 gaining knowledge of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in reality is something that is crystal clear the path toward reaching God is apparent but the problem is that we hinder ourselves from reaching that destination which is why we need to state several times throughout the day اه نصرات المستقيم or Allah guide us toward the straight path many people they have this perception that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is very far from us when in reality we are far from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala yet he is very close to us it is stated in the narration one day a man he comes toward the holy prophet صلى الله عليه و تعالى and he says يا رسول الله اربك بائيد فأنادي او قريب فأناج is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is your Lord far that I need to scream out and call out to him Oh Allah or is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala close so that I can whisper to him at this moment Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala received the revelation from Jibra'een from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and she states اذا سألك عباد عني فأني قريب that when that servant of mine asks about me tell him that I am near and that I hear his call whenever he seeks me Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is clear to the human being he is close to the human being but we put certain hurdles and obstacles in terms of reaching that destination of ours and we begin to place idols on this path toward him when in reality Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is present side by side اينما كنتم as he states within the whole of Quran of course not physically but metaphorically within the next segment of ayat of the whole of Quran from chapter 72 we see this point that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is apparent toward his creation but it is us who stop ourselves from submitting toward the fact that we are in reality very close in proximity spiritually toward him and we are the one who place these hurdles and boundaries Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala states in verse number 11 of surah at jinn quoting the jinn وَعَنَّا مِنَ الصَّالِهُنْ وَمِنَّا دُونَا ضَالِكْ خُنَّا تَرَائِقَ قِدَّدَ in verse number 11 of chapter 72 he is quoting the jinn who are stating that and some of us are the righteous and the other ones are duna balik they are a little bit less than the righteous meaning that just like the human being the jinn they separate into groups in terms of their knowledge in terms of their worship in terms of their religiosity so to state for instance these jinn who have now submitted toward the teachings of the holy prophet sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wasallam they are stating and speaking amongst themselves and stating look from amongst the jinn there are those who are righteous who are ready to submit toward the holy prophet sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi beside there are those who don't want to submit toward the prophet there are those who are less in terms of their worship less in terms of their obedience it doesn't mean that you condemn them and pass judgment on those individuals but we have to realize that people are at different levels which is why people are different people are different levels in terms of receptivity to the majority that they hear in different aspects of receptivity in terms of the knowledge that they are able to acquire in a narration from one of the imams behind the house sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wasallam he states some of you are more righteous than some and some of you are more righteous than some and some of you are more righteous than some and better than you better than you know that from within your own communities you see that there are one group of people who pray more than the other for those for instance who give more sadaqa than the other there's a third group of people who go for hajj more than everyone else but none of that matters the best amongst you are those who have the most knowledge of Allah s.p.m those who know what they're doing their sincerity in the midst of performing that atman is far more valuable for instance than performing a lot of prayers the one who knows the conditions spiritual conditions for fasting that he needs to control his tongue his eyes and his ears and all of his physical organs while fasting during the holy month of Ramadan and not only his stomach that is the one who truly knows the benefit of the holy month the one who has ma'rafa of this blessed month so we go back toward this verse of the holy Quran and Allah s.p.m he's quoting the jinn as they're conversing amongst themselves but from us there are the righteous ones and there are those people who are not ready to submit they're stating amongst themselves that certainly we always travel we always hang out in different sects we create different denominations and the first thing of the holy Quran they separate this into different groups they have different interpretations of what this particular part of the verse means one again part of the verse means when a group of us are in the holy Quran they come forth and they state that when these jinn are classifying themselves it's coming from different sects or denominations that's in regards to for instance their physical beings meaning some are dark, some are light some come from different parts of the world just like human beings do but on a second level that's probably the more correct meaning in terms of the context that we're understanding this particular verse from it's the fact that jinn they always hang out religious they are in terms of the relationship with Allah swt for instance, we are all mosque goers we come to the mosque during the holy month of Ramadan we talk with one another we