Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

Auto-generated transcript: Bismillāh ar-Raḥmān ar-Raḥīm. Alhamdulillāhi Rabbil 'Alameen. Wa salātu wa salāmu ala ashrafil anbiyā' wal mursalīn. Muḥammadur Rasūlullāh sallallāhu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sahībuhum sallam. Tasliman kathīran kathīran. Hamd ba'du wa abradu. Alhamdulillah. Today we are fasting for the, on Yawm al-Ashrā. And Nabi Sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam said, the one who fasts on this day, Allah will forgive the sins of one year. And this refers to the minor sins. We ask Allah to save us from all sins. All major sins have to be specifically repented. The reason for the holiness and the reason for the importance of this day, many, many narrations are there, that Adam alayhis-salam came to the earth on this day. And Nūḥ alayhis-salam was relieved from the flood on this day. His boat reached land and so on. But the most and the only reliable dalīl is that Mūsā alayhis-salam and his people were freed from Fir'aun in Egypt. And that is the reason why this day is celebrated. It is celebrated. In that sense. And this is the day reason why also the Jews of Madinah is to celebrate it. Because this was the day of freedom from Fir'aun. Some people think that the holiness and the importance of this day is because of the shahādah of Sayyidina Ḥussain ibn 'Alī. That is not true. Because Rasūlullāh Sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam was fasting on this day before Sayyidina Ḥussain. Because Rasūlullāh Sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam was born before Sayyidina Fāṭimah even got married. So, it's not a question of that day. The shahādah itself is one of the most terrible calamities that befell this ummah. May Allah Ta'ālā save us from all calamities. It's one of the worst. And it's a good idea to think about that and say why would something like this happen. But that's not the reason for the importance of this day. So, let us understand that. And that does not detract from either the tragedy itself or from the gravity of that incident or from the lessons that can and should be learnt. I'll come to that in a minute. But to understand that we have to go back to the... The establishment of Islam in the time of Rasūlullāh Sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam. When he was sent as the Nabī and the Rasūl and the last of them by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ālā. And if you read the history of the time of this place called Makkah. And you ask yourself a question and say what is it that Rasūlullāh Sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam brought. Which was so unique. Which was so revolutionary. That immediate effect was that he faced the most severe opposition to that. And the longer term effect was that it completely transformed that society. And made them into the leaders of the time. And that was one single thing. Just one single thing. And that was not Tawḥīd by itself. It was not the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ālā alone by itself. Because people were worshipping. They were worshipping 360 Gods. And for people who worship multiple Gods to worship one more is no problem. So that was not the earth shaking thing. The earth shaking thing was the concept and the reality of accountability before Allah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ālā on the day of judgement. It was life after death. This was the concept. It was not just worship Allah. They would be very happy to worship Allah. If that was all that Islam was. Worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ālā and accept Muḥammad Sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam as the Rasūl of Allah. They would have done that in a short. Absolutely no problem. If you look even here in India. We used to travel in the villages. And you have Christian missionaries come. And they convert people to Hindus to Christianity. Now if you go into those Hindu homes. And I have been into multiple of them. In one room they have high up on the wall. They have a long shelf. And on this shelf they have pictures. Of the different Gods they worship. So there is Rāmā. And there is Hanumān. And there is Lakshmi. And there is Sarasvatī. And whoever. Right. And when they become Christian. They also put a picture of Jesus. Of Jesus and Mary. And none of these pictures are actual pictures. I am just saying pictures. What else to call them. They also put that. They don't take any of the others off. Those are there. One more. So for people who are polytheists. To add one more is no big deal. For the people of Makkah. They were worshipping 360 Gods. In any case. In the Makkan. We can't call it theology. Because the Arabs didn't have a theology. They just worshipped Gods. Unlike the Hindus. Unlike the Egyptians. Unlike the Greeks. And the Romans. All of these were polytheistic people. They had elaborate theologies. They had all stories. Concerning each of these Gods. And what they did. And for what they did not do. And all kinds of stuff. So elaborate theologies. They had elaborate rituals of worship. They had days of festivals. And you know. Do this. And do that. They had a complete priestly class. They had these priests. They did nothing. Only conducted worship. But the people of Makkah. They didn't have any of this. There was no theology. There was no priestly class. There were no rituals. There were no festival days. And you know. They just sacrificed something. To these Gods. They just worshipped. In the sense of the. You know. They asked those Gods for favours. And so on. So for. In that time. And those people. The people of Makkah. They already worshipped Allah. As their head God. And they said. All the other Gods are. Sometimes they said. They are His daughters. Naudhu Billāh. Other times they said. They are the wasīlah. They are the way. To get close to Him. Now that's why. The whole issue of. Tawassul. Of wasīlah. And people go to this grave. And that grave. You know. We are not. We are not worshipping. This person in the grave. We are only asking Him. For something. To get close to Allah. That's exactly. What the Makkah. Mushrik said. About their Gods. Anyway. That's a different issue. But point. Point being. So for them. To have one more. Was no big deal. In any case. They had. The word Allah. Was familiar to them. They worshipped. Allah. As their head God. So it was nothing. New. What was. New. And which is. What. Completely. Turned them. Upside down. Was. The concept. Of accountability. That. Every action. Of yours. Every speech. Of yours. Is monitored. And you will be. Called. To account. You will have. To answer. For what you did. And for what. You did not do. Supposing. This. Was. Completely. Alien. To them. They. Refused. To believe. This. That was. The most. Difficult. Thing. For them. And imagine. Think. About. This. We. The. Same. Concept. Today. It. Doesn't. Stop. Us. From. Doing. Whatever. We. Do. The. Problem. Is. Not. Problem. The. Unique. Thing. About. The. People. Of. Makkah. Was. Their. Sincerity. The. Politees. People. They. Were. So. Incredibly. Sincere. Because. They. That. If. We. Accept. This. Then. We. Have. To. Change. Our. Lives. That. Is. What. They. Were. Fighting. They. Were. Today. We. Supposedly. We. Believe. In. The. After. Right. Believe. That. One. Day. We. Will. Die. And. We. Will. Before. Us. That. Does. It. Stop. Us. From. Doing. What. We. Do. Does. That. Stop. Us. This. Our. Life. Has. To. Change. That's. Why. They. Saying. That. How. Is. It. Possible. That. We. Will. Die. And. We. Become. One. With. The. Earth. We. Become. Dust. Now. Is. Happened. If. You. It. Back. To. This. Ashura. And. The. And. Family. What. Is. Actually. Happening. There. Is. That. There. A. Bunch. Of. Muslims. Or. Who. Claim. To. Be. Muslims. Who. Have. Forgotten. The. Issue. Of. Being. Resurrected. And. Called. To. Account. Before. Allah. SubhanAllāh. There. Is. A. Reason. Why. They. Did. That. Obviously. For. The. Banu Umayyah. For. Yazīd ibn Mu'āwiyah. Say. That. Ḥussain ibn 'Alī radi Allāhu anhumā was a threat. E] To. His. Kingdom. Because. He. Was. Establishing. His. Father. Passed. Away. He. Became. The. First. Hereditary. Monarch. So. That. Was. The. Foundation. Of. The. Banu. Umayya. Didn't. Last. Too. Long. It. Lasted. For. 89. Years. But. That. Was. The. Foundation. So. When. Are. Establishing. A. Kingdom. To. Have. A Power. Structure. Or. A. Power. Source. Who. Is. Different. From. You. Which. Is. What. It. Was. Sayyidina Hussain was from the Banu Abbas. So. To. Have. The. Banu. Abbas. And. This. Is. Any. Banu. Abbas. This. Is. The. Man. This. Is. The. Grandson. Of. Rasulullah ﷺ. There. No. One. Bigger. Than. That. There. No. One. You. Know. More. Powerful. Than. That. This. In. The. Sense. Of. Allah. But. Sayyidina Hussain was the direct descendant of His grandson of the Prophet. So. Historically. Politically. There. Was. A. Reason. But. At. Some. Point. This. History. Is. This. Political. You. Know. Need. For. Your. For. You. Or. Whatever. Greed. Or. God. Knows. What. You. Want. To. Call. It. I. Mean. Somewhere. You. Have. To. Wake. Up. And. As. Did. Not. Kill. Him. Personally. It. Soldiers. Did. But. You. Was. The. King. Of. Telling. The. Responsible. And. The. People. Who. Actually. Did. The. Action. Actually. Committed. did that actually. I mean, today if you just think back and say, how can anyone possibly do this? The only way that somebody can do it is because they forget the fact that they are accountable to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They forget the fact that one day I will die. Today, this man who is the grandson of Rasulullah s.a.w., he is in a helpless position. We have the army, we have the force, we have the power, we can kill him if we want. But the point is, no matter how much power you have, you will be called to account before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And at that time, how are you going to answer for this action which you are doing today? Now, alhamdulillah, in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's mercy, that specific test, we will not be faced with because history has moved on. Alhamdulillah for this,...

