 We have reached the ninth hadith in the chapter of Mujahidah, which roughly translates as putting in the work. From Ibn Mas'ud, radiAllahu anhu qad, salatuma an-nabiyya sallallahu anaihi wa-sallam al-laylatin fa'atada al-qiyam. It looks like we read number nine before. Does anybody recall where we left off? I believe it was 103 Shaykh? Yes, it was 103. We read the long one. Yes, we ended with the... Sidi, I think that's what we started with last time. We read the Sujood hadiths. After that, the long one, we said we'll start tomorrow. Yes, I remember reading these. I think that, excuse me, I did put something. Yes, we stopped in the middle of hadith number 17 because we knew we wouldn't be able to treat it appropriately. We're going to have to do a better job of keeping track. What I'll do is I'll make a test of G.M. for certain at the end, with every lesson, with the date and the margin, inshallah. And then we'll be there as a memory of the time that we spent together. Sayyid. So we have begun hadith number 17, abab al-mujahada, which is reported by Abidah. His name was Jundab, Ibn Junada, radiAllahu anbu an-nabiyya sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in al-hadith Qudsi, in which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Ya'ibadi, O my slaves, in ni haram tu dhulma ala nafsi, I have prohibited dhulm from myself. Effectively, in our al-Qaeda, because dhulm is impossible for an owner against the things that he legitimately owns. You could have an owner who makes oppression on something that he owns, even according to a man-made law. But does he legitimately own that thing, object, or person in the greater scheme of the universe? So for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, oppression for those things that he owns, which are those things that he has created, is actually impossible. So when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has said, I have legislated the prohibition against myself from oppressing any person, he is one making a statement that he has freely chosen, that he will not do anything to any of his subjects or any of his creation that is not in their best interest, that is not good in the greater scheme of things. He's chosen to do that, that not in and of itself is a wisdom that manifests in the cone, even though it may seem like a sorry and unfortunate and difficult state of affairs for us In the ultimate scheme of things, it is good because it is the choice of the sovereign and the creator. He has declared and promised that this is his free choice, because the reality is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not have to do good for anyone. There is no compulsion on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but everything that he does is essentially just, no matter what. So it's a promise that he will not condone either in any of his legislation in Revelation or in the Sharia, as it comes from the Messenger, alaihi salatu wa salam, and the revelation of the Quran, using the hermeneuil of the methods of usur al thaba, that there will be nothing there that is oppression for anyone either. This is what's happening when Allah says it, and he's modeling the source of goodness when it comes to the treatment of others, starting with himself. So if the zulm is prohibited from the divine essence or by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from his own self, then where does anyone else come off doing something that they know will harm other people and is unfair? Wa ja'altubu baynakum muharama, and then comes the command or prohibition, do not oppress or wrong one another. This is in Sahih Muslim. Does it get any more serious than this? This is your identity as a Muslim. Because after Bukhari and Muslim, what do we need? What do we need to say that this is essential to the nature of the identity of the believer in the world? Where Rasulillah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says Ittaqu da'wat al-madlum, fa inna hu laysa baynahu wa baynallahi hijab fear the prayer of the oppressed, of those who have been wronged, of those who have been unfairly treated because there is no veil between them and Allah. Are we thinking of a bunch of refugees in a refugee camp somewhere that somebody is forcing them out of their homes, fear the prayer of the people in the refugee camp? Are we thinking of the brother or sister in the masjid who has been unfairly marginalized and fairly treated and fairly forced out and fairly overlooked? Are we thinking of our family members in the way that we treat our family members because it applies as well? If we would only take a little time as educated Muslims and not Muslims who perhaps have never had the opportunity in their life to learn to read or to graduate from high school or something along these lines so we don't expect that much from them but as educated Muslims if we would just take a little bit of time to understand a little bit about how the words and sentences and statements of the Quran and hadith signify and indicate the meanings that they do we would see that that hadith that is narrated by quite a few narrators fear the prayer of the ones who have been wrong because there is no veil between them and Allah doesn't apply only to people in refugee camps somewhere that the application is general and if we wanted we could take it to another level and read the version in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal it taku darwat al-madlum wa dawkana kaafiren fa innu laysa veinu wabin al-layhi hijab fear the prayer of the one who has been unjustly unfairly treated and wronged even if a non-Muslim because there is no veil between them and Allah remember this informs your identity who you are as a believer if you want to go and testify at a town council meeting or a neighborhood homeowners association and you want to say we Muslims be careful it might be better for you to say we Scottish Americans we South Asian Americans we Arab Palestinian Americans that's safer for you to say that is a safer identity for you to cling to than saying we Muslims because now once you said that in front of all of those people every single person can testify against you in front of