Nouman Ali Khan

In this khutbah, I reflected on one of the most beautiful and practical promises Allah gives us in the Quran:

الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُم بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ۗ أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ

“Those who believe and whose hearts find calm in the remembrance of Allah. Surely, it is through the remembrance of Allah that hearts find calm.” [13:28]

Most of the disturbance in our hearts comes from people. Someone sent you a message, someone didn't call you back, someone lied about you, someone raised their voice, someone in your own family knows exactly how to push the right button. And when we forget Allah, we start looking to those same people to restore the peace th

Addictions, Emotional Escapes & Avoiding the Truth

People reject truth not because it’s unclear, but because it’s inconvenient.

In Surah At-Tur, Allah mentions those who deny the truth and are constantly drowning themselves with wordly distractions, avoid responsibilities, mock the reminders, and use entertainment and useless indulgence to escape from reality.

فَوَيْلٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِّلْمُكَذِّبِينَ ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ فِى خَوْضٍ يَلْعَبُونَ

If we bring these ayat into today's context, we're in an age where the خَوْضٍ is endless scrolling, binge-watching, social media, video games, or anything that keeps us numb and disconnected from Allah.

Instead we must ask ourselves if what we're indulgin

The purpose of fasting and the purpose of Ramadan are connected. The purpose of fasting is to develop taqwa. The purpose of Ramadan is to get closer to the Quran. The spirit of Ramadan is lost if you come out of it not knowing a little more Quran than you did before. The spirit is lost if you don’t come out of Ramadan more in love with the Quran than you were before.

Reflect on this ayah, 'Shaitan beautified their actions to them…' [Surat An-Nahl: 63] This doesn’t only apply to haram actions like adultery, drugs, and alcohol. This ayah also means something else. When you are doing the work of Islam—da’wah, praying, fasting—but you are doing it for the wrong reasons, shaitan beautifies that, too. Because he doesn’t care about the deed, he only cares that your heart should be corrupt.

If you want to act on the Book of Allah, you have to first understand the Book of Allah. If you don’t have a good understanding then you’re not going to have good implementation. This Book is not like a magazine, article, or blog. You can’t skim through the Quran to get its treasure. 'Will they not then ponder deeply on the Qur'an?' [Surat Muhammad: 24]

Everyone thinks that their family is safe from losing faith and leaving Islam. If anyone had the right to think that, it would have been Ibrahim alayhis-salam, the greatest role model any family could have. But after building the Kaaba with his own hands and perfectly submitting to Allah’s will at the time of sacrificing his son, Ibrahim allays-salam made a shocking dua: 'My Lord… keep me and my sons from worshipping idols.' Every one of us is in need of Allah’s help.

CARE AND VALIDATION We just heard Yusuf (as) describe his dream to Ya’qub (as), and now the dad is going to respond with two things: one in this Ayah, and the other in the next. He opens by addressing his son as يا بُنَيَّ – this is an Arabic diminutive (taṣghīr), giving us the meaning 'my young son, my dear son', so it's a loving phrase. Since they were together, there was no need to call out or get the other’s attention, so what function does it actually serve? First, it’s a form of comfort, and letting the child know that what’s about to be said comes from a place of love. The words convey to us the tone of their conversation. And your close family deserves to hear terms of respect ju

AN ATTENTIVE PARENT We can look at this Surah and story as comprising 'scenes', so what we are looking at now is Scene One, a very personal, private conversation between father and son. In fact, the son is the one initiating the conversation, and it’s happening behind closed doors – separately, I intend to read and compare this with the Bible's version of the story to help you contrast the Quran’s account with what was known and circulated before the Quran came. [See the series here:

] The story begins like this with no prior description of Yusuf or his father, just straight into his name and this conversation ab

DIVINE STORYTELLING Before we get into the story itself, this is one more Ayah which orients our minds in the right direction. Let’s notice first the emphasis here: Allah saysنحن نقص with this extra pronoun before the verb, which gives the meaning 'It is We who narrate'. This makes extra clear that this story is not being told by the Prophet ﷺ, but by Allah. Not only is the content and information from Allah, but also the way in which the story is being told. So, Allah is taking full credit of being the one who's telling the story, and in this particular way. We also saw this emphasis in the previous Ayah: إنَّا أنزلناه قراءنًا عربيًا 'It is We Who brought it down as an Arabic Recital' –

AN ARABIC RECITAL Let’s start by appreciating the connection of this Ayah to the one before. There, it was called Kitab; here, it is called Quran. It’s as though Allah is telling us that it's in a written form in the heavens, and it was turned into something to be recited in Arabic on the tongue of Muhammad ﷺ. 'We have sent it down' by way of Angel Jibril 'as an Arabic Quran' – so it's the story of the Hebrews, the Israelites, of Yusuf (as), which was told before in Hebrew, and now it's coming down as an Arabic recital. You could say that the Arabs have no business telling this story; it's not their story! But the Master of the Arabs and the Master of the Hebrews, it’s His business to tel