Auto-generated transcript: Bismillāh ar-Raḥmān ar-Raḥīm. Alhamdulillāhi Rabbil-'Alameen. Wa salātu wa salāmum 'alā ash-sharafi al-anbiyā' wal-mursalīn, Muḥammadin Rasūlullāh ﷺ, wa 'alā ālihi wa sahbihī sallam. Tasliman kathīran kathīran fa mubādā'. My brothers and sisters, I mention to you and remind myself that we are all the creatures of Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā. We are all the slaves of Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā. Whether we accept it or not. If we accept it, then we are obedient slaves. If we don't accept it, we are disobedient slaves. But the position of being a slave of Allah doesn't change. Now we obey Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā for four things. One, it's because we know that Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā created us and He loves us. And two, we know that Allah knows best what is good for us. We don't know, but Allah knows. Number three. Number three, Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā ordered us to do what is good for us because He is interested in it for us, not for Himself. Allah does not need anything. And so all of Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā's commands are for our benefit. Number four, because we know that when we meet Him on the Day of Judgment, we will be questioned about whether we obeyed Allah or chose to disobey Him. Now these four things work hand in hand. They are not four independent things. There are four things that work hand in hand and which define our position as the Ibadullāh, the slaves of Allah. It's very critical to understand that we are Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā's slaves and we have no choice in the matter. We were created by Him. We are sustained by Him. We need Him for every breath we take. He developed us. He sustained us. He supported us. And He gave us whatever we needed, whatever we desired. And He said that He gives us whatever we ask for. And that if you try to count His blessings, you would never be able to count them. وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْسِبُوهَا (inna taddu ni'mata Allāhi lā tuhsibūha). Allah said if you try to count His blessings, you will never be able to count them. And it is through our gratitude to Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā that we must make sure that we obey Him in everything. For example, now, today and tomorrow, I mean, tomorrow and day after, 9th and 10th of Muharram, we will fast. Inshā'allah. And we ask Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā, as Prophet Muhammad said, to forgive the sins of one year. All the minor sins of one year. Major sins have to be, specifically, we have to seek forgiveness. Inshā'allah, major sins we don't do, we should not do. Minor things which happen all the time. Which are also sins. These will be forgiven for a year. Now, you see this, it's only, I mean, what does Allah gain from that? Allah does not gain anything anyway. It's all for our benefit. Alhamdulillah. So, we obey Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā to show our gratitude. Because we are grateful. We do that because we know that our best interest lies in obeying Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā. Just think about this. That if you are walking on a path, driving down a road, where you don't know what is ahead of you, and nobody knows what is ahead of them in their lives. You are on this path and you don't know what's ahead of you, but you have with you a guide who knows what is ahead. Who knows the dangers, who knows the benefits, and who is showing you the way, how comforting that would be. That somebody who knows the way is with you. Not only showed you and me the way, Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā did not only show us the way by giving us a map, which is His book, but by sending for us a guide to hold us by the hand and to take us with Him through the difficulties of this life on the path of safety to a destination of glory and bliss, which is Jannah. There are two ways of directing somebody. One is to give them instructions, give them a map, tell them, do this, do this. But there is some, obviously, some chance of mistakes in that because you don't know where you're going. You're just following some instruction. The other way is for a person who knows the way, who has been, seen that, to be with you and to take you. And that's what Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā did. He gave us the map and He also gave us the teacher, which is Rasulullah ﷺ. So, why would you not follow? Why would you not follow that guide? Why would we ignore that map and insist on doing things our way, even when our way goes against the way shown to us by the guide? Ask yourself this question. Why would you do that? Allah has shown us a way. Why would you leave it? Why would you choose something else? Because whoever else you do, whoever else you choose to follow, including your own self, neither that person nor you are guided by Allah. That person is not getting Wahi, you are not getting Wahi. So, when you have the option of following somebody who was guided by Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā, who was the recipient of Wahi, the recipient of the direct instruction of Allah subḥānahū wa ta'ālā, and this was given to us free. Nobody is asking for any fees for this. Why would you leave it? And try to invent your own or follow your own? If we did this, if we did this in our lives in a worldly context, you would say this is a sign of insanity, of senility, that you have lost your senses. But we do this in Deen. We do this in the thing which has eternal benefit. The things of this dunya, even if you make a mistake, even if you make a serious mistake, and you should say maybe you make a bad business decision, you lose a lot of money, still it's a one-time thing, you lost the money, khalaṣa sabnī, okay, Inshā'allah, this is my life, I have learnt a lesson, I will not do this again, whatever, and you leave it. It doesn't go beyond this. But with the mistakes and the crimes we commit against ourselves, with respect to the Akhira, they carry on. They will go with you in your grave, and they will come out with us on the Day of Judgement, and they will stand with us, and they will go with us all the way to Jahannam. May Allah protect us. So why would we do that? That is the reason why we have to constantly keep reminding ourselves of the Akhira, of the fact that one day this life will end, and we don't know when that day will come. The thing with human beings, Allah gave us memories which are not perfect, so we forget. Now in a way, this is also the Raḥmah of Allāh , because if you remembered every single thing, your life will be impossible to live. Alright? Because every grief, every tragedy, every parting, you will remember in exquisite detail forever. Imagine, you will not be able to survive. So Allah gave us memories which are, imperfect. We forget. But, unfortunately that also refers to, and it also works with the opposite. We also forget the blessings of Allāh . We also forget the lessons we learn from life. So whereas it might be useful to forget tragedies and so on, but if we forget the lessons we learn from life, this is not good. So we need, let's think back. We are just like, you know, 2-3 years from the COVID years. How many of our friends and relatives were with us, who prayed with us, who came to our homes, we went to their homes. Where are they today? All gone in the one COVID wave. How many people died? Nobody expects to die. People died who are, many people I know who died who were perfectly healthy. Just died. It's not because of old age or some disease or something. Nothing. They were fine. I know some people who literally, I mean they were absolutely fine. They literally got up and dropped. Literally got up and died. Sleeping in the night, gone. And that will happen to me. It will happen to you. It will happen to all of us one day. The rest is excuses. You know, so and so, he had cancer, he had this. Even if he didn't have cancer, he would still die. Huh? Doesn't a cancer patient die? He dies a lot. When the time comes, he has to go. This we have to remind ourselves again and again and again. Even though we attend so many janazas, we go for one of them, that one. But we forget. So we have to remind ourselves that one day, this is the path that I will go. I was in Madinah and one of my friends took me into Baki. And as I was walking through, I was thinking to myself that in the same Qabristan, there are the best of humanity and there are the worst of humanity. All the Munafiqun of Madinah, who Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala said to the Prophet: "If you ask forgiveness for them 70 times, I will not forgive," where are they buried? In Baki. Huh? Ubay bin Salul, the chief of the Munafiqun, where is he buried? In Baki. And where are the best of them? Sayyidatuna Fatimah رضي الله عنها, Sayyiduna Uthman bin Affan رضي الله عنه, and so many Sahaba of the Prophet. Where are they buried? In Baki. So it doesn't matter where, which place we say, oh I want to be buried; you can be buried inside the Kaaba, it makes no difference. If you died without the correct aqeedah, if you did not believe in Tawheed, if you died with Shirk, and if you lived a life where you disobeyed Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and Allah is displeased with you, it makes no difference where you are buried and who is buried beside you. Where are you going to, where are you and I going to find neighbors better than the family of Rasulullah ﷺ, the Ahlul Bayt, better than the people who are the Sahaba of Rasulullah ﷺ? We are not going to find neighbors better than that in our Qabristan. But people who have them as neighbors, is it helping them? No. Because each one will go into this earth and each one will stand on the Day of Judgment with his or her own personal actions and personal beliefs. And that is why the aqeedah is so important. If the aqeedah is wrong, everything else is cancelled. If you have shirk in your aqeedah, if you have bida'at and you have all sorts of superstitions and this and that, actions have no value. So we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to save us from all forms of shirk

