The Horizons of Allah's Power: What Is Asked of Us After We Hear the Verses?

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 27 October 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

And we seek refuge in You, our Lord, from the evil of this day, the evil of what is in it and the evil of what comes after it. O Allah, set right for us our religion, our worldly life and our Hereafter, and prepare for us right guidance in our affair, and preserve for us the well-being of our hearts and make our souls secure. O Allah, we ask You to absolve us of every form of shirk, to deliver us from every wrong, and to preserve for us the well-being of faith in full. O Allah, amen, O Lord of the worlds.

And now, may Allah welcome you and be pleased with you. The verses that were recited to us in the Fajr prayer are those in which the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, tells us about the horizons of His power, His favours, His giving and His creation: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَالِقُ الْحَبِّ وَالنَّوَىٰ يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَمُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتِ مِنَ الْحَيِّ ذَٰلِكُمُ اللَّهُ﴾ ("Indeed, Allah is the cleaver of the grain and the date-stone. He brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living. That is Allah").^[1]

Two Truths in the Verses

In this vein we see that the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, lists for us levels of creation of surpassing wonder, and shows us this harmony among created things in crops, and this difference and variety between what is watered with a single water and comes out in different forms. But why all this? Why this presentation and why this exposition? We are before two truths.

The first truth, in which the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, establishes for these people that He is the possessor of the primary power. Then He shows us His saying: ﴿وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا أَشْرَكُوا﴾ ("And if Allah had willed, they would not have associated others with Him").^[2] I pause at this text: even without these introductions, and without these proofs and citations and these tremendous scenes in the universe and its creation, had the Lord of the worlds not wanted them to associate others with Him, they would not have done so. But the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, gave people the choice to respond or not to respond, and made what will come to them on the Day of Resurrection of reward or punishment depend on these human choices: whoever believes, for him is Paradise, and whoever disbelieves, for him is the Fire, and we seek refuge in Allah.

Why These Proofs?

So why are these proofs presented to us? So that none of us has an argument against Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, on the Day of Resurrection, and so that none of us has the opportunity to think that he could be saved by what he wanted for himself, his whim and his desire, and so that none of us has the opportunity to make an excuse: you have no excuse today! Why? Because the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, presented to you all the proofs that can be imagined within the human mental sphere. He opened the whole universe for you on one page; you see the entire universe on this Qur'anic page.

And if we review another group of verses, in Sūrat Ibrāhīm for example and in Sūrat Ghāfir, the verses that show us how Allah, the Exalted, sets rivers flowing and moves mountains, glory be to the All-Creating, the All-Knowing, then what excuse do people have not to believe in Allah? You find no way to one. So glory be to Him Who guided us to Islam first, and to Him be praise in the first and the last for all that He has bestowed on us.

What Is Asked of Me Today?

What is asked of me after I listen to these verses?

First: whenever I see something of Allah's creation, I glorify Him, the Mighty and Majestic. Whenever I see a scene of divine power, in these piled-up clouds, this falling rain, this blazing sun, these towering mountains, these rivers that flow beneath us by the leave of the Lord of Might, glory be to Him; these scenes, by night or by day, stir in the heart of the believer the longing to increase his glorification of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him.

Second: Allah, blessed and exalted, did not create this universe for us to waste but for us to preserve, so look at how you preserve the blessing of Allah that is in your hand. When we enter our homes and find all the lights on, we turn them off; and we do that perhaps for fear of great expense, wanting to save some money. But whoever does it out of courtesy toward the blessing of Allah, blessed and exalted, it becomes worship for him. Therefore, when you speak to your children do not say to them: "Shame on you, the expenses are high." No, rather: this is a blessing we want to preserve, and part of thanking Allah is turning off lights that have no place or need or occasion. Thus you raise your children and bring them up to preserve the blessing of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, in itself.

So we understood, then, that what is asked of us first is: whenever we look upon the creation of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, our longing to glorify and magnify Him increases, for it is He Who created this sun and this moon. And the other matter: preserving the blessing of Allah, blessed and exalted, that is in our hands and through which we feel this.

Third: and it is very important: how can I learn from the orderliness of the universe around me? Imagine when Allah, blessed and exalted, says: ﴿ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ﴾ ("Corruption has appeared on land and sea") because of what? Do you imagine that the mountains passed over the rivers, and the rivers overwhelmed the sun, and the sun prevailed over…? No, no: ﴿كُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ﴾ ("each in an orbit is swimming").^[3] There is no kind of flaw in the system of divine creation in the universe, ﴿بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ﴾ ("because of what the hands of people have earned").^[4] So I am the one who ruins the universe around me, I am the one who causes this confusion or lack of harmony that occurs between the parts of this universe. So how do I learn from the uprightness of the universe to be upright myself too on the law of the Lord of the worlds, glory and exaltation be to Him?

Closing of the Khatira

I ask Allah, blessed and exalted, to forgive us our shortcomings in the right of His call, to make us worthy of bearing this trust, and to show us the places of good things. O Allah, amen. May Allah keep your religion and your worldly life safe, and may Allah reward you with good. And peace.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: al-Anʿām: 95. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: al-Anʿām: 107. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Yā Sīn: 40, and the transcript has «كل في فلك يسبح». ^[4]: Editor's documentation: al-Rūm: 41.