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How Allah Uses “Tomorrow” in the Qur’an | Khutbah
In this Friday khutbah, Dr. Omar Suleiman takes a deeper look at the 5 ways in which Allah uses the word “tomorrow” in the Quran.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. We begin by praising Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for him. And we bear witness that Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is his final messenger. We ask Allah to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in his blessed path until the Day of Judgment. And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma Ameen. Dear brothers and sisters, of the most revolutionary things that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam brought to this world was that he was able to shift the mindset of a people who did not believe in any life after death whatsoever and turn it into a mindset in which everything that they hoped for, everything that they longed for, was the eternal life beyond that grave. Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, I want you to imagine having grown up your entire life believing, أَإِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا وَعِظَامًا أَإِنَّا لَمَدِينُونَ Once we die and we become sticks and bones, do we ever return back? Do we ever really see anything after that? And to take that type of a mindset and to make it so that all you're thinking about is that which comes after the grave and a Jannah that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has promised you, a paradise that is more expansive than the heavens and the earth أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ and that has been promised for people of God consciousness. Now Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, this idea of shifting what life actually is, is something that completely revolutionized even the language that the Arabs would use around the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. In fact, even in the Qur'an itself, when Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la mentions that on the Day of Judgment, as a person starts to see the initiation of it, they would say يَا لَيْتَنِي قَدَّمْتُ لِحَيَاتِي O how I wish I would have prepared for my life, حَيَاتِي
If you say to anyone, my life, they're going to assume that you're talking about حَيَاتِ الدُّنْيَا, the life of this world. But Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is saying that on the Day of Judgment, once the initiation of the Day of Judgment begins, a person will refer to that which is to come as their life as if that which preceded it was not actually life. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam turned that into an optimism when he said اللَّهُمَّ لَا عِيشَ إِلَّا عِيشُ الْآخِرَةِ O Allah, there is no life except for the life of the Hereafter. Not that the life of the Hereafter is greater than this life. That in the true sense of the word, there is no life except for the life of the Hereafter. And so I was intrigued Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la by the word tomorrow and I'll tell you exactly why. When we celebrate the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, one of the things that makes him so beloved to us is his humility despite his greatness Alayhi Salatu Wasalam. And the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam could have exploited the deep emotional attachment that people had to him. He could have built himself an amazing home Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He could have consumed the wealth of this world. He could have had the people kissing his feet. No one would have said anything to him. They loved him that much Alayhi Salatu Wasalam. As Abu Sufyan said, I never saw a man more beloved to his people than Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to his people. He could have made his grave an entire monument. But the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam wanted to be buried underground in his home with nothing on top of it. He could have said and done so much Alayhi Salatu Wasalam. But he was a man Alayhi Salatu Wasalam who was dedicated to his mission. And dedicated to making sure that the concepts that he had been brought with would never be compromised. And that he would warn about those things. And so for example, Al-Rubai'ah bint Mu'awwidh radiAllahu anha. And this is where this entire khutbah comes from. SubhanAllah is a very interesting moment.
Al-Rubai'ah was speaking about her wedding. And she says that at my wedding, the Ansar started to sing these songs. Where they started to memorialize some of their fathers and their forefathers from Badr. And then they came to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and they started to praise the Messenger Alayhi Salatu Wasalam. And he is the most praiseworthy human being that's ever walked the face of the earth. But they said in their lyrics, وَفِينَا نَبِيٌ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي غَدٍ And we have a Prophet amongst us who knows what will happen tomorrow. And the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam stops the wedding if you will. Stops the nasheed, stops the singing. And he says to them Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, not in a harsh way, but in a way to correct the concept that no one knows what happens tomorrow except Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And I'm no exception to that. Remove that line, وَفِينَا نَبِيٌ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي غَدٍ That we have a Prophet amongst us who knows what's tomorrow. He could have let it go, right? He could have said, well maybe there are implications, there are layers. But he understood Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that this could potentially undermine everything that he was bringing to his people Alayhi Salatu Wasalam. Because when Allah Azawajal says, وَمَا تَدْرِي نَفْسٌ مَاذَا تَكْسِبُ غَدًا وَمَا تَدْرِي نَفْسٌ بِأَيِّ أَرْضٍ تَمُوتُ No one knows what they will earn tomorrow. And no one knows in what land they will die. That the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is included in that. Now here's the interesting thing about that usage. I want you to imagine if you were living in that community five years into the messengership of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And you familiarize yourself with the Quran and with these concepts of the unseen and the hereafter.
