{وَإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ۬ مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا فَأۡتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ۬ مِّن مِّثۡلِهِۦ وَٱدۡعُواْ شُهَدَآءَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمۡ صَـٰدِقِينَ} 2-23
Surah al-Baqarah v23
Allah subhana wa ta'ala has addressed every human being in these verses: all those who believe, those who don’t believe, those who believe but don’t practice, and those who believe but who have Nifaq. {يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلنَّاسُ} (2-21) Allah ta’ala has addressed everybody, those who don’t believe, those who believe - all the categories of mankind. What is the connection of the Qur’an al-Hakeem, which is Allah ta’ala’s Book, with mankind? What Allah ta’ala wants us to understand, and which has been explained from the beginning, is the connection that there is between this Qur’an, which deals with great subjects going forward, and man. We need to understand this and correct our belief. How is this connection made between the human being and the Qur’an?
In a Hadith, narrated by Hadhrat Ibn Abbas radhiAllahu anh, Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam states: “مَنْ تَعَلَّمَ كِتَابَ الله ثُمَّ اتَّبَعَ مَا فِيهِ هَدَاهُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الضَّلَالَةِ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَوَقَاهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ سُوءَ الْحِسَابِ” Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam is explaining here about one who hears the Book of Allah and then follows it. So the first point is this, that our first relationship, after having Iman and believing, is with this Qur’an. For all people, the first relationship is with what? The Kitab. Those who believe in this Kitab have Iman, those who reject this Kitab are without belief, and those who speak out against this Kitab or don’t agree are the Munafiqs, the hypocrites. So the relationship has been defined: if we reject this Kitab, then we have lost out – we are without Iman, and there is no belief. The first relationship with this Kitab after having Iman, if we believe in this Kitab, is that we need to learn this Kitab? How? By following the orders that come to us from it.
The Qur’an al-Majid has not been given to us so that we can read it or memorise it or gain knowledge. Even if we do these things, its objective is not fulfilled. “ثُمَّ اتَّبَعَ مَا فِيهِ”. SubhanAllah. After Iman, the connection is not via reading, reciting or other discussions. The right of the Qur’an is not fulfilled by these; this is not the way. If our only approach with the Qur’an is to obtain reward, its right and objective is not fulfilled through this. We have not been given the Qur’an for reward. The real point that Allah ta’ala wants us to understand, the real objective of the Qur’an, is that it gives us the information about how to live our lives in this world. Allah ta’ala sent us to this world, but He hasn’t sent us empty handed. Allah has prepared a structure which He gave to us when He sent us to this world. When a human being comes to this world, how does he know what to do and what not to do? Allah ta’ala has explained to us how to live in this world, which is the straight path. And how do we follow the straight path? To do so is compulsory for every human being, and without it, a human being cannot be affected properly. The main thing is the Kitab of Allah, and the Book of Allah is a great, great guide for us.
It is stated that every human being should have a relationship with the Qur’an. He should believe in this Kitab, and after believing in the Kitab, he should learn it, read it, memorise it – whatever. But after that, “اتَّبَعَ مَا فِيهِ” - he has to implement and practice the orders contained in the Qur’an. If he does this, then alhamdulillah, it is stated in the Hadith “هَدَاهُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الضَّلَالَةِ فِي الدُّنْيَا”, Allah ta’ala makes a promise for that individual who follows this Qur’an, obeys this Qur’an and practices upon this Qur’an. Allah subhana wa ta'ala promises to take him onto the right path and will save him from deviation on the world, SubhanAllah. If a person implements the orders of the Qur’an, Allah ta’ala promises ‘I will show him the straight path and will allow him to travel upon it, and I will save him from every deviation that is present in the world. As long as he remains in the world, I will save him from deviation and misguidance.’ Look what a great link the Qur’an has with a human being! ‘And when he comes to Me on the Day of Judgement, I will save him from a bad reckoning.’ In other words, whichever individual implements and follows the Qur’an, he will not become deviated in the world, nor will he be wretched or a loser in the Hereafter. What a great reassurance! This is our main guidance, our objective with this Kitab - that’s it. So after Iman, what do we need to do? We need to wrap ourselves in the life of the Qur’an, and stick to it, adhere to it.
Alhamdulillah, we have done everything, but we only look to the pillar of Thawab from this Qur’an. Yes, there is no doubt that Allah a’ala has assigned ten rewards for every letter of the Qur’an – who can deny the Thawab of the Qur’an? Nobody! It is mentioned in Hadith that one of the Sahaba said that whoever reads the Qur’an and then practices the Qur’an, his father will wear a crown whose light will be brighter and more intense than the light of the sun. What a great reward Allah ta’ala has given to those who have a link with the Qur’an. Read the Qur’an, definitely, for Allah ta’ala has given great Thawab. There is a Hadith in Tabarani narrated by Hadhrat Anas radhiAllahu anh which states that a person who teaches his son how to read the Qur’an receives a reward. What is the reward that Allah ta’ala gives? Allah subhana wa ta'ala will forgive all of that person’s previous and future sins, just for teaching him how to read the Qur’an from the page. Today, the cause our destruction is that as soon as the child is born, we make plans for our child’s worldly education. We look for English-medium schools with a view to his career, even before he is born. We plan his whole life out, and say at this age he will go here, and then we will send him there at that age, so that he can become this or that in life. This Hadith shows the reward for teaching how to read the Qur’an – is anything mentioned about the reward for this or the other career? Yes, we can plan and make a system for the children, but far greater than that is the reward for the father if he starts his child off with the Qur’an. And then the father who enables his child to do Hifdh will arise shining like the moon on the fourteenth night, SubhanAllah.
Now we can see what a great reward that Allah ta’ala has given to those who have a relationship with the Qur’an. The Ustadhs who teach children the Qur’an will be given the reward that all their previous and future sins will be forgiven. Allah ta’ala elevates the status and rank of a woman so much for teaching her child the Qur’an, and Allah ta’ala’s Rahmah and mercy will be upon such a person. But remember this: since the Qur’an is such a great thing, and since the whole Deen is included in the Qur’an, whoever rejects the Qur’an has rejected Allah’s Deen. Remember this. The person who has forgotten the Qur’an has forgotten Allah – everything is related to the Qur’an. So all the Thawab for reading and memorizing and doing Hifdh, reading from the page and so on, to all of these things Allah ta’ala has attached a condition: bi’l Amal. The reward is for whoever has practiced the Qur’an - “ثُمَّ اتَّبَعَ مَا فِيهِ” – whoever has followed and obeyed the Qur’an.
Now for any teacher or Ustadh who teaches children and so on, if he doesn’t practice the Qur’an and commits sins, Allah ta’ala has promised that He will not make that person wretched. Somehow or other, Allah ta’ala will give guidance to that person because Allah ta’ala loves that person immensely. An Ustadh or Ustadhah who teaches the Qur’an to children has a great Maqam and great rewards from Allah, but Allah says ‘I have promised that I will also save you from sins.’ So if a person who is teaching children is committing sins and doing wrong actions, then Allah ta’ala has promised that in some way He will show that person the way out from those sins. Allah ta’ala brings that person to the point that he will practice the Qur’an. So what we should realise is that the relationship that we should have with the Qur’an must be based on implementing and practicing the Book of Allah. Our relationship should be based on practicing the Qur’an.
So Allah ta’ala is saying to us in this verse ‘Look, you have the Kitab and the knowledge and you read the Qur’an, so why do you not practice it?’ { يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلنَّاسُ} Allah ta’ala is addressing all of mankind, all people. What makes a person a disbeliever? He is a disbeliever because he doesn’t believe in the Qur’an; he doesn’t have Iman. Allah says ‘All of My signs are visible throughout the world. Your being born is a great sign, your death is a great sign. Have you ever thought about where you have come from and where you are going? You think about big points and make plans, but you don’t consider basic issues such as where does the rain come from, where did the mountains come from, how were you born, where did you come from, how were you developed and brought into the world. Could you commit acts of disbelief if you thought about this?’ And to the believers, Allah says ‘Despite being a Mu’min, despite having belief, even then do you not practice? Do you believe in Allah, but still commit sins and disobey Allah? You commit Zina, you steal, you rob, you consume Haram, you wander around without segregation or covering, you become Munafiqs and do acts of hypocrisy.’ Nifaq is such a big sin. Munafiqs joke about the Shari’ah and mock the Shari’ah.
In this verse, Allah ta’ala, in a beautiful, straightforward way, is preparing human beings for this relationship. Allah ta’ala has directed the point very clearly at a person’s heart, saying { وَإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ۬ } – ‘Despite being a believer and having Iman and seeing the signs of disbelief, do you still do Kufr after that? You worship idols or the mountains or trees – why do you do this?’ And the answer is that which Allah ta’ala gave at the start: { ذَٲلِكَ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبُ لَا رَيۡبَۛ فِيهِ}. Allah ta’ala says ‘First and foremost, you only get benefit from this Kitab when you have no doubt in your mind. No doubt at all.’ So here Allah ta’ala is mentioning this again for those whose hearts are trembling and in which there are doubts and cracks. That is why a person becomes a disbeliever and why a Mu’min doesn’t practice and why a Munafiq has Nifaq – there is a disease that causes all of this, which is the disease of doubt.
