 Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, Alhamdulillahirrahmanirrahim. Wassalamu Alaa Sayyidin Mursaleen, Sayyidina Muhammad. Wa laa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasneeman kathira. Assalamu Alaikum, Rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. This is Imam Zeh Shaker, and I'm here on behalf of the Muslim Community Center MCC in Pleasanton, California, with the fourth installment of our Ramadan class, The Purpose of Life. And we established through the first three sessions that the purpose of life is that we live in this world, what we live for the next. And living in this world, we are exposed to test trials and tribulations. And that is the nature of this life. To expect otherwise is to expect something that is not going to happen. It is not going to happen, brothers and sisters. So in our last installment, we left off at the idea of these two types of trials. The trial of doubt, fitna to shubha, and the trial of lust, fitna to shawa. And this was based primarily on the insights of the great Damascan scholar, Ibn Uqayyum al-Jawziah. And he mentioned that the trial of doubt is far greater. The trial of doubt is far greater. We mentioned that one of the reasons is far, we should say graver, as opposed to greater. It's far graver because when one is afflicted with doubt, repentance becomes very difficult because doubt breeds arrogance. I think my idea is the superior idea. As Iblis said, he's described as arrogant. With the color of the manna, it gets to shoot the Adam. Fasajadu illa Iblis abba wa stakbarra wa kana minal kathireen. So he was ordered to prostrate himself to Adam. He refused to do so. He was arrogant. He arrogated himself and he was amongst those who rejected faith. So the, and then subsequently, we mentioned this last week, when he's asked why didn't he prostrate himself? So he refused. He's asked, why did you refuse? What did he say? Anakayru min. I'm better than him. Khalaqtani minadin wa khalaqtu hu mintaim. You created me from fire while you created him from clay. And so his arrogance builds and he starts justifying and rationalizing. And so repentance becomes extremely difficult because you're right. I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I have prostrated when I'm better than him? And why am I better? Because you made me from fire. It's beautiful. It's orange. It's yellow. It's blue. It's white. It's red. You made him from black clay. I'm better. So the arrogance builds and the arrogance becomes a wedge between the person, in this case, bliss and repentance. Whereas Adam, the tribulation, the trial or test of lust, it doesn't breed arrogance. It usually breeds humility. How could I be so weak? How can I give in to that? Why couldn't I restrain those appetites? And so being that it leads to this rebuking attitude in many instances, it becomes easy to repent. And so a police, Abba was Takbar, our Academy in the Kaffirin. The same page in the Quran, in Iran, Fatalaqa Adam, and Marrabbi, in Fataba Ali, Adam learned to repent. Adam had a penitent spirit and Allah turned to him in repentance and accepting his repentance. And so that's one of the reasons the trial of doubt is so much graver than the trial of lust. And then he says, in M'qayyim, Rahimullah, in Fa'anullah bihi adhikum ajma'een, he says that the early Muslims, they used to warn against two types of people. The people who followed their vain inclinations and their vain whims, sometimes translated as their kapris, sahibul hawaa. And then their kapris, their whims become a trial for them. Why? Because they can't divorce themselves from them. That's the first type. The second type is one who has great amounts of dunya. And the dunya that they possess, blind them to the hereafter. So there's so much dunya dazzling them, they're blind to the hereafter. They never take time to think that there's a life beyond this life. One of the things that COVID virus has done is made a lot of people put the brakes on and think, what is this all about? What is this life all about? Why? Because the prospect of an unannounced death is very real. You're fine one day and five or six days later you're gone. So may Allah bless us to prepare for that eventuality and not to be blind by the world. Again, he reiterates that one of the greatest trials lies in our relationships with each other. It's one of our greatest trials. If you consider the verse in the Quran, bunlaru al'al al'ab. هل أدولكم على تجارة تنجيكم من آداب أدين تؤمنون بالله ورسوله وتجاهدون في سبيل الله بأموالكم وأنفسكم دالكم خير لكم إنكم تم تعلمون So, all you believers shall I direct you to a commerce that will save you from a terrible punishment, a painful punishment. And then he mentions the investment. Tu'minuna bil-lahi wa rasoolihi wa tujaahi dunafisa bil-lahi bi amwalikum wa anfusikum. Believe firmly in Allah and His message, you're in stride in the way of Allah. Excuse me. With your wealth and with your lives, that is best for you a few but not. Tujaahi dunafisa bil-lahi bi amwalikum wa anfusikum. Imam Fakhreddin al-Razi, commenting on this verse, he said that there are five basic types of jihad, struggle. The jihad, two are mentioned here. Tujaahi dunafisa bil-lahi bi amwalikum wa anfusikum, the jihad with your wealth. This Ramadan, most of you certainly, I have seen so many online fundraisers because people are coming to the masjids and the masjids still have staff, their personnel, excuse me, to be paid. They have services that they render, those services cost money and so the normal three to five thousand dollars in some masjids coming through the donation box every Friday isn't coming. So they have to do, the masjids have to do the online fundraiser to appeal for support. In any case, the jihad with the wealth, excuse me, so tujaahi dunafisa bil-lahi bi amwalikum, so those fundraisers are inviting you to struggle with your wealth. A lot of people furlough lost their jobs but that's not an excuse not to spend. You have a dollar and you have a