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The win win deal

The win win deal

In Surat Fatir, Allah Almighty praises those who recite the Book of Allah, reflecting on it and putting its teachings into practice.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَتْلُونَ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَأَنفَقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ سِرًّا وَعَلَانِيَةً يَرْجُونَ تِجَارَةً لَّن تَبُورَ

Those who recite the Book of God, and perform the prayer, and spend of what We have provided for them, secretly and publicly, expect a trade that will not fail. (35:29)

Recite

The first things Allah Almighty mentions in this verse is those who recite Allah’s Book. All prophets and messengers invited their nation to do this – recite Allah’s book and apply the revelation in their life. Our message is the final message. Allah Almighty completed and perfected this message.

It is a form of worship to read Allah’s words, and another form of worship to apply it, and a yet another to disseminate it and teach it. These are three different things.

Recitation is not merely something we should do for the sake of it. The Book was revealed to be applied. It is not good hanging a certificate on the wall and not practising what you got it for – whatever it was. Therefore, the Book of Allah has to be applied.

Establish salah

The next thing second thing Allah praises are those who establish prayer. He used the words aqamu as-salah (establish prayer) not pray. This means He is referring to those who pray properly according to the pillars. They do not pray in a robotic, autopilot or supersonic way. This is no the salah Allah is referring to here. Allah is referring to the salah which straightens out your life as iqama means to straighten something which is bendy. Thus salah is supposed to make our lives straight.

Spend

The third thing Allah Almighty mentions here is spending – whether it is paying zakat or giving sadaqa or supporting others. This goes against our internal desire to hoard money. Allah Almighty is asking us to spend because He gave us the wealth. It was not ours and we did not acquire it through our own intellect and muscles, it was Allah who granted it to us.

Those who perform all three of these have made a deal with Allah which will always be successful and profitable. The people of Makkah and Madina were business-minded, they wanted to be prosperous and Allah speaks their language and appeals to this aspect of their thinking.

In life, there is no business which never makes a loss, however if you go into business with Allah you will never lose. It is the best business.

Depending on which project you invest in, your profit might be 10% or more or less, but when you partner with Allah in business with Allah your profits will soar in massive multiples.

May Allah enable us to do business with Allah. Ameen

Shaykh Haytham Tamim Tarawih

20 years of Utrujj
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Shaykh Haytham Tamim is the founder and main teacher of the Utrujj Foundation. He has provided a leading vision for Islamic learning in the UK, which has influenced the way Islamic knowledge is disseminated. He has orchestrated the design and delivery of over 200 unique courses since Utrujj started in 2001. His extensive expertise spans over 30 years across the main Islamic jurisprudence schools of thought. He has studied with some of the foremost scholars in their expertise; he holds some of the highest Ijazahs (certificates) in Quran, Hadith (the Prophetic traditions) and Fiqh (Islamic rulings). His own gift for teaching was evident when he gave his first sermon to a large audience at the age of 17 and went on to serve as a senior lecturer of Islamic transactions and comparative jurisprudence at the Islamic University of Beirut (Shariah College). He has continued to teach; travelling around the UK, Europe and wider afield, and won the 2015 BISCA award (British Imams & Scholars Contributions & Achievements Awards) for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Teaching.