 Insha'Allah Ta'ala, for today's Khutbah I want to talk about an amazing Surah of the Qur'an. It is a Surah, the prototypical Surah of consolation, a Surah that has a lot of residents for us always and for all times Surah al-Duha chapter 93 of the Qur'an. Some historical background, we know that the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam when he went to the mountain of light and he received the revelation the Wahi descended upon him from Jubeel alaihi sallam and he was commissioned as a prophet and he saw Jubeel alaihi sallam in the incarnated form and when he exited the cave he saw Jubeel alaihi sallam in the way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created him covering the horizons and then he heard voices greeting him sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wa sallam saying yeah saying assalamu alaika ya Rasulallah will peace be upon you messenger of God and he would look and there was nobody there was as if these stones in the trees were greeting him sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wa sallam and of course he went to his wife on mother Khadija radiallahu ta'ala anhu radiallahu ta'ala anha and he explained what had happened and of course we know they went to Waraqah bin Naufal who said that he said to the prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam that the great namus the great nomos the great law of God has come unto you just as it came upon Musa alaihi sallam now a few more revelations came to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wa sallam and then there was a break in the revelation and during this break from what we can tell from the sources the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wa sallam was experiencing a bit of anxiety uneasiness and worry even some depression why was he experiencing this is because the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was a very self-reproaching person he had thought within himself sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and this is from his toadur this is from his humility sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that perhaps he had done something that angered allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was someone who wasn't always self victimizing himself that he wasn't blaming others for his problems he turned the spotlight inward as it were imama tabiri says on top of this some of the mushrikin had caught wind that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was declaring himself a prophet or that he was claiming that revelation was coming to him and they began to mock and ridicule him sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and some of them said and ridicule your shaitan has left you and some of them said to him in sarcasm and ridicule indeed his lord has forsaken him and hates him now when jibreel alaihi sallam did eventually come back to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and is mentioned in a hadith that is mentioned by many many of the mufassereen in the Quran that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he said jibreel alaihi sallam i felt a type of anxiety when you did not visit me and it's because i fell in love with you this is what he's saying to jibreel alaihi sallam i fell in love with you and felt a sense of longing towards you and i wanted to see you again and jibreel alaihi sallam said to him sallallahu alaihi wa sallam i fell in love with you as well and i felt a longing to see you again but i am a servant under command and i only descend by the permission of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so why was there a break in the revelation allahu alaihi wa sallam perhaps allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wanted to teach him and by us and us by extension as to how to deal with this type of situation in our lives perhaps sometimes we feel as if we are cut off as it were from divine providence something i hear a lot from the youth is you know i'm not feeling it anymore i used to hear the Quran this is what i'm hearing i used to hear the Quran and i would have a chill go up my spine and now i don't feel anything i used to pray fajr and i feel a sense of spirituality throughout my day or something like well i don't think my duas are being answered anymore i just don't feel like they're being answered dealing with the latter from the hadith the ulema have gathered that when we make a dua one of three things happen of course we know allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran when my servant asks you concerning me say that i am indeed close to them that i answer the supplication of every supplicant when he calls upon me we know that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said in the sound hadith that's supplication dua is the essence of worship so they say one of three things will happen either allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give you what you're asking for in this dunya they'll give it to you and all of us can testify to this there are certain things we make dua and it happens in the dunya or he won't give you that specific thing but will give you something better and you might not perceive it to be better and this better thing could simply be the fact that he saved us he prevented a moseeba from from afflicting us so it's ultimately good for us but sometimes we don't know what's good for us perhaps you love something that is not good for you that is bad for you that is evil for you or a third possibility that allah subhanahu wa ta'ala won't give us what we're asking for in this dunya at all then on the yawm al qiyama as it states in the hadith people will see jibal mountains of good deeds mountains of rewards and they will ask what is this and the answer will come that this is from your dua your supplications allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not answer your supplications in the dunya but he rewarded you for making those supplications in effect answering your dua in on the yawm al qiyama and the servant will say i wish none of my du'as were answered in the world i wish that none of my du'as were answered in the world in a hadith at tud midi and there's some weakness in the hadith the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam he said allah will answer as long as one does not become hasty a stajil and he said to the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam what does it mean to become hasty and he said that's when one says that's when the servant says i made dua to my lord and he never answered me so we have to be steadfast we have to keep asking allah subhanahu wa ta'ala one of my teachers even said keep nagging he used that word keep nagging allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he never grows tired when someone nags us we get tired we get frustrated but when we ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala repeatedly this is something that he loves and something that will benefit us inshallah ta'ala so the beginning of the surah allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says what dua taking a qasam taking an oath by the soothing morning light and the ulama many of the ulama here say dua is a symbol for the revelation itself dua is the soothing morning light the the the sunlight before it gets too hot it's very soothing and they say this is a symbol of the revelation now the prophet sallallahu he was a hanif he was a an archetypal monotheist he never worshipped idols he never engaged in the frivolity of the culture of the pre-islamic Arabs he was someone who was dedicated to the creed of