مواعظ

The believer always attributes good to Allah: A subtle benefit: In Surah ash-Shuʿara, Ibrahim عليه السلام says, “And when I am ill, it is He who heals me.” He does not say, “When He makes me ill, He heals me.” Although both illness and healing occur by Allah’s decree, Ibrahim عليه السلام attributes the healing explicitly to Allah while leaving the mention of illness unassociated with Him. This is a beautiful example of the adab of speaking about Allah, similar to wording of the earlier verse, “the One Who created me, and He guides me.”

There are so many gems in the Qur’an. You must recite and listen to it, even if it is just five verses, while pondering over them - reading the sharh and tafsir, watching lessons, speaking to others, and seeing how they connect the verses of Allah to their own lives. Muhammad 47:24 أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ أَمۡ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبٍ أَقۡفَالُهَآ Then do they not reflect upon the Qur’an, or are there locks upon [their] hearts?

Another lesson can be drawn from the encounter between Allah ﷻ and Moosa عليه السلام when Allah asked him, “And what is that in your right hand, O Moosa?” Allah ﷻ, of course, already knew what was in his hand. He knew that it was his staff, He knew what Moosa used it for, and He knew its significance to him. Yet He asked Moosa عليه السلام to speak about it himself. Moosa عليه السلام then explained that it was his staff, that he relied upon it for support, used it for various purposes, and benefited from it in his daily life. There is something deeply comforting in this: Allah already knows, yet He still asks you to speak. Then Allah ﷻ commanded Moosa عليه السلام to throw down his staff. And here there is another profound lesson. Moosa had just described something upon which he relied and which served him in numerous ways. Yet Allah asked him to let it go. Sometimes Allah ﷻ may do something similar with us. He may know that we have begun to place an excessive degree of dependence upon something other than Him - perhaps our career, our companions, our family, our possessions, our plans, or even a particular person. And so He may ask us to release it. He may distance it from us, remove it from our lives, or place us in circumstances where we feel completely alone. That does not necessarily mean that Allah is punishing us. Sometimes, He is teaching us where our reliance truly belongs. Moosa عليه السلام threw down the very thing he had just described as useful and important to him. And when he did so, it transformed into something frightening - a serpent. Yet that same story eventually became part of the means through which Allah demonstrated His signs and guided people. This teaches us that something Allah ﷻ removes from you may not be removed because it was inherently bad for you. Sometimes He distances you from something because He knows what you do not know. What initially feels like loss, deprivation or abandonment may eventually become a source of immense khayyr.

Secondly, we learn that men should be willing to assist women when they are in need, whether those women are related to them or not, while still maintaining the appropriate boundaries and standards of modesty prescribed in Islam. This is beautifully illustrated in the story of Moosa عليه السلام when he encountered the two women who were standing apart and unable to water their livestock. Moosa عليه السلام noticed that they were not approaching the other men and, recognising their shyness and modesty, he took the initiative himself. He approached them, asked what was preventing them from watering their livestock, and offered his assistance. There is also a lesson here for women in maintaining Haya and not feeling compelled to compete with men in every circumstance. These women did not attempt to push their way through the men or insist that they had the same right to access the water at that particular moment. They patiently waited until the men had finished and then proceeded. This is a particularly relevant lesson for women in situations such as ʿUmrah, where it is not necessary for a woman to compete with men or push through crowds merely to touch the Kaʿbah or reach a particular place. There is no virtue in compromising one's modesty or placing oneself in unnecessary situations (protest, elections, male dominated fields, etc) of physical proximity simply in order to obtain something. Likewise, there is a lesson for men: when they encounter a woman who genuinely requires assistance, they should not simply overlook her.

Multiple lessons can be drawn from the story of Mooosa عليه السلام. One of the foremost is that our relationships with people can profoundly shape our relationship with Allah ﷻ. The way we relate to those around us can, in many ways, influence how we perceive Allah, how we turn towards Him, and the nature of the connection we cultivate with Him. This is beautifully reflected throughout the story of Moosa عليه السلام. His story begins with his mother, who was commanded by Allah to place her infant son in the river and entrust him to His care. For any mother, this must have been an unimaginably difficult command. Yet her response demonstrated an extraordinary degree of yaqeeen. She had to surrender the child she loved while trusting that Allah's promise was greater than her fear. Allah ﷻ tells us that He strengthened her heart so that she would remain among the believers. Then there was his sister, who followed him and watched over what became of him. We also encounter the women of Madyan, who approached Moosa عليه السلام with modesty and shyness while seeking assistance in watering their livestock. And then there was Aasiyah عليها السلام herself. Throughout Moosa's life, relationships with women were deeply intertwined with his upbringing, circumstances and companionship. These relationships formed part of the environment through which Allah ﷻ shaped him. We also see this in his relationship with his brother, Haroon عليه السلام. When Moosa عليه السلام was given the immense responsibility of confronting Firʿawn, he asked Allah to strengthen him through his brother: someone who could support him, share his burden and give him strength. Even Moosa's mistakes and difficult encounters contributed to his development. When he intervened in the dispute between two men and unintentionally killed one of them, he immediately recognised his error and sought Allah's forgiveness. Later, when confronted with another conflict, he recognised the danger of returning to the same behaviour and attributed it to Shaytaan. His past experience had taught him, refined him and changed the way he responded. And then we see the culmination of this development when Firʿawn pursued Moosa عليه السلام and the Children of Israel. When the people became terrified and believed they were certain to be overtaken, Moosa عليه السلام responded with complete certainty: “No! Indeed, with me is my Lord; He will guide me.” The same Moosa whose mother had once been terrified when commanded to place her infant son into the river had grown into a man whose heart possessed such profound certainty in Allah that, even when the circumstances appeared completely hopeless, he remained assured of his Lord.

