“And let not their speech grieve you. Indeed, honor [due to power] belongs to Allah entirely. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.” [10:65]

In these Ayahs Allah is telling His Prophetﷺ the things they (the disbelievers) say to you should not grieve you. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ *will* hear things that will really hurt him, hear things that will upset him, and people *will* say demoralising things. However, Allah is reminding His Prophetﷺ to not let their talk get to him, for you have a responsibility to deliver the message of hope and optimism. If you get demoralised, how will humanity find their morals?

Allah then reminds that indeed dignity, power, honour and respect belongs only to Him. Only He owns it so don’t worry about what they say, because no one can disrespect Allah.

The lesson *we* can take from this is, keep moving forward despite hearing ugly speech. Many a time, especially through social media, we find people saying horrible and hateful things about Islam and about Allah and His messenger; things which fill us with disgust and rage.

Yet, Allah is reminding us: Don’t let it get to you. You just keep doing your job. Allah will deal will them because He is the “All Hearing, the All-Knowing.”

So remember, don’t let their hate interfere with the work you have to do. You just do your job; which is to worship Allah and serve His deen.

And Allah knows best.

انفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا وَجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنفُسِكُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
“Go forth, whether light or heavy, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah . That is better for you, if you only knew.” (9:41)

This ayah was a call from Allah to the Muslims who were heading out to the Battle of Tabuk. The Prophet (salallahu alaihi wasallam ) issued what you can call a ‘military draft’ for Muslims to be ready for battle because the Roman army would be 100,000 times stronger than them, so they had to be prepared.
And on this occasion, there were some people who began to feel “am I even good enough or brave enough to fight in the battle? Will I even be an asset?”

So Allah revealed universal words that aren’t just beneficial for that context, but for anyone who wants to serve Allah’s religion and for any good cause under the shade of Islam.

Allah says, “Go/march forward whether light or heavy.” In other words, whether you have a lot of money or a little bit, whether you have some heavy assets to offer or no assets to offer, whether you have a lot of talent, or don’t think you have a talent, whether you’re strong or weak, whether you’re knowledgeable or not that knowledgeable. Everyone of you has to march forward because you have *something* to offer Allah.
Allah created us with certain talents and abilities and we have to use them for the sake of Allah and for a good cause.

We all need to do a real assessment of ourselves. How are we going to serve Allah’s religion? How are we going to help others? By doing charity? Or by giving good advice? Or by writing to inspire hearts and spreading knowledge? What contribution can we make towards the cause of Allah?
To be used for Allah’s deen is the greatest honour we can have in this life.
So whatever talent/skill you have, put it to good use to spread Allah’s religion and to make the world a better and happier place.

May Allah use us to serve His religion and to spread goodness in the world, ameen.

Allah says in Surah Nisa’, ayah 147: “What would Allah do with your punishment if you are grateful and believe? And ever is Allah Appreciative and Knowing.”

A couple of ayahs before this, Allah explains to us how the hypocrites will be in the lowest depth of hell fire, meaning they will suffer a terrible punishment. But then after saying this, Allah talks about the exception. The exception are the people who repented, turned back to Allah, fixed themselves and made their faith sincere for Allah alone. Allah says that these people are the ones who will have a great reward and compensation.

In these ayahs, Allah is addressing all those people who are immersed in sin, those people who feel like they’ve done so much bad, to the point they feel as though they will be doomed to hell and begin to question why Allah would punish them.

Allah then responds to them in this verse by saying: ‘Why do you think Allah wants to punish you?’ Or why would he be interested in punishing you? And then He moves on to say, if only you had just shown a little bit of gratefulness and believed, Allah would appreciate that so much.

In other words, Allah created us so that He could show us His love and Mercy. If only we showed a little bit of faith and gratefulness, Allah would be appreciative of this. In this ayah, Allah is reminding you that He doesn’t want to punish you, His doors of Mercy are wide – stretched and always open, you just need to turn back to Him.
And Allah knows best.