 Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah for another opportunity to gather, another opportunity to wake this day. Let's rewind it back. Saw a statistic that was showing the number of births that happen per day and the number of deaths that happen per day. So we thank Allah that he gave us another opportunity to another day which is filled with opportunities. Allahumma laikul ham wa laikul shukr. We thank Allah for that. I was thinking, Masha Allah, of a topic for today and I saw Brother Sundiyar's post. How can you judge a man? How can you try to judge a man if you have not walked in his puma? And then he had a second line, my amigos say first he created the pen and they call it lapluma and then he said we thank Allah for blessing us with another juma and his poem continues. But I was thinking about this in the context of love and this idea of judging someone or understanding someone at a deeper level, unless or how can we do that without having a relationship with them to understand and see through the lens in which they see, try to experience through the lens in which they experience. And I'm taken back to this point that if we don't establish those external relationships then I would say that's okay but the relationship that we cannot afford to continue to manifest itself in our lives is one which is the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our lives. And I think about that in the context of three stages of love. The love of Allah brought us here. And to that the love of the Creator of the heavens and the earth in every animate and inanimate object from the time of Qun until the time of the trumpet will be blown. His love brought us here and his love sustains us while we are here with all of our shortcomings with all of our faults with all of our defects, Alhamdulillah. It's the attribute of forgiveness, it's the attributes of mercy, it's the attribute of look, it's the attribute of affl, it's the attribute of his gentleness, it's the attribute of his overlooking our shortcomings, it's the attribute of his mercy, it's the attribute of and we can continue to go on that sustains us and keeps us here and it is his love that will bring us home, it is his love that will bring us home. Spoiler alert, this is not home, this is not home and the reason why I was thinking about this because I was reflecting on this off-mentioned hadith that when a man comes to the Prophet and asks him, when is the hour, when is the hour and he replies to him, what have you prepared for it? That's the wisdom of a teacher who wants to see good for you and not just pontificate what they think you should be doing to show the knowledge that they have which may be superior to yours. The ball is right back in your court, the onus is right back on you. If you ask me that question, there's a bigger reality to it, which is we have to meet Allah, that's what that question is. So what have you prepared for it? Nothing except for that I love Allah and I love you. Now the scholars say that the man either was articulating from a place of absolute humility and saying that I haven't done anything in my life worthy to even mention, or they say that given the shortcomings in his life by mentioning this of his love for Allah and the love of the messenger, when that ember, if you've made a fire before, that little spark that's in there that you can continue to blow on and blow on and create oxygen and that it will turn into a blaze of a flame of iman and of faith that those two things will guide you to those righteous actions which you believe are missing in your life. Nothing except for I love Allah and I love his messenger and who from amongst us can sit here right now and claim I don't have the ability to love Allah and to love his messenger in the highest levels. If we don't have the intellectual capacity, then we will not be held to that standard by Allah because one of the conditions to be held by it is that one must be aqil, must have sound intellect. So if that's the case, then you won't even be judged on that. But if you do, then it's wide open. It's wide open. And perhaps we're thinking about it in a different way. Perhaps it is that I'm waiting for that love to be established so I can do those righteous actions. But maybe it's by doing those righteous actions that will bring the love of Allah into our hearts. And through the gratitude of being afforded the opportunity to do those actions, then that is the increase when Allah talks about. That if you show gratitude, and that if you show gratitude to me, then I will increase you. Then I will increase you. But what is that increase? What first and foremost, if we establish that increase is love. Love that you gave me the ability to worship you. Love that you inspired me to ask you. Love that I know that I can count on you. Love that I know that you will never abandon me. Love that I know that you will give me what you have promised in this world and in the next. It's a win-win. It's a win-win. So when I think about this guidance of this Dean, at the essence of it is this foundation of love. And I'm not talking about this kind of flowery unicorns and rainbows and butterflies and rose petals. No, but a love that will make us do things that we thought we could never even do. A love that will make us do things that we thought we were never able to do. Motivated by what? Motivated by a love for Allah and His Messenger. And to me, it's powerful when the Prophet ﷺ talks about it and creates this metaphor for us that when the person has tasted the sweetness of faith, when the person has tasted the sweetness of faith, they will no more be desirous to be flung into the fire than they will to give up on their faith. No longer or no more want or give up this idea of being flung into the fire than to give up my faith. Do what you will. I'm not letting go of this. And how does this love then manifest itself into our lives? In the interest of time, I'm going to read just a little bit of the first fi'kh tilaf, which there always is a difference of opinion whether or not this was the first khutbah of the Prophet ﷺ. But some say that this is the first narration where he says that all you who believe, the best speech is that of Allah ﷺ, the book of Allah ﷺ. And one is truly successful whose heart Allah has adorned with love of his book. So first, establishing that love of Quran. I tell you right now, in front of you right now, all of you, that I am muqassr, full of shortcomings in my relationship with the book of Allah ﷺ, full disclosure. And may Allah ﷺ increase that as is indicated as a means to draw an adornment of love in the heart of Allah ﷺ. So now I know that there's a path. How do I bring that love into my life? Love his book. I'm not going to love that book if I am away from that book. Message to myself, note taken. In whom after disbelief, Allah has caused to enter into submission to him. Now obviously he's addressing this first nation which were all converts but have come from this level of disbelief into belief. But maybe there's been some time that I've had some crisis where I've questioned my faith. That's okay. You're not the first and you certainly won't be the last. But the fact that it brings us here is an affirmation of faith in our hearts because the Prophet ﷺ said, That faith is the thing which establishes itself in the heart and the limbs testify to it. I.e. it brings you to Juma. I.e. it helps you to press that comfort or off you in the morning to get up for Fajr. It helps you to show up and be a member, an active member of your community. That's what faith is. At whatever level it is, it establishes itself in the heart and the limbs testify to it. I.e. the feet will carry you to where it's pleasing to Allah. The hand will reach to what is pleasing to Allah. The eye will look at what is pleasing to Allah. The ear will listen to what is pleasing to Allah. But that foundation is love. He ﷺ continues by saying, Love that which Allah loves. Love that which Allah loves. Just choose, choose, choose something, choose something. What is it when you read Quran that speaks out to you? What is it that you hear inside of the hadith? What is it that you see inside of the seerah? What is it that you see from the lives of the companions or whatever it is? Pick out that thing and that you know that Allah loves it. In the Allahu yuhibbu, and there's a khutba that I gave just two weeks ago, a whole category of people. In the Allahu yuhibbu, al-muhsinin. In the Allahu yuhibbu, al-muttaqeen. In the Allahu yuhibbu, Allah loves those who bring beauty into the world of muhsinin. Allah loves the people of taqwa, al-muttaqeen. Allah loves, find that category and ask myself, where do I slot in in this? Am I creating beauty in this, in bringing beauty into this world? Or first and foremost, let's not be so big and ask those aspirations. How about in my house? How about in my house? Am I beautifying and adorning my house in a manner in which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would love? Someone asked me, they said, you know the easiest way to answer that question is if the Prophet ﷺ would come to visit you today, what would he think of how you run your house? That's the test. That's the test. Do we need some preparation? I'm not ready yet. Put that in the closet, get the broom out. Yalla, empty the dishwasher. You can laugh. Love which Allah loves. And then don't let it be compartmentalized, he says, and love Allah with all your hearts. And love Allah with all your hearts. Now that's a stage to get to. Sometimes we hear that we say, well, how do we do that? How do we do that? But how in my broken self right now could I get up and run a marathon? It would be what? Incrementally. Incremental. This man has built a whole career off of the 1% rule. This man has a whole career now saying that all you need to be is incrementally 1% better every day. And he built a whole career and he has all kinds of people listening to him now just by saying you have to be better 1% each day. What does that 1% look like in our lives? What is 1% of more love in my life for Allah and his messenger look like? Is it one more? And you fill in the blank of whatever that is. But the idea is that we're constantly moving forward and we're not moving back. This is something here that I think is really interesting. He said, grow not weary of hearing the word of Allah. Grow not weary of hearing the word of Allah. And do not stop remembering him and do not let your heart grow hard to him. Masha'Allah. This verse I want to mention here because this is the thing that becomes problematic real quick. When Allah says, Ya Yulidina amanu man yaratud minkum and dinihi fasufiyatillahi bi qawmin yuhibbuhum wa yuhibbunuhum. That Allah says in the Quran, O you who believe, the one who returns back, who leaves this deen, Allah will bring another people whom he loves and whom love him. So the idea is we are not, we are, there is no loss for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala if we are in or if we are out and the onus is on us to the degree that we will be in. Is it a degree in a manner that pushes us forward or is it a degree in a manner that brings us back? Remember that one percent? Just one percent every day. What does that one percent look like? I'll say this to you. Peace be upon you, O believers. Peace be upon you too, O Allah. He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah. Many people have said, I seek refuge with Allah from evil. I seek refuge with Allah from evil. I seek refuge with Allah from evil. I seek refuge with Allah from evil. Peace be upon you, O Blessing. Peace be upon you, O Hafiz, and the Merciful, You are my Madean, may detinguish you. Sha'ata Ala will close out with just some thoughts here of this, love, maybe some KPIs, some key performance indicators that we can think about. What are they, how do I measure this in my life? This love should increase us in striving in a manner, as we said earlier, in a way that Allah loves. Increasing. Challenging. Let each other compete with one another. What are some things? What's the standard that I'm looking for? We all have it in every other aspect of our lives. What about Deen? Am I looking at a person who is doing more than me and Deen? Or do I look at a person who is doing left so I can feel, Masha'Allah, I can feel better than them? So I'm going to use my ego to propel myself forward at the expense of someone else. That's not our Deen. That's the ego. But what we want to do is to be people that when that love is there that Allah has put that love in that person's heart and they're doing more than me, I want to get to that station of love. And then also to seek. Right? To seek. And as I said, this is that idea of, you know, never being content with who we are. Never being content with who we are. Always pushing forward. Always looking for a better version of myself. Of how I could have said that or how I could have understood that or how I could have held back my anger, how I could have held back my jealousy or how I could have held back any of the blame-worthy character traits that are inside of here. It's real. And then one day, two days, three days, four days. And the next thing you know becomes a habit. Because there's other habits that form as well too. And if we don't break those, those habits become who we are. This love, really I feel, and this is to myself, you all ain't even here right now. This is to myself. Is acknowledging our mortality and to put in front of me this meeting with Allah SWT. That is real. That is real. Just as my uncle Paul used to say, all I gotta do is stay black and die and pay my taxes. It's real. This idea that we're all going to move from beyond this. As I said at the beginning of the khutbah, this is the spoiler alert. This ain't home. But look at this. Look at this. And Ubadim Islamit, radiallahu anhu, that the Prophet SAW said, whoever loves to meet Allah, Allah will love to meet him. Whoever loves to meet Allah, Allah will love to meet him. And whoever hates to meet Allah, Allah will hate to meet him. So Aisha, radiallahu anha, or one of the wives of the Prophet SAW, asked, Ya Rasulullah, we all dislike the idea of death. And he said, Ya Aisha, it's not what you're thinking. He said when death approaches the believer and he has given the glad tidings of Allah's pleasure and honor, nothing will be more dear to him than what lies ahead of him. So he will love to meet Allah and Allah will love to meet him. And when the person who has rejected faith and has turned away and aggressed towards this, towards our deen, approaches death, he has given the news of Allah's displeasure in his punishment and nothing will be more disliked by him. And nothing, I'm sorry, and nothing will be more disliked by him than what lies ahead of him. So he will hate to meet Allah and Allah will hate to meet him. Sahih Bukhari. So as we said, the onus is on us. If that foundation of love is established, then we'll take it back to another hadith, which is a hadith Qudsi, where the Prophet SAW said that Allah says, I am as my servant thinks I am. I am as my servant thinks I am. And so what does that say? The work is yours. I'm here for you. Love me. Have these expectations of forgiveness from me. Look for my pardon. Know that I'm here from you. Know that I never break my promise. Know what I've done to nations before this. Know what I have done to the most lowest of the low in society. And raise them to the highest of the high. Know that I've taken the most highest of the high in society and raised and debased them and made them the most lowest of the low in society. Whatever you want in that whole formula, whatever is in your heart, that's what I am for you. That's what I am for you. So may Allah give us the ability to offer the divine blessings and divine assistance to build a foundation that is based on love. But a love that is real. And a love that takes us to the reality that I am going to die. Not in a morbid sense, but the fact that it's reality. And inshallah, that reality will make all of our relationships with other people even better. Because I know that maybe I won't see you tomorrow. And I need to make amends right now. Maybe that thing that I've been holding in my heart to tell you that I forgive you and that I love you needs to come out because I've really, now I've acknowledged my own mortality. I am going to be around forever. Our relationship with our children or our parents or whomever it is. If it is based on love with Allah, then let that outpouring of love come into all that we do. Allahumma ar-Rahma al-Mu'mineen wa al-Mu'minaan The Muslims and the Muslims. Allah ya'im minhum wa al-amwati ar-Rahma ar-Rahmeen Allahumma ifta'a alayna futul arifin wa fiqnat wa fiqsa al'in wa nfa'n lahum bil Qurani wa zikr al-haqeen Allahumma la sahla illa ma ja'atahu sahlan wa anta tajil hazna iza shatah sahlan Allahumma a'izna min shroori anfusina wal min sayi'a tia amalina wa silh hamurna kulluhu ilaha illa anta Allahumma ar-Rahma al-Mu'mineen wa al-Mu'minaan al-Muslimeen wa al-Muslimeat al-Ahya'in minhum wa al-amwati ar-Rahma ar-Rahmeen Allahumma kun ma'ana wa la tikun alayna abadan ya Rabbi al-Alameen Rabbina la tuzik quloobina ba'al idha deitina wa hablina min ladunkah ar-Rahma inna ka anta al-Wahab Rabbina inna vollamna anfusina wa inna mtawafil lina wa tarhamna na kullana min khwasireen Rabbina hablina min azwajina wa bawriya tina qulta'ain wa ja'ana lil mutaqina imaman Rabbina a'atina fudunya hasana wa fil aakhiratih hasana waqina a'adab al-nahar Allahumma ja'ana min al-mukhliceen Allahumma ja'ana min al-mukhliceen Allahumma ja'ana min al-mukhliceen Wa salli Allahumma ala Sayyidina Muhammin al-Mu'ala al-Ali Wa sahb sallam subhanah Rabbika al-Rabbi al-Azzati Ya'sifun Wa salamun al-Mursaleen Wa al-hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Al-Alameen Aqim al-Salaa Yerhamani yerhamakum Allahumma