ibrahim even before the wahi descended upon him and he would practice which is a way of saying that he would shun the idolatry of his people and seek solitude with his lord subhanahu wa ta'ala this is what his intellect his akal suggested to him his rational faculty through his intellect this is how keen and sharp his intellect was and how pure his fitra was and then the naqal the revelation descended upon him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and you have a convergence of intellect and revelation akal in naqal imam al razi he says this is the meaning of nurun ala nur in the famous ayat al nurun ala nur naqal in akal revelation and intellect ala subhanahu wa ta'ala says yakaadu zaitu ha yudi'u wala ulam tam seshu naam that that which is internal and and imam ad-bazali mentions that imam al razi also mentions that the misspah in this ayat is a is a reference to the heart of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and that the oil of the of the lamp that which is internal to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam his pure fitra or his rational faculty it would almost illuminate even though the fire the naar which is a symbol of the revelation itself has not even touched it meaning that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's understanding of ala subhanahu wa ta'ala his theological understanding if you will and his ethical worldview was almost perfectly in line with what would become in the sharia in the wahi and that there were sparks of this illumination that were witnessed by people in the pre-islamic days pre-prophetic miracles irhasat that were that were that were noticed by people like bahura the monk so we have this convergence of revelation and intellect wa layli idha saja and by the night when it is still this continues the qasam and the ulamma mentioned here that this is a reference to the the uh the break in the revelation that the duha is a reference to the revelation when it's shining and then there's a break in other words whether you're receiving revelation or not whether you sallallahu alayhi wa sallam are receiving revelation or not your lord has not forsaken you nor does he hate you nor does he hate and qala here as we mentioned in many many lectures is a transitive verb fi'l muta'adi which normally requires a direct object but allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here does not mention the direct object he doesn't say qala ka because he would never even insinuate that he hates the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa layli wa sallam and allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here identifies himself as the lord of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the rab the imminent deity the one who takes care of you this is why sufiyan al-fawri he said on the yawm al qiyama i would rather allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to judge me than my own parents because allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves me more than my own parents he is a rab he is the lord the imminent deity the one who takes care of us and the afterlife is better for you than the here and now that's one way of interpreting it or that what is later in life is better than the present moment and both meanings could be true at the same time in other words be optimistic have hope in the future don't be pessimistic don't be a cynic be optimistic ibn haja mentions and many other urlama mentioned that before the battle of khanda when the sahaba were digging the trench a moral was low they're digging ditches the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was seen he was very slender they weren't eating they tied rocks around their stomachs he tied two rocks around his stomach sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and there was this huge stone that nobody could crack so the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he picked up a pickaxe and he struck it and a spark flew and he says he said i have been given the keys of syria the keys of syria they're about to be attacked by a confederacy 10 000 people are about to storm the oasis of madina to manawara musrikeen from the south better when mercenary is from the east you have internal units that internal people in madina uh bani israeen and munafiqeen that are causing problems this is an all-out siege and what does he say sallallahu alayhi wa sallam i have the keys i have seen i have seen the the keys of syria the keys of syria have been given to me syria is under Byzantine control roman empire and then he strikes it again and there's another spark and he says allahu akbar i have been given the keys of persia and he strikes it a third time allahu akbar another spark in the in the stone shatters i've been given the keys of yemen morale was low he picked up his people sallallahu alayhi alayhi wa sallam he said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam it's amazing how wonderful how incredible is the affair of the believer all of his affairs are good all of his affairs are good when he's afflicted with something he's patient in times of prosperity he he is grateful the first people call the jannah on the yemen qiyama are those who praise allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in prosperity and in adversity what is later is better than the former and soon your lord will give you something and the object here again is not mentioned will give you something your lord the one who loves you and takes care of you he's going to give you something and immediately you'll be pleased imam usayuti mentions in his tafsir that when the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam heard this ayah he said i will never be pleased or even one person from my umma is in the fire so what is this thing that allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that will immediately please him the salvation of the entire umma of the prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the salvation of the entire umma there's a hadith in tirmidhi where the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said the last man to come out of the hellfire will come crawling out of the hellfire the last muwahid the true monotheist come crawling out of the hellfire and allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will say to him you will be given whatever you wish for and ten times the dunya the answer the response of this man is interesting he said he said are you mocking me are you ridiculing me are you making fun of me and you're the king and ibn mas'ud who relates the hadith he said the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam when he mentioned that he smiled until his nawajid his molars were showing and he said ibn mas'ud the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said ibn mas'ud the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the molars were showing that this man was so profoundly struck by the mercy of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that that he's the last one the worst of the believers and he gets ten times the dunya and everything he asked for this must be a joke you must be mocking me this was his immediate response and then allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and this is obviously something again that applies to us by extension allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam of past blessings were you not an orphan and he gave you shelter the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's father died before he was born his mother died when he was six his grandfather died when he was eight and allah