 إن الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه ونستغفره ونتوب إليه ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات عمالنا من يحده الله فلا مدلله ومن يدل الفلهاد له واشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له واشهد أن سيدنا محمد عبده ورسوله يا أيها الذين آمنوا تقولوا الله حقا تقاته ولا تموتون إلا وأنتم مسلمون يا أيها الناس اتقوا ربكم الذين خلقكم النفسوا واحدة وخلق منها زوجها وبث منهم رجالا كثيرا ونساء واتقوا الله الذي تسألون به والأرحام إن الله كان عليكم رقيبا يا أيها الذين آمنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يوصلح لكم عمالكم ويوفي لكم ظلوبكم ومن يتعي الله ورسوله فقد فازا فوزنا عظيما أما بعد فإن أصدق الهديث كتاب الله وخير الهدي هدي محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وشر الأمور محنفاتها فكل محنفة برعة وكل برعة ضلالة وكل ضلالة في النار الحمد لله الحمد لله الذي أنزل على عبده الكتاب ولم يجعله إواجاء الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كنا لنهتر لولا انهدان الله الحمد لله رب العالمين كل محنفة لله الذي يساعدنا على هذا الطريق الذي يساعدنا مع الإسلام الذي يساعدنا مع إيمان ومن يساعدنا مع إحسان كل محنفة لله الذي يساعدنا مع this day in safety and security may Allah SWT perpetuate and preserve the state of safety and security that we enjoy الحمد لله our religion and the faith of our religion that it brings to us is founded not on rationality if you will there are rational proofs for Islam there are rational proofs for the existence of Allah SWT but that's not the foundation of faith one of the greatest foundations of faith is love one of the greatest foundations of faith is love and love is something associated with the qualities of the heart that are unseen so the foundation of love just as the reality of Allah SWT in terms of his essence is that all of these are from or both of these and many other realities associated with our religion are from the unseen world realm عالم الغيب and so we have no immediate rational proof for the existence of these things but we know they're real so Allah SWT at the very beginning of the Quran informs us that our faith an aspect of our faith is to believe in the unseen realm in fact this is the first description of the believers in the Quran و الله سبحانه وتعالى mentions الي فلا ميم ذلك الكتاب لا رأيب فيه هدى للمتقين الذين يؤمنون بالغيب this is the scripture there is no doubt concerning it it is guidance for those who are aware of their lord هدى للمتقين and then those متقين the first description Allah gives of them الي ذين يؤمنون بالغيب those who believe in the unseen و then و يقيمون الصلاة و مما رزقناهم يونفقون and they establish regular prayer and they spin from what we have bestowed on them upon them but the first thing الي ذين يؤمنون بالغيب so love which is an emotion that we know is real is one of the foundations of faith الله تعالى مجتمعه في القرآن or before that well we will go to that الله تعالى مجتمعه في القرآن والذين آمنوا أشبدوا حبا لله و من الناس من يتخذوا من دون الله and they love them like the love of Allah والذين آمنوا أشد حبا لله that amongst the people there are those who take equals that they love as they should love Allah والذين آمنوا أشد حبا لله those who believe are more intense in their love for Allah in other words those things that some people take and they set them up and they love them as they should love Allah the believers are more intense in their love of Allah than their love for those things some people take money and they love money as they should love Allah now there is nothing wrong with loving money in and of itself especially if one loves money so they can use that money في سبيل الله that's one of the people we can envy two people we can envy you can envy the person who has much money and they spend it في سبيل الله we can envy the person that has much knowledge and they use it and they share it with people الله says he's made money beloved to us حب الشهوات زينا للناس حب الشهوات من النساء والبانين والبانين والقناتر المقنطرة والقناتر المقنطرة من الذهب والثدط والقيل المساومة والانام والهرف ذلك ماتع الحياة الدنيا والله عنده حسن المعاب so it's been made alluring to people زينا للناس حب الشهوات love of their lust for the opposite gender what's mentioned here is women but women for men and for children and heaped up hordes of gold and silver والقناتر المقنطرة من الذهب والثدط والقيل المساومة and branded steeds والانام and cattle والهرف and cultivated fields that's been made endure and dear that's been endeared to people but the believers love Allah more so they're not going to murder someone to get their farm because they love the cultivated fields because they love Allah more and they know Allah has sanctified the human life they're not forbidden murder they're not going to go into interest just to be able to buy a house they love Allah more the believers they love their spouses زينا للناس but they're not going to put alcohol in their store because their wife wants the income to go up so she can stop shopping at Walmart and she can start shopping at Nordstroms or Saks Fifth Avenue or Macy's tired of shopping at Walmart just sell the alcohol we'll get more money I can shop at Nordstroms so I think I need a new wife وَلَّذِينَ عَمَنُوا أَشَّدُوا حُبَّلِ اللَّهِ those who believe are more intense in their love for Allah than their love for women or men every day you receive news this one has left Islam this one took off