Hamzah Wald Maqbul – 20 Ramadan 1443 Late Night Majlis Umar iv Addison 04212022
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of valuing oneself and others in light of "hasn't been rewarded." They stress the need to deal with "has been a sickness to value oneself" and avoid it. They also discuss the importance of avoiding harsher experiences on women and the influence of fasting on the mind and political life. The speakers stress the importance of not advising anyone to do this and not expressing evil or derogatory language towards the family. They also mention the death of Sayid Munawada and the importance of fasting day in succession.
AI: Summary ©
We've reached this Mubarak 20th night of Ramadan.
Inshallah, from tomorrow night,
the Asharah Awakir will start the last 10
nights of Ramadan,
and they are holy and blessed nights
precisely because,
they are described by the rasul, sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, as being characterized
by that there is an intensity
of Allah Ta'ala's
commuting the sentences of those who are otherwise
destined to go to the hellfire
and perhaps even more than that in those
10 nights is,
to be laylatulqadr.
Allah
describes the Laylatul Qadr in his Mubarak book
as khairum and alfishaher
as being more intense in its goodness
than a thousand the concentrated goodness of a
1000 months.
And,
it comes to it comes to so many
decades
of worship,
of remembrance, of goodness.
So these are times if you have an
ability to take time off from work, you
should take them out in these nights.
If you have an ability to put things
to the side and deal with them later,
like as in
10 plus days later,
then deal with them 10 plus days later.
If you have the ability to do something,
to give something,
If you have any gas left in the
tank, now is the time to burn it.
For the sake of Allah, may Allah accept
from you and from me. And may Allah
give us a high makam.
May Allah spare us and protect us from
those distractions
and from those heedlessness,
heedlessnesses
and from those,
circus
nonsense
things
on the side which will steal these Mubarak
moments from us, Amin.
So we continue,
with
the life of Saidna Umar Radhi Allah Ta'ala
Anhu the Khalifa of the Messenger of Allah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Azrut Sheikh Zakaria he,
relates a number of anecdotes
from
the life of Sayidna Umar and
from his sayings.
He says the human mind is unable to
assess the exceptionally high degree of and
whose
humility.
In spite of being the emperor of emperors
and the king of the Arab and the
Aajam,
meaning he was the undisputed ruler of the
Arabs, and he had in his hand Egypt
and Syria and
the Sasanian Persian empire
and,
the Byzantine
Roman state was being brought to heel,
at his behest
in spite being the most powerful sovereign of
his age.
When he mounted the mimbar to deliver a,
he sat on the step which Sayna Abu
Bakr siddiq, radiallahu, and who used to stand
on.
When it was said to him to sit
higher on the pulpit so that more people
could see and hear him, he would reply,
it suffices me to sit in the place
where the feet of Abu Bakr
used to stand.
Meaning he used to have
not only humility, but honor and veneration for
the.
And this despite him being a person of
no,
small maqam in the ummah
and,
with Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala. May Allah Ta'ala
bless us with the fuyuva of what Allah
gave him from his grace, Amin.
One day, during the, he said, oh, people
do not increase
the,
do not increase the mahar, the dowry of
women,
when they marry.
If the mahar is, fixed
more than the mehir of the wives of
the Rasool
and the daughters of the Rasool
I shall confiscate the extra amount and hand
it to the Baitul Mal to the public
treasury.
An old woman challenged him saying,
what right do you have to do so
when Allah ta'ala says,
in the Quran,
if you have given them mounds of wealth,
then don't take back any of it. Meaning
allah to Allah warn people not to
take back or to stint or to,
eat
any part of the mahar, the the bridal
dowry of a bride. And although it's
in the context of the husband, not the
state, But she quoted this ayah, and upon
hearing,
this
old woman's chastisement,
Sayna Omar Radiallahu who came down from the
Mimbar and exclaimed,
all the people have more knowledge than Omar,
even
the old lady.
Now this is a very interesting,
it's a very interesting anecdote that happened from
the
life of Sayidina Omar radiAllahu ta'alanhu.
And
there's a couple of things that I would
like to bring up when discussing it.
