وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِۦۖ وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬ وَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱتَّقُونِ (٤١)
وَلَا تَلۡبِسُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ بِٱلۡبَـٰطِلِ وَتَكۡتُمُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ وَأَنتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ (٤٢)
Surah al-Baqarah v41-42
In this verse, Allah subhana wa ta'ala is giving a very important message through the example of Bani Isra’eel, a message that is delivered to us, to this Ummah.
{وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} Allah says ‘Believe in what I have revealed to you.’ SubhanAllah. It is obvious what Allah has revealed to us – it is the Qur’an. And the biggest gift for this Ummah, alhamdulillah, the biggest mercy on this Ummah is that, while the previous nations had Kitabs and Prophets, Allah ta’ala has given great honour and dignity to this Ummah by revealing the final Kitab, the Seal of the Kitabs, which He sent to us. And we are the members of the Ummah of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and we have been chosen to receive this Kitab and understand it and know about it. This is our Kitab.
So Allah ta’ala says {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} – ‘Believe in what I have revealed.’ What is it that we have to believe? {مَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} The Mufassireen have put forward two meanings of {مَآ أَنزَلۡتُ}, of what Allah revealed. We need to believe what has been revealed within the Kitab. The whole Kitab, the essence of the Kitab, is what we need to believe in and understand. In this Kitab, the Qur’an, Allah has sealed the message for us, and that message is what is being alluded to here. Allah is saying ‘Believe in the message that I have sealed in this Kitab’, because alhamdulillah, this Kitab is connected to and linked with our relationship with the Qur’an. We have got many connections and relationships via the Qur’an. Allah subhana wa ta'ala has attached so many rewards and mercies to this honourable, sacred, dignified Kitab, this great Kitab, whether by reciting the Qur’an, memorising the Qur’an, looking at the Qur’an, doing Tafseer of the Qur’an, kissing the Qur’an, or touching the Qur’an – for all of these actions, Allah ta’ala has given specific rewards.
If a person recites any verse of this Kitab, the Qur’an, Allah ta’ala says that on the Day of Judgement, when everyone will be in darkness, that one verse of this Qur’an will be attached to that person and will be a light for him. Reward will also apply if a person didn’t actually read the verse, but he listened attentively. This Qur’an is not something to play with. When the Qur’an is being recited, on your phone or any other device, if you start working, this is disrespect - astaghfirullah. People put Tilawah of the Qur’an as the ringtone of their phones – this is discourteous, against the Adab. The condition is that when the Qur’an is being recited, your hearing should be focused upon it; it should not go to waste. Allah ta’ala has made our connection with the Qur’an such an important bond and relationship. When a person focuses on the Qur’an, Allah ta’ala records a reward for this focus, just for listening. So two virtues have been mentioned here: one is that to recite one verse of the Qur’an will bring Noor on the Day of Qiyamah – and remember what we are told about the Day of Qiyamah; and secondly, there will also be Thawab just for listening to a verse of the Qur’an.
If a person is attached to this Qur’an, he will have this light with him throughout his whole life. Hadhrat Sohail radhiAllahu anh narrates such a great statement that the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam made: ‘I swear by Allah in whose Hands is my life, Allah will give a very great reward’ – this was a promise from Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam regarding the enormous reward for hearing a verse from Allah’s Kitab. Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated that one verse of Qur’an that a person recites is greater than everything apart from the ‘Arsh of Allah, SubhanAllah. This is the Kitab that Allah ta’ala has bestowed upon us, that has been assigned to us. Whoever recites a verse of the Qur’an will attain high status in Paradise and will have light around him. In other words, through his recitation, his levels will increase and Allah subhana wa ta'ala will attach a light to him that will go with him in the Hereafter. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam also said that whoever recites thirty verses of Qur’an in the night, he will not suffer pain internally nor from intruders, and no other affliction can affect him. Rather, that person will have peace and prosperity in himself, in his family, in his wealth and in all his affairs. My brothers, this is the Qur’an to which Allah subhana wa ta'ala has connected us. {مَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} Allah ta’ala has given us a truly great and honourable Kitab.
Here Allah ta’ala has said {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} – ‘Believe in that which I have revealed.’ So this is about believing – but believing what? If you look at the Qur’an, there is so much glory in the Qur’an, with its levels and rewards, but what we need to believe in is the real, genuine objective that Allah has given us in the Qur’an, which is the essence of the Qur’an, the purpose of the Qur’an. We can do everything else that we have just discussed, no doubt. Allah has promised so many rewards, some of which I have just mentioned from Hadith, but at the top of the pile, headlining the list, is the reason and objective that the Qur’an was revealed. That message that Allah ta’ala wanted to give is what Allah ta’ala is saying we must believe in. A person who does everything else but does not accept the message of the Qur’an has done nothing at all – and he will lose all that Thawab also. Remember this point.
Allah says here that the message He has given us in this Qur’an is not a new message - {مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ}. The Qur’an accepts and confirms the previous Kitabs; they all came with the same message. The Qur’an confirms this – {مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ}. The previous Kitabs, the Tawrah, Injeel, Zaboor and other scriptures were all great and honourable. They were the messages from Allah for all the other Ummahs that received Kitabs, and it was the same message. And in the Qur’an, the final message, Allah is explaining that Bani Isra’eel also had this message in their Kitabs. It was in the Tawrah, the Injeel, the Zaboor, and it was brought by Hadhrat Adam alayhi salam and continued through until the final Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Allah ta’ala wanted to give this one message to everyone – and it was delivered to everyone.
So above all, we need to focus on that message that Allah ta’ala revealed to us, which is that we must believe in the Final Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam - {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ} – to the extent that we have total obedience to the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam by following the Shari’ah and following the Sunnah. This is the message Allah has given us, the message that came to Hadhrat Adam alayhi salam and also to those who came after him. This is what a person has Iman in when he becomes Muslim. We say La ilaha illa’llah, Muhammadar-Rasoolullah – this is the detail behind the Kalimah Tayyibah. There is no other order except that of Allah ta’ala and we have to believe in and accept His orders, and therefore we won’t follow anybody except Allah’s Nabi the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. There is no other imitation and no other following, and this is the essence of the message of the Qur’an, where Allah ta’ala is saying ‘You have to believe in what I have given to you.’ So for a person to believe in {مَآ أَنزَلۡتُ}, what does he have to believe in? He has to accept the Hukm that his life must be spent according to Shari'ah and Sunnah. That is what is called believing and accepting. Only after that can a person receive the rewards and virtues of the Qur’an that we have been told about; only then does he deserve them.
And then Allah ta’ala says {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ}. This is a big message that Allah has given here for this Ummah, so listen very carefully to what I am saying at this point. The first thing we need to understand is contained in a Hadith, the meaning of which I will tell you, which is that when a person starts to commit sins, people start imitating and following him, and then as long as people follow him and commit that sin, he will continue to get the punishment for that sin, due to the people who are doing that and who carry on doing it. For example, if I deliver a wrong message and a hundred thousand people hear that message and start following it, however many people follow that and commit sin as a result – one million, two million, whatever – all of that will be written in my record books. If I invite people to sin or influence them to sin and they accept the invitation, all their actions will come into my account on the Day of Judgement. Whoever is at the head of a sin that others follow will get their punishment as well. We have to be very careful about this. Very hastily we give messages to people and encourage them to do this or that and tell them that such and such is ok – this is very wrong, so be careful about this.
Then Allah ta’ala says {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ}. Allah is talking to us here in the Qur’an. This is directed to us: ‘Listen, you have a very weighty responsibility in respect of this Qur’an. You believe in this Kitab, and you are that Ummah in whose hand the Qur’an has been placed, and therefore there is a huge responsibility upon you that you have to believe in this message which I have revealed to you and continue to make available to you.’ In other words, the message of the Qur’an is that you should follow the lifestyle of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam: {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ}. Allah is saying that if you don’t live your life according to this and your lifestyle is opposite to this, then Allah says {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} – ‘You will be the first, the initiator of that sin, the rejecter of the message of the Qur’an, one who has rejected this message, left this message and not acted nor practiced upon this message.’ Look at this point.
