# Juz 17: When Allah Chooses You, How Will You Respond? | Sh. Yousef Wahb

**Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman
**Series:** Qur’an 30 for 30 | Season 7
**Published:** 2026-03-05
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/sFaJph_x4uw
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-17
**Topics:** Faith, Quran

## Summary
This episode of Quran 30 for 30 covers Juz 17, which includes Surah Al-Anbiya and Surah Al-Hajj, hosted alongside Sheikh Yousef Wahb and Sheikh Abdullah. The discussion opens with Sheikh Yousef reflecting on the Name of Allah, Al-Latif, describing how Allah's subtle control of affairs often works through opposites of what we expect, offering a framework for understanding difficult qadr. The Juz begins with Surah Al-Anbiya's depiction of mockers who received divine reminders with laughter and distraction — اقْتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ حِسَابُهُمْ وَهُمْ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مُعْرِضُونَ [Al-Anbiya 21:1] — paralleling the escalating mockery the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) faced in Makkah. A central theme is Allah's act of choosing (ijtiba): He chooses angels, Prophets, and communities for divine missions and trials, as in [Al-Hajj 22:75] and [Al-Hajj 22:78]. The people of Gaza are discussed as an example of a community chosen for a momentous trial, while simultaneously others are being tested by how they respond to that trial. Surah Al-Hajj, uniquely debated as both Makkan and Madinan, introduces forms of resistance against oppression: Hijrah (migration) as a form of resistance, and the first Quranic permission for armed self-defense — أُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقَاتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا [Al-Hajj 22:39]. Seven consecutive verses following the mention of those who migrate and are martyred or die conclude with pairs of Allah's Names, each corresponding to aspects of the immigration journey, with Allah described as Khayr al-Raziqeen — the best of providers [Al-Hajj 22:58]. The scholars emphasize that unlike previous nations who received collective divine punishment, this Ummah is called to active resistance through various means, trusting in Allah's victory while fulfilling their own responsibilities, exemplified by 'Abdurrahman ibn 'Awf's initiative upon arriving in Madinah.

## Key Points
- Al-Latif (the Subtly Kind) is a Name of Allah that reflects how He runs affairs through their opposites — outcomes often contrary to what we expect — offering a lens for understanding difficult qadr.
- Surah Al-Anbiya opens by describing people who receive divine reminders with mockery and heedlessness, paralleling the escalating ridicule the Prophet (ﷺ) faced in Makkah [Al-Anbiya 21:1-3].
- Allah chooses (yajtabi) angels, Prophets, and communities for divine missions and trials [Al-Hajj 22:75, 22:78]; understanding this transforms hardship from humiliation into honor.
- The people of Gaza are described as chosen for a momentous trial, while the rest of the world is simultaneously being tested by how they respond to that trial.
- Surah Al-Hajj is uniquely debated as both Makkan and Madinan, reflecting the critical transitional period of Hijrah, and presents Hijrah (migration) as a legitimate form of resistance against oppression.
- The first Quranic permission for armed self-defense is given in Surah Al-Hajj [22:39]: 'Permission has been given to those who are being fought because they were wronged, and indeed Allah is capable of giving them victory.'
- Seven consecutive verses in Surah Al-Hajj [22:58-64] conclude with pairs of Allah's Names corresponding to different challenges of the immigration journey, reassuring believers of Allah's provision and support.
- Allah being Khayr al-Raziqeen (the best of providers) means He is the ultimate originator of all provision; humans are merely channels passing on what Allah has already decreed [Al-Hajj 22:58].
- Unlike previous nations who received collective divine punishment (like floods and storms), this Ummah is called to active, varied forms of resistance — migration, self-defense, advocacy — rather than passively waiting for divine intervention.
- Believers must fulfill their own responsibilities and not abdicate them, as illustrated by 'Abdurrahman ibn 'Awf who, upon arriving in Madinah, asked only to be shown the marketplace rather than accepting charity.

## Chapters
- 0:00 Introduction
- 1:15 Sh. Yousef Wahb’s favorite name of Allah
- 3:30 Summary of Juz 17
- 8:05 Allah chooses people
- 9:28 Who named the Muslims?
- 13:22 Resistance against oppression in Islam
- 15:40 Immigration is a form of resistance
- 23:06 The importance of preserving Islam

## Transcript
**[0:05]** Allah chooses. When you say, like, people have been chosen for divine mission, and people have been chosen for test and trial, like, the people of Gaza have been chosen for the moment, right? It changes the entire idea of, like,

**[0:21]** Allah chose you. Allah سبحانه وتعالى does not put a person in a situation more than they can bear. That can be a test at times, like, look, this situation seems unbearable, but it's my responsibility to try to find a way to deal with it in a way that's pleasing to Allah, regardless of what side