And how does this disease come about? Shaytan. The thoughts and Waswasa of shaytan are inside a person’s heart. Nobody will say to you ‘Don’t pray Salah’, or ‘Don’t fast’, or ‘Don’t read the Qur’an.’ But what does shaytan do? He injects Waswasa and prevents these actions by putting doubts into our minds about them. He puts these thoughts into our minds. Nothing else creates them, but he develops them until a person starts to become weak. Now when a person goes to a complete Sheikh for Islah, for rectification, this is the biggest problem for shaytan. He doesn’t like it at all, so he puts doubts into the mind of the student against the teacher. He doesn’t say ‘Don’t go’, but he creates doubts in the student’s mind. Very often, when this doubt comes into his mind, a student departs. Oh servant of Allah, think! Who creates the doubt in your mind? This is the biggest attack of shaytan – remember this. Whenever a person goes on the right path, then shaytan will put doubts and negative thoughts into his heart. If you go seeking a Sheikh to make Bai’ah at his hand, then when you get there, shaytan will create a doubt. He will suggest things about the Sheikh to you that will undermine your confidence and create doubt, and when there is doubt, a person can never succeed.
The Qur’an is saying this in the beginning – { الٓمٓ (١) ذَٲلِكَ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبُ لَا رَيۡبَۛ فِيهِ}. So by all means, take the Qur’an and kiss it, read it, memorise it, become an Alim, keep reading and repeating it, but it will not give you benefit if you have doubt. What is the sign of doubt? The sign is that though you have embraced the Qur’an and become a Qari, Hafidh, scholar, Alim, in your heart you feel that there is no benefit to this Qur’an. This Waswasa has been put into your heart, hidden inside. { وَإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ۬ مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا} Allahu Akbar. Allah says ‘If you have doubt concerning the Qur’an that I have given to you, My Qur’an, then your doubts are not just in the words of the Qur’an but rather { مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا} – in the one to whom I gave this Qur’an, in that person to whom I revealed this Qur’an. You are doubting him as well. Obviously, if you are doubting the Qur’an, then you are doubting the one upon whom the Qur’an was revealed sallallahu alayhi wasallam. One hundred percent. So a person may pick up the Qur’an physically and kiss it, but where does that doubt manifest itself? He doesn’t do Amal; he doesn’t practice the Qur’an. Not practicing is proof that shaytan has removed certainty in the Qur’an from the heart of that person, and has deceived him by giving him thoughts such as ‘Oh, you will get Thawab just by reading it – that’s enough.’ Shaytan is ok with that, but he puts doubts into our minds and hearts regarding practice. ‘No, no’, he says, ‘you don’t need to practice. How will practicing give you reward? What need is there to practice?’
So how does a person know that he has doubt? If you are practicing what is being mentioned in the Qur’an, then certainty is there, but if you do not practice, then you are a person with doubt. That’s it – the diagnosis is very easy. If you are sitting in front of a burning fire, and somebody says to you ‘Put your hand into the fire’, you will say ‘No! I don’t want to put my hand into the fire because it will get burnt. Why should I put my hand into the fire?’ You have certainty and a firm belief that your hand will burn, and that is why you won’t put your hand into the fire. You would never do so because you have total certainty that the fire will burn you. The Yaqeen that you will get burnt if you put your arm into the fire will make you save yourself. So Allah’s Qur’an says ‘If you lie, you will be going into hell; if you consume interest, you will be thrown into the fire; if you do Zina, you will go into the fire; if you listen to music, then molten lead will be poured into your ears.’ Who is saying this? Rabbul Alameen, the Lord of the Universe, Allah. So we should have certainty in these words, certainty that Allah ta’ala is saying this, that if we do Zina or listen to music or steal or behave immodestly and remove Purdah and the Hijab, then the punishment will follow. And this certainty is not just through the words of the Qur’an; the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam went and saw the punishments with his own eyes.
We are Muslims, we pray Salah, so why do we do these actions? The Qur’an is telling us: the reason for this is what? You do hold the Qur’an and you do go to Salah, but you don’t believe in the Qur’an. If you believed in the Qur’an, then you would practice the Qur’an, just as you believe in the fire, so you don’t put your hand in it because you know it will burn you. If a person doesn’t practice the verses of the Qur’an, this is because he has doubt in the Qur’an. ‘No’, he says, ‘Just talk to me about Paradise.’ The Qur’an says wake up in the morning for Fajr, but we don’t wake up. If I had certainty that by getting up to pray, Allah ta’ala would give great rewards, wouldn’t I get up and pray? If I had belief and certainty in the punishments that Allah ta’ala has told us about in the Qur’an, then I wouldn’t go to those places and do those things that Allah has forbidden. And if I do go, then Allah ta’ala says ‘He is not scared at all. If he says he does have fear, this is nonsense, because if he had fear he would not do these kind of things.’ Allah ta’ala uncovers the thieves of the heart. The reason for our Kufr and our lack of belief and our Nifaq and poor practice is that in our hearts there are doubts about the Qur’an.
We doubt the Qur’an. Allah says ‘In reality, you have such a big doubt about the Qur’an in your heart that you don’t practice. The Qur’an testifies that you don’t have Yaqeen in the Qur’an. If you had certainty about the Qur’an, then { نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا} you would follow My Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam upon whom I revealed the Qur’an.’ Allah ta’ala is telling us clearly here. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is the intermediary, as he delivered the Deen to us. Allah says { مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا} that this proves that you also have to believe in the one upon whom the Qur’an was revealed. So you have to believe in and implement both the physical Qur’an and the way of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam upon whom the Qur’an was revealed. If you don’t have Yaqeen in Allah’s Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam, then obviously, how can you believe in the Qur’an? Allah has revealed the Qur’an to him, so if you don’t have belief in him and follow the Shari'ah and Sunnah, then you don’t believe in the Qur’an. And if you don’t believe in the Qur’an and have doubts, then this means that you don’t believe in Allah.
So everything that is achieved is via Amal, practice. This is what proves or disproves the status of a person. Allah ta’ala says clearly ‘The reason that you don’t practice is one: you are harbouring doubts inside you.’ There is no Yaqeen in the Qur’an and in the guidance and instructions and warnings that are totally correct – what will take a person to the fire, what the punishment for immodesty is, and so on. If a person had belief in these, he would not be able to sleep until he had done Tawbah to Allah and set out on the right path.
So my brothers, this is something we need to pay attention to. If we are sinning, if we are living a life of sin, then our Iman is not present; we are living a life devoid of Iman. We don’t have Yaqeen in the Qur’an, and so we are living a doubtful life. We don’t believe in the words of the Qur’an; we treat it as if it were not honest. We say ‘We don’t believe that there is a punishment for interest, or a punishment for lying’, so our practice in life is proving our disbelief. Never mind what our mouths say, whatever the verbal output, our physical bodies and actions testify to our belief. We might not say from our mouths that our physical body will not burn, but our Amal shows what we think. When we sit in front of a fire, we don’t have to say that we believe the fire will burn us, because our behaviour shows it, so that a person sitting alongside will know that we believe this. We don’t declare our belief in the danger of the fire, but we show it by avoiding putting our limbs near the fire because we know that it will burn us. In the same way, a person who doesn’t practice the Qur’an is making it absolutely clear that he doesn’t believe in the Qur’an and he doesn’t believe in the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Out of tradition and custom he picks up the Qur’an and takes on some of the Deen, but it has no effect on him.
The real proof comes from Amal, from practice, as explained in the Hadith that I presented to you at the beginning. We need to do Amal and practice and follow. What great verse Allah ta’ala has given to us, Allahu Akbar. { وإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ۬ مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا} Allah is saying ‘If you practice this Qur’an, then I will keep you on the path of guidance in this world and I will save you from deviation.’ What a great promise! But we don’t practice the Qur’an, and we lie and have doubt in the Qur’an, so Allah ta’ala has presented the Daleel in a beautiful way in this verse and has established the proof so that our doubts can be banished. This is the Qur’an, it is the truth, and whatever it says will happen will definitely occur. There is no word in the Qur’an that will not come to pass. If we leave Salah, then that punishment will come in the manner that the Qur’an has explained. If we do any sin or wrongdoing, then whatever punishment the Qur’an details will come. If we eat Haram, the punishment will come. All the punishments will come down in the way that the Qur’an has said. If we oppose this, then we are liars and there is doubt in our hearts.
Allah ta’ala has stated ‘If you have doubt in your heart, then listen!’ SubhanAllah, Allah says { فَأۡتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ۬ مِّن مِّثۡلِهِ}. Allah challenges, and this challenge will remain until the Day of Judgement. Until Qiyamah, this challenge will stand: { فَأۡتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ۬ مِّن مِّثۡلِهِ} Allah ta’ala says ‘If you don’t practice the Qur’an, and if you have doubts concerning that which We have revealed to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, then produce an answer to this challenge. You think that this Qur’an is not true, and you might not say it, but your practice is showing this by not obeying the orders of the Qur’an. You say that the orders are wrong, and that it is not the case that these punishments will be given, and that those rewards won’t be given, and that what is said about Paradise is not true.’
It is common today in the media in Islamic countries for these criticisms to be made. ‘What is Jannah?’ they say. One poet said ‘What shall we do about this Paradise which is said to contain Hoors and so on, and in which we are supposed to believe?’ This is the meaning of a couplet that was written. He questioned the idea, referring to ‘a Paradise in which there are women hundreds of years old.’ Allahu Akbar. Na’oodhu bi’llah - he said this. The Qur’an is honest and open, SubhanAllah. The Qur’an is not embarrassed or worried that people may be unhappy. Through the Barakah of Corona, Allah ta’ala has given us an opportunity to sit and read the Qur’an. Corona has seated us at home, so through Allah ta’ala’s great Mercy we have been given the great Tawfeeq to sit down as a group, MashaAllah, to discuss the Qur’an, to look at the Qur’an and to assess our condition and our state of affairs. There is no other objective here. We are not here to criticize people or mock people or to belittle the community and say that people are wrong; we are not here to give Fatwas and say anyone is a disbeliever, no, not at all. I give thanks hundreds of millions of times over that I am getting the opportunity to do my Islah. What a great opportunity! Can there be a greater opportunity than being able to open the Qur’an and read and understand it? Allah ta’ala will explain it to us and make us understand, so that those who want to be saved will be saved.
