Spirituality Amongst the Salaf

Lahore cinema botica then the Vienna Mohammed ny the early he was a big man in my bag. My dear brothers and sisters Salam aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh, who

I'm going to start off with a story which I will come back to later on in the lecture inshallah. And the story is as follows. There's a great scholar Islam share, bin basil, mahalo Tada. He was the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia. And he had a very profound habit that when his students would gather together and they were about to eat, before the food would be served, he would ask everyone that is present, give me a reminder, share a reminder share of benefit with the group. So the youngest of them to the oldest of them, they would all share a reminder. And then eventually, he would listen to what everyone would have to say. And if there's any commentary to be made, he would make that

commentary. And as the students were present over there, they would all think of the most eloquent quotes that they ever come across the most rarest of inspirational moments that they've heard of or read about, and they would share that to one individual. What he did was, he took a portion of the Quran from soda Allium, Ron, and he recited it. And that was what actually made the shift cry, Rahim Allah who tada and I will get back to the story in a little bit. My dear brothers and sisters, when we think about spirituality, I want us to develop a foundation as to what it is and why we need it. Starting off with why we need it. Allah subhana wa Tada. He created the body and everything that the

body needs. Allah subhanho wa Taala created the earth to excavate it and for it to be, you know, come out so that mankind can use it and eat from it. And this is what nourishes the body, you will find everything that the human body needs from there. But Allah subhanaw taala didn't just create the human body, he created the soul and he created the spirit. Now where does the soul get its nutrition from and eventually you realize that the soul also needs to be rejuvenated. And that will come from Revelation. It will come from the Quran, it will come from the Sunnah of the prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And it will call him Rahim Allah, He says something very

profound. He says every individual will have a void in their heart, every individual will have an emptiness in their heart. And that emptiness can only be fulfilled by Allah subhanho wa Taala, by his remembrance, by his love, by hope of him, that is the only way it can be filled. But the unfortunate reality is, if mankind do not know who Allah subhanaw taala is, they tried to fill that void with other than Allah, they tried to fill that void with other than Allah. So for some individuals, they'll fill it with alcohol, they're filled with substance abuse, the affiliated promiscuity, the film is flooded with a wide variety of things, till they eventually realized that

those things will only make the void so much worse, so much deeper, causing them so much more pain, then you have other individuals that will fill it with practices that they think are going to fill that void. Things like meditating in the dark, or things like listening to certain parts of music and certain types of music and chanting. And you think you know what, that will fill that void in my heart. But in reality, it won't. And the only thing that will fill that void is the remembrance of Allah subhana wa tada and the love of Allah subhana wa Tada. And this is one of the things that makes Islam so unique. It is, is it's all encompassing nature. That Yes, we have Salah in our Deen

praying, we have the cat giving charity, we have fasting. But we also have this concept of spirituality. Now, which leads us to the question once we've understood why we need it, what exactly does spirituality mean? You'll find certain groups in Islam that when they talk about test skia it's about them being a part of a certain school of thought that their shift trains them in. And the shift gets to do pretty much whatever he wants, and you elevate your shift to the highest levels of of a platform, even to the degree where it will be covered and check with a law that is sort of contributing to their shifts that their shifts know the unseen. Their shifts have traveled to the

past and they travel to Macau every day to pray their Salah, and once they reach their highest levels, you know what they're no longer even required to pray. This is some of the type of nonsense that the Muslim world will deal with. But when we talk about spirituality in its most fundamental sense, my dear brothers and sisters, when Allah subhanho wa Taala tells us in the Koran God Allah hi mentor Zakah was a charisma Robbie, he pasola that successful indeed is the one that does teskey that purifies and remembers the name of his Lord and establish

Is the Salah. So when we talk about 10 Ischia amongst the seller, the way they understood this concept of Ischia was that spirituality is that which will remove the diseases from the heart, the veils from the heart that become an obstacle to you worshipping Allah subhanho wa Taala that become an obstacle to you worshiping Allah subhanho wa Taala. So what we don't realize, my dear brothers and sisters is there are sins that we will commit that prevent us from doing for their good deeds. And so if you are an authority, Rahim Allah, He says something very profound to those individuals that can't wake up in the middle of the night to pray and wake up for the hygiene and clear modell.