**[0:37]** of the screen that I'm on. Why doesn't Allah just, like, take out all those oppressors at once, right? We have the flood, we have the wind, we have, like, all these different natural punishments. The test here is for us to see the idea of responses, right, to the oppression that is happening in the world, in the world, to see how you're going to resist that, not to sit and wait

**[0:54]** for the divine intervention. السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته everyone. Welcome back to Qur'an 30 for 30. الحمد لله رب العالمين. We are now on Juz 17. May Allah سبحانه وتعالى allow us

**[1:10]** to take full advantage of these last few middle days of Ramadan and grant us strength into the last 10. I want to remind you all, إن شاء الله تعالى, to please donate to Yaqeen, إن شاء الله تعالى, be a part of this work, bi-idhnillah, and support the work that we're doing here. And also, إن شاء الله تعالى, to make du'a for us

**[1:26]** and to let us know how you're benefiting from Quran 30 for 30, from the Ramadan series, from everything else that's coming out, bi-idhnillahi Ta'ala. We're joined by, الحمد لله رب العالمين, Shaykh Yusuf Wahb, who's been such a large part of, Alhamdulillah, directing our Quranic work. You know, we're blessed to have him with

**[1:41]** us. Even though he tried to escape Quran 30 for 30, he didn't want to do it. We forced him. We're like, get on a plane, man. Come down here. It's important. You know, he said, "It's not going to work without you. زي حضرتك. ما ينفعش. خلاص. How are you? How's everything? الحمد لله، الحمد لله. الله يبارك فيكم. I was

**[1:58]** testing my Masri with Shaykh Yusuf, you know. You're doing pretty good, Masha'Allah. I've got one-fourth Masri in my DNA, too. Grandma. Yeah. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alamin. So Shaykh Yusuf, you know, before we get started, we like to ask our guests, right now in this moment, what's the name

**[2:16]** of Allah Azza wa Jalla that you feel most attached to, that you've been calling on, or that you feel like you've been contemplating on most these days? The first one in general, and actually the first one that came to my mind right now, is اسم الله اللطيف. I think that, of course, with all the events and

**[2:34]** the situations we've been going through, some of them are individual, are personal, and some of them are also collective at the level of the ummah. I think seeing the لطف of Allah سبحانه وتعالى in the way Allah controls the qadr, some of the scholars mention about one of the dimensions of the word اللطيف is that you see

**[2:50]** how Allah سبحانه وتعالى runs things with their opposites. إجراء الأمور على أضدادها So, like, you see the opposite of what you would expect to be a kind of a natural event to happen, and the لطف of Allah سبحانه وتعالى lies sometimes in the opposite of what we expect. So that's a beautiful angle that some scholars mention about how to

**[3:07]** reflect on the qadr. When you can't really make out what is actually going on in your life, that's one way of looking at the... So لطف there isn't really a, like, I think a direct English equivalent, but I would say just the subtle control and running of the world affairs by Allah سبحانه وتعالى. ماشاء الله,

**[3:24]** there's a lot of, like, a lot of the same names come up in people's favorite names, and it shows you how the events that are happening in the world, they do impact the way that we experience the divine. They do impact the way that we turn back to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and perhaps, you know, fall in

**[3:39]** love with certain names all over again and deeply connect to them. So may Allah Azza wa Jalla shower His mercy and His lutf upon the people of Gaza and the people all over the world that are struggling. Allahumma Ameen. So last Juz, we talked about the nervousness

**[3:54]** of the journey, people getting prepared, how Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala was with them the entire time, the merciful teacher. إِنَّكَ كُنتَ بِنَا بَصِيرًا ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ بِي حَفِيًّا You saw us the whole time. My Lord is always receiving us with attention and grace, and Allah

**[4:10]** Azza wa Jalla guiding them through Al-Latif, Subhanallah, the journey throughout the way. Interestingly enough, Juz 17, it turns immediately to the mockery on the other side. So it's like if you were to watch these scenes play out

**[4:26]** from one vantage point, you're watching it play out from the vantage point primarily in Juz 16 of the Prophets as they're getting ready, of these people as they're being facilitated towards the next part of their journey, Musa 'alayhis-salam's preparation before he goes to speak to Pharaoh. This one, you know, Subhanallah, this Juz switches

**[4:42]** quite a bit to the other side of it, the vantage point of those that received the revelation with mockery. They're like, yeah, whatever. They didn't take the message or the messengers seriously because they felt like they had a sense of invincibility and immunity, right?

