The Philosophy of Reform in the Qur'an

Occasion: A summary of a Friday khuṭbah delivered at AIA Masjid on November 7, 2025.Source: A transcription of a video khuṭbah by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Praise be to Allah, in whose hand are the keys of the heavens and the earth, and He has power over all things. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, without partner, and I bear witness that our master and Prophet Muhammad is His servant, His Prophet and His Messenger, may Allah bless him, his family, his Companions and all who follow his path until the Day of Judgment. To proceed:

May Allah greet these faces, bright with ablution, striving for His good pleasure; may He record our steps to His houses as steps toward Paradise, and place all of that in the scales of good deeds.

Who Are the Chiefs (al-Malaʾ)?

Among people, the word «الملأ» (al-malaʾ) means the multitudes of creation, but in the Qur'an it has a very particular meaning: they are the elite, the select few at the very top of the summit, whose places are spread between the seat of rule, the treasuries of the kingdom, and the centers of decision.

When Pharaoh sensed a simple call from Moses, peace be upon him, his reaction was far greater than necessary, agitated to an uncontrolled degree. Allah said: ﴿هَلْ أَتَاكَ حَدِيثُ مُوسَىٰ ۝ إِذْ نَادَاهُ رَبُّهُ بِالْوَادِ الْمُقَدَّسِ طُوًى ۝ اذْهَبْ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ﴾ [al-Nāziʿāt: 15-17] (Has the story of Moses reached you? When his Lord called to him in the sacred valley of Ṭuwā: "Go to Pharaoh…"). Notice the word: «اذهب» ("go"), not «انطلق» ("set off"). There is a difference between them in how the scene is portrayed: Moses is going on his own two feet. And yet this simple act disturbed Pharaoh.

The chiefs seize the joints of the state, so that nothing escapes from under their hands; they are the holders of the sole decision, not merely the first, and there is a great difference between the two descriptions. That is why the Qur'anic sentence expresses the state of that man: ﴿مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرِي﴾ [al-Qaṣaṣ: 38] ("I know of no god for you other than me"). Knowledge is monopolized by him alone, and no one may open his mind to ask questions or to look at where matters are heading. Among the traits of the chiefs, too, is controlling people's portions and livelihoods, granting them and withholding them at whatever time suits them.

What Corrupts a Society?

What happens when the needy go hungry? People work and live off their wages; if a wage is delayed for days, hardship intensifies, so what if it is delayed for a month? At that point hunger may turn into smashing car windows and stealing cars and violating the sanctity of homes, and a phase of gang warfare and embezzlement begins. This is a catastrophe in every sense of the word.

When Allah, glory be to Him, made corruption follow from something, He made it follow from this: ﴿كَلَّا ۖ بَل لَّا تُكْرِمُونَ الْيَتِيمَ ۝ وَلَا تَحَاضُّونَ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ ۝ وَتَأْكُلُونَ التُّرَاثَ أَكْلًا لَّمًّا ۝ وَتُحِبُّونَ الْمَالَ حُبًّا جَمًّا ۝ كَلَّا إِذَا دُكَّتِ الْأَرْضُ دَكًّا دَكًّا﴾ [al-Fajr: 17-21] (No! But you do not honor the orphan, nor do you urge one another to feed the poor, and you devour inheritance with greed, and you love wealth with immense love. No! When the earth is pounded to dust, pounding upon pounding). Someone may ask: what does this have to do with the Day of Resurrection? Why did «دُكَّتِ الأرض» ("the earth is pounded") come right after depriving the poor? The choice of words in the Qur'an suits the context, and depriving the poor of their usual sustenance results in a pounding of the earth, because corruption spreads faster than people imagine; and when morals collapse, the bonds between people dissolve and society is lost.

Then comes Sūrat al-Balad, which follows al-Fajr, and our Lord speaks to us about the steep ascent: ﴿فَلَا اقْتَحَمَ الْعَقَبَةَ ۝ وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْعَقَبَةُ ۝ فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ ۝ أَوْ إِطْعَامٌ فِي يَوْمٍ ذِي مَسْغَبَةٍ ۝ يَتِيمًا ذَا مَقْرَبَةٍ ۝ أَوْ مِسْكِينًا ذَا مَتْرَبَةٍ ۝ ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا﴾ [al-Balad: 11-17] (But he has not attempted the steep ascent. And what will make you know what the steep ascent is? It is the freeing of a slave, or feeding on a day of severe hunger an orphan of near relationship, or a needy person in misery; and then being among those who believe). I do not confine these verses to looking toward the Hereafter, for this world is the prelude to it. These verses say that none of us reaches the stage of faith unless he feels for the needy around him, lives their condition, and extends his hand to them: children crying from hunger and thirst, and families who find nothing to eat.

