Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

Auto-generated transcript:We come to the last of the principles. He says reputation outlasts riches. John D Rockefeller, he gave away 500 million in charities. He built the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University. He treated his people well with respect. And he always says money disappears, reputation echoes through generations. And your legacy is not your bank account, it is the name, the reputation you build for yourself. I'm reminded of the Gucci family slogan, which says quality is remembered long after the price is for water. Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten. He also said that his secret empire or the empire secret was not oil, it was people. He said, I'd rather earn 1% of 100 people's efforts than 100% of my own. And he spent personal time recruiting top talent globally. And very interesting what he said about who in his view was the best person to have. He said, I will pay more for the ability to get along with people than I will pay for any other ability under the sun. He said, I will pay more for the ability to get along with people than I will pay for any other ability under the sun. So he valued people of talent, he valued people who were present, who got along with people, who were influential. That's how you become influential, by being able to get along with people. You do not become influential by being crass or by being qualified. You do not become influential by being a good person. You do not become influential by being quarrelsome or by any other way. You build reputation and you build influence by being nice. Now being nice does not mean you don't stand for your rights. It doesn't mean that you let people walk all over you. No, it just means that whatever you do, you do with style and you do with kindness and you do that with good manners. Good manners are worth money. Believe me, they're good. They're worth money. They're worth money. They're worth money. They're worth money. I remember a little kid, maybe 10 years old or something, and I was in the riding club and Syed Ahmad Khan Sahib passed away. He was my riding instructor. And I would always, you know, in our Hyderabadi way, I would say, I would make salaam to my elders. And I was not conscious of it, but I evidently had a big smile on my face. And Syed Khan Sahib was a good rider. Syed Khan Sahib was one of the first to say, , He told me that you are respecting people. You are doing salaam to people and you are smiling will open doors for you that you cannot even imagine. And he told me this when I was 10 years old. Today I'm 17. I believe that is so true. I'm so grateful to Allah . for such good teachers and for enabling me to do that. Now, reputation outlasts riches. John D. Rockefeller's competition and rivalry with Andrew Carnegie was not only in oil, but also externally in philanthropy. And both of them, they tried to outdo each other in giving more and more to charity. And obviously, that's a wonderful thing. It's a thing which the whole of society benefits from. And they did that, you know, amazingly well. The thing he says is he treated people with respect. That's the whole thing. The whole point is, how do you build reputation? Reputation is a very... First of all, let me say this. Reputation is your most valuable asset. Nothing in the world comes even close to your reputation. In terms of its value, as far as you're concerned. Reputation. The thing I say to myself and I say to anyone who's listening, what do you want to be remembered for? What do you want to be remembered for? Always ask yourself this question. Any situation that you are in, what do you want to be remembered for? And then go and do that. Do the thing that will make you memorable, that will give good memories to people. So if you are a parent, raise your children, the way you want to be remembered by those children. If you are a teacher, teach the way you want to be remembered as a teacher. If you are a manager, manage the way you want to be remembered as a manager. Whatever you are, behave in a way that you want to be remembered. When people think of you, what do you want them to say? What do you want them to think of when they are thinking of you? That's very important to live their life consciously every moment in that way, where you are conscious of how do I want to be remembered? And Alhamdulillah, Allah Ta'ala has given this in our hands. You can be remembered any way you want. Any way you want. If you think about, if you read history, if you read biographies, if you just think about people, just think about, for example, people you knew who are no longer there, but you think about, you know, you remember them. And ask yourself, what do I remember that person for? And invariably, without exception, you will remember people positively for what they gave to you. By giving, I don't mean, you know, chocolates or i

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and the most gracious of all 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. And after that, principle number eight. John D. Rockefeller says, reinvest everything or lose everything. Reinvest everything or lose everything. His pending rule was never touch principle. Never touch the principle. Reinvest 90% of the profits, live on 10%. He says men fail, and this is before all the equality stuff, so therefore people fail, because they spend tomorrow's fortune on today's pleasures. He's talking about the never-never. He's talking about borrowing or getting into debt in order to fund today's pleasure. Compound interest builds empires. He's saying men fail because they spend tomorrow's fortune. You don't have it with you. Tomorrow's fortune on today's pleasures. Compound interest builds empires. Truest words spoken and completely reflect the Islamic principles of zero interest, zero interest finance. Just see. Just see what people usually spend on. People will spend, I'm talking about America especially. People will spend on, first thing they spend on is a car. They will try to get a new car, and then they will try to get the latest car in that bracket. I mean, not everybody is aiming for a Ferrari because they know they can't afford that. But if they're buying a Toyota, then they want the best and the latest and so on and so on. Fully loaded. Whereas if you just ask yourself, what is it that I need? You don't need a car, you need transport. I lived in America for six years, and I never had a car. And I never needed a car. People used to laugh. They used to say, you're the only person in the whole of the United States who does not own a car. I said, exactly. I am proud of that because I did not own a car. And because of that, two things happened. One, I saved a huge amount of money. And secondly, I helped another brother with some income. I had this dear brother and friend of mine, Abu Hadi, who used to drive Uber. And then he used to drive for me. And anywhere I wanted to go, my wife wanted to go, we would call Abu Hadi. We just did a very simple thing. I said, if I lease a car, obviously I will not take a car on finance by paying interest. But even if I take, and I did not want to spend the money to buy a new car. So I said, now what's the option I have? One is to buy a secondhand car. We don't know what kind of condition it is in and so on and so forth. And you drive it. So now you're paying insurance. You're paying for gas. And then of course the liability. If you, you know, you're driving, you have an accident, all of that. If I lease a car, it would have cost me the lease about $500 per month, plus insurance, plus gas, plus this. Whereas in terms of my usage, I'm not saying everybody has the same usage. If you have to drive to, you know, 100 km a day, you have to pay $100. 100 km, 100 miles a day or 50 miles a day commuting, that's a different thing. I didn't have to do that. So for my usage, I, in six years, I don't think I spent $500 in any one month. So I used to call him, call my, this, my friend to drive for me. And so therefore I had access. To a driver and a car. And he's a good friend of mine. So, you know, he would, it would be good company. I was learning Arabic. So I would speak my sort of practice my Arabic with him. And he would help my wife whenever she went shopping. The point I'm making is that when you use your money wisely, which is never touched the principle. He says spending tomorrow's fortune on today's pleasures. This is what happens. That's why they send you the send you credit cards in the mail. That is why they have all these great schemes where you can get a house straight away and you will get a mortgage. Apart from being completely haram. It gives you. Now you are stuck and tied down to this bank for the next 30 years. And in that 30 years, you are actually going to pay maybe three times. The value of the house. Which you bought. Now tell me how in which way in which imagination does this make sense? And by then by in 30 years, you got a 30 year old house. Even if you bought a brand new house, you got a house. We now 30 years old. If you bought a house, which was already older, it's that much older. You paid three times the value of it. And you own the house. So what? A house you own is not really capital because you to monetize it, you have to sell it while you are living in it. It's dead money. Whereas if you had lived within your means, which means that you rented and the money that you would have spent on your mortgage payments. If you invested that money and you rolled it every time

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Peace and blessings be upon the Master of the 100 and the Master of the 100. Muhammad and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and upon his Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, are very much in harmony. From the principle of number seven, John D. Rockefeller says to his son, master negotiation with this framework. Number one, understand the environment. Number two, know your resources. Number three, find the opponent's weakness. Number four, clarify your goals. Number five, read their emotional state. Read their emotional state. He said, information is ammunition, emotion is opportunity. So he's talking about how to negotiate. Now, I want to share with you a very nice quote. And they said, you do not get what you desire. You get what you can negotiate. And this is very true in life. Many times we find people who are competent, but they do not get what they deserve. And all they can really do is complain and moan and groan about it and say, oh, you know, I should have got this. And I didn't get it. I say to them, ask yourself, why did you not get it? How can you get it? Because this quote, which I mentioned for you. I'll repeat that. You don't get what you deserve. You get what you can negotiate is a very, very, very true thing. So the point is, why didn't you get it? Because you could not negotiate it. Now, I just mentioned to you John D. Rockefeller's negotiation principles. Number one, understand the environment. Number two, know your resources. Number three, find the opponent's weakness. Number four, clarify your goals. Number five, read their emotional state. And he's talking about, therefore, then this is emotionless. He said information is ammunition. And emotion is opportunity. What I would submit to you is, again, my framework on this is different. My framework is in negotiation. The thing to think about. The way I look at it, when I negotiate, in my mind, I don't necessarily say this, but in my mind, I say, well, how can I help you to get what you want? So when I'm negotiating with another person, my thinking is, how can I help you, the other person, to get what you want? Now, you might say, well, this sounds crazy. Because in a negotiation, you should be worried or I should be worried about what I can get. My submission to you is that any negotiation for it to be successful, unless it's a very negative thing, just a one-way thing, like, you know, somebody is holding you up. It's a holdup. The guy is pointing a gun at you. There, you're not going to say, how can I help you get what you want? Although that might bear some thought. You know, I'll leave that with you. Tell me how you can make it work even there. But you might say, well, you know, right now, I need to get out of the situation. So how can I overpower this guy? How can I, you know, neutralize him? But other than that, in normal situations, for a negotiation to be successful, the most successful negotiations are win-wins, where both parties get what they want. And this is, in fact, possible. This is, in fact, possible. It's possible in far more interesting ways. This is, in fact, more interesting than we like to imagine. But since most of us have been conditioned or trained in the win-lose way of thinking, we never get past that. So we are always looking at, how can I get what, how can I get out of this? How can I get, what can I get out of this? Not how. What can I get out of this? And in the process, I kill the golden goose. That's okay. and rip open its belly and get all the eggs. The thing to remember is that in a good negotiation, both parties get what they want, and at the end of that, they also have a good relationship with each other. Now, I use this framework always in my family business consulting, and also in other places, but family business consulting, because my focus always in family business-related negotiations is how can we build a business while keeping the family together. Anybody can build a business by breaking up the family. That's a non-brainer. Anybody can do that. Just support or back one of them or teach them some trick or some way of getting the better of his brother or sister, and... And the whole family breaks up. This person walks away with the goose that lays the golden eggs, and, you know, there's chaos, blood and gore everywhere. What makes absolutely no sense. My way of looking at it is that the family comes before the business. The business, the family needs the business. The business does not need the family. Even if the business is sold to somebody else, it will still run, but the family will be without their business. So, therefore, keeping the family together is very important. And that happens only when negotiations are handled in a

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 honor of the prophets and messengers. Muhammad and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his master, peace and blessings be upon him, are very much in agreement. Now we come to the sixth point of Rockefeller's advice to his son, which was, he said, business is war, act accordingly. Now, Andrew Carnegie was his greatest competitor in the oil business. And when they built a pipeline threatening Standard Oil, which is Rockefeller's company, Rockefeller bought the railroad and he bought the oil transportation. He bought Monopoly from the railroad and dropped shipping costs and crushed his competitor. His advice was, attack where they are weakest, not strongest. Having said that, this is one point on which I do not agree. And I'll give you my reasons by telling you two stories. One is a story which I heard, which I also... confirmed it to the extent possible, which is in Saudi Arabia, in Makkah, in one of the big binoud stores. Somebody started a typical similar store. Binoud is a grocery store, big, big, huge big grocery store, grocery store chain. So somebody opened another grocery store across the street from them. With food and tea and whatever else. You know, whatever they're selling. So the manager of the binoud store, obviously, he got worried. And, you know, he said, what's going to happen to our business and so on. But the owner of binoud, he responded and he said to the manager, send some of your people to help him. And he sent him food, he sent him tea. And he said to them, we have a Musalla here in the store. So at the time of Salah, you're welcome to come and pray here with us and so on. The manager was shocked because, you know, you're supposed to kill your competition. And here you're helping the competition. The owner explained very simply, and this is where our Islamic values and ethics and our aqidah and our faith are. And this is where our Islamic values and ethics and our aqidah and our faith are. And this is where our Islamic values and ethics and our faith are. And our faith must come in the way always for decision making. And he says that our sustenance has been determined by Allah. Allah SWT wrote what we are supposed to get. And they will not, a competition, they will not be able to take even one rial if it is already declared for us. It belongs to us. So why don't we try to get some rewards, hasanat, and help them? Now, this is the business philosophy which... is rooted in Islam. And I see this wherever people are following the religion, alhamdulillah. One of the places I see it is in Hyderabad. In Turbazar, there is... which is the bazaar that comes... that is after... when you're going towards your city, when you pass Mazamjai market, the... Usmanganj, which is the... not Turbazar, Usmanganj. Usmanganj, which is the bazaar that... comes after Mazamjai market. Usmanganj has a whole series of hardware stores. So they sell everything. I mean, you name it, they sell it. Including... you know, electrical fittings and lights and this and that. And all kinds of hardware. Now, almost all the stores... I'm saying almost as a safety measure. But all the stores... are owned by Buhari people. Every single one of them. Now, you go to any of those stores... and you ask for whatever thing you want. If that person doesn't have it, he won't tell you, I don't have it. He will give you a seat. He will order some tea for you. And he will send his... employee... to a neighboring store... and say, with the instruction that... this is what this customer wants. If they have it, bring it. And the neighboring store will give him that item... and... the item is given to you. He won't send you to that store. He'll get the item for you from the neighboring store. Now, the neighboring store... is his competition. Right? But they treat each other as... as if all those stores... have the same warehouse. And they're all outlets for the same warehouse... and for the same material. Which obviously they're not the individual... independent businesses. But they treat each other as if they're part of the same... families selling the same things. And I asked one of them, and they said, this is Baraka. I said, Alhamdulillah, you know, when I have... if I can help him, I help him. When he can help me, he helps me. We are all brothers. Now, this is the spirit... of buying and selling that I have seen. Even in people who are not Muslim. Especially in Hyderabad. And I'm sure it's there in other places. Where there are markets... of the same thing. So there are jewellery markets, for example. All jewellers in that market. You might say, well, you know, why are all... jewellers in the same place? I mean, they should be in differ

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 peace and blessings be upon him and upon his family, and upon his many, many, many. What is next? Principle number five. Rockefeller says, excuses are mental illness. Excuses are mental illness. My quote on excuses, I say excuses don't change reality. Think about it like this. Say you had your wallet in your back pocket, in your hip pocket, which is probably the worst place to keep a wallet. But most people do. So you had the wallet in your hip pocket. People also keep the wallet on the dashboard of their car, right up in front and under the windscreen, where it's visible to everybody, and then they have their window down, and somebody obviously, you know, puts his hand in, grabs the wallet and is gone. And you have lost all your, whatever was in the wallet, your ID, your credit card, your money. So say, for example, you had your wallet in your back pocket, and you were, you know, you were going to a railway station or a fair or some crowded place and your wallet, your pocket is picked. Your wallet is gone. So now if you come and explain to me and give me this whole story of how it was so, normal, natural, you did take precautions, but however, you know, these people are so bad and the world is so bad, and therefore your wallet got stolen, and you give me all these excuses and I say, absolutely, I agree with you. You know, it's not your fault, right? It is not your fault. Will your wallet come back in your pocket? It won't, because loss is loss, gain is gain. Loss does not change to gain just because you have an excuse. So excuses don't change reality. Rockefeller puts it another way, more powerful. He says excuses are mental illness. Then he says three excuses that kill success. I'm not healthy enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm not lucky enough. I'm not healthy enough, I'm not smart enough, and I'm not lucky enough. All of these are excuses. Paul Coelho says, if you want to succeed, you must never lie to yourself. And those are excuses. Lying to yourself is excuses. I don't have enough time. I'm so busy. The person who is accomplishing huge things is somebody who also has the same 24 hours. So I ask people sometimes this question. I say, what's your dream? So they tell me, my dream is this. Okay, fantastic. What's your life goal? They have not heard about that. They don't have that life goal. So if it's not a life goal, why don't you have this dream written down as a life goal? Okay, so I write it down. How does it become a goal? It becomes a goal when you put a timeline on it. So I will achieve this dream by this date. It doesn't matter if the date is sketchy. Put a date. Once you do that, then I ask people, how much of screen time do you have? How much of time do you spend on screens? And it's very easy. Your phone has an app which tracks that. So enable that app and it will track the amount of time you will spend on the screen. Average screen time for most people is between 4 to 6 hours. Six hours is a working day. What you are doing for six hours is called a job. And jobs have salaries. So my question is, if you are spending six hours on a screen in social media, what are you getting paid for it? Who's paying your salary for it? If nobody's paying your salary, and of course we know that nobody's paying your salary, then why are you there on that screen for six hours? As simple as that. Now if you are there on the screen for six hours, how on earth are you going to achieve your dream, which I'm assuming is not being on a screen for six hours? So your dream is something else. So if your dream is something else, how is that dream going to be achieved when six hours a day, eight hours a day, your face is in your phone, and you are spending that time there? You are spending that time there doing worthless things, completely useless things, and getting nothing for it, while somebody else is buying another super yacht, because you and people like you are giving him that time. Free, right? Your life, you're giving it away to whoever owns that social media. And as they say, the rest is history, right? Whether it's Zuckerberg or whoever, the point is to understand yourself that there are only 24 hours. Everybody has 24 hours. Now what you do with that 24 hours is in your head. If you don't do that, and you blame somebody else, it doesn't work. In 83, I decided that I wanted to be a leadership development consultant. A leadership development consultant. I wanted to spend my life, helping people become leaders. So leadership development consultant, with an international clientele

Auto-generated transcript:We come to Rockefeller's letters and advice to his son, Principle 4. It's a very interesting one. He says, money is fire. Use it or get burnt. And the commentator says that Rockefeller never worshipped money. He compared it to fire. He said it can warm your home or burn it down. It can feed the hungry or destroy the greedy. He donated 500 million and secured his legacy. The interesting thing to understand, as far as money is concerned, is that we live in an environment where we are taught to define ourselves in terms of money, to actually chase money, because we are told that money is what runs the world and therefore your net worth defines you and so and so's net worth is this much and net worth is that much. So effectively you're saying that a person is worth the value of his or her possessions. Now just think about that. Just the thought that your worth, who you are, what you are, your worth is to be measured, or that's what they want you to do, in terms of how many things you have. So whether those are shares in a company or whether they are your houses or cars or whatever, this is your worth. And the whole idea of this is because we live in an environment where the ruling principle is commercialism. The religion is commercialism. And the temples of that religion are the shopping malls, online or online. So you know you buy things with money, you don't say if somebody hasn't bought, if somebody has been in mộtv Bag Que Bagmon Hbt Л ath suppressor dan something bad and then goats come to you. And things like that. Actually I don't think I've done all that, only bought things for myself. And actually I do three things, is to encourage you to buy more. It's to encourage you to buy more, it's to encourage you to buy without thinking because I can always return it. While the people who are selling, they make money as long as they can register a sale. So it doesn't matter how long the person uses that thing which he bought, doesn't matter. As long as he can register a sale, he's fine with that. So therefore, it's something that, you know, therefore the money is what we are chasing. The fact of life is that money is the result of quality effort. So if you produce quality, money will follow. But if you chase money, then money is like a shadow. The more you chase it, the more it goes away from you. If the sun is behind you and your shadow is in front of you, then if you are running behind that shadow, you will never catch it because as you run, the shadow is in front of you. It's always in front of you. You can never catch the shadow. But if you turn around and you face the sun, then the shadow is chasing you. It's not the other way around, right? The shadow is chasing you. So that's how it is. If you are, if you are chasing the sun, if you are chasing quality, if you are chasing quality, then you find that money will come to you. You don't have to worry about money. But if you chase money, then quality will disappear. Because one of the first things that people do when they are chasing money is they are tempted to, I'm not saying everybody does it, but most people do it. They are tempted to sacrifice quality in order to make money. And of course, they will have all kinds of reasons they are doing it. They will make excuses and so on and so forth. But they will try to sacrifice quality and they will try to, you know, take shortcuts in order to make money. This is how the whole thing functions. People are willing to sell their honor because to make money, one of the ways of making money, a dishonorable, horrible way is to take bribes. People will do that. Shaitan tries to tempt them and say that one of the ways of making money is to take bribes. One of the ways to make money is to get into debt. That's how they send you credit cards free in the mail and they sign you on for nothing because then you start buying. You are in their clutches. As soon as you start buying, then of course you have to repay and the longer your repayment, the more money they are making from the interest that you are paying them. So the whole thing is based on how money is made. How money is rolled, how money is used and therefore if you are chasing money, that is a dozer position. The second thing to understand as far as money is concerned from the Islamic principle is that is to remember two things. One is that we are accountable to Allah SWT. No matter what we do, we are accountable to Allah SWT. So no matter who tells you what story. For example, one of the big reasons why people make money and they fall into the haram of interest-based dealings on which Allah SWT declared war is because shaitan and shaitan's agents tricked them into saying that let the money come and once the money comes and we will use it for good deeds and we will do this and do that and give in charity and build a masjid or give mo

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to God, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the messengers and messengers of God, Muhammad and the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and upon his family and all his companions. From the book of John D. Rockefeller's advice to his son, the nine points. We have seen the first two. First of all, first point was hardship is your greatest teacher. Number two was failure plus persistence equals breakthrough. Third one, he said, love your work or live in misery. Love your work or live in misery. Now, he used to tell this famous story of Christopher Wren, the great architect and builder who was pivotal in rebuilding London. After the great fire of 1666, which involved designing 52 churches and St. Paul's Cathedral. He was an English architect and scientist and mathematician who was known for his work in the English Baroque style. And his legacy is connected to the new look of the city of London. He designed many of the most important structures like the Royal Observatory and the Hampton Port Palace and so on. Now, St. Paul's Cathedral is considered to be his masterpiece. And the design of the cathedral is a prime example of his architectural work and his architectural genius. The story of Christopher Wren goes like this. That he was at the site supervising the work when there were three stone masons who were breaking stones. Sculptors or stone masons who were breaking stones. So he asked them, he said, what are you doing? So the first of them, he said, you know, what can I say? I'm just breaking stones. So it was something like a punishment. This is a painful thing. I mean, why the hell do I have to do this? That kind of a mental attitude. I'm breaking rocks. He asked the second one. He said, I'm earning a living. So he was, you know, a step better than that. So he's not seeing the work as punishment. He's seeing the work as at least getting him some benefit. And he asked the third one, he said, what are you doing? He said, I'm building a cathedral. Now, this is, if you think about this, there's three people doing the same exact work. But one sees it as something which is a punishment. He'd rather not be doing it. The second one sees some meaning in it, but there's not really meaning in the work itself. But in what the work can give him, which is a paycheck at the end of the month or whatever period. But the third one is seeing that work as something which, you know, is a punishment. And he said, I'm doing this. It's a Migration Act, right? The fourth one sees something which reflects himself, which is his legacy to the world. When I was in the Plantations in 1991, 1993, we were planning to leave. And we wanted to, we lived in Kerala or the border of Tamil Nadu Kerala and that place had a beautiful teacote. So we thought we'd, you know, make some household furniture and take it with us. So we sent him back to马 Myanmar and told him that the旨 We asked, we got this carpenter, this Kerala carpenter, very famous for their absolutely fabulous work. So we got this carpenter, he came with an assistant and he told us how much wood we needed and so on. So we got the wood to make a dining set, so a dining table and six chairs. And he gave us a list of materials. So I told him, I said, you know, let me get all the material for you and then you can make, you can do the work. And he was on a daily, per day wage. So I didn't, for whatever reason, I didn't give it to him as a contract work, but I gave it to him on wages. So he was going through this work. Now he, one of the things he gave me was seven grains of sandpaper, his list, seven grains of sandpaper. So I'm thinking to myself, well, this. This is nice. This guy is going to sit around and he's going to be sanding this wood day after day and I'm paying for that. So I, obviously I didn't say that to him, but I said to him, I said, why do you need seven grains of sandpaper? So he looks at me very seriously and he says, you know, he tells me, he says, you know, when somebody looks at this work, I want him to say, wow, who made this? I don't want him to say, hey, who made this? You know, they, they just, the tone, it's same words, who made this? But the tone of it, one is this feeling of, uh, this, this tone, which shows, wow, this is a fabulous piece of work. You know, fantastic. Who's the person who made this? And the other one is, is, is, is, is, is disgusted and say, what kind of work is this? Is this even work? Some carpenter made this? What kind of carpenter is that? Now he's, he, he's taking pride in his work and he's saying, it's only, it's only, uh, incidental that you will own this, uh, that the final product, uh, you know, you will take home. It's only incidental that you're payin

