Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Guyana Council of Ulama Inauguration Speech
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Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala libre Ruthie
Ramadan Dillard Amin, who are the early he wasafi odaka was seldom
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call Allah with the baraka Tara for an emoji they will for corneal
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Harold Villa you're gonna shave on your rajim Bismillah R Rahman r
Rahim where does the movie heavily learn he joins me
for Roku with guru near I met Allah here already is guru to the
level of being you know Paulo V come for us back Doom bayonet Mati
he wanna work who to murder Shaeffer who 14 million
cars I mean, get the liquor you buy in law who would have come?
Yeah, he got liquor you buy enough law hula comb, de la comb, do so
the cola hula team, my dear respected elders are the MA and
our dear brothers and sisters, Ali MAs and other sisters and brothers
from the various different Masjid communities, community leaders and
everybody else that's present. Allah subhana wa Tada. Absolutely,
we are thankful to Allah subhanho wa Taala may he show his blessings
on this gathering?
It said I am absolutely not the best person to stand here and to
be honored with this position. But since having been invited here, I
take this as a responsibility. And I submit the following to you as
first advice to myself and inshallah at this auspicious
occasion of the inauguration of this January, masha Allah. So what
I want to start with first is that as a Muslim minority, I come from
a Muslim minority, Muslim minority country and
a democracy. So these two things, what we share London, USA, Guyana,
Barbados,
one of these countries. So
there are four really, really important functions or people that
are needed for the advancement, not just the preservation, but for
the preservation and advancement of the Muslims. You have to have
these four integral groups of people.
And,
you know, mashallah, these four groups of people without this, you
can't really have advancement, you're gonna have hinderance
you're going to have obstacles and you're going to have a lot of
issues. So, the first group of people that you need for the
preservation is business people, people with money.
People with money, a very, very important
integral of the advancement of the Diem in the modern world. In fact,
the Prophet sallallahu sallam said, The time will come when
nothing will be of benefit, except dinars. And Durham's.
And that means basically money, you need money to run facilities,
institutions, to build institutions, to establish them to
get work done, that everything works on money, we're living,
especially now in a capitalist world. And without money, nothing
works. Now that might be very surprising for a scholar to speak
about money, but it's an absolute necessity. Alhamdulillah
Alhamdulillah in the UK, you know, we've been there for about 60 to
70 years now. You guys have been here in this country as Muslims
mashallah in huge numbers as a decent proportion of the of the
entire country from over 100 years. So you guys are well ahead
of us. But Hamdulillah I can say that in England now. There are
lots of very, very people who have made it who have done well in in
business and who have mashallah a lot of disposable income. And they
have this marriage is taking place between business people and all
Amma for the sake of Allah. Not for the sake of the scholars on
personal benefits, but for the sake of the deen because these
guys they have money they want to do something with it. All they
need is the guidance of their own amount to come together and use
that Masha Allah and there's a number of these partnerships
taking place, and more of recent, it takes time for people to
mature. England is a place where money doesn't come easy. America
is up
place where money can come very easily. A doctor as a as a
student, a young girl, I taught her heads of the Quran. And then
mashallah she's gone on to become a doctor, a medical doctor. And
she's at the age of 2324, she gets her first job as an emergency
medicine physician. And she says that her salary is going to be
$400,000 a year, that's a crazy amount of money. In England, the
doctors don't make that kind of money.
I've seen it in so many occasions in America where there'll be guys
who will say that everything you collected in the masjid, I'm going
to double it. In England, we've just not had that kind. Although
now hamdulillah people are very settled, and they've got money.
But again, it's up to Allah to allow the heart to open up.
There's somebody there was a masjid that was just established.
And the brothers were telling me, they went out to people, and they
were bus drivers who came and gave 10,000 pounds of their very hard
saving earned savings. And he said he went to another individual who
owns multiple houses in London, like a whole portfolio of houses
is income every month is about 700,000 pounds, by which he can
buy a new house worth 700,000 pounds, which is very difficult
for majority of people to afford. When he went to him to ask for
money, he couldn't give any money. Because he had to buy his next
house, I guess, we haven't calculated that. This is another
venue to spend. So you need money. Number two, the second group of
people you need
Subhanallah
people in politics
absolutely necessary, especially in a democracy if you don't have
now listen to this, if you don't have drivers in politics, or
people who sit with the driver, or backseat drivers, you're going to
struggle
in politics for the Muslim community to survive and advance
itself and be preserved. You need either people in the driving
seats, or next to the driver, or
the backseat driver to constantly correct the driver. You know, the
backseat drivers, the wife, sometimes the the mother when the
child is learning. I hope you understand the parable that I
think is a very apt parable. So otherwise, they won't do anything.