converse with one another then there are people for instance who only come for iftah maybe we don't get along with them as much as we do with the people who are always coming to the coming to the mosque during the holy month of Ramadan because we have some similarities we're on the same wavelength we have the same ideology when we're coming to the center for instance being like the jinn they always form their own cliques they're always gathered within their own circles like the jinn they also do the same thing and you see that this is accustomed from imam even amongst the companions of Ahir el-Bayt A.S and we take examples from that then we come forth and we see for instance that the imams of Ahir el-Bayt A.S they would have specific companions and those companions they would relegate themselves towards specific groups on the level of what their knowledge and of the imam for instance we see in the narration of Ahir el-Bayt or within the books of history we see amongst those companions of Ahir el-Bayt who used to form their own gathering with an individual by the name of Mitha Muthammar Mitha Muthammar many of us know the one who had that intense love for Ameer el-Muminin and with him is Habib el-Mubah on the specification and take a look at the conversation between these two companions of Ahir el-Bayt it is said that one day Mitha Muthammar Habib el-Mubah in the streets of Kufa and they begin to converse with one another look at the level of knowledge that these people are conversing about and it is said that Habib el-Muthah he looks toward Mitha Muthammar he says, oh Mitha Muthammar it is as if that I can see that day that Ameer el-Muminin A.S has promised us when he has stated that you are going to die with your last words being in praise of Ameer el-Muminin A.S they are speaking about the way that they are going to die and it is said at this moment Mitha Muthammar he looks toward Habib and he says, oh Habib and it is as if that I can see that day that Ameer el-Muminin A.S has promised us that you will be defending our master Imam al-Hussain A.S and dying between his arms on the day of Ashura so we see that there is this type of Ma'rafa there is this type of level of understanding of receptivity from these companions that these type of individuals who have this type of knowledge they always hang out within the same within their same gatherings within their same circles just like the jinn women that some of us, we are amongst the righteous and some of us are less in terms of our worship of Allah SWT couldna taraqa qedada surely they segregate themselves or they create different sex and denominations from amongst themselves Allah SWT continues they are speaking amongst themselves now after they have submitted to Allah SWT after they have submitted to the Holy Prophet they are stating now we know that there is no way of fleeing from the Kingdom of Allah SWT we stated and there is no way to run away from your kingdom everywhere we go we are in the presence of Allah SWT everywhere we look we are in the presence of Allah SWT no matter if we go to the east of the world or to the west of the world or to the stars or to Jupiter all of this is the guardianship of Allah SWT these jinn are reflecting amongst themselves they are stating that we have now realized that there is no way to escape the Kingdom of God you see the problem is with the human being is that sometimes we believe that we are not in the presence of Allah SWT which is why we commit sin one time a man he comes towards one of the imams of Ahl al-Bayt if I remember the story correctly I believe it was imam ar-Radha and he says do you have some sort of power that is compelling you to force you to never commit any sin or do you choose not to commit any sin the imams of Ahl al-Bayt are infallible what leads you toward this the imam he responds toward this man he said would you leave your house without dressing appropriately without dressing appropriately walking without any clothes in the middle of these streets he says of course I wouldn't do that he says why people are watching why would I do such a thing he says we Ahl al-Bayt never perform any act of sin because we know that Allah SWT is always watching us the problem is with the human being is that we go through this phase where we believe that Allah SWT or even if we can see we don't really care about it naturally when we take a look at our own selves in terms of our own nature when we are at home for instance we will never commit a sin in front of our spouse we will never commit a sin in front of our children we will never commit a sin in front of our community members probably would never commit a sin even if an animal was present in that same room but we commit sins every single day in the presence of Allah SWT our perception of God is something which is of a very low level of Ma'rifah this is the problem these jinn after hearing the ayat of the Qur'an after allowing for their hearts to be receptive to the divine commandments of God they stated that now we know that there is no way that we can run away from the kingdom of God we are in the presence of Allah SWT everywhere we go we are in the presence of Allah SWT which is why we will never even think about committing a sin and no matter how far away that we try to run no matter where we go in this massive universe Allah SWT he is always present he is always surrounding us he is always there like we said that the problem with the human being is that we see Allah SWT and we create certain veils and barriers over our hearts and over our hearts and over our hearts and over our hearts barriers over our hearts and over our eyes that do not allow us to understand his authority over this universe the thing is with the human being for instance we know when we see narration they point toward this very fact the human being our intellects are very weak the situation