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 him, the most merciful, the most merciful. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and peace and blessings be upon him, and peace and blessings be upon him, and peace and blessings be upon him. My brothers and sisters, we are looking at the nine letters of advice that John D. Rockefeller wrote for his son. Absolutely brilliant pieces of advice, which I thought I should share with you and myself. And the first one was, hardship is your greatest teacher. The second one, he says, failure plus persistence. Failure, not failure by itself. Failure plus persistence equals breakthrough. Failure plus persistence equals breakthrough. Think about this. Edison, Thomas Edison, failed 10,000 times. He failed 10,000 times. The wonderful story of his, which I love the most, because he is the founder of GE, General Electric, with which I have been working for many years. Working as a consultant from 1994. The wonderful story, two wonderful stories. One is, of course, is, they say that the light bulb, he got it right at the 1100th time or some such thing, right? So they said to him, well, you failed, you know, 1100 times or 1100 minus one. So 10,999 times. So it's, you know, you failed so many times. So he said, no, it takes 1100 times to succeed. That's how long it takes. So in many other cases, you know, put together, they say that he failed 10,000 times. Now, the most wonderful story of Edison is that his lab caught fire. So he had this lab in a, you know, like an outhouse. So, you know, they have these, what they call granny cottages, which is just off the main house. There would be a cottage where your elderly parents or parents, for intending, they were supposed to stay there. So they're close to you and you take care of them. And they're still, they have their independent living. So this kind of granny cottage, so, you know, maybe it was a, it was a room or a shed or whatnot. So that's where he did all his experimentation. That's where he did all his discoveries or inventions. So all his work, all his work was there, you know, whatever his current experiments and current inventions. Inventions in progress. He had all his documentations and so on. So all of that stuff is there in this, in this building. And one night it caught fire. So it was a huge conflagration. The whole place was completely on fire. And there was no way that, you know, that fire could be put out or anything would be saved. So John D. Rockefeller's, no, no. Edison, Thomas Edison's son, he says that I, when I saw the fire, I went looking for my father. I thought he was going crazy with grief and with, you know, with this sense of loss. So, and I was afraid that he might do something, you know, to, which might harm himself, which might harm himself. So he said, I went searching for him. I see him standing there with his hands, gloves behind his back, looking at the fire. And he said, son says, when I got to him, he says, go call your mom. She'll never see a fire like this again. Go call your mom. She'll never see a fire like this again. So son says, well, you know, I was absolutely astonished at his equanimity and the fact that he was not, you know, screaming with grief or something. So he asked him, he said, Dad, this is all your work, right? This is everything that you have. All your inventions and all the, all the writing and all the documentation and everything else. Right? I mean, you just watching it burn. You, you know, you're not, you don't seem to be bothered. He says to his son, how many people have a chance to make a completely new beginning? Just think about that. How many people have a chance to make a completely new beginning? Slate is wiped clean. Right? Now you can think about this and say, well, if I was living a life, you know, as a drug addict. And I, if I spend my time, uh, in a bar and then I got kicked out in the, in the, in the night and I, you know, fell into a drain and I wake up my own vomit or something the next morning. Wait, this kind of miserable, horrible life, which a lot of people, a lot of people do lead that kind of a life. So I'm not exaggerating. So if that were the case and you made a statement like that and say, how many people have a chance of making a completely new beginning? You know, slate wiped clean. You can understand that because okay. Your slate needed to be wiped clean because your slate was really filthy. You had a lousy life. But in this case, we are talking about his lifetime inventions, his lifetime of work, something which he takes pride in. The whole thing burns down and he's not disappointed. He's not shocked. He's not heartbroken. Uh, you know, he's not in despair. Uh, you know, he's not in despair. Uh, he sees

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. 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 his family. Peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and his family. My brothers and sisters, all praise is due to Allah. One of the beauties of Islam and of winners in life is that they are open to learning from everywhere. And that's what I also recommend. One of the things I want to share with you is Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller's advice to his son. This is being written in terms of nine specific principles. So let me read out the list first. He says, First principle, Heart-shaped, Hardship is your greatest teacher. Hardship is your greatest teacher. Secondly, Failure plus persistence equals breakthrough. Failure plus persistence equals breakthrough. Third one, Love your work or live in misery. Love your work or live in misery. Fourth one, Money is fire. Money is fire. Use it or get burned. Use it or get burned. Fifth one, Excuses are mental illness. Fabulous. Excuses are mental illness. Number six, Business is war. Act accordingly. Business is war. Act accordingly. Number seven, Master negotiation. Master negotiation. Number eight, Reinvest everything or lose everything. Reinvest everything or lose everything. And number nine, Reputation outlasts riches. Reputation outlasts riches. Inshallah, We will talk about these in detail. We do not even know. We do not know in detail. Deliberate intellectual Cathedral Training, Research of heteroplane technology, Fidel zas genius. What a ape there, Clean equatel, Guaranteedministry, But rather maintain iron economy and Not make humane decisions. But preserve equality, wildそんな welfare hundred billion in today's money but his greatest creation as they say was these letters his letters to his son so the first principle is saying is hardship is your greatest teacher now young Rockefeller Johnny Rockefeller faced crushing poverty and constant rejection crushing poverty and constant rejection his response I am grateful for the struggle it built the character that built the for Joe it built the character that built a for Joe and he says that success requires deliberate suffering conscious suffering really if you think about it we human beings seem to learn mostly from I won't say from the book but from the book but from the book but from the book once a entirely but almost entirely from hardship not from peace if I am if you ask me to think of or if I ask you to think of ten people ten people just randomly ten people who you know almost invariably those who you think about who are successful in every way whether it's material whether it is material whether it is material whether it is material whether it is is material whether it is spiritual whether it is physical our people who are people who started in poverty of people who started with nothing now are people who started in poverty of people who started with nothing now poverty I don't necessarily mean somebody was bringing on the street but poverty I don't necessarily mean somebody was bringing on the street but someone who had to think about spending money somebody who for whom money was spending money somebody who for whom money was not easy for example hand me down hadn't had it down close from their siblings or not easy for example had me down hadn't had it down close from their siblings or have anything to say on my children is that I had to close my children's or from their parents, they made choices. I think the biggest, most important strength that comes to us from being poor, from not having enough resources, is to make wise choices. Because you cannot have everything, you're forced to choose. Everything is a choice. Every single thing is a choice because you can't have everything. So the smallest things, for example, should we go out to eat a meal? Should we go to a restaurant today? Or should we eat at home? Now this, if you have, if you are poor, it is a financial decision. It's not a decision based on whether outside food is healthy for you or not healthy for you. It's a financial decision. Can we afford it? As simple as that. Can we afford it? But if you don't have that, if you have enough money, then there are people who practically eat out almost every day. So simple decisions. So the first thing is, should I buy a new pair of shoes? The new shoes are on the market. Should I buy them? The question is not, should I buy them? The question becomes, can I afford to buy them? And then the question is, well, I already have a pair of shoes, which are perfectly good. Nothing is wrong with them. They're not torn. They don't have holes. They're just old. So what? And it goes from there to say, where do I find m

Auto-generated transcript:Khilal Ramadan Rahim, Alhamdulillah, Rabbil Alameen, Wasalatu Wasalamu Alayhi Sharifil Abiyyil Mursaleen, Muhammad Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wa'ala Alihi Wasallam, Tasleeman Kaseeran Kaseera, Faman Badu. My brother and sister, it's very, very important to think about the purification of the heart, tasiyat al-nafs, for learning Islam. People come to me and say, I want to become a great speaker. And I say, that's absolutely the worst place to start. because before you become a great speaker, you have to become a great worker, like a person who does amal, who lives by Islam. This desire to speak and the desire to tell people what to do, this is a huge trap. Sahal bin Abdullah, he says, it is not lawful, it is not possible for light, for the nur of knowledge to enter a heart in which there is something that Allah dislikes. Just think about this. These are things which are so critically important that we need to reflect on them. He says, I repeat his words, it is not lawful, it is not possible for light, for the nur of the knowledge of Islam to enter a heart in which there is something that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala dislikes. And he says, the source of this, this statement is the statement of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in Surah Al-A'raf, Allah said, I will turn away from the verses which are arrogant in the earth without truth. And if they see every verse they do not believe in it, and if they see the way of the right path, they do not take it as a way. And if they see the way of the wrong, they take it as a way. That is because they have denied our verses and they were not the way. And in the verse of the verse, Allah says, He says, I will turn away from my signs those who act unjustly with arrogance in the land. Allah is saying, I will turn them away from my signs so that they will not get to that. And even if they were to see, even if they were to see every sign, they still would not believe in them. If they see the right path, they will not take it. But if they see a crooked path, they will follow it. This is because they denied Allah's, our signs and were heedless of them. May Allah Ta'ala protect us from being people like that. Sufyan bin Ureena in his tafsir, he says Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will deprive them from understanding the Quran. SubhanAllah, we see how, what is the wages of arrogance, how arrogance will destroy you if you are arrogant. May Allah have mercy on us. Arrogance is the first trap of the ulama and the umara, of the rulers and people with authority and of people who are people of knowledge as in they know the theory but they are, you know, their hearts are sealed because they have arrogance in them. So when they become... Ulama, when they graduate from this or that darurum, they start considering themselves to be great scholars and they spend their time criticizing other people without looking at themselves and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is saying such people, I will prevent them from seeing. Right? Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is saying, I will prevent them from seeing. Muhammad Yusuf al-Firyabi, rahmatullah alayhi salam, he said, Allah is saying that we should not be afraid of the people who are not in the right direction. He said, Allah is saying that He will deprive them from reflecting on the Quran and taking lessons from it. Ibn Kathir, rahmatullah alayhi salam, in his tafsir of this ayah, he said, Allah punished them with a terrible punishment of ignorance because they were arrogant. So whoever allows, now we talk about the taskiyatul nafs, we talk about purification of the soul. I remind myself anew that all of these talks of purification of soul are worthless if we do not actually go and purify ourselves. For example, imagine. Imagine that you have just come back from a run, you are sweating, you are stinking, your body is full of sweat and dust and muck and God knows what, right? And you are watching this absolutely passionate speech about the benefits of bathing, right? And all the ways of taking a ghusur and all of that, and you listen to this lecture for three hours. Believe me, at the end of three hours, you are still stinking. You are probably stinking worse because you haven't had a bath. Instead of listening to the lecture, if you had just gone and taken a bath, even if you didn't rain incorrectly, you would still be clean. So the issue of this issue of having arrogance in the heart, the point to understand is, so whoever allows jealousy, envy, hatred, greed, malice, resentment, arrogance into his heart, Allah will turn him away from his Quran. To be turned away. Doesn't mean that you will not be able to memorize the Quran. Imdal Haj Al-Maliki in his book Al-Madkhal said, I have seen a lot of mutakabbireen, arrogant people memorize the Quran, but their hearts are turned away from it. They have not been given any understanding of it and they do not act upon it. So this is the q

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 Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Peace and blessings be upon him. Peace and blessings be upon him. Peace and blessings be upon him. Peace and blessings be upon him. If it's hot water, it's cold. No problem. You make wudu, you come to a masjid, alhamdulillah, the masjid is air conditioned or it is heated or whatnot. You're praying on nice carpets. No hardship. If you're feeling hungry before you come, eat something and nobody stops you. Eat something and come. And that we find difficult. Imagine. And about this salah, or any salah, Rasulullah said, the slave is closest to Allah when he is in sujood. And he said, when the slave makes sajdah on the farsh, on the earth, he is actually making sajdah before the throne of Allah . Before the Arsh of Allah . This is the guarantee of the Rasul . So how thankful we should be to Allah for having given us Islam. And Allah gave it to us. I know about myself and I don't know about you, but none of us made effort or went through danger or did something. Alhamdulillah, we're born in Muslim homes. Our parents are Muslim, grandparents are Muslim for the last thousand years, God knows. Right? So, we should be thankful to Allah. We should be thankful to Allah. You can think like the Lord , always in the path of the Prophet and within ourselves. And the Healer living in us is a Self, so It is He who gives us tie. This is what life is about. I never respond for these things. So I kept quiet. And then I said, why would you want to pray in the toilet? So she said, I don't want to pray in the toilet. But the toilet is the only place where I can pray. If my parents or my family see that I am praying, if they see I am a Muslim, they will kill me. So I pretend to go to the toilet. That is the only place I have to pray. What shall I do? What fatwa will you give for this? People go through such difficulties. I am not exaggerating. People go through such difficulties and more. We know the Sahaba. We know what all the Sahaba went through. That's a different thing. I am talking about today. In today's world, the kinds of difficulties that people go through in order to become Muslim and they are still firm on this. They are still firm on this. Alhamdulillah for us, we are to do nothing. And you say, pray five times a day, we cannot do it. May Allah have mercy on us. Eat halal, earn halal. No. Has to be some, some mixture has to be there. Hmm? So let us value this. So badi chaise. First, value this religion. That's it. Alhamdulillah, just think about it. This religion came to us because of the sacrifices of people who are far, far, far superior to us. The Sahaba of Prophet Muhammad , what is the comparison of the Sahabi to us? We are not even, our position and darja with Allah is only because of Islam. Otherwise, in terms of darja compared to the Sahabi, we are not even, at least I'm talking about myself, I don't even consider myself to be equal to the dust on the hoof of the donkey of the Sahabi. But Allah has given a position where you do imamat and you do khitabat and you stand in these masjids and you talk about the greatness of Allah . On what basis? On what basis? Only because Allah has put a cover over my faults and over my weaknesses and over my sins that you don't see it. You say, oh Mashallah, Mashallah, Yaver Bhai, we love you. If Allah had removed that cover. That's why Imam Shafi'i said, if somebody praises you, remember, he's not praising you, he's praising the cover that Allah has put over you. He can only see that. He's only seeing the cover that Allah put over you. So he's praising you. Oh Mashallah, Mashallah. Mashallah who? Me? No. It is Sattari of Allah. Sattaru Rayub Ghaffaru Dhunu. That's it. That's it. I'm saying it. I'm saying it, I'm saying it. I'm saying it. See that? The one who covers the ips and the faults and who forgives the sins, yesterday was saying so, we ask Allah to forgive us and never to remove this cover. Today if you think about this, we have you know, we take care of our bodies humbly, we should and we do exercises and so on and so forth. What about our souls? Is somebody sick? Some kind of sickness? You can see it in the body. You know, the knee won't bend, this will happen, that will happen. Or maybe there is some disfigurement because of some disease. May Allah protect us from all these things. But supposing Allah had made our soul visible. Allah has hidden our soul. If the soul is not visible to others, if the soul becomes visible, that soul which is full of envy and greed and hasad and hatred and deceiving people and lying and cheating, what will it look like? Look leprous, it will look ugly and horrible. Right? But Allah has hidden this. But t

Auto-generated transcript:As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. And achieving success and trying. And he said, well, even after trying, if you are not successful, what shall you do? So I said to him, I say to you, that after trying, not being successful is not possible. It is not an option. Because Allah SWT said, وَأَلْلَيْسَ لِلْإِنسَانِ إِلَّا مَسَعَ Allah SWT said, there is nothing for a human being, for a person, except that which he works for. Which means that if he works for it, he will get it. The option that he worked for it, he tried, but he failed, does not exist. Allah did not say that some people will try and fail, some people will try and succeed. No. Allah said, for a person is only that which he tries for. Which means, if he tries, he will get it. If he does not try, he will not get it. Now this is a very important thing to keep in mind. And not get discouraged. When you are working hard, and you seem to be working for a long time, and you find that, you know, you are not achieving your results, it is not something to lose hope. It is only to understand that maybe, either my way, what I am doing, the method is not the best method, or I have not put in enough time. If you see the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, he talks about the 10,000 hour rule, and he says the difference between somebody who has worked 6,000 hours on something, and 8,000 hours on something, and 10,000 hours on something, the difference is, the difference in magnitude is literally transformation. It is not a linear progression, but it is something which is, you know, multiples of what between 6 and 8, and 6 and 10. It is like multiples of that. So, think about it like this. This is an example which I have given many times before. Those of you who listen regularly, you will remember this. Example I give is that of somebody who has gone to, say for example, you go to a kirana store, you go to a grain store, you go to a provision store, and you ask him to give you, say, 20 kilograms of wheat, or 20 kilograms of rice. So, he puts, he takes the scale, you know, the regular balance. He puts a 20 kilogram weight in, and he has to weigh in, like, one pan, and as soon as he does that, that pan descends to the countertop, and the other pan is up in the air. Then he takes a scoop, and he starts putting in the rice or the wheat into the other pan, which is usually shaped like a kind of bucket to hold the grain. And he keeps pouring the grain in, he keeps putting the grain in. And say, for example, now he's putting in 2 kilos, 5 kilos, 6 kilos, 10 kilos, 15 kilos, 17, 18 kilos, 19 kilos. What do you see in the position of the two pans? You will see there is no change in the position of the two pans. The pan with the weight is still sitting firmly on the countertop, and the pan with the rice in it is up in the air. Now, have you ever, at a stage like this, which you would have seen if you go to any store, this is something that you will see. Has it ever happened to you that the salesperson turns around and says to you, you know what, I don't think this is going to work. As you can see, I'm working hard. As you can see, I'm working consistently. As you can see, I've been working continuously. I've not slacked off. I've not stopped doing my work. But as you can see also that nothing is happening. So I think maybe you should go somewhere else. Try some other store, because it is not possible to weigh 20 kilograms of wheat or rice in this store. Has this ever happened to you? It will never happen to you, because if the man says that, you will just laugh, because you will say, this is the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. What do you mean it's not possible? What's not possible? You have a 20 kilogram weight in one pan, and all you need to do is to put 20 kilograms of rice in the other pan. And if the pan is not descending, if the other pan is still not descending to the countertop, if it is still up in the air, just simply means that there is not 20 kilos of rice is not in that pan. That's all it means. So what do you do? Keep putting more. Now, this whole conversation will not happen, because the man understands that. So he keeps on putting rice. And then you find that when he is, say, for example, at 19.8, then you will find the other pan also starting to come down. There is this kind of movement between the two pans. The other pan also starts to come down. The pan with the weight starts to go up until the bottom. The other pan also starts to come down. The pan with the weight starts to go up until the bottom. And then the two of them are almost level. Then the man, instead of taking a scoop, he now takes the grain in his hand and he releases a little bit at a time until both the pans are absolutely equal. And then to make you happy, he will put in a few more grains so that the rice pan is a little bit lower than the pan with the weight, which means that you are getting a

https://youtu.be/bvg4kZ_h_Mc Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Salatu wassalamu ala ashrafil amin. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahibusallam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. We see that snake coming towards here. And right now he is very successfully pretending to be just a stick. This is in KBR Park. How interesting. So he might like to hide, but we don't let him hide. So Allah Ta'ala said, Sabaha lillahi. Maafis samaawati wa maafil abda. Allah said, Every single thing which is in the heavens and on the earth praises and sends up the praise of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala jala shan. Now just think about that. Reflect on this and say, what does it mean? We leave what's in the heavens, what's on the earth, what I'm seeing here. Sabaha lillahi maafis samaawati wa maafil abda. It means that every single, this thing here, this year of grass fruit, right? Every blade of grass, every leaf on every tree, right? See this leaf? It is singing the praise of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And also this one, and also this one, also this one. Every bug, every bee, every spider. Every frog, every toad, every turtle, every bird, every animal, every butterfly, every locust, every grasshopper. Every single thing sings the praises of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Sings the praises of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So when we pray, we are joining our praise and we are joining our munajat and we are joining our glorification with the glorification of every single creative thing. And we know that everything, illallah, is created. Allah is the creator and He is the creator of every single thing. Everything we know and everything we don't know. They've all been created by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And they are all aware of their place in their society. They're all aware of their place on earth. They're all aware of the purpose for which they have been created. And they all fulfill that purpose. Of course, they have no choice in the matter. Allah has not given ikhtiyar to them. So they do what they have been created to do. And as a result of that, they live their lives. I don't claim that the grasses are happy and the trees are happy. It's a question of happiness. And then so on. Human emotions, they don't apply to non-human things like these. Although they probably do apply to mammals. And more than mammals, maybe to birds. Meaning living, moving creatures probably. Again, all of this is my guesswork. But point being, that's not material. We come back to us. We have this whole issue of, therefore they do all this. The creatures of Allah. And they benefit from the mercy and blessing and the rizq that Allah gives them. Whereas we, well, we know what we do. Allah gave us ikhtiyar. Allah gave us control. Allah gave us the choice of whether we want to obey. Or not. Allah said, Allah said, Allah said, say that the truth is your Rabb. Allah is the truth. And it doesn't matter whether you believe this or not. It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. I'm not trying to convert you. It doesn't matter to us. It matters to you. And that truth is the truth. That truth is the truth. That truth does not change for anyone. So Allah is saying, If somebody wants to believe this, go ahead, believe it. And if someone wants to deny it and say, no, sorry, there is no God. And all of this just happened by accident. Whatever theory you have. Allah is saying that's up to you. You want to believe that, believe that. It makes no difference even to us. It makes no difference even to human beings. What difference can it make to Allah? So you might say, well, why then should I believe in the truth? Why should I even search for the truth? Why should I want to know what the truth is? Because it makes no difference to anyone else. It makes a world of a difference to us. Because based on this truth, on the day of judgment, when we will be called before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, which is also the truth, then we will be judged for what we believed and what we did. Our beliefs and our actions. Because we had akhtiyar, we had choice in both. We could choose to believe or disbelieve. And we would choose to act with integrity, with truthfulness, with kindness, with compassion, or the opposite. To act with cruelty, oppression, force. All of this. We had the choice and we chose. For better or worse, we chose. Now in order to ensure that we choose only for the better, and not for the worse, in order to ensure that we choose what is right, what is beneficial, in order to ensure that we choose that which is, not harmful to us and to others. To ensure all of this. To ensure that we have a personal life, which is a life of honor, and comfort, and dignity. And we create a society which is dignified, which is caring, compassionate, which has justice for all, not only for Muslims. This is the... T

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 Prophet and the Messengers. Muhammad and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and upon his family, and peace and blessings be upon him and upon many, many. My brothers and sisters, may Allah bless our scholars. One of the scholars, he said, be thankful that Allah allowed you to stand at his door. Be thankful that Allah allowed you to stand at his door. Don't be in a hurry. Don't try to knock on the door because he knows you are there. He does not need to be alerted to the fact that you are standing at his door. Don't knock on the door. Don't demand this and that. Don't expect answers. Don't say, now that I'm here at your door, open the door. Now that I'm here at your door, give me what I want. Nothing. Just stand at the door and stand at the door with the sense of awe and majesty and intense gratitude that Allah enabled you and permitted you to stand at his door. Just that. Just that. Just that. And the guidance to stand at the door of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Yet, you, with all your problems, you with all your issues, you with all that you have, with your dirty hands and your dirty tongue and your dirty book of deeds, Allah allowed you to stand at his door. So just encouragement. Have that sense of gratitude in your heart as you stand at his door. And remember that if he allowed you to stand at his door, he knows why you are there. He knows you are there. He knows why you are there. And he allowed you to stand at his door because he will open the door and he will give you what you need and he will give you what you want. There is no doubt about this and there should be no doubt in your mind about this. But don't be in a hurry. Do not be in a hurry. Do not disturb. Do not try to push. It is the sign of Abodiyat. It is the sign of the slave that the slave is so conscious and so aware and so overwhelmed with just the thought that my Rab allowed me to stand at his door. That he does not do anything. Just standing at the door of his Rab is something which is so beautiful, which is something which is so invigorating, which is so enervating, which is so ennobling, which is so rejuvenating that it does not even occur to him to go beyond that. Say, Alhamdulillah, I am content. I am content. I am here. I am content. You know, I think about this as in the days, in my early days, my childhood I had, we lived in a big house and we had dogs and of course they were outside the house but one of the things that I always sort of thought about was a dog is happy just to lie on the mat. mat outside your door. That's it. He won't go anywhere. He won't ask for anything. He's just lying there on that mat. And when you come out of the house and he jumps up and down, he jumps, you know, he shows his delight in multiple ways and his tail is wagging and so on. And he's barking in that special tone, which tells you that this is not a bark of anger. It's not a bark of fear. It's a bark of complete and total delight that you have appeared. Complete delight. And he's jumping up and down. Complete delight. He's not looking for food. He's not looking for you to do anything with you. He's just absolutely delighted that you exist. He's absolutely delighted that you are there and that he has the opportunity to look at you. He has the opportunity to stand there in your presence. That's it. He's so happy with that. I tell myself that is how I should be with regard to my Rabb, Jalla Jalaluhu. That when I go and obviously Allah SWT does not appear in our presence in that sense, but we ask Allah SWT to enable us to see him in Jannatul Firdaus inshaAllah, as Rasulullah promised that Allah will show himself to us. We hope that day will come. And we hope that we will be the people who Allah SWT will permit to see him Jannatul Firdaus. But today, when we stand in Salah, Rasulullah SAW, if you see his description of al-Ihsan, which he described in terms of Salah, أَنْ تَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَىٰ To worship Allah as if you can see Him. Now think about this. He did not say to worship Allah knowing that you are in his presence, to worship Allah with the awareness that you are standing before him. None of that. أَنْ تَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَىٰ فَإِن لَّمْ تَكُنْ تَرَىٰ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَكَّ And even though you don't see him, you know this in your heart, with this complete sense of certainty that he sees you. Seeing. This is the beauty of Salah and that's why Rasulullah SAW said this is مَرَضُ الْمُؤْمِنِ that it is something where we are in the presence of Allah SWT and for us that means that it is as if we are seeing Allah SWT. So when we are standing in Salah, the question of ghafla, the question of thinking about something e

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. 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. Peace and blessings be upon them. And after that, my brothers and sisters, it is very important after the first prayer to do the Masnoon adhkar of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and upon his family. All the adhkar, all the dhikr the Prophet used to do after the first prayer, it is very important to do that first. Before anything else, before the khatira, before anything which the Imam wants to say or any haddars or hadiths or anything else. Finish the adhkar of, these are all Sunnah Mu'akkadah. They are almost as important as the first. Finish that, then do whatever else you want to do. So the Prophet said, first and foremost, after you finish your Salah, you say Astaghfirullah three times. Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah. And then you say Allahumma a'inni a'la dhikrika wa shukrika wa husni ibadatika. And then if you like, you can say Allahumma takabbal minna innaka anta as-sami wal-alim wa tuba'ilina innaka anta at-tawabur raheem. And then you recite Ayatul Qursi. The recitation of Ayatul Qursi, after the Salah, the first Salah, Rasulullah said, the one who recites Ayatul Qursi after the first Salah, the only thing that is between him and Jannah is his death. Meaning, as soon as he dies, he will go to Jannah, InshaAllah. So simple. Ayatul Qursi after the first. So, the Ulema have said that this could mean Ayatul Qursi immediately after the first, or it could mean Ayatul Qursi as the last thing, before you say Salah. So after Atayat and after Dhurut Ibrahim and after the Dua's, you recite Ayatul Qursi and then you say Salam Alaikum, Salam Alaikum. In the Salah. So the Afdal way is to do that and immediately after Salah also. So after you say Salam, Salam, then Ayatul Qursi. And then SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar, 33, 33, 34. And then La ilaha illaAllah, Wa a'dahu la sharika lahu, la huma al-mulk, la huma al-hamdu, wa ala kulli shay'in qadir. So this is the minimum. And then of course, if Allah gives us tawfiq, La ilaha illaAllah, wa a'dahu la sharika lahu, la huma al-mulk, la huma al-hamdu, yuhi wa yumeet, wa huwa ala kulli shay'in qadir. That addition of yuhi wa yumeet. Huwa ala kulli shay'in qadir, ten times. And after that, Allahumma la ma'aleh ala ma'atayta, wa la muti lima manata, wa la yanfawzal jaddah minkal jaddah. These are the little one lines. This we must memorize and we must say this. Right? Then you do your, whatever else you want to do. The dars or anything else. But until you finish the adhkar, don't be in a hurry. If you do not even have, peace of mind and sukoon in salah, in the masjid, where will we have it? That this life is full of all kinds of tensions and this and that. At least in the masjid, let us be, stay with peace and khair. InshaAllah Allah Ta'ala will give us khair. The key thing is to understand that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us this deen in order to give us sukoon. The purpose of the deen is what? To give you trouble or to give you, deen is not meant to give, deen is meant to solve our problems. Deen is meant to give us sukoon. But anything is beneficial only if you use it. You can have a beautiful house and in that you have, for example, you have an air conditioner in your bedroom. But here in Hyderabad in the summer, the temperature is going to 40 degrees Celsius and you are sweltering in the heat, burning in the heat. You are trying to sleep in the bedroom and you can't sleep and it's so difficult. And somebody says, why don't you turn on the AC? You have the AC, it is installed, it works. Why don't you turn it on? You know, this example sounds stupid, but that is exactly what we do with our religion. We have it, alhamdulillah. All of us, at least all of us here in the masjid are born Muslims. Our parents were Muslims, their parents were Muslims, until Allah knows when. We must ask ourselves, what good is that? I'm not saying it's not good. I'm saying, what benefit am I getting from this? I'm burning in the heat. I have a beautiful air conditioner in my room. I have the remote control in my hand. I won't turn it on. What chance does it make? But that's exactly what we do with our religion. Allah gave us a beautiful system of life, whole life. Start with salah, which is why it is five times a day, reminder, reminder, reminder, reminder, reminder. How must I live my life? The way you do salah. You don't pray any way you like. You pray, you pray. How do you pray? Prophet said what? Sallu kamar ayyitumuni usalli. Pray as you have seen me pray. Not any way you like. I cannot invent my own method of prayin

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahirrabbilalameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kaseeran kaseera. Fahamna ba'du. My brothers and sisters, alhamdulillah, one of my friends asked me for some advice with regard to increasing khushu in salah. And subhanAllah, this is, I am no worry to give advice. My advice is given here in the context and in the way of reminding myself. Because khushu in salah is something that, I don't know about everybody, but certainly it's something that I sincerely believe that I need to. I need it as much as anybody else, if not more. And it's something that I am, you know, it's very important that we should have it. And khushu is one of the requirements for proper salah in the first place. I mean, it's not a frill, it's not a perk, it's not a fringe benefit, it's something which is, it's like a rukun of salah almost, that without khushu, salah is not valid. I don't mean that as a fatwa, I am just saying that the whole purpose of salah, which Allah SWT has said, aqim is salah, li dhikri, establish salah for my dhikr. Allah is saying this very specifically, aqim is salah, li dhikri. So, so ghafla in salah is literally like saying, I am hungry, I am eating, and my hunger is not going away. I mean, it's technically impossible, but this is the nature of things. So therefore, khushu and salah is absolutely critical. Now, how do we get there? The important thing to understand is that khushu and salah does not begin with salah. It doesn't begin when we stand there and say Allah Akbar. It begins in our whole life itself. First and foremost, khushu begins with our understanding of who Allah SWT is, and by understanding I don't mean, uh, cognitive or intellectual, uh, or theoretical understanding of who Allah SWT is, but what that feels in the pit of your belly. Uh, what is the first thought in the mind as soon as there is a problem? Do we think Allah, or do we think of something else? As one of my shaykhs used to say, if you have a headache, what is the first thing you think? Allah or Tylenol? Do you make dua, or do you look for a medicine? Nothing wrong in looking for a medicine, but is that, which is the first thought? So where is the khushu, where is the sincerity in asking? So do we ask Allah SWT, or we ask Allah only when, uh, you know, as an afterthought? Take for example, all the, uh, efforts, and the protests, and the marches, and the what not happening, uh, against this and that cause, uh, this and that situation, where Muslims are involved in. Um, but how many times have you seen people saying, let us make tawbah and istighfar? Let us make tawbah and istighfar, because Allah SWT's help comes to those who, Allah SWT, to those who have sought forgiveness, and who have turned towards Allah SWT. Faqultu istaghfiru rabbakum innahu kana ghaffara. You see, yusri al-samaha alaykum midrara, wa yumdidkum bi anbali wa baneen, wa yaj'al lakum jannati wa yaj'al lakum anhara. In Surah Nuh, Allah SWT mentioned and said that, faqultu istaghfiru rabbakum, and the Prophet says, oh my Rabb, I asked them, I told them to make istighfar, and I said to them, make istighfar, turn to your Rabb, apologize to him, be contrite, seek forgiveness, innahu kana ghaffara, surely he is the one who forgives. yusri al-samaha alaykum midrara, and then he will send down rain to you from the heavens, wa yumdidkum bi anbali, and he will help you with wealth, wa yaj'al lakum jannati wa yaj'al lakum anhara, yumdidkum bi anbali wa baneen, and he will help you with wealth, and with children, with meaning tribe, and which means influence, and, wa yaj'al lakum jannati wa yaj'al lakum anhara, and he will give you garden, then he will give you food, then he will give you food, then he will give you rivers, which refers to material benefits and wealth, and so on and so forth. The point being, all this will happen, faquldu astaghfir rabbakum, if you make istighfar to your Rabb. So salah begins with this sense of the greatness and glory and magnificence of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala in the heart, 24-7, and that comes from thinking about Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, reflecting on the glory and majesty of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, and that is the way of the Prophet Muhammad, and that is the way of the Prophet Muhammad, representing His Majesty, the Majesty of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, being grateful to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala for all that He has given us, and all that He chose not to give us, this is very, very important. This is very critically important. When we think about all this, then we become grateful to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. We continuously think about Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. That is when we stop playing games. That is when we get our ikhlas. Th

Auto-generated transcript:My brothers and sisters, this is the third part of the three-part series on decision-making in the Islamic way. Here I want to share with you a decision-making tool. And that tool is called Keppner-Tragot decision-making analysis. Keppner-Tragot decision analysis. K-E-P-N-E-R hyphen T-R-E-G-O-E decision analysis. It's there on the net also. You can read it up. I teach this in my leadership programs. Now, what they advise, they teach us a very nice method. In any decision, one of the reasons why people have difficulty making decisions is because they are not clear about what they want. And this might sound like, you know, might sound funny in an unamusing sense. But take, for example, if you say, people come to me and they say, I want to get married. I say, okay. So what kind of person are you looking for? What kind of, you know, girl or man or woman are you looking for? They're not clear, right? They say, oh, this person should be. A good Muslim. What is a good Muslim? A person should be from a good family. You know, what's a good family? So there are any number of questions. So the point being that it is very important. People get into confusion because they are not clear about what they want. So Keppner-Tragot gets this clear for us. And that's the method I want to teach you. The first thing to do when you are doing decision analysis, by using this method is to be clear about your goal. So what we advise people to do is we say, write down your goal. What exactly do you want? Write this goal down. You can write it in as much detail as you want, but write it down. Not verbally. Because unless you concretize this, it's like a soup in your head. Just floating around. And that's no good. So you need clarity on that. So write it down clearly. As clearly as you can. What is it that I want? As clearly as you can. Then what you do is, you take that description of yours, of what you want. And you write down, you analyze that. And you say, what are the essentials in this? And what are the desirables? So for example, you say, well, I want to buy a house. So what is the goal? The goal is to buy a house. All right. So when you want, so I ask you, well, what kind of house? Well, what are the essentials and what are the desirables? So you might say, well, you know, I want a house which is within 10 kilometers from my place of work. Now, I will ask you, is that essential or is it a desirable? Now, let me explain to you why I'm saying that. Okay. Now, essentials are go, no go. Black and white. So if you say that my, the house that I want to buy must be within 10 kilometers from my place of work. And I find you a house which is 11 kilometers, not 10, 11 kilometers from your place of work. Will you accept it or will you reject it? You might say, I will accept it. Then I will tell you you are not clear. Because if you... You are clear, then if the place is 11 kilometers away, no matter how stupid that sounds, you will reject that house. Say, sorry, not part of my essential. My essential is within 10 kilometers from 1 to 10. If it is from my place of work, I will buy it. If it is 11 kilometers, I will reject it. That is the reason why decisions don't happen because people have very vague requirements. So clarifying the requirement is absolutely critical. So what are the essentials? Obviously, the more number of essentials you have, the more difficult the decision becomes. You are narrowing the choices. Not difficult, but you are narrowing the choices. If you say house must be only 10 kilometers away, as I said, 11 is not good enough. So if there is a beautiful house which is 11 kilometers away, in reality, what difference does it make? It's a matter of 1 kilometer. But you say, no, this is 10. 10 is 10. 10 is not 11. 10 is 11. So it is very important to be clear about what are the essentials. I want to get married. Okay. What kind of person? Absolute clarity. For example, you might say the person must be Muslim. Now, there is no go-no-go situation. You say, this person is not a Muslim yet. He or she is very inclined toward Islam. And it is very possible that they will become... Muslim, you know, soon after we get married or before. Just before. No, no, no. Are they Muslim or they're not Muslim? Simple. There's no vague or no gray area in that. Are you Muslim? Are you not Muslim? So similarly, whatever may be the essentials. So list those down. So you have the essentials. And as I mentioned to you, the more the number of essentials, the narrower the choice. So that's the payoff for that. So. You get the essentials. Then for each essential, you put down what are the desirables. So now, take the house example. I have this house. Must be 10 kilometers from my... Or must be less than 10 kilometers from my workplace. So this house is there. Now, this house must have three bedrooms with attached bathrooms. Now, is it essential? If it's essentia

Auto-generated transcript:My brothers and sisters, we are on the topic of decision making or decision analysis based on the Shura method. So let's see first of all, what is the Shura method? As we said, Shura is mutual consultation or decision making by consultation. Now, there is a method to do that. And the method is that the people who are all the stakeholders for that decision must be part of the Shura. Shura is the name given to the group which is going to sit together to make the decision. So all stakeholders should be part of the Shura. This is a mistake which many times people make. And it's a very fundamental mistake. And that mistake is an absolutely killer for the decision. Because if a stakeholder, if a key stakeholder is missing, then that decision to get it implemented will be practically impossible. So to take them all into confidence. To have them all part of the decision making group, part of the Shura is absolutely critical. The reason why some people get missed out, one of the major reasons is because of the fear of disagreement. So you would have somebody, one member of the family or group or whatever it is, who is contrary, who is argumentative and all that. And people like to keep it. And people like to keep it. And people like to keep it. And people like to keep it. And people like to keep it. And people like to keep it. So they exclude them either consciously or unconsciously. And this person gets left out. And then obviously there is hell to pay because nothing will happen. Nothing will move. That person will make sure that everything gets sabotaged. So it is very important to make sure that all key stakeholders are part of the decision making group, part of the Shura. No matter whether you like them, you don't like them, they are agreeable, disagreeable, whatnot, doesn't matter. make sure they are part of the decision making group. Second thing is that when the meeting starts, people who are in that group, they must go there with a certain mindset. And that's why I said begin by throwing your ego into the garbage bin outside the room. So when you go inside there, go with the intention of keeping the primacy of the reason why you are coming together. So why are you coming together? I'm going to be coming together in order to solve this problem. And we are coming together in order to come to a decision about this issue. You're not getting there to prove who's right or who's wrong. You're not going in there to win an argument. You're not going in there to show who is smart and who is not smart and who is, you know, whatever, right? It's not a personal competition. It's not a boxing ring. You're going in there collectively to solve a problem. So it is not me versus you. It is me and me and me and me and me versus the problem, versus the decision. That's a very important mindset. And these things don't happen automatically. You have to be conscious about it and you have to think about it carefully and consciously take that decision. I'm going in here with one goal and which is to arrive at a solution. Okay. I'm not going in there to prove that I was always right, that I should be right. I should be, I should be obeyed. My idea should be taken. The other guy is wrong. None of that. Only goal is how do you solve this problem? Everyone together. It is not me versus you. It is all of us versus the problem. So that's the mindset you need to go in there with. Then it is important in the Sura system to select what is called a Faisal. Okay. So, let's go. Okay. There is one thing that we need to do. We need to decide what to do. We need to decide which is the best option, which is the best way to do it. We need to choose a leader for the group. If there is no leader, then there is chaos. The job of the leader is to lead that discussion and finally to announce the decision to which the leader has come. So appoint a leader. Obviously appoint the person who is most knowledgeable, the person who is ... One way of appointing is appoint the leader, appoint as the leader, the one who has the maximum stake in the business, maximum stake in the decision. By stake, I don't necessarily mean shareholding. I mean the person who will be most affected by the decision which is being taken. Appoint that person as the leader because at the end of the day, that person is the one who is going to benefit or be hurt either way. So, therefore, appoint them. That's one possibility. Other possibility, of course, is the biggest shareholder, the oldest person, the most knowledgeable person, head of the family, whatever you want to call it. So, there has to be a leader who is the leader of the meeting and this person will lead the discussion. The goal of the leader, again, must be very clear. The goal of the leader is not to get his point of view accepted. The goal of the leader. The goal of the leader is to arrive

Auto-generated transcript:My brothers and sisters, my brother and dear friend from Durban, Al-Pahla Institute, Dr. Zafar Ahmad asked me a question and before I go further and tell you what his question is and answer the question inshallah let me submit you that I dearly welcome this and especially my request to those who listen to these Fajr Reminders khatiras regularly do send me your questions don't send me fiqh questions I will not answer them I'm not a mufti ask your local mufti for any advice on the from a fiqh perspective but ask me questions about application of Islam this helps me to think this helped me to reflect it helps me also to try to share with you my thoughts on that now his question is can you give us some insights on decision making from an Islamic perspective using the shura concept the beauty of our religion is Alhamdulillah that there is every single thing that we face in life everything in every single dilemma question every single problem every single blessing that we face in life and we are searching for answers the answers are in the kalam of Allah and in the teaching of Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi salam there is nothing that has been missed out every single thing is there and it's up to us to do it and I'm very grateful to you for that and I'm very grateful to you for us to search for those answers in the Quran and in the Sunnah as far as the issue of decision-making and the issue of Shura which is consultation so we are talking here about consultative decision making we're not talking about a one-man show we are not talking about dictatorial way of leadership we are talking about consultative decision-making Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala in Surah Ashura Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala said Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala said Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala said do you know pyramid is going to be broken in ten twenty five forms and limits is no longer and I'm trying to read you to present in this 해서 those SealPs were carefully created and really whatever I legs feelings of Erik wants to be elevated to theaning evil which means this situation rise of making peace with God here late to keep us thelam in a shaikh hedon recruiting wallazine S Sepia Woo firearms not канал Indian well elsewhere KO main homίο so among we're not a colon call until several communities of credit glaubeIS one of the sugar people admitted policies the 48 of those are telling me tomorrow dr. Prabhu develop this sharing throw away mynesistesta job brow the local obs McCarthy here there are no other RF Allah isally in Allah's of towards articulating our desir that has read within three أيolian waters Because the orthodox neighborhood 25 of their They respond to the call of their Rabb and are constant in prayer. Wa aqamu salat. They have, they don't just pray, they don't just read Salat or make Salat or do Salat. They establish Salat. Wa aqamu salat. Wa amruhum shura baynahum. And whose rule in all matters of common concern is consultation among themselves. These are people who decide based on consultation. Wa mimmaa razaqnaahum yunfiqoon. And who spend on others from what we have provided them. So Allah is saying these are people who respond to their Rabb who establish prayer, who conduct their affairs by mutual consultation and who spend and donate from what we have provided for them. These are the qualities of the believers. These are the qualities of the believers. These are the qualities of people who Allah loves. So to make decisions by Shura is very much a part of Islam. Now remember, this is also what Allah asked Rasool Allah to do. To make Shura with the people. To consult with the people. Now let's think about this and say, well why on earth would this be? Why is there a wennab, the service which Guru Haheed alai his manipulating hands on , becauseengage that you are willing to listen to them? I mean, you've mentioned certain Najwa I mean? No, no, listen to someone. You take me to another He says, you've seen some dua where I say to the Muslims who are hearing about it then you do that. Um, you see, there was this tape of somebody emphaticallyassert peaceful aaya, deceitful, or misd100 things is길봐 And after reading it, it's like asking who I have to ask, they were telling eachother. They're Faith is like that No one is God, but if I supplicate then is an announce a мн! Where they would be under preacher, Lord has said in personality of his as one, that me may not pay this amount. look for you know for advice on something where I know that I know the best what I know is superior to what anyone else can possibly tell me because I am closer to the situation I am more deeply involved in it I am more knowledgeable about it why would I listen to anybody else so in the case of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is saying no no you listen to them you take them into confidence you con

