Entrusting Oneself and One's Family to Allah's Protection

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 27 March 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

The Doctor opened his khatira with a supplication that Allah spare us the evil of this day, the evil of what is in it and the evil of what comes after it; that He set right for us our religion and our worldly life, grant us right guidance in our affairs, preserve for us the wellbeing of our hearts, secure our souls, soothe our hearts, make us pleased and be pleased with us; and that He be gentle with the Ummah of Islam in every land and at every time.

Then he said: It is well known on people's tongues that when something is entrusted to Allah, the Exalted, He keeps it safe, glory be to Him^[1]. This is known in our creed as a necessity, one of the implications of faith, and it has a witness in the Qur'an: ﴿فَاللَّهُ خَيْرٌ حَافِظًا وَهُوَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ﴾ (“But Allah is the best of guardians, and He is the Most Merciful of the merciful.”)^[2]. It is a well-known phrase on people's tongues that we repeat in various situations, but we are still left to ask together: how do we entrust something to Allah well?

I Entrust You to Allah

Among this is what we say: «I entrust you to Allah, whose trusts are never lost», and «I entrust to Allah your religion, your trust and the end of your deeds».

In this sense is what happened with Jacob, peace be upon him, when he said to his sons: ﴿يَا بَنِيَّ لَا تَدْخُلُوا مِن بَابٍ وَاحِدٍ وَادْخُلُوا مِنْ أَبْوَابٍ مُّتَفَرِّقَةٍ وَمَا أُغْنِي عَنكُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ مِن شَيْءٍ﴾ (“O my sons, do not enter by one gate, but enter by different gates; and I cannot avail you against Allah at all.”)^[3]. He said this while remaining upon the foundation of his relationship with the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the relationship of a prophet with the One who sent him and revealed to him: he remained upon the foundation of his relationship with the Lord of the worlds, in trust and certainty, in pledging himself to worship, and in keeping the covenant between him and the Lord of Might, glory be to Him.

In the Protection of Allah

Among the sayings of Muhammad ﷺ is that whoever prays Fajr in congregation is in the protection of Allah, Blessed and Exalted^[4]. How do we render this saying into practice? When you say to a person, “You are in my dhimma,” this is not the same as saying, “You are in my personal responsibility”; the difference is very great. Take, for example, putting something in a safe and locking it tightly: it may still be stolen. But when the thing you are guarding is in your dhimma, it means that even if it is lost, you are its guarantor, so it will not come to harm; and even if it does come to harm, you compensate it with its inexhaustible replacements, whose wonders none knows except the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted.

So whoever wants to protect himself, his family and his dependents, let him entrust himself to Allah. But if we are a trust in the hands of the Lord of the worlds, let us respect the station we are in: no lying, no stealing, no cheating, no deception, no flattery, no trickery; it is a trust from Allah, just as you are a trust in the hands of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted.

Then he supplicated: O Allah, we ask You to preserve for us our religion and our worldly life, to forgive our shortcomings and our slips, not to hold us to account for our sins, and to expiate our evil deeds. O Allah, preserve in our hands the blessings You have entrusted to us. O Allah, amen, O Lord of the worlds.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The expression is among what people commonly say about safekeeping and trusts. The speaker did not attribute it to a source, and I was not certain of its attribution, so I did not attribute it. ^[2]: Sūrat Yūsuf: 64. ^[3]: Sūrat Yūsuf: 67; the speaker confined himself to this portion of the verse. Linking Jacob's words to the meaning of entrusting is part of the arrangement of the khatira as it was heard. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: The origin of the ḥadīth is in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim with the wording «من صلى الصبح فهو في ذمة الله» (“Whoever prays the morning prayer is in the protection of Allah”); the phrase “in congregation” has been transmitted as the speaker said it.