 Alhamdulillah, we thank our Lord Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala who is the Munim and the giver of blessings. And we have all these great attributes of our Lord Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to get back to this common theme of giving. Our Lord is Al Karim. He is the generous. He is Al Balsit. He is the expander. And he is Al Wahab Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. He is the bestower. Who gives His gifts to those who are entirely undeserving of those gifts. And the greatest gift that we've been given is this Deen. This Deen that our Prophet Muhammad SAW came 1400 plus years ago to convey. He conveyed it to the generation of the Sahaba. Who conveyed it to the generation of the Tabi'een. Who conveyed it to the generation of the Tabi'een. And it has reached us in unbroken chains to this very day and age. This is something that we cannot, believers, be proud about. Because it is only Islam that has an idea and a concept, rather you could say, of the reality of the initiatic chain. This unbroken chain of transmission back to our Prophet SAW, such that we can ascertain with absolute certainty that there are words that our Prophet SAW said. That there are teachings that he left behind that we know exactly the way that he used to pray. We know exactly what he used to say in his prayers. That we know in a very descriptive, detailed, intricate manner, the way that our Prophet used to dress, the way that he speak, the way he remained still, the way that he moved, the way that he dressed. Everything about him SAW, that we have a complete picture about who he was. And his life is one of the greatest Tafseer. It is one of the greatest commentaries on the Book of Allah. And in fact, it is one of the great things that the Muqassar, the commentator who was interpreting the meanings of the Quran that he looks at, is that he always has to look at and ground their Tafseer in the life of our Prophet SAW. So that we ever find that we might not know what a particular verse means, that we have to look to the life of our Prophet, and that you'll find in great detail the nuances, the nuances of the different ways of understanding the various words of our Lord Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And Alhamdulillah, that our Prophet did not leave us bereft of guidance. And in fact, that he left us upon the maharjatil bayrah. He left us upon the white, clear road. Laylaha kanna hariha. Its night is like its day. La yizigh anha illa halak. The only person that will divert from this path is someone that has been damned. Meaning that they've chosen for themselves to go astray. They've chosen for themselves not to accept guidance. Because it's ourselves that give ourselves our own lower souls which gets in way of guidance. Otherwise the guidance like the sun, that it's shining upon everyone unless there's something blocking those very rays of the sun. This is the default foundational position. Unless the person in and of themselves choose otherwise. And so Alhamdulillah, one of the great aspects of his guidance is that he left us with teachings that helped us to have clarity. Because one of the things about the human being is that if we don't have intellectual mental clarity that is very difficult for us to have orthopraxia or behavior that is in conjunction with that intellectual clarity. And that our Prophet told us about what we would term the adama to sa'a. The signs of the end of time. And there's a number of signs that our Prophet mentioned to us. And the importance could be established in the very hadith through which we established the very pillars of the deans. A'idah, Iman, Isra'am, and Efsana. And the famous hadith. This hadith that is one of the four pivotal hadiths around which the entire deen rotates and revolves. And we have a mentioning of the adama to sa'a. And the signs of the end of time in this hadith. And he mentions to us, al-Allah, the two examples of them. But likewise, not only is it important for us to understand the signs but it's also important for us to understand how we orient ourselves in relation to these signs. And one of the great analogies that has come to us in the prophetic tradition is our Prophet sa'a, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. That one that the nafs of Muhammad in the hadith by the one in whose hand is my soul, the nafs, the soul of Muhammad is in his hands. And the method of the believers is the method of the believers. Indeed, the likeness of the believer is like a bee. The likeness of the believer is like a bee. And then he went on to say, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Aka al-tayban fa wadah al-tayba. Then he ate from the pure and wholesome things and he produced that which was pure and wholesome. Fa wak'at. And when it landed, would it land on the petals of the various flowers that it took the pollen from? Fa lam taqsir wa lam tussid. The bee didn't break any petals, nor did it corrupt the flower. And this is the hadith, he's giving us in this hadith an analogy, an analogy which indicates a higher form of learning. And ultimately everything in the phenomenal world is a metaphor. And that it