 We begin by praising Allah as He is most worthy and deserving of all praise. We ask Allah and we ask Allah alone to guide us, to prevent us from being misguided and from misguiding others. We ask Allah SWT to bless us, to forgive us of our shortcomings, our sins, those that we commit knowingly and those that we commit unknowingly. We ask Allah SWT to bless His noble Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah, sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, to bless his noble companions, his family, ahl al-bayt and the righteous everywhere. By the fadl of Allah SWT we find ourselves once again as we embark on a new year, a new hijri year and we find ourselves in the blessed days of Muharram, the blessed month of Muharram and especially these first ten days which are blessed to Allah SWT. And as a new year goes, the time of Muharram is a time of rebirth, it is a time of rejuvenation, it is a time of new beginnings. This is what Muharram has always represented. And the month and the significance of the month of Muharram cannot be underscored. In fact, Allah SWT in the Quran mentions four sacred months, four sacred months, Dhul Qadha, Dhul Hij, Muharram and Rajab, Muharram being one of these sacred months. It is believed and it is according to Muslim tradition that several great events took place in this blessed month of Muharram. It is said that the Prophet Nuh, A.S. was delivered from the flood that they found dry land after the great flood of the Prophet Nuh was in the month of Muharram when he found dry land. It is of course also significant because it is during the, on the 10th of Muharram specifically but in these days of Muharram that the Prophet Nuh, A.S. and his people were delivered from the clutches of the Pharaoh. And of course, specifically in Muslim history, it is also in the month of Muharram, specifically the day of Ashourah, the 10th of Muharram, the day of deliverance for the Jews, for the Prophet Musa and his community. But on that day, we also recognize the sacrifice, the martyrdom of Imam al-Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet, S.A.W., and his family members who were killed on the planes on the battlefield of Karbala, the fields of Karbala. And these are all magnanimous moments that we should recognize and understand and these are moments that underscore the significance of the day or of the days of the month of Muharram. In fact, it was the practice of the Prophet, S.A.W., after he entered Medina one of the first things is that he encountered the Jews of Haibah, and he noticed that these, that this Jewish tribe or the Jews in Medina were fasting on the day of Ashourah, were fasting on the 10th of Muharram. And when he inquired, when he and his community inquired as to why the Jews were fasting on this day, they replied and they responded and they said that this is the day that our people, our nation, Bani Israeel, were delivered from the clutches of the Pharaoh, of Fir'aun. And so the Prophet, S.A.W., he responded and he said that me and my community, that we have as much, if not more, of a right to the Prophet Musa and his legacy, and so henceforth we too shall fast on this day. And it in fact became an obligatory fast for that early community to fast on the 10th of Muharram. And it was the intent of the Prophet, S.A.W., during the final year of his life to in fact add a day that precedes or precedes the 10th of Muharram to also fast as a way of distinguishing him and his community and the communal practice from the practice of the Jews. And so it is a highly recommended sunnah now to fast on the 10th of Muharram on the day of Ashura, but also to join with that fast the day before or the day after. This is a laudable and praiseworthy sunnah of the Prophet, S.A.W. But there are many great lessons that we learn from the day of Ashura. And specifically at first I want to talk about the significance of the Prophet, S.A.W. fasting on this day and instructing his community to do so. It first and foremost solidified the fact that the community of the Prophet, S.A.W. was a descendant, was a part of the legacy of the Prophet, S.A.W. That we weren't just the new kid on the block as it were with regards to our faith coming chronologically. Again, the Islam, the Muhammadi Islam, right, we believe that all of the prophets taught the universal message of Islam, but the Ummah Muhammadiyah, the message of Islam as was conveyed and as was perfected by the Prophet, S.A.W. And that Islam, that community was part of the legacy of the Proceeding Nations, specifically the Jewish community. And that we were inheritors, we were the inheritors of that legacy. That that legacy was not foreign to Islam, was not foreign or alien to Muslims. But rather that the Muslim community and that this great faith was a part of that great Abrahamic legacy and was a part of the legacy of the Prophet, S.A.W. The Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, and his community. And so we recognize that here we see the sunnah of engagement and appropriation. And what I mean by that is that if we examine the life of the Prophet, S.A.W., Contrary to what we often perceive as was the Prophet's approach to all things that were prevalent in Arabian society at his time or during his time, by and large, unless something clearly contradicted the message of Islam, such as Asabiyah or tribalism, this idea of tribe before anything else, the Prophet dismantled or attempted to dismantle those structures of tribalism. Because this was a practice that was abhorrent to Islam. Because there is great equality. There is a equality of humanity. There's no superiority of one tribe or one clan or one race over another. And so he pushed back. He disengaged when it came to the practice of tribalism. But what we often see in the life and the legacy of the Prophet, S.A.W. was the sunnah of engagement and appropriation. And what I mean by that is if he saw a practice that one had its roots in the Abrahamic tradition, in the tradition of monotheism, even though those roots and those connective tissues had been lost or had become untenable, unrecognizable, such as the Hajj, the pilgrimage. This was a practice and we know this. We read this in the history books. We read this in the Seerah, in the life of the Prophet, that the Hajj, the pilgrimage was something that had been celebrated for generations. Because it was part of that Abrahamic legacy, even though that link, that connective tissue, as I said, to the message of the Prophet Abraham had been lost. But nonetheless, the Prophet, S.A.W., the sunnah was one of engagement and appropriation. And I focus on that, brothers and sisters, because what that does to a community or for a community, especially a community that is a minority in the land, is that it reinforces that community's connection and link to the broader social and cultural environment of that land. And this remained the hallmark of the great civilization that Islam brought. That that great civilization was one that did not have a slash and burn philosophy, did not have a philosophy of dismantling structures, but rather it reinforced and it commemorated and celebrated the sunnah of the Prophet, S.A.W., which was a sunnah of appropriation and engagement. It recognized social and cultural values. And unless those values contradicted the message of Islam, it appropriated them. It's a term, sociological term of appropriating, of making it your own, of making something your own. It belongs to you and you belong to it. That is appropriation. And that is what the Prophet, S.A.W., was doing in celebrating and recognizing the fast of the day of Ashura, the fast of the Jews, is that he appropriated this practice because it would solidify the bonds of that early growing community, burgeoning Muslim community. Imagine in Medina, in the early days of Medina, you're still a minority and you're growing as a community. And you're seeing already, automatically you're seeing because of the message you bring, the message of monotheism, of tawhid, of prayer, of fasting, of giving to the poor, of helping the disenfranchised. These were things that were revolutionary at the time. And so automatically the Muslim community at that time was seen, not unlike how we're seeing today, as a fifth column, as something that is alien to the land, something that is foreign. What's this with your foreign ways, your alien practices? You don't belong here, right? Go back to the country you came from, right? It comes right from the top. Go back to where you came from, right? That idea of not belonging, that idea of being alien and foreign, even though you're not, that is what the Sunnah of appropriation seeks to dismantle. That idea that you are foreign, that idea that you do not belong here, that you aren't a part of the social and cultural fabric of the land in which you live, the land you call home, the land of your birth. So that was the Sunnah of the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, was one of appropriate, was one of engaging with the cultural practices. If, and again, I make that very important distinction, that important asterisk as it were, that as long as those practices were not antithetical to the message of Islam, but that idea of cultural exchange, of recognizing cultural practices and then evaluating them for their goodness and for their values on their own. The Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, years later, after Hilful Fudul, which was the pact of morality that he was a part of in the earliest days, or pre-Munuwa, pre-Prophethood, this is before he began receiving wahi and revelation. When he saw this pact, this Hilful Fudul, he recognized its importance and its sanctity, so much so that years later he would say that if Hilful Fudul was reenacted today, that he would be a part of that pact, that pact of virtue and righteousness. And so the sunnah of the Prophet was always one of appropriation and engagement, wherein possible. And this is what we see in the fast of Ashura, that he recognized that community. He recognized that not only did he belong to that legacy of the Prophet Musa, alaihi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, but that he belonged to something that was a practice of his environment, so that the community, not only himself, but that his community would be seen as belonging to that cultural fabric, as belonging to that great legacy that preceded it. But also, brothers and sisters, we have to also note that as I said, in the final year or in the last year of his life, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam intended to add a day either before the day of Ashura, the 9th of Muharram, or the 11th of Muharram to also fast as a way of distinction. And this is also a very important lesson that we learn, that whereas we can belong and we can have a sense of belonging to either a legacy or to a social and cultural environment, we also have to remain distinct. Distinct doesn't necessarily mean alien or foreign, but it means that you are different. You are different because your social values are different. Your cultural values are different. Your sensibilities are different. And so while yes, the sunnah of appropriation and engagement was one that we see belonging to the practice of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, we also see this idea of being distinct. So for example, in Medina again, after the first community created and formed that earliest Masjid-e-Nabawi, the earliest mosque in Medina, there was a need to have a call for prayer. There was a need to have a call for prayer, to call people to the salat, to the prayer times. And so people brought various ideas, various companions said, well, we can do, we can ring a bell like the Christians, or we can blow a horn like other communities. And the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam searched for something different, something distinct. And so while recognizing that the call of prayer, the call to prayer, was one that was practiced, that was part of the social fabric, to call your community to the communal place of worship, but to also make it distinct and different. And then Bilal, of course he had seen in a dream this exact call for prayer. And he was distinguishing, he was given the honor of calling the first adhan, the first proclamation and the invitation and the call to prayer that we celebrate and that we recognize and that is remain intact to this day. And so this idea of yes, appropriating and engaging one's social fabric and environment, but also remaining distinct where possible. And so this is the sunnah and the legacy of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam brothers and sisters, that we should recognize as we fast on Tuesday, inshallah, the 10th of Muharram, but also we're in, we're possible if we have the ability to also add the fast of the day before, Monday or Wednesday, the 9th or the 11th of Muharram. So I pray that Allah gives us all the ability to recognize the profundity of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, of his message. I pray that Allah blesses us individually and collectively. I pray that Allah helps us as a community recognize our place in this land, our place in history and recognize that we have a very important role to play and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us to speak in our endeavors. I call upon this word and I seek refuge with Allah from all of you. I seek refuge with Allah from all of you, from all of you. I seek refuge with Allah from all of you, from all of you. I seek refuge with Allah from all of you, from all of you.