 شهر الله يرشه وما كنا لنهتري لولى أنهدان الله والسلات والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين خاتم النبيين سيد المتجر بشير المصدق المستفى الأمجد محمود الأحمد أبي القاسم محمد وعلى أهل بيته الطيبين الطاهرين المعسومين وعلى الله على قاليمين من الأولين والآخرين أما بعد قال إمام الحج عليه السلام الحمد لله الذي لم يتخص صاحبة ولا ولداء ولم يكن له الشريك في المورق ولم يكن له ولي من الظل وكبره تكديرا سلام عليكم وانتظر إمام الزمانة أعطينا ألواتنا أخواتنا وخواتنا السلام عليكم جميعا ورحمة الله وبركاته المنزل الأخرى في الدعاءة في افتتاح التي تخصنا من نفسنا نفسنا المستفى الأمجد إمام الحجة عجل الله وطعاله فرج الشريف هو الذي يبدأ بتحدث عن المساعدة ومساعدة سبهان الله وطعاله وهو أن رزاد أنساذوق أو كان منزل الكيير إغ breaks تجد رزاق رزاق기 باستخدام لأنه لم يجب أن يأخذ صديقنا، لأنه لم يجب أن يأخذ صديقنا، لن يكون هناك أحد who is an authority for him or over him in any part of creation, in any way whatsoever. و بفرحة هذه الثالثة و بفرحة هذه الثالثة as a God we are obliged to magnify and glorify him in a way which is befitting and therefore he says that we should glorify and magnify him, we respond in a way by magnification which is to perform the takbir, to recite Allahu Akbar at the response of this. He continues by saying Indeed praise be to Allah سبحانه وتعالى why because there is no opposition to him in any of his command and there is no disputor with him in any of his affair and also we should praise him because that there is no partner to him in his creation and that there is no similitude to him in his glory and by virtue of this these are the reasons why we should recognize his grandiosity and we should have this takbir where we are praising Allah سبحانه وتعالى this particular sequence of verse is one that can be designated within the four areas of praise that we found at the beginning of Da'a Ftitha as we said the first thing that we are to praise Allah سبحانه وتعالى for we stated for guidance the second is that we praise him for the mercy that is overflowing and abundant upon us and then the next for the law within his creation and the fourth for his superiority over those who have pride who have arrogance who seek to be an enemy towards the religion of Islam and thus the religion and humanity all together by virtue of those four categories one might suggest that this particular sequencing may fall in the fourth category of the praise because for Allah سبحانه وتعالى to replace supreme as God this is the reason why we are praising him and magnifying him in this particular manner there is no partner to him in creation there is no opposition to him in any of his command and by virtue he is superior and authoritative over every and all else within creation when we look at the Holy Quran we find that the Holy Quran provides us with all of the very best starting arguments this particular starting line when we say الحمد لله الذي لم يتخص صاحبة ولا ولا دا we are removing any potential for partnership to Allah سبحانه وتعالى in any way shape or form now here this happens at many levels this happens at the level of discussion with our brothers and sisters in humanity when we obliged to remind them that there is one soul God and there is no partnership to him but also there is the reality that it must fall within the heart itself and thus when I believe not just from tongue but from my heart and I remove any partner with Allah سبحانه وتعالى in the heart that is when the heart begins to truly glorify and magnify Allah سبحانه وتعالى let us look at these two facets the Quran is one that provides us with the very best of arguments so now when I am engaged with for example Christian brothers or Hindu brothers or Christian sisters or Hindu sisters we are ones that we are engaged in discussion about the principle concept of Godhood the idea that there is only one God there is no wife there is no son there is no partner he does not have a willy in any way shape or form he is solely existent in this manner when I have this discussion the very best arguments I should be looking to present are the ones based within the Holy Quran itself for example in Surat al-Mu'minoon chapter number 21 verse number 22 of the Holy Quran Allah سبحانه وتعالى provides us with an outstanding argument for all values when it comes to the concept of tawheed وحدانية the concept of just oneness of Allah سبحانه وتعالى he says had there been other gods had there been any other gods to Allah سبحانه وتعالى this universe would have been in a state of chaos had there been any other in creation had there been a partner had there been another god in any way shape or form with Allah سبحانه وتعالى this universe would have been in a state of chaos why would he state this particular verse what aspect of tawheed is he trying to inculcate within our heart and within our discussions imagine now there were two gods in creation let us just imagine that this universe as vast as it is when we say vast we need to come to a context as to how vast it is they say that some of the furthest stars are 13 trillion light years away from here now how do we quantify that really how do I examine the creation of Allah سبحانه وتعالى I am unable to qualify what 13 trillion light years really is but when we really begin to think it allows us a glimpse into the creation of Allah سبحانه وتعالى now imagine as far and as wide as this physical domain of Allah سبحانه وتعالى is imagine if there were two gods two creators in this grand system of Allah سبحانه وتعالى what would have happened how would the world have been different how would the universe have been different had there been two creators and sustainers within this particular universe let us talk at a very simple level imagine now there are youths who are sitting with us just pick an age 8 years old 5 years old that age where we're still playful imagine I called two of the youth from amongst the crowd now and I both gave them a piece of paper one stands here on the left-hand side of the pulpit one stands here on the right-hand side of the pulpit I gave them both of this a piece of paper and I say to them both of you make for me a paper aeroplane I can see some of the adults are also remembering their own childhood now and when they would make this paper aeroplane imagine I asked these two kids the two youngsters make a paper aeroplane each for me now you know that there are 100 different ways to make a paper aeroplane right you may fold it in half and then again and then again and you may tear something at the bottom you may fold the wings over one child will try to make it more aerodynamic one child will try to make it in a different way and so on and so forth so each child both of these two children are going to make the paper aeroplane in their own way as to how they consider the best design for this plane now I say to them, brilliant, you've made your design well done now let's see who can throw it the furthest so we have the group who is sitting in the middle you're probably going to be hit by the paper aeroplane so both these two children they're standing and I say to them right both of you on the countdown three, two, one, throw the paper aeroplane now you can guarantee that although I'm counting down three, two, one one of the kids will be more eager and he'll throw it on two there's a reason why I'm saying this also you will know that both of them the strength that they will put into the throw will be different one being five years old will throw it at one pace and another being eight years old may have a greater strength within his arm or 12 years old or 15 years old he'll have a greater strength in his arm so he will try to throw it harder another one may say to himself well I'm trying to use the air, the wind, the velocity the aerodynamic nature of my creation therefore it's not about the power I put into it it's about the height that I put into it maybe if I throw the paper aeroplane higher it will get further into the crowd had Allah had there had been two creators within this system of the universe they would have been chaos the same way two creators of something so simple as a paper aeroplane they would have been two different designs not only two different designs they would have tried to have made the rules their own way one would try to get a head start and throw it earlier one would have tried to throw it with more pace, more strength one would have tried to throw it with more height or more velocity the point is when you have two creators they are bound to design things completely differently they will each think that their design is the best they will each think that their design is superior towards the other one maybe, maybe if one of the children had become frustrated that his didn't go as far as the other he would have started to argue the same way had there had been two gods within the universe they would have been an argument the fact is within creation itself it is absolutely perfect we as human beings are perfect the system that we have with spring, summer, winter, autumn is perfect the rising of the tides in accordance with the moon is perfect the idea of gravity is perfect the construction of the stars and the solar systems is perfect this is indicative this is an evidence that they can only ever have been one creator because had there been two creators the human being we wouldn't be one type of human being one god would have created you with two arms another god would have said well my creation will have four arms because it's better and he would have created his version of human being with four arms with four legs or with two heads had there been two creators within this universe they would have been absolute chaos the fact that there is only one system within this universe everything is following this one system of Allah SWT proves that they can only ever be one creator throughout the entire universe at any one time this is how Allah SWT argues with his logic he wants us to realize this the unfortunate thing is certain atheists use this very same argument to try to disprove the creator Allah SWT for example we see that there are certain very famous creators of documentaries for the BBC and they have looked deeply into the creation of system they have looked at the ant world they have looked at the bird world they have looked at the seas every facet of creation on earth unfortunately their argument is the fact that this earth is so perfect we cannot believe that there is a creator our argument is exactly the opposite Allah SWT in the opening verses of Surat al-Mulk chapter number 67 of the Holy Quran asks you to recognize the fact that everything is perfect it must be one soul creator he says أترا في خلق الرحمن من تفاوت فالجعل بصر حالترا من فتور have a look at the creation of Allah SWT look again and again and again the more you observe the creation of Allah the more you become fatigued you will not be able to find a fault in his creation therefore Allah SWT is stating this in this da'a I haven't taken a partner I haven't taken a son to inherit from me I haven't got someone to dispute