Quranic Call to Character

appraisers due to a law the one who sent a prophet designed to be the last messenger and made him a mercy to mankind appointed by commanders, appointed by command divine made his character a sign of his truthfulness and of those who followed him until the end of time. As for what follows ceramide akin to law, what is barakato

Iver one I'm super excited about emphasis being in Houston. Like my beloved Dr. arson I just mentioned at the beginning.

There's a lot of work that went into Film Fest and seeing the the beautiful volunteers who put this program together. And I want to thank all of you for being here early for the 10am session. And I hope inshallah tada that we don't leave today, except that our sins are forgiven. And everything that we hope of this day is actual lies along with me.

The province of ally they send them

like you just heard in the intro video, had the most beautiful character. And today when you look at your program, you know, what is this topic of guided tour? What is it about? It is about every topic, or the topics that are mentioned the most in the Koran. And so this is what the the purpose of today is, is that we're going to look at topics we're going to look at subjects, that allies or agenda stresses in his final revelation to mankind. And so when you see a topic today, when it is addressed today, whoever is presenting it, pay attention to that, that this is not just a topic that was chosen for no reason rather, this was a topic that has been selected because of the fact that

ally xojo addresses it again and again. So when she oxide speaks about tequila today, the reason why he's speaking about tequila is because of the fact that it is addressed again and again in the Koran when just when he speaks about the importance of time. It is because time is being addressed again and again and again in the Quran. This is what Allah azza wa jal is underlining This is what he's stressing for us. And so these topics should be given that importance. And my topic today is the topic of character because Allah azzawajal stresses character so much in the hold on and the prophets of the light is that him stresses characters so much in the Quran, or the prophets I send a

message stress character so much in the sooner that when I shot the line, I was asked, what was the character of the Prophet sallallaahu send them she gave that brilliant answer that we've all heard before. She said that his character was

didn't reach Houston yet. His character was the Quran, right? Everybody knows this. And so

this shows us the importance and this shows us the way that the province and the licen have manifested that character that was taught to him and instructed to him in the Koran. And so we'll be looking at a couple of different verses inshallah, to Allah that our lives are Jen mentions and pairs with the importance of character. Now the progress on the line is seldom he restricted his entire message.

To one phrase, to one purpose, he says in a studio, Jemima macadam a lot, and that's a very powerful statement to make. He says I was not sent. The only reason why I was sensing I taught for 23 years. The only reason why I migrated from Mecca to Medina, the only reason why I suffered what I suffered my message, my purpose was to perfect, good character. My message was to teach people to be truthful. My message was to teach people to be patient, my message was to teach people to speak good, well, only NASA Krishna, as Allah as he says.

And so these verses that we hear, this was the message of it also loss of the light and send them this was the purpose of him being sent. Now the prophet SAW the line and send them he also says a number of things with regards to good character. I'm sure you've heard most of it. He says that the province I'm the lightest and I'm says For example, that the closest of you, to me on the Day of Judgment are going to be the people who have good character. And so that in and of itself shows me that on the Day of Judgment, when I want to be close to the sun, the loss of us element, everyone is going to be racing towards drinking from the pool of held where he will be waiting for us to send

them the people who will be closest total, so no loss of Alliance and it will be the people who have the best character. The ones who perfect that now, the progress on the lightest center says that the thing that enters the most people into paradise

are two things taqwa and good character. And so these if I'm going to work on anything in my life, if I'm going to make anything my purpose in Ramadan, that I'm going to practice that I'm going to try to this is what's going to get me the greatest return on investment, taqwa, and good character. And allies are dead pairs between these two in the Quran. Allah as he says was added in ama filati mirabito or Jonathan algoa. Similar to a lot are in the Clean Water

Allah says race, race one another, towards the forgiveness of your Lord.

And a paradise that is equal to the heavens and the earth that has been prepared for the people of taqwa. Well who are the people of taqwa.

He says I live in a report of his Surat Al Bara. See Allah after he tells us that Paradise is for the people who have stuck what he then defines who the people have stuck with are and I want you to pay attention. And notice that the people have stuck with it. He's going to define the description that he's going to give. It's just character. He's under the new era, they give when they have and when they don't have they given the good times. And they give in the bad. They give when their house is filled with food and there's a feast they invite people over. And when all they've got is a measly half tune us up from subway. They're still willing to split it Lavina Sala Dora will call

them in and leave and they repel, they they control their anger. They don't unleash it. What I've seen I mean us and they forgive people, they let things go, Well, you can put a martini and Allah loves those people who do good. So Allah azza wa jal is describing the people of taqwa as people of good character.

