 I live in Toronto, and once I was asked by the Muslim Student Association down the road if I could give the Friday Khutba. And the person who requested is the daughter of one of my teachers. So I told her, can I explain Surah Al-Baqarah in the Khutba? And she got really scared because she said, well, you know, maybe a bit of it. So I won't be very long. I just wanted to touch upon a dua that many, if not most of us, probably recite. And if you don't recite, then put it on your task list to one, learn it, and number two, to start reciting on it regularly. And that's the dua we make for our family. But there's many community lessons in that dua as well. The dua is Rabbana Hiblana min azwajina wa thurriyatina qurrata aayunin wa jaalna lil muttakina imama. Most of us probably know of this dua, and if you don't, then go and learn it. It's an incredible comprehensive dua that Rabbana Hiblana, that O Lord, gift us, grant us from our spouses and our offspring min azwajina wa thurriyatina qurrata aayunin aayjoy for our eyes wa jaalna lil muttakina imama and make us literally imams of the people of Taqwa. And this is a very intriguing dua because it has a whole number of lessons. We'll just take a couple of them. Firstly, the recognition that the preservation of faith, the preservation of guidance, the preservation of good in your own life and in your family is not something you have control over. It's a gift from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the way it's preserved is not simply through your effort, but by seeking it from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that's something that one has to be a constant state. Actually sometimes when people get religious, they say that, you know, when I first became religious, I think I had something in me that I've lost. Now you may be doing much more than when you're newly religious, but you feel that you're better back then. And one of the reasons is that when we are just getting into the Deen and getting more serious about the Deen, we feel that we need to improve. We feel desperate and weak in our relationship with Allah. But then you go into religious cruise control, al-izwal, right? And you don't feel that sense of neediness and weakness. So always be seeking from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, feeling that any good that you have, you need it from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But then you're making dua for yourself and your family, but you don't say, Rabbi Habli, that O Lord grant me and my family, what do you say? Rabbana Hablana, O Lord grant us in our spouses and in our offspring a joy for our eyes. Why? One at the spiritual level because if you want the good for yourself, a sure means of attaining it is to seek it for others as well. Allah is in the assistance of His servant, as long as His servant is in the assistance of others. So you're, and part of that is that you're praying for them, just as you're praying for yourself. That's a spiritual aspect, but there's a worldly aspect to it as well. You cannot raise a righteous family on your own. You need community. You need community to be able to raise a righteous family and that's one of the critical aspects of being a community. And this is very important because in a lot of places, you know, people just say, you know what, why do I need to come to the Imam Zaid program on Friday? I can just watch him on YouTube, right? And actually, and Qari Amr probably won't believe this, but in the last year or two I've been asked several times, can I pray tarawih following the Imam in Mecca? Because you know, it's broadcast on TV. But then this year, I was asked, you know, the live broadcast is before tarawih time in my town. Can I watch recordings of the tarawih on YouTube and pray along with it? Actually, one sister didn't even ask, can you do so? She said, my TV faces away from the Qibla. But I can see the Kaaba on it. So do I face the TV or do I face the Qibla, right? But you know, people are disconnecting and you need community just as you need food and drink because you cannot sustain yourself religiously and as a human being without community. We are social animals and religiously we are social animals. So that's one of the important lessons that you must care for others, but also realize that you need community, right? If you want to change your religious direction for the better, keep the company of people who are directed towards Allah SWT. And that's one of the key variables to change for the good, right? O Lord, grant us in our spouses and in our offspring. And I mentioned this on Friday, but it bears repetition. Allah SWT doesn't instruct us, say, من أزواجنا وأولادنا because أولاد is your children, right? But the believer is not short-sighted. We don't ask just for the good for ourselves and our kids. The difference between أولاد, children, and ذرية offspring is that offspring are your descendants till no determined future. All those who are descended from you. So you're seeking the good and guidance and faith, not just for yourself, but for the whole community of believers. And you're seeking it, not just now, but long term. And if you understand that, then you would act accordingly. And you would plan accordingly both in your own life and the decisions you make, but also you'd think strategically as a community, not just, okay, how do we have a place right now that will fulfill our religious needs? But what will we need as a community 100 years from now, 150 years from now? That's how believers think, right? And that's what the Quran teaches us to do, right? من أزواجنا و ذرياتنا قرّة آيون, a joy for our eyes. وجعلنا للمتقينة إمامة and make us the foremost of the people of Taqwa, right? One of the terrible innovations of our times, it's a bid'a. And I'm not going to go into KBS talk, you know, كفر بدا شرك, right? But it's a terrible innovation to simply be content to be a good Muslim, right? You will not find du'az in the Quran or the prophetic sunnah just to be a good Muslim, right? What does Allah SWT teach us in the Quran? وجعلنا للمتقينة إمامة, right? Allah calls us to be of the Muhsinin, of the Mutteqeen, of the Sabirin to have the highest of virtue, right? The Prophet SAW taught us to ask for the highest of matters, right? And that's what we should be seeking, one for ourselves. What do you want to do? You know, you're trying to get the best of careers. And you're always, even if you have a good career, you're trying to specialize and get, you know, more certification and you're always looking, you know, how you can switch to a department which would facilitate your career advancement and changing jobs. Now you're part of a new startup because of this. Now you have all these plans for your worldly life. What about your religious life? What are you trying to do as a Muslim? I want to be a good Muslim. That's a bid'a, right? Allah SWT calls us to seek to be of the foremost and not just for yourself. That's what you're seeking for your children. If all you're seeking for your kids is to be a good Muslim, what if they fall short of being a good Muslim? They'll be a bad Muslim, right? But if you're seeking to be of the foremost of the people of piety, if you fall short, you might be among the people of piety at least, right? So this is a dua that one should not only recite, but really try to understand to me if there's numerous other lessons in it. But it tells us both that as individuals, we should have deep concern for the greatest of the good in our deen, just as we seek the good of this life. But also we have that concern for the community. And we have that concern for the community, that we want to have a community. We want to have community institutions. And we care about it, so it's not just a question of giving your money, of seeing how we can make the most of the incredible talents and skills that we have in our communities, not just to have functional or good Islamic centers and institutions of learning, et cetera, but that can be the foremost institutions in this world. The places where people are keen to go, it's not just, okay, I'll go to the MCC tonight. But this should be, that's a place that anyone would want to be, right? And we should be aiming for excellence because the Prophet SAW said, Allah has decreed excellence in all matters, why? Because we are striving to maximize the eternal good, right? So when we make these du'as, we should reflect for a moment on these implications. That Rabbana Hablana, that O Lord grant us, min azwajina wa dhurriatina in our spouses and in our offspring, qurrata aayun, a joy for our eyes. And a joy for our eyes is not just a joy for our eyes, it's the deepest joy because they say what the eye sees, right? Goes to the deepest part of the heart, right? Like complete, you could translate it in an interpretive way, grant us complete contentment, complete happiness in them. Wa jaalna lil muttakina imama and make us the foremost, make us exemplars of the people of Taqwa, who are the most beloved of Allah SWT's servants, right? And we ask Allah SWT to realize that in our concern and in our striving both as individuals and as a community, right? Because success is not simply in taking care of your own personal religious interests, right? Illal ladina aamanu wa amilu s-salihad wa tawasaw bil haqt and who counsel one another to truth, wa tawasaw bil sabr and who counsel one another to being steadfast therein. I say this and I ask Allah's forgiveness for me and for you, and I ask Allah's forgiveness for me and for you.