# The 4 Decrees Written For You In Your Mother’s Womb | Anchored Ep. 3

**Author:** Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy
**Series:** Anchored
**Published:** 2026-09-26
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/NaNIBKD0_xs
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/khutbah/the-4-decrees-written-for-you-in-your-mothers-womb-anchored-ep-3
**Topics:** Islamic Ethics

## Description
What you do in private is not hidden forever. On the Day of Judgment, your worship will be made public and it will either illuminate your path or speak against you. Every action you take is shaping your reputation, not just in this world, but in the next. Your character, consistency, and sincerity...

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Your du'a and your righteousness can change destiny. You know what will not change destiny though? Your anxiety about your destiny. There are endless accounts of people who are prompted at death to say la ilaha illallah. And all they can say is the music they used to always listen to, chanting lyrics.

**[0:17]** They will mention the names of the people that they had haram relationships with. It can be a fine line sometimes when I find this aspect of Islam challenging and I hate Islam for this reason. It is about you being a lifelong learner. It is about you respectfully asking questions.

**[0:33]** Is this from the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, or did this seep in from culture? What is so dangerous about bid'ah? What is so dangerous about innovations? Do we offer equivalent opportunities for our sisters to grow in their Islam and carry Islam to others

**[0:49]** the way the earliest, best generations of Islam did? Welcome you all back to the 40 Nawawi Hadith collection and what we can glean from it,

**[1:06]** especially in our capacity as today's Muslims or Muslims in modern times. We are inshallah going to cover Hadith four and five today. Inshallah, Hadith one was the hadith of intentions. Hadith two is the hadith of Jibreel

**[1:21]** about Islam, Iman, Ihsan and the hour. Hadith three was the five pillars of Islam. Now Hadith four. Hadith four is narrated by Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, RadhiAllahu Anhu, one of the earliest and most distinguished of the scholarly companions

**[1:39]** RadhiAllahu Ta'ala Anhum. He narrates and he says, Hadathana Rasulullahi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam wa huwa as-Sadiq al-Masdooq. The messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has said to us and he is the truthful and trustworthy.

**[1:57]** You know, he says this because much of today's hadith will be aspects of the unseen that may be hard for someone to comprehend. So it's as if he's saying, if you cannot comprehend it, it is enough to comprehend that it came from the messenger of Allah

**[2:13]** Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. As-Sadiq al-Masdooq, the truthful and trustworthy. Al-Masdooq, the one that is trusted by Allah and therefore should be trusted by us. That he said the following, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam:

**[2:29]** Inna ahadakum yujmau khalquhu fee batni ummihi arba'ina yawman nutfah. That one of you is formed inside of the womb of their mother for 40 days as a drop of fluid.

**[2:45]** Of course, this is the drop of semen, right? A drop of fluid. He says, thumma yakoon alaqatan mithla dhalik. And then he becomes a clot-like substance, a clot of blood for a like period, for a similar period.

**[3:01]** Thumma yakoon mudghatan mithla dhalik. And then he becomes a piece of flesh, morsel of flesh, chewed-like substance. Mudghah, mudghah means to chew, by the way. Mudghah is something you chew out and you pull it. It becomes like a chewed-like substance

**[3:17]** or a morsel of flesh for a like period. Thumma yursalu ilayhi al-malak. And then the angel is sent to this emerging human being, right, this fetus. Fa yanfukhu feehi ar-rooh.

**[3:32]** And blows the soul, blows the spirit into this fetus. Wa yu'maru bi arba'i kalimat. And this angel is commissioned, is charged with writing down four decrees. They are writing down

**[3:49]** amalihi wa rizqihi wa ajalihi wa shaqiyyun aw sa'id. To write down the actions of this person and to write down the provisions of this person and to write down the lifespan of this person

**[4:05]** and to write whether this person will eventually be of those who are wretched, doomed, or those who are prosperous, those who attain salvation. This is the first half of the hadith and we will unpack it here before moving on to the second half.

**[4:22]** You know, first, before anything else, this hadith may, at first glance, come off to some of us that are medically trained or scientifically trained as a little bit problematic. Because, as some of you may know better than me,

**[4:39]** if it takes 120 days, that is contrary to established observable realities, right? Like, if there is an abortion or a miscarriage, at 120 days, the fetus is fully formed. They're way more than just a lump of flesh, right?

**[4:57]** It's actually not that problematic, believe it or not. Why? There is another hadith or another narration, a variant wording of this hadith of Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, Radiallahu Anhu, in Sahih Muslim. So, a variant narration within Sahih Muslim

**[5:15]** where he said, Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam, thumma yakoon alaqatan fee thalik mithla dhalik. And then, after being a drop of semen initially, then they become a clot in that same period for a like period.

**[5:32]** Meaning, the same way it spends some time as a drop of fluid, it will spend some time as a clot. And the hadith continues, it says in that also, it will spend some time as a morsel of flesh, but always repeating the statement fee thalik in that same 40 days. That is a variant narration in Sahih Muslim

**[5:49]** from Ibn Mas'ud for this hadith. And by the way, FYI, for those who do not know, Imam Muslim, Rahimahullah, was known to be particularly particular, particularly stringent on his criteria

**[6:05]** when it came to the wording of a hadith. You know, Al-Imam Al-Bukhari, Rahimahullah, was often celebrated as the most authentic hadith book after the Qur'an, most authentic hadith book in terms of the transmission. This is absolutely true. But Al-Imam Al-Bukhari, Rahimahullah,

**[6:21]** would permit a hadith that was paraphrased reliably, not just paraphrased in a reliable way. Whereas Imam Muslim used to actually require, of his particularities, he would require verbatim narration.

