 I'll praise and thanks to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. We seek His forgiveness, His guidance, and His assistance. And we take refuge with Allah from the evil of our souls and from the consequence of our misdeeds. Whoever Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, gives guidance to, none can mislead, and whoever misleads, none can guide. I bear witness, there's nothing, and no one worthy of worship besides Allah alone. He has no partners. And I bear witness that Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, sallallahu alayhi wa ala ari wa sallam, is a Serbian messenger. To ask Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, to grant him peace and to extend to him our salutations on this blessed day. Just as we ask him to grant peace to his family members, companions, and everyone who follows in goodness, and shows good will into the reading and the reckoning with Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Alhamdulillah. We're on the cusp of a new year. And it's always important to reflect upon what that truly means. That of course, there are many people who are making new year resolutions, and they treat the transition from one day to the next. And in our minds, we mark it as a new beginning. There are many people who don't deeply reflect upon what really this is in commemoration and celebration of. The new year marks the end of the journey of this massive rock that we live on. It's great boulder. It's a journey around the sun. It completes one revolution. Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, he allows us to witness this miracle every single day of our lives. The earth that rotates on its actions, it moves 1,000 miles per hour. We don't feel it. We don't experience it. If we're to travel to the bottom of the earth, which is actually the top of the earth, we wouldn't tell a difference. We wouldn't feel like we're upside down. Something holds us to the ground. It makes it difficult for us to realize that this earth is not a flat plane as it seems at times. The earth on its journey around the sun, it travels more than 67,000 miles per hour. So the earth is moving that fast and also rotating at the same time. It's a great miracle. The signs of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. But the New Year is also a sign of the end of something, but also rebirth. As life begins, but then it ends, things die and then they come back to life. All the signs we see and read them in the Quran over and over and over. And the prophet Muhammad SAW said, in the Qamaat al-Saa'a, there is someone in your hand, Fasila. So if you can do it, even if you can do it, that if the hour were to come and you had or held in your hand a shot, a small plant taken from a tree which is intended to be replanted itself, if you were able to plant it before the hour happens and plant it. In other words, hope. That we are people of hope. We're people who are not pessimistic. However, we need to remind ourselves as well that times will come to an end because that's the inevitable state of things. A man by the name of Al-Zubair ibn Abi Adi, Raja Allahu An. He once came to Anas ibn Marek, the companion, Raja Allahu An, complaining about Al-Hijjaj ibn Yusuf, one of the ruthless governors of Bani Umayyah. And they're complaining about his injustice to Anas. Anas responded to them, He said, Be patient because not a time comes except that the one that comes after it, every period that comes after that next period will be worse than the one before it. Until you meet your Lord, submit to whom in the vehicle. I heard it from your prophet. In other words, that every time that comes, the one that comes after will be worse. And this is in the context of government tyranny. This is what he's talking about because Al-Zubair was complaining about a governor. He's complaining about one who was in charge of the military forces. And so Anas ibn Marek telling him that from that time until the end of time, the end of our time on this planet, that each government would generally be worse than the next one under which we live. Which is really interesting and we reflect upon it. Because when we look at the Quran, that the Quran of all the NBL, all the prophets in the Quran, and Musa A.S. is mentioned more than any other prophet. And we know that the story of Musa A.S. is connected with Pharaoh, as if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wanted us to take a great lesson from that. As if to say that this being my final revelation, my final book to humanity, that one of the things that you need to be most concerned about is the oppression of governors as time comes to an end. As time comes to an end. It's really interesting when we reflect upon that. But he tells me to be patient. Hudayf ibn Yaman, a Sahabi, a noble Sahabi, he had come to the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and he said, in this hadith he talks about how people would come and ask the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam all the time about good things. And I used to ask him all the time about bad things. Because I was afraid that the bad things would happen to me. Or at least they'll happen in my life. And he said, Ya Rasulullah, kunna fi jahiliyyatim wa sharf, ja'an allahu bi hadha al-khayyat. He said, oh, Masha Allah, we were in jahiliyyah and evil and a wicked state. And then Allah, he brought us this good. Will there be any evil after this good that has come to us? And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Naam, yes. Then he said, But then after that, will there be any good after that evil? And the Prophet responded again, Yes, there will be good after that evil, but there shall be some corruption in it. And then, who they have responded, And what is this corruption? He said, That there will be people who will be guided by other than my guidance. You will approve of something from them and others. You will disapprove of. They didn't continue. You talk about what? And after that good, will there be any evil? And he said, yes, there'll be more evil. What is that evil, Ya Rasulullah? He said, there will be people who will be standing at the gates of Jahannam, calling the people to the gates of Jahannam, and whoever responds to them, that they will be cast into Jahannam. And he said, Describe them for us, O Messenger of Allah. He said, they are from our skin, and they speak with our tongues. And he said, Well, what do you advise me to do if I reach that time? He said, Then you shall cling to the collective of the Muslims and their leader. Then he said, Well, what if there's no collective and there's no leader? He said, Then you shall separate. Disassociate yourself from all of those factions, even if it means that you have to bite on to the roots of a tree, or the trunk of a tree, until death comes to you and you are in that state. Another, for they feel, was concerned. And when the Prophet Salaam responded to him that there's going to be some corruption in that good that comes later, he was talking about, again, the corruption from governors. And then he also advised him to cling to the Muslim governor and the collective. But what happens when there's a Muslim governor and a collective? A man came to Hudayfir once and asked him, Hudayfir, what is the worst type of fitna? And he said, The worst type of fitna is for you to see good and a choice between good and evil, and you don't know which of the two you should choose. And that is the state of the end of times. That the end of times we learn from the Prophet Salaam that the liars will be believed. And those who are honest will be caught liars. And those who are trustworthy will be deemed to be untrustworthy. And those who are untrustworthy will be deemed to be trustworthy. That time, that time, and those who are untrustworthy will be deemed to be trustworthy. That times towards the end of time become very confusing. In another Hadith the Prophet Salaam, he warns us again where he says He said, Not a prophet before me has come, except that it was his obligation to direct his ummah to the good things that he knows for them and to warn them against the evil things or the bad things that he knows for them. وَإِنَّا أُمَتَكُمْ هَذِهِ جُعِلَ عَافِيَةُ هَفِيَةُ وَالِحَى He said, In you, this ummah of yours, its well-being has been placed in the first oven. In other words, when we reflect upon early Muslim history and we look at the early governors, we see what righteousness looks like. We see what justice looks like. As a matter of fact, on one occasion, he had gathered a group of his disciples and he said to them, Make a wish. And then some of them in the room started to say, I wish that this room that we are in was filled up with jewels and gold and things that we can use to give charity with. And then ummah responded, My wish is that I had more people like Hudayfa Ibn Yaman and Abu Baydah Ibn Jarrah and Muad bin Jabal. Then later on, ummah, he had sent gifts to all three of them, these governors of his. And he wanted to show what he meant by this. So those gifts they reached Hudayfa and what did Hudayfa do? He took those gifts and he gave them away. He disseminated it. He donated it to the masses. It came to Abu Baydah and he donated it to the masses. When word came back to ummah, he said, I told you so. Qutulaka. Qutulaka whom I told you. This is what I wish. That in Imam, when we look at the hadith of the seven, Allah's shade on the day that there is no shade except for Allah's shade. The very first of those people that Allah mentions is the Imam and Adil. The just ruler is the first because the individual who is in charge, who is the governor, has the greatest capacity to cause the greatest amount of good but also has the greatest capacity to cause the greatest amount of evil and harm. But if that individual turns out to be righteous and Allah says he will place him in the shade on a day where there will be no shade except for his shade. And another hadith that mentions he mentioned three people who Allah's he never rejects their dua. And he mentions among those three the Imam and Adil. The righteous, the just ruler, governor. And so the prophet continues. And he says and the last part of this ummah they will be afflicted by tribulation and matters that you disapprove of. What the jiz al-fitnatun that tribulation will come and each one will surpass the next. People were talking about 2020 is over. 2021 came and people said no. What happened? We think that we are past the tribulation when something else comes. I can't wait until 2022 comes. Do you really? We don't know what 2022 has in store. What the jiz al-fitnatun what the jiz al-fitnatun what the jiz al-fitnatun what the jiz al-fitnatun what the jiz al-fitnatun what the jiz al-fitnatun what the jiz al-fitnatun this is my end. This is going to end me. and then Allah will remove it. What the jiz al-fitnatun another filna will come and the believer will say This is like that other one. or this is the one worst than the other, So whoever wants to be flung far away from the fire and placed into the garden then let him then let his death come to him while he is certain that he believes in Allah and is in the last day. And let him do unto others as he would like to be done to himself. We ask Allah SWT that we die in that state, people who believe in him and believe in the last day. We ask Allah SWT that we die in that state, people who believe in him and believe in the last day.