Allah on the day of judgment if you do not comport yourself according to the recipe, the prescription for healing that they need لو وديدنا لو أننا رأينا إخواننا oh how we wished and loved that we might see our brothers people who will come after me and believe in me not having ever met me he said that a person be guided to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala a convert to Islam on your hands is better for you than what? a hundred red Teslas right isn't that what he said? I get the narration wrong that's pretty much it isn't it? that was what يدخلوا هذه الدينة كُلَّ بَيْتِن وَبَرِن وَمَضَرِن أَوْلَا يَتْرُخُوا اللَّهُ بَيْتَ وَبَرِن وَلَا مَضَرِنِ إِلَّا اَدْخَلَهُ هُوْهَا دِيْن Allah will not leave a house of camel hair or of clay except that he will enter this dean what's the point of saying camel hair or clay? we all know camel hair means an expensive tent the best tents are the ones the outer tent is made of camel hair is usually black and then there's an inner tent that's made of quilt and clay why both? to say all houses no exception as if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said or his messenger Ali SA said Allah will not leave any apartment or trailer or estate except that he will bring this dean to it let's not be the people who stand in the way of that from happening what was the intention of Rasool Allah who was telling them for the shores beyond where he reached what was the intention of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq beyond the shores of where he reached what was the intention in Mishin al-Romar ibn al-Khattab and Atman ibn Al-Athan and Ibn Abi Talab Karram and Allah who wajahu or radiallahu anhum jami'an what were their intentions for the shores beyond where they reached Musa ibn Nusayr arrives at the shores at Masa in the south of Morocco in Sus to the Atlantic Ocean and he wades in with a sword raised and said wallahi if I knew that there were lands beyond this ocean I would carry to them this dean with no reward from anyone other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we were Muslim myself and my friend Abda Aziz we would go to the shore at Sebray just down from Rumson in New Jersey and we would sit we would imagine what was on the other side or listen to a lot of African music at the time but we thought that somewhere over there is something that's not here somewhere over there might be something that is better than where we find ourselves now and we used to do that on a regular basis and just imagine and think subhanallah this is your identity you can take on the mantle of that identity or you can leave it and if you don't have the capacity or the aptitude to carry this mantle then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is gonna let you slide but if you do there's a good chance that Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam will admit you insha'Allah but he probably won't want to get you wa la'iyyadu bi-Allah fa la ta'ala mu do not mistreat other people ya'ibadi kullo kum dallun illa min hadaytum and we went through this last week oh my slaves all of you are misguided except for the one that I guided so seek guidance from me and I will guide you and how many of us have questions and puzzles that we have to figure out in our life the reason why I do ask application is the marrow of ibadah is because in it you demonstrate that you know where to go to get what you need you know who to ask ya'ibadi all of you are hungry unless I feed them so ask me to feed you and I'll feed you ya'ibadi kullo kum aarin illa min kasotu all of you are naked except the ones that I have closed so seek clothing from me and I will clothe you subhanAllah ya'ibadi innakum tukhti'un bil laydi wa n'ahari wa n'alfiru dhunuba jami'a my slaves you sin by day and you sin by night and I forgive all sins fastalfiru mi alfiru lakum Allahumma alfiru lana Allahumma alfiru lana Allahumma hannu nasta alfiru kaa alfiru lana ya'ibadi innakum nantablu hu dharifatadharu ni walantablu hu nafreifatanfaru ni my slaves none of you are able to harm me such that harm will come to me and none of you are able to seek to give benefit to me such that you actually benefit me Allah does not need us the sooner we realize that the better Allah does not need me Allah does not need my prayer Allah does not need my salah Allah does not need my fasting nothing that I do brings benefit to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala if I were to fulfill one of His commands or avoid or stay away from one of His prohibitions it only benefits me of course for those things that I am the one who is harmed I do not meet the command or the prohibition but it doubly harms me and harms another person if there's a victim of this particular violation or failure to act but let's look more important at none of you can hurt me Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says nobody can hurt Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala if someone over there is not doing what they're supposed to do if someone over there is not acting as we believe a Muslim should act or doing the things we think Muslims are supposed to do are they hurting Allah? they're not hurting Allah so why is it that I feel like I have to get into their business why is it that I feel like I have to nudge someone next to me and point over there and say is it the way of the representative of the one who said I am a gift of mercy to the world and I say that I represent that one to drive through the streets and look at what non Muslims are doing saying astaghfirullah astaghfirullah doesn't work until you say it's about to go through them so I I mean my business is that I'm from this country and I'm in my homeland or my business is that I chose to come here and live here and act like I'm dissatisfied with here and I got a problem with here subhan Allah there are Muslim countries that a person could have chosen where there's nothing wrong in the streets and everything is just as lovely as can be no but there are no bars those doors and those buildings with no windows and stuff like that what people say is on the other side of that door isn't there right there's no discos there's no