One Lord or Quarrelling Partners

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on August 21, 2025 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 in which he asked Allah to guide us to His paths, to take us by our forelocks to what pleases Him, to direct our minds and hearts to Him, and to make us submissive to obeying Him as long as we live. Then he sought refuge with Allah from incapacity and laziness, from lack of resource and absence of a way, and asked Him for steadfastness upon guidance and right judgment in the whole matter.

A Parable Struck About Worshipping Allah and Worshipping Other Than Him

Then he recited the saying of Allah, Exalted: ﴿ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا رَجُلًا فِيهِ شُرَكَاءُ مُتَشَاكِسُونَ وَرَجُلًا سَلَمًا لِرَجُلٍ هَلْ يَسْتَوِيَانِ مَثَلًا﴾ (Allah presents an example: a man owned by quarreling partners, and a man belonging entirely to one man; are they equal in comparison?)^[1]. And he said that this parable is struck about worshipping Allah and worshipping other than Him.

So if you worship Allah, you have surrendered yourself to Him; you have one Lord, one God, one commander, one forbidder, and in the matter there is comfort and ease. So if you err against this God, what is upon you? Repentance, seeking forgiveness and returning; closed doors that you knock on and they open for you, and you enter. And the matter is easy by the permission of the Lord of the worlds as long as you take Him as God, acknowledging His divinity and lordship, believing in what He has, of what He promised and warned. A good soul, and a generous, forgiving Lord; and when I deal with Allah, I am dealing only with One who comprehends the dimensions of my self and knows the hidden recesses of my being, so He, Glorified, deals with the falling-short, incapable, weak, frail soul, and everything else He knows of it.

Indeed, He, Glorified, makes you know yourself in the Qur'an: ﴿إِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ خُلِقَ هَلُوعًا * إِذَا مَسَّهُ الشَّرُّ جَزُوعًا * وَإِذَا مَسَّهُ الْخَيْرُ مَنُوعًا * إِلَّا الْمُصَلِّينَ﴾ (Indeed, man was created anxious: when evil touches him, impatient; and when good touches him, withholding; except those who pray)^[2]. So we are before a way that puts your hand on your points of weakness, then lays out for you the path to follow to avoid them. And if you err, He does not merely accept you, but teaches you how to seek forgiveness and how to repent: ﴿فَتَلَقَّىٰ آدَمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ﴾ (Then Adam received from his Lord some words)^[3]; and were it not for these words, he would not have been guided to how to seek forgiveness and the way of return, so it is from the mercy of Allah that He taught Adam how to return to Him. Then He, Glorified, says: ﴿لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ﴾ (Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity; it will have what it earned, and it will bear what it earned), then He teaches you: ﴿رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذْنَا إِنْ نَسِينَا أَوْ أَخْطَأْنَا رَبَّنَا وَلَا تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنَا إِصْرًا كَمَا حَمَلْتَهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِنَا رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا﴾ (Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear)^[4], and so on, to the end of what the Lord of the worlds tells us.

Those Who Worshipped Other Than Allah: A World Divided

As for those who worshipped other than Allah, Glorified, they saw the world dividing them into several directions. There is the side of wealth, which is among the most dangerous sides that capture the core of people, hearts and minds, and it makes you completely submissive to it.

And he gave an old example of this: a man who swears by Allah that he used to leave his house at six in the morning and not return until a late hour of the night. When he was asked: What is this, uncle? he said: I had started my business and was establishing it, and in the beginnings much is taken from you, but I got used to it, and I said that I would not return until I had closed my accounts. Then after that he would sit three hours reviewing all the outputs and all the inputs, the barcodes and so on. So he said to him: When did you sit with your wife? And how do you know your children? He said: Every six months or so we go out together for two days, then return. The Doctor commented: What kind of life is this? How can he live the feeling of worldly life? And how can he enjoy a wife or children? He did not know how to do that.

Everything Worshipped Opposes the Rest

Then he concluded with the last point: that our problem is in the dimensions and details of life to which people devote worship. The Lord of the worlds says: ﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَتَّخِذُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَنْدَادًا يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِلَّهِ﴾ (And among the people are those who take rivals besides Allah, loving them as they should love Allah; but those who believe are stronger in love for Allah)^[5]. So wealth, positions and children are all opposed to one another: if someone is occupied with position, the wealth he spends on it is lost from his hands; and if he is occupied with wealth, his health is lost because he gives his whole life to it; and if he is occupied with children, they take him away from his ambitions and goals, and so on. Glory be to the Creator, the All-Knowing! No servant's condition is sound unless he is a follower of Allah, and no servant's condition is sound unless Allah is the One who sets this whole affair right.

And he concluded by asking Allah to grant us and them blessing on this noble day, to take us by our forelocks to what pleases Him, and to keep our steps safe.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Zumar, verse 29. Its completion is: ﴿الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ﴾, which the speaker did not utter. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Maʿārij, verses 19–22. The speaker stopped at «إلا المصلين». ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 37. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 286. The speaker cut the verse off at «ما لا طاقة لنا» and referred to what follows it. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 165. The speaker stopped at «أشد حبًّا لله».