And many times our challenge is how do you keep committed to the values that our lives and yet loves, in a place where those values are not loved? Or where those values are not appreciated? Or where those values are mocked? Even, how do you hold on to that? Eliza yet it reminds us that that is crucial for us to pay attention to for us to hold on to no matter how society goes around you, that you hold on to it, even if 1000 people even if the entire world says to you that this is good, and you should practice this and you should enjoy this. If it is something that allows or does not love then you have to hold on to even if it is like holding on to a burning coal. The laws are good

he says

he was hola Jabba casado, hobbies, Allah, as I just say they're not equal. And hobbies, that which is evil, that which is filthy. And that which is pure, even though the prevalence of the filthy might please you, it might distract you.

The prophets of the light SM says let not one of you be a yes person. If the people are righteous, then you're righteous. And if the people are evil, then you become evil. Rather be someone that if the people are righteous, you're righteous. And if the people are evil, then you don't oppress, you're good when they're good. And that is something that is a beautiful description that the province of Alberta send them gives that you become someone who absorbs all good around you. If there's something that's good, and you see other people doing it, the community practices, then you practice it with them. But if they practice something that you see to be evil,

then you don't practice it. And you hold on to your values. I give you a couple of quick examples.

Something that's good and beautiful, that I found that people do in the south, but they don't do it in the North is simply saying hello.

So I'm from New York. And I remember in Houston, like getting familiar with Houston, one of the things that just stood out to me was just that when I'm walking down the street, everyone's just making eye contact. And they're saying to you, hello. And in New York, you never make eye contact. And you definitely don't say hello. Because that's that might be a problem. You know, who are you looking at?

Right? But here in Houston, everybody's like, Hi, how are you? Good morning.

And I definitely wasn't ready for how are you sugar?

How are you, honey? How are you, sweetie? Hello. Oh, what's going on here? Right?

But is that something I asked you? Is that something good that people say hello or something bad?

It's good, right? It's absolutely beautiful. The problem is on the lightest enemy says I've just set up right spread, spread, set arms spread greetings of peace. And saying hello is beautiful. It's great. So I write then became someone who says hello. Not only that, I went back to New York City last night. And when I went back to New York, I just thought to myself, man, Houston is messing me up.

Because I'm walking down the street and I'm saying hello to people. Okay, but then I thought to myself, I made a conscious decision. I said, Well, who said that New Yorkers can't say hello. Like Who said that? Okay. Yeah, my whole life. That's what I've been socialized to do. But who said that if I, I'm just gonna make a commitment, and I said, I'm just gonna try it out for three days or four days, the entire days of everywhere that I go, I'm just gonna say hello to everybody. But I'm gonna do it with confidence because sometimes people mumble they say hello, how are you? Know, I'm gonna say hi, how are you? I'm gonna make eye contact. I'm gonna make it clear that they understand what

I'm saying. Good morning, right. And sometimes I was just like this. I was walking around and it didn't matter where I was going.

Sometimes I was in Manhattan, the Wall Street type, sometimes I was in New Jersey, I was in Brooklyn all of these places.

And I was saying it to everybody, the only people that I didn't say hello to I said, I'm not gonna say hello to women who are between the ages of 15 and 45. They might interpret it wrong, right?

And, you know, everybody said back to me, every single one of them. They'll say, Hi, how are you? Good morning. I said a lot about rice. In fact, some people were like, hey, so you guys have a holiday these days, right? Because New York City for the first time had public schools offered eat last last heat. And so you know, their kids are off. And so they've heard about this holiday, they've heard that there's a Muslim holiday. That's why their kids are at home for these couple of days. And so it allowed for all of these conversations. And I realized then that why am I allowing for society to dictate to me what is good?

Why can't I follow in what is good, and that which is not good that I work to change? Why can't I be a factor a positive addition to the community that I live in. And that is something beautiful that we can implement. And that leads me to something else, which is, a lot of times, even with regards to our good character.

We don't allow for our character to shine beyond our borders. And so here at home Fest, we're going to shake hands, and we're going to invite people over to food and we're going to, we're going to do all of these things. We work really hard to make sure our programs in the mystery dark, spectacular, inviting, welcoming, but do we really work on projecting beyond the message beyond our conferences? And what do I mean by that? You probably are very aware, what are non Muslims most impressed by when they visit the Muslim world?

What do they say? Hmm. Very nice hospitality. That's what they say. Their hospitality was unbelievable. When I went to insert Muslim country here. They were also welcoming. This person invited me to their house and fed me and fed me and fed me, right. And we say to them, yeah, that's normal. That's what we do. But that's not what we do here. We do it amongst ourselves. I went to I was once with a dunkin donuts. couple years back with a few friends of mine. Were at the dunkin donuts. Were at the cashier.

dress like this also. And we start, you know, it's time to pay. She rings it up. And then all of a sudden, she's attacked. One person gives a credit card over this guy's shoulder. This person is trying to slick a $20 bill. We're all wrestling in front of him. We're all fighting. And she's overwhelmed. She goes like this. You guys always do this. Okay? She's like, you guys always do this. And we were familiar to that area. So I understood when she says you guys always do this. She's not talking about us. She's talking about us, right? She's talking about the Muslims. Like you guys always do this. Another time.