points to something from the island arwah, the abode of the soul. And the more spiritually in tune that we come, the more that we will come to understand every single aspect of natural phenomenon that is taking place around us, that we'll be able to connect it to something that is from the higher realm. The more spiritually in tune that we become, spiritually the L and the Y at the end as an adverb related to the spirit, the soul, which is a higher form of the existence of the human being. But he's giving us an analogy comparing the believer to a bee. And in another narration that is mentioned by Imam al-Kharayti that we have a number of statements that precede this analogy. And what precedes this analogy is our prophet is putting it in the context of the end of time. And our prophet said in this other hadith, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Inna minashrata sa'ati Indeed, from the signs of the hour is al-fush wa ttafahush. Fush is indecency. Tafahush is te-kallaf al-fush where someone goes out of their way to become indecent. And these are two phenomena that you see. There's a lot of indecent people around us. It doesn't take, you don't have to look at them to find them. But one of the most interesting in a negative way phenomena is tafahush, is people going out of their way to be indecent. And have you ever traveled in so-called third world countries which oftentimes are much more humane than the so-called first world. But if you look at many of these phenomena and you see them right before your eyes, I remember in places that I've studied that you see someone walking in the middle of the desert in a very remote place far away from anything. That wearing a t-shirt was some, you know, terrible looking, I mean, I don't even want to call it a human being on their, on their shirt. And from the WWE, I guess they call it now, in my days, many of you are older than me, it was WWF. It wasn't as bad then. These were the days of Hulk Hogan and Junkyard Dog and these type of people. But now if you look at the way that these people look, that they look straight up shi'atame, they look like demons. And what is this individual doing in the middle of a sacred city that wearing something as simple of this sort for them that they might just be trying to wear the latest thing to impress their friends. But for someone that comes from a culture that understands very well the danger of that. And if you don't believe me, read Chris Hedge's book called The Empire of Illusion. It's one of the great reads that you enjoy from beginning to end, except the chapter on pornography which I would pass over except maybe read the intro and that's it. But he talks about the state and the first chapter deals with this phenomenon is the way that people have learned to live their lives through people on sitcoms and these characters and the portion of the alfada but they live out their own problems through these people and through these story lines that are given to them. But you also see another phenomenon is that as people hasten to be a part of the so-called modern world is that they're to fahsh in the sense that they're ready to give up anything in order to be a part of it. And you see these tendencies especially in people that want what it really means. You often time see these tendencies and that this is something that our Prophet is saying is from the signs of the end of time but he also says and that bad neighborliness and breaking your family ties these are also two of the signs of the end of time. How many of us even know who our neighbors are? It was the last time that we even greeted them or actually cooked for them that nowadays if you even try to do something nice often times they're worried especially if it's coming from these Muslims who are next door. You don't know what they put in the food but bad neighborliness that the traditional scholars took neighborliness very seriously that your neighbor is according to the most lenient opinions seven houses in either direction a seven house radius so north, south, east, west seven and draw a circle around it and that's your nose of your neighbors. Other opinions say 40 houses and so especially nowadays if you're living in a large building that there is a requirement upon our shoulders to the extent possible that we take this seriously and cutting family ties this is one of the worst things and there are certain people that are distant from the rahmah of Allah and that if we're asking for Allah's guidance and victory and we're doing things through which that we are becoming cursed in the sight of God how do we ever expect to be given victory but then our prophet goes on to say and you have ten months will you hold on it Amir this should have been mentioned a few months back when people were going out because one of the signs of the end of time is that the treacherous person will be deemed to be trustworthy and the trustworthy will be deemed to be treacherous and so people give their money to people like Bernie Madoff thinking that he's investing in and he turns out that he's one of the biggest criminals in human history one of the greatest scams in human history and that you see these people