 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم in the name of Allah سبحانه وتعالى the most gracious, the most merciful the one who loves to forgive we seek his forgiveness الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله واصحابه أجمعين we praise Allah سبحانه وتعالى he who loves to forgive so we seek his forgiveness and we send blessings and salutations سبحان محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم his household, his companions may Allah bless them may Allah bless all those who struggled and strove over the centuries in a way that they learnt the deen they practiced it they taught it to their children and to others and they passed the baton so that today we are seated here we need to pray for them we may never know them we need to seek that Allah bless them may Allah bless us all and we need to understand the responsibility on our shoulders to continue that so that one day generations down people will be praying for us too may Allah keep us concerned and may he make us responsible my brothers and sisters the beautiful last ten nights of this beautiful month of Ramadan there is a message doing its rounds saying that I was the one who said that you need to read this so many times and you need to read that so many times and you need to make a salah in each unit you need to read this surah and that surah that message is totally fabricated the only thing I can tell you is what Aisha رضي الله عنها taught us that she asked the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم what should I read on the night of ليلة القدر and he said say اللهم إنك عفوون تحب العف وفعف وعني oh Allah you are most forgiving you love to forgive so forgive me for me that dua is absolutely powerful if Allah accepts it once wallahi think about what it means we are actually telling Allah oh Allah you love to forgive what type of hope is this it's amazing imagine we've all done wrong haven't we we're all weak we say oh Allah you love to forgive so forgive me I am your slave I am helpless I am totally dependent on you that is an awesome powerful dua do not underestimate it it doesn't mean you've got to repeat something a million times before Allah hears you but it does mean you've got to be genuine and sincere in your call to Allah may Allah سبحانه و تعالى forgive every one of us we dive straight into سورة أصافات the surah after surat yasin it is surah number 37 of the Quran in this surah there are so many stories of the prophets mentioned in a slight bit of detail highlighting different aspects of these lives of the messengers however I want to draw my attention and yours to something beautiful about Ibrahim عليه السلام in this surah سورة أصافات the story of how he went to sacrifice his son is made mention of in a little bit of greater detail than anywhere else in the Quran and this is why in this beautiful surah Allah tells us how Ibrahim عليه السلام's quality was such that it was absolutely unique Allah took him as a friend الله سبحانه وتعالى has two what is known as خليل الخليلين the first is خليل الله إبراهيم عليه السلام خليل is actually the highest level of friendship it is called خلا خلا meaning the highest level of friends so إبراهيم عليه السلام is a خليل of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم for your information is also خليل الله if you did not know may Allah سبحانه وتعالى قرارنا خليل معه و may Allah make us from those who are close to him أمين so how did he become such a close friend of Allah by obeying Allah's instruction immediately whether he understood it or did not understand it the fact that he knew it came from Allah he blindly followed it that was what made him the خليل of Allah سبحانه وتعالى when he saw the dream you know that immediately he told his son oh my son I've seen a dream إني أرا في المنام أني أذبحك فانظر ما ذا ترى oh my son I have seen the instruction of Allah سبحانه وتعالى via a dream that I was sacrificing you what do you think I should do the son says يا أبا تفعل ما تعمر ستجدني إن شاء الله من الصابرين oh my father do as Allah has instructed you you will find me to be from among the patient الله أكبر الله أكبر what instruction brothers and sisters Allah has not instructed us to do something we don't understand he instructs us to pray he instructs us to abstain from Haram from that which is harmful to us but we still don't do it here is Ibrahim عليه السلام given an instruction he never understood ever he did not understand it but he knew it was from Allah so he attempted to fulfill it sincerely for Allah and Allah سبحانه وتعالى says verse number 104 of Surah الصافات وناديناه أيها إبراهيم قد صدقت الرؤية إن كذلك نجز المحسين ونجز المحسين وما أنه ممتاز جدت للمسيح فيه dream وقال ابراهيم أنت لك محسين ما تعطتك فيه dream ونجز بالطبع سوف نسعر الذين يفعلون جيد يعني أن يفعلون جيد كان يبقى تبع الأسراء بالله الله سبحانه وتعالى سبحانه وتعالى صلاة الفجر أخي ونجز ذلك لا تحاول صديقك لن يفعل شيئ ونقام بمتع تحاول صديقك و نحن لا نساعد ، سبحان الله ، بعض الناس يساعدون للسحور في رمضان و يساعدون قبل فلات الفجر ، هل تعتقد ذلك؟ هل يمكن الله أن نساعدنا؟ هل يمكن الله سبحانه وتعالى لدينا مرسل على نفسنا؟ أخييني و أخييني ، انظروا ما نعلم ، لذا الله سبحانه وتعالى يقول رقم 104 و 105 ، لدينا حقاً ، أصبحت معكم أو إبراهيم ، الله سبحانه وتعالى لدينا مرسل من جنة ، و سوف نتبقى رمضانها جدًا و جدًا ، و أنت ستتذكر بذلك من بعدك في الناس ، هذا كان مرسل الله ، نساعدنا من الناس من الله ، by following the instruction of الله سبحانه وتعالى ، this is Haram, this is Halal, consider Haram Haram and Halal Halal, you will be saved, your body will be saved, the food that is not permissible to consume, don't consume it, it's not healthy for you, it's not good for you, whether you know or not, whether science says yes or no, if Allah says no it's a no, done. Subhanallah and you need to be convinced that if Allah says something, I am definitely a مؤمن ، I believe that He made us, He knows better than you and I, what is best for me and you, Subhanallah, this is Ibrahim عليه السلام, how did he achieve friendship of Allah, do we want that friendship or a portion of it, well one of the ways of achieving it is to do that which will please Allah, stay away from that which is prohibited, what a beautiful lesson we learned from this lovely story that we always hear, so I want to quickly repeat it, Ibrahim عليه السلام, every time Allah instructed him to do something, it was so difficult, even if it didn't make sense, I can give you one quick example, when he was told to leave his children in Makkah in the desert and to proceed, he turned around and he started walking and his family says where are you going, he continued because he didn't want to look back at them and feel sorry for them, he says if Allah has instructed me then definitely I need to keep walking, today that Makkah that was barren with only two people in it has been converted into the hub of the entire globe, every one of our hearts is stuck in Makkah المكرمة, we would all love to be near the Kaaba right now, Subhanallah, that is Ibrahim عليه السلام, Allah will give you my brothers and sisters a good memory, when you've passed away people will say I had a great grandfather, he was a great man, you know he did this and did why not, Subhanallah, today we don't even know our grandfathers, let alone great grandfather من الله سبحانه وتعالى make us great in his eyes, let's move on to the next beautiful Surah, Surat Sa'd, in Surat Sa'd also there are stories of certain prophets made mention of and beautiful examples but the one I want to draw something we're all guilty of, you and I know that sometimes you hear a story and before you actually verify it you've already believed it and you've already issued judgment and you've already passed it on and the whole world already knows the wrong story, don't we do that it's a fact we all do it I'm guilty perhaps as well because Subhanallah we all require attention myself included it does not mean that because I'm talking to you I'm a saint, no I'm talking to you I need what I'm saying more desperately than you, may Allah سبحانه وتعالى rectify me and forgive me and may Allah forgive all of us, so my brothers and sisters what is important for us to remind each other about is whenever a tale comes to you don't believe it authenticate it verify it number one if it does not concern you throw it out you've got enough in your memory you know today we lack concentration in salah we lack concentration in so many good deeds we feel lazy to do good deeds can I tell you why let's go back to your mobile phone what phones do you have samsung iphone how away if you want to call it that or who away when I went to china they told me it's pronounced what way I said okay no problem it's a what way whatever you have my brothers and sisters by the way that's a very very good phone subhanallah I've been using it for for a while 128 gigabytes is just the standard memory I don't know why I'm advertising for them but anyway the point I want to raise is when you have a memory what happens you've taken a few photos you've got a few videos you've done a few things and the next best thing is the phone is full it becomes slow it becomes sluggish why you just got it but the memory is full too many photos too many videos wallahi my brothers and sisters do you learn a lesson from that about your own system we also have a brain we have a gigabyte capacity terabyte capacity you have a mind if you fill it with unnecessary pictures a lot of memory is taken by photographs a lot of your memory is consumed by images by videos by pornography by that which is haram too much is occupied so now when you try to activate and you quickly want to say الله أكبر your mind is sluggish by the time your system kicks in the Imam is already saying السلام عليكم ورحمة الله why your phone subhanallah your memory so we become sluggish take it out that's why I say we need to clean ourselves save yourself by deleting that which is unnecessary from your system how many of us have restarted our phones and restored factory settings or got a chip external hard drive to say this I don't need it right now shift all the photos into there so that my phone can work subhanallah let's do it to ourselves take out format go back to factory settings it's ramadan you can return to factory settings by saying الله هم انك عفو واني you will reset your system by the will of Allah واللهي I promise you you get up fresh from ramadan click click you there for صلاة الفجر the first day of eid masha Allah must it is full why I have a new system as soon as the bell rang I was up before that because I'm used to getting up so early الله helped you but with us no we'd start downloading unnecessary things I have a grudge against that one hatred against this one I'm into pornography I'm into adultery I can't wait to commit that sin this sin into gambling into drugs into my gangs etc be careful let's improve ourselves my brothers and sisters we can do it so let's go to this beautiful lesson like I say we're talking about