‹Until the Messenger Said›: The Price of Paradise Is a Recurring Trial

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

In the saying of Allah, blessed and exalted: ﴿أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِن قَبْلِكُم مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ مَتَىٰ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ﴾ ("Or do you think that you will enter Paradise while there has not yet come to you the like of those who passed on before you? Poverty and hardship touched them and they were shaken until the Messenger and those who believed with him said, 'When is the help of Allah?'")^[1]. This verse is a reality that defines for us a set of feelings which, if we take them in, we realize the dimensions of the divine laws of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, in His creation and His universe.

A Question for Those Who Desire Paradise

The question is posed to those who desire; as for those who do not desire, there is no dialogue with them at all; we are speaking to those who want to enter Paradise: ﴿أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ﴾ ("Or do you think that you will enter Paradise"), so what is the price? Allah, blessed and exalted, says: ﴿وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِن قَبْلِكُم﴾ ("while there has not yet come to you the like of those who passed on before you"); that is, people before you went through what you are going through. And if that is so, we are before a repeated experience; the events in Gaza or elsewhere, in any place on earth, are repeated events.

And I bring that closer with an example: you are sitting in front of a football match that is being replayed, and you know that you are watching it for the second or third time, and then you see a man very agitated in front of it, and you say to him: Take it easy, you know the result; it will end in a draw, for example, so why this agitation? And why are you watching the same scene a second and third time? Either he is wasting his time, or he is learning the tactics and the moves. And if there is a skilled coach, he brings the old matches in which there were great achievements and shows them to his players. And this applies to all fields: to the one who learns engineering, and the one who learns accounting, and others. So we have a scene in Gaza that has been repeated before, so listen to the verse once more.

"Touched Them," "Poverty and Hardship," and "They Were Shaken"

﴿مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ﴾ ("Poverty and hardship touched them"): what is the significance of the word "touch"? In many places we speak of a man's touching a woman: does it require ablution or a full bath? And we speak of the jurists' indications in the word "touch," so some say it is mere contact, and some say its meaning is intercourse. This is only an example by which I bring the concept closer, but it indicates the clinging of bodies to one another. So it is as though poverty and hardship clung to them with a clinging and did not leave them until the matter cleared.

And the word "poverty" (al-baʾsāʾ) is severe in its impact on the soul, and if the word "hardship" (al-ḍarrāʾ) is attached to it, then this distress that afflicted them did not pass by in a passing way. Do you not see that a person may collide with something and be asked: Are you all right? He says: Praise be to Allah, it passed safely. And another collides with the same collision and his blood flows and he is wounded and ends up in trouble? And sometimes the collision is of exactly the same measure, yet a permanent disability befalls one of them, we ask Allah for safety.

﴿وَزُلْزِلُوا﴾ ("and they were shaken"): listen to this word; it is a shaking from within. Imagine a person who is tried in a situation in which an inner shaking happens to him and he collapses from within. How beautiful this likeness is, and how expressive of the state of a group of people at a stage of very severe testing for them.

"When Is the Help of Allah?"

Then our Lord says: ﴿حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ مَتَىٰ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ﴾ ("until the Messenger and those who believed with him said, 'When is the help of Allah?'"). Imagine yourself in a situation in which you say: When, O Lord, when will You lift this from me? Is this not the state of the children of Gaza, for example? Or of an unjustly imprisoned man, and we seek refuge in Allah, who is abused and made to taste the worst torment in his prison, and says: O Lord, even if to Paradise, even if I die, but take me out of here. Reflect on who it is that expresses it with this expression in this situation before us: ﴿حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ﴾ ("until the Messenger said").

Is not the Messenger, the blessings of Allah be upon them all, the highest of people in station in certainty in Allah, in understanding of the laws of the Lord of the worlds, glory and exaltation be to Him, and in faith in the promise of the Lord of Might, glory be to Him? And in the verses there is an expression with the word "Prophet" and an expression with the word "Messenger," so what is the difference? The Messenger carries a message and knows that it has consequences in conveying it, so the matter is, for him, settled from the beginning, from the covenant Allah took from him: ﴿اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ حَيْثُ يَجْعَلُ رِسَالَتَهُ﴾ ("Allah knows best where to place His message")^[7], and from the descent of revelation to him, and he knows that there is a price in the matter.

Waraqa ibn Nawfal and the Expulsion of the Prophet ﷺ

You remember the story of the Prophet ﷺ when he met Waraqa ibn Nawfal, the cousin of Lady Khadījah, and presented to him what he had seen, and Waraqa said to him, in meaning: Would that I were a strong young man in it when your people expel you. That is: would that I were a young, strong man so that I could defend you when the time comes in which your people expel you from Makkah to elsewhere. Our master the Prophet ﷺ looked at him in astonishment: Will they expel me? Does the matter reach this degree, and does hostility reach the point that they expel me?^[2]

And I bring the picture closer for you: you may have a neighbour with whom there is a dispute between you, and you are not in agreement, each of you harming the other. But one day you hear a loud voice and screaming from his house, so you run to him: What is happening? And the disputes melt away in a moment until the situation is rescued. Then when the rescue is over and things return to normal, each of you says: We are still at odds! But a person may be tried with a neighbour who keeps harming him until he forces him to leave his house. And you remember that Companion who came to the Prophet ﷺ complaining about his neighbour who harmed him, and what did the Prophet ﷺ advise him? To carry his belongings and put them in front of his house, so that people pass by and ask: What is the matter with you, that you have put your belongings out on the road?