A DIVINE ORIENTATION The first thing to note is the opening letters of the Surah: Alif-Lam-Ra. If you're a regular reader of the Quran or a student of Quran studies, you know that a lot of Surahs of the Quran are in groups; they're bunched together. So, there are a number of Surahs that have a similar style and you can tell that Allah wants us to consider them connected to each other by the way He opens those Suras. The Suras that open with Alif-Lam-Ra are like that: so this is Surah number 12 and it takes you back to Surah number 10, which is Yunus. It's important to know Surat Yunus is a Makki Surah, and all the way from there to Surah number 23 were all given to the Prophet ﷺ in Makkah

Let's talk about the difference between having knowledge and having guidance. We can have a lot of knowledge of the Quran but still not have guidance. Guidance is an ongoing, minute by minute, series of actions. We're going to have to make decisions and we need someone's guidance to make those decisions. Allah tells us that He is willing to give us constant advice on all of our decisions. I can dress like I have a lot of knowledge, stand on a stage in front of people, and have Facebook followers, but it doesn't mean I have Allah's guidance. Guidance is in the hands of Allah and we have to go back to Him to seek it over and over again. This is the difference between knowledge and guidance. Ya

When Allah says, 'Never lose hope in the mercy of Allah', He is saying that while having full knowledge of ALL the sins you have committed. Allah knows them all and He's still telling you to never lose hope. So why would you ever think that your sins are too big for Allah to forgive? Turn to Allah.

Alif-Laam-Meem. The first Surah after the Fatihah begins with these mysterious letters. What do they mean? What wisdom lies behind them? While some conjectures exist about their implications, it is well established with near consensus that the true intent of these words are only known to Allah. I think, and Allah knows best, that not knowing is itself a profound guiding lesson, even an orientation for the student of the Quran. He or she must deeply internalize that Allah knows and they don't. This attitude will pave the road for guidance. You and I will only understand when Allah allows it. We are not entitled to know; we are privileged. All of what we read boils down to words and words boil

Quran is compared to water by Allah. Our bodies need daily intake of water for survival and health. People that don’t drink enough end up with chronic problems of all kinds. Hydration is key to well being. The analogy necessitates that we feed our hearts daily with Allah’s words. They will help restore hope, help with grief, control anger, fight evil temptations, control negative thoughts and fill the heart with thoughts of gratitude and trust in Him and His counsel. Let’s be healthy. Let’s hydrate our hearts and souls everyday.

We recite Surat-Al-Nas to seek Allah’s protection. Often what is in our minds when we recite it is to be in Allah’s refuge sheltering us from the whispering devil that does his work impacting the chests of people في صدور الناس. In Arabic literature, the chest is also a figure of speech for our emotions. That implies that the devil does continuous work to use our emotions against us. But what I never really place enough weight on in this surah is the fact that such manipulation is done at the hands of jinn but also people. من الجنة والناس. There are people who can be covert, indirect, manipulative and not ever get caught red-handed as they go about inciting people's emotions. Some will

هدى للمتقين الذين يؤمنون بالغيب Quran declares itself guidance for those who take measures to protect themselves, the muttaqeen. Their first description is that they believe in the unseen; a reality that exists right before us that impacts our life just as much as the weather impacts our physical bodies. When I am aware of seen dangers like a street that says right turn only, I will not turn left because I’m being a person of taqwa (protecting myself) from a seen danger. But when Allah says don’t turn a certain way, the dangers of violating that law and the benefits of following are entirely unseen. Miss a meeting at work, the heart feels it. Will I lose my job? Will the boss be mad?

It is clear from revelation that specific acts, such as backbiting or mocking, have spiritual consequences. However, this ayah shows something else: even acts that are not religious in nature have spiritual consequences. This ayah was revealed in Madinah when the Prophet (pbuh) and the believers had already gone to war against the polytheists of Makkah several times. In warfare even today, each side seeks to collect intelligence from the other for the purpose of espionage. This may be used for influence and to spread propaganda and misinformation, which can lead to national and international conflicts. We have witnessed many lives being lost because of information warfare. This ayah

Surat al-Nisa’ elucidates many laws about women, marriage, inheritance and more. When we think of 'laws', we tend to think of halal/haram and other matters that regulate this life, not the spiritual dimension. However, abiding by these laws has positive effects spiritually, just as violating them has negative consequences spiritually and emotionally. Just like fire burns and gravity pulls down, in the spiritual sense there are also causes and long-lasting effects. Therefore, it is important to find spiritual and emotional counsel and healing in these laws. Marriage, being from the tradition of the Prophet (peace be upon him), is an act of worship - and an important aspect of it is mahr (d

I received a touching letter from a brother currently in prison, which led me to contemplate the profound implications of these ayahs. In the letter, he spoke about his regret for past actions. He further explained his dire conditions and lack of religious support, resources and basic needs such as a mat to pray on. Something that inspired me is the spirituality in what he expressed. Despite all of these barriers, he still had the will to fast by saving his food for iftar. Moreover, he specifically asked for resources to study and develop spiritually even in his state of loneliness and societal alienation. These ayahs draw our attention to the fact that Allah is the Owner of all kings