If today we don’t live our lives according to this message of {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ}, then our situation will be such that we will be those people who initiated that sin, who invited people towards the sin of not practicing. And the other people, like the Yahud who had the Tawrah, and also the previous nations, had scriptures like the Zaboor and the Injeel in which Allah mentioned that the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam would come; but we have the final Kitab, and we believe in it. They didn’t have the Qur’an. We are the first people to have the Qur’an; we have been given the Qur’an and have believed in it and confirmed it, so if we don’t accept this message of {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ} and we live our lives opposite to that, then we will be first in the line as the ones who initiated the sin of leaving {أَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ}. All the people who follow us and are misguided by us will say ‘Oh, this is the Deen. There is nothing in the Deen that says we should do this and do that.’ So then the entire punishment of all those who commit that sin will come onto our heads. Because they have seen us do that, the wrongful life of all those who live their lives far from obedience to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam through our influence, and others who follow them, all of this sin will come onto our head. {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} – Their sin will be upon our head in the Hereafter, and we will have to answer for that.
Allah says ‘Be not first to disbelieve therein.’ If you look around us now today, you can see that we are all split up and spread out – in a completely broken state, you could say. Millions and millions of Muslims are spread out in the world – which part of the world can you not find mosques in, can you not find the Qur’an, can you not find Muslims? We are in all areas. People have left their lands and the Qur’an has spread far and wide, physically speaking. People declare themselves to be Muslims – we all do this, don’t we, wherever we go in the world? Followers of other religions look at us and say ‘Oh, these are Muslims.’ If they see you sitting in a bar or a gambling shop, they say ‘Oh there is a Muslim there.’ They will identify us as Muslims, in terms of our faith, in terms of Islam.
According to His Hikmah, Allah ta’ala has spread us out around the whole world, because we are the final Ummah; we have a high status. The Qur’an has stated that we are the best Ummah, the best people. Allah didn’t say that we are the best due to our Halal roast chicken, or due to this or that food item that is Halal or Haram. We have not come to this country for the purpose of making factories or opening big warehouses or generating wealth or importing things. People call others from Pakistan saying ‘Come, there is a lot of money here, so work hard day and night and you will become great – see how many notes and coins you will amass!’ We have made this our criterion, but this is not our objective. Allah ta’ala has sent us here, and the Qur’an should be in one hand and the Sunnah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam be in the other – there should be Amal on both. We will be questioned severely about this in the Hereafter.
We have made our lives into one big game. I have seen, and you will have seen, those who came here as young, beardless people with black hair, and whose backs are now bent with age, 65, 70 years old. They have been here for decades, spending their whole life like this. What work of the Deen have they done in these 20, 30 or 40 years? The biggest Tableegh, the biggest propagation of Deen for us is that we practice upon this message in full view of society. We have made Masjids and hold conferences where speeches are made and marches are called, yet wherever we are in the world, we have made so much confusion. We hold functions and assemblies day and night, and gatherings and conferences, but nowhere can you see the essence of the Deen that we were meant to present as Muslims in all these countries throughout the world. We create such weird situations and circumstances as we spread ourselves out around the world. You cannot find anywhere where you see the reflection of the Deen and the colour of the Sunnah, not in our menfolk or our daughters or our women or our children.
We will be questioned severely about this. That is why we have been sent around the Dunya. Allah says ‘You have to practice upon this message of the Qur’an: {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ}.’ We cannot say that we are believing until and unless we physically practice upon it. We haven’t believed in the Qur’an. We will stand with those people who do Takdheeb, who have rejected the Qur’an – I tell you clearly. Do you understand what it means to do Takdheeb of the Qur’an? If we shun this one verse, if we do Takdheeb on this one verse, then we are shunning the whole Qur’an – remember this. What is Takdheeb? If a person does not do Amal on the Qur’an, then he is rejecting the rest of the Qur’an. No amount of money or wealth or assets or visas and stamps will refute this, whether he is called Mamu, Chacha, uncle, whether he calls people to come and make money and more money. We have all forgotten our Deen and the objective of our lives. This is not the objective; our objective in this world is something else.
We will be questioned first and foremost about {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ}. This will be the first question on the Day of Judgement, for this is the essence and summary of the Deen. The Qur’an confirms that you have the best message and the best Kitab - Allah chose you. He selected you. The Yahud could not do this, the Nasaara could not do this. The previous nations had their function, but the Qur’an that is in your hand is confirming this and warning {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} – if you are the first to disbelieve therein, the rest of the world will follow you. It is so, I tell you. I too live in this world, in the western hemisphere; I have experienced this. I can give you many examples – so many examples are present in your lives; they are all around you and me. People who see us in bars and gambling shops, when they see us running after money and wrapped up in Dunya day and night – they are not stupid. They see us as Muslims and say ‘Look at their Islam – they lie and commit fraud!’ We commit so much fraud, making false claims and signing up to benefits we are not eligible for, evading tax – this is what our people do.
Do we think about what this makes us? {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ}. The first thing Allah will ask us is: ‘Is this how you presented Islam to these people?’ Allah will say ‘The biggest Munkars are you! You will be included amongst them. When you came here you should have been representing the Deen. They should see you and become Muslims.’ They say – and you will have heard this – ‘Your Islam doesn’t say that you can drink alcohol, so why are you drinking alcohol? Your Islam doesn’t say you can listen to music and singing and dancing, so why do you do it?’ They say this – they know. ‘Why are your women wandering around like this? Your Islam doesn’t permit this, so why do your womenfolk do this? Your daughters and the women that you are raising cannot do this – your Deen says something else. Why are you doing these wrongful things?’ They say this to us! They are aware.
I have told you the example before of a person who stood in front of me and complained, saying ‘I used to clean the windows of this man, but he delayed in paying me.’ We think window cleaners are ignorant, but this man, who was not a Muslim, said ‘I washed the windows of my Muslim client, and he didn’t pay me. I did the work for him, thinking that he was a Muslim, but he hasn’t paid me for several days.’ Listen to what he said next – imagine a window cleaner saying this. He said ‘I know that in your Books it is written that your Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that the labourer should be paid before the sweat dries!’ I swear by Allah, my eyes popped wide open. I looked at him from top to toe, with his dirty clothes and window cleaning tool in his hand. SubhanAllah – he gave me the message! That day that man demonstrated to us and announced to us ‘We are better than you; you are worse than us. We didn’t expect you to be like this because you are Muslims.’
Muslims should be like the Sahaba. When they would go to a new land, even just one Companion, they would affect everyone throughout that land. Take Hindustan, the whole Indian subcontinent, when they went there and did business in Surat in the Gujarat region, the people there, the non-Muslims, were amazed. ‘Such a great people have come! They are pure – pure, honest, sincere traders. They don’t lie, they speak honestly, they give money back when a transaction is problematic.’ So just one Muslim, when he goes out into the world, can change the whole landscape. But us? We come here to make houses and shops and run businesses. We tell ourselves that the Dar-ul-Ulooms have opened and that we are educating our children, who are reciting and so on – and the Hadith are all there explaining the matter to us!
What a great reward Allah has given: {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} Allah says ‘Do not be the first to disbelieve therein, or else you will be the first in line to receive punishment because you cannot be trusted. How could anyone imagine that you would hide that Kitab? This is not your way – it is below your dignity.’ This is a big message that the Qur’an is giving to us. For the sake of Allah, let us understand who we are! Why have we become lost? We cannot imagine the enormity of the Adhab that is awaiting; it is beyond our comprehension. To act in this way is to do Takdheeb of the Qur’an; is rejection of the Qur’an. We wander around the world openly presenting ourselves in a false light – we have forgotten who we are. Allah says {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} – ‘It is you who rejected first. If you had done the right things and followed the Deen, if you had followed My message in the Qur’an and Hadith correctly of {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ}, then those who do not believe would have become Muslims.’ Instead of that, Allah says ‘You are the first to be fraudsters and deceivers. You started divorces here, you lied over there, Haram actions on one side, unlawful behaviour on the other. So many unlawful actions take place that when people see us, they don’t become Muslims. If people without Iman see such practices from a Muslim, they run from us.
As for the pillars of our community, the many leaders of the Deen, what is the reason that the Qur’an gives for them being spoiled? Do we hear of people becoming Muslim due to seeing the excellent conduct of Muslims? Have you heard of this? Tell me. We open big institutes just to promote our name and our fame, but we have forgotten that we are the nation that has to influence people towards Islam in the world. This is achieved not by Tableegh or speeches or commentaries or narrations of Hadith, but by practical behaviour, by Amal. I swear by Allah, if we didn’t lie, or commit fraud, if we didn’t evade tax and do criminal actions, and if our lifestyles in eating, drinking, sitting, standing, worship, business, appearance and everything were in accordance to the obedience of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, then we would see many people becoming Muslims. We would become examples of our Deen, which they know is right, but we don’t demonstrate it. They are not foolish. I have given you the example – even he knew what the Deen is. Everyone knows what a liar is, what a deceiver is. I myself have heard people say that the biggest fraudsters are our leaders. I heard it said ‘They are all thieves, these people. Their Book says one thing, but they do another.’ The non-Muslims are saying this.
Look, the Qur’an says that we are the nation that was brought to accept. The Yahud and the Nasaara and the previous nations had to accept the message that Allah ta’ala gave them – and how they strayed from this is written in their Kitabs. And we were sent as the greatest Ummah, but Allah says {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} – ‘Don’t be the first to disbelieve in this message.’ Up until Qiyamah, the sins of the Yahud and the Nasaara will come upon our heads due to the fact that we didn’t try, and we didn’t have the desire, that through our A’maal we would influence others and bring them towards the Deen and make them Muslim. Allah is saying that we just have to practice our Deen. Nothing else – just practice. Do Amal on the Deen of the Qur’an and see how we affect them positively. But our womenfolk are more immodest than them; they are more naked than them. It is shameful to say this. The Hadith are there in Bukhari Sharif, in Tirmidhi Sharif, but they still do actions in contradiction of them. Dar-ul-Ulooms and Islamic institutes have been opened, set up like production lines, but such wrong things come out. This is a painful thing to admit.
The Qur’an is saying {مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا}. Allah is saying ‘You have done this!’ So why is this the case? Allah ta’ala has given a beautiful example: {وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬ وَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱتَّقُونِ}. Why has this Fitnah and disorder spread in our generation? Allah ta’ala gave the Tawrah and the Injeel as the Haq to Bani Isra’eel, and the coming of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was mentioned in their Kitabs. Their scriptures tell of it. It is a fact that when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam went to Madinat-ul-Munawwara, the Jewish scholars themselves came and they affirmed and told their people. The signs were mentioned in the Tawrah and also in the Injeel – the message was there. {يَعۡرِفُونَهُ ۥ كَمَا يَعۡرِفُونَ أَبۡنَآءَهُمۡۖ} - Allah says that they recognize it just as they recognize their sons.
This is the reality that Allah ta’ala mentioned in this message of {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ}. The whole Dunya was manufactured due to the dignity and glory of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. The whole universe was made and decorated due to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, so how could a person descended from Adam alayhi salam come into this Dunya and not know this? Hadhrat Adam alayhi salam was initiated due to this. He saw the name of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam on every leaf of Jannah, and he saw it on the Arsh, and his initiation and Tawbah was accepted due to it. So how could Allah send the Ummahs and the Ambiya and the Tawrah, Injeel and Zaboor and all the other scriptures, and not mention the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam? How could that be? The previous nations all knew and recognized.
The Jewish scholars came and saw and became Muslims. Abdullah bin Salam radhiAllahu anh was one of the top Jewish scholars, and no one in their community could imagine that he would become Muslim, but alhamdulillah, he did embrace Islam. Similarly, other people from among the Jews of Madinah came and presented themselves to the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and they accepted, saying ‘Yes, we know you from our Kitabs. Your coming is written about, along with your signs – we accept this. Our Kitabs confirm this.’ So what happened? The Qur’an explains that Fitnah arises and disorder occurs due to two reasons. Trials and rejection come. Many Jewish people came and said ‘We understand and accept that this message was going to come. The signs are there in our Kitabs, so we accept this. Your qualities and characteristics are mentioned in our Books.’
But the Qur’an says {وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬ وَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱتَّقُونِ} Allah says ‘Don’t make this mistake!’ What wrong action did the Yahud and the Nasaara commit, against the command of Allah? An Ummah always starts to spoil itself for two reasons. The two pillars of our Deen are the Ulema and the Mashaaikh. After the Ambiya, they have possession of the knowledge of the Deen and they look after it. The Ulema and the Mashaaikh have a great status and responsibility in our Deen. We cannot conceive of how great the status and rank of a scholar is. Also, we cannot imagine the Maqam that Allah ta’ala gives to a Sheikh, a spiritual leader. Why? Because he is the guide; he is spreading the Deen. He is spreading {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ}; he is raising the standard; he is the flag bearer of Islam; he is carrying the genuine meaning of the Qur’an and is giving the genuine demonstration of it. And the Ulema and the Mashaaikh give their time and effort for this; they sacrifice their time and effort for Allah ta’ala’s Deen. The meaning of this verse is that when they get sold out, the Fitnahs arise.
Regarding {وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬ وَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱتَّقُونِ}, Hadhrat Hakim-ul-Ummah rahmatullah alayh stated that to leave the orders, or to change, modify or conceal them, is a transaction by which wretchedness of society is bought. There are two types of Ulema: the true Ulema and the false Ulema; and there are also two types of Mashaaikh: true Maskaaikh and false Mashaaikh. In the same way, you can get real milk and you can also get fake milk. In the hands of the pure Alim are the Qur’an and the Shari’ah, but the false Alim is different – you can see the difference. So how does the Deen get spoiled? How does an Alim get spoiled? {ۖ وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬} This happens when he runs into the Dunya and starts making money from explaining the Deen, when he learns ‘Ilm in order to make money. Hadhrat Hakim-ul-Ummah rahmatullah alayh commented about this that changing the orders of Allah and hiding the Deen for the sake of Dunya is the way to earn wretchedness. To earn the wretched Dunya, they conceal the Deen and hide the truth, Allahu Akbar. To save their Dunya and worldly luxuries and to increase their material wealth, they conceal the truth. So what happened previously? The Ulema of the previous nations also did this. They sold out and modified the verses. Even if someone were to give a million pounds for doing this, in the Hereafter that is not even worth a dot. A million pounds has no value at all in the Hereafter.
{وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِۦۖ وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬} So how does the Deen get spoiled? When the respected scholars and Mashaaikh sell their Deen for Dunya, when Dunya and materialism starts becoming their objective. There is a big punishment in the Hereafter for selling the Qur’an, for changing the meaning of the Qur’an for the sake of Dunya. {ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬ } Even if you earn millions in this world, it is not worth even a dot in the Hereafter. Not even a dot – that is what they are earning, Allahu Akbar. So remember, there are two types of Alim: the Alim-e-Haq and the Alim-e-Batil, the true and false scholar, and there are Mashaaikh-e-Haq and also Mashaaikh-e-Batil, true and false spiritual guides. How can you distinguish between the two? What is the difference between the true, upright scholar, and the false scholar, or the true Sheikh and the false Sheikh? There is one measurement tool, a gauge, which will show the difference. What is that? I’tiba-ar-Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam, SubhanAllah. If you see a scholar and he has the Qur’an in one hand and the Shari’ah in the other, then alhamdulillah, no power in the Dunya can purchase him for he does not value it. No Mas’alah, no question, no Fatwa will be wrong, and the Maqam of these true scholars is extremely high.
Not every Alim has this status however. Some people do a course for four or five months, or four or five years, and then think they are Imam Ghazali or Imam Bukhari radhiAllahu anhuma. But look at their Hal and their lives – how can they equate themselves to these great personalities. A person goes to Syria, or another Arab country, but this is all for Dunya, my brothers. A scholar is a scholar if in his hand and in his life there is Amal and Haq, truth. He has no connection with the Dunya; there is no pride or showing off. Such a person has a great status. The Qur’an has praised such Ulema. Their Duas are great, their status is great – the fish do Dua for them! This is not achieved by running off and doing courses. Become like the great ones, for whom the fish make Dua. Annihilate your Nafs and your desires, don’t just pick up books and recite, claiming to be an Alim and citing the this or that technical point. Ok this is good, MashaAllah, but get to that Maqam and status where the Nafs has been washed and cleaned and the desires have been removed. Shake yourself down – are you trying to deceive Allah?
{وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬} Allah says that they sell themselves for small points: ‘Part not with my Revelations for a trifling price, and keep your duty unto Me.’ Allah is saying that those people destroy the Deen if they spread ideas in which there is no Shari’ah and no Sunnah. Indeed, they tell people to go away from the Sunnah and they denigrate the Sunnah, saying ‘This is not necessary. You don’t need to do this – in this generation it is too hard. You don’t have to do this action and you can compromise with that matter.’
Allahu Akbar, Allah says {وَلَا تَلۡبِسُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ بِٱلۡبَـٰطِلِ وَتَكۡتُمُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ وَأَنتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ}. Hadhrat Hakim-ul-Ummah rahmatullah alayh made a beautiful explanation of this as well. Allah says ‘Confound not truth with falsehood, and do not knowingly conceal the truth.’ SubhanAllah. Regarding {وَلَا تَلۡبِسُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ بِٱلۡبَـٰطِلِ}, Hadhrat Hakim-ul-Ummah says that the Batil Alim will hide the Haq, but if he can’t hide it then he will give the wrong explanation because he is getting money and material gain thereby. Pir Sahib will do the same. Yes! Let us survey the world today. How many Alims and Pir Sahibs are in the world today who spread the Shari'ah and Sunnah? How many are there who spread the pure Deen of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, for which the Qur’an was sent? {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ} – ‘Believe in this message that I have sent to you!’ How many people are doing this work of the Deen today, tell me. May Allah forgive, may Allah forgive.
This is the biggest Fitnah of this day and age – remember this point. It is the biggest Fitnah and the biggest deception. The Yahud and the Nasaara in previous generations played this same game, and this Fitnah has taken hold among the Muslims in this generation. And which group spreads this more than any other? Our heads, our leaders. I am not talking about the Ulema-e-Haq, the true scholars, those Ulema who live by Qur’an and Sunnah. I am not talking about them – their rank is great, supreme. I am talking about the false Ulema, and the Qur’an has mentioned details about them. Hadhrat Anas radhiAllahu anh narrated that the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated that a person who teaches Qur’an but doesn’t do Amal on the Qur’an has made his abode in hellfire. Listen to this point. It doesn’t matter how high his reputation is, whether he has done Hifdh and learned Tafseer and taught other Alims; if he puts all of that into his shop and his concern is for material assets and Dunya, then his abode is hellfire. His rank has plummeted.
After the Ambiya, the scholars have the highest rank. The Alim of the age is the deputy of the Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam. He looks after the whole generation. Examples of this are clear to see. When the Indian sub-continent changed for the worse and Kufr and darkness spread, one personality came, SubhanAllah. Allah ta’ala revived the Deen through one person - Mujaddid Alf Thani, Hadhrat Sheikh Ahmad Sarhindi Farooqui rahmatullah alayh. He totally revived the whole generation. If one Alim is honest, true and sincere, this is enough for the whole of the UK. He would not need Madrasas and institutes for Hifdh; I swear by Allah that one true Alim would revive the land – that is how great an Alim is.
But we set up systems like printing machines, churning out Alim after Alim and Moulana after Moulana, with Tafseers and commentaries everywhere – every house has someone who has graduated or is studying. Scholars are being churned out. And womenfolk also come through these factories, and then - may Allah forgive – they run away from home. They run away from their homes and leave the Deen because they have no Ikhlas. The teacher is making money, and then the graduates are opening up shop as well. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that such have earned their abode in hellfire.
Hadhrat Umar bin Shuaib narrated a lengthy Hadith in which it is stated that a person will be presented on the Day of Judgement and he will be made an example of due to the Qur’an. That person will have transgressed the boundaries of the Qur’an and will have made Halal Haram and Haram Halal. He will have swapped them and transgressed the boundaries, behaving in the opposite way to the practice outlined by the Qur’an and the Deen, even though Allah ta’ala gave him the Qur’an and he was a Hafidh with knowledge – but he wasted it. This is stated about a person who transgressed the boundaries, wasted the compulsory deeds and left the obedience and practice - can he call himself an Alim? Can a person be an Alim if he leaves Salah? If he wastes his Fajr Salah and runs away from Dhuhr Salah, can he call himself an Alim? He is a false scholar even if he has done courses in Sham or Egypt and others call him a scholar.
Mufti Taqi Sahib’s respected father made him an Alim, but Mufti Taqi Sahib’s Sheikh, Hadhrat Arif bi’llah rahmatullah alayh told him that he couldn’t give Bayans for ten years. He said to both brothers, Hadhrat Rafi’ Usmani sahib and Hadhrat Mufti Taqi Usmani sahib, ‘Sit down, stay with me, do Tarbiyyah and reform yourselves.’ This is how their Tazkiyyah was done and their Nafs was made. And now, if you listen to their Bayans, I swear by Allah, you see the Haq in the words of Hadhrat Mufti Taqi sahib. There is no fraud or deception, just Qur’an and Sunnah. You will see this.
Instead, we see people running to Syria and Egypt to learn Arabic and so on, but the objective is Dunya. They get hung up on technical points and start reciting Sahih al-Bukhari. But if you want to be regarded as an Alim so that you can have Maqam and status, the Qur’an has a Nasiha for you. I am not saying this; the Qur’an is saying this: {وَلَا تَلۡبِسُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ} – Do not hide the Qur’an, and do not run after the Dunya to make money out of Qur’an and Hadith. Become a Hafidh and learn Ilm and become an Alim after that, but what should we do then? Do a seven-year or eight-year course, and then sit in the dust of the slippers of the Wali of Allah for sixteen years so that you can clean your heart like Mufti Taqi sahib and Mufti Rafi’ sahib. Their father was a pre-eminent scholar and Mufti of Deoband, the highest Mufti, and that is how he reformed and honed his sons.
But here, before they have even graduated, the students are giving Bayans and giving Tafseer and making technical points and so on. And then where are they going? They are associating with people who don’t even have Deen, whose faces and example are far from Deen. They learn Arabic in the midst of all these rumours and mistaken thinking. Yes, learn Arabic for it is an important language, but there, among people of ignorance? They learn Arabic and the technical points and Masaa’il, and the mother and father praise them to their friends for having studied this or that, and all the while they are earning their abode in Jahannam.
What a big point, and what an important lesson. How will justice be meted out? They will be dragged into hell by their mouths. Instead of having a crown placed upon their head and being given a high and lofty status and Maqam, they will have earned their abode in hell. And in the same way, the false Pirs, the liar Sheikhs, those false people sitting on their seats and claiming connection to this or that chain of teachers, what Tazkiyya are they doing? What Batin are they cleaning and what reformation are they implementing? What is there apart from food and gatherings for eating and making money? Pirs have no other occupation today. They have different coloured caps and Topis, red, yellow or orange clothes, and tall caps. They go to graveyards and tombs and what actions do they endorse there?
This is a big message from the Qur’an today. Allah says {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} Remember one point. This is the Qur’an. The Tawrah and the Injeel and the Zaboor have come, and since Adam alayhi salam, more than one hundred thousand Prophets came, and every one of them had one mission, one objective. One message was given to them – every one of them had this message confirmed: ‘Obey and follow My final Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam and his Shari’ah.’ That’s it. Then you will leave this world successful; otherwise, not.’ {وَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱتَّقُونِ} What is Allah saying? ‘Fear Me. Keep your duty unto Me and fear Me.’ Allah Akbar. If we have fear of Allah, then we will be saved; but if fear of Allah is not inside us, then what right actions will we do? We will be away from that. How does fear of Allah come? The Qur’an says: go and sit with those people who have fear of Allah inside their hearts. That’s it! Seek such a person. Don’t seek Dunya and material things - seek the fear of Allah through the company that you keep. Sit with him and fear of Allah will come into your heart, and inshaAllah you will start to understand the Deen. Become a Muttaqi - have fear of Allah and leave the rest.
May Allah ta’ala give us all the understanding of the Qur’an, give us connection to the Qur’an, and may we learn to read the Qur’an and attain the real essence of the Qur’an. May Allah allow us to do Amal upon that and may Allah ta’ala make us into great Alims, and make us people who propagate the Qur’an. May Allah ta’ala give us Amal in our lives, so that physically and visibly we can give Tableegh to the people around us.
وأخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين
Who is Responsible?
وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِۦۖ وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬ وَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱتَّقُونِ (٤١)
وَلَا تَلۡبِسُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ بِٱلۡبَـٰطِلِ وَتَكۡتُمُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ وَأَنتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ (٤٢)
Surah al-Baqarah v41-42
In this verse, Allah subhana wa ta'ala is giving a very important message through the example of Bani Isra’eel, a message that is delivered to us, to this Ummah.
{وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} Allah says ‘Believe in what I have revealed to you.’ SubhanAllah. It is obvious what Allah has revealed to us – it is the Qur’an. And the biggest gift for this Ummah, alhamdulillah, the biggest mercy on this Ummah is that, while the previous nations had Kitabs and Prophets, Allah ta’ala has given great honour and dignity to this Ummah by revealing the final Kitab, the Seal of the Kitabs, which He sent to us. And we are the members of the Ummah of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and we have been chosen to receive this Kitab and understand it and know about it. This is our Kitab.
So Allah ta’ala says {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} – ‘Believe in what I have revealed.’ What is it that we have to believe? {مَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} The Mufassireen have put forward two meanings of {مَآ أَنزَلۡتُ}, of what Allah revealed. We need to believe what has been revealed within the Kitab. The whole Kitab, the essence of the Kitab, is what we need to believe in and understand. In this Kitab, the Qur’an, Allah has sealed the message for us, and that message is what is being alluded to here. Allah is saying ‘Believe in the message that I have sealed in this Kitab’, because alhamdulillah, this Kitab is connected to and linked with our relationship with the Qur’an. We have got many connections and relationships via the Qur’an. Allah subhana wa ta'ala has attached so many rewards and mercies to this honourable, sacred, dignified Kitab, this great Kitab, whether by reciting the Qur’an, memorising the Qur’an, looking at the Qur’an, doing Tafseer of the Qur’an, kissing the Qur’an, or touching the Qur’an – for all of these actions, Allah ta’ala has given specific rewards.
If a person recites any verse of this Kitab, the Qur’an, Allah ta’ala says that on the Day of Judgement, when everyone will be in darkness, that one verse of this Qur’an will be attached to that person and will be a light for him. Reward will also apply if a person didn’t actually read the verse, but he listened attentively. This Qur’an is not something to play with. When the Qur’an is being recited, on your phone or any other device, if you start working, this is disrespect - astaghfirullah. People put Tilawah of the Qur’an as the ringtone of their phones – this is discourteous, against the Adab. The condition is that when the Qur’an is being recited, your hearing should be focused upon it; it should not go to waste. Allah ta’ala has made our connection with the Qur’an such an important bond and relationship. When a person focuses on the Qur’an, Allah ta’ala records a reward for this focus, just for listening. So two virtues have been mentioned here: one is that to recite one verse of the Qur’an will bring Noor on the Day of Qiyamah – and remember what we are told about the Day of Qiyamah; and secondly, there will also be Thawab just for listening to a verse of the Qur’an.
If a person is attached to this Qur’an, he will have this light with him throughout his whole life. Hadhrat Sohail radhiAllahu anh narrates such a great statement that the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam made: ‘I swear by Allah in whose Hands is my life, Allah will give a very great reward’ – this was a promise from Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam regarding the enormous reward for hearing a verse from Allah’s Kitab. Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated that one verse of Qur’an that a person recites is greater than everything apart from the ‘Arsh of Allah, SubhanAllah. This is the Kitab that Allah ta’ala has bestowed upon us, that has been assigned to us. Whoever recites a verse of the Qur’an will attain high status in Paradise and will have light around him. In other words, through his recitation, his levels will increase and Allah subhana wa ta'ala will attach a light to him that will go with him in the Hereafter. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam also said that whoever recites thirty verses of Qur’an in the night, he will not suffer pain internally nor from intruders, and no other affliction can affect him. Rather, that person will have peace and prosperity in himself, in his family, in his wealth and in all his affairs. My brothers, this is the Qur’an to which Allah subhana wa ta'ala has connected us. {مَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} Allah ta’ala has given us a truly great and honourable Kitab.
Here Allah ta’ala has said {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} – ‘Believe in that which I have revealed.’ So this is about believing – but believing what? If you look at the Qur’an, there is so much glory in the Qur’an, with its levels and rewards, but what we need to believe in is the real, genuine objective that Allah has given us in the Qur’an, which is the essence of the Qur’an, the purpose of the Qur’an. We can do everything else that we have just discussed, no doubt. Allah has promised so many rewards, some of which I have just mentioned from Hadith, but at the top of the pile, headlining the list, is the reason and objective that the Qur’an was revealed. That message that Allah ta’ala wanted to give is what Allah ta’ala is saying we must believe in. A person who does everything else but does not accept the message of the Qur’an has done nothing at all – and he will lose all that Thawab also. Remember this point.
Allah says here that the message He has given us in this Qur’an is not a new message - {مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ}. The Qur’an accepts and confirms the previous Kitabs; they all came with the same message. The Qur’an confirms this – {مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ}. The previous Kitabs, the Tawrah, Injeel, Zaboor and other scriptures were all great and honourable. They were the messages from Allah for all the other Ummahs that received Kitabs, and it was the same message. And in the Qur’an, the final message, Allah is explaining that Bani Isra’eel also had this message in their Kitabs. It was in the Tawrah, the Injeel, the Zaboor, and it was brought by Hadhrat Adam alayhi salam and continued through until the final Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Allah ta’ala wanted to give this one message to everyone – and it was delivered to everyone.
So above all, we need to focus on that message that Allah ta’ala revealed to us, which is that we must believe in the Final Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam - {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ} – to the extent that we have total obedience to the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam by following the Shari’ah and following the Sunnah. This is the message Allah has given us, the message that came to Hadhrat Adam alayhi salam and also to those who came after him. This is what a person has Iman in when he becomes Muslim. We say La ilaha illa’llah, Muhammadar-Rasoolullah – this is the detail behind the Kalimah Tayyibah. There is no other order except that of Allah ta’ala and we have to believe in and accept His orders, and therefore we won’t follow anybody except Allah’s Nabi the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. There is no other imitation and no other following, and this is the essence of the message of the Qur’an, where Allah ta’ala is saying ‘You have to believe in what I have given to you.’ So for a person to believe in {مَآ أَنزَلۡتُ}, what does he have to believe in? He has to accept the Hukm that his life must be spent according to Shari'ah and Sunnah. That is what is called believing and accepting. Only after that can a person receive the rewards and virtues of the Qur’an that we have been told about; only then does he deserve them.
And then Allah ta’ala says {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ}. This is a big message that Allah has given here for this Ummah, so listen very carefully to what I am saying at this point. The first thing we need to understand is contained in a Hadith, the meaning of which I will tell you, which is that when a person starts to commit sins, people start imitating and following him, and then as long as people follow him and commit that sin, he will continue to get the punishment for that sin, due to the people who are doing that and who carry on doing it. For example, if I deliver a wrong message and a hundred thousand people hear that message and start following it, however many people follow that and commit sin as a result – one million, two million, whatever – all of that will be written in my record books. If I invite people to sin or influence them to sin and they accept the invitation, all their actions will come into my account on the Day of Judgement. Whoever is at the head of a sin that others follow will get their punishment as well. We have to be very careful about this. Very hastily we give messages to people and encourage them to do this or that and tell them that such and such is ok – this is very wrong, so be careful about this.
Then Allah ta’ala says {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ}. Allah is talking to us here in the Qur’an. This is directed to us: ‘Listen, you have a very weighty responsibility in respect of this Qur’an. You believe in this Kitab, and you are that Ummah in whose hand the Qur’an has been placed, and therefore there is a huge responsibility upon you that you have to believe in this message which I have revealed to you and continue to make available to you.’ In other words, the message of the Qur’an is that you should follow the lifestyle of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam: {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ}. Allah is saying that if you don’t live your life according to this and your lifestyle is opposite to this, then Allah says {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} – ‘You will be the first, the initiator of that sin, the rejecter of the message of the Qur’an, one who has rejected this message, left this message and not acted nor practiced upon this message.’ Look at this point.