with me I haven't got a wife that has asked me to perform creation in this way I am soul there is none but I in creativeness there is none but I in authoritiveness there is none but I and none but I all together the fact that you recognize this magnify me glorify me in a way which is befitting of a magnification hence we respond to Allah the process is understanding Allah SWT being aware of his grandiosity and then the heart becomes overflowing with acceptance hence the heart becomes one who can actually glorify and magnify Allah SWT now here we can introspect about our own servitude and worship of Allah SWT when do we recite Taqbir most in تسبيحات of Lady Zahra one two the most time we recited during the day in Salah Allahu Akbar is so consistent within Salah I start my Salah with Taqbiratul having finished my position in Qiyam Allahu Akbar I go into Ruku'a having finished I go back finishing my Sajda Allahu Akbar go back into my Sajda here we find that there is a consistency taking place Allah SWT in this Da'a is asking us to recognize his oneness asking us to be fully aware annihilated within that oneness consider it and then glorify him in the same way before I stand for my Salah take a minute there is no rush stand before Allah SWT clear the mind become aware of his glorious oneness having then removed all those thoughts that have come into the heart from the day then I can stand in front of Allah with Taqbiratul Ahraab and say Allahu Akbar the more I practice this the better my Qiyam will be having then stood in Qiyam and recognized that I am standing as one who has been wrong through the day the one who is standing in front of his master when I then finish my second Surah I will then go into another Taqbir and again I will have remembered Allah for his absolute oneness the Taqbir is supposed to follow this process of having recognized Tauheed then I magnify Allah SWT it is not just from the tongue it is recognizing Allah SWT الحمد لله الذي لم يتخص صاحبة ولا ولا داء ولم يكون له شيء من الخارق الله أكبر يعني it continues الحمد لله الذي لا منازق له في أمه all praise belongs to Allah he is the one who does not take opposition there is no opposition to him in his kingdom he does not have any opponent no disputation in any way shape or form Allah SWT is the one who we cannot argue against there is no one who can stand above or against him and say to him you created creation incorrectly there is none that can stand in front of him and say that we are not pleased satisfied we do not agree with how you have done this this is his level as the creator and sustainer however yesterday we stated the tradition from our sixth Imam Imam Ja'far Al-Sarik in which he says تخلق بأخلاك إلا adopt for yourselves the etiquette the أخلاك of Allah SWT now in this statement am I able to apply this all praise belongs to Allah he does not have any opponent he does not have a disputer he does not have a similitude he does not have a partner in any of his facets of creation or authority I can't apply this to myself I can't say that I as a leader I don't have any disputer with me in authority I can't say I don't have any partner with me in any way shape or form and therefore the opposite in this circumstance comes I have to recognize in this circumstance I do have my limitations whereas Allah does not I have my limitations I as a leader cannot apply these very same attributes to me here we go into the construct of what leadership really is for I cannot level myself with Allah SWT and therefore for I as a leader or you and I as leaders we have to recognize the qualities of leadership for within ourselves and therefore be encourage our youth to take upon these skill sets of leadership within our own time when it comes to leadership we would like to introduce or maybe the word should be reintroduce one of the most outstanding discussions that we have come across in regards to leadership in our time in our generation the reason why I bring this particular topic up is because I would like to encourage my younger brothers and sisters to be aware of one particular leader within our community his name Marhum Mula Azhar may Allah bless you so I would like to bring this particular discussion from the terms of Marhum Mula Azhar for the sake that definitely my elders will be very much aware of him his leadership qualities his own ideals but therefore maybe some of my younger brothers have not become so acquainted with Marhum Mula Azhar and therefore I would like my younger brothers and sisters to become aware of the quality we had within our community also one that we are trying hard to emulate but also what kind of ideals he left for us as a particular community when it came to leadership a generation back he was involved in a presentation in World Federation for a concept an idea for leadership which was entitled the code of leadership many of my elders many of our contemporaries may have studied this he had an idea which he wanted to implement at the very senior level of World Federation and therefore if it becomes successful to filter it down into Jamat level whereby the presidents of Jamat also follow this very same concept code of leadership Google it it is available from World Federation where you can read about the discussion and what took place upon that very particular day in the World Federation meeting his idea was that when a leader is appointed as president of World Federation he should uphold two particular characteristics one تقوى to عدادة تقوى we are translating as God