**[4:58]** So this starts off with سُورَةِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ اقْتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ حِسَابُهُمْ وَهُمْ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مُعْرِضُونَ that, you know, the time of judgment is coming closer and people are turning away further, like, with heedlessness. And Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says, مَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن ذِكْرٍ مِّن رَّبِّهِم مُّحْدَثٍ إِلَّا

**[5:15]** اسْتَمَعُوهُ وَهُمْ يَلْعَبُونَ that every time a new reminder comes to them from their Lord, they listen to it, وَهُمْ يَلْعَبُونَ like, they're joking about it. Like, oh, what's the next thing that this Prophet said? Oh, now Musa, you have this to say. Oh, now you—oh, this is your next miracle, right? You can think of the graduation of the mockery of the Prophet (ﷺ)

**[5:33]** in Makkah, right, in seerah, right? Like, oh, what's he saying now, right? And this becomes sort of their bedtime stories or what they're saying as they're drinking their wine and they're sitting in their living rooms and their dens, like, oh, now he's claiming this. Ha, ha, ha, right? So the mockery is growing and the sense

**[5:49]** of invincibility that they have, especially from the perspective of ظلم, of their transgression, also is paralleling that mockery. And Subhanallah, like, in every single story that we had in the past juz, there's always a tyrant on the other side. Like, it's not

**[6:05]** like Allah Azza wa Jalla was testing prophets with natural disasters. Allah was testing them with people, whether it's the Pharaoh on the outside or the father Pharaoh in the case of Ibrahim 'alayhis-salam, like your father who's your tyrant. Like, it's a person, it's a people that are testing you, that are mocking you, and those are

**[6:21]** harder tests to deal with and to see through. So here, like, they're just growing in their sense of, okay, like, we mocked him one time, we beat him one time, and nothing happened to us. So that means we can take it a step further. We can escalate because we're not being destroyed.

**[6:37]** And you can see that in our oppressors today. May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala destroy them as He destroyed the ones that we are speaking about here in the past. Allahumma ameen. Allah says, لَاهِيَةً قُلُوبُهُمْ that their hearts are totally distracted, right? Now, for the sake of time, the next two verses sort of talk about

**[6:56]** the disbelievers and their behaviors in terms of what they would say in secret and how they would mock the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in secret and how they would mock those that are following the Prophet, like, you really believe this stuff? You know, وَأَنْتُمْ تُبْصِرُونَ like, can't you see, right? Like, Subhanallah, we were talking about إِنَّكَ كُنتَ بِنَا بَصِيرًا

**[7:13]** in the last Juz, like, can't you see? Like, can't you see this is all just whatever, made up? This is all just magic and sorcery. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم affirming his Lord as the Sami' al-'Alim, the All-Hearing and the All-Knowing. But then

**[7:29]** بَلْ قَالُوا أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلَامٍ they say, no, the Quran is just a set of confused dreams. بَلِ افْتَرَاهُ no, no, he fabricated it all together. بَلْ هُوَ شَاعِرٌ no, no, he's a poet. So let him come forth with some sort of a tangible sign, like the Prophets that came before. And then finally

**[7:47]** قَالَ رَبِّ احْكُم بِالْحَقِّ ۗ وَرَبُّنَا الرَّحْمَٰنُ الْمُسْتَعَانُ عَلَىٰ مَا تَصِفُونَ In the end, the Prophet said, "My Lord, judge between us in truth, and our Lord is Al-Rahman." But then there's another dimension here, Al-Musta'an, the Most Merciful, and the one whose help is

**[8:03]** sought against that which you claim. You know, a lot of times we say, Allahul Musta'an, Allahul Musta'an, Allahul Musta'an. Allah is the one from whom help is sought. And of course, there's the famous hadith of Ibn Abbas رضي الله تعالى عنهما, right, that if you seek help, right,

**[8:20]** فَاسْتَعِنْ بِاللَّهِ then seek help from Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Who is the one from whom help is sought when you're in these situations? Who is the one that you seek mercy from? Who is the one that you seek help from? And this is a differentiating factor between us and them because if you fast forward to verse

**[8:37]** 71, وَمَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ نَصِيرٍ Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says, "The oppressors have no helper. They have no helper. We have Allah Azza wa Jalla from whom we seek help." The last bit I'll give here, إن شاء الله تعالى, then I would love to hear from the mashayikh to comment.

**[8:52]** Obviously, you go from Al-Anbiya and then you go into Surat Al-Hajj. This concept of Allah choosing people, choosing angels, choosing Prophets, choosing people, choosing communities, right? Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala chooses people. You know, in Surah Maryam,

**[9:10]** وَاذْكُرْ فِي الْكِتَابِ مُوسَى when Allah Azza wa Jalla mentions Musa 'alayhis-salam, إِنَّهُ كَانَ مُخْلَصًا some of the scholars mentioned that مُخْلَص versus مُخْلِص is that he's chosen, right? That he was chosen. And here Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala mentions in verse 75 that اللَّهُ

**[9:27]** يَصْطَفِي مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ رُسُلاً وَمِنَ النَّاسِ that Allah chooses both messengers from the angels as well as from the people. إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ بَصِيرٌ verily Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. And then finally in verse 78, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala mentions, وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ

**[9:43]** حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ, right? Strive for the cause of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala in the way He deserves. He is the one who chose you. So He chose angels, He chose messengers from the angels, messengers from the Prophets or from the people being

**[10:00]** the Prophets. And then He chose communities, right? وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ ۚ مِلَّةَ أَبِيكُمْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ ۚ هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِنْ قَبْلُ and we can go on to the rest of the verse. But Allah Azza wa Jalla did not place hardship for you in the religion. This is the way of your forefather, Ibrahim 'alayhis-salam. It is he who named you Muslims. By the way, Shaykh Yusuf, tafsir, is it Allah Azza wa Jalla that named

**[10:15]** the Muslims Muslims or is it Ibrahim 'alayhis-salam that's being referred to here? The pronoun can be understood to refer to either of them, but there is the nisbah, the attribution to Ibrahim 'alayhis-salam as the father of the Prophets and the Hanifiyyah.

**[10:31]** See, I put you on the spot and you rose to the occasion, Masha'Allah. You were chosen for the moment, Masha'Allah. If you read the translation of the verse, it's very interesting because, like, you read the translation and in parentheses here, I'm not going to say whose translation I

**[10:47]** just pulled up here, but it says, "It is Allah who named you the ones who submit." But the tafsir, I mean, and this is what I know it as well, that Ibrahim 'alayhis-salam, that he's the one who named you Muslims, but it could also be Allah عز وجل is the one who named you Muslims. At the

**[11:02]** end of the day, anyway, so it's... At the end of the day, we're chosen, right? At the end of the day, we're chosen, right? We're named, we're identified, and Allah عز وجل, we pray that He finds us worthy to be of those that stand behind our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم on the Day of Judgment

**[11:19]** and those that get to be of His companions and those that stand and extend His light in this world صلى الله عليه وسلم The point is, Allah chooses, right? So, like, when you say, like, people have been chosen for divine

**[11:37]** mission and people have been chosen for test and trial, like the people of Gaza have been chosen for the moment, right? It changes the entire idea of, like, Allah chose you, right, to do this. And that turns what

**[11:53]** otherwise could seem like humiliating and hard to honorable and honoring, right? Like, wait, like this is Allah سبحانه وتعالى choosing us in a certain way. You know, it's interesting when you mention they're chosen. That choosing, quote-unquote, can be simultaneous. I

**[12:09]** remember we talk about right now what Allah has chosen the people in Gaza. It's choosing — Allah has chosen other people to see how they will respond to that, whether it's on a community level, state level, right? What are you going to do? Like, it's SubhanAllah, it's amazing that Allah, yes, yani

**[12:27]** know, He specifically will choose these people or this person that everyone knows about, but it's also a test for you at the moment to see how you will respond to that, how you will respond to the fact that Allah has chosen that person for that. Will you be someone that is not pleased with, you mentioned earlier, the qadr and understanding the lutf of Allah and these

**[12:43]** little subtleties in that choice with that person or those people? How do we respond to Allah سبحانه وتعالى's choice in that regard in the manifestation of that name, Allah being Al-Latif, and the little subtleties in when He does that and for us to ponder over that and why

**[13:00]** He did so, but most importantly, to look at ourselves and say, okay, what am I supposed to do in this moment? How can I rise to the occasion? How can I have حسن الظن بالله? You know, and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم mentioned a hadith on Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, Hadith Qudsi, أَنَا عِنْدَ

**[13:15]** ظَنِّ عَبْدِي بِي I am as my servant thinks of me. So how do we think about Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala in these particular occasions and how do we think of ourselves and knowing that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala has put us in this situation individually or collectively, لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala does not put a

**[13:33]** person in a situation more than they can bear, you know? So that can be a test at times, like, look, this situation seems unbearable, but it's my responsibility to try to find a way to deal with it in a way that's pleasing to Allah, regardless of what

**[13:49]** side of the screen that I'm on, right? And I think that's important as well. And Subhanallah, responses can take different forms and shapes as it were. So when we look at the juz, Surah Al-Anbiya and Surah Al-Hajj, so we understand that the order of revelation is different. And now the order we have in the Mushaf, Anbiya

**[14:04]** first, and then Surah Al-Hajj, one way of looking at it is that it presents different forms of resistance against these different kinds of systemic oppressions and tyranny and transgression. In Surah Al-Anbiya, one way of looking at these things and at this angle, in Surah Al-Anbiya, it

**[14:21]** gives you the parallels, the historical parallels. This is what the experiences of the Prophets have been. And then when you come to Surah Al-Hajj, you have now different forms of resistance, one by Hijrah, by doing immigration. It's actually a form of resistance against the batil, against the falsehood, for the sake of protecting yourself,

**[14:38]** protecting your identity, protecting your faith. It talks about Jihad, and now this is the first time Muslims are being allowed by Allah سبحانه وتعالى to defend themselves and to initiate combat after they move to Medina. And Surah Al-Hajj in particular is interesting because we have massive debate about whether