And in Sūrat al-Māʿūn: ﴿أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِالدِّينِ ۝ فَذَٰلِكَ الَّذِي يَدُعُّ الْيَتِيمَ ۝ وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ﴾ [al-Māʿūn: 1-3] (Have you seen the one who denies the Judgment? That is the one who repulses the orphan, and does not urge the feeding of the poor). He did not say "and does not feed"; He said "and does not urge." So there are two stages here: a crime in not giving to the poor, and an equal crime in knowing of a needy person and not calling so-and-so to tell him: help so-and-so, for he is in need. I may not have paid, but I urged someone else to pay.

Between Heedlessness and Awareness

We used to reproach ourselves that we had not entered the political arena for decades in this country, and we blamed one another, and reproached ourselves that we Muslims did not have a sufficient number in positions of governance and representation, small and large. We are as comfortable as we like; we have no resolve, because the goal has not yet taken shape in our minds. There is a long discussion to be had about the resources of Muslims and what they could accomplish if they thought with broader awareness, greater depth and a fuller grasp of affairs. Whoever lives on the soil of this country, awareness of the course of its affairs is an obligation upon him; a better tomorrow is required, the future is near, and vigilance is required.

I say these words of mine, and I seek Allah's forgiveness for myself and for you.

Prepare Your Children to Lead Tomorrow

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds; the final outcome belongs to the God-conscious, and there is no hostility except against the wrongdoers. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, the King, the Manifest Truth, and I bear witness that our master and Prophet Muhammad is His servant, His Prophet and His Messenger, may Allah bless him, his family and all his Companions. To proceed:

Prepare your children to be the leaders of the future. Do not shut the doors on them, do not block their paths, and do not stop them at the limits of traditional work, for which artificial intelligence has become a substitute in all its forms. Manual labor today no longer has the value it had yesterday, and artificial intelligence has unseated people from their positions by its mere existence. If we do not release our children so they open up to the world, they will stay sitting beside us while we spend on them and feed them, until, when they reach a certain point, they slip out of our hands and set off toward the forbidden without our knowing. We seek refuge in Allah from that.

I counsel myself and my brothers that if the future is to belong to Allah's religion, it must have workers, and that whoever abandons responsibility to a certain degree does not deserve Allah's help to that same degree. So work toward that, and prepare your children for a better tomorrow for the religion of the Lord of the worlds.

Why Do We Lag Behind?

The hateful image that used to be exported to the world is now falling from the faces of its owners, and people are showing more awareness and more attentiveness to the voice of truth, candor and clarity than before. There is no reason that should make us weak in any way: life is one, death does not come twice, and Paradise waits at the threshold of each one's death. If we are truthful about that, then it is a goal and an aim, and anything less is hateful hypocrisy: we come to the mosques to pray and then leave them to commit sin. And I count among the greatest sins we commit abandoning the truth and failing to stand firmly against every falsehood.

Listen to the words of Allah in Sūrat al-Fajr: ﴿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 ۝ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِالْمِرْصَادِ﴾ [al-Fajr: 6-14] (Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with ʿĀd, Iram of the lofty pillars, the like of which had never been created in the lands, and Thamūd, who carved out the rocks in the valley, and Pharaoh, owner of the stakes, who transgressed in the lands and spread much corruption therein? So your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment. Indeed, your Lord is ever watchful). He tells you of a power that no one dared to challenge, and then He pours upon them nothing more than a «سَوْطَ» ("scourge") of punishment. If this is the scourge alone, what do you think of the whole punishment? Indeed, your Lord is ever watchful.

So where is the problem? Why this backwardness among us? Because each of us has closed his mind around a very petty matter, through which he looks at himself and his own self, and he pays no attention to those around him: ﴿فَأَمَّا الْإِنسَانُ إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ رَبُّهُ فَأَكْرَمَهُ وَنَعَّمَهُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَكْرَمَنِ ۝ وَأَمَّا إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ فَقَدَرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقَهُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَهَانَنِ﴾ [al-Fajr: 15-16] (As for man, when his Lord tries him and honors him and favors him, he says, "My Lord has honored me." But when He tries him and restricts his provision for him, he says, "My Lord has humiliated me"). The limit of my sight is what came in to me today and what I spent today, preoccupied with my own state; and that is the calamity of most Muslims in the world. Each is preoccupied with his personal resources, with the provision that came to him, with a word that irritated him, with what affected him. Each of us has set himself up as a god before the Lord of the worlds, wanting to snatch his due from Allah and saying: give me, for I alone am deserving. Glory be to the Most High, the All-Powerful.

O Allah, return the Muslims to their religion in a beautiful return. O Allah, prepare for our people in Palestine a matter of right guidance, and might, authority and strength, O Lord of the worlds. O Allah, make them prevail and do not let others prevail over them; establish them and do not let others be established over them. O Allah, make them steadfast, help them, and fortify their hearts. O Allah, be gentle with our people in Sudan; O Allah, spare their blood, and be over every oppressive, tyrannical aggressor, with Your mercy and Your gentleness. O Allah, make our children leaders and pioneers for this country, preserving their religion and carrying the banner of their Islam. O Allah, make us firm with the firm word in the life of this world and in the Hereafter. And our final call is that praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.