**[6:37]** He was not comfortable with paraphrasing. So this is the narration in Sahih Muslim. You add to it another hadith in Sahih Muslim, different hadith now, from Hudhaifah Ibn Asid, Radiallahu Anhu, where he says that the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said,

**[6:54]** after 42 nights have passed over the drop of fluid, right? Like 42 nights from conception, essentially. Allah sends an angel and that angel begins to fashion

**[7:09]** the sort of the flesh and the bones. And the angel says, listen carefully. The angel says, Ya Rabbi, my Lord, mukhallaqa am ghayri mukhallaqa? Like, will it have distinct features or will it not? Will it be a miscarriage, essentially?

**[7:24]** Like, do we move forward on the embryogenesis and the genesis of the organs or not? And then it says, ay rabbi, my Lord. This hadith is extraordinary, subhan'Allah. My Lord, adh-dhakaran am untha? Will it be a male or will it be a female?

**[7:41]** What's very amazing here is that we know today from medical science that when does gonad differentiation happen? In other words, when is there sort of on the external side, of course, chromosomes from day one, but on the external side,

**[7:57]** when you're featuring, right? The features of the reproductive organs get differentiated, male versus female, when they say approximately what? The six week mark. After six weeks.

**[8:13]** Seven times six is what? 42. So this is the hadith of Hudhayfah ibn Asid radi Allahu 'anhu, which further corroborates the fact that all of this is taking place within the first 40 or 42 days. Is that clear?

**[8:29]** There's actually a third reason why. It becomes very easy, and you can very confidently say this hadith is talking about first 40 days for all three of these stages, right? They happen, are contained within the first 40 days. It is because the ayah in Surah Al-Mu'minun,

**[8:44]** the ayah in Surah Al-Mu'minun, while keeping it extra brief, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, you know, we created the human being from a drop of fluid, then we turned it into seven different stages, not just three. And then it says thumma and then thereafter.

**[9:01]** Thumma here is different than the fa.  Then it says thumma and then later, different than fa, different particle in the Arabic language. And then we turned it into a completely different creation

**[9:16]** as Ali radi Allahu 'anhu said from the Sahaba, that's insoulment, which happens after everything else. So this is why, not just because sort of there's a gotcha moment from modern science, not at all. Yes, historically, most scholars preferred the narration

**[9:33]** of Sahih al-Bukhari, because they had no reason to say, you know, it's actually the variant narration Muslim is the more correct interpretation. But there have been scholars as early as even the seventh century, like Al-Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah rahimahullah,

**[9:50]** who said, no, no, no, not because of modern science, but because the hadith's wording and the other hadith to bring them together seem to suggest this. They said that it all happens in the first 40 days. So there's no problem with this whatsoever scientifically. Is that clear? Does it sort of make sense?

**[10:06]** You know, there's a beautiful lesson here, like more important than reconciling this one hadith with modern science. It is for you to know that there is always a difference between like the scripture, the scriptural tradition,

**[10:22]** the ayat and the hadith, and between the scholarly tradition. The Qur'an and Sunnah when understood correctly will never ever contradict science. They cannot, they will not, doesn't exist. Whereas the scholarly tradition,

**[10:37]** when it coincides, when it lands on the right interpretation of the Qur'an and Sunnah, then it will never be wrong. It will never be at odds with reality, scientific reality or otherwise. But there is at the end of the day, the difference between the scholars who are human beings

**[10:54]** and the revelation, which is the knowledge of God, subhanahu wa ta'ala. So you don't need to necessarily reconcile every single thing, any scholar, even sometimes rarely, but sometimes the majority of scholars have said, you don't have to feel committed to do that. The same way you never have to feel obliged

**[11:11]** to defend anything any Muslim has ever done historically. Likewise, every single thing a scholar has interpreted, they are rewarded for their effort, but they're not infallible. Keep that in mind so that you never have an unnecessary crisis of faith.

**[11:32]** So when does the angel arrive though? The angel arrives when the body is ready to have life. Yes, after the body is developed, a lot of it is developed, within the first 40 or 42 days, but the scholars only agree,

**[11:49]** and science will not help you here because the soul is of the unseen. Microscopes won't help. It's unseen. But there are indications and cues that it could be before, but the scholars agree that by 120 days,

**[12:06]** insoulment takes place. Keep that in mind. This angel that comes and blows the soul into it, insoulment, it becomes alive. This happens not necessarily at 120, most scholars will say at, but all scholars will agree that it's by 120,

**[12:21]** meaning 120 or before, that's a matter of scholarly agreement. You know what this means? Why does it matter? It matters for a lot of reasons. That means after 120 days, which is 134 days, by the way,

**[12:37]** because the medical count, gestational, right? They count from the last missed period, by the way, but anyway, 120 days from conception, that's a human being fully alive inside of the mother. That is why abortion after 120 becomes the killing of life.

