What Remains in Your Hands? Two Calls from Al Imran

Occasion: A transcription of a lecture delivered after the ʿIshāʾ prayer at AIA on July 7, 2026, as part of the series "Calls to Faith in the Qur’an"Source: A transcription of a video lecture by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

The lesson begins with the recitation of the call from Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَقَالُوا لِإِخْوَانِهِمْ إِذَا ضَرَبُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ أَوْ كَانُوا غُزًّى لَّوْ كَانُوا عِندَنَا مَا مَاتُوا وَمَا قُتِلُوا لِيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ ذَٰلِكَ حَسْرَةً فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ﴾ [آل عمران: 156] (O you who believe, do not be like those who disbelieved and said of their brothers when they traveled through the land or were off fighting: "Had they been with us, they would not have died and would not have been killed," so that Allah may make that a regret in their hearts. And Allah gives life and causes death, and Allah sees what you do). Then he says: let us begin from the beginning.

Not Imitating the Disbelievers in Their Words and Feelings

This is a call of faith in which the Lord of the worlds addresses His believing servants, warning them not to imitate the disbelievers in their words and their feelings. So what is the saying? The saying is: «لو كانوا عندنا ما ماتوا وما قُتلوا» ("Had they been with us, they would not have died and would not have been killed"). It is as if they are saying that these believers, when they went out on this expedition, only wronged themselves.

And the lecturer says to his listeners: Did you see how the people of Gaza were blamed after the seventh of October, and it was said that they brought destruction on themselves, that they brought it upon their own heads, that they did this and that? Did you see this kind of talk? It is as though the Lord of the worlds is speaking here about the likes of these, who want nothing from this world except to discourage people of high aspiration; they want nothing from life except to discourage people of high aspiration. They do not sit back alone; rather, they sit back and make others sit back.

So if you ask one of them: They wronged themselves, fine, my dear sir, but you, what have you done? What have you achieved? What have you contributed to this cause? What have you done for the sake of this religion? With what have you supported these lands? He does not want only to sit back; he wants others to sit back with him. So they say of the one who went out and was killed: Had they stayed here, they would not have died and would not have been killed. And in saying that, they are only speaking to those who sit around them. And what is the aim? They frighten them off from trying again, and from the same fate: if you do what they did, you will be killed as they were killed, or you will die as they died. It is as if he wants to dry up the springs of goodness throughout the community and its pillars, and does not want anyone to rise with his aspiration above the level of weakness and abandonment in which they live. They want the rest of mankind to be like them.

﴿لِيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ ذَٰلِكَ حَسْرَةً فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ﴾

And the Lord of the worlds answers them with His words: ﴿لِيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ ذَٰلِكَ حَسْرَةً فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ﴾ (so that Allah may make that a regret in their hearts). What is it that Allah will make a regret in their hearts? Let us picture the scene. The saying has already passed, so how does Allah make it a regret? The lecturer's view is that the survival of a group of people of the same kind of aspiration and earnestness is a regret in the hearts of these people, whenever they see their like. They want to dry up this spring, and if it dries up their chests are relieved and they are delighted, and with them the delight of the devils behind them.

But the survival of this kind of person, who knows that he has aspiration, that his mind has a goal, that his soul has a conscience and his heart has a sense of right and wrong, who knows he has a future in the Hereafter, in Paradise, in the presence of Allah, and who does not turn aside to anything of this world nor store up anything for it, whatever it may be, the very existence of such people fills them with regret. To see someone distinguished, excelling, successful, mature, especially in matters of religious commitment, because its end is known to everyone, and it is Paradise. So the one who sits back says: You are racing ahead to Paradise, and I cannot do what you do, and I do not want to rise as you rise, and therefore my only recourse is to make you sit down beside me.

That is why a warning comes afterward in Sūrat al-Tawbah, and the matter there is stronger: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَا لَكُمْ إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمُ انفِرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ اثَّاقَلْتُمْ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ ۚ أَرَضِيتُم بِالْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا مِنَ الْآخِرَةِ ۚ فَمَا مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا فِي الْآخِرَةِ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ﴾ [التوبة: 38] (O you who believe, what is the matter with you that when you are told: "Go forth in the cause of Allah," you cling heavily to the earth? Are you content with the life of this world over the Hereafter? But the enjoyment of the life of this world is, in the Hereafter, nothing but little), and in the course of it he commented: Is that of any use? Is that fitting for you? Glory be to the All-Creating, the All-Knowing! And so our Lord warns us against this kind of talk.

Fear That Goes Beyond Caution

Then he asks: What is the import of this talk? Pay attention, for the matter may be big or may be small in its form, but the common denominator is there, and it is the fear that goes beyond the bounds of caution and moves past certainty in Allah, Blessed and Exalted.

