 awesome to see these beautiful faces. We made it, Alhamdulillah. Guess what today is? The most incredible day in the week, Friday. Guess what today is? The second Juma, the second Friday in this month, right? The second one. It's awesome. So for that we say Alhamdulillah. For that we should be happy. Allah gave us an opportunity to be here again on the day of Friday and this month. So with that we say, Alhamdulillah. All praise, gratitude belongs to Allah, Subhanahu ta'ala. Nahmaduhu, when we praise him, when we ask for assistance. Allah says in his book, Ya ayyuhal ladina amanu believers addressing all of you. Have taqlah of Allah, have awareness of Allah, have consciousness of Allah, have understanding that Allah is with you all the time. Haqqa toqatihi, the way he deserves it. Don't forget what we just said. And you find yourself in a manner that you are departing this world, that you're dying and you don't remember that you're supposed to be aware of your actions. And Allah gave you this month for what? Just for this purpose. To learn how to earn, how to become muttaqi, how to understand what taqwah is, understand how consciousness and closeness to Allah is. Let me tell you a story. It might be a little bit different khutbah. I'm going to ask questions and I'm going to give you the answer. I don't want you to answer it because you're sitting in a khutbah. If it was a aid khutbah, it was a completely different ball game. Juma khutbah is different. Did you know, do you know where your ultimate home is? Did you know you were in Jannah once upon a time? And the answer is yes. You should know that. Every single one of you, including me, we were in Jannah before we came here. Let me tell you this. When you take a vacation, when you are going to go vacation after Ramadan after the Eid, you go somewhere for a vacation for a week, two weeks, a month. At some point, you've got to come home. You can vacation forever. It doesn't work that way, right? Temporarily, you go somewhere. Guess where your home is? Guess where you were before this? You were in Jannah. This is where I... What do I get this? I get it from the Qur'an. And guess what else happened? Have you like, what? Yeah. Allah spoke with you. Did you know that? Allah talked to you directly. And you responded to Allah directly. That's in the Qur'an too. Allah asked you a question and you responded. Every one of you temporarily were placed in here. This is where you are temporarily. You're going to go back. How are you going to go back? That's a question. How do you go back up there? You need to go back up. Allah wants you to go back to where you belong, to Jannah. And if we understand this and contemplate about that, I want to know what's going on with this mic, then we understand the meaning of the area that you have heard a million times at least during Ramadan or preparation to the Ramadan and all that. If you understand that, then you understand that this is something new. This is nothing new. Allah gave this from the very beginning, which is Adam, a.s. Until this promise was fulfilled by our Prophet, a.s., which is what? Which is to go back, to find a journey, to find a means. And Allah is throwing you a rope saying, Climb up. And this is the month for you to climb up. How do you do that? You get to know someone that you wanted to know someone. What is the method of get to know someone? You have to talk to the person. You have to get to know the person. You have to make appointments. You have to make time consciously. Allah gave you this month and this revelation to do exactly that. Allah is inviting you and waiting for you. Hear me out. You might be like, yes, Allah is waiting for you. So you can make this connection. Okay. He's like, what is he talking about? What is he getting that from? When you read the ayat of Ramadan in Surah Al-Burra, when you read those ayat, this is part of that ayat. This is part of that. This ayat is part of those continuation. Which is Allah's telling you. Through the Prophet, a.s., says, when I badi one of you is asking about Allah, Allah says he's near. There's an incredible amount of, this is my favorite ayat. One of my favorite ayat. What is Allah telling you? Ask away. He's waiting for you to ask. Ask what you want to ask. And here's the interesting part that comes out of the ayat which you completely miss in the translation. Which is what? Guess what we do whenever we want to ask something, whenever we want to ask for dua. We find someone who is the most knowledgeable. We find someone who is an imam and a Mufti, a sheikh or something. Please do make dua for me. That's not what this is. Allah says, whoever you are, you don't have to be the most knowledgeable person. No. You be who you are. Then the only criteria for you is to ask. Ask Allah whatever you want to ask. In this month, we are going through these first 10 days, right? You all heard, you know what are the first 10 days? Allah's mercy is raining upon you on these first 10 days. Allah's mercy, continuous mercy is raining upon you. Ar-Rahma. Ask away. If you ask me what happens, what do you think is going to happen when you ask? Yeah, you're playing with me here. Now, you're on a video. You have to say hello. Okay, wear this one. Okay, I'm getting instructions. Wear this. Wait, how do I do this? My apologies. I'm not techy. Okay, now, when you ask, do you have a guarantee to be heard in this day and age, in this world, in the life that you and I are together? There's no guarantee. But guess what Allah is saying? Ujibudawatadai. The single ask that you're going to make from Allah, he's accepting it. He's waiting for you to ask, why waste time? Now, if the question comes and the question is, this is one of the awesome questions I heard just before coming here. It made me a minute to think about. Yaakhi, your brother, your sister, how's your Ramadan? How's your Ramadan going? What do you think the typical answer is? Think about it. The typical answer is, good, not bad, not bad, not bad, good. Ya, the first couple of days I had this chai problem, this coffee problem, a couple of sleep problems. It's going well. I'm okay. I'm getting there. I'm making it work. Guess what would be answered? We answered on a physical aspect of it only. But the essence, absolute essence of Ramadan is guess what? You got to go up the connection you got to make with Allah. And how do you make that connection? Through this revelation, through these words that Allah gave to you and I that we read through this Quran and through this dua that Allah says, when you make this connection, when Allah is throwing you this rope, it is one of the strongest one that it can never be broken, regardless of what it is, what circumstances, what circumstance that you're going to face. If you're going to make a connection, you're going to build a relationship, you're going to attain taqwa, consciousness of Allah, that is your key. That's your method. This is how you do it. That's what Ramadan is about. That's what Ramadan is about. If you remember the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu wa sallam, and I'm paraphrasing it to you, someone who keeps himself and herself hungry and thirsty, gained nothing out of Ramadan because Ramadan is not about keeping you hungry and thirsty, but it is the prerequisite. You have to have some prerequisites in order to get a doer. It's about change of your attitude, change of your behavior. I'm going to give you one scenario. Think about this. You know your biggest enemy is chained, it's out of the picture, right? It's the best thing you can have. If the distraction is not there, and you're still snappish, and you're still short-tempered, and you're still that, like, think about it. Think about it as like, hmm, am I getting what I need to get out of Ramadan? That's the key message for all of us. Ninth day of Ramadan or so? The days of Rahma is upon us, and the next, guess what's going to happen after the tenth day? The next gate opens up. The gate of Maghfira, forgiveness. Ask away, ask for Allah's mercy, and ask for Allah's forgiveness. And when I'm just going to sit here for a few seconds, take advantage of it. Take advantage of that moment. And that's what it means in the Khutbah when the Khatib says, one of the other things you can do on Friday, and this month, and make it as part of your habit, as part of your lessons from this Ramadan. Because at the end of the day, Ramadan is for you to train yourself to change habits to become better. And what is that thing you can do? Allah says it in the Quran for you and I. Allah and His angels are praying on the Prophet. O you who have believed, pray on him and send him peace. Allahumma, pray on Muhammad and on the people of Muhammad. As you prayed on Ibrahim and on the people of Ibrahim, you are Hamid al-Majid. Allahumma, congratulations on Muhammad and on the people of Muhammad. As you congratulations on Ibrahim and on the people of Ibrahim, you are Hamid al-Majid. What is that thing you supposed to do when I just recite it? Increase your salutations, peace and blessings, sending upon our beloved Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Make that part of your habit. You know you have the tasbih, the little things, you count 33 times or 99 times or so and you're done. That's good. That's an awesome beginning. Increase more, add more. And that's how we understand the hadith that Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the more you do, the more is better, which means the more you praise him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. I'm going to end a couple of things. When you do things, do it mindfully, do it purposefully, purposefully, do it intentionally when you ask, when you praise. Once upon a time, and here's the story for you. You know Omar, the second Khalifa, the second caliph. He was in a mosque and one of the dudes sitting in a corner in the mosque, he was going astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, and he was counting just like astaghfirullah. He came and hit him in the head and said, what are you doing? Astaghfirullah. He was like, dude, you are astaghfirullah and he's astaghfirullah. That's not how you do astaghfirullah. Make it with intention. Make it in a way that it means something. Think about why are you saying astaghfirullah? For what reason? Maybe I was snappish the other day a couple of minutes ago. Maybe I didn't yield on a traffic light. I did something. Hey, Allah, I'm sorry. Astaghfirullah. Astaghfirullah, mean it. And here's your last lesson for the day. Surah An-Nahl, ayah number 90, is our story for success, our recipe for success which Allah says do three things and avoid three things. To become successful, maybe that's one of your goals for Ramadan, if you haven't thought about it. After this prayer, go ahead and open Surah An-Nahl. 16, I believe it is. Ayah number 90 and Allah says in Allah, يأمر بالعضل والحسان وإيتها إذ القربة. وَيَنْهَا عَنَ الفَحْشَائِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ وَالْمَغْيَا عَذَكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونْ And that's your last lesson.