**[14:54]** it's Madinan or Makkan. This debate has never been settled because you have, like, kind of different opinions. You have an opinion that it's entirely Makkan, except for a few verses Madinan, another opinion that is exactly the opposite, entirely Madinan, but a few verses are Makkan. The common opinion is that it has both. And more interestingly,

**[15:09]** we can't even identify definitively which part is Makkan and which part is Madinan because the arrangement of the verses that happen towards the end of the life of the Prophet 'alayhis-salatu-wassalam put it in this very particular manner and add to that, I would say complexity, not confusion. Of course, complexity

**[15:26]** is that it's named Al-Hajj, but it happened, like, towards the end of Meccan time, early Medina. So you have that very, very crucial transition. And that's why Hijrah. Hijrah is not just an incidental episode in the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. It's a form of resistance. It's actually a topic of the topics of Jihad in our tradition, that this is one way

**[15:43]** of resisting the oppression and the tyranny that we encounter. And Subhanallah, I think that that's actually one of the beautiful, you know, things to take from it being named Surah Al-Hajj is that it's at a time when Hajj seemed least likely. You're on your way out of Mecca or you

**[15:58]** just got kicked out of Mecca, and Allah عز وجل reveals a Surah named Surah Al-Hajj, which seems impossible, right? You can't even do Umrah right now. You're out of Mecca. And I think that that has a lot of resonance these days, like, how are you talking about Masjid Al-Aqsa? And إن شاء الله تعالى, we're going to pray in Masjid Al-Aqsa فاتحين بإذن الله تعالى as

**[16:16]** liberators once again and free Al-Aqsa. Like, it's falling apart. And this is not in our ethos, right, that Allah عز وجل will provide a pathway to victory. And that's one of the wisdoms and one of the beautiful elements of the naming of this Surah. So Shaykh Yusuf, I want to come to you

**[16:34]** on that note. In Surah Al-Hajj, verse 58, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala mentions وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ قُتِلُوا أَوْ مَاتُوا ۚ right, those who migrate in the cause of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, and then they are martyred or they

**[16:50]** die, okay? And Allah Azza wa Jalla mentions لَيَرْزُقَنَّهُمُ اللَّهُ رِزْقًا حَسَنًا وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُوَ خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ that Allah Azza wa Jalla will indeed grant them a good provision. And surely Allah is the best provider. The way that I think about this is, Subhanallah, is like, firstly, just, okay, you've been

**[17:07]** chosen to commit a noble task. And if you're penalized in the capacity of doing something noble, then surely the one who commanded you is also going to provide for you, right? So how does this verse resonate, Allah Azza wa Jalla being Ar-Razzaq here, the one who

**[17:24]** provides? How does this verse resonate with the context of the juz? Yeah, so this is — we were just talking about immigration from Mecca to Medina and the concept of migrating from, like, a place of oppression, a place where the Prophet (ﷺ) and the Sahabah couldn't actually establish the deen and didn't have any kind of

**[17:40]** religious freedom. And now they move into Medina. Immigration is not easy, specifically immigration for the sake of the deen. Of course, we're not talking about economic immigration, this perspective. That was like a specific form of immigration. That's why the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, فَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ There are different

**[17:57]** types of immigration, but when we use this word here, we mean the prophetic immigration. And it wasn't the only time that happened that stayed in our tradition to be immigration in imperial situations. So when you look at the name of Allah, خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ the next seven consecutive verses all conclude with pairs of names of Allah

**[18:15]** that all correspond to different episodes of the journey of the immigration. And really that looking at immigration to be a challenging moment, physically, even emotionally. You know, when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم first received revelation, he went to Sayyidah Khadijah رضي الله

**[18:31]** عنها. She comforted him, she took him to Waraqah. And Waraqah told him what was going to happen, right? He told him, like, this is going to be new to the people. People are going to fight you. People are going to oppose you a lot. And he mentioned all what is going to happen. What was the only thing that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم commented on? The only

**[18:47]** thing, like, see how big the news he's receiving is, but the only comment he made, أَوَمُخْرِجِيَّ هُمْ؟ Are they actually going to drive me out? And the scholars picked on that. They said, فِرَاقُ الْوَطَنِ عَزِيزٌ like, if you've been forced, if you've been displaced, if you've been forced to leave your

**[19:02]** homeland, that's most difficult. He didn't say, oh, they're going to fight me or they're going to oppose that. They didn't like that. I'm going to be a prophet. Like, he, I mean, he was still 'alayhis-salatu-wassalam internalizing the first revelation experience, but he really focused on that. So it comes with a lot of sacrifice. And that's why all of these names, seven ayat