what have you there's no prostitution there's no abortion there's no homosexuality there's no aids there's no except for the age wards in every hospital in those countries but we don't talk about that because there's nothing labeled on the hallway to that particular ward but everything is perfect over there so if we're looking for perfection then let's go to the place where the perfection is there is no Shangri-la there is no Shangri-la really really there is no Shangri-la except the one that you make in your heart the peace and the serenity and the tranquility that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives to you when you accept his qada and his qada subhan Allah we can't hurt Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala nobody's hurting Allah maybe they're hurting themselves and maybe we want to help them in a way that benefits them but what it's very important that when we seek to help a brother or sister we stop we think first thing we do is we say is what they're doing actually permissible on any madhab because the rule of censuring others is that something that there's a difference of opinion on among the scholars is not to be criticized is not criticized you only can criticize what is agreed upon what there's actual formal consensus on across the board and then the way that we would seek to help a brother and sister is it a way to help a brother and sister is it a way to help a brother and sister is it a way to help a brother and sister is it a way that I've understood will help them and they will be responsive to or is it just a way that makes me feel better about myself or makes me feel like I'm here to go tell people off and let them know how it is because you know that sister she's like Om Reem Nal Khattab now what they say she's not like Om Reem Nal Khattab nor is the brother because none of us are like any of the Sahab and who's Om Reem Nal Khattab you mean Om Reem Nal Khattab in Mecca before the Hijrah or Om Reem Nal Khattab during the life of the Prophet A.S. or Om Reem Nal Khattab during the life of Abu Bakr al Sadiq the opposite extreme or Om Reem Nal Khattab the Khalifa because that's a different Omar now Omar was in a process of growth and development so maybe we can be like Omar like that let's be in a process of growth and development and become better people you were a great person yesterday but you can be an even greater person tomorrow inshallah all of us together are working on ourselves and becoming better people and you might inspire positive change all around you by just being and in Allah's agenda on Allah's schedule people will be affected by all those changes that you bring about by just being in the power the influence of being by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala unfortunately for the kids who still live at home with their parents it's not always that easy because the parents are responsible to keep the red lines but then certain things do apply to the kids too in this country it doesn't work forcing religion down the throats of teenagers just push them away and we have to think about that paradigm we have to think of that model right? one time, two times three times in the Islamic schools we don't want to have Islamic schools where kids are just counting the days until they can graduate and go off to college and just never look back because it was such a home I mean people who went to Catholic school I mean we hear a lot of people talking about their Catholic school experiences and they're not exactly trying to be good Catholics anymore you know I'm sure that there must be some people who graduated from Catholic school and stayed serious about Catholicism that's not the story that you hear in this country it doesn't work with American teenagers and if your child was born here in America well just compare how good is there or do how good is their English which language are they more comfortable with so in this country it doesn't work like that but if your child sees the serenity that comes from you after you say your prayer and then you fold up your prayer rug and go back and you're that loving parent that caring parent not saying anything about the Dean to them maybe but they notice that they see how the peace that comes over you or the fact that stress seems to be relieved when you regularly sit and read from the Quran and then you shut it you put it back and say nothing to them about that they remember that they see that they may not see it this month they may not see it this year they may not see it until their memories come back to them in their 20s or their 30s and they face something and say I have no peace in my life right now there had so much peace when she would pray something was going on between her and the one that she was praying to that gave her so much contentment and life couldn't have been that easy for her either and they might find their way back but if we beat them with the Dean no one wants to come back and embrace a stick you know if the Dean has become a stick we can't hurt Allah SWT so let's watch out No They are all in accordance with the most highest and God conscious heart from among you that would still not increase my kingdom one ayah Allah SWT is kanil mukamal Allah SWT is wahidun, faridun, ahidun sanadun ghaniyun he needs nothing but everyone needs him that position can only be for one those are the two conditions of the meaning of the word worthy of worship when we say that and ilah a god is something that is worshiped and people deem that something to be worthy of worship does it mean to be worthy of worship when we say there is none that is worthy of worship except for Allah SWT two conditions that this one has no need of anything beyond himself and the second condition everything other than himself is in utter need of him and if you think about it with your logical brain right you will see that that can only be for one entity one single entity and that is the one that is worthy of worship and that's the meaning of the name of Allah SWT as-sumad is the eternally besought by all that was condition two but we need to also add condition one right and then it becomes as-sumadaniya for Allah SWT all in