It is profoundly important to befriend the Qur’an, because life is inherently transient and ever-moving. Even if you yearn for stability, stillness, and a sense of permanence, life will continue to unfold in ways beyond your anticipation. You may move forward, retreat, take unexpected turns, rise or fall, and encounter circumstances whose direction you could never have foreseen. You will change places, experience geographical transitions, lose people you once thought would remain, and gain others you never expected to enter your life. There is an inherent unpredictability and constant motion to life. And when there is nothing steadfast around you except yourself, it is easy to become disoriented, unsettled, and lost. This is precisely why befriending the Qur’an is so important. One of the wisdoms I was just reflecting upon is why Allah ﷻ refers to the Qur’an as His words, as did the Prophet ﷺ, the Companions, the Tabiʿeen, and generations of Muslims thereafter. The Qur’an is the Word of Allah, and the words of Allah remain constant. They remain with you. They are from your Lord Himself; they guide you, elevate you, console you, and sustain you. They accompany you through hardship and ease, through certainty and confusion, through seasons of loss and seasons of abundance. Everything around you may change, but the Word of your Lord remains. It can become the one constant companion you return to when everything else feels unfamiliar. And so, it is important to recognise that the words of Allah are not merely something to recite or occasionally turn towards. They are something to befriend - to seek out, return to, become familiar with, and carry with you throughout the continual movement and uncertainty of life.

Az-Zukhruf 43:37 وَإِنَّهُمۡ لَيَصُدُّونَهُمۡ عَنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ وَيَحۡسَبُونَ أَنَّهُم مُّهۡتَدُونَ And indeed, they [i.e., the devils] avert them from the way [of guidance] while they think that they are [rightly] guided

Az-Zukhruf 43:36 وَمَن يَعۡشُ عَن ذِكۡرِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ نُقَيِّضۡ لَهُۥ شَيۡطَٰنࣰا فَهُوَ لَهُۥ قَرِينࣱ And whoever is blinded from remembrance of the Most Merciful - We appoint for him a devil, and he is to him a companion.

Az-Zukhruf 43:32 أَهُمۡ يَقۡسِمُونَ رَحۡمَتَ رَبِّكَۚ نَحۡنُ قَسَمۡنَا بَيۡنَهُم مَّعِيشَتَهُمۡ فِي ٱلۡحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡيَاۚ وَرَفَعۡنَا بَعۡضَهُمۡ فَوۡقَ بَعۡضࣲ دَرَجَٰتࣲ لِّيَتَّخِذَ بَعۡضُهُم بَعۡضࣰا سُخۡرِيࣰّاۗ وَرَحۡمَتُ رَبِّكَ خَيۡرࣱ مِّمَّا يَجۡمَعُونَ Do they distribute the mercy of your Lord? It is We who have apportioned among them their livelihood in the life of this world and have raised some of them above others in degrees [of rank] that they may make use of one another for service. But the mercy of your Lord is better than whatever they accumulate.

It was said to Yahya ibn Muʿadh al-Razi: “Your son has fallen in love with so-and-so.” He replied: “Praise be to Allah, who has brought him to the natural disposition of a human being.

It was said to one of the lovers, “What would you do if you attained the one you loved?” He replied: “I would delight my eyes by looking at their face, soothe my heart with their remembrance and conversation, conceal from them whatever they would not wish to have revealed, and I would not, through any unbecoming or disgraceful act, go so far as to violate the trust between us.”

Listening to the Quran feels as though life is being breathed into your soul.

Shaytaan convinces a person to abandon the Quran due to their shortcomings when the cure to their illnesses lies in holding firmly on to it.

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‎نفسك إن لم تشغلها بالطاعة شغلتك بالمعصية Something to consider is that being alone doesn’t necessarily mean that you are safe from evil company. {…إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَةٌ بِالسُّوءِ إِلَّا مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّي إِنَّ رَبِّي غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ} {…Indeed, the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil, except those upon which my Lord has mercy. Indeed, my Lord is Forgiving and Merciful."} Yusuf: 52 If you do not busy your nafs and occupy it with the remembrance of Allah and obedience to Him جل وعلا, it will busy you with disobedience and that which has no benefit.

Yunus 10:12 وَإِذَا مَسَّ ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَ ٱلضُّرُّ دَعَانَا لِجَنۢبِهِۦٓ أَوۡ قَاعِدًا أَوۡ قَآئِمࣰا فَلَمَّا كَشَفۡنَا عَنۡهُ ضُرَّهُۥ مَرَّ كَأَن لَّمۡ يَدۡعُنَآ إِلَىٰ ضُرࣲّ مَّسَّهُۥۚ كَذَٰلِكَ زُيِّنَ لِلۡمُسۡرِفِينَ مَا كَانُواْ يَعۡمَلُونَ And when affliction touches man, he calls upon Us, whether lying on his side or sitting or standing; but when We remove from him his affliction, he continues [in disobedience] as if he had never called upon Us to [remove] an affliction that touched him. Thus is made pleasing to the transgressors that which they have been doing.

You cannot afford to associate any negative emotions with the Quran. Whenever your motivation withers, reignite your heart with the love of the Quran. Remind yourself of the virtues of This Book, the gravity of this favour Allah عز وجل has bestowed upon you, and the rewards that await the companions of the Quran. May Allah make us from among them.

Hold firmly to the Quran for it is the reliever of sorrows, the extinguisher of anxieties, and the repeller of doubts. Flee to the Quran whenever something troubles you, you’ll find instant comfort, clarity, and guidance.