 الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه ونستغفره ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات عمالنا وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمدا عبده ورسوله يا أيها الذين أمنوا صلوا عليه وسلم تسريما نحن نقوم بقراء الله نحن نقوم بقراءه and we thank Him for He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth and the Creator of all therein and He is our Lord and our Creator we thank Him for having given us life for having created us with the intellect to be able to understand the beauty of the Creator through the beauty of His creation we declare our belief that there is no deity worthy of worship except for God Almighty and we declare our belief in all of the prophets and messengers that He has sent through time and in the seal of them all the Prophet Muhammad my dear brothers and sisters why are you here? not why are you here at Jama'at but why are you here? why did God create you? why did He create us? He is not in need of us of course we know the tradition in the Quran that He has not created human beings and jinn for any other purpose but to worship Him but there is more to the story for God recounts in the Quran the story of the creation of the first human being and in this story is insight and nuance to our purpose of existence to our goal as individuals what is it that we are striving for? why are we here? so let us in this first part of the Quran reflect upon the story of the creation of the first human being and reflect on the wisdom imparted by God Almighty in this story so that we may grasp it in a way that is relevant for our individual lives in this day and age for Allah سبحانه وتعالى بيجنز بعض عود بالله من الشيطان الرجيم في سورة البقرة verse 30 through 39 وإن شاء الله سبحانه وتعالى وإفقال ربكة للمنائكة إن مي جهع يلوم في الأرض خليفا and remember when your Lord said to the angels I am about to establish upon earth a خليفا a caliph a vice-gerent a caretaker one who shall inherit it let's just pause there for one second when God told the angels He's going to create human beings He didn't say I'm going to create human beings He didn't say men and women He said I'm going to create a species that will be responsible for taking care of the earth and those that live on it this is how He described us to the angels now the angels as we all know have no free will they're all good they're obedient they didn't get it they didn't see the wisdom of the creation of human beings and not in a rebellious way because all angels are good we all know that but they didn't perceive it so they asked a question they said will you place therein on this earth one who shall spread corruption and shed blood whereas it is we who extol your glory and hollow your name they didn't get it they said why create human beings they're just going to do all kinds of bad we're here and we're praising you and we're obedient why would you go and do that so God responds at first in a way that's a little bit unsatisfying but the story that follows it fills in the blank he says I know something that you do not know God has omnipotence or omniscience he's all aware and knowing all things so he says I see something I know something that you do not see there's a wisdom that they didn't get the story continues and as it unfolds we see what that is and right away الله سبحانه وتعالى says describing Adam and something very unique about human beings Adam being the archetypal human being he says and he taught Adam the names of all things now this little phrase is enigmatic what does it mean it's mysterious on the first glance but when you take it in context and you reflect upon the significance of this little phrase he taught Adam the names of all things what could he be referring to let's unpack it a little bit to teach Adam the names of all things you could say is that he taught human beings language to name something to know the names of things is to be able to articulate what that thing is in words language human language is in a different order than any other earthly creation that we are aware of human beings because of language and if there's any neuroscientists in here you can confirm confirm that it's because of language that we are able to think in very complicated abstract terms it gives us a cognitive ability our language does that we would not otherwise have sets us on a different plane than other kinds of creatures but this is not the end of of the characteristic that God endowed us with as human beings because all of that is simply a precursor or a necessary faculty for us to possess in order for us to really possess what makes us unique in this context and in this story which is free will it's free will because if you as an individual cannot understand the consequences of choices that you make then how can you be held accountable for them so having intelligence is a prerequisite for free will and this story as we know and we're going to get into it is about choices that are being made when they're placed in the garden and we're going to get there they make a choice but they make other choices afterwards and we're going to get to that they're not the only ones with choice though you can say well what about Iblis what about Shaytan what about the Jinn they also have free will true true but the Jinn didn't have the responsibility of inheriting the earth so human beings we have both free will and the responsibility for taking care of the earth for being accountable for how we treat this planet and those who live on it one another and the animals and the plants so the story continues he taught Adam the names of all things ثم عرضهم علم ملاقيكة فقارة أم بيوني بأسمائها ورائي وكنتم صاديبين then he displayed those things to the angels and said to the angels in what seems like a really harsh expression you name these things if what you say is true now they didn't really make a statement they just asked the question why would you go and create human beings so God says in response if what you say is true really what they implied that there's no wisdom in creation if human beings if what you say is true you demonstrate this skill and of course the angels are good and obedient and they acquiesced immediately they said سبحانكه glory be to you لا علم لنا إلا معنمتنا we have no knowledge no skill set no ability except that which you have imparted to us that which you taught us that which you have bestowed upon us إنك أنت عليم الحكيم you are all knowing and truly wise then showing off Adam he says قال يا آدمو أن بقوم باسمائهم Adam told them their names and as soon as Adam told them their names ولما أن بقوم باسمائهم قال ألم أقول لكم إني أعلم غيب السماوات والأرضي وأعلم ما أطلدونا وما كنتم تكتمون and as soon as Adam told them their names he said did I not tell you that I alone know the hidden realities of the heavens and the earth and all that you would reveal and conceal therein now here comes here comes another commandment and the introduction of Shaytan وَقُلْنَا وَقُلْنَا دِنْ مَنَا إِكِتَسْ جُدُولِ أَعْدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِسِ and we said to the angels prostrate yourselves before Adam not in worship of Adam but in acknowledgement that there's some potentiality in human beings to be higher in rank than even the angels one Bosnian Mufti put it this way he said angels are intellect without wind animals are wind without intellect or a little intellect human beings we have the balance of both and if we allow our wind our emotion to overcome and dominate our intellect then we are lower in rank than the animals however if we allow our intellect not to turn off or to shut down our emotion but to guide our emotion to direct it to steer it to control it and push it in the right direction then we can be higher in rank even than the angels سبحانكه سبحان الله he says prostrate yourselves before Adam they all did except for Iblis now Iblis wasn't an angel he was a jinn we can't even a jinn as it says in the Quran which means he had free will and he was jealous for many reasons but he said he was better he was made of fire human beings were made from earth you can consider it the first kind of racism arrogance bigotry but for whatever reason maybe he was jealous because human beings had responsibility that earth God is honoring Adam by having the angels prostrate whatever the reason he was consumed by that that jealousy and it blurred his vision it distorted his perception of the true nature of his relationship to Allah because it says he rejected God's command and he perceived himself bigger than he really was he gloried in his arrogance as Muhammad said translates it and he was thereby a kafid sometimes we mistranslate it as unbeliever but he wasn't an unbeliever in the sense that he disbelieved in God he was communicating with God and God was instructing him and he was rejecting God's command kafir means to cover up it means to cover up and when you do kafara that's a good thing kafara means to expiate your sins to cover up your bad needs with good needs so it means simply to cover up but kafir is not good it means to cover up the truth to deny the truth as Muhammad it translates it as well so he distorted the truth by having this inflated ego distorted his perception of reality and the true nature of his relationship to Allah is not good he rejected God's command so he made a choice he had free will he made a choice وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا وقلنا من حدينت الحديث، ولكنها لم تقوم بعمل بطريقة جيدة في القرآن لم تكن لديها كبيرة ولكنها مهمة لتعلم أن القرآن لا تنسى إيب لما حدث المساعدة ليس جيدة جيدة هذا ليست خارج الإسلامية هذا مجرد آخر في قرآننا الشيطان تقوم بجميعهم يقومون بجميعهم من القرآن ويقومون بجميعهم بجميعهم لذا أخي بردين وخواتي ومن الذين يأتي في قرآن أسألني أني أسألني على كل مننا لماذا نحن هنا؟ ما هو المنظر؟ ونعلم من قرآن أدم بعض المساعدة ومجرد المساعدة ومع المساعدة ومساعدة ومع المساعدة لتبقى أو تفرق أدم وإيب على هذا الحصول تفرق الله فأنا أخبرنا شيطان فأنا شيطان when he was instructed to bow لذا أخبرنا بردين ما يجعل أدم وإيب so human and شيطان so shaitanic when they all disobey the worst marata the difference my friend my brothers and sisters is what they did next شيطان سأسأل but it wasn't for forgiveness he asked for more time so he could do more badly أدم وإيب they both repented فتلقى آدمو and in the other narrative they both repented فتابع علي إنه هو التواب الرحيم and God turned back upon him upon both of them with mercy and forgiveness and compassion and grace so we could say as Muslims yes we believe in original sin but we also believe in original repentance and original grace and salvation so our story arc is different from what we find in some other traditions in the Christian tradition it's a different story arc in the Islamic tradition God is loving and merciful and compassionate and forgiving by his very nature and so when we are given free will we try to do our best to make good choices but when we fall short and we will to not despair to not give up and not entrench ourselves in doing wrong like شيطان did but to follow the example عيدة السلام and his wife هوا عيدة السلام in doing the hard work of turning back towards God the word in Arabic is توبا توبا means to turn and when we are committing an offense an aggression a transgression against God or our own selves we're turning a blind eye to God we're turning away from God metaphorically and repentance means you have to go back and face God you have to face what you did you have to acknowledge and if it involves transgression against another person you have to make up for that as well but if it's just against God or your own self you have to acknowledge that and do the hard work of facing up to that transgression that miss D miss step bad decision and turn back to God without despair that's why God reminds us in the Quran throughout the Quran that he is أرحمن أرحين the most compassionate the most merciful so on this day of جمعة I give brothers and sisters when I ask the question why are we here and we reflect upon the story of creation that God endowed Adam as the first human being and therefore thereby all of us with free will that we may make choices in life and what is our character other than the accumulation of our choices that we may make choices in our life that help us become better human beings and when we fall short we do the hard work of learning from our mistakes turning back to God trying to grow trying to grow from that those miss steps not that we may earn paradise but that we might be more worthy of God's mercy and compassion by having given it our best let us on this day of جمعة ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى for forgiveness for what he knows and you know that you did in transgression and in negligence and you will find God the most compassionate the most merciful the most merciful the most merciful الحمد لله صلاة وسلم على سيدنا محمد على سيدنا محمد my dear brothers and sisters we have purpose as believers our purpose is to try and become good people to have good character to try and use the free will and the intellect that we are given to try and grow closer to Allah سبحانه وتعالى more aware be more in tune and more sensitive and to fulfill our purpose of taking care of the earth and each other all those that live on it this is the story of our beloved Prophet Adam as told by Allah سبحانه وتعالى in the Qur'an and so in this last few minutes I want to share three practical things that we might be able to do to help us prepare ourselves for that standing before God which we will do individually on the day of judgment and the first one is simply to have the right state of mind the right state of mind what is it as a believer the right state of mind is articulating the Qur'an through the word سبحانه وتعالى now patience is often times misunderstood because we hear in the context of telling our children or being told by others to sit quietly to not move not make a fuss that's not patience by your brothers and sisters سبحانه وتعالى patience is to recognize that whatever you face whether it's goodness whether it's good fortune or misfortune that God who is in charge of all things is the source of that and the only question we ask as believers and we are very fortunate to have clarity in our faith to know what questions to ask and it's not why it's not why why did I what did I do to deserve it it's not the question of a believer the question of the believer is how how do I respond in a way that's most beautiful and pleasing to Allah سبحانه وتعالى that's the question we're not confused we trust in God's goodness we trust that whatever we face if we respond to it in the right way that we'll be pleasing to God as the Prophet Muhammad said عجباً لي أمره مؤمن فإن أمره كله خير amazing is the state of the true believer the مؤمن for everything that falls into her is good فإن أصابته صراء شكرا فكانة فير الله وإن أصابته دراء صبراء صبر patient فكانة فير الله no matter what falls a believer it's all good if something felicitous something some good fortune falls a true believer then he or sheenie is grateful and that gratitude is good for his or her soul and if some difficulty some misfortune some calamity were to befall a believer a true believer then that person demonstrates