Alhamdulillah, this is an extremely valuable time that has been given to us. One person may be close to death or about to die, another person may have a little longer, so how great if we do Tawbah today. SubhanAllah, look how Allah ta’ala has explained this to us. What a beautiful Hadith has been presented: “مَنْ تَعَلَّمَ كِتَابَ الله ثُمَّ اتَّبَعَ مَا فِيهِ هَدَاهُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الضَّلَالَةِ فِي الدُّنْيَا” Allah will save a person from the wretchedness of the Dunya – what a great statement, Allahu Akbar. SubhanAllah. Allah ta’ala is saying ‘At least start to practice the Qur’an, and then I won’t let you become deviated in this world, and your honour will be raised. I will protect you from shaytani actions because you tried and you started to practice the Qur’an.’ “Wa la yashqaa fi’l Akhirati” – “And in the Hereafter you will never be wretched or accursed.” By contrast, wretched men and women will be shackled and dragged by their necks, those who today make themselves out to be modern, progressive, advanced, respectable and honourable. They drive big cars and fuss over their hair styles and their appearance. Allah says that such are wretched and accursed – we cannot imagine how wretched and accursed they are. Allah ta’ala is saying ‘They reject My Kitab openly, yet they take My Name and that of My Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam, calling themselves Ashiqs and lovers, both men and women.’
This is our state of affairs. Allah says “yashqaa” – this refers to the worst of people, the most wretched. They will be made naked, chained and dragged, and the fire surrounding them will be visible, men and women who disobeyed Allah’s Deen and His Kitab. Today, we need to persevere and correct our Nafs and desires and correct our homes. Otherwise, on one side is a prayer mat, and opposite is a great big box and children are staring at the screen while the wife spends two minutes prostrating. The husband is doing one thing and the wife is doing another. Astaghfirullah, look at the condition of our homes. The Qur’an is asking ‘Do you claim to have a link with me? Am I just for reading Khatams and swearing over and kissing? Is this the respect and right of the Qur’an?’ Allah is asking us. You may have a desire to be a Hafidh, but the Qur’an is telling us to do Amal on the Qur’an – and even that we do for the sake of the Dunya.
For everything there is a condition, and if the condition of the Qur’an is fulfilled, then it is stated that there is no greater person than that. SubhanAllah, there is no greater man than the father who is teaching his children the Qur’an. Allah ta’ala is saying ‘I will remove all the problems from that person who is teaching his child Qur’an so that they can improve their Akhirah.’ There is no greater man and no greater woman than those who learn the Qur’an and teach the Qur’an. Allah ta’ala gives such a great Maqam for learning and teaching the Qur’an, but Allah ta’ala is saying that if you have got the Qur’an but you don’t practice it, then that person will be thrown into the ditch of Jahannam. Even the other people of hellfire will say ‘Oh, accursed people, we were disbelievers and we didn’t believe in Allah and so we didn’t obey Allah, hence we are crying about our wretchedness. But you had the Qur’an; you held it and called yourselves Muslims, Ashiqs and lovers of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, so what are you doing here? How have you ended up here?’ And they will have nothing to say – they will be most wretched and the worst of those people, Allah says.
So what is the reason for not practicing? The Qur’an has apprehended and shown up the thief. Maybe the understanding will come into your minds now. Allah ta’ala has explained that the sickness is that you don’t believe in the Qur’an, and that is why you don’t practice it. You believe in fire, and that is why you don’t put your hand into it, but you don’t have Yaqeen in the Qur’an which is shown by the fact that you do not practice. Through the Mercy of Allah, He has told us about this disease very clearly today.
So Allah ta’ala says ‘Fine, I will remove all of your doubts if you accept My challenge. { فَأۡتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ۬ مِّن مِّثۡلِهِ} If you doubt about what I have revealed to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, then produce a Surah comparable to those in My Qur’an.’ SubhanAllah, and Allah ta’ala goes further: { وَٱدۡعُواْ شُهَدَآءَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ} ‘Gather together your poets, your orators, your speech makers and see what they can produce.’ This is a challenge from Allah and His Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam until Qiyamah for those who have no faith, for Muslims who don’t practice and for the Munafiqeen. It is for those who do not practice due to their doubts in the Qur’an, as well as for those who clearly and openly reject belief, and for the Munafiqs who hide and reject the Deen. And the poor Muslims who do practice, they are told stories and given many excuses, such as ‘We can’t practice because of Hikmah. We are modernists and our thinking is advanced.’ This is from shaytan. These people believe, but at the same time, they clearly reject. One group is those who have no faith, then you have the Munafiqs, half this, half that, sometimes practicing, sometimes not, when they are with this person one thing, with another person they are something else, and their homes and families are just like those of those with no faith, demonstrating that they don’t care. The Qur’an has said that those people will not allow you to be with them unless you adopt their way of life. I have seen such people who do embrace their way, and then they get abused and called names and sworn at due to their colour! The Qur’an says ‘Whatever you do, even then you won’t be accepted.’
So Allah says ‘Come together, all of you, and bring whoever you want, and show Me a Surah like this. Until Qiyamah, you will not be able to do this. Call your witnesses beside Allah if you are truthful. Why can’t you do this? Because you are liars!’ Allahu Akbar. { إِن كُنتُمۡ صَـٰدِقِين} Allah says ‘If you were truthful, you would do this, but you are not honest, so you cannot.’ Allah ta’ala has given this challenge here, which is really a great cure. Allah is making us realise by saying ‘Don’t you know that this is impossible? You know that you cannot do this – you are aware. All Muslims who don’t practice, all progressive, modern thinkers, advanced thinkers and so on – make one verse that is comparable to the Qur’an. Just tell Me how all of your sins are forgiven although the Qur’an says that this is not the case. Just make up one verse, show Us one verse. You can call on all your fellow modernist intellectuals until Qiyamah – just come and show Us. Try your best.’ The Qur’an says { إِن كُنتُمۡ صَـٰدِقِينَ} – ‘Do this, if you are truthful.’
The Qur’an is making you aware that you are liars, because when you realise that you cannot do this, you know that you are wrong, so you should then say ‘Oh, this is true. The Qur’an is true, so I should believe it.’ SubhanAllah. And Allah ta’ala is challenging the disbelievers, saying ‘Oh animals, you are saying that there is no Qur’an and that you don’t believe in Allah and that you can do what you want and believe what you want. In that case, prove that the Qur’an is lying. Bring a verse or a Surah that is comparable, and if you can’t, then believe in the Qur’an.’ Allahu Akbar, what a great Qur’an, what a straightforward point.
So I say this: if a person wants to be correct after hearing this verse today, we should practice straightaway. What great guidance from the Qur’an, and the Hadith also tells us. The verse of the Qur’an is here, and the Hadith is here as well. The sayings of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam come to back up the Qur’an; they run in parallel. SubhanAllah, what great compatibility - see how Qur’an and Hadith work together. That is why Allah subhana wa ta'ala has not just referenced Himself in this verse, SubhanAllah, Allah says { وَإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ۬ مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا} ‘I revealed the Qur’an upon My special, supreme servant sallallahu alayhi wasallam.’ Allah has attached His Name to that of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam in order to give us Yaqeen.
So what we should realise is that Allah ta’ala has taught us and told us ‘The reason for you not practicing is what? That you have doubt in your heart; doubts have arisen. Shaytan has created such a doubt in your heart that he doesn’t even allow you to realise that the doubt is present within.’ Say SubhanAllah – this is the Tariqa and method of shaytan. He detaches even the most solid of Mureeds from the Sheikh. He keeps pushing ‘Doubt, doubt, doubt’, then off you go – lost. And due to this doubt, someone runs away, but after some years he reflects and says ‘Oh, what did I do? I made a mistake by leaving such a great Sheikh.’ And then he tries to come back, but he has become a waster and he has lost out. Will he get another opportunity to come back? No, he has lost out. So whenever you are on the right path, shaytan will put Waswasa into you heart while you are sitting: ‘Oh you are about to die - this is not necessary.’ He puts doubt and Nifaq into that poor soul’s heart. Allah subhana wa ta'ala says that doubt is created by shaytan, and it is such a severe doubt that it gets suppressed and buried into the heart. But Allah ta’ala is telling you Himself: doubt is the reason for weakness in Deen.
This is a beautiful point that we have understood now. So when we see that our Amal is weak and we are not practicing and are openly doing Haram actions, then these clear verses of the Qur’an have been revealed for us, and we all agree on this. There are Masaa’il where there is difference of opinion, but there are also Masaa’il upon which everyone is agreed, upon which all four schools of Fiqh agree, like keeping the beard, observing Purdah, consuming Riba, and so on. All the Imams are agreed on these points; there is no difference of opinion, no route for wriggling out of these. Haram is Haram and Halal is Halal. Everyone is agreed about this, SubhanAllah. Is there any disagreement in Fiqh on these, such that Imam Malik says one thing, Imam Hanbal says another and so on? There may be a little flexibility, but there is no excuse in terms of whether a woman should observe Purdah; they are all agreed. There is no excuse for not doing so because the Qur’an and Hadith have established this directly, so how can we reject it? It can happen that now and again, someone claims to have been given something new, saying that revelation has come to him, and then some people run after him - Allahu Akbar. Shaytan is present everywhere, which is why a person needs to establish the right belief and understanding. Shaytan tricks people to the point that he makes someone say ‘I am a Nabi and revelation is coming to me.’ Think about it. If someone says ‘I am a Prophet and Gibrail alayhi salam comes to me and gives me revelation’, and he says that this happens and that happens, then people start running after him. A massive group has arisen in this way. What is the reason for this? This is the way that Halal gets turned into Haram. We can see it happening.
