 It's always beautiful to come to the moment and see different people, different types of people, you know, and this is, I think, the power of Allah SWT through the sub-up of his chosen Prophet Muhammad SAW, that he can bring all these different types of people together. Allah SWT says, وَمِنْ اَيَاتِ الْخَلْقُ الصَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَبْ وَخْتِلَافُ الْسِنَةِ كُنْ وَالْوَانِكُمْ From the great signs of Allah is the creation of the cosmos, the heavens and the earth, right? The creation of the universe. This is an invitation to deal with the possibility, the teleological argument for the existence of God, the argument that the universe is finally tuned for life, and in the variety, وَخْتِلَافِ and in the variety of your tongues and languages and colors. This is a great ayah of Allah SWT. A great Qur'an, an irrefutable proof of the prophecy of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, that you have this type of variety just in this place. There are people here, there are Arabs here from different Arab majority countries. You have South Asian contingency, you have white Muslims, African American Muslims, you have Afghani Muslims, you have an Iranian, he's in here somewhere. I know you. I know the Hadith. The person will be with the one who he loves. Why is he so hopeful? It's because the Sahaba, they knew that they love the Prophet Muhammad SAW. I would add another Hadith of this Salmanu minna ahl al-bayt, Salman al-Farisi. I have to be a little nationalist. Usually the only one in the room. That's all my students here about what goes on in the classroom. It's probably criminal. At least some degree of racism. Hopefully not. Salmanu minna ahl al-bayt. Subhanallah, the Prophet SAW, he said, khulu nasab, khulu ansab, tan pati'u, yoman qiyama, ghayran nasabi wa sabbabi. Every type of lineage or connection is cut off on the yoman qiyama except my lineage and those who are somehow connected to me. So I can't be ahl al-bayt, but I can be an adopted member, as it were, of ahl al-bayt. And how do I do that, like Salman al-Farisi? You manifest in extreme mahabda with the Prophet SAW. He is the means by which parts are brought together. Just look around him Suhaib al-Rumi, Salman al-Farisi, you have Abdullah ibn Salam, al-Yahudi, you're ethnically Jewish, all these different types of people around him that he brought together, right? One of the names, I was actually asking, also to speak about, this is what I really sort of took notes on, sorry, the wrong thing, on the names of the Prophet SAW, that are mentioned in the Quran and the hadith, one of his names is ni'matullah, ni'matullah, the blessing, the blessing of God, the blessing of God. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala says, wa'atissimu bihabi li-llahi jani'an wa la dhafar rapu. He says, wa'atissim, hafi'atisam, is like a grip to save your life, like you're falling off a cliff, imagine that grip, that's why everyone should be able to do one pull up, you can't do one pull up, you can't save your life, just one, I know his brother here is aint, I challenged him one time to pull up contest, he destroyed me, he said that's okay, you'll get better, I used to be good, you know, I tried to save my, anyway, imagine that grip on the bar, you went to fall to your death, this is what is hafi'atisam, wa'atissimu bihabi li-llahi jani'an, what is hafi'atisam, according to the hadith, it is kitabullah haplu manboudu minas samayi ila al-artha, the life line that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala extends down from the heavens to the earth, wa'atissimu bihabi li-llahi jani'an wa la dhafar rapu. The great blessing of God upon you, you were enemies, you were enemies, in the first instance, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala right, the Sadaf al-Muzun, the occasion of its revelation, the immediate occasion is about the Olaad al-Qa'la, the Aus and the Khazraj, the Ansar who had fought three inter-tribal wars on the preke of a fourth war, and then who came to them, the Prophet Muhammad SAW wa'udkulu ni'mat al-Alaykum i'dkuntum a'ada'an fa'allafa bayna kulubikum fa'asbahtum b'ni'matihi ikhwana You were on the brink of falling into the fire, and then by means of this great ni'ma, the Prophet SAW, you became brethren, wa'kuntum ala shafa hoofratin minan naar anqadakum minhaa. You were on the brink of falling into a fire and he saved you from it. He saved you from it. Subhanallah. One of the early Muslim converts, Khalid Ibn Sa'id. This was even before the Prophet SAW was told to make public his Risala. Right? So, Ibn Sa'id mentions this in the Tabata. This man, Khalid Ibn Sa'id, he had a dream, and this is obviously early Meccan period, he had a dream, he went to Abu Bakr al-Sadiq, because Abu Bakr al-Sadiq, before Islam was known as a dream interpreter, he had the ability to interpret dreams. So he went to Abu Bakr, and he said, I had a dream last night, so what was your dream? I had a dream that I was standing on the edge of a lake of fire, a lake of fire, and I was on the edge, and I'm sort of tenoring on the edge, and I look into the fire, and my father is there, and he's reaching out towards me, he's trying to grab a hold of me, to pull me into the fire. You can imagine, Abu Bakr al-Sadiq, what else? He says, suddenly I felt someone come up from behind me, and wrap his arms around me, and pull me back, and save me. It's okay? It's better not, it's your friend. It's Muhammad. Now, Abu Bakr said, it should be of good cheer. He is a messenger of God. This is how he converted. He was given Iroiyah of the Prophet, saving him from the fire. So these are some of the names of the Prophet, and the more names that we know of him, the more we can have ma'rifah of him. Ma'rifah is intimate knowledge, not surface level, very deep knowledge. The more names that we understand, we'll have more ma'rifah, and the more ma'rifah of him that we have, we'll have more muhabba, because ma'rifah is the path to love, unconditional love. You can't love something you don't know. You can't love someone you don't know. I can tell you to love someone. Do you love my cousin Mila? Do you? So, he finds those beautiful loopholes. I don't know what to do now. He took my much line. Maybe most of you, most of you, you don't know my, you don't love my cousin. Why? You don't know him, right? You don't know who he is, because you don't have ma'rifah of him, right? So, you know, there's some Muslims they say, you know, you can, they see us, they go, we go to the bonnet, and they say, yeah, if only, if only you had the same love for Allah that you have for the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And this is a misguided sentiment, right? Because the love of the Prophet is the love of Allah. They're inseparable. Why do we love the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam? For the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. We love the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam because he is Rasulillah. He's a prophet of God. Why do we love the Qur'an? Kitabullah, alabullah, right? The speech of God. Can you imagine somebody saying, oh, you know, it would have been great if the love you had for the Qur'an, the same type of love you had for Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, doesn't make any sense, it's nonsensical. What are you talking about? We love the Qur'an because it's Qalam Allah. We love the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam because he is Rasulullah. Right? When I was in Yemen, there was an American professor who came to the Maulid in Tehrin. And he admitted to me later he was a missionary. He was sort of on the DL, you know. I'm a missionary. By the way, because he should come to the Maulid again. So I was watching his face, the whole Maulid. And he was just like And I asked him after, I said, what did you think? And I'll never forget, he said, this is a direct quote. He said, the love of the Prophet stackers me. Stackers me. I said, yeah, I don't know, it does. And then he said, because he kind of met that in a sort of, and he said, I wonder how some of your co-religionists would feel about this. So what do you mean? It's kind of excessive, don't you think? It's kind of excessive. There's no way we can be excessive with the love of the Prophet. Because Allah protects him from anyone worshiping him. There's never been any group that has outwardly worshipped the Prophet. Allah has protected him from people taking him as an This is incredible. We don't have this type of Ismah with Sahaba, for example. There's an interesting statement related to Sayyidina Ali, which is in Sunni and Shi'i sources. Nahlun Balaga mentions it. It's also in Suyuns, and Sayyidina Ali says, Sayyidina Ali says, Two groups on account of me are destroyed. Mu'ibb al-Mufretun. Ya'dhabu bihaq la ghayl al-Aqq. The one who loves me so much, it takes it from the dream. Mu'ibb al-Mufretun. Mu'ibb al-Mufretun. Ya'dhabu bihaqq la ghayl al-Aqq. And the one who hates me so much, it takes it from the dream. The best people are those who are in the middle with respect to me. And then he said, So stick to the great majority. Ma'a is a haddi. So the protective power of Allah is with the majority. So we know the Prophet, for the sake of Allah can imagine somebody who said, If only you loved your country as much as you loved your flag, whatever country it might be, the flag represents the country. It's a symbol of the country. Imagine somebody whose mother passed away and they're looking at the picture of their mother. If only you loved your mother as much as you loved your country. What? What are you talking about? It's a nonsensical argument. We love the Prophet, for the sake of Allah. So one of his names that is mentioned by the Irullah is Abdullah. Mention a surah of Jinn ayah number 19. The perfect slave of Allah. The perfect slave of Allah. This is his primary title in the Quran. A lot of modern people find this disturbing. We are a badullah. A lot of modern people say, What? Your slave of God? I'm not a slave to nobody. I make my own rules. This type of individualism is egocentrism. It's theocentrism. We are theocentric. A lot of people find this very strange. It's very weird. That's fine. I'm okay with weird. The Prophet said towards the end of time, you're going to be weird. We were weird in the beginning when we were talking about Wahdaniya and Ahadiyya We're talking about Halal and Haram. This was very weird to the Arabs. It's going to again become weird. It's going to again become weird. It's so weird. You don't drink alcohol like clockwork every week on Friday when I was in the corporate world. When I was sitting in the cubicle. Sometimes I still sit in the cubicle. It's okay, don't worry about it. You got to do what you got to do. You coming to happy hour? No, I don't drink. Seven days later. You coming to happy hour? No, don't drink. Happy hour? No. That's so weird. It's weird in a slave of God. Right? But these same people they're nuts. He says, Ya abdi, Ya abdi, at your service. Everyone worships someone. Alright? How are you? Have you seen the one who takes us? How are you? Like his desire? Can you go to Hawaii? You let it all hang out. You go to Hawaii and you look for him. You look on the ground. You say, There's a pearl. Sorry. That was a bad joke. Sorry about that one. What do you think in terms of human slavery? Ya, it's very disturbing. In a relationship, in the say it sort of abd relationship, you have a human slave who benefits from that relationship? It means the slave master benefits. Right? But in the Rob Marbu relationship, who benefits? Can we benefit Allah? Abd completely. We cannot benefit Allah. One Ayodah. We hear his title, Abdullah in the Quran. His eyes were filled up with tears. Because this is the greatest thing. This is the greatest title that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can bestow upon a human being that you are Abdullah. You are the servant of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Ta awha ila abdihi ma awha beyond the Siddilat al-Mumtaha where Jibir alaihi salam cannot go or else he combusts into flames. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says I told my abd a few things fa awha ila abdihi ma awha ma what's ma? Don't worry about it. Secrets between lovers. Ibn Masroodi says the prayers may fall the wad of jannah the promise of paradise right? That's all we know. What else? Secrets between lovers. Fa awha ila abdihi ma awha Ibn Masroodi said he was sitting on his knees and he was eating a date and a Jewish woman passed by and she said your prophet eats like a slave he said am I not a slave? am I not a slave? Look how he responds to people right? He's not to use the term in academia nowadays he's not so easily triggered right? by these microaggressions I'm triggered I need a safe space I need to go somewhere and play with Play-Doh and play with Legos you know listen Pac-Man you guys know what Pac-Man is? Atari 2600 way back in the day that was my first game Pac-Man and you play Halo a little different but look at his response am I not a slave? that's it situation diffused our mother Aisha said why do you pray all night? what for? should I not be a grateful servant? he perfected Rukudiya and Shakur is interesting this is another one of his names and Shakur the Shakir is the one who is thankful of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in times of prosperity the Shakir active parisable the Shakur is also an active parisable but it's a more emphatic form meaning the one who thanks Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in adversity in terms of deprivation he says Alhamdulillah the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam he says Alhamdulillah alam kulli ala praise be to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in every state and why is that? is because he has unconditional love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala this is another one of his names sallallahu alayhi sallam is Habibullah the beloved of God there's numerous Habib there's one in Timb-e-Din ala wa ala Habibullah I am the beloved of God and I do not boast often times the Erlamah they use the analogy of marriage they call it a living parable for the love of God or this is the communion with God the Erlamah say there's four levels of love there's four words in Arabic for love if you're familiar with C.S. Lewis he has a book called the Four Loves it's the same in New Testament tradition recradition mawadda and this means something like affection or willingness to sort of sacrifice for another person so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said in the Quran he says that he put between the spouses a man and his wife mawadda wa rahma mawadda wa rahma this type of affection and mercy because there's just something else that's weird about us when we get married we're not necessarily in love sometimes it happens the body would move becomes true most of the time it doesn't really happen you don't really know the person you're marrying so why are you doing this that's so weird that's a weird man why are we doing this because we're trying to follow the shari'a we want to we don't want to offend Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we want to uphold the deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but there's mawadda what is mawadda so there's a willingness to compromise to work with each other there's affection so let me know what I'm going over time I don't want to go too long I think people are getting restless so this is the first sort of level it's love but it's more like an affectionate type of love the name da'ud is taken from mawadda da'ud mawadda but then you go to khudda to stick with the marriage analogy so it's very and I'll speak from the perspective of a man because I'm a man and I believe that there's two genders you need to save space for that I don't care so when you marry your wife there's mawadda and then lo and behold you start to like her right you want to do things with her that's called khudda that's called friendship love you want to watch a movie together you want to go bowling together right you want to spend time together this is friendship love khudda so we come out of mawadda nice to see you I'm going to go bowling with the guys you can do that I guess but be careful and then you go to ish ish is like intimate love which is it's temporary, it's fleeting and then you get to mahabba mahabba is unconditional love so this person, this is a level of love for your spouse they fall short sometimes they say things to you they make mistakes but that's okay you love them unconditionally you overlook these things the love is always going to be there so these four levels of love are also used when describing a relationship with Allah that there's mawadda there's a willingness to compromise and how do we accomplish this is through the ibadat we we start to pray we pray fajr I have a saying, never trust a person who doesn't pray fajr maybe it's not a good saying I mean there's a hadith the difference between a mu'min and a kafr is of salah and most of the iranama say but in a tributive difference in other words, if a muslim is not praying they're sort of acting like an unbeliever but Ahmad ibn Muhammad said it's an essential difference if you don't pray, you're not a muslim so mawadda intimates this idea that you're willing to go to do some sacrifice even if you don't really know why you're doing it you know you have to do it you pray fajr, you read some Quran even if you don't understand and then you get to how do we establish a friendship type love with Allah swt how do you establish a friendship type relationship with Allah is with du'am right du'am speak to Allah in a language that you understand so I don't understand arabic try to make an attempt to understand what you're saying in the prayer but then in your du'am there's a hadith that du'am is the essence of worship and this is how you become friends it's how you become the khalil of Allah you speak to Allah you pour your heart out to Allah swt and then ishq how do we actualize ishq or intimate love with Allah we make vikr of Allah we reflect upon the ni'am of Allah and then finally mahabah is through noses and total taslim of his qadr total submission to the decree of Allah for most of you unconditional love is attained by total taslim to his qadr like one of the awliya said when I'm in the shade I don't want to be in the sun Allah put me in the shade when I'm in the sun I don't want to be in the shade Allah put me in the sun I am totally in a state of reservation whatever Allah swt does with me as long as he's not angry with me this was the only concern of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam on the day of ta'ib being chased out of the city for three miles he left the city outside of the city gates for three miles they're aiming for his legs because they want to break his legs and kill him this was an attempted murder the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam makes the beautiful dua if this is all happening to me and you're not angry I don't mind I don't mind this is what you want to do with me no problem if you're angry with me then I'm concerned about that if this is happening because you have a hubbub of me then there's a concern I have to make a change here but if not you're pleased with me this is happening because it is your hubbub so that will bad me then I don't mind this is someone who is hadeeboobah beloved of them what was said tonight and to be able to incorporate these beautiful things that we say about the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and have it manifest in our character may Allah SWT give us a tawfiq to have muhabba to have unconditional love for him and his messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam sallam sallam