Auto-generated transcript: Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil 'Alameen. Wasalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasoolullah ﷺ sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. Fahamabadu, my brothers and sisters. Alhamdulillah, yesterday we prayed the janazah for our brother and friend and elder, Mahfuz Bhai, Mahfuz Ahmad sahib. May Allah grant you a janazah for your friend without any doubt, insha'Allah. The key thing to understand, which I remind myself of in you, is that this day will come for every single one of us. And there is no guarantee about when that will come. It's not to say, "Oh, I'm still young," or "It's only old people who die." Everyone dies, and our time is fixed. It is a sign of intelligence and good sense that when you know something is going to happen, you prepare for it. We do not get caught by surprise because it is not a surprise; it was known beforehand. Therefore, we need to prepare for it. Rasulullah ﷺ said that the first thing a slave will be held accountable for is the Salah. If we fall short of that, then we fall short on what is to come. Somebody said, "Do not fear missing sleep." In Salatul Fajr, he said, "Don't fear missing sleep. Fear a day in which there will be no sleep." Expecting Jannah while neglecting Salah is like waiting for a train to arrive at the airport. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la said, لَيْسَ بِأَمَانِيكُمْ (ina lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un). Jannah is not obtained by wishful thinking. If we really want Jannah, then we need to do the actions which take us to Jannah. Jannah is the result of actions, not the result of wishes. Rasulullah ﷺ said in this Hadith: He said, "Jannah is the world." He also said, "The world is a prison for the believer." It's the Jannah for the believer. So, don't get overawed by wealth and whatever you see around you; it doesn't mean anything. Everyone, whatever they have, must live with it. And if one dies without Iman, then all of it means nothing. Right? It is very important to understand these things because when we see that Allah has given us a little bit, we feel that we are some great creatures from somewhere. We were talking yesterday about expenses of weddings. There are people who spend literally millions on weddings. But at the end of that, the accounting remains. We have to understand this. The action you do is temporary; the accounting is permanent. That is why I think I mentioned this earlier. Somebody said, "Don't allow momentary pleasure." Don't allow a moment of pleasure to trap you. Don't allow a moment of discomfort to trap you into pain which is endless. And don't allow a moment of discomfort to prevent you from pleasure and reward which is endless. For example, if you commit disobedience to Allah, that is only temporary. What does it involve? Just so many minutes, or even less than an hour. You enjoy that, but that amal (action) finishes, yet its effect remains because it gets put into our book of accounts. Then we have to pay for it. Similarly, getting up in Tahajjud might be difficult initially, so you don't get up. But the reward of that, if you had gotten up, is endless. Yet we want that little bit of sleep and forget the endless reward. In al-Qayyim al-Jawzi rahmatullahi, he said: "The one whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants to enter Jannah, the reason which will cause his entrance will spring from difficulties and calamities. And he whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has intended to enter the hellfire, the reasons which will cause his entrance shall spring from lusts and desires." Now, the point to understand is this: when we say Allah ta'ala has predestined or decided, it doesn't mean that this person is being forced into Jannah or Jahannam. Nobody is forced; destiny is what Allah has written. But the point is, the person goes to that destiny by their own choices. That's where Allah has given us the choice. That's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taught us: He said, "We have shown you the two paths, the two valleys, the two roads. And you choose." The one who wants to choose Iman, let him have Iman. And the one who wants to deny Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, let him do it. Because Allah is Benyas (Al-Bani). Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is Huwa Samad. Allah does not need anything; He does not need our devotion. We do it for our benefits. So, it is very, very important to think about this. Why do we think that reverts run away from that kind of life? Where we see born Muslims chasing that life—clubbing, drinking, racing, gambling. Whereas people who are reverts, those born into that system, they are living it and coming back because they see the benefit of Islam. They see the purity of Islam. So, we need to think and say. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, مَا يَلْفِظُ مِنْ قَوْلٍ إِلَّا لَدَيْهِ رَقِيبٌ عَتِيدٌ (ma yalifuzu min qawlin illa ladayhi raqeebun 'ateedun): Not a word is said except that there is a watcher by him ready to record it. Everything we say is recorded, including all postings on Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and everything else. That's why it is very important for us to make sincere tawbah and repent to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Like Ibn Taymiyyah said: "Not only for the sins you committed but also for the obligations that you have not fulfilled." So, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to help us do what is pleasing to Him. Ibn Al-Qayyim said: "Don't ruin your happiness with worry. And don't ruin your mind with pessimism. Don't ruin your success with deception. And don't ruin the optimism of others by destroying it. Don't ruin your day by looking back at yesterday." If you think about your situation, you will find that Allah has given you things without asking. So, have trust in Allah that He doesn't prevent anything you want, except that there is goodness for you in that prevention. You could be sleeping while the doors of heaven and Jannah are being opened with duas being made for you. We ask Allah to make us among those who do things for which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will reward us. The story I told you yesterday about the man who died in sujood in front of the Kaaba... the last part of the story I forgot to tell you. When this man went and asked his wife, "What did he do? What was his action?" She told him: "There was a woman down the road from us, our neighbor, who is a widow and she has two or three children. My husband, anytime he went to the grocery store, would buy provisions for her and leave them outside her door to help her throughout his life." She said, "This woman used to make dua. She would stand there, raise her hand, and make dua loudly so people could hear it. She would say, 'Oh Allah, give him a beautiful ending.'" Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him a beautiful ending even though on the face of it, his actions were not seemingly for that. But Alhamdulillah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one to forgive. So Allah caused him to make umrah, caused him to make repentance (tawbah), istighfar, and purify himself. And after that, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him death. In sujood, in salah, and waqaf Ibrahim in front of the Ka'bah. So we ask Allah ﷻ to give us khatima bil khair. We ask Allah ﷻ to give us the tawfeeq to do a'maal which lead to that. And we ask Allah to forgive us and to be pleased with us and never to be displeased. Fasalallahu 'ala nabil al-kareem 'ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in bi rahmati Allah.

Auto-generated transcript: Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil'alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala ishrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasoolullah. Sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sahibu sallam. Taslimun kathir al-kathira. Fama ba'du. My brother and sister, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said in Surah Al-Anbiya: "Wa izta'azzana rabbukum la in shakartum la azidannakum wa la in kafartum inna azabila shadid." Allah said, which means, your Lord has announced that the one who is grateful for My blessings, I will increase those for him. And the one who is ungrateful, let him beware of My punishment, which is severe. Imam Jalaluddin Rumi, rahmatullah alayhi, he said that there is an action that attracts rizq, that attracts provision, like a magnet attracts iron filings. And he said that action is the sajda of shukr. The interesting and beautiful thing about the sajda of shukr is that this is the only sajda which does not require wudu. Which does not require that you should do it in any particular place, meaning in the masjid or in the musalla or something. Obviously, the place has to be clean, but... And it does not require that it should be done in the direction of the qibla. It can be done in any direction. And it does not require to be done in a particular time. It can be done at any time of the day or night. So, the sajda of shukr. Just a sajda to thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for whatever it is that is in your heart at that time. And Ma'a Ar-Rum said that just do the sajda, thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, get up and do your work. No song and dance and no drama. Just go, make a sajda. Alhamdulillah. Say Alhamdulillah. This is something that we, I remind myself and you, this is something that we should very seriously consider. Sit down and thank. An attitude of gratitude is the source and the fundamental reason for gratitude. For all happiness. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, that I will increase the blessings. Of course, Allah knows the meaning of what He said. The very first increase in blessing happens when you are thankful for something because you then really enjoy it. Until then, you take it for granted. Right? Supposing you buy a new car. You sit in the car, you just enjoy it. The smell of the new car. Right? You start it, it starts, it runs beautifully. Say Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. Allah Ta'ala gave me this car. You look at your spouse, you look at your children, you look at your parents and say Alhamdulillah, Allah Ta'ala gave me these people, these connections and these individuals in my life who are a source of such blessing for me. Just think about that. Just think about it. Just imagine. I always remind myself and you, how many of us thank Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la that He gave us specifically the parents that He gave us. Not simply saying, "Oh Allah gave me this." No, no, no. This man. The fact that this man is my father, not somebody else. The fact that this lady is my mother. How many of us thank Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala for our children that He gave us. This child is my child. Not some other child. This child. Our spouses. This lady is my wife. This man is my husband. How many of us call this man as my husband? Consciously, sincerely, thank Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala. Alhamdulillah, Allah who gave this. Because I know people who have all the money in the world. They have children and the only thing they can do when they look at their children is to cry. Because those children are a source of so much pain for them. And vice versa, I know the opposite also. I know children who are born into very wealthy families. There's a kind of wealth that may Allah have mercy on all of us here and may Allah give you. I don't even make this dua for you. Because I know people who have it. It's wealth you can't even imagine. Forget about it. But those children... they look at their parents, they don't get one minute of peace and one minute of khair from their parents. The parents are a source of continuous problem for them. I know people who have a lot of wealth but health issues. And all the money in the world, I mean they have access to the best of the best medical treatments. Mayo Clinic, this, that you name it. Absolutely top of the line. Because Shifa is in the hand of Allahﷻ. Shifa is not in Mayo Clinic or this or that. Shifa is in the hand of Allahﷻ. On the other hand, our cook, her husband had a stroke, got paralyzed; they took him to Uswaniya Hospital and the doctors said we have to do a surgery, spinal surgery, and after that he'll be insha'Allah he'll be okay. People thought he died yesterday, he died today. That's all they said. Uswaniya Hospital: what will happen to him? He would have died tomorrow instead of that, he will die today. The man walked out of that hospital completely cured, fine, absolutely. And the whole thing got done for free. Because Shifa is in the hands of Allahﷻ. A man came to Sayyidina Umar ibn al-Khattab and he said, "You keep saying make dua, make dua, what do I have to make dua for? I have nothing." I have no money, I've got no house, I've got nothing property, job. So what should I thank Allah for? Sayyidina Umar ibn al-Khattab said to him, "Can you urinate without burning? Without any burning sensation? Can you urinate?" He said, "Yeah." He said, "Thank Allah for this. Thank Allah that you can urinate without any pain." If you think about it, today people who have UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) actually have kidney failure because they will not drink water out of dehydration; they get other problems because they are afraid to urinate. It is so painful. So Alhamdulillah, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala does not give us this. As they say, you have a thousand problems until you have a health problem then you have only one problem. Subhan Allah Aajib. May Allah have mercy on us. You've got all this... this is how it is: that property, that mother with her kids, that mother... everything goes, only that health problem remains. We thank Allah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. The issue with many of the Stoic philosophers and also with human beings is we tend to live either in the past or we live in the future. So, we are either thinking about the past—this fellow did this to me, that happened to me, I lost this, this loss happened to me, you know, I should have done that, if he had done this deal, he would have got it. This is what is going on in our mind, in the past. Or, in the future: now tomorrow what will happen? This Iran and US deal looks like it will fall through, then what will happen? Then what will happen to the economy? Then what will happen again? The state of Hormuz Strait closes; that means there will be a gas shortage; that means there will be a diesel shortage, petrol shortage; then the prices of food will go up; then after that my roti will cost... Because while he is doing all this mental calculation, he is sitting in his house, in peace and harmony, nobody is bothering him, there is no bomb falling on his head, right? He is eating a good meal, mashallah. Which has been cooked for him, nice, good food, hot food. He wants to go somewhere, he has got a nice car, he has got a tank full of gas, he can drive and go somewhere, he can come back. All of this he does not notice. He will eat his food, he will drive his car, he will come back, but his mind is still: "What will happen in the Hormuz Strait? What will happen here?" This is like buying trouble. They said, the past is history. The future is a mystery. What we have today is a gift. And that is why it is called a present. It is a nice little quote. Very nice. The past is history. Whether it was good or bad or whatever, but it is finished, khalas, gone. It is not coming back. The future, we do not know what is going to happen. Allah knows. Only and only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows what is going to happen in the future. What should you be concerned about today? So, alhamdulillah, Allah has kept me safe. Allah has kept me, given me a good family. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given me enough wealth. I do not have to ask anybody. We are not. We do not need anything. The beautiful hadith of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, you know, I keep on repeating this again and again. They are so beautiful, these things. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, if you wake up in the morning and your body is functioning in good health, if you wake up in the morning and your body is functioning, you have a roof over your head, which means you are living in aman. There is nobody threatening your life. And you have food enough for that day, which means one meal. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, if this is your condition, it is as if the whole world has been collected for you. One meal. Our fridge is being made, there is so much shit in it. Think about it. Full, full. But still, what will happen tomorrow? Tomorrow you will die. Which is a definite thing. What will happen tomorrow? Tomorrow you will die. I will die. You will be in your khabar. Then it won't matter whether there is a Hormuz threat or whether Trump is signing deals or not. What will matter is what happens six feet down in your grave. So let us worry about that. I have a very dear friend of mine in America called Tariq Bandur. Make dua for him. Allah Ta'ala give him perfect health, inshallah. Tariq bhai is about 75, 76. His mother was... an Alzheimer's patient for I think maybe at least 20 years. She died a few years ago at the age of some 90 plus. So she was... He had kept her, she was in a facility because keeping her home was impossible because she would do anything, go anywhere, he had to go to work. But every single day for all those years he would cook food for her and take the food for her. He would keep that there and feed her himself. Every single day. He never took a holiday, never did anything. He served his mother like this. I have never seen things like this. Served his mother like that. Alhamdulillah she passed away. Now he has arthritis. So, you know,...

