 O you who believe, be mindful of Allah, be aware of Allah, and don't die without having surrendered to Allah. We begin by praising Allah, and our praise falls short. We continue to thank Allah, and our think falls short. And then we remind ourselves we weren't made for this world. We're just temporary visitors here. And we warn ourselves that we're going back to Allah, and we're preparing for that moment during this short journey. There's someone so special to Allah. Is he special to us? There's someone so loved by Allah. Have we fallen in love? There's someone that the angels are constantly mentioning his name and sending salutations and blessings. Do we send salutations and blessings? This religion has been designed every day about 70 times. We mentioned the name of Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. If we count the adhan, the iqama, the prayer and the tashahud, it comes out to about 70 times minimum per day. This man is so special to Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Is he special to us? There was a previous prophet, his name was Shuhayb, in the Quran, Prophet Shuhayb alayhi wa sallam came to his people and said, I came to you as a messenger who's trustworthy. So be aware and mindful of God, and obey me. And then they responded to him, You're only a human, just like us. And the question for us today is, are we like those people of the followers of Shuhayb that are going to treat our prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he's just like us? Or are we going to affirm in our hearts and on our tongue and on our actions that this man is special? He's special in my life, special in my heart, special in my home, special in my family, special in my actions. He's my teacher, he's not this theoretical being, but he's a tangible presence. He's not a theoretical being of the past, but he's a tangible presence in my life. This special human, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah designed it that you can't enter into the truth of Islam without mentioning his name. Allah, God, the creator of the universe, designed it that on his throne, according to the hadith, it says, God designed this religion, the creator of the universe, that our prayer is not complete without mentioning his name. That we can't call people to prayer without mentioning his name. That the day of judgment doesn't begin without the presence and the honor of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and that the doors of heaven won't even open to anyone other than him, Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The angels that fill every three or four, there isn't a space in the sky, in the heavens, in the cosmos that fill these four finger span lengths except there's an angel sending salutations upon him. Who is this special man? Is he special to me? Is he special to us? Have we taken the time? Can we? I have a challenge for you right now. I have a challenge for all of us right now. Whether we're 10 years old or 15 years old or 20 years old or 30 years old or 40 years old or 50 years old, I have a challenge for you. Can we close our eyes right now and imagine him? How can we love him if we don't know him? And how can we know him if we can't imagine him? Can we close our eyes and imagine his smile and imagine his beautiful, broad, spectacular presence? Can we imagine how he sat with his daughter? Can we imagine how he honored his wife? Can we imagine how he played with the children? Can we imagine the way his countenance looked? Because guess what? In all of our graves, one of the three questions will be asked is What do you think? What do you say of this man? And you will be shown his image and this man is special to God himself. Is he special to us? Who are we? He's special to God, the creator and master and caretaker and sustainer of existence itself. He's special to God. Is he special to us? Every week we come on Fridays to recalibrate our hearts, to readjust our relationship with this religion of Islam, this gift of guidance. And the greatest mistake any of us can make, one of the greatest mistakes any of us can make is to be what? Satisfied with my spiritual state, content with my religious level. We're never content with my career level or my financial level or my bank account or even my physical appearance and my looks, I need to go work out but we can be content and satisfied with my religious level. We're going to go to the grave with three things. Only one stays and two leave, return back. We go to the grave with our family, with our money and with our deeds. Our family and money go back home as one of my teachers says they go back home and eat Cheerios and then we're in our grave and that's what we're preparing for. And one of the recalibrations, readjustments we're committing to in this moment right now is to make the Prophet, the Beloved of God Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam part of my heart, part of my life, part of my home, part of my family. If I'm a father, have I introduced him to my children? And don't say it's enough I took him to Sunday school or Saturday school. No, you have the personal obligation to teach him to your children. Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And we recommit today to doing that and we'll share two simple methods on how to achieve that, insha'Allah. I'll say this and ask forgiveness from Allah. Seek forgiveness from Allah for indeed he is the most forgiving. Bismillah alhamdulillah wa sallatu wa sallamu ala Rasulillah. The adjustment we're making to our heart today is the increase of longing and love and dedication and commitment to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And insha'Allah we will do that in two ways. One is intellectual and one is spiritual. The intellectual way is, the mental intellectual way is the studying of the Shamail. This is a science of the description and character of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. This is our spiritual homework. Just like we do financial research, career research, we are doing spiritual research right now. This is our spiritual homework. We will study the Shamail and the seminal text on that is called Shamail Tirmidhi. And it has been accepted by our scholars universally in our Islamic civilization over the last many, many centuries. There are about 435 I believe or so simple traditions of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Get that book, you can read it in one hour. Don't go to your grave without having read that book. Don't let your children grow up and leave your home without having shared that book with them. It's this simple. And our conscience can be more clear before God and on the day of judgment. I tried and we will continue to try until the day we die. Satan will never give up, nor will we. The devil will never give up on taking us with him to the flame. And we will never give up on becoming holy yet and righteous saints, living for God, walking and living and breathing and dying for God. We will never give up. That's not just for the sheikhs and the scholars and the mullahs, for them to be people of God. No, that's for the bread maker. That's for the computer software engineer. That's for the nurse and the doctor and the lawyer and the factory worker. To be the friend of God. So we walk and emanate the light of God and reflect the divine beauty of Islam. Islam came to elevate us and make us refine beautiful noble human beings. And there's a lot of predators out there that are trying to do the exact opposite. In every facet of life. The exact opposite. Trying to bring us down to our bestial selves. But Allah ennobled us, the human, the human species. Alhamdulillah. And so the first homework, the intellectual one, is getting this book Shama'il Tirmidhi. And it's taught online by many qualified teachers and scholars. Get that, insha'Allah. The spiritual exercise. So there's the intellectual exercise and there's the spiritual. The spiritual one is called Dhikr. Dhikr on the tongue. And the tongue is a tool to move the heart. And Dhikr we're going to do is sending salutations to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Even if we don't comprehend the benefit of it, we will do it. Why? Because we trust God more than we trust ourselves. We trust God's wisdom more than we trust our own feeble opinions. We trust Muhammad, the messenger of God sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, more than we trust our own arrogant pride. And our own intelligence and strategies. And we have been taught just like there are Newtonian physics and realities, there are metaphysical realities. And those metaphysical realities, one of them is the power and significance of Dhikr, remembrance. Even if we can't measure it scientifically or empirically or sense it with our five senses, it is real. And we will sense and experience that realness the moment we are born into our next life. Because our soul is real. And our soul will feel it. And one time I almost cried because after I gave a sermon here, a 17 year old came to me after the sermon and he's been attending within the community and he said, what is a soul? What is a soul born into a Muslim family doesn't know that this body is a disposable vehicle carrying our essence. When we look in the mirror, we're seeing disposable nothing, molecules that are gone. Our soul is our essence, our spiritual heart. And so that Dhikr we're going to do in a very simple way on Fridays, we will illuminate our homes with a bare five minutes before sunset, inshallah. This is an invitation, it's not an obligation. It's an invitation to five minutes, bring to your home, bring your family together and just send salutations on the Prophet. Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad and on his family and companions. That's it for five minutes. If you want to do it in a melody, do it in a melody, you want to do it silently, do it silently, you want to do it together, do it together, you want to do it with certain, do it whatever you want. But establish this in your family tradition. Make this a family tradition on Fridays. And that is part of the path of inviting the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam into our hearts, taking him as our teacher, taking him as our role model, as our example, as our guide in this world. Spider man, Batman, Superman, Iron Man, they're nothing compared to the special man, Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. He's the real superhero of humanity. He is going to be the superhero on that last day, day of judgment, when all, when people will be crying, drowning in their sweat, and other prophets will say, Nafsi, Nafsi, myself, myself, and he will say, Ummati, Ummati. He is the superhero that comes, that Allah gave him the Shafa'ah, the intercession on that day. And you want to gain his Shafa'ah, it's very simple. In the morning, say 10 times, Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad. In the evening, say 10 times, Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad. You want to gain his intercession after the adhan, say the simple du'a and supplication. Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad. Allahumma rabbahadihi d-dawat attama wa s-salat al-qa'ima. Ahdi Sayyidina Muhammad al-wasila wa al-fazila wa b'attu al-maqama al-mahmud al-ladi wa atta. These practices that some of us may have been taught as children, are powerful meanings but we forgot the unseen realm. When we say the shahada after the wudu, the eight doors of heaven open, and we can choose anyone to enter. When we say this du'a after the adhan, we get the intercession of the Prophet. These are powerful meanings. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us taste the sweetness of iman, the sweetness of Islam. May Allah help us surrender to him before we die. May Allah help us bring us closer to him with gifts and gentleness, and not through tests and difficulty. O Allah, we seek forgiveness for all the Muslims, the men and the women. And for all the mu'mins, the men and the women. O Allah, send peace and blessings on the best of creation. The superhero of humanity. Ya Allah, help us fulfill these two intentions, these two commitments of studying the Shama'il Tirmidhi number one, and of doing a Friday circle with our family, whether it's in the car or in the home, or anywhere we are for five minutes. Ya Allah, we ask you for everything good that our beloved Prophet and Roma, the Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, asked you for. And we seek protection from every harm that our beloved Prophet, Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, sought protection from. And Ya Allah, when we are reunited with you, and when we return to you, let us have no regrets, Ya Allah. Don't let this world swallow us and delude us and hypnotize us so we forget our real purpose, so we forget why we exist, so we forget who made us, so we forget who we're returning to. Ya Allah, wake us up gently, Ya Allah. And wake up the ummah. Wake up the ummah gently, Ya Allah. Unite the hearts of the ummah, Ya Allah. Unite the hearts of the ummah. Unite the character traits of the ummah. Unite the elegance of the ummah. Unite the minds of the ummah. Unite the countries of the ummah, Ya Allah. Too much suffering and oppression, but we don't reject your decree in this temporary visit, in this realm of existence. We will be patient, we will be content, and we will be committed to you every morning, every afternoon, every evening, every night. We will live for you and we will die for you. And when we forget, we will remember. And send us people that remind us gently. Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ala ala Sayyidina Muhammad kama salli ala Sayyidina Ibrahim wa ala ala Sayyidina Ibrahim fi al alamina innaka hamidun majeed Subhan Rabbika Rabbil Izzati amma yasifun wa salamun alal mursaleen wal hamdu lillahi Rabbil alameen Inna Allah ya'umma ya'umma ya'umma ya'umma ya'umma ya'umma ya'umma ya'umma ya'umma ya'umma