is such that we often form pictures of God unfortunately especially when we are children for instance and as we increase in our knowledge the less we tend to do this we begin to picture Allah SWT like ourselves this can lead us toward the possibility of worshiping that picture that we have created in our minds but this is unfortunately the nature of the human being that we need to constantly get over this particular phase that we are in in fact some of the Ulama they state that even an ant that is walking in the middle of the desert in the middle of the sand how does it picture Allah SWT the same way that perhaps Allah SWT to have hands and eyes and ears like these Wahhabis they state that Allah SWT will be sitting on a throne and his dimensions are like this and so on and so forth of course when we reject all of this even the ant pictures Allah SWT with two antennas we have to get over this to increase our knowledge of Allah SWT to remove all of these sorts of images and realize that Allah SWT is the guardian of all of this he is the creator of all of this in front of that great God that we will realize that we cannot or how dare we ever commit any sort of sin or vice or transgression in front of this Allah the imams of Ahad al-Bait Imam al-Hassan al-Mujtaba when he would be performing the wudu as we've heard the story since we've been kids that as he would be performing the wudu his face would turn yellow when they would come toward the imam they would say are you sick is everything okay he says I realize we have to go and stand in front of at the time of Salat and his face changes because of that ma'arafa that the imam of Ahad al-Bait has we need to be amongst those who walk in that in those footsteps of the imams of Ahad al-Bait they continue they're conversing amongst themselves and they continue they're conversing amongst themselves and and the moment that we heard those words of guidance from the tongue of the Holy Prophet SAW the minute that he began to recite the ayat and the verses of the Holy Quran we fell in submission toward that because when someone presents the truth toward you naturally you are inclined to submit toward that truth but the problem is we recite the Holy Quran day and night but we're not ready to submit and have that certainty with Allah SWT and when we heard the guidance we believed so those who believe in his Lord will not fear for a moment and then they continue and they state that when an individual he submits toward Allah SWT and believes in God he should not be fearful of any sort of poverty nor should he be fearful of any sort of disgrace when you build a link with Allah SWT nothing bothers you anymore and you take a look and you see the awliya' of Allah SWT who does Allah love the most the prophets of Allah SWT are those whom he loves the most the imams of Ahlul Bayt the awliya' of Allah those are the ones whom Allah SWT loves the most but at the same time who do we see are the most poorest of all of creation the prophets of Allah the imams of Ahlul Bayt and Allah SWT narrations as they come forth and they tell us the first of all we take a look at the way that Isbd Maryam A.S.M abstaining from the dunya narrations come forth and they tell us Musb the Imran Prophet Musa A.S he was so poor he had such little provisions in his life that the majority of his life in his earlier age in terms of his youth he would be eating grass he would be eating grass until the pigment would change to the color green it is stated that one day Musa A.S it begins to seek and pray to Allah SWT because he was in intense hunger in the middle of the desert he was saying oh Allah give me something give me something from your bounties and from your blessings so I can go back and be obedient toward you sometimes we need provision right during the month of Ramadan we get tired from fasting that we don't want to spend the day in reciting the Quran it's difficult sometimes especially with the long fast 16, 17 18 hours it's very difficult Musa A.S says oh Allah give me a little bit of your bounties and of your blessings so I can spend my day in obedience toward you a couple of moments later perhaps Musa A.S was only asking for a loaf of bread or a piece of bread right but a couple of moments or days later Allah SWT blesses Musa and gives him a lot more than that doesn't only give him bread what does he give him he gives him a wife when Musa A.S went toward that well he saw the two daughters of Sha'aib and you all know the whole story he gave him a job he gave him a home just for that sincere dua of Musa A.S but the first step is to know that Allah SWT is always there they lived the life of dejection from the community they were marginalized they were disrespected we've been speaking about Prophet Nuh A.S last week we saw that Nuh A.S has nobody at his support but he knows that Allah SWT is there when someone has God no matter what type of trials and tribulation that they go with that they're going through they said forget about it because my God is greater than all of this when you're in poverty you say Allah SWT when you're sick you say that I was healthy one day when some individual they have a back pain they say you know what at least my eyes are okay when you have a cold you say you know what that's what it means to really believe in Allah SWT and be content with him in all situations when someone has contentment with Allah SWT Allah SWT is content with him and when someone has contentment with Allah SWT nothing bothers him which is why these jinn they're conversing amongst themselves and they're saying now that we believe in God none of the trials of life they bother us so we don't have any concerns about this world we're not worried about being disgraced we're not worried about people lastly get us for us following in the religion of the Holy Prophet SAW we don't care if we're poor if we're rich