 emanates his mercy on to us with his name Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim. The One who gives us every difficulty and every ease as a mercy on to us. He gives us iman as a mercy on to us. He gives us the need to eat, the feel of hunger as a mercy on to us. He gives us satiation as a mercy on to us to remember that he is the one that every ni'ama comes from, that he is the one Az-Zawajan, that every single blessing comes from. And we give thanks to him, Az-Zawajan, we give him Hamd and Shukr. We praise him for everything that he has given to us and everything that he has denied us of. And we give him Shukr for everything that he has given us and for everything that he has denied us of. That when he denies us of a thing, it reminds us of our absolute need unto him, Az-Zawajan. That I am in absolute need unto him. When I feel hungry, that I remember that Ya Allah, that I am not independent. That this is a reminder for me to renew my connection to you Ya Allah and to see you as the benefactor, to see you as the one who is the mun'im, the one who gives ni'ama, the one who gives blessings. And the path of the believer to his Lord or her Lord Az-Zawajan is the path of gratitude, the path of thanking Allah Az-Zawajan that they are on this path in the first place. And they know to be on that path to him Az-Zawajan in the first place. That Allah has not created us in frivolity. Allah Az-Zawajan asked, Do you think that we have created you in falling? Have we created you for nothing in vain? Is your purpose merely to eat, sleep, satiate your desires and to die? Is this the purpose of not just the believer but the purpose of every particle in existence? Every particle in existence gets thanks to Allah except the soul of man and jinn. Everything gives shukr to Allah and praises Allah Az-Zawajan except for the soul of man and jinn. That the cells in your body, the neurons in your body, they give shukr to Allah that Allah Az-Zawajan has given them existence. But the ru'h or the nafs that is in between our two sides, not literally if we open ourselves up we won't find it there. It's a spiritual faculty Allah has given us. That is the only thing that is an ingratitude of Allah Az-Zawajan. That is the thing that has what we call linguistically the word kufr means to be ingrateful. The only thing that is the only locus where kufr occurs is in the soul. It's not on the hands, it's not on the tongue. You may say words that are literally disbelief but it is the belief attaching the heart that makes one a disbelief in Allah Az-Zawajan, ungrateful for the blessing of the Imam. And gratitude is preceded by humility to him Az-Zawajan. That we are in recognition that Allah Az-Zawajan has made us Muslims. And the meaning of Islam is submission. And the meaning of submission, that's a translation, it's not the meaning. The meaning of submission is to enact the divine commandment and to avoid the prohibitions that Allah has made us people of Islam, of submission to him Az-Zawajan. And submission presupposes that the one submitting holds the thing that they're submitting to to be greater than them. That Allah Az-Zawajan has given us this deen and it's a rational deen that you can rationalize belief in Allah Az-Zawajan and you can rationalize the day of judgment and you can rationalize why we should pray to Allah Az-Zawajan. You can rationalize these things. That's the akal. But then there is the scriptural affair which we call the nakal. That which is relayed to us. And that, to accept that, takes humility. That I cannot know everything through the intellect. That I can recognize that it's not contradicted to the intellect, but I cannot know everything through this intellect. That I do not know the secret of why entering the Masjid with the right foot and leaving with the left is perfection. And why is it perfection because he saw Allah Az-Zawajan bid it. I cannot recognize that that act is perfection and the opposite for the restroom to enter with the left foot and leave with the right. I cannot understand necessarily why the opposite is perfection at that junction. But I do know that this is not contradicted to the intellect and I do know that it comes from him, who is the spokesperson for the creator of the heavens and the earth, Az-Zawajan. And I can recognize that and I can submit to that. That I can have humility in front of that fact. And so before we give shukr for the fact, for the sunnah of entering the Masjid with the right foot, or for the sunnah of