 We thank our Lord Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, who blessed us to reach another Juma, another day of Friday, which is the day of remembrance. And it's a day that we remind ourselves of the importance of the next world and the way that we are going to situate ourselves and orient ourselves and our position ourselves in this world in preparation for the next. Allah Ta'ala says in the Qur'an, Ya'yuha al-Lizina, a'amun, Izanudia al-Nusrati min-yumun Jumu'ati fas'awla zikrilla That Allah Ta'ala says that, Oh you who believe that if the call to prayer is called on the day of Juma, fas'awla, then hasten to the zikr to the remembrance of Allah. And this is why we have legal rulings that pertain from the time that the adhan is called the first adhan, that it's a time now that Wadud al-Bayt as the ayah goes on leave all transactions. This is a time for zikr. This is not a time to engage in worldly commerce and it's a time for focus. And in general the whole day of Juma, which begins the night before, because this is something that Muslims have forgotten, that they think that the only merit of Juma is the actual prayer in and of itself, which is not the case. The whole day is special. But in particular the prayer, because this full prayer of Juma is the best of all for I. It is the best of all of the obligatory prayers. But it's a day that Allah Ta'ala tells us fas'awla. Not just he could have said, But he says fas'awla. And sa'isa'a yasa'a means to hasten, to set out to do something. fas'awla zikrilla wadud al-Bayt. That hasten to the remembrance of Allah and leave all transactions. And then we find the hadith of our Prophet ﷺ says that ila salimat al-Juma to salimat baqit al-ayyana. That if Juma, if Friday is whole, it's wholesome. Salimah, that the remaining day will also be wholesome. In other words, that if we learn how to give Juma, it's haqq, and it's right. And we look at all of the various sunnah that are associated with the day and with the actual prayer and preparation before and what happens after. Is that if we give it its right to the extent that we give it its right and focus on that day, what we did to the extent that it actually affects the rest of our week. Because the hadith also goes on to say wa ila salimah ramadan salimah baqit al-salam. And then if Ramadan is whole, meaning that you give Ramadan its right, is that it will directly impact the rest of your year. And Allah has given us these windows in which you have a special type of devotion that your whole life is supposed to be devotion, but a special type of devotion through which you can accrue very beneficial things for your worldly transient life, that alone before will be drawn into the next world. So this is a day of remembrance. And one of the most important things that we can come to remember is the human condition. And if you will, the perilous state of the human condition. Because we are bani adhan. And Allah ta'ala has honored and ennobled bani adhan. Bani adhan. That we have honored, we have ennobled the son of adhan. Is that we have certain things in our physical constitution and our internal way that we've been structured. That we differ from Allah ta'ala's other aspects of creation. There's different aspects between us in the animal kingdom, in the plant kingdom, in the mineral kingdom. Although at the basic level the elements much of what exists and all of that exists within us. This is a scientific fact. However, there's something about the human being that science can ever measure. There's something about the human being that no one will ever be able to possibly and truly hit it on the dot exactly what this is. And this is called consciousness, if you will. But in other senses, it's related to this aspect of the human being. We have this ability to perceive. It's that we are not made of solely matter. It's that yes, we have an aspect of us that is physical. We matter. But we're not solely matter. Our work is not related to this physical matter. And the proof of that is that when we all die and we're laid six feet deep in the grave, is that worms are going to eat our physical body. So if the true greatness of human being was related to something physical, then how do you explain that? And it's funny that we're actually in a place where this is where people come to physically train their body, which is important. That we should never neglect the importance of exercise and of health and of taking care of yourself. This is very important and this is from the Dean. But we've come here for a different purpose. We've come here for a different type of Rialda. Because Rialda is the word that you would use for athletics in modern Arabic. But the way that our scholars understood the Rialda was very different traditionally. There's a different type of Rialda that is much more important in a type of discipline that pertains to the soul of the human being. Because the human being is in a position because of their takrif, their legal responsibility that has been imposed upon. We didn't have this choice. And Allah to add His show of the Amanah to the heavens and to the earth and to the mountains. The Abena and Ya'minnah and Khafa Minha and the Abena and Ya'minnah that the mountains and the heavens and the earth that they were show this Amanah and they refused to assume it. But the human being assumed it. And this is the Amanah of legal responsibility which should weigh heavy upon our shoulders. And this Amanah is related to as well the susceptibility of the human being, to rise to the Adna in the yin, or to fall to the Asfand as-Safaneen. Then we can rise to the highest of the high, to the lowest of the low. We have this potential to fall to a sub-human level, but at the same time we have the potential to rise to an almost angelic-like type of state, although we're still special, we're still human beings. And Allah, as it says, discusses this in the Surah that we've all heard many times. And so the thing, what thing it was, it was a tomb. What door is he in need? Allah swears by the fig. And he swears by the olive. What thing it was, what thing it was, it was a tomb. He swears by the fig, and he swears by the olive. And then he swears by the mountain, he swears by the outside of the tomb. We have the benefit and need in this secure city. We have the benefit and need in this secure city. That we've created the human being in the best of forms. Now the outward form of that is obvious, because as a human being we walk upright. We don't walk on all forms. That we have an opposable thumb, we can use tools. That the physical form of the human being is distinct and it's unique. But we tend to forget that this verse also applies to the internal form of the human being. Which makes us truly human. That when related to the intellect and our ability to understand language, the ability to understand concepts, the ability to name things, the ability to understand the future and recollect the past. This is something unique to the human being. The ability to have a heart that perceives. To have a heart that is a place that is a receptacle to receive mercy. This is distinct to the human condition. And so we've been created in the best of forms outwardly, but also inwardly. If you ask any taqweem. Do more than now, we'll ask for the sapri. But also the human being can fall to the lowest of the low. And the way that that happens is that they don't realize the special thing that their Lord has given them. Because for us as believers that we have a special perspective. We have a different perspective. Everything is tied to a teleological goal. Everything for us as believers that there's something else that it leads to. We don't see anything as fragmented. We don't ultimately see anything as compartmentalized. And this teaches us about the power of tawheed. And when you understand the power of tawheed. This is the single most powerful, influential, important concept in human history. The power of tawheed. And this is the essential message of all prophets and messengers. And in terms of our understanding of knowledge. That for us that the very pursuit of knowledge can never be divorced from the sacred. The pursuit of knowledge can never be divorced from the sacred. For us is that we're always tying it into something else. And if you look in that a lot of these departments on this very campus and it's we're standing. And all throughout Western universities is that you see a crisis in this regard. Of truly understanding knowledge and how to understand and how human beings know. But Muslims have been given the keys. And we have the ability to roof all knowledge. We have the ability to roof all knowledge in a world view of tawheed. Of pure moral theory. And if you want to speak about it in mathematical language. Is that every number no matter how large it is. Ultimately is a series of successive ones. Ultimately it gets back to one. Two is one in one. Three, one, one, one. Four, one, one, one, one. And so forth and so on. Until you have the highest number possible. The thing that Allah Ta'ad has created has in that sense a limited type of number. Meaning that it's been numbered in that sense and it's been measured. And it's been delimited in a very particular way. Allah Ta'ad is the power that brings things into existence with the iradah. According to the Divine Will. But it is the Divine Will that specifies and delimits. And this is why our scholars say in everything it is a sign of the oneness of God. Because we see in every divine choice that we see that there's been preponderance. We've seen a choice that has been chosen. That in terms of the rational possibility, a number of things could have possibly existed. But that we see that a decision was made. That it be such and such. And this actually happened. And that this indicates to us that the presence of our Lord in His creation, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Because that we don't believe that Allah Ta'ad created the earth and then He let it run in and of itself. This was the Martazi-like belief. This was the rationalist belief. And incidentally even some other pre-Slamic religions, this was what they believed. That Allah Ta'ada created the creation and then endowed it with the power such that cause and effect intrinsically works in and of itself. That the dominant position of our theologians was that no, this is not the case. Is that every time that any effect happens, this very movement of my head, these people behind me praying, everything that's taking place around us, the breeze, the trees, on the micro-scale, on the macro-scale, everything, Allah Ta'ada is bringing it into existence at that very moment. Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. And if you think about this, it's bewildered. And it's amazing. But they say that the disbeliever is bewildered by creation. Why the believer is bewildered by Allah. And some scholars say that the name Allah, Allah Ta'ada, although the majority say it's a proper noun. It refers to the Daat al-Aliya, the sublime essence of God that gathers all of the names and attributes. That others say that it comes from a verb that we find the word wa lahan, which is bewilderment. If you say in the Arabic language, aliha, and aliftu, that I was bewildered in a good sense, you'll be bewildered by something that amazes you. But this is the human condition. Is that we have the ability to rise to the al-Aliyin, or to ask for the Safi'in. So that begs a question then, what is the al-Aliyin? And if the scholars define the al-Aliyin, then it's better left untranslated because any translation you're also going to have to translate from English into English, even the meaning. The al-Aliyin is a molded, it's a place out of the gender, in the highest level of paradigms. It's a place in the highest level of paradigms. And the others say that it's the place where laq keeps the scrolls of the people that are going to attain the highest level of paradigms. And our prophet is quoted to have said, Aqsot al-Aliyinati ad-boolah. The majority of people of paradise are simpletons. Aqsot al-Aliyinati ad-boolah. Whereas the higher levels of paradise are for the people of innermost core. For the people that have a higher level of not outward intelligence that we share with other aspects of Allah's creations, the higher level of intelligence that places the heart. We don't deny the mind and we think in the powers of the brain and the right, left brain and so forth and the side of the brain that's for memory, the side of the brain. We don't deny that, right? Definitely the mind. There's a reality to the mind. But there's a higher level of intellect which is solely for the believer which places here. That our scholars define it as a light that God casts in the heart. And that's a special light for the believer. And it's that light that helps us round knowledge in this divine vision up to the heat of which we were discussing. So this is the human capacities that we could rise to in the yin. And this was the whole purpose of the prophetic mission was that we have within us this potentiality close to the verses of the Quran and the teachings of our Prophet yaksifah that unveils it and it uncovers it. Because it wore the heart to be some type of tangible substance that we actually see in major and I'm talking about the spiritual heart but I'm not the physical heart that you would see that it has various layers. And there's different layers tarakumat as you would say in Arabic. These various layers that they have to be penetrated in order to get down to the depths. But it requires these layers come from that the human being in and of itself were born in a state of fitrah. Have in us what is termed as the sira naqha the secret of the spirit into the human being. And no answer from Orphic Way. This is taken directly from the verse in the Quran. When I talk to him I breathe into him meaning the human being from my spirit. Every human being has this. Every human being has this and to the extent that we can come in touch with this true aspect of our nature. That when we enter into the world that we get distracted. We have what are called shahawats various caprice that arises in the soul that were distracted by various things in this world. Were distracted by the misgivings of shahawats. They were distracted by being around people of lafla of heedlessness. And one of the essential purposes of the Book of Allah because it's name is adhikr. One of the names of the Quran is adhikr. It is the reminder. It came to remind us of this pre-earthly covenant that every single one of us took. It reminds us of the various purpose of life. The purpose of this life it reminds us of the life that is to come and that when we open our heart to those teachings that what we find is is that the human being starts to change and the human being has the ability to transform because for us that progress is not merely some type of outward development in construction and we should be very careful as our scholars always work throughout history in defining our terms. This is extremely important and that when we're exposed to modern-world words of vocabulary that we have to understand that this is a crisis in the civilization in which we live that read the book called Plastic Words and you'll come to understand exactly what I'm saying is that many of these words that when we get into denotative and connotative meaning that many of the words are defining the civilization that many of these words are very problematic and they're not easily defined they're very ambiguous but in religious terms is that we're very careful about our terminology we're very careful about the way that we understand kings because the way that you understand things will affect the way that you ultimately deal with it and it will affect the results of how you deal with it and so we should be very careful about our terms and for progress for us true progress is a moving of the soul from the states of which is mentioned in the Quran to the state of which is also mentioned in the Quran to the state of which is also in the Quran this is true progress for us and this is the foundation of progress and any type of our religious progress that also corresponds to our understanding of progress is related to this ultimate it can never be detached from that and it's to the extent that we progress in this true way is that we will progress in a way in reality in the sight of Allah and those who were in tune with the true nature of us reality Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Ibadullahi ni musiqum, we not see iya yabitaqullah. Alhamdulillah for us in closing that one of the most important concepts in realities that we have to reflect upon regularly is death. And for us this is a positive motivating fact, it's not something made because Muslims are supposed to come to terms with reality. But the ad-asas and the quran wa'abu-raplaka kata yatya tanyatim, that worship your Lord until death comes to you. And one of our great scholars wrote a book and in this book there's 40 volumes. He begins with the book of knowledge and he ends with the book of the remembrance of death and the afterlife. And a modern scholar pointed out that someone might look at this work and think that this is a type of appendix through all of these other topics of discussion that he presented. But the reality is there wasn't appendix at all, that it was a culmination. And the meaning behind it is that there's something about the recollection of death, which is something we're all certain about. Even if people like Ray Kurzweil and others that are part of singularity movements see death as some type of disease that they're trying to cure, no matter how many times and how much they freeze your body, you're going to die ultimately. This is a reality, a lot of that. It is written death. Who do not die at the most? Not only are we going to die, we're all going to taste death. And according to the way we live, we'll determine is the way that we actually taste death. We're all going to taste death. But coming to that realization of that's something we're absolutely certain about. And what that does to the human being, who really recollects the realities of it deeply, and will spur them if they are a believer, if they're a disbeliever, it should spur them to think about the topics and the questions of ultimate concern. If they're not, if they're a believer, it should spur them to take their life seriously. It should spur them to take a, to prepare for this inevitable moment. That we're going to take our last breath, our breaths are numbered. And what that, what happens to that is, is that someone, when they take, that they reach a level of experiential certainty, in other words, a transcendent point of reference, through which everything else becomes clear. So it becomes circular in that sense. Because that we have a lot to say about our forms of knowledge and various classifications and categories of knowledge, which has been lost in our world in which we live. But we also have something else to say about how we ground knowledge and how we understand knowledge altogether. And that when we create this transcendent point of reference that comes through experiential certainty, which is the highest way to attain the higher levels of Imam, because our Prophet said, at yikin at imam kudnu, certainty is all of faith. And this is something that we have to ask ourselves. What is our degree of certainty? An absolute certainty. That Sayyidina Muhammad is the Prophet of truth. That Islam is the religion of truth. That Jannah is Haqq. That Na'a is Haqq. That Yomu Qiyamah is Haqq. That the grave is Haqq. We should all ask ourselves this. And this should be our main pursuit. Is it how can we engender in our own hearts a true level of certainty? No longer wavering. And the greatest way to see where you are in the hierarchy in various degrees of certainty is quite simply look at the old state of your heart and look at your behavior. And this is why that the Sahaba said to the Tabi'in, the generation that came right after them, is that you all say thanks that we used to consider nifah. It was a sign of hypocrisy in our time. If that was their state, what about 13 hundred years later they would have seen us and said that you know these people might not, they don't even believe. We should never despair in it because that we are part of a tradition that will never break. And if you delve into it and you search, there's a lots of kind of, I don't open up great doors for you. The great Imam of the United States said, whoever opens up for himself a door to making a righteous intention, that Allah will open up for them 70 doors of the doors of Tawfiq, enabling grace. If you make an intention, it's one of the most practical things that you can do, that you will see your life unfold and change before your eyes. And if you make strong intentions, you will see wonders of divine facilitation for you to attain those various things that you are intending, that Allah will open the doors of Tawfiq. In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful. Peace be upon you.