We are talking about the clearly agreed upon Masaa’il and principles. We say we are practicing, but we don’t accept Haram as Haram and Halal as Halal, so we are going down the wrong path and taking our children on the wrong path. We say ‘This is due to the world; we are living the world, so we have to compromise. Look, such and such is doing this’, even though the one referred to is a thief and his face and beard are not even correct! ‘Oh, he is a big scholar from Sham or Egypt’, they say when they travel there. They give them titles such as Shami or Misri or Markazi or whatever titles, Allah knows best - or related to some city, Marrakeshi and so on. But their face and appearance do not conform with the Deen and they present the Deen accordingly. They say ‘This is not necessary. You don’t have to do this, you can compromise with that.’ Immediately, do Astaghfar and keep yourself far such a person whose face and appearance is against the Shari’ah and against the Deen. This is deviation, and this is the trickery that will be shown close to Qiyamah.
This is what the Qur’an is teaching us: ‘Be careful. If you find doubt in your heart, then accept that this is the case.’ This is the reason for our not doing Amal, Allah is saying. Shaytan has injected doubt into you, saying ‘These words are not in the Qur’an; Allah ta’ala will not give these severe punishments.’ But here Allah ta’ala has given us the solution, saying ‘Remove your doubt!’ SubhanAllah. That’s it – that is the solution. Allah ta’ala is explaining that if we remove the doubt, then we will come onto Allah’s Deen. Then we won’t just be kissing the Qur’an, rather we will start to practice the Qur’an. And you won’t just sway and cry when listening to Nasheeds about Allah’s Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam, no, along with this you will follow and practice the Shari'ah and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. You will give your all for it – then you will truly enjoy the tears when you cry, SubhanAllah.
So the Qur’an is inviting us to get rid of our doubts, so that we can succeed. We need to eliminate the doubts inside of our hearts, which is why we don’t practice. Now: how do we get rid of these doubts? SubhanAllah, this is the work of the Sufis, the friends of Allah, the true deputies of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. In a second, they get rid of these doubts. First and foremost, the Sheikh removes the doubts from the student. If you go to a friend of Allah, the first thing he will do is what? Remove your doubt, because the Qur’an has said this: { ذَٲلِكَ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبُ لَا رَيۡبَۛ فِيهِ} – ‘How dare you touch me? First remove your doubt. This Qur’an has no doubt.’ The Qur’an is ordering you that before you read the Qur’an, before touching it, you must first remove your doubts. And who gets rid of such doubts? Go to the friend of Allah and sit in his company – say SubhanAllah! When you go into the company of a friend of Allah, then you will learn how to read the Qur’an. I used to read the Qur’an before, but after I met my Sheikh rahmatullah alayh – may I cast everything I have at the feet of my Sheikh - my understanding and comprehension of the Qur’an went to the skies, to new limits, because he removed the doubts. Whatever verse I read, I think about the Amal that goes with that verse of the Qur’an. Before, ten Juz were read, fifteen Juz, this much Hifdh, this much Thawab and reward – that was the story. Now the emphasis becomes to seek the orders of Allah, to find out what Allah ta’ala defines as Haram, what is Halal, what is permissible, what does Imam Abu Hanifa rahmatullah alayh say about this, SubhanAllah. ‘What is his opinion, what does he say?’ – this becomes one’s lifestyle. Why? Because we went to a friend of Allah and he removed the doubt, after which the style of reading and practicing the Qur’an immediately changed and developed, SubhanAllah.
So Allah ta’ala says ‘Get rid of your doubt, remove your doubt.’ And how do we remove the doubt? Allah ta’ala says { أَلَا بِذِڪۡرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطۡمَٮِٕنُّ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ} SubhanAllah! Allahu Akbar. Allah ta’ala says ‘Do the Dhikr of Allah in your hearts, and the hearts will attain certainty. Contentment, peace and Sakeenah will come into your heart, and Allah’s love and ‘Irfan and knowledge will come so that your heart will always remain content. Time and time again, certainty will be attained.’ { أَلَا بِذِڪۡرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطۡمَٮِٕنُّ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ} What does this mean? The Dhikr of Allah will take you to the heights of Yaqeen. On every mention of Allah’s Name, your Yaqeen will increase and the doubt will be removed. What a beautiful solution and cure Allah ta’ala has given. { أَلَا بِذِڪۡرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطۡمَٮِٕنُّ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ} There is no other cure apart from this. Say SubhanAllah! There is no other method, no other way out of this problem. So go to the Sheikh, pick up his slippers and kiss them and ask him to remove our doubts. { أَلَا بِذِڪۡرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطۡمَٮِٕنُّ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ} That is what you will get. When you sit in his company and respect him and serve him and understand his teaching, your doubt will be removed.
Look, the example of the people who do the Dhikr of Allah is in front of you. Those who are honest and go to a Kamil Sheikh and do Dhikr of Allah, alhamdulillah, you will see a massive difference between their lives and the lives of those who have ‘Ilm and knowledge. Compare the Dhakireen who have spent time with the friend of Allah with those who have Uloom and Hadith and all the points learned in the Dar ul Uloom. There will be a massive difference. Those who learn in the Khanqah, who graduate from the Khanqah, they will be followers of the Sunnah and will be afraid of committing sins. All of their actions will be based on the Sunnah, whereas the others won’t. They have learned knowledge, but they haven’t removed their doubt, whereas the devotees of the Sheikh have removed their doubts and all of the Sunnahs of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam have come into their lives.
Experience this, observe this. Those who do the Dhikr of Allah observe the Sunnah and practice the Sunnah. Today when a person sees a person with an Amamah who has a long beard, he says ‘Are you a Naqshbandi? MashaAllah.’ They know! He says, ‘Yes, I am a Naqshbandi; I am a student of such and such Sheikh.’ How do they know? Why do people respect them? Because their doubt has been removed and they are on the path of the Sunnah. Bring both Jamats. In one, they have doubts and so they don’t practice, and it doesn’t matter how much Uloom and knowledge they have, they have no Amal. ‘Ilm will not bring you to practice; Hifdh will not make you practice; kissing the Qur’an will not make you practice; recitation of the Qur’an will not make you practice. Amal, practice, will come from what? From the Sohbat, from the company, of a friend of Allah. From the Dhikr that he teaches you, doubts will be crushed and removed. Others may have ‘Ilm and knowledge, but doubts are present.
It is essential for every ‘Alim or Hafidh or Muhaddith to do this if they want to get rid of their doubts, Allahu Akbar. Imagine the status they will reach – they will become the deputies of the Prophets, and in the Hereafter they will have the highest grade and status. Noor ‘ala Noor when doubt is removed and true knowledge has come. But there are very few like this, because after ‘Ilm, Kibr comes. Pride takes root. After Hifdh, these big sicknesses come, like Riya, showing off, which is Shirk! Why does this come? Because that person has not been cautious by going to a friend of Allah, to a Sheikh. Take the example of Mufti Taqi sahib damat barakatuhum, and his brother Mufti Rafi Usmani sahib damat barakatuhum. MashaAllah, they are great names in Fiqh and in jurisprudence and in Hadith and in their speeches, so look at their history. They said ‘As soon as we graduated, then our father took us both to Dr Abdul Hayy rahmatullah alayh and sat us down, saying ‘Hadhrat, I have brought my two sons to you.’ Now Hadhrat was a doctor, he wasn’t an ‘Alim, while their father was a great Mufti. So he said ‘I have brought my sons to you so that you can do their Islah. I have given them knowledge, but I haven’t removed their doubts yet, and if the doubts are not removed, then their ‘Ilm will become a tool for shaytan to make them Kafirs or maybe make them Munafiqs.’ This is the message of the Qur’an that I am reading – say Subhan Allah. This is what happens. If he had not taken his sons, they could have been affected by shaytan and said wrong things, or even gone towards Kufr. He said ‘I have brought them to you so that you can get rid of their doubts. Once their doubts are removed, they will become Ashiqs and lovers of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, so please remove their doubts.’ The brothers say ‘We sat there like mice, and for ten years we did not have permission to give speeches anywhere. We stayed in Hadhrat’s company and were reformed and improved for ten years.’ And only then did they show their actions, SubhanAllah.
Sheikh ul Hadith sahib rahmatullah alayh wrote a letter, SubhanAllah, to Dr Abdul Hayy rahmatullah alayh, saying ‘These two great scholars have come to you, so please look after them and remove their doubts so that Allah ta’ala can take work from them in the world.’ And this is what happened. Their Sheikh purified them, even though he was not an ‘Alim, to such an extent that their names are renowned across the world – ‘Mufti Taqi sahib this, Mufti Taqi sahib that’, SubhanAllah. He is a great, great person, alhamdulillah. This is a true deputy of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. When an Alim’s doubts are removed, nobody can compare with him. But when they are filled with doubts and they say ‘Respect us, and listen to us and sit in our Dars’ - are they mad? Are you stupid? Why should we listen to your words? First go and cure yourself, and then invite people.
So my brothers, this is Qur’an that we are reading. It makes a person a true human being and it strengthens his Iman, and this Qur’an is the Furqan. It creates the difference, it enables differentiation. This is the work of the Qur’an. Let us do Dua that whatever we read of Allah ta’ala’s Book, through the Sadaqah and great blessings of the slippers of my Sheikh, Allah ta’ala gives us the Tawfeeq to practice upon it. May Allah ta’ala keep us far from three things: from Kufr, from not practicing, and from hypocrisy. May Allah ta’ala give us true, solid Iman, and may Allah ta’ala allow us to depart from this world in this way.
وأخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين
7th Aug, 2020
Subhanallah. Great bayan. Hz’s remark on TV is very true. Keeping TV is haram and addictive yet so many have it.
{وَإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ۬ مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا فَأۡتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ۬ مِّن مِّثۡلِهِۦ وَٱدۡعُواْ شُهَدَآءَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمۡ صَـٰدِقِينَ} 2-23
Surah al-Baqarah v23
Allah subhana wa ta'ala has addressed every human being in these verses: all those who believe, those who don’t believe, those who believe but don’t practice, and those who believe but who have Nifaq. {يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلنَّاسُ} (2-21) Allah ta’ala has addressed everybody, those who don’t believe, those who believe - all the categories of mankind. What is the connection of the Qur’an al-Hakeem, which is Allah ta’ala’s Book, with mankind? What Allah ta’ala wants us to understand, and which has been explained from the beginning, is the connection that there is between this Qur’an, which deals with great subjects going forward, and man. We need to understand this and correct our belief. How is this connection made between the human being and the Qur’an?
In a Hadith, narrated by Hadhrat Ibn Abbas radhiAllahu anh, Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam states: “مَنْ تَعَلَّمَ كِتَابَ الله ثُمَّ اتَّبَعَ مَا فِيهِ هَدَاهُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الضَّلَالَةِ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَوَقَاهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ سُوءَ الْحِسَابِ” Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam is explaining here about one who hears the Book of Allah and then follows it. So the first point is this, that our first relationship, after having Iman and believing, is with this Qur’an. For all people, the first relationship is with what? The Kitab. Those who believe in this Kitab have Iman, those who reject this Kitab are without belief, and those who speak out against this Kitab or don’t agree are the Munafiqs, the hypocrites. So the relationship has been defined: if we reject this Kitab, then we have lost out – we are without Iman, and there is no belief. The first relationship with this Kitab after having Iman, if we believe in this Kitab, is that we need to learn this Kitab? How? By following the orders that come to us from it.
The Qur’an al-Majid has not been given to us so that we can read it or memorise it or gain knowledge. Even if we do these things, its objective is not fulfilled. “ثُمَّ اتَّبَعَ مَا فِيهِ”. SubhanAllah. After Iman, the connection is not via reading, reciting or other discussions. The right of the Qur’an is not fulfilled by these; this is not the way. If our only approach with the Qur’an is to obtain reward, its right and objective is not fulfilled through this. We have not been given the Qur’an for reward. The real point that Allah ta’ala wants us to understand, the real objective of the Qur’an, is that it gives us the information about how to live our lives in this world. Allah ta’ala sent us to this world, but He hasn’t sent us empty handed. Allah has prepared a structure which He gave to us when He sent us to this world. When a human being comes to this world, how does he know what to do and what not to do? Allah ta’ala has explained to us how to live in this world, which is the straight path. And how do we follow the straight path? To do so is compulsory for every human being, and without it, a human being cannot be affected properly. The main thing is the Kitab of Allah, and the Book of Allah is a great, great guide for us.
It is stated that every human being should have a relationship with the Qur’an. He should believe in this Kitab, and after believing in the Kitab, he should learn it, read it, memorise it – whatever. But after that, “اتَّبَعَ مَا فِيهِ” - he has to implement and practice the orders contained in the Qur’an. If he does this, then alhamdulillah, it is stated in the Hadith “هَدَاهُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الضَّلَالَةِ فِي الدُّنْيَا”, Allah ta’ala makes a promise for that individual who follows this Qur’an, obeys this Qur’an and practices upon this Qur’an. Allah subhana wa ta'ala promises to take him onto the right path and will save him from deviation on the world, SubhanAllah. If a person implements the orders of the Qur’an, Allah ta’ala promises ‘I will show him the straight path and will allow him to travel upon it, and I will save him from every deviation that is present in the world. As long as he remains in the world, I will save him from deviation and misguidance.’ Look what a great link the Qur’an has with a human being! ‘And when he comes to Me on the Day of Judgement, I will save him from a bad reckoning.’ In other words, whichever individual implements and follows the Qur’an, he will not become deviated in the world, nor will he be wretched or a loser in the Hereafter. What a great reassurance! This is our main guidance, our objective with this Kitab - that’s it. So after Iman, what do we need to do? We need to wrap ourselves in the life of the Qur’an, and stick to it, adhere to it.
Alhamdulillah, we have done everything, but we only look to the pillar of Thawab from this Qur’an. Yes, there is no doubt that Allah a’ala has assigned ten rewards for every letter of the Qur’an – who can deny the Thawab of the Qur’an? Nobody! It is mentioned in Hadith that one of the Sahaba said that whoever reads the Qur’an and then practices the Qur’an, his father will wear a crown whose light will be brighter and more intense than the light of the sun. What a great reward Allah ta’ala has given to those who have a link with the Qur’an. Read the Qur’an, definitely, for Allah ta’ala has given great Thawab. There is a Hadith in Tabarani narrated by Hadhrat Anas radhiAllahu anh which states that a person who teaches his son how to read the Qur’an receives a reward. What is the reward that Allah ta’ala gives? Allah subhana wa ta'ala will forgive all of that person’s previous and future sins, just for teaching him how to read the Qur’an from the page. Today, the cause our destruction is that as soon as the child is born, we make plans for our child’s worldly education. We look for English-medium schools with a view to his career, even before he is born. We plan his whole life out, and say at this age he will go here, and then we will send him there at that age, so that he can become this or that in life. This Hadith shows the reward for teaching how to read the Qur’an – is anything mentioned about the reward for this or the other career? Yes, we can plan and make a system for the children, but far greater than that is the reward for the father if he starts his child off with the Qur’an. And then the father who enables his child to do Hifdh will arise shining like the moon on the fourteenth night, SubhanAllah.
Now we can see what a great reward that Allah ta’ala has given to those who have a relationship with the Qur’an. The Ustadhs who teach children the Qur’an will be given the reward that all their previous and future sins will be forgiven. Allah ta’ala elevates the status and rank of a woman so much for teaching her child the Qur’an, and Allah ta’ala’s Rahmah and mercy will be upon such a person. But remember this: since the Qur’an is such a great thing, and since the whole Deen is included in the Qur’an, whoever rejects the Qur’an has rejected Allah’s Deen. Remember this. The person who has forgotten the Qur’an has forgotten Allah – everything is related to the Qur’an. So all the Thawab for reading and memorizing and doing Hifdh, reading from the page and so on, to all of these things Allah ta’ala has attached a condition: bi’l Amal. The reward is for whoever has practiced the Qur’an - “ثُمَّ اتَّبَعَ مَا فِيهِ” – whoever has followed and obeyed the Qur’an.
Now for any teacher or Ustadh who teaches children and so on, if he doesn’t practice the Qur’an and commits sins, Allah ta’ala has promised that He will not make that person wretched. Somehow or other, Allah ta’ala will give guidance to that person because Allah ta’ala loves that person immensely. An Ustadh or Ustadhah who teaches the Qur’an to children has a great Maqam and great rewards from Allah, but Allah says ‘I have promised that I will also save you from sins.’ So if a person who is teaching children is committing sins and doing wrong actions, then Allah ta’ala has promised that in some way He will show that person the way out from those sins. Allah ta’ala brings that person to the point that he will practice the Qur’an. So what we should realise is that the relationship that we should have with the Qur’an must be based on implementing and practicing the Book of Allah. Our relationship should be based on practicing the Qur’an.
So Allah ta’ala is saying to us in this verse ‘Look, you have the Kitab and the knowledge and you read the Qur’an, so why do you not practice it?’ { يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلنَّاسُ} Allah ta’ala is addressing all of mankind, all people. What makes a person a disbeliever? He is a disbeliever because he doesn’t believe in the Qur’an; he doesn’t have Iman. Allah says ‘All of My signs are visible throughout the world. Your being born is a great sign, your death is a great sign. Have you ever thought about where you have come from and where you are going? You think about big points and make plans, but you don’t consider basic issues such as where does the rain come from, where did the mountains come from, how were you born, where did you come from, how were you developed and brought into the world. Could you commit acts of disbelief if you thought about this?’ And to the believers, Allah says ‘Despite being a Mu’min, despite having belief, even then do you not practice? Do you believe in Allah, but still commit sins and disobey Allah? You commit Zina, you steal, you rob, you consume Haram, you wander around without segregation or covering, you become Munafiqs and do acts of hypocrisy.’ Nifaq is such a big sin. Munafiqs joke about the Shari’ah and mock the Shari’ah.
In this verse, Allah ta’ala, in a beautiful, straightforward way, is preparing human beings for this relationship. Allah ta’ala has directed the point very clearly at a person’s heart, saying { وَإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ۬ } – ‘Despite being a believer and having Iman and seeing the signs of disbelief, do you still do Kufr after that? You worship idols or the mountains or trees – why do you do this?’ And the answer is that which Allah ta’ala gave at the start: { ذَٲلِكَ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبُ لَا رَيۡبَۛ فِيهِ}. Allah ta’ala says ‘First and foremost, you only get benefit from this Kitab when you have no doubt in your mind. No doubt at all.’ So here Allah ta’ala is mentioning this again for those whose hearts are trembling and in which there are doubts and cracks. That is why a person becomes a disbeliever and why a Mu’min doesn’t practice and why a Munafiq has Nifaq – there is a disease that causes all of this, which is the disease of doubt.