**[12:57]** It becomes categorically forbidden, never allowed except to save the life of the mother. Got it? There's also another ruling related to this. If an early termination happens unintended,

**[13:12]** a miscarriage were to take place, after 120 days, it is treated like a full human being, right? You know that the fetus comes out 120 days old or more, comes out alive, any signs of life, especially if there's any signs of life,

**[13:29]** then it gets a name, it gets a washing, it gets a shrouding, it gets a janazah prayer, it gets a burial, it gets an 'aqiqah, and that child gets to intercede for its parents on the day of judgment as well. It's a living human being, right?

**[13:47]** Reeling it back a little bit, after 40 days, what happens? After 40 days of pregnancy, that's 120, bring it back. After 40 days, meaning from 40 to 120, most scholars will tell you, you cannot abort

**[14:03]** because there is presumed life here. Cannot abort unless there is a pressing need, unless there is a serious pressing need, sort of an excessive hardship will ensue from the continuation of the pregnancy on the mother or something of this nature.

**[14:20]** Before 40 days, meaning the first 40 days of the pregnancy, most scholars will say abortion is more flexible. They differ on the details. So it's not sort of like a blank check or like you consult, but most scholars will permit abortion before 40 days,

**[14:40]** especially if there's a legitimate reason, for a legitimate reason, but consult on a case-by-case basis to make sure that the reason is not only legitimate in your imagination. Keep that in mind. Okay, so the angel comes and blows the spirit

**[14:57]** into one of us when we're in the womb of our mothers. Then that angel is charged with documenting four things. What are the four things? His actions, his provisions, his lifespan,

**[15:13]** and whether he will be wretched or prosperous. Everything is documented, but it can be edited. It can be edited. This is why Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala said in Surah Al-Ra'd,

**[15:29]** Yamhu Allahu ma yasha wa yuthbit wa indahu umm al-kitab. Allah erases whatever he wishes and confirms, meaning whatever he wishes of destiny, and with him is the mother of all books,

**[15:46]** and with him is the master record. This means what? According to sort of the scholarly position I'm advocating for here, there is some discussion on this, but in simple terms, my conviction for what it's worth,

**[16:02]** the take-home message is, aside from the master record, which is called the Lawh al-Mahfuz, the preserved tablet, you read about it throughout the Qur'an, it's called the preserved tablet because it's off-limits, it's preserved, it's unchanging, right? Anything but the preserved tablet, whether it is the daily record, there's a daily record,

**[16:19]** whether it is sort of the annual record, Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Decree, the Night of Destiny, whether it is the lifetime record that we find in this hadith, your lifetime of deeds is written, right? Whatever record besides the master record could be edited. In other words, what?

**[16:36]** Your du'a can change it. That's why the hadith tell us that your supplications wrestle with the decree, supplications going up and the decree coming down, and the stronger of the two prevails. And this is why the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wasallam,

**[16:52]** said, La yaruddu al-qada' ghayra al-du'a wa la yazidu fi al-'umuri illa al-birr. Nothing repels destiny like supplication, and nothing increases lifespan like righteousness. So the example I always give is, you know,

**[17:09]** it is written that you're going to live 70 years. That's sort of the default, the preset. And then you are exemplary in your righteousness to your parents. So it gets extended to 72 years.

**[17:25]** But that whole modification is written in the master record that he will initially be granted 70 years, and then he will become good to his mother, and so it will become 72 years.

**[17:41]** That is the idea. And so your du'a and your righteousness can change destiny. You must remember this by sort of verbatim promise of the Qur'an. You know.

**[17:56]** What will not change destiny, though? Your anxiety about your destiny. Keep that in mind. Your worries and sort of your anxieties, that will not change your destiny. In fact, in the Hikam of Ibn Ata', the great sort of wisdoms of Ibn Ata'illah al-Sakandari, rahimahullah, he has a beautiful poetic statement where he says,

**[18:16]** "Ijtihāduka fī mā damantu laka wa taqsīruka fī mā tuliba minTomorrow dallīlun 'alā intimā'i al-basīrah minka aw fīk." He said, you working so hard, you obsessing over that which is already guaranteed for you,

**[18:33]** and you neglecting that which is demanded of you, your religious duties, is of the signs that your insight has become blind. You're focused on the wrong thing. Allah has told you, I'm taking care of this.

**[18:53]** Sure, seek it out within reasonability. Don't obsess over it. As al-Ghazali reports or says, rahimahullah, that if it's beneath a mountain and written for you, you will get it. And if it's between your two jaws, and it's not written for you, you will not have it.

**[19:09]** Right or wrong? You can have something right here, something happens and you spit it out. And something could be under a mountain and the miners pull it out to make that microchip so that you can have it in your mobile device. Right? It's your rizq. It's what's written for you. Don't obsess over it. Don't panic.

**[19:28]** And better than the words of Ibn Ata', rahimahullah, are the words of the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wasallam, who said to us, "Man ja'ala al-akhirah hammahu," whomever makes the hereafter their primary concern, jama'a Allahu alayhi shammah, Allah will consolidate his worries for him.

**[19:44]** wa ja'ala ghinaahu fi qalbi, and place his riches in his heart. So you become content. Who's the rich person? The one that has all that he needs? No. The one that has fulfillment, contentment beyond his needs.

**[20:02]** That's it. I'm content. Because if a little won't be enough, a lot won't be enough. So he puts contentment in your heart and there comes to you of this world, he said, what was written for you anyway. And then he gave you the flip side, Sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and he said,

**[20:21]** "Wa man ja'ala al-dunya hammah," whomever makes this world his primary concern. farraq Allahu alayhi shamah, Allah disperses for him his worries. I'm worried about this person being happy with me and that person being happy with me.

