Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

Auto-generated transcript: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. And praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the prophets and messengers. Muhammadﷺ, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family. Now, brothers and sisters, we are looking at the different lessons that we learn from Surah Al-Kahf. And the fact that these are things that, the tests that Allah SWT mentioned in Surah Al-Kahf, are the tests that the Dajjal will put on the people that he will encounter. We ask Allah SWT to save us from Dajjal and from all Dajjali influences. We looked at the first two tests: the test of faith and the test of wealth. Today, we look at the test of knowledge. This is one of the paradoxes that even with knowledge—even with the knowledge of the Quran itself—if that knowledge is not rooted in Taqwa (righteousness), which means that the knowledge has to be in practice, and if that knowledge does not come from a heart which is pure, and does not enter a heart which is pure, then that knowledge itself will corrupt. Even though the knowledge itself is pure, but the way it is perceived, and the way it is received and understood, will corrupt. And this is exactly what happened with Iblis. The knowledge that Iblis had was good. There was nothing wrong with the knowledge he had. What was wrong is what he did with the knowledge—where he used this knowledge in a wrong way. And even today, you have people who are people of knowledge. They are ulama. They have great qualifications. They are the hufadh of the Quran and so on. But then they will give a fatwa which is totally making haram into halal and halal into haram because they are carrying favor with somebody in authority, maybe a ruler, maybe somebody with money or something, and they will give this fatwa. So therefore, which means that the knowledge has not entered the heart. They are not fearing the anger of Allah. They are looking for benefit from some creature, from a human being. Or they fear the human being. They do not fear Allah. So what's the good of the knowledge? So the issue is to ensure that the knowledge we have takes us to the right destination, which is the Rida (satisfaction) of Allah. Ibn Kathirrahmatullah Ali quotes in his tafsir about the incident of Musa Alayhi Salaam and how he went in search of Al-Qidr. Ubayy bin Qaab narrated that he heard Rasulullahﷺ saying that Musa Alayhi Salaam got up to deliver a speech before the Bani Israel. When somebody asked him, "Who is the most learned person among the people?" Now obviously, Musa Alayhi Salaam is the Rasul. He is the Sahib al-Kitab, he is the Sahib al-Shariah. So obviously, he is the most learned person. Nobody can be more learned than the Nabi. And this is not just any Nabi, this is a Rasul. And he is a Rasul from the Ulul Azam, the Rasul. So Musa Alayhi Salaam, the man asked him, "Who is the most learned person in the world among the people?" And Musa Alayhi Salaam said, "I am the most learned person." Now Allah SWT rebuked him because Allah SWT did not refer the knowledge to Allah. He did not say by the will of Allah, Allah has given me knowledge. He said, "I am the most knowledgeable." So Allah SWT rebuked him for this. And Allah SWT revealed to him at the junction of two seas, there is a slave of ours who is more learned than you. Right? Now you should think about this. First of all, Musa Alayhi Salaam is the Rasul of Allah. And he is the Sahib ul Kitab, he is the Sahib ul Shariah. Now Khidr is not mentioned in the Quran by name. We have the name from the Hadith, but in the Quran, Allah SWT said, "Abn Minna Libat," one of our slaves. Obviously, that slave, whoever he is, is not Sahib ul Kitab. He is not Sahib ul Shariah. Right? He is a Nabi so in terms of status, he is not at the level of Musa A.S. Musa A.S. is much higher. But when Allah SWT said there is this person, Musa A.S. could have said, "Alhamdulillah, he didn't say that Musa A.S. said O my Rabb how can I meet him. He said, 'I want to meet him.' The lesson here is Musa A.S. had the humility and the humbleness. He didn't say, 'I am this, I am this.' No, he said, 'Allah, you have told me this man has knowledge. I want to go and learn. I want to go and learn what is the need for Musa A.S. to learn if Musa A.S. whatever he needs to know, Allah will teach him. Allah taught him. Musa A.S. was not a you know all the Anbiya received but Musa A.S. spoke to Allah directly. He is Kaleemullah. He is not an ordinary man. Musa A.S. So it's not just a matter of he actually spoke to Allah SWT right so he is a very very special person. So Musa A.S. said, 'How can I meet him? I want to meet him.' So Allah SWT said, take a fish, put it in a vessel, and then set out. Where you lose the fish, you will find this man. Right? Now Musa A.S. took a fish, he put it

Auto-generated transcript: As-salatu wa-salaamu ala ash-shalafi al-anbiya wal-mursaleen, Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi salam, tasliman kathirun kathirun. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, we are looking at the four tests that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala described in Surah Al-Kahf. The test of faith, the test of wealth, the test of knowledge, and the test of power and authority. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to save us from all these tests and other tests. These tests are particularly important because they are the test of power and authority. These are the ways in which the Dajjal will deceive the people. He will put before them these tests. He will say, "Worship me instead of Allah," meaning obey me instead of Allah. And he will show them wealth. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will cause everything is from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The power comes only from Allah. Allah will cause the Dajjal to have such power that he will create wealth from nothing. The earth will open for him and gold and what not will come out of the earth for him. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will cause him to have knowledge more than anybody else. Like Iblis had knowledge. But the knowledge of Iblis sent him to Jahannam, did not save him from Jahannam. And so also power and authority with the Dajjal. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give him power and he will use it in disobedience of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, not in obedience. So we ask Allah to save us from this. The second test which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned, which we will talk about today inshaAllah, is the test of wealth. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned these two friends, one of whom was very wealthy. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala described in detail in the surah, the nature of the wealth he had. Allah said, "We gave him two gardens of grapes, two vineyards." And Allah did not say how, what is the extent of that, what is the acreage. He said two vineyards, two gardens of grapes and we surrounded them with dead palms. So these were two gardens within gardens, orchards within orchards. And then Allah said, "We gave a river between all of this." So all of this was irrigated, all of this was done. And remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, "we gave." Allah is not saying that man worked hard and he built it from his effort. No, Allah said, "we gave him." So the first thing we understand is that all blessings, all blessings come from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala only. There is no blessing that comes from anywhere else. Number one. Number two, blessings come because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants to give. There is no other reason. Allah gives and therefore we get the blessings. The third thing is in the case of this man, obviously all that he had was halal. Because Allah said he gave it. So where is the question of harab? There is no harab involved in it. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him all of this harab. Despite that, now see what the man did. The man took pride in that. He became arrogant because of that. He said, "All of this I have." And therefore he said to his friend, he said, "I am better than you. And I have more Izzah than you. I have more prestige than you. I have more children than you have." And so on and so on. So this wealth which he had, which he got from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as a gift, which was halal wealth, he became arrogant with this wealth. Instead of becoming humble and saying, "SubhanAllah I am nothing," Allah has given me all this. Instead of that he became arrogant because of this wealth. And when he became arrogant because of this wealth, his friend said to him, "What kind of man are you? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created you from dust. And then he described the process of creation. He said from dust and then from nutfah and mudghah and so on. This is your reality. As I have said many times before, who am I? Who are you? You are that person who after Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala caused you to be set in the womb of your mother, after the sperm was ejected, both your mother and father went and made ghusl. This is who you are. You are the name of a dangerous danger. I am. After the birth of this child, both mother and father made ghusl. It didn't work out with the husband, they had to make him go through it. This is our reality. This is our status. Now, apart from this, whatever Allah has given you, whatever you have, women, country, crown on your head, and what all is there, all this is Allah's gift. You have no quality in this. We have no quality. From this Allah has created whatever Allah has given us. He gave you palaces, and He gave you gold and silver, and He gave you WhatsApp, and He put a crown on your head, and all this. All of this is from Allah. So the position of the slave must be the position of sajdah. A p

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen Wa Salatu Wa Salamu Alai Sharafi Al-Anbiya wal Mursaleen Wa Himmadu Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam Tasliman Kathiran Kathiran We were talking about the test of faith that Allah SWT described in Surah Al-Kahf Ask Allah SWT to save us from all tests especially tests of faith because in the different ways in which human beings are tested the test of faith shukuk which is doubts and shubuhat which is all kinds of thoughts and suspicions and so on, doubts and in the faith in the creed, in the faith these are the most severe because everything else is curable, doable even if nothing happens in the worldly life you have some difficulty, you suffer but when it's a matter of shukuk and shubuhat doubts and doubts and and [PAUSE] After that it doesn't matter. [PAUSE] But if there is a doubt of faith, [PAUSE] if there is a doubt of faith, if there is a doubt of faith, if the faith is corrupted, then the consequence of that is the Akhada. We ask Allah SWT for special protection from that and we ask Allah to keep us on the path of Yaqeen and with Tawakkul live in this world and meet Allah SWT in a state where we have complete and total faith in Him and we see that actually in reality when we meet Allah SWT. The narration of the Ashab-ul-Kahf, [PAUSE] Allah SWT mentioned, that these were Allah SWT said these were young men who had faith in Allah SWT and Allah SWT increased them in guidance. They lived at a time when it became more and more progressively difficult to practice their faith in the place they were living in. And the people of the land and the king of the land, they were against Islam, they were against the faith and they were persecuting people who were Muslim. [PAUSE] And these people, they left and in order to preserve their faith. Now see the thing here. They did not leave because they had some financial problems. They left because they were not able to practice their faith properly in that land. Right? So Hijrat, to leave your land in order to be able to practice your faith correctly. This is, the dalil of that is in the Quran itself. The dalil of that is in the seerah of Rasulullah SAW because that's why he made Hijrat. He did not make Hijrat for any other reason. He made Hijrat because it was becoming difficult, almost impossible to practice Islam and to live as a Muslim in Mecca. So he left his place of birth and he went to Medina. Before that he sent himself, the Sahaba to Al-Habasha, to Abyssinia, which was the first Hijrat. Then Nabi SAW left and he also went to Medina. So Hijrat for the sake of Islam. And again, in the Hadith of Niyah, Nabi SAW specifically mentioned, he said, the one who makes Hijrat for business or to marry somebody, his Hijrat is for that reason, not for the sake of Allah and Rasul. The Hijrat for the sake of Allah and His Rasul SAW is the Hijrat which is made only for the purpose of being able, to practice Islam and live as a Muslim. If it is for any other reason, then it is for that reason. He is not saying it is Haram, but it is for that reason. It does not count as Hijrat in Islam. That is some travel. You travel to some place for some reason, for business or this or that. [PAUSE] So here Allah SWT is mentioning this, that these people, they left and they left their, place of birth, place of residence and they went away in order to be able to practice Islam correctly. Now, then what happened? So they went and when they went, they made Dua. And this Dua is one of the most powerful Duas in the Quran, which I am sure you know, if you don't know, you must memorize it and make this Dua. This is the Dua which caused them to be, to be protected, especially by Allah SWT. Allah SWT protected them and He kept them safe for 309 years. Allah mentioned the, the number in the Quran. 309 years. And they were put into a state of sleep and Allah SWT said, we made them turn on their sides. If you just lie down in one place, you know, people who are sick and so on, you get bed sores and all kinds of things happen. Muscle deteriorates, you know, within months, within weeks. Muscle deteriorates, you cannot, you become paralyzed. You cannot get up after that. There is no strength. None of that happened to these people. They were human beings. They were not malayak or something. Right? Their muscle did not deteriorate. They didn't get bed sores. Nothing happened to them. Allah said, He made them turn on their sides. Allah SWT directed the sunlight also to shine in their face. Into the cave, but in a way that did not disturb their sleep. And then Allah SWT created, He cast some kind of force around them, which it was something which anyone who went close to that, they felt this terror. They felt this tremendous fear that they didn't go near there. Otherwise, people are there in this cave. Somebody would have gone to, if nothing, just to see what's happening. You know, curios

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. [PAUSE] And peace and blessings be upon the Messengers of the Prophet Muhammad and the Messenger of Allah. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon him and his family. From now on, we started talking about the lessons from Surah Al-Kahf. We ask Allah to help us to understand the Qur'an and to live our lives according to the Kalam of Allah in the way of Rasulullah. [PAUSE] There are four lessons that Allah has taught us in Surah Al-Kahf. First, And these four lessons relate to the four tests that the Dajjal will present to those who are there at the time. May Allah protect us from that, Inshallah. [PAUSE] The test of faith, the test of wealth, the test of knowledge, and the test of power and authority. There are four tests. [PAUSE] The first is the test of faith, of Iman. The test of La Ilaha Illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah. The test of La Hawla Wa La Quwata Illallah. [PAUSE] The test of La Yanfa' Wa La Yathurra Illallah. [PAUSE] The test of faith, as in there is no one worthy of worship except Allah SWT. And that this worship and everything should be done according to the way of Muhammad SAW. Which is the meaning of Muhammadur Rasulullah SAW. The simplest, most powerful, best example of illustrating that, of seeing that is Salah. Allah SWT said, Establish Salah for my Zikr. Is there still regard for regard for regard He said, pray as you have seen me pray. [PAUSE] So we establish Salah in the way of Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. This is the template. This is the framework for everything we do. It is not restricted only to Salah. Salah is the head of the matter. So Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam's way was to describe everything in terms of Salah. [PAUSE] For example, in the famous Hadith of Jibreel, Jibreel Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam asked Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, what is the meaning of Ihsan? [PAUSE] And Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Anta'abudallaha ka'annaka tara. Fa'il lam takun tara fa'innahu ya'rak. He said, It is to worship Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala as if you can see Him. And though you cannot see Him, know that He sees you. [PAUSE] Right? He could have described Ihsan in any other way, many other ways. But he described it in terms of Salah. Because this is the way of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. That he would describe and he would give the example of everything in terms of Salah. [PAUSE] Because Salah is the way of Allah. It is the head of the matter. [PAUSE] So therefore, when we say, How should I live my life? You live your life according to the same framework that you pray. [PAUSE] How do you pray? We pray the way Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam prayed. If my prayer in any way is different from the prayer of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, it is rejected, it is not accepted. [PAUSE] It has not happened even though you may have prayed. [PAUSE] Every respect, from the so-called smallest to the largest, [PAUSE] must follow the way, the Sunnah of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. [PAUSE] We are coming into Ramadan and our favorite pastime for the whole world is moon fighting. Not moon sighting, moon fighting. Somebody sees the moon at this time, somebody sees the moon at that time, somebody says follow Saudi Arabia, somebody says follow Norway and Sweden, God knows. [PAUSE] What should we do? The same thing we did in Salah. Follow Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Follow us. [PAUSE] Do you follow Saudi? No. You follow Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Do you follow India? You follow Pakistan? You follow Bangladesh? You follow whichever? Oman? Oman? Qamarako? No. You follow Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. [PAUSE] We do not follow anybody else. That is why we are called Muslims. Please try to understand this. [PAUSE] We are called Muslim because we follow Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. [PAUSE] In what? In everything. [PAUSE] This is the... Very, very simple principle, very powerful principle of Islam to understand. And this is the test of faith. [PAUSE] This is the test of faith. The test of faith is what do you do in a time of crisis? What do you do when there is a dispute? What do you do when something is not going according to how you want it? [PAUSE] So what do you do? We do what Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam did. Period. So and so is doing it like... We don't care. We do not care. [PAUSE] The majority of people in this world today, they do not even worship Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. For every one person who is a Muslim, there are four people who are not Muslim. So what should we do? Leave Islam? Follow the majority? [PAUSE] Think about this. Where is the question of majority? We do what is right. We don't do what everybody is doing. [PAUSE] Doing what everyone is doing is to live like a donkey. Like a s

Auto-generated transcript:Alhamdulillah, we do and if we don't we should recite Surat Al-Kahf every Friday and this is from the Hikayat and the Nasihah of Rasulullah and among the benefits of that is that Rasulullah said the one who recites Surat Al-Kahf on every Friday will be protected from the Dajjal. We have the Hadith of Abu Darda where he said that Rasulullah said the one who memorizes and recites the first ten Ayat. The rest of Surat Al-Kahf will be protected from the Dajjal and in another narration the last ten. So it is mustahab and good to memorize at least the first ten and the last ten. It memorized the whole Surah Alhamdulillah. The Surah especially with respect to protection from the Dajjal in Surat Al-Kahf Allah SWT mentioned four stories and each story is connected with one of the trials and one of the tests that the Dajjal will present to those who are there at the time. So we will InshaAllah in the course of the next few days we will talk about that. The important thing to understand is that the Dajjal is the one who is the protector. The purpose of the Qur'an is to understand it and to live our lives by it. Everything else is secondary. The purpose is to understand the Qur'an and to live our lives according to the Qur'an. And the way to live our life according to the Qur'an is to understand the Qur'an and to live our lives according to the Qur'an. What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? What is life? live your life the way Rasulullah lived his life. The dailil for this is, the Sahabi who came to Sayyidina Ayesha Siddique after Nabi had passed away and he said, Ya Ummul Momineen, please tell us about the life of Rasulullah . [PAUSE] So she asked him, she said, do you not read the Quran? He said, yes, we read the Quran. He said that was his life. His life was the Quran. So if you read the Quran, you are reading, [PAUSE] you know how Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam lived his life. That's why the seerah is so important. The seerah is the tafsir bil amal of the Quran Al-Karim. The seerah is the explanation in action of the Quran. [PAUSE] I'm doing a course on seerah in Masjid Al-Baqi, InshaAllah on Saturday and Sunday. So you all welcome InshaAllah. From Saturday from 11 o'clock to 1 and then two sessions, one before Zohar and one after Zohar. [PAUSE] Sayyid Bayyad sent out the notice to register and so on. So please do that. The seerah is very, very critically important. If you do not study the seerah, you are living in ignorance. As simple as that. Because anything else, any other way, any other system, any other methodology that comes to you and me, [PAUSE] comes from some human. [PAUSE] So no matter how learned or how complex and how good it might seem to be, it cannot be super, it cannot be, cannot supersede, cannot be superior to a method that comes from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is the one who sent his Nabi and he sent his, he protected his Nabi. He gave him the akhlaaq of that he gave him and he taught him how to live the way he lived. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is the dalil for this. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said, Laqad kana lakum fee rasoolillahi uswatun hasana. Liman kana yarjoolaha wal yaumal akhira wa zakarallaha kathira. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said for you, the best example is the example of the Nabi alaihi salatu was salam, of Muhammad Rasool Allah . And this example is the best example for the one who looks forward to the meeting with Allah and looks forward to the day of judgment. Somebody who wants to do that, somebody who's waiting for it. Now imagine, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala described the day of judgment in terms which are not very welcoming and not very within quotes nice. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala described the day of judgment in very frightening terms. Right? Izaa zulzilatil ardu zilzalaha. Izaa waq'atil waqia. Izaa waq'atil waqia. Right? Wa duqqatil ardu dakka. And so on and so on. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala described the day of judgment as a day of great turmoil like there has never been before. Earthquake like we have never seen the earthquake in that way, in that way, and the mountains being uprooted from their places and so on and so on. So who will look forward to that? But Allah is saying, yarjoolaha wal yaumal akhira. The one who looks forward to that. Who will look forward to that? Only the one who knows that inshaAllah he or she will be protected from all this. This will happen. But you will be protected. And who is that? Who is that person who can say that? The one who foll

Auto-generated transcript:Our brothers and sisters, the Sahabi came to the Prophet , we are talking about staying away from sin and protecting ourselves from sin. First of all, what is the definition of sin? What is sin? Sin is disobedience of Allah. Allah gives a command, you don't do it, that is sin. What was Iblis' action? What was Shaitan's action which landed him in Jahannam? Did he commit Shirk? Did he deny Allah ? Did he become atheist? Did he commit any sin? What did he do? He disobeyed Allah . That's it right? He disobeyed Allah . He did not refuse to do Sajda to Allah . He refused to do Sajda to Adam Alayhi Salaam, which Allah had commanded. So it's a sin . The result of that was Jahannam forever. so we have to understand the importance of sin what is sin my Sheikh used to make this dua he used to say Allah do not make us dependent on anyone other than yourself in this dua protect us from the sins of the body and the mind and the heart and the spirit and with their associated illnesses and diseases from sins and their ailments now think sin is in its place sin has a disease in it and sin there is a illness there is a disease which is connected with every sin oh Allah empty our hearts empty our hearts from everything other than yourself and fill our hearts with your noor your light and your muhabbat your love and oh Allah be pleased with us and never be displeased rather than we are in a state of ! that's why they call it sexually transmitted disease whether it's AIDS or gonorrhea or you know syphilis or whatever so we know this this is a sin which brings with it this disease there are others we may not know right for example take fear khauf has many forms including depression including completely despair leading to suicide right living in just people say alcohol But, with faith, there is fear. Fear of Allah. Fear of the Day of Judgment. [PAUSE] Fear of the world. Fear of the Day of Judgment. [PAUSE] We should have fear of the Day of Judgment. How will I face Allah SWT? [PAUSE] I have promised people things I have not given them. I am lying. I am cheating. I am, you know, doing ghibah. I am trying to destroy somebody's reputation. [PAUSE] I am committing sin. I am drinking alcohol. I am gambling. I am dealing in interest. Allah knows what. Right? We should be afraid of these things. [PAUSE] Because they are connected. The sins are connected with diseases. The sins are connected with worldly issues and problems. And that is what we need to fear. A man came to Muhammad SAW and he said, Ya Rasulullah, I am a young man. I have my desires and so on. So, permit me to commit zina. [PAUSE] Give me permission. [PAUSE] See the simplicity and the sincerity of the Sahaba. Then imagine going to Rasulullah SAW and saying, allow me to do zina. Zina. Why didn't he just go and do it? [PAUSE] He didn't want to just go and do it. He wants some security. [PAUSE] So, he comes there. So, Rasulullah SAW also sees the way Rasulullah SAW responded to him. Rasulullah SAW said to him, Would you like somebody to commit zina with your sister? He said, Allah will ask for it. No, Rasulullah. Would you like somebody to commit zina with your daughter? If you have daughters. Would you like somebody to commit zina with your mother or your wife? Allah will ask for it. Astaghfirullah. So, Rasulullah SAW said, anyone you are going to commit zina with, that woman is somebody's daughter, somebody's sister, somebody's, you know, she didn't come, she didn't drop from the sky. [PAUSE] So, just like you don't want anyone to violate your, you know, your izzah, your prestige, your home. [PAUSE] Have the same attitude towards others. So, when you are committing zina with somebody, this is what you are doing. [PAUSE] Now, in those days, they didn't have one of the biggest sources of zina which we have today which is pornography. [PAUSE] Biggest disease. [PAUSE] And we have pornography in some form or the other. Directly or indirectly, in almost everything. [PAUSE] Right? See the way people dress, even in sports. [PAUSE] See how people dress. That is soft porn. See how the cameras are angled. [PAUSE] Now, don't go and see all this to prove, take my word for it. [PAUSE] The word, the whole environment we live in is an environment of sickness. [PAUSE] It's not a sign of good health to be profoundly adjusted to a sick society. J. Krishnamurti said this. He said, it's not a sign of good health to be profoundly adjusted to a sick society. [PAUSE] That's what happened to us. This is what has happened to us. We have lost our awareness and we have lost this sensation. His is over. [PAUSE] My father was a surgeon and he used to take me into the theatre sometimes. I remember when I first went into the theatre and he made the incision and blood started coming out and I almost fell down. [PAUSE] I was in a daze. I saw blood. I saw blood. [PAUSE] I was in