He says to them, that those are sins that you commit during the day, that shackle you up and chain you up at night. So once you stop committing those sins during the day, that will facilitate you waking up at night. Because waking up at night My dear brothers and sisters is not about setting an alarm clock. Anyone can set an alarm clock. It's about fighting your enough's coming over that sleep to understanding worshiping Allah subhanho wa Taala is the most beneficial thing that you can do right now. So what I want to dedicate this lecture to my dear brothers and sisters, is understanding what spirituality was like during the time of the salaf Abner Kareem Rahim Allah and you can make

this as point number one for those of you that are taking notes, it will claim Rahim Allah, He says that the foundations of test schema are based upon two principles. Principle number one is understanding that this dunya is finite. And Principle number two is understanding that the Acura is infinite. So what does that mean that this dunya is finite, we're going to get into some basics of aqidah. Understanding that this dunya is finite, meaning that any pain that you feel is only for a short period of time. And the pleasure that you feel is only for a short period of time. Everything that you experience is for a short period of time. Now why is that relevant? that is relevant.

Because whatever ambitions you have in life for this life, then understand that those ambitions can only be fulfilled for a short period of time. So don't invest all of your time in the life of this world for something that is finite. And then the second principle that everything in the Acura is infinite. And that teaches us that the Hellfire is infinite, it is everlasting, my dear brothers and sisters, and that is something that you fear, and that you don't want to be a part of. And just like paradise, Paradise is infinite. And that is something that you longed for and desire. So continue working towards it. Now when you start understanding these principles, my dear brothers and sisters,

and we're going to get deeper into them. When we're talking about the dunya being finite. The greatest reminder of that is the concept of death. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he tells us frequent the remembrance of death, the destroyer of pleasures. And you'll notice at any time the topic of death comes up, at re focuses you, you reprioritize your life that you know what, I need to make sure I do a better job of my Salah, I need to make sure I do a better job of fasting and reading Koran and making Vicar Why? Because one day I too will die. And that is something that I cannot emphasize enough emphasized enough, my dear brothers and sisters, is the remembrance of death

changes everything. And that is why you find some of the predecessors, they would dig their own grave while they're still alive. And they will go and lay in that grave and give themselves a pep talk. Say that one day I will die and I will be laying here. What have I prepared for that day? And Allah subhanho wa Taala opens up a window in that grave? Will my window be a window of gender? Or will it be a window of Johanna. And he used to speak to themselves in that fashion and in that manner.

And they used to speak to themselves in that fashion in that manner trying to prepare themselves for that. Because my dear brothers and sisters, when you don't get this remembrance of death, you get too comfortable in life, you start thinking about all of the things that you want to achieve in terms of how big of a house that you want, how nice of a car that you want, what type of job you want, to what type of money you want to earn, how much money you have to have in your bank account, what type of investment portfolio you want to have, and you keep thinking about that. And then when it comes to death, you start realizing I can't take a single one of those things with me, but what I

can take with me or my deeds, and that is what I need to invest in. That is what I need to invest in. And that is what the financial

dounia reminds herself. Now when we think about the infinite nature of the Hereafter, my dear brothers and sisters, as I mentioned, there's a scary part to it, which is jahannam. So I want you to think about the fire of this world, the times you may have touched the stove and made them you may have touched something hot, and it actually burnt you. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he reminds us that the fire of Johanna is 70 times 69 times more or hotter. And Allah tells us in the Quran, Call now to Johanna a shadow Hara that say the fire of Johanna is much, much more severe.