**[20:36]** Collecting a little bit of money from here and a little bit from there, Allah disperses, right? You get torn apart by this world. Allah disperses their concerns for them. wa ja'ala faqrah bayna aynayh, and he places his poverty right between his eyes. No matter where you turn, all you can see is your negative outlook on life.

**[20:53]** This is all you're going to be able to look with. This deficit mindset, that negative lens. He places his poverty right between his eyes and he will not get out of this world except what was written for him anyway. Meaning it will be pointless.

**[21:09]** So obsessing over that which is already finalized and neglecting that which is expected of you to live up to, your purpose in life, is of the signs that we have it all wrong. May Allah illuminate our basira, our insight, and yours. The second half of the hadith says, in some narrations, he swears, "I swear by the One other than whom there is no god,

**[21:27]** inna ar-rajula laya'malu bi'amali ahli al-jannah. A person will perform the actions of the people of paradise. Hatta laya'kun baynahu wa baynaha illa dhira'."

**[21:43]** Until there's nothing between him and paradise except an arm's length. He's right there. Fa-asbaqahu al-kitab. And then what's written overtakes him. Fa-ya'malu bi'amali ahli al-nar fa-yadkhulaha. And then he starts committing the acts of the people of the fire and he enters it.

**[22:01]** And the opposite is also true. Inna ar-rajula laya'malu bi'amali ahli al-nar. A person will be committing the acts of the people of the fire until there's nothing between him and the fire except an arm's length. And then what's written overtakes him.

**[22:18]** He starts performing the acts of the people of paradise. And then he enters it. Right? And there are several wordings of this hadith. But what's important to be said here? Does destiny disregard all your hard work?

**[22:33]** Impossible. That can't be what this hadith means. Did Allah wrong this person who is working so hard until he was right there? And then he flips the script and destiny overtakes him and he enters the hellfire.

**[22:48]** That's not what it means. In fact, there is another hadith similar to this where there was a man fighting bravely. And the people are saying, oh, how amazing, oh, how courageous, oh, how valiant.

**[23:04]** And the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said he's of the people of the fire. So the people were perplexed. And so one of the Companions, this is from Sahih al-Bukhari, said, I'm going to shadow this man. I'm going to figure out what this is about.

**[23:20]** Because he's acting like a person of paradise, right? Fearless, fighting for the cause of God. Fearless, fighting for the cause of God. He says, and he kept fighting and fighting till injury after injury caught up with him. And he couldn't bear the pain anymore. He put the handle of his sword in the ground and leaned in on his sword.

**[23:38]** He killed himself. In the end, he committed suicide. And so he ran back to the Prophet ﷺ and he said, I bear witness you're the messenger of Allah. I bear witness you're the messenger of Allah. He said, what makes you say this? He said, that man that you said is of the people of the fire, I shadowed him around and X and Y and Z happened.

**[23:57]** The Prophet ﷺ said, indeed, a person may perform the actions of the people of paradise. Listen now, listen. This is the difference between this hadith and that one. Which is a clarifying difference. He says, a person may perform the actions of the people of paradise. Fima yabdu li-al-nas, in what appears to others.

**[24:15]** He wasn't actually that close to paradise. It looked like outwardly he was that close to paradise. In other words, Allah destines, Allah destines that people's true colors often come out right before they die.

**[24:30]** It's not that Allah wronged them. That's impossible. You have a will, for sure. Allah created it for you. And enough of a will to hold you fairly accountable. That's it. Allah created your will. And He allowed you to have some agency in your life.

**[24:46]** Enough agency to be fair to you when He judges you. This hadith is about the fact that some of your true colors may surface right before you die. You know, even on the flip side, I've shared with some of you prior a story from Dar al-Shifa Hospital in Egypt.

**[25:05]** Where they told a woman's family to take her home. She only has a few days or hours left. Let her be in the comfort of her home. So they're working on the discharge papers and the ambulatory care guys come in to prep her for the ride home.

**[25:20]** They see that she's opening her mouth and gasping and she's dying. So they tell her, lady, say "La ilaha illallah." Say "Muhammad Rasulullah." And she passes away. She says it and passes away. So they stop her sons at the door and say, you know, Alhamdulillah, your mom's resting now. They're trying to brace them like she said "La ilaha illallah" and like doesn't get any better than that.

**[25:38]** Because the Prophet ﷺ told us whoever's last words are "La ilaha illallah," this person is guaranteed paradise. And the young man said, what? You made our mother a disbeliever? She was Christian.

**[25:54]** And she became Muslim in her final moments. Perhaps, perhaps Allah knew something about her. And so he delivered to her a message at a time when it would make all the difference. And in a place where no one would be around to cause a commotion and intervene with her salvation.

**[26:11]** Perhaps that is the idea. But bringing it back to a person may perform the actions of the people of paradise. Because this is what we should be worried about. Because we are people that have identified that Islam is the path to paradise. We've identified that. And insha'Allah we're working towards that.

**[26:27]** How do we make sure it doesn't slip out from under us? Let's focus on that a little bit. Ibn Rajab, alhamdulillah, he says about this hadith. He says, and an evil end to your life. When does this happen to a person? Things fall apart in the end.

**[26:43]** He said, this is spawned, it comes out, right? It is spawned by the subtle, the hidden, right? Cancers of the soul that are only known to Allah. Like a sin that you cherish.