accordance with the most evil and corrupt heart of anyone from among you that would not decrease my kingdom my slaves were the first of you and the last of you and the ins of you and the jinnakum all to stand up in one place and ask me at the exact same moments and I gave every single person exactly what they asked of me that would not decrease what I have any more than a needle if dipped into the ocean how much would that take away from the ocean nothing that's why we say it's not impossible for Allah SWT to make all of us people of jinnah here tonight everyone in this masjid throwing people in the housing development across the street too Allah can do that tonight that we even not be asked on the day of judgement Allah SWT could do that and we know that he is wonderful and wondrous and great and generous and he doesn't have to be and everything that appears beautiful to us is only from him and everything that appears ugly to us is only from him and in it is a wisdom which gives it a facet of beauty and we accept that and all we do is ask that he forgive us here tonight all of us here in this neighborhood in Pleasanton because that's not difficult for him and he can do it and it won't take anything away Subhanallah but we'll keep working like we're going to die tomorrow inshaAllah we might just carry our faults for us now my body inshaAllah my slaves there really is nothing more than your actions I keep track of them for you Subhanallah imagine an accountant who works for free Allah SWT says he'll keep track of everything for you inshaAllah that's kind of a scary bookkeeper Allah help us Allah be generous with us and gentle I record them on your behalf and then I reward you in accordance and whoever finds other than that other than khayr should not blame anyone but themselves we ask Allah SWT Allah we blame ourselves Allah we blame ourselves Allah we blame ourselves Allah we blame ourselves and please just carry us through because that list is just going to get longer and longer so long as you keep us alive and we're just going to do what Bani Adam does and we're going to keep doing what Bani Adam does we can promise you that but if you could just keep doing what Ar-Rahman Rahimim does then I think we'll be okay wa sallallahu ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala Ali wa sallam that's the end of the chapter and we're getting close to 8 o'clock right 6 minutes inshaAllah nobody can say 6 minutes to me without me going all the way back to that refresh your own Sayyidina Muhammad so we've reached the end of the chapter of Mujahidah with a lot of encouragement to engage in a little bit of Mujahidah or a lot Allah will help us and give us Tawfiq in our intentions to be Mujahidina la ilik know that there is no such thing as a Mujahid who attempts to make any type of Jihad in a set of circumstances that is in muqalif of the teachings of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his messenger that is in contradiction or in violation of the teachings of Allah and his messenger someone who engages in something can call it whatever they want but it's just criminal activity or misplaced and wasted effort because there's all types of Jihad the types of Jihad that are legitimate in a particular moment are legitimated by the circumstances of that time and place the authority with which the choices are being made we were much more sophisticated people legally 100 years ago than we are today we were much more sophisticated thinkers we were those who were educated among us may have been fewer in number but we were a bit smarter than most of the people that we have today even though our number is larger and when the prophet says that the best generation is my generation and then those that follow and if we were to take that to his logical conclusion that would mean where we are at now the generation that came to an end before our generation started in ours and the next one is better than them and the next one back in history is better than them and then we might be led to ask the question how is that possible if we have penicillin how is that possible if we have antibiotics and all of these other things that we have heart replacement surgery and we have a better human rights regime internationally and we do and we have and we have all of this thing indoor plumbing how is it that they're better than us when we have so much more and then the literacy rates are higher now than they ever been in human history how is it that they're still better than us and we keep improving and improving but that's true we do keep improving and improving and we do have a superiority over the generations that went before us in all of those things that are quantifiable in quantity true we are superior but in quality not the quality of human beings and this epic is not close at all to those who went before us so while mankind might be increasing in quantifiable material it is decreasing in the quality of human beings that they are the quality of decisions that are being made that's a discussion for another time so chapter 12 is the encouragement to engage in goodness and good actions at the end of one's life in the last days of one's life now so when the last days of your life start that's the time to start making sure that you're seeking for opportunities to do better right so whenever you've got that scheduled right that's your start date now how are we for getting close to the economy so we'll read the first aya and then we'll close for tonight Allah SWT says Allah SWT says men to that cow men to that cow and nobody understands nobody gets it nobody considers what that means getting on in years and the warner has come to you and who is the warner all of those things that remind you that you're getting older as your start date Allah SWT let us get all of the distance in a good fashion with a good ending pleasing to you and with contentment in our hearts not just in the life of this world but a sustainable contentment of the heart for this world the sustainable contentment of the heart in this world is a state of being that will enable us to also have contentment of heart in the next world Ya Rabbi Allah SWT Allah SWT Allah SWT