hijab why? she doesn't think she can get married wearing hijab so you love the guys more than you love Allah or you think you have the power to bring yourself a wife or a husband if I make more money even though it's haram I'll get a real trophy wife the kind of wife you walk into the place and everyone turns their head I'll get one of those kind of wives you've already dehumanized her she's a trophy she's not someone to help you to get to the Akhira she's not someone to cook you good, wholesome food she's not someone who'll be a good mother for your children she's just someone that looks good you can save yourself the trouble just get it some scissors cut out a picture of the most beautiful woman you can go to FedEx Kinko now just get a picture of a super model and the painter hijab on her and then go to Kinko get it blown up, cut it off and paste her onto your arm that's all she is she has no human qualities that you value she's just a trophy go to Acme Awards and tell her I want a trophy shaped like a beautiful woman and then put velcro on it so I can stick it onto my arm and walk around with it so you love her more than you love Allah you love the guy more than you love Allah you think that if you get your income up into another higher tax bracket you're going to attract that beautiful woman you think if you take your hijab off you're going to attract that beautiful guy you bring it to you not Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala it's جهل on top of جهل جهل مركب compound ignorance ignorance of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala ignorance of the religion compounded ignorance ليس لك أمن الأمر شيء Allah tells us in the Quran you have nothing to do with anything وما تشاءون إلا إن يشاء الله رب العالمين your will is only effective if it's consistent with what Allah has willed وما تشاءون إلا إن يشاء الله رب العالمين and if it's inconsistent with what Allah has willed it's not going to happen that's how reality works so love Allah please Allah and then pray to Allah with sincerity and then see what happens otherwise people are setting themselves up for failure and they're setting themselves up for frustration إبن أطاعة الله the very first aphorism he mentions in his collection الأطاية من علمات العتماري على العمل نقصان الرجاع في وجود الزلم from the indications من علمات عتمار على العمل that you're relying on your actions is a loss of hope when you experience a setback I studied hard for the test and I flunked so where was Allah Allah was there the whole time for wisdom he didn't decree that you pass so where's your faith where's your love for Allah if you love someone and they say wait for me here and they don't show up you'll keep waiting if you love them she's coming she says she's coming at 5 o'clock I'm out you'll wait until midnight in zero-degree weather if you really love her you'll wait until the next day maybe she meant 5 o'clock tomorrow camp out have a sleeping bag people love the 49ers right for a playoff ticket they'll sleep in the parking lot they'll spend the night in the parking lot they'll set a little pup tent up to get a playoff ticket to the 49ers game because they love the 49ers they'll wait for 2 or 3 days standing in line for the 49ers but as soon as what we expect Allah should have done for us because we did what we think will affect something in Allah's creation we give up one of the qualities of love one of the linguistic meanings of love in Arabic يعني اللزوم is constancy even in English we have that meaning if someone we know is going to be in love for 2 weeks you're not in love you're infatuated this will be gone in 2 weeks so your 13 year old comes you know أبو I love the teacher it's okay this will be over as soon as you get your first test result back because no you're not in love you're just infatuated love is deep love is permanent love is permanent لزوم هذا من معاني المحبة والحب اللزوم العرب يقولون بعير محب البعير المحب يعني لازم مكان وحد so a camel that's محب it stays in one place so if we love Allah we're not going anywhere our faith isn't going anywhere our commitment to Islam isn't going anywhere we're going to be consistent I'm staying right here I'm amazed everyday someone apostated what happened where they went to philosophy class and they read a book one book and you gave up your faith I'm not even going to start thinking about it until I read in encyclopedia and then read the response to that you read the argument and you didn't even bother to read the counter argument where's your faith? where's your love? didn't even bother to read the counter argument to the argument that puts you out of Islam that means you were never fully in Islam in the first place because if you were in it would take someone putting a gun up to your head to have you fake like you're leaving just don't shoot okay I'm not one I'm not one of them put the gun down on these شروع الله شروع الله شروع الله how is that cheap? your faith is that cheap? you give it up for one little pamphlet written by some wretched miserable kathar go look at the lives of these people in their lives there's no joy there's no love there's no mercy there's no fulfillment in many cases there's no family meaning for family relationships and all of that frustration and bitterness and hatred and anger is coming out in that literature those who