**[26:59]** Or a covert corruption, like a hidden corruption in your heart. And it is that silent trait that lurks in the depths. That ultimately seals a tragic demise at the hour of death. May Allah protect us and you. Say ameen.

**[27:15]** There are endless accounts of people who are prompted at death to say "La ilaha illallah." And all they can say is the music they used to always listen to. Right? Chanting lyrics.

**[27:30]** Remember Allah in this moment. They will mention the names of the people that they had haram relationships with. Ibn al-Qayyim, rahimahullah, he says about that. He says, and how many actually pause to take a lesson from these occurrences?

**[27:46]** How often it is that a person cannot say "La ilaha illallah" as they're dying. He says, if a person while fully conscious and clear-minded can still be overwhelmed by the shaytan. Meaning in our day-to-day life. Induced to displease Allah. And prevented from keeping his tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah.

**[28:05]** And keeping his limbs engaged in the obedience of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. He says, what then should one anticipate when that same servant is on the precipice, on the cusp of death. Weakened by the agonizing pangs of departure.

**[28:21]** And he faces an enemy who has marshaled shaytan. Who has marshaled every ounce of his vigor for one final decisive assault. It is precisely, he says, because it is the servant's most vulnerable hour. And shaytan's most formidable moment.

**[28:38]** Because of that equation that Allah says in the Qur'an. يُثَبِّتُ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِالْقَوْلِ الثَّابِتِ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ وَيُضِلُّ اللَّهُ الظَّالِمِينَ وَيَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ مَا يَشَاءُ

**[28:53]** Remember this ayah. Allah says, Allah is the one that keeps a person firm. The person who believes. With a firm statement. The ability to say "La ilaha illallah" in the life of this world. Meaning throughout your life and as you're exiting this life.

**[29:09]** And in the hereafter. Meaning when the angels question you in your grave. That's already the beginning of your hereafter. Allah is the only one that can keep you firm in those moments. Who keeps the believer firm as they're exiting this life. And as they're questioned in the grave.

**[29:24]** He says, and Allah sends astray the wrongdoer. Not randomly, not arbitrarily, not unfairly. But because they were wrongdoer. The ayah is very clear. وَيُضِلُّ اللَّهُ الظَّالِمِينَ And Allah sends astray the wrongdoer.

**[29:39]** وَيَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ مَا يَشَاءُ And Allah does whatever He wishes. And Allah does whatever He wishes. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. You know it was reported. That some of the Sahaba as they were dying.

**[29:57]** They wept and they were asked, why are you weeping? They said, because we heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say. That there was once a time. Like think pre-eternity. There was once a time when Allah grabbed two handfuls of His creation.

**[30:15]** And He said, these will ultimately be in my paradise. And these will ultimately be in my hellfire. The companion says, and I have no idea which of the two handfuls I was in. And Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, rahimahullah.

**[30:31]** One time he came home and began to pray his night prayers. And he wept so much that his wife began to weep. And because of the two of them weeping, their neighbors caught wind of this. And they began to weep without knowing why. Just out of sympathy for what was happening next door.

**[30:48]** And in the morning they asked, what in the world happened last night? So Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, rahimahullah said, I was reciting Allah's verse. There is a party bound for paradise. And a party that is bound for the flames.

**[31:05]** And I have no idea which of the two parties I belong to. You know if a person just pauses at that notion for a little bit. It jolts your priorities and reshuffles them very quickly. That really it is that simple.

**[31:20]** It's what it's all going to settle with. In a third narration, Malik ibn al-Dinar, rahimahullah. It is reported about him that he spent an entire night once. Grabbing onto his beard like this.

**[31:35]** And saying in du'a, Ya Rabbi, my Lord. You have long known who the residents of paradise are. And who the residents of the hellfire are. So to which of the two will you assign Malik?

**[31:52]** Will you assign me? So I want to bring it back to Ibn Rajab's statement. That this usually surfaces when there is a corruption. A contamination of the heart that is hidden. Known only to Allah.

**[32:08]** If it's known only to Allah, then why are we sort of liable for it? What he's trying to say is it should have been known to you. You should have paid more attention. Allah would not have held against you something you could not have known. This is something you could have known.

**[32:24]** And you could have worked against. That's the idea. The idea of this hadith is the famous report of Abu Sa'd al-Khudri. He said, the Prophet ﷺ said, there are four kinds of hearts.

**[32:41]** There's a heart that's like a radiant lamp. That's the full believer. And there's a heart that has a seal that is fastened tight. Faith can't get in. That's the disbeliever. The lost cause. We don't know who those are, but the lost cause, right?

**[32:56]** Then there is the heart of the full-blown hypocrite. And that is an upside-down heart. Any good that goes inside, it comes right back out. These people that knew the truth and then denied it. Saw the light and then said they didn't see it. Then there's a fourth heart.

**[33:11]** This is the heart you want to pay attention to because likely this is us. He says, وَقَلْبٌ تَمُدُّهُ مَدَّتَان And a heart that is supplied with two streams. I want you to imagine your heart is like a lake or a pond that has two pipes pumping into it.

**[33:29]** One is pumping in fresh water, pumping in faith, right? That nourishes and causes life to be possible. The other, he says, is pumping blood and pus. And whichever of those two substances becomes dominant, that's who that person is.