Now, what we don't realize my dear brothers and sisters often is that because we don't see jahannam, it's out of sight out of mind. But the reality is, Allah subhanaw taala has created jahannam as the worst form of punishment. So I want you to think about the time where you felt pain in this life, perhaps someone died, perhaps you got divorced, perhaps you had an injury,

you know, something may have happened that you have felt some pain, but there is no pain like the pain of jahannam. And that is why it is exponentially increased my brothers and sisters, and that is to deter us from committing sins, and disobeying Allah subhanho wa Taala. Just like we felt that pain, that pain is going to be much, much more severe. So when you think about the infinite nature of jahannam, you also realize I shouldn't disobey Allah subhanho wa Taala. Because I don't want to have that as my destination, I want to be as far as possible from johannah. You don't want to be in the burning flame. You don't want to be in a situation where your body and your skin is burned, so

crisp and regenerated so that it can be burned again, you don't want to be in a situation where angels are putting hooks in your body and splitting you in half, and then recreating you so that you can be punished again. You don't want to be in a situation where you are in a pool of blood and rocks are thrown at you and rocks are shoved in your mouth and you're forced to drowned in that blood. You don't want to be in a situation where it is so hot that you're not given anything to drink except your own past and boiling water. You don't want to be in your situation where you're out and a place or your roommates. That is what jahannam is about. And jahannam is meant to scare

the living daylights out of you. Now I understand it is an uncomfortable situation to be in to think about that. But my dear brothers and sisters our predecessors use jahannam as a motivation. Even Kodama Imam Al ghazali Rahim Allah and others, they talk about when an individual is about to stand in Salah how some of the predecessors used to stand in Salah. Some of them imagining as if the angel of death was there waiting for them, how would you pray your Salah in that state, some of them imagining gender is in front of them, and jahannam is behind them. That it is just at their heels that if they skip the Salah, or do not pray it properly, then that is their abode, while using the

motivation agenda in front of them that I will get to shortly to continue going into continue striving harder. So let us not forget Johanna, my dear brothers and sisters, Allah created it as a reminder for us that that is the lifestyle you want to avoid in this life. So that is not your destination in the hereafter.

Now moving on to gender, my dear brothers and sisters, Allah subhanho wa Taala he tells us a lot about it. But in my opinion, the most significant thing that he tells us about gender, he tells us lahoma Yasha, on a fee ha, whether they Nemazee that they will have each and every single thing that they desire, and we will still have more to give them. What does that mean? How can Allah subhanaw taala give you everything that you desire, yet still have more to give you our desire is infinite? And the answer is no. Our understanding of desire is directly related to what we've experienced, or what we've seen. Those are the things that we desire. But Allah subhanaw taala has prepared an

agenda that is no eye has seen that which no ear has heard, and that which no mind has thought of. So there is more to agenda that we can possibly imagine. And that was Allah has prepared. And the most beautiful thing and agenda, which we may not be able to understand is to see the beautiful face of Allah subhanho wa Taala to see the beautiful face of Allah subhanho wa Taala that is going to be the most pleasant and the happiest moment in Ghana for everyone that gets to enter.

Now for some of us, we may think, why would that be the happiest moment? Is it not going to be the mansions? Is it not going to be the hills of Jannah is not going to be all the things that allow us very first wise meeting a lot of the greatest. Well, my dear brothers and sisters our intellects can only take us so far and understanding that Allah is our Creator

