Sikander Hashmi – Build Your Spiritual Immunity KMA Friday Message
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Respected elders,
dear brothers and sisters,
my young friends,
We begin by praising Allah
the Lord of the universe,
our creator, our sustainer, our protector, our nourisher.
And we begin by sending peace and salutations
upon his beloved and final messenger,
Muhammad, the son of
Abdullah My brothers and sisters, I hope that
you are all doing well to the grace
and mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I
ask Allah
to always keep you
and your family members safe.
I ask Allah
to always keep you in a state of
peace, in a state of iman, a state
of health, in a state of happiness in
this world and especially in the next
Alhamdulillah,
we are seeing
some light at the end of this pandemic
tunnel
with news of, of course, the vaccines being
developed,
trials being completed,
and approvals being granted and people
finally being vaccinated.
And subhanAllah, I was reflecting upon this and
we see
how much
of the world has reacted to this pandemic.
It was
a seemingly serious threat to our lives
and our well-being
with so much concern.
And most people have been willing to go
to great lengths.
Most people, not everyone, but most people have
been willing to go to great lengths to
protect themselves
in ways that are unimaginable.
You know, who could have thought that
society
would
restrict and restrain itself?
People protecting themselves or restraining themselves restricting themselves
to protect themselves and their loved ones and
to protect others as well.
It's so much sacrifice
in order to
adhere to the rules and to follow guidelines,
right, that are being,
rules that have been implemented
by, public health, officials and authorities
and, governments.
So, you know, adherence to follow those rules
and those guidelines and being patient
in the face of the situation and and
bearing trouble
and hardship to adhere to those guidelines
and taking all possible steps to protect themselves.
This is really an, a a unprecedented
response.
Something that we hardly ever see, you know,
during the course of our lives, perhaps a
once in a lifetime event to see people
respond in such way to such a,
such a global and serious threat.
Now
this is all good, alhamdulillah.
And this is how a person should respond
when faced with a threat. When a person,
a reasonable person, and especially a believer,
when a believer is aware of a threat,
then there should be a response to that
threat. Of course, everything that a believer does
in terms of taking protections
and taking precautions,
protecting oneself
is grounded with the foundation
and trust
the foundation of the trust in Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. Right? So no action of the
believer,
no protective action
is it should be taken without that belief.
So that underlying belief is always there. It's
all should always be present. The fact that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one who
ultimately protects and it is Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala who can ultimately save us. But it
is our responsibility
to take reasonable measures and to take measures
that apparently or seemingly
would be beneficial. Now in this case, the
threat was not visible. So the virus is
really, really minuscule. Right? It's really tiny even
compared to other, you know, organisms compared to
other
bacteria and other viruses. So it's really, really
tiny. But the effects of the virus
are visible
physically.
And, you know, even though they were not
well documented in the beginning, especially because there
was a new disease, but the effects were
being seen and they were being shared and
people responded accordingly.
Similarly, my brothers and sisters, the threats
that we face spiritually
are even more destructive
and even more harmful.
But we may not get to see
we may not always get to see their
effects.
We may not always get to see their
their effects physically in front of us right
away.
Or even if we do, many times we
do see the effects.
However, we don't link
the effects
back to the spiritual root cause.
Okay. So I'm trying to do a contrast
here. So we see a physical disease,
we see its physical impacts,
and we see how people have responded.
But the
threats that we face spiritually
are even more destructive and are even more
harmful than this virus.
Now this is something to grasp. This is
something to wrap our heads around that, yes,
this virus
or any other illness that Allah
has created
can be harmful, it can be disruptive, and
we do have a responsibility
to take protective measures to seek cures, all
of that pinned with the belief that Allah
is the one who is going to offer
or is going to protect us and is
going to cure us. So that must be
done. However,
the spiritual threats that we face are much
greater,
right, are much greater, much more destructive and
harmful
than the physical illnesses
such as this virus that we're dealing with
right now.
So it makes me wonder that we have
seen
the extent
to which we human beings are willing to
go to to protect our physical health when
it is under
threat.
But what about our spiritual health?
