 We began with the thanks and the praises of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala praising him and proclaiming to him alhamdulillah Our very ability to say alhamdulillah is a blessing from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala So the gratitude that we express to him subhanahu wa ta'ala deserves gratitude in and of itself and so we should always find ourselves in a state of shukr in a state of expressing our thanks to him subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has chosen each and every single one of us to be here at an individual level That he has selected your name to be in this gathering today and He has selected other people who wanted to be here today and he has not allowed them to come and So our sitting in this gathering is being chosen by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala To partake in the mercies and the forgiveness that exists in this gathering Such that that the angels They go about the heavens and the earth searching for the gatherings of the zikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala until they finally find one and Then when they find this gathering they come and they this descend upon this gathering and the angels begin to surround us and With the surrounding of the angels comes the mercy and the forgiveness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala So your very presence in this gathering is Different than any other gathering that you could possibly imagine Because your presence in this gathering in and of itself without having to do any extra effort is a means of attaining forgiveness and mercy If we make a simple analogy If someone is sick and they go and visit their physician or doctor By attending the appointment This person it will only gain information This person will gain Medicine this person will receive a plan But the cure does not occur in the meeting with the physician the cure does not occur in the meeting or the appointment But it comes with the work and the effort that comes afterwards If you compare that to this gathering that we are in We don't need to do any work after this We do need to do work of course but in terms of simply attending the gathering just in that is forgiveness and mercy and So with that intention we sit here today in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Says in the Quran that he has sent the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam as a Rahma He has sent him sallallahu alaihi wasallam as a mercy He has sent him sallallahu alaihi wasallam to demonstrate what it means to embody mercy Towards creation So when we look at the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam we are obliged To respond to him in favor When someone does good to you you are you feel a sense of obligation to say at least thank you When someone hands you the coffee you say casually thank you when someone opens a door for you casually you say Thank you when someone brings you water or says something nice to you and praises you in a certain way you say thank you and So any benefit that we receive we feel a sense of wanting to repay that With the mention of thanks and gratitude So when we look at the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam when we look at Nabi Kareem What is it that we have Except that it has come from him sallallahu alaihi wasallam The faith that we proclaim today is because of him sallallahu alaihi wasallam The ability to congregate and pray in the way that we do is because of him sallallahu alaihi wasallam The ability for us to thank Allah the way that Allah deserves to be thanked the method of thanking Allah is taught by him sallallahu alaihi wasallam and This is reflected in the hadith That is very well known But oftentimes goes uncompleted may yuridillahu bihi khaira yufaqihu fiddin That whoever Allah wants good for he gives that person an understanding of the religion That person begins to understand what this deen means That person understands the Quran and understands the hadith and understands the character of Nabi Kareem sallallahu alaihi wasallam But then the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam continues and he says That I am the one that distributes and Allah is the one that provides and gives That everything that we know Has been given to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam In particular to Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam in relation to us because we are of his ummah sallallahu alaihi wasallam Wahu wa qasim and he is the one who gives he is the one who distributes that which Allah gives to him So the knowledge that you have about Allah has come from him sallallahu alaihi wasallam The way that you know to worship Allah has come from him sallallahu alaihi wasallam your ability to read the Quran Has come from him sallallahu alaihi wasallam your ability to even look at the words of the Quran is Because of him sallallahu alaihi wasallam every connection that you have to Allah Who subhanahu wa ta'ala is because he distributed that to you sallallahu alaihi wasallam And so what should be our response if we're able to say thank you to the barista That gives us a cup of coffee or to our children when they bring us a cup of water What are the things due to Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam if? When we're entering and leaving this door, we can say thank you to the person that opens that door for us What is the thing? Thanks that we need to give Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam If someone helps us stand up because we're struggling to get up And they help us up and out of the bottom of our hearts because of the kind gesture that this person did Perhaps for me or perhaps for an elderly person That feeling that you feel inside if that person deserves thanks What is the thanks that Nabi Kareem sallallahu alaihi wasallam deserves The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam has asked something simple of us He has asked something simple of us He has said all you need to do is to send salawat upon me If you want to thank me then send salawat upon me Man sallallahu alaihi wa ahidah whoever sends one mercy upon the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam sallallahu alaihi ashrah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends ten mercies upon that person and what do our scholars say about ten mercies from Allah? What does it mean to have ten mercies from Allah? Our scholars tell us that the ten mercies that we receive from Allah One is enough for your deen and your dunya for your world and you're hereafter What of the other nine the other nine are bonus for you One is enough for you and will suffice you in your entire worldly affairs and your entire hereafter What of the other nine? Because it is with the saying Muhammadur Rasulullah that we are entered into Jannah How many people before us have said la ilaha illallah? How many people today say la ilaha illallah, but not until they accept Muhammadur Rasulullah will they be entered into Jannah? Your ticket and your gateway into Jannah is completing the testimony of faith of la ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah This is a promise from Allah and his messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam and their promise is true And so it is our duty to send Salawat on him sallallahu alaihi wasallam out of this gratitude that we feel towards him and Look at the way that Allah responds with the gratitude That we feel in relation to Nabi Kareem sallallahu alaihi wasallam Verses even him subhanahu wa ta'ala the amount of honor and Praise that he gives the one who sent salawat on the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam sallallahu alaihi ashra that he is going to give salawat upon you tenfold Who are the you sallalli alaykum wa malayka to who he and his angels sent salawat upon you tenfold Because of his love for the slave that sent salawat upon Nabi Kareem sallallahu alaihi wasallam and not to take away From the Zikr of Allah in no way am I intending to do this But when we mention Allah, what does he say? Fa dhkurooni adhkurkum that when you mention me, I will mention you That when we mention Allah, Allah mentions us and what a beautiful blessing it is to be mentioned By Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the company that he is in but look For the one that mentions Nabi Kareem sallallahu alaihi wasallam He gives them tenfold that mention ten times that mention This is the honor that he has placed in Allahumma salli ala Muhammad And so what should we do? How do we go about this? I leave you with two things how to increase in Our salawat upon Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam One is to attach the salawat to a number That every morning and every evening I'm going to send ten salawat on the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam That when I wake up in the morning sallallahu alaihi wasallam and before I close my eyes at night Sallallahu alaihi wasallam ten times or a hundred times or two however much you can be consistent with One is to attach it with number and The second one is to attach it without a number That you attach your salawat To a place or an action that you do That every time I walk by the kitchen I will send salawat on the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam or every time I drive to work I will send throughout the ride Salawat on the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam or at the time when I'm on my way home from school I will send salawat on the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam without a number But you dedicate that act that this is for Nabi Kareem sallallahu alaihi wasallam So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us This deep understanding of what it means to send salawat on the best of creation Habibullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam and we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us people who love him Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and who love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who can understand and act upon what has been said Saufir Allah li walakum walisa'il al muslimin fa astaghfiruh innahu hu al ghafoor al raheem