The Bright Dawn in the Life of the Ummah

Occasion: A transcription of a lecture delivered on February 22, 2020Source: A transcription of a video lecture by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

O Allah, we ask You for pardon and well-being in our religion, our worldly life and our Hereafter. We ask You, our Lord, to prepare for us right guidance in our affair, to preserve for us the blessings You have entrusted to us, and to spread out before us our provisions: the provisions of faith, the well-being of bodies, and the soundness and sound judgment of minds. O Allah, we ask You for covering in our homes, we ask You, our Lord, for covering in our provisions, we ask You, our Lord, for covering in our children, and we ask You not to strip from us the blessings You have entrusted to us, by Your mercy, O Lord of the worlds.^[1]

The original topic tonight was to be our master Bilāl (may Allah the Exalted be pleased with him), one of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ. But when it was said: let him speak of whatever Allah the Exalted has opened to him, and since we recited Sūrat al-Fajr in the ʿIshāʾ prayer, which is one of the sūrahs dearest to my heart personally, so much so that I hardly go to any place without hoping that Allah, glory be to Him, lets me leave it behind me as a trace, even if only in leading the prayer, I decided to speak to you about it. So what does Sūrat al-Fajr mean?

The overwhelming event before the dawn

To begin with, the word "al-fajr" (the dawn) signifies radiance, a new morning, a tomorrow behind which a pitch-dark night has faded. And it is striking to notice that Sūrat al-Fajr comes in the Noble Qur'an after Sūrat al-Ghāshiyah. "Al-Ghāshiyah" (the overwhelming) means a complete darkness, and it means that something has clouded the clarity of life in its purity, a darkness with which the features and realities of things may vanish, after which a dawn then breaks forth.^[2] So imagine that Allah the Exalted brings us Sūrat al-Ghāshiyah, which speaks of difficulties, troubles and hardship that may stand in the path of the call in one form or another, and then the dawn follows it.

And you see around you, may Allah bless you, what the call of Islam suffers in all corners of the earth. I am not speaking of America, nor of Europe, nor of Asia; I am not speaking of one particular place, but of a darkness that rises over the souls of many people, over their minds, and over their cultures. The features of truth and falsehood have changed, the scales of good and evil have changed, the features of clarity and murkiness have changed, so that many people now cannot distinguish between positions, nor make for themselves a decision with a clear indication that they hold a real stance. That is the overwhelming cloud of injustice, that is the overwhelming cloud of disbelief, that is the overwhelming cloud of the phenomenon of atheism, and that is the overwhelming cloud of the moral corruption that has befallen many of our children. Yet it is an overwhelming cloud that a dawn follows, by the leave of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, if we believe in this Qur'anic sequence.

An oath for one of intellect: reason is the condition of the dawn

And this dawn is closely tied to a set of things; for it to appear, a set of indications is required. Look with me: the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, says: ﴿هَلْ فِي ذَٰلِكَ قَسَمٌ لِّذِي حِجْرٍ﴾ [الفجر: 5] (Is there in that an oath for one of intellect?) [al-Fajr: 5]. Is there in that an oath? Are you sure? Is there anything in the matter that calls for Allah, glory be to Him, to swear? Why does He swear? When this word comes, it indicates that what lies behind it deserves to be sworn by and is fitting to be the object of an oath. So Allah, blessed and exalted, said: an oath for one of ḥijr. And what is ḥijr? Ḥijr is reason. A nation that does not awaken except through reason, a nation that does not rise except through reason, a nation that does not live among the nations except through reason, a nation that cannot establish its existence except through reason. So when the awareness of reason was absent, the features of the life of faith were absent.

