And Keep Yourself Patiently with Those Who Call upon Their Lord Morning and Evening

Occasion: A Fajr khatira delivered on 6 July 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

In the blessed verses we listened to there is a divine instruction to the Prophet ﷺ, as the Lord of Might, glory and exaltation be to Him, directs him with His saying: ﴿وَاصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِالْغَدَاةِ وَالْعَشِيِّ يُرِيدُونَ وَجْهَهُ﴾ ("And keep yourself patiently with those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His face")^[1] as though the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, is addressing all the callers to Allah.

When the Caller Grows Weary of People

At some stage the caller feels that there is no benefit, and we ask Allah for safety and well-being. And the absence of hope, or its scarcity, about the hoped-for benefit in the caller comes from a limited outlook; I say this about myself with regard to those I call. So you see, and Allah, the Most High, knows best, that many people sit down to listen to khawāṭir and sermons and lessons and lectures, and the information is repeated to them, and the styles of address multiply before them, and callers show artistry in narrating tales and explaining stories and taking up verses and mentioning ḥadīths, and the people do not change. Sometimes the caller senses a kind of despair that the people have any desire at all to change or alter their conditions. This is one pattern.

And the other pattern is the increase in the amount of evil in the world. And if it does not reach despair, it is at least a kind of boredom with the repetition of information and reminding people and urging them to obedience and trying to solve their problems, and "people have an ear of clay and an ear of dough," as we say in Egypt.

The Owner of the Garden Who Forgot Who Gave It to Him

And glory be to Allah, as we listen to the verses about our companion who entered his garden intoxicated, feeling utmost pride, and saying with utmost simplicity: ﴿مَا أَظُنُّ أَن تَبِيدَ هَٰذِهِ أَبَدًا﴾ ("I do not think that this will ever perish")^[2] he did not notice that Allah, glory be to Him, mentioned at the beginning of the story: ﴿وَاضْرِبْ لَهُم مَّثَلًا رَّجُلَيْنِ جَعَلْنَا﴾ ("And present to them the example of two men; We made")^[3] so he did not make for himself nor produce by himself; he did not prepare the soil, nor make the rivers flow, nor send down the water, nor bring out the sun that comes out from the morning to carry out the process of photosynthesis and the release of oxygen and the intake of carbon dioxide. He made nothing of that, and did not control the kind of soil that brought forth this fruit, but he came to it ready-made; so when he came, all the means were prepared for it to ripen in his hands.

And likewise one for whom a position is prepared that he did not make, so that when he comes and sits firmly on his throne and finds it prepared before him, the poor fellow thinks himself able to do something, while he cannot move anything still within himself, nor still anything moving, nor silence a pain, nor open an eye or close it except by the decrees of Allah, blessed and exalted. But then comes the matter of human conceit.

Keep to the Group Even If It Is Small

And then the Lord of the Worlds, glory and exaltation be to Him, speaks to the Prophet ﷺ with His saying: ﴿وَاصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِالْغَدَاةِ وَالْعَشِيِّ﴾ ("And keep yourself patiently with those who call upon their Lord morning and evening") so even if you find a very small group of people worshipping the Lord of the Worlds, glory and exaltation be to Him, keep to them. Keep to the group even if it is small, for in it is salvation.^[4]

And the picture that forms in my mind now is of a very large ship, like a huge cruise ship, that suddenly sank, struck by the winds, the winds of tyranny and desire and wealth and worldly life, and overpowered by whims and the collapse of morals, and then this big ship sinks. But there is a very small boat in which three or four of the people of reason and wisdom and deliberation went out, who were distancing themselves from this clamor and this corruption, and they seek salvation in this humble boat. So whoever went out with them was saved, and whoever stayed with the great multitude perished.

And so the instruction comes to the Prophet ﷺ after his Lord commands him with His saying: ﴿وَاتْلُ مَا أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ مِن كِتَابِ رَبِّكَ ۖ لَا مُبَدِّلَ لِكَلِمَاتِهِ وَلَن تَجِدَ مِن دُونِهِ مُلْتَحَدًا﴾ ("And recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord; there is no changer of His words, and you will never find besides Him any refuge")^[5] then: ﴿وَاصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِالْغَدَاةِ وَالْعَشِيِّ﴾ ("And keep yourself patiently with those who call upon their Lord morning and evening").

Let Us Keep to Companionship and the Qur'an

And as the words are for myself, so they are also for the people of obedience like you, may Allah preserve your station and accept your deeds and be pleased with you. Let us together keep to the planting of the Noble Qur'an, and not detach ourselves from it. And whoever sees in this worldly life a righteous companionship, let him keep to it, for the people of righteousness are few, and the people of reform are rare, and those keen on the truth are not many. And whoever wants to be saved, let him seek a companion with whom and by whom he is saved, and whoever wants to be alone, it is destruction, and we seek refuge with Allah.

I ask Allah, blessed and exalted, to inspire us from Himself with patience with ourselves and with people and with the conditions revolving around us. And I ask Him to help every obedient one, and to make the people of good firm in their good, and to dispel the darknesses of this jāhiliyya in which people live, and to establish His religion on the earth, and to rescue the people of Gaza from everything being plotted for them and engineered around them. O Allah, āmīn. May Allah, the Most High, be pleased with you and bless you and reward you with good.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Kahf, verse 28. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Kahf, verse 35. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Kahf, verse 32, and its completion is: ﴿لِأَحَدِهِمَا جَنَّتَيْنِ مِنْ أَعْنَابٍ…﴾; the speaker stopped at "We made." ^[4]: Editor's documentation: The phrase "Keep to the group even if it is small, for in it is salvation" was cited by the speaker in its wording and he did not give its chain in this passage, and it cannot be asserted that it is attributable as a ḥadīth. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Kahf, verse 27.