If today we don’t live our lives according to this message of {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ}, then our situation will be such that we will be those people who initiated that sin, who invited people towards the sin of not practicing. And the other people, like the Yahud who had the Tawrah, and also the previous nations, had scriptures like the Zaboor and the Injeel in which Allah mentioned that the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam would come; but we have the final Kitab, and we believe in it. They didn’t have the Qur’an. We are the first people to have the Qur’an; we have been given the Qur’an and have believed in it and confirmed it, so if we don’t accept this message of {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ} and we live our lives opposite to that, then we will be first in the line as the ones who initiated the sin of leaving {أَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ}. All the people who follow us and are misguided by us will say ‘Oh, this is the Deen. There is nothing in the Deen that says we should do this and do that.’ So then the entire punishment of all those who commit that sin will come onto our heads. Because they have seen us do that, the wrongful life of all those who live their lives far from obedience to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam through our influence, and others who follow them, all of this sin will come onto our head. {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} – Their sin will be upon our head in the Hereafter, and we will have to answer for that.
Allah says ‘Be not first to disbelieve therein.’ If you look around us now today, you can see that we are all split up and spread out – in a completely broken state, you could say. Millions and millions of Muslims are spread out in the world – which part of the world can you not find mosques in, can you not find the Qur’an, can you not find Muslims? We are in all areas. People have left their lands and the Qur’an has spread far and wide, physically speaking. People declare themselves to be Muslims – we all do this, don’t we, wherever we go in the world? Followers of other religions look at us and say ‘Oh, these are Muslims.’ If they see you sitting in a bar or a gambling shop, they say ‘Oh there is a Muslim there.’ They will identify us as Muslims, in terms of our faith, in terms of Islam.
According to His Hikmah, Allah ta’ala has spread us out around the whole world, because we are the final Ummah; we have a high status. The Qur’an has stated that we are the best Ummah, the best people. Allah didn’t say that we are the best due to our Halal roast chicken, or due to this or that food item that is Halal or Haram. We have not come to this country for the purpose of making factories or opening big warehouses or generating wealth or importing things. People call others from Pakistan saying ‘Come, there is a lot of money here, so work hard day and night and you will become great – see how many notes and coins you will amass!’ We have made this our criterion, but this is not our objective. Allah ta’ala has sent us here, and the Qur’an should be in one hand and the Sunnah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam be in the other – there should be Amal on both. We will be questioned severely about this in the Hereafter.
We have made our lives into one big game. I have seen, and you will have seen, those who came here as young, beardless people with black hair, and whose backs are now bent with age, 65, 70 years old. They have been here for decades, spending their whole life like this. What work of the Deen have they done in these 20, 30 or 40 years? The biggest Tableegh, the biggest propagation of Deen for us is that we practice upon this message in full view of society. We have made Masjids and hold conferences where speeches are made and marches are called, yet wherever we are in the world, we have made so much confusion. We hold functions and assemblies day and night, and gatherings and conferences, but nowhere can you see the essence of the Deen that we were meant to present as Muslims in all these countries throughout the world. We create such weird situations and circumstances as we spread ourselves out around the world. You cannot find anywhere where you see the reflection of the Deen and the colour of the Sunnah, not in our menfolk or our daughters or our women or our children.
We will be questioned severely about this. That is why we have been sent around the Dunya. Allah says ‘You have to practice upon this message of the Qur’an: {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ}.’ We cannot say that we are believing until and unless we physically practice upon it. We haven’t believed in the Qur’an. We will stand with those people who do Takdheeb, who have rejected the Qur’an – I tell you clearly. Do you understand what it means to do Takdheeb of the Qur’an? If we shun this one verse, if we do Takdheeb on this one verse, then we are shunning the whole Qur’an – remember this. What is Takdheeb? If a person does not do Amal on the Qur’an, then he is rejecting the rest of the Qur’an. No amount of money or wealth or assets or visas and stamps will refute this, whether he is called Mamu, Chacha, uncle, whether he calls people to come and make money and more money. We have all forgotten our Deen and the objective of our lives. This is not the objective; our objective in this world is something else.
We will be questioned first and foremost about {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ}. This will be the first question on the Day of Judgement, for this is the essence and summary of the Deen. The Qur’an confirms that you have the best message and the best Kitab - Allah chose you. He selected you. The Yahud could not do this, the Nasaara could not do this. The previous nations had their function, but the Qur’an that is in your hand is confirming this and warning {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} – if you are the first to disbelieve therein, the rest of the world will follow you. It is so, I tell you. I too live in this world, in the western hemisphere; I have experienced this. I can give you many examples – so many examples are present in your lives; they are all around you and me. People who see us in bars and gambling shops, when they see us running after money and wrapped up in Dunya day and night – they are not stupid. They see us as Muslims and say ‘Look at their Islam – they lie and commit fraud!’ We commit so much fraud, making false claims and signing up to benefits we are not eligible for, evading tax – this is what our people do.
Do we think about what this makes us? {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ}. The first thing Allah will ask us is: ‘Is this how you presented Islam to these people?’ Allah will say ‘The biggest Munkars are you! You will be included amongst them. When you came here you should have been representing the Deen. They should see you and become Muslims.’ They say – and you will have heard this – ‘Your Islam doesn’t say that you can drink alcohol, so why are you drinking alcohol? Your Islam doesn’t say you can listen to music and singing and dancing, so why do you do it?’ They say this – they know. ‘Why are your women wandering around like this? Your Islam doesn’t permit this, so why do your womenfolk do this? Your daughters and the women that you are raising cannot do this – your Deen says something else. Why are you doing these wrongful things?’ They say this to us! They are aware.
I have told you the example before of a person who stood in front of me and complained, saying ‘I used to clean the windows of this man, but he delayed in paying me.’ We think window cleaners are ignorant, but this man, who was not a Muslim, said ‘I washed the windows of my Muslim client, and he didn’t pay me. I did the work for him, thinking that he was a Muslim, but he hasn’t paid me for several days.’ Listen to what he said next – imagine a window cleaner saying this. He said ‘I know that in your Books it is written that your Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that the labourer should be paid before the sweat dries!’ I swear by Allah, my eyes popped wide open. I looked at him from top to toe, with his dirty clothes and window cleaning tool in his hand. SubhanAllah – he gave me the message! That day that man demonstrated to us and announced to us ‘We are better than you; you are worse than us. We didn’t expect you to be like this because you are Muslims.’
Muslims should be like the Sahaba. When they would go to a new land, even just one Companion, they would affect everyone throughout that land. Take Hindustan, the whole Indian subcontinent, when they went there and did business in Surat in the Gujarat region, the people there, the non-Muslims, were amazed. ‘Such a great people have come! They are pure – pure, honest, sincere traders. They don’t lie, they speak honestly, they give money back when a transaction is problematic.’ So just one Muslim, when he goes out into the world, can change the whole landscape. But us? We come here to make houses and shops and run businesses. We tell ourselves that the Dar-ul-Ulooms have opened and that we are educating our children, who are reciting and so on – and the Hadith are all there explaining the matter to us!
What a great reward Allah has given: {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} Allah says ‘Do not be the first to disbelieve therein, or else you will be the first in line to receive punishment because you cannot be trusted. How could anyone imagine that you would hide that Kitab? This is not your way – it is below your dignity.’ This is a big message that the Qur’an is giving to us. For the sake of Allah, let us understand who we are! Why have we become lost? We cannot imagine the enormity of the Adhab that is awaiting; it is beyond our comprehension. To act in this way is to do Takdheeb of the Qur’an; is rejection of the Qur’an. We wander around the world openly presenting ourselves in a false light – we have forgotten who we are. Allah says {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} – ‘It is you who rejected first. If you had done the right things and followed the Deen, if you had followed My message in the Qur’an and Hadith correctly of {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ}, then those who do not believe would have become Muslims.’ Instead of that, Allah says ‘You are the first to be fraudsters and deceivers. You started divorces here, you lied over there, Haram actions on one side, unlawful behaviour on the other. So many unlawful actions take place that when people see us, they don’t become Muslims. If people without Iman see such practices from a Muslim, they run from us.