And in another call of faith that will come to us in Sūrat al-Nisāʾ, our Lord says: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا خُذُوا حِذْرَكُمْ فَانفِرُوا …﴾ [النساء: 71] (O you who believe, take your precautions, and go forth …). (The lecturer asked those present to help him recall what comes after "take your precautions," and then said that the word "go forth" is enough, and it is a powerful sign.) Does "take your precautions" mean that you go into your house and shut the door on yourself, and get under the couch and hide, and fear anything that passes by? No, my dear friend, for it says "go forth." The meaning: take your precautions within the frame of what carries you toward greater readiness for greater going forth.

So here our Lord commanded taking precaution, but a precaution that does not make one sit back, a precaution that does not abandon, a precaution that does not kill aspiration or weaken resolve or immobilize bodies. It is rather the shrewdness of minds and hearts, and the capacity of bodies and aspirations, walking side by side. You can imagine, for example, your wife, while it is raining outside, saying to you: No, no, stay, you will cause an accident and you will die. And she is told: Calm down, madam, for God's sake, with a little certainty in the Lord of the worlds, Glorified and Exalted.

Many of us count taking precaution as a way of protection, but Satan inflates the matter in the souls of some people until it passes the stage of certainty that Allah carries out what He has decreed. ﴿وَلَوْ كُنتُمْ فِي بُرُوجٍ مُّشَيَّدَةٍ﴾ [النساء: 78] (even if you were in fortified towers). What happens? Death is coming without fail; you will not escape it even if you were in fortified towers, that is, protected with every kind of protection that safeguards those inside. For the angel of death is not stopped by walls, nor do ramparts stand between him and his will, nor does anything hinder him from his task; rather he reaches places that no one knows of except the Creator, Glorified and Exalted.

Whoever Is Outside the Battle

So if there is a lesson for us in this verse, without lengthening, then the Lord of the worlds speaks to us in a summary conclusion with two important rules, both carrying the same force in correcting the human course as we wage the battle of life. Whoever among the Muslims feels that he is outside the frame of the struggle between truth and falsehood, or between good and evil, has lost a great share of his faith in Allah. And whoever feels that he is outside the frame of persecution in any form,^[7] his faith is a nominal faith, a formal faith. Your look is very "cute" and you are a very nice Muslim, something like "chocolate"? This nice, cute Muslim gets lined up on a side and ends up being a "vase," as it were. But a Muslim of aspiration and resolve, with a cause that circles in his head, and a concern that dwells in his heart, and a bleeding of pain that renews itself from time to time because he has not yet been able to set right the condition of the world and those in it, that is the one who bears the concern.

From here we understand what we always keep reminding of: ﴿فَلَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِمْ إِن لَّمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَٰذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَسَفًا﴾^[1] (Perhaps you would kill yourself through grief over them, if they do not believe in this message). It is as if I see the heart of the Prophet ﷺ and his soul moving in a restless motion, because he is preoccupied with the people: that they have not yet become Muslims, have not yet been guided, have not yet become upright. And it is as if I see him ﷺ wanting the whole of creation to affirm the oneness of Allah, and then another call comes to him: ﴿إِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَاءُ﴾^[2] (Indeed, you do not guide whom you like, but Allah guides whom He wills). And here the lecturer pauses at "whom you like" in two ways: either the meaning is those whom you love among people, so the address is confined to a specific number, or the meaning is whomever you love to be guided, so the conversation extends to the whole of creation. Then: but Allah guides whom He wills, Glorified and Exalted.

The First Rule: ﴿وَاللَّهُ يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ﴾

So the first rule that the verse establishes: Allah says ﴿وَاللَّهُ يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ﴾ (and Allah gives life and causes death). The matter of life and death has nothing to do with fighting, nor with expedition, nor with combat, nor with sitting back, nor with ease, nor with stillness.^[6] It is not tied to raging winds, nor to a falling rock, nor to a bullet that strikes, nor to a blow on the back or on the heart. It has no connection with any of that, because the One who causes it and causes its causes is Allah, and the One who decrees it is Allah. So a person dies on his bed as he dies on his battlefield, he dies while prostrating, and he dies while drunk, we seek refuge in Allah; he dies in every circumstance.

