 our praise and thanks are due to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. He seek his forgiveness, his guidance, and his assistance, and we take refuge with him from the evil within our souls and from the consequence of our misdeeds. However, Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala gives guidance to the likeness of the man, whoever he misleads, and I can guide. I bear witness there's nothing in no one worship, what nothing worthy of worship besides Allah alone. He has no partners, and I bear witness that Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, sallallahu alaihi wa'ala aari wa sallam, is his servant and messenger. We ask Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala to grant him peace and to extend him our salutations on this blessed day, just as we ask him to show peace and mercy to his family members, his companions, and everyone who follows and witnesses and shows good will into the meeting and the reckoning of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. I detect within you all the goodness that I recognize, and Allah knows that my eyes do not betray me. You are the prophets. You are the prophets and whoever is denied your intercession on the day of reckoning, then fate has dealt a great blow to that person. So may Allah in the same way that he grants stability to Musa, similar to the help that he gave to those who came before you. These are the words of the companion, Abdullah ibn Abdullah ibn Muawwaha, a part of a poem that he composed in praise of the Masjid alayhi s-salatu s-salam. Abdullah ibn Muawwaha, one of the great sahabah from the Ansar, and we are all familiar with Hassan ibn Thabit as one of the poets who used to defend the Masjid alayhi s-salatu s-salam. Abdullah ibn Muawwaha was another of those who would defend the Masjid alayhi s-salatu s-salam in poetry, the goodness that I recognize in you, and Allah knows that my eyes do not betray me. They don't betray me. Speaking of the importance of the Masjid alayhi s-salatu s-salam and the importance of receiving his intercession on the day of judgment, Hassan ibn Thabit, similarly he said about the prophet alayhi s-salatu s-salam, My eye has never seen anything more beautiful than you, nor has any woman given birth to someone with more consummate in virtue than you are. That you were created free of any flaw, every flaw. It is as if you were created in the way that you wanted to be. The words of Hassan ibn Thabit about our Masjid alayhi s-salatu s-salam, that every time that I choose to speak about the prophet alayhi s-salatu s-salam is very difficult to decide on what aspect of the life of the Masjid alayhi s-salatu s-salam that I would like to emphasize, because there are so many things about him, should we speak about his devotion or speak about his commitment and conviction, should we speak about his justice or his mercy, speak about his role as a political leader, his role as a father, as a nephew, as a son, and so many other aspects to his life that we can speak about, his public life, his private life. Perhaps there is no person who has ever existed that we have more information about the details, the fine details about his life than Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And of course having those details creates a type of vulnerability with respect to the Masjid alayhi s-salatu s-salam which gives the enemies of the Masjid alayhi s-salatu s-salam areas to launch an attack against him. But it is very difficult to choose what to talk about about the Masjid alayhi s-salatu s-salam, should we talk about his role as the prophet and also should we talk about his human characteristics or his humanity in the way that he is so much like all the rest of us, difficult to choose what to speak about. But we also should understand the significance of Muhammad alayhi s-salatu s-salam and the significance of the Mba in general, all the prophets. I think that this often is missed when we reflect upon his life and reflect upon the lives of the prophets and the messengers and even our reality, the realities where we live and that we live on a planet in the middle of the universe floating around, we would say, in space. What is the significance? There are many important significances, of course, to the messengers and the prophets. But we have to remind ourselves in fact that we are a creation of Allah SWT that the life that we have has been given to us, the health that we have has been given to us, the perfect conditions that exist on this planet for us to continue to survive have been given to us. The blood that runs through our veins, without our choice, our hearts beat without our choice, our lungs and everything else about us, our eyes, our ears given to us by Allah SWT. And they will come when those airbags will no longer work and that motor inside of our chest will stop beating and then we'll have to return to Allah SWT. And Allah SWT makes the human being the most important creature on this planet, the only creature with the capacity to both destroy our life but also the capacity and even concern