‹Among the People Are Those Who Take Rivals Besides Allah›

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on October 4, 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

We ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted, to record the Fajr prayer for us in the scales of our good deeds. To proceed: in the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, which we have just heard: ﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ أَندَادًا يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِّلَّهِ﴾ (And among the people are those who take rivals besides Allah, loving them as they should love Allah; but those who believe are stronger in love for Allah)^[1].

A Decision That Is Taken

When you pause over the Qur'anic words and the choice of expressions, you see the speech arranged in a precise order. The Lord of the worlds says: ﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ﴾ (And among the people are those who take). So this is a decision he made himself, a decision he took on his own: he takes besides Allah lords, gods besides Allah, objects of worship. And the Qur'anic expression says: ﴿أَندَادًا﴾ (rivals), as if he had made what he took besides Allah a rival to Allah.

Those Deluded by the World and Those Who Worship It

And I imagine that there is a difference here between one who is deluded by the world and one who worships the world. One who is deluded by the world is taken in by numbers, places, luxury and the like, and he may have some excuse, in a certain way. But one who has taken wealth as a god is the one whose wretchedness the Prophet ﷺ told us about, when he invoked wretchedness upon the slave of the dinar, the slave of the dirham, and the slave of the khamīṣa^[2]. And what is the khamīṣa? It is a garment. So imagine that among the children of Adam there are those who worship something like this! And the subject in our hands lets you apply it to everything of the tools of life by which a servant adorns himself among people. It is as if the one who worshipped the khamīṣa only worshipped himself inside that khamīṣa, and worshipped himself inside that luxurious car, and worshipped himself inside that plush house.

So the matter moves from the stage of partial attachment to the world to another stage. You may see a person who is elegant, with a handsome appearance and neat hair, for whom the world is sweet and who is happy; he is in good, by the blessing of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, upon him, and he feels a kind of inner stability and psychological calm. And then there is another person who does this only as worship of that thing, meaning that his self has so deluded him in this context that he sees himself as incomplete without it.

Then, we agreed that there is one who adorns himself because he is going to the house of Allah to worship the Lord of the worlds, so adornment in itself was a means of worship and one of its aids. And there is one who worshipped adornment, and it hindered him from everything, even from worshipping the Lord of Might, Glorified and Exalted. So our Lord, Majestic in His loftiness, says: ﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ﴾ (And among the people are those who take besides Allah), and the word is ﴿أَندَادًا﴾ (rivals); he makes what he takes a rival to the Lord of the worlds. So if interests conflict, between what Allah wants from me and what my world wants, he follows what his world wants, leaving behind his back what the Lord of the worlds wants, Glorified, Majestic in His loftiness.

﴿يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ﴾ (O people) and ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا﴾ (O you who believe)

Then you see the verse that comes after that, after the dialogue among the people of the Fire, between the follower and the followed, and those deluded by the ones they follow; we seek refuge with Allah, Glorified and Exalted, from following the wrongdoers or supporting them. The Lord of the worlds, Glorified and Exalted, says: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ﴾ (O people, eat from what is on earth, lawful and good, and do not follow the footsteps of Satan)^[3]. It is as if the first object of worship that a person will face in this battle of servitude is the pursuit of the world. For the first thing people are deluded by is gathering the dinar and the dirham and earning money by the available permissible means, or by the available means even if they are not permissible. And there is a very great difference between an available, permissible, lawful means from which one earns his provision, and a means available before him by which he takes what he wants even if it is not permissible.

Can we distinguish between the two successive calls in the verses? Here He says: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا﴾ (O people, eat from what is on earth, lawful and good), and a few verses later He says: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُلُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ﴾ (O you who believe, eat from the good things We have provided you)^[4]. So what is the difference between the two? The first text sets a law for people in life generally; when the address is ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ﴾ (O people), the default is that it addresses all of creation. ﴿كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا﴾ (eat from what is on earth, lawful and good): honesty in dealings, trustworthiness in fulfilling things, keeping promises, abiding by contracts; are these general rules of life or rules specific to the people of faith? General rules of life. So He appeals to ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ﴾ (O people), as if some of the Qur'anic laws regulate the life of all creation, and if any of them is broken, life itself is disrupted, whether the one dealing by these laws is a Muslim or a non-Muslim.

And I give as an example the traffic rules: are they specific to the people of faith, to people coming out of the mosque going to their homes? Or are they for all people? If a Muslim or a non-Muslim ran a signal and an accident happened, would we say: this is a Muslim's car so nothing is on it, and this is a disbeliever's car so it is liable? No; there are laws that regulate the movement of life in general, and the Qur'an establishes them for all people.

