 Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu Ramadan Mubarak won't be able to say that too much longer but may you have a blessed Ramadan khitamuhu misk and may the end of it be sealed with Mosque we greet Imam Tahir and it's always a pleasure to be with Imam Tahir even virtually but the virtual is only our bodies the hearts are actually in touch with each other so the the spirits are arranged hosts and that was before we came into this physical world so the spirits have their own ways of communicating directly without the need for any sort of a virtual means in between Alhamdulillah MCC as you know is the people's Masjid and it's a very beloved institution beloved to my heart I'm sure beloved as obviously to Imam Tahir's heart he shared a few anecdotes that clearly indicate that it's beloved to the hearts of everyone who's joining us and MCC is doing all sorts of work and not just there in Pleasanton the reach of MCC extends throughout the Bayer area and beyond it certainly extends into Oakland via the various collaborations that have occurred with the lighthouse must be that in that can't distribution be that in supporting very generously the thrift store that the lighthouse was running for a little while and in many other tangible and intangible ways I think it's very important for us to and I'm not going to say anything until I encourage you to spend some more as Imam Tahir said the risk doesn't come from the economy the economy in reality is just an illusion this is one thing the coronavirus showed us you know some of our people we won't say who were boasting as late as February we have the greatest economy in human history and the greatest economy in human history was undone in two weeks by something so small you can't even see it and so it's an illusion an illusion of strength the reality of the human and the human condition is given clearly to Allah by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and who just mentioned two verses the many verses in the Quran the human has been created weak we are weak our systems are weak our economics are weak our politics are weak look how quickly this this country sliding into authoritarianism look at the divisions in this country look at the racial divides on the one hand a couple of white guys can stalk down a black jogger with a t-shirt and and short pants on in broad daylight says a burglar like no backpack to put the stolen property in no crowbars to get into the house just a t-shirt and short shoot him in cold blood and spend two months uncharged on the other hand a white mob can walk into the michigan state capital with swastikas and assault rifles and nothing happens like reverse that have have a couple black guys armed with a shotgun and a 57 357 magnum a magnum chased down a white jogger in broad daylight and shoot the the guy what's gonna happen to those black guys they're gonna walk around for two months with no charges they're gonna put them under the jail day one and get a black mob or even an arab mob or pakistani mob with nice beards like imam tahir's beards and get a bunch of assault rifles and go into any state capital and threaten the governor what do you think's gonna happen they're not gonna read them their second amendment right i can guarantee you but look how it's unraveling but Allah is is this is this is the reality so Allah says the humans create a week and anything we do is weak in reality even if it portrays the illusion of strength and Allah tells us yeah you henna's not the muslims all of humanity you are all in desperate need of Allah and Allah is free of our need worthy of our praise that's the reality of our condition so the economy doesn't give you wealth Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives you wealth and Allah ta'ala withholds the wealth from whom salvi pleases that as imam tahir said some people are making money hand over fist in this in this coronavirus everyone's wishing they would have bought three m stock three m makes the n95 mask they wish they bought three m stock like three months ago like why not buy three m stock subhan Allah three with you if you if you you have some three m stock your stock is probably quadrupled Allah Allah gives the risk to him salvi please and he withdraws the risk from whom i've asked him salvi please and he says in a hadith qudsi an ebi hurayrat al radiyallahu an and wassuli lahi sallallahu anayhi wa sallam or is direct from the professor i think it's hadith qudsi fima yarwihan rabi adhwajal and fiqh yabna adama and fiqh aleik spend oh child of adam i will spend on you and fiqh yabna adama and fiqh aleik spend oh child