 Alhamdulillah, shukr to Allah that I think a lot has been said, masha'Allah, tonight and so we might be replete with all of this benefit. So I just, you know, perhaps we'll share a short reflection with the permission of Allah Ta'ala that the title of tonight's talk was The Guiding Light. The Guiding Light. And you know, this is a description of our Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Qadi Iyad mentions in his Shifa that there are different tafsir of certain verses of the Qur'an that allude to light. So for example, Surah Al-Tariq was Sama'i wa Al-Tariq wa Ma'a Ad-Daraqim Al-Tariq An Najm Al-Thaqib that Allah Ta'ala swears by the sky and the night visitor. And what can make you understand the night visitor, the Tariq, the description, the answer is An Najm Al-Thaqib, this penetrating star, the star that's light is so intense that it pierces through darkness. Thaqib in the Arabic language means to penetrate a pearl, to drill a hole in a pearl. And so Thaqib is, the light is so intense that it goes through all darkness. So the standard tafsir of this are the stars in the sky. But Qadi Iyad cites one of the early Imams, Imam Sulami, as saying that the Najm Al-Thaqib is Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam, that when there's darkness in the world, the darkness of ignorance of the divine, then his blessed light penetrates through all that darkness and brings the light of Tawheed, the light of la ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi sallam. And in that light Qadi Iyad also mentions that the tafsir of the surah that with the name al-Najm, wa najmi idha hawwa ma dalla sahibukum wa ma gawa wa ma yantikwa anil hawwa inhu illa wahnyu yuha, this sublime surah that discusses, it describes revelation itself and it describes the beautiful night journey that Isra'ul-Me'raj of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam and Allah ta'ala swears by the star when it sets, wa najmi idha hawwa, and then describes the state of our Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, perfect guidance, ma dalla sahibukum, he was not astray sallallahu alayhi sallam, wa ma gawa, he did not deviate, wa ma yantikwa anil hawwa, he does not speak of his own desire inhu illa wahnyu yuha, it's about revelation revealed that what is the star that Allah swears by to begin the surah? And again Qadi Iyad says there's different tafsir, the majority say it's the stars in the sky, but some said it's the Qur'an because it comes nujuman in stages, it was revealed in stages, so that's another tafsir, but he cites Imam Ja'far Ibn Muhammad, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, Rahimullah al-ta'ala, the great Imam of the Sunnis, the sheikh of Imam Malik and Abu Hanifa and others, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, Rahimullah al-ta'ala said that the najm here is Qalb Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, it is the heart, the blessed, sublime, luminous heart of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah ta'ala swearing by this beautiful heart, when najmi idha hawwa, and then what does hawwa mean in this context? The commentator Mullah Ali al-Qari, Rahimullah al-ta'ala, he says that it is the manifestation of the Prophet in the world sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he says that perhaps it could also mean that this sublime heart, it's inclination towards Allah ta'ala, and it's the fact that it is never, it is absent, it is never present, it is always absent from other than Allah, that he is absent minded from other than Allah, he is always witnessing his Lord sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the fact that this blessed heart is immersed in the love of God, the love of Allah ta'ala, and this is the first thing Ibn Ishaq relates that the first khutbah the Prophet gave before entering Madinah Munawwara, when traveling from Quba on the outskirts on the day of Juma, his Juma khutbah that day sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, amongst the things that he said in that khutbah, I love what I love Allah, and I love Allah from all of your hearts, this is the Iqraq, this immersion of his blessed heart was one of the first teachings to plant the seed of Medina, that he said love everything that Allah loves, and love Allah from the bottom of your hearts, wa ahibbullah min kulli qalubikum, this was his blessed heart, the most immersed in the love of Allah ta'ala sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he's teaching it to plant the seeds of Medina, and so this is the Najm, wa allahu anna, it's amazing, and this beautiful luminous guidance that was the greatest blessing to creation, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was foretold in the early scriptures, foretold in the early scriptures, and Imam Bukhari relates in his Sahih as well in his adab al-mufrad, and Ahmed in his mustad, rahimahullah, that one of the early Taba'een, Ata'i ibn Yasar, he was the Maula of Maimuna, our mother, Allah be pleased with them, he went to the companion Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-A'as and asked him, can you give me a description of Allah's Messenger, and our beloved brother Dr. Ali Atayi is here, I'm shy to say because it's going to cite the Torah, and he could probably give a profound exposition of this hadith, so with his permission, insha'Allah, that the noble companion Abdullah ibn Amr al-A'as said, he says absolutely, by Allah he is described in the Torah with some of his blessed description in the Quran, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Ya'ayuhan Nabi, Inna arsalna ka shahidam wa mubashiram wa nadirah, just like Surat al-Fat, oh blessed prophet, we have sent you as a witness and a gospel, the bringer of glad tidings, and a warner, wa hirzan al-ummigin, and a sanctuary, and a guardian for the unlettered, and perhaps in that context of the Torah it meant the Gentiles, Anta abdi wa Rasuli, look at the wording, Anta abdi wa Rasuli, you are my servant, and my messenger, Allah ta'ala claims the Prophet for himself, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, just like with Nabi Musa wa s'tanaatu ka linafsi, I have preferred you for me, so too with the best of creation, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Anta abdi wa Rasuli, as Allah ta'ala ascribes the Prophet to him in the maqam of Obudiyah in the Quran, Subhana al-Ladhi asrabi abdihi, Alhamdulillah al-Ladhi anzala al-Abdihi al-kitab, wa lama qama abdullah, Allah ta'ala ascribes the Prophet as Abd to him, Subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran, and the Mufasirin say this is the greatest description of the Prophet in the Quran, Anta abdi wa Rasuli, samaytuka al-mutawakil, and reflect on this principle, I have named you al-mutawakil, I have named you the one who relies on Allah, par excellence, the quintessential relire on the Divah, and this is the lens by which we can understand the entire Seerah from beginning to end, samaytuka al-mutawakil, I have named you the one that relies on Allah it with perfection, and the beautiful hadith continues, ليس بفضن ولا غليد, he was neither harsh nor coarse nor rough, ولا استخاب بالأسواق, he did not shout in the marketplace, ولا يجذب سيئة سيئة, ولكن يعفو يسبح, and he never repelled an evil with another evil, but rather he forgave and overlooked, وَنَا يَقْبِضَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى حَتَّى يُقِيمَ بِهِ الْمِلَّةَ العُجَاءَ And Allah will not take him in death until Allah through him, makes upright the crooked nation, reflect on Arabia before Islam, and then after this beautiful Najam, alighted, landed in the Arabian Peninsula, and guided the entire all of Arabia to Tauheed, to produce over 100,000 saints by the time of his passing, بأن يقولوا لا إله إلا الله, that Allah will not take him until he rectifies the crooked nation by their saying لا إله إلا الله, ويفتح به آيونا عميا وآذان وصمة وقلوم غلفة, and until Allah opens through him, صلى الله عليه وسلم, blind eyes, deaf hearing, and hearts that are veiled, hearts that are veiled, and again we go back to the Tafsir of Imam Ja'afur, that the heart of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was never veiled for a moment. So then how do we understand the Hadith in Sahih Muslim, that the Prophet said, صلى الله عليه وسلم, explaining why he makes istighfar, we know he asked forgiveness from Allah 100 times a day, صلى الله عليه وسلم, in Sahih Muslim, in Abu Dawud, the reason he said, إنه لا يغانوا على قلبي, that sometimes there's like a haziness over my heart, غين, sometimes there's a haziness over my heart, فأستغفر الله في كل يوم مئة مرة, so I seek forgiveness from Allah 100 times. One of the great Imams of our tradition, أبو الحسن الشادري رحمه الله, he was confused by this Hadith, what could this haziness be on the best heart of creation, صلى الله عليه وسلم, and he had a dream once and he saw the best of creation, he saw the Prophet, صلى الله عليه وسلم, and the Prophet said to him يا مبارك, oh blessed one, oh blessed one, إنه غين الأنوار لا غين الأغيار, it is a haziness of multiple layers of illumination, deeper knowledge of the Divine, not a haziness of distraction from the Divine, not a haziness of distraction from the Divine, so even his haziness was more illumination, صلى الله عليه وسلم, what kind of sublime heart is this, سبحان الله, and yet from the mercy of الله