This Is the Reality of the Days: Everything We Live Through Will Pass

Occasion: Transcription of an evening khatira delivered on 13 June 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

When we read the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: ﴿كَأَنَّهُمْ يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَهَا لَمْ يَلْبَثُوا إِلَّا عَشِيَّةً أَوْ ضُحَاهَا﴾ (As if, on the day they see it, they had not remained except for an evening or its morning)^[1] you take stock of yourself: what did you wish for ten years ago? Where was your aspiration, where did you long to fly, to what level did you hope to rise, and what was your first aim in life at that time, and what were your priorities? Then you see that these ten years passed in the blink of an eye, and that you reached your aim through them. There were pains and challenges and trials and hardships, there were difficulties and rocks on the road. Think of how many nights you spent not knowing whether tomorrow would dawn upon you, or what you would face in the morning, and you slept terrified with fear! Then the night passed and the morning came, the crisis passed and the cloud cleared, and time went by.

Everything Passes

It becomes easy for you if you bring to mind the image of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, for example, as he wanted to migrate from Makkah to Madinah, with the people around him, the disbelievers lying in wait, Abū Bakr there waiting, the two mounts ready, the provisions prepared, and the Prophet ﷺ taking his first steps. You are now anxious over a mere story, though it passed and ended, and across time, not only years but decades and centuries, here we are sitting as a remnant of the striving of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ one day. Is it not so? O Allah, yes indeed.

There is nothing in life that will remain. What comes to my mind these days, and overcomes all my faculties of thought, is that everything we live through and witness will vanish after a while, so do not wear out your heart over an event or over anything, especially people.

People of Self-Interest

Especially people who do not know the meaning of the word loyalty, who do not know the right of companionship, who do not respect the term affection, who do not acknowledge the kindness you showed them before. People who deal with you purely out of self-interest, and when the interest ends they suddenly vanish; you will find them neither in the arena of discussion nor facing you in any way. Their interest with you lasts as long as you are strong, clever, youthful, wealthy, as long as you have ability and standing, as long as you can absorb their pain, dry their tears, and soothe their hearts and limbs. Their interest with you lasts as long as they look at you as a source of giving and of provision. Then when the pockets are empty and the tongues fall silent and good health is cheapened, they leave to look for another source of giving for themselves, as though they were not created to give but were created only to take. They do not look for a place in which to put their goodness, for they have no goodness, because they see no goodness in themselves. Had they seen it in themselves, Allah would have caused its springs to gush forth within them and made them people of the upper hand.

Yet people are gifts of different kinds, and each strives to achieve his own interest in this world, and glory be to Allah, the Most High, the Almighty! Among people there are those whose interest is in giving to you. Imagine that my interest should be to search for someone to give to! Our Lord, Glory be to Him, the Exalted, tells us about Abū Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, as he gives without expecting any return: ﴿وَمَا لِأَحَدٍ عِندَهُ مِن نِّعْمَةٍ تُجْزَىٰ إِلَّا ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِ رَبِّهِ الْأَعْلَىٰ﴾ (And no one has with him any favor for which reward is expected, but only seeking the face of his Lord, the Most High).^[2] That is a station, and that is the state of the station, or the word of the state.

Preserve Your Well-Being

Imagine life with all that is in it: it will melt away and pass and be gone. Do not weep over anything, and preserve your well-being as much as you can, for it is the safety valve that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, places in you and with you. As much as you humiliate your body, it honors you, and as much as you pamper it, it lets you down, so be mindful of this.^[3] For Allah the Exalted preserves the blessing for the servant as long as he preserves it, grateful for Allah's favor in it.

I ask Allah, the Most High, the Almighty, to show us the reality of this world, not to let us be deceived by anything in it, not to let us be tempted by its adornment and glitter, and to make us pass through it into the Hereafter. O Allah, amen, O Lord of the worlds. May Allah keep your steps safe and bless you.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Al-Nāziʿāt: 46. The speaker's recitation of the verse came out in a disordered sequence in the transcript, so it has been recorded as it appears in the muṣḥaf, to the extent that he mentioned it. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Al-Layl: 19–20. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The speaker's phrase "as much as you humiliate your body, it honors you" is as it appears in the transcript; what he most likely means is putting the body through praiseworthy effort and hardship.