 As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Alhamdulillah wa shukrullah. I think my favorite part was the kids and the candy and the joy, just the excitement, the energy. And insha'Allah it's a reflection of all of us on the Day of Judgment seeking water from the blessed Haudh of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi sallam. That energy, that excitement, that joy, that seeking from his blessed hand, sallallahu alayhi sallam. And, you know, children was, the children, the Prophet loved the kids, sallallahu alayhi sallam. And so in the Naseed, there was Jadd al-Hussaini, Jadd al-Hussaini, we have to even it out. We mentioned a hadith of the blessed brother of Hussain, Hassan, Ibn Ali. And Abu Huraira relates this hadith that, and insha'Allah it's a sunnah. We should all, tonight or tomorrow, if there is a toddler in the family, do this sunnah. So that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi sallam, he held Hassan, Ibn Ali, when he was a baby, a toddler. And the baby, the feet were on the blessed knees. And he said, and he holds him by the hand, he says, Taraqqa, Taraqqa, Aina Baqqa, Huzuqqa, Huzuqqa, sallallahu alayhi sallam. Which is, rise, rise little baby with the small, small eyes. Tipi toe, tipi toe, all the way until the baby was standing on his blessed sadr, sallallahu alayhi sallam. And this is the Rasul that, these are drops of the ocean of wa innaka la'ala khuluqin audeem. That, verily, you are on a vast ethos, a tremendous character. And this is a verse that, insha'Allah, can frame the reflection of how do we seek the shafa'a, that to the extent that we embody and approximate the prophetic character. Imam al-Ghazali places the book on adab al-ma'isha wa al-akhlaq al-nubua. So the courtesies of living and the prophetic character, he places it right at the center of his famous Ahyadu Medin. So Ahyadu Medin has 40 books, book 20 right in the center is the book on prophetic character, because it's the balance, it's the, it's the meyyad, it's the, it's the standard, the criterion, the measure. It keeps everything in balance. So the whole deen, and Ghazali's paradigm and project of reviving the entire deen, he places the prophetic person and the prophetic living and the prophetic ethic right at the heart of the book, sallallahu alayhi sallam. And this is what we can do is that when we go back to the book of Allah, when we go back to the prophetic character, that we seek that as our mizan. We seek that as our meyyad. We make that our gauge, our criterion for our own comportment. And in this light, one of the early imams of our tradition, Abu Hafs al-Haddad, Rahimuh Allah, he says, man lam yazin, man lam yazin af'aluhu wa ahwaluhu bil kitabi wa sunnah. Whoever does not measure their actions and their states by the book and the sunnah, wa lam yattahim khawatiruhu and is not keen and observant of even the thoughts that enter the mind, la na'idhu fi diwanir rijal. We do not regard such a person in the register of the spiritually mature. There are rijal and there are atfal in the tradition of spiritual ethics. And so the rijal are the spiritually mature men and women, but the atfal are those who are spiritually immature. And so to make the kitab and sunnah are measured, that our Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, the shafa'ah is really according to some of our scholars, it is the greatest act of futuwa in history. Futuwa being the ethic of doing for others, sacrificing oneself and doing for others, serving others, caring for others, that what better act of futuwa than the intercession itself. And it's a magnificent affair in one hadith that Tabari relates and it's a Sahih hadith that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, he said, on the Day of Judgement all people will be resurrected and I will be with my ummah on a hill. I am with my ummah on a hill. And my Lord will don upon me a green garment. And then permission will be granted to me and I shall say whatever Allah wills for me to say, that is the praiseworthy station that Allah promised in Surat al-Isra. Imagine him in that glorious green outfit, leading all of us on that hill, insha'Allah. And we ask Allah for khus'an khitam. And in another lengthy hadith that the Prophet, he was commanded to inform his ummah of his rank. And so Tirmidhi relates this hadith that the companions were once sitting and they were waiting for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam. And so the Prophet as he approaches them, he hears their conversation and the teacher is keen to see what's the state of the student. So he's listening for a moment. And he hears one of them say, isn't it amazing how Allah took Ibrahim, Abraham as his Khalil, as his intimate friend? And then another companion says, yeah, but what could be more amazing than what Allah spoke directly to Moses, please be upon him. And then another companion says, yes, but Jesus Isa kalimatuhu wa ruuhuhu that Jesus, peace be upon him, was the Logos, which in our tradition, khun fayakun. He's the result of khun fayakun that is so manifest because he did not have a father. And ruuh, this is idaafat at-tashreef. He is a spirit created by God, ascribed to Allah Ta'ala because of his rank. Peace be upon him. Wa Adam, istafaahu Allahu Ta'ala. So the fourth one says, yeah, but Adam, peace be upon him, Allah selected him. And then the Prophet enters, sallallahu alayhi sallam, and he says, qad simaqtu kalamakum aajabakum. I heard your speech and your marveling. Anna Ibrahim Khalilullah, wa huwakathalik, that Abraham is the intimate friend of God and that is true. Wa Musa najiuhu wa huwakathalik and Moses is the one that Allah spoke to intimately and that is true. Wa Isa ruuhu wa kalimatuhu and that Jesus is the spirit and the word created by Allah and that is true. Wa Adam, istafaahu Allahu Ta'ala and Adam, Allah selected him. Wa huwakathalik and that is true. Ala wa anah habibullah wa la fakhar. Barely I am the beloved of Allah and there's no arrogance in that. Wa anah hamilu liwa ilhamd yawmil qiyama wa la fakhar. And I'm the one that carries the banner of praise on the day of judgment and there's no arrogance in that. Wa anah awwalu shafi'in wa awwalu mushafi'in yawmil qiyamati wa la fakhar. And I am the first one to intercede and the first one whose intercession shall be accepted and there's no arrogance in that. La ilaha illa Allah. Wa na awwalu man yuharrik bihalikil jannah and I'm the first to, as it were, knock on the door of paradise, the right hand. Wa la fakhar and there's no, fa yaftaah allahud. And so Allah will open that door. Fa yudkhilun nihaa and Allah shall enter me into paradise. Wa ma'iyah fukaraa ul mu'mineen wa la fakhar. And with me shall be the poor and indigent of the believers and there's no arrogance in that. And we know from other ahadith that the primary meaning are the people with material poverty, the believers that were materially in poverty. Yet, there are other ahadith to also indicate that fakhar means any tribulation. The believers that were most tested that they are first with the Prophet wa ma'iyah fukaraa ul mu'mineen. And this is a consolation for the people in tribulation. We ask Allah for aafiyah. And then he says, Wa ana akramu al awwaleen wa al aakhireen a'ala allah wa la fakhar. Wa la fakhar. N'am, that I am the most honorable to Allah of all the ancients and all the Latter-day people. And there's no arrogance in that. This is the maqam al mahmud. The glorious sublime praiseworthy station of the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi sallam. So reflecting then that this incredible that his beauty, Sallallahu alayhi sallam and his majestic presence, Sallallahu alayhi sallam and the very mystery of what and who he was, Sallallahu alayhi sallam. That the beauty manifested in his presence that the ahadith in the shama'il literature, Jabir ibn Samurah, radi-la'anhu that he relates. He says that, I once saw God's messenger on a bright moonlit night without any clouds. So I started comparing looking at him. And he was wearing a red garment. On the qiyam it's a green garment. That particular night it was a red garment. And I started looking at him and the full moon comparing. And I swear in my estimation he was more beautiful than the full moon. And Ibn Abbas, he relates. He says that the prophet, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, that he was a small gap between his front two blessed teeth, which was a beauty mark, a sign of tremendous handsomeness. And he says, When he would speak, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, It would be like light emanating from that beautiful gap in his teeth, Sallallahu alayhi sallam. His beautiful presence that impacted the sahaba, Allah be pleased with him. And that Ibn Umar, radiallahu, he relates in the Sunnah of Imam Darimi. He says, I never saw anyone more helpful. Wala ajwada, no more generous. Wala asja'a, no more courageous. Wala adwa'a, wala awda'a, no more luminous and lustrous and bright min rasoolillah, Sallallahu alayhi sallam. But in the middle of those beautiful traits was asja'a. So that's a trait of majesty, that with the beauty was the perfect balance of majesty. And his majesty was manifested in the 27 some odd battles that he fought. He was a majestic prophet, Sallallahu alayhi sallam. The sahaba would gauge and measure, and we talked about measuring vis-a-vis the sunnah. They would measure the courage of the sahaba based on how close they were to him on the battlefield, Sallallahu alayhi sallam. Because he was the primary target. Every time he went out against the enemy, he was the primary target of his enemy, Sallallahu alayhi sallam. That was their main goal. So the companions, the proximity to the rasool was a measure of their own courage. Asja'a na, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, the rigor, the majesty. And he used that sublime majesty and rigor in the inner world as well. The world of the shayateen that tried to take, affect the hearts of his companions. And so in a beautiful hadith in Sahih Muslim, that the noble companion, Ubay'i ibn Ka'ab, Rada Lanhu, the great companion scholar of the Quran, that he relates, he says he was in the masjid once and one companion came in, started praying, and the Qira'a, the recitation was different than he had learned it. He got confused. A second companion came, recited it in a different way, and it was still different, another difference from the way he learned it. He started getting upset, troubled. So afterwards they go together to the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, and he tells them, he says, okay, recite. And each of them recite, fa'hassana sha'nahuma, the Prophet, he approved of their recitation. And listen carefully. Hazrat Ubay'i ibn Ka'ab, scholar of Quran, in that moment he says, fa'saqata fi nafsit, suqita fi nafsit, yani, something afflicted my heart of takdib, of doubt. Something crept in right then, that even I never had in Jahiliyya, even before Islam, I never had a doubt like that. And he started really getting worried. And the best of creation recognizes the Sallallahu alayhi sallam. And he says, when the best of creation saw this in me, what had overcome me, maqashiyani, what had overcome me, dharabethi sadri, he struck my chest, fa'fittu araqaa, so I started sweating profusely, fa ka'anna ma'andhuru ila Allahi azza wa jalla faraqaa. And it was as if, in that moment, as if I was looking directly at Allah out of fear and awe of Allah. This is the majestic aspect of the blessed's heart, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, one strike on the chest, and the satanic, the waswasa is gone, and his marifa is so profound, he says, as if I'm looking at Allah. And one of the beautiful things of this hadith is it's related to the shafa'ah, because then the Prophet, when he explains, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, he says, Ya'u bayt, my Lord revealed Quran to me originally in one variant, one aspect, harf. And so I made a petition that, O Allah, make it easy on my ummah because the different Arabian tribes spoke different dialects. So one aspect would be difficult. So my Lord then gave me ala harfain, two aspects of recitation. And then I again asked Allah to intercede it, make it easy for my ummah. And then Allah says, I reveal it to you on sabbatu ahruf, on seven aspects, that's the basis of the Quranic variants. And then Allah Ta'ala says, and for each repetition that you made, I give you a guaranteed dua. And so the Prophet says, so I said, Allahumma ghfirili ummatii, once, Allahumma ghfirili ummatii, twice. Wa akhar tu thalitha, but I reserved that third one. Ilay yawmin, for a day, yarghabu ilayyal khalqqulluhum, hatta ibrahim, on a day that all of humanity will seek me out, even Abraham, my forefather. Peace be upon him. So we know from this hadith, that when he's holding that banner of praise, all the prophets will be gathered there. All the prophets and their ummah, all the believers. But we are the first, we are his ummah, la ilaha illallah, the majesty of the prophet, so as soon as I'm coupled with his intercession, his beauty, his majesty. And then finally his mystery, like how can we understand this sublime noble heart? The greatest of our Imams, their conclusion was that we cannot comprehend his noble heart. We cannot comprehend his noble heart. And in this light, that one of the great inheritors of our Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, Abul Hassan al-Shadili, he said that he was once confused with the hadith in Sahih Muslim, Inna hu la yu ghanu ala qalbi wa inni la astaghfirullaha ta'ala fil yawmi atamara that verily sometimes there is a haze that comes over my heart and verily I seek forgiveness of Allah in a day 100 times. Abul Hassan al-Shadili said, he could not understand what kind of haze could cover the blessed's heart, Sallallahu alayhi sallam. And then one night he has a dream of the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi sallam. And then that dream, the Prophet says, Ya Mubarak, oh blessed one. Inna hu ghayna al-anwar la ghayna al-aghyaar. It is a haziness of illumination, not a haziness of distraction from Allah. Even the haze was deeper knowledge of Allah. And so according to Qadi Ayyad, the haze was khashiya, deeper awe, deeper awe of the divine, reverential awe of the divine and the istighfar was shukr for that higher state. And so even the greatest Imam struggled with these meanings, but we'll end, we'll conclude with a summation of the prophetic way by the Imam, Abul Hassan al-Shadili, that how do we approximate, how do we reach these levels such that we can be best positioned for the shafa'ah, such that we can be best positioned to be close to the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, on the day of judgment. And we know that this Dean is a journey. It is a tariq. The sunnah is a tariq because we know from the hadith, taqarub ila la ila yazalu abdiya taqarub ila ya binnawafil, hatta'uhibba, that my servant draws near to me by the obligations and then he continues to draw near to me by the extra deeds, hatta'uhibba, that's the end of the journey until I love him. And in that light, this great mubarak inheritor of our Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, Abul Hassan al-Shadili, he says, So he delineates this, a method of drawing near to Allah. He says, the path, the prophetic way is to seek Allah by four things. ومن جا وزهنه فهو كان من السديقين المحققين. Whoever traverses all four stages is of the Siddiqeen, like Abu Bakr as Siddiq, like Maryam al-Islamu Ummuhu Siddiqa, the highest level, محقق, they are realized in the prophetic way. ومن جا وزهنه, ومن جا وزه من هنه ثلاثة كان من أولياء المقربين. And whoever traverses three of the four, they are from the saints that are near to Allah Ta'ala. ومن جا وزه من هنه اثنتين كان من الشهاداء المقينين. And whoever traverses two of these stages, they are from those شهاداء, those whose very lives testified to Allah's oneness, mookini in the people of certitude. ومن جا وزه من هنه واحدة and whoever traverses one of them كان من عباد الله الصالحين. They are of the righteous servants of Allah Ta'ala. And he says, اولوها الذكر. The very first one is remembrance of Allah to make that our way and our practice a daily sustenance of the remembrance of Allah as a daily practice. وبيساطه الأمل الصالح and the Imam says, رحم الله the ground, the carpet upon which we ground our thicker is righteous deeds. And when the two are coupled, he says وَثَمْرَتُهُ اَنْنُورَ and the fruit of that practice way of life is illumination. That's the first stage. He says وَثَانِهُ اَتْتَفَكُرَ And the second of the four stages is contemplation. Contemplation. And this was the 39th book in the احيان المدين. Imam Ghazali put it all the way at the end before the book of death because it is a summation of the entire trajectory of the religion. وَثَانِهَ اَتْتَفَكُرْ وَبِسَاطُهُ أَسَبْرَ And the outspread carpet upon which we ground this practice of contemplation of Allah and His Majesty and His names and His creation is persistence, fortitude, patience, consistency, استقامة. He says وَثَمْرَتُهُ and the fruit of those two coupled, العِنْ is true knowledge. And that goes back to book one of the احيان. So it's a full circle. We keep on going through the trajectory of this beautiful Deen. He says وَثَالِتُهَا The third of these, الفقر. Realizing our need for Allah and back to the Hadith of Shafa'a وَمَعْيَ فُقَرَ المُؤْمِنِين Allah and perhaps an illusion that it also includes people who have traversed to this third stage. And the ground of this virtue is gratitude. Recognizing that we need Allah in every moment and recognizing وَمَعْمِكُمْ مِنْ نِعْمَةٍ فَمِنَ اللَّهُ Whatever you have of blessings is directly from Allah وَثَمْرَتُهَا And the fruit of those two المزيد منهُ is increase in blessings. وَلَإِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدْ دَنَّكُمْ Because if we show gratitude, Allah gives us more. And the fourth, he says وَرَابِعُهَا الْحُبْ He says حَتَّا أُحِبَّهِ He is حبيب الله. So the final stage in his path in his blessed sunnah is love. وَبِسَاطُهُ بُغْضُ الدُّنْيَة But the ground of love between the servant and Allah is to have a serious antagonistic relationship with the dunya. بُغْضُ الدُّنْيَة It both is stronger than distaste and indifference. بُغْضُ is a true antagonism and animosity. A hatred of anything that distracts us from Allah. The dunya is not the world. The dunya is whatever of this world that glitters and distracts us from this noble path. And what's the fruit, he says رحمه الله وَثَمْرَتُهَا الْوصَّبِدْ محموب It is to arrive at a deep knowledge of Allah Ta'ala. We ask Allah Ta'ala to make us realize in these meanings. We ask Allah Ta'ala to make us the people that are closest to the beloved Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in this life and in the next life and on that beautiful hill when he's dawned in the green garment making the Shafa'a on the Maqamul Mahmood with all the prophets and their Ummam there. We ask Allah Ta'ala to give us تمام العافية و دوام العافية و شكرا على العافية و الغنعين الناس envelop us in Aafiyah in every moment of our lives and grant us حسن الخطام that we da'wit لا إله إلا الله محمد الرسول الله Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam و صلى الله عليه وسلم و الحمد لله رب العالم