Firstly,
the
challenge that this old woman did to say
in a
sense
was accepted,
and it was in fact correct
from a particular angle which a lot of
people miss, which is what
which is that if the mahar is set
very high and both parties agree to it,
then the state does not have the ability
or the right
to confiscate any part of that mehir that
was agreed to.
But what
people oftentimes
use this anecdote to prove,
nowadays
is that somehow having
a high mahar, an exorbitant
dowry
is okay or a good thing, which is
absolutely not. In fact, the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
himself,
said that there's barakah in having
short engagements and having small mahars. And I've
seen myself
marriages with huge mahar amounts,
and there's no baraka in that amount whatsoever.
There's no baraka in that amount whatsoever.
And I've also seen those marriages that have
simple and humble amounts in their mahar.
What the mahar of Sayidafatima
radhiallahu anha is, what the mahar of the
wives of the prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam are.
All of them are smaller amounts.
They amount to something
500, 700, $1,000,
$1500,
$2,000,
$3,000, nothing much more than that.
That these amounts,
that are
were okay for the Rasool, sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam and for his
Mubarak wives, our mothers, and
for his precious daughters,
the most precious daughters in the creation, of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
What was okay for them is okay for
us as well.
And there's a type of sickness in valuing
yourself,
by a dollar amount and valuing others in
dollar amounts.
This is something, sadly, it's so common amongst
human beings that you're not going to really
be able to shake it.
You cannot preach enough,
why it's a sickness to value yourself or
to value others
based on material,
metrics.
It's just so ingrained in the human condition
that we're never gonna get the upper hand
over it. But that doesn't necessarily you're gonna
have to, like,
accept that that's gonna be a thing and
you have to deal with it. You have
to contend with it. You have to negotiate
with it.
But that's very different than saying somehow that,
no, it's good. And, like, you know, that
like to promote and to advise people and
to advocate for people to have high Mahar
amounts.
And us being a community where I've seen
this again and again,
where
sadly our sisters,
you know, one issue is yes, they can
say that they don't have they don't find
suitable men to marry, and that's also an
issue. I'm not going to deny that.
And it should also be addressed, and it
is addressed, and it will be addressed.
However,
at the same time, to super
nitpick the snot out of marriage proposals and
then to make so many barriers
to what otherwise would be very normal in
good marriages,
to the point where,
the lives of young men and young women
pass them by,
and they just don't get to move on
because they're waiting for some phantom,
you know,
perfect type of marriage, whether it's boys or
girls,
and their lives pass them by.
And
you know, sadly,
but again, a reality that is
we we have to accept it. We're not
going to be
benefited in any way, shape, or form by
not accepting
a reality. The reality is is that
the wastage of time in this matter is
far harsher on women than it is on
men due to things that have to do
more more with genetics and biology than any
sort of social construct or,
or patriarchy or whatever,
toxic masculinity or any of those things. And
so
I mention all of this to say
that don't take this anecdote out of its
context and try to make it mean something
that it doesn't mean.
Sedna Amar was right. People should not have
extortionate
mehramotes.
And I've seen those extortionate mehramotes,
and they are the custom in a certain
number of countries and cultures.
And people I've seen literally men will sell
their daughters to people,
in order to get that Mahar, and then
they themselves eat from it. And the person
who quote unquote buys a woman
with these ridiculous
30,000, $150,000,
Mahara amounts.
That person also doesn't have respect for his
wife.
Their
relationship doesn't get off to a good start,
and it often is filled with resentment,
when the ups and downs of life happen.
And it's not a good thing. It's there's
not khair in it. There's not barakah in
it. It should be sufficient to everybody that
it's a mukhalifa, it's
going against the sunnah of the messenger of
Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, which everybody, you
know, seems to like when it's time to
hear a fancy, addition of the birdah and,
like, waver on the pin or a flag
with the,
sandal,
the naksh of the na'al sharif of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam on it. But
when it's actually time to practice, you know,
then you see what people's actual akhai and
their actual beliefs are and what their actual
priorities are in life. And, yes, it is
permissible.
Just like it's also permissible for me to,
you know, wear cufflings made out of platinum
with, $10,000
$10,000,
worth of diamonds in them. And it's also
permissible for me to, you know, give a
khutba without a shirt on. And it's also
permissible for a number of things to happen.