at times to save our life on this planet. That Allah created angels and given them rationality and then we removed something, appetite created the lower animals and given them where appetite which overwhelmed their being and reduced the amounts of rationality that they had. But they gave the human being the combination of both and expect it from us to master the lower appetite with the higher appetite. But Allah is a place within us something called another remorse. And that itself is differentiated as soon as he sent from Shefan that he had no remorse, that he disobeyed God and he was defiant. But Adam, Allah SWT, that he placed it within him that he would turn back to Allah SWT. Realizing his mistake and seeking forgiveness for his mistake. But the messengers they've been given to us as examples to show us what human potential is. Say to them, if there happen to be angels walking secure in the earth, then we would send down an angel to them. In other words, Allah SWT, he gave us human messengers to teach us that this is what you can do as well, that you have this potential. If Allah had sent down angels who don't have the passion to a type of unsettled emotional states and make it difficult for them to comply like us, then we could always say, Ya Allah can't do that because they can do it because they're angels they don't have. But Allah sends human beings that say, I'm nothing more than a human being, a moral human being like you. But revelation given to me is one of the aspects of the prophet's life that remind us of how much he is like all of us. And if anything, I do think it's a mistake off of that Muslims, when they speak about the prophet Muhammad SAW and his psycho emotional state that when you hear many Muslims talk, you get the impression that the prophet was a stoic. In other words, that he just, you know, you hear the prophet, he never lost faith in Allah, that he never had weak faith. He never doubted, he never struggled, he never suffered fear and sadness. But all you have to do is read the Qur'an and learn about the state of the messenger of Allah SAW. And of course, it's never meant to diminish his stature with us, but to put things in proper context. Rasulullah SAW, you read the Qur'an, you see fear, you see sadness, you see distress, you see, that distress and harm came to them and they were shaken. Rasulullah SAW, to the point that the messenger and those who believe, you know, the messenger also, right, said, what? When shall the help of God come? We see Muhammad SAW in distress. That he was, of course, he would beat himself up. Why don't they believe? Why don't they follow the messages? This salvation is easy for them. Why not just believe that he was, he was concerned for the humanity of others. Most importantly, he concerned for that akhira, concerned that they get salvation in the hereafter. And of course, we can speak about his mercy, alayhi s-salatu wa s-salam. He was a mercy to all the worlds. He was a mercy to himself. He was a mercy to his families, to his tribe, to his enemies. He was a mercy to all of them. He was a mercy to the believers. He was a mercy to the believers, Ibn Amr, the trickster among the sahaba, had a problem. He had a drinking problem, and he was being punished on one occasion, and a certain person started to speak bad of him. And the messenger, alayhi s-salatu wa s-salam, said, don't curse your brother because what? He loves Allah. He loves Allah in his messenger. He loves Allah in his messenger. Even though he's a sinner, he loves Allah in his messenger. You see it so many different occasions. There's not enough time to go into all of these examples. But I will mention one more example. There's a woman who came to the prophet, alayhi s-salatu wa s-salam, she confessed that she committed adultery. And the prophet said, oh, go back, Miktoba. Maybe it was really nothing other than something very small. So go, Miktoba. The prophet, so I said, sent her away. They said, well, maybe you're trying to deal with me in the same way you dealt with Mahis ibn Mahdik, who was another man who, a man prior to her, had come to and confessed of adultery. And the prophet, alayhi s-salatu wa s-salam, gave him his purification. But this woman comes and then the prophet is trying to turn her away. He's not obsessed with trying to punish her. He knows what the hud is. You know, go and make toba. And so he goes, the others, I'm pregnant. And then the prophet, alayhi s-salatu wa s-salam, turns and says to her, go have your baby. She leaves. And after she gives birth, she returns to the Mahis ibn Mahdik, alayhi s-salatu wa s-salam. Then she has the baby with her. And she says, alayhi s-salatu wa s-salam, I've given birth. Give me my purification, tahirni. And then the prophet said, go and feed your child, nurse your child until it's weaned off of your milk. Two more years. She could have fled at any time. She could have left Medina. She leaves and then comes back after two years. And then she has the baby and the baby is holding a piece of bread in his hand to indicate that this baby is no longer drinking my milk, he's eating real food now. And then the prophet said, now at this moment, once he realizes her sincerity that he then orders her to receive her purification. And then after she dies, the prophet, he prays over her. Which is really interesting because we learn from the sunnah of the prophet, the iman, the lead of the community should never pray over a sinner because it belittles the sin. This is like when one occasion a man, he was about to lead the prayer and then he asks, is there anyone to whom this man owes a debt? And then somebody speaks up saying, yes, you wrote, Rasulullah, he owes me this much money. And then the prophet turns to the companions and says, pray over your brother. He leaves them. Not the prophet's prayer, someone else's prayer, which we know not really guaranteed to be accepted. The prophet's prayer would be accepted. And of course, the prophet leaves to go gather up money for the debt the man is debt. But this case, the prophet, he prays over this woman. And he says that if her toba had to be distributed and divided among the people of Medina, then it would be enough for the people of Medina. Meaning, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will forgive every single one of them. Meaning, Yom al-Qiyamah, when they meet Allah, no hesab. Don't worry about it. In other words, this is a sincere toba. So the messenger, he was a mercy to everyone. And most importantly, a mercy to his community. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that we experience a similar mercy as the mercy shown by a messenger Jal'a alayhi s-Salam. And of course, shown by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through his messenger. I will say this, and I thank Allah. And in closing, what needs to be understood is that the messenger Jal'a alayhi s-Salam, he is our standard. He is our exemplar. He is the one we are expected to become like as much as possible. And our salvation depends upon that. How much we become like the messenger alayhi s-Salam. All of us fall short. No one, none of us are perfect. And the messenger, although he was a mercy, he also must not obscure a reality, another reality, which is that although he was a mercy, and he was kind all the time, doesn't mean that he was that way with every single person. Nor was he expected to be that way with every single person, because Allah tells him in the Qur'an, O Prophet, struggle, do jihad against the kufar, and the hypocrites, and show them sternness, show them a type of abrasiveness, a sternness towards those people, the enemies of God. But his norm, as we know it, was he's a rahma l-alameen. Rahma l-alameen, he forgave even in spite of all things. When people fought against him, he still forgave them, right? Once they, of course, made their proper reforms. And he was merciful to this woman, he was merciful to others who committed sin, who were sinners among the sahaba, who committed these sins among the sahaba. But that in itself does not mean that the Prophet affirmed sin. The Prophet did not affirm sin. The Prophet, shall I say, suddenly did not affirm fornication, or adultery, or sodomy, right? That the Prophet, shall I say, does not affirm theft, or the murder of children, that the Prophet, shall I say, leaves the door open for people who are willing to repent and reform themselves, right? And this, these are some of the few lessons that we can mention today. And of course, there are many, many more. And we ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, that he grant us the life so that we can complete his mission of the Messenger of Allah, because we are part of that mission of calling to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, in being a light for others. We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, that he bless our Messenger, that he love our Messenger, and he place the love of our Messenger in our hearts. We ask you, Allah, that you guide us through actions, which will bring us closer to you, and increase your love for us. Oh Allah, please love us because we love our Messenger. Allah, Allah, please love us because we love your Messenger. Increase our love for the Messenger of Allah. And Allah, please guide us during dark times and protect us from the evil of the machinations of Shaytan and his minions. Allahumma gfirul al-muslimin wa muslimat wal mu'minina wa mu'minata al-hayyā'i minhum al-amwāt. Wa gfirulana allāhumma ma'a'uhum bi-fātiki abu-iḥsāniki ya'a ar-hamal rāhimīn. Allahumma rabbana āti an-fqusinā taqwāḥa wa zakiḥā an-taqayru man zakāḥa an-tawāliyuhā ba-mūlāḥa. Allahumma salli alā muḥammadin wa alā āri muḥammad wa ar-ham muḥammadin wa ala muḥammad. Wabārak alā muḥammadin wa alā āri muḥammad. Ka ma salli tibū rāhintu wabārak alā ibraḥim wa alā āri ibraḥim fi al-ārimīn. Inna qahmeidu majīd. Rabbana āti nā fi dunya hasnā wa fi al-ākirati hasnā. Waqinā ātāb al-nāb. Waqinā ātāb al-nāb. Waqinā ātāb al-nāb. Wa salli alā hummu musallim wa bārak alāsīlinā muḥammadin wa alā āri wa as-hāb al-akhiār. Wa sallim tisliman kathīrā. Wa sallim tisliman kathīrā. Wa sallim tisliman kathīrā.