showing one spouse love or one's children's love or one's parents' respect and veneration and love. And the sunnah of the Turaka'at after Maghrib or the Fard of fasting. Before I give shukr for that, I have to have a reverent humility in front of him, Az-Zawajan. And when we have that reverent humility in front of him, then we are able to recognize that I need to make shukr for this. I need to recognize the benefaction of the benefactor, the ni'ma of the mun'im, an i'atirafu bin ni'ma, minal mun'im, to recognize the blessing from the one who gave us that blessing, the one who bestowed that blessing onto us. And recognize that that blessing could not have come from me, it could not have come from you, that life, the life that Allah gives us, did not come from the material means. It's a spiritual reality that Allah has connected with the material body. And we give shukr to Allah, Az-Zawajan, that we don't understand what the secret of life is. We understand that this is one of the greatest blessings that we've been given. And we understand that this life is not, it's not restricted to the few years we're given in this realm. That this life continues after we pass and this life was there before we remember coming into this material existence, that we had life in the womb and prior to that we had life. When Allah Az-Zawajan asks us, am I not your Lord, qalu bala shahidina, then the believer says, bala shahidina, all the souls say, of course we recognize that you are our Lord. So we give thanks to Allah Az-Zawajan that he allowed us to witness there that he is our Lord and we give thanks to Allah that he has allowed us to witness here that he is our Lord. And that we say with that gratitude, Ya Allah, that if I give you this gratitude, you have said, la in shakaratum la azidannakum, that if you have, if you give gratitude that I will increase you, that Ya Allah, I give you gratitude for this iman. Allow me to have increased in this iman till this soul passes from my body. Give me ziyada in this iman in whatever modality that means. Ya Allah, give me iman when my soul is being taken from me, when it matters most. Ya Allah, allow me to recognize, inna man aamanu bi khwati miha. Ya Allah, allow me to recognize that actions are only judged upon the finality of that action. That this iman, Ya Allah, you've given it to me at this moment, on this Friday, at this Juma'ah, when others do not have the iman, do not have the blessing of knowing to be at Juma'ah or to pray the Juma'ah prayer and to go home and later pray the Asr prayer and then later to go home and pray the Maghrib and so on and so forth. Ya Allah, that those people have not been given that. Ya Allah, I thank you for the fact that you have allowed me to know this reality and that the fact that I know this reality now do not take it away from me because you also say, Ya Allah, wa la inka farthum inna aadabira shadee that if you are ingrateful, literally ingrateful, it means if you disbelieve then my punishment is severe but literally if you have ingratitude then my punishment is severe and what can be more severe in terms of punishment than Allah taking this blessing of iman from us. So we ask Allah that He allows us to be people who have gratitude for the blessings that we've been given, who have gratitude for the fact that we have the sunnah, that we have our sunnahs, we have gratitude for the fact that we have nawaafil to fill in the gaps in our fara'id. Allah has given us the nawaafil, these extra prayers to fill in the gaps and then when those gaps are filled then those nawaafil become acts by which we come closer to Allah Azza wa Jalla, we gain His divine proximity until He becomes the eye which we see as the Prophet ﷺ says, the famous hadith and the hand by which He grasps that we see Allah Azza wa Jalla manifest before every action that we see the command and prohibition of Allah before we do any action This is a very simple deen, we're not asked for much more than just giving shukr for the fact that we're part of this ummah, the ummah of the Prophet ﷺ and that shukr is what brings about the ibadah, that shukr brings about the value that we give to the ibadah. If we see it as a sort of trade between us and Allah, that if we see our ibadah as merchandise that Allah buys from us with our time, if that's how we see it then that's all we receive from it. But if we value that ibadah, if we recognize that the ibadah is the very essence of our felicity, of our sa'ada, of our happiness, this ibadah is sa'ada. This worship is your happiness. If we see it as that, then every raka'a you pray is a raka'a that you pray with khushu'u, that you pray with presence. Every fast you fast is the fast of presence. Every time you say subhanallah or astaghfirullah or alhamdulillah that's a thicker of presence. That every time that you give sa'adaqah, that is a sa'adaqah of presence where you say, Ya Allah, I thank you for the fact that you allow me to give this sa'adaqah. This is not me blessing your servant, Ya Allah, that this is you blessing me by allowing me to give away this money and purify my wealth. Every hajj that you make or every umrah that you make is in hajj or umrah with presence. When you see that act as the most valuable thing, you don't see it simply as fulfilling an obligation nor do you see it as a trade with you and Allah. That when you stand up and make shukr, when you pray sa'adaqah to shukr, that the shukr you give for that sa'adaqah is the fact that Allah gave you that sa'adaqah and not for the whatever thing you're making shukr for. When you say alhamdulillah, that you say alhamdulillah for the fact that Allah gave you the ability to say alhamdulillah and not for the thing that you're praising them for. An Imam al-Junaid, al-Rahimullah ta'ala, the Imam al-Ta'ifatain, the Imam of the inward and the outward sciences, the Imam al-Junaid said that shukr is to see, to see not the ni'mah but to see the mun'in. Shukr is to see not the blessing but the one who gave you the blessings. May Allah make us a people who see him as the source of all blessings. May Allah give us gratitude in our hearts for being part of the ummah of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. May Allah give us gratitude for the sunnah of knowing to drink water in three sifts. May Allah give us gratitude for knowing where our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is buried, where his blessed body is buried. May Allah give us gratitude for the ka'bah. May Allah give us gratitude for our fellow brothers and sisters. May Allah give us gratitude for our fellow believers. May Allah give us gratitude for the ability to give da'a for those who have not yet received the blessing that we have been given. May Allah give us gratitude and to see that the thing that we give him gratitude for is something of immense value. May Allah make us people who consider and deem him to be the most valuable things and his Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam to be the most valuable source of practice. May Allah Azawajan give us gratitude for the sunnah. May Allah Azawajan give us gratitude for the fact that we give him gratitude and may Allah make us have solace in the fact that he is our source of gratitude. And so we say that when we realize that he is our source of salam and make our gratitude a source of salam and a source of solace. We say, Allahumma anta salam wa minka salam taba'ra tayyadun jalani wal ikram. Hayyina wa adkhilna da'a rasalam. Rabbana aatina fid baniah hasana wa fil aakhirati hasana wa qina aathab al-naar. Rabbana hablana min azwajina wa dhiriyatina qurrata'a. Yuhum wa ja'anna limuttaqina imama. May Allah Azawajan give us gratitude for our teachers, particularly our first teachers. So we say, Rabbir ham huma kuma rabbiyan sazeera. Ya Allah have mercy on our parents as they had mercy on us when we were young. Rabbir ham huma kuma rabbiyan sazeera. Rabbir ham huma kuma rabbiyan sazeera. And may Allah Azawajan give us gratitude that we know that Allah and His angels send their benedictions and salutations, His prayers and peace on His beloved sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that we're asked to do the same. Allah o Allah ha wa mlā'i qatuhun yusallu'n a'alana nabi. Yā ayyuh al-nadina āmonu sallu'n alayhim wa sallimu tasneemah. Allahumma salli'ala sayyidina muḥammad wa'ala āli sayyidina muḥammad wa'ala azwaji sayyidina muḥammad wa'ala as-hābi sayyidina muḥammad wa'ala atbā'i sayyidina muḥammad wa'ala ahbābi sayydina muḥammad wa'ala ummaty sayyidina muḥammad wa bariqa sayyidina muḥammad tzanniyyā'unah. إِنَّ اللَّهِ إِمْرُ بِالْعَدِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِتَا إِذِنْ قُرْبَةَ وَيَنْهَا عَنِ الفَحْشَاءِ وَمُنْكَرِ وَالْبَغِيْ يَعِذُكُمْ نَعَلَّكُمْ تِذَكَّرُونْ أُذْكُرُ اللهِ يَذْكُرْكُمْ رَمَمْرَةَ أَلْحِمْ رَمَمْرِ يُوْ وَدِعُوْهُ يَاستَجِبِ لَكُمْ Call upon Him and He will answer you. وَالَذِكْرُوا اللَّهِ أَكْبَرْ And their remembrance of Allah is greater. والله يعلم ما تسنعون وَأقِلِ الصَّلَى