And the point is that a person may bear neighbourliness and living side by side, but when the matter reaches expulsion he says: Will they expel me? Then Waraqa said to him, in meaning: No one has ever come with the like of what you have come with except that he was harmed. So we agree from the start that there is a toll that will be paid in return for this call.

Why Does the Messenger Say It?

So the phrase "until the Messenger says" is not grasped theoretically by people in general. As for His saying "and those who believed with him," that is natural. But the mention of the Messenger is not to show weakness in him, but to show the severity of what the people of faith are tried with, and that it reaches a point at which even the Messenger of Allah cries out for help, whoever this messenger may be across the stages of history, because the matter, as mentioned before, recurs: ﴿حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ مَتَىٰ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ﴾ ("until the Messenger and those who believed with him said, 'When is the help of Allah?'"); O Lord, bring us out of what we are in, in any manner and any form and at any price.

The Link to the Verse on Spending

And when we take this in, we look at the verses that come after it: ﴿يَسْأَلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنفِقُونَ قُلْ مَا أَنفَقْتُم مِّنْ خَيْرٍ فَلِلْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالْأَقْرَبِينَ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ﴾ ("They ask you what they should spend. Say: Whatever you spend of good is for parents and relatives and orphans and the needy")^[3]. So what is the connection? That harm will not be lifted from the Muslim community except by souls that spend. And what is it that we spend? Is it money, in dollars and dirhams and dinars? Listen: the matter of spending is not confined to figures. Imagine a person who remains a servant to his mother under her feet until he meets Allah, glory and exaltation be to Him; is that not spending? And another who strives to meet the needs of people and has no money with him, is this not spending? ﴿قُلْ مَا أَنفَقْتُم مِّنْ خَيْرٍ﴾ ("Say: Whatever you spend of good"), so the verse generalized the kinds of spending.

Then, at the head of this spending, comes the verse after it: ﴿كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِتَالُ وَهُوَ كُرْهٌ لَّكُمْ﴾ ("Fighting has been prescribed for you, though it is disliked by you")^[4], then His saying: ﴿وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ﴾ ("and Allah knows, while you do not know"). And settling the souls on giving for Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is part of the deal that was struck between every believer and the Lord of Might, glory and exaltation be to Him.

The Deal

O people, from the beginning, when the Lord of the worlds, glory and exaltation be to Him, presented to us the matter of faith, He presented it as a deal. Are these not the terms of the deal? Allah, the Exalted, said: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشْتَرَىٰ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُم بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ﴾ ("Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth in exchange for that they will have Paradise")^[5]. So whoever wants Paradise, let him know that he is a giver without fail; if you do not pay, do not expect to take the return. And our master the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, tells us with his saying: «أَلَا إِنَّ سِلْعَةَ اللَّهِ غَالِيَةٌ، أَلَا إِنَّ سِلْعَةَ اللَّهِ الْجَنَّةُ» ("Beware! The commodity of Allah is precious. Beware! The commodity of Allah is Paradise")^[6]. So whoever wants Paradise, let him settle himself on such trials, and let him take them in as one of the laws of life, and let him know that without paying the prices, goods are neither accepted nor received.

Why Did Our Lord Teach Us This?

Our Lord, glory and exaltation be to Him, taught us this for one of two reasons: either that we have more certainty and more supplication to the Lord of the worlds to rescue the oppressed, or that we ourselves are the ones who are oppressed or those who face these confrontations, so that we have that effort which is exerted. So do not hoard anything with you; give for Allah and Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will give to you. Spend minds and hearts and feelings and bodies and wealth; spend hands that help, and minds that think, and hearts that spread hope and faith in the souls of the people who live around you, so that we may be, in this contract with the Lord of the worlds, glory and exaltation be to Him, at the fullest degrees of readiness to spend with all the energy we have.

I ask Allah, the Most High, the Almighty, to make us among the people of certainty, and to make our hearts and our feet firm upon the truth.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 214. The speaker stopped at «متى نصر الله» and the verse was not completed in the text; its completion in the muṣḥaf is: ﴿أَلَا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ﴾. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The story is in the ḥadīth of the beginning of revelation in the two Ṣaḥīḥs, and the speaker related it by meaning and did not keep to the wording of the narration; and Waraqa's saying at its end is reported according to what he mentioned. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 215. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 216. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Tawba, verse 111. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth was reported by al-Tirmidhī and others, and the speaker did not discuss its grade. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Anʿām, verse 124.