As for the pillars of our community, the many leaders of the Deen, what is the reason that the Qur’an gives for them being spoiled? Do we hear of people becoming Muslim due to seeing the excellent conduct of Muslims? Have you heard of this? Tell me. We open big institutes just to promote our name and our fame, but we have forgotten that we are the nation that has to influence people towards Islam in the world. This is achieved not by Tableegh or speeches or commentaries or narrations of Hadith, but by practical behaviour, by Amal. I swear by Allah, if we didn’t lie, or commit fraud, if we didn’t evade tax and do criminal actions, and if our lifestyles in eating, drinking, sitting, standing, worship, business, appearance and everything were in accordance to the obedience of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, then we would see many people becoming Muslims. We would become examples of our Deen, which they know is right, but we don’t demonstrate it. They are not foolish. I have given you the example – even he knew what the Deen is. Everyone knows what a liar is, what a deceiver is. I myself have heard people say that the biggest fraudsters are our leaders. I heard it said ‘They are all thieves, these people. Their Book says one thing, but they do another.’ The non-Muslims are saying this.
Look, the Qur’an says that we are the nation that was brought to accept. The Yahud and the Nasaara and the previous nations had to accept the message that Allah ta’ala gave them – and how they strayed from this is written in their Kitabs. And we were sent as the greatest Ummah, but Allah says {وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ} – ‘Don’t be the first to disbelieve in this message.’ Up until Qiyamah, the sins of the Yahud and the Nasaara will come upon our heads due to the fact that we didn’t try, and we didn’t have the desire, that through our A’maal we would influence others and bring them towards the Deen and make them Muslim. Allah is saying that we just have to practice our Deen. Nothing else – just practice. Do Amal on the Deen of the Qur’an and see how we affect them positively. But our womenfolk are more immodest than them; they are more naked than them. It is shameful to say this. The Hadith are there in Bukhari Sharif, in Tirmidhi Sharif, but they still do actions in contradiction of them. Dar-ul-Ulooms and Islamic institutes have been opened, set up like production lines, but such wrong things come out. This is a painful thing to admit.
The Qur’an is saying {مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا}. Allah is saying ‘You have done this!’ So why is this the case? Allah ta’ala has given a beautiful example: {وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬ وَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱتَّقُونِ}. Why has this Fitnah and disorder spread in our generation? Allah ta’ala gave the Tawrah and the Injeel as the Haq to Bani Isra’eel, and the coming of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was mentioned in their Kitabs. Their scriptures tell of it. It is a fact that when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam went to Madinat-ul-Munawwara, the Jewish scholars themselves came and they affirmed and told their people. The signs were mentioned in the Tawrah and also in the Injeel – the message was there. {يَعۡرِفُونَهُ ۥ كَمَا يَعۡرِفُونَ أَبۡنَآءَهُمۡۖ} - Allah says that they recognize it just as they recognize their sons.
This is the reality that Allah ta’ala mentioned in this message of {أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ}. The whole Dunya was manufactured due to the dignity and glory of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. The whole universe was made and decorated due to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, so how could a person descended from Adam alayhi salam come into this Dunya and not know this? Hadhrat Adam alayhi salam was initiated due to this. He saw the name of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam on every leaf of Jannah, and he saw it on the Arsh, and his initiation and Tawbah was accepted due to it. So how could Allah send the Ummahs and the Ambiya and the Tawrah, Injeel and Zaboor and all the other scriptures, and not mention the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam? How could that be? The previous nations all knew and recognized.
The Jewish scholars came and saw and became Muslims. Abdullah bin Salam radhiAllahu anh was one of the top Jewish scholars, and no one in their community could imagine that he would become Muslim, but alhamdulillah, he did embrace Islam. Similarly, other people from among the Jews of Madinah came and presented themselves to the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and they accepted, saying ‘Yes, we know you from our Kitabs. Your coming is written about, along with your signs – we accept this. Our Kitabs confirm this.’ So what happened? The Qur’an explains that Fitnah arises and disorder occurs due to two reasons. Trials and rejection come. Many Jewish people came and said ‘We understand and accept that this message was going to come. The signs are there in our Kitabs, so we accept this. Your qualities and characteristics are mentioned in our Books.’
But the Qur’an says {وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬ وَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱتَّقُونِ} Allah says ‘Don’t make this mistake!’ What wrong action did the Yahud and the Nasaara commit, against the command of Allah? An Ummah always starts to spoil itself for two reasons. The two pillars of our Deen are the Ulema and the Mashaaikh. After the Ambiya, they have possession of the knowledge of the Deen and they look after it. The Ulema and the Mashaaikh have a great status and responsibility in our Deen. We cannot conceive of how great the status and rank of a scholar is. Also, we cannot imagine the Maqam that Allah ta’ala gives to a Sheikh, a spiritual leader. Why? Because he is the guide; he is spreading the Deen. He is spreading {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ}; he is raising the standard; he is the flag bearer of Islam; he is carrying the genuine meaning of the Qur’an and is giving the genuine demonstration of it. And the Ulema and the Mashaaikh give their time and effort for this; they sacrifice their time and effort for Allah ta’ala’s Deen. The meaning of this verse is that when they get sold out, the Fitnahs arise.
Regarding {وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬ وَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱتَّقُونِ}, Hadhrat Hakim-ul-Ummah rahmatullah alayh stated that to leave the orders, or to change, modify or conceal them, is a transaction by which wretchedness of society is bought. There are two types of Ulema: the true Ulema and the false Ulema; and there are also two types of Mashaaikh: true Maskaaikh and false Mashaaikh. In the same way, you can get real milk and you can also get fake milk. In the hands of the pure Alim are the Qur’an and the Shari’ah, but the false Alim is different – you can see the difference. So how does the Deen get spoiled? How does an Alim get spoiled? {ۖ وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬} This happens when he runs into the Dunya and starts making money from explaining the Deen, when he learns ‘Ilm in order to make money. Hadhrat Hakim-ul-Ummah rahmatullah alayh commented about this that changing the orders of Allah and hiding the Deen for the sake of Dunya is the way to earn wretchedness. To earn the wretched Dunya, they conceal the Deen and hide the truth, Allahu Akbar. To save their Dunya and worldly luxuries and to increase their material wealth, they conceal the truth. So what happened previously? The Ulema of the previous nations also did this. They sold out and modified the verses. Even if someone were to give a million pounds for doing this, in the Hereafter that is not even worth a dot. A million pounds has no value at all in the Hereafter.
{وَلَا تَكُونُوٓاْ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِۦۖ وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬} So how does the Deen get spoiled? When the respected scholars and Mashaaikh sell their Deen for Dunya, when Dunya and materialism starts becoming their objective. There is a big punishment in the Hereafter for selling the Qur’an, for changing the meaning of the Qur’an for the sake of Dunya. {ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬ } Even if you earn millions in this world, it is not worth even a dot in the Hereafter. Not even a dot – that is what they are earning, Allahu Akbar. So remember, there are two types of Alim: the Alim-e-Haq and the Alim-e-Batil, the true and false scholar, and there are Mashaaikh-e-Haq and also Mashaaikh-e-Batil, true and false spiritual guides. How can you distinguish between the two? What is the difference between the true, upright scholar, and the false scholar, or the true Sheikh and the false Sheikh? There is one measurement tool, a gauge, which will show the difference. What is that? I’tiba-ar-Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam, SubhanAllah. If you see a scholar and he has the Qur’an in one hand and the Shari’ah in the other, then alhamdulillah, no power in the Dunya can purchase him for he does not value it. No Mas’alah, no question, no Fatwa will be wrong, and the Maqam of these true scholars is extremely high.
Not every Alim has this status however. Some people do a course for four or five months, or four or five years, and then think they are Imam Ghazali or Imam Bukhari radhiAllahu anhuma. But look at their Hal and their lives – how can they equate themselves to these great personalities. A person goes to Syria, or another Arab country, but this is all for Dunya, my brothers. A scholar is a scholar if in his hand and in his life there is Amal and Haq, truth. He has no connection with the Dunya; there is no pride or showing off. Such a person has a great status. The Qur’an has praised such Ulema. Their Duas are great, their status is great – the fish do Dua for them! This is not achieved by running off and doing courses. Become like the great ones, for whom the fish make Dua. Annihilate your Nafs and your desires, don’t just pick up books and recite, claiming to be an Alim and citing the this or that technical point. Ok this is good, MashaAllah, but get to that Maqam and status where the Nafs has been washed and cleaned and the desires have been removed. Shake yourself down – are you trying to deceive Allah?
