Calls to Faith in the Qur’an: Remembering What Allah Spared Us

Occasion: an Isha lecture delivered at AIA on September 22, 2026.Source: transcription of a recorded lecture by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — watch the original video on YouTube

Tonight, the lecturer said, we are going to speak about the fifth call that Allah addresses to the believers. Five times in almost two pages of the Qur'an: when you hear a call repeated five times in two pages, it means there is a serious matter there.

The first call came with the command to fulfill your promises, your agreement with Allah. The second said not to break the words you gave to Allah, and not to attack what Allah has made the rules for. The third came as a kind of example of fulfilling the covenant between you and Allah. The fourth is unclear in the recording, and then comes the fifth.^[1]

Then he gave the translation of the verse, which he called clear: remember the blessings of Allah upon you.^[2] And what kind of blessing did Allah do for them? He is reminding them of a blessing that most people may not be thinking about.

Counting what we hold, and missing what we were spared

Usually we look at Allah's blessing according to how much we hold in our hands and how many kinds of things Allah has given us. Apart from that, we feel secure and protected, as if nothing could even come close to us. And people feel protected by different things: one says, "by my power," another "by my position, my salary, my money, my children, my tribe, my citizenship," and so on.

But Allah is opening our minds to something that not everyone gives attention to. What is it? How many things Allah is protecting us from, and how many things He is giving us.

The lecturer reminded the audience that he had explained this many times. He gave an example, and said plainly that it was only a random example. Suppose someone sees a provision coming to him, half a million, which is a good number. When I receive that amount and it is put into my account, I will be so happy that every single second I open the account to see whether it has increased. Then, in a crash, they take me to the hospital, and the hospital decides on one procedure after another, a long list, and the bill comes. But Allah knows. If He protected me from going to work that day, and so from receiving the half million, He has also protected me from paying a million, or more, or less.

Think of the difference between the man who received half a million and then met a crash or some problem and suffered from it, and the other man who is just sitting with nothing to do, weeping because he has nothing. He did not receive any amount, but he still has his body exactly as Allah created it. What is the way of thinking here? Allah is protecting us.

The occasion of the verse

The lecturer then turned to the reason for the revelation of this verse. Most of the scholars say that the Prophet ﷺ went one time to a group in Madinah to deal with them about something that had happened there. He sat with his back to a wall. Someone got up on the roof with a big rock, to drop it on the head of the Prophet ﷺ, and he was already preparing it. Then Allah informed the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ suddenly stood up and left. The words "What happened? What is wrong with you?" follow in the transcript, without making clear who said them. And Allah revealed the Qur'an to tell him what was happening: what was the scenario, what was the case.^[3]

The case was that someone would have been killed, and Allah protected him from that killing. Whatever sum the Prophet ﷺ was due to receive from those people, the lecturer said, it was not equal to his life.^[4]

What we wanted and did not get

Can we understand all of our own cases like that? I would love to have that thing, that brand, that number, that larger lifestyle. We are thirsty for all of these things, and when I do not have them I feel bad because I did not get them. But Allah is telling me to be patient. Whatever you hope for or try to get, we will keep it saved for you in Paradise, even if, as the sense seems to be, He does not give it to you in this life. At the same time, we are saving you from a lot of problems.^[5]

The stories Allah told

Allah told us many stories in the Qur'an. One of them is the story of Mūsā ʿalayhi al-salām and the one he accompanied. In one of the cases, they made a hole in a vessel, and Mūsā was surprised. What is wrong with you, man? Are you crazy? What are you doing? It looked like something with a bad outcome. But what was the reason behind it? Nobody knew until the explanation came from Allah. In another case there was a child who was killed, and Mūsā was shocked again: what are you doing? And Allah told them the benefit of taking that child from the very beginning. And in a further case they did something for which they would receive no reward. At the end of the day, Allah gave the reason for each of these.^[6]

What is the main lesson? Allah knows better. You will never have the same knowledge or the same information that Allah has. Whatever you have in your life is the best thing for you, in this moment, in this place, with these people. If we consider what we receive as coming from people, then at that time we suffer and feel bad. But as long as we see that it is coming toward us from Allah, we will be satisfied with it.

When someone plans against you

The lecturer brought the point back to the verse. Someone came to attack the Prophet ﷺ, and Allah took their hands away. Imagine someone sitting right now, in this very moment, making a plan against you, wanting to take revenge or something of the kind. What is Allah doing there? Is Allah giving him the chance to do it, or is Allah keeping him away from your way? As long as we are closer to Allah, Allah protects us. Whatever we receive is from Him, and Allah knows better.

He ended with a prayer: I ask Allah to protect our faith.

--- ^[1]: Editor's note (توثيق المحرر): the lecturer did not name the verses of the first four calls, and the transcript is garbled where he describes the third and the fourth. In Sūrat al-Māʾidah, the calls "O you who believe" fall in verses 1, 2, 6, 8 and 11; this is the editor's count and the lecturer's own description of the first calls is kept as he gave it. ^[2]: Editor's note (توثيق المحرر): the transcript does not quote the verse; the lecturer only translated it ("remember the blessings of Allah upon you") and called it the fifth call. It is identified as al-Māʾidah 11 from the occasion he describes: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ﴾ [al-Māʾidah: 11] ("O you who believe, remember the favor of Allah upon you"). The verse continues: ﴿إِذْ هَمَّ قَوْمٌ أَن يَبْسُطُوا إِلَيْكُمْ أَيْدِيَهُمْ فَكَفَّ أَيْدِيَهُمْ عَنكُمْ﴾. ^[3]: Editor's note (توثيق المحرر): the group is named in the transcript only by a garbled word, so it is left unnamed. Classical reports of this incident are often connected with Banū al-Naḍīr; the lecturer did not say so. The account of the stone on the roof is the lecturer's retelling of what he said most scholars report. ^[4]: Editor’s documentation: The sentence is garbled in the transcript ("whatever the number the Prophet was supposed to get from those people… it wasn't equal his life"). The wording above follows its general sense and does not specify what the sum was. ^[5]: Editor’s documentation: The wish list in the transcript is garbled ("kadakar", "650") and has been generalized. The transcript is also unclear here ("even if will give it to you in the dunyā"); the sense given above, that He may not give it in this life, is the editor's reading. ^[6]: Editor's note (توثيق المحرر): this is the story in Sūrat al-Kahf [al-Kahf: 71–82]. The lecturer did not name the sūrah or al-Khiḍr, and the transcript is garbled here. The third case ("something for which they would receive no reward") is unclear and is presented as he said it.