believe are more intense in their love for Allah SWT this is part of our religion love love of Allah SWT love of the messenger of Allah SWT لا يؤمن وحدكم حتى أكون أحب إليه من واليده ووالاده وناس أجمعين no one of you truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his father his son and all of humanity all of humanity SWT this is the foundation of faith there has to be love there has to be love شرعا الحب أو المحبة ميل النفسي إلا ما تظنه خيرا شرعي definition of love is the soul inclining towards that which it knows to be good which it knows to be good we love Allah SWT look at the good Allah is done for us then there will be a skeptic say wow God hasn't been good to me I lost my job I lost my family I lost my brother in a car accident I lost this I didn't have that I was denied this I felt that that and what do you get from Allah SWT if you patiently persevere through all of that life all of that loss permanent bliss for the rest of eternity our life isn't confined to this world so if I lose in this world I'm a loser if I'm denied in this world then I'm deprived this world as one of the early say this world is just a fleeting moment fill this moment with the obedience of Allah we're not living for this world this is one of the great deceptions our minds have been so steeped in the materialistic reality that surrounds us we can't see beyond this material world and so if I'm denied in this world I never got the car I wanted I never got the job I wanted I never got the spouse I wanted I never got the kids I wanted I never got the this or the that or the other that I wanted that's half of the problem right there I but besides the point so what do you want jannah or do you want or all of your aspiration confined to this world our prophet taught us to pray in our dua اللهم لا تجعل اللهم صور رسولي لا لا تجعل الدنيا أكبر همنا ولا مبلغا إلمنا don't make this world this is a prayer يا اللهم لا تجعل الدنيا don't make this world أكبر همنا our greatest concern ولا مبلغا إلمنا nor the extent of our knowledge don't make this world our greatest concern nor the extent of our knowledge we should be far more concerned about jannah than we are about this world because this world passes look how quickly some of you have grey hair now you remember that last time it's like yesterday you looked in the mirror it was all black it was like yesterday you looked in the mirror it's about a color it's all black no henna naturally black now you look in it's gray then it's going to start falling out it's going to get patchy and then we're gone then what all you thought about was this world all you worked for was this world all your passions and obsessions were collected with this world this world is going no one can deny it then what اللهم لا تجعل الدنيا أكبر همنا ولا مبلغا إلمنا don't make this world our greatest concern nor the extent of our knowledge not all about this world and this is the materialistic orientation of the dominant cultural and civilizational force on this world in this world it's materialistic they're not a split and atom they're not a split and atom they're not a built tall bridges but they can't figure out a way to make peace between people they can't figure out a policy they can't even reasonable discuss a meaningful policy to keep our kids from going in the schools and blowing each other away as we see happening every other month or so that's a spiritual disease that there's no insight into by the people by the atom splitters it's a spiritual disease but if your world is the greatest concern then the love for that world why can't as a nation we can't even have a meaningful national dialogue on youth violence because we can't figure out a way to get around the NRA we can't figure out a way to get around this or that lobby not just the NRA we can't have a meaningful national discussion on Palestine because there's a lobby that gets in the way we can't have a discussion on guns in our society we can't have a meaningful discussion on many of the critical on alternative energy we can't get around big oil all of this connected to this world and none of it is looking at higher values higher meaning higher principles don't make this world our greatest concern nor the extent of our knowledge don't make this world our greatest concern or the extent of our knowledge we're in and out young people young people beware of what you're getting in your universities the dominant philosophy is a philosophy that's totally antithetical to any meaningful religious belief the relativist philosophy there's no absolute truth Islam is founded on absolute truth starting with that's an absolute truth that's axiomatic if you don't accept that there's no tawheed if there's no tawheed then it's all relative there are no binaries everything has to be conflated into one meaningless jumble where the whole spirit of the Quran is based on binaries Allah shaytan faith disbelief light darkness striving neglect so when our whole mind is being oriented away from the fundamental axioms that give meaning to the Quran and we're bombarded with this most of it subconsciously isn't any wonder so many young people we have to reform our education how we educate our community we have to reform our orientation we have to reform how we even see Islam we have all of this materialism bombarding us and we can't even