**[33:48]** In other words, we have this war going on inside us. And we have to pay attention and we have to be very careful to purge all of these toxins, all of these contaminants, all of these pollutants out of our heart. Because they could come back at the end of our life and cost us everything.

**[34:06]** The jealousy that creeps inside us, the envy, the insincerity, the pride, the resentment, the hatred of something from Islam. You know, it could be a fine line sometimes when I find this aspect of Islam challenging and between.

**[34:24]** I hate Islam for this reason, right? These things can come back and surface at a point of no return. That is the idea here. So to go to war with yourself, to protect your lake and its purity.

**[34:39]** But the good news is you don't have to go to war alone. Just remember the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ from Umm Salamah (radiyallahu anha), his wife. She said the most frequent du'a he would ever make is what?

**[34:57]** يَا مُقَلِّبَ الْقُلُوبِ ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِي عَلَىٰ دِينِك O turner of the hearts, keep my heart firm on Your deen. And he was asked why this du'a more than any other du'a, more than any other supplication. He said because the hearts are all between the two fingers of the Most Merciful.

**[35:16]** To turn them whichever way He wishes. Any heart He wants to make upright, He makes upright. It's that easy for Him. And any heart He wants to send astray, He sends it astray. Subhanahu wa ta'ala.

**[35:33]** The next and final hadith, hadith five, is the hadith of our mother Aisha (radiyallahu anha). In the Forty Nawawi hadiths, he includes two narrations of the same hadith.

**[35:49]** He says that the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasalam) has said to us, as reported by our mother Aisha (radiyallahu anha), "Man ahdatha fi amrina hatha ma laysa minhu fahuwa radda." Whoever introduces into this affair of ours that which is not from it, not originally from it,

**[36:09]** then it will be rejected. And in the other wording, "Man amila amalan laysa alayhi amruna fahuwa radda." Whoever performs any action that we did not instruct, then it will be rejected. What's the difference between these two wordings? Like why share both wordings?

**[36:31]** The difference makes a difference. What is it? Anybody?

**[36:47]** Okay. Yes, sister. So the difference here is, it is not just those who introduce this unacceptable act into Islam

**[37:07]** that will have it rejected. Those who acted on it, even if they weren't the ones who introduced it, will also have it rejected. Which tells you what? A Muslim by definition, in order to submit to Allah, needs to submit to the way of the Messenger of Allah (salallahu alayhi wasalam).

**[37:26]** And that is impossible without learning what his way was. It is inseparable from being a Muslim. A Muslim by definition has to become a lifelong student of Islam. How do you submit to something you don't know? How do you follow a guidance that you can't recognize?

**[37:43]** So it is about you being a lifelong learner. It is about you respectfully asking questions. Like with all due respect, is this sort of from the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasalam)? Or did this seep in from culture? Is this from your shaykh? That's fine and everything, but is it in accordance with what the Prophet brought (alayhi salatu wasalam)?

**[38:01]** Authorized by his teachings (salallahu alayhi wasalam). That's the idea between these two wordings. Okay, this hadith is extremely important. You remember in the first hadith of "actions are by intentions," we said some scholars consider that hadith of intentions one half of Islam?

**[38:18]** This is the other half of Islam. Because the first hadith of intentions is "La ilaha illallah," we only seek out God. The other half is what? "Muhammad Rasulullah." We only seek Him through the way of our Prophet Muhammad (alayhi salatu wasalam).

**[38:33]** And by the way, these two conditions are intertwined. Like the more sincere you are, the more keen you will be on following the Sunnah, the way that was modeled for us by Muhammad (salallahu alayhi wasalam).

**[38:49]** You know, like imagine someone that on Mother's Day, I hate Mother's Day. We can talk about that later. Mother's Day is like a sedative for us to feel better about neglecting our moms throughout the year.

**[39:05]** Uh, fight me. But Mother's Day, someone sort of, you know, gives his mom some really expensive gift, chucks a diamond her way on Mother's Day. Okay, and someone else does not spend that same amount of money,

**[39:21]** but is thoughtful about it. What would my mom like from me? Not what would I like to do for my mom? Big difference. Who's more sincere? The second one, even though he may not have worked as hard or spent as much, that is the idea.

**[39:38]** Sincerity will mean doing what Allah wants from me, not what I feel like doing, even if it's harder work per se. And this is what was intended by Abdullah al-Mas'ud (radiyallahu anhu), the great companion, when he said to the people, "Al-qasdu fi al-sunnati khayrun min al-ijtihadi fi al-bid'ah."

**[39:58]** You being moderate while following the Sunnah is still superior to you being a hard worker when following a bid'ah, an innovative act. What is an innovation, by the way?

**[40:14]** You know, there's a famous definition of Imam al-Shatibi (rahimahullah) that nearly all scholars after him started using. Not that the scholars before him didn't have a definition, but just it was worded so well that it just gained mainstream acceptance among the scholars. What is a bid'ah?

**[40:29]** Like, what is an innovation in the religion? Because like, innovation is always like a good word in modern vernacular, like, you know, innovative practices. Of course, sort of creative, innovative ways in the worldly life are a way to advance human welfare a lot of times.

