Trust Allah’s decree and choose rightly
“We decide. We are held accountable for it.”
Belief in al-Qadr means affirming Allah’s complete knowledge, written decree, will, and creation while remaining accountable for our choices and trusting Him through calamity.
The khutbah in 6 steps
- Classifies calamities as personal, communal, and the calamity of the Dajjal.
- Uses a recent community tragedy to introduce acceptance of Allah’s decree.
- Explains al-Qadr through four components: knowledge, writing, will, and creation.
- Clarifies that Allah’s foreknowledge does not remove human choice or accountability.
- Encourages studying al-Qadr to strengthen faith and attachment to Allah.
- Closes with prayers for repentance, steadfastness, guidance, and a good ending.
In the khateeb's words
“And we question, as believers, we never fall into the trap of saying, "Why me? How come? Why is it happening to me? Why is it happening to my family?" No.”
“When we get to a fork and we have to decide A or B, Allah does not decide it for us. We decide. We are held accountable for it.”
“And the fundamental message here, the fundamental message here, that the origin of the belief in monotheism, the origin of the belief in monotheism, is that the servant links his or her actions to the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.”
“The thing about knowledge is the more we learn, the more we realize we don't know much. And that's the beauty of our deen, subhanallah.”
For the dinner table
Today’s khutbah taught that calamities can be personal, communal, or connected to the Dajjal, and that believers meet them by returning to Allah. Al-Qadr is Allah’s complete knowledge, His writing of what will happen, His will, and His creation of everything needed for events to occur. Even though Allah knows all possibilities, we still choose and remain responsible for our actions. When life is painful, we can trust Allah’s wisdom, keep our hearts firm, seek sincere repentance, and ask for a good ending and goodness in this life and the next.
- What does qadr mean in your own words?
- What can we say or do when something sad happens?
- Which prayer from the khutbah would you like to remember?
More on Patience & trials
Qalam · Carrollton, TX · Oct 23, 2026Patience means grieving without rejecting Allah“Holding yourself together does not mean that you can't be emotional.”
ICGT · Perrysburg, OH · Oct 17, 2026Patience should guide major decisions“You have to be patient and you have to think twice before taking any decision in your life.”
Tawakkul does not mean to refuse help.18:22NHIEC · Union City, NJ · Oct 31, 2026Trust Allah through hardship and grief