 As-Salaamu Alaykum, tonight's a special night, we're all lucky to be here, we're all lucky to be here Alhamdulillah, say thank you Allah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, we're lucky to know Muhammad ﷺ, we're lucky to follow Muhammad ﷺ, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, tonight's a special night, and we honor special nights, it's a special evening, and we turn to Allah ﷺ who is with us, hearing us, seeing us, witnessing us, observing us, monitoring us, taking care of us, sustaining us, our Lord, our caretaker, the one who brought us into existence, we turn to him right now, we turn to him with hearts of gratitude, we turn to him because he deserves to be turned to, he deserves to be turned to, we worship Allah ﷺ, merits worship, and anything we do, God doesn't need us, we need God, God doesn't need us, we need Allah, and Allah in his generosity, in his love, in his compassion, he chose you, you're lucky you're here right now, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, it's a special night, right now we must be honest and say that right now our President Trump just announced that he's bombing Syria, and it, when the prophet ﷺ was taken to the Isra'ul-Mehraj, it was taken in one of the most difficult times of his life, one of the most difficult times of his life, his wife Khadija who took care of him, who honored him, nurtured him, covered him, and just passed away, his uncle, his protector in the Mecca community just passed away, he just returned from thought if were children chased him away, throwing pebbles and rocks at him, life was heavy, life was heavy, things were difficult, and in the Muslim ulma right now we turn to Allah, ya Allah, things are difficult, ya Allah, we ask you for our Mehraj, ya Allah, ya Allah, we ask you for our Isra'ah, ya Allah, the Isra'ah and the Mehraj of the Ulma, ya Allah, and we start with ourselves, we start with ourselves, and we ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to accept this night, and me, we ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to accept us being here, to accept our prayers, to accept our dhikr, to accept our Qur'an, Qur'an greeting, ya Allah, that's the nature of this world, they're ups and downs, and we ask Allah to make this a moment in which things turn around for the Muslim ulma, Allahumma ameen, we take the asbab, we take the means but we turn to the musabib, the one who causes, we take the asbab but we turn to the musabib. I'm sorry that I'm here today and Seet-e-Taurif A'rabi is not here, he had to go, take care, he's visiting, he's traveling. At this moment, before we commence the reading of the shimmering light and the moly, and thereafter share some thoughts before the prayer, we turn to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala with his words of al-Fatiha, asking him by these words to elevate the Muslim ulma to protect those suffering, those oppressed, all of our beloveds. You know, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was always concerned deeply in his heart but was always smiling. He was always concerned deeply in his heart for everyone suffering but was always smiling, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So our heart today goes with all of those who don't have the blessings that we have. And so we read al-Fatiha for them, we read al-Fatiha for all the atrocities committed by man, we read al-Fatiha for A'rabi tarif and his affairs and we listen today and al-Fatiha. Bismillah. Al-Fatiha. I mean, is there an extra book that I can borrow the shimmering light? Asif is Haji, he called me like two weeks ago, he said, Mahdi, are you going to come the night of the 13th at MCC? I said, yeah, insha'Allah, I'll be there. All of a sudden a week later, someone sends a message on my phone, there will be an invitation by Mahdi and me. I'm like, wow, I didn't know that. But then I see A'rabi tarif is attending as well and I was with him. So I said, A'rabi tarif, I'm not going to say anything. You're there, I'm not going to say anything. You know, I'll do the machine, I'll do the machine, but I'm not going to say anything. He said, okay, so I said, you know, I'll just pass through the mic. He said, okay, now I'm saying something. So it's all Asif's fault. I have suspicion that he might be a wedding. Say, I mean, I mean. But be where Allah puts you. You know, be where Allah puts you. So we're going to do the shimmering light. Do we have copies of the books that we're going to pass out? We have the projector. Okay. Al Fatiha. Ya Rabbi salli ala Muhammad. Ya Rabbi salli alaahi wa sallim. Wa sallim Ya Rabbi salli ala Muhammad. Habibika Al Shafi'il Mushafi'a. Habibika Al Shafi'il Mushafi'a. Ya Rabbi salli ala Muhammad. Alal wa arudbatan wa arufah. Ya Rabbi. Alal wa arudbatan wa arufah. Ya Rabbi salli ala Muhammad. Asmal bar'a ya jahan wa usah. Ya Rabbi. Asmal bar'a ya jahan wa usah. Ya Rabbi salli ala Muhammad. Wa salli ala rabbi khayil�Lether. Ya Rabbi. Salli ala Muhammad. Wa'aqina waashbi Who is with you except us? Muhammad is the honor of his servant He came to us To Allah You are our messenger and you become our servants You have a good reputation Islam is the first to be seen And it is the most honorable I have longed for it We are a group, so leave us To Allah The first to come to us Muhammad is the honor of his servant He came to us You are our messenger and you become our servants You are our messenger and you become our servants You are our servant and you become our servants You have a good reputation I have longed for it We are a group, so leave us To Allah The first to come to us To Allah The first to come to us To Allah The first to come to us To Your Face You have high reputation I have recited it So leave the phone Until it cord Damn Or else your brother Fَانَ تَذْنَ Peace be upon him. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Peace be upon him. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Ya Nabiyy, salah Rasul. Salah Rasul Salah Rasul Nabi Mushafaa Ya Allah Rabbi Maafil Rakaat Al-Aadil Mushafaa Ya Allah Rabbi Faafili Nubia Allah Rakaat Al-Aadil Mushafaa Ya Allah Wa Al-Mushafaa Ya Allah Salah Allah Rabbi Haia Al-Aqa Al-Tahma Salah Allah Wa Wa Hussain Al-Romba Wa Al-Nabi Ja'a Salah Allah Al-Tamsha Wa Al-Nabi Al-Nabi Salah Allah Eight minutes left. I want to share something with you, with everyone. This is a Hadith. It's three words. In Sha Allah, everyone can take this home. You can take it with you. In Sha Allah, we're going to say it together. In Arabic and in English. It's very easy. It's very simple. Bismillah. I'm going to say it once, and then I'll ask you to repeat it after me. In Arabic, As-Salaatu Mi'rajuu Al-Mu'min Great. One more time, everyone repeat after me. As-Salaatu Mi'rajuu Al-Mu'min As-Salaatu Mi'rajuu Al-Mu'min Usually, the ladies win all these competitions. I have been telling. Let's do it one more time. In Arabic, all together. As-Salaatu Mi'rajuu Al-Mu'min In English, prayer is the ascension of the believer. Say it in English. Prayer is the ascension of the believer. One more time. All of you have learned the Hadith. Congratulations. You learned words from the Messenger of God. That's no small feat. Prayer is the ascension of the believer. You are all believers. And so, where do you ascend in prayer? How is your prayer? How is my prayer? Are we ascending? Is it a Mi'raju? Tonight, we're celebrating the Mi'raju. We're celebrating the ascension of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And our prayer is an ascension. One time, I was praying, and this non-Muslim lady saw me and I was praying with the group. And she came to me afterwards. She said, this is the first time I see this. And she said, you guys seem so connected. You guys seem so connected. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam shares the root meaning with what? To connect. To connect with Allah. Because each of us, we have a secret recipe on how to connect with Allah. It's called prayer. It's a secret that you know. It's a secret that you've been gifted. You don't have to pray. You get to pray. You don't have to pray. You get to pray. You're lucky that you know prayer. You're lucky that you know how to communicate and commune with Allah s.w.t. Our scholars and teachers say the greatest secret of the spiritual path if you want Allah s.w.t. If you want Allah s.w.t. The greatest secret of the spiritual path is night prayer. night prayer. They say if you know the power of the night you would treat every night as the night of power. You would treat every night like lady to the party. May Allah help us pray at night insha'Allah. Amin yarabbil alameen. So we believe in this ascension, this miraculous ascension that the Messenger of God ﷺ did. We don't need signs to confirm it. We don't need signs to confirm it. We really don't. We really don't. Because we're not, all of us here, we're not confined to time and space. We see beyond time and space. That's how amazing you are. That's how amazing you are. You're not limited to time and space. You're not confined to time and space. You live beyond time and space. That's how special Allah made you. He gave you this soul that's beyond time and space. He gave you a way to see beyond time and space. And if you live in the confines of time and space, then all you do is turn to the dunya. But if you live beyond time and space, then what you do is turn to Allah. If you live confined to time and space, you turn to the dunya. You turn to yourself. You see yourself. If you live beyond time and space, you turn to Allah and you turn to the afterlife. That's where we live. This world is the home for the homeless. Our home is somewhere else. For us, for every human being seeing is believing. But for a Muslim believing is seeing. For us believing is seeing. We affirm, like Sayyidina Abu Bakr, radiAllahu anhu. When the Messenger of God came back from the Isra'un-Mu'raj, he said, I went in one night all the way to Jerusalem. And one night came back and I woke up here. And one man, Mu'tahim ibn Adi, he said, Ashhadu anna, I can't even repeat it. But we're gonna correct it. He said, Ashhadu anna, I can't be one. I bear witness that you are a liar. That you are lying. And then that's when, that's when Sayyidina Abu Bakr said, and I want all of us to say it in his Sunnah and say it together with me. Ashhadu anna ka sadiqun. Ashhadu anna ka sadiqun. I bear witness that you are saying the truth. Our Messenger, I bear witness you're saying the truth. And he said, Sadaqta, Sadaqta, Sadaqta, Sadaqta, Sadaqta, Sadaqta. Ashhadu anna ka Rasulullah. Everyone say, Sadaqta, Sadaqta. Ashhadu anna ka Rasulullah. And that's when he heard the name of Abu Bakr al-Saddiq. That's right. Because seeing is believing and for us believing is seeing. We don't need science to tell us what's right and wrong. We really don't. We'll tell science what's right and wrong. Seriously. I ain't even joking. So what happened on the Mehraj and what do we do in our prayer? In the Mehraj, As-salatu Mehraju al-Mu'min, in the Mehraj, the Messenger of God saw Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Do you see Allah in your prayer? Al-Ihsan anta'budullah ka anna ka tarab, fa inna btaqu tarab, fa inna huyarab. Ihsan, spiritual excellence, is worshiped in God as if you see Him. And if you don't see Him, know that He sees you. One time in our school, we gave, one teacher gave the students each a chocolate and said, eat this, where no one sees you. They came the next day. He said, where'd you eat it? Under the bed, in the closet, in the garage. And one student came back and said, I didn't eat it. She said, why? She said, because Allah can see me. Allah can see me. So she gave him a second chocolate and then he ate two chocolates. We see Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our prayer, in our prayer, in our prayer. You know, some of Allah's in him was in his prayer one time and he saw his shoelaces and they distract him and sandalaces and they distracted him after the prayer. He said, take these new shoelaces and give me my old shoelaces back, because they distracted me from the prayer. They distracted me from my beloved from God. So we stand and we connect with Allah. We turn to God. We throw everything away. His sight didn't swerve. His sight didn't swerve, so Allah and He sent him in the maharaj. And in our prayer, we implore Allah to help our sight stay close, focused on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah ma'ameen. One day I encourage everyone to do this sunnah, everyone. Everyone I encourage everyone to do this sunnah. One day you're in your lifetime, at least once. When you get distracted by an article of clothing, take it after you finish prayer. Take it off if it's halal. Don't take it off if it's a mess you're here. Take it off and give it in salam. Take it off again. Say, ya Allah, I'm giving this away because it distracted me from you. I saw my colorful socks and I saw this funky design on my funky socks. And I don't want these funky socks to take me away from you. I'm giving them in salafi, even though they're brand new and even though I like them. One time Sala Allah said he was praying and his robe distracted him. He gave away the robe. Prayer. It's our most beloved thing, but it's an art. It's an art that we master over time. Number one, we see Allah. Number two, our sight doesn't swerve. Number three, what did Sala Allah say in his marriage? He saw heaven. Ah, your future home. Your future home. He saw heaven. Ameen. He saw heaven. Take us away from all this crazy chaos in this world and the stress and the depression and the difficulty. See heaven beyond time and space. He saw the way you may have loved protect us from the way. Number four, he saw the point. Number five, he saw interesting punishments. He was with Jupiter traveling. Listen, every physical act has a metaphysical reality. He saw some people, there was delicious yummy meat and there was this gross nasty meat full of pus, rotting and they were eating that nasty rotten meat. He said, who is, who are these people? And Gabriel, he said, I'm saying these are people that have a halal spouse, a halal husband and wife, and then they go and fulfill their pleasure in the halal. Then he saw some people with copper nails harming themselves. May Allah protect us. He said, who are these? These are the people that use their tongue to back bite and harm others. May Allah protect us from bad life. Make intention not to back bite. Make intention not to back bite. He saw people whose heads were being smashed. He said, who are these people? These are the people that consistently always were too sleepy. Their heads were out of the pillow and they refused to get up for prayer. May Allah make us people who pray fajr on time. Amin Ya Rabbi Alameen, Amin Ya Rabbi Alameen, Amin Ya Rabbi Alameen. Finally, he came back from the maharaj with the gift to mankind. He came back with prayer. Prayer is a gift you get to pray. You don't have to pray. You get to pray. Heaven is optional, as I tell my son and study students. Do we have to do this homework? I say your homework is optional and heaven is optional too. So you don't have to pray. You get to pray. You're lucky you know how to pray. So when you leave your prayer, you should be a gift to your family. A gift to your family. Smiling. If you were angry it goes away you're a better person because you connected with the unseen realm. You connected with the unseen realm beyond time and space. Numbers 8, he saw the angels and he saw the prophets. Don't live in this tangible realm man. Don't just live in this like seriously this delusion all of this is going to end you know one time I was with 20 students high school students or so and I said what do you want to do? What do you want to be when you get older? What do you want to be when you get older? I want to be a NBA player, a doctor, a lawyer, engineer, a hair stylist. I said you guys all answered the wrong question. I didn't say what do you want to do when you get older. Don't define yourself. You are a spiritual being and this is just the human leg of your journey. You're this amazing spiritual being and this is just the human leg of your journey. And in our prayer when we say that the shahud, it's an amazing story. The messenger of God, greets Allah, Allah and then salallahu alayhi wasallam mentions all of us. Remembers each of us in that moment. Thank you. Thank you messenger of God. After the prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam died they wanted to change. If someone suggested to change the prayer from asalamu alayka and you were talking to the prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam mentioned directly in the second person directly. They said no, we're not going to change it. And then all everyone witnessed this amazing moment. Your prayer is deficient and simple if you don't mention the prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam. May Allah gather us with him on the Day of Judgement inshallah to drink from his hand. The closest to him on the Day of Judgement are those who make the most salawat and those who have the best character. Let's conclude one more time. I want to test you guys. Let's say the hadith in Arabic at the count of three. Bismillah one, two, three. Good. Mu'min in English. Prayer is the ascension of the believer. When you pray after let us ascend inshallah as a group and let us ascend individually. Don't look for the person's foot next to you. Look for Allah. I'm serious. Don't look for the person's foot. We're very powerful. So behind me, we'll conclude with Dura'a inshallah. So we're going to do Dura'a after Salaat inshallah. Say, I'm not here to come around. It's Allah who works.