 We begin by praising God, our owner, our maker, and our praise will never be enough. We continue to thank our God, and our thanks will never be enough. If we thank day and night, with every second we had, it would not be enough. And then we remind ourselves that we're not made for this world. We are made for another world. We are made for another place and another time, and we're only visitors here. We're strangers here for a temporary short period of time, and we will always trade the Dunya for the Akhira. We will not trade the Akhira for the Dunya. That's our business transaction. That's who succeeds. We're not gonna trade the next life for this life. Doesn't make sense. It's not profitable. And then we warn ourselves that we're going back to our maker. We're going back to Allah. We're returning back after our soul is housed in this body for a few years. Then we go back and we return. The test is done. The life is done. How did you do as a father, as a husband, as a son, as a daughter, as a husband, as a wife? How did you do as a rich person, as a poor person? How did you do as a sick person, as a healthy person? How'd you do? Were you grateful? Were you patient? Were you consistent? We come on Fridays as religion is an alarm clock to wake us up from the hypnosis of this world and to remind us of our true purpose with true perspective. So we can pause the world for a moment and be with the creator of the world. So we can pause all the distractions and be with our Lord, our maker, our owner, Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. And we come on Fridays in this divine designed religion just like we wake up in Ramadan, we wake up on Fridays, we wake up in our five daily prayers. So we can continually try to get closer to God. That is our goal. That is what our want. That is what we seek. The epitome of stupidity is being satisfied with our religious state, with our spiritual state. And so we come and we'll continue to try until the day we die to get closer to fall in love with God and be lovable to God. And that's why we're here today. What can I do? What can I calibrate? What can I adjust? What can I learn? What can I tweak? How can I submit to God better? How can I submit to you, ya Allah, better? More. There's something more we can do. There's something better we can do. And today, inshallah, we explore the idea of it is our job to take care of each other's hearts. It's each of our jobs to take care of the ummah, each and every one of us. It's our job to take care of each other's hearts, to elevate each other, to be a source of joy for each other, to be a source of elevation for each other. Why is it that Haqqa al-Muslim a la al-Muslim hams? The believer has five rights over the other believer. You say, as-salamu alaykum, we must respond, alaykum al-salam. There's a lot of benefits and a lot of reward, but one of them is we don't leave our brothers hanging because we don't leave their hearts hanging. Behind the handshake is the heartshake. If a person walks in a room and says, alaykum al-salam and no one responds, what happens to that brother's heart? What happens to that sister's heart who was ignored, who was dismissed, who wasn't acknowledged? It's our job to take care of each other's hearts. This religion is designed that we stand close to each other. Why is it that one of the five rights of the believer, if someone invites you, you accept the invitation? Because rejecting an invitation is rejecting the person's heart. Now, we acknowledge sometimes we're busy, it's difficult, we can't do it, that's fine. Give an alternative, that's the sunnah. You don't have something to give, you can't comply with that request. Give an alternative because even though you're saying no to the request, you're saying yes to the person's heart. Sorry, I can't do Tuesday, but yes, I can take care of your heart. I can do next Friday, I can do next week, I can do next month, I can do this, I can do that. We give an alternative, and we learn that from the beloved of God, the best of creation, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. When the man, he never said no, he was never asked anything and he said no, because he took care of people's hearts, he takes care of people. How are you doing? How am I doing? How are we doing taking care of each other's hearts? Are we arguing? Are we fighting? Are we insulting? Are we offending? Are we forgetting? Are we unable to forgive? How are we taking care of the ummah? It's each of our jobs to take care of the ummah. Wa layansur an'Allahumma yansuru. If you give victory to your brother, Allah gives victory to the ummah. Intansur Allah yansur kum. In our micro relationships, I'll take care of this brother, I'll take care of that brother, I'll take care of this sister, that, that, that, that, and Allah will take care of the ummah. It's my job to take care of my brothers and sisters around me to help Palestine. Isn't there a metaphysical impact for the, for the good that I do, or the, or the sins that I do here, that affect the whole ummah? What about the man that came into the mosque and urinated? Urinated in the mosque. Compare that to when someone's cell phone rings. When someone's cell phone rings in the Friday prayer, what happens with the anger and the energy? Every neck that turns and looks at that brother is hurting his heart because you're making him feel uncomfortable. You're making him feel unwanted like he did something wrong. So we have to control our neck from making him feel uncomfortable. Yes, his cell phone shouldn't ring, but he doesn't need 70, 75 heads turning and giving him a death stare because his cell phone rang. Because when the man urinated in the mosque, what our prophet said was, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, let him finish. What is that? The carpet will get clean in five minutes, but his heart won't mend for five years. The carpet will get