ICNA-MAS Convention 2022 – The ummah we aspire to be

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Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh

Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen Allahumma Salli wa Sallim wa Barik al Abdic our Asuka Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ready to Billa here. Were Bill Islami Dena will be Mohammed and sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. nebbia wa Sudha I am pleased with

Allah subhanaw taala as my Lord,

I am pleased with Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as my messenger and with Islam as my religion,

and hamdulillah I'm so happy that each and every one of you are here. And I am so grateful to Allah subhana wa Tada for gifting me this opportunity to spend this time with you all. And I want to take a moment to congratulate each and every one of you. Because one day the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and by the way, when I mentioned the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I would kindly request that each and every one of you send Salawat upon him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in a way that the person next to you can hear you so that if they forgotten insha Allah you can help remind them. And so the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he wants walked outside and saw

a group of his companions sitting down,

remembering Allah subhanho wa taala, and talking about some Islamic knowledge.

And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam asked them, and he said, What caused you to gather here today?

And I want to pose that question to you all.

What caused you to come here today? Did you ask yourself that when you are getting ready this morning,

when you are coming and walking to this hall, did you ask yourself, Why am I coming to this lecture? If not, now's your chance to ask yourself that question.

And so, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam asked the Companions what caused you to gather here today? And they said, Yeah, Rasul Allah, we gather to remember Allah subhanho wa taala. We gathered to praise Allah subhanaw taala. And we gathered to thank Allah subhanaw taala for guiding us to be Muslims, to guiding us to Islam. We thank him for favoring us with this beautiful deen and religion. And so I have a question for you all. Are you happy and grateful to be Muslim?

I hope so, inshallah. So I'm going to ask that again. Are you happy and grateful to Allah subhanaw taala for gifting you, Islam, which is salvation for yourself in this life and the next

100 Allah right. Well, congratulations to you. Because listen to what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, he said, Indeed, I'm not suspicious of you. And I didn't ask you because I was suspicious. I asked you, because Gibreel alayhi salam just came to me. And he told me that Allah subhanaw taala is boasting about you to the angels. And so congratulations for being here. Because I pray this is a gathering in which Allah subhanaw taala right now is boasting about us is naming us to His angels, and is so happy and pleased with us in sha Allah.

So we can't think about the OMA, we aspire to be without thinking about the Quran.

And we cannot think about the Quran. Without thinking about our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who one of the closest people to him his wife, I should have the law on her, describes him as being a walking Quran.

And Allah subhanho wa Taala says about our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the Quran, in an area that is so beautiful, that is so powerful, where Allah subhanaw taala says, Lockard can Allah can fear rasool Allah He also wanted to enhance Anna Lehmann can yo joola While yo man hair weather Kerala cathedra

Indeed, there's no doubt about it. In the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you every single one of us has an excellent example and a role model.

And he's an role model and an example of specifically for who for those who have hope in Allah subhanaw taala and believe in the day of judgment, and then Allah subhanaw taala ends this beautiful area by saying and remembers Allah subhanaw taala much, may Allah Patternmakers amongst those who follow the Prophet SAW Salem and remember Allah subhanho wa Taala often Allama Amin and in another place in the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala says go in Quinton to hipbone Allah, feta beer only your bib Kamala Hua la cama de Nova con wala who love food on Rahim. If you really love Allah, you want to know the litmus test. If I was to ask you in this room, do you love Allah? I'm sure every single

one of us would say yes, we do love Allah subhanho wa Taala Well, Allah subhanaw taala is giving us a litmus test. Allah subhanaw taala says, If you really love Allah subhanaw taala then follow the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and if you do, Allah will love you, and Allah will forgive your sins. So when I think about the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I think about a beautiful statement that he said, and I want you to keep this in mind throughout my entire lecture. Every time I mentioned something about the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that he said, I am like a loving Father to you. I teach you everything. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa

sallam taught us everything. He taught us how to eat and how to sleep. He taught us how to interact with others. He taught us how to pray, how to worship Allah subhanaw taala. He even taught us how to use the restroom and the proper etiquettes of that. And he did so because He loves us. And he said, I am like a loving Father to you all. I teach you everything you need to know. And so I want to ask you, do you feel the love of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam?

Good.

And if you don't, I wanted to take a moment to remind us about his love. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had a extremely challenging life. The 23 years he was a prophet, and he was doing his Dawa. He was met with a lot of hostility. He was met with abuse. He was met with a lot of pain. And he worshipped Allah subhanaw taala in the most perfect way.

