Ingrid Mattson – Reflections on Revelation #YourRamadanHub Night of the 27th
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AI: Transcript ©
Brothers and sisters, tonight
in these moments that we have before Iftar,
we wanted to reflect with you
on the theme of,
what the moment of revelation
means for us today.
And I think often
when we think about that moment,
the moment at which
Al Habib sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
first experienced
Jibrael alayhis salam, the angel Gabriel,
and he was given that first revelation.
The revelation which
Allah had intended
from the time before time to be delivered
at that very moment to that very
blessed and perfected human being.
That we saw the culmination of all of
history,
all of history.
Everything
that was meant to be and is
in that moment comes
alive.
And so tonight we wanted
our 2 scholars who are with us,
Sheikh Faraz
and doctor Ingrid Mattson to reflect with us
on what that moment meant,
what the moment of Iqra
when the prophet was asked to recite, what
that means to us.
And in that way, for you and I,
in these next
40 minutes that we have with them
before we break our fast
for us to put ourselves in in into
that place
to be observers and witnesses to that amazing
moment.
And for us then and to our for
our hearts to be ready for what is
gonna follow on this beautiful evening.
Sheikh Farazir Bani is no stranger to any
of us in Toronto.
He's, many ways a son of Toronto.
He's a scholar in residence
at Seekers Hub,
global traveler,
someone who studied far and wide.
But most of all, with him and his
wife,
they're really in some ways the heart and
soul
of the work at Seekers Hub in terms
of the teaching and the learning that happens
all the time and every day.
And I'm gonna ask Sheikh Faraz,
my teacher and my friend, to begin tonight
by reflecting
on the on that moment of, revelation that
we're here to that we're here to remember
and to bring to mind, and then
we'll introduce doctor Ingrid Madsen,
properly
shared for
us.
To appreciate
the
amazing gift
that is
the revelation of the Quran.
Right. That moment
when Sayyidina Jibril came to the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam and said, iqra,
recite
or read.
It's important if we step back a little
bit to consider
what the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was doing
when revelation came.
And
because and that helps us put into context
the significance
of
this tremendous gift of the Quran.
The prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
grew up in a society
that
was a society of merchants.
It was
the cent it was a center
of commerce
in
Arabia.
Mecca was a city
built around trade. It's an arid land
that almost
nothing grew it grew there.
But
and his
people had become very
worldly in their concerns.
And traders
commercialize everything. And in many ways, they had
also commercialized religion.
So the idols that were there, etcetera, it
was all part of a very profitable business
for
them. Right? Even the way they approach religion
was rather materialistic that we are the people
of Allah,
but we have all these idols here.
In all of this, the prophet salallahu alaihi
said have troubled by much that he saw
in his times.
The prophetic response is very significant
that how does change begin
and how does change begin? The Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam
turned to his Lord
and turned to his Lord and that he
did not withdraw from society.
The prophet
was deeply troubled and pained
by the trouble and pain that others were
in,
But that
change begins from within.
Right.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's going
into the cave
is just as has the same concern underlying
it as the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's
later enter
entering
into Mecca
victorious.
And that concern
that concern
for god, the concern
for
what is good,
the concern for truth,
That is important to reflect upon.
But one of the things
that this requires is all of us
need to have
our cave.
Right? But a cave not to withdraw
from society,
not a cave to withdraw
from
trouble,
from challenges,
from all that is troubling in the world,
but rather
to
root our concerns
right.
Because true concern ultimately
is concern for Allah
And all concern can only be
expressed through
our
expressions of concern for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And this is this is very, very important.
And it is not an accident that is
only after much
turning to Allah in devotion and in contemplation,
in remembrance,
in prayer, in imploring
that the first revelation
came.
But
and do reflect on that. That what is
your cave
in life? So many of you are active
in the community whether you're active at the
hub or in so many different
organizations both within the Muslim community and beyond.
Whatever line of work you're in, you are
in service
to God's creation, whether you have that intention
or you don't. And if you're doing something
that's directly
detrimental,
tonight might be the night to leave it.
But you can consult doctor Ingrid on how
to go about doing that. But whatever you're
engaged in, you need that cave,
that
that time
where you
are alone
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. The time in
which
you acquire
the spiritual strength,
the spiritual
nourishment,
the spiritual clarity
in order
to come down
and to be of service to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala's creation to be able
to live a God centered life
in a way that is good
in your life.
So do reflect on
the place
where revelation began, that cave. And every one
of us needs
that cave in our life. And that time
alone,
that time
with knowledge, that time with spirituality,
that time with the book of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
So we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
that he grant us moments of reflection
in which we consider
the meaning and purpose
of why we are here so that we
can truly affirm through realization
as
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
when he used to get up at night,
it is a sunnah of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. It's a neglected sunnah that the
prophet
would recite the last 10 verses of Surat
Ali Imran from verse 190
to 200.
And when you get up at night,
this is it's established in the Sahih, and
you can find it in the book of
remembrance
of Imam Nawawi, which is translated now in
English. And it's a book that I'd encourage
everyone
to get. It's a comprehensive book of the
prophetic supplications. The prophet used to recite these
10 verses when he got up at night.
And at the heart of them, the believer
in reflection says,
oh lord, you have not created this
in vain.
There is purpose and meaning and truth.
There's mercy. There's justice.
There are things
that the believer
realizes this world is for and we strive
to embody them ourselves
and to to
spread them in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's creation.
So may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala grant us
reflection that makes us realize what our purpose
is in life and why Allah has placed
us where he has placed us so that
we may
gain
that realization from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala granted us openings
in these nights and may he grant us
to benefit from the knowledge and wisdom of
Doctor. Ingrid.
Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala preserve her and all
of you.
JazakAllah Khair, Shaykh Fras.
So
before the month of Ramadan started
and I was speaking to Shef Raaz about
the program and we were talking about various
things, I said, wouldn't it be nice if
we can have doctor Ingrid Mattson join us
for part of the month of Ramadan?
But it seemed like a bit of a
pipe dream
that many of you know doctor Mattson is
incredibly committed and busy, and Ramadan is kind
of a sacred time for her as I've
understood.
Time when
she
connects
and has that time for spirituality and prayer.
But we thought we'd take a chance,
and we thought we'd send her entreaty after
entreaty
to please join us for 1 or 2
nights during the month of Ramadan.
And we're really honored, doctor Madsen, that you
said yes.
And I know how much it means
to break out of that the usual Ramadan
schedule but it's it's such an honor that
you're with us.
Some of you will know doctor Ingrid Monson
as the former president of the Islamic Society
of North America
at a time when our community
was in a great deal of pain and
trauma
after 9/11.
There was a few individuals
who I think we can all agree
that we turn to as a community
to represent us, to speak
our voice to places of power,
to
take the real principles and values of our
great tradition
to Muslims
and particularly the wider world, and doctor Matson
was one of those people.
And those were difficult times as she herself
will tell you, hard times,
times when you're under attack
by all kinds of forces,
nefarious and otherwise.
But I think during that time, we really
felt the metal of the person.
She's a professor right now, the chair of
Islamic studies
at Huron College at the University of Western
Ontario.
She was previously at the Hartford Seminary
where among her students was
Mustad Amjad Tarsin and he's going to be
speaking about that a little bit later tonight
Insha'Allah.
But more than that I think for so
many of us
doctor Matson's work on the Quran, her scholarship
represents
the possibilities for us and our community
to be at the top of our academic
game,
to be teaching and to be influential
in circles of thought and ideas,
but also to be deeply, deeply, deeply connected
to community
and to be deeply connected with faith.
And so it's with that
and with great thanks,
that I'll turn the mic over to doctor
Ingrid Monson
to reflect on our theme of what does
the moment of revelation
mean for us today? What does the moment
of revelation mean for us tonight?
Thank you.
Assalamu alaikum.
It is really
a a great pleasure for me to come
and spend this blessed day,
this blessed night with you here at Seekers
Hub.
I'm a big fan of this collective, of
this organization.
It is a beautiful effort that so many
people,
especially Sheikh Faraz Rabani, may Allah protect him
and guide him and give him strength and
all the resources he needs to continue this
work.
In a time
when there is so much confusion
and so much disunity and disconnection,
this is a force for connectivity,
for enlightenment,
for people to come together for a wonderful
and great purpose.
And to not only learn,
but to be together
and to be good together.
Sometimes
for us, for scholars,
we make the mistake of thinking that all
people really need is another lecture.
And,
as wonderful as lectures are and as knowledge
is,
presence
is also important.
And this is why
we have to understand that
that there is no separation
between
the message,
the book, the kitab, the knowledge that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala sent us and the presence
of our beloved messenger of Allah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam.
It was his being and his presence
that carried the message
that made
it comprehensible,
that made it understandable,
that,
illuminated it.
Because there will always be a gap
between
words
and meaning for people.
And what's needed
is the presence of people who take this
knowledge, who take this understanding,
who embody
it, who live it,
who make it credible,
who make it beautiful,
and who implement
in the lives of people the values and
principles that this knowledge gives us. And that's
what Islam is. SubhanAllah.
And this is why it's so important that
we have scholars and teachers
and good people, good Muslims,
you know, who are connected together
because that is the only way that other
human beings can really understand
what this is all about.
And so I ask that God blesses and
protects this initiative and makes it grow and
expand because it is something that is so
needed
in today's world.
I'm so happy that we're gathered here together.
It's the end of the school year.
It's Canada Day.
Happy Canada Day, everyone. We're so blessed to
be in this land of peace and generosity
and charity.
Beautiful
creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that Allah
has made and that we benefit from.
And so we have the presence of children
today who
are on vacation finally very excited.
And that's a wonderful thing too.
The prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam was so
loving with children
and was so patient with children
and loved to have them
with him and with the community because they
were a reminder to us
of the innocence
that we all once had.
The reminder of the optimism, of the enthusiasm,
of the hope
that we all once had as children.
And that's so needed.
And the moment of revelation, this moment of
Iqra in a way is like a new
birth, is like a rebirth
for the prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
For humanity
as well.
And so as our children run around
and enjoy,
this time with us, I hope they also
will understand some of this message. And I'm
gonna try to really make it something that
we can all understand.
And I
know
that this story,
this beautiful foundational
legendary
story of the revelation of the Quran of
the beginning
is something that we tell our children from
the time they're young.
And we may sometimes think, well, I know
that story. It's very familiar to me. I'll
move on to something more important.
But there is no way of
reclaiming who we are
unless we go back also
to that story. And we'll be talking about
it more tonight in a in another talk
we have, before.
But let's think about it a little bit
what happened.
And what happened shows to us
the seclusion
of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
for a few days in the cave and
then returning to the world and going to
the cave and returning to the world
It shows us
that Islam is
simultaneously
universal and primordial
because this is a shared spiritual practice universally
across humankind
for centuries until now.
And at the same time specific. And this
is why there is the we could say
the lower case Islam,
the Islam of submission to God which is
absolutely universal
which we find
before the time of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam. And which we find remnants
and traces of everywhere
in the world today.
Until today, we find remnants and traces of
this
universal spirituality of the true message
of the truth of the creator of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. We find that everywhere.
But we also have at this moment, this
is the beginning when we have Islam with
a capital I. We have the Islam
of the prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam of the Quran that
gives
us specificity,
that gives us discipline,
that gives us certainty, and that gives us
continuity.
So that while there are remnants and traces
of
the truth everywhere across the world,
it is only through Islam, through our religion,
our religion of
Muhammad
of this Quran that has been preserved
by Muslims
for centuries until now. So we have the
same book
everywhere in the world, no matter what language
people speak.
We have the same prayers,
5 daily prayers.
So that when I traveled with doctor Almer
and
and doctor Sherman Jackson to China and
I I went with a group of women
into the women's women's mosque. The, the women
had their own,
place to pray.
And we went in there, and I couldn't
speak Chinese.
And none of our group could speak Chinese.
And no one,
of the Chinese sisters could speak English or
French or anything else, but we knew Salah.
And we seamlessly
went and joined them in prayer.
With with no need
to say anything else,
but our prayer was embodied and carried over
1400
years.
So it is at this moment of Iqra
we have
the universal
eternal message
that Allah is the creator and has created
you and me
and has brought us into being
to be
human beings into this life
for a purpose, and that purpose is to
learn
about Allah. And by learning, we worship Allah.
Through learning and worship, that is our purpose.
And we are given vehicles and mechanisms of
doing it.
How wonderful is this
beautiful month of Ramadan and our discipline of
fasting?
And you know and I know
that we all make an intention at the
end of Ramadan to fast more during the
year.
And you know and I know that we
never completely
fulfill that intention.
And it is only because we are commanded
to fast during the month of Ramadan
that we fast during the month of Ramadan.
And
we feel such a benefit from it.
There is not one Muslim who you'll meet
who won't say,
I feel so much
better after I fasted the month of Ramadan.
I feel so much happier. I feel so
much lighter.
I feel like myself again. I've gotten rid
of something
that accumulated over the year But it's only
because it's required for us. And this is
the Islam that is brought
at this moment
with the revelation of the Quran and
the mission that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam is
given at this time to be the warner.
To stand up
and to be the to be the one
who warns.
What is primordial and universal about this? And
Sheikh Faraz spoke about the cave.
Last night, I was with,
I was at a function where there was
a First Nations man, and we were talk
I was talking
we were drinking Zamzam water, and I was
talking about the founding of Mecca.
Founded by our mother Hajjar.
Really by her great effort and her struggle.
Her struggle and reliance on Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, that's what brought the water.
And there is
no life without water.
She really is our matriarchal
founder. So Islam has both matriarchs and patriarchs,
and we cannot have
Islam without either of them.
It's impossible
for people to live without this water, and
she was the master of the water. She
kept control of it because she knew she
would be fair and just with it.
So we were talking
about this, and we were talking different rituals
and disciplines. And
and one of the things we spoke about
was withdrawal.
And he was saying how in his
traditional spirituality, and we know this because we
live with our indigenous and aboriginal neighbors in
this country,
How the spiritual
practice of withdrawing into the sweat lodge is
so important.
And that that's an opportunity
to go back.
It symbolizes
the the womb.
The sweat lodge symbolizes
going back to being that innocent
being
that we all first were.
Before we were shaped and formed by the
world,
And the world forms us in good ways
and in bad ways.
Because where there is bad, we're reacting to
it and sometimes protecting ourselves from it
and responding to it in ways that are
not positive.
And the world can shape us in good
ways as well, but we are constantly shaped.
So this opportunity he was saying to go
back into the sweat lodge is this way
to reclaim
that initial state.
And what is that initial state
that every human is born into?
We know from the teachings of the prophet
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that that state
is a state of fitra.
The state of fitra,
that pure
state that human beings are born in, which
is why babies
smell like heaven
and
why they bring us such joy and hope
and light in our life.
To go back to that initial stage. And
so the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
he was drawn like many before him to
that womb like
place, which is the cave.
That place of going in
back to that place of fitra
and trying to, for a time, keep out
the world to understand,
to be able to listen and make space
for guidance,
for the angelic voice
to guide us to where we need to
go.
And perhaps this is why
this Surah
that begins
It begins with also
the acknowledgment that we begin as an alak.
We start first as this
primordial soup, this nothing, this this being
that really doesn't
hasn't congealed yet into
an actual person.
We are an Alaaq
that Allah created us in. So the prophet
Muhammad
when he gets this revelation, he gets it
in the cave.
A time where he is drawn by fitra
like so many others to go into retreat
and to find that space. Subhanallah. You even
see it in in children sometimes when they
feel overwhelmed
by something.
They'll go I remember my son used to
go in the closet sometimes when he felt
overwhelmed by things. And you you'll find that
with children or they'll go they'll they'll find
a box and they'll sit in a box.
And it's that
that fitra that brings us back that says,
let me go and find that place again,
that pay place of purity.
And it is in that place of purity
that is
is one of the beautiful messages of our
religion because we do not believe
that human beings are born
sinful and evil and flawed and broken.
1 of the
beautiful thing most most beautiful things about Islam
is we believe that we are born
knowing our creator
and being happy and gladdened
by being in harmony
with what Allah
our creator wants from us.
And we expect to see that in people.
And this is why the believer sees good
in everyone. We look for that
left you
know, what's left of that fitra?
Now we're not naive.
We know that while we are not born
in sin, we are born
in purity.
We are also come into being in a
world in a world that
is filled with
good and evil, is filled with
beautiful things and with ugly things. And so
as we grow, we are affected by that.
And we see many people who have been
so damaged and hurt
by that,
by all that they faced in this world.
And this is why we have compassion.
And this is why this is a message
of compassion.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says Muhammad was sent
arhamarrahameen.
Rahmatan
lilaalameen.
He was sent Allah is Arham Al Rahamin
and Mohammed was sent Rahmaten lilaalameen
as a mercy to the world.
It is an embodiment of this mercy that
is the message that we get
from this.
It is that mercy that makes us want
for other people to be free of this
pain and of this suffering and of this
hardship
that comes with being in a world
that has
so much evil
and so much cruelty
and so much harm. And this is why
we can never be those who contribute to
that.
We should only be those
who bring the light and who bring the
mercy and that way people will see it
in themselves.
And this is a beautiful part of this
story,
is the ability for us to see
in the other and to reflect
to the other
who they really are.
When the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
when he had this overwhelming
and terrifying experience
of the revelation
that he had never experienced before.
He went to his wife, Khadija. He was
shaking. His heart was pounding.
And he said, cover me. Cover me. He
had he was in like a state of
shock where someone's shivering
and breathing fast. And they need to feel
they they feel like they've lost a sense.
Who am I now after what's happened? This
is what shock is. You lose your sense
of self.
And this is why you see on the
news whenever there's,
like, a fire or some catastrophe
and the first responders come and they take
a blanket or they take this this, foil
sheet and they put it around the person
to give them back this sense of
of wholeness, of coming back into their being.
And and the messenger of Allah, sallallahu alaihi
wasalam, says to his
wife,
I'm afraid that there's something wrong with me
because he's never experienced this before.
And here she serves the beautiful
the beautiful role model for us
of being the as the prophet Mohammed
would later say, a believer is a mirror
to a believer.
She mirrors to him who he really is.
She says never
never will there be something wrong with you.
Because you are a person who keeps
good ties with your relatives, and you are
a person who cares for the poor and
the needy, and you are a person who
honors your guests,
and you are a person who when there
is a need, you help those people.
And I think this is such an important
message for all of us at a time
where
I think in an age like now,
sometimes we feel we almost don't know who
we are.
Because
who is reflecting who we are? We're seeing
these are like
distorted mirrors. These are like the mirrors you
go in the fun house where you see,
you know, you look in your face and
your ears are like here in your air.
Your ears here and you're tall or you're
fat. You're that's not who you are.
What is being reflected to us today of
what a Muslim is is not who we
are.
And what our children are seeing and what
our young people are seeing of who there
is not who a Muslim is. They are
seeing this distortion,
and it terrifies them.
They're so afraid. Am I that person? Am
I that ugly
person?
No. You are not. A Muslim is not
that person. These are distortions.
You wanna know who a Muslim is,
go to another
person who loves you,
and you love them. Go to a trusted
person. The one who cares for you, the
one who you know has goodness in their
heart and who has always been good. Like
the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam went
to his wife and he said I think
there's something wrong with me. She said never.
And this is why
whoever you are,
whether you're a young person and you're confused,
you should go to your mother.
You should go to your teacher.
You should go to the people who you
see are are beautiful people who know you.
And when you feel there's something wrong with
you, they'll be able to say,
no.
You may have a problem right now,
but it's not who you are. You are
not a broken person. There is inside you
a goodness.
And this is a lesson for us today.
There's so many spiritual lessons for us when
we see
what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put the prophet
Muhammad alayhisasam
through.
Why put him through this difficulty?
It's so we can take a lesson from
this difficulty for our lives because it's not
easy. Life's not easy.
You know, I finished with brother Abdul Malik
is was talking about my time when I
served in a position of leadership.
I mean, when I finished,
it's not like everything was all solved. Everything
was great. We see again we're going through
another period where there's a lot of turmoil.
And we see a lot of ugliness from
all sides,
and it can make us feel a sense
of confusion.
We feel confused. We feel disoriented.
We feel like we're losing ourselves.
So we have to turn first
to those people
who love us.
Not some stranger, not some TV, not some
Internet
person, not some commentator,
not some know it all.
That person who loves us, turn to them
and get a reflection of who you are
and of who you can be. And then
what is the next step?
The next step is she went to someone
who knew something about revelation.
And she went to her cousin Waraka
who was aware of revelation and who
trying to flee
the ignorance
and the meanness and the cruelty
of
pre Islamic Arabia,
a place where
babies were just discarded and buried
in the dirt. What a cruel place.
He went and tried to find
what was available to him of revelation, and
that was,
the revelation from the that
was available to him. And so he'd become
a Christian
because this was what he was
accessible to him in terms of revelation at
this time.
And so she went to rev to someone
who knew the revelation, and he confirmed
that revelation confirms that
this is a true spiritual experience.
That this
experience that you had, the angelic experience and
the words that were given to you,
to recite.
Recite in the name of your lord that
this is from god. This is from the
same god, the one god, the only god
who has always existed
and who will always exist. And this is
why he professed belief
in the revelation
of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
But at that time there were only remnants
of other traditions. There were only remnants of
other revelation.
The Christian tradition itself had been split according
to different schools
that couldn't even agree
on the most fundamental question, which is
how do we know god?
And what
is the reality of god?
There were different schools of thought, trinitarian
schools of thought, even among themselves. They didn't
know. And what was the role of the
messenger of Jesus, the servant of God,
Risa.
May god's peace and blessings be upon him.
They were divided on that.
Even among those who were trinitarians.
So it wasn't enough.
It wasn't enough. And this is why this
final message had to come.
The only message
that was preserved in its form.
The only message that
were in
Woodbine
Banquet Center
in Mississauga,
and we have someone
who has, masha'Allah,
beside me, who has memorized this message in
South Africa
and brought it to share with us today.
What other tradition has that?
Yes. Many traditions
have beautiful
elements and aspects of the truth and remnants
of the truth that they live on and
beautiful people who carry those forward. We know
them, our neighbors. We have neighbors from other
traditions who are
such wonderful people,
who are doing what they can with the
message they have.
But it is this moment of
when we have this blessing of the message,
of the final message
from that time until today.
It is extraordinary
in this place
that we have it with us.
And so this is why
we can always go back.
We can go back to this moment of
revelation.
We can go back to this moment
when we have
that awareness
that there is
a creator
who will come, who has made us
perfect.
Perfect
with a soul
that is longing to be in touch
and who has not only created us with
that longing because everyone has that longing,
but has given us a path
to fulfill
that longing.
Who has given us
who has given us some.
Who has given us hajj where we follow
in the footsteps of others.
So we're not left alone like orphans.
And the prophet Muhammad
was
an orphan, and and so many of the
righteous people throughout its history have been orphans
because
they also
this gives a space for them for longing
and a space for them to want that
guidance
more keenly and urgently than anyone else.
But there are so many spiritual orphans in
this world, but we are not them.
Because we have this revelation, and it all
began with this time.
And we all return back to it and
can return back to it. And I'm so
honored
and full of joy and feel so blessed
to be spending this
time, this evening with you where we're going
to listen
to this beautiful
revelation again
and be back in our souls and in
our minds and in our hearts
to that state that state
where we have that absolute joy in being
connected
with our creator, being aware
of the absolute
being
that is the one in whom we'll find
rest and harmony and joy.
Doctor Madsen.
Wow. That was a tour de force.
And InshaAllah, I hope we're able to pick
up some of these themes as the night
goes on.