The Good From the Lawful, and the Provision of Allah

As for the believer, he does not merely eat the lawful; he eats the good from the lawful: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُلُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ﴾ (O you who believe, eat from the good things We have provided you). The verse points to two terms. The first: that we do not eat merely the lawful but the good of it, so there is a kind of elevation in it. For example, a Muslim in whose wealth the lawful and the unlawful are mixed, and there may be some doubt in it in some way, leaves it, however little remains in his hands, because he seeks the higher station. And the other point in the verse itself is that we do not eat of the good things merely because they are good things, but because they are the provision of Allah, Blessed and Exalted; we believe that what is in our hands is a gift from the Lord of the worlds, Glorified and Exalted, and not a personal effort.

You are a skilled man working in some field, in cars or architecture or engineering or medicine or others, so do not be arrogant because of that, but say: I am not able at all, I only follow the means, and the One who provides for me is Allah, Glorified and Exalted. You sometimes find a person extremely alert, brilliant, intelligent and capable who makes a mistake that would never have occurred to anyone, in engineering for example in your work; you find someone senior in his position who has, say, months deducted from his salary, and a huge job is lost to him, all because of one small mistake. How did this mistake get out of his hands? How did his mind overlook the means? Then you find another, new to the job, with no experience, and what happens to him happens, and you say: Allah is Greater, how did this happen? It is the provision of Allah, Glorified and Exalted. The first loses some of his basic provision, and the second receives provision many times that from where he did not expect. So the matter of our hearts being attached to Allah, and that He is the Provider, the Possessor of Strength, the Firm, Glorified and Exalted, is completely different from the matter of people relying on means and causes.

And the one who relies on means and causes, if for example he works at a car dealership and has to sell today his set quota of cars, hunts the customer, even if this customer is not convinced, and even if he does not need to change his car, so he tries to convince him and does this and that; he wants to reach his target whatever the means and methods.

Scrupulousness: A Lawful Thing That Leads to Harm

And when we speak about the matter of the lawful, it is not only theft, fraud and swindling, but there are other things. For example, a certain sale may lead to the ruin of a person's home. A person is selling a car somewhere, and he saw and heard in a side conversation between the husband and wife that if this deal were completed today, the home might be ruined. So what is the benefit that results from the sale? The commission he will take. And on the other side, if it were completed, this family would collapse. So what should he do? If he sells, his sale is lawful and there is no problem, but it is a lawful thing that has led to harm he knew for certain. So out of scrupulousness among the people of faith, they do not do that, because he is certain that his provision is with the Lord of the worlds, Glorified and Exalted, so he believes that Allah will provide for him from where he does not expect. Glory be to the Creator, the All-Knowing! Hardly a moment or a few moments pass but someone comes and pays him the price.

Gratitude Is the Condition for Servitude to Be Realized

So Allah, Blessed and Exalted, says: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُلُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ﴾ (O you who believe, eat from the good things We have provided you), and I have another requirement in the verse: ﴿وَاشْكُرُوا لِلَّهِ﴾ (and be grateful to Allah). It came with the term "good things" because when provision is good, it satisfies even if it is little. When good provision is obtained, not merely lawful, the soul feels at ease with it. You find a person eating a piece of cheese and a morsel of bread, a crust of bread, anything, and it descends upon his heart as coolness and peace, and he is reassured, calm, full, happy, content with the people around him, in harmony with himself, with his home and with his environment. And another has before him very many, very precious, very costly things, but he is troubled. So Allah, Exalted, says: ﴿وَاشْكُرُوا لِلَّهِ﴾ (and be grateful to Allah).

And the wonder in the matter is that Allah, Blessed and Exalted, makes gratitude a condition for the realization of servitude: ﴿إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ﴾ (if it is Him that you worship). So gratitude is what realizes worship. Worship here is not standing up to prayer, nor performing rites, but worship here is mere contentment with what Allah, Blessed and Exalted, has deposited in the treasuries of the pockets of wealth, because the matter is one of psychological satisfaction.

No Rival to Allah in My Heart

Hence: ﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ أَندَادًا﴾ (And among the people are those who take rivals besides Allah). I have no rival with our Lord. I have no rival with our Lord, even if it is the work that will fill my pocket and fill the stomachs of my children. I have no rival with our Lord, even if it is the bank account that will fill up or will not fill up. I have no rival with our Lord, even if the car is broken down or sound. I have no rival with our Lord, and therefore I have emptied my heart of anyone but Him, Glorified, Majestic in His loftiness.

Reflect on the verses; the choice of every word in them deserves a very long time of reflection. Glory be to the One whose speech this is, and glory be to the One who taught us how to understand His intent, Glorified and Exalted. I ask Allah for safety, well-being and good pleasure for me and for you.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 165. The speaker did not mention the sūrah clearly in the transcript. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī with the wording «تَعِسَ عَبْدُ الدِّينَارِ وَالدِّرْهَمِ وَالْقَطِيفَةِ وَالْخَمِيصَةِ» (Wretched is the slave of the dinar, the dirham, the qaṭīfah and the khamīṣa); the speaker conveyed it by meaning and in a garbled way in the transcript, so it has been rendered in the body by meaning, without quotation. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 168. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 172.