 Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah for this gift of life, Masha'Allah. Some thought that I was giving, talking to some students in it, made me think that we enjoy and we like the world to be fully explained, and we like events and situations that are fully explained. I feel that cause and effect helps us feel more secure. But what happens when we witness outcomes and events that cannot be explained simply? Outcomes or events that cannot simply be explained by cause and effect. What I've experienced over the years is that this is when people become anxious, annoyed or even disheartened, and we feel like we have no control. But the question to ask ourselves is, do we ever really have control? But when we lose control, we desperately want to connect ourselves with those who we think have control. As human beings, our hearts constantly seek connection and confirmation, which in turn provides us with a sense of safety and security. Those connections provide us with security when we realize we cannot provide it for ourselves. But what happens when those connections fail us also? We are overwhelmed with feelings of powerlessness, frustration and anger. We're annoyed and displeased when the most educated in our society cannot explain something as to why it happened. We hate it when there is no remedy for our situation. And when all resources have failed, we become agitated, perhaps even when someone says for us to turn to Allah. Sometimes we may think or even snap back and say that faith cannot provide me with the answers that I want right now. And I will say to that that you're all right. Faith is not meant to provide us with those answers that we want in that moment. Nor is it an instant solution to the problems that we seek to fix. Faith provides us with something far greater. Faith provides us with something far greater. It provides us with a connection to the One who has all of the resources, provides all of the solutions and possesses all of the control. Always has and always will, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. When I think about this in the context of patience, a word that we always hear of Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. I'm reminded of the saying that patience is not our ability to wait, rather it is our ability to express gratitude while waiting. Patience is not our ability to wait, rather it is our ability to express gratitude while waiting. When we have no way out, we realize our own fragility. The logic we depend on to understand the world isn't enough. People are limited. People are limited. Resources are dry. Doors do not open despite our constant knocking. This isn't a coincidence. This isn't a disaster. It's a redirection and a reawakening. The problem was there to help us navigate our way to the One, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, whose door was always open and whose resources never run dry. These tests are to guide us back to His presence when we have been deluded to think that we are not in need of Him. Sheikh Abduhu Hakim Marad, of many you may know, he said something interesting to me one time. He said that the five-time salat, they come and they meet us when we're happy, when we're sad, when we're full, when we're hungry, whatever state that we are when we're angry. And he said that one of the wisdoms of the prayer is that when we think that we don't need the salat is perhaps when we need it the most. When we don't think that we need the salat is perhaps when we need it the most. But it's in these moments of helplessness that we find ourselves humbled before Allah who is in complete control. That connection is the solution. And the trial was the means. It ignites the heart with the acceptance that we might not have all of the answers to why things happen, but we have the connection to the One who does. Mulana Jalaluddin Rumi, may Allah have mercy upon him, said, when we have nothing left but God, that's when we discover that God is enough. We have nothing left but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's when we discover that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, as he has said, that He is sufficient for us. Iqoona qaulihi hadwa saafi lirukum misalhu umini yaqum misaqfirullah innahu waghufururahim. Inal hamdillah, hamdan kathirin kama amir wa sharawanna ilaha illa Allah wahduhu la sharikara. Wa sharawanna saelina wa habibna mulana saelina Muhammadin abduhu wa rasuluhum. Ibaarullah, wudhakirukum bi taqqullah i subhanahu wa ta'ala. Haithi yaqul, saelina Muhammadin, sallallahu alaihi wa ala wa sahbihi sallam, fi hadith, i taqqullah haithi maa kuntum. Wudhakirukum bi sharifin makan muslafa. Sallallahu alaihi wa ala ala wa sahbihi sallam. Haithi yaqul, as-smallallahu ala wa sahbihi wa sahbihi wa sahbihi wa sahbihi wa sahbihi. Inna allahu wa malaykatu huyu salluna ala nabiyyya ayyuha ladina aamanu. Sallallahu alaihi wa sallimu taslima. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barik ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ala Sayyidina Muhammad. Kama barakta wa sallayta ala Sayyidina Ibrahim wa ala ala Sayyidina Ibrahim. Inna kahami dun Majid. There are three words in the first part of the khutba that I mentioned here which was anxious, annoyed, or even disheartened. And another three words of powerlessness, frustration, and anger. So I thought about this anxiousness and wanted to look and discuss in Qur'an perhaps how we understand this. And I came across this series of ayat in Surat al-Anbiya. Well, Allah swt starts off in these first three ayats, He says, Allah says in this first verse that indeed mankind is created anxious. Hala'a in Arabic translated as anxious. But then you have to look at the tafsir. And Atabari and others say, this is not insan. Rather, he wrote in it, this is the disbeliever. It says a kafir. And hulaqah does not mean that it's an essence of a person because what they said was that being anxious is a blameworthy trait and Allah does not create his human beings in blameworthy states. And because they have the ability to fight their desires and they have the ability to work and gain a state of nearness to Allah therefore it is not an essence. And then it is affirmed by the other two verses. So jaza'a in Arabic is a synonym for hala'a. It's the same meaning. Hala'a and jaza'a to be anxious, right? And it's interesting here that Allah swt chose to use massa. He didn't say if he is, if he is assabahu, he says massahu. Not if he is afflicted by it, if something heavy hits him. It says, no, even if it just touches him. If it just touches him, then the person becomes anxious. If it touches him, and when he gains wealth, he prohibits it from other people. Now, think about that in the context of that, now it is for the disbeliever. Why? Because there is no trust in God. There is no trust in God. So everything is through them. So therefore, when things happen and things change and things seem like we can't move forward or we're confused about certain things, I'm in a state of anxiety. But how can I be in a state of anxiety and also affirm la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah? How can I be in a state of anxiety and then also every morning read, perhaps even with my children? Masha'a Allahu kan wa ma lam yasha'a lam yakun. Wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah ila ila adin. These cannot be words that we recite with our tongue. Masha'a Allahu kan, whatever Allah wills will be. And what He has not willed will never be. These are principles that Allah is teaching us through dua, through Quran, to live upon in moments like this. To live upon at other times in our history, at other times that we read from Sira, that we see affliction upon the ummah of the beloved Habib Mustafa al-Sawis. And just look at his life if we have any questions as to what affliction looks like. But still the nickname is al-Habib, al-Habib. If this is what it looks like for al-Habib, then how could it be anything other than good from al-Hakeem? This is what this is telling us. Now there's a beautiful thing. Those categories. Now here comes Allah's guidance. Listen closely, illa al-musallin. If that first category, those two characteristics are what cause anxiety in the individual, then Allah is telling you, do not be anxious, do not be like this. Because now I'm gonna give you categories of people that you can be like to avoid having anxiety in your life. Illa al-musallin, category one. Alladheenahum an-salatihim da'imun. The first category, no anxiety, you want to remove anxiety from your life from the book of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, from the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Hum an-salatihim da'imun. They're on their prayers. And again, Imam Taburi, from the mercy of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, it says that it's the five prescribed salat, not tahajjud, not salatul duha, not tahatul masjid or tahatul wudu, or any of them. Just the five salat to remove this anxiety from our lives. So now I live in Berkeley, everything is about meditation, everything is about being in the moment, everything is about yoga mats, everything is about this, and the Muslims are buying into it as well too. But yet illa al-musallin is saying you want to remove anxiety from your life. Allah telling us this. Now yes, I'm not discrediting those things, but yet why do we look beyond the Dean? Why do we look beyond the answers that Allah gives us? Why do we look beyond the methods that Allah gives us? Perhaps we think because we are not feeling it. But then the question is for us, the question is for us, the next category of people, I'll go quickly here, wala deen fi amwaleem haqal maaloon, another category of people here that those who give to the people who have a right over their money, lessa'een wal mahrum, for those that are asking and those that have been, are in a state of poverty, they are giving. So charity, the first one in prayer, the