**[19:18]** with, like, that's 14 names, and then with the name of Al-Razzaq, they all correspond somehow to the idea of the help of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala coming to the immigration. And as I mentioned earlier, immigration is a form of resistance, and that explains how the scholars understood it. When you open any Islamic legal

**[19:36]** manual, a chapter on Jihad, for example, one interesting and unique aspect about how Imam al-Shafi'i رحمه الله, for example, or the Shafi'i school dealt with this topic, two main things they started the chapters of Jihad with: one, immigration. That's in the chapter of Jihad, immigration

**[19:51]** from the state of Mecca. And it gives you a brief sirah and the introduction of Jihad topics. And then the second topic is فرض كفاية, it's communal obligations. And then they go on long tangents of what that means. What are the examples? Things that have nothing to do with Jihad, by the way. But it resembles these two, resembles that sometimes you need to fight on an individual

**[20:08]** level, and sometimes we need collectively to preserve the integrity of our community. That could be an actual Jihad. That could be an actual self-defense, but that also could be immigration by just resisting the system, by, okay, I'm leaving this place, I'm going to another place where I can actually establish myself. Doing all of that requires

**[20:23]** the or needs the help of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. He didn't say he's the Razzaq, he said هو خير الرازقين. He's the best provider. And of course, scholars of tafsir would say there's no comparison here, right? خير is أخير, is like better or superlative form. There's no comparison, right? So the scholars understood it to be

**[20:39]** absolute. And they gave multiple beautiful reflections, but one of the best reflections, in my reading at least, they gave was people can be means Allah uses to give us stuff, right? But he said this is not actually رزق. So if you're giving me

**[20:55]** something, you're just passing on رزق that you receive to me. It's like we are actually a kind of a chain of passing on pieces of رزق, but we're not actually providers. The actual originator of what رزق is, is Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. This is the khayriyyah here. This is the idea of that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala being the best provider. But this is not the only

**[21:11]** thing He promised those who are doing immigration. He also لَيُدْخِلَنَّهُمْ مُدْخَلًا يَرْضَوْنَهُ He's going to grant them the pleasant entry. He's going to enter them into a pleasant space in this life and in the hereafter. وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَعَلِيمٌ حَلِيمٌ He knows, عليم, He knows what you've been through and what you

**[21:28]** might be also going through in the future after your immigration. Because it's not only, again, it's not only about Jihad, even though the ayah talks about Jihad, because he mentions the two scenarios. Some people are going to be martyred, but some people are going to die. وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ قُتِلُوا أَوْ مَاتُوا and there is an equation here, an equation here, not

**[21:44]** just for the reward. We can still argue that the shaheed gets more reward than the person who just dies. But this person has a very high noble status with Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala because both are going to be given رزق from Allah, and then they're going to be admitted to a pleasant entry. Allah knows, عليمٌ, and حليم,

**[22:00]** because that needs hilm from Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. As you mentioned, that you're not going to be accountable for things that are beyond your capability. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is still going to be there. And then the rest of the names, of course, as I mentioned, seven ayat, everyone talks about different aspects of the power of Allah, the qudrah of Allah, the lutf of Allah Subhanahu

**[22:15]** wa Ta'ala for the rest of the ayat afterwards. I like how Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, knowing the reality of human beings and knowing how we may feel and how we may react, you know, how He used the in Arabic, the توكيد لَيَرْزُقَنَّهُمُ اللَّهُ and the شدة on the نون is kind of saying, this is surely going to happen.

**[22:31]** Even in these dire situations, people are dying in different ways. You know, مَاتُوا أَوْ قُتِلُوا, right? They, you know, died in an oppressing fashion, or they died maybe even of a sickness, which may be considered a lower level of martyrdom, is, you know, maybe غريق or maybe someone that died with a natural cause or some

**[22:49]** other form of oppression from another individual. But Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says لَيَرْزُقَنَّهُمُ اللَّهُ then says خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ just remember this in these moments, that Allah is better than anyone or anything that your senses will encounter. And that's what's so beautiful about the Arabic language. But it takes into high

**[23:07]** consideration the particular situation that you may be facing, like psychologically, physically, to ensure, yes, this time may be hard on you to where you may forget, but just remember, I'm going to ensure that fact that I am the best — translating is the best of providers, gives that صيغة التفضيل and comparison

**[23:24]** with Allah ولله المثل الأعلى, there's no comparison. And even when we say Allah is the best of planners, right? It's like, you know, we may want to reconsider that. But understanding that Allah سبحانه وتعالى, there is nothing like Him, and His provision is يعني حاصل that it will take place, that it will happen.

**[23:40]** And it's important for the Muslim to believe that in all times, but in certain times when there is a dire need or a situation where their iman can be tested, hopefully not the foundation of their iman. But when it comes to these particular situations, who are they ultimately turning to? Because Allah سبحانه وتعالى is

**[23:57]** sufficient in all times. جزاك الله خيرا بارك الله فيكم. Going to leave it with you very quickly, إن شاء الله تعالى, as well to maybe comment on the second element, and then Shaykh Yusuf can also give us his comments as well. You know, you mentioned Hijrah and Jihad, right? And there's a particular type of mindset when the believers are

**[24:14]** picking up and leaving everything that they knew behind and knowing that Allah عز وجل will provide for them. But there's another thing: when you fight back those that oppressed you, and you know that Allah Azza wa Jalla will provide for you victory. And in Surah Al-Hajj, in verse 39, of course, the permission that you were alluding

**[24:30]** to أُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقَاتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ نَصْرِهِمْ لَقَدِيرٌ that permission has been given to fight back, right? So Subhanallah, it's because you were oppressed, fight back, and you have been wronged. And verily, Allah is truly most capable of helping them prevail.

**[24:46]** And then at the end of the next verse, Subhanallah, the same thing وَلَيَنصُرَنَّ اللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَقَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ and Allah Azza wa Jalla will certainly help those who stand up for Him. And verily, Allah is truly powerful and almighty. So it's like, Subhanallah, it's in the same verse that Allah is giving

**[25:03]** you permission to fight for yourself. Allah is saying, and by the way, He is capable of giving you victory. And then the second verse where Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says, and Allah will help those who help themselves. And verily, Allah is قَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ, right? Allah is لَقَوِيٌّ

**[25:18]** عَزِيزٌ, Allah is, you know, endowed with strength and almighty. It both comes back to, like, you have to do your part and let Allah Azza wa Jalla do His. So Shaykh Abdullah, what can you share, like, on a personal level for us too in that regard? Yeah, I mean, again, he uses three forms of surety here, right? وَلَا

**[25:35]** وَلَيَنصُرَنَّ اللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُ and then he says لَقَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ right? It's just showing you that when you help the deen of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, helping is really helping yourself. We have to understand that when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says, for example, احفظ الله يحفظك, preserve Allah, and

**[25:51]** Allah will preserve you. But it's really preserving the deen of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala in your practice and the way that you turn to Allah. That's how you're going to help the deen of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. But Allah is Al-Ghani, He is free and sufficient from any need from anyone or anything. But it's really how

**[26:06]** are you going to help the deen of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala by your implementation, your standing up for your religion, your standing up against people that are oppressing you or others that have the same belief, or even those that, you know, have been oppressed in a general fashion. How are you going to do that in a way that is befitting to you and your faith?

**[26:24]** And in result, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala will assist you, whether individually or collectively. So it's that reminder to stand firm in your faith. And this is a general principle as well, as you mentioned, personal experiences. I mean, you know, when converting to Islam, it was something that was very, very difficult. Even though, you know, you go to a typical community, there may

**[26:41]** be people that were born Muslim, etc. But when, you know, you become Muslim and you see what's happening around the world, to Muslims, I've had non-Muslim relatives come to me and say, "Why would you come to a religion that this is happening to these people? You have to remember these verses." وَلَيَنصُرَنَّ اللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُ

**[26:57]** that Allah will definitely, most surely, assist and help those that help Him. So it reminds me of that basis of 'aqidah that's very, very important to have and maintain and know that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is going to help His people on His terms and not on ours. When we zoom out again to look at

**[27:13]** the entire Juz, one question that may come to mind is that when we think of the parallels before the Ummah of the Prophet 'alayhis-salatu-wassalam and look at the prophets, the idea of the عذاب الاستئصال, the idea of a collective punishment that roots out the tyrants and the oppressors, that's something that Allah has done to a lot of the previous nations, as the Quran

**[27:29]** mentions. But for us, He didn't promise that. He promised victory. And then, as you mentioned, Shaykh, like قَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ about like He will enable you, He will facilitate you, but it's going to go through rounds. You will lose some rounds, you will lose some battles, but you might win some battles. It's going to be a مدافعة, it's going to be back and forth until the end

**[27:45]** of time. Allah سبحانه وتعالى, out of His wisdom, He decided that this Ummah will not be granted that facilitation of collective punishment for their enemies. That's why people say, when like we think of all this oppression that is happening, why doesn't Allah just like take out all those oppressors at once, right? We

**[28:01]** have the flood, we have the wind, we have like all these different natural punishments that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has caused. All of these previous nations, almost most of them in the Quran, are about like العذاب, and the Quran gives like really almost graphic images of how that punishment was collective and لَا تُبْقِي وَلَا تَذَرُ, like it just takes everybody. But for us, He said,

**[28:17]** "No, you have these forms of resistance. Sometimes you need to relocate, sometimes you need to have a new start after you migrate, sometimes you need to push back, sometimes you need to do Jihad." Like you have all these forms, and they will be with you until the end of time. It's something — the test here is for us to see the variety of responses, right, to the oppression