And lots of Muslims in many Muslim minority countries, they don't get
involved. And then they complain when the politicians don't do
anything for the Muslim community. They don't make laws with the
Muslim community in mind. You're going to have to get yourself
hurt, and campaign and let them know that hamdulillah from what
I'm hearing and seeing in this country, there's a respect for
religion. That's a great thing. That's an amazing thing. And may
Allah allow that to continue. Because with the incoming new
wealth and everything, there's going to be many forces at play.
And there is secularism and atheism and Subhanallah many other
types of ideas that run contrary to religion that are enforced in
the US in the UK, in the Europe in Europe in general hamdulillah here
felt very comfortable being Muslim and may Allah allow that to
continue, but you still need drivers and mashallah It seems
like you've got to drive at least you've got a president and then
you know, inshallah many more things like that will continue.
Number three, you need now Muslims in various different important
vocations services and think tanks, policymaking organizations.
Otherwise, if you don't, they don't know what Muslims and again
I'm hearing that mashallah you do have AIDS, you have your Eid
holiday, and you have other holidays, national holidays, and
there is a consultation hamdulillah and may Allah subhanho
wa Taala maintain that but otherwise, in many other
countries, you really have to,
there's just not enough people in various different vocations. A lot
of Muslims don't go into contributing fields, they go into
consuming fields, they're there just to make money, just on the
defensive just in a mode of survival. Right? They're just in a
mode of survival, and then they just consume, but they don't
contribute. And if we're not seen as contributors, then we can't be
respected. Right you can only be respected and have your rights
understood and met if you're seen as valued individuals and
contributors. I'm not sure how true this is. But when the
the remnants of the Persian Empire the fire worshippers,
Zoroastrians, when they entered into India, God knows how true
this story is. But the the wisdom behind it sounds good. They, they,
they fled, and they came to India, the Indian subcontinent and
whoever the leader was at that time, he said, he put out a glass
of milk full to the brim, so we don't have any space
Here, India has a huge population is about 200 million, just
Muslims, more than the Middle East, you know, put together and
that's just Muslims, then you've got all the other faiths, and
within about 15 20%, we don't have any space here. So this guy, what
he did is he took some sugar, and you put it into the milk.
We're not here to increase the population, we're here to sweeten
the population, we're here to contribute, and every Muslim needs
to contribute, somehow or the other. So we need many industries
taken care of by Muslims, especially the important ones, so
that whenever something needs to happen, it's there to provide the
infrastructure. Okay. And number four, which is probably the most
important because you do a lot of times have people with money and
money is something you don't have to encourage people to do to do
business, whether they got faith or not faith, lots of people want
to make money. So that is something you don't have to
necessarily always encourage people do, because that's the
dunya. And that's where we are. However, the fourth one is to have
Muslim scholarship. And the reason why that is the most important one
is that is the one which provides guidance and direction, and a
light for all the others. For all the others, it tells the Muslim
businessman where their money should be spent. It informs the
people in the various fields and the politicians, what is right in
Islam, and what is wrong, and what is demanding and what is
recommended, and what we need, and it works for the preservation.
It's the Muslim Scholarship, which is the purpose of it, the role of
it is to work at every single level, starting with the children,
the mothers, the women, the men, and every other vocation, it is
supposed to be the automa that do this, and all of my need to of
course, recognize that, that we are there to provide guidance in
every field, we can't provide guidance. If I know nothing about
science, I can't provide guidance in the field of science. There'll
be questions on genetics, I need to understand genetics to be able
to provide guidance. There's questions on the in the medical
field, I have no idea of the various different things like
abortions and miscarriages, and ultrasounds and everything else
that's in the field and various different types of diseases in the
body and so on. If I don't have that idea, I don't have access to
that detail, I can provide guidance, or am I have a big task,
absolutely crucial, they are absolutely crucial to maintain the
faith. So you see, without scholars, you might maintain a
basic level of faith. But to advance you need good Muslim
scholars to be able to help advance it to take it forward. And
to provide the guidance that is that is required. They'll tell
they they provide the guidance in every single field otherwise
people will do with their money with their skills, things without
knowledge. There are so many people in the West, like in
America and other places, they have sincerity in their hearts,
and they want to do something for the Muslim ummah. They see Muslim
in crisis in different places, and they want to do something, but
they lacked that they they lack the guidance of what is required.
They like the guidance of what is required. Some of these people who
wanted to allow Muslim women to lead the prayers, I believe some
of them could have been sincere. They thought that in you know,
we're living in a time of feminism and a number of other
issues that we have. And Muslims are supposed to be backwards
because they don't give Muslim Rights. They don't give women
rights apparently, even though you know, women have been given rights
from before, so decided that the way to do this the way to really
prove this poor woman as an imam. Now, that's obviously done without
any kind of guidance. It's just
you know, the raw spirit has just been harnessed in the wrong way.
So we need the other module, provide that guidance and work
together with people. If you have an idea, as a non SCADA, go to a
scholar that you think will understand your case and put that
for him and Masha Allah do what you have to do for the betterment
of the Muslim community.
Now what you need is you actually need all the mother easily
accessible, you need lots of ordermark I need lots of good are
the MA from the count that we did, there's about 80 automa in the
country. And there's about a population of 150,000 Muslim
Muslims, that makes it one item, one scholar per 17 or 1800 people.
That's just too much work for one scholar, and then not every
scholar is necessarily active. So that makes it one scholar for
3400 4000 5000 individuals that's just too much for scholars to do.
So we need a lot more scholars, we need a lot more scholars and Insha
Allah, that will happen. Now when you do have scholars, they need to
be organized they need to have a body because I've spoken to many
scholars in multiple countries. And what happens is that there's a
lot of scholars
was raring to do something they want. They've got a zeal, they've
come out of madrasah. They want to do something for the deen, but
they just lacked management, they Oh, they don't understand where to
start. They don't know how to start something in a community. In
sha Allah, if they have this group, if they have this combined
efforts to share experiences, to provide guidance as a body in sha
Allah, there's going to be a lot more work that will take place
because there'll be calls made to the gym er, to this group of
scholars, and then they can provide the relevant personnel the
relevant or the MA. So Obama have to be organized just like any
other field have to be organized. Political parties can't be
successful, unless they are organized. When they get
organized. That's when something happens. Any other campaign group,
they can only get something done when they organize this
organization is disarray. And you don't get anything out of that.
We have many Jimmy THAT'S in the world. This is not the first place
to have a Jamia. There's many places. And I would probably say
the first place with that name was probably the Indian subcontinent
over 100 years ago. We just did the centenary, we actually
celebrate the centenary of the Jimmy I took them out of the
Indian subcontinent just a few years ago.
And I'll speak about that in a bit. But it doesn't have to be
college, I mean, a year to learn Dhamma it's called different names
in different places. You do have Jimmy al Toller. Obama in
Pakistan, you've got one in Sri Lanka, you have one, you have
actually multiple in South Africa for the different provinces
KwaZulu Natal, and Howie Tang and Port Elizabeth and so on. But then
there's other the they also go under different names like Melissa
Obama, we Farkle Halima, Robbie, total Obama in England in the
different cities that have their own because in England, we're
talking about just in London alone, with a million Muslims,
we've got over 1000, or DOMA and Alamos, and then other little
towns, you probably got a good 1000, or just in, you know, maybe
20 mile radius, it's SubhanAllah. So they need their own Jimmy and
to load them up, you know, and eventually, inshallah you will,
you'll have the same deal of chapters, right of the different
areas, the three different promises will have chapters in sha
Allah of, or sections of distributor Roma, and then the
overall one. And then after you've got other names like Allah, ma
group, Council of Muslim theologians, Council of Allama,
give it whatever name you want, right, give it whatever name you
want, Jimmy, I think is a great name, because it it follows up
from, from a precedence of the the geometry of the Indian
subcontinent, now, for the other month, need assistance, the Jimmy
and will need assistance for it to survive. So you need money for
everything, you will need assistance, you will need moral
support, it will need a skill set, it will need a number of different
support systems to let it function properly. Right? The political
system, everything needs to come to support this so that they can
do their work in sha Allah, I would probably say that if you can
reduce, if you can reduce the objectives of the Jimmy metal
ornament down, there's going to be many, many things. But I think the
one thing is to invest for the future generations to maintain the
faith and solidify the faith foundations of this country, right
of the Muslims here. So that
for the future generations, they have an easy they don't have as a
struggle. I think if you reduce it, to think with that foresight,
how is how are things going to be in 10 years and 20 years and even
beyond that.
One of the biggest tasks I think the Allama need to undertake would
be to establish mcnabb's And everybody else needs to help them
do that. When our what I was told by Imams Emile that every Masjid
that was built here, initially, they were always built with a
mucked up. But now I'm hearing that many mustards don't have MK
dubs anymore. They might have the facilities, they might have the
building, but they don't have the mucked up anymore. And if any
place many places, if they have, they're not even five days a week,
they one day a week, believe me. I've tried to teach a Sunday
school in America, which is a one day maximum. It was in the next
town down. They didn't have any moms. So I tried for a few months.
And subhanAllah it was so tough. It was better than nothing. But it
was so tough because it's like you're reading a novel, and you're
reading a chapter a week. So I read the first chapter, I put the
book away. And the next week, I'm reading the next chapter. I
forgotten half the story, at least half the story. And that's what it
was with the children mucked up one day a week just does not work.
It doesn't work. You know, it's better than nothing. I'll give it
that. But it doesn't work. You need it at least I think minimum
three days a week, but ideally four or five or six days a week.
That's how it
was in England, we went to school in the morning for several hours,
came back quickly had some tea or whatever, change our clothes and
went to the maximum for two hours. One and a half hours that needs to
start, I'll tell you what the benefit of that is. In England,
I've seen that there's mcnabb's, pretty much, mashallah, in most of
the places, right? There's obviously be some places where
they don't have a monitor, but the parents will have somebody from
Pakistan or somebody on Zoom, teaching their children at least
right? That's not ideal. I would say it's just being in front of
the teacher is the best thing. And I've seen that a lot of these kids
event some of these children, when they become teenagers, they get
lost, they get caught up, even they get caught up in a gang. They
get caught up in drugs, they get caught up in just I don't know in
some kind of other enjoyment. You know, they want to be a gangster.
I don't know what they want to be. Right. They try that for a few
years. And then when they get tired of that they realize it's an
empty dream. They come back because they have Allah in their
heart. It's been drummed into their head, masha Allah with that
early mcta training, everybody needs to go through a month of
training. When I was in California as an Imam, there was a scholar
that visited and he said that we want to establish a dark room here
like a full fledged dark room.
And what does color said is that until you don't establish
mcnabb's, you can't have a dark room in this, in this and when I
say download, I mean full fledge up to sahih al Bukhari to graduate
scholars. Right.
You can't have it unless you have like a whole network of mucked
ups, because you need all the children to go through the mud of
system to provide them their foundation, when they've had their
foundation, the download looms will give them the more advanced
knowledge.
That's something to really bear in mind that you just need to lay a
whole network, every single Masjid an area and remote area needs to
have somebody teaching the children at least for three, four
or five years minimum.
Now what I would say is that I will advise the Allah ma here Ma
sha Allah I'm nobody to advise advice to myself first really
absolutely humbled. To be here is to be mindful of Allah subhanho wa
Taala This is a job for Allah, it's not a job for position is not
for gaining any kind of world, the world will come to you, I
guarantee you, since so many experiences, examples of this, the
world will come to you when you go to Allah subhanho wa taala. And
you'd be surprised that Allah will provide you from where you will
never have thought. It's a matter of Tawakkol difficult to tell
somebody about Tawakkol without an experience, I pray to Allah that
Allah give everybody this experience, so that it uplifts a
person uplifts the individuals. So be mindful of Allah, we have to be
the role models have absolutely impeccable character, maintaining
the highest integrity so that we can become the role models that
people feel comfortable about following May Allah subhanaw taala
make us like that. May Allah protect us from the various
different challenges that pull us back that shackle us and that
don't let us progress. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in
salaat, said, straight in your rows.
And he would make sure the rows were straight. And in fact, he
won't. He said, If your rows are not straightened, and if somebody
is protruding beyond the row, Allah will put conflicts in your
heart. Do you think that this hokum and this ruling to
straighten the rows is just for Salah then go outside and now you
know have crooked rows, meaning have disunity. That salah is the
training for everything Subhanallah you want to stand in
straight rows, where you need to stand in rows outside which means
unity. Unity is one of the biggest secret ingredients of a successful
Muslim community. You have to look at history and the various
different dynasties. Various different rulers or buses or maids
sell jokes. Mamluks occasion mom, Luke's father,
the father teammates, and all the other samanids. And the
President's tweets and so on. One of the biggest, biggest problems
that tore them apart was disunity was somebody playing one against
the other. Somebody playing one against the other just disunity,
this unity, we have to avoid this unity, we need to be flexible. We
need to be tolerant, we need to listen to the others view, I
learned a very interesting lesson because, you know, I could have
been very aggressive and I would just attack a person maybe. But I
learned a very important lesson. In terms of debate. Let's just say
that
somebody chef use of has an opinion that I disagree with. And
I start attacking Sheikh Yusuf for his for his position. No, let me
not attack him. What I should ask Sheikh Yusuf is what's your
opinion? Can you tell me why you hold this opinion? So then what
I'm doing is I'm giving him a chance to explain his opinion. So
he explains his opinion. Now I if I disagree with that opinion, I'm
going to say why is it like this? Have you thought about it this
way? Is this really right? I'm not attacking him. I've given him a
chance to explain he's opened up to me he's willing to look at
we're both looking at his opinion analyzing it. And then if he's got
a martial law, if he's got an open heart about this, then we can
actually reconsider whatever it is by attack him right from the
beginning. He's going to become defensive. Everybody has personal,
you know, dignity and honor that they feel, you know, can't be
besmirched in any way. So then generally a lot of people they
stick, you know, they put the heels in the ground, always ask
their opinion, why they think the way they do have that discussion,
and then analyze and critique that opinion, and a lot of the time.
Keep reading Allahumma Elif Bina Palutena whenever we have an issue
with somebody I found very beneficial to read this da Allah
who lift Boehner Colombina Allahumma, Aslan Davina. Oh Allah
reform our hearts and Allahumma Salli ala Davina Oh ALLAH reform
the matter between us reconcile our hearts reform the matter
between us. Imam Shafi was amazing. Imam Shafi said I would
always pray that the HAC prevails at the tongue of my opposition, at
least the half prevails. Now, that's a very high status to be
in, you know, to be such selfless like that. But let's be flexible.
Let's listen. Let's be open. And let's try to be prudent, wise and
accommodating in the way we need to take our community from where
it is to where we want it to go. It's a slow process. You can't
rush this and we need steadfastness, perseverance, you
will be let down. You will feel demotivated, you will feel
abandoned, sometimes you will be criticized. But that's all part of
the job. That's exactly what the promise allows. And that's exactly
his position. Reader Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is
books written on the profit and loss from studying and Disturbia
and inshallah that should be of benefit. So everything needs to
happen through some kind of consultation use of mutual mutual
consultation,
and then have a thicker regimen. For our personal benefit, have a
vicar regimen, we need that power inside for us to stay connected
with Allah. So our selfishness doesn't creep in the various
different other
dunya we pools and attractions we can avoid if we're connected to
Allah subhanaw taala it always provides a softness of the hearts
when you remember Allah subhanaw taala that will give you the
power, your words will be more effective, your actions will be
more effective.
Now to finish off, as I said, a few years ago, I attended and had
to give a little talk to the 100 Senate centenary of the Jimmy
Atala of India, which was being held in the UK for the UK people.
And I just thought at that time, and what I spoke about was one
point I said 100 years ago, when this Germania was established,
what were the goals? What were their motivations? What did they
have in mind? Did they ever imagine that after 100 years in
London, you know, which was the ruling power probably 100 years
ago in India, right?
Yeah, yes, yes, ruling in India that we're going to be sitting in
that capital and we're gonna have Subhanallah centenary program for
the Jamia. But the main thing is, has the gym yet fulfilled its role
that it set out 100 years ago? So this is what I'm going to tell the
Jamia Subhanallah with all
you know, what would you like for people to say in 100 years time
when most of us are every one of us will be gone most likely.
And they're going to look back? They might have a centenary
program. What are the achievements that you want them to think about
that we actually did? Will they be fulfilled? Will your vision 100
year vision be fulfilled? Don't look 20 years and or 30 years look
at literally 100 years where do you want to see the Muslim ummah,
the preservation of the Muslim ummah, the increase of the Muslim
ummah, the strength of the Muslim advance of the Muslim ummah. So
with that thought, I will leave us absolutely again honored to be
here may Allah subhanho wa Taala take this from strength to
strength protected and allow a vision of more than 100 years and
allow it to prosper working with marijuana and Al hamdu lillahi
rabbil Allahu mandocello moment to sit down with the Barchetta
generally where the Quran a lot of may be younger African history, a
lot of Maya Nanea Ananda either hayleigh and disciplina kidnapping
me nobody mean just Allah one Mohammed ma Hua Hello Yeah the
ritual everybody chrome God welcome yeah hey y'all Miss booty
via Iran Martine yeah Allah have mercy on us. Yeah, Allah we ask
you for your special grace, for your special mercy for your divine
assistance. You know Allah we ask you for your assistance, or Allah
we ask you for your acceptance of Allah we ask You for Your guidance
of Allah we ask you for your light of Allah, we ask you
For your light of Allah guide us, right? Oh Allah this Jimmy There
has just been established. Oh Allah we ask that you guide us
alright. Oh Allah you take this from strength to strength of Allah
you provided the right kind of guidance that it requires to deal
with the various different issues that will come in front the
various different issues that this country requires the challenges
that are and will come about the needs of the people of Allah, the
needs of the people, the needs of the various different segments,
and the various different
functions of this country. Oh Allah, Oh Allah enrich your soul,
enrich all the orlimar enrich us with the right kind of guidance,
know how and the understanding of the reality of Allah make us of
those who propagate your word with a floss and with sincerity.
protect us from all the evils which are out there, protect us
from the trappings of this world, protect us from selfishness
protect us from pursuing things just for ourselves, protect us
from the evils of our knifes, Oh Allah, Oh Allah, all those who
have come here, from the Obama community from the non ordermark
community, Masjid community media community Oh Allah bless everybody
hear, bless this entire country, especially in the years that are
coming over Allah bless the entire Muslim world, oh Allah make this
Jimmy January of Allah a beacon of light and allow it to provide the
very much needed guidance and make it a source of increase of Islam
and knowledge and, and sacred knowledge in this country and
beyond our law, accept everybody here from the very except
everybody here and protects us from the pitfalls of Allah and
allow us to be guided allow us to become role models of Allah accept
all of those who facilitated this event, and who is who've assisted
it, who have helped it work tirelessly, tirelessly, and oh
Allah make this all a source of sadaqa jariya make this sort of
source of continuous charity and allow us to be part of it and to
be accepted and accept all of us for this service of your faith and
allow many other things to come about from here. And Allah take
all the institutions from strength to strength grantors unity allow
us to work together, allow us to work together, allow us to
reconcile whatever is in our heart for the for the higher good for
the higher good code likes that from us. Subhan Allah be
caramelised with Yamuna Yossi Fonasa selling on hamdulillah
the point of a lecture is to encourage people to act to get
further an inspiration and encouragement, persuasion. The
next step is to actually start learning seriously to read books
to take on a subject of Islam and to understand all the subjects of
Islam at least at the basic level, so that we can become more aware
of what our deen wants from us. And that's why we started Rayyan
courses so that you can actually take organize lectures on demand
whenever you have free time, especially for example, the
Islamic essentials course that we have on the Islamic essentials
certificate which you take 20 Short modules, and at the end of
that inshallah you will have gotten the basics of most of the
most important topics in Islam and you'll feel a lot more confident.
You don't have to leave lectures behind you can continue to live,
you know, to listen to lectures, but you need to have this more
sustained study as well, just like aloha and Salam aleikum wa
rahmatullah wa barakato.