 Our praises due to Allah, who has guided us to this path to Islam and we would not have, we would not have been able to guide ourselves had not Allah guided us. Our praises due to Allah who has revealed the scripture to his servant and he's made no crookedness therein. Our praises due to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. Alhamdulillah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has blessed us to attain to the month of Ramadan, the great month of Ramadan, the month of mercy, the month of forgiveness, the month of liberation from the hellfire, the month of multiplication and amplification of our deeds the month of acknowledging the status of the Quran both in reality and in our lives, the month of acknowledging the status of Rasulullah, the messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam in our lives. Our praises due to Allah for his blessings and his bounties. At the end of a longer hadith, Allah Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam mentions ala wa inna fil jasidi munugatan ila salahat, salah al jasadu kullu with a fesadat fesad al jasadu kullu ala wa hi ala wa hi ala kalb. Verily in the heart, in the body rather there is an organ. If it is sound the entire body is sound and if it is corrupt the entire body is corrupt. Verily it is the heart. Ramadan is not only a celebration of the heart of the Quran rather and being a celebration of the Quran it is a celebration of the heart but not the physical heart. There are those who celebrate the physical heart. We see them all around us. We see them riding their bicycles, getting their cardiovascular exercise in. We see them jogging up and down the pathways on the side of the roads, getting their cardiovascular exercise in. We see them in the gyms and the workout places, the exercise rooms on the stationary bike, on the elliptical, on the treadmill, getting their cardiovascular exercise in. But that's not the heart. Allah ta'ala or the messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is directly referring to. That's implied. What he's talking about, what Imam Ghazali is talking about in the wonders of the heart. What our ulamas are talking about, what the Quran is talking about, it's not the physical heart, it's the metaphysical heart. And when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us concerning the Quran, the month of Ramadan during which the Quran has been revealed. That this is a month, therefore, where we celebrate the Quran. We recite the Quran. We come to the masjid for tarawih. We listen to the Quran. But as we said, in celebrating the Quran, we celebrate the heart. Why? Where was the heart revealed? When Ramadan answers the question of when? The month of Ramadan which the Quran has been revealed. But the Quran in another verse answers the question of where? Say whoever is an enemy unto Gabriel, for verily he sends it down to your heart by the permission of Allah as an affirmation of that which preceded it and guidance and of glad tidings for the believers. So Ramadan is a celebration of the heart. And during this month, we try to cleanse our hearts. We strive to strengthen our hearts. O believers, fasting has been ordained for you as it was ordained for those who preceded you in order that you will grow in Taqwa. And your consciousness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, specifically your consciousness of His commandments and prohibitions. And if we can, we're so conscious of avoiding those things that are lawful during the daytime of Ramadan. Our food, our drink, our lawful relations during the daytime of Ramadan. How much more conscious do we become of avoiding those things that are forbidden? But the point here, where is the locus of Taqwa? The locus of Taqwa is the heart. The locus of Taqwa is the heart. So again Ramadan brings us back to the heart. So my dear brothers and sisters, all of us should be conscious of the place that our heart has during this month. And conscious of the fact that Allah Ta'ala has given us this great, great month for us to purify our hearts, for us to rectify our hearts, for us to remove the darkness that descends upon our hearts and to illuminate our hearts with the Qur'an. Do they not reflect and ponder on the Qur'an or are their hearts sealed up and locked up and chained up so that the light of the Qur'an cannot penetrate their hearts? So during Ramadan, we're unlocking our hearts so that the light of Qur'an can fill our hearts. We're unlocking our hearts so that the guidance of Qur'an can fill our hearts. We're unlocking our hearts so that we can get in touch with our true human potential. Those people who are jogging and riding their bikes and on the treadmill, the elliptical, on the whatever, the stationary bike, whatever they're doing to strengthen their physical hearts, they are affirming their affinity to the animals because that physical heart is something all of us share with the animals. But those who are reading the Qur'an, those who are standing in prayer, those who are beseeching their Lord, those who are fasting during the day of Ramadan, they're trying to unleash their true human potential because our human potential doesn't lie in anything physical, including our physical heart. Our true human potential lies in that which transcends the physical. And that includes the metaphysical qualities of our hearts and strengthening our hearts with the Qur'an, and strengthening our hearts with the remembrance of Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, and strengthening our hearts and sending our salawat upon the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wa salam, man Sallallahu alayhi wa