Auto-generated transcript:Prevention is better than cure. The other one, it says a stitch in time says nine. Something is torn, you stitch it immediately, otherwise it gets torn somewhere. The same principle applies in life. And that is why the most important thing to do is to prevent ourselves from committing sins. If you take two things, one is doing good deeds and the other one is committing sins. To stop committing sins is even more important than doing good deeds. Now in good deeds, I don't mean the faraiz. The faraiz are fard. You have to do them. If you don't do, if you leave the fard, you are committing kohut. I'm not talking about that. I'm saying other thing which we do. We went through, all of us, the whole world, went through a period which if we think about it, reflect on it, if we went through it thoughtfully, is the biggest lesson that we could have ever learnt. If we didn't do that, if we did not do, if we didn't go through it thoughtfully, then time passed. We suffered for nothing. And that is the kohut period, the two years. To see the kohut period, what happened there. And it was global. Everywhere in the world, there was no country which was exempt. Complete lifestyle change. Right? Totally. You did not leave your house. You did not leave your house. Unless it was absolutely critical. You did not meet people. Nobody came to meet you. If you went anywhere, you wore a mask. No matter how uncomfortable. Massages shut down. Businesses shut down. All entities shut down. All entertainment places shut down. Why? So that you save yourself from the coronavirus. No other reason. Right? Despite that, whoever Allah had written the qazaaf on, they were not able to do it. Dur take food and put it on the floor, outside the door, knock on the door and run like hell. They had to open the door and take their food inside. To the extent that if somebody died of COVID, in most places they did not give them ghusl, they didn't touch the body and they buried them just like that with their ghusl. So, there are fatwas to say it's okay, I'm not talking about that, I'm not saying it is haraava. Under the circumstances these things happen. But the point is, why did you do that? To save yourself from an evil influence. Yes, to save yourself from an evil influence. Think about this. In that situation, if you had not saved yourself from the evil influence of COVID, and you had got COVID, because you helped somebody, you did somebody's ghusl in the janaza or you did not take enough precautions, whatever reason, if you got COVID, what would happen? Worst case scenario, what would happen? You would die. Yes? But you would die anyway. Who has eternal life? You either die of a disease or you die of an accident, some excuse. You die anyway. But if somebody gave you this argument, why are you protecting yourself from COVID because you are afraid of death, you die anyway, throw away your mask, what will you say? You will die anyway. Yes. Yes. You will say you are an absolute ass, you are an idiot, get out of here. You are talking absolute nonsense. Right? Yes or no? But tell me, do you have to go to Jahannam? Death is inevitable. Nobody can escape death, no matter what you do, how many precautions, what not. But to go to Jahannam, is that inevitable? Will you die? No. It's not true death is inevitable Jahannam is by choice similar to that death is inevitable but Jahannam is by choice only the one who wants to go to Jahannam only the one who spends money who makes effort will go to Jahannam think about it from this aspect only the one who spends money and who makes the effort will go to Jahannam I might say who will spend money and make the effort to go to Jahannam somebody who is for example somebody who is gambling he's spending money somebody who is drinking alcohol is he not spending money he's spending money he's ruining his life he's ruining the life of his family. He's putting a lot of effort, a lot of investment into going into journal. Somebody is commenting zero. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, if you have so much of, you know, desire, you are, you know, stud bull in a thob, then, marry one, two, three or four, isna, masna, sulasa, ruba, do justice between them, but marry two, three or four. Allah said, marry. Allah gave you the permission to legally satisfy whatever desire you have. But no. I will not marry, but I will commit zina. Does it happen free? No. You spend money for that also. You spend money, and you are committing zina, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, the one who is committing zina, at that time, he has no iman. His iman has left him. So, if you die in that state, you die on kohut. Think about that. Why is the punishment for zina so severe and so horrible? Right? Death by stoning. I mean, imagine. It's not just death. It's absolutely horrific punishment, right? Death by stoning. Why? You don't

https://youtu.be/UIWjuWzz4gk?si=DqkxARjEhhaQKdBQ Imam Ahmad (ra) wept A man once came to Imam Ahlus-Sunnah, Ahmad bin Hanbal and asked him, “O Imam, what is your opinion on poetry?” He replied, “Which poetry is this?” to which the man responded by reciting the following couplets: إذا ما قال لي ربي اما استحييت تعصيني If my Lord asks me, “Have you shyness in disobeying me?وتخفي الذنب عن خلقي وبالعصيان تأتيني You conceal your sins from my creation – and with sins you come to me.” Imām Ahmad took these lines and repeated them over and over again, and wept profusely to such an extent that one his students said that he almost perished due to him crying so much. If my Lord asks me… إذا ما قال لي ربي اما استحييت تعصيني If my Lord asks me, “Have you shyness in disobeying me? وتخفي الذنب عن خلقي وبالعصيان تأتيني You conceal your sins from my creation – and with sins you come to me.”فكيف أجيبُ يا ويحي ومن ذا سوف يحميني؟ So how will I answer? O woe to me – and who shall protect me?أسُلي النفس بالآمالِ من حينٍ الى حيني I keep averting my soul with thoughts of hope – from time to time. وأنسى ما وراءُ الموت ماذا بعد تكفيني And I forget what is to come after death – and what is to come after I am shrouded. كأني قد ضّمنتُ العيش ليس الموت يأتيني As if I am guaranteed life (eternally) – and that death will not come to me. وجائت سكرة الموتُ الشديدة من سيحميني And when the severe stupor of death overtakes me – who will protect me? نظرتُ الى الوُجوهِ أليـس منُهم من سيفدينـــي I looked at the faces; is there not from amongst them who will ransom me? سأسأل ما الذي قدمت في دنياي ينجيني I will be asked regarding what I have prepared in my life to save me (on the Day of Judgement). فكيف إجابتي من بعد ما فرطت في ديني Then how will I answer – after I have neglected my religion. ويا ويحي ألــــم أسمع كلام الله يدعوني Woe to me! Did I not hear the Speech of Allāh inviting me? ألــــم أسمع لما قد جاء في قاف ويسِ Did I not hear what came in (the chapters of) Qāf and Yā-Sīn? ألـــم أسمع بيوم الحشر يوم الجمع و الديني Did I not hear about the Day of Gathering, the Day of Assemble and the Day of Judgement? ألـــم أسمع مُنادي الموت يدعوني يناديني Did I not hear the crier of death inviting me, calling me? فيا ربــــاه عبدُ تــائبُ من ذا سيؤويني So O my Lord, a slave (turning to you) I have repented – so who then shall shelter me? سوى رب غفور واسعُ للحقِ يهديني Except a Lord extensive in forgiveness – to the truth He will guide me. أتيتُ إليكَ فارحمني وثقــّـل في موازيني I have come to you (in repentance) – so have mercy on me, and make heavy my scales (with good deeds). وخفَفَ في جزائي أنتَ أرجـى من يجازيني And lighten my account – You are the best of who will bring me to account. Source: P205 Manaqib Imām Ahmad by Ibn al-Jawzi Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi salam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. Fama baadu. My brothers and sisters. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, right in the beginning of His kalam, in Surah Al-Baqarah, after the huyuf al-muqatta'at, alif, la, mim, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned the Qur'an. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ This is the book in which there is no doubt. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said a very interesting, a very important thing. He said, خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ This kitab is hidayah, is guidance. This book is a guidance for people of taqwa. خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ And you might say, if Allah had said, خُدَلِّ الْمُشْيْكِينَ خُدَلِّ الْكَافِرِينَ خُدَلِّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ These are the people who need that. They are not even, some are not in Islam, some are in Islam, they are making shaytan, shirkas, and so on, so on. These are the people who are misguided. They are the people who need hidayah. But Allah is not saying that. Allah is saying, خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ It is a book of guidance for people who have taqwa. You might say, well, I already have taqwa, what guidance do I need? But obviously, if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ It means that there is a need. So what is this need? And what is this guidance? And why is taqwa being made a shart, a condition of being guided? خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ So it is not guidance for those who have no taqwa. Now if you look at, in another place in the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, the Arabs, the Bedouins, they come to you, Ya Rasulullah s.a.w., and they claim to have Iman. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, say to them, لَمْ يَدْقُلِ الْإِيمَانَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ Iman has not entered their hearts. They have accepted Islam, they are Muslims. But Allah said, Iman has not entered their hearts. And He put a condition, He said, for Iman to enter their hearts, let them obey Allah and His Rasul s.a.w. and establish Salah and give Zakat. These are the signs that you have Iman. Obey Allah and obey His Rasul s

https://youtu.be/Mouyqr5_pUQ Auto-generated transcript: Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa Salatu Wa Salamu Alai Sharafi Al-Anbiya Wa Al-Mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Alaihi Wa Sahibi Wasallam. Tasleeman Kaseera Kaseera. Fammabadu, my brothers and sisters, that is the moon of the 15th of Shaaban. And that's about as big as I can get it. We are at this place, very nice place, which is on the bank of this lake in Bidar, in Karnataka. There is a sanctuary, a black buck sanctuary there in Bidar. And that's where we are. Some forest. Photos also I will upload in due course, inshallah. It's a little bit of a misty morning. But across this lake, there is this beautiful pink forest of gliricidia trees, which are in flower. Looks very pretty, but it's an invasive species, which is destroying the grasslands here. And the grassland is where black buck live. So they are endangered. They're severely endangered. There are two things that are the biggest source of danger for them. One is the destruction of the trees. And the second one is... The destruction of Indian pie dogs, which prey on their fawns, especially newborn ones, which are completely helpless when they are born. Of course, once they stand up and start and then get firm on their feet, then dogs can't catch them. They're very fast. But that period of some minutes, maybe an hour or so, is extremely vulnerable. And dogs are dogs. I mean, they know they are pack animals. They're predators. They hunt in packs. They know when the deer are dropping their fawns. And they're waiting. And that is the tragedy that unfolds. Alhamdulillah. This also shows how much value water... adds to not just the picture, but to life itself. We are in a very dry, deciduous forest. If you look at it, if you look at here, this is how it is. Very, very dry and deciduous. This is a secondary forest. This is not the primary forest here. This is something which is partly what has grown up. And partly which has been planted. But anyway, forest is forest and it adds beauty to the whole environment. But if you look at it, if you take this water away, then what is left is very harsh and dry. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, that's why when He mentions Jannah, He always mentions water. Jannah atin tajree min tahti al-anhaar. Flowing water. This is, of course, a... lake, not flowing, but Allah mentions flowing water. And there's a whole flight of... I'm trying to figure out now what that is. I don't think you can see it in this video. But, or you can. Okay, there you go. See that V formation. Most birds fly like that. It's not only geese. This looks like some kind of cranes or storks or something. This is a very, very dry forest. This is something... Birds which are bigger and longer, not the... not duck. This is a time in the morning when birds also start taking flight. Aquatic birds usually rest and spend the night on water because that's where they are safest. Others spend the night in trees. Others spend the night in trees. And then in the morning, they all take flight and they go into the fields where either they feed on post-harvest the grain that drops on the ground and which is left there accidentally, not deliberately, but it's enough to feed them. Or they feed on grass and other things in the fields which are surrounding these waters. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la's Nizam, the system that He has created where everything gets what is written for it. No one gets what is not written for them. No one can take away what is written for them. And this is the lesson that we human beings don't see. We cannot be sad about anything. accountability to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we may think of it as something which is frightening, which is terrible, which is, you know, I wish it wasn't there kind of thing. But I remind myself, yes, of course, it is frightening to some extent, because to face Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with the kinds of life that we live, obviously, it's not something which is not frightening. But we rely on the tremendous mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, which he has mentioned in the Quran many, many, many times, and much more than he mentioned his punishment and his anger. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for his mercy and for his forgiveness. And we ask Allah to correct our ways in this life so that we become eligible for his mercy and his forgiveness. And even if we are not eligible, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive us anyway, because it's only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who can be that generous, who can forgive even those who patently deserve punishment. The reason I say that accountability is a great ni'mah, it's a great blessing, is for two reasons. One is that the awareness of accountability, the fact that we are accountable. Okay. Okay. That we believe this and we try our best

Auto-generated transcript: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the Prophet and the messengers. And peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and companions. And peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and companions. And after that, my brothers and sisters, sometimes people who are atheists and people who don't understand, even sometimes, may Allah have mercy on us, Muslims who don't understand Islam, who have not taken the trouble to learn anything. They ask this question, they say that if there is a merciful God, if there is a merciful God, why is there suffering? If there is a God, or a merciful God, why is there suffering? Seems to be a... a reasonable question, if you look at it in one way. That's why I said, people who don't understand, ask this question. Because people who understand and know the Qur'an, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned very clearly, why there is suffering, despite the fact that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is there, and this is Haqqa. This is the truth. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, in Surah Ar-Rum, Zahara al-fasadu fil barri wal bahri, bi ma kasabat aydi al-nasi li yuziqahum ba'da alladhi amilu la'allahum yarji'oon. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, which means, the fasad, the trials, tribulations, difficulties, calamities, diseases, wars, all the orphans and widows, all the blood and gore, all that you are seeing. Zahara al-fasadu, jo fasad zahir hai, fil barri wal bahar, zameen pe aur paani pe, on the earth and on the oceans. bi ma kasabat aydi al-nasi, yeh insano ke haaton uska kia hua hai, yeh aapki mehnat ka sila hai. Allah said, this is the result of, and the fruits of what your hands have earned. Kasabat aydi al-nasi. Kasab, Urdu ka raaz bhi hai. Kasbe maash. Ayd, aydin, yadam, yada, is hand. Aydi al-nasi. Insano ke haat, kut ki. Bi ma kasabat aydi al-nasi. Now you might say, well, okay, so why doesn't Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala intervene? And why doesn't Allah change everything? Can He do it? Of course He can do it. Why doesn't He do it? Allah says, li yuziqahum ba'da alladhi amilu, la'allahum yarjihu. So that we can allow you to test the result of some of your deeds, so that you may turn towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Ta ke aap apne amal ka maza chakhe, thoda sa, chakhe, poora khaye nahi. Zaa'iqa, yuziqal, li yuziqal ladhi ba'da al-amilu, la'allahum yarjihu. Ta ke Allah ki taraf, Lord Almighty. So that you may turn towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A good way to understand this is, say for example, the mother is cooking in the kitchen and the, imagine the old days when the stoves would be at the, floor level. So the mother is sitting there cooking and the little kid is trying to put his hand into the fire because the fire looks very nice. Right? Fires are extremely attractive. You look at it, the flames going up and down, the orange and the yellows and the colors and it's very nice to see. So the child doesn't understand what is a fire. So the child is constantly trying to put his hand into the fire and the mother keeps pushing him away, pushing, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. Finally, one day, when the child tries to cook, when the child tries to cook, when the child tries to put his hand in the fire, the mother slaps him on the wrist. So when she slaps him on the wrist, it hurts. Right? So he starts crying. Yeah, my mother hit me. Why did she hit you? To prevent you from doing something which would have caused you far more pain. If she had not hit you and she had allowed you to put your hand into the fire, then you would have burnt. And the pain of burning is far, far more than the pain of being slapped on the wrist. So Allah says, we allow you to taste some of the result of your own deeds. Right? So people say, if there is a God, why is there suffering? There is suffering not because there is no God, there is suffering because you are not doing your duty. Another example, in America they have this practice, or this possibility, opportunity. You can go to the local police station and you can say that you would like to enroll for the ride-along program. So the ride-along program is, this is a police public, you know, PR thing they do, where they give you the opportunity to sit in the cruiser of a car, and you take the police officer and go with him on a shift. So you are riding along with the police officer. So you see whatever he sees, you are participating in whatever he is participating. So I did once in Florida, and we caught several people on the highway and gave them tickets. And the, so when I went there, the police officer I went with, Paul Bosco. So he, first of all he deputized me, he gave me a badge. And he says, you are

https://youtu.be/mnGqUuPFzsc Nvidia CEO on future jobs: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-says-160735219.html?_guc_consent_skip=1770435644 Auto-generated transcript: Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala ash-sharafi al-anbiya wal-mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Dasliman kaseeran kaseeran. My brothers and sisters, I'm in Bidar, in the Black Buck Sanctuary. And I'm looking at... You can see what I'm looking at. On my right is a huge strand of Glycidia, which is something that the Forest Department themselves planted here. This is their tendency to plant trees in every open piece of land. Unfortunately, for the Black Buck, this is a terrible thing because Glycidia completely covers the soil and doesn't... does not allow grass to grow. As I'm walking here, there is a Black Buck male, which is in the grass there. I don't think you can see it, but it's there. Now, Black Buck are an endangered species, and they exist on grass. They eat grass. And if the grass... is gone, then the Black Buck is gone. It's as simple as that. But there we have the department in its wisdom. They have planted the place full of Glycidia. As you can see here, they're looking at a beautiful sunrise. Amazing. Beautiful sunrise. MahaAllah. Allah Ta'ala's khawarat is everywhere. You see this whole strand of Glycidia. Glycidia has this very pretty pink flower, pink flower, almost like cherry blossoms, but for grasslands and for Black Buck, it's very bad news. Now, this is a very interesting thing. It's a very interesting thing. The sanctuary itself is about what you can see here, which in terms of the territory, in terms of what their need is, way, way, way less than afternoon. But there you are. And on top of that, grass is obviously susceptible to burning. And so, you know, somebody throws a cigarette butt or something, and that's the end of a huge wave of grassland. You can probably see here. Okay, there you go. Now, that's a nice male. It's a very good male. It's a nice picture. He is standing there looking at me. Okay. And then he's going off on his own. Lovely big buck. . ! This is ideal territory for me to come to the point that I want to talk to you about, and that is the question of looking at ourselves. And I'm especially talking to now the, especially the youth. There's a wonderful, well wonderful for want of another word, but wonderful statement by the head of Nvidia, a man who runs a company which has a market cap, which is more than the GDP of India. And I imagine this one company. If it were to be a market cap, nation state, it would be bigger than India in terms of its GDP. And it's run by one man, obviously he's the head of the company. Now he says that the millionaires of the future will not be people with college degrees. They will be plumbers and electricians. Because AI will automate and take over everything which can be automated and taken over. And the only thing which will be there for you to use and also as a means of livelihood are things which cannot be taken over by AI. And that is things which needs a human being with hands and legs to fix it. So AI is not going to unblock your sink. It's not going to redo your toilets. You need somebody to do that. AI is not going to wire up your houses. You need someone to do that. So he says, get a skill. Get a skill that you can do with your hands. In other words, get a trade. That's a, that's a good idea. As you can see, the clouds are very pretty. And the sun is shining. But this is serious bad news for grasslands. So to come back to my topic. He says, do something with your hands. Get a trade. Now, believe me, I can't possibly agree with that more. I completely agree with it. And I strongly recommend for all of you to go and learn something that your hands are good at. Yeah. you can do with your hands. The issue is that many people seem to have attitudes of, I mean, ridiculous attitudes where they look down on tradespeople, on tradesmen and tradeswomen, and they think that there is something wrong with, you know, something in Fradig and something not so nice about working with your hands. And that's why I say to you, first and foremost, if you have any reluctance to learn, ask yourself, what is the reason? If you say, I don't like to become a plumber, say, ask yourself, what is the reason? That reason might be a cancer of your mind, where you are looking down on something which is, something which is not so nice about working with your hands. And that's why I say to you, if you have any reluctance to do something which is not right, ask yourself, what is the reason? wonderful work and you know they're doing very well for themselves one is Anil who is Bosnian and the other one is Jihad Akal who is Lebanese b

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa Salatu Wa Salamu Ala Ashrafil Anbiya wal Mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Alaihi Wasallam. Tasliman Katsiran Katsiran. Fammamadu. My brothers and sisters, we continue with our reminders on things that we should thank Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for. And we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to enable us to live a life of awareness and a life of thoughtfulness and not just, you know, randomly just live. Because to live is not merely to draw breath. Breathing is not living. Living is when it is done thoughtfully, consciously, and where we respond to what Allah has given us by thanking Him and by spreading goodness around us. Because if you think, if you think about that, a person who is in a coma is also alive. He's not dead. But you don't call that living. Because the person is in a coma. He can't, he doesn't know what's going on. He can't communicate. He can't do anything. But he's breathing. So if we, may Allah have mercy on us, there are many of us, if not most of us, who live like as if we are in a coma. Because, you know, we're just living. We're just breathing. We get hungry, we eat. We feel sleepy, we sleep, and so on. That is not life. Life is to live consciously and thoughtfully. Let me mention for you a couple of things, which we usually take for granted. Let me ask you, when did you last clip your nails? Now, you might say, well, last week, you know, two weeks ago or something. And hopefully, if you have not clipped your nails for two weeks, your nails need clipping. So go clip them. And then also, in the process, learn how Rasulullah ﷺ clipped his nails. So you can do that according to the Sunnah, inshallah. And also get some... Go out for it. And similarly, let me ask you, when was the last time you had a haircut? And you will tell me something, you know, two weeks ago, one month ago, whatever. The reason I'm asking you why or when you had a haircut and when you clipped your nails is because... Let's reflect on this. What if nails and hair were live tissue and not dead tissue? Because these are all epithelial cells. These are all... Parts of your skin. The skin forms into nails and skin forms into, you know, the hair follicles come out of the skin. What if it was live tissue? What if it had capillaries which... What if it had capillaries which... With blood in them? What if it had nerve endings in them? Believe me, every time you needed to clip your nails, or every time we needed a haircut, you would have had to go to a hospital and go under general anesthesia for this to be done. And then every hair end that was cut would have to be cauterized to stop the blood flowing. If somebody just shaved your head, you would die. It would be tantamount to somebody taking the skin off your skull. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us hair and gave us nails and made them also into objects of beauty. Think about the billions of dollars worth of industry which is dedicated to hair care. I remember a friend of mine telling me, you can't do anything to it. Hair is hair. It's dead tissue, right? What can you do to dead tissue? If you are going to put stuff or, you know, massage your head with oil and so on, it's the... Oil is going into the... Oil is going into the... into the skin, right? Hair is dead tissue. But despite that, it's a... It's something of great beauty. And, you know, women especially, and of course a lot of men also nowadays, they spend a lot of time on haircuts, on growing hair long or short or perming them or God knows what. All time and effort and expense on dead tissue. And the fact that it is dead tissue is a blessing, is a huge blessing in itself. Think about that. I mean, just one small thing, but how important it is. Second thing, let me ask you, how many times did we thank Allah SWT for sending us rain in individual drops and sending us snow? Because right now in America, it's extremely, extremely cold and a lot of snow. Um, Allah SWT has sent this snow also in flakes, individual flakes. The reason I'm asking this is, just think about this. Now, right now I'm in Hyderabad. Hyderabad has a area of about 2,000 square kilometers. The overall area of the city, about 2,000 square kilometers. It gets approximately 20 inches of rain in a year. Now, one inch of rain covering one square meter, one square kilometer, one inch of rain spread over one square kilometer weighs approximately 25,400 metric tons. This is one inch of rain, right? Now, do the sums. Uh, 20 inches of rain over 2,000 square kilometers. That comes to, in terms of the weight of water, that comes to 1,016,000,000 metric tons of water. This water is falling on us from a height of 10,000 feet average. 10 to 15,000 feet is the, uh, is the cloud height. So, take 10,000 feet. This water, 1,016,000,000 metric tons of wat