systematically strengthen and buttress our souls against it because any practice or any belief that will provide the vaccination we need against these bacteria our innovations this bidah is from Tasawwuf Sufism's bidah we have to rethink this whole Muslim project in the face of modernity or we're going to see some things we have never seen in the history of this Ummah like Muslims cannibalizing Muslim murdering Muslims like master apostasy we've never seen this since Muhammad ﷺ walked this earth may Allah give us Tabats may Allah give us wisdom may Allah give us insight may Allah give us strength may Allah give us love of him اللهم إن الناس ألوك حبك وحب من يحبك وحب العمل الذي يبلغونا حبك ألوك حبك ألوك حبك ألوك حبك ألوك حبك يا الله يا الله يا الله أقولوا قولي هذا والسلام والسلام على سيد المرسلين والسلام when we say tasawwuf we need tasawwuf we're not talking about anything that someone puts a stamp on there's sound practices that all of the علمة of this ummah have agreed upon and there's things that are diseased and cancerous and even dangerous and a lot of the movements and the end of the 19 that are half of the 19th century that were anti-tasawwuf were reacting to a lot of the things that are not sanctioned but there are good solid practices that can strengthen our hearts and strengthen our our relationship with Allah that we need to examine otherwise we're swimming upstream against a very powerful current and when anyone's in a situation like that they need all the help they can get so if someone can throw us a rope that is suffice Muslims ask yourself one question we'll stop here Lord my voice children don't get scared he was yelling ask yourself this question is anything in any Muslim country Palestine Iraq Afghanistan Syria even worse than what the Muslims encountered when the Mongol hordes Gaines Khan and his descendants swept across the heartland of Islam it doesn't even measure they say 60,000 people have been killed in Syria so far one innocent life is one too many so I'm making a point I'm not belittling the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Syria or anywhere else but that's one town 60,000 is one town how many died in Samar Khan how many died when the Mongol hordes swept through and the whole these cities that were like Jannah on earth were raised to the ground and burned to the ground how many died in Bukhara how many died in Tasqint how many died in Baghdad but why were the Muslims able to accept that blow and maintain their composure and maintain their focus and within three generations bring those invaders into Islam because they had faith that wasn't going to shake that had love for Allah SWT that they weren't going to abandon even in the dark days even in the dark days that they encountered in the face of that scourge and this is what we need this is what we need in our day and time this is a time for strong Muslims this is not a time if you're weak you're going to be swept away and everyone has the capability to be strong وَاَتَصْعِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا all of you hold through the rope of Allah everyone can hold on but we have to choose to hold on we have to choose to be strong we have to choose to be steadfast and if we make that choice Allah SWT will help us Allah SWT will strengthen us when there's Ashabi Qaf the companions of the cave when they decided that they're going to stand up in the face of their people who were weak and they were going back on their religion what does Allah say about them He says الله said we strengthen their hearts when they took a stand وَرَبَطَنَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ اِذْقَامُوا so they had to take a stand first but once they took a stand once they said I'm being strong once they said I'm not turning back once they said I'm not afraid of the Romans and their persecution I'm not afraid of the gladiators I'm not afraid of the lions I'm not afraid of anything they might do to me الله تعالى strength in them وَرَبَطَنَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ اِذْقَامُوا when they stood up and they said الله ربنا ربو السماوات والأرب لن ندعو أمن دونه لها we will call on no other god besides him other than him this is what we need today because we are facing some difficult and challenging times and they are coming from many different levels and many directions and many angles and if we are not strong we will be swept away الله تعالى give us strength الله موفيل المسلمين والمسلمات والمؤمنين والمؤمنات الأحيائي منهم ولا موات ربنا لا تزيد قلوبنا بعد اذ حديتنا وَهَبْ لَلَى مِنْ لَدُونكَ رَحْمَة ربنا أفرغ علينا الصبر والثب اقدامنا وانصرنا على القوم الكافرين ربنا أفرغ علينا الصبر وثب اقدامنا وتوفنا مسلمين وعفو عننا ووفي لنا ورحمنا انت مولانا فانصرنا على القوم الكافرين الله نقسمنا من خشيتك ما تعالوا به بيننا وبين معاصك ومن طاعتك ما تبلغنا والمن يقين ما يهون عننا مصاعبة الدنيا ومات عن اثماء chúngه وكو inici半نا ودعه الارث مننا و شقطنا قائنا على عاداننا ولا تجعل مصرينا في دنينا ولا تجعلال الدنيا اكبر هذا و CatchSen ولا الا تجعلد الدنيا اكبر هذا ولا تجعل للحمر ولا تجعل الدنيا أكبر رحمنا، ولا مبلغ علمنا، ولا تسلط علينا بذنوبنا من لا يخافك، ولا يرحمنا، يا أرحم الراحمين، وعفو عننا، ووفي لنا، ورحمنا، أنتم أولانا، فانصرنا على القوم الكافرين سبحان ربك رب العزة عما يصفون، والسلام على المرسلين، والحمد لله رب العالمين، عكم السلام، يرحمني ويرحمكم الله