I was with one of my teachers. And we were at another restaurant and we were in front and it was time to pay. And we started wrestling in front of her. We're just pushing and pulling. And I'm trying to and he was a lot bigger and stronger than me. I should have a little law. And he won. But there was a lady who was behind us in line and she goes, why don't you pay for me?

Okay,

so she's like, why don't you pay for me? And I'm like, I lost the battle with him. So I said, Yeah, no problem. I should like, No, No, No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm like, yeah, just kidding. No problem. I got you.

And so I pay for her. And we go and we sit down. And of course, after she gets her food, she walks up to us. And she's just so happy, right? She's so thankful. She's over here. Thank you very much. And I was just, I was happy because I was just like this. I'm thinking to myself, she's seeing a Muslim who's being generous. And generosity is already something that's in us, we all experience it. But we don't make a point to share it with other people. Imagine if people in America they just knew they're like, you know what they can say whatever they say about Muslims, but I've never met people more generous than that. They're always inviting to food. They're always taking care of people.

They're so nice. They're so welcoming. And I challenge you today. Today, we're going to be walking up and down the hotel. There are lots of people who are beyond the office community here and Mashallah many of you are obviously dressed and obviously Muslim, right? dress to look obviously Muslim. And so make sure that you say hello, and take advantage of the fact that hamdulillah you live in a community in particular, where people are very welcoming, and they are very warm, and they're very open to having these types of conversations.

The province and the lady are sending them was the most generous when it came to this.

The narration says and as well the law and he says that also lots of allies and it was never asked about anything, except that he gave it in fact, a man came solo last on the light s&m and he said, the prophet SAW the light and send them showed him some sheep that were between 200

And he says,

He says, Does this impressed you? Do you like it? And I said, Yes, he does a lot like man was a Muslim. He said, Yes. Yato sola, like, look at all of this wealth, all of these sheep in between two minds filling a valley. And the progress of the lifetime simply looks at me and says,

That's yours.

And I was like, What do you mean? It's yours? You kidding with me? He says, No, what's yours? Take it. And so this man goes back to his community with all of these sheep. And he says, Yeah, follow me. I like all my people, except Islam, because I have come to you, Mohammed, your maniacal focus

on the line in the sand and he gives the type of giving of a person who fears no poverty. He is impressed by the character of Rasulullah saw some Yes, the prophets I sent him gave him something. But what impressed him was this character of benevolence, this character of generosity, and the fact that it is paired and it is so unique that this man has something in him where he does not fear poverty. Isn't that the way that we're supposed to be designed? That we don't fear poverty because we know that our risk is from Allah as origin and that what I give today Allah will replace tomorrow isn't that what a lot of promises and designs and again and again and again, right and so the the

character of a believer is something that is incredibly impressive, but if that person believes and if that person molds, their character, and then if that person allows for that character to shine,

I want to just share in the last few minutes that I have, I'm just gonna be wrapping up very soon inshallah Donna, I wanted to to leave you with a couple of points that we can do, inshallah tada that we can take advantage of that will allow us to have stronger character and number one and the most important is always asking ALLAH

and here's my challenge for you. You're going to be sitting inshallah tada all day listening to lecture upon lecture after lecture inshallah tada beautiful lectures beautiful instructors beautiful presentations.

Sometimes shaytan will come into your ear and he will tell you you know that Heidi's I know it already that I heard it already this point that he's about to make or she's about to make, I know that already I don't really know if I'm benefiting, right I don't really know if I'm benefiting and this could be whether your own first or this could be at a lecture or a hotel or a hospital after Salah or something that someone's simply telling you and advice that two people are giving to one another right? I'm going to tell you something inshallah data that will change your perspective with regards to any sort of information that you get, and that is do not ask yourself the question, do I

know this already? I don't believe that's the right question to ask. You should ask yourself the question do I do this already?

Do I do this already? And then if that's the question that you're asking even if it becomes something as simple as asking the law for good character you're like wow, I came all the way up here for this brother to tell me to ask Allah for good character. Then ask yourself the question When was the last time I asked the law for good character that I that I make you know, I learned in Sunday School Allahumma Kumar has sent a Hello pay for has seen holo key right.