doesn't bother us because what we do have is the presence of Allah SWT in our hearts Allah SWT continues quoting those jinn and from amongst us we have those who submit toward God again like we quoted in the previous verse and from amongst us are those who are the wrongdoers and for those who submit towards Allah SWT they have submitted towards something very good they have been led or they're going to be led towards success we're content we see that in the Holy Quran there is a mention of two different types of submission toward Allah SWT the first type of submission is what is known as obligatory submission and the second phase is what is known as voluntary submission obligatory submission is the fact that every single one of us we submit toward Allah SWT in one way or another for instance the Holy Quran Allah SWT states that the mountains they submit toward God the trees they submit toward God the oceans they recite Allah SWT the birds flying in the sky and the fish in the ocean they all submit toward Allah SWT you and I whether we believe in God whether we don't believe in God whether a human being is an atheist or an agnostic or someone who is an idol worshiper he himself or she herself are a testimony in the existence of Allah SWT why? because every breath we take every step we take every time our eye blinks in reality this is an example of the creation of Allah SWT and whether you like it or not you're submitting toward the fact that Allah SWT created you whether you reject him or not in reality some way some phase within your life you Allah SWT the fact that you have been created by him the testimony in his very existence for instance whether we choose to pray or not to pray whether we choose to fast or not to fast whether we choose to go for the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca or not we without any sort of a doubt have submitted to Allah SWT every single breath that we take because in that previous world in the Adam of Thar Allah SWT asked us and that existence and that pre-world in the world of spirits we stated yes and we testify in your existence but there's a higher level of submission than this obligatory submission that all creations they perform just by their very being and by their very presence and that is what is known as those individuals, voluntary submission those individuals who submit toward Allah SWT willingly and with the knowledge that Allah SWT allows their Creator the fact that we choose to pray the fact that we choose to fast the fact that we choose to go for Hajj the fact that we choose to seek him and supplicate to him and recite munajab toward Allah SWT these are all dimensions of this voluntary submission the fact that I choose to be a worshipper of Allah SWT and that is the submission that these jinn are talking about in this conversation they come forth those who submit toward Allah SWT they will be taken toward perfection they will be taken toward guidance sometimes we don't necessarily understand but the more that we worship the more that we submit the more that we understand and recognize that our minds can't understand everything then by that token Allah SWT will put the light of knowledge in our heart and put the light of knowledge within our souls for those who believe Allah SWT will take them toward guidance but for those who transgress they will be the fuel for the fires of hell the question that we need to pose when we recite this particular ayah of the whole of Quran and this is how we need to recite the whole of Quran and contemplate upon its verse and this is how we recite the whole of Quran and contemplate upon its verse is why does Allah SWT state that those who disbelieve and those who transgress they will be the individuals who are the fuel for the fires of hell and that they will just enter into the fires of hell and receive punishment why this distinction and why does Allah SWT use this type of strong terminology because there are some people who are sinners, there are some people who are bad individuals they do awful things they commit sins on their own in their own house and that's fine and Allah SWT will punish them for committing such an action but then there are individuals who take it to the next level they don't only commit transgressions of the boundaries of Allah SWT on their own but what do they do even more than that they bring everyone else down with them so Allah SWT states for those people they won't only be thrown into receiving the punishment of God but they will be the cause of that fire to be building up in the fires of hell May Allah SWT save us from that punishment Allah SWT states in verse number 16 and inshallah we won't have time to conclude this but let me just make a brief mention of this Allah SWT states in verse number 16 and for those individuals who remain firm they remain firm on their religion they remain firm on trying to seek the right path Allah SWT will bring them from the skies abundant water what does this mean Allah SWT stating that there are a group of people who make their very best effort to stay on sarat al-mustaqeen they make their very best effort to go and find that right path they do the things that they need to do they make their best effort they do their very best to seek they try to increase in their knowledge they question when they have to question they do their very best in terms of their relationship with their families and with their friends and with their communities they pray and they fast and they fulfill their responsibilities toward God and if they do that if people collectively want to wear this Allah SWT will allow for abundant water to fall down from the skies and as we mentioned before when we spoke about Prophet Noah when Allah SWT mentions abundant water he is not speaking solely about water that is coming down from the skies but rather he is speaking about Allah SWT's bounties and blessings you will be able to extract them from ways that you could have never imagined if communities during the times of the previous prophets of Allah SWT if the people of Bani Israel they submitted toward their prophets they would have been able to attain the bounties of this world they would have had fruits on their trees and from under them and they would have had food to eat and the bounties and this deliciousness of God's blessing from all around them from ways that they couldn't have even imagined but the problem is that the community they neglected their prophets the problem is that the community they neglected the prophets of Allah SWT the communities they neglected they neglected the imams of the people of the house of the prophets of Allah SWT but if they knew what was with the people of the house if they knew what was with the prophets of Allah SWT they would have been able to attain great heights that our intellect cannot perceive let me give you an example for those individuals who hold held steadfast toward the prophets of Allah who held steadfast to the imams of the people of the house see the levels that they have reached Imam Al-Sadaq Allah SWT Imam Al-Sadaq according to sheikh al-Mufid has between 4,000 and 20,000 students in the seminary 4,000 who are who are his close confidants but another 16,000 individuals who are sitting in the lessons of Imam Ja'far bin Muhammad imagine 20,000 students Imam Al-Sadaq he states the people of Medina have abandoned me why? keep this to the side Ameer al-Mu'mineen, alaihi salatu wa salam one day he is in the middle of the desert and he is alone and he has his head in the ground perhaps seeking from Allah SWT making sujud Khumana bin Ziyad he comes toward the Imam al-Sadaq he says, oh, Ameer al-Mu'mineen why do I see in such a state Ameer al-Mu'mineen, alaihi salatu wa salam I have the knowledge I have the knowledge of the heavens and the earth khahuna la ilmun jam'a he states as he points toward his heart over here is knowledge and marafa it's completion but no one wants to come and ask me saluni, saluni, qabla an tafqaduni saluni an toraq al-Samafa anni a'lamu ba'a bin toraq al-Aram I am, ask me ask me before you lose me ask me on the heavens, ask me about the heavens I am knowledgeable about that but no one wants to come and ask me Imam al-Sadaq alaihi salatu wa salam like we mentioned, 20,000 students when he says that people of Medin have abandoned me why? because few people they realize that with these individuals is the secret of the hafiz one of those individuals who realize the presence of the Imam who realize the status of the Imam alaihi salatu wa salam was a man by the name of Jaber ibn Hayyan you know who is Jaber ibn Hayyan 3,000 treatises in philosophy in medicine in biology, in chemistry in algebra more than 3,000 pieces of literature from Jaber ibn Hayyan he's a direct student of Imam al-Sadaq alaihi salatu wa salam and go today when you go home and type in Jaber ibn Hayyan in English on google and go to the first link on Wikipedia and see what they say about Jaber ibn Hayyan Jaber ibn Hayyan, the father of modern day chemistry Jaber ibn Hayyan, the man who said the first man who the first man who came forth and stated that the atoms they have power and they have energy and things can be created from them this is Jaber ibn Hayyan we're talking in the second century in the history of the religion of Islam a direct student of Imam al-Sadaq alaihi salatu wa salam going back to where this verse of the whole Qur'an what is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala state he comes forth and he tells the community he states Mabba if you listen and if you stayed on the path we would have brought down toward you secrets from the skies that you could have never imagined otherwise one man Jaber ibn Hayyan he has the ability to write this many treatises that are studied and reflected upon in academia till this very day Imam al-Sadaq alaihi salatu wa salam who research in France and PhD dissertations have been written about his life from non-Muslims from non-followers behind the debate they come forth and they state and they try to make the conclusion that the first man who stated the first man who openly stated and preached and wrote about the fact that the earth is not the center of the world and rather is the sun is Jafar ibn Muhammad before Copernicus before Galileo Imam al-Sadaq alaihi salatu wa salam but we the followers of the Imam al-Sadaq alaihi salatu wa salam we neglected these individuals and we are living in the station that we are living in so we need to go back and reflect and when we read this verse of the whole Qur'an Allah SWT is telling us the human being in the jinn that if you had followed suit with the prophets of Allah SWT you would have been able to attain heights no one could have even imagined we would have brought down for you and showed you the secrets and the blessings of this universe but you left it we need to pose that same question to ourselves have we held steadfast toward Ahl al-Bayt alaihi salatu wa salam or have we left them behind have we gone ahead of them have we left them behind or are we standing next to them Allah SWT would have brought down so many unique blessings from the skies from the earth from the sun from the moon we would have been able to reach heights that we could have never imagined but the first prerequisite toward that fact is the fact that we need to stay on course with the Imam al-Bayt al-Bayt the Holy Prophet and the whole Qur'an we pray to Allah SWT for Tawfiq insha'Allah tomorrow will continue Allah SWT that we will be able to become among those who are the contemplators the reciders of the book of Allah SWT Alhamdulillah, Lord of the worlds we pray to Allah SWT and our prophet Muhammad and the good people of Tahirin may Allah bless those who read the holy Surah Fatiha