**[28:34]** that is happening in the world, to see how you're going to resist that, not to sit and wait for the divine intervention, to just like, okay, finish like the final scene. The final scene will be on the Day of Judgment. It is something that you keep trying your best, and Allah will support whoever He wishes to support, and it's going to continue in

**[28:50]** these rounds until the end of time. الله يبارك فيك, Shaykh Yusuf. Amazing insights, ماشاء الله. And I think, you know, again, it's like don't abdicate your own responsibility. It's just like Allah is خير الرازقين, He's the one who provides. That doesn't mean that you don't go seek out your own رزق. Like the greatest

**[29:06]** example of that is 'Abdurrahman ibn 'Awf رضي الله تعالى عنه. He's one of these people in this verse, right? He gets to Madinah, and you know, an Ansari is telling him, "You can have everything, I've got you covered." He says, "I don't need any of this," right? دُلَّنِي عَلَى السُّوقِ just show me the marketplace and I'll figure it out. And he knows Allah is the one that's going

**[29:21]** to be, at the end of the day, الرازق, who's going to provide. But he's going to do his part. And the same thing when it comes to victory. We have to do our best. We have to do our part. We don't abdicate our own responsibility, right, and just wait for Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala to make it happen. Allah Azza wa Jalla is giving us, and we

**[29:38]** hope, choosing us by using us to be part of the means of that victory بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى. May الله عز وجل choose us for that which is خير and may الله سبحانه وتعالى enable us to do that which is right. بارك الله فيك Shaykh Yusuf for joining us. إن شاء الله تعالى we'll see you all tomorrow.

**[29:53]** السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته.

## Other Episodes in "Qur’an 30 for 30 | Season 7"
- [Juz 30: Love Al-Razzaq More Than Rizq | Sh. Navaid Aziz](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-30.md)
- [Juz 29: Your Spiritual Report Card  | Dr. Nazir Khan](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-29.md)
- [Juz 28: How To Truly Be Conscious of Allah | Dr. Jinan Yousef](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-28.md)
- [Juz 27: The Night You Give Everything | Sh. Abu Bakr Zoud](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-27.md)
- [Juz 26: Don’t Run From Struggle | Sh. Mikaeel Smith](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-26.md)
- [Juz 25: God Is Not A Mystery | Sh. Ibrahim Hindy](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-25.md)
- [Juz 24: Candid Conversations with Allah | Mufti Abdul Rahman Waheed](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-24.md)
- [Juz 23: Facing Your Trials With Honor | Dr. Farah Islam](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-23.md)
- [Juz 22: Appreciating Muhammad ﷺ | Sh. Omar Hajjaj](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-22.md)
- [Juz 21: Allah Is The Author of History | Sr. Sarah Sultan](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-21.md)
- [Juz 20: Allah’s Loud and Silent Revelations | Sh. Hisham Abu Yusuf](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-20.md)
- [Juz 19: What Makes You Valuable to Allah? | Ust. Roohi Tahir](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-19.md)
- [Juz 18: The Qur’an Is A Cure | Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-18.md)
- [Juz 16: Can You Be Patient With Allah? | Ust. Lobna Mulla](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-16.md)
- [Juz 15: Join the Heavens in Glorifying Allah | Sh. Mohamud Mohamed](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-15.md)
- [Juz 14: The Surah of Blessings | Ust. Taimiyyah Zubair](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-14.md)
- [Juz 13: What Is 1% of Allah’s Mercy? | Dr. Mohamed AbuTaleb](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-13.md)
- [Juz 12: Allah Is Not Far | Sh. Omar Hedroug](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-12.md)
- [Juz 11: Stop Playing Games | Dr. Ovamir Anjum](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-11.md)
- [Juz 10: When Allah Goes To War For You | Dr. Suleiman Hani](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-10.md)
- [Juz 9: How To Memorize Allah’s Names | Dr. Haifaa Younis](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-9.md)
- [Juz 8: Whose Validation Do You Need? | Sh. Shabbir Hassan](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-8.md)
- [Juz 7: They Know Al-Lateef in Gaza | Dr. Farhan Abdul Azeez](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-7.md)
- [Juz 6: Signs of A Hypocrite | Sh. Asim Khan](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-6.md)
- [Juz 5: You Can’t Fight Fire with Fire | Ust. Fatima Lette](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-5.md)
- [Juz 4: The Final Moments of This Life | Ahmad Hraichie ( The Muslim Undertaker)](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-4.md)
- [Juz 3: How The Qur’an Makes You Rich | Dr. Tahir Wyatt](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-3.md)
- [Juz 2: The Lord of Rituals | Mufti Menk](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-2.md)
- [Juz 1: Allah’s Names in the Qur’an | Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-juz-1-mohammad-elshinawy.md)
- [TRAILER | Qur’an 30 for 30 Season 7 | Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/quran-30-for-30-season-7/quran-30-for-30-season-7-trailer.md)