saving ourselves verse number 24 of surat صاد الله سبحانه وتعالى makes a mention of a beautiful story of Dawood عليه الصلاة I told you Dawood was the father he was the dad right عليه الصلاة وسلام so people came to him with a dispute الله makes mention of the details of this dispute الله says there are two of us who are disputing between each other about what about sheep that we have we have sheep so the one man says you know that guy has 99 sheep I only have one and he still wants that one from me and he has 99 so Dawood عليه الصلاة looks at him and says you know what you shouldn't be doing this سبحان الله hang on it doesn't mean that just because he has 99 and this guy has one that this guy is right perhaps that one also could belong to that person who has 99 making it 100 and this might not be his it's possible isn't it it does not make it right and wrong even though it's glaringly seeming so but that's not correct so الله says سبحان الله that Dawood عليه الصلاة وسلام told him that you know what he passed a judgment without listening to the other side he says you know he's oppressed you how can he ask you for your one just because he's got 99 and he says this one is also yours and and then he said a powerful statement which is valid I'm going to divert in order to present it because we need to save ourselves you know when we have businesses try and avoid partnership you know why it's not something that is encouraged it is just a last resort when you have partners you need to have a big heart if you don't have a big heart and if your if your heart is connected to wealth that partnership is going to end in a very sour way even if you are brothers remember that it has to happen if you are miserly and if you don't have a very big heart partnerships do not work if you want to go into partnership with someone you need to love them enough to say okay to discrepancies that shall occur because that is the nature of partnerships remember this where do I get this from here Dawood عليه الصلاة وسلام says he says most of the partners they they try to go beyond their limit with the partner they actually transgress beyond the limits they eat what is not theirs in that partnership except those who believe and do good deeds and they are very very few of them that was the statement of Dawood عليه الصلاة what advice do we have save yourselves if you really need to go into a partnership it is totally permissible remember that there is no prohibition but you need to go in with the right people you need to be honest you need to have an honest partner you need to learn to love each other and as you grow older break the partnership while you are still friends distribute while you are alive your children will kill each other regarding your business especially if it goes into the millions and the tens and hundreds of millions remember this go and watch anyone i know of very very few exceptions in my life go and watch anyone no matter who they are after some time they start fighting like cats and dogs why because man has love for wealth love for power and this is what makes him fight subhanallah wealth can actually destroy father and child relation mother and daughter relation husband and wife relation people getting divorced the husband wants to claim something that's not even his from the property of the wife or the ex-wife wants to claim something that's not hers it keeps on happening and it repeats itself make things clear save yourselves from calamity and disaster by making things absolutely clear when it comes to business may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us so that was a slight diversion the topic about partnership and how important it is to go into partnership if you really have to with the right people with a very big heart preparedness to say it's okay may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us from those who learn a beautiful lesson many of us were already in partnership must be thinking hey how do i get out of it now too late may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us all goodness and ease and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala favor us may Allah bless us all with beautiful sustenance remember my brothers and sisters Allah gives us what is enough for us we fight for more than that that's what it is if you're fighting it's for beyond your basic necessity generally the basic necessity Allah will cater for you don't worry may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us and open our doors let's move on so he passed a judgment regarding this man and immediately he realized that you know what i was wrong obviously he's a prophet of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah makes mention of this in order to teach us a lesson what is it save yourselves from accusing people or judging without listening to both parties thoroughly if you're not prepared to give both parties an equal chance to present their cases and their evidence remain mum keep quiet if you want to pass a judgment listen to two sides you will be surprised i have been called into arbitration on many occasions whereby the person calling me into the arbitration was later discovered to be wrong and they sometimes tell me but you know why did you do this i was the one who called you in here so when you called the wrong person i was going to listen to both sides and pass a judgment it doesn't mean that you called me so you are right may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us but that's what we think that's my sheikh you know my sheikh is supposed to like a lawyer supposed to fight my case no a sheikh is different different not just you pay him and he fights your case no he's supposed to be honest that you know what listen brother mashaAllah you're wrong and this is what i suggest you do and you are my brother you know i love you i care for you i respect you and please try and listen to may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us all may Allah help us resolve our disputes and problems in an amicable way sometimes some of the problems of the umma they take very long to resolve keep on making dua to Allah keep on trying keep on having hope and be just it doesn't mean that you have to forego the justice it doesn't mean that every time i just need to say it's okay it's okay you need to know if someone has usurped your right you do have a right to tackle them you do have a right to take it up and to ensure that you get that right may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us and guide us all so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes mention of how as a result of this سليمان علي صدي داود عليه الصلاة والسلام he fell prostrate for Allah he sought his forgiveness and he knew that he was tested by Allah so Allah سبحانه و تعالى there after says verse number 26 of the surah او داود we have made you a vice gerent on earth we have made you a khalifa on the earth so judge between the people with justice in a proper way listening to both sides do not follow your desires and whims because that will indeed lead you astray may Allah سبحانه و تعالى grant us all the ability to learn a lesson from this let's move on masha Allah surah to zoomar what a beautiful surah it is named after the groups zoomar referring to little crowds of people why zoomar because Allah speaks of heaven and hell جنة and جهنم and Allah says the people will enter heaven in groups groups of people they will be going in with their leaders they will be going in with their prophets they will be going in in groups and etc and when the people enter jihannam they will also be going in groups with their chommies with their friends with whoever was there you know in the world subhanallah those who might not know what that means it's a local term here in south africa referring to bosom bodies right your friends may Allah سبحانه و تعالى grant us good friendship so people will be entering into jihannam with their own friends with their own groups the groups that they had perhaps in the dunya they used to do all the wrong together they will also be clustered together it's dangerous when you read about it in the quran it's actually hair-raising it makes you scared you've got friends just ask yourself which way are we heading it won't be very difficult to actually figure it out you know if your friends you're always together thinking of good and doing good and trying to do good then alhamdulillah you can imagine the group entering into jannah together as a group saying hey guys let's go as you used to say let's go to the mosque and we say let's enter the door that's our door and we're all going in mashaAllah and if you guys used to go clubbing and may Allah سبحانه و تعالى make us turn before it is too late save yourselves my brothers and sisters have good friends good friends such that you know when you look at them and you talk to them you can picture what's going to happen in the year after inshaAllah and it's never too late never ever too late because you're still alive سبحان الله we're going to come to that verse about being late before i actually get into these groups and i want to mention one point about the group but i must tell you the verse that has in it the greatest hope in the entire quran it is called أرجا آية في القرآن الكريم the آية that has the greatest hope in the quran is verse number 53 of صورة زمر which is صورة number 39 do you want to hear it no verse in the quran has expressed greater hope for us than this verse let's hear it say oh محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم oh my worshipers who have transgressed against themselves never lose hope ever ever ever in the mercy of الله سبحانه وتعالى for indeed الله forgives every single sin he will forgive every single sin for indeed he is most forgiving most merciful سبحان الله what mercy is this الله tells his most beloved to talk to all of us and to tell us no matter what you've done don't you dare lose hope الله أكبر that's Allah talking to you don't lose hope don't think that oh now you know i've done too much is douba okay for me or not it is okay here's Allah if you lose hope you're insulting Allah because your maker told you never lose hope i know what you've done i know where you've been i know what you've been into and i am telling you do not lose hope come back i'm waiting for you سبحان الله حديث says when we seek the forgiveness of Allah Allah becomes so happy with us yet he doesn't need us you know why because the devil promised Allah these people won't turn and then the devil comes and make us think you are a right off you've been written off you're not fit for the forgiveness of Allah if we fall into that trap we anger Allah if we don't fall into the trap and we say oh Allah the devil is trying to make me lose hope but i know that you are the most merciful because you told us in verse number 53 of surah number 39 in the quran that we should never lose hope i refuse to lose hope oh Allah you have mercy on me forgive me i know i'm worth paradise سبحان الله amazing we are worth paradise Allah loves us that's why when you hear something like this don't you feel good you know why you feel good because you have iman that's why you believe in Allah you have faith you have the shahada that's why you are feeling good about it when you say no i know i've done bad i admit my sin but i have open jannah and i'm going to go there and i'm going to try please let's not fall in another trap of the devil what is it shaitan says did you hear that Allah is most merciful did you hear keep on clubbing don't worry keep on doing your thing don't worry about alcohol it's minor a few drops won't affect Allah what سبحان الله you need to make sure that you don't fall into that trap because that's another extreme one hand shaitan wants to make you lose hope the other hand he wants to make you have too much of hope that you actually now think that you know it's free for all it's okay Allah is okay he's fine i remember someone who was semi-nude سبحان الله telling others that you know what Allah doesn't judge me by my outer clothing it's a fact that Allah doesn't judge you by your external being but when you're asking for trouble then you judge yourself we won't judge you you judge yourself you know what Allah wants of you سبحان الله من الله سبحانه وتعالى ستنقلنا all at the same time we're all grappling and we're all trying to become better people to quit whatever weaknesses we have let's not be judgmental when we see people who have open weaknesses try and help don't be derogatory because Allah might expose your hidden weakness they might have an apparent weakness so don't become judgmental and abusive and don't look at people and start pointing fingers no we try to help each other i tell you why we're all drowning and we all need to save each other who those who've been saved by the will of Allah we will never regret but try to save other people while you're saving yourself aren't we talking about saving ourselves we're all drowning everywhere you go there is sin to be committed wholesale free سبحان الله free in fact it's not free you've got to pay i'm just thinking about it a lot of the sins you have to pay it go into the clubs you got to pay gambling you got to pay alcohol you got to pay drugs you got to pay عدالتر you got to pay what else you got to pay for absolutely everything but come to the mosque it free fast free صلاة free dress properly free imagine so i was actually wrong if you look at it that way to earn the mercy of Allah is free to get the punishment you got to pay but we still willingly pay i'll do it i'll save my money i'll go i'll do this may Allah سبحانه وتعالى help us and guide us so there is another part of the verse the second part of the verse actually draws us back to reality where Allah says look i told you not to lose hope didn't i but i want to tell you do it quickly listen to what Allah says in verse number 54 that's the next one وانيبو إلى ربكم وأسلموا له من قبل أن يأتيكم العذاب ثم لا تنصرون ورقصوا إلى الله ورقصوا إلى الله ورقصوا إلى الله سبحانه وتعالى قبل أن يأتي لك ون تساعدك so Allah is telling you in one verse look how beautiful the Quran is Allah is telling you you know what i'm merciful don't lose hope in my mercy but i want to tell you you don't know how long you're going to live so turn today don't wait for tomorrow don't wait for tomorrow that's what Allah is saying and in fact in the next verse it's even made clearer واتبعوا أحسن ما أنزل إليكم من ربكم من قبل أن يأتيكم العذاب الله says follow the best of that which has been revealed from your rub before the punishment comes to you suddenly and you won't even have realized that it's i'm overtaken with the punishment which means death may come to us at any time the destruction might come at any time الله says i'm teaching you to be hopeful but i also want you to do it quickly as soon as possible because you don't know how long you're going to live my brothers and sisters you want to taste the sweetness you turn to Allah let us all turn to الله i want to end by making mention of those groups verse number 71 of the surah makes mention of the people of hellfire واسيق الذين كفروا إلى جنة مزمرة the people of hellfire will be driven into hellfire in groups when they get to hellfire the doors will then be opened for them and the gatekeepers will ask them a question a very very important question فا يات ربكم ويونذرونكم لقاء يومكم هذا هل لا one came to you did no messengers come to you reciting the verses of Allah to you and reminding you of this particular day that's the question the angels will be asking those who will be entering hellfire and they will say yeah they came they came but alas they didn't follow that's the problem so Allah says we sent you messengers who read our verses to you we made sure you got the message it got to your ears what did you do about it did you improve yourself my brothers and sisters let's inch forward to Allah tonight let's promise Allah we will be better than yesterday and tomorrow we will be better than today by the will of Allah and inshallah in that way we will definitely be able to save ourselves from being from among the groups who will be asked this question when they enter hellfire rather we will be greeted with سلام سلام well as we enter in groups جنة الفردوس and paradise من الله grand us جنة أقول قولي هذا وصلى الله وسلم وبارك على نبينا محمد سبحان الله وبحمده سبحانك الله وبحمدك نشهد ولا إله إلا أنت نستغفرك وان