consciousness to عدادة they should be just within themselves now please here do not for a second thing I am getting into a political discussion about any individual of any organization of anyone in particular I am not it is important that I state that otherwise we will be accused we will say why you speak no we are just talking about leadership so we understand in our time that this should become within World Federation president and then filter down to all levels of Jamat as well so that every Jamat president also is ascribed to the level of تقوى عدادة now what is this why is this the case مرهوم الله أسغر himself presented his own arguments as to why this is a necessity within our leadership why when we are operating leadership we have these two tick boxes we must have a check box that whenever we are trying to appoint someone as leadership we are looking to the very heights of leadership within our community that they uphold these levels within leadership these are his words not my words please go and read the code of leadership he states مرهوم الله أسغر he states that he has heard and seen from his own lifetime presidents of communities about meetings finishing World Federation meetings and discussing which casino shall we go to tonight it's not my words I'm just presenting them to you he states this is more than a decade it's more than a decade ago he says I have seen first hand leadership within our community talking about these ideas when we finish World Federation meeting which casino shall we go to could you imagine he states the reason why we need to have some sort of logical leadership some sort of logical height of leadership is to ensure that we are not aiding these sorts of leaders from coming within our communities we should have something that we recognize our leadership by it may not be there in Sharia I agree but within our own community we can write something within our constitution so that when we nominate we nominate someone who we believe to be the person who is worthy of leadership within our communities this isn't a game this isn't a game this is the work of the Imam and therefore this is the work of Allah SWT we are not picking someone because he is my brother in law we are not picking someone because he is my cousin and there are different times when we nominate either I put myself forward for leadership or I nominate someone I think you are the best person I nominate you for leadership or when it comes to the Jamaat or when it comes to World Federation or Africa Federation or Co-Edge we then vote for the person each one of these three circumstances the reason why we need to have a mental awareness is so that whether I am the one standing up for leadership whether I am the one nominating for leadership or whether I am the one voting for the leader I am aware that the person I am putting forward is up to task and he beholds the qualities of Taqwa Adal because I can be the one nominating I need to ensure that I am nominating someone who has Taqwa Adal now here we are not saying that this needs to come in but it needs to be within the heart at the very least if I am going to nominate someone for leadership within the community I need to be aware that he is the best for it he can lead on the spiritual level he can lead on the political level he can lead on the economic level he can lead within Madrasa he can bring an end to disputes within the community I have trust that my leadership is capable of performing these actions lest we fall in a deliberating debilitating circumstance where leadership becomes wrong where leadership becomes less and less of these qualities not everyone is capable of being that leader not everyone is capable of being that person not everyone should be that person Bahlul Dana has an outstanding example of this where he wants to highlight that there are people who are the heights of leadership and there are other people who are gaining certain positions for example one day he walks into the palace of Ar-Rashid the palace as he enters into the courtyard he sees the pulpit of Rashid this room was completely empty he didn't see any guards he didn't see any court gestures he didn't see any of these people decided to go up and he sat upon the pulpit he is sitting there on the pulpit and he is emulating and he is having a little bit of fun he is making fun of Ar-Rashid there is no one in the room but he is making a little bit of fun and he is pretending to give out orders you go and do this you go and spend this money you need to be the one who comes and writes this edict as he is making noise and making fun of the Caliph Ar-Rashid the guards burst through the door they see that Bahlul is sitting upon the throne the pulpit of Ar-Rashid what do they do they pull Bahlul down throw him to the floor they begin to beat him and beat him and beat him Bahlul is crying out wailing in pain for having been beaten Ar-Rashid in the next room here is this commotion he comes in he sees that this is Bahlul someone he knows very well tells his guards stop beating him this is Bahlul stop the guards subsist he is in pain Bahlul is in anguish Bahlul is crying Ar-Rashid comes sits down beside Bahlul he says to him Bahlul there is no need to cry anymore it's okay why are you crying still the guards have stopped beating you he says no you misunderstand I am not crying because the guards have beaten me I am crying because for your sake illegitimately wrongly for just a few seconds look at the punishment I received you have been sitting illegitimately on the pulpit of true Khilafat for so many years imagine how many punishment you are going to get in the next world he was trying to highlight here leadership is a huge responsibility huge responsibility you cannot just come and sit on the pulpit of Ahlul Bayt and be the one who is claiming to be giving out these edicts leadership is one that grows from within you raise yourself to being worthy you are the one who demonstrates being able to lead the community indeed we have wonderful leaders in our community they should be supported not pulled down sometimes we find a leader within the community he aspires to be the leader he is clearly head and shoulders above others but we don't like him because of his serving or maybe I have had a personal dispute with him just because I've had a personal dispute with this person doesn't mean that he's not the right person to lead the community I may have had a disagreement with him I may have had a disagreement with many people in my life maybe he is right but I was wrong why should I be the one who holds him down just because I am the leader who holds him down just because I am the one who has had a disagreement with this person we must groom our leadership within the 21st century we must make our mentorship programs we should have people who want and aspire to be leaders we should have people who are enthusiastic within the community and when we find those enthusiastic youth we should be grooming them and asking them to come within community service here we need to suggest to our youth humbly suggest to our youth that all of our youth within this community and every community within the world whoever received this message no matter what age of adolescents you are no matter what age of teen you are no matter whether you have finished your university or your work engage in leadership engage in servitude for the community engage participate how many youth are there within this community let us just pick a figure for the sake of it 500 1000 2000 what is a youth some of my elders will also claim to be a youth at the moment indeed you are all youth I don't care how gray your hair is you are all youth indeed but if you are a youth if you are 16 18 within the community the commander of the faithful علي ابن أبي طالب صلوات الله وسلم وعلي has a tradition where he states الله سبحانه وتعالى has diversified the aspirations of mankind الله سبحانه وتعالى has diversified the aspirations of mankind he continues why because had every human being the same this world would have been too difficult to live with him he continues to explain if everyone here had been the same then all of you would have had to do exactly the same things within your family all of you would have had to produce your own food all of you would have had to been the doctor all of you would have to been the engineer all of you would have had to been the builder all of you would have had to been the driver he says no الله سبحانه وتعالى he says no الله سبحانه وتعالى in his planning in his thinking in his goal for the creation of his system was one that he ordained that human beings are different in every way shape or form all of you here are unique all of you here have a different skill set have you ever thought about what skill set you have have you ever thought what you excel in just look next to the person look next to the person sitting next to you that person does not have the skill set that you have and you do not have the skill set that he has is that a coincidence no الله سبحانه وتعالى did this in creation because he wanted all of us to be unique and all of us to have skill sets whereby we endowed with abilities to give back to the community in those same ways if you are someone who is good in a professional accountant you can give back to the community in your own way if you are good in sports imagine how you can give back to your own community you can bring the youth of different ages you can teach them to become healthy human beings you can teach them to have ethics when they play sports you can teach them to have good intentions when they play sports if you are someone who is good in IT you can aid the Jamaat in building on their IT infrastructure if you are someone who is good in art you can aid the community in their own way every situation every human has been created so that they can give back towards the community in their own shape and form imagine now what skill set you have imagine now if we had an upsurge let's just pick a number let's say of our community 5% of volunteers how wonderful a community we have how many different community exercises take place we have this sports club we have this debating we have this madrasa we have this school we have this leadership imagine now if overnight we doubled the number of volunteers with the community imagine how many more youths can be emboldened imagine how many more youths can be given leadership training imagine how many more youths can be spent time with for their own system of development indeed we are all very busy who here is not busy aren't the volunteers busy aren't the teachers in the madrasa busy aren't our leaders busy they all give time from within themselves but imagine how much more our Jamaat can grow economically politically as an institute for the future of the next 50 years if another 10% of our community youth stood up tomorrow and said I will give back time within the community the same way the community has put time into me in the first place this is what it means