The Late Response

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 12 November 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

The Late Response

When we heard the words of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, in the prayer just now: ﴿آلْآنَ وَقَدْ عَصَيْتَ قَبْلُ وَكُنتَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ﴾ (Now? And you had disobeyed before, and were of the corrupters), which was the answer that came to Pharaoh when he announced his Islam, saying: ﴿وَأَنَا مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ﴾ (and I am of the Muslims),^[1] we know that the mercy of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, encompassed everything, that His bounty, Mighty and Majestic, covered all people, and that He promised whoever comes to Him that He would open for him the doors of His bounty and mercy. So why was Pharaoh turned away from the door of Allah when he said: and I am of the Muslims? Because it came late. For it has come from the Prophet ﷺ, in meaning, that the door of repentance is open to everyone until the sun rises from the west, or until a person enters the state of the death rattle, which is the moments in which he is certain of death without doubt; at that point the matter is over.^[2]

And here we come to learn this important lesson: a late response or an early response? A response may be late to some degree, but let it not be in the lost time, the time of which we say it is after it is too late. And I want to bring this talk down to the reality of the life we live.

A Story from Real Life

A woman whose husband spoke with her, she having angered him, and a dispute arose between them, and he left the house for a while. Then he spoke to her, while she was at her family's home, and she rebuked him severely and wounded him harshly, giving no heed to the marital bond, the home or affection. And at the end of the day she began to think: he said such and such to me, so let me go back and be gentle. Her father spoke to her and she responded and wanted to go back, and then she received another call from the same phone number: so-and-so has died. It was over. So she asks herself: Did I kill him? Was I the cause of this person's death because the words that came out of me were harsh enough? The decrees of Allah are fixed, and He, Mighty and Majestic, knows His conditions with His servants, but I stop at one point only, which is the late response.

And the scenes that happened with this wife and husband happen often in our lives from time to time. You have a friend with whom a problem arose between you, and when you responded and returned to him, the doors of his heart had been shut, and he was no longer able to respond, and the matter was over. Had you used your reason in the situations before you, and settled matters early, that would have led to early results.

Pharaoh: A Complete Word That Came Late

When Pharaoh responded, he did not say more than what the rest of the people around Mūsā (peace be upon him) said; he said: I am of the Muslims, and this is the pinnacle of the words hoped for from any one being called, that he respond to the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, and say: I am of the Muslims. But the only problem is that it came late. And what is required of me and of every sensible person is to be attentive to his words, to act with wisdom, and, if an error comes from him, to apologize for it.

We say: "The good word is charity,"^[3] and this is among the fixed items of our Islamic knowledge, and we also say: good conduct is charity, good apology is charity, good courtesy is charity, and so on. Pharaoh came late; so whatever you are able to put right in your life, hasten it, and whatever you are able to give in charity, hasten it, and whatever you are able to use to reconcile between people's situations, hasten it. Hasten good as much as you can, and delay the evil that Satan inspires and speaks of in people's minds as much as you can.

A Lesson for Those After Him

﴿فَالْيَوْمَ نُنَجِّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ﴾ (So today We will save you in your body); and what is understood from this verse is that Allah, Blessed and Exalted, made him a lesson, just as He made the story of the woman we mentioned a lesson, and just as He made the story of a son who is undutiful to his mother, who acts rashly in a moment and kills her with a knife or something, because anger has taken hold of him to the degree that he claims he could not control himself. What brought you to this level? Why did you do this? These are all questions that revolve in the mind of the sensible person: what am I doing and why, and what are the consequences that follow from events? And using reason in daily conduct is a matter that calms the fright, and spares a person the consequences of actions for which the Lord of the Worlds holds one to account, or which are even legal matters in this world.

And of the verses recited to us in the prayer, there is not a word of them but needs pauses, lessons, lectures and meetings, but it is enough for us to take a little of it and apply it in our lives.

Think for Three Seconds

Please, think for three seconds before you speak. Please review the message you are writing before you send it to anyone. Before you reply with harshness, ask yourself: what are the consequences of that? And among the greatest pieces of wisdom said to me in one situation: look at your reaction to any situation, and look at its consequence after fifteen years. And who lives fifteen years on? And the simple answer that came to me: what you are living now is the result of what came from you fifteen years ago, and what you were in fifteen years ago was the result of what you were living before it. So look at the consequences.

You may have a situation with your son, and a situation with your daughter, and with your wife, and with your brother, and with your neighbor, and with so-and-so: look at the consequences of this talk after fifteen years, or ten years, or five years; you will find that you do not even remember the matter. This huge, enormous story, and the uproar we went to, you will find that you forgot it after some years. Situations are forgotten, matters pass, aftershocks come, and people agree or differ, but in the end so-and-so died, or I met the Lord of the Worlds and left him behind me in the world. Look at matters with this assessment, and you will see yourself utterly wise, acting in a natural and spontaneous way.

And I know full well that there is what festers in the chest from the pains of situations: your wife upset you, your brother said two words to you that wounded you, a problem arose between you and your neighbor, and you did not expect this from him. But the conclusion of the matter is that wisdom: use your reason before you carry out any action.

May Allah keep your day safe, and preserve for you your well-being and your security, may Allah reward you with good, may Allah be pleased with you, and peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat Yūnus: 90–91, and the third verse ﴿فَالْيَوْمَ نُنَجِّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ﴾ is from Sūrat Yūnus: 92. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The speaker related the ḥadīth by meaning, not by wording. On the acceptance of repentance as long as one has not reached the death rattle: narrated by al-Tirmidhī (3537) and Ibn Mājah (4253) from the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with them both, and al-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan; and on repentance ceasing when the sun rises from the west: narrated by Muslim (2759) from the ḥadīth of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, may Allah be pleased with him. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth «والكلمة الطيبة صدقة» ("and the good word is charity") is agreed upon from the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him (al-Bukhārī 2989, and Muslim 1009).