Physically, when we see a threat, any threat,
right? If there's flooding, if there's fire,
you know, if there's a thief,
you know, any any threat that you can
think of that we can physically see or
that, you know, we we can, perceive.
For those, we know we will respond.
But what about our spiritual health? Right? The
physical
all of these things that we're worried about
right now, our health,
right, our finances,
and our well-being.
Right? All of these things are mental health.
Right? Mental health of our children. Right? All
very valid concerns. This is not to diminish
the importance of any of these things. These
are all very important.
Okay. But they last or they're going to
last
as long as we are alive in this
world.
Right? The extent to which they matter
is the length of time that Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala has willed for us to live
in this on this earth.
But the spiritual will last forever.
Things that impact our spirituality
have a long lasting impact, not just limited
to this world but going beyond potentially for
eternity,
right? So therefore, logically, shouldn't we be taking
spiritual threats even more serious
and protecting ourselves even with even greater effort
and determination
than we are,
or as we do with
physical or worldly threats like this virus, like
other threats that we may be,
facing. So let's talk about spiritual threats. So
broadly speaking,
we face 4 types of spiritual threats.
If we're gonna simplify it, in the interest
of time
and to make it easy to understand, we
face 4 types of spiritual threats. 2 that
could be considered
to be external
and 2 that are internal inside of us.
K. So 2 that are external that come
from external sources and 2 that are found
inside of us.
Number 1, things that are in our environment
that we are exposed to.
Things that are inside in our environment that
we are exposed to that either tempt us
or challenge our faith. And so these are
not things that we find inside of us,
but we are exposed to them
through the environment that we find ourselves in
or through the things that we expose ourselves
to.
And, you know, this is like,
or let me just go through this first.
So things that are in our environment that
we are exposed to that tempt us for
challenge our face. So this is the first
external factor. The external threat that our spirituality
faces.
Secondly,
our thoughts and ideas
that come to us and create temptations or
doubts.
Okay. So one is that we are exposed
to things and, you know, they are having
an impact on us. Secondly, our thoughts and
ideas that come to us. So we may
not necessarily be exposing ourselves with such things,
but we get thoughts and we get ideas.
And they create temptations and they create doubts.
And this is also an external factor. This
is not something that we're doing, but it's
coming to us.
The third one,
and this is the first internal one, things
that happen to us that challenge our faith.
Okay. So these are things, circumstances that we
find ourselves in through no doing of our
own, through, you know, no fault of our
own necessarily,
and
our faith becomes challenged. We start questioning
our faith. Our spirituality
begins to be questioned and begins to suffer.
And fourthly and finally,
feelings that tempt us to behave in a
spiritually harmful way.
So feelings
inside of us, right, desires
that tempt us to behave in a way
which is spiritually harmful, meaning in a way
that is displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And these last 2 are both internal. So
we have 2 external and 2 internal.
Now for the first one, the things that
are in our environment that we are exposed
to, that tempt us in that, or that
challenge our faith, you know, this is like
the exposure to the virus
due to carelessness
or
due to going out and interacting with a
lot of people
because sometimes people are careless. They're not following
guidelines.
You know, authorities are saying the biggest spread
the biggest source of the spread of the
virus right now are social gatherings, our families,
you know, people getting together in their homes
and eating together.
But, you know, it has no impact to
continue to do that. And next thing you
know, they contract the virus and they spread
it to others through the permission of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. So carelessness
or, you know, going out and interacting a
lot so people who have to go out
there working out on the front lines, they're
working in hospitals or working in stores and
other places. Okay. So the key here
for this first type of spiritual threat is
to control our exposure and our environment.
This is where it starts, to control our
exposure and our environment.
So minimizing the time around people that that
are engaged
in actions and behaviors that are displeasing to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That is where you
have a choice.
You have a choice
whether you choose
to associate with and to spend time, especially
voluntarily,
what such people or you don't, where the
environment that you choose to be in, type
of social circle that you choose to have,
the type of friends that you choose to,
to choose to keep and to and choose
to interact with. Right? So this is within
your control.
And, you know, cutting off exposure
to such material
that which is displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. You choose what you watch on Netflix.