So we have no recourse except what remains in our hands. And what remains in your hand if the question of life and death is in Allah's hand? ﴿وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ﴾ (and Allah, of what you do): what remains in your hand? "You do," so what is it that you do? That is what makes the servant spend part of his day or his night reviewing his deeds: ﴿وَأَن لَّيْسَ لِلْإِنسَانِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَىٰ * وَأَنَّ سَعْيَهُ سَوْفَ يُرَىٰ * ثُمَّ يُجْزَاهُ﴾^[3] (And that there is not for man except that for which he strives, and that his striving will soon be seen, then he will be recompensed for it). And the lecturer says: It is this bit, "then he will be recompensed," that occupies my mind as a Muslim, and it is what fills my head. My Lord, how will the recompense be? My dear friend, what have you done?

We Hear and We Obey, and Then Your Forgiveness

And he reminds them of what they had been discussing before: ﴿آمَنَ الرَّسُولُ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۚ كُلٌّ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ …﴾ (The Messenger believes in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. All of them believe in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers …), then: ﴿وَقَالُوا سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۖ غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا﴾^[4] (and they say: "We hear and we obey. Your forgiveness, our Lord"). And he says: Stop here, at this bit: ﴿سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا﴾ ("We hear and we obey"). They did not ask for forgiveness until after they had obeyed. Well-mannered people, people who know when to say "Your forgiveness." But for us to sit "chilling," happy, "lying out" on the couch, with our air conditioners and our allotments and the latest-model cars and the best phones in the world and the iPad and whatever else... we ought to feel ashamed, be bashful, it is a disgrace! The station of asking for forgiveness comes after the station of hearing.

So hearing was never separated from obedience, because it is not realized except through carrying out. Hearing is not realized except through practice. And he gives an example: My son, get up and study, my son, look to your own interest, open the book, do me a favor, the book! The exam is tomorrow, tomorrow morning. And he says: Okay. Does this word "okay" mean a response? While he is sitting in his place and has not moved, and the television is still on and the remote is in his hand. This "okay," is it hearing? No, he did not hear. Why? Because he did not obey. ﴿قَالُوا سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا غُفْرَانَكَ﴾ (They said: "We hear and we obey. Your forgiveness.")

The Second Rule: ﴿بَصِيرٌ﴾

And the second rule that the verse establishes for us tonight is: ﴿وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ﴾ (and Allah sees what you do). And when the word "baṣīr" (All-Seeing) comes, there are sights on the ground, there is tangible work being carried out, not a silent work. There is work that moves on the earth to the point that it calls for sight. You understood? Am I able to express this small point? So if it is "baṣīr," that indicates that there is "movement," there is motion. And it is as if the servant who is certain that Allah gives life and causes death does not attain that certainty except through work that bears fruit in striving that is seen by the eye of the Lord of the worlds, Glorified and Exalted.

﴿خَيْرٌ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ﴾

Then the verse after it: ﴿وَلَئِن قُتِلْتُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَوْ مُتُّمْ لَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرَحْمَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ﴾^[5] (And if you are killed in the cause of Allah or die, then forgiveness from Allah and mercy are better than what they accumulate). And he wonders: What brought us to this point? What brought in ﴿مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ﴾ ("than what they accumulate")? It is, during this talk, my dear friend: he is making you sit beside him so that you earn money, so that you gather more cash, so that you become richer, and your bank account swells and grows big.^[8] At that point he is delighted with his money and his numbers, and wants you to sit beside him, and he gives you something small, but do not move, because you embarrass him before himself.

So the Lord of the worlds, Glorified and Exalted, tells me that among the things that wake me up, among the things that rouse me, is to realize that however large or abundant accumulation in this worldly life may be, its end is nothing, and that however little a deed may be, it is seen by the All-Seeing, Glorified and Exalted.

We ask Allah, the Most High, the Almighty, for safety, well-being and a good end. O Allah, amen, O Lord of the worlds.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: al-Kahf: 6; the lecturer did not name the sūrah. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: al-Qaṣaṣ: 56; the lecturer did not name the sūrah. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: al-Najm: 39-41; the lecturer did not name the sūrah, and he paused at "then he will be recompensed." ^[4]: Editor's documentation: al-Baqarah: 285; the lecturer recited parts of it in summary, and what lies between the two places is omitted in the recitation. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: Āl ʿImrān: 157. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: The transcript reads «ولا بدعه»; «دَعة» (ease and stillness) has been adopted because of its proximity to «قعود» (sitting back) and «سكون» (stillness). This is the editor's preference and needs listening to the audio. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: The transcript reads «الاضطهاض»; it has been read as «الاضطهاد» (persecution) as a preference, so it needs listening to the audio. ^[8]: Editor's documentation: The transcript's wording: «ما هو مقعدك جنبه علشان تحصله مصاري عشان تلمه فلوس اكتر عشان تبقى اغنى البنك اكونت بتاعك يتختخ كده ويلظلظ ويبقى كبير»; the subject of «تحصله» is not settled, so it was phrased cautiously and needs listening to the audio.