**[40:45]** That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about adding things to the religion of Islam that were not added by our Prophet (alayhis salatu wasalam) or brought to us by him. So Imam al-Shatibi's definition, he says, it is an aspect, a religious act that resembles what has been prescribed

**[41:02]** and by it you seek nearness to Allah. And this happens in different ways. There's the most obvious way, what they call the full-blown bid'ah, al-bid'ah al-asliyyah or al-haqiqiyyah. That's when someone sort of makes up this new lifestyle

**[41:17]** or new practice that has no basis whatsoever. So for instance, this column right here is a blessed column. Whoever is having fertility issues should sort of rub this column seven times, right? Completely baseless, right? By the way, this stuff exists.

**[41:34]** You know, people that have promoted, for instance, celibacy. That's sort of, you know, pain is weakness leaving the body and sort of lust is inherently dispraised and holds you back. Therefore, you should not be getting married or having children. This is a lifestyle that's sort of completely baseless.

**[41:49]** Contrary to everything the Prophet ﷺ came with. To discourage marriage is to combat the Sunnah. That's the full-blown bid'ah. The much more common bid'ah that will happen is al-bid'ah al-idhafiyyah. It's basically when you sort of tailor acts of worship

**[42:06]** in ways that were not prescribed. You modify acts of worship. So for instance, let's say praying night prayers on a Saturday. Why? Because it was the only day that I have the luxury to stay up late

**[42:23]** because my next day is off. That's fine. Because you're not doing that as a religious act because of Saturday. You're not sitting there and saying, you know, technically Saturday is a sacred day because, you know, Allah told them not to work on Saturday. And so Saturday is an important day because from the Qur'an and you start getting...

**[42:38]** That would, of course, be a bid'ah, right? Of course, that would be a bid'ah. Another example that scholars mention, praying night prayers on the middle night of Sha'ban, right? There's a hadith that says on the middle night of Sha'ban, Allah looks upon the people of the earth

**[42:55]** and aside from the polytheists and those holding grudges on each other, He forgives them. So this should be an encouragement for us that halfway through Sha'ban, on route to Ramadan, you clear your heart of any hard feelings towards people. But you say you should be praying on the 15th night because it's a special night.

**[43:11]** The Prophet told us it was a special night and he didn't pray. So why are we introducing a new religious practice as if this night is inherently virtuous in terms of prayers? That's sort of the modifying the acts of worship problem, right? Okay, here's what I really want to speak about,

**[43:26]** especially when time is so tight. What is so dangerous about bid'ah? What is so dangerous about innovations? It implies that this religion is incomplete. That's the problem with bid'ah. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, radiallahu anhu,

**[43:45]** he used to tell the people, just follow and don't make things up because you have been given what is enough. You're taken care of.

**[44:00]** The Prophet told us, there is nothing that brings you closer to paradise and moves you further from the fire except that I have made it clear to you. You know, like if you were to actually try to follow the way of the Prophet ﷺ through your day and night,

**[44:16]** you actually would have no room for anything else because there is no way you will get to a level where you have so much blessing in your 24 hours like the Prophet did. If you just try to follow him, there will be room for nothing else. You know, Imam al-Nasa'i, rahimahullah, one of the famous hadith scholars,

**[44:32]** has a book called 'Amal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah. The actions of the day and night, basically a day in the life of the Prophet ﷺ. If you were to try to live up to that, no matter how many years you live, you'll never be able to pull it off. That's it. So you're given what is enough and what is superior.

**[44:50]** So just stick to it. You know, Abu Dharr, this interesting statement, it's not just about Sunnah or bid'ah, but Abu Dharr says, there is not a bird that flies with its wings above us in the sky except that the Prophet ﷺ

**[45:06]** had left us with some knowledge about it. It's true. Am I allowed to eat that bird or not? Islam does have an answer, right? And Ibn Majashun said, I heard Imam Malik saying to the people, whomever innovates something in Islam

**[45:23]** and believes it's a good thing, then they have claimed that Muhammad has betrayed the message. Because Allah has said, Imam Malik is telling you, because Allah has said, اليوم أكملت لكم دينكم Today, I have completed your religion for you.

**[45:39]** So whatever wasn't religion, then will never be religion. And if Allah completed it, but you're saying we're going to add a few things, that means what? Allah completed it, but the Prophet didn't communicate it? He hid it? He hid what Allah completed? You're saying he's the weakest link? A'udhu Billah. So it is to accuse him implicitly, of course,

**[45:56]** with having betrayed the delivery of the message. Another one of the early Muslims, just to show you how keen they were. His name was Sa'id al-Musayyib, rahimahullah. He saw a man praying

**[46:11]** between the Fajr prayer and sunrise. You know, after you pray Fajr, you're not allowed to pray until the sun has clearly risen into the sky, right? Shortly after sunrise, not immediately at sunrise. And so he saw a man praying and he told him,

**[46:27]** we were prohibited by the Prophet from praying in this hour. You know, these hours where the sun worshippers pray, even though you're praying to Allah, you don't resemble them, right? Because outward resemblance, SubhanAllah, the wisdom of the Sunnah also, outward resemblance can open the door

**[46:43]** or run the risk, right? So inward resemblance, blurring the lines. So he prohibited us from praying at this hour. So the man said to Sa'id al-Musayyib, are you saying Allah will punish me for praying to him?

**[46:58]** He said, no, Allah will punish you for defying his Prophet. That's what he will punish you for, for knowing his Prophet did something and saying, no, I'm going to do otherwise knowingly. You know what else is so dangerous about bid'ah? Bid'ah destroys Muslim unity.