You
choose, you know, the type of books that
you read. You choose your friends who you
add and you follow on social media,
who are sending you videos and sharing ideas
and thoughts. You have control over that. Nobody's
putting a gun to your head and saying
that you have to follow these people and
you have to be their friends and you
have to, you know, watch whatever they're reporting
or whatever they're they're they're they're posting.
Right? That is your choice.
Right? You are able to to to trim
that at least. Right? Maybe you you don't
you can't cut relations with them, but at
the very least you have control.
And, like, you are able to choose whether
you want to be exposed,
to such people in such material. Right? Similarly,
if you are, you know, listening to a
particular, you know, types of audio whether it's,
you know, music or or any other types
of,
material, you know, which may be haram,
you are making that choice and that is
gonna have, an impact on you and that
is going to that is the spiritual threat.
Right? So these are the things externally
that are in your control. Allah
tells us that we should be proactive
in protecting ourselves, right, from the qualities of
the successful believers, the qualities of
Ibad al
Rahman. Right?
I mean, similar, you know, wording this is
for, you
know, the the the believers who are successful.
Those who avoid idle talk and, of course,
the lord love can be, you know,
explained, described in many ways. But essentially, you
know, those who actively avoid
those who actively avoid things which are not
beneficial.
Right? Conversations,
talk,
speech. Right? Other actions
that are,
that are useless,
that that are not of benefit, that are
vain.
Right? So the the impetus, the onus is
on us
to to divert ourselves, right, to protect ourselves,
to steer away
from
conversations,
from environments, from material,
from the things that we watch, that we
can hear, that we read that don't contain
any benefit and especially those that can be
harmful. Right? That lead us away from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. So number 1, the control
we have within ourselves.
And a lot of times what happens is
people will be worried about the other threats,
but they're not willing to or they haven't
thought about controlling these first.
Right? It's like you're worried about flooding.
Right? But you're not turning off the top.
K. You say no. You know, I'm worried
about my house. House is gonna flood and
there's gonna be all this damage in the
basement and this is gonna happen, that happen.
And there's a pipe where there's a top,
you know, that's leaking and that's constantly dripping
water, but you're not stopping that first.
Right? What's the point of trying to, you
know, worry about damage when you're not taking
care of the actual source? Right? So that's
number 1, brothers and sisters. So protect yourselves.
Of course, there may be situations where you're
not able to control your environment maybe because
your colleagues are like that or maybe you
have to be in in in in that
type of company sometimes. And, you know, that's
understandable, but we wanna minimize the exposure and
keep it only to that which is necessary
and cut out the rest. Okay. So that's
number 2 number 1. Number 2, thoughts and
ideas that come to us and create temptations
or doubts. And here we're referring to shaitan.
Okay. Because there are, you know, 2 main,
influences. Right? Nafs and shaitaan. Right? So shaitaan
being the external one and the nafs being
the internal one. So shaitaan is obviously going
to try
to throw you off. It's obviously gonna try
to weaken your relationship with Allah
Well, obviously, you know, we'll we'll try to
create distractions and and create confusion.
Okay? So that is just take that as
granted that that effort is always going to
be underway.
That effort from Shaitan and his and his,
and his team
are always is always gonna be on. Right?
And the more closer you get to Allah,
the more effort you make, the more desire
you have to get closer to Allah,
the more their efforts will also intensify as
well. Because you just remember that. Just take
that for granted. The shayvon will always be
trying to steer you away either in big
ways or if you can't do it in
big ways, then in small ways, in many
small ways, gradually away from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. Right? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us
in the
That if you're tempted by Shaitan, what should
you do? And seek refuge.
Seek refuge with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Surely
he is all hearing and all knowing. Okay.
So any moment when you feel
that there is
a temptation,
a doubt,
an inkling, you know, a poke coming from
shaytawan.
Right? But how do you build up that
initial reaction? Like, how do you train yourself?
Right? That requires effort as well. Right? To
recognize that, yes, okay, this shouldn't be happening.
Right? So that requires a a a a,
a high level of awareness.
Being aware.
Right? Being conscious and being aware that, okay,
this is something that
is questionable. This should be a red flag
on my radar. And you say
And you say, Indeed, when shaitan whispers to
those who have tapla, those who are mindful
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
they remember their lord. What do they do?
They do hikr. They remember their lord
and
and they start seeing things clearly.
So the whispers of shaitan, the temptations, they
actually create,
think of it like a fog
or a screen.
Right? That does not allow us to see
reality properly. But once we remember Allah
Right? So Allah is telling us, so first
of all, you know,
say, when you're tempted by shaydwan, and the
people who are conscious of Allah, who are
mindful of Allah, people of taqwa, what do
they do when they're touched by shaydwan? When
shaydhan whispers to them, then they remember Allah
to do the thicket of Allah
and that clears up the fog and that
clears up the confusion.
Okay. So this is how we wanna train
ourselves, that every time we get tempted, we
say
we increase our remembrance of Allah
so that Allah removes that fog, removes that,
you know, that that screen from in front
of us or that tint from in front
of us, and we start seeing reality for
what it actually is. And we also learned
from the hadith of the prophet
that reciting Hayatul Kursi,
right, reciting the last verses of Suratul Baqarah
regularly
morning evening,
reciting Suratul Farah and Suratul Nas. You know,
these are
the spiritual weapons that we have. Right? We
cite these things regularly
to be protected from shaitan.
Okay? To be protected by Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
from the evil inclinations of shaitan. Now, of
course, you could still intensify his efforts, you
could still try to get you, but these
are your some of the weapons in your
toolkit and this is what you wanna be
constantly turning to to seek protection,
protection of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Ibn Qayyam
Qayyam
he said
that ward off
the passing thought.
Ward off the passing thought
for if you do not do that it
will become an idea. It starts off as
a passing thought. If you don't word it
off, if you don't write it off, it's
gonna become an idea.
Word off the idea for if you do
not do that, it will become a desire.
Because it starts with a passing thought, then
an idea, and it develops into a desire.
And at each stage, you have the opportunity
to get rid of it. Then fight it
for if you do not do that, it
will become a resolve and ambition.
If you don't get rid of the desire,
it will become a resolve and an ambition.
And if you do not board it off,
it will become an action.
So the action doesn't come. In most cases,
it doesn't happen right away. Right? There are
certain stages
from getting the thought to actually carrying it
out. Okay. Sometimes it may happen very quickly.
Sometimes it may take longer. Okay. But be
aware.
Be conscious that you're actually going through these
steps. If you do not counter it with
its opposite, he says, it will become a
habit and then it will be difficult for
you to get rid of it.
SubhanAllah. So true. Right. That's how it starts.
So fight it from the very beginning. Right?
Try to nip it in the bud right
in the beginning. But if you don't do
it then, you still have opportunities to do
it afterwards. But every stage that you allow
it to grow or you allow it to
pass, then the larger and more serious the
threat gets. So try to nip it in
the bud. Okay?
And if you're not able to, then try
to get rid of it as soon as
possible because if you don't, it's gonna become
harder and harder to deal with. Allah
protect us all. So my brothers and sisters,
these were the external factors. Now in terms
of internal factors,
things that happen to us that challenge our
faith.
Okay. Circumstances we find ourselves in. There's things
that, you know, something happens in our life.
Right? So the father of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. Perhaps you make a mistake. Whatever it
is, it's something that challenges our faith. So
understand and believe in what Allah and his
and his messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam have instructed
us to believe in. SubhanAllah. So many times
when you find that there's a crisis of
faith inside of a person,
many times it's because perhaps their understanding
right, belief and what Allah has messengers salallahu
alaihi wasallam have revealed, right, have taught us
perhaps
had it been fully developed. Maybe there was
something lacking. Perhaps they didn't get a chance
for it to flourish and for it to
grow and for it to strengthen. So, you
know,
so understanding
the,
right, understanding the feed of our religion and
firmly believing in it and increasing our appreciation
recognition of Allah
by reflecting upon his signs.
You know, one part of it is to
understand. But just because a person understands, it
doesn't mean that they believe.
Right? A person could be an expert. Some
of the greatest academic experts in Islam are
not Muslims.
K. They have a huge many degrees. Right?
Great experts.
They understand,
but they don't believe.
Right? So understanding
is not enough. You also have to believe.
So, yes, we study the aqeeda. We we
we we we get to learn what Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala requires of us in terms
of our belief. We understand the teachings of
the prophet
but it also has to translate into belief.
It has to come into the heart, and
that happens
spiritually. That happens through the grace of Allah
So that's
why solidify your connection with the Quran and
reflect upon its meanings because Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala has told us at least in a
couple of places, refer to the Quran as
Shifa.
Shifa.
Alright. Shifa for what lies inside the chest.
Right? What is inside the heart.
Right?
Is,
a mercy and guidance for the believers. Right?
So the Quran is a is a very
powerful cure, of course, because it is the
speech of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and it has
properties
to cure,
especially that which is in the heart. And
what's what's in the heart? Right? The spiritual
heart? The doubts, the confusion,
the temptations, the desires, all of these things
that we find inside of our heart, right,
especially when it comes to,
crises of faith, right, the Quran is extremely,
extremely powerful,
Right. Reciting but also reflecting.
Right. Like taking time to reflect upon the
words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So that was the internal.
Second, the first of the internal. And finally,
feelings that tempt us to believe to behave
in spiritually harmful ways. Right? So temptations and
desires that come from inside of our depths.
That come from inside of us. And for
that,
you know, honestly,
after we have tried to restrain ourselves, after
we struggle against ourselves and we try to
control ourselves,
remember what Allah says.
Remember Allah much so that you may be
successful. Right? In every single way. But especially
if you want to,
overcome your temptations, right, for a heart that
is constantly engaged in the remembrance of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala,
a heart that is swimming in the love
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It becomes harder
and harder to like a sin or to
like sins or to be attracted to sins
and that heart starts disliking and detesting sin.
Right? That is what we should be aiming
for, that our heart is in a condition
that when we are tempted or when we
are exposed to sin, our heart is actually
not attracted to it, but rather it finds
it detest it detests it and it finds
it undesirable.
Right? It wants to turn away from sin.
It wants to turn away from that which
is haram because there's no attraction in it.
Right? That is the state that we want
to be in. And to get to that
state, right, a key element is increasing the
remembrance of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. Right?
A high dose of dhikr. What does it
do? It increases taqwa. It increases the awareness
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because you start,
you know, temptation comes, you think of a
sin and you're reminded because you're so used
to remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you remember
Allah.
Right? So what happens? On the one hand
you have the sin and the temptation, on
the other hand you have the remembrance of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the remembrance of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is always going to
overpower almost always going to overpower
the temptation.
Right? So,
so a high dose of dikr, it takes
out the attraction from sin.
It takes away the attraction from sin and
it builds spiritual strength strength to overcome temptations
and evil desires. So I listened to a
sheikh once and he put it very simply.
He says, you know, nowadays, you know, people
say okay, yes, there's so many challenges, so
many struggles especially for the youth. You know,
there's so much temptation, there's so many opportunities
to commit sin. You know, it sounds like
a very complicated
issue. However, the reality of it is very
simple. Right? It's a zero sum equation. If
your remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
low and your exposure to sin and that
which is displeasing to Allah is greater, guess
which one is going to overpower.
Right? But on the other hand, if you
increase the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
then it overcomes the sins and the temptations.
Right? So it really
is a question
of matching not matching, but increasing. Right? The
dosage of the dhikr of Allah
to match,
right, or or, to,
in relation
to the amount of sin and temptation that
one finds themselves in. Okay. So just increase
the dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
it'll make it much easier to overcome those
sins and those temptations.
So
a high dose of dhikr and awareness,
or sorry, dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
which we reach to taqwa and awareness of
Allah.
Right? And as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells
us
Right? So therefore remember me, and I will
remember you. And how do you remember Allah?
By praying, by glorifying Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
to the recitation of the Quran, to the,
Azkar and the Tusbihad.
And most importantly, when we remember Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, you know, Allah remembers
us
and indeed, ultimately,
it is only Allah who grants spiritual fortitude
to resist temptations and sins. Now we can
say all of these things that, yes, you
should do this and you should do that
and we should absolutely do it, but the
objective of it is to get this strength
from Allah subhanahu
wa ta'at. Right? Because even the greatest of
people can be tempted.
These temptations from nafs and shaitan,
they they can get really anyone, right. So
at the end of the day, it's through
the grace and the mercy of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala that a person is protected,
right. But how do we appeal to the
grace and the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala? It is through all of these things
and through especially increasing the remembrance of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. My brothers and sisters,
the remembrance of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, of
course, has many virtues but it also helps
to polish our hearts
of the effects of sins and spiritual diseases.
Whenever we commit a sin, right, where the
Allah tells us in the Quran.
Right. So there is a rust, there is
a spot, there is a stain that comes
onto our spiritual hearts every time that we
sin. And what is the polish for that?
What is that which removes it? It's the
dikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The tawba
and the dikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Similarly, when it comes to spiritual diseases that
we have, right, again we're protecting ourselves from
physical diseases,
right, we're also very very vulnerable to spiritual
diseases.
So fighting the spiritual diseases, how do we
fight them? Again, do the dhikr of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. 1st, of course, by doing
what they asked us to do. So being
aware and fighting against them by forcing ourselves
to do the opposite.
Okay? So you feel lazy. Right? You have
a spiritual disease of laziness.
You don't wanna get up to pray. Faje.
Right? You're all up. You see the time
and you just don't you gotta force yourself.
Right? You have to force yourself. You have
to fight against it. Right? You're laying down.
You don't feel like, you know, standing up
with the head. You're gonna force yourself. Right?
Anything else that we find ourselves tempted to
challenge ourselves.
Right? To do that which is good and
to protect ourselves from that which is haram
or that which is looked down upon. So
the dhikr being the polish of the hearts
to purify our hearts from the effects of
sins and also to rectify the spiritual diseases
that are found in our hearts. So brothers
and sisters, let us hold fast to our
prayers. Yeah. I know we all go through
ups and downs. But Ramadan is a part,
you know, was a long time ago. Ramadan
is is still a few months away. So
it's not on our radar. You know, there's
a lot of work. It's the, you know,
the holiday season coming up and, you know,
end of the year. Like, there's tons of
stuff that is going on. Okay. Let's renew
our our passion for our prayers. Right? Hold
fast to our prayers. Try to improve the
quality of our prayers and our our adherence
to our, to the timings and so on.
Increasing the sunnah and the nalafat.
Right? Perhaps we're starting to slack off. Perhaps
we started after Ramadan. We're doing Ramadan. We
have we were on a high and we
said, okay. We had to resolve that, you
know, we were we, we resolved had a
resolution, you know, I'm going to do this
and I'm gonna offer this extra and that
extra. But perhaps it has it has started
to, you know, to to weigh it off
or perhaps we were coming to the masjid
to the masala before, regularly for salah. But
then the pandemic struck
and we said, okay, you know, let us
stay home, let us be safe, let us
but
not for other matters. So we're still going
shopping everywhere.
We're still attending weddings. We're still attending, you
know, gatherings that are happening that perhaps may
not should not be happening or maybe they're
allowed. You know, we're going out. We're doing
other things. We're still meeting with our families
in our people's homes secretly when they were
not supposed to be. When it comes to
offering salah, we say no. No. It's a
pandemic. I don't wanna come for a
sec. Seriously, but is that fair?
Is that fair or are we, like, you
know, slacking off maybe when we shouldn't be?
Right? So let's ask ourselves these questions. If
you have a legitimate excuse, legitimate reason, that's
perfectly fine, of course. Right? Or if a
person is not going anywhere and they're not
coming for daily prayers,
okay. That's understandable as well. But if a
person is going and doing everything else, when
it comes to saw, I know it's the
pandemic.
Come on.
Okay. Alhamdulillah. Salah is open for Fajr from
Abu Dhabi Aisha. Other Masjid are open. Yes.
Maybe you need to register. Maybe there's a
little bit of effort. That's okay. It's nothing
major. Right? They can still do it. People
are coming from Fajr. People are coming for
Aisha. You know, so, like, it's it's doable.
Right? So a reminder for myself and for
all of us. They're listening to the recitation
of the Quran.
You know, inspirational,
lectures that bring us closer to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. Taking time out to do the
zikr of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Not just
in passing, but as something which is important.
Even 5, 10 minutes a day can have
a huge impact on a person's spiritual life.
You know, increasing the istafa,
increasing tasbir, salawat upon the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, and all other forms of the
remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So brothers
and sisters, as the world focuses on building
physical
immunity,
let us also build our spiritual immunity to
protect ourselves from harm, not only in this
world but also in the hereafter as well.
Ask Allah to protect us from all that
is physically harmful. Ask Allah
to protect us from that which is physically
and spiritually harmful in this world and, for
for us in this world and in the
next community.
Just a friendly reminder, my brothers and sisters,
that our rise with Shirkuh campaign,
has reached 22% of its target. If you
remember, we are trying to reach $300,000
by the end of the year, by December
31st.
Insha'Allah,
you know, even with the pandemic going on
and all the, you know, the challenges that
that we face,
our activities have cut down. Most of you
know,
we've had over, you know, 70,
lectures and programs,
conducted online,
or also in person like this, with all
the safeguards in place.
We've had 3,300
hours of material that's been watched online,
25,000
plus views on YouTube, for our programs and
lectures.
Classes have been ongoing in Medina School, Hikma
School Online,
Tri Star Academy. So, you know, over 300
hours of educational instruction from their law,
you know, food donations. So you're probably aware
we had a campaign. We've actually done it
twice now from their law to provide, halal
meat to the to the local food bank
so that it goes out, to whoever needs
it. Over £500 of meat donated to food.
We also collect zakat funds to distribute to
the needy locally.
Food. They allow $47,000
plus in zakat funds, zakat al man, and
zakat al fit that have been distributed to.
And, of course, there's there's much more that
we're trying to do. We ask Allah
to accept,
from all of us, especially those brothers and
sisters who have supported us. Allah
bless you and and make it,
on your scale,
of the deeds of the day of judgment.
I mean, it up. And
the idea is that, you know, we're doing
all of this sort of virtually or just
like out of this space, but inshallah, if
we have our much needed Muslim and center,
you'll be able to do much more that
we need to do,
through your, your support and the mercy of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So I would say
to
everyone who has donated already. If you haven't
had the chance, please do so today. Of
course, the machine's outside,
and you can also give online at canonmuslims.ca/donate.
The tax receipts, of course, will give you
up to 40% back, Insha'Allah,
on your tax return next year.
Oh, Allah, please purify our hearts of all
types of disbelief, incorrect beliefs, and hypocrisy, and
unlawful desires.
Oh, Allah, please grant us spiritual fortitude.
Oh, Allah, please grant us immunity from sins.
O Allah, please grant us spiritual strength, so
that we are able to ward off all
types of,
temptations and all types of doubts, You Rabbi
Alameen. O Allah, please fill our hearts with
the light of iman and with the strength
of taqwa, with the love for you and
your book and your beloved, You Rabbi Alameen.
Oh Allah, please purify our minds of all
the evil thoughts that it contains. Oh Allah,
so much junk in our minds and our
hearts, Oh Allah, please purify our minds and
our hearts, You.
Oh Allah, please envelope us all in your
unseen protection physically, spiritually, mentally, You.
Oh, Allah, please cure all of those who
are ill, who are facing hardships and struggles
with regards to their health, Oh, Allah,
our elder sister in pain and weakness, brother
and sister living in love with long term
pain and injuries, our elder pioneers, doctor Habibullah
Rahman, brother Gomtaz, and others facing cancer and
other illnesses, oh, Allah. And all of those
who are ill or injured, family members who
are suffering from COVID 19 and other illnesses,
oh, Allah, you are the cure and the
healer, oh, Allah. Please grant them all to
speedy and complete recovery,
Oh, Allah. All of your servants who are
in hospital at this moment, Oh Allah, all
of those who are in pain. Oh Allah,
all of those who are in stress and
anxiety. Oh Allah, please grant relief to all
of them You Rabbil Alameen. Oh Allah,
oh Allah, please remove all trials and hardships
from the lives of our brothers and sisters
Brothers and sisters who are at home, please
offer photocopies and Lord prayer. Those who are
registered for Friday prayer, please come at your