And the word tomorrow is used in your presence, غَد is used in your presence. And everybody around you understands that the word tomorrow actually means the day of judgment. Subhanallah. If that was not an important shift in mindset, Allah Azawajal would not speak of it as such in the Quran. When Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala uses the word tomorrow in the Quran, Allah Azawajal is referring to the day of judgment. يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَلْتَنظُرُ نَفْسٌ مَا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ O you who believe, be mindful of Allah and pay attention to what you have put forth for tomorrow. And Qatada Rahimallah, he comments on this. He says قَرَّبَ السَّاعَةَ حَتَّى جَعَلَهَا كَالْغَدٍ Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has brought the hour so near to you that it's as if it's tomorrow. And imagine if you opened your calendar, your Google calendar, and instead of thinking Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you thought today, and then you had on your calendar the day of judgment tomorrow. Not I'm looking for the signs around me, not something is happening here or there, but the day of judgment is tomorrow. Imagine what that would do for your muhasabah, for your self-accountability on a daily basis, where you look back at the day and say this was my last day on earth. Imagine what it would do for your relationships. So when the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, وَلَا تَكَلَّمْ بِكَلَامٍ تَعْتَذِلُ مِنْهُ غَدًّا Don't say something today, you'll have to apologize for tomorrow. Imagine what that would do for your relationships. Imagine what that would do in regards to your actions. If every day you look at your calendar and it says today is Friday, tomorrow is the day of judgment. And Allah wants you to think about tomorrow that way. Not to horrify you, but to make you accountable and responsible. Not to paralyze you, but to allow the vision of tomorrow to shape every single thing that you do today.
And you find in this ayah, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تَقُوا اللَّهَ وَلْتَنظُرُ نَفْسٌ مَا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَدُونَ O you who believe, be mindful of Allah and pay attention to what you have put forth for tomorrow, being the day of judgment. وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ And be mindful of Allah. The ulema mention that the reason why Allah mentions وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ twice here, or of the benefits that Allah عز و جل mentions, as Imam Hassan al-Basri رحمه الله said, that the first وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ is in regards to your past. فيما مضى من الذنوب In regards to what you have done in the past that you have not rectified. And this is a big problem that we have sometimes. That we don't rectify the wrongs of yesterday, and we just hope that they'll disappear tomorrow. And we're not a people like that. We're taught not to despair, but we are taught to repent. We are taught to make the things that we did wrong right to the best of our ability. To correct what we have done. To do proper tawbah. To make sure that we have done our best to correct our previous mistakes. Not be doomed by them, but do our best To make sure that we have at least covered our bases with Allah. That when He asks about yesterday, we can say we did our best. So the first وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ فيما مضى من الذنوب As Imam Hassan al-Basri رحمه الله says. He said the second وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ is in regards to your future deeds. Now that you've learned from yesterday, what are you doing about it tomorrow? You see, when they say learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. For us, it would be a little bit more of live for tomorrow as well. But learn from yesterday and live for tomorrow. And place today somewhere in between. Learn from yesterday, live for tomorrow. وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ So Allah reminds you. Think about it.