filing and they have a little mark after their name that tells that they've achieved something in the world and that people trust them and often times that there are wolves and sheep clothing but this is one of the signs of the end of time and people that are really trustworthy that they're actually deemed to be the opposite of that and then our prophet goes on to say that will end the method in muqmini and the likeness of a believer is mentioned a few signs to contextualize this and there's a number of others but our prophet went on to say is like that the believer is like a good piece of gold that it was put to the fire and it became pure and then when it was that it's weight didn't diminish at all this is the state of the believer is that all of the tribulations and trials that we go through is that it is that trial and not itself that is necessary to bring out your true nature liameez Allah to habith them in a t'ayee in order that Allah may distinguish the difference between that which is habith is lowly and that which is t'ayee and that which is pure all of tribulations in our life is that the way that you respond to tribulation is indicative of who you are as a person whatever that tribulation might be whether it be in the physical realm or the intellectual realm or whatever it might be between you and someone else or something with your own self that the way you respond to that is indicative of who you are as a person and likewise in the way that we respond to the times in which we live because we live in a time if you haven't noticed it's a time where things are very crazy we live in a crazy time without any exaggeration and our prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that in there's a few hadith in Sahih Bukhari that talk about this kind of fitin and of tribulation and our prophet said yushik in yukuna khaira malin muslimi sha'afin jibani yutba'a bi'a sha'afin jibani yufiro yufiro bin bidini that there's about to come a time that the very best wealth of a muslim are she that he hers and follows the mountain the urbic on the mountain top and muwata and khata the places where the rain is that he's fleeing with his deen this is a hadith of our prophet anyone tells you that you can't flee from fitin that tell that this is in Sahih Bukhari there's another hadith where our prophet said that satakunun fitin that there will be tribulations that al-qa'id fiyah khairun min ad-mashi al-qa'id fiyah khairun min ad-qa'in the one who's sitting is better than the one who's standing the one who's standing is better than the one who's walking the one who's standing is better than the one who's walking the one who's walking is better than the one who's rushing to it meaning that there's times there's times where there's a lack of clarity just as if you drop your ring or something in water and if you put your hand in immediately then it might become murky if you just wait a second go still, you'd be able to grab your ring. And likewise, there's times where when people hasten to respond to certain things and they jump on board what everyone else is doing, that you have to look into things carefully and to know where does the maslaha and the benefit lie. Is to actively be involved in this moment or to refrain and position yourself so you know when correctly, when is the correct time to actively be involved. And then our Prophet went on to say, men ta-sharrafa lahah, ta-stashrifo, that whoever you know seeks them out and you know ta-sharrafa is too, too, ta-sharrafa is about any, meaning you're looking out after them as you want to be a part of them, ta-stashrifo, that they will overwhelm them and overtake him. And this is part of the nature of our time is that these fitan, that are happening according to the prophetic description, ta-qa-ta'a lahil-mughneema, like the incessant darkness of night, that every moment of night that comes is darker than the moment that comes before. And especially in the globalized world, that we're not only in a state of where we hear tribulations of what is going on around us, in our immediate sense, that we hear about everyone else's tribulations as well. In the way that this affects the human being psychologically is very profound. And it's very difficult for human beings to accept reality. One of the most difficult things of all is to accept reality. And to be able to understand reality according to the way that you accept that reality. And this is why Imam Ali bin Abul Qadim said, he said, were the veil to be removed out of only chosen the way that things are. But that takes an Araf in life. That takes someone who knows their Lord subhanahu wa ta'ala, and that they know their Lord in his majestic manifestations, and they know their Lord in his beautiful manifestations. And it's easier for the human being at first to know Allah through beautiful manifestation. Majestic manifestations are difficult when you go through intense tribulation. I'm taking a class right now on Islam in Bosnia. And when you actually hear about the details, and he's just started to go into the details about what happened in the mid 90s in Bosnia, and the ethnic cleansing that took place in the genocide, and what actually happened to our brothers and sisters, elderly and youth, to our Muslim brothers and sisters from Bosnia. And this is going on right now as we speak. Many of you have seen that video that was posted in this past week. This is going on right now as we speak. And this is also one of the signs at the end of time, because another Hadith al Prophet said that there's going to, that there's going to, that there indeed from amongst the signs at the end of time, that knowledge will be lifted when Tekfura is Zalazil, that earthquakes will happen often. When yataqat of the Zaman, the time will become near. Meaning there's no more blessing in time. And also that what would be distances that we're able to travel now, what previously would take months. And then our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam went on to say, when, and that, when Tekfura fit it, because there'll be all kinds of tribulations, and that there'll be a lot of indiscriminate killing. There'll be a lot of indiscriminate killing. And this is one of the great signs of the end of time. Is that if you look at how many people die regularly, and we don't even think twice about it because you become immune to it oftentimes, is that the amount of indiscriminate killing that takes place. And this is very serious. And people don't realize how serious it is. Muslim and non-Muslim blood, human beings blood, in particular Muslim blood. And there's an ether that indicates that from the weightiness of the believer in the sight of God, where everyone in the world to get together, to take part in the killing of one soul, one believing soul, the God that threw all of them into the fire will let you ban it, and wouldn't pay any attention to it. Meaning this is indicative of the Horma, the sanctity of a believer in the sight of God, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, we'll anyaksu fikum al-ma'a, that money will be widespread. But taking this back to understanding this is the first step, and there's only so much that we can say about it in the short time we have together. But the signs at the end of time need to be studied, and they need to be learned, and they need to be memorized. And their meanings need to be applied as well. But our Prophet is saying, despite all of these issues and all of the signs at the end of time, what is the way that you can position yourself so that you come out as a mukmin, you come out as a believer truly safe, because imam is from security. They are probably saying that you have to be like pure gold. That when you're put to the test, that you respond, and that you become even more pure, that you become even pure. And then in terms of the B, that relating this to this time of fitter, is that what does the B do? Of all of the possible things that the B can eat. What does the B eat? The B eats the best of all things. It goes to plants, and not only plants, it goes to flowers, only flowers. It goes to the choice part of the flower where it goes, and it takes the pollen from numerous flowers. And what happens is, is that then it synthesizes all of the pollen in its own self. And then that it produces honey. And honey ultimately is a shefa. Honey is a heem. And that this is the state of the believer. Is that despite the time in which they live, is that they take the best of everything. And one of our teachers said, whoever looks to the good in everything, will gather only that which is good. You have a choice to what you let in your heart. And if you only let good things into your heart, then you will only be good. You have the choice. You can look at if there's a thousand and one terrible things, and there's one good thing, you can choose to focus on that positive good thing, or you can look at the other thousand bad things. That's your own choice. And God has just given us freedom of choice. And if you continue to only focus on that which is good. And not only focus on that which is good, but your behavior in extracting that good is such that like the bee, it doesn't break petals, nor does it corrupt the flower. In your own senses, in your own case as well, is that you don't break things, whether they're related to your own aspects of your own life, or whether it relates to your relationships with other people. Because there's some people that are just destructive by their nature. They just break things. They break relationships with people. They break people's hearts. And that it comes from an imbalance. And our prophet said, Those who delve into things are not supposed to are destroyed. Those who delve into things are not supposed to are destroyed. And maintaining that balance, and understanding the time in which we live, and knowing when to step forward, and when to step back, and when to be active, and when to remain inactive. And what to do in every single situation was related to your work, our home life, or relationship with Brother Phulan who's in the messian, or anyone else that you're dealing with. Is that it comes down to a very fine scale. And we have to learn to be nuanced as believers. There's an element of our lives that's black and white, but then there's another element that gets extremely nuanced in terms of how we deal with people. And this requires wisdom. This requires wisdom. And we take wisdom from its source, which the source of our wisdom is the Qur'an and the teachings of our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and the previous Qur'an and previous scriptural teachings that came before us. And that wisdom that came upon the tongues of the prophets and righteous came before us. But this is like the advice of our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, is that we be like the beef. And instead of corrupting things, is that we have pollination. Because the beef not only doesn't corrupt, it helps other plants get pollinated as well. But we all have to ask ourselves, is it the various things that we say and do, are we at shiva? Do we bring about healing in whatever context that it is? Because the nature of believer is like a bee. That if we're following this prophetic analogy that our behavior and our words and our actions and our habits, our states, it will be a shiva. And it will be a cure. And that we know the pains that people receive in the modern world. People are screaming out in every way possible. Don't be caught up by what exactly they're doing. They're screaming out with their Nissan and Ha, with mute eloquence, that their state, that it wouldn't speak, this is what it would say. And that we have to be at shiva. And we have to be like the Allah. Alhamdulillah that in closing, that we have to also recognize is that the greatness of the Ummah of our Prophet ﷺ is not something that came as ended. That our Lord says, that you were the very best ummah. Then we'll translate it as community, although it doesn't convey ummah. You were the best community that was brought forth to people. And then it goes on to speak, that you're enjoying good and you forbid evil. But Allah Ta'ada says that you were the best ummah brought forth to people. It doesn't matter after that whoever says whatever they say. The Lord of the heavens and the earth has said that you are the best ummah. And this is the word of God. And in reality on Yama Qiyama, that before everyone's eyes, these realities will be crystal clear. And they'll realize why the ummah of our Prophet ﷺ is so great. And then we have to understand that what is the greatest aspect of the greatness of the Prophet ﷺ. Because if you focus on the political realm or the economic realm, and oftentimes the social realm and many other types of realms, that you might question how could the Muslim ummah be the greatest. Look around. Look at the dysfunctionality in Muslims in our own community domestically and then internationally. Look at all the problems that are taking place. But you also have to recognize is that the greatest aspect of this greatness is related to what is taking place here. The transmission of the heart and the reality of La ilaha illallah Muhammad ﷺ is that the people that are still alive today that are preserving the true essence of the prophetic inheritance. And the greatest aspect of the prophetic inheritance that pertains to spiritual realization internally at the heart level is the fact that we still have today that countless numbers of audya and salihin and upright righteous people that are preserving the inner inheritance of our Prophet ﷺ. And we have countless number of people as well as well that are preserving and protecting the prophetic inheritance that relates to ethics, that relates to behavior and character traits. Is that this is the true inheritance of Rasoolallah ﷺ. And one of the great aspects of Islam is that it's existed for so many centuries that without a political regime that completely helped them from every aspect. This is from the greatness of Islam. And if you look at this and you recognize what is truly important when it pertains to this is that you won't be deceived like many of these other people were deceived when they start to question the greatness of the ummah of our Prophet ﷺ because it still remains. And there's still people that are like this today that have reached the highest level of taqwa, that are in the state of vikram, that are remembering their Lord Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala and their hearts are in the Divine Presence. For us the true Islifah is being in the Divine Presence having your heart be attached to your Lord. It doesn't matter what everyone on earth thinks of you or says about you as is attested to in the Hadith of Sahih Bukhari, that if Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala calls out to the Archangel Jibril and tells you, Ya Jibril, love so and so because I love him. And then Jibril tells all the angels that are in heaven, love so and so and I love him. Well, you'll da'la al-qabooth at all, at least by giving acceptance in the earth. If that's your state and you've been selected in that fashion it doesn't matter what anyone thinks about you. Our greatness is related to our relationship to our Lord Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala bring our hearts to life with knowledge and iman and with the meanings of his remembrance Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala, bless us all to long to be in His presence. Sayyidina Muhammad.