Our lives our sustainer Allah loves us more than our own parents. And meeting Allah subhanho wa Taala inshallah will be a very special occasion. But that deepest understanding of what's going to make it special, is something that you just have to wait for and see. And just like we believe that gender is a reality and jahannam is a reality, we believe that it is a reality that the happiest moment in the life of any believer will be the day that they see Allah subhanho wa Taala we just believe it. And we'll get to experience it in sha Allah to get its true meaning. So that was the foundational principle of spirituality, according to him. He says, understanding that the dunya is

finite, so limit your ambitions accordingly, and understanding that the accuracy is infinite. So control your sins accordingly, and build your ambitions for the hereafter for agenda accordingly. Number two, when you look at the life of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, were there any specific actions that the prophets of Allah while he would sell them took, that we will consider spiritual actions that he went out of his way to attain spirituality. So often, as I mentioned, we have certain groups in this day and age, they want to turn off the lights, they want to chant, they want to put the chair in the middle and imagine as if the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is

there, did the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? Or the companions do those sorts of things? And the answer is no, they did not go out of their way to attain spirituality. But rather they implemented Islam in its simplest and truest form. And that is what brought to the spirituality about. So you do not practice spirituality to do good deeds, you do good deeds, and the good deeds bring about spirituality. And that is perhaps one of the greatest messages of understanding spirituality, that spirituality does not bring about good deeds, but good deeds bring about spirituality. And the more good deeds that you do, the easier it is to submit to Allah subhanho wa

Taala and worship Allah subhanho wa Taala. The more sins that you commit, the harder it becomes to submit. And the harder it becomes to worship Allah subhana wa Tada. use that as a general equation for your life. And that is why the individual that can engage their day and he bada and in worshipping Allah subhanho wa Taala, they will truly be successful. You know, one of the most remarkable things that you read about our predecessors, the seller of my dear brothers and sisters, is that some of them used to say about other companions, that if so, and so knew that he was going to die today.

There is no action that he could have increased in his life. There's no action and he could have done that he could have increased in his life, meaning that their whole life their whole day, was already surrounded by a bada and was built around a bada. Your day starts off early in the morning, praying families and tahajjud then you pray your father, then you make your own remembrances of the morning, you read some Koran, you go and do business, you go into business, not purely for the sake of earning an income, but for the sake of providing your for your family, which is an act of ibadah, giving cytokines aka which is an act of ibadah, helping the poor and destitute which is an act of E

BARDA, and then they do that, then he took a short nap, not for the sake of taking a nap, but for the sake of getting energy so that they can worship Allah subhanho wa Taala even more, they prayed schelotto they prayed their Sunnah prayers, they prayed the Doha prayers, and they continued their day, when they used to interact with people, they will go out of their ways to say a salon, why they come and why they come and sit down there go out of their ways to make dua for people so that people can make dua for them. They will go out of their way to come to the machine as much as they possibly could. Because they understood that the machine was a sanctuary that in when you're in the midst, it

is difficult to come and sin and when you're in the masjid, your prayers get multiplied. When they were in the machine, they would frequently remember Allah subhana wa Tada. So time would come, they would pray, then they would say the remembrances of the evening, tell them ahead of time, they would pray their motive, they will go back home, spend time with their family, and even that was an act of ibadah because they knew that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that the best of us are those that are best to your families. They would pray, there's a lot on Asia and go to bed early, and then wake up again and pray their tahajjud. And this is what it meant that any free

moments they'd have, they'd be helping people other than that they're engaged in a battle. This is what their lives used to look like. So what you eventually realize is that if you fill up your schedule with good deeds, my dear brothers and sisters, you don't have to go out of your way to become spiritual. You only go out of your way to become spiritual and you're not doing the good deeds that you're mentioning.

Due to this whole concept of attaining spirituality, without the Quran and the Sunnah and without prophetic tradition is not founded in our faith. And that is why going back to these fundamental principles, and these fundamental actions, like Vicar and recitation of the Quran, and the remembrance of death, that is what needs to be done praying your Salah on time fighting against your nerves to get to the masjid, that is what spirituality used to look like. So let us focus on three components right now in sha Allah. Number one, the issue of salah and I want to bring various things to our attention when it comes to salon.