صبق patience but patience meaning a recognition that it comes from الله سبحانه وتعالى and the question is not why but how one of my mentors the late Dr. Hassan حتوت الله يرحمه when he was a young man newly married his wife and him and his wife they had a baby girl and he was off working his wife and the baby when the car they were in a car accident and he received word he wasn't with them he received word that his daughter died it was shocking his little baby girl died and when he received word at that first instance he turned to الله سبحانه وتعالى and he said يا الله you have given me my girl and you have taken from me my girl you have taken her from me how do I respond to this in a way that's most beautiful is it to you what could be more difficult than losing a child but if in that moment is emotionally wrenching as it is and heart-rending as it is to turn to Allah سبحانه وتعالى at that moment and recognize that he is the source even of that grief and that pain and to ask how is it that I can respond you're putting me through this tell me how to respond show me how to respond help me to respond in the right way and if we can do that for something as difficult as losing a child or a loved one then we can face anything that Allah سبحانه وتعالى chooses to put in our pathway towards them the second thing my dear brothers and sisters to prepare us for that day of standing before Allah سبحانه وتعالى is to have the right state of heart I teach at Bayan Clear Month an Islamic graduate school and we are educating MAMS and Islamic school teachers and principals chaplins for hospitals and universities military and the prison system and we have Muslims and even some non-Muslims take our courses and some years ago I was teaching an Arabic class for an Arabic class and one of the students was a Caucasian middle-aged white guy who converted to Islam he was a Sufi he fell in love with God Almighty he heard about Islam through his spiritual journey he ended up embracing Islam and he wanted to learn the Quran so he could have direct access to the revelation and he was an artistic person he was a musician and he worked in that industry full-time but he was taking this course because he was really driven to be able to read and understand the Quran firsthand and he was diligent he was a great student and when he would go to work everyone else he was repairing musical instruments in the local high school school district I come from Los Angeles Los Angeles University high school district everyone would be listening to music and repairing the instruments he would be listening to the Quran he would be listening to Arabic and he would be repeating softly to himself and in the era in which we live some people feel emboldened to express some kind of bigotry animosity towards individuals who are apparently Muslim who look Muslim who act Muslim and so one of his colleagues spoke to the supervisor and they said this person is reciting Arabic I don't feel comfortable so the supervisor called in this young man Paul to his office and he said Paul you may not utter any words in Arabic in this workspace so Paul shared that story with the class everyone was outraged this is you got to sue first amendment violation this is outrageous what are you going to do he just kind of smiled he was a gentle soul and he continued on his way the same person demonstrated some other kinds of hostility towards he figured out who it was so he went he confronted the brother he went and he confronted it but not with hatred he had a gentleness about it and he said I'm sorry I don't need to make you feel uncomfortable here at work the person who had been plotting and scheming and trying to get him in trouble and getting fired when Paul approached him in that way something moved him and he broke down in tears he started crying he said you know what it's not it's not really you I'm just I'm having some family issues I'm having some financial issues and his heart was transformed for Allah's mercy I teach you this in the Quran لا تستوي الحسنة ونسية ادفع بالتأتيه اكسن فإذا لدي بينك وبينه عداوة كأنه وليه الحميم إبل and good are not the same we're pale evil with what is better until the one who is like your worst enemy becomes like your best friend سبحان الله my brother is a firefighter and if you were to ask him what's the best way to put out a fire is it with fire because you hear people say all the time you got to fight fire with fire you got to fight fire with fire if you ask him you got to fight fire with fire and he said are you crazy you fight fire with water so what is this fighting fire with fire is you're desperate and there's a raging wild fire and you have not enough water to put it out you try and maybe light a backfire to burn the fuel so that when the fire gets there it won't have anything to burn and it will stop there but it's dangerous you start a backfire sometimes that makes the fire even worse and it happens all the time so this verse in the Quran and the example of our prophet محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم teaches us as believers we don't fight fire with fire we don't fight hatred with hatred we respond to hatred and evil with what is better with goodness with love because we're not desperate we have a deep well that's filled with the love of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and it's not going to be depleted no matter what we face so my dear brother and sister having the right state of mind to recognize that everything comes from God to have the right state of heart which is to respond to whatever we face and whomever we face with love and goodness taking the higher road because this is the example of our prophet and the wisdom of the Quran and lastly my dear brother and sister to prepare ourselves for the day of judgment to stand before Allah سبحانه وتعالى not that we can earn paradise but that we might be more deserving of it if we give it our best effort it's to pursue excellence in our action to have the right state of action which is excellence in everything that we do if you pursue excellence in your profession in your relationships as a father as a mother as a neighbor as an employee as an employer then you will command the respect of those around you and in putting in that effort and if you do it for the sake of God Almighty then it will be transformed whatever action that you do will be transformed and elevated as an act of worship and it will transform the perception one of the things that we always complain about as a community is that people misunderstand our faith well each one of us is an ambassador to the faith and if we pursue excellence we will be known by our action we have a pope these days named Pope Francis he's named after he was not a pope and it's reported that he said in essence it's been not been 100% verified that he said these exact words but in essence what he taught his followers was to go out and preach the gospel and if you have to but only if you have to use words in other words you should be manifesting your faith through your deeds through your character through the way you carry yourself through this world if we pursue excellence people will come to respect us for who we are as individuals and collectively as a community and this will be the best thing we can do to properly fulfill our obligation to convey the message of this faith this beautiful faith one really quick story a young lady who came who went through our youth group at the Islamic center of Southern California where I was the man for many years she went on to USC University of Southern California and when she graduated in the four years she was the valedictorian which means she was the highest achieving student but that wasn't the impressive thing she was asked to give the speech as the valedictorian but the impressive thing was that the night before graduation she was asked to give the speech as a as a baccalaureate speaker now a baccalaureate speaker some of you might not know what that is it's the most well rounded student and it's usually two different people that year it was they were both her she was both a baccalaureate speaker and the valedictorian for she not only studied French and chemistry pre-med but she also started an interfaith community service network a student group and she was engaging with an active within the muslim student group as well and she was the most well rounded student out of all the thousands that graduated that year and when she stood before the select group of people the night before graduation but invite only with trustees and faculty and students she gave a ten minute speech which you can find on youtube her name is Sarah Shahali in which she says to all of these primarily non-muslims what inspired me to excellence was my faith as a muslim subhanallah and this young lady was none other than the grand daughter of Hassan Hatoot اللهي الحمو who was granted another daughter after his first daughter died and this is his daughter's daughter she went on to harvard and she just graduated from there a couple of years ago subhanallah if we achieve excellence we will we will as individuals and community be on the road to achieving our goals here in this world and then next let us ask the law for forgiveness for guidance يا الله قرنا الحق حقا نرزبنا تباع وقرنا الباطلة باطلة نرزبنا اجتنادة ربنا هاتنا في الدنيا حسنة وفي الآخرة حسنة وقلنا عدام او الله forgive us on this day of Juma'a inspire us with the teachings of the Quran and the example of the Prophet Muhammad to carry forth that wisdom that the character of the Prophet in our everyday lives let us to improve our relationships within our family and in our communities الله let us to conduct ourselves with the highest moral and ethical values in our workplace الله give us protection from harm give us success in this life and in the next and let and bestow your mercy and blessings upon the blessed Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم I mean يا ربنان اللهم I mean I will be at the table in the back afterwards I have some information about the university if you're interested Just up and look there Exalam O Alikum