 into the seven heavens and Allah gives him the greatest gift that he can give to his ummah and that is the way to communicate to him and communicate with him which is the prayer. Articulation is the greatest gift and miracle of the human species. There is nothing that separates us from animals, they have needs like we have needs, they have to satiate themselves, they have thirst, they have to create families like we do, but the difference between us and animals and the beasts is that Allah dignified us with speech. We're called the hayawan or natiq, we're called the articulating animal. Allah Ta'ala ar-Rahman al-Alam al-Quran al-Khalaq al-Insan al-Lamahu al-Bayan, but he makes the book, the most merciful, he taught the book and then he created human beings and then he gave them speech, Bayan. He gave them Bayan al-Alam al-Adham asma'a kullaha, he created Adam and he taught him words, he taught him about our articulation. Oh you who believe, be conscious of Allah, fear Allah and speak straight forward. Hit the target, it means that hit the bullseye, speak straight forward. And what will Allah do? He'll fix your affairs, he'll fix your affairs, your atman and he'll forgive you for your sins, he'll forgive you for your sins, he'll forgive you for your misgivings. As we prepare for Ramadan, we should be mindful of as we're preparing to fast, insha'Allah, from food and from drink, but we become people that use our articulation, our speech for what is used for. Everything in our tradition we have to say, you say the Shahada, you have to say the Fatiha, you recite it during Salah, you speak to Allah Ta'ala in an abundant ways and you send salutations on the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam using your tongue. This is what your tongue was made for, this is what speech was made for. You have speech that is mischievous and you have speech that is virtuous and that's why the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, who doesn't restrain from foul speech and acting by it. He's relating foul speech and acting by it. God is in no need of them staying away from food or hunger. Now you come to a moment where you're fasting and you still say terrible things to your children. You still say horrible things and things like that, you know, send Na'na on people and things like that. Allah is in no need of of your staying away, meaning if you think you're doing a favor from Allah, He's in no need of that. He's in no need of that. This is the reason why our tongue was created and this is the topic of the Khutba today. Be mindful of your speech. Be mindful of your speech. Use your tongue for what it was used for, what it was made for. The bayan is the sunnah of Prophets. We haven't sent a prophet except with the tongue of their people to clarify things for them, to give them speech, the speech of what? The speech of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, the speech of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. When the prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he says, mankana yudminu billah, whoever believes in Allah in the last day, be people that say good or stay quiet. And what is the best of speeches to do da'wah to Allah, to call to Allah, to send infinite abundant salutations on your Master Muhammad, your beloved Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And to say things that are uplifting to people, to be sensitive of what is happening in the world before you say it, about people's needs before you say it. I was once a community member who came to me and he had a dog. Her husband had a dog and he would walk and dog and another Muslim saw and they started yelling at them, screaming at this person, screaming him, what's wrong with you, you have a dog, are you even a good Muslim? What have a Muslim as a dog? Had no idea, this brother was blind and he needed to support a dog and he started cursing at him. He started cursing at him. And what did the prophet say? A person says something. Ar-Rajul yukalim bi-kalimatin, they say something, walam yubayunaha, but they don't clarify, they don't think about what they've said and it drags them deeper, they're dragged deeper into the fire between the east and the west. May Allah protect us, because they haven't thought about the things that they were saying. They haven't thought about the community that they're responding to. And that's why our mother Aisha said, if the first thing the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam did when he received Wahi, the first thing revealed to him was the prohibition of alcohol and fornication. We would have ran away from this affair. We would have all ran away from this affair. We would have ran away. We would have ran away from this affair. So what was the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam calling towards? Beautiful speech, speaking to Allah Ta'ala. When Sufyan ibn Abdullah, he said, O Masjidunj of Allah, tell me something, if I hold on to it, I'll be good. If I hold on to it, I'll be good. And the Prophet said, he said, say I believe in Allah and be steadfast. Stay I say I believe in Allah and be steadfast. He said, what is the one thing that you fear of me, O Masjidunj of Allah? He held his tongue, he said this, this thing. The tongue can be used to mend hearts or break hearts. The tongue can be used to call towards Allah or call towards the shaitan. The shaitan, Allah speaks to us in language. The Quran is a language. And the shaitan speaks to us in influence. What's what's up? They're all communicating to us. If you just listen. And if you're not mindful of your tongue, you won't be able to differentiate between satanic thoughts and divine angelic thoughts. You won't be able to do that. Be mindful of your tongue. And be mindful of the people that are around you and how you're making them feel. The Sunnah of Habib Salaam is to uplift people with the speech. Uplift people with the speech. And that's why the Quran says, as Sayyidina Luqman tells his son, he says, you know, don't score in your cheek away at people. And don't walk into the earth boastfully. Indeed, Allah does not like the self-conceited boasters. And then he says, walk, stay on the steadfast and lower your voice. Lower your voice. The most degrading voices, the most negated voices is the voices of brazing donkeys. Sheikh Mawlana Abdul Qadir Jilani, may Allah be pleased with him, was walking with his disciples once to the morning prayer, to the morning prayer. And he came upon a drunk man, like a drunk person at the foot of the masjid. And the man came in a conscience and said, Oh, servant of the one that gives ability. Are you the one that gives ability? Are you a Qadir? And the sheikh began to cry and the students said, why are you crying? But why are you crying? He said, did you not hear what he said? Did you not hear what he said? He said, if my lord, what did he say? He said, If my short want to get a snap of the finger, he will change my condition to your condition and your condition to my condition. And your condition to my condition. And don't call each other by degrading names. Don't label people. Don't call them by degrading names because Allah named you Muslims. This is the most honorific title. He gave you the ni'mah being human beings, we have been honored by Adam, and gave you the title of being Muslims. And how do you manifest this? How do you manifest this? It's easy to do. How do you manifest this? It's a secret. Sayyidina Mu'adda bin Jabal says. He said, Speak less with people, i.e. about people. Speak less with people. Speak less with people and speak more with Allah. Why? Perhaps your heart will see the face of Allah. How often do we just speak to Allah and just complain to Allah? You make your du'a and you read the Qur'an and then you just talk to Allah. You talk to Allah. Just talk to your Lord. Talk to subhanAllah. Have a conversation. Ya Allah, today was a tough day for me. I need your help. Ya Allah, I would really like to go on vacation. It's been a special week. What do you have for me? Speak to Allah and Allah will speak to you. Allah will speak to you and then you'll be able to see the wajhab of Allah. Meaning you'll see the reality of every single person is going through behind the veil always and you can lead them to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You'll open their hearts to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We ask Allah to make this a reality. There was a story years ago on Newsweek that there was a man that was suffering from PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder coming back from war. And he had an anger. He would sort of snap very easily because of his PTSD. He was at a trader, Joe's or something, a grocery store in the line. It was incredibly long, a rush hour and he was waiting and waiting and waiting. It was about let's say like a 15, 20 minute line and you know when you're in a grocery store the 20 minute line feels like it's like an hour and a half. So he was at the grocery store waiting and there was an elderly woman with a baby with a baby in the in the front of the line and it was finally the lady in front's turn and she begins to have extensive dialogue with the cashier and this man is like are you not seeing we're on the clock we're waiting two minutes go by, three minutes go by, four minutes go by to the point where he's now getting livid and then the old lady takes the baby and gives it to the cashier. Jasho takes the baby throws the baby up so I was giving him kisses and all that and now this man is just about to he's livid and you could he's this close this close to flipping and flipping and just and just going off of this person and he takes a step back and he breathes it takes a moment and the baby is given back to the elderly lady and they check him out they said I'll see you later then it's her it's his turn to check out his groceries and he looks at the cashier and says babies am I right babies huh and the cashier says yeah that's my daughter I work two jobs this is the only time of the day that I ever get to see my baby daughter imagine if he said something imagine what would happen it reminds me of the story of your Habib sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that's related among kathir hatid minawi and by the sil sila of sidi abdel aizid the bakh where two parents came to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam when he was in the jama'a nabawiah his mosque said we lost our child we lost our child and where did they lose their child they lost them in the outskirts of the of the deserts of medina and you know how it feels may Allah protect our children to lose your children and like a store for just four minutes your heart goes straight to your summer or to not know when they're in the living room just you gotta know where your kids are you always gotta know where your kids are they lost them in the middle in the deserts of arabia there are nomads there are thieves there's jinnan so the prophet makes dua sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and he goes and he looks for the child and obviously his spoiler your would say na wujud sallallahu alayhi wa sallam what do you think is gonna happen you're gonna find your son and they found their he found his children the they found their child and the father and son have this sort of cinematic moment where they run towards each other and they embrace each other and the father starts at alhamdulillah wa shukrillah wa jattu shuf wa jattu waladih wa jattu waladih all praise be to Allah all gratitude to Allah i have found my son i have found my i found my son i found my son and there there is the most amazing planning to sacrifice an animal and feed people and give sabaqah could kid could have died the child could have died i found my son and they're walking into madina and the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam tells the father okay can i tell you something for a minute before we enter madina he said yassur masjidullah he said when we enter the city don't say i found my son say i found his name say his first name don't don't mark him as your son just say his first name what a odd request what a strange thing to think about why it's your son why wouldn't you say it's your son you don't call him by a son you call him it's my son i found my son he said of course or masjidullah he said why what he said he said why should i you know what what's the wisdom behind that my son and he says sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said if i found my son what would the orphans of madina feel what would the orphans of madina who thinks like that who thinks like that except they're the greatest creation that i've ever learned so because he knew how he knew exactly how it felt to not have bb amina inside the Abdullah say i found you on muhammad i found you him he knows how that feels sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and he was aware of everybody in madina's feelings be mindful of your tongue say things that are sensitive to people that's the only thing the only thing i would ask you and myself to take away from this khutbah is two things first speak to allah practice speaking to allah speak to your creator and the second it's taking from the hadith if you love your brother or your sister tell them tell the ones that you love that you love them thank the ones that you who've done things thank them we don't know if tomorrow will come the body count in this last two years may allah have mercy upon all who have passed it's been hefty it's been hefty so say good things to people appreciate in this before Ramadan make it a thing to tell people that you love them tell your father tell your children tell your wife tell them how much you appreciate them and be sensitive to the needs of the people and be like say the muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam we ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we ask him to forgive us and to accept our juma'a ya allah ya da bilali wa quram