Number one is the state that you approach your salon in. We hurry to Salah we hurry in Salah we hurry out of Salah. But the reality is the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he considered the salon the coolness of his eyes, and it was a breath of fresh air for him. How do you actually achieve that level? achieving that level My dear brothers and sisters means that before you approach the Salah, you emptied your heart and your mind of anything that can distract it. That's why if you have to eat to eat before your Salah, you have to go to the bathroom, you go to the bathroom before the salon, you have to deal with something urgent and important deal with that thing that is urgent

and important before you come to the salon. So that shaytan cannot use it as a tool against you to distract you in your salon.

And then as you approach the masjid, you will make your will do as you're making more dough, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he reminds us that every drop of water that falls off of us, our sins are being forgiven. And that starts developing the frame of mind that I'm here to hide my sins forgiven by Allah subhana wa Tada. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam reminds us that people will shine and glow on the Day of Judgment due to the widow that they made, so that the parts of the body that had made will do they will shine on the Day of Judgment due to the widow that they made reminding us of the day of judgment that I'm doing this today. I am about to pray today. I'm about

to struggle in standing today. So that the standing on the Day of Judgment becomes easy. Because if you do not struggle to stand in this life, the standing of the hereafter becomes very difficult. And that is why the Salah is the first thing that you are asked about. If that becomes easy, everything becomes easy. So you remind yourself of that even before you start the Salah. And then you come to your place of prayer. And as a use dementia, there used to be this almost imaginative force that they used to use of imagining the Angel of Death of imagining the the angel that writes down your the deeds of imagining gender behind in front of you, and john behind you, to prepare you for all of

those things that am I prepared for death? Is the angel that is writing down the deeds going to write down that I had a proficient and good server. is gender in front of me actually going to be my destination? Am I praying well enough to get to there? And if I fall short, am I afraid enough of falling into jahannam this is all before you even start the Salah. And then as you begin the Salah, you say Allahu Akbar. What does that phrase mean to us? This is something that unfortunately, we say so quickly, that we don't even reflect upon. But when you say Allahu Akbar, take a small moment to pause and reflect upon what you've just said. That there is nothing greater in my life. There's

nothing more important in my life. There is nothing that deserves my intention at this point more than Allah subhanho wa Taala and that is how you eradicate all those distractions and focus solely on Allah subhanaw taala and this is why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam reminds us that when you approach the Salah, this is your opportunity to be in solitude to converse with Allah subhana wa Tada. So that every individual look at and pay attention to how he or she is conversing with Allah. Can you imagine someone's in an intimate conversation with you? And they're speaking at lightning speed? You would think what is this person doing? When it comes to the recitation our Quran in

Salah? Why do we feel comfortable speaking so fast? When this is the speech of Allah subhanho wa Taala that we're resetting back to Allah subhana wa Tada. Allah knows this speech already already knows what you're going to say, why are you hurrying through it, that spirituality will be attained when you take your time. And that is why the Prophet salallahu alaihe salam after every verse, He used to pause and you learn this particularly about sort of Fatiha that when you start off by saying hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen Allah subhanho wa Taala proclaims to the angels. Look at my slave that is praising me

You need to give that pause. So you respect the response of Allah subhana wa Tada. And that is your intimate conversation with Allah subhanho wa Taala. And they don't have the time to go into the detail explanation of that Hadith. But please look up that hadith of Surah Fatiha and how Allah subhanho wa Taala responds after every verse, and you truly understand the symbolic nature of that conversation. And then when you make karoku, you understand that your sins are falling off of you just like leaves fall off of a tree. And then when you stand up, you say, send me a law, Lehman hamidah robina condemned, that indeed a law here is the one who praises him. And then you say, Oh

our Lord, all praises due to you. Hearing Allah Subhana Allah subhanaw taala is hearing what you are saying. And then you go down for a second.

And the closest the slave is to Allah is in such that you ask and beg and plead of Allah, while praising Allah subhanho wa Taala, the most high Subhana Allah while recognizing you are at your lowest position, that Allah is the strong We are the weak allies, the rich, we are the poor. Allah is the one that gives and we are the ones that receive Allah subhanho wa Taala has the right to be proud. And we only have the right to be humble and have humility.

So the way we approach the prayer, my dear brothers and sisters also has to change. And that is a type of spirituality that the seller had.

Look at the way they approach the congregation, some of the Imams of the sell off for 40 years, give or take, they were seen to be standing in the first role. They were seeing never having to missed that could be literally around the opening that could be out of the Salah. Why? Because your Salah, in congregation, not only does it give you more reward, but you're actually more focused, how much more focused you are in the salon teams have to in terms of keeping track of what Raka you're on and what you're saying when they're in the congregation versus when you're praying by yourself. When you're praying by yourself you have the ability to hurry. When you're praying in the congregation,

you have the schedule of the Imam hopefully who is taking his time and is leading by example. So my dear brothers and sisters, that is how we should be approaching the salon. And I'll conclude with the last point about the salon before I move to the next portion. Which is as you finish the salon, we're encouraged to see our stock photo last stock photo last stock photo love

seeking forgiveness from Allah subhanho wa Taala. And that's amazing even though you did not commit any sin, the first thing that you do is you seek a lesson I know what the others forgiveness, why? For the very possibility that you may have fallen short in your Salah that you may have made a mistake for reminder that as you continue throughout the day, and you do make sense and make mistakes frequently is Stefan frequently say the estoque far

and now is the reminder of the Salah.

I move on to the portion of companionship. And I want to bring back the story of Jacob and basil him a whole lot with Tyler that I shared with you at the beginning.

My dear brothers and sisters, when you look at that example, she had been badgering him. Allah was the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia. He did not need anyone to remind him. He could have opened a book could have listened to a lecture could have had someone reach to him, he could have done all of those things. But he asked people to share a reminder, because the reminder benefits the believer. It's not just about him, but it's about all the people in attendance. It's about all of the people in attendance, that everyone gets to benefit, showing us that our gatherings should be gatherings of benefit, benefit benefit gatherings of Nigeria gathered by gatherings of seeking the pleasure of

Allah subhanho wa Taala. And not just gatherings of wasting time. It's okay, from time to time to have some ideal chitchat. It's okay from time to time to do other activities. But never should you have a whole gathering that is completely void of benefit, some sort of reminder should always be given and cygwin de himolla lead by example. And what was the important thing I wanted to highlight that in that gatherings, you will find people bring all sorts of statements of Imams, all sorts of exquisite and exotic and rare statements and hoping that they would be reminded and the chef would be reminded, and perhaps they would stick out amongst the other students. But eventually it was the

person that recited the Koran that really moved to the chef because there is no better reminder than the Koran.

And this is what Allah subhana wa tada keeps reminding us about in the Quran.

Indeed, We have revealed the Koran as this Vicar Is there anyone that will be reminded and we're going to get to the Koran as the last portion inshallah, but mighty

Brothers and sisters, you've talked about your relationship with Allah in the Salah. Now let's talk about our relationship amongst ourselves, life the way we live it and conducted that is where the spirituality is actually going to be. You look at the example of the prophets of Allah why they will send them that shake when he was mentioning yesterday 100 times a day and the gathering the promises I sell them as you're repeating a stick 500 times a day because I sell them is seeking forgiveness from Allah subhanho wa Taala and asking for Allah subhanaw taala to grant him Toba. This is what the promise SLM is doing. So think about how you conduct yourselves in your gatherings. Think about your

relationship with your friends, are these people that are taking you to gender? Are these people taking you in the other direction? Are you having a positive impact on them? My dear brothers and sisters, one of the greatest things that we can do is to educate our friends to remind us and then you have this competition amongst yourselves, like our worker, and Amara della whom dead, who can get the agenda first. And who can get to the highest level of agenda. And that's what it's all about with your companions. But that has to be a conscious decision that you make amongst your friends, that we're not just going to compete for this dunya we're going to compete even more for the Acura

and that's what true friendship is about. Allah subhanaw taala tells us in the Quran, my dear brothers and sisters, that on the Day of Judgment, people will complain to Allah. Yahweh Allah tala Leighton Neelam etiquette for line and kalila. That will tell me only if I did not take so and so as a friend. Indeed, they misguided me. You want to be people that people complain about on the day of judgment? Do you want to complain about your friends? No, you don't. So look at the way you interact with them. Look at the way and how much vigor in remembrance of Allah you bring with them. Look at the social activities that you do that yes, you may go hang out, you may go have something to eat.

But when time for a conference comes, will you come as a group of friends? Those are the friends that you want to be with. When it comes time to pray in the masjid. Do your friends say hey, let's go to the machine and pray before we do anything else. That is a type of companionship and friendship you want to see. And the vast majority of our faith, my dear brothers and sisters is seen in the way that we interact with people. And that is going to be with your friends and with your companions. Each and every one of us will have that close companion and our close companion, my dear brothers and sisters, that is the level of your faith. That is the level of your worship. So when

you go out of your way to help them, that is your agenda with Allah subhanho wa Taala when you go out of your way to help them, that is you receiving help from Allah subhanho wa Taala when you go out of your way to help them that is more beloved to the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam than making a caffeinated, mushy than neverwet. During your relationships with other people is your spirituality with all the good deeds that you do if you have the right intention. And I move on to the last portion of my talk, my dear brothers and sisters, which is about the Koran. And this is something that I would start off by saying, I myself am guilty of neglect. And I do not read as

much Koran as I should. And I say we prepared this portion. I wanted to share that. Because a lot of times we may think you know what, because a person is on stage. They're the ideal role model. These are the people that you look up to. And I'm here to say no, my dear brothers and sisters, the people that we look up to are the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi Salaam, the companions and those that have passed away, because they are the ones that are saved from trials, the ones that are alive are still being tried in various ways. So when I talk about my relationship with the Quran, I recognize my weakness and I recognize my shortcoming. And I also understand that each and every one

of us has a place that we need to start from. And these sort of lectures, they rejuvenate my own relationship with the Koran and make my commitment even stronger that you know what I need to do even more

in America. Kotoba Rahim Allah in His famous Tafseer he talks about the completion of the Quran. And he says the completion of the Quran for lazy people, is to do it once every 40 days. If you're lazy and useless, then you'll finish the Quran once every 40 days. And I can't help but laugh almost every time I read that statement to think Subhana love that is for the lazy. How about for the ones that don't finish the Koran.

What caliber are we at if we're not finishing the Koran, maybe once in Ramadan, if we are fortunate. So understand, yes, we have fallen short, but don't feel bad about it because Allah has given you life and you have time to recommit and do more. And that is what this portion is all about. We may have fallen short, but we're going to

Reconnect. My dear brothers and sisters, you look at the Imams of the predecessors, every three days every seven days every 10 days. That is the average that they're taking to finish the Koran. Some of them are so diligent that even in one day they were able to finish it. Now that's not what I'm saying that you should, you know, give up everything and just focus on reading Koran. But what I am saying is, look at the way that you spend your time. If you take some time before your salon sometime after your salon to read some Koran, it's quite easy to finish the joys of the Koran, do five pages with every Salah that's 25 pages, which is almost one juice. Within 30 days, you would

have finished a Koran. And that is where the idea is but that's also where a DA which is answered is and our relationship with the Quran. My dear brothers and sisters we don't understand the impact that it has in our lives. Starting off from the edge in the state of Montana Salaam Alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, who has 30 has a net 30 good deeds as the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam tells us but the simple recitation of Elif

me also has 30 has not so can you imagine that three letters as compared to a long sentence has the same amount of reward that shows us the bottom of the Quran? Allah subhanho wa Taala plays to the Koran as a guide for us that those that allow or that use the Quran to be led by them

getting closer

and

closer mela make things easy brother.

Getting back to the Quran, my dear brothers and sisters,

Allah subhanho wa Taala he has placed the Koran as a guide. And those that Allah subhanho wa Taala has blessed to allow the Quran to lead them it will only lead them to gender, it will only lead them to having serene and tranquil lives. It will only lead them to being from those individuals who are exclusive to Allah subhanho wa Taala Hello law hospital. They are the people of the Koran. My dear brothers and sisters, we have nothing in this life of Allah subhanho wa Taala other than his very speech, that is the Quran, the score on my dear brothers and sisters, Allah subhanho wa Taala calls it a Shiva. It is a cure for our spiritual illnesses. It is a cure for our physical illnesses. It is

a cure for the illnesses of society. It is a cure for the illnesses of the world if we were to kneel, and this score on my dear brothers and sisters will testify for us or against us on the Day of Judgment. Allah is the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he tells us a quote I know how jetten luck. Oh Alec, that the Koran is either a proof for you on the day of judgment or a proof against you.

And the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is quoted in the Koran as complaining to Allah on the day of judgment

as Yarra be in a coma tokoto Khurana Majora, that Oh my Lord, indeed my people have taken the Koran as something worthy of being abandoned.

And we don't want to be from amongst those people whom the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam complains about on the day of judgment because they abandoned the Quran.

My dear brothers and sisters, those of you that are fortunate to memorize the Quran, will see the impact that it has on your memory and unknown your intellect. Those of you that are fortunate to reflect upon the Quran, have seen how Allah subhanho wa Taala opens up deeper and deeper meanings of the Quran to you, the more you read, and the more you reflect. My dear brothers and sisters, those of you that frequently read the Koran have seen how Allah subhanho wa Taala protects you from evil and guides you in the most difficult of situations. My dear brothers and sisters in the Koran is that which will be a light for us in the grave. My dear brothers and sisters in the Koran is that

which will be heavy for us on our skills on the Day of Judgment. My dear brothers and sisters in the Koran is that which will be clouds for us to shield us on the day of judgment when there is no shade other than the shade that Allah subhanho wa Taala provides for the people. My dear brothers and sisters when we talk about spirituality, there is no purification of the soul without the recitation of the Quran.

So I want to leave you with this summary My dear brothers and sisters, that what I would like myself and all of us to take away from this lecture

That when we understand spirituality, it is not some obscure obtuse topic, but rather it is embracing Islam in its simplest and truest and purest form. When we think of spirituality, it is about living your day to day life with Islam. When we think about spirituality, let us try to implement these three things in our lives, the way we embrace the Salah, before, during, and after the number two, looking at the way we interact with people, and what our relationships say about us, and the way we conduct ourselves in those relationships, and how our gatherings reflect who we truly are. And last but not least, our relationship with the speech of Allah subhanho wa Taala. The point

of this lecture, my dear brothers and sisters, is not to make us feel bad for not being spiritual and lacking. But the point of this lecture is us, for us to recognize that we're each on a journey to Allah subhanho wa Taala. And we have an obligation upon one another, to help one another to reach gender. So if we see people falling short in any of these categories, or in other any other acts of Islam, you have a right upon me, I have an right upon you, to advise you. And to remind you that hey, let us get our act together. And you'll see my dear brothers and sisters when we get our act together and become more spiritual beings in its truest form of Islam. That is when Allah subhanho

wa Taala grants victory to this summer. So I pray that Allah subhanho wa Taala makes use of those that are returned back to Islam in its purest form, and that Allah subhanho wa Taala makes us a cause of victory and not a cause of humiliation and defeat. Aloma amin desikan, mocha and for your attention. So panicle Docomo, vmdk Chateau La Isla Vista filco Lake wa salam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh