Ali Hammuda

Gaza, you and the Qur'an A new series with Tarteel | Ep. 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNkG5rA_3v0

Gaza, you and the Qur'an A new series with Tarteel | Ep. 1 https://youtu.be/fNkG5rA_3v0?is=MkB9QRAWgWtanbUN

The newly appointed commander of the battalion responsible for Hind’s murder - Battalion 52 of the 401st Armored Brigade- was killed in Lebanon at dawn on Friday. Both the killed and killer will stand before Allah, Al-'Adl (The Just), and all scores shall be settled.

What an extraordinary moment in history we find ourselves witnessing. The political survival of Trump depends on this war with Iran coming to an end, whilst Netanyahu’s political survival depends on this war continuing, both trapped inside the consequences of their own choices. Allah said: وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُوَلِّي بَعْضَ الظَّالِمِينَ بَعْضًا بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ “In this way We cause some wrongdoers to prevail over others because of what they used to earn.” (Al-Anʿām 6:129) What makes this moment even more damning is how so many people saw it coming. So much of where the world has now arrived—and how dramatically the global power structure is poised to change in the coming phase—was in fact anticipated by so many ordinary observers; commentators with no prestigious titles, no celebrated academic credentials, no institutional authority, and no diplomatic vocab. Meanwhile, the architects of this disaster, the many graduates of elite universities, the celebrated strategists and analysts completely missed what was staring them in the face. Perhaps the only way to explain such phenomenon is through the words of the poet: وَإِذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ إِنجَازَ قَضَائِهِ وَقَدَرِهِ ** أَذْهَبَ عَنْ ذَوِي العُقُولِ عُقُولَهُمْ “When Allah wills the fulfilment of His decree and destiny, He strips the people of intellect of their intellect.” Allah’s plan unfolds exactly as He wills, while the most obvious escapes the minds of those who were supposed to know best. “And Allah has full power and control over His Affairs, but most of mankind do not know.” (Al-Qur’an 12:21)

A new series, inshaAllah.

وَإِذْ غَدَوْتَ مِنْ أَهْلِكَ تُبَوِّئُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مَقَاعِدَ لِلْقِتَالِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ “And when you went out early from your family to position the believers in their places for battle. And Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.” [3:121] The Qur’an pauses on the early morning walk of the Prophet ﷺ as he leaves his home to the battlefield. This is deliberate. Revelation wants us to notice the pre-battle moment, the preparation before confrontation, the calm before the storm. Notice how the Prophet ﷺ did not remain at a distance from the practical side of preparation. He personally assumed the executive, on-the-ground leadership role: organizing the believers, positioning them, and readying them. Yes, he was the conveyor of revelation and a cultivator of hearts, just as he was also a field commander who entered into the operational details of implementation. This sets a standard for anyone who claims to inherit his mission. Scholars, imams, activists, organizers, and leaders who see themselves as bearing the banner of Islam cannot be satisfied with ideas, fatāwā, speeches alone, let alone those who reduce even speech itself to its safest corners of self-help, relationships, personal motivation, and the universally agreed upon matters that carry little cost and demand little courage. They are called to play a concrete, executive role in managing the confrontation with evil and in preparing people for it. That involves planning and structuring, assigning roles, mentoring individuals and teams, and standing with people at points of pressure, not simply offering commentary from a safe distance. In other words, prophetic leadership steps into the arena, absorbs part of the risk, and carries a visible share of responsibility for outcomes. That is how the Prophet ﷺ led at Uḥud, and that is the model that should inform what leadership looks like for his serious inheritors in any age.

So much of a Muslim's success and ability to remain active in pursuit of the hereafter returns to one central question: How great is Allah in your heart? https://youtu.be/GxSznXeod-E?si=m1C2hWFfDWw-CaWW [Ep. 17]

As ʿArafah nears sunset, remember three statements Al-Awzāʿī said: أَدْرَكْتُ أَقْوَامًا كَانُوا يُخَبِّئُونَ الْحَاجَاتِ لِيَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ لِيَسْأَلُوا اللَّهَ بِهَا “I met people who would save up their needs for the Day of ʿArafah, so that they could ask Allah for them on that day.” One of the righteous predecessors said: وَاللَّهِ مَا دَعَوْتُ دَعْوَةً يَوْمَ عَرَفَةَ، وَمَا دَارَ عَلَيْهَا الْحَوْلُ، إِلَّا رَأَيْتُهَا مِثْلَ فَلَقِ الصُّبْحِ “By Allah, I never made a duʿāʾ on the Day of ʿArafah, and a year had not passed over it, except that I saw it appear before me like the break of dawn.” ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Muslim said: إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ أَنْ تَخْلُوَ بِنَفْسِكَ عَشِيَّةَ عَرَفَةَ فَافْعَلْ “If you are able to seclude yourself from people during the latter part of the Day of ʿArafah, then do so.” The “latter part” refers to those precious hours between ʿAṣr and Maghrib. So free up your schedule at all costs. Close your door. Switch off your phone. Step away from the noise. Sit with your Lord. Raise your needs to The Sovereign of the heavens and earth.

“Arafa tomorrow? I don’t think I’m that guy”   For anyone who feels they wasted the past few days, read carefully:   You have not missed the train. In fact, not only is the door still wide open, but the most precious day is still ahead of you. Tomorrow is the Day of ʿArafah.   This is the day about which the Prophet ﷺ said:   صِيَامُ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ، إِنِّي أَحْتَسِبُ عَلَى اللَّهِ أَنْ يُكَفِّرَ السَّنَةَ الَّتِي قَبْلَهُ وَالسَّنَةَ الَّتِي بَعْدَهُ   “Fasting the Day of ʿArafah: I hope from Allah that it will erase the sins of the year before it and the year after it.”   One day = Two years of sins vanish, by His mercy.   And the Prophet ﷺ said:   خَيْرُ الدُّعَاءِ دُعَاءُ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ   “The best Du’a is the Du’a of the Day of ʿArafah.”   So bring your entire life to Allah tomorrow.   The worries you keep replaying in your head, bring them. The duʿāʾ you have almost given up on, the marriage issue, the family tension, the child you are worried about, the debt, the scandal, the illness, the fear of the future, the guilt of the past, the private sin, the hard heart, the dreams that feel too far away, your pain that no one knows of, bring them all.   Tomorrow is ʿArafah: a day on which, quite literally, a new beginning may be written for you, provided you do not treat it like an ordinary day.   The Prophet ﷺ said:   مَا مِنْ يَوْمٍ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ أَنْ يُعْتِقَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ عَبْدًا مِنَ النَّارِ مِنْ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ   “There is no day on which Allah frees more servants from the Fire than the Day of ʿArafah.”   Therefore, it makes perfect sense that the day after ʿArafah is ʿEid, a day of celebration after a day of forgiveness, a day of joy after a day of pleading and healing.   Lastly, in Ramaḍān, Laylat al-Qadr — the greatest night of the year — is hidden from us, so we search for it across the last ten nights. But ʿArafah — the greatest day of the year — has been named for you, dated for you, and placed clearly before you.   So do not let Shayṭān tell you, “Ah, you’ve been lazy. You’ve wasted the first days. You’re not spiritual enough. People like you don’t suddenly become close to Allah.”   That’s one of his oldest doors, weaponizing your guilt to keep you away from the One who forgives guilt.   So fast if you are able to, and make the intention if you can’t. Guard your tongue. Give something in charity. Make a list of your duʿāʾs. Sit alone for a while. Raise your hands before Maghrib. Beg Allah like someone who is drowning, who knows that the King is generous and the door is open.   As you do so, do not forget your siblings in Islam in Gaza, Palestine, Sudan, and everywhere the Ummah is bleeding. Ask Allah to relieve them, strengthen them, protect them, honour them, and use you in their support in a way that removes from you the shame of abandonment.   O Allah, grant me and my global Muslim family the ability to do good tomorrow.

I was going to say, “Just in case you didn’t see it,” then realised how unlikely that was. The assault and rape of flotilla activists who tried to deliver aid to Gaza was meant to be seen by all and heard by all. It was public by design: a spectacle, a message, a declaration that said, in effect we fear no God, and we fear no human authority. Circle back, for a moment, to the story of Prophet Lūṭ. His people had lived upon their ways for a long time. But then things escalated. Sin became culture, shame vanished and appetite became identity. They reached the point where they even attempted the rape of Lūṭ’s guests without fearing scandal, heaven, earth, or anything in between. At that moment, when they seemed high, mighty and quite untouchable, Prophet Lūṭ was reassured: إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ ۚ أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ “Indeed, their appointment is the morning. Is the morning not near?” (Al-Qur’an 11:81) What a verse for the exhausted heart. When a people no longer hide their crimes, when they openly challenge the heavens and the earth, when brutality is intentionally broadcasted, that is far from a sign of strength. It is the final arrogance before the appointment arrives. It is a morning that is near.

Episode 5 | Dhul Hijjah series How You Will Be Resurrected How You Will Be Resurrected | Dhul Hijjah Series | Dr. Omar Suleiman & Sh. Ali Hammuda | Ep.5

Devils chained v Devils stoned   Ramadan is the season of receiving revelation, retreating with it, studying it, and living beneath its shade. It is the month in which the soul is liberated from distraction, and the believer steps back from creation in order to receive the words of Allah with a cleaner heart and a quieter world.   In many ways, Ramadan is a reenactment of the first descent of revelation in the cave. When the Qur’an first came down, the devils were driven away from the heavens and barred from stealing a hearing. In Ramadan, Allah chains them again as His servants return to the Qur’an, allowing its light to reach the heart with greater focus.   Then, almost immediately after Ramadan, the season of Ḥajj begins.   The heart has been washed. Apologies have been offered to Allah. The destination has become clearer. The will has been renewed. Now, the journey must begin.   Ḥajj is the season of acting upon revelation. It is the season of movement with the Qur’an, pursuit of Allah’s pleasure, and striving against injustice. Perhaps this is why jihād — the disciplined effort to uphold truth and resist oppression — is so often mentioned alongside ḥajj in the Qur’an. Hajj is the season in which the religion was completed, and no way of life reaches completion without necessitating movement and deliberate action from its people.   Ḥajj represents that exact movement. It is not an individual retreat of seclusion like iʿtikāf in Ramadan but a collective movement, and so it demands immense patience, the restraint of harm, and the abandonment of argumentation; a yearly reminder of the key pillars in the Ummah’s revival.   So, with the reformation achieved in Ramadan, the renewed bond with the Qur’an and refreshed sense of purpose, Muslims unite in Hajj, overcome their differences, move in a unified direction, and stone Shayṭān themselves, instead of needing him chained for them. They’ve grown. They’re stronger. They’re reformed. They’re unified. They’re now capable of subduing their enemies in life   Ya Rabb, bring our hearts nearer to you. Then, bring our hearts nearer to one another.

Episode 4 | Dhul Hijja series https://youtu.be/O2Q_4bY_kc4?si=EK9OZtOnl1V-rZcB

Episode 3 | Dhul Hijja series https://youtu.be/WcMYaveKv1E?si=a5lPbd9dxqOTHfRy

Episode 2 | Dhul Hijja series https://youtu.be/yaEK-Ia7KyI?si=T-mtfYGkyD0N_-YE

Episode 1 | Dhul Hijja series https://youtu.be/mAQXT313dfA?si=tLJbloRFfkD6CTA4

Trailer https://youtu.be/jOcDbMtwU6w?si=qtoIq52UqQgY7Q91

Ponder over the verse: مَن يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ ۚ “And whoever puts his trust in Allah, then He is sufficient for him…” Then, immediately after it: إِنَّ اللَّهَ بَالِغُ أَمْرِهِ “Indeed, Allah will accomplish His purpose…” (Al-Qur’an 65:3) Whether the heart accepts or resists, whether the tongue complains or praises, whether a person trusts or refuses to trust, nothing changes; Allah’s command will still come to pass and will not wait for anyone's approval. Part of human dignity and intelligence, therefore, is to meet Allah’s decrees with patience, complete surrender and, if possible, contentment. The opposite is to wrestle with anxiety, frustration and bitterness towards the path written him. Either way, Allah will still accomplish His purpose. The only difference is whether we pass through His decree crowned with reward, tranquillity and nearness, or suffer the same decree, deprived of them all.

Episode 15: Contentment (Al-Riḍā, Part 2) | Change of Heart Series The modern machine feeds on discontent, as it is precisely what keeps people consuming, scrolling, chasing, and never arriving. Here, Islam calls the believer to something far higher: al-riḍā, serene contentment with Allah. We explore: How does riḍā differ from ṣabr (patience), tawakkul (reliance), and shukr (gratitude)? And what are the signs that a heart is truly content with Allah? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtdfwgVXeP0