 We start with the name of Allah Azza wa Jann. The all merciful, the intimately merciful, Azza wa Jann, the one whose mercy is contained in every single thing when Allah Azza wa Jann says, وَسْيَعَتَ رَحْمَتِ كُنْ لَا شَيْءِ That my mercy encompasses all things and even in the difficulties, there is mercy. So when Allah Azza wa Jann says فَفِرُوا إِنَ اللَّهَ, flee towards Allah. And what you are fleeing from is a mercy in and of itself that it causes you to flee to Him Azza wa Jann. That every difficulty and every constriction that you might have is itself a mercy in so far as that it brings you closer to Him Azza wa Jann. There's either the response of complaints about the constriction or there's the response of seeing it as Allah, seeing it as a test from Him Azza wa Jann, seeing it as an opportunity to turn back to Him and to make tawbah literally to turn to Him, literally to turn one and orient oneself back towards Him Azza wa Jann. And Imam Abu Hassan Al-Shadili, one of the great scholars of both the outward and inward affairs of this Deen of this religion says that there are three possible reasons that one can have constriction, أسباب قبدي ثلاثة, that constriction is for three things. It happens because of three things, ذنبون حدثته. Number one is that it's because of some sin that you have committed. It's because of some mistake that you've made. And this can be understood in several ways, that your mistake can lead to some sort of despair or some sort of sadness in the heart at the very least. If it leads to despair it's taken us too far in our reaction. And if it brings sadness in the heart, it reminds us that the sin that we've committed that's caused constriction upon me, this constriction is a sign of faith in my heart. That ya Allah, I have made this mistake and though I shouldn't have made the mistake I at least thank you for the fact ya Allah that this mistake was a reminder for me that I'm imperfect ya Allah and that I turned back towards you that even in my mistake I do not despair in you ya Allah that in this mistake that I make ya Allah there is a there is a an opportunity for tawba and you are a tawab ya Allah that you are the one who accepts tawba you are the one who accepts repentance you are the one who accepts the one who turns back to ya Allah that that's one level of constriction that can come from a mistake that we make that there's a constriction of some sadness or that mistake can lead towards some difficulty in our lives that somebody might have an addiction to to consuming an intoxicant for example and they see that that makes them lazy that it affects their job it affects their family relations and it affects the way that their relations with their friends and that that constriction because of this sin that they've committed there's a hikmah in the in Allah's also prohibiting a thing that there is going to be a constriction whether you perceive it or not that constriction shows you that Allah made this haram because of the harm inside of it and so that's another way that a sin that we can that we commit may be constriction and then and that that constriction its cause is physical we can see that it's because of the sin and the third way that that sin can cause a constriction is a metaphysical constriction that it might not be the direct perceivable cause of a difficulty that it might not give effect to a difficulty that we can immediately perceive that perhaps we do we disobey Allah's own jinn so Allah's own jinn says that because of this disobedience I'm gonna make it more difficult for the servant for the very purpose that he turns back to me that this sin that he commits or she commits is going to make a particular aspect maybe the relationship that you have with the family member a friend more difficult it might not be the direct result of the sin it might not the sin might not be the physical effect of that difficulty that constriction but it is and it surely will be a metaphysical reason that someone is going to be in despair someone is going to have constriction someone is going to have difficulty the whosoever turns away from my remembrance and our actions are remembrance of Allah our engagement in the commandments of Allah is is remembrance of him in our and our engagement in avoiding the prohibitions of Allah is a zikr is remembrance of him and whomsoever turns away from that Allah makes a promise or man I already on the key fa inna lahoo ma'isha tan dunka they're going to have a constricted life so that's the first way that constriction may happen because of some difficulty that occurs and what's the solution for the because of it happens because of a sin that a servant or a person commits and the solution for that is toba it's a recognize the Allah this constriction is a sign that I should turn back towards you perhaps it's not a sign of your anger perhaps it's a sign of the love of Allah so that he has put you in a difficult situation such that you turn back to him where there might be people who sin day and night and no difficulty comes to them and they never know to turn back to Allah so they live a life with ease and then when the race on the day of judgment Allah says I gave you ease in the dunya I gave you security in the dunya and you were secured from my from my plots and plans oh servant and the Prophet says that the Prophet that that Allah's on Jinn does not give two securities nor two fears to a person either they have security from Allah from Allah's plan in the dunya they feel secure from that and then they don't have any security from Allah's punishment in the Akhirah or that they have despair or not despair they have they have a recognition that Allah is though he is the forgiving that there is that he is also Shadeedun iqab the one who can punish and they understand that about him Azawajal that they have that reverent fear of him Azawajal and then in the Akhirah there is no need for that fear because they live their life with the according to the commandments and according to the commandments of Allah and avoiding the prohibitions and so that if we have security in the difficulties Allah might give us in the dunya then we won't have the security in the Akhirah but if we have reverent awe of Allah Azawajal in the dunya he is going to make the Akhirah easy for us the second reason a constriction can occur or dunya that have a time or chef sin or because of some dunya some outward means you didn't get a job you wanted or something happened to your car or you lost the family member may Allah protect us from all of these things but insofar as that it distracts us from Allah that's dunya and that causes constriction and what's the solution to that it's another Allah's and mania and Allah he is the one who gives and he is the one who takes limanil mulkul yawm who is the milk for today in an everyday lillahi l-wahil al-qahab for the one who's overwhelming and overpowering over all things that he owned it in the first place he can give and he can take if he gives it from his father it's from his grace and if he takes it's from his adhan it's from his justice and to make sugar for that whether he gives or takes and if we can't make sugar at least have sadar in that to have patience or somebody harms you either in yourself or in your honor or you know your rank that you have amongst people that that if you feel constricted because somebody said something about you that Allah knows the reality about you perhaps they were warning you of something that perhaps somebody says such and such is such and such backbites and somebody says it about you and it hurts you and you maybe you don't maybe we don't but that can warn you of something that you might fall into and then you should thank the person for the fact that they have notified you of a particular sin you might you might fall into or they have showed you a fault that you have and then you thank them for that that you think this person you showed me a fault that was bad for me you showed me a disease I had and I needed to fix it and you thank them for that or if it's something in your honor right or somebody somebody somebody harms you in some way that you think them that they're an opportunity for you to turn back to Allah Azawajan and in all in all cases we want we can't know exactly why difficulties in constriction happen that that's something a lot the Hikmah behind that it's not something that Allah has given it has given us he's not made us aware of why difficulties happen to us particularly why does such and such lose a family member why did someone say such and such about me or why can't I just leave this sin but he has given giving you the option a firar ilayhi of fleeing back to him a firru in Allah the turn back towards him run towards him they are Allah you are the one that put me in this difficulty ya Allah you had the power to put me in this difficulty and I affirm that you have that power and you have the same power in the mercy when you say Allah was he at Rahmatikul-Nashay then my mercy encompasses all things you similarly have the power to remove me from that sin or remove me from that harm that's being caused to me or remove me from that remove me from from the dunya that has gone from me remove me from the the despair I've had remove me from the harm that was in that dunya for me or the benefit or to give back that dunya that went for me a lot to give it back so that I can see it as a blessing from you just as Allah takes we see him as we see is the one who gives right we believe Allah is the one who gives gifts we believe he's a man and the one who prevents and then sometimes we see in his mana we see we see a thought or thought that in him taking something from us we see that actually he's giving we don't understand we don't necessarily know the we might not have the foresight to understand what is going to happen if Allah didn't take a thing from us so each one of these each one of these scenarios is a chance for us to make shukr and at the very least have sabr to have gratitude and at the very least have patience and to recognize it's all from Allah and it's from his mercy as a job and in all states in all cases Allah is our Rahim Allah is the one who's merciful Allah is our Rahman Allah's at Tawab and that and for that reason we don't lose we don't lose faith in him we don't have despair in him but we don't have a despair in the mercy of Allah Azawajan this itself is a mercy the fact that having despair in him is disbelief in him the Allah Azawajan makes it a point of our belief to have reliance in him and believe in his mercy that if we make Tawbah ya Allah that I make Tawbah for such and such sin that we have to believe Allah accepts it so long as the conditions are met as part of our belief and that itself is a mercy that Allah demands of you that you believe in his mercy you have hope in his mercy and that we know iman is between hope and raja the iman is between the faith the believer has is between the wings of reverent all hope sometimes we transit as fear and that overwhelms during the time during the time of throughout our lives and then raja hope that you can't have the iman unless you have both of these things there's an imbalance in iman in faith unless you have reverent all hope in him and the hope it overpowers at our last moments and when people pass we have hope for the mercy of Allah Azawajan for them I mean every moment in every opportunity is a chance for us to witness the mercy of Allah every opportunity is a chance for us to renew our and rejuvenate our faith to turn back to him if we find something wrong in our lives and if we don't find something wrong in our lives, that's the first sign that we should turn back to him. And every moment is a moment to have hope in Allah Azawajan. That regardless of what we're engaged in, he Azawajan is greater than that. That regardless of how we oppress ourselves with our sins, Allah Azawajan won't oppress us. That regardless of how much we show disrespect to Allah Azawajan with our sins, that Allah will accept the tawbah, as soon as the servant turns and makes tawbah, Allah Azawajan accepts it, that you can sin for an entire lifetime, and in a single moment Allah can change you. And to recognize that Ya Allah, you've made me deficient Ya Allah, but you also have the power to perfect me. So we ask Allah that He makes us the most perfect people. We ask Allah that we have faith in His mercy. We ask Allah that we have reverent awe of Him, such that we don't fall into deficiencies. We ask Allah Azawajan that He makes us people of perfection, makes us people of tawbahs, people of grounding, people of grounding on engaging and enacting His commandments and avoiding His prohibitions. We ask Allah Azawajan that He removes any constriction from us. We ask Allah that He doesn't put us in constriction, but that if He does that we recognize His mercy in that constriction. We ask Allah that we are people of shukr, of gratitude, but if we can't at least make gratitude that we are people of sabr, of patience. We ask Allah Azawajan that we see His mercy manifesting all things. We ask Allah Azawajan that we be people who manifest in mercy, that we be people who show others mercy, so that Allah Azawajan shows mercy to us. We ask Allah that we have solace in Him, Azawajan, that we have solace in Him, especially in the Akhirah. And we see Him as our as-salam, our peace. We say, Allahumma anta as-salam, wa minka as-salam, tabarabta yadin jala li walikram hayyina wa adkhilna dara as-salam. Rabbana aatina fil dunya hasana wa fil aakhidhi hasana wa khina aadab an naam. Rabbana ablana min azwajina wa dhuryatina qurrata a'inin wajahanna li min taqina imama. We ask Allah that He has mercy on our teachers, particularly our first teachers, our parents. So we say, rabbir hamhum aakima rabbayani saghira. Rabbir hamhum aakima rabbayani saghira. Rabbir hamhum aakima rabbayani saghira. Rabbir hamhum aakima rabbayani saghira. Rabbir hamhum aakima rabbayani saghira. We ask Allah to recognize that Allah and His angels send their prayers and peace on the process of them. We ask Allah to do the same. Inna allaha wa malaikatahu yusalluna aalana nabi. Ya ayyuhana ladzina aaman wa salmu aalahi wa sallim utasneema. Allah ma'sani ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala aali Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala azwaji Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ashabi Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala atba'i Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ahbabi Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ummati Sayyidina Muhammad wa barik wa sallim wa salli aalaihi. Inna allaha ya'mun bina adli wal ihsan wa ita idin qurba wa yana ha'an infahshai wal munkri wal baghi. Ya'izakum na'alakum tiddakkarun. Uthkur Allah ya'thkur kum. Remember Allah and remember you. Wa du'uhu ya'stajib lakum. Qa'ala pa'an himil a'anshir you. Wa ladzikr Allahi akbar. Wa Allaho ya'alum ma'tasna'un. Wa anta ya'afi aqimin sanah.