tahrir. In one minute, it'll get tahrir in one minute. It'll get pure in one minute. But how about his heart? If we make him feel unloved, unwanted, unwelcomed, humiliated, he won't recover from that for five years. What's more important, the carpet or my brother's heart? As one teacher said, we'd rather break the walls of the Kaaba than the heart of my brother. What is that? Rather break the walls of the Kaaba than the heart of my brother. The Kaaba stones, you know, break cement and it's blessed and we honor the, Allah honors the objects, the times, the places, the people we honor while Allah honors. But Allah's not worshiped with anything better than injecting a happiness in the heart of your brother or sister. So how are we doing with this? How can we make those around us a little happier? What can we adjust? What can we change? And the first thing that all of us need to take a moment to consider is our argument, our argumentation, our arguments. Because when two people argue, the only winner is Shaitan. When two people argue, the only winner is Shaitan. So if I'm arguing with my wife and Shaitan celebrates the most when he separates people and separates families. So winning an argument is almost impossible because you might win the argument but you lost the arguer. We can have debates, we can have discussions, we can have this. But arguments, it's not our way, it's a sin of the tongue. Along with backbiting and lying and mockery and curse words and excessive flattery that leads to lying. I'll say this, I seek forgiveness from Allah. He indeed forgives all sins. Bismillah, Alhamdulillah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. You know, we know the verse in the Quran about taking care of our parents. O the Blaine-Shatan al-Rajim. Muqadda Rabbuka Allah ta'abudu illa iyahu wa bil walidani ihsana Imma yablu ganna'indaka al-kibra A'haduhuma wa kilahuma Fa la taqul lahuma uff. Don't even say uff. Wa la tanharhum wa qul lahuma qawlaan kareema Wa khfid lahuma janaha al-dhunli min ar-rahma. Wa qul rabbir hamhuma kama rabb'ya ni'salira. Lower your wings to your parents. Lower your wings to your parents. Out of humbleness, gentleness, mercy. But you know, it's interesting. Also, God tells us in the Quran to lower your wings to your fellow believers. Isn't that amazing? Wa khfid janaha ka liman ittabaaka min al-mu'mineen Wa khfid janaha ka liman ittabaaka min al-mu'mineen Lower your wings to your fellow believers. Now, this is the punchline. Even when we are right and when we're correct and when there's a principle, it can be better to stop arguing and to lower our wings to our brothers. That's the punchline. Because as it's said in the hadith, when two people argue, if I'm arguing with someone and I stop arguing, you know what? Allah gives me instead of that. He gives me a house in paradise because I stopped arguing. And if I'm correct, the continuation of the hadith, and if I know I'm correct and I know I'm right and I stop arguing, Allah gives me a house in the highest levels of paradise. What are we doing? Arguing left and right with this tongue that's gonna testify for us or against us. May Allah be gentle and forgive us. We need to control this. I don't need to have the last word. It's not gonna help me anyways. And we know the famous hadith when the man was insulting Sayyidina Abu Bakr, radiallahu anhu. And Sayyidina Abu Bakr was silent. Our Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was smiling. And then Sayyidina Abu Bakr responded to the man and Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his smile disappeared and he walked away. Sayyidina Abu Bakr was perplexed. He went and chased his beloved, our teacher. He said, why when he was insulting me, you were smiling? And when I defended myself, you got disappointed and walked away. He said, when you were silent, the angels were defending you. And when you responded, Satan came. And I can't be with Satan. In other words, when there's an argument, Satan is there. Even if we're arguing for something good and noble because there's a way, there's an adab of argument. When it changes, it's no longer a debate, a discussion, it becomes an argument. Shala shaitan is there. And that's okay. All of us have these moments and all of us have these things and that's okay. And we're all training ourselves and Toba is open and the door is open. But going back to the verse, wakhfir jana haqqa lil mu'mineen, lower your wings to your fellow believers. Why? Because you are correct. Yes, you are correct. Yes, you are right. Yes, you have the right. Yes, you're in the right, but lower your wings anyways. Not for him, for Allah. Not for her, for Allah. I'm not gonna forgive you, be gentle for you. I'm doing it for Allah. I'm gonna be generous to the person who's greedy to me. For Allah's sake. I'm gonna forgive the one who harms me for Allah because I live for Allah. Walk for Allah, talk for Allah. Get angry for Allah, not for myself. Love for Allah, hate for Allah. So even if we are correct, it's an invitation to say for you, ya Allah, I'm gonna stop. I'm gonna connect the one who severs me. If there's anyone here who has a severed relationship with a father, a mother, an uncle, an aunt, a brother, a sister, a daughter, a son, that will block the prayer's profits for you on the sirat, God forbid. On the sirat, yom al qiyamah, when he's saying, Rabbi, salim, salim, when people are walking on the sirat and our prophet, salim, is there saying, Rabbi, salim, salim, with his shafa'ah, someone who severed a relationship, al qata, can block that. You are not the severer. Al wasal wa salahu Allah, connect with that person. Today, make that decision right now because you live for Allah. You breathe for Allah, you talk for Allah. And finally, in conclusion, our religion is so beautiful. It must be designed by God. And one of the beautiful things about this taking care of each other's hearts is that in the Quran, Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, says that people give their money to assailina, those who ask. Those who ask. In other words, we're not rejecting someone who's asking. Maybe you're not gonna give them $1,000. Maybe you're gonna give them $1. But we're not rejecting each other. Why is the sunnah? Say, when someone gives you a pillow, you accept it. When someone gives you perfume, you accept it. When someone gives you water or milk, a drink, you accept it. Because rejecting the pillow is almost like rejecting the person's heart. It can make him feel a little bad. And accepting it makes him feel valued, makes him feel generous, makes him feel important. I helped my brother. So you're taking the pillow, not even for yourself. You're taking it for him. He's offering you a pillow, you don't want it. He's offering you perfume, you don't want it. He's offering you water, you don't want it. You accept it anyways. Why? Because you make the person feel loved, wanted, valued, important, intelligent. See, I was thoughtful. I gave him a pillow. So you're accepting the pillow for him, not for you. Because this life is not about us. It's about Allah. This life is not about us. And that's completely contrary to the prevalent ideas today of individualism and freedom and entitlement and all these things that permeate us in the most subtle ways. But that's not our way, that's not our religion. We live for God and we live to serve others. We live for God and we serve God by serving others. Modeling the Muhammad in way, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, never saying no. And there's countless stories of our prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, where he would, the man that we mentioned earlier who soiled the mosque and many other stories where he would do the subtlest words. This man, he was looking for his son and he asked the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam to help him find his son. And he found his son, of course, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And then he gets back to his city and he's like, wajattu waladi, wajattu waladi. And then the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, can I ask you something? When you get into the city, instead of saying wajattu waladi, can you say wajattu fulan, say his name? Because some people, they don't have children. And when you say wajati, it might hurt them a little bit. So say wajattu fulan, these little minor tweaks of words. When Akrima ibn Abi Jahl came, the greatest enemy of Islam, Abi Jahl, his son embraced Islam and came, our Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said to the companions, avoid mentioning his father, because it might, it might, you know, affect his heart. And then when Akrima came, what did he say, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam? He said, I knew something good. I always knew something good would come from your father. I always knew something good would come from your father. What does that do to his heart? It's our job to take care of each other's hearts. And number one is our wife. Number one is our husband. Number one, before that, our mother and our father. Who else is gonna take care of our mother and father if not us? Who else is gonna take care of their husband and wife if not us? We have to elevate each other. And of course, our neighbors, if your neighbor's bothering you, don't call the HOA. Give them some biriyan. Give them some mangoes. I'm serious. It'll be more effective than calling the HOA. I'm telling you, because that's the prophetic prescription. Tahadu tahabu. Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And that's our way. I mean, may we follow the Muhammad in way, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Inna allahu wa malaikatahu yusalluna ala nabiyya ayyu aladina amanu sallu alaihi wa sallimu taslima Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ala Sayyidina Muhammad kamma sallayta ala Sayyidina Ibrahim wa ala ala Sayyidina Ibrahim fi ala alameena innaka hameedum majeeda Rabbana hablana min azwajina wa dhuriatina qurta ayunin wa ja'na al muttaqina imama Rabbana hablana min al-salliheen Rabbana hablana min ladunka dhuriatan taibaa innaka samia ad-duhaa Mata nasrukaya Allah Ya Allah, we ask You to give us victory over our own selves. We ask You to elevate the ummah, to give victory to our teachers, our scholars, our institutions. Give us victory over our lower selves. Give us victory over our inner dogs. Give us victory over our inner pigs, Ya Allah. Give us victory, Ya Allah, so we can have the strength of silence. Ya Allah, let us use our tongue to testify for us, not against us. Our eyes testify for us, not against us. Ya Allah, let us be a means of bringing happiness and joy to the ummah, Ya Allah. Let us be a means of elevating the ummah, Ya Allah. Ya Allah, Ya Allah, give us the strength to lower our wings to our fellow believers, Ya Allah. And forgive our sins and gather us in paradise. Don't let this dunya take us away from you, Ya Allah. Cleanse our hearts gently, Ya Allah. Bring us closer to you gently, Ya Allah. Ameen, Ameen, and we ask you for everything good that our dear Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, asked you for. We seek protection from every harm that he sought protection from, Ya Allah. And gather us in your heaven, protect us from your punishment in this life and the next. And send peace and blessings on our master, Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and his family and his companions and everyone who follows him until the last day. Subhana rabbika rabbil azzati ama yasifoon wa salamun ala al-mursaleen wal-hamdulillahi rabbil al-alameen Inna Allah ya'muroo bil adli wal ihsan wa ita'id al-kurba wa yanna'a anil fahshai wal munkari wal baghi Ya'idu kum la'allakum tadakkaroon Remember Allah and he will remember you and make the call.