second one charity, wala deen yusad ikhwanabiyyom ad-deen, another category that we all have the reality that we will stand in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to ask what we have done and what we did not do. What we said and what we did not say, that it's a reality, that this word that I'm going to utter right now will have meaning and as I say, will echo in eternity. It will echo in eternity. And those that are shake, those that are afraid of the punishment of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because it's a reality. And people can come and make all of the criticisms that they want. These criticisms have already been said before, claiming to the Prophet ﷺ that what you tell us about Jannah and what you tell us about the Na'a, Asad al-Awwaleen, that these are just tales of the ancients. This is what's reported, this is what is being taught to the masses now. This is it. If you can't see it, you can't touch it, you can't feel it, it's not there. We'll find out. We'll find out. And for me, I remember sitting in Fajr and Damascus, Sheikh Taufiq, when he recited this or he told this story in the seerah and it struck me that morning, I'd heard it so many times. But he talked about at Badr, when those that had harmed the Prophet ﷺ put the camel inside the entrails, if you will, after the slaughtering of the camel and after it has been gutted, put it on the Prophet ﷺ when he is in Sujood, that the Prophet ﷺ named those people by name and said, in the battle, this one will fall here and this one will fall here and this one will fall here and the Sahaba said, like he showed us in the exact place, we saw them. And when they were pushed into a well, he said to them, do you find the promise of your Lord to be true? And Omar ﷺ standing next to him, the seerah says and said, Ya Rasulullah, you speak to them and they are dead. And he said, Ya Omar, they hear you better than you hear me right now. They hear you better than you hear me right now. So come with your claims because the last messenger of God is telling us something else and I know where I'm putting my stock in and my energy in and my belief in. So may Allah ﷻ bless us. I will just close out with these last verses, just naming the categories here. And those that are chased and they protect themselves against illicit relations. And I'm going to just continue here. Now, the last two that I just mentioned here is that they are upright in their contracts and in their obligations to others and that they are truthful in their bearing witness. And then the last category, he goes back, Allah ﷻ says you have to be faithful to Allah ﷻ. You have to be faithful to Allah ﷻ. And then the last category, he goes back, Allah ﷻ says Salat to him, you half your womb. So here you have now, Allah ﷻ beginning with Salat, ending with Salat. And if you look at the commentary, it says that when Allah ﷻ mentioned something twice, it is to bring your attention to it, to show the importance of it and to make sure it was clearly understood when it was conveyed. So out of those seven that were mentioned because Salat is mentioned twice, which makes the eighth category, if you will, of the seven categories, Salat is mentioned twice, where do you think we should be putting our effort? Where do you think we should be putting our effort? From Allah ﷻ to Allah ﷻ. So when we talk about this with our children, we talk about these things, establishing it, not talk about it to our children, but with our children because they have to see it modelled with inside of us first. That's the important language to our children. Modelled inside of us first from Allah ﷻ to Allah ﷻ. And now one of the things I thought and I'll close with this very quickly was that these, Allah ﷻ is saying that these eight things, really seven but eight twice with Salat are the categories, Isthfmiyat, if you will, the exemptions of anxiety and there are eight and I thought interesting because there are also eight doors that lead to Jannah. Each with a specific name, may Allah ﷻ enter us into Jannah through His mercy, Ameen. Allah ﷻ is the mercy of the believers and the believers. Muslims and Muslims, the living of them and the dead. O our Lord, mercy be upon us. O our Lord, do not let our hearts be torn apart and leave us without Your mercy. You are the most merciful. O our Lord, mercy be upon us above the earth and below the earth and we stand between Your hands, O Lord of the worlds. O Lord, they are the lightest of the Ummah of Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ. O Lord, mercy be upon the Ummah of Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ. Allahumma, wansur Ummah of Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ. Nassurum, inda ki Ya Rabbil Alameen. Wa s-Sa'ilahumma ala Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ. Subhanah, rabbika rabi al-arizati amyasifoon. Wa s-sadam al-arim wa s-salim. Wa l-hamdullahi rabbil al-alameen. Aqim al-as-salat. Yerhamini, yerhamikum Allah.