**[47:18]** It really does. And it is something you are to value about your Islam, that Islam within a hundred years of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam's advent, his arrival, within a hundred years of his lifetime, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, Islam had spread all the way to China and the East

**[47:35]** and all the way to Andalusia, Muslim Spain, and even making its way actually towards like Paris and Italy, right there. If every single person had brought in a little bit from their own culture into the religion, of course, there is room for culture, but Islam doesn't leave the room

**[47:51]** and let culture do its thing. By design, Islam left room for culture, but in the religious practices themselves, if Islam had left room for that, we would not be able to be sitting here together the way we are today. You think I'm exaggerating? No.

**[48:07]** You know, other faith groups can't just say church near me. You know, like when you're all aligned like this and there's just a small divergence, you just keep going and you don't recognize each other anymore, right? You take it for granted. I swear, I took it for granted

**[48:22]** until a Christian man told me, oh man, that's really cool. You can go into any mosque. I was like, what do you mean? Wherever I go, I just Google mosque near me. I just walk in. What allowed that to be possible? Islam's emphasis on the danger of bid'ah. The fact that our Prophet

**[48:38]** salallahu alayhi wa sallam stood up on the minbar and every Friday say, and the best of speech is the speech of Allah and the best of guidance, the guidance of Muhammad and the worst of matters. You may not think so, you may not think so, but the worst of matters are the newly invented matters in the religion.

**[48:53]** In other words, value your treasure. Islam remaining clear and identifiable allows for Muslims to have a clear identifiable what? Rallying point, common ground. When you mess with the Sunnah, you mess with the possibility

**[49:09]** of Muslim unity worldwide. Is that clear? You know, that's why Imam al-Nawawi because he writes the explanation, and this hadith is originally sourced from Sahih Muslim and elsewhere. He says that this hadith is a hadith that should be memorized and often cited

**[49:27]** and widely circulated to neutralize religious innovations. I'll mention to you one final, and we're done. One final danger to bid'ah is that bid'ah implies that you have secret knowledge

**[49:43]** of what Allah likes and dislikes. God's going to like this one. What makes you think you know what God likes and dislikes? That's mighty arrogant, isn't it? This is sort of quite conceited to think you of all people know what God likes and dislikes

**[49:59]** even without checking back with the one he told you he is pleased with. You know, bringing it back to our earlier hadith, this is why the scholars when they're listing of the greatest factors that contribute to su'ul khatimah and evil end, they say committing innovations

**[50:16]** in the religion because innovations, like knowingly, is a glaring sign of self-deceit of being a conceited delusional individual. You know, Imam Malik one time, this will be the last athar I mention

**[50:31]** as I close out. Imam Malik, a man went to him, Imam Malik was the great Imam of Medina, you know, a century after the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So, a man said to him, where do I put on my ihram? So like, where do I initiate

**[50:46]** my entrance into that sacred state when you go to Umrah? So you go from Medina to Mecca and you perform Umrah or Hajj, right? So he tells the Imam, where should I put on my ihram? He said to him, you put on your ihram from the miqat,

**[51:01]** from sort of the place that was identified for us, Dhul-Hulayfah, right? Right outside Medina, six kilometers from the Prophet's mosque, basically Medina, but right there on the outskirts. Medina is wider now, the original outskirts. He says from the miqat,

**[51:17]** the place identified for us in the religion. The man said to him, where do I make ihram? He said from the miqat where the Prophet made ihram. He said, but I want to put on ihram from the Prophet's masjid, most sacred place on earth, right?

**[51:34]** And right by his house, his qabr, his grave, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So Imam Malik said to him, don't do it. I fear that you will go astray. He said to him, what do you mean? These are just extra steps

**[51:49]** that Allah will count in my scale of good deeds. Like they're just a few extra miles. How can this be a bad thing? He said, what could be more of an evil thing than to think you have been inspired with something that is superior

**[52:04]** to what the Prophet did? When Allah has said in the Qur'an, falyahzari alladhina yukhalifun an amrihi antusiibahum fitna that let them be forewarned those who swerve from his way

**[52:20]** that they be afflicted with misguidance. So always ask, always commit to learning. The Sunnah is our treasure. It is the completeness of the deen. You will not add something to it without removing some of the perfections removing some of the perfection from it.

**[52:36]** It also undermines the basis of Muslim unity, past and present. And maybe, you know, one thing we can say here, subhanAllah, is this is reported by Aisha. Our mother Aisha, they say like she reported to us a quarter of Islam. And this is something to rebuild the greatness of Muslim civilization.

**[52:53]** We have to, you know, shed a spotlight on this. That do we offer equivalent or near equivalent opportunities for our sisters to carry and grow in their Islam and carry Islam to others

**[53:10]** the way the earliest, best generations of Islam did. People would come to her from the farthest corners of the world. And she was given that opportunity. So we should really be keen on this, really keen on creating opportunities and maintaining opportunities

**[53:25]** and celebrating as we celebrate with men, to celebrate in our women also. They're growing in Islamic scholarship and in preaching the light of Islam wherever their voice can reach.

## Other Episodes in "Anchored"
- [The Prophet ﷺ, An Angel, and An Orientation for the Ummah | Anchored Ep. 2](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/anchored/the-prophet-ﷺ-an-angel-and-an-orientation-for-the-ummah-anchored-ep-2.md)
- [Should You Work for Big Tech? | Anchored Ep. 1](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/anchored/should-you-work-for-big-tech-anchored-ep-1.md)