And how does this disease come about? Shaytan. The thoughts and Waswasa of shaytan are inside a person’s heart. Nobody will say to you ‘Don’t pray Salah’, or ‘Don’t fast’, or ‘Don’t read the Qur’an.’ But what does shaytan do? He injects Waswasa and prevents these actions by putting doubts into our minds about them. He puts these thoughts into our minds. Nothing else creates them, but he develops them until a person starts to become weak. Now when a person goes to a complete Sheikh for Islah, for rectification, this is the biggest problem for shaytan. He doesn’t like it at all, so he puts doubts into the mind of the student against the teacher. He doesn’t say ‘Don’t go’, but he creates doubts in the student’s mind. Very often, when this doubt comes into his mind, a student departs. Oh servant of Allah, think! Who creates the doubt in your mind? This is the biggest attack of shaytan – remember this. Whenever a person goes on the right path, then shaytan will put doubts and negative thoughts into his heart. If you go seeking a Sheikh to make Bai’ah at his hand, then when you get there, shaytan will create a doubt. He will suggest things about the Sheikh to you that will undermine your confidence and create doubt, and when there is doubt, a person can never succeed.
The Qur’an is saying this in the beginning – { الٓمٓ (١) ذَٲلِكَ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبُ لَا رَيۡبَۛ فِيهِ}. So by all means, take the Qur’an and kiss it, read it, memorise it, become an Alim, keep reading and repeating it, but it will not give you benefit if you have doubt. What is the sign of doubt? The sign is that though you have embraced the Qur’an and become a Qari, Hafidh, scholar, Alim, in your heart you feel that there is no benefit to this Qur’an. This Waswasa has been put into your heart, hidden inside. { وَإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ۬ مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا} Allahu Akbar. Allah says ‘If you have doubt concerning the Qur’an that I have given to you, My Qur’an, then your doubts are not just in the words of the Qur’an but rather { مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا} – in the one to whom I gave this Qur’an, in that person to whom I revealed this Qur’an. You are doubting him as well. Obviously, if you are doubting the Qur’an, then you are doubting the one upon whom the Qur’an was revealed sallallahu alayhi wasallam. One hundred percent. So a person may pick up the Qur’an physically and kiss it, but where does that doubt manifest itself? He doesn’t do Amal; he doesn’t practice the Qur’an. Not practicing is proof that shaytan has removed certainty in the Qur’an from the heart of that person, and has deceived him by giving him thoughts such as ‘Oh, you will get Thawab just by reading it – that’s enough.’ Shaytan is ok with that, but he puts doubts into our minds and hearts regarding practice. ‘No, no’, he says, ‘you don’t need to practice. How will practicing give you reward? What need is there to practice?’
So how does a person know that he has doubt? If you are practicing what is being mentioned in the Qur’an, then certainty is there, but if you do not practice, then you are a person with doubt. That’s it – the diagnosis is very easy. If you are sitting in front of a burning fire, and somebody says to you ‘Put your hand into the fire’, you will say ‘No! I don’t want to put my hand into the fire because it will get burnt. Why should I put my hand into the fire?’ You have certainty and a firm belief that your hand will burn, and that is why you won’t put your hand into the fire. You would never do so because you have total certainty that the fire will burn you. The Yaqeen that you will get burnt if you put your arm into the fire will make you save yourself. So Allah’s Qur’an says ‘If you lie, you will be going into hell; if you consume interest, you will be thrown into the fire; if you do Zina, you will go into the fire; if you listen to music, then molten lead will be poured into your ears.’ Who is saying this? Rabbul Alameen, the Lord of the Universe, Allah. So we should have certainty in these words, certainty that Allah ta’ala is saying this, that if we do Zina or listen to music or steal or behave immodestly and remove Purdah and the Hijab, then the punishment will follow. And this certainty is not just through the words of the Qur’an; the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam went and saw the punishments with his own eyes.
We are Muslims, we pray Salah, so why do we do these actions? The Qur’an is telling us: the reason for this is what? You do hold the Qur’an and you do go to Salah, but you don’t believe in the Qur’an. If you believed in the Qur’an, then you would practice the Qur’an, just as you believe in the fire, so you don’t put your hand in it because you know it will burn you. If a person doesn’t practice the verses of the Qur’an, this is because he has doubt in the Qur’an. ‘No’, he says, ‘Just talk to me about Paradise.’ The Qur’an says wake up in the morning for Fajr, but we don’t wake up. If I had certainty that by getting up to pray, Allah ta’ala would give great rewards, wouldn’t I get up and pray? If I had belief and certainty in the punishments that Allah ta’ala has told us about in the Qur’an, then I wouldn’t go to those places and do those things that Allah has forbidden. And if I do go, then Allah ta’ala says ‘He is not scared at all. If he says he does have fear, this is nonsense, because if he had fear he would not do these kind of things.’ Allah ta’ala uncovers the thieves of the heart. The reason for our Kufr and our lack of belief and our Nifaq and poor practice is that in our hearts there are doubts about the Qur’an.
We doubt the Qur’an. Allah says ‘In reality, you have such a big doubt about the Qur’an in your heart that you don’t practice. The Qur’an testifies that you don’t have Yaqeen in the Qur’an. If you had certainty about the Qur’an, then { نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا} you would follow My Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam upon whom I revealed the Qur’an.’ Allah ta’ala is telling us clearly here. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is the intermediary, as he delivered the Deen to us. Allah says { مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا} that this proves that you also have to believe in the one upon whom the Qur’an was revealed. So you have to believe in and implement both the physical Qur’an and the way of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam upon whom the Qur’an was revealed. If you don’t have Yaqeen in Allah’s Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam, then obviously, how can you believe in the Qur’an? Allah has revealed the Qur’an to him, so if you don’t have belief in him and follow the Shari'ah and Sunnah, then you don’t believe in the Qur’an. And if you don’t believe in the Qur’an and have doubts, then this means that you don’t believe in Allah.
So everything that is achieved is via Amal, practice. This is what proves or disproves the status of a person. Allah ta’ala says clearly ‘The reason that you don’t practice is one: you are harbouring doubts inside you.’ There is no Yaqeen in the Qur’an and in the guidance and instructions and warnings that are totally correct – what will take a person to the fire, what the punishment for immodesty is, and so on. If a person had belief in these, he would not be able to sleep until he had done Tawbah to Allah and set out on the right path.
So my brothers, this is something we need to pay attention to. If we are sinning, if we are living a life of sin, then our Iman is not present; we are living a life devoid of Iman. We don’t have Yaqeen in the Qur’an, and so we are living a doubtful life. We don’t believe in the words of the Qur’an; we treat it as if it were not honest. We say ‘We don’t believe that there is a punishment for interest, or a punishment for lying’, so our practice in life is proving our disbelief. Never mind what our mouths say, whatever the verbal output, our physical bodies and actions testify to our belief. We might not say from our mouths that our physical body will not burn, but our Amal shows what we think. When we sit in front of a fire, we don’t have to say that we believe the fire will burn us, because our behaviour shows it, so that a person sitting alongside will know that we believe this. We don’t declare our belief in the danger of the fire, but we show it by avoiding putting our limbs near the fire because we know that it will burn us. In the same way, a person who doesn’t practice the Qur’an is making it absolutely clear that he doesn’t believe in the Qur’an and he doesn’t believe in the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Out of tradition and custom he picks up the Qur’an and takes on some of the Deen, but it has no effect on him.
The real proof comes from Amal, from practice, as explained in the Hadith that I presented to you at the beginning. We need to do Amal and practice and follow. What great verse Allah ta’ala has given to us, Allahu Akbar. { وإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ۬ مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا} Allah is saying ‘If you practice this Qur’an, then I will keep you on the path of guidance in this world and I will save you from deviation.’ What a great promise! But we don’t practice the Qur’an, and we lie and have doubt in the Qur’an, so Allah ta’ala has presented the Daleel in a beautiful way in this verse and has established the proof so that our doubts can be banished. This is the Qur’an, it is the truth, and whatever it says will happen will definitely occur. There is no word in the Qur’an that will not come to pass. If we leave Salah, then that punishment will come in the manner that the Qur’an has explained. If we do any sin or wrongdoing, then whatever punishment the Qur’an details will come. If we eat Haram, the punishment will come. All the punishments will come down in the way that the Qur’an has said. If we oppose this, then we are liars and there is doubt in our hearts.
Allah ta’ala has stated ‘If you have doubt in your heart, then listen!’ SubhanAllah, Allah says { فَأۡتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ۬ مِّن مِّثۡلِهِ}. Allah challenges, and this challenge will remain until the Day of Judgement. Until Qiyamah, this challenge will stand: { فَأۡتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ۬ مِّن مِّثۡلِهِ} Allah ta’ala says ‘If you don’t practice the Qur’an, and if you have doubts concerning that which We have revealed to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, then produce an answer to this challenge. You think that this Qur’an is not true, and you might not say it, but your practice is showing this by not obeying the orders of the Qur’an. You say that the orders are wrong, and that it is not the case that these punishments will be given, and that those rewards won’t be given, and that what is said about Paradise is not true.’
It is common today in the media in Islamic countries for these criticisms to be made. ‘What is Jannah?’ they say. One poet said ‘What shall we do about this Paradise which is said to contain Hoors and so on, and in which we are supposed to believe?’ This is the meaning of a couplet that was written. He questioned the idea, referring to ‘a Paradise in which there are women hundreds of years old.’ Allahu Akbar. Na’oodhu bi’llah - he said this. The Qur’an is honest and open, SubhanAllah. The Qur’an is not embarrassed or worried that people may be unhappy. Through the Barakah of Corona, Allah ta’ala has given us an opportunity to sit and read the Qur’an. Corona has seated us at home, so through Allah ta’ala’s great Mercy we have been given the great Tawfeeq to sit down as a group, MashaAllah, to discuss the Qur’an, to look at the Qur’an and to assess our condition and our state of affairs. There is no other objective here. We are not here to criticize people or mock people or to belittle the community and say that people are wrong; we are not here to give Fatwas and say anyone is a disbeliever, no, not at all. I give thanks hundreds of millions of times over that I am getting the opportunity to do my Islah. What a great opportunity! Can there be a greater opportunity than being able to open the Qur’an and read and understand it? Allah ta’ala will explain it to us and make us understand, so that those who want to be saved will be saved.