Auto-generated transcript: Bismillāh ar-Raḥmān ar-Raḥīm. Alḥamdulilāhi Rabbil-'Alameen. Wa salātu wa salāmum 'alā ash-shirāfi al-amiyyay wa al-mursaleen, Muḥammadin Rasūlullāh ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa 'alā ālihi wa sallam. Tasleeman kathīran kathīran. Qur'ān, ba'du. My brothers and sisters, Allāh subḥānahu wa ta'ālā, in the first or second āyah of Surah Al-Ankabūt, Allāh subḥānahu wa ta'ālā said: *Ahasibannas ann yutrakuka an yakuna amanna wa hum la yufṭanun*. Allāh subḥānahu wa ta'ālā is challenging us. He asks, "Do you think humans will be left alone if they say, 'We believe,' without being tested?" So the tests from Allāh subḥānahu wa ta'ālā are this: life itself is a test. The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said that this life is a trial for us, and the result comes in the Akhirah. This life is a place of action, while the Akhirah is a place where we receive the reward for those actions. If someone asks me, "What is a test in life?", I tell them: anything on which you have control is a test. Eating is a test because choosing between ḥalāl and ḥarām is your choice. Digestion is not a test; whether food gets digested or causes acidity is out of your control. What matters is what you put into your mouth. Right? So everything in life—every action where we can choose yes or no—is a test. Every single thing. That is why the Prophet (ﷺ) described this life as tillage, a field, or a garden. And in the Akhirah, we harvest the results. As I mentioned yesterday, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (rahimahullāh) said every human being is a slave by default. You are either a slave to your own desires or a slave to Allāh. One of two paths: living by your rules or living by Allāh's rules. But the judgment of what you did—whether it was right or wrong—is based solely on Allāh's rules. We may live by our own standards, but Allāh does not hold us accountable in this world for those choices. Responsibility lies with you, but accountability belongs to the Hereafter, judged strictly by Allāh's criteria. In this life, Allāh gives us freedom to choose which set of rules to follow. However, on the Day of Judgment, passing or failing depends entirely on the standard Allāh has set. As Ibn al-Khayyam (rahimahullāh) asked: "How can the heart travel to Allāh if it is chained by its desires?" Right? How can one connect with Allāh while enslaved by desire? One of the most common things enslaving us today is social media. Fawaz has invented a gadget that allows you to lock social media apps without deleting them. This provides a period of freedom to work and focus, which you can unlock later. It is a small device, yet offers great relief and benefit. The point is these are chains binding us. Our desire to scroll, scroll, scroll. Even if scrolling isn't ḥarām—perhaps watching wildlife documentaries or nature videos seems harmless and enjoyable—it still serves no useful purpose. What is the outcome? What is the benefit? We will be held accountable for the time we wasted. We are not only judged for evil actions but also for wasted time. Allāh subḥānahu wa ta'ālā's first question on the Day of Judgment will be: "What did you do with the time allotted to you? What was the value of your life?" Life is time. If you cannot say you didn't waste it, then you wasted this precious resource. Islam teaches us, as Ibn al-Khayyam (rahimahullāh) said: "O son of Adam, sell this world for the Hereafter and you win both. Sell the Hereafter for this world and you lose both." As I mentioned yesterday, selling does not mean giving up everything. You do not have to deprive yourself; you can live your life well and enjoy it. But do so with the thought that you will answer to Allāh Subḥānahu Wa Ta'ālā for every moment. Live responsibly. Do not overindulge. Do not act out of show-off (*riyā'*). Do not exceed reasonable limits. Because ultimately, if you had the whole world—its power, authority, and wealth—and lost Allāh, what would you gain? If you gained the whole world but lost Allāh Subḥānahu Wa Ta'ālā, you lost your connection with Him. What did you truly gain? Conversely, if you lost the whole world but gained Allāh, connecting with Him, what did you lose? Nothing. We must constantly remind ourselves: this world and all it contains are temporary. It is fleeting, not permanent. Ibrāhim Ad-Dīn (rahimahullāh), a great scholar who was also the king of Balkh in Afghanistan, once told a story. His soldiers brought a poor man (*faqīr*) to him, claiming he was sleeping in the throne room, the *Diwan-e-Khas*. Ibrāhim Ad-Dīn asked, "Why were you sleeping in my throne room?" The man replied, "Because this is a *saray*." Ibrāhim Ad-Dīn said, "What kind of nonsense is that? How can you call it a palace? This is not a saray." The man argued, "Who lived here before you? My father." "And who lived here before him? His father." "Then who will live here after you die? My son." "And after your son dies, who lives there? His son." He concluded, "So how is it yours? People come and go. What do you call a place where people arrive and depart? You sleep for a while, then leave. Subḥag ho gayi, chale gayi." "Toh mera hai ka sab, tumhara kaan say? Yeh toh sara hai jo aa raha, rahi raha jaa raha." Now this is the nature of life for everyone. It is not just about thinking of past kings like Ibrāhim Ad-Dīn or Farhani Diodi. Think about our own friends. So many have passed away in the last four or five years. What happened to their houses? They still stand. Their children may be living in them now. It and some other person is living in it. So when they were there, eh? They were so house-proud and they had a beautiful house and they, you know, brought beautiful furniture and carpets and this and that and they lived well. Alhamdulillah, nothing wrong with that. But don't imagine that this is forever. It is not forever. When we travel, Alhamdulillah, Allah Ta'ala has given us the opportunity and the ability to travel well. So, you know, you travel and you are sitting in business class or first-class lounge in Dubai or Singapore or somewhere. It's a beautiful place. You've got beds to sleep. There's a shower. You go there. They give you, you know, soaps and towels and what not. And there's a huge spread, the buffet. The best caramel treats in the world are in Dubai. Isn't it? Absolutely fabulous caramel. So, the point I'm making, all of this is there. But what is top of your mind? What time is my flight? Will you think, okay, nice place, let me see it peacefully? I just read about one guy, a Chinese guy. He bought a first-class full-fare ticket. So, which means he can cancel it anytime; he can change the date, what not. Then he goes to the first-class lounge in the airport. He eats very nicely and so on and enjoys himself and so on. Right? And just before the flight is taking off, he postpones it to the next day. Then the next day he does the same thing. And he did this for months. Keeps on postponing. So, he keeps on postponing it and he's enjoying himself in the lounge. Free food, free everything. Until somebody caught on; they say the same ticket is coming again and again and what's going on. Then they found him. So, point being, no matter what game you play, end of the day, there is an accounting. So, very important for us to understand that. So, Islam therefore is not a buffet for us to pick and choose what suits us. We like it, we don't like it. Our Adirondack says: "Bittaka sahab sunnat hai, Daadi sunnat hai, roz mundar hai. Nama sunnat hai, kabhi ne padat hai. Khana, kam khana sunnat hai, viya hallakta khaye. Uparse kya varadu, mitta sunnat hai. Kya ye, dena ye." Who are you trying to fool? What is the point of that? So, very, very important for us to not play this game. Islam is not a buffet. You pick and choose what you want. Right? Allahﷻ said: أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبْعَدِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبْعَدِ Do you pick something, do you have iman on some part of the book and you deny the rest of the book? وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ And the one who does this, Allahﷻ said, for him, إِلَّا خِزْيٌّ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ أَشَدِّ الْأَذَابِ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِرٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ Allahﷻ said, the one who does that, for him there is nothing but hardship in this life. Allahﷻ said, if you pick and choose what you will obey and what you will not obey, think about this, Allah is not saying somebody who denies everything. No, the pick and choose; the person is saying, people say, "I didn't study Salah, what should I do now?" Just like Allah is making it easy for you to study Salah. So the point is, if you, if you pick and choose, you are actually exhibiting arrogance. Allahﷻ said, do three things, you are saying, no, I will do two. The third one is, Allah likes you, Allah may like, I don't like. إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا لِلَّهِ It's arrogance. So therefore, the punishment for it is in the dunya and akhirah. Allah said, I will make your life in this world hard and harsh. And on the day of judgment, they will be returned and they will be, they will be returned to the worst of punishments. The most difficult punishments. أَشِدَّ لَذَاب أَشَدِّ لَذَاب أَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ And Allah is not ghafil from what you do. Allah does not, don't think that Allah does not know what you are doing. Because the reality is, that, as I said, if you lose the world and gain Allah, what have you lost? And if you lose Allah and gain the world, what have you gained? But the reality is, that for the one who lives by Islam, he has, he has to lose nothing. He does not lose the world. He gains the world and he gains Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because he can gain the world and please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's a real deal. When you do something to please Allah, for example, you say, "I will eat only that which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made halal." Okay. So are you going hungry?...