But it doesn't mean that they're a good
idea. And the sunnah is against all of
these things. And, the the sunnah is our
najat. Our salvation lies within it,
so don't get the the script wrong. That
this old woman, she, rightly corrected Sayidna Amr
and
he also very magnanimously and rightly took the
correction that the state does not have the
right to interfere or to seizure or to
confiscate, any part of a mahar that that's
agreed upon by both parties even if it's
a stupid amount, even if it's a dumb
amount that's gonna end up harming both parties.
But the the state doesn't have a right
to nullify that transaction
and, Allah knows best.
Hazrashay Zakaria
continues. He says the food that he ate,
radhiallahu anhu, was such that not even a
poor person would be inclined to eat it.
Once he had some guests from Iraq amongst
whom were Jarir bin Abdullahi radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu.
They were unable to eat the simple food
of Sayidna Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu.
In a year, he would acquire only 2
sets of garments from the Beitul Mal. Only
2, sets of clothing would be allotted to
him. The cloth too was of a coarse
type.
Whenever it would be torn, he would patch
it. Sometimes the patch was of leather and
sometimes the patch was of sackcloth.
Again patching one's clothes is the sunnah of
those who are better than us. And those
who had more style than us and those
who had more substance than us. If we
have to patch our clothes or if we
have to do the equivalent of making do
with something that may be old and that
needs to be repaired instead of, you know,
the
programmed obsolescence dysfunctionality
culture of just buy and throw it away
and get some more garbage from China that
we currently live in.
There's no humiliation in it. In fact, there's
only pride and there's only joy and there's
only a high nisbah in it. A person
should not feel bad about it or humiliate
they should be proud of it, that they
are following the sunnah of those who are
better than us.
During his stay in the Betul Nakdis,
his kurta, his tunic shirt, was torn at
the back. He gave it to somebody to
wash and mend. When the washed and patched
kurta was brought to him, a new kurta
was also presented. A new tunic shirt was
also kamiz was presented.
This was specially made for him. Both of
these shirts were put in front of Saidna
Umar radiaallahu anhu.
Stroking the new shirt with his hand, he
commented the cloth is very soft.
So saying, he then returned it. He says,
dakurta,
meaning his own, it is better and it
absorbs perspiration
well.
Meaning he not only kept it, but he
also praised the blessing Allah gave to him.
One day, approximately 50 companions from the Muhajarin,
from those who immigrated from Makkumukaramah to Medina
Manawara
gathered in the Masjid. They were discussing,
Sayedna Omar's, his abstinence,
from this world.
It was said,
look at Omar in whose control is the
empire of Caesar
and the empire of the,
emperor of the Persians.
His orders operate in the east and west.
The delegations of the Arabs and the A'ajim,
the non Arabs, they visit him.
They all see him with a shirt that
has a dozen patches in it. He should
be advised to change his
clothing.
He should wear better garments. Garments do create
an impression.
He should make better arrangements for his food.
There should be some elaborate daily arrangement for
both meals. The Muhajrin and the Ansar are
coming,
to meet him. They should also be able
to join him in his meals.
Although it was resolved to offer this advice
to Sayidna Umar radhiallahu anhu, none could muster
the courage to tell him.
Finally, they decided to ask Sayidna Ali radhiallahu
ta'ala anhu,
to tell him. Why? Because he was, a
person he respected his knowledge,
and he respected his maqam,
in terms of his status amongst the companions.
He also respected his,
karaba to the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, his close, relation to the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in blood and lineage,
and he was also the
father-in-law of Saidna Umar radhiallahu ta'ala Anhu.
How was that? That's also a very interesting
story that Saidna Umar Radiallahu Anhu, lest a
person listen to the poison words of
the jackals and hyenas that make some sort
of false conspiracy theory that the companions radhiallahu
ta'ala anhum
somehow conspired against the family of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
and level such an allegation against Sayidna Amr
radiAllahu anhu
All of the above the companions and the
family of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
are free from the taint of such a
dirty and disgusting accusation.
Saidna Amr
actually
proposed marriage to one of the daughters of
Saidna Ali
whose name was Qalthum.
Obviously, there was a significant age difference but
this was not something that was abnormal
in that time nor was it abnormal for
most human history and most times and places.
I'm not saying you have to or it's
a sunnah that you have to, like, you
know, marry your daughters to someone who's, like,
20, 30 years older than them. But I'm
just saying
the sensibilities were, different with regards to this
thing. If you don't wanna do it, don't
do it. But, for them, it was something
that was considered normal and they didn't they
didn't mind it, and we shouldn't mind it
for people who don't.
Just like the Rasool, sallallahu alaihi wasallam, it
wasn't minded that he married a woman who
was,
15 years older than him, say the Khadija,
our mother, alayhi wasallam.
If you don't wanna do it, don't do
it. But, if someone else did it, you
don't have to resent or speak ill about
it. There's nothing wrong with it.
And so what happened is Saidna Ali radhiallahu
anhu was himself somewhat surprised at the request,
especially given the
the zuhad of Sayidna Umar radhiallahu anhu which
is mentioned.
So he says that's not a big deal,
that can happen, but I just wanna ask
why. You know, why is it that
you're asking this?
And said, Umar radiAllahu anhu gave a very
simple answer, he said it's because I heard
the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
say
that on the day of judgment, no one's
relatives will benefit them except for my relatives.
Meaning if you have a relation with me,
that that then your kinship bonds will benefit
you. And no one's in laws will be
able to benefit them except for my in
laws. And so I wanted to have this
karaba with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
and strengthen it. Even though he was already
the father-in-law of the messenger of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, but it was his love
that it should be strengthened. And this was
a thing amongst the Muslims, amongst the Sahaba
radiAllahu and whom the companions of Tabi'in, the
Tabi'in,
Saidal Hassan radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu used to receive
many, many marriage proposals from the daughters of
the tribal chieftains of the Arabs.
And he would marry and then it was
understood that he was going to marry and
then he was going to divorce.
And
still the
the the chiefs and the noblemen of the
Arabs would
offer their daughters in proposal and for marriage
to him. The reason is that they all
wanted to have a
bond, a familial bond and
a marital bond with the house of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. So much so
to the point that Sayna Ali radhiallahu anhu
publicly,
in address to the people of Iraq, he
would say, stop doing this because, you know,
he's not going to stay married to them.
He's going to marry them for some time,
and then he will let them go. And
so don't, you know, don't don't don't encourage
this,
or at least you should know that this
is what's going to happen. He would mention
it publicly
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Their sensibility was different. If you don't wanna
do it, don't do it, but don't don't
say anything evil about it because that was
their love and that's what happened and that's
where it took them and those were people
who were better than us. And there was
great in them and there were better people
than us. And so Saidna Umar
also with the sensibility,
he also
proposed marriage to Kofoum, the daughter of Sayna
Ali
and she was the full sister of Sayna
Al Hassan al Hussain, meaning she's the daughter
of,
Fatima, the daughter of the prophet
and Sayna Ali
And, Sayna Ali accepted that marriage proposal and
he told him this is the reason he
accepted it and the 2 of them were
married and they actually have progeny
that are alive in the Ummah to this
day,
to this day. And she also, when there
was some misunderstanding
between Abdullah bin Umar
and Sayedal
Hassan
She actually went to her brother, Al Hassan,
her older brother, and she
actually said, look. This is my son-in-law, although
he was older than her. But she says,
look. This is my son-in-law. He's my maheram.
I know him well, and
he's not somebody who has anything except for
the utmost of love and respect for you.
So so don't you know, just because you're
in a tight position and politically cramped,
don't project onto him what other people do
and say, he actually does, love you and
respects you quite a bit. And she actually,
herself
reconciled between them at a time of misunderstanding.
And so what happened is they said, well,
why don't you let's ask Sayidna Ali the
father-in-law of them of Sayidna Umar,
may Allah be pleased with all of them,
to have a talk with him to, you
know,
eat better and dress better,
and he declined. He says, no. I'm not
gonna have that conversation with him.
