No Excuse for Holding Back: Strength of Soul Before Equipment

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 14 May 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

The available portion of the khatira begins at the words of the Exalted: ﴿انْفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا﴾ (“March forth, light and heavy”).^[1] The Doctor said: The verses opened with the words of Allah the Exalted ﴿انْفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا﴾, as though the Lord of the worlds is telling us that no one has an excuse. A person is in one of two states: either in ease or in hardship, and in both he is commanded to strive, and he has no excuse to withdraw.

The Soldier in Battle

Imagine a soldier in a battle: could he come and say, “The conditions are hard and I cannot continue fighting”? Move on, my dear, wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are; you have no excuse to fall behind from your mission. And in this life you are on a battlefield, and you must deal with the goals that are before us. So we are before verses in which the Lord of the worlds tells us: ﴿انْفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا وَجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنْفُسِكُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ﴾ (“March forth, light and heavy, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah. That is better for you”). So what is it that is better for us? It is better for us to strive and work, and not to make pretexts and excuses.

Were the Conditions Harsher?

And in the Expedition of Hardship our Lord, glory be to Him, tells us of the state of the Prophet ﷺ and the state of his Companions, may Allah be pleased with them: matters pressed hard upon them from every side, the distances and the times were long, and the conditions were as difficult as they could be, and even so their Lord, glory be to Him, commands them to move.

And you might say: Were matters really that difficult? They did not have these machines, nor nuclear bombs, nor ballistic drones, nor all these terms too big for us that we do not understand well. The answer is that every environment is hard on the machine of the children of Adam, may Allah honor you. You find a person screaming at the top of his voice: What is the matter, my son? A killer headache, a killer headache! And next to him is another person, silent, and you ask him: How are you? He says: Praise be to Allah. You ask him: What is wrong with you? (I ask Allah for safety and well-being for us). So which of the two is more severely afflicted in terms of the initial picture, in terms of the medical judgment, and in terms of the resulting consequences? But this one screams because he cannot bear this simple procedure, and that one is patient and silent because his psychology is higher than the situation he is in.

Setting Out Is a Matter of the Soul

And it is as though my Lord, glory be to Him, the Exalted, is preparing me psychologically to receive any events and to deal with any developments. We are here in this life in a very long battle: with corruption, with falsehood, with evil, with Satan, with sin, with indecency, with wrongdoing, and with everything that can be named of what Satan promotes in the world of life. So if one of us surrenders at some moment, it is as though he were a soldier who threw down his weapon on the battlefield, and our Lord, glory be to Him, is not pleased with this act from us, nor with the consequences that follow from it.

And so He tells us this simple, very charming sentence, simple even in persuading people: ﴿وَلَوْ أَرَادُوا الْخُرُوجَ لَأَعَدُّوا لَهُ عُدَّةً وَلَٰكِنْ كَرِهَ اللَّهُ انْبِعَاثَهُمْ فَثَبَّطَهُمْ﴾ (“And if they had intended to go forth, they would have prepared for it some preparation. But Allah disliked their being sent, so He kept them back”).^[2] And the question is: is the matter of setting out tied to the psychological ability to go forth, or to the material ability to prepare for it? A person's setting out to embark on a journey or on some matter is tied to the soul: ﴿كَرِهَ اللَّهُ انْبِعَاثَهُمْ فَثَبَّطَهُمْ﴾ (“Allah disliked their being sent, so He kept them back”). And this holding back is tied to the psychological state; there is a strong psyche that can move in any land and under any conditions, and there is a weak psyche that, however much the means are within its reach, cannot.

Never Mind, Go On

Then He tells us, glory be to Him, in His words: ﴿لَوْ خَرَجُوا فِيكُمْ مَا زَادُوكُمْ إِلَّا خَبَالًا﴾ (“Had they gone forth with you, they would not have increased you except in confusion”).^[3] So whom does this verse address? It addresses the group that works and moves, the group that wants to sacrifice for the sake of Allah and looks at the numbers: Who let us down and who walked with us? Never mind, you go on; for the one you imagine you are seeking help from may be a burden on you in the movement in which you are moving.

And the sum of what I say about these blessed verses, by Allah, is that I pray and sense this psychological movement that circulates in my mind among interlocking, complementary events in their organized form for the process of the soul that moves in the land of life, and I say: Glory be to the One whose words these are, glory be to the One whose words these are!

Our Response Today

So our first response today, as we are in its morning and have before us a very long day, by the permission of the Lord of the worlds, and a great deal of work: ﴿انْفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا﴾ (“March forth, light and heavy”). Do not let your aspiration make you sit back from being among the people of Paradise, indeed from being among those who race to it; neither poverty is an obstacle, nor need an obstacle, nor health an obstacle, but the matter turns on the soul, so you expend the means with the utmost energy you have. Those who discourage people from more deeds are only people with weak souls.

Therefore, if you have children, never make them sit out from a deed they want so long as it contains good and obedience. Do not say: You will not be able to, or it is cold, or this mothers' business, you know the mothers' business: No, my dear, stay sitting here beside me in Mama's embrace. This concerns the matter of women; as for men, their slogan in life is: ﴿انْفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا وَجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنْفُسِكُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ﴾ (“March forth, light and heavy, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah. That is better for you”). The outcome is with Allah, the results are in His hand, glory be to Him, and the One who repays is the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, exalted in His majesty.

The Supplication

I ask Allah, the Most High, the All-Powerful, to bless our aspirations, to deposit them in our souls, never to hold them back in any condition, and to grant us a sincerity with which we meet Him on the day of meeting Him. O Allah, amen.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Tawba, verse 41. The body records only what the speaker uttered of the verse. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Tawba, verse 46. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Tawba, verse 47.