He spread the message in the most beautiful way. He did everything he needed to do. So on the Day of Judgment, it only makes logical sense that on that day, when he and all of us get out of our graves, he goes straight to Jana, because the gatekeepers of Jannah will not open the gates of Jannah for anyone until they open it for him. But guess what? Our Beloved Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam does not want to enjoy Jana without you and I, he loves you so much that on that day, instead of going straight to Jana, he will go and make sujood and beg Allah subhanaw taala to take all of the OMA of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam with him to Jana. And he will continue to beg Allah

subhanaw taala until he goes and he takes us all with him to Jana insha Allah. So this is the one who's giving you this advice in this council. This is the person who's telling you all of the advices that insha Allah I want to share with you so that inshallah we can become that beautiful OMA, the one that aspires to be like the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The first Hadith I want to share with you all, is the first Hadith I learned from my teachers, and in our beautiful tradition. It's a tradition that when you learn from your teacher, this is the first Hadith you learned from them. This is a Hadith that sums up the essence of our beautiful Deen it

sums up the essence of what our own ma should aspire to be. It's a summary of who the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was as a human being.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, A Raheem Moon your hammer home or Raha man Iroha moment fell out of your hammock on Memphis summer, the Merciful

are ones who will be shown mercy by the Most Merciful, be merciful to those on the earth and the one in the heavens will be merciful to you.

When I think about the OMA that we aspire to be, one of the first things I think about is mercy. Because I think of those beautiful eight where Allah subhanaw taala tells us to follow the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and where Allah subhanaw taala in the Quran calls the Prophet SAW Salem rahmatan lil al Amin, a mercy for all that exists.

And so if we truly want to be come the OMA

that is an excellent Alma. That is an honor that follows in the footsteps of its Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam one of the main characteristics we must learn to embody is this characteristic of mercy.

And this also takes me to my second point, where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us something so beautiful. He sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, whoever is kind and friendly and easygoing with people, Allah subhanaw taala will forbid that person from entering into the hellfire. And I want to ask you, when you think of the Muslim ummah, do you think of a kind friendly and easygoing, Amma?

I hope so.

And I hope and I pray that each and every one of us can be kind, friendly and easygoing. And when we're learning about these narrations, it's easy for us to think of the other people in our lives. shaytaan will come to us and make us think, yeah, you know, my friend so and so or that chef that I know is not very kind and merciful. Or that person in my family is not very kind and merciful. But that's not the point. The point is for us to do self reflection. The point is for us to change what's in our control, which is ourselves. Allah subhanaw taala is not going to ask you about someone else. Allah subhanaw taala will ask you about you. Were you merciful. Were you kind were you

gentle? Were you easygoing with others? Were you friendly?

And so

I Aisha Radi Allahu anha. She narrates to us a story that perplexed her. She said one day I was sitting with the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam at home. And while I was sitting there, a man came and asked for permission to enter and speak to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam heard who it was the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, admit him, but he's a wretched man.

So I showed the Lionheart was watching and she's like, okay, he's wretched. He's not a good person, and you're gonna meet him.

And then she says, The man walked in and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was so gentle and kind with him.

So when the man left that he showed the Allahu anha she's like, Yeah, rasool Allah.

You said that this man was wretched and bad, but you spoke to him so kindly and gently. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said Allah Isha, the worst type of person on the Day of Judgment, are the people who are there people are afraid to talk to them, they abandon them, they avoid them, because they're afraid of their harshness, their vulgarity, their meanness.

And so I countered that with gentleness SubhanAllah. So we don't want to be a person that other people are afraid to approach us to talk to us. Because they know if I come and I speak to this person, they're gonna be rude or mean to me. We want to be gentle, friendly, kind and easygoing, and sha Allah, we want to follow in the footsteps of our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam. Do you know what he said to his beloved wife, Aisha.

He said, Oh ha insha Allah subhana wa Taala is kind and he loves kindness and he is pleased with it. He offers support for it, which he does not offer for harshness. And when you think about kindness, it's also easy to think about other people. But kindness starts with being kind to yourself.

You are a beloved honored creation of Allah subhanaw taala be kind to yourself and others. Ask yourself right now, do I have come

I thoughts about myself.

How is my self talk? Is it kind? Is it gentle? Is it loving?

If not, in sha Allah from today we can become more mindful of our self talk and we can reframe anything negative we say to ourselves to something more positive, kind and gentle. You my friends, our beloved creations of Allah subhanho wa Taala

Allah subhanho wa Taala chose you to be a Muslim to believe in Him. He subhanaw taala created Jana for you. He subhanaw taala gave you guidance, a roadmap so that you can make it to Jana to everlasting bless you, my friends are more sacred than the Kava. One day the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam looked at the kava and he said, How magnificent Are you? How sacred Are you?

By Allah, the believer is more sacred than you.

You My friends are more sacred than the Kaga. So be kind and gentle to yourself. Don't say harsh words to yourself. Don't say mean things to yourself. Be gentle and kind with yourself and be gentle and kind with others. Even when you make a mistake. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam he said that every single one of us will commit sins will make mistakes. But the best of us are those who realize it

and turn back to Allah subhanaw taala ask Allah for forgiveness and rectify their ways. Allah subhanho wa Taala does not want us to beat ourselves up over our sins and our mistakes. Allah subhana wa Tada said that if you were to come to him with the entire earth filled with sins, but you seek his forgiveness and you believe in Him alone, he will forgive them all and he would not mind. Allah subhanaw taala doesn't want you to live in sorrow and in pain. Rather he wants you to realize that yes, you made a mistake. Turn to Him and ask Him for forgiveness and try your best not to do it again, not to beat yourself over it for the next 10 years. So friends, Allah subhanaw taala is kind

and gentle and he loves kindness and gentle and everything and you are a thing. So start off from today, being kinder and gentler to yourself and others insha Allah the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was once asked, he said, Yeah rasool Allah, what Islam is the best. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, to feed the hungry, and to greet with peace, those you know, and those you don't

spreading salams and saying Assalamu alaykum to others is a way to beautify your Islam and to be like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam spread salams to people you know and people you don't. When you see another Muslim, say a Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Don't be that awkward person who walks by a Muslim and avoids eye contact. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he he attached great rewards to sing a Salam Alikum to believers. And in this narration, he says to say it to those that you know, and those that you don't. So I was wondering.

