 أشهد أننا سيدنا محمدا عبد الله ورسوله وصفيه من خلفيه وحبيبه أد الأمان وبلغ الرسالة ونصح الأمة وكشف الله به جملة وجاهد في الله حق بهذه حتى أتاه دفنين فصروات رمبي وسلامه عليه وعلى كل من اتدى بسنة إليه اليوم الدين والعاكرة الدين متقيم اللهم جعنا منهم يا رب العالمين آمين آمين ثم آمين يا أيها الذين آمنوا اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتنا إلا وأنتم مسلمون أما بعد فقال الرسول من كريم صلى الله عليه وعليه وعلى آل وسلمه ذاك فرم الإيمان من رضية بالله ربا وبالإسلام إيمان وبمحمد رسوله the beloved messenger صلى الله عليه وعلى آل وسلمه said he has tasted the delight of faith he has truly tasted faith and so do we not feel that yearning in our hearts for who he is about to describe the prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آل وسلم has said he has tasted faith he has truly tasted faith and we will spend our lives trying to taste the delight of that faith if only for but a moment of our lives but the prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آل وسلم but the prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آل وسلم gave us the formula in this hadith and if we want to have a fast the fast pass if you will I'm here in Northern California right the fast pass if we want that shortcut for the delight of faith to be experienced in our hearts then on the last point that the prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آل وسلم gave us that shortcut and it is through Rida it is through contentment he said the one who is content with Allah as his Lord with Islam as his religion and with Muhammad as his messenger صلى الله عليه وعلى آل وسلم the one who is content with Allah as his Lord with Islam as his religion and with Muhammad as his messenger صلى الله عليه وعلى آل وسلم صلى الله عليه وعلى آل وسلم and this is the first question or the only question that we will be asked in the grave once we hear the last traces of footsteps leaving the place where we will make our final abode in this creation in this life the angels will raise us up each one of us in our graves and ask us about those three entities who is your Lord what is your religion and who was the prophet sent to you and those are not easy questions to answer those are not questions that we can memorize and pay lip service to but those are questions that we will be able to answer with the confidence that is commensurate with our contentment with them in this life that if we are content truly with Allah as our Lord if we are truly content with Islam as our religion and if we are truly content with Muhammad as our messenger then the ease with which we will answer that question will be to our greatest benefit once we are opposed with that question and so he said he will taste the flavor of his faith it was related that the prophet said to a group of the faithful who are you they said we are the faithful he asked his companions whom he is building from the ground up into men and women and he asked them who are you they said we are the faithful we have iman they said and he said what is the sign of your iman in that case they said we are patient with tribulation we are grateful with our contentment and we are content wherever the decree of Allah فقال فقال he said faithful and I swear by the Lord of the Ka'ba that you are so and in another narration he said he said scholars people who truly have understanding in their innermost core and from that understanding they are virtually prophets that is how he described his companions that they were virtually prophets by what they described of their faith because they were finally able to taste the delight of it in their hearts through the contentment that they had with Allah as their Lord and so this word this word this word it comes from three letters and right and and and and this word means to be content to be pleased but it's connected if you switch the ordering it's connected to right right which in its is right which is a meadow in a garden and so this word if you switch the order of it you have contentment contentment that allows the heart to be a meadow of paradise contentment that allows the heart to experience paradise as though you were walking through its meadows and this meaning was not lost on Imam Al-Razi who talks about when you get this variation in switching the order of the letters and he talks about this and he says that that know that the servant is created body and spirit body and spirit they fuse together to make the human being for and so the heaven of the body is the heaven that is described by Allah SWT throughout the book and the and the of the soul of the spirit is the contentment with his Lord is contentment with it so jannah is contentment with Allah that you could already be in jannah if we have you and I if we have this contentment with Allah SWT it's as though we walk in jannah before we even get there this is the meaning and this contentment with Allah SWT in terms of the that's lexically what it means but in the sciences on the tongues of the people of the heart the doctors of the heart they say that contentment is they said that they gave different definitions one is inward contentment of the heart it is happiness inward happiness of the heart with how the decree falls upon a person how the decree flows through a person that Allah's decree flows through us like the blood through our veins and if we find happiness in our heart with the decree of Allah SWT then that is the station of contentment they said that it's also that when the decree of Allah comes that we receive it with happiness we receive whatever that decree is with utter happiness and they said نظر القلبي and it is also the tranquility of the heart under the decree as it falls and it was also said that it is how the heart perceives the pre-eternal choice of Allah SWT the pre-eternal will of Allah SWT with respect to us every one of our affairs and so and knowing that Allah SWT has only willed that which is for our benefit and that which will ultimately be for our good to have certainty in that that Allah's choice for us is the best choice for us أبو عبدالله السجي said that there are people among the creation of Allah باشفونس with Allah SWT just like the bashfulness of young children that there are men, grown men who have the same bashfulness from Allah SWT just like the bashfulness of young children I met some of these men in Mauritania you don't even see their faces they cover their faces they cover their mouths so that you don't even see from sheer bashfulness they'll cover their mouths in front of other men and so you'll never see them eat never see them laugh and you can only hear their voice from behind the veil I've met grown men like this and they said that their bashfulness with Allah SWT is such that they don't have any happiness like said عمر ابن عبدالله عزيز used to say in his daily every time he would wake up he would say that I have entered a new morning so happiness except in the places where the decree of my lord falls wherever the decree of my lord falls that is where I have my happiness that is where I'm most happy and so this does not mean and don't get it twisted this does not mean that we don't resist injustice for example that we see oppression and that we're pleased with that every situation has an appropriate response and so Allah SWT is not pleased with corruption Allah SWT is not pleased with فصوك عسيان and all of these vices and he uses this word Allah SWT says ولا يرضى ولا يرضى اللي عباده الكفر Allah SWT is not pleased كفر for his servants although he wills it but he's not pleased with it and so we as bearing the names and attributes of Allah SWT upon us as well there are moments where we are pleased with something and moments where we are displeased with a thing moments where we accept something with good contentment and good pleasure and moments where we resist but ultimately we are pleased with the outcomes that Allah SWT decrease ultimately we have with the outcomes that Allah SWT decrease because we know that the unseen is the context for everything that defaults us in the scene the unseen is the context for everything that defaults us in the scene and it may be and according to the Prophet SAW that the men who is giving the most in this world and have the most the most luxurious life will be placed in for an instant and he will negate any blessing that he ever had he will not remember a single blessing that he enjoyed in this life and the opposite is true the one who suffered the most in this life will be put into jannah for an instant and he will negate all of the suffering that he ever had to endure in this life that is the context for everything that we see in that is the the way that we can perceive and interpret good and evil in this world that it's all from Allah SWT but in the next life if we have that view in the next life we know that everything is ordained and everything is decreed with a grand wisdom and purpose and ultimately Allah SWT is not unjust to any of his servants من رضي أب الله ربا whoever is pleased with his lord pleased with Allah SWT as his lord whoever is pleased with Allah SWT as his lord صفيانة ثوري once made this رابع العدوية he asked her to pray for him he asked her oh dear رابع ask Allah SWT and she said ألا تستحي من الله صفيانة ثوري ألا تستحي من الله she said don't you have bashfulness in front of Allah you ask that Allah be pleased with you while you are not pleased with him how do you ask Allah that he be pleased with you while you go not pleased with him while every day you complain he's not talking about him directly like criticizing him but reminding him waking him up to the reality of the human condition that we go day in day out complaining about any number of things and in every complaint is an expression of frustration with the decree of Allah SWT and then in the end of the day we say oh Allah be pleased with us in the most exalted way be pleased with us in the most sublime way be pleased with us ya Allah while we are not pleased with Allah the mu'min does not complain the mu'min does not complain why? because the beloved is Allah SWT Allah is our حبيب Allah is our beloved and if Allah is our beloved truly 입니다 then everything the beloved does is beloved if it's true love whatever the beloved does is beloved to you because it's coming from the beloved whatever the beloved does is sweet to you because it's coming from the beloved whatever the beloved does is pleasurable for you because it's coming from the beloved and it makes the beloved happy this is how we treat our wives and our husbands إذا كانوا أحب cold that we would try to furnish it for them. Why because what ever makes them happy makes us happy. What ever makes them pleased makes us pleased. So that which makes Allah pleased makes us pleased. That with which Allah is pleased makes us pleased as well. And so whatever Allah does is beloved to us. And what this requires is a real orientation. What it requires is a wake up call. ما يحتاجه هو لنا أن نفتح نظامنا إلى حقيقة ما يحدث لنا في موضوع اليوم كما يحدث as a community and as individuals إمام علي عليه سلام سد ما رأيته شيء قط إلا ورأيت الله قبله وبعضه ومع that I have never seen a thing إلا أنني أرى الله قبله وبعضه ومع it that nothing happens except that I see Allah as the cause at the cause at the effect and I see Allah in the moment so ultimately there is no cause and effect in our أقيدة there is no such thing as cause and effect there is only the fear of Allah there is only the action of Allah so when I take this match against this paper that fire does not cause the paper to burn in the example that our theologians give us that paper does not cause that fire that that fire does not cause that paper to burn but Allah causes that fire to ignite and now Allah causes that paper to burn so in that we we witnessed two acts of Allah and the miracle is that we witnessed two acts that we witnessed Allah in two acts as opposed to one because if Allah willed he could have that that fire ignite and that paper not burn and you and I would call that a miracle and yes it is a miracle because it it it contradicts what is conventional because it opposes what is conventional but is not two acts of Allah that much more awesome than one act of Allah is not the ignition and the burning that that much more miraculous than than withholding the burning and to see Allah in every moment to see Allah in every moment with the with the eye of certainty with the eye of certainty this allows a believer to begin to reinterpret and to and to interpret correctly all of the events that befall us in our day to day all of the if the men can come forward please all of the events that happen to us on a daily on a daily basis for if we truly see Allah سبحان تعالى then how will we respond to the test when it comes how will we respond if Allah سبحان تعالى is behind every word if Allah سبحان تعالى is behind every act how will we respond to that the next the next problem that faces us in our family that we see the test of Allah سبحان تعالى in that and that he wants to bring us through that test closer to him in every step of the way there is قبض and bust there is constriction there is expansion and the constriction is there to test us the expansion is there to test us and Allah سبحان تعالى is there with with with every decree he is there with every decree and so this pleasure of Allah سبحان تعالى this ridah of Allah سبحان تعالى is what the the believer seeks to seek after that the person who wants something other than what Allah has decreed the person who wants something other than what Allah has decreed has not left one iota of ignorance he has not left one iota of ignorance because everything that Allah سبحان تعالى he decrees with his wisdom and if we were to if we were to to want something else other than that after it happens after it yes we resist oppression we resist unjust injustice but whenever the decree comes it's irresistible sometimes and it comes sometimes against our against what we desire and we have to have contentment we have to have contentment and learn from the lesson and learn from every from from every act of resistance we have to learn we have to get stronger there were certain there were certain battles at the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the companions lost and they had to learn through that and there are certain battles that they won and they had to learn from that and in every in every battle was the wisdom of Allah سبحانه وتعالى الله was teaching them through their defeats and they said that mistakes are sometimes the very best of teachers ميمون ابن مهران he said that the person who is not content with the decree of Allah سبحانه وتعالى there is no medicine for his stupidity and so the greatest closing this part of the خطب أب the greatest thing that you can possibly ask for just imagine the greatest the greatest blessing in جنة the greatest blessing in جنة is to be able to see to to be whole your Lord that is the greatest blessing in جنة is to be able to behold Allah سبحانه وتعالى to behold the countenance of your Lord and as everyone is gathered in that in that reality in that realm may Allah سبحانه وتعالى make you and me among them as everyone is gathered in that realm to experience that reality just imagine that Allah سبحانه وتعالى asks you and he says he says ask of me and you are already there beholding your Lord which is the yearning of our souls from the very moment we were created to be in communion with him and he says saloonie ask of me what could you possibly ask what could you possibly ask for in that moment ابو طالب المكيه in his book قوت القلوب he says that when people and he's he's quoting he says that all of those souls that have just been asked to ask of Allah سبحانه وتعالى in that moment where they are beholding their Lord they will say in unison as they said before قالوا بلا they said yes you are our Lord in unison again they will say رضاكا your contentment your contentment رضي الله عنهم ورضو عن your contentment can you imagine asking Allah سبحانه وتعالى for contentment after having that beatific vision could you imagine asking Allah سبحانه وتعالى for anything else but in unison all of us will ask inshaAllah you and i will be there all of us will ask رضاكا يا الله رضاكا we want your contentment يا الله we want we seek your contentment يا الله سبحانه وتعالى ابو طالب المكيه says that the reason for that is not because the contentment is greater than the beatific vision but because through his contentment the beatific vision will perpetuate through his contentment the beatific vision will be repeated through that so do you see the great status of رضا it is the highest of the مقامات الروح as we ascend from sabr to shukr from patience to gratitude and from gratitude all the way we go through all of the spiritual mqams inshaAllah الله سبحانه وتعالى bring us and raise us up through all of those those runs on the ladder رضا is the highest of those stations رضا is the highest of those stations الله من لا تحلنا رضا يا رب العالمي وضع عننا رضاكا لا اطفع الله معامين قامين اقول قلوا يا عذاب وستفروا الله لي ولكم يسالل المسلمين فاستفروا انه هو الغضفور الرحيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم والصلاة والسلام على أشق الانبياء والمرسانين سيدنا محمد سيد الأولين والآخرين وعلى صحابتي هو من تبعهم بإحسان من رضا بالإسلامي دينا ومن من who is content with Islam as his religion as a community we have departed from the prophetic definition of Islam we have turned it into an identity and as such have ascribed ourselves to an entity where Sheikh Hamza coined Bani Islam we have taken a word whose first connotation is described a relationship between creator and creature and turned it into an ID card the Shahada which is a spiritual perceptiveness and witnessing is plastered onto the flags of political nation states and picket signs it is appropriated as a symbol of national identity and thereby politicized into the consciousness of the citizens of the state from time to time it assumes political sovereignty and unleashes untold havoc there is no Islam but Islam and Muhammad is the messenger of Islam if we are truly pleased with Islam as our religion we have to know what is this word what is the nature of Islam what is the reality of this word because we wear it like an ID bag sometimes so when Islam is a noun it's a person, place or a thing it's an organization, it's a convention it's a book, it's a body of scholars it's a mosque, it's a movement it's a university degree it's a legal code, it's a box you check on an application or it's a way of life and when Islam is an adjective it describes a noun it's Islamic, it's cultural it's an affiliation it's the desire to Islamize something it's sectarian, it's an accessory it's posturing, it's an ideal it's an ideology it's an identity however Islam being a verbal noun a musta it is a jarred or an infinitive it is submitting it is an intention it's a process it's practice it's tribulation it's success and failure it's discovery it's endeavoring it's serving it's living who is the Muslim he is the one who named you مسلم إبراهيم عليه السلام so that that is our faith that is our religion it's endeavoring and it's struggling and if we're pleased with Islam as our religion then we have no we bring to it no filters we come as we are to Islam as it is to aspire to be the best version that we can be of ourselves and it is a process it is an approach to our Lord and if you come to Allah with a baggage with luggage of isms that weigh you down then how would your spirit ever soar and every ism is a prism of a mind in prism every ism is a prism of a mind yet in prism so we don't bring our prism to the to the threshold of faith we leave our prism we leave our isms at the door when we enter into to receive the generous hospitality of our noble Lord and sit at the at the banquet of his blessings we leave our prism our isms behind and that is submission ودخولو في السلم كافة enter into submission entirely enter into peace entirely enter into this tranquility entirely with your mind, body and soul this is Islam and if you are pleased with that then burn away the isms burn away all those identity markers that are barriers inevitably between you and your Lord and come to him seeking his good pleasure with you not worshipping Allah على حرف on an edge so if it conforms with what I believe then it's good and it's wholesome and if not then there's something wrong in it or there's something that has to be reinterpreted in order for it to fly and you will not fly you will sink ومن رضي بمحمد رسولة and the one who is pleased with Muhammad as his messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم are we truly pleased with Muhammad as the messenger are we truly pleased with the Prophet Muhammad as the messenger النبي أولى بالمومينين مننفسهم الله سبحانه وتعالى says الله says this this is not some hadith where you can look into the sun of the chain of transmission and say well what is really going on here because it really seems that people have sort of gone overboard in their love for the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and such that they made him more entitled to us than we are to ourselves النبي أولى بالمومين مننفسهم the Prophet is more entitled to the faithful than they are to their very own souls that's a verse out of the book of Allah سبحانه وتعالى that is not some hadith that is a verse out of the book of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and Allah سبحانه وتعالى tells the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم وَلَا سَوْفَ يُبْتِكَ رَبُكَ فَتَرْبَ and your Lord will give you to the point that you are well pleased that you have contentment and his contentment is connected to you and me his contentment is never personal his contentment is never for himself his contentment is never to recompense himself or to compensate himself for all that he has suffered and lost and all that he has sacrificed for the sake of this ummah his contentment is just for you and me and that's why on the day of judgment he will say نعم أنا لها أنا لها when all of the other prophets will forsake their people he will say I am for this I am for that I am for this intercession and all of his intercession will be for you and me and he is now in his grave interceding for us you don't believe me he says he said حياتي خيرٌ لكم ومماتي خيرٌ لكم in a hadith related by Sahih Muslim so don't talk to me about the chain of transmission that my life is better for you and my death is better for you as for my life we share space and time you call talk to me I talk to you I talk right back to you we share these days and nights and as for my death توعردو علي أعمالكم he said that your actions will be presented before me either individually or as an ummah there's a difference among the scholars about that either individually that our deeds will be presented before the beloved son of Allah in his grave or as an ummah so he is not aloof of what his ummah finds and he said that if I see good I will pray for you and if I see if I see good I will praise my Lord and if I see otherwise I will seek forgiveness for you and this is happening now this is happening now in his grave in his grave this is happening are you not pleased with that are you not pleased with him صلى الله عليه وسلم does he not have jurisdiction over your life does he not have rights over you and me does he not have the right to command you does he not have the right to forbid you does he not have that right بلا يا الله يا الله بلا he has that right النبي أولا بالمومنين من أنفزي the prophet is more entitled to the faithful than they are to their very own self so are you not pleased with Muhammad as your messenger and if we are truly pleased صلى الله عليه وسلم as our messenger if we are truly عشاق رسول الله if we are truly the عشيقون of رسول الله then our deeds must be such that bring upon us his عشك our deeds must be such that they must be worthy of his عشك for us if you are truly عشاق of the messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم truly yearners lovers of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم then your deeds must be in conformity with what he brought with the شريعة that he brought with the guidance that he brought with his command and with his prohibition because he loves you more than you even love yourself he loves us more than we love ourselves and that was the realization of say when he said I love you more than anything more than my wealth more than my family more than anything more than everything I own except this nest that is between these two sides and the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم addressed everyone through عمار he addressed you and me through عمار he addressed you and me through عمار and he said that none of you none of you will have his faith perfected until I become more beloved to him than all of his property all of his wealth all of his family everything he loves even his own نفس between his two sides and say I love you more than anyone who had a moment of utter transformation in that there was a veil that was lifted off of his eyes in that moment and he said يا رسول الله I swear that you are more beloved to me than this nest you are more beloved to and he remembered that this was the same نفس that was on its way one day on a suicide mission to killing the messenger of Allah and he would have surely died that day the companions would not have allowed that believe what you will about say عمار on the battlefield there is no way that the companions would have allowed him to touch the Prophet of Allah no way and he was he was willing to die that day and he said this was the same نفس that led me to kill this man who was sent to this nest to clutch it from from to rest it out of so how could I not how could I not give my heart to this man how could I not give my mind over to this man how could I not give my being over to this man how can I not bask in the light of his countenance how can I not allow all of what he has to give to be received how could I prevent that by my own love of this nest you take this نفس يا رسول الله it is yours you are more entitled to it than I am my Lord told me that you are more entitled to this nest than I am to it and he said الآن يا عمار now or عمار now or عمار now or عمار now now it's real now it's pure now it's perfect now you can taste it's sweetness قلوم صلي و صلي مبارك أنا سيد محمد و صلي و صلي مبارك أنا سيد محمد في الآخرين و صلي و صلي مع أنا سيد محمد في الملأ الأعلى اليوم الدين و صلي تسنيم كثير كثير اللهم فلنا ضنوبنا و كفر عنا سيئاتنا وتوفننا مع الأبراء وجعننا من المحسنين يا رحم الراحبين اللهم إنك عفو انت اللهم إنك عفو كهدي منت اللهم لا تحلم ايها لسلاح ايها لسلاح ايها للطلاح ايها للطلاح قد قامت لا قد قامت لا اللهم اكبر اللهم اكبر لا ايه لا