 All praise is due to Allah who has blessed us with Islam. Imam Ali, radi Allahu ankh, Karam Allahu wajah, as we put it, as we laid it to have said, Inna minna ima minna ima dunya inyakthiya ka l-Islamu ni'matan. From the blessings of this world is that Islam suffices as a blessing. If we didn't get anything, we thought we should have gotten from this world. We didn't get the house of our dream, the yad of our dream, the chateau of our dream, the car of our dream, the spouse of our dream, the children of our dream. Nothing that we thought we should have gotten or we aspired to attain to in this world. But we left this world saying la ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah than we've been blessed. On the contrary, if we got all of that, we got the yad, we got the kando, the chateau, we got the car, we got the spouse, we got the children, we got everything we aspired for in this world. But we left this world without la ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah on our tongues nor in our hearts, then we haven't attained anything of any lasting import in this world. May Allah bless each and every one of us to leave this world with our hearts illuminated by la ilaha illallah, with our tongues articulating la ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. What we like to talk about today is the subject of love. When someone hears a khateeb or Muslim speaker saying we're going to talk about love, they sometimes think we're trying to romanticize Islam or something of that sort. Not at all, love is at the very foundation of our fear. First we want to just mention the love of Allah and the place the love of Allah shall have in our lives and our hearts. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in the Quran. Those who believe are more intense in their love for Allah parenthetically than their love for anything or anyone other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Our hearts should be filled with the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala recognizing the good that Allah has done for us. Ibn-i Masroor wa dhiyallahu a'ad as we, ladies and gentlemen, have said jubulatil kulub ala hubbi man a'sana ilayha that hearts have been disposed to love those who do good to them. Has not Allah done good to us? Has not Allah done good to us, my dear brothers and sisters? We have more clothing than we can wear. Talking us in this country, in this gathering. We have more clothing than we can wear. We have more food than we can eat. Many of us are searching for diet plans and we go assiduously to the gym to work off those extra calories. We have more house than we can live in. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam could barely stand up in his house. We have cathedral ceilings. Some of our houses have ceilings that rival the ceiling of this very auditorium we find ourselves in. We have more house than we can live in. And I'm not saying that to make anyone feel guilty in any way, shape, or form. All Allah asks is that we give thanks for those blessings. In shukrtum lazidah nikum. If you give thanks, I will increase you. And He asks us to share those blessings. That's all. And we ask Allah to give us well-being, to protect us, to preserve the blessings that He has bestowed upon us. But the point is, if we reflect and ponder, all of us will acknowledge that Allah has been so good to us. And if we acknowledge that, and if we recognize that, and if we eternalize that, then our hearts will indeed be filled with the love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Sufficient as a reminder as to the significance of the love of Allah. And also a reminder as to each and every one of us in our various capacities should be working to uplift, to advance this religion. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions, ya ayyuhalladina amanu main yaratadda minkum andine. Fasawfa yattillahu bi qawmin yuhibbuhum yuhibbuna. Avillatin ale al-mu'minina, aizzatin ale al-kafirin yujahiduna fisabilila wala yukafuna laumatalaim. Dahlika fadlu Allahi yu'ttihim main yasha' wa allahu wa si'un alim. O you who believe, ya ayyuhalladina amanu main yaratadda minkum andine. And the primary meaning here is most of the commentators, the exegists, the first thing they mentioned, mentawella anusrati dinihi. This is not talking about belief and apostasy. Whoever turns back from assisting this religion, then Allah will bring another people. Fasawfa yattillahu bi qawmin. And what is the first description of those people? yuhibbuhum yuhibbuna. Whom He will love and they will love Him. Whom He will love and they will love Him. So as we mentioned, when we say assisting the religion and whatever capacity we find ourselves in, when you're studying with the intention of just preserving the knowledge, enhancing your practice of the religion to deepen your servitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taqiqa al-arbudiyya, and to perfect your rebad or your worship and to teach that to others and to spread that. Or you might be a housewife who's educated herself so that she can educate her children. You're helping the religion. So it's not necessarily something that we might describe in heroic terms. It could be something that might seem very simple and very everyday, but it's something that's great in the scale of good. And it might be something more heroic. When you're studying and you want to use your studies to repulse at a sophisticated level, very sophisticated attacks against the religion, then you're helping the religion. If you want to be able to help die those who are lost, not necessarily owing to any fault of their own, but they've been bombarded with all sorts of ideas and they haven't read or encountered any Muslim arguments that are at the same level of sophistication as those arguments that are confusing them. When you have that intention, and as a result, it gives you the motivation and the impetus to stay up that extra hour, despite the longing for sleep, to make the sacrifices that are needed to push the frontiers of your knowledge a little further, you're helping the religion. When you represent a dignified human being at a time where our humanity is being systematically stripped from us, and human beings manifest themselves in the most undignified manner, you see it in the media, you see it in the streets, you see it in offices, you see it in classrooms, not classrooms as they turn to college, inshallah, but you see adults acting like fools and thinking they're cool, you see the denigration of manners, you see people using profanity with wanton impunity and you stand as a dignified human being who's not wearing ripped up blue jeans, most idiotic thing I've ever, one of the most idiotic, that you wear your blue jeans until they rip up, throw the ripped up ones in the garbage, go to the store and spend $100 to buy some pre-ripped up blue jeans. If that's not the epitome of stupidity, I don't know what is. And when a hero willy-nilly, as we said, using profanity with impunity and you as a Muslim, you stand with dignified clothing, you don't use foul language, you use beautiful language and you carry yourself in a beautiful and dignified manner and your hair is neat and you keep yourself neat, you're helping the religion because those are standards that the religion advances and in embodying those standards, you represent an island of Islam and sometimes what might seem like a sea of kuffer, though Allah says He will bring people to represent, to help this religion whom He will love and they will love Him. We hip-bo-hum, we hip-boona. We have to love our Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, that's at the heart of our religion. And there are many, many things we can mention in terms of what engenderes love of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. His beauty, his beauty, beauty generates love. Some people say they saw someone who was so beautiful, they say it was love at first sight. And many people who saw the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and they saw that beauty that was more beautiful than the enchanting full moon, it was love at first sight. Before they saw him, they might have hated him. Some of them came to Medina, they wanted to kill him and as soon as they saw him, he was so beautiful that they fell in love with him, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Beauty, we love people who sacrifice. What did the Prophet sacrifice for us? If we reflect on the sacrifices that he went through, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, for us, so that we could say, La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasulallah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam will love him. He sacrificed status. He could have been one of the most wealthy and influential of the Arabs. He sacrificed that for us. He left his beloved homeland for us. He was forced to send his companions into exile out of his love for them, seeking their protection, but ultimately for us, because those who were in exile, they were free from the persecution of his enemies who were hell-bent on wiping this religion out. He migrated, he saw his beloved companions killed in torture, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, but he never forgot about us from that day until the end of days. When everyone is concerned about themselves, his concern is us. When everyone is crying, Nafsi, Nafsi, what is he crying? Ummati, Ummati, my community, my community, out of his love for us, his sacrificing for us. How could we not love him, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam? This is the tip of the iceberg. We could spend the entire time on this particular subject, but we want to move on and talk about the love we shall have for each other. She related from Abi Huraira, radiallahu anh, an Abi Huraira, radiallahu anh. She said, she said, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, don't enter paradise until you believe and don't believe until you love. Fela ad-dallukum ala shay'in ila fa'altumuhu ta'ababtum afshu salam abaynukum that you will not enter paradise until you truly and completely believe and you will not truly and completely believe until you love one another. Shall I not direct you to something? Were you to do it, you would love one another? Spread the salam between you. And we'll translate it subsequently. Spread the salam between you. So a condition for entering paradise is the completion and perfection of our faith. And the completion and one of the things that completes and perfects our faith is our mutual love for each other. Hatta ta'abbu is our mutual love for each other. Madhan Allah. And then he says, shall I direct you to something? Were you to do it, you would love one another? Spread the peace amongst yourself. Afshu salam abaynukum. There are many meanings of this. One is that when we meet each other we should greet each other, but we should greet each other. And one of the commentators on this hadith he says with a loud voice. You know how some people greet, especially in public, you're in the mall and you're so excited. You see a Muslim, salam alaykum brother. Alaykum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Like I'm happy to see you. You're my brother, you're my sister. La ilaha illallah. Spread the peace. Then they say until it proliferates throughout our society. We should be a society where as salam wa alaykum is echoing of the walls of our homes, in the streets, in the alleyways, in the marketplaces. As salam wa alaykum wa alaykum as salam wa rahmatullahi. And then there's a deeper meaning and some of the exegetes go into this. Not from the angle I'm approaching it, but I'm approaching it from an angle that's building on what some of them say. The salam, as salam wa alaykum is root meaning is being free from any defects or imperfections. So when we say Allah, ar-Rahman ar-Rahim al-malik al-kuldus as salam, many of us are clever. So we're learning as salam, we convert and we start learning Arabic. And one of the first things we learn is the greeting, as salam wa alaykum. They say peace be upon you. And so we get to the name. So I don't know ar-Rahman ar-Rahim yet, al-malik al-kuldus b'an as salam. The peace, Allah's the peace. The meaning, basic meaning is Allah's one as salam who's free from any defects or imperfections. Jannah is called dar as salam because the imperfections that exist in the world won't exist there. There won't be any illness or disease. There won't be any death in jannah, et cetera. So when we say as salam wa alaykum, salima yaslam, we're saying that I'm not going to do anything that's going to lessen you. I'm not going to do anything that's going to harm you. I'm not going to do anything that's going to disrupt the state of peace that should exist between us. And by announcing that, as salam wa alaykum, wa rahmatullah, as salam wa alaykum, I'm proclaiming that so that you know I'm your Muslim brother. I'm your Muslim brother or sister and I have, I'm not going to do anything to lower you or lessen you or harm you. Bi-ithnil lah-i-ta'ala. Efshu salam wa alaykum. And when that spreads and permeates throughout our society, we'll have a loving society. We'll have a loving society. We'll have a peaceful society because if we're not going to do anything to harm anyone, to lessen anyone, peace will prevail. War, conflict, strife is the opposite of that. People are destroying each other, tearing each other down. Even to become one of the preconditions of war is we dehumanize the enemy. We dehumanize the enemy. We create hatred for the enemy and the hearts of the people. And then it becomes easy to destroy them, to lessen them, to tear them down. May Allah give us Tulfil. May Allah bless us to internalize these meanings. May Allah bless us to cherish the love that exists between us because there are enemies that are always looking to take it away, to exploit it for their benefit. We have to cherish it. We have to, the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, just having the ability, having the ability or the opportunity better, just by being a believer and having the opportunity to love Allah. When there are many people on this earth, don't. Why we get happy is takbir Allahu Akbar, the two billion Muslims takbir Allahu Akbar. We sometimes fail to reflect on the fact there are almost nine billion people on the face of this earth. Muslims are a market minority. A lot of people have not been blessed with this opportunity. A lot of people don't know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A lot of people don't have the wherewithal and the blessings to serve as a foundation to love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. May we do our part to extend this blessing to more. In conclusion, let me say this. Related to this latter statement about as Muslims being a relatively small minority, despite our numbers. As they say, I'm gonna go there. Let me just finish this point. We've been chosen. We've been chosen for this honor. We're jahilu fillahi haqqa jihadi. Who achta ba'akum wa ma jaala aalaykum fiddina min haraj. Millatabi kum Ibrahim. Strive in the way of Allah. So we'll finish where we started. Strive in the way of Allah as rightfully should be the case. He has chosen you and has made no difficulty for you when you're religion the way of your forefather Abraham. So we opened up, right? May your tadaminkum, whoever turns back from striving and struggling and working for the religion, wa jahilu fillahi strive in the way of Allah as should be the case. This honor we have doesn't come without responsibility. And one of those responsibilities, again within our sphere of life, of influence, of existence, to strive and to struggle and to work. And it's beautiful. It's dignifying. It's uplifting for the way, for the sake of Allah, wa jahilu fillahi haqqa jihadi. Who achta ba'akum. He has chosen you. And he mentioned Millatabi kum Ibrahim just as he chose Abraham, our forefather. Inna Ibrahim akan umma tanqanita lilla hanifan wa lam yaku min al-mushrikin shakiran li'an'umi itjtabaahu wa hadahu ila siratim mustaqim. He chose Ibrahim, our father. And he placed us on the way of tawhid, the way of Ibrahim in choosing us. May Allah bless us and strengthen us and help us to give it its full right to the extent of our resources and the extent of our ability and circumstances. I call you qauli hada wa astaghfirullah liye walakum walisa'il al-mu'mineen yaqam astaghfirullah. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen wa sallatu wa sallamu ala Sayyid al-Mursaleen. Sayyidina Muhammadun wa la alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam In Allah hawa ma laikatahu yusalluna ala nabi Ya ayyuhal ladina amal wa sallu alaihi wa salimu taslima Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barak alas Sayyidina Muhammadun wa la alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam As you all know by now are Muslim brothers and sisters and Turkey and parts of Syria, particularly northeastern corner of Syria have been afflicted with a terrible natural disaster. And we pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blesses them with patience, blesses them to maintain those who have survived a good opinion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we thank Allah for the blessing of faith because the blessing of faith helps us to look at these things despite the terrible nature and the human tragedy that they involve but still to look at them in a positive light again that someone who doesn't have faith they don't have that ability. One who lacks faith will say and many of you might have heard this from some of your acquaintances where is God's mercy? 50,000 people dead. Where is God's mercy? And as believers we could say that God's mercy transcends this world. A small portion of Allah ta'ala's mercy is reserved for this world. The overwhelming portion is for the day of judgment to be used amongst us when our accounts are taken. The mercy of Allah extends beyond this world. We look at those people of disease who say they're shuhadah, they're martyrs. So they're not martyrs of the Ma'arika. We watch them, we shroud them, we pray over them. But they go to Jannah. They go to Jannah. And living in this world, what is the ultimate aim? The ultimate aim is that we do the things that we can do as part of our intention our effort to attain to Jannah. As shuhadah wa khamsa kama qaal sallallahu alayhi wa sallam an mat'un wa mabtun wa l-ghareek wa sahibu l-hadmi wa shahiru fi sabilillah And then there are other categories to mention another, this is not restrictive. The martyrs are five. One who dies of plague, one who dies of some severe internal, intestinal ailment, typhoid or cholera or diarrhea, one who dies of drowning, one who dies in a demolished structure, wa sahibu l-hadmi, and one who dies in the way of Allah. And so we look at the faith of those people in a different light than we would look at if we didn't have faith. Many people who don't have faith they have a bad opinion of our Lord. We maintain a good opinion of our Lord. We have in this life, and we'll conclude with this, we have trials and tribulations of all sorts. We have good times and we have bad times. And all of the times where we perceive them to be good or we perceive them to be bad, in reality they're good. If we greet them and receive them in the proper light. Our Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he mentioned, Amazing is the affair of the believer. His affair, all of it, is good and that's for no one except the believer. In asabet hu, If some pleasing thing befalls him, he praises, he thanks Allah and that's best for him. That's good for him. And if some difficulty, hardship, painful thing befalls him, he patiently endures it and that's good for him. Suma'Allah ta'ala in the good times bless us to be amongst the people of shukr. The people give thanks to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And when we are afflicted with difficult times and inevitably we will in our individual lives, in our communal life and we pray but it tends to happen in our national life. The bad times or the difficult times the unpleasant times might come. We don't pray for them. We don't ask for them. La tatamannu niqa al adu wa sallallahu alayhi al aathiyah Don't long to meet any enemy Don't long for difficult times war, hardship, strife Ask Allah for well-being and safety and protection and all of the meanings and body in aathiyah. wa sallallahu alayhi al aathiyah But if they do come faydaa faydaa laqitamuhun fasbiru and representative of this bad times in general not translating directly if the difficult times come then be patient fasbiru fasbiru So may Allah give us patience may Allah ta'ala give us thankfulness may Allah ta'ala bless us to maintain a good opinion of our Lord who's been so good to us and opened so many doors of goodness before us and blessed us in myriad ways