Do You Hope That They Will Believe for You?

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 25 March 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — [Watch the original video on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SRvy3bIGgg)

The Doctor opened his khatira with a supplication that Allah set right for us our religion, our worldly life and our Hereafter, prepare for us right guidance in our affair, bless us in what He has provided us, protect us from the punishment of the Fire and turn away from us the causes of punishment in this world and the Hereafter; that He make our souls and hearts yield to obedience to Him and our bodies to what pleases Him, so that He gives us no concern in this life but His pleasure and no aim but attaining salvation before Him; that He keep our hearts and minds sound and preserve for us our religion and our worldly life, show us our faults, guide us to the best of speech and the soundest of reasoning, and grant us rightness in every matter.

Then he said: in the verses recited to us at the opening of the recitation, and in a striking way, Allah, blessed and exalted, says to the community of believers: ﴿أَفَتَطْمَعُونَ أَن يُؤْمِنُوا لَكُمْ وَقَدْ كَانَ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَسْمَعُونَ كَلَامَ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يُحَرِّفُونَهُ مِن بَعْدِ مَا عَقَلُوهُ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ﴾ (Do you hope that they will believe for you, while a party of them used to hear the words of Allah and then distort them after they had understood them, knowingly?)^[1].

Hope in the wrong place

Here we are before a situation: the community of believers is looking at the Children of Israel who were with them in Medina, at the Jews, and hoping that they would enter into faith. And the Lord of the worlds brings us this sentence in the middle of a long context, and this long context is telling; it is the story of the cow, and how they killed and wanted to attribute that to others by fabrication, aggression, transgression and trickery, and how they wanted to clear themselves of their wrongdoing in some way. This is a story that can only be properly understood or grasped by understanding the mindset of these people. Hence any hope of their believing in this situation is not logically acceptable. What do you think of them?

How they look at us

Then the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, tells us how these people look at us, at the Muslim community, and He, exalted be He, says: ﴿وَإِذَا لَقُوا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قَالُوا آمَنَّا وَإِذَا خَلَا بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَىٰ بَعْضٍ قَالُوا أَتُحَدِّثُونَهُم بِمَا فَتَحَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لِيُحَاجُّوكُم بِهِ عِندَ رَبِّكُمْ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ﴾ (And when they meet those who believe, they say: We believe; but when they are alone with one another, they say: Do you tell them what Allah has disclosed to you so that they may argue with you about it before your Lord? Do you not reason?)^[2]. Do you trust these people? While they speak of you, or of us as a Muslim community, as though we were worth nothing in the world of thought.

And if we look at the Qur'anic context, we see the Lord of Might, glorified be He, presenting this scene to us in very many episodes. We mentioned before what they said to Nūḥ: ﴿مَا نَرَاكَ اتَّبَعَكَ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ هُمْ أَرَاذِلُنَا بَادِيَ الرَّأْيِ وَمَا نَرَىٰ لَكُمْ عَلَيْنَا مِن فَضْلٍ بَلْ نَظُنُّكُمْ كَاذِبِينَ﴾ (We do not see you followed except by those who are the lowest of us, at first thought, and we do not see in you any merit over us; rather, we think you are liars)^[3], meaning: you are basically backward, lagging people, the dregs of societies. That, then, is how they look at the community. And among what was said to one who calls to the oneness of God and wants to bring people back to the religion of Allah in a beautiful way: ﴿إِنَّا لَنَرَاكَ فِي سَفَاهَةٍ وَإِنَّا لَنَظُنُّكَ مِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ﴾ (Indeed, we see you in foolishness, and indeed, we think you are among the liars)^[4]. The matter in their minds is confined to this framework. These words were told to us some one thousand four hundred and forty-seven years ago.

And in the verse before this, the Lord of Might, glorified be He, says: ﴿ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُم مِّن بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً﴾ (Then your hearts hardened after that, so they are like stones or even harder)^[5], and then He mentions that among stones are those from which rivers gush forth, those that split open, and those that fall down. Do you hope? Do you still have any hope? What mind could accept this! It is as though the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, does not reproach the believing community for hoping for the faith of anyone, but there must be an awareness that grasps the dimensions of the mindset of those you deal with.

Awareness, not naivety

O brothers, we should not deal with society as though we were children who think that everyone walking by is their father and run after him, or their mother and walk behind her, or that every breast they take into their mouths is their mother's breast. That is not sound logic. And the mindset that deals with logic in this way is entirely different from the mindset the Qur'an wants to cultivate.

Our Lord, glorified be He, in a very long general context in Sūrat al-Baqarah, tells us how the Muslim community is to be built in its most exalted, most effective and most sound formation. From the very beginning He tells us about believers, whom we must be among, and disbelievers, and hypocrites who live in our midst; we must open our eyes and our sight to these people. This mixture that is before us is what you will work with. Will you err until you get it right? Yes, you will get it right, but be alert to what is going on around you.

Among this is that the Lord of the worlds tells us in the same context, in His words: ﴿وَمِنْهُمْ أُمِّيُّونَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا أَمَانِيَّ﴾ (And among them are unlettered ones who do not know the Book except wishful thinking), and then ﴿فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِينَ يَكْتُبُونَ الْكِتَابَ … ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هَٰذَا مِنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ لِيَشْتَرُوا بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا﴾ (So woe to those who write the book … then say: This is from Allah, in order to exchange it for a small price)^[6]. It is as though He is showing me that the concern of those who exchange the Book for a small price is the glitter of this world, which they want to obtain with all the energy they possess. So with what kind of mind do we deal with this logic? And how will we be questioned about our religion on the Day of Resurrection, how will matters be set straight in our hands, and how will we be saved before Allah, blessed and exalted?

Awakening Muslim awareness

It is as though the Qur'anic verses, in summary, speak to me about what might be called the awakening of Muslim awareness in the reality of life. Please, think with some depth, and do not always think on the surface. Do not be among the naive who hear something said and believe it at first glance; rather, we are people of insight, people with a relationship with the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, people with confidence in the aims we seek and act upon. And Allah, blessed and exalted, is Most High and Most Knowing.

--- ^[1]: Sūrat al-Baqarah: 75. ^[2]: Sūrat al-Baqarah: 76. ^[3]: Sūrat Hūd: 27 (the words of the people of Nūḥ, peace be upon him). ^[4]: Sūrat al-Aʿrāf: 66, which is what the people of Hūd, peace be upon him, said to their prophet; the speaker cited it without naming who said it. ^[5]: Sūrat al-Baqarah: 74. Editor's documentation: The transcript has «قلوبهم» (their hearts), and the verse has been set down in its known wording «قلوبكم» (your hearts); the rest of the verse, about the stones (those from which rivers gush forth, those that split open so water comes out, those that fall down in fear of Allah, and "Allah is not unaware of what you do"), the speaker referred to by its meaning, so it has not been set down as text. ^[6]: Sūrat al-Baqarah: 78–79. Editor's documentation: «وإن هم إلا يظنون» (and they only conjecture) and «بأيديهم» (with their own hands) were not heard in the transcript, so they have been omitted from the quoted text and an ellipsis mark has been placed.