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wasalatu wasalamu ala sharifil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sahibu sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathiran. Muhammadu. Brothers and sisters, alhamdulillah, we are my partner in crime. Mr. Aliuddin Haider and I are going to Bidar, to the Black Buck Sanctuary, which is also famous for raptors and for owls. And the next two, three days we'll be there, inshallah. I believe there is no Wi-Fi there, so I am recording this on the way there. We are on the National Highway, going on Bombay Road. Alhamdulillah, I am most grateful to Allah SWT for very, very special friends and brothers like this. Those company I enjoy were always there. And mashallah, alhamdulillah, Allah has enabled us to spend some beautiful time together. The topic that we have been talking about of being grateful to Allah SWT and the importance of that, I want to continue with that. The secret to the love. Of Allah. The love of Allah. To develop the love of Allah. The secret to that, the way to do that, is to be consciously grateful to Allah SWT. Now, alhamdulillah, we are all thankful, inshallah. But I am not talking about, you know, some general vague feeling of being thankful. I am saying, thankful for what? So, think about specific things. Think about specific. Think about specific things that we are and should be thankful to Allah SWT for. For example, take the, going to be the great miracle of language. Allah SWT has uniquely blessed human beings with two things. One is with the physical ability to produce sound of a huge variety. One is with the physical ability to produce sound of a huge variety. One is with the physical ability to produce sound of a huge variety. Different pitches, from a tenor to a soprano to a bass, different pitches and different levels of complexity. This sound production is what enables and makes language possible. Animals also make sounds. Obviously, all animals make sounds. Birds sing beautifully. But the difference between the song of a bird and the song of a human being is not only in the words and so on, which of course we can always argue that the bird's words we don't understand, fair enough, but also in the variety of the sound. Because at the end of the day, that bird song is only one set of sounds. Now, birds of course have different kinds of calls. So, each bird. It doesn't have only one. But if you just think about it, how many different calls does a bird have? Maybe four or five. But for a human being, the ability to produce sound is almost unlimited. So, that's the first thing. The second thing Allah gave us is the intellectual capacity to take a thought, convert that thought into what we call a word. So, that's the first thing. The second thing Allah gave us is the intellectual capacity to take a thought, convert that thought into what we call a word. Which is, which we then write, what we call write. Which is we make some squiggles on paper, which represent that word, which opens that thought. So, for example, I look at my wife, you look at your spouse, you look at your child, you meet your friend, and you have, you have a feeling, this thought and this feeling in your heart, which you have given the word love. So, I love my friend. I love my wife. I love my child. I love my, you know, father, mother. What is love? Now, the issue of what is love, there is, there are reams and reams of poetry written, and there are, you know, God knows, thousands and millions of pages of prose which are describing love. But that whole thing is condensed into one word, which is L-O-V-E. Love. Hub. Muhabbat. Ishq. You know, all, all of these things are in one word. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Different languages. I will come to that in a minute. So, this word, love. So, this love, when you say, when somebody says love, it opens this door in your mind and your heart to the actual feeling. Then you take this word love, and you write it on paper, right. There's a, there's an L, which is a vertical line, which is standing on a horizontal line, and then there's a circle, and then there is, there are two vertical lines which are at an angle, so that join at the bottom. Then there is one vertical line with four, with three horizontal lines, which is L-O-V-E. These squiggles, these marks on the paper, somebody who knows that language just looks at those marks on the paper and he produces the same sound, love, as the first person whoever said love. Now, imagine, just think about the complexity of this. Now, then, since these sounds and these squiggles are local, we have our multiplicity of languages. So, you have love in English, you have hub in Arabic, you have muhabbat or ishq in Urdu, you have prem in Hindi, you have anvu in Tamil. And you have pasam in Tamil and Marayana. I mean,

Auto-generated transcript: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the prophets and messengers. Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his family, and peace be upon him and his family. And after that, my brothers and sisters, all human beings everywhere have only one basic desire. Every time of history, every period of history, every geographical location, every culture, every religion, every race, all people have only one fundamental basic desire. And all that they do, is to try to fulfil that desire. And that desire is to be happy. Right? That desire is to be happy. Take any human activity, it is geared to try to make you happy. Why do you accumulate wealth? To be happy. Why do you want good health? To be happy. Why do you want a good family? To be happy. Why do you want to live in a country which is secure, where you have rights, and these rights are fulfilled? To be happy. Right? Why do you want to stay out of jail? To be happy. Take any activity. To be happy. And Allah SWT showed us how to be happy. And the way to be happy is to be happy. And the way to be happy is to be happy. And the way to be happy is to be happy. And the way to be happy is to be happy. And the way to be happy is to have trust in Allah SWT. Now we have trust in Allah SWT on the basis that Allah SWT is our Khaliq and Malik and Radhik and Hakim. And Allah SWT is the most merciful. There is no one more merciful than Allah SWT. Allah SWT. So what envy, it's based on the fact that whatever happens, whatever happens, happens only by the will of Allah. Whatever it is. Whatever appears to be good, whatever appears to be bad from our perspective is by the will of Allah. It is not in spite of Allah's will. So if something is happening, which is happening by the will of the one who is the most merciful and the one who is interested in our welfare only, then how can that thing be bad? For example, if you go into an operating theatre, operation theatre, and you see a surgeon operating on, on somebody. Maybe the surgeon is operating on someone who is very close and dear to him. What will you see there? Actual physical observation. You will see somebody with a scalpel, which is a polite name for a knife, who is cutting open the body of somebody else. There is blood everywhere. So that scene, is it a nice scene? But do you therefore hate the surgeon? Do you say here is a person without mercy, here is a person who is cruel, here is a person who is murdering somebody else? No. Because you understand what is going on. You will not say that because you understand what is going on. If somebody says that, you will say, he is illiterate. What nonsense are you talking? You don't see what is going on. What is this? What is going on is the best thing that can happen to the patient. He had this tumor, which is being removed. What is better than that? He would have died with his cancer or whatever. The tumor is being removed. The person, the surgeon, is doing him a favor. And that is the reason why when the surgery is over, you pay the surgeon. So you are paying him for cutting you off. You are thanking him for cutting you off. The answer is yes. Why? Because you understand what is going on. You understand that this person who has the knowledge, more knowledge than I have, more specific knowledge than I have, who is concerned and about my welfare, who wants the best for me, is doing the best for me, maybe that thing which is being done at that moment is painful. Because there is no other way. This is the only way. The tumor cannot be wished out. It has to be wished out. So that is the only way. But even though it is painful, he said, Alhamdulillah, I will bear the pain. Because the pain of not doing that would have been much worse. And therefore, our scholars have said, see the pain of not doing that. So, nail the door of sadness. Nail shut. Nail the door of sadness with the of Allah . Allah said, Don't be sad. The Prophet in the cave, in the cave of the revolution, the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr al-Siddiq were in this cave. And Abu Bakr al-Siddiq said, Ya Rasulullah, if they look down, they will see us. The enemies who are at the door of the cave, entrance of the cave, he said, if they look down, they will see us. Rasulullah said, what do you say about two, the third of whom is Allah? And he said, La tahzan, inna Allah ma'ana. Inna Allah ma'ana. He said, have no sadness, have no fear. La tahzan. Do not have huzan. Verily and truly Allah is with us. Inna Allah ma'ana. He did not say, inna Allah ma'i. Wa anta ma'i. Allah is with me and you are with me. No. Inna Allah ma'ana. Allah is with us both. So huzan, which is the the the the the the the the the The huzan, The huzan, The huzan, The huzan, The huzan, The huzan, The huzan, The huzan, The huzan, The huzan, The huzan, The huzan, The h

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the prophets and messengers. Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his family, is a very peaceful and very much-loving person. And after that, my brothers and sisters, we are talking about the ayat of Allah SWT where he said, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ Allah said, which means, O you who believe, have taqwa of Allah SWT as it is His right. And do not die except in a state of Islam. We looked at the first part of the ayah. Today we look at the second part of the ayah where Allah said, لَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ Do not die except in a state of Islam. A state of Islam means a state of submission to Allah SWT. Submission to Allah means submission to everything which Allah SWT commanded. As I remind myself and you again and again, our problem is not that we disbelieve in everything. Our problem is worse than that. Our problem is that we don't believe in everything. Our problem is that we don't believe in everything. Our problem is that we selectively obey. And Allah SWT mentioned that very clearly in the Quran, where He said, أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْدِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْدِ Do you believe in some things of the book? You take some things of the book? You obey some commands? And you leave the rest? فَمَنْ يَفْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مِنْكُمْ إِلَّا خِذْيٌّ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَرَضُّونَ إِلَىٰ أَشَدِّ أَذَابٍ وَمَنْ اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ Allah SWT said that what is the reward? فَمَا جَزَاهُ مَنْ يَفْعَلُ ذَلِكُ What is the jaza? What is the reward? And Allah SWT is using the word reward in a sarcastic way. Whereas where He means punishment. جَزَا سَمَانِ جَزَا نِجَزَا جَزَا كَمَنِ صَزَا هَيَا And Allah says what is the reward for those of you who do this? Accept hardship and suffering and problems and humiliation in this life. خِزْيُنْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا This is the beauty of the Kamal of the Arabic language. One single word. خِزْيُنْ خِزْيُنْ خِزْيُنْ It has every bad thing in it. It has disease, it has accidents, it has problems, it has conflicts, it has suffering, it has poverty. You name it. خِزْيُنْ خِزْيُنْ Hard. Your life will become extremely difficult. فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا And it doesn't end with that. وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُوَضُّونَ إِلَىٰ أَشَدِّ أَذَابٍ And on the Day of Judgment you will be turned towards the worst of punishments. You might ask this question, at least I am doing something. Somebody else is completely rejecting. He is not even a Muslim. He has not even said, لا إله إلا الله At least I am doing something. At least I am coming to Furaishalatul Fajr. At least I am giving some Zakat. At least I am doing Qurbani in Eidul Adha. And so on. The issue there is not at least. The issue there is the arrogance. Is the Takabbur of the slave. The Takabbur of somebody who has no Hasyat except what Allah has given him. What right do you and I have to be arrogant? When Allah SWT reminded us. And Allah said, وَلَا حَلْ أَتَعْ عَلَىٰ الْإِنسَانِ حِينٌ مِّنَ الدَّهْرِ لَمْ يَكُنْ شَيْءً مَّذْكُورًا As the human being forgotten the time when he had no mention. There was no mention of him. He was not a thing mentioned. What right do you have to be arrogant? On what basis are you arrogant? And we are arrogant. So don't expect me to say. Ya Allah you may have given me three commands. But I will obey only one. The other two commands I don't like. I will not do. This is exactly what Iblis did. Exactly. This is exactly what Shaytan did. Shaytan did not deny Allah SWT. Shaytan did not say you are not my Rabbi. You are not my Khalikh. No, no, no. He did not deny Allah SWT. He did not deny making Sajidah to Allah. Allah, he did not say, I will not make sajdah to you. He said, I will not do this command. I will not make sajdah to Adam because in my understanding, this is wrong. So what is he doing? He is taking his will, his understanding, his whatever and imposing it on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Yaab meru kaisa bolte? Aapki baad ghalat hai. Laaha wa laakho ta'ala. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, you do this shaitaniyat in your life, you will be treated like shaitan. So it's not a question of saying, kuch toh bhi karna. Itta toh karna, kuch toh bhi karna nahi hai Islam ke andar. Pura karna hai. And Allah made it very clear. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Ya ayyuha allazeena amanu, udhkhulu fis silmi kafatan wala tattabiyu khutwati shaitan innahu lakum ma'aduhum mubeen. Allah says, O you who believe, enter into Islam completely and do not follow the footsteps of shaitan. Truly he is your worst and clear enemy. Allah gave us an example of the way to obey. Wa ith qala lahu rabbuhu aslim, qala aslamtu li rabbil ala

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen, wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen, Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, tasliman kathiran kathiran. Fama ba'du, my brothers and sisters, we were talking about the ayat of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, which we hear in practically every qutbah, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Ya ayyuha alladhina amanu taqullaha haqqa tuqatih, wa la tamutunna illa wantu muslimun. Which means Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, O you who believe, have taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as it is His right, and do not die except in a state of Islam, except as a Muslim. To continue with that, we spoke about the importance of obedience to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and of having taqwa as it is His right. It is the right of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that we should have taqwa. How do we increase this? How do we develop this taqwa in our lives? That is the question and the important thing to think about. Alhamdulillah, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us Ramadan al-Kareem, which is maybe less than two weeks away. We ask Allah to give us Ramadan in a state of good health and Iman, and the ability to make the best of it. Because we don't know which Ramadan will be our last. The purpose of Ramadan itself, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah said, The purpose of fasting is to develop taqwa. So in this ayat, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, As it is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's right that we should have taqwa. The way to develop taqwa is to focus on and reflect on two things. One is the glory and majesty of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is visible for anyone who has the eyes to see, in their lives, all around them, in the creatures of Allah, creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It is visible in the kalam, the majesty of the Quran al-Kareem. The thing is to see it. And the thing is to glorify Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and make dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when we see all of these things. From the smallest to the biggest. We see the glory and magnificence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You see how Allah created this earth. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned this in the Quran in many places. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned all the different things. How did we create the earth and we made it inhabitable for you and we sent rain to you and we grow your food because of this water which comes to you and so on and we put the mountains there to stabilize the earth so it does not... You don't... You don't... You don't... You don't... You don't have earthquakes and so on and so on and so on. All of this is for us to think and reflect. We say Alhamdulillah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made these things for us. Allah created these things for us. So the more we reflect on the glory and majesty of Allah, the more we have khashiyat of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our hearts. Yesterday I mentioned two things. The importance of khashiyat and the importance of hubb of Allah. Love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The combination of these... The combination of khashiyat and hubb is taqwa. Only when you have the glory and awe and majesty of Allah in the heart and we also have love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Together it produces the condition called taqwa which is what is desired where we fear to disobey and displease Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in any way. So before every speech, before every action, you ask the question, does this please Allah? If the answer is yes, you do it. If the answer is no, you don't do it. And if the answer is I don't know, you find out. Until you find out, you don't do it. So khashiyat and hubb. So to produce khashiyat, we have to focus on and think about the glory and majesty and power and authority of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah says, قُلِ اللَّهُمَّ مَالِكَ الْمُلْكَ Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, Allah says, this car belong to? Who is the owner of this car? Full on bin full on. So anything to do with that car is the business of the one to whom the car belongs. Now if you see that the car is punctured, then what do you do? Go and change the tyre. If you find the car tyre is punctured, you don't go and change the tyre. You please inform the owner. The car, your tyre is punctured. So he can do something about it. Right? Who does it belong to? And the reason to understand who it belongs to is because if you understand who it belongs to, then you leave the car. Leave that to the one to whom it belongs. Hasan Basir Ahadulillah said, it is a sign of the weakness of your Iman. It's a sign of the weakness of your Iman that

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the honourable Prophet and the messengers. Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and may he be the protector of the light, for him is much, much. My brothers and sisters, a friend of mine asked me to speak about the special nature of Salatul Jum'ah, because there is all kinds of confusion about how it is to be prayed and the rules that pertain to it, and so to clarify any of those doubts. Now the Jum'ah, Salatul Jum'ah is a special prayer with its own rules. Jum'ah is not Dhuhr. It's a special prayer that is prayed instead of and in the place of Dhuhr. Among its rules are the following. Number one, Jum'ah is prayed only in congregation, only in Jama'at. You cannot pray Jum'ah on your own. If you can't find a congregation, a Jama'at for Jum'ah, then you have to pray Dhuhr Salat instead of Jum'ah. In Jum'ah, there is a Khutbah before the Salat. This is in two parts, with a sitting between them. Number three, Jum'ah Salat is prayed aloud, where the Imam recites the Quran aloud and not silently, as in Dhuhr. Number four, when you go for Jum'ah, you enter the Masjid and pray two rak'ahs Nafil Salat as Tahiyyat. You sit and wait for the Khutbah to begin. In this time, you read Quran or you make dhikr or you pray Nafil. Then, when the Imam ascends the mimbar, you look at the Imam and listen intently to the Khutbah. The rules for this are the same as the rules for Salah. That is, you remain silent. You do not do anything other than listening to the Khutbah. You are not even allowed to read Quran or make dhikr when the Khutbah is going on. You are not allowed to speak to anyone. You are not allowed to say Salam or return someone else's Salam, which is otherwise Fard. You are not allowed to even tell someone else who is speaking to remain silent. If you speak, your entire Jum'ah becomes invalid. Number six, the Khutbah ends with the Imam commanding, You then stand up and you pray two rak'ahs Fard for Jum'ah behind the Imam. Please note that this is not Dhuhr. This is Salatul Jum'ah, which Allah SWT commanded us to pray in Suratul Jum'ah. Number seven, after you complete the Fard of Jum'ah, you pray four rak'ah Salah if you pray in the Masjid, and two rak'ahs if you leave the Masjid immediately after the Fard of Jum'ah. Number eight, there is no Jum'ah, there is no Sunnah before Jum'ah. People can pray as many Nafl Salah as they wish, but there is no Sunnah before Jum'ah because Jum'ah is a special Salah. It is not Dhuhr. In Dhuhr, there is four rak'ahs before the Fard Salah, but not in the Fard Salah. But not in Jum'ah. Number nine, the time that is given to pray four rak'ahs Sunnah before Jum'ah is essentially incorrect and has no basis. As I said, people are free to pray as many Nafl rak'ahs as they want. But for someone to announce that you can now pray your Sunnah, this has no basis. Number nine, the time that is given to pray four rak'ahs Sunnah, that's why I said it's incorrect. Now, number ten, some ulama have said that Jum'ah is in addition to Dhuhr. So, they prescribe four rak'ahs before the Fard of Jum'ah and four rak'ahs plus two rak'ahs after the Fard. This, wallahu a'alam, as far as I know, has no basis. It is forbidden to speak during the Khutbah. The majority of the scholars are of the opinion that it is obligatory to be silent during the Khutbah and one is not to indulge in conversation during the Khutbah, not even if it is to order someone else to do something good or to stop some evil. Amr ibn Maruf and Nahiyal Munkar, even this is not allowed. And this rule applies whether or not the person is sitting in the mosque can actually hear the Khutbah. So, even if you are sitting in the mosque in a place, maybe there is no mic or something, it's a big mosque and you are sitting in a place where you cannot actually hear the Khutbah, still you follow all these rules. You don't speak, you don't tell anyone not to speak and you don't say anything to someone, do this, do that. Ibn Abbas reports that Rasulullah said, whoever speaks in Jumu'ah while the Imam is delivering the Khutbah is like a donkey who is carrying books and for those who tell him to be quiet, there is no reward for the Jumu'ah. And this is narrated by Imam Ahmad, Imam Ibn Abi Shaybah, Al-Bazar, Al-Tabarani and so on. Ibn al-Hajar al-Naskalani in Bulugh al-Maram, he said, there is no fault in its sin. Abdullah bin Amr reports that the Messenger of Allah said, there are three types of people who attend the Jumu'ah. One, a man who is present but speaks during the Khutbah and that is his portion of

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. Fammabadu, my brothers and sisters. We hear this ayat in every Jummah khutbah where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said Ya ayyuha alladhina amanu ttaqullaha haqqa tuqatih wa la tamutunna illa wa antum muslimun. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said which means O you who believe, have taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as it is His right. Haqqa tuqatih. Wa la tamutunna illa wa antum muslimun. And do not die except in a state of Islam. So have taqwa. Taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Haqqa tuqatih. Not any way be like. As it is His right. Jalla shanu. Wa la tamutunna illa wa antum muslimun. And do not die except in a state of Islam. Now as we know, any ayat in the Quran which begins with Ya ayyuha alladhina amanu is an ayah of hukum. It is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's command. And therefore, it is the duty, it is the essence, it is the purpose, it is the sign of being an abd of Allah, of being a slave of Allah, that we obey Allah. The first point. Second point, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, Ittaqullaha haqqa tuqatih. Have taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as it is His right. Now, we must understand the meaning of taqwa. Taqwa is to fear, to displease the one we love the most. Usually it is translated as fear of Allah. Fear Allah as it is His right to be feared. Fear is a negative emotion. You don't love the things you fear. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. spiders. You fear them. You don't like spiders. People fear snakes, except me and Ibrahim. So people who fear snakes, they don't love snakes. Right? But with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, the fear that we are talking about is not a fear like this, which is you want to run away from them. I don't want to see this person. Children, some children fear their teachers. So you ask the child, do you love this teacher? No, I don't love you. Do you obey the teacher? Yes. Why? Because the teacher will, if I don't obey the teacher, the teacher will punish me. But that obedience is coming out of fear. The problem of obedience which comes out of fear is that the minute the fear is not there, there will be disobedience. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. and may Allah include us among those who He called the believers. Allah said, Allah said, But the believers are those who love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Not just any love. Ashad. Ashad is the superlative form of shadid. Intiha'i. Ultimate. Extreme. Ashad hubba lillah. Their love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is supreme. They love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala more than they love anyone or anything else. So what is the sign of the believer? That he or she loves Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala more than anyone or anything else. Now, the combination of these two things. The combination of fear, which is khatib, khashiyah, and in some cases khawf, and the hubb of Allah. When you combine these two, then you have what is called taqwa. Taqwa is a very unique concept in the Quran, which talks about something which is very, very, very peculiar and particular to the believer, the true believer of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because fear as in khawf, no one Oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no fear Allah, then if he fears Allah, then why is he disobeying Allah SWT? So just this fear by itself doesn't work. We fear Allah SWT, we are in awe of Allah SWT because of who Allah is, because we understand Allah SWT. We say this is my Rabb Jalal Jalal. When you understand the power and glory and majesty of Allah SWT, it produces a quality in the heart which is called khashiah. It's a different term, qauf. Khashiatullah. Oh no. the greatest khashiyah is an alim, is a true alim. He's not so

https://youtu.be/H6-JI6ot5_8 Auto-generated transcript: Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa salatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kassiran kassiran. Fama baadu. My brothers and sisters, I'm sitting here in Tadowa National Park, Tiger Reserve. Yesterday we went out in the evening, in the afternoon for a safari. Beautiful. Saw some very good sightings of a young juvenile tiger, one of three cubs, who seems to have got separated from his mother, but he is capable of looking after himself, wandering around on his own beautiful sight. And today then, it's about 4.30 a.m. And in front of me is this bamboo thicket. And beyond this is the fence, and then there's the Tadowa National Park starts there. So we are right at the boundary of the park. There's this resort called Sosara, which is, our experience of it since yesterday is very positive. Seems to be a very nice resort, nice people, nice food. And so on and so forth. So it's, that's what the resort looks like. I remind myself anew that I'm sitting here. I just heard the alarm call of Cheetal, spotted deer. If you go on YouTube and type alarm call of spotted deer, you can listen to that. People have done some nice recordings. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, The thing that I remind myself anew is for me sitting here in location. Everything seems so beautiful and peaceful. I'm hearing an owl just now. Sounds like a big barn owl. It seems so beautiful, peaceful. The alarm call of the chital, I hear it with anticipation that this means that a tiger is on the move and the chital are sounding their calls. I remind myself and you however that the reality is very different. The reality depends on who is looking at it. And in this case, it is I who is looking at the reality from my perspective. And my perspective is that of a tourist who is safely ensconced in his resort and who is going to in the next hour or so be up in a safari vehicle looking for tigers, looking for leopards, trying to get some nice photographs and so on. But the same reality, exactly the same reality of whatever is happening there from the perspective of the tiger. The tiger is different. The tiger is not interested in me. And I must say that's a jolly good thing. The tiger is interested in his meal. And his meal is the chital, is the spotted deer which sounded the alarm call. And anything else which moves, any form of protein on four or three or two legs. And that's a different reality. And then there's a third reality from another perspective. Now the reality itself, which is the data, is the same. There's a forest, there is a tiger, there's a spotted deer, there's a man and so on and so forth. What changes that reality is the perspective from which it comes. And the perspective of the spotted deer is that of danger, of lethal danger. Especially at this time where it's dark. Spotted deer are blind in the dark. They can't see. But the tiger is very much aware. The tiger can see as clearly in the dark as we see in daylight. One of the guides here, one of the naturalists here was telling me yesterday and I've seen this myself, is the behavior of tigers. And this is true of all predators, whether it's lions, birds, leopards. Their behavior changes dramatically between the day and the night. The same animal you see in the day, he's calm, he's almost to the point of being lethargic. In the summer you see tigers sitting in water. Tigers love water unlike most cats. Leopards don't like water. Jaguars, of course, in South America, you see them jumping in and out to the rivers. But normally leopards don't and jaguars are not leopards, they're jaguars. Leopards don't like water. Lions don't like water. But tigers, they love water. And you see them sitting in the water in the summer. Literally half in, half out. Partially submerged. Cooling off because summer here is extremely, extremely hot. So you see them sitting in the water. Very lethargic, sleeving. They won't move. Especially in places like this where they're used to safari vehicles and people and so on. You find them walking around between. It's like a bad joke sometimes. You see why? You know, 10, 15 gypsy vehicles, jeeps, crowded, almost blocking the path and the tiger sort of threading his way between the vehicles, completely ignoring the chattering of the monkeys who are in the vehicles. Amazing. It's to see how kahaam and so on. The same animal. If you go on a night safari sometimes, if you're going in, I've had the opportunity, of literally walking in the forest in the night, in moonlight. I never used spotlights or torches even because it disturbs the whole environment, takes away your nigh

Auto-generated transcript:Alhamdulillah I feel that the world is against me. I'm not saying you should say that. I'm saying that there are times when you feel this, that somehow the world is against you. And as I said, you would have evidence for that. You would have proof for that. People showing hostility to you for no reason other than that you are Muslim because people who show hostility to you are strangers. They don't know you at all. And yet, instead of showing friendship, they show hostility. Now, solution is, therefore we need to find a solution. What's the solution? How do we deal with this situation where we live in a world which is apparently hostile to us? Now, Allah SWT showed us and gave us this solution in the Quran. Where Allah SWT said, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَحِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ Allah SWT said, O you who believe, seek help, seek assistance, seek help from sabr and salah. From patience, from fortitude, and from prayer, from salah. So salah is, and Allah said, verily Allah is with those who have patience, who have sabr. Now, as I mentioned many times before, sabr relates to doing everything in your power, to achieve your goals. Sabr refers to determination. It refers to consistent action. It refers to doing whatever is necessary to achieve your goal. Not just to sit and wait for things to happen, calling it patience. This is not patience. This is just laziness. Patience means to make the maximum effort you can in order to succeed. And then, was salah. Allah SWT put salah after that. He said, and salah. And salah because we remind ourselves that success will come from the amor of Allah. Will come from the hukum of Allah. From the order of Allah. Success will not come from simply our effort by itself. The, this, this thought and this understanding that success comes from Allah. Is tawakkul. And this tawakkul is the tawheed of the heart. Tawakkul is the monotheistic belief of the heart. Tawakkul is to completely and totally rely on Allah SWT after making all the effort that is required. After using all the faculties that Allah has given us. After using all the resources that Allah has given us. We then turn towards Allah SWT in complete and total submission. And we say, Ya Rabb, I have done what I have been doing. whatever I could do, and I leave this matter now in your hands, give me success. Help me against the forces that are reigned against me. Help me against whatever difficulty is in my path. Remove the difficulty because for you, there is no such thing as difficulty. So this is something which we seem to lose track of. Now, therefore, today in this world, if you look at it and say, well, Muslims are in so much of difficulty everywhere. There is hostility against them. As I said, varying degrees. In some cases, it is an holistic. In other cases, it is less. But there is by and large, the seems to be hostile people, hostile forces. Therefore, since the solution is given in the Quran, which is, we should be seeing Muslims. Who are hugely focused on their goals. People who are using their resources, using their knowledge, using their strengths, abilities, influence in the right way. And who are united, whoever you need, whoever you are united in their focus, who are united on the. Success of their mission and who are who have turned to Allah . So Muslims who have, you know, cleaned up their act, who are out of Haram, who are not doing anything which attracts the anger of Allah instead of Allah's part of the pleasure, something with they're not doing anything which. Which attracts the enmity of Allah instead of the will of Allah . Protection of Allah. Allah. And who are people who are standing in the night in the hajj. People who are who are protecting and safeguarding their fardh Salat, which is the most important thing that we have. Therefore, all this must happen now, if we've given this framework that there is hostility and the solution for hostility is Sabar and Salah. And therefore, I must therefore be seeing or should. Expect to see signs of Sabar and Salah in the Muslim population. What do you think we're going to see? Now, that's my point. The point is that, yes, we should be seeing these things. But do you think we are seeing it? If you look around ourselves, are we seeing Muslims who are united Muslims who are focused on on a single goal that is beneficial for the entire community and the entire world because we are in this world to help everybody else and therefore our goals are not separate from the. Goals of the good people of this world. Right. Muslims who are dedicated to Allah who are, you know, who are focused on Allah who are submitted to Allah. Are we seeing this? And if you are not seeing this, then we need to ask this question and say, what is what is wrong? So do we really believe in the Quran? Al-Kareem, do we really believe that what Allah has told us? Because here

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen, Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, Tasliman kathirin wa kathirin. Humma baadu, my brothers and sisters, we are looking at the issue of being ibadullah, being the slaves of Allah SWT. And as I mentioned to you, I remind myself and you, that being a slave means to obey Allah. Obey Allah SWT without question. Wa itqala lahu Rabbuhu aslim qala aslamtu li Rabbil Alameen. The Prophet said about him, when his Rabb said to him, submit, he said, I have submitted. There are no ifs and buts. There is no issue of saying, well, you know, I understand. I mean, I have heard this, but let me think about it. Does it make, does it fit my logic? None of that. Allah said, do this, we do this. Even the issue of jaza and saza, the issue of reward that Allah will give if we obey Him and the punishment that Allah may give, if we disobey Him. Being a true slave of Allah SWT, even that does not come into consideration. We obey Allah because Allah said, so khalas. Even if there was no reward, we would still obey Allah SWT. If Allah SWT says, aqibu sala, establish sala. Of course, Allah SWT gives reward for this. So we are not denying that. Alhamdulillah, we ask Allah for the reward. But supposing, if I say, I am Abdullah, I am the slave of Allah, and Allah SWT says, establish sala, then I establish sala. Even if there is no reward for that, I still do it. Because Allah said so. There is no other reason. The reason is because Allah said so. Right? The reason for doing that is, because Allah said so. Allah SWT said so. Allah SWT, for example, prohibited interest-based dealings in the Quran. And in the ayat of Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah SWT made a clear statement, and that statement is a statement of the magnificence of the power and glory and majesty of Allah SWT. Allah SWT did not give the reasons for this. Interest destroys wealth. Interest does this. Interest does that. Allah SWT made the trade halal. And Allah SWT made interest haraam. End of story. Even if interest was the most magnificently profitable thing on the face of the earth, it is haraam. I will not touch it. Because Allah said so. This is the thing which, if we can get this into our system, Insha Allah, we can look forward to the forgiveness of Allah SWT. And if we do not get this into our system, believe me, till the last breath leaves your body, you will be and you will live in a state of confusion and turmoil created by yourself. Constantly. Why should I do it? Should I not? Should I not? Because there is no shortage of the agents of shaitan who will come to you and whisper in your ear, do it like this and borrow from here and do this and do that and shift the money from here to there. They will give you scheme after scheme after scheme. There will also be compliant so-called ulama who are ulama as-su, the ulama of evil, who will give you the money. Who will give you fatwas. No, in this country it is okay. In that country it is okay. You can borrow money and build a house, first house is okay. This is your father's day. Where do you get this first house is okay. 15% of haram in halal is okay. So 15% of urine in your water is okay. Right? Think about this. Think about this. Think about this. And all why? Because we don't want to take. Because Allah said so. Why are you doing this? Because Allah said so. Why are you fasting? Because Allah said so. And this is the haqq. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, He is the khaliq, fa huwa yaqtaar. He is the one who chooses. Why is the day of Juma, why is the day of Juma mubarak? What is so special about Friday? Is there anything else? Does Friday have 24 hours plus 10 minutes? What is in, what is about Friday? Nothing except Allah said so. What is so great about Ramadan? We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us Ramadan in with Iman and with the health and the ability to fast and help us to fast in sha Allah. It's you know, less than 30 days from now. What's so special about Ramadan? It's a month like any month. Except Allah made it special. It is special because Allah said so. Everything, because Allah said so. Our problem happens because we don't apply this standard. So what we do, may Allah have mercy on us, we take and we follow the rules of the day. We follow the rules of the day. We follow the rules of the day. And we follow what suits us. And what does not suit us, what is maybe a little bit more difficult, maybe doesn't fit in with whatever shaitani schemes we have in our heads, we leave that. From the Kitab and the Sunnah, both. There is a Sunnah of the Nabi alaihi salatu wasalam, no but you know, it's not convenient. What will happen? Somebody, we went the other day, a friend of ours told us, shave your beards, otherwise you will get killed. I said, we will get killed anyway. You will die anyway. I sai

Auto-generated transcript: As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. This ayah was so heavy on the Sahaba, that they went to Rasulullah s.a.w. with a ma'ruza. They went to him with a petition, and they said, Ya Rasulullah s.a.w., Allah s.w.t. has revealed that He will hold us accountable for what is in our hearts. Whether we speak it or we don't speak it, Allah will hold us accountable for what is in our hearts, and Allah s.w.t. may forgive what He may punish. And they said, Ya Rasulullah s.a.w., we have control over what we speak, what we choose to say, and what we choose to do, and this we follow Allah s.w.t., we obey Allah s.w.t. in these things. We obey Allah s.w.t. in these things. But if we don't obey Allah s.w.t., we will be punished. But if Allah holds us accountable for what is in our hearts, then we will be destroyed. Now before we go any further, just think about this ayat itself, and think about the response of the Sahaba, the Sahaba are going to Rasulullah s.a.w., and they are not rejecting the ayah. They are not refusing to obey. They are only saying this ayat is so heavy, that we do not think we can fulfill what Allah s.w.t. is demanding from us. And in the context, they are saying that we have control over what we speak and what we do, and in this we do not disobey Allah. Same religion, same Allah, same Rasul, same Kitab. We give a sentence to a person, give a sentence to a person, give a sentence to a person, give a sentence to a person, give a sentence to a person, give a sentence to a person, give a sentence to a person, give a sentence to a person, give a sentence to a person, give a sentence to a person, So, if anyone comes before Allah SWT and he says, I was weak, I could not do it, it was not possible, then you will be shown the example of the Sahaba, they were also human. They were also human. They did. So what about you? So what is the answer? I remind myself when you think about this, the purpose of simply listening to these khatiras and bans is not for entertainment. There has to be amal, there has to be, after you listen to something, there has to be the manifestation of that, the clarity of that. If you listen to something, you still do the same thing. Then? Then you are accountable before, you will be held accountable by Allah SWT. Allah can forgive or He can punish, we ask Allah for forgiveness. But the point is that. What is the, what is our excuse before Allah? You are taught something, this is how, this is the right way to do something. Now if you have a doubt about that, you say, well, where is the dalil or why do you say that or I have, clarify all that, no problem. But if somebody is teaching you and somebody is giving you the dalil of the Quran, there's no dalil beyond this. They're giving you dalil of the sunnah of the Prophet . You still do the same thing. Please understand that there is, there is no, as far as the people who speak about the deen, as far as the people who try to guide us, Allah SWT said very clearly, Wa maa alayna illa albalaaghul mubeen. On you there is no responsibility other than to teach, other than to state, period. Okay. Okay. ! So, what is the problem? I am teaching you or somebody like me is teaching you, what is it to that person? You don't want to learn, don't learn. Remain ignorant. He's teaching you, this is the right way to do something. This is the right way to do salah. This is how Rasool Allah did salah. No. You still want to do the, you still want to do it the wrong way. You do it. Be my guest. What is it to me? When somebody, I am speaking about the da'wahs, people who do the work of da'wah, your imams, your musliheen, your, your people who do your khutbahs and khatiras and all of this. Please understand. They are not getting paid for it. Nobody is paying them some money to say, say this, for this you will give some. Nothing. They are doing it only for the pure love of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. They are doing it because they are concerned about you. Then? So, here the Sahaba are saying, Ya Rasool Allah , whatever you told us we are obeying. When Allah gives us a hukum, Allah said, aqibu salah. We don't miss salah. We don't miss salah. We do not miss salah. We are in salah. We are in salah with takbir-ul-ula. Right? They are in salah before the Imam says, Allahumma akbar. Allah said, pay zakat, we pay zakat. They said this. Allah said, establish salah, establish. Allah said, pay zakat, we pay zakat. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala said, fast in Ramadan, we fast in Ramadan. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala said, fast in Ramadan, we fast in Ramadan. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala said, fast in Ramadan. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala said, fast in Ramadan. And so on and so on. And so on and so on. But here Allah Subhanahu wa ta&

Auto-generated transcript: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the most noble of the prophets and messengers, Muhammad and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family. Peace and blessings be upon him and his family. Brothers and sisters, we were talking about the issue of being Abdullah, the slave of Allah. And as I mentioned to you, the differences between being a slave and being a servant. We ask Allah to make us true Ibadullah, true slaves of himself. This was the first and foremost lesson that Allah, through his Prophet taught the Sahaba in Makkah, which was the lesson of complete and total submission and obedience to Allah without any exceptions, without bringing their own thinking and their own logic and their own feelings and their own inclinations into the equation. Whatever Allah orders, we do. There is no limit. There is no argument about that. There is no option in that matter. And we see this if you, that's the reason why it is so important to study, not just read. Unfortunately, we don't even read. We need to read, we need to study the Seerah of Rasulullah . Because this is the lesson we learn from the Seerah of Rasulullah that the first lesson was the lesson of obedience to Allah . And we must be obedient to Allah and to the Prophet . And this lesson was learned in Makkah. And it was learned in Makkah in some very, very hard and harsh circumstances. Because in Makkah the Muslims were persecuted. They were persecuted cruelly, persecuted mercilessly. They were tortured. Some of them were killed. they were deprived of their possessions, their property was confiscated, and eventually they had to leave Mecca permanently, their own home, their own vatan, where they were born, their motherland, they had to leave it and go away. And all of this they did only and only to please Allah SWT. And through that entire period of 13 years, you see it, they never once retaliated against the people who were oppressing them. Now when you see this Sira later on, if you take the battle of Badr, you take Ahad, you take different things, you can see very clearly that these were people who were capable of retaliating. So it's not that they were cowards and they were, you know, helpless or they did not know what to do. They knew. They knew they were not, they were, they were, they were brave people, they were noble people. And when they were permitted to defend themselves, when they were permitted to retaliate, they did that and well. They won battles. They won battles. The battle of Badr was against three times their number. Right? The enemy was three times the number of the Muslims, yet the Muslims won. So there was no doubt about their bravery and so on and so forth. So the obvious question is, same, very same people, why did they not do something in Makkah? You know, being persecuted, all things are happening, do something. Right? So this is what Abu Jahl is doing, take him down. This is what so-and-so is doing, finish him. No. Because that was not permitted to them. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, make sabar, have sabar. So, so, right? Even when something as, as heinous and as horrific as what happened with Sayyida Sumayya bint Khayyat, Radhi Allah anhu, and her husband, Abu Yasir, Abu Ammar Yasir, Radhi Allah anhu, they were murdered by Abu Jahl in the most, most horrific ways. Despite that, Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, have sabar. Have sabar, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la will give you better. Bilal bin Rabba Radhi Allah anhu, tortured daily, in public. All this happened in public. I mean, Abu Jahl was not, was not hiding anything. And, the people who were torturing, they were not hiding something. They, they did that, openly in public. The purpose of doing it in public, was to terrify and terrorize the other Muslims, to say, leave this religion. Leave this religion. But, that didn't happen. They did not leave the religion. And, they also, did not retaliate, because the order was not there. Now, this whole thing of, how, this message was, conveyed, it was taught, it was accepted, is, is, one of the, finest, examples of that, and the finest, dalail of that, is from the Quran itself. The last ayat of, Surah Al-Baqarah, we know from the tafsir of Surah Al-Baqarah, that, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed, لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَوَاتِ مَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَإِن تُبْدُو مَا فِي أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوْ تُخْفُوهُ يُحَاسِبُكُمْ بِهِ اللَّهِ فَيَغْفِرُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيُعَذِّبُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ وَلَا كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed this ayatul kareemah, and he said that, everything in the heavens and the earth, belongs to Allah. لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَوَاتِ مَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ Before I go, further into this tafsir, of this ayah, just think about this one statement of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Auto-generated transcript:I want to draw your attention to this word as the highest form of honouring Rasulullah. Because he said in Surah Al-Isra' Surah Al-Isra' If you take this ayah, Allah said, His Abdihi, His Abdi. Now there is no, even though, as I said yesterday, if Allah had said, The meaning is conveyed, he is the Rasul. Allah did not say that. Allah said, His Abdihi. So when Allah SWT is using a form of address, it means that this is the highest level of honour. So being the Abdi of Allah, being called Abdi, my slave, being called this, being given this title by Allah SWT, is the highest level of honour that any creature can get. And this was given to Rasulullah SAW. So what's the difference? Our problem today is that, Alhamdulillah, may Allah have mercy on us, we don't completely rebel. Against Allah SWT. We are not atheists. We don't say there is no God. What we do, is something which is, actually even more serious. I might say what is more serious than being atheist, but I'll tell you the problem with Dalail. I never express my opinions. It's a question of what is Dalil in the Quran, and the Sunnah. What we do is, what I call selective obedience. So we have this whole Deen of ours, Alhamdulillah, it covers every aspect of our lives. This is the beauty of Islam. Islam has not left anything uncovered or left to do whatever you like. Anything in life. From our birth to our death, every single thing is covered in Islam. At any stage in your life, at any question that we have, we ask ourselves the question and say, what should I do according to the Quran and Sunnah? There is an answer. But what we do is, from this, what are we supposed to do? First of all, Allah SWT told us very clearly, two things to understand. First of all, any ayat of the Quran which begins like this, is a hukum. This is an amr of Allah. There is no, no scope for saying, okay, fine, let me think about it. No. Amr of Allah. Ya ayyuha alladheena amanu is a hukum of Allah SWT. Second thing is, Allah is addressing the people of Iman and He is calling them the people of Iman. Ya ayyuha alladheena amanu, all you who believe. Right? Udkhulu fi silmi kafatan. Wa la tattabihi khutuati shaitan, innahu lakum adhum mubeen. Right? Allah said, O you who believe, enter into Islam completely. Enter into Islam totally. Udkhulu fi silmi kafatan. Now this is a simple question. I am a believer. Allah Himself is calling me a believer. Then what's the meaning of entering into Islam? I mean, according to me, I have entered into Islam. That's why I am a believer. If I had not entered into Islam, how am I a believer? You are saying I am a believer, which means what? I am in Islam. No. Allah is saying no. Completely. Completely. In another place in the Qur'an, Allah SWT said, Allah said, they have said, La ilaha illallah, but Iman has not entered their hearts. What must they do? He said, obey Allah, obey Rasulullah, he said, salam, he said, salam. So there is a difference between the two. The two, the two, the two, the two, the two. the two, the two, the two, the two, the two, the two. the two, the two, the two, the two, the two. The two, the two, the two, the two, the two, the two, the two. The two, So the point is that Allah is saying this is not sufficient. Enter into Islam fully. Our problem is, we want to enter Islam as per our convenience. So, it is convenient for me to pray. I will pray. Salatul Fajr, too difficult to go to the masjid. Right? Get up and get out of the house and this and that. Forget it. I will pray Fajr at home. Zohar, masjid is next to my office. Okay, I will pray Zohar in the masjid. Asar also, before I go home, I will pray. So, convenience. I want to buy a car. I have an option. I can buy a second-hand car. Good condition second-hand car. I have the money. No. I want to buy a fancy car. I want to take it straight from the showroom. New car. Do you have the money? No. So, what will you do? You take a loan on it. Interest. You take a loan on interest. You are buying NBT with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. I can live in a rented house. I can accumulate some funds and then buy a house. May not be a big house, but enough for myself. No. I must have a big house. I don't have the money. What do I do? Go to the bank. I am doing some business. Then somebody will come. Do this also. Why don't you keep some? In America, the latest one is jelly beans with marijuana. It is haram. No, in the US it is legal. Being legal. Being legal. And being halal. They should be the same. But they are not. It is legal to live without marrying a man and woman. It is legal to live together. To have children. It is legal. It's not illegal. You won't go to jail. Is it halal? It is there. It is there. It is there. It is there. To live in that state is go for. And I tell people, you don't like what I say, don't listen. Go away. I don't make the rules. You have a problem, go tal

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wasallam tasliman kathiran kathira. Fumma baadu. My brothers and sisters. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created this world. And sent us to live in this world. And sent us a complete plan, a road map of how to live in this world. From the beginning to the end, from the time you are born to the time you die. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent us a complete plan. There is no deficiency in that plan. There is nothing missing in that plan. Nothing has to be added in. Nothing has to be subtracted. And that plan is called Al-Islam. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not just send the plan and leave it to us to read it and interpret it and understand it according to our own understanding. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also sent along with the plan. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent that plan with a teacher, with a guide. The plan did not come to us directly. The plan came to the teacher and the teacher taught it to us. And that teacher is Muhammad Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wa sallam. And that is why the Kitab and the Sunnah are the two guides for us to live our life in this world. There is nothing other than the Kitab and the Sunnah. Anyone who brings anything which is other than the Kitab of Allah, the Quran al-Kareem, and the Sunnah of Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, then this is something which is prohibited. It is a bid'ah which is haram. We are not permitted to use that, no matter who it is. We know Allah and we know His Nabi alayhi salatu wasalam. That's it. Anyone else we know through them. We respect the ulama. We respect the... Al-Quran. I hesitate to use the word awliya with respect to specific people because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not specify any individual and say that this is my wali. Please understand this. This is a source of all kinds of confusion. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala specified the anbiya alayhi wa sallam. The prophets and He named them. Inna arsalna noohan ila qawmi. Allah did not say we sent a message. No. We sent. No. Alayhi salam. Right? And so on and so on and so on. Salih alayhi salam and Lut alayhi salam and Ibrahim alayhi salam and Musa alayhi salam and Isa alayhi salam and Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to all of humanity. Allah mentioned them by name. But anyone other than that, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not mention by name and say, so and so is my wali or was my wali. Allah did not say this. About the awliya, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made a statement where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah said, Allah is the wali of the believers. And what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala do when Allah is the wali? What does it mean? He says, He takes them out of darkness into light. Right? This is the sign of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala being the wali of the believers. Now the wali, in the Arabic language, there are many words to describe friendship, different grades of friendship. And in these grades of friendship, the closest of grades, of friendship is, wiliya, is wali. Wali is somebody who is, who is a party to all your secrets. That person has access to everything that you have. To the innermost part of your house, he has access to your bank account, he has access to your, all your secrets. So when we use the word wali with respect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we have to understand that there is a difference. Like there is a difference between, difference with respect to all the words that we use, connected with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah, we say Allah is al-basir. He is the one who sees. But the basarat of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not like yours and mine. Allah sees, you also see. But we are not the same. The basarat of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is, in keeping with His majesty and grace. Allah is as-sameer. He is the one who, hears. But the samaat of Allah, is not like yours and mine. Allah is kalim. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks. But His kalam is not the same as your kalam and my kalam. So when we say wali, when we have wilaya, the first and foremost thing in any friendship is, equality. With Allah there is no equality. Allah is our Rabb. And we are, the ibad of Allah. We are the slaves of Allah. And in this slavery, there is honour. The greatest honour is to be, a obedient slave of Allah. Abdan shakura. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said about himself, should I not be a grateful slave? In the famous hadith of Aisha Siddiqua radiallahu anha, which is in Bukhari and Muslim, Mutafakun alaih. She said that, I asked Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam, she said that, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would stand in salah, and she said, for so long, that the skin of his blessed feet would crack. We're just standing in one place. Th

Gofundme link mentioned in the reminder: https://gofund.me/fa98ac89f Auto-generated transcript: Recitation of Surah Al-Baqarah Surah Al-Baqarah Surah Al-Baqarah Surah Al-Baqarah Surah Al-Baqarah everything I have. But give me this. But Alhamdulillah, Allah does not do these bargains. Allah is not telling us, sacrifice everything you have before I will send salam on you. So please understand this. The meaning of saying these things is not to say that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala demands that, you know, all your family should die before He forgives you. No. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is just saying that whatever happens to you, maybe a thorn pricks your foot. Nothing more than that. We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to save us from all calamities, all of these things. But when something happens, and bereavement is something, it is taba'i, it is something which is a part of nature. Either I will die first or somebody else will die first. I mean, it is as simple as that. Nobody has eternal life. So when these things happen, when we behave with patience, with sabr, with ta'ammul, then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is promising His salam. Now my point is, for us to think about this and say, what is the value of salam from Allah? SubhanAllah. I mean, this is guaranteed for jannah, inshaAllah. We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant them all janatul firdos. So really, seriously, I remind myself and I request you to remind yourself and ask and say, what is it that, you know, how do I deal with calamities? How do I deal with losses? How do I deal with things? We are so quick to complain. We are so quick to lament. We live in a future which we imagine and for most of us, all that we imagine is usually negative. As a matter of fact, my khutbah this week, that is for tomorrow, is on this basis. It was saying, gratitude, but for what? I should be grateful, but for what? And inshaAllah, you will get some, I'll give you some data in that khutbah. The point I'm saying is that, alhamdulillah, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has kept us so beautifully, so protected, so blessed that it is impossible to imagine. But for most of us, we don't deal with data. We deal with, with, you know, just conjecture and imagination. And unfortunately, human imagination believes negative more than positive, remembers negative more than positive, imagines negative more than positive. And this is, all of these things are patently, they are things which are obviously wrong and we should not do them. So, but we have to consciously tell ourselves that I will not anticipate the worst all the time. By all means, prepare for the worst. No, nothing wrong with that. But at the same time, anticipate good. Alhamdulillah, just look at our own track record with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, you know, if somebody is good to you for, if somebody is a friend of yours for some few months, a couple of years and so on, we say, SubhanAllah, oh, this friend of mine, my best friend, you know, I'm willing to, you know, I'm willing to, I'm willing to, I'm willing to, he will give my, he or she will give their life for me. I'm willing to give my life. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has kept us beautifully from the day we were born until today. Alhamdulillah. Right? Alhamdulillah, mashallah, for those of who, for those who have faced calamities and so on and so on, this is something which is also tabai, which is also, there is, there is a benefit which comes with ease, right? Which comes with difficulty. There is benefit or ease which comes with difficulty. When we look at something, for example, if somebody dies shaheed, you know, on the face of it, the person died, but then he died a shaheed, which means that for him, jannah is guaranteed. So, this is something to really think about and so on and ask ourselves, we ask Allah to, to help us to face calamities. Final point I want to say here is that I have also, Avin Masjid put out a GoFundMe link to help our brother and sister and I am asking, I am asking, I am asking, I am asking, I am asking, I am asking, I am asking, I am asking, I am asking, I am asking Umair to include that in this Fajr reminder. So, do scroll down, find it and may Allah Ta'ala give you the tawfiq to spend for the benefit of this, of this family because, believe me, wallahi subhanAllah, it is them today, it could have been any of us and we ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to keep everyone, all of us safe and in His care so that we live this life in a way that is pleasing to Him Jalla Jalaluhu and we meet Him in a state when He is pleased with us. Wa sallallahu ala nabil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in bi rahmatik ya rukh urra.

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the Prophet and the Messengers. Muhammad and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family. And peace and blessings be upon him and his family. My brothers and sisters, the entire essence of Islam is collected in this very short ayat of Surah Al-Fatiha where Allah SWT said, إِيَّا كَنَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّا كَنَسْتَعِينَ The whole of Islam, everything in Islam is collected in these two phrases. إِيَّا كَنَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّا كَنَسْتَعِينَ We ask, we worship only you, Ya Rabb, and we ask help only from you. إِيَّا كَنَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّا كَنَسْتَعِينَ And this is the hadith of Rasulullah SAW also where he said, worship only Allah and do not join partners with Him. And do not ask anyone for anything. Don't ask anyone for anything. Ask Allah. Ask Allah SWT. If we take this and see, إِيَّا كَنَعْبُدُ that we worship only Allah SWT, the five pillars of Islam are collected in that. So when we say, أَشَهَدُوا لَا إِلَٰهِ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَشَهَدُوا أَنَّ مُحَمَّدَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ The Shahada, the first pillar, there is no one who is, joined with Allah in this. أَشَهَدُوا لَا إِلَٰهِ إِلَّا اللَّهُ I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah. وَأَشَهَدُوا أَنَّ مُحَمَّدَ رَسُولُ اللَّهُ And I bear witness that Muhammad SAW is the Rasul, is the Messenger of Allah, which means that I accept that there is nobody worthy of worship except Allah. And I worship Allah, in the way that Rasulullah SAW worshipped him. That is the meaning of أَشَهَدُوا أَنَّ مُحَمَّدَ رَسُولُ اللَّهُ If you accept that Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى is worthy of worship, then how do you worship him? In the way of Rasulullah SAW. The way Rasulullah SAW worshipped Allah, I worship Allah. So if you take this and expand it and say, when you say the way, Rasulullah SAW worshipped Allah, it refers to Salah, it refers to Namaz, from the beginning to the end, all that is necessary before you come for Salah, which is Tahara and Wudu and so on. And then the Salah itself, what do you do, how do you make your Niyah, how do you do Takbeer, Taharima, after that what do you recite, after that Surah Al-Fatiha, what do you say, after that the next, after that the next, after that Surah Al-Fatiha, what do you do, Ruku, Sujood, everything. How do you do it? The way Rasulullah SAW did it. Which means that it is fard upon you to find out how he did it. Right? Because any other way of doing it is not acceptable before Allah SWT. This is the meaning of the verse, the way, this is the meaning of Ashtadhu Billahi Ilayh Illam, that I worship only Allah, how do I do that? The way Rasulullah SAW did it. Not the way my father did it, or I am doing it, or somebody else is doing it, or my Sheikh is doing it, or my teacher is doing it, or no. The way the Rasulullah SAW did it, and Allah SWT in His mercy caused every detail about Rasulullah SAW's life to be preserved. Everything. From the smallest detail to the largest detail. There is no one whose life is so completely preserved as the life of Rasulullah SAW. If you read Imam Tirmidhi's Shamailul Muhammadiyah, which is called Shamail-e-Tirmidhi, everything is described. Everything is described. Everything is described. How many grey or white hair were there in the blessed beard and the head of Rasulullah SAW is counted and measured. What was the, what, how were the soles of his feet? Can you imagine anybody to be described in that kind of detail? How did he clip his feet? How did he clip his feet? How did he clip his feet? How did he clip his feet? How did he clip his nails? From which finger did he start? Where did he end? And so on. So also is Salah. Everything. And that is why they say, they say both of these things. They say God is in the details, and they say the details are in the head. The devil is in the details. It's important for every single thing to be known, and to be practiced. For example, in Salah, the Rukun of the Salah, the pillar of the Salah, is Qiyam, is Ruku, is Sajda. Right? How you go into Ruku, is Sajda. How you go into Ruku, is also part of the Salah. How you are in Ruku, the position is also to be learnt, is also part of Salah. From Ruku, to completely stand up fully, Nabi said, stand up fully and stay there until the bones come to rest. So many times you see people pray, they go to Ruku, they just come up half way, and they go into Sajda. Some people literally die from Ruku into Sajda. Salah is invalid. Salah becomes invalid. And I don't make it up. There is a specific Hadith on this. A man came and he prayed in Masjid-e-Nabawiya Sharif. Nabi was sitting there. He finished his two rak'ah of Salah, then he came and he said, Salaam Alaikum to Nabi . He said, Walaikum As-Salaam. He said, Go back and pray. You have not prayed. He just prayed two rak'ah of Sala

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wasalatu wasalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathiran. Hama baadu, my brothers and sisters, Allah SWT when He created Azam alayhi salam, before He created Azam alayhi salam, Allah SWT said, to the malaika, inni ja'ilun fil ardi khalifa. He said, I have decided to send on the earth a khalifa. Allah did not say, inni ja'ilun fil ardi malik. Allah did not say, I have decided to send on the earth a king, a khalifa. Who is a khalifa? A khalifa is one, the difference between a malik and a khalifa. A king, is somebody who is, who makes the laws. The king issues a farban. From tomorrow, this will happen. It will happen. Nobody, will question the king. So the first one, the king makes the laws. Number two, nobody can question the king. Why did you do this? Because I am the king. My word is law. Right? I am the state. This is the position of kingship. So king makes the laws. Nobody can question the king. And good and bad, is decided based on one criterion, which is, does it please the king? Is the king happy with that? It is good. If the king is not happy, it is bad. In the case of the khalifa, all these three are different. The khalifa does not make laws. The khalifa implements laws. He follows the laws, and he makes sure the law is followed in the states. Number two, the khalifa is questionable and answerable to the king. You cannot ask the king, why did you say this? No. But the khalifa, is answerable. The king can ask him, will ask him. And the third thing is, in the case of the king, good and bad is, what pleases the king. In the case of the khalifa, it is what pleases the king, not what pleases the khalifa. Right? So if I am the king, I will say, good is what pleases me. But if I am the khalifa, I will say, good is what pleases the king, not me. Even if I don't like something, I have to do it, because it pleases the king. Now this is very, very important. When we think about ourselves, the reason I am saying this is not for, some intellectual benefit. I am saying this because, this is the reality. This is our reality today. And the reason why, we have problems, is because we have forgotten this. We have forgotten that we are not kings. We want to live in this life, as if we are kings. And that's where the problem is. We want to make our own laws. And by laws, I don't mean parliament and this and that. I am saying, laws in terms of what we apply to ourselves. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala made a law, but we choose to follow it, or we don't choose, or we choose not to follow it. Selective obedience, is disobedience. Because if you are selecting, obey, if Allah has made three laws, you say, I will obey number one, I will obey number three, but number two, I don't like. This is not the, way a, Khalifa is to behave. That is why, if I ask myself, or ask you, are you Allah, or are you Abdullah? Which one are you? Astaghfirullah, Ilazim, Nauzubillah. You are not Astaghfirullah, Nauzubillah. Are you Allah? Are you God? Or are you, Abdullah, the slave of Allah? You are not Khadimullah. What is the word for, servant in Arabic? Khadim. Look it up. Go into Google Translate, and type, servant, and translate into Arabic. It will never say, Abd, it will say, Khadim. So are we, are we, Khuddamullah, or are we, Abdullah, Abdullah. So I'll, I'll talk about this tomorrow, InshaAllah. But today, as far as the, King and the, Vice-Chairman is concerned, the Khalifa is concerned, there was aifa from, Hussain, Mahmud, there is a wholeょ, you, One of the things which Hyderabad is known for and known for negatively, there is nothing to feel proud about it. People laugh at us. We should be ashamed. Is the Hyderabadi weddings. Right? We have become so shameless, we don't even feel ashamed. What would people say? If the wedding is at 8 o'clock, if it is at 10 o'clock, people start coming. They don't say. This is a good thing or a bad thing? People are praising us. They are laughing at us. They invited us at 8 o'clock, you must go only at 10. Only if you go at 10 then people will start coming. So is this something to feel proud about or something to feel ashamed about? The ostentatious spending in weddings. Right? Who are you showing off to? Who are you trying to show off to? I was in Jeddah once and one of my friends, there is one huge function place in Jeddah. Some, some name like this. The massive halls. The huge halls. The huge halls. So he told me that, so one of the, he told me the name of the Saudi person and he said he had his daughter's engagement here and he spent 30 million riyal. Daughter's engagement. So after the wedding, after the dowry, people wanted to impress her. She said, you are a very good person. You are a very good person. I said what is the big deal here. So

https://youtu.be/3a001miSN3o Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wasalatu wasalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasleemun kathirun kathirun. My brothers and sisters, this morning we talked about istighfar and tawbah. I want to elaborate on that to remind myself and you about the importance of istighfar and tawbah. A man came and prayed, started praying in masjid of the Nabi al-Sharif. Sayyidina Ali bin Abi Talib radhi allahu anhu was sitting there. So the man came and he stood and he said, O Allah forgive me and forgive my sins. Astaghfirullah illa zi la ilaha illa huwa lahi al-quyyum wa atubu ilayh. And he said, Allahu Akbar. So when he finished his salah, Sayyidina Ali called him and he said, Do you think istighfar is only so simple? Just say Astaghfirullah and it's done. He said, This is not the way to make istighfar. He said, istighfar has several stages. He said, the first stage of istighfar is that you sincerely and deeply regret the thing that you are repenting for. So whatever is that sin that you have been committing, either of sin of commission or of omission. For example, you were supposed to do something for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. For example, the simplest and the most common one is the neglect of salah. We are supposed to pray and we don't pray and we neglect salah. So then, subhanAllah, may Allah Ta'ala give us tawfiq. Allah gives us tawfiq and we realize that this is something which I have been doing, which is very bad, I should stop doing it. And you want to make istighfar. So the first and foremost thing is to feel deeply regretful about doing the thing that you were, were not supposed to do or not doing the thing that you were supposed to do. He said, the second very important thing is that if the matter involved anybody else, for example, salah involves only the abd and the Rabb, Jalla Jalaluhu. There's no third person involved. But supposing it is that you usurped somebody's rights, you abused somebody, you slandered somebody, you did whatever you did. Which was from the rights of the people and you did not fulfill those rights or you deprived people of their rights. Then you must go and make amends. You must go and reimburse those people. You must go and apologize to those people. If you have to give back what you took, you must give it back. If you have to compensate them, compensate them. The Sahaba even asked him, he said, What if that person, the action, the actual injured person is no longer there? Because maybe I got this, you know, I got this realization that I've done something wrong. And meanwhile, this person has died or this person has gone away somewhere, is not accessible. Then what do we do? Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Then you reimburse that person's heirs. The people who inherited from that person, his children or whoever it is. And he said, if even, so the Sahaba asked, this is the Aswala, what if even those people are not there? Maybe the whole family disappeared or something. He said, then you continuously make istighfar and tawbah for that person. And you give in sadaqah, continue to give in sadaqah, with the intention that Allah SWT should reward that person for this sadaqah that you're giving. So Sayyidina Ali said, this is the second step. He said, the third step is that you hate to go back to that sin that you were committing. You're committing with such intensity that even if you had to be, even if somebody murdered you, if somebody killed you, you still would not do that. Even on pain of death, you will not go back to that sin. And this is the fourth thing is that now you do the right thing and you stay on that right thing with istighfahmat, with steadfastness. So it's the istighfah and tawbah. This is the whole process of istighfah and tawbah. As I mentioned, this body, these two words are interchangeable. They are interchangeable. If somebody just mentions istighfah, then it means istighfah and tawbah. If somebody says tawbah, it means istighfah and tawbah. But if the two words are individually mentioned and if they are explained, then they mean what they mean. Allah SWT said, Allah said, make istighfah and then turn towards Allah SWT. Istighfah is to repent, is to apologize, is to be sorry. And tawbah and tawbah is to turn towards Allah SWT. So both are important. That we are, dreadful for what we did and that we turn towards Allah SWT Jalal Jalal Hu and we live our lives in a state of obedience to Allah SWT. Istighfah and tawbah is the root and the beginning of everything good. It is the beginning of a change in our lives. It's a beginning of completely revamping whatever we are doing. Allah SWT in His infinite mercy leverages us to do good. He has left the door of tawbah open until the end. Until the end. So no matter what anybody has done, on

Auto-generated transcript: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the most honorable of the prophets and messengers, Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, and his companions, with much peace and much love. Dear brothers, about the Ameer of the Believers, Umar ibn al-Khattab, said, I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say, The deeds are only by intention, or as he said, The Ameer of the Believers, Umar ibn al-Khattab narrated that he heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say, The deeds are only by intention, the reward of the deed is based on its intention. And about the Imam al-Nawiyah, peace and blessings be upon him, said in his book, Al-Riyadh al-Saleheen, in the introduction, The intention is to be manifested in all deeds, in all words, and in all situations, both clear and light. Imam al-Nawiyah, peace and blessings be upon him, said in his book, Al-Riyadh al-Saleheen, in the introduction, That the intention, the awareness of the intention, is important in all deeds, in all actions, and in all words, in all situations, that we might find ourselves in. Al-Bari'zatu wal-Khafi, Whether this is in the external environment visible or whether it is internal to us, in our hearts. I remind myself and you that on the Day of Judgment, this will be the basis on which we will be judged. We ask Allah to grant us Ikhlas al-Niya, sincerity of our intentions, because without that sincerity, the action or the speech will look the same, but it will either have no reward or it will actually be incurring a sin. We have the famous Hadith, which is considered to be one of three, which encompass the entire Deen. So this Hadith is considered to be something which is equivalent to one third of all knowledge. And that's called the Hadith of the Salas, the Hadith of the Three. Rasool Allah said on the Day of Judgment, the first person to be produced before Allah will be a scholar, will be an Alim, and he will be asked, what did you do for the sake of Allah? And he will say, I memorized the Kitab of Allah, and I used to teach the Kitab of Allah, and I used to teach the knowledge of Islam. And it will be said to him, you are lying. You did all this so that you would be known as a great scholar, as a Hafez, as a Qari, as a Mufti or whatever. And this was done. This happened. People knew you and they called you by all kinds of titles and so on and so forth. And today there is nothing for you and this person will be thrown into the Hellfire. Who is this person? He is a Muslim, he is an Alim, he is a Hafez of the Quran. And he will be thrown into the Hellfire, why? Because of the Fasad Fi Niyah. Because of the problem and the conflict of the intention. Then the second person to be produced before Allah will be a philanthropist. He will be somebody who Allah had given a lot of wealth and he spent it in charitable things. And he will be asked, what did you do for the sake of Allah? And he will say, I, Ya Allah, you gave me a lot of wealth and I spent it in your path. I spent it in your path. I did this, I did that, I did that and so on and so on. I helped these people and whatever. And it will be said to him, you lied. You did all this so that you would be known as a charitable person, as a philanthropist and this happened. In the world you were known as this great person who did so much of good and this and that. Built hospitals and masajis and madaris and God knows what. So that reward you got in the world. Here there is nothing for you and he will be thrown into the Hellfire. And the third person to be produced before Allah will be somebody who fought in the path of Allah and who died. And he will be asked, what did you do? And he will say, Ya Rabb, I fought in your path and I died for your sake. And it will be said to him, you lied. You fought for yourself because you wanted to be known as a great fighter, as a brave person. And you died. And here there is nothing for you and this person will be thrown into the Hellfire. So somebody will be thrown into Hellfire. Somebody who was an Alim, somebody who was a Saqeeb, who used to give Saqawat. And somebody who was apparently Shaheed Fi Sabirillah. All three, first three people in the Hellfire, these are the first three people. Not Kuffar and Munafiq and Mushriq, first three people. May Allah save us from this. So I remind myself and you that the Ikhlaas of the Niyya is the number one thing that we should guard against. Our scholars say, it is like going into a fair like Nawaz or something, right? Going into this fair and you have your wallet and you have a wad of money with you. Where will you keep your hand? On that pocket, right? Because you are afraid somebody will pick your pocket. There is a lot of crowd, people are milling around. This is how we should treat our Niyya. As something wh

Auto-generated transcript:Alhamdulillah. And some people also fast on the following day, which is today. I remind myself and you that in Islam, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, first of all, Islam is the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah ki ibadat ka naam Islam hai. Now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not leave this ibadah for us to do as we wish, when we wish, how we wish. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala prescribed specifically what is to be done, when it is to be done, how it is to be done. Specifically, that's why there is so much importance. Why is there so much importance, for example, on Tajweed, which I keep saying all the time. You cannot say the name of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala any way you want. And after being told, after being corrected, if you still do the same thing, it's a major sin before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You will be punished for taking the name of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in a way different from how it is to be taken. That is the importance of Tajweed. Right? Just pronunciation. Similarly, Salah prescribed specifically when is it to be done, how is it to be done. Right? All of this. As far as Isra'ul-Maraj is concerned, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, the first ayat of Surah Bani Israel, Subhanallazhi Asra' bi'abdihi laylam minal masjidil haram ilal masjidil aqsa alladhi barakna hawlahu linuriya hu min ayaatina innahu wa samiul basir. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, All glory and majesty to him who took his slave from masjidil haram to masjidil aqsa, barakna hawlahu, the place which he has put barakah, and blessing all around it, linuriya hu min ayaatina so that he may show him his signs, innahu wa samiul basir, and he is the one who is all hearing and all seeing. Right? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not say that he took him on such and such a night. Laylam minal masjidil. Which layl? Allah did not mention. Is it 27, 26, 28? Allah did not mention. Also, with the Arabs, they did not have a calendar of their own. They used to use the Roman calendar or the Persian calendar. And it was not a custom among the Arabs to note specific dates. They had names for years. They had the names of the months. But specific days and dates, it was not their custom. So, for example, the day on which Rasulullah s.a.w. was born is not known. There are many narrations. Maybe this day, maybe that day, maybe that day. But there is no doubt that he was born. Which means he is human. Similarly, with Isra wal Mi'raj, there is no doubt that Isra wal Mi'raj happened because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said it happened. And Allah said, I took my slave from Masjid al-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa. Allah did not say he went in his dream. Allah did not say symbolically, No, I took my slave. Means physically, he was taken from Masjid al-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa and then into the heavens. Physically, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did that. This is our Aqidah. If people say, No, it happened in my dreams, it happened in my dreams. It is Kufr. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, I took my slave. How? Allah knows. Allah knows. We don't have to conjecture and guess about how it happened. It happened any way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wanted it to happen. But Allah did not mention a specific date. So therefore, to celebrate that on a particular day or night has no basis in the Quran or Sunnah. Number one. So what should we do? What is the importance of this? Is it some story which happened? Or does it have any importance to this day? The biggest importance, there are many, many things, but the biggest importance of Al-Isra and Al-Mi'raj is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave His Rasul alayhi salatu wasalam in a manner which suits His Majesty and Grace when the Nabi alayhi salatu wasalam was presented before Him. And what was that gift? Salah. Salah. Salah. Salah. Salah. Salah. Salah. Salah. Salah. Salah. So we celebrate Isra and Al-Mi'raj, but when it comes to Salah, the Salah is the gift. The purpose of Isra and Al-Mi'raj was to give the Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the Salah. This is the only hukum of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, which was given above the seven heavens. All the other hukum of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala came down on the earth. The only hukum that was given above the seven heavens is the hukum of Salah. And we have the entire narration of that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him 50 Salah per day and then Musa alayhi salam's advice, it was reduced and so on and so on and so on finally to five Salawat. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, of 50. So, 1 is to 10. So 50 Salat means that these 50 Salat is in the sense of you are free and your people are free to come into my presence at any time. If you take 50 Salawat and divide by 24 hours, divide by that, it's every half an hour

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the prophets and messengers. Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and his family, and his companions. Peace and blessings be upon him, and his family, and his companions. From Abadu, my brothers and sisters, Alhamdulillah, today is Jammu Juma'ah. Allah SWT has granted us one more Juma'ah. It's a very special day of Allah SWT. With a special Salah, which is the Salatul Juma'ah. Allah SWT revealed the Quran. Allah revealed the Surah, Suratul Juma'ah, in which Allah mentions Salah. So let us focus on Allah SWT and His worship. Allah SWT, in the Quran, Allah said, إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعٌ In Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah SWT, this ayat is there. إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعٌ Now usually, most of us, we know, if somebody dies, you say, إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعٌ But I want to remind myself and you, that إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعٌ is not only to be recited when somebody dies. إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعٌ is the essence of our existence. It is the essence, the meaning of our existence as Muslims. What does it mean? إِنَّا لِلَّهِ means verily we belong to Allah. إِنَّا means truly, verily, surely, certainly. لِلَّهِ We belong to Allah. Towards Allah. إِنَّا لِلَّهِ Truly, verily, surely, definitely, certainly, we belong to Allah. Who do you belong to, Ahmad? Allah. Who do I belong to? Allah. All of us. Whether we agree or not. Alhamdulillah, we agree. Because we are Muslim, we are a city of Muslims. But even if somebody else says, I don't believe in Allah. It doesn't matter. You believe, you don't believe. That is the truth. It is the truth. If somebody says right now, I don't believe that there is the sun. What will you say? You will say, it's crazy. You will say, wait for a little while. Wait for another maybe one hour. You will see the sun. Okay? So if somebody says, I do not believe that there is a sun. Nobody will say that because we all know the sun, we have seen it. But supposing, as an example, somebody says, I don't believe there is a sun. Does it change anything? No. The sun is there. And at the time, sun will come out. Then he will see. Then he will see. Islam, Iman bil Ghayb, is to believe without seeing. Iman bil Ghayb means what? Iman on the unseen, the unperceivable. He is to believe without seeing. Because the time will come and we will all see. So this ayat of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Inna lillahi, and then, after that what is there? Wa inna ilayhi raji'o. And truly and definitely and certainly, we return to Allah. We will all return to Allah. Now this is the essence of the verse. This is the essence of our Islam. This is the essence of our being. Because this is the reality. This is something to remind ourselves every single day. Every transaction, every speech, every action, every place we go to. Whatever we do. Inna lillahi, wa inna ilayhi raji'o. This is not only for reciting when somebody dies. It's for the living. I belong to Allah. And to Allah I will return. I belong to Allah. So what is the meaning of saying I belong to Allah? If I belong to Allah, so what? Two things. When something belongs to something, who is responsible for that thing? Suppose the guy say, that car belongs to me. Right? So who is responsible for the car? Owner. Owner. If there is no gas in the car, he must put petrol. He must put gas. If the car is dirty, he must wash it or he must get somebody to wash it. If something is wrong with the car, who should repair it? Owner. So the first thing with inna lillahi is, it frees you completely from all fikr. All worries. I belong to Allah. Who will give me food? Who will give food? Allah. Allah. Because I belong. I belong to Allah. Right? I belong to Allah. Who will put gas in my car? I have to put gas. Car belongs to me. Frees you completely. If I am in danger, who will save me? Allah. The one to whom I belong. I am property. Right? I am not free. You are property. Whose property are you? Allah. Allah. Allah. You belong to somebody, no? This phone belongs to me. This is my property. So to take care of this phone, to ensure it is safe, to ensure it is charged, whose responsibility is it? My responsibility. So when I acknowledge and I accept, as I said two things in inna lillahi, when I accept and acknowledge that I am not free, I belong to somebody, I am not on my own. I belong to somebody. When I belong to somebody, whose responsibility is it? The one to whom I belong. Right or not? So all fikr, all pareshani, all concern, all worries, khalas. Alhamdulillah. How are you? Alhamdulillah. I am very happy. Alhamdulillah. Why are you happy? Because I belong to somebody. I don't have to worry. First thing. Second thing is, if you belong

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the prophets and messengers. And praise be to Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. And peace and blessings be upon the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. From now on, my brothers and sisters, we are looking at a world which seems to be going from one stage of turmoil into a worse stage of turmoil. We ask Allah for goodness and well-being. And for protection from all evil, inshallah. I was recently at a gathering which I could not avoid. I generally try to avoid all gatherings because almost by default, they are a complete waste of time. And with huge scope of falling into evil. The biggest evil being that of Hiba. Of backbiting. As in the words of Sheikh Muhammad Mutawalli Ash-Sharawi, he said that when you do Hiba of a person, remember that the door of Tawbah is open for him. So you are doing Hiba about him as he is today. Tomorrow, day after day after that, before he dies, he makes Tawbah, he is free. But your sin... The sin of Hiba is with you. And that is why Rasulullah SAW told us to hide the weaknesses and the sins and the mistakes of our brothers and sisters. He said don't expose people because if you expose somebody, Allah will expose you. And my Malik said, if Allah decides to expose you, Allah will expose you in your safest place in the inside of your home. He also said, he said I have known people who were great scholars, very knowledgeable and who were, you know, on the face of it, which means that they were focused and they were established on their, I'd set salaa and on all of this. But they used to expose others. They used to talk about others. They used to tell their secrets through the world and he says Allah SWT humiliated them and exposed them and they became objects of ridicule and hatred and conversely, he said, people. They're not great scholars, nothing. Alhamdulillah, they're good people. Not as if they were evil. They were not evil, but they were ordinary people. But they used to cover the faults of their brothers and sisters. And he said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala raised them. And he raised their mention and he gave them Izzah and he gave them Dharajat. And one of the Salafi Salihin, he said, always forgive your brothers and sisters. Always have the best belief about them. Husna Zan, about your brothers and sisters. He said, to the extent, I think it's Ibn al-Khaimah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, who said this. Anyway, he said, to the extent, he said, if I see, it's not a question of seeing, it's a question of seeing. It's not a question of seeing. It's a question of seeing. It's a question of talking about, hearing about. He said, if I see my brother with alcohol dripping from his beard, I will say somebody poured it on him. And if I see and hear him standing on a hilltop and saying, Ana Rabbukum al-Aala, I will say he's reciting the ayat of the Quran. If he stands on the hilltop and he's saying, I am reciting the ayat of the Quran, I will say, I am your God. Ana Rabbukum al-Aala, he said, I will say that he's reciting the ayat of the Quran. I will not say he has claimed to become, to be God. No. So I remind myself when you, let us become the lehaf of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Become the cover of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on our brothers and sisters. Hide the faults. Don't expose them. Because Imam Shafi'i said, don't talk about people because they also have tongues. They can also talk about you. Don't talk about people. Imam Shafi'i said, if you can say something good, say something good. If you have nothing good to say, keep quiet. Keep quiet. A closed mouth is the safest bet. If you say something, maybe it is good, maybe it's not good. But if you say nothing, Alhamdulillah. And that is why it is very good to avoid gatherings. By all means, meet people who are good, beneficial, useful, from whom you learn something good. Alhamdulillah, yesterday I had a very nice meeting with my very dear friend who is sitting here. May Allah bless him. And he was telling me that Alhamdulillah, we have in Islam a complete system of jurisprudence. It's not some hearsay that my grandmother said this. No, this is a complete jurisprudence, complete system of jurisprudence with divine laws, with laws of God. It's a complete system of jurisprudence, complete system of jurisprudence, complete system of jurisprudence. And which is applicable to our lives as we speak. And will be applicable until Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala decides to keep this world. Now, think about the number of Muslims who are in litigation in all the courts. You forget even the courts of the world. Take Hyderabad city. In Hyderabad, how many Muslims are in litigation, one against the other, in some cases in the same

Auto-generated transcript:Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. Wa Salatu Wa Salamu Alaa Ashrafil Anbiya wal Mursaleen Muhammadu Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Alaihi Wasallam Tasliman Katsiraan Katsiraan My brother and sister began his Qalam by his word Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim and then he said Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. All praise and all thanks are for Allah the protector, the creator, the sustainer, the Rabb of the worlds. Rabbil Alameen. Then Allah SWT in the Quran Allah said Wa Ista'azana Rabbukum la in shakartum la azidannakum wa la in kafartum inna azabi la shadeed Allah SWT said the one who thanks me I will increase my blessing for him. And the one who does not thank me let him beware that my punishment is severe. SubhanAllah. I remind myself and you that to thank Allah SWT, to make shukur of Allah SWT, this is the essence of Ibadah. This is why we pray. We pray to thank Allah SWT. Now the question is what do we need to thank Allah for? And the best standard for that is to thank Allah. The best standard for that is the hadith of Rasulullah SAW where he said the meaning of which is that if you wake up in the morning with your body is healthy. You wake up in the morning with a healthy body. You have a roof over your head meaning that you are in a state of Aman. And you have food for that day. Three things. One, that you are healthy. Number two, that you are not living in fear. You have a roof over your head. You have a place to stay. And three is that you have food for that day. Now we shall have said if these three things are there for you, then it is as if the whole world is in your hands. The whole world has been collected for you. This is the standard. This is the standard. A healthy body. Now they say that you have a thousand problems in life until you have a health problem. And then you have only one problem. So supposing you feel you have a lot of problems in your life and you say Allah take away my problems. One way of those problems being taken away is you get a health problem. Then everything else goes. The only thing which is there is that health problem. We all went through Covid. Our memories are very short. That's one of the problems. The human mind, we don't remember things. It's both a good thing and a bad thing. But the downside of it is we don't thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We went through Covid. And at least those of you who are here, you know what all you suffered. Alhamdulillah, Allah Ta'ala kept me away from here during those times. So I did not suffer all that. But I heard of what happened here. Only one problem that day, that time. Illness. And many people didn't even get Covid. We still suffered. So enumerate. Count for yourself what are the ni'maat of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Health. Second thing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, A roof over your head. Alhamdulillah, we have, we not only have homes, we have comfortable homes. We have homes in which we have climate control. Right? We have homes which are safe. We have mosques where we can pray. Nobody bothers us. Alhamdulillah. We have transportation. Multiple forms of transportation, not only one. We go where we want. We come where we want. Alhamdulillah, we have disposable incomes. Nobody bothers us. Nobody here is living from hand to mouth. I know each of you personally. Nobody is living hand to mouth. Do we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? We are healthy. Our near and dear ones are healthy. Even when you are making dua. Dua is for somebody who is further away. It is a friend or some relative or something. You are not staying awake in the night because that person is sick. Let us face it. At the most you make dua, that's it. You are not sitting there by their hospital bed. You are not paying their hospital bills. You are not, you know, staying awake in the night because of them. Nothing. That can happen to you and me. We can be that person. To whom it is happening. So we need to thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Ya Rabb, we are so grateful to you. We are so thankful to you. You see, literally, I mean, I was also born here and grew up here. If I just think back. In the days of my childhood and my youth and when I was growing up and when I was in college. All of you have seen those. You guys were not born but at least the older ones who were there at that time. There was a time when we used to get, we used to have electricity for two hours and three hours in the day. We used to have power for two or three hours. Yes? Load shedding happens, right? So light, the current didn't go off for two hours. It came for two hours. There was a time we lived in homes, big homes, but there was no hot and cold running water. Remember? You remember when you have a shower, you have that immersion heater. You have to put a bucket in it and plug it in. When you are in the city, hot, cold, you are doing this and that. You are not do

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the honourable, the most noble and the most exalted. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and companions, and a lot of peace and blessings. My brothers and sisters, Allah used words which mean people who think, people who can see. Allah said, Do they not reflect on the Quran? Do they not do tadaabur on the Quran? Allah did not say, Do they not read the Quran? Allah said, Do they not reflect on the Quran? Or is it that their hearts are locked? Qala Qulubihim Aqfaluhah. Qufal. On the hearts. So I remind myself and you that the purpose of dhikr, the purpose of reading the Quran, is to reflect on it, is to think about it, and to implement it in our lives. We read the Quran for Sawaab, we read the Quran for Barakah, we read the Quran because we read the Quran out of habit. Sanzal, that's good to read. I mean, that's not the purpose. The purpose is to reflect on the Quran. That's why Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la asked this question, Afalaa yata dabbaroonul Qur'an. See, if you think about it, our lives and our interactions are made of words. We say things to each other. And whatever we say to each other has some effect. Right? If I look at you and say, Mashallah, beautiful dress, you are looking very handsome. It has some effect. Right? To the extent that if I say something to you, which is patently and clearly false, like what happens when you get angry with somebody, and may Allah save us from such anger, but we use bad language, or you curse somebody. Right? Even at the mildest level, I don't want to sit here and, you know, share with you our very choice Hyderabadi words of, you know, describing each other. But even at the mildest level, if we say to somebody, Aap ghadhe hai, everybody adab se baal, Aap ghadhe hai, tu ghadha hai nahi baal, Aap ghadhe hai. So does it have an effect on you? If somebody says to you, Aap ghadhe hai, kuch pe asar hota hai ki nahi hota? Although you are not a donkey, right? Why does it have an effect? If you have a donkey's head, then you are not a donkey. If you have a photo, you can see if it is a donkey or me. Suppose somebody says you are a donkey, does it have an effect on you? Why? You are not a donkey. And the man is, in case of mistaken identity, maybe he never saw a donkey in his life, or we don't know. We don't know why. The point I am making is that even a word which is clearly false, which is complete nonsense, even that has an effect on us. I know it is wrong. Still it has an effect. But the Kitab of Allah, the Kalam of Allah, which is Haqq, what effect does it have? We need to ask ourselves. I am not saying it doesn't have an effect on you. I am saying I have to ask, you have to ask yourself. What effect does the Quran-ul-Karim have on me? And if it does not have an effect, then I must ask myself this question, that when even a bad word, even a curse word, even foul language, even that has an effect, then how is it that the most beautiful of Kalam, there is nothing that is superior to the Quran-ul-Karim, has no effect? Allah SWT promoted some things. Allah SWT told us, Go towards, سارعوا إلى مغفرة من ربكم Allah said, run and race with each other, with each other compete. In what? إلى مغفرة من ربكم Towards the forgiveness of Allah SWT. Allah is telling us, do it. حكم from Allah SWT. Are we doing it? Allah SWT said, Be with, كونوا مع الصادقين Allah said, be with the people of truth. Let's look at our own friend circles. Who are they? Are they people of truth? Allah SWT said, The sign of a good friend is that when you meet him, he reminds you of Allah SWT. When you speak, or when he speaks to you, you remember the Akhirah. And you learn something from him. Something beneficial, whatever it is. This is the criterion of friendship. So look at our friends. Do they fit here? When you look at the friend, or you talk to the friend, when you are with the friend, are you remembering Allah SWT? Or he is taking you away from? How do we even describe each other? Sir, he is a person worth 3,000 crores. Especially the goats. He is a goat worth 10,000. Is there any difference? He is a person worth so many crores. Allah SWT says, So what value does knowledge have? What value does character have? Does it have any value? If Rasool Allah came here in this Majlis, if any of the Sahaba came here in this Majlis, they were worth 3,000 crores. What was the net worth of Naudhubillah of Nabi SAW? Or net worth of Abu Bakr Siddique? Or net worth of, net worth of Bilal bin Rabah, or net worth of Abdel Rahman? What was it? See, what shall we do? We respect them or we say, no, this is not right. These are our standards. Now, when these are our standards, these are the standards that are going into these children. Because of ou

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbih. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. My brothers and sisters, Alhamdulillah. We worship Allah and we worship only Allah. And that is the essence of the Uhid, the essence of Islam. And we do that in the way of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. If anyone invents a different way of Salah, that way is rejected. It is not accepted by Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The only way of Salah that Allah accepts is the way Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam prayed. The same thing applies to everything which is connected with Salah. For example, the only way of preparing yourself for Salah with Udu is the way that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did Udu. We cannot do Udu in our own way. For example, you cannot say, well, I will wash my feet first and after that I will wash my face. I am washing my face, I am washing my feet. What does it matter if the order is reversed? It matters if Udu would be invalid. Because the order, Tarteem, is part, is the Rukur of the Udu. It's part of the Udu. If you do the Tarteem, if you keep the order of the Udu, if you change it, the Udu is invalid. You have to repeat it. So also, with regard to the Adhaan and Iqama, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us, he said that even if you are alone on a hillside, there is nobody there. At the time of Salah, he said, call the Adhaan and then make the Iqama and make Salah. He might say, there is nobody here. If I call, who will come? That's not the point. This is the way in which we pray. We call the Adhaan, then we call the Iqama, then we start the Salah. Whether you are alone, whether people are there with you, not with you, doesn't matter. So how is this Adhaan to be done and how is the Iqama to be done? Salah, of course, we know. Again, same rule. It is to be done the way that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us. We know the Hadith regarding the Adhaan. The Sahabi heard, in his dream he saw, and he heard the words of the Adhaan. He came to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, Ya Rasulullah, this is the dream I had, that I saw these two people and these two people were Malaika. And this is how they were advising about the Adhaan. And these are the words. And then Sayyidina Omar also came at the same time and he said, Ya Rasulullah, I saw the same dream, the same words. And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, yes, this is the way, do it. And then he said, call Sayyidina Bilal bin Rabaa Radiyallahu Anhu. And he said, ask him to call the Adhaan because he has a powerful voice. Even though the people who saw the dream were somebody else, other people, Sayyidina Bilal didn't see the dream. But Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam asked Sayyidina Bilal Radiyallahu Anhu to call the Adhaan. Now, I'm saying this because it's very important to do it correctly. Okay. Because Arabic is not our language. And so when we call the Adhaan, same thing applies in Salah or in recitation of Quran. We have to actually learn the Tajweed. Tajweed is the method of pronunciation. Because same thing, if you mispronounce it, the worst case scenario, it can completely change the meaning of what you are saying. If that happens in Salah, it can make your Salah invalid. If you are the Imam and you make that mistake, it makes everybody Salah invalid. If the same thing happens in Adhaan or if it happens in Iqamah, again it will not make your Salah invalid, but it makes the Adhaan bad and the Iqamah bad. So, since Arabic is not our language, we must, even for the Arabs, we have to learn Tajweed. Tajweed is, just because you are Arab, it doesn't mean that you know automatically how to pronounce people. I have seen. Or Arabs also making lots of mistakes with regard to Tajweed. That's why Tajweed has to be learned. So, let me go through the Adhaan and Iqamah very quickly. Because Alhamdulillah, many of you, you call the Adhaan, you call the Iqamah, you like to do that. And there is great khair in this. Prophet ﷺ said, race with each other to call the Adhaan. Because it's a matter of very great benefit to call the Adhaan, to call the Iqamah. And we ask Allah to give us the benefit. But we need to do it correctly. You are doing something of benefit and you do it wrongly, then it, you know, invalidates that. So, do it correctly. Now, I am going to focus on the mistakes that we, meaning people of Urdu speaking people, mistakes we make. I won't talk about the mistakes the Arabs make because there are no Arabs here. The mistakes that we make are of two kinds. One is, we mispronounce because in Urdu, we have the same alphabet, the same letters. But the talafuz, the pronunciation of the letters, there is a difference in Urdu and Arabic. In Arabic, every single letter has

https://www.youtube.com/watch\?v\=TFTthtR4_90 Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadun Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. I'm about to... I'm about to finish this. I'm sitting here at the back of this lovely little lake in Narsapur. And it's a pretty chilly morning. So we have this lovely fire going. And we're contemplating on the khudrat of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The lake at this moment, the water is like a sheet of glass. There is a teal that is circling. And at some point, I guess, it will land on the water. But just now, it's flying somewhere else. There are a couple of... red-bottled lapwings, which are sounding their alarm call. The teal is coming right overhead. It's checking out the ground to see if it is safe to land. Very, very beautiful scene. There are... Fish have started feeding. So you see the little circle as they break the surface of the water. Absolutely, fabulous scene. I remind myself of you, that this is the khudrat of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in one small little corner of the globe. What must be this khudrat? And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us among those who will be entered into Jannah. When we enter Jannah. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala called this dunya. Dunya. the lowest thing. A name which is deserving of the dunya, the lowest thing. Whereas Jannah, Allah SWT said that this is something which no eye has seen and no mind can comprehend the beauty and magnificence of it. So how beautiful and magnificent that should be. We ask Allah SWT to make us among those who will inherit that, inshallah. I remind myself and you about a very important thing, which is the we live today in a world which is full of turmoil. And it's almost like, to say that is like putting it mildly because this turmoil is there, it's seems to be ever increasing and every day there's a new piece of action that happens. And it all seems to be a question of who has the biggest stick. In Urdu there is a proverb of Mahavira which says, Jiski laati uski bhaiys. The buffalo belongs to the man with the stick. I remember the quote of the Roman general Pompey, when he was campaigning in Greece and some of the people of the town, they met him and trying to pacify him, trying to tell him not to invade the town and so on. And they quoted to him different laws which were accepted at the time. And Pompey just replied with one word, one line. He said, don't talk laws to us, we have swords. He said, don't talk laws to us, we have swords. And that is where we seem to be today in this world. Because on the face of it, it seems as if all that we learnt, whether in Islam or elsewhere, about justice, about compassion, about kindness, about what is fair, what is not fair, all that seems to have been trashed. And the only thing that seems to be used and extolled and praised is the power of the gun. How powerful is my military? In that situation, one of the things that we find when we sit in our gatherings and so on, is a sense of helplessness. Where people feel that, you know, after all, what can we do? And what can we do is not asked as a question, what can we do is mentioned as if to say that we cannot do anything. And there's a sense of helplessness, we can't do anything, we just have to bear what is happening. So how do we deal with this and how do we see this from an Islamic sense? My submission to you is this. If you want to think about a sense of helplessness, ask yourself, what must have been the sense of helplessness of a little boy who was probably five or six years old, who was thrown into a well by his own brothers, and he's at the bottom of this well, and those who had sworn to protect him and to take care of him, were the ones who had actually thrown him into that well. What must have been the sense of helplessness of this boy when he is apparently rescued, and then he realizes that the rescue was only to sell him in the market as a slave? What must have been the sense of helplessness of this boy when he is apparently rescued, and then he realizes that he is actually being rescued? What must have been the sense of helplessness of this young man several years later when he was wrongfully accused, and even though his innocence was proven beyond doubt, he was still thrown into prison? What must have been the sense of helplessness of the man who stood, on the mountain of Safa, and called out and said, Wa Subaha? And when the people came, and he said to them, that if you do not leave this worship of your creations, worship of idols, worship of things which cannot do anything to you, no harm, no benefit, and if you do not worship Allah , you will face, disaster. And instead of listening to him at least, people walked away

Auto-generated transcript:We mentioned the Ayat of Allah SWT where he said, Allah SWT said, After that Ayat Allah SWT said, Allah SWT said, O you who believe, take the help. Take istiaanah. Take the help of sabr and salah. Inna Allaha ma'a sabirin. Verily Allah is with those who have sabr. Now the question is, what is sabr? The usual understanding that we seem to have of sabr is to do nothing. Sabr karo. Tu kya kano? Kuch nahi kano. Whatever is happening, just bear it in silence. Now this is a completely false and totally wrong interpretation and meaning of the word sabr. They'll give you two dalayl. One from the Quran and one from the Sunnah. The dalayl of the Quran is, in several places, Allah mentioned the mujahideen. He mentioned those who are fighting in wars. Fighting the enemies of Islam. Soldiers on the battlefield. In the front line. Allah SWT called them, He didn't call them mujahideen. Allah SWT called them sabireen. He said sabireen. And Allah said, if there are a hundred, Allah will give them. victory over a thousand. If there are a hundred, Allah will give them victory over two hundred. And so on. Allah called them sabireen. Now a soldier who is fighting in a battle. There is no one who is more engaged, who is struggling more than that soldier. He is literally fighting for his life. He has invested everything in that action. Nothing is left behind. Especially if you look at hand to hand combat. In medieval times. It's complete investment. Total commitment. Even for a second, a blink of an eye, if he loses concentration, if his attention is diverted, he is dead. Literally his life is at stake. He is not sitting like, nowadays in some bunker playing computer games. No. That kind of person engaged in that kind of activity, with that kind of commitment and total investment, Allah SWT is saying, this is a sabir. He is doing sabir. Second Dalit from the Sunnah. Rasulullah SAW, in Bahraini, he is saying, this is a sabir. He is doing sabir. He is doing sabir. Rasulullah SAW, in Badr, they were in Madinah, when they got information, that Abu Sufyan, is coming with his caravan. And this caravan has, the, the original, capital of the caravan, most of it was, the possessions of the Muhajirin, which the, people of the, the Masjid-e-Mishri, now Pankah had usurped and stolen. They took that and Abu Sufyan, had traded with that and he was coming back with the, result of that. So this caravan, really consisted of things which, came out of the possessions of the, Muhajirin. So Rasulullah SAW decided to, capture that caravan. So he was in Masjid-e-Nabawi Sharif, and he took out the caravan, and he was going, and he announced, he said, whoever is ready, come with me. So the people who went with him, the 300 and something, they were not, going for a battle. They were not prepared to go for a battle. If they were, if that had been announced, that we are going to go and there is going to be a battle, then they would have prepared, they would have had their armor, and they would have had their weapons, and so on and so forth. So they were ready to do something. So you get up and go, whatever you have, you have. So when they reached, or before they reached Badr, they got information to say that, Abu Sufyan has, changed his direction, because he got, his intelligence was very good. So he got news that, the people of Muhammad SAW, are leaving Madinah, and they are going to attack the caravan. So he changed his route, and he took a different route. So he was not going to be at Badr. On top of that, he sent a man, to Makkah, and he went on a fast camel, and when he reached the, when he reached Makkah, right at the Haram, near the Kaaba, which was the center of the town, he slashed the nose of the camel, so it was bleeding. He unsaddle the camel, and he took it to the caravan. And he said, he took the saddle, and put it upside down, and he started screaming, and yelling, and he said, oh you are finished, and your caravan is gone, and everything is looted, and all your goods are gone, and you are losers, and all kinds of things. He said, what happened? He said, he got the people together, and he came to Badr, with an army, and this was, they were going for war. This is not the same thing, like saying, let us go right now. They prepared. They had weapons, they had material, and so on. And 11 to 13 hundred of them, they were 12. And when the army was close to Badr, he got information that, the whole situation has completely changed. We were going to capture a caravan, the caravan would have had some few guards, it was not an army. But on the other hand, now we are going, if we go to Badr, then we are going to face an actual army. So he made mashwarah. He asked, he called all the people together, he went with him, there was some Ansar, there was some Maha Jiroor. He called them together, and he said, what do you advise me to do? I would like to go, and since we have set out, we don't want to turn back.

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the prophets and messengers. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and companions. Peace be upon him and upon his family. Huma Baadu, my brothers and sisters, we were talking yesterday about how do you get close to Allah. The purpose of life is to get close to Allah. And we get close to Allah through knowledge. Allah showed us how to get close to Him. Allah said, Allah said, Be grateful to me and do not be ungrateful. Make my shukr. And do not make kufr. Do not make kufran ni'mat. Do not be ungrateful for what I have given you. This shows us that it is a conditional statement. You will see in the Quran, Allah SWT mentioned many of His blessings, many things He will give. Jannah and Maghfirat and this and that. But every single thing is conditional upon something. Allah SWT did not say, don't do anything, I will still give you. Everything is conditional. Do this, you get this. Do this, you do it. Now what you get is multiples and multiples of what you do. So this is not related. Allah is not saying you have to work very hard to get a little benefit. No. You have to do the opposite. You have to do a little bit, get a huge benefit. But you have to do that little bit. . Our problem today in life is we don't want to do anything. On top of that, we want to do the opposite. We want to disobey Allah SWT and still we want a situation where if we raise our hands, the armies of angels will descend to defend us. It doesn't work like that. Sorry. So, Allah SWT, conditional statement. You make my zikr, I will make your zikr. You remember me, I remember you. . Allah SWT says, when my slave remembers me inside himself, in his heart, I remember him within myself in a way that suits my majesty and grace. When my slave remembers me in company, like we are sitting here, Alhamdulillah, Allah says, I remember him in a company superior to his. Because this is, Allah is remembering us. On his arsh. And who is around the arsh? The mukarrabin of the malaika. Right? And Nabi SAW said, when Allah SWT says, I remember you, Allah will remember you, specifically mention you by name. Allah SWT says, Zafar Ansari, Muzaffar Beg, Haviz Abbasi, and all of you. . Specific by name. Now the thing is, we need to, we all know this. I mean, this hadith I have read and heard and repeated a million times. May Allah SWT give me the ihsas, the feeling, the reality of the hadith in my heart. We need to reflect on what does it mean that my Rabb Jalla Jalaluhu is mentioning me on his arsh. What does it do to me here? What's in my heart? Ta'ala Allahu al-Amsal. Allah SWT is beyond any misal. We don't give a misal of Allah SWT, but just think about this. If you get a phone call here from a friend, somebody who says, and he remembers that he is somebody who mentioned someone else who is, you know, some prime minister, some president, somebody, some big chap, may not even need to be that big. You know, maybe your local MLA is enough for us. And he says, I had gone to this party and he was asking, where is so and so? What will you feel? Oh, this man remembered me. This man remembered me. Allah SWT is saying, I will remember you. I will remember you. Do you have a sense of that? So the remembrance being close to Allah SWT means you are somebody who Allah remembers. You are somebody who Allah SWT mentions. That's the sign of closest to Allah SWT. How will that happen? When we remember Allah. Conditional statement, you remember me, I remember you. Then Allah said, Make shukr. Be grateful to me. Do not be ungrateful. One of the, one of my favorite scholars, Ulama Muhammad Mutawalli Ash-Sharawi, Rahmatul Ali. He was a great scholar from Al-Azhar, from Egypt. He says, whenever you lose something, whatever it is, maybe you lose your wallet. Maybe you lose a business. Maybe you lose a job. Maybe you lose some aspect of health. May Allah protect us from all of these things. Maybe you lose a job. Maybe you lose a near, dear one. He says, don't think only about what you lost. Consciously think about what you still have. And you will find that what you still have is always more than what you lost. Ajiv. For example, may Allah protect us from all this. Somebody might say, so and so lost his life. He lost his eyesight. May Allah protect us from all this. He lost his life. He lost his life. May Allah protect us from all this. May Allah protect us from all this. So, eyesight loss is not a simple thing. It's a very, very major thing. It's so major that Allah said, if I take away the eyesight of my slave and he does not complain, and he says, Allah says, what else can I give him except Jannah? You lose your eyesight, which is in this world. At some level it will go, if you live long enough, it

Auto-generated transcript:As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Wa alaykum as-salamu alaykum. Bismillah wa alhamdulillah. Amdan kathiran tayyiban mubarakan fihi. Amdan yaliqu bi jalali wajhihi wa bi yadhim sultani. Wa sallallahu ala khairi khalqihi Muhammadin as-sadiq al-amin. Al-mab'uthi rahmatan lil'alamin. Wa ala alihi al-tayyibin al-tahirin. Wa ala ashabihi al-ghurri al-mayamin. Wa man tabiahum bi ihsanin ila yawm al-deen. Allahumma kthubna minhum. Ameen. Qarallahu subhanahu wa ta'ala. Ya ayyuhu alladhina amanu taqallaha haqqa taqati. Wa la tamutunna illa wa antum muslimun. We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who is deserving of all praise. No matter how much we praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it is not enough. Ahmad salallahu alayhi wa sallam, the one who praised Allah more than anyone else, said, Ya Allah, I cannot praise you as you deserve. You are only praised as you have praised yourself. And we send peace and blessings on the basis of the diam. best of his creation, khairu khalki, our beloved, our habib, our maula, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and his noble family and his ahlul bayt. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to open our hearts to that which is useful for us in our relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that helps us to come closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this dunya before we are presented to him in the akhirah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us, actually commands us to have taqwa and we are reminded of this ayah every Juma. Ittaqullah, have taqwa of Allah, haqqa tuqati, what Allah deserves, what is deserved. What he is deserving. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is commanding us to be in a state of taqwa throughout our lives and to die in that state because if you are in a state of taqwa, you are going to die in a state of loving submission, Islam. وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ Having submitted completely to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That we submit without questions, without whether it's easy, whether it is difficult, whether we are living in a non-Muslim country or we are living in the haram. Under all circumstances, to have taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. To be aware of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to be conscious of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at all times. Aware. That Allah watches me at all times. إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, and certainly Allah over you is Ar-Raqeeb, one of the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Ever watchful. Allah not only sees the external actions, but Allah sees what thoughts come to my mind. What I entertain, what I plan, what my aspirations are, what my goals are, what my likes and dislikes are, what moves me to action, what makes me feel lazy. Be aware, Allah says, be aware that Allah knows. So we must live our lives at all times with this awareness. What I'm thinking, what my goals in life are, what my likes and dislikes are, the choices I make in my life, all of that is an open book to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, even though the one sitting in front of me doesn't know what's inside me. It's open to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So live in that state, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says. So whether it is in times of difficulty. Or in times of ease. Duniya is darul bala. You are going to be challenged. That is normal circumstances. This is not jannah. So if you face difficulties, and difficulties come in different forms. It could be health challenges. It could be family challenges. It can be economic challenges. It can be social challenges. Living in a different kind of environment. All difficulties are from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to test each one of us. What is our true worth? Because everyone claims to have Iman. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that the Arab, the Bedouin said that we have believed. Aamannah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that we have believed. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam tells them. No. Iman has not even entered your heart. All you can claim is that we have accepted Islam. That we have accepted Islam. So the internal states are known only to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And ultimately where is that? As he said. inside the heart. But that then controls us to our학교 beementhang. This state. My book. Honestly, my book is only from Salman Abdullah Zahra. Now there is an older, my book is more newer, recent. my thought processes, what I'm thinking, what I'm planning, what my goals in life are, likes and dislikes. All of that has to be within that envelope of taqwa and awareness of Allah. Keeping that in mind, in the last day or two, we have witnessed what Allah has written in the universe. Allah says, إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لَآيَاتٍ لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ Allah says, In the creations of the heav

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon the most noble of the prophets and messengers. Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and companions. Peace be upon him, and upon many, many. My brothers and sisters, yesterday, one of my students, a revert from the U.S., Abdul Karim, he sent me a request, and very interesting way in which he worded it. He said to me, Sheikh, I want you to give me a gift. And the gift is, give me one piece of advice, which will be good for my whole life. So, Alhamdulillah, anytime I get questions like this, I remind myself that this is, he's not asking me because I'm a great Sheikh. This is Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala's way of helping me to focus on my own priorities in life. So, Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, causes somebody to ask a question. The beneficiary of that is me, Alhamdulillah. So, I said to him, and I'm saying to you, and I'm saying to myself, before everyone else, the one piece of advice I give myself, and to whoever wants to listen, is the only thing we need to do in our entire life, is to build our connection with Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's it. Nothing more is required. Build your connection with Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. He's one of our great sheikhs, Rahmatullah Ali, Sheikh Muhammad Saeed Ramadan al-Buti. He says, his father, his name was Mulla Ramadan. He said that when I was 12 or 13, he said, my father called me, sat me down, and he said to me, that if I knew, that you could get close to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, by sweeping the streets, I would have made you a street sweeper. If I knew, that the way to get close to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, is to sweep the streets, I would have made you a street sweeper. He said, but I know that the way to get close to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, is through ilm. Is through? Is through ilm. Learning about and learning Islam. So he says, therefore, my advice to you is as follows. He said, because closeness to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, is only through ilm. There is no closeness to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, through jahalat. This bida, that bida, following this one, that one, through ilm. And the ilm of this deen is the kitab of Allah, as explained and as taught by Muhammad Rasulullah, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. So he says, closeness to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, is only through ilm. Only through knowledge. But don't study, he's talking about the, why do you study, the niya of it. He said, do not study to get a certificate or a title or a degree. Don't study so that you will be called Maulana or Sheikh or Mufti or this one or that one. Or you, because you have this degree from this jamiyah and that jamiyah. He said, don't study to get a certificate or a title or a degree. If you do that, if you study for that reason, then you are a customer buying a qualification. You are not a student. You are not a talib ul ilm. You are a customer buying a commodity. Degree. Second thing he says is, do not make the ilm of Islam a means of livelihood. He says, don't teach and take money. Do not make the knowledge, the ilm of Islam a means of livelihood. Because if you do that, the nur will leave the pages and only the words will remain. And the third thing he said is, learn and practice the deen only to get close to Allah . And if you do that, he said, then he will give you from his treasures in ways that only he knows. And only he knows the wisdom of that. So, learn the deen only to get close to Allah . Not for the degree and this and that. Do not make that a means of livelihood. Don't take money for it. And third thing is, practice it only to please Allah . So, the first piece of advice to myself and anyone else is, always, always, always, be conscious of your niya. Continuously check the niya. As our teachers always told us, the niya is like, imagine that you are somebody who has gone into a big market, into a fair. Right now, Hyderabad and Dumaish is going on. Supposing you are in that crowd. And you have this, your wallet in your pocket. Where will you keep your hand? On the pocket. Because you don't know, at any moment, there will be somebody who picks your pocket. So, you went in there with your resources. But then when you actually go to a shop to buy something, you know, it's gone. And that is the state of the niya. We, Alhamdulillah, we come to the masjid. MashaAllah, you stand for salah. This is, may Allah accept it from us. But then the shaitan comes and he hijacks your niya. So, I advise myself and you, focus on the niya. And focus only on one thing. How to get close to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And it's no mystery. Right? And don't imagine that, how to get close to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, I have to have this, some

Auto-generated transcript:Alhamdulillah Which means, as we discussed, Allah SWT said, Every living soul will taste death. Every living soul will taste death. And only on the Day of Judgment will you see, will you receive your full reward. And the one who is freed from the hellfire and entered into Jannah, only that person is successful. And the life of this world is nothing but deception. So we looked at the first three of these things in the last few days. Today we look at the last one. Omalhayatudunya, illa mata'ul quroor. Again, the bayan of the Quran, Allah SWT is emphasizing through the grammar. When we say mal, we say wa ma'al. That's how the two are connected. Nothing but. Allah is saying this dunya, this life of this dunya is nothing but deception. So what is the deception? What is the deception? Now, maybe some of you will say, now with AI and all the fake videos and all that. This is all superficial. This is all, this is not deception. We know it is deception. See, for a deception to be successful, you must believe it. If you are seeing something fake, you know it's fake. Where is the deception? There is no deception. For something to be deception, you must believe that it's true. Right? Then only it is, otherwise where is it? You can see it is false. You know, you are saying it's false. There is no deception. To give you an example, I was many, many years ago, I was in California, in San Francisco. I was, went there to teach a course and reached there one evening. The course was next morning. The whole evening was free. And there was a, right opposite my hotel, in the Marriott, right opposite the Marriott, there was a huge theatre, which was a 3D theatre. So, I decided to go see that movie. So, it was something about sharks. So, they give you those 3D glasses, goggles, and you sit there and the, it was two or three, there was one part about sharks, there was another one about the, you know, the, you know, the sharks. There was another one about the, about the universe and so on. So, you sit in the special chairs and the chairs also kind of move to, you know, give you a, an experience of reality. And really, without, without any, this is like maybe almost 30, 35 years ago. To this day, I remember it. It was so powerful. And I can tell you that through that whole movie, it was literally, in the sharks movie, it was like the shark was going to come out of the screen and, you know, swallow me or something. That real. And if at that time, if you had, you know, attached sensors to my body, you would have seen how my blood pressure and electrical impulses in the brain and everything else, how they would have been working. Right? And at that time, if you asked me, do you remember why you are here? Why did you come to San Francisco? What is going to happen tomorrow morning? Nothing. All of that is gone. I am in the movie. I am literally in the sea with the shark. But that is deception. That is the deception. Because I'm not in the, I'm not in with the shark. I'm not, I'm not in the movie. I'm not in the movie. I'm not in the movie. I'm not in the movie. I'm not in the shark. I'm not in any danger. I'm not in the sea. But I believe I am. Right? And you don't need to go into a 3D theatre to, to, to feel all this. Movies are a good thing to understand something which are much more important than the movie. But any movie you see, if it's a sad scene, you are affected. You feel sad. Right? You might even cry. If it's a happy scene, you will feel happy. But you know yourself that what is happening on the screen is all acting. If somebody is dying, he's not dying. If somebody is, some, someone's heart is broken, it's not broken. If somebody is, you know, in some sort of situation or desperation, they're not. It's all acting. We know this. But we are completely hooked into that. So if you are crying in the movies, why are you crying? Are you stupid? I mean, why, why are you crying? Because that's a thing happening there. It's not happening there. It's a, it's a, it's an action. You know, it's a, it's a script of a, of a movie. It's play acting. Why are you crying? But we get so involved. So the deception of this world, which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has created, is not Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disney Disn

Auto-generated transcript:Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Suppose you go to a bank manager, suppose you are an auditor, you go to the bank to audit the accounts, and you ask the bank manager, what is the balance, what is in your safe? He tells you, oh, I have lots of money. Are you mad? I mean, what kind of answer is that? What do you mean, lots of money? You go to the teller. What's your... Huh? How much do you have cash? No, I've got lots of money. I don't have enough. What answer is that? Give me a number, man. Give me a number. If you don't give me a number, as far as I'm concerned, you are sacked right now. Get out. This is what will happen to us on the Day of Judgment. That is what will happen to us on the Day of Judgment. I'll come back to this ayat. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in another place in the Quran, O you who believe, He's not talking about believers. Save yourself and your family from the fire. From the fire. If you don't have enough, Allah will give you money. That's it. Our Heaven is a garden. It's in a corner. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in another place in the Quran, Save yourself and save your family from the fire. The fuel of the fire is what? Is people, and нас, and stones, The fire which is so fierce and so hot, it will burn stones, lava, liquid rock, liquid fire. وَعَلَيْهِ مَلَائِكَةٌ غِلَازٌ لَا يُعَاسُونَ اللَّهَ أَمَرَهُمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُمَرُونَ And on that fire are established Malaika who are extremely severe, fierce, and they do what their Rabb has ordered them to do. They won't say, Arre Sahib, Arre, Chande Chhor De, no, no, no. So, فَمَنْ زُهْزِعَ عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ الْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ فَأَسْحَابِ الْجَنَّةِ اللهم جعلنا من أصحاب الجنة إن شاء الله وَلَّمْ مِنْ أَسْحَابِ الجَنَّةِ وَلَّمْ مِنْ أَسْحَابِ الجَنَّةِ The Hadith of Ibn Masud رضي الله عنه Abdullah ibn Masud رضي الله عنه One of the greatest of the Sahaba of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم He narrated, the Hadith in Tirmidhi That Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said The feet of the son of the children of Adam عليه السلام will not move from before their rub until they answer five things it's four things one of those two so five feet will not move I remember I saw a movie once on the on the plane I only see movies on the planes because we got long flights so you know see the movies so one movie I saw was a movie what a prison some story about this so in that prison the prisoners they are wearing shoes boots with metal soles the sole of the shoe of the boot is metal and all the corridors in that prison are made of steel mesh so you can imagine metal shoes on a steel mesh and metal shoes on a steel mesh and metal shoes on a steel mesh it's a big racket when they walk is a bang bang back so I'm thinking to myself why do we have this and they show a scene where there is a fight starts and the minute the fight starts the prison guards they throw a switch and when they throw the switch this mesh gets magnetized the electromagnet so the feet of those as they are running they are running and they are running and they are when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when when with the time I gave you? What did you do with the life I gave you? He spent it scrolling on Instagram, on Facebook, on Snapchat. Six hours a day average. Six hours a day, seven hours a day. What you do for six or seven hours a day is called a job for which you should be getting a salary. Right? Who's paying you? Is somebody paying you to scroll for six hours a day? Throwing, squandering your life? So question on the Day of Judgment, what did you do with the life I gave you? Second question, what did you do with the life I gave you? What did you do with the youth? Your ow

Auto-generated transcript:May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. May Allah be with you. Allah said which means every living thing will taste death. Your full reward will be paid to you on the day of judgment. The one who has been saved from the hellfire and entered into Jannah, only that person is successful. And the life of this world is deception. We talked about the time of death. We talked about death itself. Today we will talk about the second phase which Allah SWT said Allah said on the day of judgment you will receive your full reward. Now the thing to understand is that Allah is saying you will receive the full reward on the day of judgment. It doesn't mean that you will not receive any reward until then. This is the way. This is the mistake. People who deny the conditions of the grave, the Azabul Qabr, the Sahabul Qabr and they say there is no Azabul Qabr and there is only judgment day, judgment will be done. If that is the case then what do we do with the mention of the Azabul Qabr, specifically mention of Azabul Qabr in the Quran? Allah SWT mentioned and said that the Fir'aun and his people are shown, the fire, morning and night. And on the day of judgment they will be returned towards the worst of punishment. Two specifically separate things. If you want to deny the Azabul Qabr then what do you say about the dua of Rasulullah himself? Which is the last dua we make in Tashahud when we finish our salah. And many of the walama and ayima have said that your salah is incomplete if you don't make this dua. Allahumma inni a'uz bika min azabil qabri wa minal naar. Begins with this. Allahumma inni a'uz bika min azabil qabri wa minal naar wa na'uz bika min fitnatil mahyai wa mamat wa min fitnatil masihil dajan. This dua, you have to memorize it and do it. If you are not doing it in Tashahud then your salah is not complete. It begins with O Allah I seek your protection from the azabul Qabr. And the azab of the fire. Two separate things. And Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam himself is asking this. Allahumma inni a'uz bika. I am myself. Ya Allah I am asking. So if the Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is seeking refuge from the azab of the Qabr. Obviously it does not apply to him. This is a thing which he is teaching us. And this is something which he is saying to. Because Allah SWT commanded him to teach us. What does it mean? It means there is an azabul Qabr. Again all of these are not things for us to debate with people and to argue and so on. When you go into the Qabr you will know. So if somebody tells you there is no azabul Qabr. No problem brother. What do you think? I don't think. I do not think. When there is a text. When the Kalam of Allah is before me I don't think. What is there to think? Allah SWT is saying something. You want me to think over this? Allah SWT is saying something. You want me to think over this? What kind of delusion is that? What do you think? What is the value of my opinion? Nothing. Zero. So don't get into any arguments. What Allah has said, Allah has said. And our job is to inform. Our job is to inform. Nothing more. And then information has come to us from Rasulullah SAW. So Allah is saying full reward. Now what happens in between? Nabi SAW described in terms of the azabul Qabr. He described different things that happen. There is azab of the fire. There is azab of snakes. There is azab. There is azab of people who have illegally occupied or usurped other people's property, land especially. Nabi SAW said in the Qabr he is, he will be hammered with a hammer, with an iron hammer on his head, which will send him down seven earths. Then he will come back and be smashed again, goes down seven earths. And this will continue until the day of judgment. Allah. celebr celebr celebr celebr celebr celebr celebr celebr celebr If you have deliberately left Salah, you could pray, you did not pray, nobody can help you. Nobody can help you. It doesn't matter what else you did. It does not matter what else you did. Maybe you did Hajj, maybe you did, you fasted. We have a peculiar situation. We have people who fast all of Ramadan, but they won't pray. So fasting is also like a cultural thing. Everybody in the house is fasting. If you fast, you will get a party. Fasting is a fast. Can you believe it? The Adab of the Qabar is real. Then on the Day of Judgement, and again the opposite is also real. The Saab of the Qabar. In the Qabar itself, Allah SWT will give us a taste of the Qabar. Jannah. We ask Allah SWT for this. Allah SWT mentioned, Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic celebr celebr celebr Allah said those people who said those who said Al

Auto-generated transcript:Muhammad is the Messenger of God and His體 & his family. Peace and blessings be upon him & the those who are Copts. Also said in Sajsa consummation And yesterday we talked about the first part where Allah said, كل نفس ذائقة الموت Everything, every living thing will taste death. So what is death? ما هو موت؟ What is death? We think, generally people think, that everything ends with death. For example, if somebody is in pain, they are in hospital, they are suffering or something, at least his suffering is over. کم از کم تکلیف تو ختم ہوئی. بولتے رہیم. So we think death is the end of the story. But the truth, the reality is, death is the beginning of the story. موت زندگی کے یا حیات کے اختتام کا نام نئی ہے. موت اختیار کے اختتام کا نام ہے. Death is not the name of the end of existence. Death is the name of the end of existence. Death is the ability to do anything. موت زندگی کے یا حیات کے اختتام کا نام نئی ہے. There is a story of one of the Salaf As-Salihin, his daughter died before him. موت زندگی کے یا حیات کے اختتام کا نام نئی ہے. So one day he saw his daughter in a dream. And he asked her, how is it? She said, we can see everything but we can do nothing. And you can do everything, but you can see nothing. so she has died she is telling her father in the dream we can see everything but we can do nothing but you in this life you can do everything but you see nothing that is the reason why we have the Kalam of Allah SWT because even though we cannot see anything Allah has told us what will happen we have the beautiful Hadith of Rasulullah narrated in Musnad Imam Ahmad narrated by Al-Bara bin Azib who said that Rasulullah said meaning of which is verily when the believing slave is about to depart this world and enter the hereafter this is the narration of the time of death I don't know if any of you have seen somebody actually dying I have seen and on the face of the person there may be nothing it may seem like nothing is happening they are eyes are shut, they are sleeping but everything is happening there and that's why death has been compared to sleep because in sleep also the soul leaves the body goes to Allah SWT and if the death of the person is there Allah keeps it if it is not there it comes back so in sleep also you may see a dream you may see a very beautiful dream but the person may be sitting next to you they are seeing you but they don't see anything they are seeing you sleeping similarly you might be having a terrible nightmare but you are not sleeping you are not sleeping in this nightmare literally if you actually hook up ECG machines and stuff you might see his heart is his blood pressure is going through the roof his heart is beating very fast and so on he is running from some monster in the dream but on the face of it you don't see anything so here Rasool Allah is saying this is the time of departure at this time you are leaving verily when the believing slave is about to die you are leaving you are leaving you are leaving after leaving if you don't believe after leaving, you aren't going to die no fear you don't know no fear пَيْخُق are the hand of Allah No fear they aren't no no you are being what messengers yes Moses Mo it is correct present we ask all the people today put those hands put those hands now the whole acho Hakan ни kabar the ally the company is and sits by his head and he says Ya ayyatuha nafsu al mutmain irji'i ila rabbiki raadiya tam marziya fadkhuli fi ibadihi wadkhuli jannati Allah SWT tells us words O pure soul come out to the forgiveness and pleasure of Allah then his soul comes flowing out like a drop of water flowing from a cup there is no pain, no suffering just wonderful then Malakul Maul takes the soul and no sooner does he seize it but they take it the other angels take it and they place it in that shroud and the perfume then out of it comes the most excellent fragrance of musk to be found on the face of the earth then they ascend with it and they pass any group of angels that they pass by the angels ask who is this pure soul and they reply it is so and so, the son of so and so using the best names by which he was known on earth then they bring it to the lowest heaven and ask for the doors to be opened and it is opened for him those who are of high rank in each heaven accompany the soul until they approach the next heaven and so on until they reach the seventh heaven then Allah SWT says record the book of my slave in illiyun illiyun which is the highest heaven and take him back to the earth for I created them from it and I shall return them to it and then I will take them out from it again then his soul is returned to his body and the two angels come up and make him sit up and then the hadith mentions the questioning of the grave questioning in the grave and then the hadith mentions the soul of the disbeliever and what happens and then so when the disbeliever's soul is taken first of all t

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. In one ayat, Allah SWT mentioned four things. The first thing He said is, Every living thing will taste death. Kullu nafsin. Whether the person is a good person or a bad person. Whether it is Pharaoh or the Nabi. Extremes. Whether it is rich or poor, healthy or wealthy, healthy or sick, whatever. Kullu nafsin da'ikhatul mudh. If it was born, it will die, period. First thing. Second thing. Fa innama tuwaffawna wujurakum yawmal qiyamah. Allah said, And you will receive, your full reward only on the Day of Judgment. So, some reward Allah will give in this dunya. Both good and bad. But actual full reward only on the Day of Judgment. Fa innama tuwaffawna wujurakum yawmal qiyamah. And then Allah SWT stated something which is the, which is a criterion between success and failure. We want to be successful. We want to have great careers. We want to have name, fame, you name it. But Allah SWT said the measure. Faman zuhzi'ani nari wa udkhilal jannata faqad faas. The one who has been saved from the hellfire and entered into Jannah, only that person is successful. Faqad faas. Nobody else. In the Quran, Allah SWT used two words for success. Falah and fawz. Falah and fawz. Muflihoon fa'izoon. Falah is success, but which is temporary. Meaning, after the success, there is some more exam. You passed your metric exam. Successful, alhamdulillah. First in class, what not, what not. But can you say, okay, fine, I'm done. You're not done. That's only metric, 10th class. After this, you have intermediate. You pass that. Are you done? No. Then after that, you have your undergraduate. Are you done? No. Then after that, you have your postgraduate. And this goes on. At the end of all that, you are starting your career. Will you get into the interview or not? Once you get into the interview, now what happens to your career? What happens to your career? You're looking at another 35 years. So even though you are successful, there is some exam after that. But fawz, fawzoon azeem, Allah said, fa'izoon, may Allah grant us all of that, inshallah. Fawz is success, which is ultimate, daiman. Success, after this, there is no exam. Finished. Last exam. Now, it's only, enjoy. Last exam. After this, there is no exam. So who is that person? Who is finally successful? The one who is freed from the hellfire and entered into Jannah. And the last thing which Allah mentioned, Jalal Jalaluhu, He said, He said, This life of this world is nothing but deception. Deception. See, even in the way things are stated. For example, you can say, the life of this world is deception. But Allah did not say that. Allah said, the life of this world is nothing but deception. You know, the emphasis is much more. Nothing but this. So everything in this world which seems to be success, is not success. Deception means what? Deception means whatever appears is not how it appears. Nowadays, thanks to AI, you are getting example after example of deception. People send these videos. There's one doing the rounds. There was one, first of all, of an elephant which, you know, was pushing a deer, a cheetal, out of a flood water. After some time, exactly same kind of flood water. If you notice the two things, it's exactly the same thing. Now this elephant is a tiger. And this elephant is helping this tiger. The tiger is now climbing on top of the elephant. And they say the elephant is helping the tiger. So they sent it to me. They said, is it true or false? I said, total false. They said, how do you say that? What is the AI? I said, you don't have to know AI. You have to know wildlife. There's no earthly way that it won't happen. First of all, because a tiger weighs what? 200 plus kilos. For 200 plus kilos of cat to climb on top of the elephant, what is he using? Four inch claws. . Can you imagine? If he climbs on top of the elephant from the ear on top of the head, what will he do to the ear, to the trunk, to the elephant? Completely lacerate it and destroy it, you know. There's not one drop of blood being shown on that film. Now who will believe that? Because people who don't understand wildlife. Oh, what's happening? What's happening? What's happening? You are being fooled. That's what's happening. It's a very benign form. There's much more malignant ways in which we are being fooled in this life. So fourth is Allah mentioned. The reason I'm saying this is because it is Allah did not simply send the Quran for us to recite it and say wah wah or something. No. The purpose of the nuzool of the Quran is to say, the nuzool of the Quran al-Kareem is to understand it and to live by it. It doesn't matter how much Quran you know. What matters is how much Quran is i

Auto-generated transcript:Resilience is the ability to be resilient. The ability to get up from a fall. And as the Chinese saying goes, if you fall five times, get up six times. The ability to get up from a fall, the ability to deal with failure. This is one of the most important things for success. Because failure is very much a part of life. Everybody fails at something or the other. To be able to get up from the failure, this is what spells success. Now in that context, I read a beautiful story recently, which I want to share with you. That's called the Hershey School. I call it the Hershey Chocolate School because we know Hershey from the chocolates. It's very interesting. I'm just reading what was posted. He sat in a mansion built for children who would never come. And he decided that silence would not be the end of the story. In 1909, in the company town of Hershey, Pennsylvania, Milton Hershey was 43 years old and wildly successful. His chocolate company was thriving. An entire town carried his name. A grand house stood on a hill above the factories and streets he had built from nothing. At night, the house was quiet. Milton and his wife, Catherine, Kitty Hershey, had designed the mansion for children. Bedrooms waited, hallways echoed, gardens sat untouched. Kitty could not have children. And in the early 20th century, childlessness was treated as fate. Wealthy couples were expected to accept it and move on. Milton Hershey did not. To understand why, you have to understand how much failure shaped him. Before success found him, it had missed him repeatedly. His first candy business collapsed. His second failed even worse. By 30, he was broke, embarrassed, and dependent on family support. He knew what it felt like to be written off. So when he looked at that empty house, he did not see an ending. He saw an opening. He saw a new beginning. In 1909, Milton and Kitty announced they were founding a school for orphaned boys. Not a charity they would fund from a distance. A school they would build, run, and shape themselves. People were baffled. Why take on something so demanding when you already had an empire to manage? Because he did not want to donate. He wanted a parent. The boys who arrived had nothing. No money, no security. Often no one left in the world who claimed them. Milton and Kitty met them personally. Milton would kneel to speak to them at eye level and explain that this was not a handout. This was a home. Kitty became the heart of the place. She learned names, checked on homework, asked if the food was good. She mothered the children she could never bear. And the school grew around that. She was loved. Then, in 1915, Kitty died suddenly at 42. Friends assumed the school would fade. It had been their shared dream. And now she was gone. Milton grieved quietly for years, keeping the school running while the world waited for him to step back. In 1918, he did the opposite. Milton Hershey transferred control of the Hershey Chocolate Factory. The Hershey Chocolate Company into a trust for the school. Not a portion, not dividends. Control. The entire enterprise, the Hershey Chocolate Company, now existed to fund the education, housing and care of children who had started life with nothing. Sixty million dollars at the time. An unthinkable sum. His associates warned him. What if he needed the money? What about his legacy? Milton's answer was simple. He was a man. He was a symbol. This was his legacy. He gave away the mansion and turned it into part of the school. He moved into modest quarters. He continued to greet new students, remember faces, ask how they were doing. He lived to see boys graduate and build lives he had made possible. When he died in 1945 at 88, he left behind no heirs by blood. But he left behind a future. Today, the Milton Hershey School serves more than 2,000 children at a time entirely free of charge. Housing, food, clothing, healthcare, education and support are guaranteed. The trust he created now manages tens of billions of dollars, all dedicated to childhoods he would never personally witness. There is a statue on campus of Milton Hershey. It does not show him as an industrial titan, it shows him kneeling beside a child, hand on a small shoulder, eye to eye. That was how he understood family. Most fortunes are built to be inherited by the already fortunate. Milton Hershey had no children to inherit his wealth, so he gave it to children who would have inherited nothing at all. Every piece of chocolate sold under his name still funds the decision. Every year, more lives are shaped by a choice of children. The children are the ones who are the most important. The children are the ones who are shaped by a choice he made more than a century ago. He sat in rooms meant for children who never came. So he made sure they would be filled forever by children who needed them. For one thing, always buy Hershey chocolates and eat only Hershey chocolates. I think that&#03

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the honour of the prophets and messengers, Muhammad and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and friends. Tasliman kathiran kathira. Faham Badum. My brothers and sisters, as we enter a new year, and today is the 31st of December 2025, tomorrow, inshallah, will be the 1st of January 2026, it's useful to take stock of what we achieved in the last year and decide what we want to do with the year that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us once again. Another year, another chance to get it right, if we wish to. The reason we need to be concerned about this is because a day will come which will be our last. It will be the last sunrise or sunset that we will see. It will be the last meal we eat. The last salah we pray or choose. The last prayer we choose not to pray. It will be the last words we say to the last person who is destined to hear them. It will be the last place we go to from which we will then be taken away. We will no longer be able to go or come as we wish. Not go on our own, but taken away. That day will come. That day will come. We don't know when, but we know it will come. The sun will rise for the last time for us. Maybe that day is today. As I grow older, I am aware of an ever-increasing sense of urgency. A feeling that I have progressively less time to leave behind a legacy that can be a credit to me. This sense of urgency has nothing to do with the fact that the reality of time running out is one that we all face. It has more to do with a desire to do something to maximize the benefit of the time that I have left. Naturally, like all of us, I have no idea how much exactly is left. So all the time I have left is a time of time. There is no more reason to act fast. Allah SWT warned us in the Quran again and again and again. And Allah SWT said, It's not the dying that is worrying. It is the accounting. We will not die and become dust. We will not die and become dust. We will be resurrected and called to account. What will we do? What will we do? In this process, to help us to work through this, I developed a theory based on my own life experience, which I call living thoughtfully. Living thoughtfully. I believe that before we act, if we think about what we are about to do, the reasons for it, the possible effects of it, and other alternatives that we may have, and then ask ourselves, do I really want to do this thing in this way? Then we will be able to vastly improve our own effectiveness. But, can we do that? In living thoughtfully, the most important matter is to check our intention. We have the first hadith in Bukhari, narrated by Sayyidina Umar ibn al-Khattab, that Rasulullah SAW said, the reward of a deed is based on its intention. The rewards of deeds are based on their intention. A bribe, for example, is after all a gift. The difference which makes one right and the other wrong is the intention. A gift is good. A bribe is haram. It's bad. Imam al-Nabawi, Rahmatullah Ali, one of the most eminent scholars, author of this hadith, writing about the importance of intention. In his book, Ar-Riyadh as-Saleheen, he begins by saying, He said, He said to live with the awareness of the intention in all that we say, in all that we do, and in every situation that we find ourselves in. Whether visible or hidden. Whether visible or hidden. Imagine living with such a heightened sense of purpose that before a person says anything, he asks himself, why am I saying this? He thinks of the effect of his words. If I say this, what will happen? And then takes responsibility for that. Yes, I want this to happen. Or he said, no, I don't want this to happen, so I will not speak. Now he does the same with every action of his and reflects on his contribution to a person's life. To any situation that he or she is faced with. If we behaved with such a tremendous sense of responsibility, no matter what our position in life, what a wonderful world we would be able to create, our problems of inequity, poverty, environmental degradation, and moral bankruptcy can all be traced to one source. A lack of responsibility for our speech and actions. We lack concern. We must change that. I call on you to do so. I contrast living thoughtfully with the opposite. Living thoughtlessly. Just remaining alive. Going from sensation to sensation. Like a cow or a goat or a dog. Not that I have anything against cows or goats or dogs, but I would like to believe that I am different. In today's social media dominated world, this is what we are doing even more. Living from dopamine hit to dopamine hit. We must break out of this and realize that our clocks are ticking. And our time is drawing to a close. Age is not an indicator of how much time we have. Old or young, we will die at our appointed time.

Auto-generated transcript:Allah is the Greatest, the Merciful, and the All-Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the honour of the Prophets and Messengers. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and companions. My brothers and sisters, Allah SWT taught us about education, about how to educate, about what must prioritize, what should the priorities be in education. Allah SWT told us in Surah Al-Azim Raan, إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاقْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لَآيَاتٍ لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَى جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقُتَ هَذَا بَاطِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَاظَ بَنَّارٍ Allah SWT said, which means, Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the day and the night are signs for people of intelligence, people who reflect, people who think, people who have minds. And Allah described these people, al-wurid, al-bab, as people, people who remember Allah SWT standing, sitting and lying down. This is the beauty of the economy of the bayan, the narrative of the Quran, wherein just one or two words, Allah SWT collects and encompasses everything that goes under the description of the Quran. This is the beauty of knowledge. So Allah SWT is saying the first condition of a person of intelligence is that they recognize their Rabb, Jalla Jalaluhu, and they are obedient to Him because they reflect, they remember Him in every aspect of life, standing, sitting and lying down. Every aspect of life. They remember their Rabb, whether they are at home or they are in their workplace, whether they are in their home, whether they are in their workplace, Whether they are kings or paupers, whether they are married or single, whether they have children or no children, whether they are rich or poor, whether they are healthy or sick, in every aspect of life, they remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not just a passive state of being. It doesn't mean merely repeating the names and attributes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this dhikr or that wazifa. Remembering Allah means being aware of the presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our lives and becoming totally obedient to His commands as they apply. Being aware means being obedient to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our lives and becoming totally obedient to His commands as they apply. Remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala means being obedient to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our lives and becoming totally obedient to His commands as they apply. So the first quality of people of intelligence is that they recognize the presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the first quality of people of intelligence is that they recognize the presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They think, they ponder, they research. As a result of their research, they discover. They go deep into. All of these means of understanding or phrases of understanding are encompassed in the word yatafakkarun. Fikr. To be concerned. Concerned. In what? In the creation of the heavens and the earth. In the creation of the heavens and the earth. Allah used the preposition and. Now, those of you who know Arabic, if you write a sentence, Alladheena yadhkuruna allaha qiyamahum wa qu'udahum wa ala junubihim aw yatafakkaruna fee khalqis samawati walad. This sentence would be grammatically correct. What it would mean is that these are the people who remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala standing, sitting and lying down. Or those who reflect upon, who are concerned about and who do research in the creation of the heavens and the earth. Now, so in this sentence, though it is grammatically correct, we are talking about two different kinds of people. Who are the people who are al-ulil al-baab? People who remember Allah standing, sitting and lying down. Or. Those who reflect on, research in and who are concerned about the creation of the heavens and the earth. But this is not the ayat of the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not describing two different kinds of people. Allah is not saying that either this or that both are OK. No. Allah is describing two qualities of the same person, of the same people. The first quality is to be concerned. To be concerned about the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In everything that we say or we do. And this is the definition of taqwa. To be concerned about the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In everything we say or do is the definition of taqwa. So Allah is saying the first quality of the person who is fit to be called, to be included among al-ulil al-baab is a mutaqi. Somebody who has a good heart. Somebody who has a good heart. Somebody who has a good heart. Somebody who has taqwa. And, not or, and, somebody who

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the prophets and messengers. Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and companions, peace and blessings be upon him. And after that, brothers and sisters, we have two identities. We have two identities. One identity is the identity of this world. It starts from a few days after we are born, when we are given a name by our parents. Until that time, we have no identity. Until the name is given, there is no identity. If somebody has a baby, and then before the naming is done, if the baby dies, who do you say died? So and so's baby. That baby has no identity of its own. So it starts with that. And then throughout our life, this identity builds. And it acquires for itself all the actions, all the things that we speak, all the things. We do all of these, get attached to this identity. So as we grow older, we say, who is this boy? He says, he is from HBS. He is from such and such a school. The man, he grows up, he gets a job. Who is this person? He works for IBM. He has his own business. So there is a connection. He has his own business. He has his own business. Then simultaneously, there is the identity of the family. Who is this? He is so and so's son, so and so's daughter, so and so. In the old days, when we had titles, the titles were there. This is so and so Jung. This is so and so Umara. This is so and so Ja. This is so and so Mulk. And each title had its own level. And so on and so on. So our identity of this world comprises of our profession, our educational qualifications, maybe the money. Yesterday we were walking in KBR Park and met some friends. And as we were, you know, making salaam, we met some friends. Some famous politicians, personality passed by. And one of my friends said, this man is worth three thousand crores. Some number like this. And then he said, in this place when we walk, we don't know how many people we pass. We don't know who is worth how much. We don't know whose position is what. So this is identity, right? And this identity is boosted by also cultures. So in this culture, for example, it is common to have, once you have reached some stage of prominence, then you are never alone. There is some bodyguard with you or there is somebody with you. Not because you are in any danger. Huh? There is no danger. That bodyguard is a status symbol. It's like wearing a watch. You know, you don't wear the watch to tell the time. You wear the watch to tell the world. So this is identity. We build this. Until a time comes when this identity suddenly, without any warning, is taken away from us. The first thing which goes, the first thing which goes is that identity which is taken away from us. This, on Saturday, I led the janaza of my aunt, my mumani, in Majid Baqi. And every time I lead a janaza, I am always, always struck by this. The fact that the identity of the person is gone. I mean, all of us have attended many janazas. So when, for example, when I die, and my janaza is going to be prayed, wherever, Allah knows best, there will be, if there are, you know, even if you guys are here, at that time, if you are there, may Allah make it that you make dua for me, inshallah. The janaza, when it is brought to the masjid, it is kept somewhere on the side, right? Because the salat-e-janaza is done after some first salah. You see, after salat-ul-asr, janaza will be prayed. So while salat-ul-asr is going on, janaza is not in front. Janaza is on the side, or at the back somewhere. So after salat-ul-asr is over, and people stand up for salat-ul-janaza, they will say, bring what? Janaza. Bring the mayyat. Bring the janaza. If somebody says, kya aisa bol rahe hai? Aapke dost, aapke bhai, he prayed with you in the masjid every day, every salah next to you, right? You have forgotten his name. You don't say, yaavar bhai kul aao. Sheikh yaavar kul, nahi molte. Koi bhoi kabhi suna aap. Bade se bada, baasha khatam ho jaye, ho gaya hunga. Maybe the biggest king in the world, maybe the biggest sheikh in the world, the sheikh kul haram, whoever, whatever. Nobody will ever say, will ever take that person's name and say, bring him here, for us to pray salat-ul-janaza. Nobody. Bring the janaza. Bring the mayyat. Mayyat kul aao, janaza kul aao. Nahi bolte nahi. So what happened to all those jangs and daulas and mulk and jaa and this one and that one and doctor fulan and professor fulan and Allah knows what, ha? Teen hazaar karood ka aadmi, bolte, teen hazaar karood ka aadmi kul aao bolte. See? Janaza. So before we got a name, even though we were alive, we were breathing, we were crying, everything. No identity. And the minute the breathing stops, literally the minute the breathing stops, you have converted from whatever you are to mayyat. So this is