Alhamdulillah, this is an extremely valuable time that has been given to us. One person may be close to death or about to die, another person may have a little longer, so how great if we do Tawbah today. SubhanAllah, look how Allah ta’ala has explained this to us. What a beautiful Hadith has been presented: “مَنْ تَعَلَّمَ كِتَابَ الله ثُمَّ اتَّبَعَ مَا فِيهِ هَدَاهُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الضَّلَالَةِ فِي الدُّنْيَا” Allah will save a person from the wretchedness of the Dunya – what a great statement, Allahu Akbar. SubhanAllah. Allah ta’ala is saying ‘At least start to practice the Qur’an, and then I won’t let you become deviated in this world, and your honour will be raised. I will protect you from shaytani actions because you tried and you started to practice the Qur’an.’ “Wa la yashqaa fi’l Akhirati” – “And in the Hereafter you will never be wretched or accursed.” By contrast, wretched men and women will be shackled and dragged by their necks, those who today make themselves out to be modern, progressive, advanced, respectable and honourable. They drive big cars and fuss over their hair styles and their appearance. Allah says that such are wretched and accursed – we cannot imagine how wretched and accursed they are. Allah ta’ala is saying ‘They reject My Kitab openly, yet they take My Name and that of My Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam, calling themselves Ashiqs and lovers, both men and women.’
This is our state of affairs. Allah says “yashqaa” – this refers to the worst of people, the most wretched. They will be made naked, chained and dragged, and the fire surrounding them will be visible, men and women who disobeyed Allah’s Deen and His Kitab. Today, we need to persevere and correct our Nafs and desires and correct our homes. Otherwise, on one side is a prayer mat, and opposite is a great big box and children are staring at the screen while the wife spends two minutes prostrating. The husband is doing one thing and the wife is doing another. Astaghfirullah, look at the condition of our homes. The Qur’an is asking ‘Do you claim to have a link with me? Am I just for reading Khatams and swearing over and kissing? Is this the respect and right of the Qur’an?’ Allah is asking us. You may have a desire to be a Hafidh, but the Qur’an is telling us to do Amal on the Qur’an – and even that we do for the sake of the Dunya.
For everything there is a condition, and if the condition of the Qur’an is fulfilled, then it is stated that there is no greater person than that. SubhanAllah, there is no greater man than the father who is teaching his children the Qur’an. Allah ta’ala is saying ‘I will remove all the problems from that person who is teaching his child Qur’an so that they can improve their Akhirah.’ There is no greater man and no greater woman than those who learn the Qur’an and teach the Qur’an. Allah ta’ala gives such a great Maqam for learning and teaching the Qur’an, but Allah ta’ala is saying that if you have got the Qur’an but you don’t practice it, then that person will be thrown into the ditch of Jahannam. Even the other people of hellfire will say ‘Oh, accursed people, we were disbelievers and we didn’t believe in Allah and so we didn’t obey Allah, hence we are crying about our wretchedness. But you had the Qur’an; you held it and called yourselves Muslims, Ashiqs and lovers of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, so what are you doing here? How have you ended up here?’ And they will have nothing to say – they will be most wretched and the worst of those people, Allah says.
So what is the reason for not practicing? The Qur’an has apprehended and shown up the thief. Maybe the understanding will come into your minds now. Allah ta’ala has explained that the sickness is that you don’t believe in the Qur’an, and that is why you don’t practice it. You believe in fire, and that is why you don’t put your hand into it, but you don’t have Yaqeen in the Qur’an which is shown by the fact that you do not practice. Through the Mercy of Allah, He has told us about this disease very clearly today.
So Allah ta’ala says ‘Fine, I will remove all of your doubts if you accept My challenge. { فَأۡتُواْ بِسُورَةٍ۬ مِّن مِّثۡلِهِ} If you doubt about what I have revealed to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, then produce a Surah comparable to those in My Qur’an.’ SubhanAllah, and Allah ta’ala goes further: { وَٱدۡعُواْ شُهَدَآءَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ} ‘Gather together your poets, your orators, your speech makers and see what they can produce.’ This is a challenge from Allah and His Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam until Qiyamah for those who have no faith, for Muslims who don’t practice and for the Munafiqeen. It is for those who do not practice due to their doubts in the Qur’an, as well as for those who clearly and openly reject belief, and for the Munafiqs who hide and reject the Deen. And the poor Muslims who do practice, they are told stories and given many excuses, such as ‘We can’t practice because of Hikmah. We are modernists and our thinking is advanced.’ This is from shaytan. These people believe, but at the same time, they clearly reject. One group is those who have no faith, then you have the Munafiqs, half this, half that, sometimes practicing, sometimes not, when they are with this person one thing, with another person they are something else, and their homes and families are just like those of those with no faith, demonstrating that they don’t care. The Qur’an has said that those people will not allow you to be with them unless you adopt their way of life. I have seen such people who do embrace their way, and then they get abused and called names and sworn at due to their colour! The Qur’an says ‘Whatever you do, even then you won’t be accepted.’
So Allah says ‘Come together, all of you, and bring whoever you want, and show Me a Surah like this. Until Qiyamah, you will not be able to do this. Call your witnesses beside Allah if you are truthful. Why can’t you do this? Because you are liars!’ Allahu Akbar. { إِن كُنتُمۡ صَـٰدِقِين} Allah says ‘If you were truthful, you would do this, but you are not honest, so you cannot.’ Allah ta’ala has given this challenge here, which is really a great cure. Allah is making us realise by saying ‘Don’t you know that this is impossible? You know that you cannot do this – you are aware. All Muslims who don’t practice, all progressive, modern thinkers, advanced thinkers and so on – make one verse that is comparable to the Qur’an. Just tell Me how all of your sins are forgiven although the Qur’an says that this is not the case. Just make up one verse, show Us one verse. You can call on all your fellow modernist intellectuals until Qiyamah – just come and show Us. Try your best.’ The Qur’an says { إِن كُنتُمۡ صَـٰدِقِينَ} – ‘Do this, if you are truthful.’
The Qur’an is making you aware that you are liars, because when you realise that you cannot do this, you know that you are wrong, so you should then say ‘Oh, this is true. The Qur’an is true, so I should believe it.’ SubhanAllah. And Allah ta’ala is challenging the disbelievers, saying ‘Oh animals, you are saying that there is no Qur’an and that you don’t believe in Allah and that you can do what you want and believe what you want. In that case, prove that the Qur’an is lying. Bring a verse or a Surah that is comparable, and if you can’t, then believe in the Qur’an.’ Allahu Akbar, what a great Qur’an, what a straightforward point.
So I say this: if a person wants to be correct after hearing this verse today, we should practice straightaway. What great guidance from the Qur’an, and the Hadith also tells us. The verse of the Qur’an is here, and the Hadith is here as well. The sayings of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam come to back up the Qur’an; they run in parallel. SubhanAllah, what great compatibility - see how Qur’an and Hadith work together. That is why Allah subhana wa ta'ala has not just referenced Himself in this verse, SubhanAllah, Allah says { وَإِن ڪُنتُمۡ فِى رَيۡبٍ۬ مِّمَّا نَزَّلۡنَا عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِنَا} ‘I revealed the Qur’an upon My special, supreme servant sallallahu alayhi wasallam.’ Allah has attached His Name to that of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam in order to give us Yaqeen.
So what we should realise is that Allah ta’ala has taught us and told us ‘The reason for you not practicing is what? That you have doubt in your heart; doubts have arisen. Shaytan has created such a doubt in your heart that he doesn’t even allow you to realise that the doubt is present within.’ Say SubhanAllah – this is the Tariqa and method of shaytan. He detaches even the most solid of Mureeds from the Sheikh. He keeps pushing ‘Doubt, doubt, doubt’, then off you go – lost. And due to this doubt, someone runs away, but after some years he reflects and says ‘Oh, what did I do? I made a mistake by leaving such a great Sheikh.’ And then he tries to come back, but he has become a waster and he has lost out. Will he get another opportunity to come back? No, he has lost out. So whenever you are on the right path, shaytan will put Waswasa into you heart while you are sitting: ‘Oh you are about to die - this is not necessary.’ He puts doubt and Nifaq into that poor soul’s heart. Allah subhana wa ta'ala says that doubt is created by shaytan, and it is such a severe doubt that it gets suppressed and buried into the heart. But Allah ta’ala is telling you Himself: doubt is the reason for weakness in Deen.
This is a beautiful point that we have understood now. So when we see that our Amal is weak and we are not practicing and are openly doing Haram actions, then these clear verses of the Qur’an have been revealed for us, and we all agree on this. There are Masaa’il where there is difference of opinion, but there are also Masaa’il upon which everyone is agreed, upon which all four schools of Fiqh agree, like keeping the beard, observing Purdah, consuming Riba, and so on. All the Imams are agreed on these points; there is no difference of opinion, no route for wriggling out of these. Haram is Haram and Halal is Halal. Everyone is agreed about this, SubhanAllah. Is there any disagreement in Fiqh on these, such that Imam Malik says one thing, Imam Hanbal says another and so on? There may be a little flexibility, but there is no excuse in terms of whether a woman should observe Purdah; they are all agreed. There is no excuse for not doing so because the Qur’an and Hadith have established this directly, so how can we reject it? It can happen that now and again, someone claims to have been given something new, saying that revelation has come to him, and then some people run after him - Allahu Akbar. Shaytan is present everywhere, which is why a person needs to establish the right belief and understanding. Shaytan tricks people to the point that he makes someone say ‘I am a Nabi and revelation is coming to me.’ Think about it. If someone says ‘I am a Prophet and Gibrail alayhi salam comes to me and gives me revelation’, and he says that this happens and that happens, then people start running after him. A massive group has arisen in this way. What is the reason for this? This is the way that Halal gets turned into Haram. We can see it happening.
