Change Is a Desire That Springs from Within

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 15 October 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

We begin with the imam's supplication for the people of Gaza: O Allah, we ask You by Your most beautiful names and Your loftiest attributes to bring the affair of the people of Gaza to completion, to take them by the forelocks toward right guidance, to preserve for them the blessing You have entrusted to them and the good You have left in their hands, to be gentle with them, and to keep from them the evils of Your enemies and their enemies, O Lord of the worlds.

A Desire That Springs from Within

In the first rak'ah we listened to the saying of Allah, blessed and exalted: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ﴾ ("Indeed, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves").^[1] And Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, does not change what is inside people unless the inner desire comes from them themselves. There must be honesty with the self in attempts at change, otherwise every action after that is a false, deceptive action that can be reversed.

And the foundation on which faith is built in life is the foundation of faith; so if the work does not proceed from an inner faith in the depths of the human being, it is either a temporary work that changes and then diminishes, or a counterfeit work with which the person shows off to the people who live around him.

ʿUmar and Ibn Salūl

Look at the models of the call to Islam in ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him); he remained in his Jāhiliyyah for a period of time, but when what was in his soul truly changed and faith mixed with the innermost part of his heart, he became the ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb we know: establishing the truth, standing firm in the face of falsehood, and accomplishing through men who make the history of the community, and he gave life and the Muslims far more than others. The point is that when the inner reform took place, that individual was worthy of accomplishing in the world of life.

And on the other side ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl, one of those who professed Islam before the people when the Prophet ﷺ spoke before them of this good and this truth. And the question that presents itself: what kind of doubt did Ibn Salūl have? He sees the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with his own eyes, and knows fully that this is the truth that came from the Lord of the worlds, and believes that this message matches the messages before Islam, and knows the reality of the miracles that Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ﷺ brought, and sees this superiority and these events that happen to his noble person through divine support from the Lord of Might, glory be to Him. So what was it that did not make him a Muslim? What did not let him enter Islam? The truth is that he did not want to change. And even if all the conditions of the world were facts before him, he would not respond; because he does not want to respond. It is the inner desire within the soul.

And we are dealing with Allah, glory and exaltation be to Him, not with people, so we want to be honest with ourselves that we want to change.

The Smoker's Story

One of the brothers, may Allah preserve the standing of all, I was talking to him about the issue of smoking, and he said to me: By Allah, Shaykh, I have perhaps quit cigarettes more than two hundred times. So I said to him: That means you went back to them two hundred times; if you had quit once, the matter would have ended long ago. He said: I cannot.

Then, on one occasion, we were talking about another matter, which is standing before Allah, blessed and exalted, and how to answer Him, the Mighty and Majestic, if He asks me about sins. His heart softened, and we left that sitting, and he said to me: Do you know, Shaykh? I resolved within myself and made a covenant with my Lord not to touch them again. And from that day, glory be to the All-Creating, the All-Knowing, he quit. And he is the one who before that used to say: I cannot, for nicotine runs in the blood gradually, and he would put forward theories, proofs and hypotheses. And in a single moment the heart softened, and the standards of thinking within the soul changed, so he took a decision that he insisted on and went forward.

The Companions of the Prophet ﷺ and the Prohibition of Wine

And one thing reminds of another: the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, when the verses prohibiting wine were revealed to them, and addiction to wine is harder on the soul than almost anything, we ask Allah for safety and well-being, but when the verses were revealed while the desire to change was in their souls, they changed completely and were transformed completely, and they poured out this wine in the streets of Madinah. ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ﴾ ("Indeed, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves"), ﴿وَإِذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ سُوءًا فَلَا مَرَدَّ لَهُ﴾ ("and when Allah intends for a people ill, there is no repelling it"). Glory be to the All-Creating, the All-Knowing.

He Has Succeeded Who Purifies Himself

And the Lord of the worlds decreed that in the second rak'ah we listen to His saying: ﴿قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن تَزَكَّىٰ﴾ ("He has certainly succeeded who purifies himself").^[2] He has succeeded who desired purification, and who had this determination to turn away from that corruption he was in.

If one of us sees a flaw in himself, that is half of the road to reform: that I realize I have a flaw; I lie, I cheat, I show off, I do something wrong. This realization in itself is half of the road to reform. And the other half remains: that you take the decision. Then there remains the stage of training, with more reminding of the self, and calm, and attempts to remain firm on the principle, and so on.

I ask Allah for safety, blessing and well-being for me and for you.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: al-Raʿd: 11. The context indicates that it is the verse that was recited in the first rak'ah. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: al-Aʿlā: 14.