of adam i will spend on you so our our receiving our risk is conditional on our continuing to spend so if everyone out there has some sort of cash flow they've already given a lot of those checks and all of your tax files so most of you got to check for for what 1500 dollars or 1200 dollars and 500 dollars for every child give some of that to mcc and Allah will continue to give you and fiqh yabna adama yabna adama aleik spend oh child of adam i will spend on you i will spend on you and this is ramadan when the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was exceptionally generous sallallahu alayhi wa sallam kana rasulullahi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam adjwada nasi wa adjwada ma yukunu fi ramadan hin yalqahu jibreelu fa yudarisuhu l-kuran fa la rasulullahi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam hin yalqahu jibreelu fi ramadan yudarisuhu l-kuran adjwada fi l-khaidi min al-rihan mursila he was more generous in ramadan when jibreel came to review view the kuran with him then the free free blowing man and he had no mom this is a great opportunity to get close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala don't look at social isolation as a bad thing look at social isolation as an opportunity for divine intimacy the great sage and scholar ibn al-ta'illah rahimuhu la ta'ala and one of his aphorisms he said ma na fa ala qalba ma thlu azlatin yad kholu biha madana fikra nothing benefits the heart like isolation that enters the person along that enters the person into the realms of reflection so we have a lot of time to think but that reflection should be about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala about the favors of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala about the uncertainty and trials and tribulations of this world that we will inevitably encounter this is the dunya this is the abode of trials and tribulations this is what it is brothers and sisters don't be surprised by it we've just been spoiled humanity's been spoiled the last time something like this happened which was much worse was a century ago the 1918 so-called Spanish flu so-called because it started here and our soldiers brought it to Europe and then it was derogatorily attributed to Spain anyway 26 million dead coronavirus as of right now quarter million dead that's a quarter million too many but compare a quarter million to 26 million you know before that the black plague of several centuries many centuries ago but in recorded history and devastating the heartland of the muslim world 200 million dead think about that 200 million dead over half of the earth's population at the time over half of the earth's population at the time wiped out this the reality is muslim we know that the the plague of justinian 50 million dead again at that time a large percentage of the world's population gone and the vestiges of that plague afflicted the muslims so yeah ta'un al-amwa amwas amyas excuse me ta'un al-amyas that took the likes of mu'ad ibn jabal abu abayr ibn jarah shahrajil and many other of the luminaries of the companions in present day Palestine or present day Jordan the Jordan river valley so this is this is the reality this is the reality of the human condition we need a law we need a law brothers and sisters whether there's plague whether there's pestilence whether there's good times bad times we need a law more in the good times than we do in the bad times or we should be turning to a law excuse me we should be turning to a law more in the good times than we do in the bad times why what does Allah say introduce yourself to Allah during the good times the easy times He will know you during the difficult times so the easy times were the times we should have been we should have been getting to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala introducing ourselves and you introduce yourself through your prayer through your fasting through your awrad and your affqar your supplications your invocations this is how we introduce ourselves to our Lord and He already knows us but it's for our benefit it's for our benefit may Allah give us tofiq may Allah bless us they carry the lessons of Ramadan through the year and they how do we do that by continuing to do the things we were doing in Ramadan continuing to pray qiyam al-layl or tahajjud continuing to read our Quran continuing to fast not continuously that might be a burden but Mondays and Tuesdays the white days the three white full moon days so continuing the good practices as they say there's nothing to it but to do it Islam is a beautiful religion brothers and sisters one of the beauties is that it allows us to deviate from our normal pattern but still know that we're following the prophetic guidance that's beautiful so we have a precedent for not praying in the masjid during the times of heavy heavy rain the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he had mu'adhin tell the people salu feebu yutikum and ibn abbas after him radi Allahu anhu ma gave the same order to the mu'adhin in his time and when question he said one better than me who preceded me gave this order pray in your houses so you don't get muddy and and cold and you get sick from the being drenched and soaked in this heavy rain salu feebu yutikum we have the precedent of tarawi being scattered many different jamats before Omar gathered the people radi Allahu anhu behind who bay bin qab radi Allahu anhu there's a precedent there it's not the norm but these are not normal times we have imam tari it's something in another context but it's very beautiful if you ponder or ponder on it the whole earth has been made a masjid for the ummah of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam we can pray anywhere and we're in the masjid lal hillallah lal hillallah the entire earth has been made a masjid for the ummah of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam so we can pray anywhere and we'll be in the masjid lal hillallah this this from the beauty of Islam this is from the flexibility of Islam and we're not comfortable a lot of times we're used to the norm but getting out of our comfort zone is one of the great means and to encourage spiritual growth as the scholars of spiritual training say muqalafa to hawaq i know dawaq to oppose what your soul inclines towards is the essence of its treatment as we get comfortable go to the masjid it's more social than religion we get there and hang out with the fellas before salat for having if tar it's a it's a big social gathering and the the imam has to break up the conversations and get us in a mind in a frame of mind to pray just chit chatting catching up chomping down mashallah and we get comfortable with that then after the prayer we're in the parking lot for another half an hour chit chatting after we're in the masjid and there's nothing wrong with that my point is we get used to that and we get comfortable with that and when something comes that disrupts that it provides us an opportunity for spiritual growth because our hawa and our nets become accustomed to something and they don't want us to leave it but in leaving it we subordinate them and this brings our deeper spiritual powers to the four so it's a beautiful thing this is our religion there's a silver line and every storm crowd that may darken the sky of Islam temporarily we just look for that silver lining lal hillallah allah bless all of you give you tofiq give you tesir give you kawwud so again there's nothing too about to do just do the good things you were doing and try to find someone to do them with even if it's virtual just call up you know it's time for our weird latif that we were doing in Ramadan and we committed to do it after did you read your jiz today you know start a club like some of the sisters beautiful practice they finish their quran every month or cut them up quran then they read duads and usually they write out the duad so it's a very specific duad they don't forget and they they pray for the people they ask them for duad this and they do this every month every month and so we need brothers to start a group like that we need the youth to start a group like that this is where the good comes from this these are the foundations of good good good is built on a platform on a foundation and these acts of righteous pious people provide that platform may Allah give us tofiq may Allah give us kabul may Allah elevate our station may Allah elevate your station may Allah bless all of the wonderful people working to make this program possible may Allah bless all of the mcc the board the teachers the staff the administrative personnel wonderful wonderful people deserving of your support deserving of your support so brothers and sisters again our end is i started encouraging you to spin and fiqh yabla adama um fiqh al aleyk spend a child of Adam i will spend on you so may Allah give you tofiq to see him kabul inaya or remaya or hidayah or hima or hidayah and alhamdulillah wassalat wassalam ala Rasulillah wa alihi wa sahbihi wa salam tasneeman kathira bismillah wa manhurahima alhamdulillah rabbal alameen wassalat wa salam ala sehid al mursaleen sehid al ma hamil wa la alihi wa sahbihi wa salam tasneeman kathira Allahumma jaal jam'ana hadha awli wayh sultana jinn Allahumma jaal jam'ana hadha jam'al mohooma wa tufarruqana min ba'di tufarruqama asluma wa la tad'a indana wa la fiina wa la ma'ana shaqiyan wa la mihruma Allahumma teqabbin minna zidna wa la tenqusna Allahumma anta maulana fa umsurna alil qumil kathireen bi buraqatil Qur'an al-Azim wa bi hurmati man a'ar salatuhu rahmatah lill'alameen sehirin wa habibina wa kurrati a'yunina muhammad wa alihi wa sahbihi wa salam tasneeman kathira sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sahbihi wa salam Allahumma teqabbin minna ma qaddamna ilayka fi shahbika al muazzama al-Ramadhan minna al-salati wa al-zikati wa al-qiyami wa al-siyami wa tuwotilawatil Qur'an fa taqab al-hadha minna ya Allah taqab al-hadha minna ya Allah taqab al-hadha minna ya Allah Allahumma anasaluka al-Huda wa tuqaw wa al-gina wa al-afaf wa al-mawfira Allahumma, Allahumma barik lana wa hamna wa unsurna wa wahfazna fi hadha al-ayyam al-azmati Qur'ana virus ya Allah fa hafizna min haadha sharya Allah warfa'hu anna ya Allah, warfa'hu anna ya Allah, warfa'hu anna ya Allah wa madama ma'ana ya Allah, fa ja'ana min al-sabireen fa manfa ja'ana min al-sabireen wa al-sabirat wa al-qanib wa al-mu'ma wa al-'abideen wa al-'abidad wa al-zaahideen wa al-zaahidad wa al-salihin wa al-salahat wa al-mutawakilin alayka wa mutawakilat ya Allah, inna nasaluka al-Huda wa al-tuqaw wa al-gina wa al-afaf wa al-mawfira anta maulana fa unsurna al-qum al-kaafireen Allahumma taqabbal minna haan ahno wa aqifuna anta baabika ya Allah, fi shahrikya ya Allah fa laa turuddana ya Allah, khaybeena ba ruddana salimena ghalimena falihin anta maulana fa unsurna al-qum al-kaafireen bi barakatil Qur'an al-Azim wa bi hurmati man arsaltu rahmatan li al-'alameen Allahumma al-haqna wa al-salihin Allahumma al-haqna wa al-haqna bil muttaqeen, Allahumma al-haqna wa al-mujahideen Allahumma al-haqna wa al-sabireen Allahumma al-haqna wa al-ta'ideen Allahumma al-haqna minna ba'a ma al-laddina ya'amelun fi khidmati haadad deen Ya Rabbi al-alameen nasaluka daalika wa na tawassalu ilayka bi kulli wa jabbi jamia al-a'amel al-khairat qama biha ibaduka ya'Allah fi shahrika Ramadan al-mu'addam na tawassalu ilayka bi hadhi al-a'amel al-salahati Allah bi kulli ma qama bihi ibaduka al-salihin fi shahrika Ramadan bi kulli salatin wa bi kulli kurshin minna al-zakati wa bi kulli aayati minna al-Qur'ani wa bi kulli tawbatin wa kulli istaghfaratin wa bi kulli tasbihatin wa bi kulli hal hal hal hal qalatin wa bi kulli tahleelatin wa bi kulli amal al-khairi qama biha ahadin min khalkika ya'Allah na tawassalu ilayka bi daalika ya'Allah wa na saluka al-qabool ya'Allah wa na saluka al-iqwas ya'Allah wa ziyadat al-iqwas ya'Allah wa idamat al-iqwas ya'Allah wa ziyadat al-khairati ya'Allah fi shahrika roba ma Ramadan ya'Allah wa fi aakhiri shahrika Ramadan fi aayam al-wailayal al-ashr ya'Allah na saluka fi hadh al-yawmi ya'Allah anta taqabbal minna wa zidna wa la tanqusna anta maulana thansuna al-qum al-kaafireen bi barakat al-Qur'an al-Azim wa bi hurmati mal-ar-sattu rahmatan l-alameen Sayyidina wa Habibina wa Qurrati aayunina Muhammadin sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sahbihi wa salim taslima katiyara Allahumma man Allahumma man tawathaitahu minna yalata tawathahu alal iman wa man ahyaitahu minna yalata ahihi alal islam anta maulana ya'Allah na saluka minfadlika wujudika wa kheerika wa sakaika wa karamika rahmatika anta wa thakna ila ma anta tuhibu wa tardahu ya'Allah wa thakna ya'Allah ila ma anta tuhibu wa tardahu ya'Allah wa thakna ya'Allah bima anta tuhibu nasalu ka thaalika Allah nasalu ka thaalika Allah yasalu ka nasalu ka thaalika Allah fi shahrika ramadhanan ma adhan Allahumma inna Allahumma ja'al fi khulubina lura wa fi apsarina lura wa fi asma'ina lura wa fi bayna aydina lura wa min khalfina lura wa an yaminina lura an shama'ilina lura wa min faqina lura wa min tahtina lura wa fi jildina lura wa fi lahmina lura wa fi dhamina lura wa fi izamina lura wa fi sha'rina lura wa fi kulli zarra fi haadihi l'ajsam ya'Allah nawirha ya'Allah nawirhan ya'Allah nawirha ya'Allah fi haqtika fi haqtika fi haqtika ya'Allah nasalu ka thaalika ya'Allah fi hibka li nabiika Muhammad insallallahu alaihi wa sahbihi wa salam subhana rabbika rabbila izzati amma Allahumma barik lana fi ma baqia min ramadhan Allahumma barik lana fi ma baqia min ramadhan Allahumma barik na fi ma baqia min ramadhan anta bi lana fa'un surna alil qawma al-kaafirin subhana rabbika rabbila izzati amma yasifoon wa salaman alil mursaleen wa alhamdulillahi rabbil alamin al-fatiha alhamdulillahi rabbil al-ash-taimir shu'at al-mustakhim al-talladin al-fatiha ima l-lil l-lil