what you carry in your hands, is it an honoring of the one given to, or an honoring of yourself as the giver? Do you want to magnify the one you visit, or do you want to magnify yourself before the one you visit? So when Allah gives, are you the object of consideration, or does Allah, Exalted, give according to His power, His station and the greatness of His self-subsistence, Glorified?

And so you see that the gift of the poor is modest, the gift of the rich is precious, the gift of the richest is more precious, and the gift of a person of rank may be a token or a necklace or a monument or the like; and it is said: this, even though its material value is worth nothing, is worth everything in its symbolic value.

A Sensory Gift and a Gift of Another Kind

So if we picture that there are material gifts and gifts of another kind: the material gifts that Allah gave us are, for example, that we are speaking now, that you are looking at me, that you perceive my presence, that you sit in this place and perceive where you are. This is a sensory gift, which makes me speak, look, feel and breathe.

But being aware of the gift of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, in the Noble Qur'an as a blessing, in Islam as a grant, in faith as a favor from the Lord of the worlds... has not one of us thought: Why do I fear Allah? Why do I have taqwā of Allah, Glorified and Exalted? Why is there in my heart this conscience that reproaches me from time to time for falling short in my work, or for not performing the duty upon me, or because I fell short in the right of so-and-so or did not give my family? Has anyone thought about this matter? This small concept: that Allah gave you, and that Allah granted you this sense of responsibility in itself. Allah, Blessed and Exalted, has bestowed upon you the blessing of faith, and that you are a believer and not others, and fear Allah and not others, and have taqwā of the Lord of the worlds and not others: ﴿هَٰذَا عَطَاؤُنَا فَامْنُنْ أَوْ أَمْسِكْ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ﴾ (This is Our gift, so grant or withhold without account), ﴿إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَرِزْقُنَا مَا لَهُ مِنْ نَفَادٍ﴾ (Indeed, this is Our provision; for it there is no depletion).

And seeking the blessing in the presence of Allah is among the best kinds of provision that the servant is aware of in his life. So as long as we are alive, never forget Allah, in every breath, every movement, every stillness, every action, every feeling, and then you will never go wrong. And if an incidental mistake occurs from you, you seek Allah's forgiveness for it and He forgives you, you repent to Him and He accepts your repentance, you seek to return and He accepts, you knock at His door and He opens for you.

And he concluded by asking Allah to grant us the delight of being aware of the blessing of the Lord of the worlds upon us, the blessing of faith and the blessing of the Qur'an. Then he supplicated: O Allah, we ask You for kindness to our people in Gaza and all of Palestine and every oppressed person on earth, O Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat Ṣād, verse 54. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat Ṣād, verse 39. The transcript is garbled at the place of the verse («فمن أو امسك بغير حساب»), and the well-known text of the verse has been given as far as the speaker's words appeared.