Then afterward,
they,
approached,
he suggested that if you want, maybe you
can talk to the Umaha tul mumineen,
the wives of the Rasool sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam because it's known that Sayidnaumar radhiallahu anhu
showed the utmost of respect for them and
took very particular care
that they should be treated with honor and
respect and dignity after the Rasool had
passed.
In fact, in the last year of his
life, he actually
made arrangements that all of them should go
on Hajj as well and have a special
escort and special facilitation to make Hajj to
the house of Allah Ta'ala.
Ta'ala. Who said that they went to say
the Aisha and say the Hafsa
and
Sayda Aisha being the daughter of Sayda Abu
Bakr Siddiq and Sayda Tuna Hafsa
being the daughter of Omar Ibn Khattab himself.
Both were at the same place. Saidah Aisha
agreed to tell Saidah Omar
but, Sayidna Hafsa
said,
that she should not go.
But in the view of the insistence of
this group of companions, both finally went to
Seda Amr
They presented an eloquent introductory speech in the
matter. He patiently listened to their advice and
then broke down crying profusely.
He recounted the austerities in the poverty of
the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Then both of the mothers of the believers
cried as well.
He then commented,
listen, I had 2 companions.
If I adopt a way that differs
from their way, which I had observed, I
will not be blessed with their companionship in
the hereafter.
This condition of said Amr Radhi Allah Ta'ala
Anhu endured until the end,
and he did not admit any change to
his lifestyle.
Khadur Sheikh
writes once while, Said Abu Musa Al Ashari,
radiallahu, and who was sweeping the premises of
the Baytul Maal, the public
treasury.
He found a dirham, a silver coin. He
gave it to one of Sayidna
Umar, whose grandsons, who was at the time
a little child.
When Sayidna Umar saw the dirham in the
child's hand, he inquired about it when the
child informed him that it was given to
him by Sayna Abu Musa.
Sayna Umar
became very displeased.
He took the dirham from the child and
reprimanded Sadna Abu Musa Al Asari Radiallahu
Anhu has followed.
O Abu Musa, could you not find a
home more contemptible than my home? Meaning why
did you why did you give this to
me?
And he considered it to be
a way of unknowingly violating the Amana or
the trust that was entrusted to him.
Toward the end of his life, said Nama
radiallahu anhu started to fast in abundance.
He would fast the whole year excluding the
5 days in which it was
impermissible to fast. In the Maliki school,
fasting
all the days is considered to be more
meritorious than fasting,
every other day.
It's considered to be more reward.
However, it's not a sunnah in the same
sense that it's a sunnah to fast every
other day.
He adhered rigidly to this practice of
fasting day after day in succession.
In 13th year of Hijra, the 1st year
of his, caliphate,
he appointed Saidna Abdurrahman al Nawaf as the
as the emir of Hajj.
He thereafter went himself every year for Hajj.
During his caliphate, he performed 10 Hajj's.
In 23,
which was the last year of his khilafa,
he took along the mothers of the believers
as well as we had mentioned.
His fear of Allah Ta'ala was unparalleled.
One day he was reciting
and when he reached
the ayah and when
the
scrolls will be unfurled.
He fell down unconscious and he remained ill
for several days.
Alright. This is a thing that happened. This
is a thing that used to happen.
They say that Ibn Wahab, the
the important student of Imam Malik,
one of the 2 most important students of
of Imam Imam Malik and the
second most important transmitter of his fiqh and
the most important transmitter of his hadith,
Rahimahu Wa Ta'ala, that he also passed away
in something similar like this that one of
these ayaat,
was red and he also fell and passed
passed from from the shock from it.
My own Sheikh Rahimullah
Ta'ala, said Nafis. He said that my maternal
grandfather also was praying Fajr
and the same,
the same
Surah either it was the same Surah, the
Shamsukhurirat
or it was
in Fatarat. One of them,
was being read and, at some point or
another,
he
he saw a vision of the day of
judgment, and,
it it overwhelmed him. And he he passed
out, and he fell, and he he
he he passed away from that, injury that
he received.
One day, he passed by a house where
the owner was reciting Surah Atatur
when he heard the man, reciting the Ayah
in indeed the
punishment of your lord is about to go
down.
The torment of your lord is about to
go down.
Said Omar
who dismounted and leaned against the wall for
a long time.
Upon returning home, he he was ill for
nearly a month and people visiting him could
not fathom what the cause of his sickness
was.
Sayid Numa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu once
dispatched the army under the command of Saria
The enemy had concealed a group of their
men to ambush him, ambush
them, from behind
a mountain. So he dispatched an army from
Adina Munawwara
under the command of Saria,
and the enemy
laid wait in wait in ambush for them
on the frontier of Persia, so a very
far distance away.
When the army was about to walk into
the trap,
Saria heard, Omar Radiallahu on whose voice, you,
Saria tul Jabal.
You Saria tul Jabal. Oh, Saria, beware of
what's behind the mountain.
Hearing this command,
Saria was alerted and took precaution
and avoided what would have been a disaster
for the Muslims.
Sayed Naam radiAllahu anhu was delivering the Jumal
Khutba when he
when he
received the
the intuition spiritual intuition of this,
happening. And it was during the Jumal Khutba
that he
turned and
warned Saria,
of what was about to happen
And the,
the Muslims in Madinah Munawwara all witnessed this
and, Sariah then came back and explained what
had happened.
And it's very interesting actually, Masha'Allah,
the haters, they they have some, you know,
there's some real gold medal haters out there.
And
it's actually an objection that the haters have,
those people who, hate on Sayidna Umar. One
of their objections that it that it's been
recorded is that why
why is he paying attention to sari'ah while
giving the jumakutba? It's as if he's like
ignoring
the Friday prayer.
And
by anyone anyone with common sense knows that
this is a really like a Baqas objection,
you know. It's like
a one there's an anecdote about one of
the mashaikh that, that his wife was very
abusive to him despite him being a great
wali of Allah.
And so one of his murids says to
him, hey, you should, show her a miracle,
you know, so that she stops abusing you
so much because she might, you know, be
deprived of Iman before she dies because of
her enmity to one of Allah's beloved.
And the sheikh is like, she's not going
to listen, like don't waste your time. He's
like, no, no, seriously, like you should do
something. And so the sheikh's like, what do
you suggest? He says, why don't you show
her some sort of miracle? I was like,
what? He goes, I want you to fly
in the air instead of knocking on the
door and coming to your house. Want you
to fly in the air and then land
in the courtyard in front of her. And
so the sheikh's like, alright. So he does
it.
And then,
the wife is like, where were you? You're
late. You didn't bring this, you didn't bring
that, you're so useless, you're this, you're that,
the other. She started mouthing off to him.
And after listening patiently for some minutes,
he says to her, he says to her
like kind of confused, like didn't you just
see what happened?
She's like,
what? He said, didn't you see that I
just literally flew through the air and landed
in the courtyard of the house?
She's like, yeah. I was wondering why is
this
Allah ta'ala flying so crooked? You know? That's
don't be that wife. Don't be that wife
but like to everything else, don't be like
that.
Don't be like her.
At any rate, so the ulama, they also
defended Sayidna Amr radiAllahu anhu. They said that
this is the remembrance of Allah ta'ala includes,
you know,
dispatching all of
those things that are
from the obligations Allah puts on a person.
So the welfare and the well-being of the
ummah is an obligation,
a personal obligation on the Amirul Mumineen
as part of the khilafatul Uthma and the
imamatul Uthma. And so he was also this
was also an act of worship and an
act of obedience for him.
But that's only for the Khalifa, you know?
Like, you don't don't sit there and watch,
like, BBC news, Al Jazeera news updates from
your from your phone, or if you're so
politically inclined, Russia today, or if you're so
politically inclined, you know, euro news or if
you're so politically
inclined,
whatever other
Vox or Atlantic or God knows what, people
are
Vox or Fox or whatever people are into.
Allah help us all. Allah
give us from nukher
that he gave to his oliya
and
straighten out our affair
for us,
especially those things that we're trying and failing
in,
and make our affair straight so that we
can meet him on the day of judgment
with joy and with honor,
rather than,
sulking,
because we
did bad with opportunity. Allah gave us that
opportunity which is slipping through our fingers as
we speak.