And look at this order. When Allah, blessed and exalted, first sent down the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the first thing He revealed to him was: ﴿اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ﴾ (Read in the name of your Lord who created).^[14] It is the matter of awakening the mind from the very beginning of the heavenly calls to the earth; from the moment the call of heaven to earth began, it called upon the human being who would carry this message to have a mind. "Read" means: take in, comprehend, encompass with knowledge, be aware of everything that goes on around you. It means that you are ahead in the field of knowledge in every domain: ahead in technology, in physics, in astronomy, in biology, in every field. First and before anything: read, so that you can come to know the features of lordship. After that, read so that you can take in the issues of the universe and deal with them. Read so that you can take in the features of the human soul and deal with its transformations and changes. Read so that you can read the future. Read so that you can produce analysis and clarification of information. Read so that you can raise your children and bring up a generation that carries the call and message of Allah the Exalted. You must read from the very beginnings of the call. The Lord of Might, glory be to Him, says to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and to the nation after him: read, and that was the first Qur'anic revelation; because when Allah, blessed and exalted, wished to build the methodology of the Muslim, He wished to build in him first the scientific methodology.

This brain of yours, where is it? This brain must be filled with information, it must be a source of storage, it must be a vessel for humanity from which every good for people comes forth, and it must retain the negatives and the positives so that it can compare them well and can speak to people about what is beneficial and what is harmful. This mentality, this brain, should not be occupied with trivialities at the expense of what is important, and should not be deceived by what a person is tricked with away from what ought to settle in the reality of life. This head is the most important thing in this body. You may say to me: that is wrong, for the Prophet ﷺ said: «إن في الجسد مضغة، إن صلحت صلح الجسد، وإن فسدت فسد، ألا وهي القلب» (There is in the body a morsel of flesh; if it is sound, the body is sound, and if it is corrupt, it is corrupt; truly, it is the heart).^[3] And I say: the heart is part of awareness, and awareness is part of the brain, so shape it however you like; but a human being without awareness is a dead human being with execution suspended, and a human being who is aware is a human being alive even if he lies in his bed.

And if you recall with me the first mention of Adam, peace be upon him, in the Qur'an, Allah, blessed and exalted, said in the first mention of Adam in the Noble Qur'an: ﴿وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا﴾ (And He taught Adam the names, all of them).^[15] The first time Allah, mighty and majestic, mentioned Adam, He joined Adam with knowledge, as if there is no life for Adam, no existence for him without knowledge, as if knowledge is fit only for the brains of Adam's offspring. So if these brains are corrupted and polluted, then all of life is corrupted, indeed, Adam's humanity itself is corrupted.

The sabotage of minds

Therefore, if there is anyone who ruins our lives for us, the first thing they ruin is our minds. They ruin our minds for us by making us wage, not debates, but crushing wars among ourselves, because one of the two teams won the match and the other lost it. And by making people very preoccupied with this artist, and this actor who divorced this woman, or the one he fell into immorality with, or the one who claimed he fathered her child, and with this lady who bought a new dress: "Masha'Allah, how beautiful, what colors and embroidery!" They have turned this brain away from what it ought to investigate, look into in its reality, analyze the results of and consider the consequences of; they have turned it away from the true consideration of the reality of the earth.

Study before decision

And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was the first to heed this call. He taught people what Allah the Exalted had revealed to him, and one day he told them, as an experiment, not to pollinate the palm trees, and when the results came out contrary to what was expected, the Prophet ﷺ said: «أنتم أعلم بشؤون دنياكم» (You know best the affairs of your worldly life).^[4] It is as if he ﷺ was opening the door of independent reasoning (ijtihād) for people so that they would look at what is before them and would not take random decisions, nor decisions based on mere feeling or mere unstudied following. The one being followed at that time was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and when he said: why are you doing that? they fell silent and held back. And is there anyone on earth more aware than the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, of whom Allah the Exalted said: ﴿…لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ﴾ (… you have in the Messenger of Allah a good example)?^[16] Even so, since the following was not studied, the result was not successful. So Allah the Exalted wanted to teach this nation that any decision that is to be taken in reality must be built on study, and that any random decision will not bring good results.

The Prophet ﷺ went out alone to al-Ṭāʾif, then returned with his blood flowing to the ground.^[5] But when there was prior planning, patience and careful thought in the matter of the Hijrah, the Hijrah succeeded in all its features and bore its fruits complete, undiminished; indeed, through it Allah the Exalted kept His Messenger ﷺ safe, and the Companions after him. That is the reality that Allah, blessed and exalted, wants when He directs us to that ḥijr about which Allah the Exalted said: ﴿هَلْ فِي ذَٰلِكَ قَسَمٌ لِّذِي حِجْرٍ﴾ (Is there in that an oath for one of intellect?).

