SA in Tribulation final

Muhammad West

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Channel: Muhammad West

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I was relying on a sheet on the rajim Bismillah. R. Rahman from the Rila European army was salat wa salam ala it should have been more saline, saline and Muhammad and Rolla only. Big Marine, my beloved brothers and sister Mr. Alec, Marco de la he was about to go to Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen always and forever in every situation in every circumstance, we begin with the prayers and the thanks of Allah subhanaw taala. I said to Allah, Allah, Allah who are witnessing isn't worthy of worship says Allah subhanaw taala we send our loving greetings salutations to beloved Nabi Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam, despise your family whose companions and all those who follow suit metal end of

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time, but we'd be amongst them. And we pray to Allah subhanaw taala to have mercy upon us and Mohamed Salah Salem to make easy for us in this time of difficulty, to grant Shiva to all those who are ill to replace those who have lost things without something better. And to go on genital favoritos and Matera for those who have passed away. I mean, I mean, what hamdulillah Subhanallah, what a difficult few days it has been for us here in South Africa, we appear to be moving from one crisis to another, and how quickly our situation can change for us here in South Africa, we've seen that communities being looted communities being businesses being destroyed, lives being lost

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Subhanallah how quickly life can change. I mean, we could never have imagined that a week ago, that, you know, we'll be large segments of our community that would be without security, that we wouldn't be able to buy basic essentials breed marks panel will ask a lot to make it easy and to cause that it appears and from the law today, things seem a bit calmer in South Africa and we make to operate in sha Allah, that sanity prevails and that alone order is restored, and that those who have lost things that are lost, can replace that with something better. How do we make sense of this? And how do we move forward in times of tribulation. And throughout the last couple of days, we've received a

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lot of questions people wanting to understand people, of course, coming, you know, understandably, going through a lot of difficulty, their livelihood has been destroyed, the businesses have been destroyed. Many people, most businesses are Muslim businesses, people that have contributed to the mosques, contributed to wealthy operations. And these a sense of not only loss, but a sense of confusion, and a sense of deep sadness and uncertainty. So how Insha Allah, can we learn and take as a believer we take every situation and try to make the best out of it. So inshallah we're going to talk about how we understand tribulation when it falls upon us from a spiritual sense. We're also

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going to speak a little bit about why this is happening from a on the ground perspective from a dunya perspective. And then of course, advice and guidance from the Nabil syndrome. So making sense of this we need to understand that this is part of when we see matters like this. It is part of the Sunnah of Allah it is part of how Allah subhanaw taala guides us and teaches us Allah Subhana Allah says in surah in verse number 42 Well, sunnah in a woman communica for hot now.

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Barbara Illa Allah homie Tada Ron, Allah says that before every nation that we seen before a messenger to communities, and we put them that community through hardship and suffering, Allah says that we sent guidance to a community and then we also sent with a guidance, hardship and suffering why Lala home with our own so that they may humble themselves and they may supplicate that it is just human nature. That when we are going through good times we tend to forget Allah subhanaw taala and we are therefore on a path leading to destruction. And so Allah subhanaw taala sins loss he sins, a famine he sins pandemics he sins, whatever hardship and suffering on the community as a

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means to wake that community up and bring them back to him. And then Allah says follow that is

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Sunnah the novel were lacking. Cassatt coloboma was a normal shaytaan Americana, Allah says, But if only when that hardship came upon them, that they had supplicated that they had the Dorado they returned back to Allah in humility. Allah says in the time of hardship, if only you came back to me, Allah subhanaw taala would have would have saved you. Well, I can cause it coloboma, as for those who continue on just as it was, it didn't make an impact in them. The hearts turned away from Allah it became hard and shaytaan made the evil deeds play seeming, they continued on it back and back which they used to do. And then Allah says for number two, so if they continue to forget my look,

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you will be what off to Allah has reminded him for Tana Ali Baba cliche in hotter either very Hobbema Otto, I have no Homebox photographer either humbly So when Allah Subhana Allah says, So if after we've seen them, the reminder we sent them the hardship so that they may come back. If that community continues to go on its evil ways. Then Allah opens up for them all the dose of goodness, that's kind of Allah. Ya, Allah is showing that by giving them a lot of money, giving them a lot of comforts and joys is actually this is a punishment. This is the problem, not the hardship. The real calamity is when Allah gives you all the blessings and you start to live in that in the valley

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Hobbema Ooh to Allah says they began to enjoy themselves they began to live a life completely disconnected from Allah. In that state. Allah took their meaning ALLAH

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cause them to die in that state for either will be too soon and then they will completely in despair. That is the great calamity. And so Subhanallah we as believers, we believe that nothing happens except for Allah's Leave and nothing happens except for Allah's mercy. And so this is an opportunity for us to learn and for us to reflect and an opportunity to come back to Allah. There are those who have asked, Should we not as a community, be reflecting about our sins and the evils of our community and this is a sign from Allah's displeasure with our community, as we know that Allah subhanaw taala says that no octava to mean benei at AU and holvi, that for every person, they

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ask angels that Allah sins all the time to protect us from in front and from behind a spotlight. It gives us great comfort that every day that we go through and they're no calamities, it is Allah protecting us and keeping us safe for the widow home in a Manila that these angels protect them from the decree of Allah. In Allahu Allah uma we call me Yoda. You know where we are, who's him? And Allah says he does not remove the sense of security from people until something changes with inside them something that they do, who is it, and then Allah's fantasies were either around the lobby coming to and following the law, that if Allah ever wishes to cause hardship upon the people, then

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then can block or defend themselves from Allah or murder him in dunya human mind and there is nothing that can defend and protect you from Allah besides Allah subhanaw taala. And so this ayah reminds us that yes, clearly Allah says that when things go out of order, and our sense of security is lost, when something we might have done as causes upon us, but we also learned that it is not when hardship befall us, it is not that we should go through a sense of guilt, definitely, we should reflect our deeds and ask ourselves, why is this happening? Have I done something to displease Allah, but it is also a reminder that Allah is sending us so that we may return to Allah subhanho wa

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taala. And Allah's purpose of sending hardship is not to cause suffering, Allah does takes no pleasure in harming and punishing people or other it is a means by which we come back to Allah, the Hadith and he goes on and says, if Allah intends good for his slave, he hastens the difficulties in the dunya. And if Allah does not wish you well, then Allah withholds all of that, for the Ophira. And then on the Day of Resurrection, you go through the hardship, and so in a way, Allah subhanaw taala, when he sees that we are going off course, he sins, these these moments to remind us that we are, we are not where we should be. And even if we are good people, Allah sins as these calamities,

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so that we may we may reflect and come back. And so the believer takes all that which Allah Subhana Allah sins upon him or her as a means of, of growing closer to Allah subhanaw taala. For those of us who have lost property, who have lost lives on Allah, whose livelihoods their life savings has come to him, how do you continue How do you feel? And how do you find comfort in these very difficult moments, we remind ourselves with a hadith and Musa lambda, this is the reality of life that the Prophet says and says, Whatever Allah takes is belong to him, and whatever he gives belongs to Allah. And everything that Allah has given has only a limited time in this world. And so we should

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be patient and hope for Allah's reward that Allah subhanaw taala everything he's given us our money, our family, our health, is on loan, and eventually everything is going to go back to Allah in alila, who are in a in a urology on everything goes back to Allah. But we also believe that as the Prophet says, that calamity will befall the believer all the time, the provinces, every person, every Muslim will go through calamity, his children in his wealth, until why until he meets Allah with no sin that Allah again, Allah subhanaw taala. If he wishes us well, then he takes away our sins through these calamities. And so if anyone is going through hardship, they should see as a means by which

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Allah subhanaw taala is removing sins and Allah is elevating the status. In fact, in me so someone says that if a certain person, Allah wanted them to reach a certain level in Jannah, or certain high status in gender, but the needs were not sufficient to get the, then Allah subhanaw taala afflicts him with some kind of hardship to elevate them. And he says, the greatest reward comes from the greatest Tribulation and the greatest trial. And when Allah loves people, he tests them. And so whoever accepts that test, and he is pleased with Allah, when he has gotten the pleasure of Allah and whoever is not patient, when he has displeased Allah subhanaw taala. So as we go through a

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multitude of different tea syrup endemic to hardship to suffering is panela. Every day it seems there's a new calamity on the horizon, we take comfort and we make two out of that this is the case that Allah has chosen us and this generation and this group of people to be tested, that Allah subhanaw taala has chosen as to to confront these tests where we may be elevated and then we will be a special group of Allah subhanaw taala we know that throughout the history of the Ummah, that the most special people came at the most difficult times and when Allah sent very difficult calamities upon the Ummah, it is the most special people rose up in those moments and time and they will always

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be people that Allah subhanaw taala has guided and Allah subhanaw taala will protect and give his pleasure and when we do that we are amongst them meet and then we come through this calamity bitter

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in the sight of Allah subhanaw taala, the next Hadith, and it's such an important Hadith for all of us that have all of us everyone is going through some form of loss, whether you've lost property life, we've all lost our sense of security, our feeling of safety, Allah, the Prophet Solomon says that when you have gone through a calamity, we should make this dua, then the resources there is no person when he's afflicted with calamity. He then says in Allah who are in ala you know, God, Allah, everything belongs to you, we belong to you and unto us our return and we're going back to you everything is gonna go back to you. Oh Allah, you make the DUA Yeah, Allah reward me for my

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affliction. Yeah, Allah reward me for the suffering that I'm going through for the hardship and going through Yeah, Allah, he would meet for this and compensate me with something better replace that what I've lost with that, which is better than me. So Solomon says that if you make this dua, then surely most certainly Allah will reward the person for the hardship that they're going through whatever difficulty you're going through whatever sadness you're feeling, Allah subhanaw taala all that he will do, He will give you rewards and remove your sin through that. And Allah will compensate you with something better, Allah will give you something better than that which was lost

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either in the dunya, Allah will give you a better business a better acid or Allah will put Baraka in your health oil in your family or in your children. Subhan Allah, Allah will avert some bigger calamity, or if nothing other than Allah gives you in the dunya except he will leave all of it in the akhira even even bitters hon Allah. And so with these few ideas, and Hadith we hope that for those who have gone through loss, there are many people that you know, are sitting now and counting, taking stock of the disaster, and thinking unsure what is going to happen tomorrow. And how do I pick up the pieces we make dua that Allah subhanaw taala replaces what you've lost with something

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better. And that this is a means that this difficulty is a trial and that Allah please place a sub in your heart and that Allah gives you a means that it brings you closer to Allah than me that in the long term, this will be a blessing from Allah subhanaw taala beyond the hardships that we are all going through, we are living in strange times, and these are times of tribulation and many people have asked, are we not seeing Subhanallah the End of Times unfolding before us, we were living in a pandemic that has caused the entire world to shut down massage and a closed down. We are finding Allah Subhanallah even you know, today, one of the great orlimar of South Africa, Mufti

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Desai has passed away Subhan Allah so we see scholars that are passing away we seen pandemics we see uncertainty, we seen all these kinds of tribulations upon us what what guidance is there from the Prophet sallahu wa salam. And you know, this hadith that we read in Sahih Muslim as I'm Holly in so act for our time and our resources, there will come a time we a time will pass rapidly, you know, there'll be no Baraka in your time, days, months, weeks, we'll just years we just disappear. And you think we as the time God, people will just go through life and time would slip away. And knowledge will be taken from from from the people. What does that mean? We know from the other Hadith, when

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knowledge is removed, it means scholars great scholars, are going to pass away and if you look, you know, in the last few months, how many great Ranima locally and abroad have passed away, giants of the OMA have passed away in a very short span of time, still businesses that allow great scholars will pass away and tribulation calamity will will prevail will come upon the Ummah all the time. And then Allah will put greed in the hearts of people be so greedy, that that will be the only focus will will be filled with greed, and they will never be satisfied with what they have. And in a hadith that almost continues from this, there'll be some C's, close to the time of Kiama there'll be

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a lot of herbage. And as far as what is haram, and he said, there'll be a lot of killing. And so the Muslims harvested jasola But we have been going through a lot of fighting and this Wolfie, what what are you talking about? So that means is? No no, no, what I mean is there will come a time when people will fight each other, a man will fight his neighbor, or a man will fight his cousin, a person will even fight his brother over no reason. And so this hopper will say well, what is why are they doing that? Do they have no occult do I have no common sense? And so then it becomes is your sanity basically will not prevail, there will come a time when there'll be no sanity, every man will

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harm the people around him for no real reason. And so these are the times that we live in. Now why we mentioned this hadith, it is not for us to become fatalistic and think, Well, Kiama is upon us. We are seeing all these things that that I recently warned us about has come to pass and there is no purpose for us. Rather, we remain positive. And we remain optimistic that you know Kiama can befall us at any moment. You know, anyone can die today and that is Kiana for you. All this hadith could be applying to a situation in many, many years time. But what we learn from these times when we go through tribulation when we go through times of fit and when we go through moments of uncertainty,

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what is the advice from the resource Allah, the Prophet Salam advises us to be calm and not to rush into a situation, especially if there's violence. He says, The one who is sitting down is better than the one who is walking or standing and the one who is standing is better than the one who's walking and the one who's walking is better than the one who's running and he says

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Whoever enters into fitna or tribulation, it will swallow him up and it will destroy him or the seek refuge and keep yourself out of it. Now why I mentioned this is that we find that in this calamity in this catastrophe, people are upset and people are angry, and people have resort to arms. And we all have the right to defend ourselves and we should defend ourselves and our families, but we should not escalate the situation, we should de escalate. The reason some advisors as in times of fitna, especially when it involves violence, we should bring, we should bring calmness and we should we should make we should look to avoid making the situation worse. We find people in the frustration

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and you know, to understand what what is happening, and we'll talk a little bit about why this is happening from on the ground perspective. Many of the looters, many of those who have gotten a rampage, there is a big segment of them that are frustrated or angry of the situation. No, it's no excuse, of course. But it is a form of taking out the frustration at the government or at society. And they've harmed innocent people in the frustration and we understand why they're frustrated. Now they have harmed someone else. And that person now is angry and upset. We should not do what they have done by harming other innocent people, we find spine a lot people raising racial slurs, racial

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tension, is no excuse for us to divide our community along racial lines, because this will be a bigger catastrophe upon us. And so we ever you find yourself now, the way forward is through southern is through calm perseverance, and to make the situation better, but not to make the situation worse, because we should run away and flee from tribulation, as the responses as you flee away from a fire and flee away from from tribulation. And so to understand, again, people have asked, Why is this happening from a perspective of the ground, what is going on in our community, especially people from outside of South Africa, many of the Duat the Imams, the scholars from other

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parts of the world have always looked at South Africa as an oasis, you know, this, this tiny Muslim minority that is living on hamdulillah in safety and security that is able to practice the deen. That is, you know, hamdullah privileged in many ways, it's the envy in a good way of many Muslim minority. And they were shocked to see that Muslim businesses are going, you know, burning and what is happening, and Hamdulillah, we know that what is happening is not an assault on Muslims, really, rather, it is a war between different classes between the haves and the have nots in society. And we know it's a consequence of years of neglect from a government or from leadership that has been

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completely missing, and internal fighting between leadership, or the leaders and politicians that have affected us on the ground. We also know that this did not just happen out of no way, that for decades now, the masses of this country have been neglected have been left impoverished, we have our level of unemployment, almost 50% Subhanallah, more than half of the country's people living below the poverty line. It is a recipe for disaster. As a society, we are a deeply broken society. And this cannot perpetuate it can't go on, except it will continuously see moments like this. And of course, we know that undoubtably there are those politicians, those people in the background who

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take advantage of the of the crisis, they want to bring about catastrophe, they want to be anarchy, because in that anarchy, they benefit themselves. And so they they wish for us to continue to escalate. And panela as we said, the worst thing that could possibly happen for us in this country is for the to be a war is for there to be violence around racialized if that happens, but Allah protect us. And in this country, we really would be in a dangerous situation. So there are those people who would rather, you know, if they cannot rule for their own personal benefit over this country, they would rather rule over the ashes, they will rather burn everything down. And so that

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they could be in charge. And we should say no, that what we're seeing now is a test follow it for order for all the people of this country that that loves stability. It is a test upon us, well, how do we respond, it is always easy to break down. It's always easy to destroy, when to build up and to look forward to a better tomorrow. And ultimately, you know, the reality of why we are as a community in the state is of course being disconnected from Allah. We find that if if your taqwa or your sense of worshipping Allah if your morality is only as good as the situation that you're in only you only obey the law when the police is there. But when it is a free for all, and they are no

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no one is watching you. You you go on a rampage and that shows you that insight is the problem. And a person who abides by the law, a personal bias by his sense of right and wrong, even when no one is watching me that I can be in the shop and you know it can be completely empty. No one knows I can take whatever I want. But Subhan Allah I live by our highest set of principles and ideals. This is what Taqwa really means. And we see Subhan Allah that is not sometimes not even about having or not having, but just the sense of

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If I can do it, I will do it. If no one will catch me, then I will do it to get away from it. And that is what a believer what it means to be a believer is to be to be conscious of Allah, whether you are alone or in public, whether you whether someone sees you or doesn't see you, because you're aware that Allah subhanaw taala always sees me. And so as society, we are, by and large, disconnected from Allah subhanaw taala and not aware or not conscious that Allah subhanaw taala that he is a greater power watching over us. And so Inshallah, you know, these are just short reminders for all of us. And the most important question that I get is, what do we do next? How do we move

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forward from here? How do we move forward from here? The best thing that we can do is, as Allah subhanaw taala said, he knows

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that when the hardship came upon them, why did they not turn back to him? And Allah says, Is he not the one who responds to the person who is desperate, Allah says, There is no one better, who responds to the Matata, the one who calls out to him in the times of difficulty, no one is better at answering except Allah. And Allah says none that he moves that which is hot. besides Allah, Allah is the Best of those who removes hardship, and Allah will make them the inheritors of the dunya. So once again, to return to him to connect ourselves to Him, especially in these days, something which we haven't spoken about, is that we know that we are in the midst of a pandemic, yes, in times of

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tribulation, but we are also in a very blessed time. In fact, these are the most blissful days of the year, the first 10 days of the ledger, and the day of Arafah. In sha Allah will be on Monday, you know, the holiest day of the year. And so then it says to us, that there is no deed, no good deed that you do in these days, that he would have, which is better than any other deed that you could do throughout the year. So meaning whatever you do, how small a deal whether you're reciting La Ilaha, Illa, Allah, whether you're reciting some Quran giving some charity that he would Allah gives in these days, is is multiplied so much that it is beta thing, any reward, you could any act

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of goodness, you could do at any other time in the so the Sahaba was so surprised. They said, Yeah, so even a man who fights jihad, in the rest of the year, will get less of a reward with a man who gives a few 100 dates in charity in these in these times. And then, yes, even jihad, except the man who of course, goes out with his life and his property and he dies, he that person will get a bit any award. So Subhanallah, it is a great opportunity. And the best opportunity of the many scholars have even said these days are more a holier than the last 10 nights of Ramadan. And so there is no better time to return to Allah, and to combine Whatever hardship you're going through in patience

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and perseverance to really elevate ourselves with Allah subhanaw taala. And so, the believe it takes these opportunities to return back to Allah, we also in our display in our suffering, we do not become despondent, we don't become depressed, we remain optimistic. And then our responses. How wonderful is the is the state of the believer, for Whatever befalls him, he these goodness in it, when good comes to him, he is thankful he praises Allah and Allah gives him more. And if hardship before he is patient. And so then it's actually an act of it's a blessing. People have asked this hardship that we're going through, everyone is suffering, The Good, the Bad, is Allah punishing all

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of us, as we said, collectively, because he's displeased with us collectively. One analogy to make sense of this, an exam, a group of students get an exam, that exam is difficult for everybody, for the one who studied, and the one who didn't study, everyone is going through a tough time during the examination. But at the end of the exam, someone is going to pass, someone will even get full marks, someone will will will be successful. And there are those who will fail after the exam. And so everyone goes through the same test. But it does not mean that Allah subhanaw taala is using it as a punishment. For some it is a blessing. And for some, of course, it is a measure of collection. And

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we know the beautiful Hadith that says even if Kiama were to be upon you, you know, the trumpet is blown, and you have a plant in your hand, then put that plant in the ground. For us as Muslims we always believe and we always hope for for a better tomorrow. And so we do not allow a situation to cause us to be despondent, we remain optimistic, and we continue to build and to do good. The last two points panela you know, it was in the in this time in the days of Hajj. In fact, on the day of Eid when there was okay that amazing Farewell Sermon, and one of the first things he reminded us and he reminded his people, he said, oh people, just as you regard this month of the ledger, this day

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that they have read the city of Makkah as sacred. So remember that every life and every property of every person is sacred. Respect every single person in respect every single property is sacred in the sight of Allah. And he says Do not hurt anyone so that you will not be hurt. And remember, you will go back to Allah and you will have to answer for the deeds that you have done. For us. We need to respect the sanctity of life.

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sanctity of property. This is what our deen is about. This is what Allah subhanaw taala wants and for, for us therefore, it's a last closing advice. It's an opportunity for every single person who has and can assist to assist in the in the cleanup and the rebuilding process. And hamdullah. We've seen already that brothers are sending planes to Durban with food and sending whatever they can forward. Take this opportunity now to help our brothers in need the resources, Allah subhanaw taala helps his servants so long as you are in this assistance of your brother. It's an opportunity for all of us to pitch together to come together as a community to work together as one nation as one

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Ummah, to help those who have lost and that we can make easy for our brothers and sisters are going through difficulty. We ask Allah Subhana Allah to grant us goodness and to make a situation to calm down Allah replace that which is lost with something better. As a reminder, we said that the day of alpha is on Monday in sha Allah, the first thing of the day of Arafah is of course we know two years of reward and so we remind everyone to to force on Monday, and then in sha Allah, the following day would be Eid or the day after. And of course, the best thing to do on the day of Eid is to quarterback for those who would like to quarterback you know, you can of course contact Majid Burano

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Islam, we still have one or two sheep available and insha Allah may Allah subhanaw taala bless us and all of you I mean circle halos Allah say Muhammad Ali or Sufi Islam was any promotable, Alameda Santa Monica de la