 Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah, we thank Allah swt and we praise Him, Jalla Thana'uhu and we say Alhamdulillah in the good times and we say Alhamdulillah in the difficult times. And we send salutations and peace and blessings upon our Master Muhammad ﷺ, the final prophet to humanity ﷺ, the mercy to mankind ﷺ, the greatest honor that we have to be in his ummah ﷺ, that the Juma is normally a reminder of taqwa, of piety, our prophet ﷺ, it's reported in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad and elsewhere, that in the year before he passed ﷺ, before he passed away, that he was walking with the companion Mu'ad ibn Jabal, who was being sent to Yemen to teach and Mu'ad ibn Jabal, Allah be pleased with him, was a great scholar amongst the companions, he was going to go teach the people of Yemen and beautiful advice that the prophet gave him, wasiyah ﷺ, amongst which is a hadith, yassiru wa la tuassiru, bashiru wa la tunafiru, you know, make things easy for people, don't make things overly unnecessarily difficult and give people hope and optimism, glad tidings, don't turn them away, don't repel them, and that's one of the foundational principles of our religion, is that the sharia is a means of ease, there is obviously a level of difficulty and exertion that the believer has to invest to follow the sacred law, but it is ultimately a tremendous ease, because it leads to ultimate ease in the next life, jannah, everlasting bliss, and the company of Allah ta'ala, and the company of the messenger, salallahu alayhi salam, and the righteous, but also that when things get difficult in life, the sharia has mechanisms to facilitate, and so also optimism that make people full of optimism, because our religion is a religion of optimism, and the way of the prophet, salallahu alayhi salam, was to inspire hope and love in the people around him, and in the believers, salallahu alayhi salam, but at the end of that beautiful wasiyah, then he makes a statement, salallahu alayhi salam, that o mu'ad, perhaps you will not see me after this year, and when you come back to visit my masjid, my grave will be there as well, or o kamakal, or as he said it, salallahu alayhi salam, say the mu'ad starts weeping tremendously, starts crying and crying, he's so sad to hear this, because it's an indication that very likely he would not see his beloved again, salallahu alayhi salam, and so then the prophet, salallahu alayhi salam, according to the hadith, he turns his blessed face towards Madinah Munawwara, the blessed city of Madinah, and he says, salallahu alayhi salam, inna ola nasbi al mutaqoon, man kanu wahithu kanu, subhan Allah, he says, salallahu alayhi salam, the people that are ola, you know, they're most suitable, most deserving of me, most appropriate for me, most worthy of me are the people of Taqwa, are the people of piety and righteousness, whomever they, whoever they are, and wherever they are, whoever they are, and wherever they are. And this is a tremendous invitation and summons for us, that we are people in terms of time and space, very distant from that blessed, blessed time, the blessed time of the Sita, yet we have an opportunity to connect directly with the Prophet, salallahu alayhi salam, and therefore directly with Allah Ta'ala, through our piety and righteousness. It's amazing, man kanu wahithu kanu, whoever they are, wherever they are, whatever culture, whatever ethnicity, whatever wealth status, whatever, you know, whatever the divisions in the world of human beings, Taqwa is the direct connection to Allah and his messenger, salallahu alayhi salam, and those people, may Allah make us amongst them, are most worthy of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi salam, or most appropriate to be with him, salallahu alayhi salam, and therefore with the Divine Himself, with Allah Ta'ala, subhanahu alayhi salam. And so Taqwa, a man once came and asked the Prophet, salallahu alayhi salam, subhanahu alayhi salam in the Arba'een of Imam Nawawi, it's related in Sahih Muslim. He says, give me, tell me one thing, O Allah's messenger, salallahu alayhi salam, that I won't ask anyone, one thing about Islam, that I won't ask anyone but you. You know, give me that one thing that I can hold on to. And so the answer being foundational to our religion was placed by Imam Nawawi in his important collection of the 40 hadiths. What does the Prophet say? Salallahu alayhi salam, he says, qul, aamantubillah thumma staqim. And we should all memorize this hadith. Qul, aamantubillah thumma staqim. It's a few words, but a universe of meanings. Say, I believe in Allah, iman, with firm conviction, because iman in our tradition is not belief as a likelihood, iman is yakeen. In our tradition, iman, faith, belief in Allah Ta'ala and all the revelation and the teachings of Islam, belief is certitude. Qul, aamantubillah. Say, I have belief with firm conviction in Allah. Thumma staqim and then be upright, and then have istiqama. Istiqama is one of the weightiest meanings in our tradition. It's to be consistent and steadfast in the path of righteousness, to be consistent and steadfast in the path of piety, to be consistent and steadfast, steadfast in the path of taqwa itself, istiqama. And noticed in the sublime prophetic language, In other words, one of the indicating by ishara that one of the most powerful and salient means of deepening that certitude, of deepening that conviction that's the ground of iman is diqrullah, because qul, say aamantubillah. In other words, make diqr and all the forms of diqr from the kitab and sunnah are expressions of saying aamantubillah when we say subhanullah, walhamdulillah, wa la ilaha illallah, wa la hua akbar, wa la hawla wa la quta illa billah. When we send prayers on the Prophet, saallallahu alayhi wa sallam, all of these beautiful means of making remembrance of Allah asman wa ta'ala, it's fulfilling qul aamantubillah. We are expressing iman through the remembrance of Allah and the fruits of diqr are deepening the certitude. It leads to a it is a powerful means of deepening our certitude, our yakeen in Allah ta'ala, and the revelation itself. And we're in a time and age where we desperately need more certitude. We need deep certitude in these times. And so to make diqr of Allah ta'ala as a regular practice, that same blessed companion that we began would say in the mu'adim in Jabal, it's reported in the Mustadrak of Haqim and elsewhere, the sonn of Ibn Majah, that he said, رضي الله عنه ما عميلا آدمي عملا أنجاله من عذاب الله من ذكر الله عز وجل ما عميلا آدمي عملا أنجاله من عذاب الله من ذكر الله عز وجل no human being ever did a deed ever performed an action more salvific for him, أنجاله more salvific for him, from the punishment of Allah than the remembrance of Allah, mighty and majestic. ذكر الله according to say the mu'adim in Jabal who is Imam of Halal and Haram. He's a great scholar amongst the companions. Allah be pleased with him is the most salvific action, the action that's provides us the most safety from the punishment of Allah ta'ala. Most salient is in the next life. But also in this life, punishment of Allah comes in different ways in this life. And one of the perennial human concerns is safety and security. And so we should take then this this principle of zikr of utmost seriousness even for our worldly welfare, let alone the other worldly welfare. We ask Allah ta'ala to save us from his adab. And so that the remembrance of Allah and then then be steadfast and consistent, be steadfast and consistent. Notice how these two principles align with the Quranic description of the Oliya. When Allah ta'ala describes the people he loves in Surah Yunus, Verily, the Oliya, those that Allah loves, the people close to Allah, none need to fear for them. And they shall not grieve. What's their description? Those people of deep faith and conviction, and then what was their practice as emanating from that certitude? And they were ever consistent in the path of Taqwa. It's amazing. And that one of the great early imams of our tradition, Abu Ali Al-Ru Dhabari, Rahimahullah Ta'ala, he died in the year 322 after Hijrah. Very eminent, respected Imam of our tradition. He says, He says, So this principle of iman as being that having levels of certitude, he says the most beneficial of certitude, is that which makes great, venerates the divine in your eyes. In other words, the fruit of true yakin is that Allah becomes our first priority is when Allah becomes our first priority. We have to ask ourselves day in and day out when we go about our daily activities, day in and day out. What's our first priority? And what's our first concern? And what's our first reflection? And what's our first contemplation? What's the highest priority? Is it the dunya in and of itself? Or is it Allah Ta'ala, the creator of the heavens and earth for whom we work hard in the dunya? Because the dunya, the world in and of itself is not evil. The world in and of itself is not evil. But insofar as it distracts us from Allah Ta'ala, insofar as it causes us to be heedless and inattentive to Allah Ta'ala, then we have allowed it to harm us. Then we have allowed it to harm us. And so the question is, what's our first priority? So according to Abu Ali Al-Ru Dhabari, Rahimahullah, the most beneficial absurditude is that which venerates the divine in your eyes. That certitude that makes Allah Ta'ala our first priority, that we take Allah seriously. This is a question we all have to ask. How seriously do I take my creator? How seriously do I take my creator? And when I go through my concerns and anxieties, when I reflect on my concerns and anxieties, is the first concern seeking the divine pleasure? Is that what makes me anxious first? Because that base level, that little bit of anxiety for the sake of Allah will push us to be consistent and have istiqama. The people of Allah, one of the descriptions of the people of Allah Ta'ala, is they have a little bit of that baseline anxiety. Because Himmah, aspiration, energy, that zeal to do more good comes from that sense of urgency. That sense of urgency. And so the great Imam, he says, this is the best, most beneficial yakeen, is that which venerates the divine in your eyes and that what other than Him becomes insignificant for you. Other than Allah becomes insignificant for you. And therefore, our work in the world and our work of the work that Allah Ta'ala has placed us in the world. So we have to work. But all that becomes a type of zikr of Allah Ta'ala because we do it for the sake of Allah. So when we go about our regular activities of the day and fulfill our responsibilities day in and day out, we are seeking Allah's pleasure in that, such that it's not a distraction away from Allah, but a means of serving Allah Ta'ala. And then the conclusion of that aphorism, he says, that beneficial yakeen, is what? Ma'afbata l-khawf wa raja'a fi qalbik. And that certitude leads to fear of Allah, fear of Allah's majesty and hope in Allah's mercy in your heart. What are our, what's our number one fear? And what's our number one hope? What's the highest fear that we have in our hearts? What's the highest hope that we have in our hearts? We ask Allah Ta'ala that we get to a level to where the answer is clear inside each of us for ourselves. Allah, Allah, Allah. Al-Alihi wa sahbihi wa salim jasliman kathira. Imam Junaid, Rahimahullah, another great eminent Imam of our tradition, he was asked once by one of his students that, how do I become realized in these sublime meanings? How do I become realized in these sublime meanings? The meanings, the haqa'iq of iman, the implications of faith when it comes to the sharia, the sacred law, and Allah and His Messenger, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the meanings from the book in the sunnah. How do I become realized in these meanings? And the great Imam, Rahimullah, he says, be tawbatin tozeelu al-israr. The first one he says is by sincere repentance, such that we don't persist in sins anymore. Al-israr is to persist in sins. It's the exact opposite of istiqama. Istiqama is to be consistent in righteousness. And if the person slips, if the person makes a mistake, if the person makes an error, if the person just the ego gets the best of them and they fall into disobedience, they immediately make repentance. And they avoid this deep sin of israr, of persisting in wrong actions. So he says, be tawbatin tozeelu al-israr by a major repentance, such that persistence and sin no longer is there. If it happens, it happens as a slip or an error. And we ask Allah Ta'ala for protection. That's the first one. He says the second one, wa khawfin yakta'u tasweef, and a fear of Allah that severs off procrastination. A fear of Allah such that the person stops procrastinating. And this idea that, well, I have my whole life to improve. I have my whole life to improve. Maybe when I'm 68 and a half, I can finally do those good deeds I need to do. No, khawf. The fear of Allah such that wherever Allah puts us, whatever age, whatever circumstance, we leave off procrastination. We start in this, in this moment and in every moment upon this principle of istiqama, each moment Allah Ta'ala grants us, we are working. We are at least trying to improve ourselves. And the third one, he says, رحمه الله ورجاء يبحثوا على مسالك العمل and hope in Allah that bequeaths good deeds. مسالك العمل, various avenues of good deeds. The people of optimism are always excited to pursue the good. So wherever Allah Ta'ala puts us, our optimism in Allah our hope in Allah should allow us to try to find some good that we can do. Is there anything we should always be thinking wherever Allah Ta'ala places us, is there some khidmah I can make? Is there someone I can help in this situation? Am I able to alleviate someone's difficulty? Am I able to smile in someone's face? Maybe it's something as simple as smiling in their face, being a good company, giving them a cheerful countenance, giving them five minutes of my time to see maybe they have some stress. Removing a harm from the road. The Prophet would teach us of subtle things that are so tremendous. Why? Because of the hope in the heart of seeking avenues of good deeds. And the fourth one, he mentions رحمه الله وإهانة نفس بقربها من الأجل وبعدها من الأمل. And demoting one's ego because that's the foundation of all harm, the ego. And demoting one's ego, putting down one's selfs by realizing that death could be any moment. And expecting a long life, expecting a long life such that we procrastinate in our good deeds is a foolish thing. Now the questioner, and we'll conclude with this, he says how does one reach that? And his concern was that these meanings are so high. Give me some, give me some, what's the foundation to attain all these meanings? What the Imam replied with was also very high. So the questioner, he says, well how do you do that then? How do you attain these foundational virtues? And he says رحمه الله تعالى بقلب مفرد فيه توحيد مجرد. By a heart that has been singularized with only the oneness of Allah, by a heart that is divested of other than Allah, such that it's, it is replete with توحيد, with the oneness of Allah تعالى, with the remembrance of Allah تعالى, with fear and hope in Allah, with ultimately the love of Allah تعالى. We ask Allah تعالى to make us people of iman, and yaqeen, and استقامة, with his lutef and apya. We ask Allah تعالى to make us people of toba that removes all persistence and sin. We ask Allah to make us people of fear of the divine, such that we don't procrastinate in seeking the good. We ask Allah to make us people of hope and optimism in him, such that we seize the day with any good deed, and any opportunity for good deeds. And we ask Allah to make us people who demote our own egos for his sake. Allahumma salli wa sallim, wa baraka ala siddina Muhammad al-nabiyunumi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim, walhamdulillahi rabbal alamin wa aqimu s-salam.