ʿĀd, Thamūd and Pharaoh: tyranny is the first indicator

﴿أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِعَادٍ ۝ إِرَمَ ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ ۝ الَّتِي لَمْ يُخْلَقْ مِثْلُهَا فِي الْبِلَادِ ۝ وَثَمُودَ الَّذِينَ جَابُوا الصَّخْرَ بِالْوَادِ ۝ وَفِرْعَوْنَ ذِي الْأَوْتَادِ ۝ الَّذِينَ طَغَوْا فِي الْبِلَادِ ۝ فَأَكْثَرُوا فِيهَا الْفَسَادَ ۝ فَصَبَّ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّكَ سَوْطَ عَذَابٍ﴾ [الفجر: 6-13] (Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with ʿĀd, Iram of the lofty pillars, the like of which was not created in the lands, and Thamūd, who carved out the rock in the valley, and Pharaoh, owner of the stakes, those who transgressed within the lands and increased therein the corruption? So your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment) [al-Fajr: 6-13].

My brothers, worldly material means are easy to obtain, however great or trivial a person's abilities may be; money can be placed in his hands, either because he inherited it, or took it in a swindle, or tricked someone, or came by it just like that as a gain. Glory be to Allah, you cannot say how the provisions of the Lord of the worlds reach people. The Lord of Might, glory be to Him, gives to whom He wills and withholds from whom He wills, so the matter of provisions, or the worldly, or finances in people's lives has no measure. And the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, gave these people: ʿĀd, Iram of the lofty pillars, the like of which was not created in the lands, and Thamūd who carved out the rock in the valley; enormous means, more than you imagine.

And why do I point to the word "tyranny" here? Because it is the first indicator of the removal of blessings from the lives of servants: ﴿الَّذِينَ طَغَوْا فِي الْبِلَادِ ۝ فَأَكْثَرُوا فِيهَا الْفَسَادَ﴾ (those who transgressed within the lands and increased therein the corruption). For corruption is only an act that results from a feeling of power that has overstepped its limits. I say again: corruption is only the image of a tyranny that was drawn in the mind, a tyranny that overstepped or came out of a psyche that felt it had exceeded the limits, so the person felt a power other than the one he is in, and felt for himself a size greater than the one he has. When that happens he becomes tyrannical in the land, he says: there is no one like me, there is no one like me. They say that, and then they do as they please, so he corrupts, whether he intends to or not, and that corruption is followed by what Allah, blessed and exalted, has ordained for it: ﴿فَأَكْثَرُوا فِيهَا الْفَسَادَ ۝ فَصَبَّ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّكَ سَوْطَ عَذَابٍ﴾ (and increased therein the corruption; so your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment).

Empowering the believer: no despair, and readiness for responsibility

And in this is the beginning of empowerment for that believer who is alive through his faith, and empowerment for the psyche of the believer who is certain that life is not set right except through righteousness and reform, and that every corruption whose indicators appear is followed by a seizing from Allah, blessed and exalted. And in this there is empowerment for the believer in two respects. The first respect: not to despair at the hideousness of injustice and the tyranny of the oppressors, so do not despair.

And the other part remains: are you ready to take on responsibility after Allah the Exalted destroys the oppressors? The oppressors lead the march, and when Allah the Exalted removes them and Allah, mighty and majestic, sets His soldiers, or some of them, upon them, are you ready to take responsibility for the scene? If that one who leads life, who drives the locomotive now, a slanderous and unjust man, goes, one whom Allah, blessed and exalted, had threatened and then seized with the seizing of the Almighty, the Powerful, will the locomotive travel by itself, or does it need someone to drive it? So are you ready to drive? Is the Muslim nation ready to lead the world, or at least to lead what it lives in?^[17] Is the Muslim nation in harmony in its mosques where it prays, and are people in tune in their decisions, their consultation and their forming of opinion? Is the Muslim nation able to produce a generation that looks at us with a contemplative eye and sees in us a good example that is right to follow and not stray from, so that it holds fast to its Islam because it believes in our lofty values? Is that present in our worldly life that we live now? Present in our life of faith? Present in our intellectual life? Is that present in our reality? We must examine ourselves, because the words of the Noble Qur'an did not come in vain; rather the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, intended them as an indicator.

The Lord of Might, glory be to Him, exalted on high, said: ﴿فَصَبَّ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّكَ سَوْطَ عَذَابٍ ۝ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِالْمِرْصَادِ﴾ [الفجر: 13-14] (So your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment. Indeed, your Lord is ever watchful) [al-Fajr: 13-14]. Allah, blessed and exalted, observes the scene from above, and Allah, blessed and exalted, lets nothing escape His knowledge, mighty and majestic, and omits nothing from the memory of life. ﴿إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِالْمِرْصَادِ﴾ (Indeed, your Lord is ever watchful).

Responsibility rests on individuals

﴿فَأَمَّا الْإِنسَانُ إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ رَبُّهُ﴾ [الفجر: 15] (As for man, when his Lord tries him) [al-Fajr: 15]. We have moved from speaking about collective or national action, or about states and kingdoms, to speaking about individuals, to indicate that these kingdoms only stand on the heads of individuals. So the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, wanted to show us that responsibility must depend on the individual, on building individuals; none of us should wait for someone else to carry out this duty. And this is a plague among us, let us say at the level of mosques alone in America, forgive us. I ask Allah, glory be to Him, to bless you, and I know nothing, by Allah, about the administration of this mosque of yours, but for example: worshippers complain about the administrations in the whole of American society. Say to people: come and take on responsibility! By Allah, you will find the one in front of you is one or two, except those whom Allah has shown mercy. The first of people to complain about the situation is the first of them to flee to the street, the least of them in following events except to criticize, and the least ready to sacrifice his money or his time or his work. I give this talk as an example of what I see with my own eyes in every place I visit.

Add to that that this is the reality even in our homes. The woman faults the man for all his conduct and does not take a step forward to set things right, and the man faults her for her every breath and does not take a step forward to set things right. And we criticize the children and do not give them the time and tenderness they deserve, and the children criticize us and do not follow the example of Ibrāhīm with his father in the way they advise him. All of us criticize and all of us talk, but who takes the initiative to plan for himself and his future? Life is responsibility, and responsibility rests first on the shoulders of individuals so that the masses of people are formed from them, so that we become in our communities "teamwork," a work team, able to accomplish something.

Being honored is a test

The Lord of Might, glory be to Him, exalted on high, said: ﴿فَأَمَّا الْإِنسَانُ إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ رَبُّهُ فَأَكْرَمَهُ…﴾ [الفجر: 15] (As for man, when his Lord tries him and honors him…) [al-Fajr: 15]. He tried him and honored him! Is being honored a test? What are these meanings? Yes, because what you have in your hands is only a test from Allah, blessed and exalted, for you, whether it be much or little. I say it again: what you have in your hands is a test from Allah, blessed and exalted, for you, whether much or little.

They tell of the village mayor (ʿumdah) in our town, who was a very great mayor, and my grandmother used to tell me, saying: the mayor had three sons, the eldest, the middle one and the youngest. One night they said to him: Father, this is the night of the mawlid. (The mawlid is not the Prophet's birthday ﷺ; in every town you find something called the mawlid, meaning a fair, a festival at one of the shrines, for which a mawlid is held.) They said: this is the night of the mawlid, and we are the sons of the mayor, so we must appear in a fine manner. The eldest said: I want ten pounds. And ten pounds in that time was something very big, as if he wanted to buy three acres with it, for example. His father said to him: and what will you do with it? He said: that is not your concern, I am the mayor's son and I must appear before the people and spend and so on. He said: fine, here, take ten pounds. And how much does the middle one take? Five, exactly. He said: I want five. He said: are you sure? He said: yes. He said: take it. And the youngest said: I want half a franc. This is how my grandmother tells it to me.

When they returned and came in, they found their father sitting in the middle of the house in the hall, and he had set before him a wooden board in which he had driven nails, and had laid the board on its back, so that the nails showed on top. Then he said to his eldest son: come, why were you late? They said: a mawlid, a commotion, people coming and going. He said to him: climb up on this and tell me what you spent the ten pounds on. So climb on the nails! And he had to tell it, and ten pounds is not as we imagine: it is not something of which you say I bought with five pounds and that is that; rather he was speaking of a large sum made up of piastres and millièmes and small coins, so spelling out the spending of ten pounds would take two hours. So our man climbed up and he stood on the nails, tossing about: I bought such-and-such for half a franc, and I gave so-and-so such-and-such, until his feet bled and he grew tired and could not go on. His father said to him: fine, get down. Then he called the third one, saying: come. The youngest said: why should I climb? It is only half a franc, a piastre on falafel and a piastre on beans...^[6]

So ﴿فَأَمَّا الْإِنسَانُ إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ رَبُّهُ فَأَكْرَمَهُ﴾ (As for man, when his Lord tries him and honors him): the ten pounds, or the great blessing granted to that eldest boy, was only a test, was it not? And so we were taught that every provision that comes to us we shall be held to account for on the Day of Resurrection. So before a person thinks about where he will get money, he must think about what he will spend it on, and before a servant rejoices in his well-being, he must think about where he will spend it, and before your eyes are dazzled by your children around you, you must think about how you will use these blessings that Allah the Exalted has driven to us. We reflect between ourselves and our own souls on how we present them to the Lord of Might, glory be to Him.

The wife of ʿImrān: concern for acceptance

The wife of ʿImrān vowed what was in her womb as one dedicated.^[7] And what does "dedicated" (muḥarrar) mean? That her soul would not cling to anything of it. She said: my Lord, it is Yours, what is in my womb is dedicated to You, so accept it from me. She was not concerned with the kind of child in her womb as much as she was concerned with the matter of acceptance: will Allah accept or not? So everything you give, before your eyes, do not care whether it is much or little, but care whether Allah will accept or not. And Allah the Exalted will not accept money unless it comes from a generous soul and a contented heart. Allah the Exalted will not accept from you when you are compelled, or embarrassed, or against your will; rather Allah the Exalted accepts from you what came from generosity of soul and a good heart, what you did with desire and love, what you did turning toward Allah, blessed and exalted. Therefore Allah the Exalted said: ﴿فَتَقَبَّلَهَا رَبُّهَا بِقَبُولٍ حَسَنٍ﴾ (So her Lord accepted her with good acceptance), with a good acceptance that matches the goodness of the soul that gave, a good acceptance that matches the goodness of heart that dedicated this boy or this girl, a good acceptance that matches the station of the servant who rose above the needs of this world to the station of giving to the Lord of Might, glory be to Him. And part of the bounty was that He caused her to grow in a good growth.

To those who fear for their children: ask Allah the Exalted to make them grow in a good growth, and watch over them in their deeds, and strive in what is in your hands. For it is the Lord of the worlds who causes to grow; the One who makes a human being grow is Allah. How many a righteous servant has a bad child come from his line! And how many a person whose state only Allah knows has had come from his loins one who unites the nation as one heart of a single man! Thus the measures of life are in the hand of Allah before they are in our hands, so reflect on that, and look, may Allah the Exalted preserve you.

"Then he says: my Lord has honored me": clinging to the gift, not to the Giver

The Lord of Might, glory be to Him, said: ﴿فَأَكْرَمَهُ وَنَعَّمَهُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَكْرَمَنِ﴾ (and honors him and favors him, then he says: my Lord has honored me). It is the matter of being deluded by blessing, the psyche of one who clings to the gift and does not cling to the Giver, who clings to the cause and does not cling to the Causer, who clings to the blessing and does not cling to the Bestower of blessings. The psyche of one who looks at quantity and not at the source of that quantity, the psyche of one who gives weight to what is in his hand and does not consider that his hand itself, which grasped the money, is a blessing. Did you notice the difference? The money you hold now in your hand, much or little, where do you hold it? In your hand. Imagine you had no hand; what would this money be worth? It would fall to the ground, because you have no hand to carry it in. So the first blessing was the hand, before the money existed.

And the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, has in His gifts measures and considerations. The Lord of Might, glory be to Him, grants servants what He wills, as He wills, how He wills, when He wills, where He wills, glory be to Him, All-Knowing, All-Powerful, All-Wise, Subtle, All-Aware.

"Then he says: my Lord has humiliated me": perhaps it was well-being

Allah, blessed and exalted, said: ﴿وَأَمَّا إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ فَقَدَرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقَهُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَهَانَنِ﴾ [الفجر: 16] (But when He tries him and restricts his provision, he says: my Lord has humiliated me) [al-Fajr: 16]. It is an inability to truly picture the giving of the Lord of Might. Mind you: you do not have much money and you are upset because you are not as rich as you would like; but if you awoke to the truth you would realize that Allah the Exalted has spared you a test.

And look, we were saying today in the khutbah, he says:^[8]

A young one seeks to grow old, and an old man wishes he were young again A jobless man longs for work, and one who has work is weary of it The owner of wealth is in toil, and in toil too is he who is poor

So none of them is ever at ease. One of them said to his mother: Mother, if I die, prepare a meal after my death, and write in the invitation: I invite to this meal whoever has not been afflicted with a calamity. The mother carried out the will, and called out to the people: I invite to this meal whoever has not been afflicted in his life with a calamity. And no one came in to her, because every person in this world has a calamity. So if you are among the creation of Allah, know that you are among those whom Allah the Exalted chose for tests. But there is a great difference between a road that is paved for a sensible person to pass over, and a road that is paved for a corrupt person to pass over; so be a road for good and do not be a road for evil.

"No!": kindness to the orphan and urging the feeding of the poor

The Lord of Might, glory be to Him, says: ﴿كَلَّا﴾ (No!). These notions are not correct.^[9] ﴿بَل لَّا تُكْرِمُونَ الْيَتِيمَ ۝ وَلَا تَحَاضُّونَ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ﴾ [الفجر: 17-18] (Rather, you do not honor the orphan, and you do not urge one another to feed the poor) [al-Fajr: 17-18]. It is not "and you do not feed" but "and you do not urge one another"; mind this, there is a difference between my feeding and my urging people to feed. The matter is not one hand that stretches out, but a general feeling that spreads in society. We are a society of givers, we are a society of spending, we are a society of knowledge, we are a society of excellence, we are a society of faith, we are a society of principles and morals, we are a society of values. There must be a spirit that spreads among people, that does not stop at a particular person, but is spread across his horizons, indeed in the roots of men's hearts.

The Lord of Might, glory be to Him, said: ﴿وَتَأْكُلُونَ التُّرَاثَ أَكْلًا لَّمًّا ۝ وَتُحِبُّونَ الْمَالَ حُبًّا جَمًّا﴾ [الفجر: 19-20] (And you consume inheritance, devouring it greedily, and you love wealth with immense love) [al-Fajr: 19-20]. A depiction of the state of greed that spreads among people and spoils the very taste of life, and life cannot be upright with it. When you see a couple, a man and a woman, competing between them over the number of sums and figures they will divide at divorce or after death, what life is there between these two parties? And when you see a man of whom the Prophet ﷺ speaks, that he puts the morsel into his wife's mouth, perhaps it was the very morsel he was going to eat, but he looked at his wife and preferred her with this morsel; what a spirit runs between these two bodies!?^[10] The relationship is not a relationship of flesh meeting flesh, we are not beasts, but a relationship of spirits in harmony with each other until a person feels that he is the other and that the other is he. Glory be to Allah the Powerful! When the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, wanted to describe this relationship, He described it as a solemn covenant, not a trivial one.^[11] The relationship between spouses never rests on figures. But a society of greed… ﴿كَلَّا بَل لَّا تُكْرِمُونَ الْيَتِيمَ ۝ وَلَا تَحَاضُّونَ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ ۝ وَتَأْكُلُونَ التُّرَاثَ أَكْلًا لَّمًّا ۝ وَتُحِبُّونَ الْمَالَ حُبًّا جَمًّا﴾ (No! Rather, you do not honor the orphan, and you do not urge one another to feed the poor, and you consume inheritance, devouring it greedily, and you love wealth with immense love).

