 Alhamdulillah, the month of Ramadan is a month of fasting, a month of prayer, a month of reading, of recitation, of study. And we fast seeking Allah's acceptance, His satisfaction, seeking self-mastery. And we pray also seeking Allah's acceptance, but we also seek the acceptance of our prayers. And the acceptance of our prayers and of our fasts are expectations that are appropriate for your believers, in that we do these things which cannot be quantified scientifically. We utilize tools whose ultimate utility will be determined after our deaths, even though sometimes even in our lives, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He always answers prayers. Sometimes He just says no. Sometimes He says not now. Sometimes He says, you know what, here's something better than what you asked for. Sometimes He'll know, I will test you, test your patience, and give you a reward for that in the hereafter. I won't answer your prayer now, I'm going to answer it thereafter. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always answers prayers. And it is to believers that prayers have value and they have merit. So we are constantly searching for information that will let us know how to gain a guarantee of our prayers. In one Hadith of the Prophet, alayhi salat wa sallam, he said, tarathatun la turabdu da'watuhum, there are three whose prayers are never rejected. And he said, firstly, assa'i murheena yuftarum, the fasting person at the time he breaks fast, first person. At the moment that you're about to break your fast, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He answers that prayer. And in another Hadith of the Prophet, alayhi salat wa sallam, said, in the assa'i me anda fisrihi da'batun la turabdu da'watuhum, that the faster has a prayer at the moment that he breaks his fast, it is not rejected. You may pray for many things when you break your fast, but at least one of them, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is going to answer that prayer. But he says that in this other Hadith, actually it gives the impression that all of your prayers at that moment are accepted because he said that the fasting person at the moment that he breaks his fast, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't reject his prayer. The second person he mentioned, at Imam al-Adil, the just Imam. And the third person he says, wa da'watum al-zum, yarfa'uhu allahu fawqal ghamam, the prayer of the oppressed. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He elevates it above the clouds. And he opens up the gates of heaven to that prayer. And then the Lord he says, bi'izzati la'un surannaka wa lo ba'dahin. He said, by my might, I shall come to your aid even if after a time. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always answers prayers. It's going to come to the aid of the oppressed. What's interesting here is that when we look at these three categories of people, the fasting person, the oppressed person, and then the Imam al-Adil, which often is the individual responsible for the oppression, the just Imam. And by the just Imam, the Prophet didn't mean the Imam of the Salat. You're talking about the just leader, the governor, the president, the emperor, the premier, whatever you call them, the mayor. That this is what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was talking about. That even this person, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will answer their prayers. But you're most sincere when you're fasting, especially right before you're going to break it. The prayer of the oppressed is the most sincere prayer that anyone can make because you're in this moment of desperation. And Allah subhanahu wa sallam said, he won't know, I won't reject your prayer. Even if you don't get the answer immediately, I will come to your aid. I will come to your aid. In another hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that there are seven who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will place them in His shade on the day when there will be only His shade. And the first that he mentioned was al-Imam al-Adil, the just Imam, the just ruler. The first. Why the just ruler? The just ruler has the power to inflict the greatest harm or the ruler in general has that power. To inflict the greatest harm upon humanity and upon creation overall. But also has the greatest amount of power to remove adversity as well. So when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives you that power, such power and then you use it in the right way. And it's very difficult because heads of states are often there targets for assassination, etc., destabilization, right? And then they may begin as good people, but as soon as someone tries to take their lives all of a sudden, they become the oppressor. But if you can resist that urge, right, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has a special reward for that individual, for those people. As the poet said, he said, speaking to the rulers of the world, do not turn away from justice and be constantly aware and be gentle, treat people with gentleness and show them good will and show them good will. A tabi'i by the name of Zubair ibn Adi, he once came to Anas bin Malik, with the number of his friends and they were complaining about Hajjaj bin Yusuf, one of the most tyrannical people in Muslim history. They were complaining about him. And Anas, he listened, he listened, and he said to them, Isbiro, fa inhu la yati alaykum zamanun illa al-lazee ba'adahu sharra minna. He said, be patient because no error, no time will come upon you except that the one that comes after it is going to be worse, hatta chalqaw rabbakum, until you meet your Lord. Smerch to whom in nabiyyikum, I heard it from your Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, it's like 2020 was leaving, we said, Alhamdulillah, 2020 is over, 2021 came and they were saying, Alhamdulillah, but then we had adversity, perhaps even more in 2021, 2022 has started, Alhamdulillah, 2021 is over. Allah knows best what this year has in store. We're told in the Quran we should not celebrate about things, at least not excessively, and we should also not become overcome with despair, that we are people of hope, right? But what's interesting about the Quran is that Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, mentions 25 of his many prophets by name, and the most mentioned in the Quran is Musa alayhi wa sallam and his experience with Pharaoh and the children of Isra'il, and as if Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in his final book he wanted to send this message to humanity about the most significant threat that will be against us until the end of our time on this planet, which is the matter of state injustice, state injustice, it's a matter of fact the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he warned us about the most wicked man who will ever appear that we know as the Masih of Dajjal. He said, maa bayna khalki adam wa qiyama sa'a as shaddu fitnatan wa a'adamu fitnatan min ad-dajjal. He said that from the time that Adam is created until the end or the occurrence of the final hour there is no fitnat more significant than the Dajjal, the false messiah, but who is the Dajjal? It is a wicked man we know, he's from Bani Adam, we learn from the hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. We also learn that this is an individual who has been living for a very long time. The Prophet told us that not a single Prophet has come since Nur alayhi wa sallam, except that he has warned of the Masih of Dajjal, and then the Prophet gave this no details about him. He said this is a man who will come and he will do marvels, he will be extremely intelligent. And then one hadith of the Prophet said, if you hear about the Dajjal, get far away from him, get away from him, a distance from him wide because he's so smart, that a person will come to him confident that he's a believer. I'm so confident, I mean, learned people, scholars, of course, I mean, the Dajjal, he can't do me. I study the Quran, I read the hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, but you challenged the Masih of the Dajjal and then that individual ends up following the Masih of the Dajjal. This is how significant that threat is, that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam warned us about the Masih of the Dajjal. He would do many, he would compel many to worship him, by denying them their sustenance, is one of the things they said about him. But the Prophet told us alayhi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as well, for our protection, whoever memorizes ten ayats, from the beginning of Surah Al-Kahf, Surah 18 of the Quran, then he will be protected from the Dajjal. One narration says that last ten, another narration mentions any three verses of Surah Al-Kahf. And Surah Al-Kahf is interesting too in that it is a Surah that begins with a story connected with the tyrannical king. The young people, they flee away from his oppression to protect their religion. And then the Surah ends with a story about a righteous king, Dhul Qarnayn, Dhul Qarnayn. And there are many themes in this Surah. The themes of strength, that's physical strength, but also the spiritual strength. We fight physical strength with our spiritual strength. This has always been the hallmark of Islam, that spiritual strength. This is our strength, it's the spiritual strength. This is why the prayer niche is called the Mehrab. The Mehrab is a tool of war, because this war ultimately is a war of the unseen between forces, angelic and demonic forces. The Mehrab is where we get our strength. So it's a story of strength, this theme of faith and courage with regard to the youth. They stood up, they said, you know what, we're not going to stand for this, we're just going to flee. Take Hidr, hide in the cave. Signs of endurance and temperance is a Surah that emphasizes the importance of gratitude. It talks about this story of these two men, who Allah blesses one with more than the other, the gardens. Right? And one, he, oh, I got more than you do, and hey, I don't think this is ever going to come to an end. And then all of a sudden Allah is out of here, destroys his wealth and teases him about gratitude, but also stories about patience, wisdom and humility when we reflect upon the story of Musa and Khadr, that Musa A.S. is himself a prophet, himself learning these things. And these are qualities important for a ruler, right? So the themes, if they understand the themes, and it ends with justice, when we speak about the Karnay, but again, we live in a time, a very confusing time. We have some very difficult last two years or so, perhaps even more than that for many people, right? And it is our duty as Muslims to remain connected and grounded in our religion, to value the things that make us special. And as not material wealth, as not looking good, the things that are valuable are our prayers, our facts, our Quran, our Dhikr, our dua, those things that are most valuable because the Prophet told us that towards the end of time, that nothing will be more important, more valuable than two rakat, khayr min ad-dunya wa ma fiha, it will be more or better than ad-dunya than everything therein. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He give us just rulers, that we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He not make us a test for them and might not make us a test for them and nor we for them and nor you understand what I'm trying to say, but may Allah not make us a test for one another, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He allow for us or give us the strength to overcome the inner tyrant within our own selves and to help us to die upon faith and protect us to the fitan of the final hour. I call upon the Qur'an to say this, and I ask Allah to say this to all Muslims. All praise is due to Allah. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds, the Magistrates, and the Peace, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The Prophet, the Prophet, the Prophet Muhammad, and his family and friends. One of the things that the Prophet, may Allah say it again, about the Messiah, was that although other prophets, they warned of him that I'm going to tell you about him that none of them they mentioned he said in the whole hour he is one eyed meaning that he's blind in one eye not that he's a cyclops but he's blind in one eye and most of the narrations say he's blind in the right eye so the physical defect but that itself is also reflection of the fact that his power more so originate from the material and a loss panata gave us all two eyes but he also gave us a heart to believe and we fight the material forces with spiritual strengths as well fasting of course is a an opportunity a tool for us to gain mastery over ourselves and to strengthen ourselves but we also cannot abandon material strengths and by material strengths I don't mean that we build an army a physical army but what I mean by that is we can strengthen the spiritual eye but we also need to strengthen our minds that we have to be concerned with moral truth but we also have to be concerned with reality and there are many things that are distorting reality for us it's media Hollywood social media even sometimes the narratives and the versions of history that we learn in and school that we have to be people who are concerned about going back to original sources that we have to be concerned about discerning between fact and opinion and not ignoring our five senses that we see something we hear something we experience something but then the newscast to tell you oh that didn't happen well how did not it not happen I just went through it I experienced it and this happens all the time they don't call a propaganda for nothing and so we have to strengthen our academic footing as well so the spiritual and the exponential or the experiential and the exponential the spiritual and the material goes what goes hand to hand if we want to fight this because we have two eyes a spiritual eye the material I the missy had the job has both as well but his spiritual eye is weakens and he will take advantage of us by making us thinking that the only thing that exists is the physical the material so we need to be concerned about the spiritual and the material and you're concerned about reality at any rate we ask Allah that he grant us the knowledge that we need to strengthen our faith and grant us the faith by which we're able to handle the trials and tribulations which may be before us and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he take us from this world even if it's if necessary if those trials will be will be too much for us in this life in the law in the law