Recital of Surah Kahf on Fridays

~ Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem ~

Jumu’ah Khutbah – Reviving the Sunnah of reciting Suratul Kahf on Friday

Virtues of Surah Kahf

RasoolAllaah salAllaahu ‘alayhi wasallam has encouraged us to recite Suratul Kahf every Friday. In various ahadith, we learn of some of the virtues of reciting Suratul Kahf, on the holiest day of the week. In one narration it is mentioned that whoever recites Suratul Kahf on a Friday, Allaah will create a light for him that stretches from him; all the way to the Ka’bah. And in another narration a light that stretches from him all the way to the heavens. And most importantly RasoolAllaah sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam has informed us that whoever recites Suratul Kahf on a Friday; Allaah will protect him, from every fitnah, from every trial, from every tribulation that may befall him, from that day onwards for up to 7 or 10 days, even though that fitnah, that tribulation, that trial may be as great, as grave as the fitnah of Dajjal (Anti-Christ) himself. RasoolAllaah salAllaahu ‘alayhi wasallam has encouraged us to recite Suratul Kahf on a Friday and has mentioned all of these rewards.

Now, what’s so special about Suratul Kahf? That each week, in a ritual manner, we have been encouraged to recite this Surah? The contents of this Surah have some special meaning and significance, the Surah must have a message that is repeated to us every Friday.

Suratul Kahf is a medium sized Surah of the Qur’aan and it is difficult to summarise its contents. But, there are some themes that run through the Surah. The Surah contains a number of famous stories:

1) The story of the young men in the cave (after which the whole Surah has been named)

2) Another is the story of two men, one was extremely rich and the other poor

3) The third story related of prophet Musa (alayhi salaatu wasalaam) and his amazing encounter with another learned and pious servant of Allaah; Sayyidina Khidr (alayhi salaatu wasalaam)

4) Finally, the story of Dhul Qarnayn, a mighty ruler and a pious servant of Allaah (Azza Wajal)

There is a common theme that run through all of these stories and forms a major component of Suratul Kahf. That theme is, that the world around us, with all its glitter, its glamour, its power, its strength, is all meaningless compared to the hidden world of Allaah. A world of faith, a world of spirituality, a world of reliance, not in material things but Allaah!

1) The first Story of the people of the cave; this was a group of young men who were part of a very large society, going against the flow, bucking the ‘trend’, these few young men who were so few in number, they were fewer than ten, that one could count them on their very fingers. This group of young men contrary to the rest of society who were pagans and polytheists, they believed in Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala, submitting themselves to only Allaah, they worshipped him, summoning against the tide, their belief and their practices were in utter contrast to everyone around them. This included their own family members; they faced hostility, enmity, and eventually persecution! This persecution reached a threat on their lives; finally, they were given an ultimatum that you will either renounce your faith or you will suffer death. These young men conferred between themselves. Their conference has been mentioned in the Holy Qur’aan that, how can we, should we abandon our faith? Should we renounce our belief in Allaah? Should we move away from worshipping Allaah with Tawheed; Oneness, to the worship of many Gods, and false deities? Should we move away from submission to Allaah to submission to everyone and everything else? Inevitably and without a shadow of doubt, they concluded that we suffer a great slot if we did any of this, we cannot renounce our faith and belief in Allaah. They felt that because of the persecution and threat of death we must move away and go into hiding. So they fled, they fled from society, they fled from their loved ones, their family members, their lives. They fled with their faith and retreated into the mountains and worshipped Allaah in secret. Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala miraculously put them to sleep for more than 300 years.

This is no legend or fable; this is mentioned quite categorically and unequivocally in Suratul Kahf, in the Holy Qur’aan. After the passage of three centuries and slightly more, Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala caused them to rise. They did not know that they had fallen asleep for that long. When they awoke and saw the position of the sun in the sky, they thought this was just a passage of just a few hours of the day. One of them descended, very discreetly into the local community to purchase food for themselves, eventually they were discovered because of the manner in which they spoke, their dress from an ancient time and not from the contemporaries.

As a result, their story came to light and now, times have changed; what had happened is that Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala had put them to sleep simply because they were too pure, too good for their own time! People were not receptive to their message, people could not understand what they said, and people thought they were mad! But Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala has chosen them, as a result, Allaah allowed 3 centuries to pass, many generations to go by before the people, their minds, their mentality, their climate, were all receptive for them. Only then, did Allaah resurrect them and bring them back into the community so that now they can serve as light and beacons of light to guide us for everybody else. They were hailed as heroes, granted honour both in this life and after death. This was the story of the people of the Cave.

2) The Second Story is of two men, both acquaintances, one was extremely rich and the other was poor. The rich man took his friend along with him, for a tour of his estate, his property and wealth. As he was marvelling at his amass wealth he became boastful and arrogant. He began saying to his friend, look at what I have, look at these riches, the estate, the wealth, the honour, power, children, fame, my clan and my possession. As he was boasting he actually began to mutter something else, he began to say, do you know ‘I don’t think that all of these riches, this estate, this wealth will ever perish or expire’ In fact, he progressed further ‘I don’t think that there is ever going to be an hour of reckoning, or a day of judgement. Then he progressed even further, in fact, if I am returned to my Lord, I will discover even more and even better over there by Allaah!’

These verses Allaahu Akbar; this is the power, the eloquence of the Holy Qur’aan that in three sentences Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala has informed us of the corrupting, corrosive, and deluding nature of wealth! When man becomes wealthy, he becomes deluded, wealth clouds his judgement, wealth places a veil before his eyes, they make his vision muddy and murky. He cannot see truth from falsehood, and falsehood from truth. Just as this man was boasting of his riches and thought his wealth and his riches are everlasting and will never expire. His delusion took him a stage further, he actually believed just per chance, if there was a day of reckoning then just as Allaah honoured me in this life so too will Allaah honour me even more in the hereafter.

Then his companion turned to him and said ‘Why do you boast, instead of boasting and aspiring these riches, this wealth, to yourself why are you not you grateful to Allaah. Why don’t you say ‘MashaAllaah, Laa Quwwata Illa BilAllaah? Why aren’t you humble before Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala. His arrogance lead him to hold his companion in contempt. He actually turned to him and said ‘I am better than you, I am richer than you, I am wealthier than you and I have more power and possession and control over people than you, I can summon greater numbers than you can’.

So the companion turned to him and said ‘If you think I am inferior to you in wealth and in numbers then it is highly possible that my Lord may destroy all of what you have’ and no sooner has he spoken, that a thunder bolt struck his properties, his estate and his wealth from the heavens and burnt everything that he owned. The words of the Qur’aan say that he was left rubbing his hands in regret and in sorrow at what he saw before him of his destruction of his wealth and his properties within a few moments!

3) The third story is of Musa and Khidr. Musa was a prophet of Allaah who despite his knowledge and learning and his prominent position, did not know certain things and he correctly said about himself that he is the most knowledgeable person but Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala wants to correct him and say to him that you are the most knowledgeable amongst your people, but there are many things of the knowledge of Allaah, many branches and disciplines of learning that you do not have access to and you do not know. Musa said to Allaah ‘How can I find a way to this servant of yours, who is more learned than I am. So, Allaah guided him, (from a long story) when finally Musa met with Khidr they both went on a voyage. This journey was an amazing experience for the Prophet Musa. He witnessed and saw man things that he, despite being a learned and wise Prophet of Allaah, could not understand, could not fathom and comprehend. On each occasion he kept on interrupting, objecting and questioning. He was told to remain silent and patient on each occasion. Finally, when the two could no longer keep company, they parted. Before they parted Khidr explained to Musa the hidden meaning and the profound truth and the hidden wisdom in the laws, decisions, actions and judgement of Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala that even Musa could not understand.

4) Finally the story of Dhul Qarnayn; he was emperor, a mighty ruler who ruled over a huge area of land and had control over the lives of many people. The moral of Dhul Qarnayn is that despite his wealth, power, riches, his military might and his conquest, he was a humble servant of Allaah. He was never deluded by wealth and most importantly by his military power and his strength.

These are four stories that make up a major part of Suratul Kahf. A major common theme that runs across these stories is this; going back to the story of the young men in the cave, look at how these young men tackled the pressure of wealth, family, power, of the whole of society and bucking the trend. They withstood all of these adverse pressures, these young men continued to believe and submit to and worship Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala despite having to bear many hardships and difficulties. They saw beyond the wealth of their people, the love and the attachment of their own family, they saw beyond the power and the strength of their entire community and society, withstanding all of this they remained worshippers and sincere to Allaah.

Again, the story of the two men; whilst one was deluded by wealth; his companion was not bamboozled or blinded by the glitter of his companion’s riches. But, despite his poverty, his individual struggle and hardship, he remained firm in his faith to Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala.

Khidr and Musa, their story tells us that even the prophet of Allaah, initially on a few occasions, he was also mistaken, and he could not see beyond what was apparent because, Allaah kept it hidden from him. But, Musa eventually learnt that there is a hidden world and a hidden dimension that he, even as a Prophet of Allaah could not understand and see, because Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala chose to veil it from him.

The lessons derived from these stories indicate that this world, around it is a world of materialism. Materialism is not just the love of wealth; Materialism is an absolute belief in matter and anything which doesn’t matter and doesn’t exist. All that matters is matter. What you can feel. As a result of this materialism, we have become reliant on matter and wealth, on what we see, feel and experience. Our visions have become limited only to this world and we fail to see beyond the glitter of gold, beyond these riches, beyond material possessions, beyond these few years of life on Earth. We fail to see the greater wisdom, the greater universe, and the spiritual dimension of Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala. That is all about faith. This is where the teachings of Allaah and RasoolAllaah come in.

Even Dhul Qarnayn had power, riches, military power, he had control over sways of land and people’s lives but he being the true servant of Allaah saw beyond all of this and despite his wealth, power and riches he never became deluded. In all of these stories we have a lesson of faith that will surmount materialism, of belief, spirituality that will free and liberate a person from the imprisonment of materialism and just this world.

These are some of the morals and lessons that Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala wishes to impart upon us by our weekly reading [at least] of Suratul Kahf. RasoolAllaah salAllaahu ‘alayhi wasallam has encouraged us to recite and reflect on and ponder over the meanings and message of Suratul Kahf.

I pray that Allaah enables us to continually recite the Qur’aan as much as possible and at least to follow this example of reciting Suratul Kahf for its rewards as well as for its meaning and message every Friday. May Allaah make us those who are enlightened by the message of Suratul Kahf and who are enabled by Allaah subhanaahu wa ta’ala with the tawfeeq to apply these teachings in our practical daily lives.

- Shaykh Riyad ul Haq

Aameen Thumma Aameen!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZPdOh6uITc&feature=related

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