subhanahu wa ta'ala kept taking care of him wasn't he taking care of you all of us can think of a crisis we were in and we came out of it whether it's a family crisis or a financial crisis with quroo ni'mat allahi alaykum allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commands us in the quran remember the blessing of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala upon you remember the past the past blessings allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continues and he found you and with respect to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam this does not mean that the prophet was astray or lost or something it means that he was searching that he was without sacred law that the shari'ah had not been revealed to him fahda and then he guided you with the wahi but now look at ourselves maybe we were leading lives completely heedless of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so how did we get here then think about it how did you get to salatul juma'a how did you get to islam it's a ni'mat of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at one point we were totally heedless at one point this was not a priority at all i'll tell you something when i was in ninth grade i was at the san mormon library and i was just studying there and a south asian brother who is an exchange student i think he was in my history class he saw me there and he said what is your name i said ali he said oh you're muslim and i said no not really my parents are muslim i think he said oh really so he started to tell me about the meaning of la ilaha illallah and he started to tell me about islamic ethics and wallahi i started laughing in his face i mocked and derided him i made fun of him i made fun of his accent i can remember this very very clearly allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not give up on me you probably have similar stories in your own life remember these past blessings allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is reminding the prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam these are things that he knows alam when allah subhanahu wa ta'ala begins a question with alam it is a rhetorical question in other words remember that alam ta'ala kaifa fa'ala rabbuka bi ashabil fil didn't you see what your lord did in other words remember what your lord did to the companions of the elephant the year you were born why do you think that happened i was protecting the city because you were going to be born you are my Habib sallallahu alaihi wasallam and he found you burdened with massive pressure and he enriched you imam al baghawi he says here that allah subhanahu wa ta'ala enriched the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam outwardly and inwardly outwardly through our lady khadija tul kubra radi allah ta'ala anha that she was his helper and his patron his first disciple may allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with her alayhi sallam and inwardly with what's known as zina nafs the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam he said al zina zina nafs true enrichment is the enrichment of the heart enrichment of the soul a soul that is free of desire for worldly things all that is other than allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is perishable and all that is perishable does not deserve to be in our hearts there's a hadith in our tradition of isa alaihi sallam or isa alaihi sallam the disciples the hawariyum they come to him and they say how do you how is it that you can walk on water and he said bring me three objects gold stones and mud so they brought them these three objects and he said to him he said to them what do you say about these three objects and they said oh the gold is better than the stones the stones are better than the mud he said they're all the same to me there's no difference learn the secret of that and you will transcend the physical you'll be able to walk on water ibn sidin he says that water when you see water in a dream the most prevalent meaning is that it's that it's knowledge so that the walk on water means to attain the highest type of knowledge means to attain ma'rifatullah intimate knowledge of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that if we see the world for what it is that is just mud we will transcend this world and enter into a type of knowledge of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala a type of true knowledge the greatest type of knowledge and then allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he says to finish the surah and now allah subhanahu wa ta'ala after reminding the prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam of past blessings and by extension all of us we remember past blessings we didn't know anything we didn't know one iota in our mother's wounds we were nothing we had no consciousness we're not conscious of anything at the time and now we're here now allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he's saying now look to those who are less fortunate than you this is how to come out of anxiety out of depression what are we depressed about we're inundated with mi'am of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala take a minute think about what happened in the past how allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guided us to this time right now and then think about those who are less fortunate than us ask for the orphan do not scorn him the prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam he said the one who takes care of an orphan will be with me like this in paradise and he put up his index finger in his middle finger like this sallallahu alaihi wa la ilihi wa sallam will be in prophetic company allah subhanahu wa ta'ala even says that if a man is struggling to take care of orphans and fears that he will not be able to treat them fairly then rather than discontinue his support he could marry additional women to help him take care of the orphans when kifthum ala tuqsitu fil yatamat faan kihu maa ta'baluku minan nisa'i it is not a necessary condition but it is the initial context such is the importance of taking care of the weakest of our human society of children and ask for the beggar do not repel him and i said malik he said that the prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam he never said la to anybody somebody asked him for something if it was within his capacity he would give to that person he never said la except when he said la ilaha illallah sallallahu alaihi wa la alihi wa sallam wa amma bini amma ti rabbika fa haqtith the final ayah and as for the blessing of thy lord proclaim imam al-kur to be said that the ni'mat allah mentioned in this final ayah of surah al-duha is a reference to the quran itself so what does this mean for us stay engaged with the quran don't leave the book of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but read it reflect upon it study its meanings memorize it implement it the prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam he said al-kur an hujjatul laka'u alaik awkama qala he said that the quran is either a proof for you or against you may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it a proof for us the prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam he said man ta'ala man qurana khayru kum man ta'ala man qurana wa allama he said the best of you are those who learn the quran and teach it to others may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the tufiq to learn the quran and to teach something of it to others man ta'ala man qurana wa an ma bina'umati rabbika fa haddith