 We intend to learn and to teach and to remember and to remind and to provide We intend to learn and to teach and to remember and to remind and to provide benefit and to benefit and to be helpful and to gain We intend to encourage adherence to the Book of Allah and the way of His Messenger ﷺ and to supplicate for right guidance and to show the way to good Ibn Tgha'a Awajil Lahi wa Mardateh wa Qurbihi wa Thawabih seeking the countenance of Allah and His contentment, This nearness and reward subhanahu wa ta'ala transcendent and ascendent. So we're continuing with Chapter 13 Kethratu Turq al-Khayr. How many ways there is in Islam to leave the world a little bit better than it was when he founded. I believe that we left off with Hadith number 9 in Chapter 13. The Prophet ﷺ said, The faith is 70 or so branches. The highest is, you're saying there is none worthy of the attachment of our hearts to it except Allah ﷺ. Allah has not made for a man two hearts in his breast. Only one. And it's for him. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's the meaning of la ilaha illallah. Wa ad-dinaa hai imaatatu al-adha anit tariq and the lowest of those branches. The closest of those branches is to remove something harmful from the path. And we've talked about this hadith many times. And then he says, And modesty is a branch of faith. Subhanahu Allah. Modesty, shyness. Hayat is very important for many reasons. We understand modesty, at least in theory. We understand modesty. Hayat is important practically because if people don't have a little bit of shyness, well, then they'll just take advantage of others. In the Arab world, they say if somebody is out there taking advantage of others, throwing people under the bus, doing unethical things, the Syrians will say, He's not shy. A little bit of shyness is important so that people understand their limits. They say, The best man is the one who knows his limits and stops there. Doesn't go further. Doesn't get busy beyond his pay grade. Not working beyond his qualifications or her qualifications. Subhanahu Allah. And that's what makes the world function properly, smoothly. When we all do what we're supposed to be doing. When we all carry our weight, or when we all carry the weight we're supposed to be carrying. Not carrying the weight. Not letting the ball drop. And not carrying the weight we're not supposed to be carrying. Subhanahu Allah. The next hadith number 10. And the Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said There was a man and this is a story from the nations that went before us. From the tribes of many Israel youth. There was a man who was walking along the road and he became very thirsty and he found a well. And so he went down into the well and drank When he came back up he found in this well-known hadith a dog that was panting and licking the dirt itself trying to get some of the drops of water that might be left over from the well. And the man said to himself This dog has reached a point of thirst. The same point I had reached of thirst. So he went back down into the well and he filled up his shoe with water and he held it in his mouth and he climbed back out of the well and he gave the dog to drink. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala appreciated this effort and forgave all of his sins. Subhanallah. Empathy. Subhanallah. This man is rewarded by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for having empathy for a dog. What then about showing empathy for a child of Adam? Subhanallah. And they said when the messenger told this story We get a reward for treating animals well but the wahi is happening right then and there. They're learning right then and there. The reason why many of us if not for the filth rock that obviously this is a sentient being we should treat it well. Many of us in retrospect we know all of these things but there are societies where nobody was on hand to teach people these things. So they say And Islam has returned the way it began, a stranger. So you can go to places in the Muslim world you can see people abusing animals in the most terrible fashion as if they don't subscribe or follow a prophet that taught them differently. But that's one of the signs that Islam is now strange once more amongst its people. Ibrahim A.S. was the one who named us Muslims and he and Ismail spent their time in Mecca but Islam became a stranger once more in Mecca and it's become a stranger amongst our people too. So he said He says There's another narration that comes along with this. Is it the next one? He says In another narration of the same story there is a dog and Rasulullah A.S. is the one speaking. A dog is about to die of thirst and a prostitute saw the dog from the prostitutes of the people of Israel So she lowered down I believe it will be her shoe. Give me a moment here. Let's just be sure. The same thing. So she lowered down her shoe and she filled it with water and she brought it back up and she gave the dog to drink just like the story of the man and so she was forgiven. For giving that dog to drink. We look first at the dog. We think of dogs as nedges. The dog is nedges. The dog would eat something. You have to wash it so many times and once with dirt and all of this just to take care of that. But just because the dog is nedges in fiqhla doesn't mean that we can't or shouldn't be careful. That we shouldn't show empathy for the dog. That we shouldn't feel for the dog. The dogs in general. Or even pigs or any type of animal. They don't need to be punished for their condition. They don't need to be punished for their condition. This is part of our ta'abwut of Allah SWT that when certain things contact certain things we're to respond in this way. It's not an abuse or a curse on the actual animal itself or the source of that. Najasa. Subhanallah. And it also speaks to the importance of the soul. The importance of the soul. But what about the prostitutes from Bani Israel? And it's true yes. We don't say that animals have souls. They don't have rational souls. They don't have souls like a human soul. But one position amongst our theologians is that there is such a thing as an animal soul and even a vegetable soul. Anything that has the capacity for growth has a type of soul. This is one theory. And then growth plus movement is another type of soul. And then above that growth plus movement plus intellect. It becomes a superior level of soul. No. But we can show compassion for living things. And what about the prostitute? Rasulullah SWT tells us in this well-known hadith that out of appreciation for her efforts to give the dog to drink Allah SWT forgives all of her sins because she could feel for another. Now where does it say that she stopped being a prostitute? It doesn't say that. It just says Allah forgave her. Our job on the face of the earth is not to judge other people. Our job on the face of the earth is to have compassion for people. Not to look down on anyone. That's not what we're here for. Allah SWT knows the estimations and values of souls. That's not our business. Our business is to make right choices. Subhanallah. So if Allah SWT who ultimately makes all of the decisions about who's forgiven and who's not, whose deeds are accepted and whose are not, we are responsible for the fippa. Allah SWT said did na wa qarrib na make us more precise in our fippa. But Allah SWT is the ultimate judge. We don't have any business about who goes to jannah and who goes to opposite destinations. Allah put us in the jannah. Everybody all around us and everybody that we encounter protect us from opposite destinations. That's not our business. That's Allah's business. Allah makes the judgments in the end. We don't say who's going where. But what we know is that there are certain actions that Allah has advised us to avoid. And certain actions that Allah SWT has encouraged us to engage with. That's our business. Because those things that Allah has said he's pleased with, that's where you expect to find jannah. And those things that Allah SWT has said that he's displeased with, that's where you expect to find punishment and the ultimate decision returns to Allah SWT. And if out of appreciation for helping the life even of an animal, even an animal that's considered nages, Allah SWT can forgive the sins of a woman who from the previous generation doesn't even know Muhammad SAW or have the love of the Prophet SAW in her heart, then what might Allah SWT do for people whose hearts are overflowing with the love of his beloved, SAW? We don't know the secrets of the hearts. Did you break open his heart to see what was inside? He said SAW, people have secrets between them and Allah SWT and we don't know. We don't know. I once was told as confided in me a story that this is in the Muslim world. He said that he was with a prostitute. Allah forgive him. Allah forgive us. He was with a prostitute and at the moment he was about to consummate the act. I suppose they must have been having a pleasant conversation or something like this and he came to know that she was from the family of the Prophet SAW and he said, I couldn't go through with it. Right? And I stood up and I left. We don't know the secrets and the situations where Allah SWT is gentle and relents toward a person. It's not for us to judge. It's for us to hope for ourselves and if we have a little bit of hope left over, invest some hope in others too. The next Habib, number 11, the Prophet SAW said, I saw a man going about in the paradise. That was his final destination. From what he saw in his ma'raj, he went to the seventh heaven. I saw a man who was one of the dwellers of paradise, of the garden, just because of a tree branch that he cut to remove it from the path of the Muslims. So I wouldn't annoy them. He's thinking of someone other than himself and he stopped his business to go out of his way and make life easier for people. He was never going to see me. He wasn't going to have the satisfaction of watching them enjoy his efforts, perhaps. He did something knowing that others would benefit. In Usul al-Filq, we had something called al-Wasbun al-Munasih, the appropriate description or descriptor, adjective, qualifier, the appropriate qualifier. And when we're looking to join one ruling to another condition, so for example, great wine is haram to drink. Is unlawful to drink? Is it because it's red or purple? Is that the reason why it's unlawful? Is that a good reason? Is that an appropriate qualifier or descriptor? Maybe not. Is it because it's liquid? Maybe not so much. What has another factor? It's intoxicating. That seems that that might be closer to what the sharia is interested in, keeping people's mental capacity on point. So then if we find another substance that has the same intoxicating effect, we might say that it has the same ruling as the first thing. So those other aspects, such as it being purple or red, it being liquid, it being something that's contained in cups or glasses, these other descriptions of the case, we're going to dismiss those. It's not relevant to the judgement. Here, the person has removed something harmful from the roadway that was going to perhaps annoy or harm the Muslims. Well, is it important that the passersby mean Muslim for him to be rewarded in this way? Maybe there's an extra reward for having a sensitivity for brothers and sisters in faith, of course. However, in this particular situation, maybe it's not that important that the other people were Muslims. For example, when it comes to the treatment of animals, we have the hadith in which Rasul-e-Nar s.a.w says A woman entered the fire because of a cat that she locked up. She didn't feed it nor did she allow it to A woman entered the fire because of a cat that she locked up. She didn't feed it nor did she allow it to search for the rodents of the earth. Rodents and insects and things that a cat might eat. I can't give the pronunciation. A woman entered the fire because of a cat that she locked up. She didn't feed it nor did she allow it to So we look at this. A woman enters the fire because of a cat. Is it important that it be a cat? Is this just for cats? Is it a very special love that Allah SWT has for cats and no one else? You can abstract this out by moving from the species cat to the genus animal. You could even go to a higher, more general genus, such as living thing. So a woman then enters the fire. A woman is it important that the person be female is only against women? So a person now is going to be punished for their abuse so she locked up the cat. Well, locking someone up, something up and not allowing it, not feeding it and not allowing it to find its own food that is a type of abuse. So we abstract that out to the more general a person will be punished for their abuse of a living thing or their abuse of animals in general. Subhanallah. I always saw another thing in another insight into that hadith that when you have a manager in your company that does not give you a game plan and tell you what we need to be doing. Nor do they let you have the authority to figure out a way to get the job done or to deliver on the business at hands, always saying no. Don't do anything until I tell you. And then they never tell you what it is that needs to be done. Maybe that manager needs to be disciplined. So a manager might get disciplined for not giving a game plan to his subordinates or allowing empowering them to set up their own program of action. The next hadith. Number 12. The messenger says Number 13. So whoever makes hudu and does a good job and goes to the Jumu'ah Friday prayer and listens quietly, silently to the khutbah, everything will be forgiven between one Friday and the next plus the weekend, an additional three days. That's a good deal. But then he says, he says, pays attention, listens silently. Whoever plays with any pebbles or something like that and listens quietly, silently to the khutbah, everything will be forgiven between one Friday and the next and any pebbles or something like that in front of them has lost that reward. It's allowed themselves to be distracted as it listens silently to the Jumu'ah. I'll tell you, perhaps the same goes for the person who's watching out for who's not paying attention. They're more consumed with what others are doing during Jumu'ah and are they paying attention properly at night and it should be me that goes and tells them to shush, right? Well, maybe they've... Also, the brothers showed that maybe people are messing with their phones, right? Khalaas, the new hasa. Faqad laqa, right? With the cellphone during Jumu'ah. Subhanallah. So we're not there to police other people but at the same time, we need to make an effort to be conscientious of other people. You know, sometimes, often times in the sister's area, people get to have all types of conversations and they've been looking forward to Friday because it's the only time I get out of the house so I'm going to see my friend and I'm so excited and we're there to chat. That's not fair to the sisters who are there to, you know, observe the teachings of Rasulullah and As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah. Distractions in the masjid in general. People come to the masjid to turn their hearts to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. We don't want to be creating distractions or creating situations where people's hearts are consumed with me. People's hearts are consumed with the fact that I'm annoying them in the masjid. Okay, I'm playing footsie with them in the line of prayer or these other types of things. That's how to distract someone while they're in the business of praying. And we don't want to do that. Allah forgives us. The next hadith from the messenger. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah. When a believer makes hudu and washes his face, all of the sins and mistakes that he may have looked at or she may have looked at with his two eyes fall away and in another narration or with the last drop of water. Subhanallah. And if he or she washes their hands every sin that may have been done with the hands falls away or with the last drop of water and when they wash their feet all of the sins that they may have walked toward with their two feet fall away with the last drop of water until this person who's making hudu leaves the process of hudu naqiyyan minadunoo completely purified from these minor sins. Because of course the major sins require a specific tawba. A specific process of tawba. But in walking to the masjid and sitting between prayer and prayer and making hudu and letting the drops of water fall all of these minor sins that we rack up can fall away from the hudu and generosity of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala That's the reason why Imam Shafi'i in his school of law he put that it is makru to dry yourself off after making hudu. You should drip dry. And of course the fukhahat say unless you have a condition where it would bother you a great deal and sort of consume your thought like annoy you, right? If your limbs were wet that would be problematic but in a good condition the middle of summer drip dry because he said we don't want people to be wiping away the edger that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has written for them or that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made for them as if they don't want what Allah has on offer. Radiallah Imam Shafi'i The messenger of Allah said in the 14th hadith One of the five prayers to the next of the five prayers Friday prayer to Friday prayer Ramadan to Ramadan each of these is an expiation is a narration of any of the sins that may have come in between them So long as a person stays away from the major sins Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us Allah give us tawfiq How old is your time? It's 20 minutes inshaAllah Allah protect us Allah give us these opportunities There's a narration that's reported from the messenger in which he says Allah want you avail yourselves of that SubhanAllah What are these breezes? Opportunities like this to get closer to Allah Opportunities like this to make up for some of our shortcomings with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Opportunities to be in a gathering where the mention of Allah and the messenger of Allah who has sent him is happening where the remembrance of Allah is happening where the learning of the deen of Allah is happening or one of these many ways of doing good deeds is made available You see something that might cause a person to trip and fall in the pathway and it crosses your mind I could remove that SubhanAllah And maybe it's in that that we find an acceptance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala We ask Allah to give us a moment with him a moment of sincerity to give us one action that he accepts and that he rewards with his contentment We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us that one secret in our lives that brings us close to him and that he forgives us for and makes us of those who will always be in his presence SubhanAllah And what we have left of our lives that's a good mission to have in my mind what is that thing I'm not going to stop at one thing I'll try a number of them and inshaAllah one of them is going to contain that secret of Allah's contentment Allah's acceptance of me not me out trying to score points not me out trying to put round pegs into round holes into square pegs into square holes and go down checklist but to have a moment of sincerity that is accepted by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala what a beautiful thing Allah give us our sustenance to have that Allah bless us with something like that The next hadith number 15 the messenger aleyhi salatu wa salam says what is that shall I not indicate to you what Allah will what Allah will use to erase faults and to raise ranks and stations and they said indeed messenger of Allah he said making your wudu all the way beyond the elbow the feet when it is inconvenient to do so often times we think about the winter time nobody wants to get up before sunrise and make wudu with cold water nobody wants to do that except for somebody who is lost in love do anything for their beloved shall Allah will get to that makam but the fact that you would get up before sunrise when it's cold and the bed is warm and go and make wudu with that water it's difficult maybe even it feels like it hurts a little bit when I do it maybe it feels a lot like it hurts because you can be in situations where you have to use cold water on your skin and it's painful and you do it for all types of reasons you do it because you have to you do it because this is how you're going to earn your money you do it because you're afraid of the consequences if you don't would you do it out of love not for a paycheck not to avoid a beating but do it out of love and we think about winter but what about doing it at work what about doing it at the office what about doing that in a public restroom where other people are going to see you putting your foot in the sink over the place and they're like what's wrong with you making a mess I'm really trying to do the right thing I know it looks like I'm doing the wrong thing but you just got to trust me it can feel a little bit embarrassing sometimes that's the same thing that's what he's talking about here that what a law will use to erase your faults and raise your rank maybe somebody will just go out after this and look for a public situation and I can make wudu in the muattah in the masjid I can make wudu at home and then pray but I'm going to go out to like a real fancy place that's very public and make wudu there right and do it for Allah s.w.t we'll get through to the masjid and in addition to that taking many steps to the masjid you know if you set out to go to the masjid and it's a long way away maybe you don't have to it's not in walking distance from your house but if you decide that you are going to go do that and you do it for Allah s.w.t and not for another reason because you want to go to his house and put your forehead on the floor in the house of Allah s.w.t or you do it often and there's your kethra wudu Rasulullah s.w.t says when had him sent news to give away the invasion of Makkah because he was afraid for his family members in Makkah so he sent the letter with the woman to expose it and she was caught by Ali before the letter could make it but Ali thought that he should be killed for his khayana for his betrayal and of course it was a betrayal of fear for his family but Rasulullah s.w.t said how do I know that Allah s.w.t did not look to the people who fought it better when they didn't have to and said I forgive everything you've ever done or are ever going to do through things in their lives and run to Allah s.w.t who have seen how the earth has constricted around them to the point where their own souls have constricted around them until they knew that there was nowhere to run from Allah except for to Allah and Rasulullah s.w.t said I wonder from people to the paradise of peace Allah is impressed with the people who are driven into jannah in chains ghasbin anum raqmakunu fihim they weren't looking for Allah but they found themselves face to face with Allah s.w.t and they knew the haqq of Allah s.w.t and that's not what they were looking for this is the reality of people around us and Allah knows who those people are Allah make us among them Allah let us come to know people of this people who know Allah s.w.t and not in theory but despite themselves what a beautiful thing what a beautiful world what an amazing universe what an incredible reality what an incredible reality that is this reality of the haqq s.w.t and we want to bring our theories and ideas into it we just need to let it play out and we need to be there to go along for the ride and not underestimate anyone haasha that we find ourselves in a position where we're underestimating a wali of Allah or a waliya of Allah s.w.t because these are the ones that Allah loves of Allah s.w.t one tizaru sadaati baada sadaati fadaadikumu rebata and waiting for the next prayer after having already prayed one of the prayers that is rebata and what is rebata muraabata muraabata is when you sit out on the frontiers of the muslim lands to guard the boundaries of the muslim population to keep them protected from the enemies and you're waiting for an enemy to come this can be literal this can be literal those people who are at guard posts in the mountain passes watching out for an enemy to come from the muslim precincts but here that same rank that same favor that same blessing is given to people who are looking out and watching out for opportunities to get close to Allah s.w.t who are looking out and watching out to strengthen their hearts and be near to Allah s.w.t but Allah has to give we aren't the ones who decide what Allah can give someone and what Allah can't give someone is for us to keep our ears open and our mouths more closed and I keep my mouth closed and just listen and learn because the universe is Allah s.wt the reality is Allah s.wt and we think other people have a say in it but we're not listening we need our Wednesday do-out Al-hamdulillah Lord bina Al-hamdulillah there have come to you insights from your Lord so whosoever gains insight it is to his benefit and whosoever is blind it is to his detriment Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad Muhammad and upon his family and companions and give them peace. Overturner of hearts and eyes, make our hearts firm on your deen. Overturner of hearts, direct our hearts to your obedience. Allahumma al-himni, rushdi wa a'iddi min shabrin fsi. Allahumma inspire in me my best direction and protect me from the bad within me. Allahumma inni a'oudh bikam inya wa misoo, iwa min layla tisoo, iwa min sa'atisoo, iwa min sahibisoo, Allahumma I seek refuge in you from a bad day, from a bad night, from a bad moment, from a bad friend, and from a bad neighbor in the eternal home. Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammadin mu'ala a'adihi wa sahbihi wa sallim ala Bless your families and bless your children and bless our family and bless our children. Allahumma salli ala sayyidina Muhammadin mu'ala a'adihi wa sallim ala