"No! When the earth is leveled": this world is a journey

﴿كَلَّا إِذَا دُكَّتِ الْأَرْضُ…﴾ [الفجر: 21] (No! When the earth is leveled…) [al-Fajr: 21]. The connection of this verse to what precedes it is that Allah, blessed and exalted, wanted to point out to people that every construction of theirs in this world will fall one day, and that being deluded by what you have built is being deluded by the dust to which the building will one day return, or by the dust beneath which you will be, even if the building remains standing after your death. Life is summed up in a single word called dust: from it we came and to it we return, and between the two is only a journey.

Yesterday I stayed in a hotel of the utmost beauty, I do not know whether the brother booked it for me by mistake or what, and I said: wow, Masha'Allah! But glory be to the Powerful, I did not rub against the walls, I did not sit beside them, I did not want... I mean if my theoretical plan were to build a wall here to separate this hall from that hall... I say to myself: "Who are you planning for, my son? You are staying one night and leaving!" One of you boarded the plane and took a seat in the middle, not on the edge or by the side, bearing two hours and a bit more. By Allah, besides whom there is no god, life is only two hours and a bit, and then you go. But my destination is here, when I come and meet this noble face,^[18] and seek from its embrace the warmth of faith, and look into its eyes and see the trace of the Noble Qur'an, that which I was thinking about while sitting between two people whose sizes are a bit large, may Allah grant you well-being, O Lord! Imagine the situation. But you glance with your heart and your eyes at what you are heading to.

So imagine a servant walking through life, however hard things become for him, yet he seeks the vision of Allah, blessed and exalted, in Paradise.^[19] He seeks for his plane to settle him on the ground, or for his feet to settle him in a place where he feels stability. This world is a journey that will neither respond to us and fulfill what we want, nor will we respond to it and give it everything it wants.^[12] And the people of faith build it up because it is a mission, but their hearts do not cling to it, for their hearts cling to the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, the Exalted.

The tranquil soul

And for that reason Allah, blessed and exalted, says at the close of the noble sūrah: ﴿يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ ۝ ارْجِعِي إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً ۝ فَادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي﴾ [الفجر: 27-29] (O tranquil soul, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing; so enter among My servants) [al-Fajr: 27-29]. Contentment in the Hereafter will not come about unless it comes about in this world, and contentment in this world will not come about unless a person's knowledge of what Allah wants on earth is complete, and a person's knowledge of what Allah wants on earth will not be complete unless the servant comes to know Allah, blessed and exalted. ﴿ارْجِعِي إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً ۝ فَادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي﴾ (return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing; so enter among My servants): be among the company of the servants of Allah, and do not hold yourselves apart from His houses, nor from the companionship of prayer, and do not lag behind the caravan of the believers, and do not be among those who held aloof and so Satan led him far away, and he went astray and led astray. We ask Allah, blessed and exalted, for safety.

