Allah's Promise and Satan's Promise

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on July 14, 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

After praising Allah and invoking peace and blessings upon His Messenger ﷺ, the Doctor supplicated: O Allah, we ask You for the best of this day and the best of what is in it and the best of what follows it, and we seek refuge in You from the evil of this day and the evil of what is in it and the evil of what follows it. Set right for us our religion, our world and our Hereafter, prepare for us right guidance in our affair, bless us in what You have provided us, protect us from the punishment of the Fire, and turn away from us the causes of punishment in this world and the Hereafter, through mercy and pleasure from You, O Lord of the worlds. Then he greeted the faces that were in wudūʾ and purity, and asked Allah to place us in the Hereafter on couches facing one another in Paradise, as He has gathered us in this world upon obedience to Him and in His houses.

Verses That Shame Every Sensible Person

The verses that were recited in the prayer are verses that shame every sensible person, and no one should listen to them and not realize his place and standing before the Lord of Might, glorified be He. They set the dividing lines between him and Satan: ﴿وَقَالَ الشَّيْطَانُ لَمَّا قُضِيَ الْأَمْرُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَعَدَكُمْ وَعْدَ الْحَقِّ وَوَعَدتُّكُمْ فَأَخْلَفْتُكُمْ﴾ (And Satan will say when the matter has been concluded: Indeed, Allah promised you the promise of truth, and I promised you, but I betrayed you).^[1]

Imagine that he raises the level of his own self by pairing the promise he made with the promise the Most Merciful, glorified be He, made. You can picture this level of depravity: Satan pairs his own promise with the promise of the Most Merciful!

What Did the Most Merciful Promise?

But let us ask: what did the Most Merciful promise? We are before Gardens of Bliss, Gardens beneath which rivers flow, and that is our Lord's promise in the Hereafter. If we look at the divine promises in this world, they will not go beyond the context in which they appear in the sūrah. So how was Allah's promise in the sūrah?

﴿وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِرُسُلِهِمْ لَنُخْرِجَنَّكُم مِّنْ أَرْضِنَا أَوْ لَتَعُودُنَّ فِي مِلَّتِنَا﴾ (And those who disbelieved said to their messengers: We will surely drive you out of our land, or you must return to our religion): an explicit threat, clear in its meaning, with premeditation and lying in wait. So how was our Lord's answer? ﴿فَأَوْحَىٰ إِلَيْهِمْ رَبُّهُمْ لَنُهْلِكَنَّ الظَّالِمِينَ ۝ وَلَنُسْكِنَنَّكُمُ الْأَرْضَ مِن بَعْدِهِمْ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامِي وَخَافَ وَعِيدِ﴾ (So their Lord inspired to them: We will surely destroy the wrongdoers, and We will surely settle you in the land after them. That is for him who fears My standing and fears My threat).^[2]

And look at the order of the particulars of the divine promise. First: your enemies are in our guarantee, the matter is finished, so carry no worry for them, for their affair is in His hand, glorified be He: ﴿لَنُهْلِكَنَّ الظَّالِمِينَ﴾ (We will surely destroy the wrongdoers). Then comes the next stage of the promise: everything they have, we give to you, and accordingly your victory is assured and your empowerment is realized, with no doubt in that. But on one condition only: ﴿ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامِي وَخَافَ وَعِيدِ﴾ (That is for him who fears My standing and fears My threat).

The Condition of the Promise: That You Esteem Allah As He Deserves

So what is required of the Muslim in this context is that he esteem Allah, mighty and majestic, as He deserves, so that he does not transgress any of His limits, does not commit any of His prohibited evils, and does not disregard any of the promises of the Lord of the worlds. And among these promises is that Allah promised provision, and what is required of you is to seek it through what is lawful, so why does your hand reach out to what is unlawful or to what contains doubt?

And here is a decisive matter: creation's certainty in Allah is half the road to victory. And our Lord, glorified be He, tests this certainty in you at every time and moment, so let no one think that he has submitted or believed or thought well of Allah or that he is certain of what is with the Lord of the worlds and the matter is finished. For the tests of the Lord of the worlds apply to all creation alike: He tests you every day with a new deal from which you earn money but in which there is doubt, or money you obtain but by a trick, and so on.

And these tests reach the level of the testing of the prophets: ﴿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 ۗ أَلَا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ﴾ (Or do you think that you will enter Paradise while such has not yet come to you as came to those who passed on before you? They were touched by poverty and hardship and were shaken until the Messenger and those who believed with him said: When is the help of Allah? Unquestionably, the help of Allah is near).^[3] If victory is near, then why has it not yet come? Because the test has not yet ended.

Those Who Look to the Hereafter

So here comes the first condition: ﴿ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامِي وَخَافَ وَعِيدِ﴾. Those who look to the Hereafter are guarded in their steps lest their feet rush toward what contains their destruction in the Hereafter, so they weigh every step, account for every word, picture every thought, and watch every notion that passes through their minds by night or day. These who fear Allah monitor in themselves every movement and stillness, so their tongues utter only what pleases Allah, and nothing passes through their feelings except what pleases the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He.

Then Satan comes to say: ﴿وَوَعَدتُّكُمْ فَأَخْلَفْتُكُمْ﴾ (and I promised you, but I betrayed you). Is not one of us ashamed to yield to a notion that comes to him from Satan and be drawn along with it, knowing that it is from Satan and knowing its outcome? We ask Allah, the Most High, the Almighty, to deliver us from the notions of Satan, to establish faith firmly in our hearts, and to make us firm with the firm word.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Ibrāhīm: 22. The speaker did not name the sūrah but said "in the sūrah"; it is Sūrat Ibrāhīm, as the recited verses indicate. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Ibrāhīm: 13–14; the speaker recited it joined with His saying "That is for him who fears My standing and fears My threat." ^[3]: Editor's documentation: al-Baqarah: 214.