Khutba Lessons from V. 1-6 of Kahf

Wanted to speak over the next few Jummas, as I am in town about Sura Kahf, the Chapter of the Cave, the 18th Sura of the Qur’an;

We have the importance of this sura recorded in an authentic hadeeth reported in Bayhaqi and Al-Hakim: “Who ever recites Surah Al-Kahf on Friday, Allah will give him a light to the next Friday”

So who wouldn’t want the light of Allah on them from one Friday to the next; and the reason for this light is that this sura has many lessons we can learn from the stories it tells: story of the people of the cave; story of the two men and the gardens one was given; story of Musa and Khidr; and the story of Dhul Qarnain; So the best thing to do is to read sura kahf every Friday; but if you can’t read all of it because of time, then at least read some of it; and if you can’t event do that, then listen to it while riding in your car, on the bus, walking on campus, etc.

And it is equally important that you understand what is being said so that you ca derive benefit not only from the letters of the Qur’an, but more importantly, from following the words of Allah; so, over the next few weeks and months, I will try toexplain these stories and try to put them in a context of how we can benefit from them in this day and age;

1. “All Praises and thanks be to Allah, who has sent down to His slave the book (Qur’an) and has not placed therein any crookedness”

So Allah begins the Sura with Praises and thanks to Allah, and this is one of only 5 suras in the Qur’an that has this beginning; and we praise Allah for all things that we have and do not have because both things can be a source of trial; but specific to this verse, Allah is saying that we should give praise to Him for sending down a book, the Qur’an, through his messenger, Muhammad, and one of the great things is that it has not crookedness;

So 2 things here: it is straight forward book and is not contradictory in any way and that it is not blemished with mistakes, as we find in the books of old; second, that through this aya Allah has established a miracle in that if this book every became corrupted with mistakes, then this aya would no longer hold true, and thus it would no longer be the book of Allah; As such, Allah is guaranteeing itself survival with ayat such as these; kind of like a self checking mechanism;

2. “He has made it Straight to give warning to the disbelievers of a severe punishment from Him, and to give glad tidings to the believers, who work righteous deeds, that they shall have a fair reward.
3. They will abide therein forever”

One of the aspects of its correctness is a balance between a warning and a glad tidings; and throughout the Qur’an you find that Allah, and in the seerah, the Prophet, are giving glad tidings to the believers and warnings to the disbelievers; but this balance is more profound than this, in that wherever Allah mentions hellfire, he follows up with paradise; if he mentions a punishment, he tells you how to get away from it; and if you think about it, the only way to be straight is to have balance;

4. And to warn those who say “Allah has begotten a son;

5. no knowledge have they of such a thing, not had their fathers. Mighty is the word that comes out of their mouths. They utter nothing but a lie

And so this qur’an is a book that has been sent down to eradicate the myth that Allah has a son; and most particularly Allah here is referring to the Christians, but we can use this for Hinduism and Buddhism and any other that says such a lie; Allah says they have no knowledge of this because the people who believe this were not around when these Prophets, like Jesus, was alive, so they don’t really know; and their fathers don’t know either; in fact for example in Christianity, it took 350 years before the divinity of Jesus became part of their creed;

And what they utter, if they only know, is very serious; and is a an outright lie; a covering of the truth


5. “Perhaps, you would kill yourself in grief, over their footsteps, because they believe not in this narrantion”

and this verse brings out the true nature of the Prophet Muhammed, in that he truly cares for the well being of others and how they behave; that he is not teaching them about Islam because he feels he is better than them, but rather because he cares about them; to the point of almost killing himself with grief; and in another verse Allah says: Verily in the messenger of Allah, you find an excellent example; and here in this verse we find a most excellent example of a da’i, or a person who calls people to Allah and Islam; that he has to truly care for the people he is talking to;

this, in my opinion, is lacking in the Muslim Ummah today; that we look down on people who are not blessed with Islam, and all the while, we are not true Muslims ourselves; in order to call people to Islam in America, you have to care for the Americans, be of them and not separate from them;

so what we can derive from the first 6 ayat of Sura Kahf are the following points in summary:

1. We should praise and thank Allah in all situations; and in particular for sending a book to us that is uncorrupted; no other religion can claim this; in fact, no other religion claims that its book is perfect and then challenges others to disprove it
2. That just like Allah in the Qur’an uses balance to indicate what is straight, right/wrong, heaven/hell; punishment/reward; we in our own lives need to have balance so that we walk on the straight path; balance between extremism and apathy and Allah defines as a balanced nation: ummatan wasata
3. That associating partners with Allah is very serious, but also, that you shouldn’t blindly follow what your fathers have taught you; they could be wrong or worse, lying to you; you should use your intellect to question it and come up with answers
4. That in order for us to be influential with non-Muslims, we have to genuinely care about them; not preach to them, but talk and discuss the errors of their way; and before judging others, judge yourself