Put tomorrow in front of you as if it's the day of judgments. Likewise, a lot of times when we find ourselves in a situation where we have been wronged. Where it's hard for us to let go of the pain that's been inflicted upon us yesterday or today. And that stops us from moving forward in regards to our future. SubhanAllah, look what Allah عز و جل said to Salih عليه السلام سَيَعْلَمُونَ غَدًا مَنِ الْكَذَّابُ الْأَشِرُ They will come to know, O Salih, everything they say to you. Every name that they call you. They call you an arrogant liar. They will come to know tomorrow as in the day of judgments. Who the arrogant liar actually is. Don't worry about it. Their words will come back to them. Their actions will come back to them. Instead, تَنظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ What have you put forth for tomorrow? What have you invested in your tomorrow? Now the reason why I share this brief reminder, dear brothers and sisters. SubhanAllah, we have another janazah today after Salatul Jumu'ah. And if you've been paying attention, the amount of janazah sometimes three times a day, sometimes even nine times a day last week. The amount of janazah have been many. And you need to think to yourself, how many people wait for an imaginary tomorrow and don't focus on the definite tomorrow. Imam Hassan al-Basri rahimahullah said, I've never seen something as certain as death that people pretend doesn't exist. It is as certain as they come, but they pretend it doesn't exist. And I want you to think about your muhasabah. I want you to think about your self-accountability tonight, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, today. When you shut that book, when you shut that phone, when you shut whatever it is that you're doing, when your record for the day closes today, are you comfortable meeting Allah tomorrow? That's the question.
Am I ready to meet Allah tomorrow? And if Allah Azawajal found it so important that we even remove the word tomorrow from our language in regards to the things that we may or may not do tomorrow in a dunya-y perspective, وَلَا تَقُولُونَ لِشَيْءٍۢ فَاعِلٌ ذَلِكَ غَدًّا Don't say I'm gonna do it tomorrow unless Allah Azawajal wills. If Allah found it that important for you to use it that way, then think of it that way as well. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la allow us to sincerely repent from the wrongs of yesterday and today. And may Allah Azawajal allow us to receive the greatest blessing of tomorrow. And may Allah make us like Bilal RadhiAllahu Ta'ala Anhu, who when he was passing away, he said, وَافَرْحَىٰ to his wife who said, وَاحِزْنَا She said, what a day of grief. And he said, what a day of joy. غَدًا نَلْقَى الْأَحِبَّ مُحَمَّدًا وَحِزْبًا Tomorrow we will meet our beloved ones, Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and his companions. May our tomorrow be with our beloved Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam May our eternity be as his neighbors SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la remove from us any of the sins that which we have committed against ourselves or against anyone else to be removed and not be a barrier between us and him and be a barrier between us and our desired neighbor SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam Allahuma Ameen أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم رسالة المسلمين فاستغفروا إنه الغفور الرحيم الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وصحبه ومن ولاه اللهم اغفر المؤمنين والمؤمنات والمسلمين والمسلمات الأحياء منهم والأمات إنك سميع قريب مجيب دعوات اللهم اغفر لنا وارحمنا واعفو عنا ولا تعذبنا ربنا ظلمنا أنفسنا وإذا لم تغفر لنا وترحمنا لنكوننا من الخاسرين اللهم إنك عفو كريم تحب العفو فاعفو عنا
اللهم اغفر لوالدينا رب ارحمهما كما ربنا صغارا ربنا هبلنا من أزواجنا وذرياتنا قرة أعين وجعلنا للمتقين إماما اللهم انصر إخواننا المستضعفين في مشارك الأرض ومغاربها اللهم اعز الإسلام والمسلمين وأذل الشرك والكاذبين ودمر أعداء الدين اللهم أهلك الظالمين بالظالمين وأخرجنا وإخوانا من بين المسالمين عباد الله أن الله يأمر بالعدل والإحسان وإيتاء ذي القربة وينهى عن الفحشاء والمنكر والباغي يَعِذُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهِ يَذْكُرُكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوهُ عَلَى النِّعْمَاءِ يَزِدْ لَكُمْ وَلَذِكْرُوا اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلُمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ وَأَقِيمَ الصَّلَاةِ Thanks for watching!
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