dollar. You're going to buy something you really don't need. So instead of buying whatever, the bag of mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches, pass it up and give that five dollars to the cause that's inviting you to spend. And you'll see the return many fold from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then wa anfusikum and then with your lives and so from time to time we might have to literally put our lives on the line but that doesn't happen every day and for some of us it doesn't happen within the person's lifetime but the person should be prepared observing all the limits of Allah and the messenger if that eventuality were to come and we don't we don't pray for it. We don't pray for it. So bring them on. That's not a Muslim. A Muslim follows the prophetic advice. Don't long to meet any enemy. Ask Allah for well-being. Ask Allah for safety. Ask Allah for security. Ask Allah for well-being because as they say war is hell. War is hell and only a fool wishes for it. Ask Allah for well-being. But if you do meet them, be patient. So it says these type. The third, the jihad between the person and himself or herself. A jihad, baynahu wa baynah, nafsihi. A jihad between himself or herself and their nafs and this jihad is struggling to elevate through the degrees that the nafs travels as it moves towards human perfection to the extent possible using that term metaphorically. From the nafsil amarutum besu, nafsil shahwani abahimiya as it sometimes called, the nafsil lawama, the nafsil mulhama, the nafsil mutma inna, and nafsul radia, and nafsul marbiyya, and nafsul kamira. And so there's a struggle to overcome the obstacles that prevent us from this elevation, from ascending through these ranks. And it is a struggle because it is not easy. If it were easy, more people would be doing it properly. But it's not easy. So you find very few people undertaking it properly. And then the jihad, the struggle between the person and sheikhan. And this is an ongoing struggle. And we have to engage this battle, brothers and sisters. Otherwise, the advocates of evil will overwhelm us and overwhelm this world. So we have to struggle. We have to struggle against shaitan. And the shaitan, he is unto your enemy, treat him like an enemy. Sometimes we take the whole concept too lightly. That should not be our life. And then the jihad between him and the shaitan. So and then the jihad between the person and non-antagonistic elements. So the jihad with the nafs, that's against antagonistic elements. But there's a jihad against the non-antagonistic elements. Fitna. Your wealth and your children are fitna. Your children, we love them. They're not doing anything to us except not listening in some instances. But they're described as a trial. And in that there a trial, there is a struggle we have to undertake to successfully manage and conquer that trial. Less general than all of our affairs. And so the non-antagonistic elements, the wife, the husband, the parent, the children, the neighbor, the neighbor, unto that neighbor. We're all in these relationships. And these relationships are the proving ground for us. We're Jannah Baalakum Le Baadan, Fitznet and Atos Birun. We may some of you as a trial to others who you're not impatient. And so negotiating these trials requires patience. Maintaining those relationships requires patience. Doing the things you must do as we engage in these struggles requires patience for others and sisters. May Allah grant us abundant amounts of patience. So they counsel each other with truth and they counsel each other with patience. So may Allah Almighty give us patience. Then he says, Rahimullah, he says they used to say beware that the origin of every trial is lies in giving preference to one's empty opinion over the revealed law and giving preference to one's whims and inclinations over one's intellect. That's the source of every tribulation. So giving preference to one's empty opinion. And this is rampant in our day and time. I think Islam should be like this. I don't think Islam should have this. So we're not even going to follow that. I think Islam should contain ABC or D. So I think that's the how I think in my opinion giving preference to that over the revelation. So the revelation comes and it comes to eradicate falsehood, not to capitulate to falsehood. So the truth comes. And the battle is ruined. It's repelled, reposed. In the falsehood by truth comes falsehood perishes. Falsehood by its very nature is doomed to perish. But its nature is only revealed in the light of truth. And so we have to be the messengers, the advocates of truth, who bring truth to the people, so that people can dispel the depths of darkness and falsehood that envelop us. This is the beauty and power of our religion, brothers and sisters. And then he says, so the origin of every tribulation lies either in giving the prioritizing of one's empty opinion to the divine law, the revealed law, and one's whims and caprice over one's intellect. And so he said, the first, this is the origin or the foundation of the trial of doubt. So giving priority to one's opinion over the revealed law. So the tribulation of doubt is rooted in that. You know, I think Islam is homophobic, so we need to have a more progressive Islam. And so I think as doubt, what's been revealed in the Quran, in the Sunnah, what of the ulama of the ummah agreed upon in a particular issue? So we have to give prioritizing, we have to prioritize the revealed law over our opinion. You know why? Because our opinion today is harder than a flapjack and a skittle under an intense fire with very little oil in the pan. 100 years ago, our opinion would have been laughable. No one would have taken it serious. And we don't know what it's going to be 50 years from now. Because the the public perception and the zeitgeist, if you will, the spirit of the time that plays a large part in determining whether our opinion is laughable or rather something to be taken serious, it changes. Because our law is unchanging reality. So the truths that are revealed in the law are permanent truths, indelible truths. And the power manifest itself, manifested itself in the past, is manifesting itself in the present and will manifest itself in the future. Insha'Allah. So it says the first, giving priority to empty opinion over the divine law is the origin of the tribulation of doubt. And the second, giving priority to one's whims and caprices and personal opinions over one's not personal opinions, just the whims and suggestions over the intellect is the origin of the fitna of lust. Why? Because leaving aside religion, most of the things that we long for that are sinful after I said, leave aside considerations of religion. So scratch that. Most of the simple things are extremely harmful to us, if not all of them, extremely harmful. So we have a whim that I need to marry my secretary. If we think about it, it's like, whoa, this is crazy. What's this going to do to my family? How are my kids going to take this? This woman is not a Muslim. Maybe she has some communicable disease or something. But the aqa goes out and we get priority to the hawa. Yeah, this is good. She's a nice lady. She's single. She needs help. She has a couple of kids that she's struggling. I could be the hero to save the day. Yeah, that's a great idea. No, give priority to the aqa over the hawa and you'll find the lust going away. Another example, alcohol. I should go to the party and have a drink. It can't be that bad. Then the intellect says, oh, wait a minute. Maybe someone put something in there. Maybe I'll become addicted to this stuff. Maybe I'll get drunk and smash my car. So one starts thinking and then that lust starts to receive. Receive, not alcohol. I ain't drinking. That's crazy. Those people can drink all they want. I'm going to stick to the non-alcoholic eggnog. That's ridiculous. So give priority to the aqa over the hawa and then the lust receives. As you start thinking about it, the scripture starts not looking so good. The prospect of the idea of drinking alcohol doesn't sound so inviting. Why? Because we thought it through. Prioritized the hawa. Yeah, it couldn't be that bad. All of these people, they socially drink and none of them have car accidents. None of them go home and they're involved in these heavy domestic violence situations. None of them. And so the hawa wins out over the intellect. Maybe I'll give a Stofiq and Tessir. So then he says that the trial of lust, he said, this is reposed with patience. The trial of lust is reposed with patience. So when we are patient, the trial of lust is conquered. Why? Oh, I want to do no. I need to step back. Everything's okay. I can work hard, continue to work hard. I got to this point in the company. I don't need to go to the Christmas party and drink alcohol to get a higher promotion, a higher position. I'll just be patient and a law will open something up for me. And so we, with patience, we vanquish the trial or conquer the trial of lust. So, and then the trial of doubt is overcome by the trial of certainty. The trial of certainty being absolutely certain. And again, this virus situation has made a lot of people really certain about things they questioned before. Got a lot of certainty. And I'll give a Stofiq and Tessir. And both of these qualities are the qualities of leadership. Patience and yakin, certainty. And so we want to equip ourselves with patience. But to us all the sober, to us all the luck, they counsel each other with truth and they counsel each other with patience. And the truth is the foundation of certainty. So this is key to repulsing the tribulation of doubt. And the patience is the key to repulsing the tribulation of lust. These are just two secrets in Surah Tula'as. Imam Shafi or Rahimullah mentioned if no other Surah had been revealed in the Quran except Surah Tula'as, it would have suffice the people. So the tribulation of doubt is reposed with certainty. And the tribulation of lust is reposed with patience. And when people can combine these qualities together, those people are the people who will be given leadership. Those are the people who will be given leadership. And not because I want it to be so, but because Allah says it in the Quran. Allah Ta'ala mentioned, that we may from them. This is a reference to the prophets from the Bani Israel, but the lesson is generally applicable. The lesson to be taken from a verse in the Quran is based on the generality of the wording, not the specificity of the occasion of revelation. So specifically this is about the prophets of Bani Israel, but generally it's applicable for all of us. So Allah says, we may from them leaders who guide it by our command. And so leadership, Allah tests us. Allah puts us through fire to see if we're worthy of carrying the responsibility of leadership. It's not just bam. And that's why no one hastens to take leadership in any level of institutional function unless they reflect deeply on it. Otherwise they're doing more harm than good. They will inevitably do more harm than good. And so Allah says we may from them leaders who guide it by our command after they patiently persevered, and they were absolutely certain concerning our signs. They were absolutely certain concerning our signs. So this is what it, this is it brothers and sisters. This is it. May Allah give us Tawfiq and Tessir. May Allah bless us to overcome these two great tribulations, the tribulation of lust and the tribulation of doubt. And the key to that as we mentioned, patience and certitude. May Allah bless us to be patient during these days we find ourselves in. May Allah bless us to enjoy the Eid. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless all of you and all of your families. And there's a lot more ground to cover perhaps at some future time. We could continue this journey. We're only, we're still on the launch pad. We haven't even taken off yet. You're all the best. As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.