hada, Sallallahu alayhi ashrah, biha ashrah. Whoever says, since the salutations upon me once, then Allah Ta'ala sends 10 portions of his mercy upon him, a salawat, min qiblillahisam, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, Rahmah. And so, if Allah is enveloping us in his mercy, this is elevating us in terms of our human potential. This is elevating us in terms of our human potential. So brothers and sisters, don't belittle what you are doing during this month. Don't belittle the opportunity that Allah Ta'ala has given us during this month to unlock our true human potential which lies within our hearts, to fill our hearts with the light of the Qur'an, to fill our hearts with the guidance of the Qur'an, to fill our hearts with the protective power of the Qur'an. May Allah Ta'ala bless all of us in that regard during this special month. I'll say a few words about this, and I ask Allah to forgive me, and I ask Allah to forgive you. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the Master of the Messengers, our Master, Muhammad, his family, his companions, and many people. Unfortunately, this is a time when you see many people, including many Muslims, they're depressed, they're crest for all fallen, they're anxious, there's war, there's economic transition, and insecurity, they're still COVID lurking out there, and people are affected by all of that. But the believer should transcend that, the believer should transcend that because we have faith. Don't be weakened, and don't be saddened when you are uppermost if indeed you are believers, if indeed you are believers. So our faith sustains us during the good times and the bad times, our faith sustains us during the happy times and the sad times, our faith sustains us regardless of the state of the economy, our faith sustains us regardless of the political climate, our faith sustains us regardless of what's happening in the world. We are the people of joy, we're the people of joy. Allah ta'ala mentions in the Qur'an, say in the grace of Allah, what is the grace of Allah? More than one of the commentators from the Salaf As-Saleh, the early generations of Islam, so say in the Qur'an, say in the Qur'an and in Islam, it's better than anything anyone can gather or collect from this world. We have knowledge, we have knowledge of the Qur'an, we have knowledge of Allah subhanu wa ta'ala. What of our theologians built upon this Quranic command in terms of understanding our Lord? We have knowledge of the soul, we have knowledge of the heart, we're the people of knowledge, they have the dunya. We're pleased with the division, the all merciful has made for us, we have knowledge and our enemies have wealth, as for wealth it passes away soon enough, as for knowledge it remains, it never goes, it remains. Allah is the All-Knowing and Allah never goes. Allah is living. Political regimes, conditions, they come and go. Economic hardships, depressions, recessions, booms and busts, they come and go. But Allah remains. Wars, they come and go. Allah remains. Our jobs, children, parents, they come and go. We hear so many people passing away, people they come, they go, Allah remains. And when the heart is attached to Allah subhanu wa ta'ala, the heart remains in a permanent state of joy. The heart remains in a permanent state of love. The heart remains in a permanent state of ecstasy. And if, why, Allah, can Allah? Allah is unchanging reality. There was Allah and there was nothing existing along with him. And he is now as he was then. And his throne was upon the water. But if one's heart is attached to the world and one would be up and down, one would be buffeted, tossed and turned by the world, because the world is changing. The movement of the, of the sun defies any illusion of permanence in this world. It's always moving. That's its reality. That's its reality. This is the world. What are we going to attach our hearts to? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us the great gift of Ramadan. The month of the Quran, the month of the hearts for us to elevate, strengthen our hearts and to attach our hearts, to orient our hearts towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. May Allah give us all of us kulfiq in that. May Allah ta'ala bless us. May Allah ta'ala bless us with the ru'iyah. And we all know about the ru'iyah. We read in Quran. Faces on that, they will be illuminated, glazing upon their Lord. How that is, we don't know. When the Creator meets the created. When the one who is necessarily existing meets those who are contingently existing. We don't know, but we know it's a reality. But there's another reality of jannah. Most of us don't know about. We know about the ru'iyah, but we don't know about the samah. Samah. We don't know, we know about the beatific vision, but we don't know about the beatific hearing. Burairat al-Aslami. Burairat al-Aslami relates that the Prophet. That he said that the people of paradise will enter upon the awe compelling. Twice a day and he will recite the Quran upon them. As if the people have never heard the Quran until Allah recites it upon them in jannah. Allah's given us this great, great opportunity to earn so much the wab for our souls. So much reward for our souls. Giving us an opportunity for jannah and amongst the delights of jannah is to hear the Quran from the one who it emanates from. The ones whose words it is. The one who revealed it to the heart of Muhammad. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. May Allah ta'ala bless us with the ru'iyah. May Allah ta'ala bless us with the samah. May Allah ta'ala bless us with the words of Allah. With the Quran. O Allah. O Allah. O Allah.