تعالى, from the mercy of Allah تعالى returning to this principle of توقل, we see how very human he was in his perfection صلى الله عليه وسلم, and we'll just conclude with this point that this luminous sublime heart was in the world, fully in the world yet fully with his Lord, صلى الله عليه وسلم, and he experienced difficulty after difficulty after difficulty, and you open any chapter of the blessed Seerah, even the chapter of the greatest fat like Badr, Badr al-Kubra, but what was the news when he returned back to Medina, they had just buried رقية عليه السلام, سبحان الله, that you open any chapter of the Seerah and you find tragedy, you find difficulty, and we all have to think, you know, we're all facing our own hardships right now, we're all facing our own hardships right now, and that struggle can be overwhelming at times, and the key is the luminosity of the Prophet's heart, the knowledge of Allah تعالى صلى الله عليه وسلم, that his heart was always knowing Allah, سميتك المتوكل, one of the sheikhs, Sheikh Mustafa Al-Arusi, the sheikh of Azhar in the 1800s, he says, is the one that recognizes his Lord in the forms of created things, that recognizes Allah as the true doer of every moment, and the one that eternally willed every moment, that the people veiled, only ascribed back to the causes in the world, فَيَكِلِ الْأَمْرِ لِمَنْ لَمْهُ الْأَمْرِ وَيَرْضَابِهِ وَكِيلًا So such a person of Tawakul gives the entire affair to the one who already owns the affair and is pleased and content with him as his wakil, that's the mutawakil, that's the mutawakil, and the Prophet is the Imam of the Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and so go then reflect on the the time of Ta'if in the year in which he lost his beloved wife, our mother Khadija, the one that Ibn Ishaq says that she was the deputy, the minister that supported him from day one throughout Islam, and that he also lost Abu Talib, so the internal comfort in the home and the external political protector in the world, he loses both, and then he goes to Ta'if Sallallahu Alaihi Sallam, and the children and slaves stone him, Sallallahu Alaihi Sallam, and then he sits down and he gives a dua that shows his perfect humanity in the context of his perfect Tawakul, his perfect humanity in the context of his perfect Tawakul, Sallallahu Alaihi Sallam, and Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad says this prayer is infinitely human, this dua is infinitely human, yet he is fully knowledgeable of the infinite, Subhanahu Ta'ala. He says, Sallallahu Alaihi Sallam, infinitely human prayer, Sallallahu Alaihi Sallam, to you alone do I complain of my weakness and the paucity of my resources and my loneliness before man, oh most merciful of those who show mercy, you are the Lord of the weak and you are my Lord, just like in the Torah it says, Anta abdi wa Rasuli, you are my slave and my Rasul, so the what does the Prophet say, you are my Lord, Ya Allah, to whom will you entrust me, to some far-off stranger that will abuse me or to an enemy that you have given him control over me, so long as you are not angry with me then I do not mind, so long as you are not angry with me then I do not mind, none of these difficulties, I have no complaint about the difficulty, I complain to you about my own need for you, Al-Iftiqadu ila Allah, Al-Iftiqadu ila Allah, I need you Ya Allah, this is what he is saying, Sallallahu Alaihi Sallam, I seek refuge in the light of your countenance, the light of the Prophet's heart is because of the light of Allah Ta'ala directly, I seek refuge in the light of your countenance by which all darknesses are effaced and removed, and by which every single thing in this life and the next is made right, lest your anger to send on me or your wrath come upon me, you have the right to blames until you are satisfied, Ya Allah, wa la hawda wa la quwwata illabik, and there is no might or power except for you, and this is the vicar that is ghirasul jannah, it is the grass of paradise, la hawda wa la quwwata illabillah, that whatever we are facing, we imbue this dua'ah and imbue this zikr in facing that trial, and insha'Allah we will be illumined with some of the luminosity of the blessed Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Sallam from the Divine Himself, we ask Allah Ta'ala to relieve all of our difficulties and to grant us afya ta'ma mu'afa ta'ma fit dunya wa l-akhirah, complete well-being in this life and the next, which begins with yaqeen, absolute certitude in Allah Ta'ala and His Majesty and the fact that He controls every atom in the universe, wa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, wa l-hamdu lillahi rabbil al-alameen, barakuma wa faykum