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. My dear brothers and sisters, people go through what is called a midlife crisis. And this happens for two reasons. One is that when you are young and you have your life goals, most of them are more or less straightforward and clear, which is to get a job, to get a good job, to get some career progress and so on. So people work for that. And they achieve various levels of success. But once they reach a particular level, they would have achieved most of whatever they set out to achieve. Some things they get, some things they don't get. And also as you grow older, your overall energy also becomes less. And you reach a plateau, you reach a point and then it's, you are climbing to a point and then it becomes flat. And then there is a loss of energy, loss of enthusiasm. There's a sense of loss of purpose. You don't know what to do with yourself. Also, most of the material goals of life get achieved. If you have been, living your life in a reasonably sensible way, then achieving material goals is not such a big thing. So you will achieve whatever material goals there are. So then there's a loss of purpose. So that's one midlife crisis or reason for it. Another one is that you set out to achieve goals and these are good grand goals, big goals. And you find as you go, you go along that despite your best efforts and so on, you are not able to achieve them or not able to achieve them entirely as you envisaged or as you thought you would like to achieve them. So these are the two reasons why people at, usually happens to people in their 40s and maybe later actually, maybe in the 50s or so, but can happen at any time. I've seen people with very fast track, even in their 30s, facing this wall, they don't know what to do. Whatever they thought they wanted to achieve, they achieved, came very early. And then they are at a loss. Now what to do? The issue is therefore what to do with your life because it's, you feel various people I've spoken to, one person said, I think my life has come to an end. But you are still living. So how is it at an end? And you can't say, go jump over, jump off a cliff or something. Life is ended. That we can't do. So what to do with your life? And sometimes it becomes a serious matter because there is a serious loss of purpose in life. And, you know, you are sort of at a completely loose end. You don't know what to do with yourself. Now, the key thing, therefore, to understand is what does Islam tell us. Now Islam tells us to relook and realign the purpose of our lives. And that realignment should be done not only when you are at a midlife crisis, at that time, of course, but even otherwise. And that realignment has to be done according to the purpose of life. And that purpose of life, Allah SWT mentioned, where He said, وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونَ Allah said, we have not created the jinn and the human beings for anything other than our worship. So the purpose of life is to worship Allah SWT to a level that He is pleased with us. Because worship is not just worship. Worship is at some standard. So what is that standard? The standard is the rida of Allah. Now, if you keep that life goal as a purpose, then there is no question of any midlife crisis or any other kind of crisis because this is a continuous improvement goal. What the Japanese call kaizen. In manufacturing, there is the concept, quality concept of kaizen. So, kai is continuous, zen is good. So, continuous, improvement. And the principle of kaizen is that small things add up to a big thing. So small changes add up to a big change. So in this, if you apply the principles of kaizen to the life goal in Islam, which is the rida of Allah SWT, so you have the goal to say, is Allah SWT pleased with me? And Allah created me for His purpose, for this particular purpose, which is His ibadah. Today, what has happened, somebody was asking me, I just came back from Kuwait last night. One of my friends there, he was asking me, how is it that you play people like, we all, I mean, we all talk about spiritual development and we all talk about these things and it's not as if we are insincere and liars or cheats or not like that. It's just that we, we talk about this as if these are desires. But if you look at people, in the past, our Salaf Salheen, for example, Imam al-Ghazali, Rahmatullah Ali, left his home, he settled his wife, his son had died, he had only daughters, he settled his wife and daughters and he left his home and went out and did not come back for 10 years. And he went out because he said, my heart has become hard and for the softening of my heart, I need to do something, some other things. And when he left, he was the, Dean of his area of expertise in the Jamia and Nizamia, which was the biggest university in Damascus. So he had a very, very lucrative a

Auto-generated transcript:Salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. It begins with Ya'i wa al-ladhina amanu. It's a command from Allah for the believers, men and women. So Allah is saying, Ya'i wa al-ladhina amanu, anfiqoo mimma razakhnakum. Spend from what we have given you. Anfiqoo mimma razakhnakum. Spend from what we have given you. Min qabli an ya'ti ya yawmul la bay'un fihi. Wala kullatun wala ya'ti. Wala shafa'a. Wal kafirunahu zalima. Before a day comes in which there will be la bay'un. No trade. No exchange. No buying and selling. La bay'un wala kulla. No friendships. No friendships. Wala shafa'a. And no intercession. Illa mashallah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala insha'Allah al-musta'a'in. We ask Allah for this. We'll give intercession. We'll give shafa'a to first and foremost to Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And then to whoever He wishes. But the general rule, la shafa'a. Nobody will speak on that day illa binillah. Except by the hakum muhalla. Wala shafa'a. Wal kafirunahu muhzalimoon. And those who deny are the people who are the transgressors. So Allah is reminding us that this day will come. And this day will come. And this day will come for everybody. If you are born, you will die. There is no doubt about this. If you are born, you will die. Whether you die today, whether you die tomorrow, whether you die 10,000 years from now, you will die. Whether you are a king or a queen, whether you are poor, rich or poor, whether you are a sheikh or a shaitan, whatever you are, you will die. kullu nasin za'ifatul mawt. kullu nas. kullu nasin za'ifatul mawt. Nobody is exempt from this. kullu nas. Nobody is exempt from this. If there was somebody who could be accepted from this rule and kept separate, that would be Rasulullah . But he died. So who are you? Who am I? He will die. kullu nasin za'ifatul mawt. wa innama tuwaffahu na wujoo raqhum yawmul qiyamah. Allah said that your full reward, you will get there. jawal qiyama. Full reward you will get on the Day of Judgment. He says that his future Kimas aren't on the buffoon deck or with my it. . Allah Ta'ala used two words in the Quran al-Karim to denote success. One Allah used the word falah, muflihoon, falah. Falah is success, but it is success after which there is some other test. So the child is going to school, he passes the grade 10, the metric or whatever exam, education is not finished. After that he has another two years of to do, junior college. Then he passes that exam. He does fantastically well. First in the class, is it over? No. Now he's going into undergrad. You have three years of that. He finishes that, is it over? No. Then he's got post graduation. Test after test after test, until the final test, after which Allah used the word fawz. Fawz una aziyya. Fawz is the success after which there is no test. So who is the one? Who will have fawz? Qaman zuhzi aani naari, fawz khairul janday. Fawz khairul janday. Fawz khairul janday. Fawz khairul janday. The one who is saved from the fire and entered Jannah. Entered into Jannah. There is no other criterion of success. Nothing! No other criterion. Not wealth. Not power. Not money. Not glory. Not duty. Not health. Not wealth. Nothing! None of this is a sign or a guarantee of success. No! guarantee or an indication of success. The only criterion of success, فَمَنْ زُغْزِعَ عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ جَهْنَّةً فَقَدْ فَاسِ And then Allah said, وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَعُ الْغُرُورِ Allah said, And the life of this world is nothing but deception. Nothing but deception. You buy a big car, you think, Ah, it does. I bought a brand new Mercedes. In Hyderabad, they are selling five Mercedes per day. Five per day. Five per day. In six days, 30. So if you buy one, so what? Not a criterion of success. Not a criterion of success. Success is only when Allah saves us from. We ask Allah, اللهم أجِدَ مِنُنا Allah save us from the fire. Right? We ask Allah to open our eyes before our eyes are opened. We ask Allah to open our eyes before our eyes are opened. The day of judgment will start. They came to the Prophet . They said, Ya Rasulullah, a group of people came. They said, Ya Rasulullah, when is the day of judgment? مَتَيَوْا الْخِيَامَةَ When is the day of judgment? مَتَيَوْا الْخِيَامَةَ When is the day of judgment? So the Prophet looked at them. There was a little boy with them. The Prophet said, If Allah gives this one a long life, all of you will see the day of judgment before he dies. What does it mean? He said, All of you will see the day of judgment before he dies. That is why in Arabic, the day you die is called خَيَامَة السُّغْرَة the small Qiyamah. And the actual day of judgment is خَيَامَة الكُبْرَة the big Qiyamah. So for each one of us, the day of judgment is the day when مَلَكُ الْمَوتُ will come. مَلَكُ الْ

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wasalatu wasalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbih salam. Tasliman kathirun kathirun. My brothers and sisters, we all have aspirations and goals and we want this and we want that. We want success in life. You want to have a great career and you want to have a happy marriage. You start a business and you want that business to grow. But you don't always succeed. Now, I'm going to teach you how to succeed. So listen carefully. Number one, swear to yourself. And by swear to yourself, I mean absolutely 100% stand in front of a mirror, hold the Quran al-Karim in your hand if you want, and swear to yourself that you will never make an excuse ever. You will never make an excuse ever. No excuses. No excuses. What does no excuse mean? It means no excuses. Now, think about this. Six months from now, you will either have six months of excuses or six months of progress. Six months from now, you will either have six months of excuses or six months of progress. Only you, nobody but you can decide which it will be. You can decide which it will be. You can decide which it will be. My submission to you is that work means work. Not talking about work or posting on social media about work or planning your work or writing about your work or dreaming about your work. None of this is work. Only work is work. So get this clear in your head. Work means to work. To make the effort consistently day after day after day. No excuses. I'm going to give you on a side note, but very important. The most powerful health hack in the world is to walk 10,000 steps every day. That is five miles. 10,000 steps is five miles to 2,000 steps to a mile. Think about this. If you do that every day for six months, you will be 900 miles from here. Wherever that here is for you. Take a map. Map it. And say, what is 900 miles from me? North, south, east, west. You in six months will be there if you only walk five miles per day. But only if you do it. But instead of that, if you do all the rest, you talk about this intention of walking 900 miles. You think about it. You make movies about it. You sing songs about it. You do what you want. Except walking. If you do all the rest, but you don't walk, you will still be here after six months. So understand this very clearly. You want progress. You have to work. Now, to make progress, you need three things. Three things. One, a clear goal. Number two, a clear strategy to achieve that goal. And number three, consistent hard work for an insane duration of time. For an insane period of time. So let's see each of these. What's a clear goal? A clear goal is something that inspires you. That inspires you enough for you to taste it in your mouth. Inspires you enough for you to taste it in your mouth. A clear goal is something that will keep you awake in the night. Thinking about it. Dreaming about it. It brings tears to your eyes. And most importantly, it makes you show up every day as long as you are alive. It doesn't matter if you are well or unwell or sick. It doesn't matter if you are sad. Glad, glad, bad, mad, rich or poor. It doesn't matter if it's raining or snowing. If it's day or night, nothing matters. Nothing can stop you from showing up. No excuses. No excuses. Make this into something which is running in the back of your head. No excuses. That is number one, a clear goal. Number two, a clear strategy. A clear strategy is something... Something that you have thought about, taken advice and planned and then and above all, you take ownership for execution of the strategy. That means that you have decided. The decision is yours. You will do whatever it takes to apply that strategy. And you and only you are responsible for the result. Yes, you took advice. Yes, you asked people. Yes, some people tried to pressurize you. Other people left you to your own devices and they said, okay, that's fine. Do whatever you think is good. Whatever the case was, some fought against you, some supported you. At the end, the decision is yours and you must take ownership for that. Only you are responsible for the result. It means that you will give it your best shot. You will not give in. You will not give up. You will give it. Your best shot. You will give it all you have. You will act thoughtfully, consciously with full commitment and presence of mind. Not mindlessly, not half asleep, not in some kind of dizz. You will learn on the job. You will measure results. You will benchmark against best in class and make changes to improve. It means that you will not make excuses. No excuses. Third point. Consistent hard work. Consistent hard work means consistent hard work. It doesn't mean working when you feel like it, when you are not tired, when you are free from other engagements. It means that you are going to give your goal

Auto-generated transcript:My brothers and sisters, Alhamdulillah, we all know and we all talk about the biggest need of the Muslim Ummah today, which is that of unity. And we also know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded us and said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, hold firmly together, jami'an, to the rope of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and do not divide among yourselves. Do not divide among yourselves. Don't form into groups and sections. Don't become enemies to one another. Don't say, I will not meet my brother. I will not pray behind him. I will not accept his invitation. I will not invite him and so on and so forth. Do not do all those things. Allah did not say, Allah did not say, do not have a difference of opinion. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, treat those differences of opinion intelligently and work out conclusions, work out solutions. But do not allow them. To divide you and to separate you from your brother and form a clique or a group or some form of separation, do not do that. And this is a command of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now, if you look at this and say, well, you know, we don't seem to be able to do that. And may Allah have mercy on us. Today, we see this even among scholars, even among... Muslim organizations. And if we see it in such an ugly way, so sad and so tragic and so, you know, unbelievable that really, I mean, it's, I mean, obviously we do not despair at all, but it's something that drives you to that point. It's one, I mean, how and on earth can, did this happen and how can we change it? So, let's try and see how do we do that if you, if you find yourself in a situation where you are, you know, damaged. has already happened, dispute has happened, dispute has escalated and gone to the point where now it seems to be insoluble, separation has happened already and so forth. Now, in that situation, how do you, you know, what do you do? So first and foremost is to look at what is the dispute about. So what I suggest to people is both the parties sit down and write down what does the solution look like to you? What would you like to see? And don't say I would like to see you dead. That doesn't help. You might say, I don't want to see you dead. You might want that, but that's a useless thing to do. That's not a point where you can approach anything. So look at this thing and say, what is it that I need to do? What is it I would like to see? What is it that I would like to see? So you say, this is my view of the solution. This is what the solution looks like to me. And both the parties. So you know, if it's... If the solution is A and B, so A writes down what the solution looks like to him or her, and B does the same. I mean, I use this all the time even in marital counseling, for example, you know, seems to be insoluble differences leading to divorce, almost to the point. How do you change that? This is how you change it. Look at it and say, what does the solution look like to me? Both parties. And take your time. You know, write as much as you can. You know, write as much as you can. As much detail as you wish. Once that is over, then we exchange those sheets of paper. You take... You look at my solution. I look at your solution. Many times I've seen when this is done, the two solutions are very, very similar. Both parties want to see the same thing happen. The reason they don't see it is because they're approaching it from two different angles. And it seems to them that... There is no other way. This is the only way. So they have stuck or got stuck in a place. But if they look at it objectively, we say, oh, this is what you wanted. Well, you know, it's not so far from what I wanted. That's exactly what happens. Then we start the dialogue. We start people to start speaking because that's very important. I always say this all the time. This is that every dispute. No matter what the situation is. I'm not saying that you should not have a problem. No matter what. Whether it's a dispute between two individuals. For example, the most common is between husband and wife. Or it's a dispute between two individuals who... It's a, you know, a business dispute of business nature. Maybe it's a dispute of a religious nature. Maybe it's a dispute between two organizations or two factors of an organization. An organization has split into two. So you've got this group and that group basically from the same organization basically doing the same work. But they are now, you know, on two different folks or two different platforms. So maybe it's a dispute between countries. We have plenty of that in the world. All of these, the root to that, the root to the solution is the same, which is to practice what I call or what we call active listening. Active listening. This is one of the first casualties of any conflict, which is listening. I m

Auto-generated transcript:Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah., And the day that course was to be taught, I barely managed to reach the place because there was a snowstorm. And there was snowstorm warning and so on. So it was bitterly, bitterly cold, horrible driving conditions. But my thing was, I have given my word that I'm going to be there and I'm going to be there. There is no compromise on my word because my word for me is by bond. So I landed up there. With great difficulty. Parked the car and very, very slowly, very scared of falling, walked across the parking lot into the building. And I'm sitting in the classroom getting ready to teach. The time comes. About five minutes after the time, two ladies walking. And both of them were from the IRS. And that's it. Two people. And there were over 20 people. And 22 or 25 people registered for the course. Just two people came because the weather was so horrible. So after about five minutes, I introduced myself and so on. And then I said to them, I said, ladies, what do you want me to do? Because just two of you have come. And 20-something registered. But I don't think anyone is coming because of this weather. So what do you want to do? They said, what? What are the options? I said, the option is that you two stay here and I will teach you. We'll do the entire course, the whole day. I will teach you. And you decide if I'm going to teach you the way I would have taught 25 people or not. That's up to you. But I will teach you. Other alternative is you go home, I go home. But given the weather outside, I don't know how you are going to reach home. I definitely don't want to try and get stuck somewhere on the road. So it's your call. So they said, well, if you don't mind teaching us two people, we'll be obliged. We'll be honored. We'll be very happy. And I taught two people. Six hours of teaching. I did everything the way I would have done if there had been a room full of people. And that built for me a reputation which people talked about and which resulted in more work for me at a time when I really needed work. So to come back to Sahil Bloom, he says, Take the discovered scale. My son taught all his friends how to domain Windows Phone. I put weren't Ghent I know him in ajurp. And I sent him his skills. And he did the thing. Really? No. They got I had the convenience. I don't think I also get the I have to томуdim other. You know, somebody. People will have an cału me really good friend. And I'm a junior. I'll not anymore. I'm Valium who is veryλ hg expected me the region of Singapore, because Es Mutual lecture. I have been to the country for six years. Now I had come here myself. Gods is not fresh on my hands. but I've been for years. Do you know the? Yes, I see. your worst. Top performers show up with energy and enthusiasm for the little things, just as much as they do for the big things. One of my favorite stories of Kobe Bryant and the wonderful stories of him, lots of them, one of my favorite stories is when he was a young rookie in basketball, still playing the college circuit. So he plays this match and he misses two penalty shots. And as a result of which, his team wins, but they almost lose. So it's not as spectacular or wonderful win that they would have liked. So the commentators now are talking about this and Kobe gets off the stage. He goes and sits on a bench and he is bent forward, holding his head in his hands. His elbows resting on his knees, his head held in his hands. So the commentator says, oh my God, look at Kobe, look at Kobe, look at Kobe. He is absolutely devastated. He's so sad. He must be crying, must be weeping, must be terrible to be in that position. He's just almost, you know, the first time into the game and he missed two. And so on, so on, so on. Now, obviously, all this Kobe is hearing, doesn't react, just sits there. And after some time, he gets up to go when somebody, one of the reporters catches him and he says to him, Kobe must be really upset and you must be, you know, so sad because you're sitting there with your head held in your hands. Kobe says, look, I was sitting there, figuring out what I did wrong. What I did wrong. How did I miss those two baskets? He said, I figured that out. I will never do that again. That's it.

Auto-generated transcript:Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen wa salatu wa salam ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammad wa Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam tasleeman kathiran kathira. My brothers and sisters, I want to share with you some words from the heart. I call these attitudes of success. The first one of them is an attitude of gratitude. To be grateful and to express gratitude. To thank people. We landed here in Hyderabad less than a week ago. And two things that simultaneously stood out for me. One was the attitude. The absolutely tumultuous welcome that we received. From friends, from relatives, from neighbors. Absolutely. As if I was the best thing or we were the best thing, my wife and I, that happened to them in their life. I ask Allah to make that true for them. And for them not to be disappointed. So, amazing. We are settling into our house. And we are flooded with food. Different people send us all kinds of absolutely fabulous Hyderabadi cooking. From their homes, hot. Fills up the fridge. At the same time, I go on the street and there is completely insane traffic. And unfortunately, unfortunately, the infrastructure is so bad that on the one hand, we have these buildings which if you keep your eye and you look at the angle of what 45 degrees, you will not be blamed for imagining that you were in Manhattan or you were in downtown Chicago or something. Beautiful buildings, huge skyscrapers, absolutely steep. And glass everywhere and so on. But lower your gaze and you find a road that is from the previous century. Completely filled with, I mean, I don't think you can call it a road because it's like one pothole joined with another pothole. And people are, you sit in the car, you have to hold on because you're being thrown from side to side. The only good thing about it is that traffic moves at walking pace. Now, I have a choice. I have a choice to moan and groan about that and say how bad the traffic is and how bad the road is. And obviously, there's a lot of pollution and so forth. Or I have the option of feeling immense gratitude to Allah SWT for putting love and respect and honor for me and my wife in the hearts of people. So people go out of their way. People welcome us. People are, you know, very, very good to us. Now, this is a choice. And believe me, no matter what situation you are in, this choice is always there for us. Which aspect of your life do you want to look at? Everybody in the whole world, no matter who they are, have things in their lives which are good and they have things in their lives which are painful. Everyone. Irrespective of... Place, irrespective of position, irrespective of wealth, health, you name it. And at the same time, they have a choice. What do you want to look at? So I remind myself and you, let us have an attitude of gratitude. Be grateful for what we have. Don't worry about what we don't have. Bear what is painful with dignity and silence. And then you make sure... Make sure that you thank other people. You thank the people who are doing all this good for you. The good comes from Allah . But Allah uses people to get that good to you and me. And that's why Rasulullah said, the one who has not thanked the people has not thanked Allah . It's very important to thank people because you may forget, but they won't. And that is called reputation. And you can't put a dollar. Value on it. So the first thing to do is attitude of gratitude. Second one is to define your purpose. Don't live life by default. Cows live by default. Buffaloes live by default. Get up in the morning, go eat some grass. Uh, come back to the stable in the night. I go to sleep. That is the life of animals. It's not the life of human beings. So take thoughtful decisions based on their expected outcomes. And as far as we are concerned, the expected outcome is the effect of that decision in the Akhira, not just in this world, in this life. I want to suggest to you a wonderful book in this context called Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. G-E-O-F-F-C-O-L-V-I-N. Talent is Overrated. Now he talks about this. What is what he calls thoughtful practice? Thoughtful practice. Not by default. Consciously doing something. Very aware of how you are doing that and the expected outcomes. So my advice to myself and you is don't live by default. Make active, thoughtful choices. Not to do that is also a choice. Meaning not to live thoughtfully. It's also a choice. But what you are really doing, if you do that, is choosing to hand over the control of your life to someone to whom you are at best a resource. Like raw material or money or something else. They will spend you and can afford to lose you. If you do this, you will be used. Then don't complain. I was here in the United States in 1997. Not here. I'm right now. In Hyderabad. But, you know, I just came here a week ago. So and I went to the United State

https://youtu.be/j09JBq9whEs 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 and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and companions, and upon many, many. Amen. As a video, just to also give you an idea of what Hyderabad looks like to those who haven't seen the city. It's a very big city, around six or seven million is the population. As you can see, it is extremely alive. It's very urban, extremely built up. I don't know if you can see that in this video, but way in the distance you can see the high rises, the skyscrapers, which is the financial district of Hyderabad. Practically every brand name, every big name industry, every big name multinational is here. And there you can see one of the denizens of Hyderabad, the Blue Rock Pigeons, which we have. I think we have probably the highest concentration of them in the world. This is a little clump of forests near the house, and then you see the rest of the built up society. The traffic, today being Saturday, is very heavy. The traffic is very heavy. Today, also partly holiday, traffic hasn't started yet, but still there's quite a lot on the road. The traffic is completely insane. I will post a video later on. I'm trying my best to stay inside. The traffic is completely insane. These things here are to prevent... I don't know if you can see them. These... they're like... they're plastic thorns, spikes. These are to prevent pigeons from sitting on this railing. And because they make... they make a big mess. Now, having given you a very quick thumbnail tour of Hyderabad, let me come to the point of what I want to share with you. Yesterday was Juma, and I prayed in my masjid. Very... again, a bittersweet experience, because on the one hand, it's a wonderful feeling, and I hope Allah gives this opportunity to all of you. It's a very beautiful thing to see something that you started, which people have carried out and carried on, and you see it working very well and functioning very smoothly. And that was my experience in my masjid yesterday. When I went there Saturday, the khatib came and said to me, I cannot deliver the khutbah when you are here. So I said, are you asking me to leave? He said, no, no, no, Astaghfirullahalazim. He said, you please do the khutbah. So I said, are you trying to test me? He said, no. He said, no, no, I'm not trying to test you. But how can I give the khutbah? I said, no, please do give the khutbah. He said, okay, with your permission. I mean, this is, you know, coming back, coming out of America after a week, even counting my own culture of in which I was born and grew up, a culture of adab, a culture of Islamic manners, alhamdulillah. May Allah forgive me for grumbling about this at one point in my life. I used to say, oh, you know, we have lost our culture. But we're all right. When I come back now, I find that now I have perspective of what happened when you actually do lose your culture. May Allah have mercy on all of us. So anyway, so this is the, that was a beautiful part of it. And of course, you know, practically I know every single person there. So after the Jum'ah, I spent about two hours with everyone comes and meets personally and hugs and so on. And Mashallah, may Allah bless all of us. I said, that's the sweet part of it. Of the bittersweet. But the bitter part of it also was, I could literally see spaces were not actually vacant, because obviously the vacant space gets occupied. But places where my very, very dear friends used to pray, I see that place and that place has got somebody else sitting in it now. Because these are, you know, in Masajid, people who go regularly, we tend to form our favorite places. So, you know, you always go and sit in that place. You pray in that place. You pray in that place. And in my Masajid also, there are, there were so many people who have passed away. And may Allah grant them Jannatul Firdaus without any expense. These were people who were, one of them was a founder of the Masjid himself, Adnan Mahmood. May Allah grant him Jannatul Firdaus without any expense and fill his khawar with Noor and reward him in keeping with His Majesty and Grace and forgive his sins. And others who were, who supported him and who worked with him and who, you know, did their best to establish a place of worship, a house of Allah, Alhamdulillah. So, he passed away, his place is vacant. I mean, I have a whole list of names. I won't mention all the names because, you know, this Fajr Bandra goes all over the world and people don't know those names. But, you know, I have a list of names. I won't mention all the names because, you know, this Fajr Bandra goes all over the world and people don't know those

Auto-generated transcript:The second thing I want to remind myself and you is to thank Allah in good and as well as in difficult times. And therefore I advise you and myself to be grateful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Grateful for what he gives us and even more grateful sometimes for what he takes away. Because the one who takes away does that for one reason only. Because he wants to give you something better. My Sheikh used to say that if you go, if somebody has this what we call da'at-e-aam. So this is you know feeding the poor. You got a whole Sufra Dastur Khan there and everybody in the whole village, the whole town is there. Hundreds of people and you also go there and you sit down there along with the people on the floor. And suddenly your host sees you. What will he do? He will come and grab you by the arm and pull you up. Now when that happens, what do you say? Do you cry and say, oh my God, he's depriving me of my meal? Or do you feel proud and say, alhamdulillah, I have been recognized. My host knows who I am. And he lifted me from this place only because he wants me to sit at the head table to give me honor. He's not depriving me of the food. He wants to give me that food in a much more honorable place. And therefore, we thank Allah for what he gives us and for not giving sometimes what we ask. And for what he takes away from us. In the hadith in Musnad Imam Ahmad, Abu Sayyid al-Khudri reported that Rasool Allah said, there is no Muslim who calls upon Allah who makes dua. And in this dua, there is no sin. He's not asking for something haram. Nor is there cutting of family ties. But that Allah will give him one of three answers. He says, Allah will give him one of three answers. He will quickly fulfill his supplication. He will give him what he asked. Or he will store it with him. He will store it for this person in the hereafter. Or he will divert an evil from him similar to what he asked. So the Sahaba said, Ya Rasool Allah, in that case, we will make more and more dua. We will ask more and more. And Rasool Allah said, no matter how much you ask, Allah has more. Allah reminded us of the way to increase His blessings, which He has given us. And He said, He said, He said, And remember when your Rabb proclaimed and announced, if you are grateful, I will certainly give you more. But if you are ungrateful, surely my punishment, is severe. See the mercy of Allah. Allah did not say, I will punish you. Allah said, beware, the punishment is real. All the promises of Allah are for the muttaqun. Not simply the Muslimun. When we accept Islam, we enter the gate, the boundary of the palace. You are not on the street, you are in the fort. You are in the boundary of the palace. But from inside the gate, to the palace, and through the door, then inside that, to the throne room, to the treasury, is a journey. But real rewards are there. If you are only standing on the outside, if you are running around in the periphery, you haven't even entered the palace, this is not a great idea. And therefore it reminds, it is for us to constantly remind ourselves, about Allah . And that is why Salah is made farad on us five times a day. That is why Allah sends Ramadan, to instill Taqwa in us. And that is why we have so many opportunities to worship Allah in so many ways. And at so many times. Let us not wait for a blessing to end, before waking up to the fact that it is gone. The last thing, I remind myself and you, is to maintain unity. And not allow divisions. For any reason. Any reason. Allah said, Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic and he saved you from it. This is how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes his revelations clear to you so that you may be rightly guided. I advise myself and you to be together and not allow anyone to divide us. Please note Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not say la taqtalifu. He did not say don't have a disagreement. Do not disagree. He said la tafarraqu. Do not allow that disagreement to separate your hearts. You can have a difference of opinion. There is no problem. Alhamdulillah. But don't allow that difference of opinion to separate you from your brother or sister. Don't allow that difference of opinion to make you slander people. Don't allow the difference of opinion to form a new sect, to form a new group. Never do that. We can and we will have difference of opinions or matters. But I advise you and myself not to allow them to become walls between you. But to allow them to become walls between each other. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's protection is with the jama'ah and shaitan is with those who separate themselves from it. The only time when it is permitted to separate ourselves from others is when it is a matter of halal and haram. This is where we must respect Allah s

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 and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family and his companions. Peace and blessings be upon them all. After this, my brothers and sisters, first and foremost, I would like to thank Allah the Exalted for having given me the opportunity to be here for these six years. It's a study in how fast time passes. I cannot myself believe that six years have passed. Alhamdulillah, they have passed. And we have been through, thanks to COVID and so on, different times and different things. And Alhamdulillah, I thank Allah the Exalted for His constant help and His constant courage and support that Allah the Exalted gave me. And gave all of us. I want to thank very specially the board of this masjid. And they know and I know that I don't, I'm not just saying this formally. But this is a masjid, the board of which represents the kind of brotherhood and diversity that brother Muhammad talked about. Where there is this understanding between the board members and their own dedication to serving this community. Many times in the face of opposition which is from people who don't understand what is going on. Despite that, they have been serving and they have been doing a brilliant job. And they all do it only and only for the pleasure of Allah the Exalted without any compensation. I want to thank especially Dr. Bajwa, who has been a mentor to me from day one. And Alhamdulillah, we have done some good work with the interfaith community. But I have always looked upon him and I continue to look upon him as a mentor and a teacher in how to deal with the interfaith community. My experience of the interfaith community was practically zero when I came here. Because we don't have this kind of thing in India. But after I came here, Alhamdulillah, we have been able to do things which I am satisfied about. But all of that is thanks to Dr. Bajwa's introductions, his guidance, his continuous support, his advice. Alhamdulillah, and I ask Allah to reward him in keeping with His Majesty and Grace. I will not name all the other people because there are so many. And they know and I know and Allah knows who they are. And I ask Allah to reward all of them in keeping with His Majesty and Grace. So I want to express my thanks to this entire community. To the children, to the elders, to the men and women, all of whom I have had the pleasure and privilege of interacting with. And Alhamdulillah, these are memories I take with me. The second thing I want to say to you is that while I am away, there are certain things which you have been receiving for me which will continue. One is the two classes a week. Right now, one of them Dr. Ali is doing, which is the Tafseer class. But that also is my responsibility. So two classes a week, the recording of the Jummah Khutbah. These three things you will get every single week. The second thing which you will get is the daily Khatira. Now here you get it live every alternate day. Because Sheikh Abdullah and I take 10 days. But the virtual is always there. But you will get the daily Khatira, InshaAllah, every day. That will also come to you. So InshaAllah, this will also continue. So also with regard to any advice that any of you want, any questions you want asked. I don't say I have the answer to all questions. I wish I did. But certainly I will try and I will try to get you whatever answers you want. Or any kind of help you like. InshaAllah. Whatever I can do, I'm at your service and will continue to be at your service as we go forward. So I want to start with these two things. So you are sure that I will, that you can't get rid of me that easily. I want to remind myself and you that we are on a journey and the name of that journey is life. And like in any journey, we have to take our provisions with us. And Allah told us what the best provision is for this journey. And that is to be conscious of and concerned about gaining His approval in all that we say and all that we do. To ask this question before every speech and every action. Will Allah be pleased with this? And this is the meaning of Taqwa. Taqwa. To be always concerned about the pleasure of Allah and to let that supersede and override everything and everyone else. Allah said in the ayat of Surah Al-Baqarah Allah said the best, take the necessary provisions for the journey and the best of those provisions is righteousness, is Taqwa. And be, have my Taqwa, O people of reason, O people of intelligence. So I advise myself and you to have the Taqwa of Allah . Three things that I want to leave with you. First and foremost is to have the Taqwa of Allah in all that we say and do because this is the beginning of all goodness. The beginning of all goodness is to have the Taq

Auto-generated transcript:Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafi al-anbiya wal-mursaleen. Wa hamadu Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam tasliman kathiran kathira. The seventh right that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has upon us which we are supposed to fulfill is that we accept his judgment in all matters without any resistance. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala shut all doors to personal opinions and differences when it comes to the decision of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in any matter. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala included himself in this ayah as the one making this ruling. This is a hukum of Allah. This is a ruling of Allah. To emphasize the position of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and to support his authority. This is not oppression or blind obedience. But the basic requirement of having accepted that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is the messenger of Allah and is guided by him in all matters. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنِينَ وَلَا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا أَنْ يَكُونُ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةَ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا مُبِينًا Allah said no believer. Neither man nor woman has a right when Allah and his messenger decide on a matter to have an opinion different from that. To have a choice in that matter at issue. And whoever disobeys Allah and his messenger has gone astray into manifest error. Therefore if Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam rules in a matter that ruling is guided by Allah and is binding on us. We are allowed to have opinions. We are allowed to have our own thinking. We are allowed to have our logic. We are allowed to have our deductive reasoning. We are allowed to have all of that until it comes to a text. When we have our opinion and we are faced with a text, which is the Quran or the Sunnah, which is against the opinion, we give up our opinion and we follow the text. This is the meaning of being Muslim. Therefore if Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam rules in a matter, that ruling is guided and protected by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and it is incumbent and compulsory on us as Muslims, men and women to follow that. Anyone who accepts Allah and his Rabb as his Rabb and Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as the Rasul of Allah and the recipient of Wahi, of revelation, must automatically accept his rulings because he understands who Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is. This is a sign of obedience with understanding, not blind obedience. The one who does not obey is the one who is blind because he doesn't understand the fundamental principle of Islam. The declaration of faith, la ilaha illa Allah wa Muhammad wa Rasulullah, to accept the rulings of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam without question is logical, reasonable, and the sign of intelligence and faith. The two are not mutually exclusive in Islam. Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-Las reports in Abu Dha'in, the Hadith in Abu Dawud, I used to write whatever I heard from Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and wanted to learn it by heart. Some people of the Quraysh dissuaded me and they said, do not write everything you hear from Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam while he is, because he's a human being and sometimes he may be angry like any other human being, maybe meaning he says something, he doesn't mean it. They meant that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam might say something in a state of anger, which he did not intend to say. So one should be selective in writing his Ahadith. Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-Las conveyed their opinion to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and he said to him that this is what I used to do. I used to write everything you say, but people are telling me don't write everything because maybe he says something in anger, maybe he doesn't really mean it and so on. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam pointed to his lips and he said, I swear by the one in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, nothing comes out from these two lips except the truth, so write it. Those of you who claim that Ahadith were collected 200 years later, explain this to me. He's saying write it. If they didn't write it, how did you find it after 200 years? In any situation, I remind myself and you, be it religion, your career, marriage, culture, yourself in terms of self-confidence or any other aspect of life, nothing can be achieved by those who are in perpetual doubt. This is the biggest problem today. The people on the truth are in doubt and the people on falsehood are completely certain about themselves. A firm conviction that is free from doubt is the basis of self-confidence. Dithering doubters are too caught up in their own to be or not to be arguments to ever make an impact or to take any decisive decision in life. They lose all opportunities,

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 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 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 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 the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Prot clause for the Healings. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. O' God, make us poor. O' بَت便بْد كانف Doo Cool. Ceil pigeonaffen, We call it like any pigeon. He should bevet unbelievers with you. Nazim begu kilhh Germani, cheil� baili huua kufri, reprodu friends. Allah said, He it is who has sent his messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam with guidance and the religion of truth, which is Islam, that he, Jalla Jalaluhu, may make it, make Islam the most beneficial, the most, the number one choice prevailed over all other ways of beings and religions. And all sufficient is Allah as a witness. As an honor for his Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Ummah, he, Jalla Jalaluhu, gave them the job of conveying the message of Islam to the rest of the world. This is the meaning of helping the deen of Allah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded his messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to introduce himself and say, قُلْ هَذِهِ سَبِيلِ أَدُعِ لَلَّهِ عَلَى بَسِيرَةٍ أَنَا وَمَنِي تَّبْعَنِي وَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَمَا أَنَا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ He said, Say, O Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, this is my way. I invite unto Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to Islam with sure knowledge, I and whoever follows me. Meaning, they must also do the same job. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and glorified and exalted be Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, above all that they associate as partners. And I'm not of the mushrikeen. I'm not of the polytheists. This ayah declares very clearly our connection to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. It's not a connection by birth, or by gender, or blood, or race, or tribe, or family, or nationality. It is a connection of faith and work. Those who wish to be connected to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam must do the work that he did. They must do his work. He was ordered to start. He was ordained to start. Merestate, this is my way. I invite towards Allah. I and those who follow me. Like it was for the nabi, this job is not a choice, left to our discretion. It is incumbent and compulsory on the one who accepts Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, as his Rabb and Muhammad sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, as his messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and enters Islam. This job need not be done in a specific way. way is good for you as long as it is inviting people toward Islam by word, by deed, by action, by behavior, by culture, by appearance, any way which suits you. But the intention must be to present Islam to the people in the best possible way that is possible for us to do. In honor of that, he Jalla Jalaluhu granted the job of the Nabi as his life goal. The reward of that is the company of the Rasul alaihi salatu wasalam on the day of judgment and Jannatul Firdaus inshaAllah. Rasul alaihi salatu wasalam said in a hadith in Tirmidhi, whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to that of those who follow it without the reward of either of them being lessened. And this is in Muslim. Rasul alaihi salatu wasalam warned us in a hadith in Tirmidhi. He said, I swear by the one who has my life in his hand. It is incumbent upon you. It is compulsory upon you that you enjoy what is virtuous and that you should forbid what is evil. Otherwise, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will send his punishment on you. Then you will pray to him, but your prayer will not be accepted. You will make dua and the dua will not be accepted. It is incumbent further upon you that you give Amr bil Maruf. That you command goodness and you command Nahi anil Munkar and you command people that they should leave the haram. It's not your choice. And if you do not do that, Allah said he will send his punishment on you. And you will pray among the punishment. You will ask for help. Allah will not help you. You will make dua. Allah will reject your dua. Allahumma ansur manna sara deena Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam wa ja'alna minhum. Allahumma khazal adina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam wa laa taja'alna ma'hum. O Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we ask Allah to help the religion of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and count us among those who

Auto-generated transcript:Salam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Alhamdulillah, Rabbil Alameen. Wa salatu wa salam ala al-sharafi al-anbiya ibn Musaleen Muhammad Rasulullah. Sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam tasliman kathiran kathira. So, amma baadu, my brothers and sisters, Jazakallah khairun to all of you, especially the brothers from UMass for taking the time and trouble to come and see me before I go to India. May Allah bless you and keep you in His special care and concern. Some of you are freshmen and some of you are seniors. And I don't know by the time I return, you would have graduated and gone. May Allah Ta'ala keep you safe always in His special care. May Allah Subhana Ta'ala protect you. May Allah help you in ways that you cannot imagine. May Allah Subhana Ta'ala open doors for you from places where you can't imagine. May Allah Subhana Ta'ala protect you from all evil. That which you know and that which you don't know. May Allah Ta'ala make it easy for you. May Allah grant you your wishes, your goals, your aspirations with khair and barakah and maafiyah. I want to share with you four, what I call my four hard truths. And I call them hard truths because these are painful to accept to face, but they are true. I used to go to a gym in Hyderabad called Talwarkots. In that gym, there was a huge scene to floor poster which had a picture of a very, over-muscled, big, huge man. And the slogan said, shut up and train. And I think that's a very good, very good rule to follow for yourself. To shut up and train. Meaning, to focus on our life goals. You're here at the university. And remember that you're here for one reason only. There is no other reason. You're not here for the clubs. You're not here even for the MSAs. You're not here for absolutely any reason other than to get the best possible grades that you can get. Absolutely the best possible grades that you can get. Because you're here for the best possible reasons. And the best possible reasons are doing it. Because what you do in these three, four years that you're here will determine your future for the rest of your life, more or less. So therefore, it makes absolutely zero sense to spend this time focusing on anything other than your studies. Now, once you have finished with your studies for the day, for the week, for the month, and then you have spare time, by all means, spend that spare time doing another six. And in that, I would put your MSAs as the top priority because to learn your deem and to do something good for people, this must be your top priority. Do spend time also on your physical education, on being on physical fitness. You must be known for the best food among all American universities. And usually that also means that it should be known for the... its capability to fatten you the fastest. Because all best food translates into enormous number of calories. So you want to be in a situation where by all means, enjoy the food, but make sure that you burn it off. So hit the gym, have a beautiful campus, go running, go walking. 10,000 steps per day. Make this into an absolutely invaluable rule. 10,000 steps per day. And those 10,000 steps must be done at one stretch. It's not throughout the day. So the routine that I always recommend for people to follow is number one, wake up one hour or one and a half hour before the time for fajr starts. And then make sure that you pray tahajjud. Make tahajjud firm on yourself. And once you've prayed tahajjud, then read one juz, one zibar of Quran. And depending on your speed of reading, if you can't finish the whole juz, read as much as you can. And then go and pray salatul fajr by jama'ah. Go to the masjid, go to the masjid, make sure that you pray salatul fajr by jama'ah. And when you finish praying salatul fajr, then you sit there in the place where you prayed, and make this. And make zikr until the time for ishra comes. And then pray two rakat and two rakat, four rakat, but in twos. The saba of that, the reward of that is an accepted hajj and an accepted umrah. Then you hit the road and get in your 10,000 steps. Do your five mile walk or run or whatever you like. Walking is best. Running is hard on the knees. And you won't feel it now, but you will feel it when you get to Mahil. So ideally walk. But if you feel like a run, go for a run. But do that. Then come back, have a shower and start your day or the rest of your day. Your day started already when you book off for tahajjud. And it started with almost two hours of, two hours or more of the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then you did 10,000 steps. And then you had a shower. So that's the most beautiful way of starting a day and running a day. And then you have your breakfast and then your glasses and whatnot, water. You follow the schedule, and believe me, you will remember me long after I&#

Auto-generated transcript:As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. May the Lord of the worlds be with you. And peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad and the Messenger of God, and his family and friends and his family. Peace and blessings be upon him. Now we are walking in Ashley and with me is Zeeshad and Atiba. Who are both cousins and I have the pleasure of meeting Atiba for the first time and Zeeshad of course. For many many years now. Alhamdulillah. And as we shall see, very very beautiful place. Truly reminds us of what Allah mentioned about Jannah. We ask Allah for Jannah inshaAllah. The leaves are about to turn colour. So some signs of that colour we are seeing. But I know how what this place looks like another month. So we are completely transformed place. Very beautiful. Very very even more beautiful. We are talking about the issue of virtual reality. So we are talking about Apple's what is it called? Vision Pro. Vision Pro. Vision Pro which is a virtual reality supported device. And you wear it like a pair of glasses. And then it shows you all kinds of videos and images which you can see in the virtual reality. I mean it's VR so it looks real. And I was reminding myself and my brother said that we don't have to go to technology to understand this. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is showing this to us every day. What appears is not what is. There is a difference between the appearance of something and the reality behind it. And we see it throughout in life. You know some people who we think are friends. The way they talk to you, the way they sit with you, they invite you for dinner, for lunch and this and that. And then suddenly, Allah protects. But you discover that they are stabbing you in the back. Right behind your back they are talking stuff. And behind your back they are trying to stab you in the back. So I am always very happy when I hear that. Because it means now I am getting some free good deeds. So I don't confront them. The guy invites me for a meal, I am very happy. I never refuse free food. So I go have the meal. I make sure he eats first so I know it's not poisoned. But other than that, I say Alhamdulillah, please go ahead stab me in the back. And do as much Zaheer as you want. Because all that is good deed for me. And you cannot harm me. There is no one who can harm and no one who can benefit except Allah. So what do I care? Similarly we have, so appearance is something, friendship. Reality is enmity. Similarly, you see, you take the things in Israq. Many times people say, you know, this is not convenient, that is not convenient. The usual moons, not moon sighting but moon fighting arguments. About saying why should we wait so long to see the moon. Why don't we calculate? And this is the modern world. This is a combination of ignorance and self-importance. Because calculations are nothing new. The Hindus have had a calculation calendar for the last 3000 years. So there is nothing new about calculating. People have done, Egyptians had a calculate, moon, lunar calculations 5000 years ago. Because lunar calendars are nothing new. It's not as if the Arabs invented it. Lunar calendars have been there long before the solar calendars. Julius Caesar was the first one to bring a solar calendar. It was called the Julian calendar. So the point is that if you don't read history, then you have no clue what you are talking about. But anyway, so nothing new about that. But moon fighting. So arguing about, you know, which, which, whatever. What organization should you follow? I mean, all of this is for the sake of convenience. So why should we sit in the masjid till 11 o'clock at night waiting for a sighting report to come from California or wherever? But we don't ask this question. When the World Cup was being played in Qatar, because of the time difference, it was 2 o'clock in the morning or 3 o'clock in the night. And people sat. And they didn't just sit for one hour. They sat for two or three hours. They watched all the games. Nobody argued about that. There was no fighting about that. Nobody said, is it Haram? Is it Fard? Is it Sunnah? Is it Rusta? You know, what happens if I don't watch a soccer match when I go to Jahannam? Nobody asked any questions, right? But for the moon. And this is a convenience. So again, we're talking about what, what appears and what doesn't appear. So I always tell them, I said, this deen, Islam, is based on inconvenience. Everything in this deen is inconvenient. Take Udhu. Is it convenient? When you are at your workplace, you have to make Udhu. If you have not done Masa beforehand, then you have to take your socks off, shoes off, go wash your feet. Is it easy? It's very difficult. Especially in wintertime. Especially in wintertime. And then five times a day. Right? The time of Salah comes so quickly. You want to say, I want to sleep for a little bit. No