It's panela my teachers have taught us that when you learn something, it's really important to try to act upon it as soon as possible. So I was thinking maybe we can act upon these narrations right now. What if we all turn to the person maybe behind us because I feel like the person next to us is someone we know. And by the way, brothers with brothers sisters with sisters, let's keep this halal. And what if we say salams we shake each other's hands and we just introduce ourselves with our names and the city we're from. Why? Because the Prophet sallallahu sallam said that when you say a Salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh you get at least 30 good deeds and when you shake hands your

since fall so let's try this Bismillah

you can stand up if it makes it easier.

Masha Allah Masha Allah

hamdulillah

Alright friends, let's settle down. I have one more tip for you all in sha

Landon will conclude

Hamdulillah, Masha Allah, masha Allah

you know Subhanallah our religion is so beautiful,

just from a mental health perspective, because that's my background.

social connections are so very important for our mental wellness. And it's so beautiful that our deen is so holistic, that we have congregational prayers. We have this concept of greeting people we know and we don't. We have this concept of shaking hands and there's so much research that suggests that physical touch releases endorphins and happy hormones in your body, and so on handed enough for the blessing of Islam. And when I started off my talk, I started with this beautiful job of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that I hope that we can all memorize in sha Allah, which is ready to be left here on verbal Islam Medina or B Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Libya or

Sula. I am pleased with Allah as my Lord. I am pleased with Islam as my religion and I am pleased with Prophet Mohammed Salah Salem as my profit. Are you truly pleased with this? Are you happy that you're Muslim and that your Lord is Allah and he's kind and loving and generous? Are you pleased with the Prophet Muhammad SAW serve as your as your Prophet and Messenger.

This is a beautiful job that the Prophet SAW Selim said, Whoever says it in the morning and the evening three times which just takes what, one minute, Allah will make them pleased in this life and the hereafter. And if you'd like, follow me on social media and in sha Allah tomorrow, I will create a post and I'll put the ad with the Arabic English and transliteration so that inshallah you can memorize it as well. Now, my last point

when thinking about the OMA that we aspire to be, we can't think about that OMA without thinking about this beautiful narration, where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us to be considerate of everyone's feelings. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, when there are three people in a gathering, two of them should not talk to each other and whisper and exclude the third person.

Now you might be thinking, why would the Prophet salsa and tell us that? It makes sense that the Prophet SAW Selim teaches us how to pray how to fast, but that really, are you going to tell us that when we're in a group, I can't be whispering to someone. It's because you're so important. Your mental health is important to Allah's path and His messenger. When the Prophet SAW son was asked, Why, why can't we do that? He said, Because if you do that, it will hurt the third person who's excluded feelings. Your feelings are important to Allah subhanaw taala and His Messenger

in surah Taha gerat, Allah subhanaw taala makes it forbidden the way he makes it forbidden to steal and to murder. He makes it forbidden to make fun of other people. He makes it forbidden to call someone and offensive nickname. He makes it forbidden to talk about someone behind their back. Why? Because these things are hurtful, not physically but emotionally.

And so friends, be kind and considerate. Be considerate of other people's feelings. And lastly, I'll end with this beautiful Hadith where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, You will not have true faith until you love for your brothers and sisters, what you love for yourselves. So before interacting with anyone ask yourself, would I love for someone to do this to me?

Would I love for someone to treat me like this? Would I love for someone to say this to me? If not,

rethink it.

Think of something that's more loving, more kind, more gentle in sha Allah and then do it. I ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to make us kind loving, gentle and easygoing. I ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to allow us to embody the same characteristics and qualities of our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I asked Allah subhanaw taala to forgive all of our sins, and to exchange them for good deeds. I asked Allah subhanho wa Taala to exchange our hardships with ease our sadness with happiness and contentment with his decree. I ask Allah subhanaw taala to exchange our anxieties for tranquility and unshakable trust in him. I asked Allah subhanaw taala to make us

live as Muslims and die as believers. May our last day be our best day. May Allah subhana wa take our souls when he is well pleased with us. May Allah subhanaw taala make our graves portions of paradise resurrect us on the Day of Judgment on pulpits of light and enter us into the highest level of Jannah with profit will

Hamid sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Allahumma Amin does that love hate and for listening so attentively and for going along with my little activity I pray that Allah Subhana Allah blesses you as Salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh