That They May Gain Understanding in the Religion

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 10 November 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 and 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 bless us, O Allah, in what You have provided us, and protect us, O Allah, from the punishment of the Fire, and turn away from us the causes of punishment in this world and the Hereafter by a mercy from You, and good pleasure, and generosity and gentleness, O Lord of the Worlds. Make us firm with the firm word. O Allah, make us content, guide us, mend our brokenness and ease our affairs, O Most Merciful of the merciful. Make this day a generous day, a day of opening, victory, blessing and bounty upon us, upon the community of Muslims and upon all Your creation, O Lord. O Allah, pour out guidance upon the people, O Allah, widen the provisions of Your creation, O Allah, open and expand the hearts of people to obey You and make them content with Your good pleasure, and keep us firm, O Lord, in more good and guidance. O Allah, do not turn our hearts away from obeying You, nor turn our minds and our tongues away from remembering You, nor turn our bodies away from worshipping You as long as we live until we meet You, O Lord of the Worlds.

And now, may Allah, Exalted is He, greet these good, blessed faces, and I ask Allah for us and for you good in this world and the Hereafter. O Allah, amen, O Lord of the Worlds.

The Verse and Its Context

The truth is that I thought the order after the Isha prayer was at the end of Sūrat al-Tawba, so there stuck in my mind the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted: ﴿وَمَا كَانَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لِيَنفِرُوا كَافَّةً فَلَوْلَا نَفَرَ مِن كُلِّ فِرْقَةٍ مِّنْهُمْ طَائِفَةٌ لِّيَتَفَقَّهُوا فِي الدِّينِ وَلِيُنذِرُوا قَوْمَهُمْ إِذَا رَجَعُوا إِلَيْهِمْ﴾ (It is not for the believers to go forth all together. Then why should there not go forth from every division of them a group, so that they may gain understanding in the religion and warn their people when they return to them).^[1]

The significance of this verse is that the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, speaks to us about the importance of there being a group of people who learn knowledge, so that when that group returns to its peoples it sets right the affairs of society, attends to the needs of these people, spreads good among them and circulates guidance among them, and adds to them more calm, tranquility and guidance. So the role of the caller to Allah, as the Noble Qur'an speaks of it in this place, is a role of rescuing the community after its going astray or its absence from the concepts of knowledge.

And this verse came after the talk about the three who were left behind in the expedition of Tabūk. And the matter of these was not merely that of people who lagged behind from the required role, rather what followed from their stance was the causing of confusion within society. Imagine that you are performing a certain role, then you see your companion who stands beside you in the row has lagged behind, and a state of division begins within society. That is, some people will see themselves as above others: I am the one of obedience and you lagged behind from obedience, I am the one of covenant and you do not have this covenant, I do and you do not. This detestable division within society leads to disaster.

There Must Be a Group Devoted to Maintaining the Religion

And the point of this verse specifically is that when the Lord of the Worlds, glory be to Him, said: ﴿فَلَوْلَا نَفَرَ مِن كُلِّ فِرْقَةٍ مِّنْهُمْ طَائِفَةٌ لِّيَتَفَقَّهُوا فِي الدِّينِ﴾ (Then why should there not go forth from every division of them a group, so that they may gain understanding in the religion), where are the rest of the groups? Where are the rest of the people within society? You will find that among them are those who work in mechanics, and among them those who work in engineering, and among them those who work in medicine, and among them those who work in teaching, and this one works as a pilot and this one as a sailor, and so on. So there is a particular group of people whose specialty is maintaining the religion among people, and there is a group whose task is maintaining bodies within society, and a group whose task is maintaining the future in the science of engineering or medicine and others. But the point is that this is a necessary matter; there is no choice in it, rather it is indispensable.

Then there is another verse in the Noble Qur'an in which the Lord of the Worlds, glory be to Him, says: ﴿وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ﴾ (And let there be among you a community inviting to good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those are the successful).^[2] If we try to connect the two verses we see that in this verse there is a kind of obligation: «ولتكن منكم أمة» ("And let there be among you a community"). And if we look at its context we see that the verse of Āl ʿImrān came after the saying of the Lord of the Worlds, glory be to Him: ﴿وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ﴾ (And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you, when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together).^[3] So there is a command to hold fast and to unite, and after it comes a closing statement or command or charge: «ولتكن منكم أمة يدعون إلى الخير» ("And let there be among you a community inviting to good"). And the verse here speaks about a model of division within society, and after it comes «فلولا نفر من كل فرقة منهم طائفة» ("Then why should there not go forth from every division of them a group").

The Danger of Division

And is this division this influential? This dangerous? Yes; do you not see when you read there: ﴿وَلَا تَكُونُوا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ فَرَّقُوا دِينَهُمْ وَكَانُوا شِيَعًا﴾ (and do not be of those who associate others with Allah, of those who divided their religion and became sects)?^[4] Division leads to shirk. So if you say: By Allah, what is the worth of this imam who sits among us? What is the worth of this scholar who preserves our religion for us or strives in that? Then know that he is your safety valve against shirk. This is the principle: the principle for the imams who fear Allah, Exalted is He, is that they not divide people, not cause confusion, not distribute the people into camps, not speak of one another, and not have any of them become entangled in causing confusion among the people, because that leads them to shirk.

The Greatest Responsibility

The greatest task in the life of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ was transmitting this knowledge to people, and the great task in the life of the Tābiʿūn was transmitting this knowledge to people, and likewise everyone who carried the banner after that. Therefore it has been related from the Prophet ﷺ, in meaning, that what the people of knowledge carry of knowledge is the inheritance of prophethood.^[5]

Therefore, taking the front seat in gatherings like these in which we sit now is the greatest responsibility placed on a person's neck on the Day of Resurrection; the greatest responsibility that can be placed on a person's neck on the Day of Resurrection is the responsibility of calling to Allah. You are free, you have put yourself forward, so either you lose them their religion or you make their religion firm for them; either you divide people and direct their unity toward dispersal, we seek refuge in Allah, or you gather the unity of these people and unify them as much as you can. These are the places that rescue generations and preserve families and safeguard dignities, and they are the ones that waste generations and divide families and waste people's dignities.

And feeling this responsibility is not particular to the respected gentlemen who sit to speak and tell people this is right and this is wrong, and who ascend the pulpits and lead people in the prayers, rather it is a general responsibility. Why? Because conveying the religion is not particular to anyone, and is not the monopoly of a certain person. But it is incumbent on whoever does that to respect the trust in his hands and to safeguard it with the right of Allah, Blessed and Exalted.

That the Caller Not Tire or Despair

It would have been better to speak about Sūrat Yūnus, which comes after this verse, so even in the context of the Qur'an you hear that. And Sūrat Yūnus also reminds us of one of the prophets who called to Allah. Do you remember the story of Yūnus (peace be upon him)? And here a very important lesson comes to us, which is that challenges will meet you. For these who speak among people and admonish them and call creation to the religion of the Lord of the Worlds, glory be to Him, among the conditions required of them is that they not tire, nor despair, nor lose hope, nor stop their call because of a doubt that arises or a word that is said or a lie that is fabricated. Rather their concern is one concern: calling people to Allah.

And one of you may say to me: Uncle, this is not my business, I do not know how to sit on the platform and speak like you, you speak well. Fine, if I cannot do that, then at the very least I present a model of the call by my conduct and my conditions and my behavior, by my smile and my welcome of people, and by returning the trust that I return to some people, and by trustworthiness in dealings and other things.

I have gone on long with you, forgive me. And I ask Allah, Exalted is He, to make us and you among the carriers of His religion and among those who fulfill trusts in this place, and that we not be deceived by what is in our hands, and that we not be tried with a trial in our religion or in our worldly life. O Allah, amen. May Allah keep your hearts safe, pure and clean, and preserve for you your well-being.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Tawba, verse 122. The body is limited to the portion the speaker recited. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, verse 104. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, verse 103. The body is limited to the portion the speaker mentioned. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Rūm, verses 31–32. The body is limited to the portion the speaker mentioned. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: The speaker related the meaning without wording or attribution. The meaning is close to the ḥadīth «إن العلماء ورثة الأنبياء، وإن الأنبياء لم يورّثوا دينارًا ولا درهمًا، إنما ورّثوا العلم» ("The scholars are the heirs of the prophets, and the prophets did not leave a dinar or a dirham as inheritance; they left only knowledge"), narrated by Abū Dāwūd (3641), al-Tirmidhī (2682) and Ibn Mājah (223) from the ḥadīth of Abū al-Dardāʾ, may Allah be pleased with him, and the scholars differed in judging its chain.