What was the last time I said? When was the last time I asked a lot for patience? When was the last time I asked the librarian for Tilak Goodwin was asked last time I lost a lot generosity out of just making me more generous. I want to be able to to give I want to not fear poverty make me more courageous, courageous. When was the last time I asked a lot for these things. Allahumma Medina, Illa Allah, La de la Samia inland, Allah guide us to the best of character, no one guides to the best of character except for you. And then if that's the question that you're asking yourself throughout every presentation and inshallah everything that you ever hear, you will always find

benefit because at the very least, it will be a reminder to do something that you forgotten to do over a period of time. And a law just says we're that good for in the decoletaje meaning, Allah says remind, because reminding benefits the believer,

they always find something to benefit from. Number two,

is reflecting over qualities of goodness when you read them in the Quran, this Ramadan.

Every single verse in the Quran, the first person that it addresses is you that you look at this Koran like this is a large revelation to me. And so every single verse, where do I fall with regards to this verse? When Allah says he says, what about the Romani? Latina? I'm sure a lot of the whoa not only the Hata Bahama je Luna, Carlos Rama, when Allah describes who the righteous are, who the this His servants are of a man, and he says they are the ones who walk upon this earth in humility. Am I somebody who walks humbly on this earth?

Am I someone who doesn't carry an ego or out? Am I somebody who's willing to sit on the chair or

sit on the floor or am I someone who

am I someone who carries themselves like that? Where do I fall with regards to that with a hot tub, Amaya hironaka Salama, and if I'm spoken to ignorantly.

If I'm spoken to ignorantly, as all of us experience, especially on social media, someone who doesn't know you says something about you, or someone who knows you says something hurtful or something that is wrong. Am I someone who's able to let it go?

Or do I have to refute them? Or do I have to make them pay? Or do I have to plot against them? Or can we never be friends again?

on who said ama, where do I fall with regards to these verses? When you're reading the Quran, this Ramadan, look at the characteristics that Allah has, again mentions of the people that he loves, he loves the sovereign, he loves them what Where do I fall with regards to these aspects that Allah as again loves reading the Quran, inshallah Tada, where you are engaging the Quran, you're asking yourself, where am I with regards to this verse, inshallah, tada is a great experience. And then the third is encouraging each other to character.

encouraging each other to character and not just to leading by example, is beautiful, and it's necessary and it's good. But also important is for me to say, hey, my brother, my sister, I would love to see you do this. I would love to see you don't forget this. Don't forget that. Allah azza wa jal, he says, with us in an insider host in Edina, Minnesota hat. So what are they enjoying each other to truth? I remind you about what the truth is. And I remind you to be patient, I'm reminding you of a characteristic that you should have. And look, man, of course, you remember the advice that he gave to his son.

He's enjoining him of character. He's teaching him and this is a parent having this conversation with their child, but also the child having that conversation with their parent us as a community having that conversation with each other. Look, man, he says yagoona masala.

Communism no more. He says, Oh, my son,

command the good and forbidding the evil, establish the prayer command the good forbidding the evil and be patient as to what you exceed you experience of harm. That is from the issues that require great determination and he says we're allowed to start and have the Kareena so let me fill out the Maha

condom stallion for her. He says and do not turn your cheek and contempt towards people and do not walk through the earth. extravagantly, arrogantly Indeed Allah does not love those who are self deluded and boastful walk, so to be mushy and salty in non Kerala, Swati Soto Hamid and be moderate in your pace, and lower your voice. Indeed, the most disagreeable of sounds is the brain of donkeys. It is beautiful when a person is sharing advice with each other. And I want to actually just conclude with one of my favorite pieces of

English literature, British literature, and that's a poem that's all advice that was given by Rudyard Kipling, you've probably heard it already. It's called if and he's basically telling his son and I don't know if he got this idea from the story of luck, man, Allah knows best but

advice that he's giving to his son. And he's telling them that if you do this, you will be a man, you will be a man. But it's so beautiful. I'm just going to read you a short poem. He says, if you can he keep if you can keep your head about you

while everyone else is losing theirs, and blaming it on you.

If you can trust yourself when everyone doubts you,

but make allowance for their doubting.

If you can, wait, and not be tired by waiting. And being lied about. don't deal with lies, or being hated. Don't give way to hating. And nor look too good nor talk too wise.

If you can dream, and not make dreams your master if you can think but not make thoughts your aim. If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat both imposters just the same.

If you can bear to see the truth you've spoken, twisted by knaves to make a plot for fools and see everything you've given your life to broken and stupid build them up with worn out tools. If you can make a heap of all your winnings, and risk it all in one turn of pitch and toss and lose, and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss. If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will that says Hold on. If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue and walk with kings nor lose the common touch if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you. If all men

count with you, but none too much.

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds of long distance run, yours is the world and everything that's in it. And what's more, you will be a man my son.

Zack will handle some a lot less and no hamadryad audio so I'm sending Sima catella song