By Shaykh Jamal Abdinasir
26 June 2026

﷽ 

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, all praise belongs to Allah, who fashioned the heavens and the earth, who made the day and the night, and who placed in His creation signs for those who pause long enough to notice them. We praise Him, we seek His help, and we send peace and blessings upon His final Messenger ﷺ.

These past days, the heat has settled over us. We have felt it in our homes and in the streets, in the restless nights when sleep would not come and the long afternoons when food and drink brought no comfort. We have complained, many of us, and quietly wished it away. Yet within this discomfort there is a reminder, if only we are willing to receive it.

The Prophet ﷺ told us something about heat that should make us stop and reflect. He said that the Fire complained to its Lord, saying that parts of it were consuming other parts, and Allah permitted it two breaths: one breath in winter, and one in summer. The most severe heat we feel, he taught us, is from the breath of that Fire, and the bitterest cold of winter is from it too. This is what our Messenger ﷺ told us, and we believe what he said.

Pause for a moment on that. The sun that presses down on us is millions upon millions of miles away, a distance only Allah knows. We live in a land of shade and cool air, where comfort can be bought and switched on at will. And still we struggle. Still we find it hard to bear. So let the heart ask itself a quiet question: if I cannot endure this faint warmth, this distant echo of a far greater reality, what of the Day when the sun is brought close above the heads of all creation? On that Day there will be no shade except the shade of Allah, and no cool corner to retreat to.

This is not said to frighten you. It is said to wake the heart gently, the way a hand on the shoulder wakes a sleeper. Allah, in His mercy, has made the small heat of this world a messenger from the greater reality of the next. Every fire we see, every flame kindled to cook or to warm, carries within it a whisper of remembrance, if we would only listen.

And while we complain in our comfort, let us remember those who have far more cause to and yet do not. Across the world there are believers facing not only heat but famine and drought, their animals dying, their wells run dry, their tables bare. Many of them do not complain at all, because their hearts are fastened to Allah. They understand that hardship is only for a number of days, and they keep their eyes on what lies beyond. There is a dignity in that which should humble every one of us.

Some hearts find this kind of reflection difficult. They say, why speak of the Fire, why speak of the Day of Reckoning, when it weighs so heavily upon us? But consider: Allah Himself speaks of these realities throughout His Book, from its opening to its end. Allah is more merciful to us than we are to one another, and had it been better for us not to know, He would not have told us. We are reminded precisely because the reminder saves us. The believer, when he is reminded, does not despair. He stirs. He acts.

And the heart of the matter, brothers and sisters, is not knowledge. We already know. We know which path is better, we know what awaits, we know where we wish to arrive. Our struggle has never been with knowing. It has been with letting that knowledge reach our limbs, our days, our choices. Allah describes this beautifully when He speaks of those who lose themselves in this passing world:

How gently and how truthfully that names our condition. We prefer what is before our eyes, though in our hearts we know that what lies ahead is greater and lasting. And when a person reaches the end, having spent a lifetime turning away, the regret that comes is described in the Qur’an as a longing for a life he did not prepare for, a wish that he had sent something forward for what he will then realise was his true life all along.

So let us turn the question inward, where it belongs. Not, what are others doing, but: what is my state with Allah? How many good deeds have I truly sent ahead? When the heat drives me to complain, does it also drive me to remember? Am I preparing, honestly, for the meeting that is coming for all of us?

The early Muslims felt this in their hearts, not merely their ears. Among the Companions there was a young man who, whenever the Hereafter was mentioned, would weep, for all his youth. That tenderness of heart is what we have lost and what we must seek to recover. The reminder reached them and it moved them, and so they prepared, and so they arrived.

And here is where hope must have the final word, for that is the truth of our religion. Allah does not leave the believer in fear. He tells us of those for whom His goodness has gone ahead, who will be kept far from the Fire, who will not even hear its sound, settled in the gardens of His mercy. That is the destination held open for every one of us. The doors are not closed. The path is not hidden.

Our beloved Prophet ﷺ gave us something simple to carry on this path. He taught that whoever asks Allah for Paradise three times, Paradise itself says “O Allah, admit him into Paradise.” And whoever seeks Allah’s protection from the Fire three times, the Fire itself says “O Allah, protect him from the Fire.” How merciful is our Lord, that He places salvation so close to our tongues and our hearts.

So as the heat presses upon us, let us receive it as it was meant: not merely as a burden to grumble about, but as a gentle messenger. Let it turn our thoughts to our brothers and sisters who endure far worse without complaint. Let it remind us of a Day that is real and a meeting that is certain. And then let it move us, softly but truly, to send something forward, to ask Allah for His Paradise, and to return to Him with dignity and awareness before the journey ends.

O Allah, make us among those whose goodness has gone ahead of them, whom You keep far from the Fire and admit into the gardens of Your mercy. Soften our hearts with Your remembrance, and let every reminder move us to act. Grant relief to our brothers and sisters who suffer hardship across the world, and join us all, in faith, in a home where there is no heat, no fear, and no parting.

Ameen.

---

Help us complete our Phase 3 expansion for the new prayer halls!