Conclusion

And in conclusion I say: if the dawn has risen after the overwhelming cloud, it will rise only upon a land whose features have become clear. And this land, through its stability, will show us this sun, which may be overtaken by night, yet the forenoon of faith stands firm, with which chests are opened wide, and by which the earth brings forth its figs and its olives. And that comes about only through the servants' attachment to Allah, glory be to Him, so that it is decreed for them to make their affairs clear even if the earth quakes beneath the feet of others.^[13] May Allah the Exalted reward you with good, and may Allah, glory be to Him, be pleased with you, honor you and keep you in every good. I ask Allah for safety and well-being for me and for you.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: It was not clear from the transcript whether this supplication was the speaker's, or the host's before handing over the pulpit; it has been placed at the opening because it is in the context of the session. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Interpreting "al-Ghāshiyah" as darkness is a linguistic reflection by the speaker on the order of the two sūrahs; whereas "al-Ghāshiyah" in Sūrat al-Ghāshiyah is, according to most exegetes, the Day of Resurrection, and their order in the muṣḥaf is al-Ghāshiyah (88) and then al-Fajr (89). ^[3]: Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim from the ḥadīth of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr (may Allah be pleased with them both) (Editor's documentation; the speaker did not attribute it, and he cited it with the wording «وإن فسدت فسد», whereas the wording in the Ṣaḥīḥ is «فسد الجسد كله»). The linking of awareness to the brain is an inference by the speaker. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Reported by Muslim from the ḥadīth of ʿĀʾishah and Anas (may Allah be pleased with them both), with the wording «أنتم أعلم بأمر دنياكم», whereas the speaker cited it with the wording «بشؤون دنياكم». The context of the report is that the Prophet ﷺ said to them: «I do not think that will avail anything», and that leaving the pollination was by their own judgment after his words, so the speaker's phrase "he told them to experiment" is his own explanation. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: The speaker said "alone," whereas in the sīrah Zayd ibn Ḥārithah (may Allah be pleased with him) accompanied him ﷺ to al-Ṭāʾif. And the speaker's comparison between al-Ṭāʾif and the Hijrah in terms of planning is an opinion of his in drawing a lesson. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: The speaker related the story from his grandmother and it is a folk tale. The transcript is garbled at its end and in the role of the middle son, so nothing extra has been assembled from it. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: Her words: ﴿رَبِّ إِنِّي نَذَرْتُ لَكَ مَا فِي بَطْنِي مُحَرَّرًا فَتَقَبَّلْ مِنِّي﴾ [Āl ʿImrān: 35]; the speaker mentioned its meaning and did not cite its wording. And his words ﴿فَتَقَبَّلَهَا رَبُّهَا بِقَبُولٍ حَسَنٍ﴾ are in [Āl ʿImrān: 37], and its continuation is ﴿وَأَنبَتَهَا نَبَاتًا حَسَنًا﴾; the speaker did not mention the location. ^[8]: Editor's documentation: The speaker did not attribute the verses to anyone, and their opening is garbled in the transcript; the verses are written according to the wording that could be established. ^[9]: Editor's documentation: After this phrase the transcript contains garbled speech whose meaning does not hold together, so it has not been included. ^[10]: Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim from the ḥadīth of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ (may Allah be pleased with him) in similar terms, in which is «حتى اللقمة تجعلها في فيّ امرأتك» (Editor's documentation; the speaker did not attribute it). ^[11]: Editor's documentation: He alludes to the saying of Allah the Exalted: ﴿وَأَخَذْنَ مِنكُم مِّيثَاقًا غَلِيظًا﴾ [al-Nisāʾ: 21]; the speaker did not cite the verse. ^[12]: Editor's documentation: In the transcript, after this sentence there is a garbled phrase ("between us and this world there is a quarrel..."), so it has not been included. ^[13]: Editor's documentation: The transcript breaks off after this point with unintelligible phrases, so they have not been included. ^[14]: Editor's documentation: [al-ʿAlaq: 1]; the speaker did not mention the sūrah. ^[15]: Editor's documentation: [al-Baqarah: 31]; the speaker did not mention the sūrah. And in the transcript before this point there is a garbled phrase ("lammā idhā dhakartum maʿī…") which has been phrased cautiously. ^[16]: Editor's documentation: [al-Aḥzāb: 21], and its full form is ﴿لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ﴾; the speaker confined himself to "you have in the Messenger of Allah a good example." And the word "awʿā" (more aware) is unclear in the transcript ("awʿbar") and has been written in the closest wording. ^[17]: Editor's documentation: In the transcript there is a truncated word ("aq…") before "in which it lives," so it has not been included. ^[18]: Editor's documentation: It was not clear from the transcript who is meant by "this noble face," nor precisely the meaning of "my destination is here"; the text is as it came. ^[19]: Editor's documentation: In the transcript before this point there is a garbled phrase ("or even aḍuh wāʾif the whole journey"), so it has not been included.