Auto-generated transcript: Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil'alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasoolullah ﷺ sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. Fama baadu wa amratan fisrat. Alhamdulillah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent His book and sent His Nabi ﷺ to guide us to the right path and to Jannah inshaAllah, the path to Jannah. The important thing to understand is that, see what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taught us to ask. In Surah Al-Fatiha, which we recite in every rakat of every salah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taught us to ask for Ihdinas Sirat al-Mustaqim. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not ask us, did not tell us to ask for Jannah. Allah told us to ask for the path to Jannah. Ihdina ila Sirat al-Mustaqim. What is at the end of Sirat al-Mustaqim? Jannah. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not say, "Ask for Jannah." He said, "Ihdina ila Sirat al-Mustaqim." Guide us to the path. Because this life is a journey. And therefore, when you say, for example, if I say I want to go to Tadabah. So what will you say? If I say, I want to go there, how should I go? What is the logical answer? You will show me the road. Go this way. You simply say, "Go to," but how will I go? I don't know the way. I want to go. Therefore, this life is a journey. And that's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taught us to ask for the road. In this journey of life, which is the right road? The right road is called Sirat al-Mustaqim. The path of steadfastness. The straight path. The path of guidance. Ihdina ila Sirat al-Mustaqim. And that is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in Surat al-Nur described what is this Sirat al-Mustaqim. Allah said: وَمَن يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَخْشَ اللَّهَ وَيَتَّقِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَائِظُونَ (wa man yu'ti Allaha wa rasoolahu wa yakhsuha wa yattaqihi fa ulaika humul faziqun). Allah said, you see the things that Allah said. First and foremost, obedience. وَمَن يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ The one who obeys Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and His Rasul. So the first and foremost thing in life is to obey Allah and His Rasul. People get involved in all kinds of extraneous things. Sometimes in useless things. Some philosophies and this and that and so on and so on. That doesn't get you anywhere. The first and foremost is, "Obey Allah and His Rasul." And then, "Yakhshu Allaha." The one who has the khashiyat of Allah. Khashiyat is that condition which is in the heart, which is the awe and glory and majesty. It is akin to fear, but it is not fear. Fear is a negative emotion which removes your energy, which freezes you, which makes you run away or want to run away from the thing that you fear. Khashiyat is like fear because it produces the same kind of adrenaline in the heart, but it comes out of awe and respect for the glory and majesty of Allahﷻ. Allah said: لَوْنَدَلْنَا هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍ لَرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُتَصَدِّيًا مِّنْ خَشَةِ اللَّهِ (lawandalna hadha al-Qurana ala jabalin lar'aytahu khashi'an mutasaddian min khashati Allah). Allah said, If this Qur'an al-Kareem was to be sent down onto a mountain, the mountain would humble itself, would disintegrate, would break apart with the khashiyat, with the glory and majesty of Allah. So the first thing is to obey Allahﷻ and His Rasul SAW. The number one form of obedience is salah. Everything begins with salah. The moment we say, "Ashadu an la ilaha illa Allah," I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah, then what should we do? Worship Allah. So, it is salah. The number one important thing in life is salah. Allahﷻ created us for His worship. This is what we are created for. This is the purpose of our existence. So, we pray. What's the importance? And then the same obedience in the rest of our lives, in our ma'malat, in our akhlaq, in our dealing with people, and the rest of the arqan of Islam, sawm and fasting and hajj and zakat and so on. Right? Obedience to Allah and His Rasool, peace and blessings be upon him. This means that a person, when he or she comes across any decision point in their life, no matter how small or significant or big it might be, the first question they ask is, "Is there an order of Allah or His Rasool in this matter?" Is there a hukm of Allah? Is there a guidance? Is there a hukm? Is there a sunnah of Rasool Allah concerning this matter? So, if somebody says, "What will you do?" You say, "I will check." If there is a hukm of Allah, if there is a sunnah of Rasool Allah, I follow that. So, I will not decide something on my own without first checking: is there a law that is applicable? Right? Is there something to be done? If you go to buy a piece of land, so you say, "Go buy the land," then what do you do? You don't simply give the money to somebody and walk away and say, "This is my land." You will lose the land, you will lose the money also. You will say, "Bring the papers, here is the money, where is the receipt, we go to the registrar's office, we get it registered, we change the ownership." If you don't do that, then the money will be sold. So, there is a procedure, there is a methodology to be followed in every transaction. So, similarly, any, the meaning of obedience is that, in any matter of this life, we first check, "What is the hukm of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this?" I want to get married, what is the hukm of Allah in this? I have to raise children, what is the hukm of Allah in this? I want to start a business, what is the hukm of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this? We don't just go and do something, no. We first ask: "I want to eat some food, what is the hukm of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala concerning this?" "I want to go somewhere, I want to meet somebody, I want to make a friendship, I want to break a friendship, I want to have a relationship, I want to change, whatever the situation, what is the command of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this?" What is the sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in this? And I follow that. This is the meaning of obedience. وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ This is the meaning, which is, look to do the itaat of Allah and His Rasul. Look to obey Allah and His Rasul, meaning, look to see what we are supposed to do, what they have ordered us to do. This will produce the state of khashiyat. So Allah said, "Yakhshu Allaha." The one who has the khashiyat of Allah. The khashiyat of Allah comes from constantly making zikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Like yesterday in the hadith which I mentioned, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, this boy came, he came to him, alayhi salatu wasalam, and he said, "Ya Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, give me something which only you can give me." So Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said to him: قُلْ بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ (qul bithikri Allah). Take your hand. And he said: سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَلَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ الْعَلِيِّ الْعَظِيمِ (subhana Allah wal hamdu lillah wa la ilaha illa Allah wallahu akbaru wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahil aliyyil azim). Yeah, alhamdulillah we know all of this. He said, say this. So inshaAllah, even if you say it once, if you say it with the awe and majesty, with the jalala and the azama of that, inshaAllah this is sufficient. If you say it more, alhamdulillah. سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَلَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ So this dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, this focusing on the glory and majesty of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala by reciting the Qur'an al-Karim. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned: إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ اللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُهُ زَادَتْهُمْ إِمَانًا (innama almumineena allatheena idha dhikra Allaha wajilat quloobuhum wa idha tiliya 'alayhim ayatuhu zadatahum imanan). The believers are those who, when the dhikr of Allah, when the mention... The mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala comes before them, their hearts shiver with the glory and majesty of Allah. وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ Something happens to their heart; the heart moves. وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُهُ زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا When the verses of Allah are recited to them, or when they recite the verses of Allah, their faith increases. So the solution for when you are feeling low, when you are feeling depressed—all of these are signs of low iman. Why should you feel depressed? Why should you feel afraid? Why are you full of anxiety? Why are you worried? دُنْيَا مَنْ أَيْسَهَا هُرَا دُنْيَا مَنْ أَيْسَاهَا هُرَا What is this dunya compared to the presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? We are Muslims; what is the use of it? If you also think in the same way, in the same nonsensical way—this one does that, that one does that—let them do. How does it matter to us? It matters to us because our connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is weak. Because the connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is broken. So repair that connection. The repairing of that connection is called tilawat al-Quran. So when we read the Quran al-Karim, iman increases. So the way to develop khashyah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the heart is to read more and more Quran al-Karim. Read it with understanding. Read the meaning. Try to understand. Try to learn the Arabic language. That is the ideal way. So read the Quran al-Karim. Make zikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. وَيَخْشَ اللَّهَ وَيَتَّقِهِ And this results in taqwa. And the one who has taqwa. أُولَٰئِكَ يُطِيعُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَخْشَوْنَهُ وَيَتَّقُونَهُ Three things: Obedience to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala; khashyah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala within our hearts; and taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Taqwa is that condition where a person fears to displease Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's the fear of displeasing Allah....

Auto-generated transcript: Bismillāh ar-Raḥmān ar-Raḥīm, wa raḥmatullāhi rabbil 'alameen, wa salātu wa salāmu 'ala ashrafil anbiyā' wal mursaleen, Muḥammadun Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa 'ala ālihi wa sahhayhi, tasliman kathīran kathīran. My brothers and sisters, a young man came to Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam, and he said to him, "Ya Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam, please give me something that only you can give me and nobody else can give me." Please give me something that only you can give me and no one else can give me. So Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam said to him, "Say, take your hand." So he took his right hand. Then he said, "Qul subḥānAllāh wal-ḥamdulillāh, wālā ilāha illAllāh, wallāhu akbar, wālā ḥawla wālā quwwata illa billāhil-ladhī lā yudharru ma'a dhikri shay'un." We know all of these things, right? We don't even need to memorize them to think about this. Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam said, "Say, Qul," "SubḥānAllāh wal-ḥamdulillāh, wālā ilāha illAllāh, wallāhu akbar, wālā ḥawla wālā quwwata illa billāhil-ladhī lā yudharru ma'a dhikri shay'un." The boy repeated after Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam. He looked at his face and he left the masjid. Then he went outside and he thought for some time. Then he came back. And he said, "Ya Rasūlullāh, all that you gave me is for Allah." Right? "Qul hadhā billāh ta'ālā faqat." "Qām dhalika," what about for me? So Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam smiled. Because when you make dhikr, even though the dhikr is the praise of Allah, it is for you. Because you are getting the reward of the dhikr. So Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam gave him something for himself. But he is a young boy, he doesn't understand. So anyway, Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam smiled. And he said, "Qul biyadik." He said, take your hand. So he took his other hand. And he said, "Qul," say. "Allāhumma ghaffir li. Warḥamnī. Wafīnī. Wahdini. Warzuqnī." Allāhumma ghaffir li. O Allah, forgive me. Warḥamnī. And have mercy on me. Wafīnī. And bless me and bless everything which I have. Wahdini. And guide me. Warzuqnī. And provide for me. So the boy said, what about me? Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam gave him this. Very small. Each one is a dua. And these are all very small duas. It takes you one minute. Maybe. Maybe to say all of them. If you recall, these are the duas we say between the two sujoods. When you make a sajdah, you sit back. You say this. Allāhumma ghaffir li. Warḥamnī. Wafīnī. Wahdini. Warzuqnī. Then you go into the next sajdah. So it is the same thing. So Nabīy sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam taught him this dua. Allāhumma ghaffir li. Warḥamnī. Wahdini. There is no specific order. You can say it any order. Allāhumma ghaffir li. Warḥamnī. Wahdini. Warzuqnī. Wafīnī. Wahdini. Warzuqnī. So make this dua. The boy took this. And he looked at the blessed face of Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam. And he left. And when he went outside the masjid, Rasūlullāh sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam said to the companions around him: "That this boy's hands are filled with khair." Khair. Barakah. His hands are filled with khair. This dua for Afiyah. Wafīnī. I ask you for afiyah, right? He could do more. All aspects of life, in all that we do. Allāhumma inni as'aluka al-afiyyah. A small dua, but it encompasses everything. Because this afiyah, the blessing from Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā, is the critical factor which makes something good for you. Right? Because nothing in this world is good by itself. It's good only if Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā puts khair in this. It puts afiyah in this. Take anything you like. Take, for example, wealth. Wealth by itself is not good because wealth is also the door. Wealth enables the door of disobedience to be opened. If you don't have money, the option, the options of disobeying Allah are less. Fewer. But when you have a lot of money, then the options of disobeying Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā are limitless. You can do whatever you like. You can do anything you like. But when Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā puts afiyah in that wealth, then you spend that wealth in order to gain Jannah. You spend the wealth in ways which help you to get Jannah. Similarly, take afiyah, ulūl al-'ibād, take children. Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā called children a test. "Innama al-amwāluikum wa awlādukum fitnah." Allah said, "Verily, your wealth and your children are a fitnah for you. They are a test for you." So, if you pass the test, alhamdulillah, because the child who makes dua for you is your sadaqah jāriyah. It's something which is a huge blessing. But that is not something which happens automatically. That happens if you raise the child properly, give it the correct tarbiyyah. And all of this is from afiyah. If the children, if you had the children without afiyah, then we have enough examples of that in this world. May Allah protect us from that. But if you raise the children correctly, then alhamdulillah, those children are a source of great khair and great barakah for us. May Allah grant us this, insha'Allāh. Similarly, marriages. Your husband, or your wife, in itself, Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā said, "'Adawwun lakum innamā azwājukum wa awlādukum 'adawwun lakum." Allah said, "Verily your spouses and your children are your enemies." Surah At-Takāthur, Allah said, "Your spouses and your children are your enemies." Enemies does not mean you go and fight with them. Enemies meaning, all of this means that potentially, how does your husband or wife become your enemy? By doing something which distracts you from obedience to Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā, which takes you towards the disobedience of Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā. So also with the children. Now, that will not happen if that spouse is full of khair and barakah, if the children are raised correctly, then they become, instead of becoming your 'adawwun, your enemies, they become, your partners in gaining the ridā of Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā. So this is the meaning of afiyah. So when we are saying, Allāhumma inni as'aluka al-afiyyah, we are saying, "O Allah, give me afiyah in my, in everything, in all my," similarly education, right? You take education, you take health, you take sickness, anything, anything in this world, anything of this world, if you get it without afiyah, then it only causes evil for you. But if you get the same thing with afiyah, then it's a means of great khair and barakah. So, quick recap, just the duas, to ask Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā: Allāhumma ghaffir li, warḥamnī, wafīnī, wahdini, warzuqnī. So, insha'Allāh, we ask Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā to grant us all these things and to help us to earn halal, to spend halal, and to live in a life, live a style of life which Allah Ṣubḥānaḥu wa Ta'ālā is pleased with. Wa sallallāhu 'ala nabiyyil karīm wa 'ala ālihi wa sahbihi ajmain bi raḥmatika ya ar-raḥmānar-raḥīm, wal-ḥamdulillāhi rabbil 'alameen.

Auto-generated transcript: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين محمد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم تسليماً كثيراً. My brothers and sisters, we were talking about "إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين" that we worship only Allah ﷻ and we rely only on Allah ﷻ; we seek help only from Allah ﷻ. I mentioned to you how Allah ﷻ taught this lesson to Musa عليه السلام of reiterating that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah and that we seek help only from Allah. We spoke about how it is not simply enough to say we worship Allah, but we must worship Allah and worship no one other than Allah. Now, therefore, how do you bring yourself to a state where this prominence of Allah ﷻ in our lives—the greatness, the glory, and the majesty of Allah ﷻ—becomes so important and so up-front as far as we are concerned, that we never deviate from the path? InshaAllah, Allah will make us successful. The way to do that is by two things: One is by focusing on the glory and majesty of Allah. The greatness, the glory, the majesty, the power of Allahﷻ. And two, by focusing on the mercy of Allahﷻ, the generosity of Allahﷻ. These are the two things. So if you think about the glory and majesty of Allahﷻ, of course, we have the glory and majesty of Allah all around us. Allahﷻ mentioned it in the Qur'an, in different places, in different ways. Allahﷻ mentioned He introduced Himself in Ayat al-Kursi, for example. He introduced Himself in the last two ayat of Surat al-Hashr, for example. He introduced Himself in Surah Al-Ikhlas, for example. These are all the introductions of Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la. The people said, "Who is Allah?" Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la said, "Khul Huwa Allahu Ahad." So, these are the introductions of Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la. So, if we read these and we reflect on them and we understand them, this gives us the sense of glory and majesty of Allah. Similarly, we see the glory and majesty of Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la all around us in creation itself: In the heavens and the earth and all that there is in between; in the systems and processes that Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la has created. We see it in ourselves, within ourselves, in our bodies, in terms of our health and the functions of our bodies, right? We see the glory and majesty of Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la in every aspect of our lives. And that is why it is very important to live life thoughtfully, not by default, right? Not a robotic existence. You just get up in the morning, sleep in the evening. That's not the way of living. That's how animals live. Animals live without thought. There's no reflection. They get up in the morning, they feel hungry, they go eat something. They feel sleepy, they go to sleep. They feel thirsty, they drink some water. This is not how we should live. As far as we are concerned, we must live thoughtfully. We must think, we must reflect. And the more we do that, the more the glory of Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la will become visible to us. Now, alhamdulillah for this, it is very important to be connected with Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la, to see with the eyes of recognition. One of my favorite pastimes is to watch BBC World: The Blue Planet and all those nature programs of BBC, which are all narrated by David Attenborough, who's now 100 years old this year. But the tragedy is that till today, David Attenborough does not recognize Allah ﷻ. So make dua, InshaAllah, may Allah guide him to Islam before his time comes. He's a wonderful man because he enabled so many people to see the beauty of nature, the beauty of the creation of Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la. And Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la showed him His creatures and His creation, probably in a way that no other person on the earth has seen. Now, he's unique in that because of the work he does. Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la took him to places and so on. And now, thanks to technology, thanks to cameras, thanks to high-speed photography and so on, we can actually see nature much better than you would see with your own eyes. Thanks to those cameras, we can actually see nature much better than you would see with your own eyes. Thanks to this technology, you get much closer to things, which normally you couldn't get that close to them. And you see them in that detail. But to recognize Allah Subh'anaHu Ta-A'la's greatness in it, that is the key. The key is everyone sees, but what are you recognizing? We recognize with our knowledge, with our ilm. That's why I always say we see with our ilm; we don't see with our eyes. Eyes are cameras. Everybody sees. Even an animal will see. Anyone will see. But somebody who has special knowledge will see the same thing in a different way. For example, people have gone for Hajj. So, the first time you enter that whole plaza of Masjid al-Haram, you see the beautiful building, the huge minars, and the massive, magnificent structure. So at the most, you will say, "Swa Allah," what a beautiful structure, what a massive structure, and so on. But if there is somebody who is an architect, he sees the structure. He sees it. He is seeing the same structure. He is not looking at it through some special instrument. Same structure. But the architect will see that structure in a different way through the knowledge of architecture that he has, right? If a structural engineer sees the Masjid al-Haram, then he sees that in a different way. He says, how is this minar which is so tall? Where is it taking the attention from? Which arch is holding it up? We see with our knowledge. If you see, I see, somebody will say, well, man looks healthy. But a physician sees him, he will see things in him which are indicators of real health, not what appears to us. So we see with our knowledge. We don't see with our eyes. And that's why, and this is a tragedy, that David Attenborough doesn't have that knowledge. He doesn't have the recognition of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So he's seeing the glory and majesty of creation of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, but he doesn't connect it to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. He says, "This is nature, this is how it is, this is how evolution happened," and so on. He doesn't connect that to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and say there is a creator and the creator is Allah. So the first thing to do is to develop this habit of focusing on the greatness and glory and majesty of Allah. And the second one is to connect it to ourselves, which is by shukr, by thanking Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, by being grateful to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Right? Now, that is something again, SubhanAllah, we live in a country where to be grateful is very easy. Because you just walk on the road and you can see so many people who are just like you. They are human beings. They have hopes and aspirations. They have fears and apprehensions. They have families. They have children. They have spouses. In this heat, 43 degrees, 42 degrees, you are also driving on the street, but you are sitting in an air-conditioned car. And next to you, there is a gig driver, delivery man, who is on a motorcycle. And maybe there is somebody who is on a bicycle. He is not doing it for fun. He is not cycling to lose weight. He has no other way. There is somebody who is dodging traffic and walking because he doesn't even have a bicycle. Same temperatures. You go along, you see a construction site and there is no shortage of construction sites. Our cities are permanently being constructed. And on the construction site, it is the same: 43 degrees heat. You find there is a woman or there is a man who is carrying cement or is carrying sand or is carrying bricks on their head. And what is the wage they are getting? Seriously, there... Are there restaurants in this city? I am not exaggerating. There are restaurants where you go with two people. A meal for two will cost between $1.50 to $2.50, or roughly between $6,000 to $7,000. And that is not a very fancy restaurant; these are kind of middle-level establishments. If you go to a very fancy restaurant, it will cost you $15,000. But Alhamdulillah, I am not saying you and I can do it every day. If we did it every day, we should be beaten. But if you want, you can do it. I am not saying you *should* do it. I am saying, but Alhamdulillah, Allah has given enough. But what about the construction worker? What is he or she doing? They also have children, families, house rent, or whatever it is. I don't know exactly where they are living. So, Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said: "If you want to be thankful, look at people below you. Don't look at people above you." Don't say, "Oh, I have this car," when someone else has a Mercedes. La Halaq Wa Ta'ala. The thing is to be grateful to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Alhamdulillah. That is why I always mention this beautiful hadith so many times. Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, "If you wake up in the morning and your body is functioning, you are able to do whatever you need to do. There is a roof over your head and you have food for that day—just one day. Then it is as if the whole world has been gathered for you." May Allah have mercy on us. We open the fridge in our houses; we have food for a month, maybe more. We haven't got to that stage yet in this country, but in America, every house has a huge freezer in the basement with food. And every year, when they clean out the freezers, a lot of that food expires. They just throw it away. How evil is that? So, there must be gratefulness to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Alhamdulillah. So, live in the present. The way to do that is to focus on today. Think about today. Alhamdulillah. Today, we are fine. Alhamdulillah, this is great. Because this is one of the problems of social media: it takes you away from today. You either have somebody making reports about what will happen—"Oh, this will happen, that will happen," listing scenarios involving Iran, America, Israel, UAE, and so on—and then predicting an economic collapse or saying there will be no wat