Would That I Were Dust
From the scene of the disbeliever's regret on the Day of Resurrection to taking account of oneself at the end of every day.
Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 22 September 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — [Watch the original video on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dSpE_z_6yo)
O Allah, set right for us our religion, our worldly life and our Hereafter, prepare for us right guidance in our affair, and preserve for us the well-being of our hearts. O Allah, we ask You for victory, honor and support for the oppressed among the Muslims everywhere. O Allah, be a support and a helper for them, O Lord of the worlds; protect their blood and their honor, and keep safe their families, their children and their elders. O Allah, help us to do more work in the path of obedience to You.
Sūrat al-Nabaʾ and its ending
May Allah greet this noble gathering, and I ask Allah to keep us and you constant in obedience to Him. Sūrat al-Nabaʾ is a truly wondrous surah; every time you hear it, it is as if you were hearing it for the first time in your life. And then the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, closes it with this confession and intense regret: the disbeliever says: ﴿يَا لَيْتَنِي كُنتُ تُرَابًا﴾ (Would that I were dust)[1].
There is severity in this scene. You imagine the likes of those very great figures in the world today, who feel influence, power, tyranny and might, who own the earth and what is on it, and own wealth and all of life; and then on the Day of Resurrection he says: Would that I were dust. In the scenes that follow, you sense more of the images the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, gives you in depicting the state of these people on the day they stand before Allah. But in this scene specifically, I want to picture only the scene of a very simple person in this world who owned nothing, yet comes on the Day of Resurrection raising his hand with his record in his right hand and saying: ﴿هَاؤُمُ اقْرَءُوا كِتَابِيَهْ * إِنِّي ظَنَنتُ أَنِّي مُلَاقٍ حِسَابِيَهْ﴾ (Here, read my record! Indeed, I was certain that I would meet my account)[2], and then the Qur'an follows on: ﴿فَهُوَ فِي عِيشَةٍ رَّاضِيَةٍ﴾ (So he will be in a pleasing life)[3].
What is dust?
And in the other scene you picture someone saying: Would that I were dust. And what is dust? Quite simply, dust is where people set their feet. People tread on this dust with their shoes, so when he says, "Would that I were dust," it is as though he wishes he had been, in this world, beneath the feet of the creation.
And when the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, described the believers, He described them as ﴿أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾ (humble toward the believers)[4]: mercy among themselves, kindness of spirit among themselves, affection among themselves, humility among themselves, gentle speech among themselves, excellence in admonition among themselves, gentleness in guidance among themselves; hearts that are attached, minds that understand, and bodies that cooperate and complete one another. This is unlike the state of those disbelievers who always feel a self-centeredness and excessive selfishness that make each one of them feel as though the world were his alone.
So the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, tells us: ﴿فَمَن شَاءَ اتَّخَذَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِ سَبِيلًا﴾ (So whoever wills may take a way to his Lord)[5], and in Sūrat al-Nabaʾ: ﴿يَوْمَ يَنظُرُ الْمَرْءُ مَا قَدَّمَتْ يَدَاهُ وَيَقُولُ الْكَافِرُ يَا لَيْتَنِي كُنتُ تُرَابًا﴾ (The Day when a man will look at what his hands have put forth, and the disbeliever will say: Would that I were dust)[6].
A man will look at what his hands have put forth
Let us picture it together: a man will look at what his hands have put forth, looking at the final sum that has accumulated in his hands over the days and years that have passed.
From the great scene to my own day
We always move from the great scenes to the simple scenes in my own life. How do I carry this Qur'anic scene into my personal life? I say: every day that passes over us, we gather more deeds; I go to my work, I move about among people, I speak with so-and-so, I buy and I sell. Every day that passes over me I gather a quantity of deeds. And the great aim for me today, and for every sensible person, is that the day should pass without anything in it that I regret at the end of the day: Why did I act like that? Why did I belittle myself? Why was I so humiliated? Why did this happen, and what ought I to do?
So if the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, wills success for us on this day, then at the end of the day there is the feeling of reassurance, happiness, calm and contentment with oneself, by the permission of the Lord of the worlds, and contentment with Allah, Mighty and Majestic. We want to carry this daily accumulation, today, tomorrow, after next week and so on, into a total sum with which we meet Allah on the Day of Resurrection when we stand before Him, and we do not want to be among the regretful.
For the God-fearing is attainment
I ask Allah, blessed and exalted, to make us among the people of attainment, and take note that ﴿إِنَّ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ مَفَازًا﴾ (Indeed, for the God-fearing is attainment)[7]. The word *mafāz* is a verbal noun of *fawz* (success); so theirs is attainment itself. They never regret anything they did in their lives, for two reasons, and I apologize for having gone on a little long: the first is good intention while carrying out deeds, and the second is that even if an unintended mistake occurs, seeking forgiveness wipes it away. I ask Allah for me and for you safety, well-being, good speech and sound judgment.
--- [1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Nabaʾ, verse 40. [2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Ḥāqqah, verses 19–20. [3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Ḥāqqah, verse 21. [4]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Māʾidah, verse 54. The shaykh confined himself to «أذلة على المؤمنين» (humble toward the believers). [5]: Editor's documentation: The verse in this wording occurs in Sūrat al-Muzzammil (19) and Sūrat al-Insān (29); the end of Sūrat al-Nabaʾ has «فمن شاء اتخذ إلى ربه مآبًا» (so whoever wills may take a return to his Lord) (39). The transcript is garbled here. [6]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Nabaʾ, verse 40. [7]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Nabaʾ, verse 31.