 Insha'Allah, what we want to talk about today is the idea of the practice of making it. And the most important starting point for us is building our foundations and framework, which is going back to the most fundamental hadith of our tradition that explicated what is happening at the beginning. We all know this hadith, the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was approached while he was with his companions by someone that no one has ever seen before. His clothes weren't dirty, if he was a traveler clearly, no signs of travel on him, very strange. And he sits right where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was sitting, puts his hands on the thighs of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his knee to knee, and he starts asking the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam very pointed questions to the point where the companions became very concerned. One of them wanted to, you know, you know without words, right? All of them was just like, alright, didn't take care of this man or like, what? I got my sword with me. And he starts asking him these pointed questions. The first was what? Who knows his name? What was the first question I was asked? Yeah? Tell me about Islam. Now Islam is both a word that describes our religion and it's also a dimension of our religion, not the whole thing, right? And this dimension in particular is the dimension of the outward practice of Islam. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gives him the five pillars, all of which are actions, right? Why does he have it as one of the five pillars? Isn't the testimony of faith should be on your faith? That's something to do to think about. We'll come back to it. The second question was in the eye of the man. Tell me about faith. Tell me about belief. Amen. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gives him the six articles of faith that we all know and memorize, maybe a few words. Are there more than six articles to our faith? Does anyone know? This is not a trick question. I know I always sound like I'm asking trick questions. I don't mean to do that. Sorry. Maybe it's like my face or the way I ask it. But is there more than the six articles to faith? Yes. Way more. Way more. So many more. But the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gives him the six articles to believe in God, to believe in the angels, the phlasma, etc. You all know the six articles. And then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is asked, tell me about the Ahsan, which literally in Arabic doesn't translate to excellence, it actually translates to beauty. That's the proper translation. The best encompassing translation is beauty through beauty. Our beauty through excellence. Beauty through excellence. That's the connotation of Ahsan. So then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he tells him, he says, it is to worship Allah and to worship Allah, to submit to God, to devote yourself to God as though you see him present at all times. And when you are able to witness that reality, you at least recognize that he's there watching. When you don't see him in crystal clear form, know that he sees you. Can God be physically seen? Good. That should be a very quick, visceral reaction response to him. His idea that God has hands and body parts, this is one of the biggest big eyes that ever existed in Islam. This doesn't exist. Allah's time and time, they sit and make the shape or listen to it. I mean, is beyond space and time, beyond physicality, beyond any format that can change the realities that we experience as creation and human beings. That's what makes him God. That's what makes the Aqida of Islam unique. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is saying worship as you see God. So you know we can't see physically God. So what is the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam talking about? This is what we're going to start by talking about. When, but just to conclude this story, if you haven't heard it before, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is also asked to tell me about the signs of the hour. He gives them some signs of the hour. And then when the man leaves, they're all confused, who was his man? The companions ask. And so he sees Omar, especially, concerned and confused. So Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he says to Allah, do you know who that was? And because the companions were first taught and done, more than anything, they knew immediately when something like that is asked, the response is, God, it was messenger, no best. Unspoken of etiquette, the companions have. So then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says that was Jibril, who came to teach you your religion. Almost every spell in our history said this is the foundational hadith of our entire faith. Hadith Jibril called Hadith Jibril. There's many other names for this hadith. Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, we saw how the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam defined this dimension of our faith. It's a dimension by that. A lot of the times when people say what is it said, they'll say to purify our heart. Okay, but where in the actual statement is purification of the heart? Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, does he say to purify hearts from illnesses? Not directly, no. How does the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam pointlessly respond with an answer? What is the point to respond to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the answer? The worship of God is what you see. We know we can't physically see God. And we know part of the dimension of the staff of five pillars is what? Prayer. So we also know the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is not talking about a worship that we're already familiar with. So what is the answer? What is this dimension that's translated as beauty? Where does beauty come from? Well, the simple response is that this is the dimension of religious experience and ethics. So of course, if our hearts are filled with a bunch of garbage, if our minds are corrupt, right, just like what you mentioned in the hookup, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam really interestingly, when the Bedouin questioned if I'm not going to see these children, Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam didn't say it's a good thing to try. He said, my religion has nothing to offer to someone who does not purify their heart. In other words, that when you lack compassion, there are dimensions of the faith that you won't have access to. You won't get it. You won't be able to experience. You won't be able to understand it. Similarly, purification of the heart, the removal of vice from within us internally, the acquisition of virtue, these things are necessary to the process of seeing worshiping God as though you see him. Because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he's not trying to be redundant. He didn't say ihsan is the way that you do sallah, which is one of the five pillars. No, he said it's a dimension, a separate dimension, right? So that has to be a unique dimension by definition. So Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he was teaching us that this is the realm of religious experience, that while we believe in man, it's really the mind, it's the dimension of the mind. And the reason why is because faith enters the heart through many things, but it is not substantiated through experience. It can't. Because everyone could just wake up and say, you know, I had a dream, Jesus came to me in a dream, and he said, I'm God. Okay, you know, I believe in your dream, not any of us in your mind. Like, I'm glad you're having these good dreams. It sounds really cool. It's not a lie. We've had these dreams. But that's not proof. That's not proof for religious belief, right? The only proof for religious belief has to be a mediating, mediating tool that we all recognize. Not even the Qur'an can be proof for God's existence alone. Why? Someone says, well, God must exist. Why? He said so in the Qur'an. How do you know the Qur'an was written? Because God said it's true. You end up in this circular argument. What mediates belief is reason. In addition to this, and I know it's a long-winded introduction, but it's important. So you know, this is from the core of argument, right? In addition to this, Islam, Islam, you might have the correct doctrine of belief system. You might have all the forms of ritual practice down. You know when Prophet Hassan warns us up towards the end of times, he says he will see people that become popular, start to prop up. How does he describe it? Did he say, you know, they're like they're dressed in suits and they talk really nice and how does Prophet Hassan describe it? He says that when you see them pray, you will feel ashamed next to them. Meaning, you will look at their prayer and then look at your prayer and say, I'm in the summer, so final. Like, wow, their prayers are coming back. Right? You will literally consider your own prayer, nothing compared to what he did. But then what is wrong? As I'm saying, he said that they will recite the Quran and it does not go past the point. In other words, their heart is corrupt, but the actions are great. They'll know where to put their hands in Salah. They don't have to stand in Salah. They might even come for prayer early. They'll do all of this. You know who else did all of this? The hypocrites. The hypocrites did all of those things. The hypocrites, by the way, used to make Salah in the message regularly, but they were called hypocrites because they were lazy going. What is our state? You know, may Allah protect us from the foul. But they were lazily coming towards prayer. So you can, what are we learning? Why is it Salah's own dimension? Because you can have the right ritual actions, the outward practice, you can get it down past. You fast, you do all this stuff. You have the right belief system and you'll still be the lowest people in hellfire because of a heart that is not salad, a heart that is corrupt. So then the real question is, if the dimension of Ihsan is to have our hearts be safe when we meet Allah, what is the ultimate tool to clean him? Zikr. It's a tool called zikr. What is zikr? Is zikr, give me a demo of it. SubhanAllah, let's open the zikr. Anyone else? As-Salaamu Alaykum, As-Salaamu Alaykum, Wa-Alaikum As-Salaam. Wa-Alaikum Feefum, Qura'at Al-Qa'am, Salaam Al-Rasood. Anyone else, can be taken? Allah. Allah, let me know. Say Allah, Allah. Anyone else? No. Zikr is anything that reminds of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The technical definition is utterances with a present heart. You see the difference? Because you can say as-Salaamu Alaykum, in fact, you can even recite Qura'at. And it still won't be zikr. It'll be Qura'at Qura'at, it'll be Tasbeer. It'll be great things. But it won't be zikr until there's a dimension of religious experience. There's connection. This is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he says in the Qura'at that prayer protects us in nas-salaat al-tinda'a, you know the verse, that prayer lords us from, protects us from fahshak al-karabah, meaning all forms of immorality that we're not supposed to engage in. Can you just be honest? Just be honest, okay? Praying five times a day, does that alone protect you from immorality? Why is Allah saying that? He's saying in nas-salaat al-tinda'a, how that means? This is when you see inna al-qura'a, this is toki. Inna, verily, 100% prayer, will protect you from these things. What kind of prayer? Exactly. What kind of prayer are you talking about? We're talking about a prayer with khushua, what is khushua? Prayer with a connected heart to Allah. See what I'm talking about? Now, zikr, in general, was incredibly emphasized by the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He said that the one who does not need nikkit is equivalent to a fish out of water, fish out of water. And there's so many other analogies that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gave about the practice of zikr. What would you say nikkit? Doing other instances with the present heart that remind us of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. In addition to that, the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he told us something so phenomenal. This is why he said the actual phrase the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gives is about religious experience. Because to worship Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, let's use our brain, common sense, to be in the presence of Allah, that when you make du'aad, you feel du'aad. When you pray, you feel prayer, right? That's what it means to worship Allah. And that is where taqwa comes from. We say mindfulness. Okay, how can, I mean, how can you have this beautiful story that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam narrates about someone who's about to commit zinnah? About to commit zinnah. And yet, right before the act of zinnah, he doesn't do it. Because the person that he was going to do it with said, what caused him to say that? Did he go through like some mental like, she said, should be mindful. What does he talk about? Did he go through this like, I mean, he's about to do the act, right? Immediately stops. What was it? Something happened inside his heart that protected him, that gave him a presence, that gave him a hayat, a form of sheen. Hayat is also an act of the heart. It's not an act of the body. This is one of the greatest misconceptions of Islam. Hayat manifests in the body, but it is truly an act of the heart. There are people that dress, you know, guys who can dress with hayat and have no hayat. This is why subhanAllah in the Syrian culture, right? We use the word, we use the word, not usually to denote clothing. When someone acts in a way that violates like any king and hurt someone, we say, this guy is like, there's no hayat, there's no sheen, there's no monastic. Right? SubhanAllah. The Prophet saw, said to me, he said about this heart, he said, verily the heart rusts, rusts. And what cleans that, what polishes the heart? What is he saying? The kufa. The kufa. Now, the reason why we talk about this is because I mean, this may sound controversial to some of you, but it's not controversial. I'm going to say quickly. I truly believe one of the greatest crises that we have in our community, in North America, is that we undermine the role of religious experience. And so, and then now we're like, sit back and like, oh my goodness, Muslims, they love yoga. It's like, okay, let's recall. They love yoga, but they're not the messengers. It's like, can you give them an experience like they get a yoga? If you can, that's your problem. Don't leave that on them. People want to feel connection. This is why, no matter, I mean, look at our pictures, Tyler, when I grew up, not too long ago, the new atheist movement was at its peak. My professor, tenured professor, it was so at its peak that they were brazen enough to just simply like literally, he could just say, the song is nonsense. He could just say that you were the 50 board, nonsense. He'd say that nothing would happen because it was so powerful. Why haven't 10 years, 10 to 15 years of, not even a decade, right? New age spirituality, astrology, people want to meditate. Meditation is the biggest, meditation is a multi-million dollar industry. Self-help is still a billion dollar industry. Why? Because it's part of our filter. Allah designed us this meeting. He designed us to need connection with God. You can try to fill it in other ways. It won't be as powerful because the system of Islam is that that connection is also connected to a man, which is connected to Islam. That's what we have to offer. Some people may have profound religious experience, right? You can't say that that's not real. They tell you it's real. But what we have to say is that maybe real, but is it connected to the truth? And here's what truth is from a person in Islam. That holistic model. I say all this to say, how can you undermine religious experience when I truly believe, this is why I've been doing this my whole life, right? People who've connected, people who've experienced the love of the Prophet, talked about it, and I've heard it in conference, no experienced it. Well, life is impossible for them to leave Islam. It's impossible. It's the hand. People who have, and again we said in the beginning, we don't base our belief system on experience, but we sustain our faith through experience. Did you hear what I said? We don't substantiate Islam's truth through experience because everyone can say I don't experience it Jesus, or I saw the problem, I saw the anger. Anyone can say that, but we sustain it through that connection in the heart. That is how growth happens, and it allows us to maintain commitment to the filth. A lot of people, they find it felt hard, they find the rules of Islam hard, because they haven't truly connected to the law giver himself, Allah. If you haven't cultivated love for Allah, it's going to be harder to worship. The Prophet sallallahu sallam tells us, this is part of the orders that is so central to sustaining your faith. Think it is the way that you keep it polished, to sustain your faith. Now, to conclude, oh I have one more thing to address with you before you do our day-to-day preparation, insha'Allah. Because don't worry, I'm watching the clock, and I like to talk about it, I like to talk about it. One of the greatest misty inceptions ever in the last God knows how many decades, especially in America, is people who say, it is forbidden for us to come together like this, and do it together. We're not allowed to have this experience together. What's the degree? Very weak, which is why the majority of scholars never say this. And yet, you go to maybe the average mosque in America, and if you sit in a circle and you just start saying, la ilaha illallah, la ilaha illallah, you're doing it. It's bid'ah, how I'm shifting, lead the measure. Okay, happy? Bid'ah according to you. Okay, bid'ah according to you. We have to talk about this, because a lot of the people, when I first started doing this and I mentioned years ago, the way I started off by saying, look, this may feel weird to a lot of you. No drama. There's nothing wrong with that. But this feels weird to me. Isn't how we determine whether something is right or wrong? Because a lot of people say religion is weird to me. Is that an argument for the truthfulness or the falsehood of religion? Sit yes or no. Religion is weird. These religious people are weird. Is that an argument against religion? Okay, happy guys? First, let's understand why do you think it's weird? What causes you to feel it's weird? Feeling something is weird or I'm not used to this is not how we determine truth. And if we actually look at the Sunnah of the prophets of Allah, you will find that this was not only permissible, it was recommended. And it was this act that has preserved Islam in the hearts for centuries and every Muslim land throughout our history. I promise you, there's not a Muslim land in history that doesn't have what we call a culture of group that doesn't exist. You go to Egypt, I challenge you. It'll be impossible for you to not encounter majais and make it everyone. You go to Cape Town. Ask the Cape Townian Muslim. Cape Town, Islamic Cape Town is over 300 years old. They all will tell you, even those who don't even want to do it, they will tell you, Islamic Cape Town was preserved through group because it kept the hearts alive. That made faith penetrate. That made it penetrate. The mind, it made it penetrate in the heart. The Prophet saw something, he gave you two head keys. Just so you know, Nebel may have experienced this together. The Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam one time the children companions, he said, when you encounter the gardens of paradise, grace they're in, meaning enjoy them. Sit back, relax, chill, relax, enjoy them, enjoy the gardens. They're in a desert, what garden do you talk about? Companions are intelligent people. So he said to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you know, what are these gardens? What are the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? He said, the gatherings of victory. In another hadith, and this is the last that I'll mention. It's one of my favorite hadith ever. And there's a million more like it. And million more evidences like it. I give you evidences from history. I give you evidences from hadith. I give you evidences from Quran, which we just heard. This hadith though is particularly amazing because it highlights that the big culture and the practice of group they get is a healing practice, even for those who think it's weird. Did you imagine there's a hadith about someone who thinks it's maybe weird and doesn't even come for that reason? They still get healed by it. Do you know what to say? Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam foretells us a little conversation between the angels and God. I want to do this for you. The angels tell Allah, Allah, there's all these people that have gathered just like yourselves, only to remember it. Did you think together, sahneed, qulzine, sahneed? Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam He says they only gather for this reason? Angels say only for this reason. Allah asked them, what are they asking? The angels say, oh Allah, they seek refuge in you from hellfire. And Allah says, what would happen to their hearts if they actually saw hellfire? Meaning, wow, they have this fear of hell and they haven't even seen it and they have this, what up? Are they asking for anything else? Oh Allah, they're asking for paradise. Allah says only they saw paradise. Long story short, that's what my father likes to say. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he says, because they're asking for forgiveness and they're asking for this thing, he says go down and deliver the message that they're all forgiven. They're all forgiven and they're granted whatever they're asking. So then, this is my favorite part of the video. The angels go back to Allah and they say Allah, we have a problem. What's going on? They say Allah, there's someone there that didn't really come for this. He had a business relationship with someone there. Sometimes you walk into the message and like right now someone come into prayer but then I'm talking and it's like this awkward moment is like I didn't come for a speech. Fine, I'll sit down. You know what I mean? I guess I'll have, he comes in, oh okay, I'll make him live good. I guess I'll have to sit down now and just wait. So that's what happened. He walks in, he just sits, he kind of waits. Angels say he didn't come in for this reason. What do we do with him? He says, Allah says and he gets the same. He is forgiven and granted all that he sees because These are the people, the cream of the crop. No one in their presence will leave wanting or discerning. That even the power of group dhikr is that even those who don't engage but simply listen it has a magic that transforms their heart and brings upon them the pleasure of Allah. May Allah make those people a dhikr and allow us to come together for dhikr for the Prophet s.a.w. said any gathering that human beings have that is void and dhikr will be seen as a regret on the day of judgment. And Allah protects us from regrets.