 I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed one. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our beloved, our beloved, Muhammad and his family and colleagues. I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed one. being misguided and from misguided others. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to forgive us of our sins, our shortcomings, our weaknesses. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to bless His Noble Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to bless his noble companions, his family, and the righteous everywhere. Ameen. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, reminds us time and time again in the Quran about our requirement and our necessity to obey Him and to turn to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, in our obudia. وما خلقت الجن والنس اللي يعبدون. That the sole purpose of creating mankind and jinn kind is for the worship of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so that impediment, excuse me, that requirement, that immediate requirement is there. And the beauty of our tradition and the mercy of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is that not only does He require or ask us or demand of us to do something, but He also places in it intrinsic value and benefit. And so when we look at ibadah as an aggregate of things, we see that whether we examine whatever modality of worship we're talking about, whatever aspect of our obudia we're talking about, that there is intrinsic value and benefit in it. Above and beyond, we're beyond just fulfilling the requirement that we owe to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, which is the ontological reason as it were, the ultimate reason and purpose for why we do what we do. But that out of His fuddle and out of the mercy that Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, has for His creation, He places in that ibadah and in that obudia benefit and value to us. And so what I want to do today in the brief time that we have is to examine one of those forms and modalities of ibadah. And that is the salah or the prayer. And one of the proofs for me about the universality of Islam, about the universality of the message of Islam is its ability to engage human beings regardless of nationality, regardless of cultural background. More importantly, it presents us a way of life that is what we or as sociologists of religion would consider what are known as sort of motifs or aspects of Eastern religion as well as Western religion. And there is perhaps no better embodiment of that than the prayer. Or if we look at it slightly differently, that the prayer has in it both esoteric as well as exoteric dimensions. That is to say that there are dimensions of prayer and there are dimensions of all the various aspects of ibadah, but in particular the prayer that are internal, esoteric, that are internal and what we embody or what we bring to it internally. But also there are benefits to fulfilling that ibadah or that prayer that are esoteric, that have benefit that are internal to us. And this is perhaps first and foremost, but at the same time there are exoteric dimensions to that prayer or dimensions that are external, where there is external benefit that not only benefits us as individuals internally, that is to say benefit us spiritually if we will, but also benefits that we find that go beyond just the spiritual dimension. There are benefits to the prayer or to all the various modes and modalities of worship that are also exoteric. That is to say there are physical and mental and societal benefits to this. So for example the prayer Allah says that established the prayer for my remembrance. And so the remembrance of Allah is paramount, that the remembrance of Allah is intrinsic within the prayer and is something that is found within the prayer and these are perhaps and by reflecting on Allah SWT, remembering Allah SWT frequently as we do in our ibadah, in our prayer, that there is benefit of that remembrance and that benefit perhaps is largely esoteric. That is to say the benefit is something that we find spiritually and internally enriching and fulfilling. But at the same time, for example with regards to the prayer Allah SWT says that the prayer that indeed the prayer that indeed the prayer will prevent you from lewdness and indecency. And so yes that as that internal transformation happens when we pray to Allah SWT, when we engage in the Salah, that that internal transformation will have external dimensions, will have external manifestations. That is to say that a person who is praying, praying properly, and once that prayer has transformed the human being, that that human being will hopefully that this is what Allah SWT says is a value within the prayer is that the prayer will prevent from lewdness and indecency, indecent conduct. And so that is the external or the exoteric dimension to the prayer. But if we examine even the various forms and the various ritualistic aspects of the prayer that we see that there is a profundity there, that there is a profundity there, there is profound meaning even in those even in the form and the ritualistic aspects of the prayer. That is to say the placement of our hands, how we bow, how we make sajdah, how we fall in prostration and stand before Allah SWT, that there are dimensions to the prayer that are profound, that have implications and that have benefits to us both internally as well as external manifestations and dimensions of that. So even if we look at, for example, to begin to examine the prayer and of course due to the essence of time, we can't examine all of the various aspects but if we just look and consider a few. So for example even before we engage in the actual act of prayer we know that there are certain prerequisites that are essential to the prayer, that one cannot pray until he or she has fulfilled those requirements, those prerequisites to the prayer, the preparation that goes in with regards to fulfilling this obligation and command of Allah SWT. So with regards to that preparation or those prerequisites we know that prayer has a certain time, right? The essence of time is vital to the prayer. You can't pray the required prayers that are, that is outside of their order, for example. So also Asr has a particular time, has a particular duration of time in which that prayer can be fulfilled, same with Salat al-Mungalud and Isha and Fajr and so on. And so the essence of time is a prerequisite to the prayer. And this again brothers and sisters as I said, those internal as well as external dimensions, those esoteric, as well as exoteric dimensions of our ubudiyah, of our ibadah to Allah SWT, that Allah SWT is trying to teach us a lesson here. That time is a value and time is of essential value and that being cognizant of time and being aware of time and how we spend our time is something that we should reflect upon. And so the prayer as it comes in at particular times of the day is a reminder of the fact that time is of deep value and consequence and something that we should be mindful of both with regards to the prayer itself but also in general with regards to the essence of time and the value that time has in our lives. But also in the Insanat of the ibudiyah, it is through the passage of time Allah is swearing by the passage of time and that indeed mad kind is in a state of loss as time passes. Because time, that moment, this very moment that you are living right now will never ever return in our lives. That's the importance of time. That is the importance in the essence of time. This prayer that we are about to pray will never return to us. Yes, we'll pray it again and Juma again insha'Allah wata'ala. But this particular day at this moment and what we are doing and how we are praying and how we are fulfilling that obligation is something that we should be cognizant of. But beyond just the essence of time, we know that for example in order to make the prayer, we have to be in a state of wulu. We have to be in a state of purification. And purification is of importance. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala says, Wallahu yuhibun mutawfahireen. That indeed Allah loves those who purify themselves. But this purity transcends beyond just the physical purity. As even the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in which he analyzes or gives an analogy to the prayer itself. That if a stream of water were to come, that you were to find yourself presented with a stream of water that you bathed in five times a day, would there be any impurities left on your bodies? Would there be any impurity left? And this he likened to the prayer. And so with regards to the wulu, yes we watch ourselves and we watch our physical limbs, our face and so on in preparation of the prayer. But that purification should transcend beyond just our physical purification. Are we as concerned and considerate of the teskeha to us, the purification of the soul that is also demonstrative in this prayer. That the prayer itself is an exercise in not only an opportunity to not only purify ourselves physically by the act of wulu, but that the prayer itself is a purification of our soul. Is a purification of what lies within. And so I don't again do the essence of time and we have another shift coming and so we have to make sure that we abide by the timings. I want to leave you with these two or three brief reminders with regards to the prayer. And now insha'Allah in the future we can examine the various forms and aspects of the prayer itself. But finally if I could when we're talking about preparation or the prerequisites for prayer we know that according to at least the majority of the schools that intention, in fact a verbal intention in some cases is a requirement of the prayer that one must have a proper niya or intention with regards to when we pray and how we pray. Inna ma la'amadu bin niya to offer a repeated hadith of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that indeed actions are but by intentions. And so that intentionality that we have is of importance and of paramount value not only when it comes to the prayer itself but do we live lives of intentionality? Do we find purpose and meaning and intentionality in all that we do in every part and aspect of our lives? We wake up in the morning and we have various rituals that we perform go up and brush your teeth, wash yourself, bathe, have some coffee, whatever it is but the various rituals that we carry on day in and day out and I mean ritual in the sense of not prayer or ritualistic worship but just the day-to-day occurrences of life is there intentionality and purpose behind it? Do we have niya when it comes to those things? And this is what Islam teaches us is the ability to transform and elevate even the most mundane aspects of life into acts of ibadah into acts of worship to Allah SWT You wake up, you go to work and you earn a livelihood that earning of a livelihood that waking up in the morning and providing for your family that is an act of worship or that can be a potential aspect or an act of worship if only we live it and we do so with proper intentionality and niya and so these values or these things that we engage in at a minimum five times a day if not more in regards to even the preparation of the prayer itself have profound meanings that transcend beyond the prayer that have value and benefit even beyond the prayer and into our lives if we reflect on them and if we act upon them accordingly I pray that Allah SWT blesses this community I pray that Allah SWT blesses us individually and collectively gives us tawfiq, gives us the ability to understand the profundity of his faith and his message I say this to you I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed, and the accursed, and the accursed, and the accursed, and the accursed. O you who believe, fear Allah and do not die except when you are Muslim. O you who have created you from a single soul and created you from it as a husband and a husband from them as a husband and a wife. I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed, and the accursed. May peace be upon the Muslims and praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.