{وَلَا تَشۡتَرُواْ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنً۬ا قَلِيلاً۬} Allah says that they sell themselves for small points: ‘Part not with my Revelations for a trifling price, and keep your duty unto Me.’ Allah is saying that those people destroy the Deen if they spread ideas in which there is no Shari’ah and no Sunnah. Indeed, they tell people to go away from the Sunnah and they denigrate the Sunnah, saying ‘This is not necessary. You don’t need to do this – in this generation it is too hard. You don’t have to do this action and you can compromise with that matter.’
Allahu Akbar, Allah says {وَلَا تَلۡبِسُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ بِٱلۡبَـٰطِلِ وَتَكۡتُمُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ وَأَنتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ}. Hadhrat Hakim-ul-Ummah rahmatullah alayh made a beautiful explanation of this as well. Allah says ‘Confound not truth with falsehood, and do not knowingly conceal the truth.’ SubhanAllah. Regarding {وَلَا تَلۡبِسُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ بِٱلۡبَـٰطِلِ}, Hadhrat Hakim-ul-Ummah says that the Batil Alim will hide the Haq, but if he can’t hide it then he will give the wrong explanation because he is getting money and material gain thereby. Pir Sahib will do the same. Yes! Let us survey the world today. How many Alims and Pir Sahibs are in the world today who spread the Shari'ah and Sunnah? How many are there who spread the pure Deen of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, for which the Qur’an was sent? {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ مُصَدِّقً۬ا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ} – ‘Believe in this message that I have sent to you!’ How many people are doing this work of the Deen today, tell me. May Allah forgive, may Allah forgive.
This is the biggest Fitnah of this day and age – remember this point. It is the biggest Fitnah and the biggest deception. The Yahud and the Nasaara in previous generations played this same game, and this Fitnah has taken hold among the Muslims in this generation. And which group spreads this more than any other? Our heads, our leaders. I am not talking about the Ulema-e-Haq, the true scholars, those Ulema who live by Qur’an and Sunnah. I am not talking about them – their rank is great, supreme. I am talking about the false Ulema, and the Qur’an has mentioned details about them. Hadhrat Anas radhiAllahu anh narrated that the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated that a person who teaches Qur’an but doesn’t do Amal on the Qur’an has made his abode in hellfire. Listen to this point. It doesn’t matter how high his reputation is, whether he has done Hifdh and learned Tafseer and taught other Alims; if he puts all of that into his shop and his concern is for material assets and Dunya, then his abode is hellfire. His rank has plummeted.
After the Ambiya, the scholars have the highest rank. The Alim of the age is the deputy of the Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam. He looks after the whole generation. Examples of this are clear to see. When the Indian sub-continent changed for the worse and Kufr and darkness spread, one personality came, SubhanAllah. Allah ta’ala revived the Deen through one person - Mujaddid Alf Thani, Hadhrat Sheikh Ahmad Sarhindi Farooqui rahmatullah alayh. He totally revived the whole generation. If one Alim is honest, true and sincere, this is enough for the whole of the UK. He would not need Madrasas and institutes for Hifdh; I swear by Allah that one true Alim would revive the land – that is how great an Alim is.
But we set up systems like printing machines, churning out Alim after Alim and Moulana after Moulana, with Tafseers and commentaries everywhere – every house has someone who has graduated or is studying. Scholars are being churned out. And womenfolk also come through these factories, and then - may Allah forgive – they run away from home. They run away from their homes and leave the Deen because they have no Ikhlas. The teacher is making money, and then the graduates are opening up shop as well. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that such have earned their abode in hellfire.
Hadhrat Umar bin Shuaib narrated a lengthy Hadith in which it is stated that a person will be presented on the Day of Judgement and he will be made an example of due to the Qur’an. That person will have transgressed the boundaries of the Qur’an and will have made Halal Haram and Haram Halal. He will have swapped them and transgressed the boundaries, behaving in the opposite way to the practice outlined by the Qur’an and the Deen, even though Allah ta’ala gave him the Qur’an and he was a Hafidh with knowledge – but he wasted it. This is stated about a person who transgressed the boundaries, wasted the compulsory deeds and left the obedience and practice - can he call himself an Alim? Can a person be an Alim if he leaves Salah? If he wastes his Fajr Salah and runs away from Dhuhr Salah, can he call himself an Alim? He is a false scholar even if he has done courses in Sham or Egypt and others call him a scholar.
Mufti Taqi Sahib’s respected father made him an Alim, but Mufti Taqi Sahib’s Sheikh, Hadhrat Arif bi’llah rahmatullah alayh told him that he couldn’t give Bayans for ten years. He said to both brothers, Hadhrat Rafi’ Usmani sahib and Hadhrat Mufti Taqi Usmani sahib, ‘Sit down, stay with me, do Tarbiyyah and reform yourselves.’ This is how their Tazkiyyah was done and their Nafs was made. And now, if you listen to their Bayans, I swear by Allah, you see the Haq in the words of Hadhrat Mufti Taqi sahib. There is no fraud or deception, just Qur’an and Sunnah. You will see this.
Instead, we see people running to Syria and Egypt to learn Arabic and so on, but the objective is Dunya. They get hung up on technical points and start reciting Sahih al-Bukhari. But if you want to be regarded as an Alim so that you can have Maqam and status, the Qur’an has a Nasiha for you. I am not saying this; the Qur’an is saying this: {وَلَا تَلۡبِسُواْ ٱلۡحَقَّ} – Do not hide the Qur’an, and do not run after the Dunya to make money out of Qur’an and Hadith. Become a Hafidh and learn Ilm and become an Alim after that, but what should we do then? Do a seven-year or eight-year course, and then sit in the dust of the slippers of the Wali of Allah for sixteen years so that you can clean your heart like Mufti Taqi sahib and Mufti Rafi’ sahib. Their father was a pre-eminent scholar and Mufti of Deoband, the highest Mufti, and that is how he reformed and honed his sons.
But here, before they have even graduated, the students are giving Bayans and giving Tafseer and making technical points and so on. And then where are they going? They are associating with people who don’t even have Deen, whose faces and example are far from Deen. They learn Arabic in the midst of all these rumours and mistaken thinking. Yes, learn Arabic for it is an important language, but there, among people of ignorance? They learn Arabic and the technical points and Masaa’il, and the mother and father praise them to their friends for having studied this or that, and all the while they are earning their abode in Jahannam.
What a big point, and what an important lesson. How will justice be meted out? They will be dragged into hell by their mouths. Instead of having a crown placed upon their head and being given a high and lofty status and Maqam, they will have earned their abode in hell. And in the same way, the false Pirs, the liar Sheikhs, those false people sitting on their seats and claiming connection to this or that chain of teachers, what Tazkiyya are they doing? What Batin are they cleaning and what reformation are they implementing? What is there apart from food and gatherings for eating and making money? Pirs have no other occupation today. They have different coloured caps and Topis, red, yellow or orange clothes, and tall caps. They go to graveyards and tombs and what actions do they endorse there?
This is a big message from the Qur’an today. Allah says {وَءَامِنُواْ بِمَآ أَنزَلۡتُ} Remember one point. This is the Qur’an. The Tawrah and the Injeel and the Zaboor have come, and since Adam alayhi salam, more than one hundred thousand Prophets came, and every one of them had one mission, one objective. One message was given to them – every one of them had this message confirmed: ‘Obey and follow My final Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam and his Shari’ah.’ That’s it. Then you will leave this world successful; otherwise, not.’ {وَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱتَّقُونِ} What is Allah saying? ‘Fear Me. Keep your duty unto Me and fear Me.’ Allah Akbar. If we have fear of Allah, then we will be saved; but if fear of Allah is not inside us, then what right actions will we do? We will be away from that. How does fear of Allah come? The Qur’an says: go and sit with those people who have fear of Allah inside their hearts. That’s it! Seek such a person. Don’t seek Dunya and material things - seek the fear of Allah through the company that you keep. Sit with him and fear of Allah will come into your heart, and inshaAllah you will start to understand the Deen. Become a Muttaqi - have fear of Allah and leave the rest.
May Allah ta’ala give us all the understanding of the Qur’an, give us connection to the Qur’an, and may we learn to read the Qur’an and attain the real essence of the Qur’an. May Allah allow us to do Amal upon that and may Allah ta’ala make us into great Alims, and make us people who propagate the Qur’an. May Allah ta’ala give us Amal in our lives, so that physically and visibly we can give Tableegh to the people around us.
وأخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين