 Mashallah, today is our Eid, our day of rejoicing, our day of celebration, our day of gratitude to Allah SWT. We thank Allah SWT for all of His blessings. We thank Him for enabling us to reach this blessed day, to be with these blessed people in this blessed place. We are literally inundated with the blessings, the ni'am of Allah SWT. We cannot even begin to fathom His blessings. Allah SWT says, And behold, your Lord proclaimed, If you are grateful, I will certainly increase you. So this is a metaphysical law of existence. You've heard of E equals MC squared. Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. This is a physical law, a law of physics. But there are also metaphysical laws. Faith plus gratitude equals divine increase. Faith plus gratitude equals divine increase. This is a metaphysical law. And metaphysical laws are given through revelation, through wahi. And revelations are given through prophets. And our prophet is the greatest prophet of them all. Sallallahu alayhi wa laali wa sallam. He said, I am the master of the children of Adam. And I do not boast. He, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is the mercy of Allah SWT personified. And we have not sent you except the mercy of the people of the world. Allah SWT says, Ya Allah, we thank you for everything. We thank you for sending us your beloved messenger. We thank you for the prophet of mercy, the prophet of mercy. We thank you. So increase us in all good things. Ya Arham Al-Rahmeen. Ya Hayyu Ya Qayyum. Allah SWT is the most merciful of anyone who could possibly show mercy. Salman Al-Farisi, radiallahu anhu. He reported that the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that Allah SWT divided his mercy into 100 parts. In one part out of 100, he sent down to creation. Inna lillahi mi'ata rahma wa anzala minna rahmatan wahida. One percent of his mercy is in the world from which mothers have compassion for their children and all animals have compassion toward one another. The remaining 99 parts, then 99% he has kept for himself, Subhanu wa ta'ala, to give to his servants on the day of judgment. However, there is another, there is also the inverse of the spiritual equation or this metaphysical principle. Allah SWT continues. Wa la inka fartum inna azaabi la shadeed. But if you are ungrateful, surely my punishment is severe. So disobedience plus ingratitude equals divine punishment. Ya Allah, we seek refuge in you from becoming ingrates. We seek refuge in you from your punishment. There is no refuge from Allah SWT. Except to Allah SWT. La malja minna Allah illa ilayhi. There is no refuge from Allah except to Allah. This is why we must wear the two sandals of fear and hope, of khauf and raja. Don't be so extreme in your fear that you begin to despair of his mercy. That is haram. La taknutum irrahmatillah. But at the same time, don't have so much hope that you become slothful. You become spiritually lazy and complacent. You start to miss your prayers and become heedless about the state of your heart. But here's a question. How do we fortify our faith in these times? This is a question we get all the time from Muslims of all ages and backgrounds. And right now, Muslims of all ages and backgrounds are hearing my voice. So allow me to say a few things as your brother in Islam. I exhort myself first and by extension, all of you. How do we fortify our faith in these faithless times? That is to say, how do we strengthen our iman in the face of such blatant disbelief, in the face of such brazen immorality, in the face of such unabashed rebellion against tradition that we find in the modern world? We ask Allah SWT to protect us, protect our children, protect our grandchildren until the Sa'a The answer is quite simple. And the answer is by dedicating ourselves to seeking knowledge. The Prophet SAW said, Talab al-Ain faridatun ala kulli Muslim. Seeking of knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim. There's a reason why it's an obligation. There's a reason why he said, SAW, that everything in the dunya is a cursed, mal'unun ma fiha illa zikrullah wa ma wa la wa aalimun awmata'alim that everything in the dunya is a cursed except three things. The remembrance of Allah SWT and that which brings us close to Allah SWT and the teacher and student of sacred knowledge. There is a reason why the only thing in the Quran that Allah SWT asked us that Allah SWT commands us to ask him for an increase in is knowledge. Wa qul rabbi zidni ilmah and oh my Lord increase me in knowledge which also happens to be the school motto of Zaytuna College. Some universities have fiat looks from the Bible, let there be light or looks at veritas, light and truth, truth with a capital T. But these other schools, they no longer teach traditional religion nor even objective truth. Nowadays, they teach that truth is relative and scripture is archaic and irrelevant, even oppressive. But scripture cannot be eliminated. So their solution is to radically reinterpret scripture in light of the current prevailing culture. So we have to take this very seriously. Seeking knowledge is all over the Quran and Sunnah. It is absolutely central to our tradition. We are a thinking person's religion. We are a thinking person's religion. Make no mistake about it. One of the meanings of Antalid al-amadurabbataha a servant girl will give birth to her mistress one of the signs of the Sa'a, of the hour given by the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam and the famous hadith of Gabriel. One of the meanings of this hadith is that the modern West was born from Islam. That Europe in the late antique was sunk in the dark ages. Violence, disease, ignorance was rampant and it was Europe's contact with Islam's intellectual tradition that begot Western civilization and brought them out of the dark ages and then the West turned around and colonized and subjugated its mother as it were. The point is, knowledge is at the centrality of our tradition. Abdullah ibn Amr radiallahu anhu narrates Anr Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi sallam marrabi majlisayni fa masjidi that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam passed by two gatherings in his mosque. Fa qaala kilahuma a la khayr wa ahaduhuma aafdhul min suhaibihi You said both of them are upon good but one of them is better than the other. amma ha'ulayi fa yad'unallaha wa yargabuna ilayhi As for this group, they are beseeching Allah swt and they're supplicating to Him. fa inshaa a'ataahum wa inshaa man'aahum and if Allah wills, He will give them what they're asking for or He will deny them. wa amma ha'ulayi As for this other group, fa yata'ammuna al-fiqha wa qaala al-ilm they are learning fiqh which means a deep understanding of the religion or He said sacred knowledge wa yu'allimuna al-jahila and they are teaching the ignorant fa hum aafdhul they are superior wa inna ma burithum wa anlima and I was only sent as a teacher thumma jalasa fihim and then He sat amongst them sallallahu alayhi wa la alayhi wa sallam Our traditional scholars were masters of the Trivium grammar, logic and rhetoric these are the liberal arts I'm not talking about the political left the word liberal comes from the Latin for freedom these are the freeing tools grammar, logic and rhetoric these are tools that free our minds they allow us to think critically outside the box they are the most powerful tools that one can possibly possess why? because they can move the world the most influential people in history were masters of these tools and as one of my teachers said the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa la alayhi wa la alayhi wa la alayhi was the most logical human being he was always grammatically correct and he was the most rhetorically powerful person who ever lived the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa la alayhi wa la alayhi wa la alayhi wa la alayhi was gifted with jawami wa l-kalim wa jawahi wa l-hikam speech comprehensive in signification and inundated with sapience knowledge frees our minds and freedom is powerful the very first word of the Quran that was revealed to our master Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa la alayhi wa la alayhi wa la alayhi wa la alayhi wa la alayhi wa la alayhi wa la alayhi was eqra, read and I've mentioned this before but I've mentioned it again I read an article a Christian newspaper called Christianity Today a Christian magazine the article was called The Greatest Book Never Read written by a Christian and he said that he went to churches at random the greatest book never read meaning the bible so he went to churches at random and he interviewed parishioners coming out of a church and he said that 50%, zero percent of Christians coming out of a church could not even name the four Gospels of the New Testament, could not even name them Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I mentioned this to one of my teachers and he said probably 50% of Muslims leaving Salat al Jumaah cannot quote one hadith in Arabic, ad-dinun nasiha. How many Muslims know the names of the surahs of the Qur'an? If I say surat al-anqabut, what surah number is this? How many Muslims can correctly cite iconic ayat of the Qur'an? What surah and verses is this? Ayatul Kursi, what surah and verse number? How many Muslims know the names of the children of the Prophet Muhammad? Or can explain the difference between Fard and Wajib and Sunnah and Mustahab? These are basics. How many Muslims know the names of their mothers? The Ummahat al-Muslimin. We have to have high himma, high ambition for our deen. This will save our souls. Inshallah ta'ala on the 27th night of Ramadan, Fahri Ahmad may Allah preserve him. He introduced us to an older brother. I think his name was Ahmad. I don't remember his name. Getting old I forget. His name is Ahmad. I'm getting confirmation. He's a working dad with children and he became a hafiz of Qur'an. This is amazing. What an inspiration. Elim is Nur. Knowledge is light and light is guidance. Arabic is a sacred language. It's not an accident that if you rearrange the tri-literal root letters of the word ilm, you get amal. You get action because a true alim, a true knower puts his ilm into amal, puts his knowledge into practice. These terms are related. There are plenty of Jewish professors of Islamic studies all over America with double PhDs. But these are not ulama because they don't put their knowledge into practice. If you rearrange these letters again, you get lemak, which means light, luster, radiance, resplendence, brilliance. This is ajib. Knowledge plus action equals light. The word iman comes from a root amina, which means to be safe and secure. The word iman is causative. So iman billah or a mu'min billah is one who makes himself safe billah by means of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In Allah is al mu'min. This is one of his asma'u l-husnah. He is the ultimate cause of our safety and security, the giver of iman. When we acquire knowledge, our faith, our confidence in Allah and his messenger increases and becomes stronger. It is not a blind faith. It is a faith that is undergirded and reinforced by reason. We believe because it is rational. Belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is rational. All of his commandments have a rational component. Aqal and naqal, that is to say reason and revelation cannot ultimately contradict because they come from the very same source. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes the ulu l-albab, the people of essential understanding in the Quran, that they say, Ma khalaqta haza batila. You did not create this in vain. Subhanaka faqina aza bannar. Glory be to you. Save us from the punishment of the fire. Perhaps the central message here is that existence has objective meaning. Your life has objective meaning with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I want the young people here to listen closely. The young people here who are struggling to maintain their deen in the face of such overwhelming disbelief. There are many here right now. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, It shall come a time upon the people in which one who is patient upon his religion will be like the one who's clutching onto a burning ember. This is certainly true in today's world. Many people of traditional religious practice and belief, the youth in particular, feel tremendous pressure to capitulate to the status quo of society, this postmodern world order, in order to mitigate internal feelings of alienation. However, we should remember that as believers, we are not meant to feel all that comfortable in this world. At Dunya, the world is the prison of the believer. This discomfort is completely normal. Our real comfort is in the next world. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, glad tidings to the strange ones. I often find myself repeating the following ayat from the Quran. It gives me solace. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and by extension to all of us. Indeed, we know that what they say causes your heart to be constricted. But glorify the praise of your Lord and be of those who prostrate. And worship your Lord until certitude comes to you and almost all of the exegetes of the Quran, they say here that Al Yaqeen means al moat, death. The worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the lifelong practice of the believer. This new generation of youth are steeped in nihilism. This idea that ultimately there is no objective meaning or purpose to human life, that you can give your life any meaning you want. This is what young people are taught nowadays. And this philosophy is rooted in a fundamental rejection of human nature or human essence. This is called existentialism, where you can make your own reality, you can create your own truth, and there is existentialism as a philosophy, and there's existentialism as a lifestyle. In a few years, billions of people are going to be living fake lives, married to fake spouses, living in fake houses, raising fake children in the metaverse. It's coming. It's going to be a brave new world. This is all related to this postmodern revolt against normativity, against objectivity, and against truth. These modern pushers of this philosophy, they hate these words, normal, objective, truth, they literally have visceral reactions. When they hear these words, you see existentialism is all about you. So a traditional life, a life of life. This is being replaced with an essentially ego-centric life. It's a very subtle type of idolatry. It's called ego-la-tree. It is the worship of the self, of the ego. Allah says, فَأَنْتَ تَكُونُوا عَلَيْهِ وَكِيْلَةَ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala addresses the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam here. But this is true even today. He addresses the Prophet but also us by extension. Have you seen the one who has taken his own desires as his God? Will you then be a keeper over him? Our modern society is steeped in an unbridled quest for attention. Social media breeds narcissistic monsters. Just be careful. This is unprecedented in human history. Another interpretation offered by modern scholars of the Prophet's statement, a servant girl will give birth to her mistress, is a complete breakdown of normal society. The utter dismantling of millennia old social orders and societal hierarchies in this phenomenon is happening before our very eyes. Self-entitled cultural zealots shaking their fists at thousands of years of human civilization and traditional scholarship and attempting to create a new world in which technology is king and every desire no matter how depraved is fulfilled. A society in which the religious credo will be due without wilt. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said One of the things people have learned from the words of the earliest prophecies is if you don't feel any shame, then do what thou wilt. In other words, you have to have shame. This all starts when we plug into the matrix. The average American spends two and a half hours a day on social media. According to the World Health Organization, the average lifespan is about 73.4 years. If a person started using social media at age 10, which is very common, and that would mean that they spent almost seven years of their life on social media, then when you factor in, the average American spends two and a half hours a day on social media. According to the World Health Organization, on social media, then when you factor in eight years of TV watching, 27 years of sleeping, and nearly four years of eating and drinking, you're looking at about 45 years or almost 62% of an average lifetime spent on these activities. And this does not include working or shopping or driving or socializing. When these things are factored in, you're looking at a few weeks, possibly a couple of months, for real study and worship, a couple of months out of 73 years. Don't waste your life. Life is precious. Our Master Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Seize five before five. Ikhtanim khamsan qablahams. Seize your youth before your old age. Seize your health before your sickness. Seize your wealth before your poverty. Seize your free time before your business. And seize your life before your death. So young people who are struggling to keep your principles, you should know this, even if you're not on social media, even if you don't have any friends, even if two people in the world, other than your parents don't know your name, you should know that you mean something to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah is your Lord. He loves you. Allahu Hasbuk. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala suffices you. We must not let this world deceive us. The only opinion of you that matters at the end of the day is the opinion of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. When the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was abused and ta'if and chased out of the city and beaten and stoned and he was bloodied, his only concern was Allah's opinion of him. He said, oh Allah, if this is happening to me and you're not angry with me, Salahubali, then I don't mind. This was his only concern, Allah's opinion, not the opinion of human beings. If the whole world is against you, if the whole world cancels you, but Allah is for you, you win. Don't be a Salat. Life is too short to Salat. Fastaqim. Kama Umirt. Be upright, stand tall. Be principled as you have been commanded. Listen to the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Listen to what he said to Abdullah ibn Abbas, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu maa. Ibn Abbas was a young man at this time. Take this advice. And Ibn Abbasan radiAllahu anhu maa. Qala kuntu khalfa rasudillahi salallahu alayhi salam yawman. He said, I was once behind the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Fa qala ya ghulam, ihfazil la, yihfazka, ihfazil la tajidhu, tujahaka. He said, oh young man, protect Allah. Guard Allah. And he will guard you. Guard Allah. And you will find him before you. How do you protect Allah? Guard Allah? According to the commentators, the meaning is to keep his awamir and his nawahi, to keep Allah's commandments and prohibitions. Tajidhu tujahaka. And you will find him before you. Meaning Allah will help you. He will aid you. He will give you strength. He will facilitate your affairs for you. He will make things easy for you. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Ya ayyuha ladina amanu, in tansur Allah yansurkum, wa yuthabbit aqdamakum. O you who believe, if you give victory to Allah, he will give you victory and plant your feet firmly. In other words, if you make Allah your priority, he will give you in the forefront of his providence. Ya ayyuha ladina amanu, la tuqaddibu bayn yadihi la yurusulihi. O you who believe, don't put yourselves before Allah and His messenger. Allah and His messenger come first. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam said in the hadith qutzi, recorded by Imam al-Bukhari and narrated by Anas ibn Malik, radiallahu anhu. Qadirabbi, in taqarrab al-Abdu ilayya, taqarrabdu ilayhi dira'an. The Prophet said, my Lord says, if my slave draws near to me a hand span, I draw near to him a cubit. Wa idha taqarrabba minni dira'an, taqarrabdu minhu ba'an. And if he draws near to me a cubit, I draw near to him a fathom an arms length. Wa idha atani mashyan, ataytuhu harwalatan. And if he comes to me walking, I go to him running. Subhanallah. Ya Ghulam, ihfazil la, yahfazka, ihfazil la, tajidhu tujahaka. He continues, sallallahu alayhi sallam. Wa idha sallata, fa sallil la. When you ask for something, ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Wa idha sta'anta, wa idha sta'anta, fa sta'in bil la. When you seek assistance, seek it from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Iyaka nabudu wa iyaka nasta'in. Make dua to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Pour your heart out to him. Fa la tad'u ma'allahi ahada. Ad dua mukhul ibadah. That supplication is the essence of worship. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the owner of the treasures of the universe. Ask him. You can't lose one of three things happen when we ask Allah. Number one, either Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give us what we're asking for in this world. Or number two, he will deny our request because it was not in our khayr, not in our best interest to get what we were asking for. So in reality, Allah is removing a tribulation from us. Or number three, Allah will deny our request in this world but reward us for asking. Reward us for asking him on the Yom al-Qiyama. And his reward on the Yom al-Qiyama is manifestly better. We can't lose. If you ask, ask Allah. If you ask, ask Allah. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam continues And know that the whole of humanity were to unite in order to benefit you. They could not benefit you of anything except as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has already written for you. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is in charge. Remember that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is always in charge. And if the whole of humanity were to unite to harm you in some way, they could not harm you. Except as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has already written for you. The pens have been lifted and the scrolls have dried. Trust Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. How often do we find the refrain in the Quran and upon Allah let the believers place their trust. I'll end with this ayah. Allah says, And strive for Allah with the striving due to Him. He has chosen you and has not imposed upon you any difficulty in religion. It is the creed of your patriarch, Abraham peace be upon him it is he who named you Muslims before and in this scripture so that the messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam may be a witness over you and that you may be witnesses over mankind so establish the prayer and give charity and hold fast to Allah he is your master he is your protector what an excellent protector and what an excellent supporter may Allah subhanahu ataala strengthen our e-man with knowledge may Allah subhanahu ataala make us a means of guidance and not a hinderance to guidance I'll call it over to Hatha was a lady manu saloo alaihi wasallam tassalima Allahumma saadiyah la sayyid Muhammad as you say the Muhammad come a salateh ala sayyidina ibrahim wa ala ala sayyidina ibrahim in Naka Hamid al-Majid Allahumma barakah ala sayyid Muhammad ala ala Sayyidina Muhammad kama barakah ala Sayyidina Ibrahim wa ala ala ala Sayyidina Ibrahim in Naka Hamid al-Majid nasher wa ala ilaha illa Allah nas togfirullah nas togfirullah nas Allahumma innaka inna ka'afu an tuhipu la'afua fa'afu anna Wa sallallahu ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa la alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam Wa alhamdulillahi rabbil alamin Ameen Alaykum Mubarak, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wabarak