 Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahirrahmanirrahim. Wassalamu ala Sayyidil Mursaleen, Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim tasliman kathira. As-Salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Peace and greetings to all of our guests, whoever you may be, whoever you may hail, and whatever faith you may profess. May Allah Ta'ala Almighty bless all of you and bless us during this time of anxiety, this time of some people, unfortunately depression, this time of death, over one upwards to 160,000 of our fellow Americans having perished during this COVID-19 crisis. So many questions arrive in terms of the faith perspective, in terms of the decree of Almighty God, in terms of the large number who have perished. Is this a punishment? Is this owing to our sins? Excuse me. As a Muslim, there are many ways we can look at this situation. First and foremost, as Muslims, we understand that our living in this world is a test. We're tried. We read in the Quran, blessed is the one who has the dominion over all things, and he over all things has power, the one who has created death and then life in order to test you, which of you are best indeed. So we're tested. Do you think you will enter paradise and there's not yet come to you the likes of that, which afflicted those who preceded them? We tested them with all sorts of difficulties and hardships until the messenger at that time and the believers with him cried out, when does the help of God come? Verily the help of God is close by. So we could go on and on with the verses that express the nature of this world, which is trial and tribulation. And then we move on to the next world. And if we have succeeded in being patient and entertaining a good opinion of our Lord during those trials and tribulations, then we enter paradise. And paradise is called Dar Salam, the abode of that's free from the imperfections, the defects that exist in the world. Disease is one of those defects. Disease renders our body defective. And in paradise, there are no diseases. There is no death. There is no, there are no conflicts. So these are all from this world, from the nature of the world. If we go back to one of the verses or one, I didn't mention the verse actually, or reference it, but there's a verse in the Qur'an, do they think they are safe from the decree of Almighty God? No one feels they are safe from the decree of God except a people who are at a loss. And so we live in this world and we think that things that might be unpleasant could never be decreed by God. And inevitably, we find and we confront unpleasant things, unpleasant realities, and some people blame God for that. But as Muslims were told, don't think you're going to be safe from the unpleasant aspects of what our Lord has decreed. If everything were peaches and cream, hunky-dory, selling down the river of Serendipitous Bliss on the Gutsch of Lollipop, then what would be the point? What would be the point of paradise? What would be the point of hell? What would be the point of living in this world? We live in this world for a purpose and that purpose is to do the things necessary to attain to paradise. And one of the necessary things, excuse me, is patiently and with dignity, dealing with the trials and tribulations that Almighty God sends our way. And so this COVID-19 virus is one of the trials that God has sent our way. And to go back to a verse I did reference, and that verse, do you think you will enter paradise when there has not yet come to you the likes of that which afflicted people before you? And so we think and some of us are deluded by our technology. We're deluded by our scientific advance into thinking that the fundamental realities of the human condition have somehow been alleviated by technology. They have it. And this virus clearly shows that this virus has brought many of our technologically advanced systems screeching to a halt. You know, we micromanage, we have micro and macro. We develop these macro economic models that the whole economy has been modeled out and we factor in the various cycles of boom and bust, but we can't factor in a pandemic. And so this pandemic comes and then the entire economy which had been described pre-pandemic as the greatest economy in human history comes grinding to a halt. And it leads us to reflect. So this situation, this whole pandemic COVID-19 situation leads us to reflect because as our economic systems grind to a halt suddenly the pollution is not belching into the skies because the demand for the production of the factories has disappeared. The commuting back and forth to work during March and April when things were unlocked down here in the States disappears and the birds come back. The waters begin to clear up. The murky water offshore becomes blue again. The fish return to the shore. And so it's a reminder for us to reflect on our destructiveness. So yes, the virus is destructive. Yes, the virus has a heavy toll. But how does that compare to the destructiveness that we have brought about? There's a verse in the Quran, another verse, corruption has appeared on the land and in the sea based on what the hands of humans have brought about. Thus do we give them a taste of what they have done in order that they return to the path of divine guidance. And so we experience a taste of what we've done. The virus itself, we've cut down the forest, we build out into wilderness areas and robbed of the habitat many wild animals, the bats and the other creatures began to live in close proximity with us where formerly they were deep in the forest. And now we get these transmutation of these viruses from animals to humans. It's a consequence, brothers and sisters, of what we have done. And we taste a taste. So it's not wiping us out. There's a terrible toll of death. But to go back to the verse, do you think you will enter paradise when there has not come to you? The likes of that which afflicted those who preceded you. Those who preceded us, our grandparents lived through the Spanish flu. You look at the severity and the mortality rate of that flu compared to now. It was exponentially greater. So this is from the lute, this is from the gentleness of our Lord. We say, oh, how could you say that? I say that because so far in this country, and one death is too many. Don't get me wrong. Well, 160,000 are perished. In the Spanish flu, millions perished. Globally, not even one million perished. The Spanish flu, some estimates say up to 50 million or greater perished. And so those who preceded us, they were afflicted with the likes of what we were afflicted with, but much worse. Before the Spanish flu, there were the various manifestations of the plague in the aftermath of the great bubonic plague of the 14th century, Miladi or AD. And so they had to deal with that. Our Muslim forebears, the companions, just in the remnants of the plague of Justinian that killed a large percentage of the Earth's population. It killed many of our noble companions, that's Shuhrajeel or Mu'adim Nijabel, Abu Ubed ibn Jar'a, they all perished in the Jordan River Valley from the remnants of the plague of Justinian. And so we are only being tested with the likes of that which of those who preceded us, what they were tested with, but what they experienced were far worse. And despite that, they were patient. Despite that, they maintained their dignity. They didn't fall apart. Despite that, they entertained a good opinion of God. And so in conclusion, let me say this, my beloved brothers and sisters, as we deal with this plague and hopefully God will lift this plague from us, which it behooves us to repent from our sins, to examine our actions. What have we been doing that might have brought about the displeasure of our Lord? Let's be patient. Let's maintain our dignity. Let's entertain a good opinion of our Lord. Our Lord is merciful. Our Lord, what if our Lord sent to us something as virulent as COVID-19 and as deadly as Ebola, which is also a virus, which has a death rate of 60-70% over out of almost every two out of, approximately two out of three people who get Ebola, Ebola, they perish. But it's not as virulent. It doesn't spread as rapidly and as easily as COVID-19. But what if it did? And it's not impossible that we might confront such a virus. So let us be patient, let us entertain a good opinion of our Lord. Let us understand, no matter how bad things are, the people who preceded us experienced far, far worse and they still maintain their faith. So let us maintain our faith. Let us thank our Lord for the many blessings that we do enjoy. Never, never, brothers and sisters, never stop thanking the Lord for the blessing, especially in this country. And let me say this, I know my time is up, but let me say this, if we get the virus, we have a choice where we're going to quarantine. The basement, the attic, the guest bedroom, many people, there's one room, there are five or six people in that room. If they get the virus, five or six other people are going to get it. They cannot quarantine themselves. They cannot self-isolate. May Allah bless you. May Allah Almighty God bless you. May you keep smiling despite the pain. Smiling despite the pain. Why? Because you're some kind of a masochistic person. No. Because despite the pain, the death, the loss, we have the blessings being showered down upon us openly and open and hidden ways. And that should keep a smile on our face, despite everything. Good night, whatever the case may be. Be like our sister, Mariam. She's smiling despite the pain. She's smiling because she's a lulli-wed. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barik ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa alihi wa sahbihi wa sahbihi. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.