Auto-generated transcript:As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Faqala ta'ala inna allaha wa malaikatahu yusalluna ala nabi ya ayyuhal ladhina amanu sallu alayhi wa sallimu taslima. Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala ahli Muhammad kama sallita ala Ibrahim wa ala al Ibrahim innaka hamidun majid. Allahumma barika ala Muhammadin wa ala ahli Muhammad kama barikta ala Ibrahim wa ala al Ibrahim innaka hamidun majid. I remind you and myself that leaders come from the people. The leader is not sent from heaven. Leaders come from the people. If you have good people, you get good leaders. If you have a gang of bandits, you will not get Omar bin Abdulaziz as the leader of that band. Right? You will get the biggest. Bandit who will be the leader of that bandit of that gang of bandits. Abu Dahad al-Ansari. On a side note, I'll come back. Abu Dahad al-Ansari. He was sitting in Majid Nawawi Sharif. And he says, I saw a small boy who came to me. He was crying. He was weeping, tears flowing. And he came here. I want your help. Nawawi Sharif was, I mean, he's, there's no. When Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala said, What do you say about his Rama? What do you say about his heart? Allah is the one who is witness to that. This boy comes, he's crying. He says, Ya Rasulullah, I need your help. He says, what happened? He says, Ya Rasulullah, my father gave me, I'm an orphan. My father died. I left for me a small, you know, dead garden. And I want to build a wall around it. And there is a dead, big dead tree in the way of this wall, which belongs to my neighbor. And the neighbor is being difficult. He won't let me take the wall around the tree. I told him, give me the tree. He does not give me the tree. I said, sell me the tree. He doesn't sell me the tree. So now I don't know what to do. So now we saw that Salim said, who's the neighbor? The neighbor was Abu Lubaba. Who's also, he was not one of the manafiqun. He was a good sahabi, Mashallah. But you know, people are people. So, Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam called him. He called him. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said to him, why don't you give this boy the tree? You've got a big dead palm garden, one tree, give it to him. He said, no. This is my haqq, my right. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, okay. He said, no. Sell that tree to me. Sell that tree to me. And I promise you a tree in Jannah. I'm trying to show you what kind of people these were. He said, sell me the tree and I promise you a tree in Jannah. May Allah protect us from ourselves. This sahabi who was one of those who in one Ghazwa actually shared a mount with Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He's not a manafiqun. But human. He said, no. What is the meaning of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam promising you a tree in Jannah? What does it mean? He's promising you Jannah. Okay. You're not going to be sitting in Jannah and selling your people there. You know what? I got a piece of a tree in the Jannah. No. You go to sell. He said, no. And he left. Now Abu Dada, this is not Abu Darda. This is Abu Dada. Abu Dada is sitting, listening to that. As soon as the man left, he came to Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and said, Ya Rasulullah, if I get that tree for you, will you promise me the same thing? Yes. Yes. Now he said, I said, yes. So Abu Dada went behind his man. By the time he caught up with him, he's in the middle of the market of Madinah on his way home. Abu Dada caught up with him and he stopped him and he said, Salaam. He said, I heard this conversation in the masjid and I came to ask you, sell me that tree. So he said, I did not even sell the tree to the Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Why will I sell it to you? He said, no, no, no, hold on. I will tell you the deal. He said, my deal is, he said, do you know me? He said, of course I know you. Who are you? Who am I? He said, you are Abu Dada. What do you know about me? He said, everybody knows about you. He said, what is that? He said, you have the most valuable piece of real estate in Madinah. You have the most beautiful date palm garden with 650 bearing date palms. Wall around the whole thing, a well of sweet water and a house inside. He said, yes. He said, what I am proposing to you is, sell me that tree and I give you this whole thing. The whole garden, well, water, house, everything is yours for one tree. So he said to her, you nuts, are you crazy? What's wrong with you? What kind of thing is this? You are joking with me? He said, no. I am not joking with you. I am not joking with you. I am not joking with you. Are you serious? I said, yes. He said, you want to back off and say, no, no, I didn't mean. No, no, no, I will not do that. No, by the way, imagine, this conversation is happening. People have gathered around. They are listening to what is this funny happening. He said, then all these people h

Auto-generated transcript:As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Faqala ta'ala inna allaha wa malaikatahu yusalluna ala nabi ya ayyuhal ladhina amanu sallu alayhi wa sallimu taslima. Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala ahli Muhammad kama sallita ala Ibrahim wa ala al Ibrahim innaka hamidun majid. Allahumma barika ala Muhammadin wa ala ahli Muhammad kama barikta ala Ibrahim wa ala al Ibrahim innaka hamidun majid. I remind you and myself that leaders come from the people. The leader is not sent from heaven. Leaders come from the people. If you have good people, you get good leaders. If you have a gang of bandits, you will not get Omar bin Abdulaziz as the leader of that band. Right? You will get the biggest. Bandit who will be the leader of that bandit of that gang of bandits. So when we look at leaders and we criticize leaders that of course our leader, our leader, mashallah, are worthy of all criticism. But the point is that before we criticize them, we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, this is my leader because I am who I am. And I did not say this. Sayyidina Ali bin Abi Talib said this. A man came to him and he said, how is it that in your time? There is so much fitna when there was no fitna in the time of Abu Bakr and Umar. Radhi Allah anhu ma. Sayyidina Ali radhi Allah anhu said. The reason there was no fitna in the time of Abu Bakr and Umar. Radhi Allah anhu ma. Was because the followers were like me. And the fitna in my time is because followers are like you. Huh? So let us think about this. As any Muslim today, what is the biggest problem of the Ummah today? And they will say the biggest problem of the Ummah is lack of leadership. Right? Anybody. Lack of leadership. We don't have good leaders. My submission to you is that, yes, that is a problem. I agree with you. But equal. If not equal. But bigger problem is lack of followership. Not only leadership. Lack of followership. And I will tell you what that means. It is not only lack of leadership. Let me explain to you what is the meaning of followership. By two examples. Now take yourself back. Take yourself back. To the 13th year of prophethood of Risala. 622 CE. It is in the Ayam-u-Tashriq. Days after Hajj. Dark night. And some people are gathering. In groups. Twos and threes and fours. And moving very quietly. They are collecting in one place. And Kaab-in-Malik Radhialanu narrates this whole story. And he said that in the night we slept in our camps. And then when the third of the night had elapsed. So roughly middle of the night. We began to leave quietly. And we came to this Hilak. Which today we call this place Aqaba. And there were 73 men and two women. And the two women were Umm Ammara Radhialana. And Umm Muni Radhialana. And we waited there. And the reason they did that was because quite literally their lives were in danger. The Quraysh were looking out for people who were. Ready to support Muhammad and they would have attacked them. So they gathered there. With their lives at risk. Just think about that. This Deen began. With people ready to put their lives on the line. For the Deen of Allah. This Deen began. With people ready to put their lives on the line. For the Deen of Allah. By supporting Muhammad . Just reflect on this fact. They did not hesitate. They didn't say hold on a second. I mean I'm not going in there. This is a dangerous meeting. What happens if I get caught? So they gathered. They gathered. They were all in the same place. They were all in the same place. They were all in the same place. They were all in the same place. They were all in the same place. They were all in the same place. They were all in the same place. And Rasool came with his uncle. Al-Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib. And we don't know at that point whether he was Muslim or not. Because he had become Muslim and he was hiding it. We don't know whether it was before this or after this. But anyway he was the supporter of Rasool . So Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib, he came. And when they got there, where al-Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib, he addressed them first. And he said, in effect, he said that my nephew, Muhammad, he's here, and he is willing to join you, and you have invited him to go with you to your town, but take him with you only if you are ready to protect him and defend him. But if you are going to take him and then abandon him, then don't take him. Because here he is with his family, he is protected, he is honored, and we don't want him to go to your place and then he has nobody to help him. So Ka'bin Malik says, we heard him and then we said to him, we have heard your words, and now, Ya Rasulullah , you speak to us and tell us what pledge you want us to make. Take from us any pledge you wish. Now, before I tell you, what he asked them, understand the situation. Here is Rasul Butter Packal, who has not been 앞ened to security. No one has told him not to speak, ör husuk anabas kadar no

Auto-generated transcript:Peace be upon you all. I remind myself and you, let us make this into a regular practice of ours. I don't like to use the word habit because habits are unthinking actions. I'm talking about conscious thinking action. To send salat and salam on Rasulullah s.a.w. throughout the day, throughout the night, every waking moment. Keep your tongue moist with the dhikr of Allah and among the afzal of the dhikr of Allah is to send salat and salam on the Rasulullah s.a.w. And this is the only thing, only thing for which Allah s.w.t. said the one who sends salam on me one time, Allah s.w.t. will send salam on him ten times for each one time. Only thing. So let us take advantage of that to send salat and salam on Rasulullah s.a.w. I was reflecting for myself in the presence of our Sheikh that it is amazing that he is sending salat and salam on me. And I was thinking that if I ask you, for example, and I use this example there, I say that if, for example, if through this door in the front, if Rasulullah s.a.w. walks into this masjid, imagine this, just think about this, right? Many of us make dua, O Allah, show me the Rasul s.a.w. in my dream. So let us imagine that he walks in through this masjid. How many of us here, and you don't know, how many of us here, and you don't need to answer this question to me, it's for ourselves, how many of us here will recognize him? How many will recognize him? I'm not talking about how many will say, Oh, Mashallah, this is such a handsome man, wonderful man, I don't know who. Or will you stand up and say, Assalamu alaikum, Ya Rasulullah, SubhanAllah. You have come to my masjid. How many of us will say that? We ask Allah s.w.t, show me the Rasul in my dream. How do you know you're seeing the Rasul? If Nabi s.a.w. comes in your dream, how do you know that you are seeing Rasul s.a.w.? If we ask ourselves and say, and I suggest this also, so when this shock treatment happens, which I hope it will happen, be prepared for it. If someone gives you a plain sheet of paper and says, write down on the sheet of paper, what you know about Rasulullah s.a.w. How many of us can fill one sheet, just one single 15 line sheet of paper with what we know about Rasulullah s.a.w. Whatever it is. How many of us can do that? And to me, this is the SubhanAllah, may Allah SubhanAllah forgive us. Wallahi, this is something we should collectively ask Allah s forgiveness. We must make tawbah, sincere tawbah. Stand before Allah s.w.t. Pray two rak'ahs Salah and in sujood, cry, weep and say, Allah, forgive me for forgetting your Nabi. Forgive me for forgetting your Nabi. The tragedy is not that the enemies of Islam criticize the Prophet s.a.w. or try to attack Islam. The tragedy is, the Muslims have forgotten the Nabi. We have forgotten the Nabi. We have reduced the Zikr of Rasulullah s.a.w. to one day in the year. And then we have a dispute. Is this Milad Mawlud? Is it Milad Sharif and Milad n-Nabi? Is it Sunnah? Is it Bida? Let us accept. Milad n-Nabi, Bida. Haram. Don't do it. On the 12th of Rabiul Awal, don't do it. That is one day in 365. What about the other 364? What about January 1? What about October 20? Pick any date you want. Do we gather? Do we sit together? Do we talk about the Nabi's? What do we know about him? If Allah Ta'ala had wanted and Allah is the only one who had wanted to make him the Prophet s.a.w., he was the Prophet s.a.w. He is our Prophet s.a.w. He is our Prophet s.a.w. We all know that he is our Prophet s.a.w. He is our Prophet s.a.w. wanted and Allah is Allah. خَالِقُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ بَضِعُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ فَاتِرُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ رَذَّاقُ ذُو الْقُوَّةِ الْمَتِينِ خَالِقُ كُلِّ أَشْيَا وَالْأَحْوَالِ وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ There is no, there are no hudud to the khudrat of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala could have sent his kalam, kalamul majeed. He could have commanded Jibreel a.s. to go and land on top of the Kaaba and recite the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala could have made every person listening to Jibreel reciting the Quran to become hafiz of whatever he hears right away. The Arabs have brilliant memories anyway. There are many stories of people just listening to a whole long qasida of 300 ashar and remembering it just like that. So this was a memory capacity. Anyway, I'm talking about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Your capacity doesn't matter. If Allah wanted, he could have done it. Why did he not do it? Like I mentioned in my khutbah this morning, this afternoon, why did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when Allah said, when Allah commanded us to pray, why did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala all, that's logical, right? You command me to pray, so then show me how to pray. It is logical. So why did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not put that in his kitab itself? The book of Allah was not going to an edito

https://youtu.be/rQgmlIImpQE 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, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and blessings be upon his family and his family. May Allah bless you a lot. Amen. WIIFM WIIFM WIIFM WIIFM WIIFM WIIFM WIIFM WIIFM WIIFM WIIFM WIIFM WIIFM It's because of how I presented that idea to them. In terms of what's in it for them. And that is the channel or the FM station. What's in it for me. WIIFM Presented in terms of what's in it for me. So somebody comes to you and says, well, can you help me in a fundraising project that I have? I'm raising funds for this project to do this. Ask the question, what's in it for me? Because when you do fundraising normally, you go to venture capitalists for funds. What do they ask you? What's in it for me? Why should I help you? Same logic. The venture capitalist is putting his hand in his pocket to, get the funds for you. Whereas you, as the fundraiser, are enabling or encouraging or inspiring other people to put their hand in their pockets to fund that project. So same logic. What's in it for me? Same logic. Apply the same WIIFM also, to, to decide on your priorities in life. Nobody has unlimited resources. Nobody has unlimited time. Nobody has unlimited money. Nobody has unlimited energy. No one has unlimited life. No one has unlimited anything. No matter how wealthy you think you are in any of these aspects, it's never enough. It's never something that is unlimited. It has limits. So, what makes sense? To get the biggest bang for the buck. And that is the meaning of prioritization. When you prioritize, you are ensuring that you are getting the biggest bang for the buck. The best benefit that you can get for something. And you get that by prioritizing. And the way to prioritize is, ask this question. What's in it for me? Spend your time and energy on something, where you get the maximum benefit from whatever you're doing. And don't waste your time with other things, where that benefit is not the maximum. What's in it for me? WIIFM. I ask Adas Mahantala to help us to make the right choices, to get the maximum benefit from it. And in that context, we will find that we are getting the maximum benefit from it. So, the thing to think about is, that as a Muslim, we don't think of benefits only in terms of the world, of this life, but we think of real benefit in terms of the Akhira. Now with that in context, when you look at the seerah of Rasulullah , when you look at the hayat of Sahaba, the lives of the companions, you will find that they constantly made this choice. So, they constantly applied this, what's in it for me, continuously. And that's how they were able to make choices, which today seem to be so difficult for us. The choice is not difficult, it's the criterion. It is the framework. It is the screen on which you are measuring that choice. That screen has changed, and therefore the choice is not the same. So, therefore the choice becomes difficult. But if the screen was the Akhira, that choice would be very easy. Very, very easy. Because what's in it for me, in the context of the Akhira means, what's in it for me in terms of eternal benefit, not temporary benefit. Choice becomes easy. And that is the point I want to leave you with. We ask Allah to help us to see, see the truth as the truth, and to see falsehood as falsehood. Allahumma arina alhaqqa hatka warzookna ittiba'a wa arina alba'tila ba'tila warzookna ijtina'a ba'a O Allah show us the truth as truth, and help us to follow it, and show us falsehood as falsehood, and help us to stay away from it. Wa sallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi al bayyin bi rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

https://youtu.be/hGL9gB3jBzY 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 and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and his companions. Peace and blessings be upon him. Amma Madhu, we've been talking about priorities, taking advantage of opportunities. We were talking about WIIFM, what's in for me. Now think about this. We are here in Maine, and we're staying in this beachside apartment. And as you can see here, there are beachside apartments all around the beach, all the way. We also know that early mornings are very special. We know that there is... special concentration of ozone in this early morning air blowing from the sea. And if you are doing any kind of aerobic exercise here, walking or riding or, you know, running or whatever, this is the best time and place to do that. We know that. Umm... Yeah. This is the best use of this time of the day. So we know all the... We know all about the benefits of all this. But see the number of houses that are here, right? All the way. And then see the number of people who are actually on the beach at this time. Okay? So, I can bet you that probably every single person who is in... who is in these houses, they know about the benefits of getting out in the morning, going for a nice walk, and... And today is Sunday incidentally, so it's not even a question of saying I have to go to work. Umm... They know the benefits of all this. But how many people are here? But how many people actually take advantage of that? How many people are saying that it's not enough knowing about the benefits? I want the benefits. And the way to get the benefits is to get out and walk. Right? Now, second truth. Let an hour pass. And today they are predicting temperatures in the morning. They are predicting temperatures in the 90s. So the sun comes out. The same beach is going to be not a very pleasant place to be in. It's going to be very hot. It's not a scrap of shade. And the absolutely beautiful experience that we are having here will not be there for anyone who comes later. So this opportunity, this door, is going to shut. Maybe in an hour, maybe in two hours from now. So the question is not only whether the opportunity exists. The question is to remember and understand that opportunities don't exist forever. They exist for a short time. And when the time is over, the opportunity is gone. No more opportunity. Now, people who realize that take advantage of the opportunity by going through that door of opportunity while it is still open. And those who do not do that, who don't have that foresight, will spend the rest of their life complaining about how the road is not going to be the same. And they will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. There was no opportunity which would be a lie or some other excuse about why they could not take advantage of the opportunity which still doesn't help. Because who are you trying to convince and who do you need to convince? Nobody. Nobody. Nobody needs to be convinced. And nobody frankly gives a damn. If you lose out in life, who do you think cares? Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody cares. Maybe your mama. No one else. Right? Who cares? So, the choice is yours. The choice is yours. What do you want to do with what has been given to you? Not moan and groan about it, but ask a simple question. What do you want to do about what has been given to you? As a person, I don't have to be convinced. I can't be convinced. I can't be convinced. As I'm walking here, I'm seeing there is a couple there and they have a chocolate lab. And they also have what looks like a professional photographer who is photographing them. And she seems to be doing a great job from the way she is completely crashing down and taking photos close to the earth, which is the right way to do that and so forth. So now here we have a question of, you know, somebody taking advantage of the opportunity. The person has a camera. There are people out there who want to be photographed. I don't think the Lord cares. But there's this lady. She's got a business. And she's taking advantage of this opportunity to do something for herself. Right. But this is what this is the point. The point is that the world is made up of people like this. The opportunity is there to be taken free. For anyone who wishes to take it. Now, whether you wish to take it or not, it's yours. Nobody forces you. But if you don't take it, then you also cannot complain that you didn't have the opportunity. That would be a lie. Because the opportunity was there. Everyone has the opp

https://youtu.be/HquHcnLZpy8 Auto-generated transcript:I am on this beach in Maine. Atlantic Ocean, the tide is just going out. So this part of the beach is nice and flat and clean. We can see the waves coming in. Now you can see the few boats in the distance. Very, very tranquil, peaceful, wonderful scene. You've got the gulls doing what gulls do. Living for fish. I must recommend this wonderful book called Jonathan Livingston Seagull, which I suggest you should read. I think it's one of the finest books to read, to understand, especially the concept of excellence in life. I read it. I read it many times. The first time I read it when I was in school. And it teaches the concept of excellence. In that context, I would also recommend that you read all the books of Ayn Rand. A-Y-N-R-A-N-D. It also focuses on the concept of excellence, of taking pride in your work, of building a legacy that you can be confident and proud about, leaving behind some traces. Unlike traces in the sand, which wash off every time the tide comes in. But these are more long-lasting than that. Now, all of that comes from one very, very important thing in life, which is to actually do some work. Not just the pretense of work. To actually do some work. The reason I'm saying that is because, I was speaking to another very dear friend of mine who's studying, he's doing his engineering in one of the Ivy League colleges here, universities in America. And he was telling me that, I mean, he said it jokingly, but obviously he understands the seriousness of that. So he was telling me that, people are submitting assignments using ChatGPT. The whole thing. And so he said, professors have now a way of detecting where ChatGPT has been used and catching it. But he says now they have come up with a tool where they do what is called humanizing ChatGPT. So you don't get the usual flat kind of writing. That's what I'm saying. So you don't get the usual flat kind of writing. That's what I'm saying. You find with ChatGPT, you get something which sort of sounds half a human. And then of course, we know how this technology develops and how it will, it is capable of, you know, constantly improving and so on and so forth. Simultaneously, and so on. This is, I mean, I think Allah guides and helps in ways we cannot imagine. So, while I was listening to this friend of mine saying these things, I also got a message from another friend of mine who's also doing engineering, who sent me a New York Times article. And lo and behold, to my great delight, I discovered that New York Times not only published the article, but New York Times gives that article for you free. So the firewall, doesn't affect it. And I'm going to ask him to put it, put that article into the description of this, of this reminder. And that article talked about an actual case, complete case history of this person who, the chatbot convinced him that he was one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. And, um, you know, resulted in him, in him, um, sort of actually falling into mental illness. And good news is for in his case was that he managed to get out of it as well. So he was able to break that, which may not be obviously the case with everyone who falls into that kind of a trap. So you have this case of these people like that, uh, also happening because of chatbot. Another thing which happened again recently, and all of these things, I, you know, they happened together, uh, which in, which is a message in itself is, um, two people wrote letters, uh, in which I was mentioned. And very interestingly, both the letters, although these are two different people writing these two letters, and, uh, they're trying to make it seem as if they are two independent letters, but they have both used chatdpt, uh, very clearly visible from the tone of the letter and so on. And to the extent that the words they have used are the same, the exact same words in both the letters. Now, so of course it is, you know, easy to laugh at this and say, what kind of stupidity is this? And it is stupid. But I'm not talking about that. I'm saying you're getting in this cases of students in colleges who seem to be getting, uh, most of their work done using chatdpt or Gemini or one of the, uh, chatbots, one of the LLM models. Now, I'm not against, uh, AI or, uh, LLM models and so on. Although I never absolutely do not ever use chatdpt. Um, I don't even use it for research, but, uh, in some cases I use, uh, some other things, um, some other LLM models, which I think are better for some research. But my writing is always, always, always is me. I never ever use any AI for a very good reason. And that is that, Alhamdulillah, I am confident about my writing and I take pride in my writing. And I take pride in the fact that I, uh, I want my writing to be my signature. I want my writing to be something that, that, that I have done, uh,

https://youtu.be/qBk84YkaAYU Auto-generated transcript:My brothers and sisters, we are sitting here in Maine, literally opposite the Atlantic Ocean. And we can hear the waves, you can see the waves and the sun is gently rising. Not yet, but just finished the Fajr. And I'm reflecting on the, and I also advise you to reflect on the glory of Majesty of Allah SWT. This ocean which we see in front of us, obviously you can't see, it stretches all the way to the horizon. In Hadith, Rasulullah SAW said, that not this one ocean, but if all the seven oceans were collected and poured on top of the head of Mikhail SAW, that water would not drop off his head. So, when I first heard this Hadith, I was thinking to myself, you know, I mean, obviously, we know the Hadith is true, we believe the word of Rasulullah SAW, but the water of seven oceans, then this is only one piece of one ocean, which we are seeing here. We are not seeing the whole Atlantic, there is the one small piece of it. And it stretches all the way to the horizon. You can't see, there's no end to that. Collect that, the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, all of them. Put all that water on the top of the head of one angel, and it will not even drop. And then I thought to myself that if I take a teaspoon of water and pour it on my head, it won't drop. Even with the, sort of, you know, my head is not exactly full of air, but if it had enough air, even water wouldn't drop. Even water wouldn't drop. A teaspoon of water wouldn't drop. So it's the question of skill. How massive is the angel? How big is the angel? And he's not, this is not the biggest of them. Rasulullah SAW, in Al-Isra and Miraj, when he, Allah SWT, took him up the seven heavens, he said, I saw the angels holding up the throne of Allah, the Hamal-e-Arsh. He said, there are four of them. And he said, they asked him, the Sahaba, they said, Ya Rasulullah, how big is this angel? The angel is holding the throne of Allah, so how big is the angel? Nabi SAW said, if a bird takes off from the shoulder of the angel, it will fly for 500 years, and it will not even reach the lobe of the ear of the angel. After 500 years of flying from ear to ear. And that is not reached, so we don't know how far it gets. And there are four of those. And Nabi SAW said, when Allah SWT created the Arsh, he created the angels, and the angels held up the Arsh, and they were sinking. They could not hold the Arsh. And they were sinking. So all that massive strength of four angels is not enough to hold up the Arsh of Allah SWT. Until Allah SWT inspired those angels to say, La hawla wa la quwwata illa Billah. And then it held. And on the Day of Judgment, Allah SWT's Jalal will be such that Allah will create another four angels only for that day. There will be eight holding up the Arsh of Allah SWT on that day. We ask Allah SWT on that day to grant us the shade of His Arsh. Allah SWT says, Allahumma adhillani wa adhillana taht Arshuk. Yawma la adhilla illa dhilluk. Allah SWT grant us the shade of Your Arsh on a day when there is no shade except Your shade. To come back to the ocean, I don't know whether here we will see any whales, maybe we will. But think about this. This ocean has humpback whales. A humpback whale in one day eats one ton of food, which is sardines, krill, all kinds of things. The blue whale eats four times that, four tons. And the food of the blue whale, the blue whale is the largest creature ever to be created. Allah SWT created them. The largest creature ever to be created. The call of the blue whale, blue whale's calling off the coast of California were recorded in Japan, across the Pacific. His Sheikh was a blue whale, he could have spoken to his father in Morocco without a phone. He was a blue whale. He was a blue whale. He was a blue whale. Kreel eats four tons of food And what is the food of the blue whale? Krill Kikle is like a small shrimp, it looks like a shrimp. But the biggest, the most massive of krill weighs one gram, one gram. Hey, it is how many crates? Now these whales, very interesting, think where they feed. They feed up in the Arctic Ocean. My brother just went in his RV from Florida all the way up through Alaska to the end of Alaska and he could not go to the coast of the Arctic because all that land is being, is with oil companies who are drilling in shale. So they don't allow anyone to go in there. So he couldn't go to the coast of the Arctic Ocean, but he went all the way up there. These whales are going actually from the Arctic Ocean and they go south all the way down to Hawaii. And they go to the Arctic Ocean. And they go to the Arctic Ocean. And into the Caribbean. They feed in the Arctic Ocean. Sub-zero temperatures. That's where they have the maximum food. And when they do this entire journey, they go from the Arctic Ocean all the way down the coast of North and South America all the way down to the Caribbean, t

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkljOLcnQbM Auto-generated transcript: Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. I begin in the name of Allah, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Maintainer, and the Protector of the entire universe and all that it contains, the most beneficent, the most merciful. We send salutations on his messenger, the last and final of them. Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, his family, and all those who follow him in excellence until the last day. Imagine this scene that happened over 2,000 years ago. A young woman, known for her incredible piety. Suddenly comes forth with a baby boy. People are shocked and blame her and call her and chase. She points to her son. The people say, how can a newborn baby speak in his cradle? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. His creator and our creator tells us this story. Fātat bihi qawmahā taḥmiluhu. Qālu yā Mariamu laqad jī'ti shayyan fariyyā. Yā uqtahārūna mā kāna abūki murā saw'in wa mā kānat ummuki baghiyyā. Fāshārati ilayhi. Qālu kayfa nukallimu man kāna fil-mahdi sabiyyā. Qāla inni abdullāh. Ātāni alkitāba wa ja'alani nabiyyā. Wa ja'alani mubārakannayna mā kuntu wa usā. Wa usāni bil-salāti wal-zakāti mā dumtu hayyā. Wa barra biwalidati wa lam yaj'alni jabbaran shakiyyā. Wa salāmu alayya yawma wulittu wa yawma mūtu wa yawma uba'athu hayyā. Zālik. Nisa bunu Maryam. Qawla al-haqqil ladhi fīhi yamtarūn. Mā kāna lil-lāhi ayyattakhitha min waladhin sub'āna. Idhā qadāy amran fa-innamā yaqūl lahū kun fa-yakūn. Fa-innā Allāhi. Wa-rabbī wa-rabbūkum fa-abūduhu. Hāzā sirātun mustaqīm. In Surah Maryam, in the Qur'an, Allah says this which means, Then she returned to her people carrying him. They said in shock, O Mary, you have certainly done a horrible thing. O sister of Aaron, your father was not an indecent man, nor was your mother unchaste. So she pointed to the baby. They exclaimed, How can we talk to someone who is an infant in a cradle? Jesus declared, Isa spoke as a baby in the cradle. I am truly a servant of Allah. He has destined me. He has destined me to be given the scripture and to be a prophet. He has made me a blessing wherever I go. And bid me to establish prayer and give zakat, the alms tax, as long as I live. And to be kind to my mother. He has not made me arrogant or defiant. Peace be upon me the day I was born. The day I die and the day I will be raised. The day I will be raised back to life. That is Isa, son of Maryam. Jesus, the son of Mary. And this is the word of truth about which they dispute. It is not for Allah, God Almighty, to take a son. Glory be to him. When he decrees a matter, he simply tells it be and it is. Isa also declared, Surely Allah, Lord Almighty is my Lord and your Lord. So worship him alone. This is the straight path. I submit to you that we confuse earning a living with living itself. Life is not only about earning a living. Life is about something much more important than earning a living or making money. Life is about living with honor and about leaving a legacy to be remembered. And that is the way of life. That is the way of life. So in the example of the skyAndres' photo. ¡ Boy, this is eternal respect for you! Life is not about competition, but about having an impact on the hearts of others. Life is not about consumption, but about contribution. Because power comes with territory and contribution defines territory. I want to share with you three points that we must never lose focus on. ¡ For the love of humankind, If we want to live a life, where we will be influential while we live and be remembered long after we are gone. The three points in one sentence stand for justice with compassion and courage. Remember that all goodness begins with justice. Justice means that you give everything it's due. To respect elders, to be kind to the young and the weak, to stand against oppression, to help someone in need, to comfort someone in grief, to walk the path that others don't want to are all signs that you are focused on justice. Look into your life from time to time to see if you are still on the path of justice. To establish justice. Remember that what is legal at any point in time and what is right are not always the same. Slavery was legal. Colonialism was legal. Racial and religious discrimination and segregation was legal. Apartheid was legal. The Holocaust was legal. Disparity of wages between men and women was and sadly still is legal. But not a single one of them is or ever was right or just. To fight against these or not is our choice and that is our meter to show whether we are still on the path of justice. Compassion or mercy is the foundation. It is a bedrock in which justice is rooted. If that cracks or dies then justice dies with it. Justice without mercy is cruelty with a mask. Compassion is the result of empathy. It happens when we see ourselves in the position of others, not with pity for them, but with compassion. We should not be afraid of others. We should

Auto-generated transcript:My father taught me many lessons. And his way of teaching was he didn't sort of sit down with a class. He would just ask some question and that would be my mind. And alhamdulillah it worked very, very well. Two of the most critical lessons that he taught me, I want to share with you. One was, he always said, get your priorities right. Get your priorities right. Which thing should take the most of your time? Most of your energy? Most of your wealth? You know, and which should be next? Which should be next? Get your priorities right. The reason is because at any stage in life, whether you are in school or whether you are in college, university, whether you are working, you just got married, you have been married for a long time, you have children, no matter what, any stage in life, there will be many things that will try to draw your attention, try to draw, you know, come to you for various things. Give me time, give me money, give me donation, come and spend time with me, come talk to me, do this, do that. Many, many, many priorities. And if you don't get those right, and getting the priorities right means for some things you do, for some things you say, sorry, I have to do this. You say, sorry, I will not do this. I cannot do this. You have to say no. If you don't do that, then your life will be a dog's life, literally. Because you will get pulled in every direction. And your impact and your effect will be zero. Because nobody is, if you spread yourself that thin, then nobody even knows you existed, right? Although you try to help everyone. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. You cannot. So get your priorities right. And the second thing which he taught me was, he used to ask for everything. If I read a book, he used to say, what did you learn from that? If I went to, I spent some time with a friend, I came back home. So he would say, where did you go? I'd say, I went to so and so. Okay. So what did you learn from that? I mean, I went to spend time with my friend and, you know, I went to the gym. I went to the gym. What is the learning? He said, no. There has to be learning. There is always a learning. What did you learn from that? I go for a walk. What did you learn from that? I used to do a lot of horse riding. What did you learn from that? Learn from the horse? Yeah. What did you learn? I mean, Sheikh will understand this. Do you learn from the horse? Many things. Many things. Many things. What did you learn from that? Now, this thing is in my mind to such an extent that I continuously ask myself this question. I tell you, I have learned so much in life only for this reason. Because I ask this question, what did I learn? No matter what, what did I learn? So get your priorities right and what did you learn? So one of the most important things today in our life and our world, especially in the Muslim Ummah, is that as a rule, as a Ummah, as a people, we have got our priorities completely screwed up, completely upside down. Our attention, our focus, our resources, money, everything is spent on all kinds of things. All kinds of useless things. Whereas if you take at, if you look at, you know, key things which we need, they're always starved of resources. They don't have resources. Now, we like to, as general people, we like to criticize the billionaires and we like to criticize the kings. And we say, so-and-so bought this yacht, super yacht for a billion dollars. And see the standard of education in this country. Okay, fair enough. That's a reasonable comment, right? Ask yourself, where are you spending your money? Ask yourself in your country, in your place, what are the projects which are being funded? What are the projects which people are trying to raise funds for? If you see in this country, in America, one of the, and let me narrow it down, America, New England, one of the most crying needs, one of the most dire needs is for a world-class Islamic school. Right? For a top-quality Islamic school. Everyone that I talk to, their first moan is, the public school system is so bad. Our children are getting spoiled. They are getting this influence, that influence. All the woke culture. All right, all of that is correct. I agree. I completely agree. So, what's the solution? I wish we had a world-class, a very good quality Islamic school where we would teach Islam and we would also teach the regular sciences and so on and so forth. This time, we would teach STEM subjects and stuff so that the children could go from there to Harvard and Cambridge and MIT and wherever. Okay, excellent. Fantastic. So, what's stopping you? No, we have no money. Okay. So, raise funds. Raise funds. Let me ask you, in the last 10 years, I've been here last six years, how many pro

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, 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, with a lot of peace and blessings. And then, dear brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah Almighty said in another verse, My brothers and sisters, Allah revealed in the Qur'an many ayats in praise of His Nabi Muhammad defining his status, defining his honourable status, and his honourable position before Allah. But in this ayat of Surah Al-Ahzab, which all of us know, Allah mentioned specifically and He said, Verily, Allah and His Malaik and His Angels send their blessings on the Messenger and then He commanded, Ya ayyuha allatheena aafi, Ya ayyuha allatheena aamanu, Whenever you hear or read this phrase in the Qur'an, Ya ayyuha allatheena aamanu, O you who believe, this precedes a command of Allah. Whatever comes after Ya ayyuha allatheena aamanu is an Amr of Allah. It's a command of Allah. It's a Hukm of Allah. And Allah is saying, Ya ayyuha allatheena aamanu, Sallu alaihi, Ya ayyuha allatheena aamanu, You also send blessings on him. Wasallimu taslima. And when you greet him, you say, Assalamu alaikum. The beauty of the Sahaba and one of the many ways in which the Sahaba differed from us is that the Sahaba did not invent, the Sahaba did not imagine, the Sahaba did not use, their intelligence to discover or to figure out what to do in a situation where Allah commanded something. When Allah commanded something, the Sahaba went to the Rabbi alayhi salam and said, this is the command of Allah, what shall we do? They did not invent something on their own. Allah said, they did not say, okay, fine, khalas. I will decide what is Salah. No, they went to the Prophet, what must I do? Allah is saying, I'm ready. And so on and so on. So in this case, Allah says, Send Salam on the Rabbi alayhi salatu wasalam. So the Sahaba did not just stand up and start reciting Ghanasheed and Ghazal and Hamd and Sana. They did not start reciting Naat. They did not put their hand on their chest on the right or the left. And they did not say, they didn't start in this or that. They didn't start in that direction. And they did not say, As-salatu as-salamu alayka ya Rasulullah. They didn't say any of this. They did not say anything. They went to the Rabbi alayhi salam and said, Ya Rasulullah, this is what Allah is commanding. What shall we do? Please teach us. Al-inna. And Rasulullah taught them what we know as the Dhurud Ibrahim, which we recite in the Tasha ul-Masjid. After Ad-Diyat. Abu Muhammad Ka'b min Ujra reported, Rasulullah came to us and we asked him, Ya Rasulullah, we already know how to greet you. Meaning, As-salamu alaykum. But how should we send Salat wa Salam on you? How do we send Dua on you? How do we send blessings? And he said, Say, Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin wa ala aali Muhammadin Kama salli ta'ala Ibraham. Wa ala aali Ibrahima. Innaka habidun Majeed. Allahumma barika ala Muhammadin wa ala aali Muhammadin. Kama barikta'a ala Ibrahima. Wa ala aali Ibrahima. Innaka habidun Majeed. He said, O Allah, exhort the mansion of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as you exhorted Ibrahim and the family of Ibrahim . You are the praised and the glorious. O Allah, bless Muhammad . And the family of Muhammad and the family of Ibrahim , and you are the praised and glorious. And this is a Hadith in Bukhari and Muslim. Uba ibn Kaab , Radi gia Allah . He said, I said I asked." ya Rasulullah Now the question is how many Salat do you send to your Prophet . So this is a beautiful Hadith about Uba ibn Kaab He said, ya Rasulullah , I look at your meal, Send a great deal of blessings on you meaning. I decide to rule many times a day I said salat and salam on many times a day How much of this of my dua meaning? I also make dua to Allah for different things that need and so on how much of this total dua should Comprise of sending salat and salam on you He said whatever you wish So I said one quarter So total dua that I make in the day one quarter of that should it be sending salat and salam on you He said whatever you wish but if you do better that if you do more that will be better for you And see the words he's not saying it's better for me Because whatever you do or not do how can it be better with Allah already did it? The Malayka already did it no matter what you do is not going to exceed that So he says Should I give a quarter spend a quarter of the time sending salat and salam on you and which was all of said Whatever you wish But if you do more that will be better for you, then he said one half He said whatever you do, whatever you like and if you do more that will be better for you He said two thirds and he said Salah Salem. Whatever you wish and If you do more That will be better for you. So

Auto-generated transcript:My brothers and sisters, as I mentioned I think in the reminder on Stoicism, I mentioned Marcus Aurelius who was the Caesar of Rome and an amazing human being. He was unlike any other Caesar that you can think of or read about. He was a stoic and a very wise man. Now he's written this book which is called Meditations and obviously I don't have to say that it's definitely worth reading and also worth following the stuff that he talks about. Here are four different things that he has mentioned and this was in one of the Twitter posts from the Daily Stoic. There's a Twitter site called Daily Stoic and they send, you know, every day they post something from Stoics, different Stoics. Now he says four rules for a better life and this is from Marcus Aurelius, the Caesar of Rome. First and foremost he says focus on the essential. Focus on the essential. He says if you seek tranquility, which is peace of mind, if you seek tranquility do less, not nothing, less. Do only what's truly important, which brings a double satisfaction. You get to do fewer things and you get to do those fewer things better. Remember this rule daily. Keep a reminder in place. You will often see. Focus only. On what's essential. I'm going to repeat that. I'll repeat all of these. He says focus first rule of a better life. First rule for a better life. Focus on the essential. If you seek tranquility, do less. Not nothing. Less. Do only what's truly important. Which brings a double satisfaction. You get to do fewer things and you get to do those fewer things better. Remember this rule daily. Keep a reminder in place that you will often see and focus only on what's essential. Now the tool that I teach with this is what I call my three by three rule. And that three by three rule is that every day you begin your day with three things that you need to do. You need to do three things that you need to do. You need to do three things that you need to do. So, in my product here at My Childhood School. This will only hit one hurdle. So, it's this one. One that I'll set the two pickles. I will write out five goals for the entire class. I will send you a list here of all theレ that you need to accomplish. So, three things completely and all the opps always get left out of the box. So, that group three. Three things. Obviously, you can't check it with those three things. You want to know your schedule. Repeat your work your process and you're good to set it up. All right. Now, let me show you two things that you should do today. Three of them I will explain. First one is the day you only realize on 책 itself. One thing you do that's a key. goal. If you have no life goal, then you're going nowhere and you can't get there. So, before that comes, what is your life goal? Why do you exist? What are you supposed to do? How do you want to live your life? So, life goal. Based on the life goal, what are the three things that I must do today? Then start on the first one, complete it, go to the second, complete that, go to the third. If you get interrupted, say you're doing the first thing, you get interrupted, come back and complete that first thing. Do not go to the second one, skipping the first. That's very important. You start on the first thing, complete it, then go to the second thing. If you can't complete the first thing for some reason, then do not go to the second one until you complete the first thing. You get interrupted, come back and complete. In the evening, you look at what you accomplished. And again, journal, write down. You started off with three things. You were able to do all three, excellent. Then you write in that journal, what is it that helped you to accomplish those three things? You could not accomplish some of them, one of them, two of them. Then write down what is it that came in the way, what prevented you from accomplishing those, the things that you could not do. And this is the lesson for the next day, which is you will do more of what works and you will do not less, but nothing of what doesn't work. You will eliminate the problems and you will do more the promoters will do more of the things that help you. The next day, you begin with again, a list of three things. Now, in that list of three things on the the second day, don't just put mindlessly what is left over from the previous day. Write three things for the second day as starting from zero. Now, it may have something from the previous day, but you're doing that consciously because you have thought about that and because you think it is important, right? So, this is Marcus Aurelius' focus on the essential and my commentary and my, hopefully, value addition to that. Second one. He says, don't suffer imagined troubles. Don't suffer imagined troubles. He said, don't let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Stick wi

Auto-generated transcript:Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasulillah. We are talking about Allah's plans and what we should, what should be our attitude with regard to that. In short, the attitude of a Muslim to the plan of Allah is an attitude of submission. Which we say, we are pleased with whatever Allah decrees for us. Now, in the Quran, Allah gives us many, many examples of the prophets who seem to be in positions of being oppressed. Prophets who are not in powerful positions, they don't have wealth, they don't have military power, they don't have authority, they are not heads of state. Yet, they stand up. To injustice, they stand up against tyrants and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives them victory. Imagine, for example, Musa a.s., Moses, standing in the court of Ramesses II, the pharaoh of Egypt, the head of probably the most wealthy and powerful empire at that time. He became king of the formerónsрей school, new kings that night accepted victims. The King of Upper and Lower Nile, Upper and Lower Egypt, stretching from the Sudan all the way down to the South. Master of wealth, the position of authority, where he declared himself to be God, and the pharaohs considered themselves to be deities, and they compared people to two dès. to worship them. That's the reason why the pharaohs married their sisters, because no one was considered equal to the pharaoh, so he could not marry any other woman. They married their sisters and of course produced all kinds of genetic issues, that's a different thing. And Moses, Musa , single man, staff in hand, imagine him standing in the court of that pharaoh, and that pharaoh has power of life and death, he can order Musa to be chopped into small pieces, but as we know, to make a long story short, how did it end? It ended with the pharaoh and his army, perishing and Musa and the Israelites who were enslaved at the time, being freed. We take the story of Ibrahim , for example, where he is sitting tied up in the cup of the siege machine which is going to throw him into the fire, he is certainly not 엄청pants and gives the people a huge hole. But Ibrahim describe him as a man of complete helplessness. It is a picture of complete helplessness. Noawk saw an arrow which which he made into the scrip of the shape of alon? The picture of complete helplessness. Here is a man who is completely tied up in ropes. He is in the the cup of the trebuchet , he is about to be shot into the flames, Jibreel, the angel Gabriel, came to him and he said, O Abraham, O Ibrahim, what can I do for you? And Ibrahim, peace be upon him, smiles and says, nothing. He says, nothing. He's sitting there facing the fire. And the fire is so big, they lighted this fire and they made it so big that they can't go near it to throw the man. So they need actually a catapult to throw him into the fire. And Jibreel comes and says, what can I do for you? He says, nothing. Because by nothing, he means that I ask Allah. I don't ask you. You may be the angel, but you are makhluk, you are a creature. And we worship only the Rabb. We worship only the one who created us. So I ask help only from Allah. So Jibreel-e-Salam goes to Allah. Of course, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he's seeing what's happening. He knows what's happening in real time. But Jibreel goes to him and says, Ya Rabb, they are going to burn your Khalil. And I went to him, asked him, can I do something for you? He says, no. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, go now and tell him, I am asking. Your Rabb wants to know what do you need from him. You're talking about the plan of Allah, right? So Jibreel comes and says, and of course, all of this Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows and Allah knows that he knows and you know. So, but for the time being, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows that he knows. For the sake of narration. So Jibreel-e-Salam comes back and he says, Ya Ibrahim, your Rabb sent me and he wants to know what do you want from him? And Ibrahim-e-Salam says, my Rabb does not need to ask. He's not playing word games. He says, my Rabb does need to ask. He knows what I want. And what I want, I ask. And what I want is whatever he wants. The meaning of Rida bil Khada, the meaning of the plan of Allah. He says, I want whatever my Rabb wants. If he wants me to burn in the fire, I'm ready to burn. If he wants to save me, he can save me. So my submission to you is many times, we get into situations of stress. It's I want this and it's not happening and so on and so on. And so on. And so on. And you get stressed out and you get anxious and you get depressed. But the cure for that is to go and become in sync with what Allah wants. And you might say, well, how do I know what Allah wants? Allah wants what is best for you. So make ruju towards Allah. Pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Ask him and say, Allah, do for me what is your plan becaus

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honor 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 upon many, many. Today I thought let me quickly share with you some thoughts and then request Sheikh Abdullah to speak to you. In that context, I want to talk to you about, there were a bunch, even now it's there, but there was a philosophy called Stoicism. So the people who followed that and believed in that and lived by it were called the Stoics. S-T-O-I-C. And it's something very worth studying and worth thinking about. This was roughly about 2000 years or something ago. That's when it seems to have started. And among the many, many very famous people in history who were Stoics, and one of the very famous ones was Marcus Aurelius, who was one of the Caesars of Rome. So a very famous Stoic philosopher. The thing about Stoicism, especially the reason I'm saying, I'm talking about Stoicism, because Stoicism is something which seems very close to Islam and to some of the principles of the Quran. So I'm not saying that the Stoics were Muslims, Allah knows best from whatever we have records of, I don't think they were Muslims. But irrespective of that, they had some very wonderful wisdom, which we can all learn from. So here are some, of those principles. First of all, first one he says is, safeguard your innermost anxieties and doubts. Safeguard your innermost anxieties and doubts. Voicing intimate struggles can undermine resilience. And resilience is the ability to recover from loss. The ability to struggle with, you know, especially emotional things and to come back. He says to make these things public. Now, just think about this in the context today of social media. Think about what people post on Facebook, for example, or what people post on, especially Facebook. Instagram is not that much of this stuff, but especially Facebook. People really sort of pour out their hearts on Facebook. The Stoics say that this is the most damaging thing to do. They say never, never do that. Your innermost thoughts and your innermost anxiety, your innermost anxieties and doubts, believe me, everybody has it. First and foremost thing I want to say to you guys is, you might think that, oh, you know, we are teenagers, we are in college, we are in high school or whatever, middle school, and we are all kinds of thoughts and, you know, feelings and counterfeelings and, you know, all sorts of things and anxieties and fears. So believe me, this is not, join the club. Literally join the club. Everybody has it. So, believe me, this is not, join the club. Literally join the club. Everybody has it. Everyone and his grandmother has it. The only thing which differs is the kind of doubts. Some people have some kinds of doubts. Others have other kinds of doubts, right? I am 70 years old at this age. I'm at the top of my profession in terms of business consulting. I don't consider my Islamic thing to be a profession, but alhamdulillah, I have an international standing there also. But every time I stand in front, I stand on the mimbar, I stand on the mimbar, I stand on the mimbar, every time I stand in front of people to talk to them, every time I lead two rak'at of salah, there is doubt in my heart. Not doubt about Allah, but doubt about, can I do this job properly or not? Will I make mistakes? Will I say something which might not be beneficial? Will I say something with the best intention, right? But it has a different effect on somebody else. Maybe it raises a doubt, right? Maybe it raises a doubt, right? Maybe it raises a doubt, right? But it starts to reach out in the mind of that person, or maybe it causes that person to think something contrary to what I am trying to help them understand. And you know, may Allah have mercy on me, then I will feel responsible because of me, this guy, he went away from here, but he came here, okay, he went away from here with a doubt. This is because of me. So, everybody has doubt. So, the Stoics say, don't publicize that. Now you might say, well, I won't publicize that. And what should I do? What shall I do? Just sit with that? Cook with that? No. You can and if you want, you should say it to somebody who is wiser, somebody who can handle that, somebody who can advise you in private. Right? So, I'm not saying you sit on the doubt and go into some depression or something. No. Talk about it, but not to everyone. Not publicly. Definitely not on social media. Absolutely without a doubt. And also not generally speaking. In some circle, I'm gathering, no. Specifically, maybe your parents, maybe a trusted teacher or somebody like that. Maybe even a friend, but somebody who is wiser. There'

Auto-generated transcript: Fajr Reminders series by Sheikh Mirza Yawar Baig. Then Omar realized what was happening, so he went there, he cleaned the place, he milked that goat, he made some food, and then he took the food to the lady. He made some bread or something, made the food, and he gave it to the lady. And when he gave the food to the lady, she said, you are not the man who comes here every day. So he said, how do you know? She is blind, she can't see him. He said, how do you know? She said, because he knew that I have no teeth. So he used to soften the food, and then he would feed me. Sayyidina Amar wept. He wept and said, Swaharlal, what? Swaharlal, what? What kind of man was this? Now who was he emulating? Muhammad , he was a person. Another incident, very famous. Sayyidina Amar found some stranger who had pitched a tent, and he was sitting outside the tent, looking very concerned, very worried. And from inside the tent they could hear sounds of a woman in pain. So Sayyidina Amar went there, Adela Anu, and he said, what's happening here? So the man said, go away, who are you? Sayyidina Amar said, no, tell me, I want to help you. He said, I am a stranger here. There is no one to help. My wife is in labour pains. And she was doing her work. And she was in pain. And she was in pain. And I don't know what to do. I have no help. And that's what the sound you're hearing is, she's in labour. Sayyidina Amar Adela Anu went home, and he said to his wife, Umm Kulthum, bin Ali bin Avitalib, Adela Anuma. People say that Sayyidina Amar Adela Anu struck Sayyidina Fatima Adela Anu and broke her arm. And that Sayyidina Ali and Sayyidina Amar were enemies. Then tell me, how is it that Sayyidina Ali was the wali who married his daughter, Umm Kulthum, to Sayyidina Amar Adela Anu? How is it possible? Nobody can have, make any harf and mini statement on the integrity and honour and courage and bravery of Sayyidina Ali bin Avitalib Adela Anu. Nobody can say he did it because he was afraid. Nobody can say he did it because he was afraid. If Sayyidina Ali was afraid, who is not afraid? If Sayyidina Ali has no honour, who has honour? A man with honour will give his daughter in marriage to somebody who breaks the arm, who strikes his wife and breaks her arm, and the wife is no ordinary wife. The wife is the daughter of the Rasool alaihi salatu was salam. The Sayyida of the women in Jannah. There is not any ordinary woman. Please understand this. People make up stories. May Allah have mercy on them and forgive them and forgive us. The Sahaba were a very different breed of people. They were people of Waqar and order. So Sayyidina Amar Adela Anu married the daughter of Sayyidina Ali bin Avitalib Adela Anu and her name was Umm Kulthum. Bin Talib bin Avitalib. So he goes home now and he says to his wife, do you want to earn the pleasure of Allah? So she said, of course. So he said, this is the issue now. There is this lady in labour. Do you want to come and help with that? He said, of course. So she said to him, you take some, they used to have this date powder, dried date powder, which you would cook like a porridge. So he said, you take that. He took her utensils. She took some hot water. She took some cloths. And they went there and she went inside the tent to help with the delivery. And Sayyidina Amar is sitting outside the tent. He lighted a fire and he started cooking that food. And then from the inside, they heard some sounds and the crying of a baby. And the lady, Umm Kulthum Adela Anha, she called out and said, Amir Bhavaneer, tell your friend that he has a son. That is when this man got a shock. He said, you are the Amir? He said, yes. He said, yes. He said, yes. He said, yes. He said, yes. He said, yes. He said, yes. He said, yes. You are Umm Kulthum Adela Khattab? Yes, I am Umm Kulthum Adela Khattab. The Amir, the Khalifatul Muslimin, he's cooking food himself. He could have given the food to him and said cook. Cooking it, food himself for this person. And his wife, the daughter of Sayyida Fatima and Sayyidina Ali, Khadiyah Al Hanuma. You can't get bigger than that. The granddaughter of Rasulullah , the daughter of Rasulullah , imagine, which, what rank, we talk about rank, we talk about this birth, which this birth? This is the granddaughter of the Rasulullah . She is delivering the baby of this woman. Some strange woman, nobody knows who she is. One day said, My wife had an amor of Abdel Khattab and his servant, going out in the night they hear some, another tent outside, children crying. So he went there to investigate, there is this lady alone and she's got two, three kids and they are all of them are howling there. She said, they say, what happened? She said, there's no food. But he said that somebody cooking on the fire. He said, no, I just am, I mean, boiling some water to, you know, to, you know, to drink, you know, to drink it. water to, you know, to make the

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. All praise belongs 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 companions, and a lot of peace and blessings be upon him. And then, my brothers and sisters, one of the greatest and most important abilities to develop is the ability for analytical thinking. Now, analytical thinking, the way it's different from normal thinking is that normal thinking is, there's a fogginess and there is a mixture. There's a mixture between thinking and feeling. So emotions get involved in thinking. This is very normal. It's not a question of good and bad. It's not a sin. But it interferes with coming to good and correct decisions. So what happens with most people is that the degree to which you want something to happen, to that degree, your mind cancels out anything that goes against that. And it gives extra importance to things which seem to be favouring that. But that's not reality. That's not reality. In some ways, this is how human beings cope. When you have a, especially a tough thing you're doing, a difficult project or a difficult challenge, then some level of skewed thinking is good or some level of skewed feeling is good, making you feel positive about it. Yes, I can win. You don't know if you can win or not, but you feel you can win. And that helps you. But that's only a bit. . . Long term projects, for example, your career, career choices, marriage. They're long term things. They're not, you know, you don't get married for two weeks. You don't have a career for two weeks. Long term things. These require clarity of thought. And clarity of thought is what we call analytical thinking. So in analytical thinking, the first most important rule is to take the emotions and put them aside. . Now this is easy to say, not easy to do because we are human. And emotions are not sitting in a pocket somewhere. You remove this pocket and put it somewhere. So it requires some psychological skills. But unless you can separate your intellectual thinking from your emotional thinking, you will never come to a decent conclusion. It will always be foggy. . The Seeratul Rasool Allah is one of the greatest places to learn this amazing capability of putting emotions aside and looking at clarity of goals. Right? Take Hudaybiyyah, for example, one of the finest examples of analytical thinking and the ability to keep personal ego needs out of the equation. Now what's happening in Hudaybiyyah? Here is the Rasool who saw in a dream that he is doing Umrah. Now for the Nabi, the dream is Wahi. So he tells the people, we are going and we are going to do Umrah. So fourteen, fifteen hundred people go with him. These are people who believed in him. La ilaha illa Allah Muhammad Rasool Allah. He is not an ordinary leader. They believed in him as the Rasool. And he is telling them, we will do Umrah. But when they go there, what happens? When they reach Hudaybiyyah? No. There is no Umrah. You can't do Umrah this year. Not only can you not do Umrah this year. You can't do it. To make a long story short, they have to sign an agreement which is humiliating, which is one-sided, which is unfair, which is unjust. And even while writing the document, when they are writing the document, they said, this is a Ahad. This is how it was written. You can't start an agreement, but still some give existing things ¿how? Even though they were the Phot vulnerabilities. But still if you continue, we will be born again, start resilience. If we come back again. From when Fool showed up in the government offices. He said that Esto is the matter. Feoul also let war break out completely. But when it does break out and Shia weave, he will be handicapped that is what it will not change until tomorrow Friday. It will not be until tomorrow Friday. of Allah, then where is the dispute? There is no dispute. But we have a dispute and the dispute is because we don't believe you are Rasool. So write Muhammad bin Abdullah. And Ali bin Abi Talib , who is writing, he says, I will not write this because this is my Iman. My Iman is Rasool Allah. So I will not write Muhammad bin Abdul. What does Rasool do? He says, give it to me. The ego need, your own personal, here are people who are denying the most important thing, the most honorable thing. There is nothing, there is no greater honor than being the Rasool of Allah. That is his identity. That is his identity. Who is he? Rasool of Allah. That is his identity. And the identity is being denied. Sorry, we don't accept this. You could have said, go to hell. If you don't accept it, sorry, no agreement. Let's see. We'll fight. You could have said that. Now this is a question of analytical thinking. So of course,

Auto-generated transcript:I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. Indeed, Allah and His angels send their blessings upon the Prophet. O you who believe, send your blessings upon him and give him your blessings. O Allah, send your blessings upon our Master Muhammad and his family. As you sent your blessings upon Ibrahim and his family. You are the Most Glorious. O Allah, bless Muhammad and his family. As you sent your blessings upon Ibrahim and his family. You are the Most Glorious. My brothers and sisters, we are on the series of lectures on the Seerah of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. With an idea of understanding how the Seerah can help us to be successful in this world and the next. So today we talk about... One of the most important elements of the religion. Which brought about enormous change. And that is the way we deal with money. See, today people talk about how the world has changed. How ethics and morals have gone down the drain. And how we have so-called leaders who are... I don't even want to waste my time thinking of expletives for them. But... So we have all these things. Now the question is, how did it get that way? Just go back in history. Think about this. Imagine that you are listening to a conversation about... Say, a conversation at the time of a Sahaba. Or a conversation later on in Tabi'in. Tabi'in. Tabi'in. Tabi'in. Tabi'in. Tabi'in. Tabi'in. Tabi'in. Tabi'in. Tabi'in. They are talking about people in their own families. They are talking about their fathers, their grandfathers. Maybe they are talking about people who are respected in their society. Two things I want to look at. One is, who are they talking about? And what about that person do you think they are saying? So the people they are talking about, who are those people? The great warriors, great scholars. When we read the stories of Salaf, so and so was a Zahid. He prayed so many rakat of Salah every night. So and so, with the wudu for Isha, he would pray Salatul Fajr, which means he didn't sleep the whole night. Not on one day. That was his routine. So and so, when he was the Khalifa, that entire period of 10-12 years, he did not sleep lying down. Whole period. He did not sleep lying down. He would sleep, he would take a, he would hold a stick like this and rest against the wall, standing. Or he would sit and he would just doze like this. Done. Fumiliated. Few minutes of that, done. Back to work. So what are the stories? Sahawat. Donating money. And going there for the work. And so on. These were the stories, right? These were the stories that we were told. And believe me, this thing lasted for a long time. I remember when I was growing up as a child. I was a child. We heard stories like this. We heard stories like this about our children, our parents, our grandparents. Today, for example, one of the biggest problems, one of the major, major problems is what is called helicopter parenting. Right? The parents are whoring like this over the child 24-7. Children are not left alone for one second. They cannot get bored. They're constantly engaged. They forget that brain was not created for this constant simulation, continuously, which is what the phones are giving you. And we think this is parenting, constantly, never leave the child alone. When I was growing up, in my teens, I was 16, 17 or something like that, I would go from Hyderabad where we lived to a place called Adilabad, district Adilabad, the actual village was called Pembi, which was a journey of almost the entire day. I had to change three buses, three different places, and last two miles I had to walk through the... fields. Black cotton soil which sticks to the shoes, so I take the shoes off and walk barefoot, two miles through the fields. By myself, no phone, I couldn't reach there and call and say I reached safely. There was no question of writing a letter, it wouldn't get posted, it wouldn't come. I would be gone for a month. Living on the bank of a river. No electricity. No electricity. No electricity. No water supply. No running water. With this uncle of mine, friend of my father's, and spend the whole day in the bush. I'd leave in the morning, come back in the night. And this whole period of one month, my parents did not know if I was alive or dead. They didn't know. So what should I say? They didn't care about me. I know how much they cared. What's the last thing? Nothing. But they let me do that, so I became independent. My brother, same thing. He did other things, not these things, but he became independent. We learn to make decisions. You think nothing happened to me? Many things happened to me. I'm not talking here, I'm not sitting here to talk about my life, but I'm saying that today this is the problem of the parents continuously hovering. One of our brothers here, his tw

Auto-generated transcript:I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. Indeed, Allah and His angels send their blessings upon the Prophet. O you who believe, send your blessings upon him and give him your blessings. O Allah, send your blessings upon our Master Muhammad and his family. As you sent your blessings upon Ibrahim and his family. You are the Most Glorious. O Allah, bless Muhammad and his family. O Allah, send your blessings upon Ibrahim and his family. You are the Most Glorious. My brothers and sisters, we are on the series of lectures on the Seerah of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. With an idea of understanding how the Seerah can help us to be successful in this world and the next. Now all of these, as I mentioned, on the first day, they represent changes that Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam made. Changes that were made in society as a result of Islam coming into people's lives. If you think about that, if you take the Seerah itself, and usually the way we discuss the Seerah is the Makkan period and the Madinan period. You will see a very interesting thing. One is, you will see that the focus of Dawa in the two places was very different. The focus of Dawa in the Makkan period was on the establishment of Tauhid. There were no laws, interest was not haram, alcohol was not haram, and so on and so on. Salah hadn't come down. They were praying Tahajjud from the beginning, but other than that there was no other, the five Salawat were not there, Ramadan was not, had not been made for, Hajj was not there, and so on and so forth. The focus of the entire Makkan period, almost the entire Makkan period, not entirely, but almost entirely, was on the establishment of Tauhid. The establishment of the oneness of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Jalla Jaladhu, and the supremacy of the commands of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala over everyone and everything else. This was the focus of the Makkan period. Makkan period of Dawa, so I call this the theological Dawa. And the opposition to that also came from a theological perspective. People say, religion of our forefathers, this is how we found them, and so forth, and now you are bringing a new thing and so on. But there was also an underlying thing in this, an underlying flavor, an underlying platform, which the people of Makkah, the Moshiikin of Makkah, they understood that, they recognized that. And that was, what happens when I accept Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala as the supreme commander in my life. So it is not just a matter of intellectually saying, there is no unworthy of worship except Allah, La ilaha illallah. It is the consequence of La ilaha illallah. What is the meaning of La ilaha illallah? What happens when I say La ilaha illallah? Meaning when I accept that, as this is the truth, that there is no unworthy of worship except Allah, what does that happen? And believe me, they were not saying, I will get Jannah. No. They were looking at what will happen to me in my life here. How will my life in this world change? It's a strange thing. We have been Muslims, most of us here in this room, have been Muslims for God knows generations, a thousand years maybe, and more. But that hasn't dropped, the penny hasn't dropped in our brains. But the Makkahans, the Bushrikin of Makkah, they understood that in one second. And that is the reason why they opposed Rasulullah so vehemently. Because they recognize, what is this thing? It's not simply saying, one God. No, no, no. If I accept that there is no unworthy of worship except Allah, then I have to subjugate myself completely and totally to Allah. There is no alternative. If Allah is supreme, He is supreme. If Allah is not supreme, then I am a Bushrik. If you are saying, Allah is supreme, but I am also supreme. Allah has a will, I also have a will. Khala, you have to go on. Your Islam is zero, nullified. La ilaha illallah means, la yanfa wa la yadhurra illallah. La razzaqa illallah. La malika illallah. La khaliqa illallah. There is no one who can cause benefit or harm except Allah. There is no one who provides me with my sustenance except Allah. There is no one who is the owner, the true owner except Allah. There is no one who is the creator of conditions, ala shia wa ala hawal, conditions and things. Illa Allah. It's not just a matter of saying, la ilaha illallah, okay fine, alhamdulillah, I pray two rak'ah salah, I am gone home now, rest of the life is my own. No way, no way. Complete and total subjugation, which means that every decision I take until now, every decision I take, I took it on the basis of my own logic, my own understanding, my own likes and dislikes, my own desires, so on, so on, so on. This is how I live my life. But from the minute I say, la ilaha illallah, I said, la ilaha illallah, the minute I say that, everything changes. All those researchers now have got a rider, they've got a criterion

Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. My dear respected ulema, brothers, sisters, the biggest strength in life is to be aware, to live with awareness, to live with ihsas, a sense of who you are, where you are, and why you are there. They say that every man and woman has two birthdays. The day he was born and the day he realizes why. So we are here today in obedience to the command of Allah, with respect to Salatul Jumu'ah, in the house of Allah. Let us be here with awareness. What does it mean to be in the house of Allah? Who is Allah? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala introduced Himself. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala introduced Himself. Think about the world. Think about the words. Reflect on the meaning of those words. Not on my recitation. May Allah forgive me. May Allah forgive me. May Allah forgive me. May Allah forgive me. May Allah forgive me. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, There is no god but Allah, the living and the living. He has no attainment of sleep nor Face. There is nothing in the heavens nor on earth that can get Him back from it. Who canальной漏ه من ذهب unless by His permission, He knows what is before and beyond their hands, and they carry nothing of knowledge other than that which they wish. وَسِعْقُرْ سِيُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَلَا يَعُودُهُ عِبْظُهُمَا وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ وَلِلَّهِ الْعَمْدُ لَوْ أَنْزَلْنَا هَذَا الْقُرْعَانَ عَلَى جَبَلٍ لَرَعِيْتَهُ خَاشِئًا مُتَصَدِّيًا مِنْ خَشْيَكِ اللَّهِ وَتِلْكَ لَمْثَالُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ هُوَ النَّعَهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَٰهِ إِلَّا هُوَ عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ هُوَ الرَّحْمَنُ الرَّحِيمُ هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَا هُوَ لَا إِلَا إِلَّا هُوَ الْمَلِكُ الْقُدُّوسُ الزَّلَامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَيْمِنُ الْعَزِيذُ الْجَبَّارُ عَزِيذُ الْجَبَّارُ الْمُتَكَبِّرُ سُبْعَانَ اللَّهِ سُبْعَانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِعُونَ بِاللَّهِ هِا Guide them all to the right path! هُوَ اللهُ القرنِقُ prochینِ transform Aboriginal genetics Корكوا الْكُلِكُونَ هُوَ اللهُ الْخَالِقُُ الْبَارِيُaciُو Jacqu försöفسُو لَّهُ العَّسْمَاهُ الحُسنى أُتِك SWEETS His Exalted Class can glorify His Depbels and Sh comunic despious openings. Allah introduced himself. We know the ayat, we know their meaning. So I will not translate them here. The question to ask is, when I listen to this, what does it do to my heart? And the dalil, that it should do something to the heart, is the Qawwal of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, where he described the Muslim, the mu'mineen, and he said, In Surah Al-Anfa, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Verily, the believers, only those are the believers, إِذَا ذُكِرَ اللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُ When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is mentioned before them, it does something, it does something to their hearts. Something happens inside. The heart is alive. It responds. It answers. وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتَ لَيِّمْ آيَتُهُ زَادَتْهُمْ إِبَانًا And when the ayat of Allah are recited before, before them, or they recite them themselves, their iman increases. And the result of this, وَعَلَى رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ They have tawakkul on their Rabb. I remind myself and you, that tawakkul is a ni'mah. Tawakkul is the reward that Allah gives for taqwa. If there is no taqwa, there cannot be tawakkul. Today we seem to live in a world where we think we can do everything haram and we say, no, I trust Allah. On what basis? On what basis? You disobey Allah in everything and you trust Allah. For what? To punish you? May Allah have mercy on us and forgive us. Tawakkul is the result. Tawakkul is the gift from Allah. For taqwa. Taqwa is what we must work for and work on. And when we have taqwa, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, وَمَن يَتَوَكَّلَ اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَزْبُهُ The one who has tawakkul on Allah, Allah will become sufficient for him. And who is this person? Who is the person who has taqwa on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Who is the person who has taqwa on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, that this is the person who fears to disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now this Rabb of us, of ours, who introduced himself, he mentioned his ni'mat. Everything we have in life is a ni'mat of Allah. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the way that food acts inside our body to build our strength, our intelligence, the parents and family we have, the support we have, the political and other power we have, the wealth we have, the health we have, you name it, every single thing, every breath we take is a ni'mat of Allah. The kalam of Allah is the ni'mat of Allah. But out of all of these ni'mat, Allah subhanahu