Omar Suleiman – Moving Past Baby Steps To Allah – Eid ul-Fitr Khutbah 2024

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We begin as always by praising Allah Subhanahu

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Wa Ta'ala.

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By declaring his greatness and by declaring that

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none has the right to be worshiped or

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unconditionally obeyed except for him. And we bear

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witness that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam

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is his final prophet and messenger. We ask

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Allah to send his peace and blessings upon

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him. The prophets and messengers that came before

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him, his family and companions that served alongside

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him, and those that follow on his blessed

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path until the day of judgment. And we

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ask Allah to make amongst them, allhum a

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ameen.

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We ask Allah to accept our Ramadan. We

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ask Allah to accept our fasting. We ask

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Allah to accept our tiyam. We ask Allah

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to accept our charity.

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We ask Allah to accept every moment in

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which we worshiped him. Forgive us for every

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moment in which we slipped, and we ask

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Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us amongst

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those who caught Laylatul Qadr and have its

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full reward written for them. Allahumma ameen. Dear

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brothers and sisters,

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as I mentioned a few nights ago, I

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wanted to dedicate this Eid Khutba just for

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a few moments to this concept of stop

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being a baby.

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And I know that that means certain things

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to certain people,

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and it's not what you think it means.

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What I want you to think about

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is your spiritual age.

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Your spiritual age. How old are you spiritually?

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If you were to talk about spiritual

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infancy,

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being a spiritual toddler, being a spiritual teenager,

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being a spiritual adult.

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How old are you spiritually?

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Now the beauty of our religion is that

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a person can start fresh as we had

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2 people,

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join the tens of people that embrace Islam

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here. You can start fresh and you can

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be a spiritual adult on the very first

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day because your good deeds are preserved and

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only your sins

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are wiped away as you become Muslim.

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But if you're talking about how you grow

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towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and how you

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take that next step towards Allah subhanahu wa

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ta'ala, you have a spiritual age.

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And we always talk about baby steps towards

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Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Take the baby step.

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Start doing a little bit more here, a

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little bit more there. And we approach our

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religion

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without that sense of urgency that is necessary.

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And I wanna emphasize here that, yes, while

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the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam stressed the

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importance of being gradual,

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and warned us from burnout,

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and from being overzealous.

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The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam came with a

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religion

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that woke people out of their slumber,

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and that moved them with a sense of

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urgency

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to where in 2 decades, they became the

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best generation

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that ever walked the face of the earth.

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How does that even happen?

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The hadith Qudsi that I want you to

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contemplate on with both Allah's reward,

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as well as how we actually find that

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journey to be 1 in which we arrive

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at a destination quicker

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than anything else that we do in life.

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The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says,

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The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said that

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the Lord has said, Allah has said, whoever

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brings forth one good deed, I will reward

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him or her with 10 times that good

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deed, or

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more.

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Up to however much I want.

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But the minimum that you get

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is 10. That's outside of Ramadan. What done

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of these seasons of blessing in which things

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are multiplied

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by so much more? And he said that

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Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then said,

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And whoever puts forth a sin,

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then that sin will only

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be punished

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to the extent that it was committed. Meaning,

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one sin for one punishment

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or I choose to forgive. May Allah

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forgive us as he loves to forgive.

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Then he continues.

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Whoever comes to me with a hand span,

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then I go to him with the length

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of his arm.

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And whoever comes to me with an arm,

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I go to him with the length of

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both of his arms spread out. Meaning the

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pace that you're moving at Allah, Allah is

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moving

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twice as fast towards you as you are

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moving to him or more.

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And then he said,

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whoever comes to me walking, I go to

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him running.

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And he said, and

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whoever comes to me with an earth full

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of sins

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with an earth full of sins,

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but without associating a partner with me, meaning

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still bearing witness to my oneness, And that

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is the beauty of this word of tohid,

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the shahada, just starting off with that monotheism,

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the acknowledgement. Whoever comes comes to me with

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an earth full of sins, not associating a

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partner with me,

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then I will meet them with an earth

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full of forgiveness equal to that.

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They will always find forgiveness with me so

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long as they proceed towards me. Of the

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beauty of this relationship with Allah that we

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taste especially in Ramadan

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is that you will not take a step

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except that Allah

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will reward you with the destination,

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as well as compensating you and thanking you

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for the effort itself.

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As Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,

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That this Jannah, this paradise is a reward

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for you for all that you used to

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do, and your efforts have surely been thanked.

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Because Allah

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knows the steps that you are taking towards

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him. Now here's the thing, you can walk

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away from these verses. You can walk away

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from these ahadith, and you can say baby

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steps because Allah is gonna keep proceeding to

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me at a pace that is greater than

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the pace that I'm proceeding towards him. And

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it's true, But

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why treat your religion with such mediocrity?

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Why go Ramadan after Ramadan and not have

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any traceable progress in your life

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that has manifested? Why not have a build

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up? Why not have a portfolio

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that represents that you are moving towards Allah

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subhanahu wa ta'ala,

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and you're taking steps of graduation towards a

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graduation into ihsan, towards a graduation

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into a relationship of excellence with your lord,

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rather than constantly

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baby step, baby step, baby step.

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Dear brothers and sisters,

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once you know the value of the one

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that you're running towards, you'll run faster.

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Once you feel

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Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala coming closer to you,

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you'll want to get closer and closer and

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closer towards him. And just like any other

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pursuit in life, you can't stay

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in the same place

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constantly and expect meaningful change.

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And so I'm calling upon each and every

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single one of us to stop being a

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baby,

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stop being a spiritual baby. At what point

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do you grow to that next level? How

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do the Ramadan after Ramadan after Ramadan, and

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laylatul Qadr after laylatul Qadr after laylatul Qadr

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represent

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a buildup in your relationship with Allah Subhanahu

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Wa Ta'ala. And this is where you find

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in the Quran.

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Rush to the forgiveness of your lord. Fulfirruirullah.

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Flee to your lord.

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Has the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,

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rush to do good deeds. If you know

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the value of the currency of Allah, which

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is his paradise,

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and you know the value of closeness to

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him, then nothing could get in the way

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of you taking bigger steps. So my only

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call to you, dear brothers and sisters,

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is don't just think in terms of baby

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steps, think in terms of significant strides.

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And especially in a world of urgency, the

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people of Gaza have always been a people

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of sacrifice, but now they have added sacrifice

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to their sacrifice.

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We also have to grow to where our

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sacrifices

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become bigger, our steps become bigger, our strides

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become longer, and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, will

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always meet us faster.

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And I wanna end with this.

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There is an urgency

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that is in the air.

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When there is fitna in the air, when

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there is tribulation in the air, there is

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a sense of urgency

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that comes with that recognition.

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And it's not just that we need to

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be careful

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in regards to our journey to Allah Subhanahu

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Wa Ta'ala. It's also that we need to

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escalate

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our pursuit

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of a free Palestine,

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our pursuit of freeing the oppressed people

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by standing by their side, which means that

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when we look at the current situation that

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we are in today, we escalate

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escalate our protest to where we're looking towards

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the weapons manufacturers, and these corrupt politicians, and

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everyone that is involved in this genocide that

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is in front of us. And we don't

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take a break

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from what is in front of us at

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any point. Because you know what? Today of

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Eid,

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this day of Eid,

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today is a day of happiness. It's not

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a day of heedlessness.

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Today is a day of happiness. It is

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not a day of heedlessness.

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Israel could not take one day off from

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its murderous ways,

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and we can't look away for a single

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day. And subhanAllah, the first video that I

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saw today was from Mukaiyam Nusayrat,

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a Nusayrat refugee camp where a family was

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killed today, where they bombed a refugee camp

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on the day of Eid.

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There's a sense of urgency in the air,

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dear brothers and sisters, and it's important for

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us to move forward and not keep doing

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things as usual.

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Not baby steps in our journey to Allah,

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nor baby steps in the actions that we

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are taking as we make du'a with a

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sense of urgency towards Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

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And so I actually wanna leave with a

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call that on April 15th, insha'Allah ta'ala, I

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want to lend my voice to those that

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are calling for a nationwide strike. No spending,

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no school, no work. We put forth a

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nationwide strike No business as usual, no Eid

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as usual, nothing as usual as long as

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the genocide continues in front of our eyes.

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Enough baby steps.

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It's important that we take the next step

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in regards to our sacrifice,

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in regards to ourselves and in regards to

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our brothers and sisters, and we teach our

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children as well that our next

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will be in a free Masjid Al Aqsa.

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We have that sense of urgency in our

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minds, that sense of urgency in our hearts.

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Dear brothers and sisters,

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let what is happening around you inspire you

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to do more.

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Inspire you to treat Ramadan differently, read differently,

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and every single day in front of you

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differently. No more baby steps,

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significant strides.

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May

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Allah guide us to the best version of

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ourselves for ourselves

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and the best version of ourselves for our

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brothers and sisters in Palestine and all over

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the world.

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May your Eid be blessed. May your Ramadan

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be accepted. And may every day ahead of

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you be a day in which you come

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closer to Allah.