Morad Awad – Jumuah
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AI: Transcript ©
We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We send our peace and blessings to our
noble and beloved prophet Muhammad Alaihi Salatu Was
Salam. I remind myself and yourselves on this
blessed day of
to fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
To fear Allah
in the days and in the hours that
you live, and in the breaths that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
allowed you to breathe.
As Allah reminds us to fear him in
the holy Quran when he said,
All you who believe fear Allah the way
he should be feared
And do not die except in the state
of submission to him. We ask Allah to
die in the state.
It was only
days ago
where all parents
were bracing themselves
for the times
of examination.
The end of the year,
The end of the academic year
where
things
get heated.
Exams,
the SATs, the MCATS,
all the
the big examinations
are towards the end of the year, and
the final exams.
Everyone's waiting and anticipating to see
what their final grades
are going to be.
Why? Because these are pivotal moments in life.
These are pivotal moments in life.
But every
stressful and pivotal moment like this
has a time of relief.
And we are now in the beginning of
the summer break, in the summer vacation.
A time that Allah
blessed us with.
A time where we get to relax
from our studies,
where we get to reunite and rebond
with our families,
where we get to
know each other better, go to places
we perhaps never been to, see things that
we perhaps
never seen before.
Brothers and
sisters,
time
these times are not light.
These times
are a gift
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and also a
trust
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
A gift in the sense that we
did not ask for it,
but Allah
blessed us with it.
It is a gift
for those
who are standing up breathing. It is a
gift for those who are in the state
of peace, and security, and safety. It is
a gift for those
who
have body parts that are completely functional.
It is a gift for those
who have the means that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala gave them to experience
this this vacation,
this break.
So many people
are experiencing a different break right now.
They had summer breaks in the past, but
now, they're injured, or they're bedridden, or they're
sick,
or they're occupied with things that they weren't
occupied with, or things came up that they
didn't think they would have to deal with.
But this time brothers and sisters
is an
is a trust
which is why Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
in the Holy Quran, he swore
by many things.
But we find
times
were sworn by many times in the Quran.
Like
or and these are all connected
to time as well. And Surat Al Asar,
wal Asar, and Surat Al Fajr, wal Fajr.
These are all different times of the day.
Why?
Because it is a niyamah that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala gave us.
Brothers and sisters,
there are people that utilize these times,
these free times, these breaks
to the wisest
because they know and understand
that especially for the students, and I'm addressing
the students mainly here.
These times
are very limited in life.
And these are the times we get to
plant the seeds
we
don't have time to plant during the year
because of what we're occupied with, from studies
and the daily run.
But now, we have a break.
And this break comes with a big trust
to focus on what is going to benefit
us in our life and in the future.
So I'm going to give a few advices
inshallah for the summer break for all families
inshallah to benefit from, so that we can
utilize these times to the best of our
ability.
Number 1, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in
the Quran,
And when you are free,
then
free yourself for the worship of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
And when you become free, when you're not
occupied,
then find a means of worship of And
when we say worship,
we don't mean only come to the masjid.
Obviously, during the break, you should be coming
to the masjid a lot more often than
you did in other times.
This is the time to reconnect to Allah,
to reconnect to the house of Allah.
But there are other forms
of like doing
like, participating in the food pantry, like feeding
the sick, like visiting the sick, like feeding
the poor and the needy,
like reaching out to your kinship, your relatives,
people that you didn't visit throughout the whole
year. You were too occupied to see. This
is the time to go and experience that.
To do the worship that you would not
normally have time to do throughout the year.
These are the times to do these worships.
Another
advice is to
to fill
our days
with
Allah,
he said, a year
a year is like
a tree.
And
months are like the tree's branches.
And
days
are like
the leaves.
And
breaths are like the fruits
of this tree.
So if you want to see
the quality of a tree,
then look at the sweetness of its fruit.
For if its
fruit is bitter, then the tree
is not founded upon
And if its fruit
is sweet,
then this tree's foundation is firm and it
is upon good
and So let us look at what our
breaths are occupied with.
Are we engaging
in things that displease Allah
with the breath that Allah gave us?
Every single breath is an opportunity
to return to Allah. As it only takes
one breath
to enter into the fold of Islam and
say,
Is
it more than one breath?
It's only one breath.
But that 1 breath
is the key to paradise for us.
But this 1 breath,
when Allah blesses us with 1,000,
1,000,000,
1,000,000,000 of breaths, hours of breathing
without renewing our faith and saying,
Then
are we really giving
this breath its right?
Are we really thanking Allah or being grateful
to Allah for
the right of this breath?
So every hour that passes, let us occupy
our tongues, our breaths with what? With La
ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasulallah.
With SubhanAllah.
With Alhamdulillah.
With Allahu Akbar.
This is how we
we we we get ourselves reintroduced.
Right? I know
the summer break, when you ask the majority,
they associate it with
with, you know, going out, having fun,
visiting different places, going to the beach, chilling
with the guys, playing video games, sleeping until
until 5 PM, and staying up until right
before fajr, and then going to sleep, missing
fajr, missing,
waking up for Asar. This is not
a break that's conducive of This is not
how a Muslim spends their time wisely.
It's not brothers and sisters.
A Muslim
knows the value of this time
and especially parents.
Brothers and sisters, for those of you who
are parents of children,
and your kids are on their summer breaks
right now,
I want to give you a piece of
advice.
This is the time
to reintroduce
yourself to your children.
This is the time to rebuild the bond
with your children.
Because throughout the year, if your kids went
to school, then 8 hours of the day,
they were spending it away from you.
And when they went home, perhaps, you were
busy and they were tired. They went to
sleep. You had some work. You had some
errands to run and things to do, and
didn't spend that much time.
How much time
do you actually spend with your kids throughout
the year during this
whole
daily rush? Not too much. This is the
time to make up for all of that.
So every parent should plan
a nice vacation
with their children,
an outing, somewhere to go, a place to
visit. Doesn't have to be far. Doesn't have
to be
that close. You know, it could be something
nice that everyone enjoys as long as there's
quality time being spent with the family
and conversations
are made that wouldn't have been made throughout
the year.
So
for
the college
students,
a quick piece of advice
that you if you're going to college, then
you probably only have 3 summers
or max, 4 summers
before you graduate.
And these summers
are crucial for you because as a Muslim,
we should be thinking of our time and
how we spend it.
Right? It's part of the. It's part of
the trust that I was talking about of
this time that we think about how it's
being used and how to use it wisely.
So a Muslim should should always look at
the most productive way to use this time.
For those college
students and university students,
the field
the field or the subject matter that you
are studying and you're trying to excel in.
Don't let these 2 months or two and
a half months pass by
without you
gaining a certification
or
working in an internship.
Even if it's a free internship,
even if it's you knocking on the door,
some of the youth come to me and
they ask me, how can I get an
internship? I've been applying online.
Dude, grab your resume.
Ask a professional to help you. We're all
here. We can help you. Alhamdulillah. We can
connect you to so many.
You go to an office. You're studying law.
Go to a law firm.
You're studying engineering. Go to an engineering,
company.
Knock on the door. Say, hey. My name
is Muhammad. You know, I just wanted to,
you know, see how you engineers work and
I just wanted to sit around and there's
some paperwork you want me to do. You
know, I'm good. I could calculate this. I
could do this for you. I can run
these errands and whatnot. Just, you know, at
the end of the year, I I just
want the experience.
It's better than sitting around playing video games.
It's better than just, you know, going out
and and and and and just having fun.
Obviously, you need to have fun,
but, you know, these are your grind times.
You're a college student. You're a university student.
You have to be spending your time productively
and wisely
So brothers and sisters, everyone has a piece
of advice here. Everyone
has to be looking at this time
and how to use it to the best
of their ability.
And those
who
the summer comes
closer to their children. The child was not
registered in some class, and those who the
summer comes and goes and they did not
gain anything. The father or the mother did
not get closer to their children. The child
was not registered in some class,
the mastering life skills going on. We have
basketball camps. We have soccer camps. We have
we have, martial arts.
There's so many things going on.
And you know, the younger kids should be
exploring their hobbies right now.
Because during the school grind, they don't have
that.
Put them in something different every week.
And guess what?
All it takes is one of those weeks,
and that parents can be like, wow.
You know, little Muhammad man, I never knew
you were this good at this. Yeah. You
know, I think I have a thing for
it, dad.
And then from there, that's it. You know
exactly where to put them. You know exactly
how to plant them. And it's only a
matter a matter of years,
some commitment,
and some investment
of time and of money. But then you
could they become champions.
They become leaders.
Such a sad reality
to see a child that discovers their hobby
when they're 19,
20.
Like, hey. You know? Well, I never knew
I'm so good at jujitsu.
I never knew I'm so good at soccer.
Oh dude, why why didn't you register? Oh
no. Nobody ever put me nobody encouraged me
to go into a soccer team. Nobody put
me in a martial arts class. Nobody put
me in in a in a coding,
a coding class or whatnot. Whatever it is.
Right? But this is the time Insha'Allah
for every parent to put the younger ones,
in in something that, InshaAllah, they like to
discover their,
to discover their their hobbies and what they're
good at, inshallah ta'ala.
Brothers and sisters,
we
As
the
as the summer comes in,
and
we're we're thinking now of what
We're going to go home
and start thinking of what
to put our children in for those young
professionals,
what certificates they can get while work winds
down. You know, some people, their their jobs,
they know, picks up and they start selling
more and it gets busier during the summer.
But for others, it gets a little slower
during the summer, depending on what profession you're
in and what field you're in. Right? But
whatever it is, there is a change that's
happening this summer.
So we need to brace ourselves for this
change inshallah
and use it
to the best of our ability.
Let us, from today, inshallah, plan,
you know, as we're driving home, think of
what we're going to do this summer. Have
some road map of what it is we're
going to do. And it's not even even
if you're just traveling overseas. Some people tell
me, we're going oh. We're going to visit
the homeland.
Okay.
What are you going to do in the
homeland? There's a lot of stuff there. I'm
going to chill. Let them visit the family.
Oh. Even have them do something there.
Have them experience something there back in the
homeland. It doesn't have to be let's say
it's a camp here. It could be a
camp back home. You're going back to Jordan.
You're going back to Pakistan. You're going back
wherever it
is. You know, if there's something that you
could register your kids in or something you
could experience there, then
let that be let that be the experience.
As long as we maximize
the benefit because
Time
is like a sword. If you don't cut
it, it's going to cut you.
And it's only a matter of time before
these summers that we spend
with health
turn into summers
with weakness and sickness.
And these summers where we're not busy
turn into summers
that are extremely busy with things that we
perhaps don't want to be busy with.
It's only a matter of time before these
summers
with our kids who actually actually listen to
us, who want to play with us, who
ask us for their, like, our attention.
Tell us, dad, mom, you know, listen to
me. I want to talk to you. Can
you take us out? Before that child turns
into somebody who doesn't want to go out
with you, doesn't want to spend time with
you, doesn't even want to listen to you
talk, just wants to spend time with their
own friends, on their own video games, doing
their own thing. It's only a matter of
time.
If it's 5,
6, 7
for a family from the age of like,
what? From the age of 5, let's say,
until 14,
how many years are those? 7 years?
And then that's it.
So what are we doing with these times?
How are we using these summers wisely, Insha'Allah?
Let us think of that. Let us plan
it wisely. We ask Allah
to bless our summer and to make it
the most productive summers in our life inshallah.
We ask Allah
to make this summer fun and productive for
us. We ask Allah to give us an
experience
that draws us closer to Him. We ask
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless us with
and through iman. To bless our progeny with
Islam. To preserve their iman and their Islam
in their hearts and to make them beakers
of light, and to use them for his
sake. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
make our progeny those who memorize the Quran,
to uphold its commands, and those who spread
it and give dawah to it to the
people around them.
Still worth it. Still worth it.
Make sure you close the gaps and straighten
the lines Insha'Allah Ta'ana.
So we have about
about 8 minutes for,
Assar. So
give you some time to pray your sunnahs
and to make a few announcements, inshallah, and
then
make Adan.