We are talking about the clearly agreed upon Masaa’il and principles. We say we are practicing, but we don’t accept Haram as Haram and Halal as Halal, so we are going down the wrong path and taking our children on the wrong path. We say ‘This is due to the world; we are living the world, so we have to compromise. Look, such and such is doing this’, even though the one referred to is a thief and his face and beard are not even correct! ‘Oh, he is a big scholar from Sham or Egypt’, they say when they travel there. They give them titles such as Shami or Misri or Markazi or whatever titles, Allah knows best - or related to some city, Marrakeshi and so on. But their face and appearance do not conform with the Deen and they present the Deen accordingly. They say ‘This is not necessary. You don’t have to do this, you can compromise with that.’ Immediately, do Astaghfar and keep yourself far such a person whose face and appearance is against the Shari’ah and against the Deen. This is deviation, and this is the trickery that will be shown close to Qiyamah.
This is what the Qur’an is teaching us: ‘Be careful. If you find doubt in your heart, then accept that this is the case.’ This is the reason for our not doing Amal, Allah is saying. Shaytan has injected doubt into you, saying ‘These words are not in the Qur’an; Allah ta’ala will not give these severe punishments.’ But here Allah ta’ala has given us the solution, saying ‘Remove your doubt!’ SubhanAllah. That’s it – that is the solution. Allah ta’ala is explaining that if we remove the doubt, then we will come onto Allah’s Deen. Then we won’t just be kissing the Qur’an, rather we will start to practice the Qur’an. And you won’t just sway and cry when listening to Nasheeds about Allah’s Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam, no, along with this you will follow and practice the Shari'ah and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. You will give your all for it – then you will truly enjoy the tears when you cry, SubhanAllah.
So the Qur’an is inviting us to get rid of our doubts, so that we can succeed. We need to eliminate the doubts inside of our hearts, which is why we don’t practice. Now: how do we get rid of these doubts? SubhanAllah, this is the work of the Sufis, the friends of Allah, the true deputies of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. In a second, they get rid of these doubts. First and foremost, the Sheikh removes the doubts from the student. If you go to a friend of Allah, the first thing he will do is what? Remove your doubt, because the Qur’an has said this: { ذَٲلِكَ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبُ لَا رَيۡبَۛ فِيهِ} – ‘How dare you touch me? First remove your doubt. This Qur’an has no doubt.’ The Qur’an is ordering you that before you read the Qur’an, before touching it, you must first remove your doubts. And who gets rid of such doubts? Go to the friend of Allah and sit in his company – say SubhanAllah! When you go into the company of a friend of Allah, then you will learn how to read the Qur’an. I used to read the Qur’an before, but after I met my Sheikh rahmatullah alayh – may I cast everything I have at the feet of my Sheikh - my understanding and comprehension of the Qur’an went to the skies, to new limits, because he removed the doubts. Whatever verse I read, I think about the Amal that goes with that verse of the Qur’an. Before, ten Juz were read, fifteen Juz, this much Hifdh, this much Thawab and reward – that was the story. Now the emphasis becomes to seek the orders of Allah, to find out what Allah ta’ala defines as Haram, what is Halal, what is permissible, what does Imam Abu Hanifa rahmatullah alayh say about this, SubhanAllah. ‘What is his opinion, what does he say?’ – this becomes one’s lifestyle. Why? Because we went to a friend of Allah and he removed the doubt, after which the style of reading and practicing the Qur’an immediately changed and developed, SubhanAllah.
So Allah ta’ala says ‘Get rid of your doubt, remove your doubt.’ And how do we remove the doubt? Allah ta’ala says { أَلَا بِذِڪۡرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطۡمَٮِٕنُّ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ} SubhanAllah! Allahu Akbar. Allah ta’ala says ‘Do the Dhikr of Allah in your hearts, and the hearts will attain certainty. Contentment, peace and Sakeenah will come into your heart, and Allah’s love and ‘Irfan and knowledge will come so that your heart will always remain content. Time and time again, certainty will be attained.’ { أَلَا بِذِڪۡرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطۡمَٮِٕنُّ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ} What does this mean? The Dhikr of Allah will take you to the heights of Yaqeen. On every mention of Allah’s Name, your Yaqeen will increase and the doubt will be removed. What a beautiful solution and cure Allah ta’ala has given. { أَلَا بِذِڪۡرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطۡمَٮِٕنُّ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ} There is no other cure apart from this. Say SubhanAllah! There is no other method, no other way out of this problem. So go to the Sheikh, pick up his slippers and kiss them and ask him to remove our doubts. { أَلَا بِذِڪۡرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطۡمَٮِٕنُّ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ} That is what you will get. When you sit in his company and respect him and serve him and understand his teaching, your doubt will be removed.
Look, the example of the people who do the Dhikr of Allah is in front of you. Those who are honest and go to a Kamil Sheikh and do Dhikr of Allah, alhamdulillah, you will see a massive difference between their lives and the lives of those who have ‘Ilm and knowledge. Compare the Dhakireen who have spent time with the friend of Allah with those who have Uloom and Hadith and all the points learned in the Dar ul Uloom. There will be a massive difference. Those who learn in the Khanqah, who graduate from the Khanqah, they will be followers of the Sunnah and will be afraid of committing sins. All of their actions will be based on the Sunnah, whereas the others won’t. They have learned knowledge, but they haven’t removed their doubt, whereas the devotees of the Sheikh have removed their doubts and all of the Sunnahs of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam have come into their lives.
Experience this, observe this. Those who do the Dhikr of Allah observe the Sunnah and practice the Sunnah. Today when a person sees a person with an Amamah who has a long beard, he says ‘Are you a Naqshbandi? MashaAllah.’ They know! He says, ‘Yes, I am a Naqshbandi; I am a student of such and such Sheikh.’ How do they know? Why do people respect them? Because their doubt has been removed and they are on the path of the Sunnah. Bring both Jamats. In one, they have doubts and so they don’t practice, and it doesn’t matter how much Uloom and knowledge they have, they have no Amal. ‘Ilm will not bring you to practice; Hifdh will not make you practice; kissing the Qur’an will not make you practice; recitation of the Qur’an will not make you practice. Amal, practice, will come from what? From the Sohbat, from the company, of a friend of Allah. From the Dhikr that he teaches you, doubts will be crushed and removed. Others may have ‘Ilm and knowledge, but doubts are present.
It is essential for every ‘Alim or Hafidh or Muhaddith to do this if they want to get rid of their doubts, Allahu Akbar. Imagine the status they will reach – they will become the deputies of the Prophets, and in the Hereafter they will have the highest grade and status. Noor ‘ala Noor when doubt is removed and true knowledge has come. But there are very few like this, because after ‘Ilm, Kibr comes. Pride takes root. After Hifdh, these big sicknesses come, like Riya, showing off, which is Shirk! Why does this come? Because that person has not been cautious by going to a friend of Allah, to a Sheikh. Take the example of Mufti Taqi sahib damat barakatuhum, and his brother Mufti Rafi Usmani sahib damat barakatuhum. MashaAllah, they are great names in Fiqh and in jurisprudence and in Hadith and in their speeches, so look at their history. They said ‘As soon as we graduated, then our father took us both to Dr Abdul Hayy rahmatullah alayh and sat us down, saying ‘Hadhrat, I have brought my two sons to you.’ Now Hadhrat was a doctor, he wasn’t an ‘Alim, while their father was a great Mufti. So he said ‘I have brought my sons to you so that you can do their Islah. I have given them knowledge, but I haven’t removed their doubts yet, and if the doubts are not removed, then their ‘Ilm will become a tool for shaytan to make them Kafirs or maybe make them Munafiqs.’ This is the message of the Qur’an that I am reading – say Subhan Allah. This is what happens. If he had not taken his sons, they could have been affected by shaytan and said wrong things, or even gone towards Kufr. He said ‘I have brought them to you so that you can get rid of their doubts. Once their doubts are removed, they will become Ashiqs and lovers of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, so please remove their doubts.’ The brothers say ‘We sat there like mice, and for ten years we did not have permission to give speeches anywhere. We stayed in Hadhrat’s company and were reformed and improved for ten years.’ And only then did they show their actions, SubhanAllah.
Sheikh ul Hadith sahib rahmatullah alayh wrote a letter, SubhanAllah, to Dr Abdul Hayy rahmatullah alayh, saying ‘These two great scholars have come to you, so please look after them and remove their doubts so that Allah ta’ala can take work from them in the world.’ And this is what happened. Their Sheikh purified them, even though he was not an ‘Alim, to such an extent that their names are renowned across the world – ‘Mufti Taqi sahib this, Mufti Taqi sahib that’, SubhanAllah. He is a great, great person, alhamdulillah. This is a true deputy of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. When an Alim’s doubts are removed, nobody can compare with him. But when they are filled with doubts and they say ‘Respect us, and listen to us and sit in our Dars’ - are they mad? Are you stupid? Why should we listen to your words? First go and cure yourself, and then invite people.
So my brothers, this is Qur’an that we are reading. It makes a person a true human being and it strengthens his Iman, and this Qur’an is the Furqan. It creates the difference, it enables differentiation. This is the work of the Qur’an. Let us do Dua that whatever we read of Allah ta’ala’s Book, through the Sadaqah and great blessings of the slippers of my Sheikh, Allah ta’ala gives us the Tawfeeq to practice upon it. May Allah ta’ala keep us far from three things: from Kufr, from not practicing, and from hypocrisy. May Allah ta’ala give us true, solid Iman, and may Allah ta’ala allow us to depart from this world in this way.
وأخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين