 We thank Allah Ta'ala. We ask him, Subhanahu Ta'ala, mighty and majestic, to send salutations and blessings upon the best of creation, our Master Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and upon his family and folk, companions and followers in excellence until the end of time. Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah that Allah Ta'ala has provided sublime guidance for us in his noble book, the Quran, and in the sunnah, the way and the teachings and the blessed presence of our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And of that guidance is beautiful adi'ya, supplications and du'as, means and mechanisms by which we call upon our Lord and seek the good from Allah Ta'ala in the way that is most pleasing to Allah Ta'ala. And of these sublime du'as or supplications, in Surah Al-Isra, the 17th chapter of the Quran verse 80, in which Allah Ta'ala revealed to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, that say firstly to our Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, but then by extension all of us as believers say, supplicate, Rabbi my Lord, the Robb is the one who nurtures and sustains and cares for the Marbub, the one that is being taken care of and Allah Ta'ala, he is Rabbul Alameen, but he's also a Robb of each of us in our personal lives, step by step progression through this tender care taking from our Lord, Subhanahu Ta'ala. My Lord, my dear Creator, Adkhilni Mudkhala Sidq, cause me to enter an entrance of Sidq, which is truthfulness, honesty, but also authenticity, authenticity, genuineness, and cause me to exit with an exit of Sidq, truthfulness, honesty, integrity, authenticity. And one of the amazing things about this ayah and this dua is that the direct object is not there. So enter me into what? And exit me from what? And the Mufassirun, Allah be pleased with them, they provide various particulars from the blessed Seerah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Sallam that are very probable, possible or probable primary meanings upon the context of revelation. So enter me into Medina, for example, with the blessed Hijra, or enter me into Makkah at Fatah Makkah, and cause me to exit Makkah during the Hijrah, or the cave itself on the blessed Hijrah, the migration of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Sallam, and other possible interpretations. But some of the Mufassirun, some of the later ones in particular, they said the reality is it's general. The direct object is omitted so that it applies universally in the lives of the believers. In other words, anything we are embarking upon in our lives, we ask Allah to give us an entrance into it with Sidq, with truthfulness and authenticity and integrity. And anything that Allah Ta'ala removes us from, we ask Allah Ta'ala to remove, to cause us to exit from that thing with Sidq, with truthfulness, with authenticity, with integrity. It's an amazing du'a. It's an amazing du'a. And whether it's, for example, even the motions of our day, we go about our days and our nights, there are movements and stillnesses. We go about from one endeavor to another, one activity to another. So the micro of our daily lives, or the macro, significant changes in life. Someone's going to get married, they're entering into a whole new world of communal living. Someone is going to get a new job. Someone is going to move to a new place. Someone is leaving a particular situation. All of these contexts are subsumed in the generality, according to many of our olama, the generality of this du'a. And so we make it, but what's the focus of the du'a is that we have Sidq, that we are people of moral integrity in our movements and stillnesses, and we are people of deep, tohid, deep, authentic submission and surrender to the Divine, and we are contented with Him, Subhanahu Ta'ala. And how does the du'a end? And that grant me from your presence, milladunka, this is every word of the Quran has sublime meaning. And there are volumes of commentary on every phrase of the Quran that milladunka, you know, just from from the Divine presence, from your presence, grant us Sultan, this hujja, this authority, this success, this victory, Sultan al-Nasirah that is supported by you, Ya Allah. This is Tawfiq. This is incredible as individuals, as communities, as societies, as an ummah that is oriented to Allah Ta'ala, according to the way of the Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, Sultan al-Nasirah. And what does the next ayah say? It says, the very nature of falsehood, all types of falsehood, all the lies and deception, it can't last. It can't last. At any arena of life, lies and deception do not have substance. It is ever vanishing. And this is consolation for us as people of Tawheed, that the burden of the success of Islam is not on our shoulders. We are here to serve Allah Ta'ala and to do our best wherever Allah places us. These entrances and exits that Allah Ta'ala moves us about in our lives, our job is to try our best to serve Him, Subhanahu Ta'ala. But the results are with Allah Ta'ala, it's His Deen. And Allah will take care of everything. Because Jaa al-Haq, this was the ayah that the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, was reciting at Fatimaqah, when he pointed his blessed staff, 360 idols in and around the Ka'ba. As some pointed out, one for every degree in the circle. It's like it had subsumed their consciousness, the pagans of Makkah. What does the Prophet do? Sallallahu alayhi sallam, he points his blessed staff and he's reciting this ayah. Jaa al-Haq. Truth has come. Wa zahlq al-baatil. Falsehood is vanished. In al-baatil akaana zahuqa, what happens each time? It falls on its face. The idol fell. Whichever direction it was facing, it fell on its face. Every time he pointed the blessed staff, Sallallahu alayhi sallam. And so too, just like the outward victory at Fatimaqah, so too we have to have an inner Fatimaqah, an inner victory of the heart. An inner victory of the heart. Fighting these diseases of the heart, these tendencies towards immorality, the summons or the, you know, invitations, the dark invitations of the ego. Al-Mujahid man jahada nafsahu lillahi azzawujal, the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi sallam and Sahih ibn Hibban. Authentic hadith. The true warrior, the true one who struggles for the sake of Allah is the one who struggles against his or her own ego for the sake of Allah, mighty and majestic. And so this sublime du'a, what does this mean though to have authenticity and integrity? There are deep, deep meanings. Imam Ja'far al-Sadik, it's related, Imam Sulemi relates in his tafsir with his chain of narration, Imam Ja'far al-Sadik said about this verse, adkhilni ala hadr ridha, wa akhirijni wa anta anni raad. O Allah, wherever you place me in life, whatever state or endeavor or new chapter of my life that you are moving me to, let me enter while I'm content with you. Ridha in the heart, satisfied with Allah's decree. And let me exit the other thing that I'm exiting from while you are pleased with me. رضي الله عنهم ورضو عنهم. Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Allah. This ayah that's revealed more than once in the Quran about the Sahaba, primarily Allah be pleased with them, but all those that follow their way in excellence. This is what we're asking for. This is siddq, another principle related to siddq, authenticity, integrity, is that when we are engaging, when we are being moved and when we are embarking on new things, new endeavors, new chapters of our lives, that our concern is, is how do we serve Allah ta'ala in this? How am I serving Allah swt in this? And all of our worldly affairs can be rooted in the service of Allah ta'ala with the proper intention. Why is it that we work to earn a living? It's because it's the sunnah of prophets to eat from their own earnings. It's because we want to have enough wealth to provide for our families because it's a religious obligation to take care of one's family. We want to have enough wealth, extra wealth so that we can support good causes. We want to have, so there's all these beautiful intentions for the sake of Allah. Why does a person get married? It's from the sunnah of the Prophet, that it's the way of the Prophet to get married. We do not have the baggage of a monastic tradition that goes against our very human natures. No, Islam allows the human nature to flourish in the proper place. And so, whatever it may be, friendship, why do we have friends? So that we can have good suhbah. وَاَكُونُوا مَعَ الْصَادِقِينَ. Siddq. يَا يُلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تَقُلَّا. O people of faith, have taqwa of Allah. وَاَكُونُوا مَعَ الْصَادِقِينَ. And be with the people of Siddq. So we have to have good friends, good companions, so that who are people, they already have the Siddq, or they're also working towards this authenticity and integrity and beautiful recognition and devotion to the Divine so that we also can grow in our faith. So whatever worldly avenue we're pursuing, it can be rooted in Siddq. But we should be asking ourselves, what am I doing in this context to serve Allah Ta'ala? One of the great Imams of our tradition, Imam Yahya Ibn Razi, Ibn Mu'ad Al-Razi. Yahya Ibn Mu'ad Al-Razi, he said, منصر بخدمة الله. Whoever finds joy in serving Allah. Whoever finds joy in serving Allah, سُرَتَ الَّشياء كلُّها بِخدمتِهِ. All things will find joy in serving that person. لا إله إلا الله لا إله إلا الله. Whoever finds joy in serving Allah Ta'ala, Allah will, who is more generous than Allah Ta'ala? Who is more merciful than Allah Ta'ala? So if we do just a little bit to serve Allah Ta'ala, we don't think he's going to recompense us in ways we can never imagine. We'll find that there's facilitation in our lives, إن شاء الله بإن الله يتعالى. Because we are asking Allah that Allah help us to do this with Siddq. And so the great Imam Yahya Ibn Mu'ad Al-Razi, he says, whoever finds joy in serving Allah, all things will find joy in serving him. And what does he say? وَمَنْ قَرَتْ عَيْنُهُ بِالَّى. And whoever, the coolness, literally the delight of the eye, which means the coolness, the delight of the soul. You know, the coolness of the eyes, the delight of the soul. Whoever's, that the delight of their soul is in Allah من قَرَتْ عَيْنُهُ بِالَّى. قَرَتْ عَيْنُهُ بِالَّى. Then everything will find joy and delight in just looking at that person. And this is what we find, the great, great people of Allah Ta'ala. The great people of Allah, the people of Siddhq, the people of really deep integrity, that they have a kind of a fragrance of the soul, that the heart can recognize something beautiful, something sublime, something really special that we are drawn to them. We find joy in just even looking at them, subhanAllah. We ask Allah Ta'ala to give us this type of company and for our children and our children's children, I say this, I ask Allah to forgive me and forgive you. I ask Allah to forgive me and forgive me. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. I pray to Allah upon our master Muhammad, the Prophet of all the nations, and upon his family, his companions, and peace be upon him. Another principle of Siddhq is that whatever moral goodness, whatever virtue manifests upon us, if we find the Taufiq, the Sultan Nasirah, that Allah gives us the Taufiq to do good, then we do not take credit for it. This is also from Siddhq. If we are authentic and truthful with Allah, then we will be cognizant that all good is from him. It's not our own capacity or talent that brings forth any good. This is why another early master of our tradition, Shah Al-Kirmani, Shah Al-Kirmani, he was a teacher of Yahya ibn Mu'ad Al-Razi that aforementioned and he was, he had such a powerful presence that Yahya ibn Mu'ad Al-Razi would not feel comfortable speaking around him. This is the great Shah Al-Kirmani. Shah Al-Kirmani said, li ahlul fadli fadlun ma lam yarouhu fa idha raouhu fa la fadla lahum wa li ahlul wilayati wilayatun ma lam yarouha fa idha raouha fa la wilayatah lahum He says, Rahimullah, the people of virtue and goodness and merit have goodness and merit so long as they don't see it. But the moment they see themselves as having merit or virtue, they've lost their merit. And the people of sainthood have sainthood, proximity to Allah, so long as they don't see that. But if they see it, if they start attributing it to themselves, then they don't have any sainthood. Nasrullah Al-Afia. And so this is another implication of sitq. O Allah, let us enter with sitq. In other words, we seek to do good and then we give the credit and praise to Allah Ta'ala. Alhamdulillah for all that good. Alhamdulillah for any good that manifests. This is from sitq, authenticity, integrity, and truthfulness. And that finally, always being people who seek good character. Wherever Allah Ta'ala places us, wherever he causes us to exit from, are after the tawheed, the recognition of Allah Ta'ala and his agency in our movements, in our comings and goings, we seek to manifest good character. And the Prophet said, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, as Tinmiddhi relates in the beautiful hadith, that the Prophet said, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, nothing whatsoever is more weighty in the scales of the day of judgment than beautiful character. It's the heaviest thing. And so it's from the implication of sitq, truthfulness, and integrity, is to pursue a life of virtue in all situations. To pursue virtue in all situations, Allah Ta'ala will move us and he will keep us. And our lives are continual movements and stillnesses. And our families have to go, the decree is written, children move away from parents, parents have to go over there. The vicissitudes of life, this is all from the divine decree. But our concern primarily should be the devotion to Allah Ta'ala, the worship of Allah Ta'ala and pursuing the prophetic way of good character and attributing all good to him. Subhanahu Ta'ala, our Lord and Creator, we ask Allah Ta'ala for tawfiq and taiseer. Wherever Allah Ta'ala takes us, wherever Allah Ta'ala keeps us, that we ask Allah that we are people that are manifestations of this sublime dua. Rabbi, adkhilni mudkhala sitq, wa akhirijni mukhraja sitq, wa ja'alni milladunka sultan al-nasira. Allahumma inna nasaruka al-aafiya fid dunya wa al-akhira. Allahumma inna nasaruka tamam al-aafiya wa dawam al-aafiya wa shukra al-al-aafiya wa l-ghina an-nas. Allahumma inna nasaruka tawfiq wal-akhlaas wa dawam al-ni'ama wa hasdan khitam. Inna Allaha wa malaiqatahu yusalluna al-nabiyyaa ayyuhal ladina aamunusallu alayhi wa salimu taslima Allahumma sali wa salimu barikala Sidna Muhammad, an-nabiru miwala alihi wa sahbihi wa salimun hamdu lillahi rabbil alameen wa aqimu s-salah.