 Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, we are guided by this and we were not guided by the laws of Allah's guidance And may Allah be pleased with our Master, our Master, our Master, our Muhammad and our family and his companions May the Lord explain to me my patience and the secret of my one and only matter from the second to the first Respected brothers and sisters, we begin by praising Allah, as He is most worthy and deserving of all praise We ask Allah and we ask Allah alone to guide us, to prevent us from being misguided and from misguiding others We ask Allah to bless His Noble Prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah We ask Allah to bless His noble companions, His family and the righteous everywhere And finally we ask Allah to forgive us of our shortcomings and our weaknesses individually and collectively And we ask Allah to forgive us of our sins, those that we commit knowingly, unknowingly, consciously and unconsciously The last time I was here, respected brothers and sisters, I was speaking about the inner dimensions of the salah, of the worship of the prayer And due to the time we were unable to finish or to continue that conversation and that discussion And so inshallah my intention today is to conclude by discussing the virtues of the prayer itself Now when we talk about the prayer, and I'm speaking specifically about the ritual prayer or the salah Something as intimate of a relationship as that prayer affords us with our Lord, with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Something that is so profound and so meaningful, something that in fact the Prophet subhanahu wa ta'ala said Reminds us will be the first action and deeds that we are called into account for as the prayer And if that is sound and secure, then the rest of our recording or our accountability will follow suit in that regard And so the prayer is paramount, it is in fact one of the sort of determining factors between imam and kufr Between belief and disbelief is the observation of the salah That one cannot imagine that something that is so central and integral to the faith such as the salah Would not have in it and through it virtues and lessons and characteristics that we can attain That would have profound implications, implications that are found not only in the actual prayer itself And by that I mean what is recited and how we observe the prayer But also in the very form of the prayer itself That the very form of the prayer is not by accident, it is not by super, it is not superfluous It's not just incidental, but rather it is essential to the prayer As the Prophet again subhanahu wa ta'ala said and reminded us to pray That pray as you have seen me pray And so that is an observation and a reflection on the actual form of the prayer itself And so the last time we were able to examine and look at the prerequisites and intervals of that Of the prerequisites and the requirements before we even engage in the prayer And we talked about the wudu and we talked about the direction of the qidda And the importance and the value that that has beyond just observing the wudu or carrying out the wudu And the implications that has to the purification of that lies, of that which lies internally That which lies in us and the same applies for qidda and having a direction and intentionality and purpose in life And so if we can move from that to the form of the prayer itself, to the actual prayer We can reflect on the fact that one of the first observing acts or integral components of the prayer Is again that niyah, in the madama yubin niyah as the oft-repeated hadith informs us That indeed actions are but by their intentions That intentionality, having purpose, having drive, having a reason for why we do things Rather than just doing things haphazardly or without observing its intention Is the lesson here, and that intention whether it's verbal or something that we recite in our hearts Is an integral component of the salah But that should inform us of the purpose and the importance of having again intentionality and purpose and drive For the reasons and purpose for why we do the things that we do Rather than just engaging in ritual or engaging in the various aspects of our life Without any drive, without any intention, without any purpose And so we must be conscious of and be mindful of the fact that that niyah that we compose during our prayer Has consequences that go beyond just the prayer itself Not that that is a light or trivial matter But that having intention and niyah in all aspects of our lives Beyond just the prayer, but having intention and purpose in all aspects of our lives And this could have utilitarian benefit as well That is to say benefit that you see on a daily basis Imagine if you woke up and whatever rituals you engage in in the morning By ritual I don't mean religious ritual But rather just whatever you do, you brush your teeth, you take a shower You get dressed and you leave, you eat breakfast, you have coffee Whatever the ritual, the mundane aspects, so-called mundane aspects of your life If we pause for a moment and are more mindful of having intention and niyah and purpose By which we eat, by which we dress, by which we comport ourselves Before we leave to work or whatever endeavors that we wish to pursue Not to mention the very endeavors and work that we pursue throughout the day If we do those things with niyah, with intention, with intentionality and purpose That is one of the characteristics of a successful person Of people who are successful in that they are mindful of why they're doing the things that they're doing Rather than just engaging in those things, you know, just engaging in the motions Just going through the motions rather than reflecting on the purposes for why they do what they do And so niyah and intention and intentionality in all that we do is something that is of consequence and importance And something that the salah and the prayer is reminding us daily And many times and several times throughout the day And then the very first act that we do that actually engages us in the prayer itself The raising of the hands, the raising of the hands This is a universal symbol across cultures, across the world This is a universal symbol of what? Of surrender, right? The child is, you know, holding your hands up, right? Hands up, you surrender, you're submitting to something That is a universal gesture of our submission and surrender And what is greater than surrendering and submitting ourselves to the Lord and Cherisher of the worlds? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala And so that idea, that very, that is the overarching The overarching lesson of the prayer is that we are submitting and surrendering ourselves to a greater power To a higher power, to a greater purpose, to a higher purpose And that is Allah and the pleasure of Allah And so, but surrendering and submitting ourselves Not only when it comes to the ritual of the prayer itself As the Qur'an reminds us It begins, the verse begins Say that indeed my prayer, my sacrifice, my service, my living and my dying are for you O Allah, the Lord of the universe is for Allah, it is for Allah, it is for God And so, not only in terms of our prayer, but all of our endeavors should be mindful of And we should be mindful of surrendering and submitting to the will of God through all aspects of our daily lives In how we work, in how we live, in how we engage with our family members With our community members, with our brothers and sisters in this fraternity of our ummah And also, how we engage in society Having that concept of that we are doing this for the sake and the pleasure of Allah That is what we are submitting ourselves to And so, surrender and submission begins this very prayer And then, and this is not going to go in any particular order necessarily We know that one of the integral components of the prayer is the recital of Surat al-Fatiha And a few other verses of the Qur'an The reminder that the recitation and the reflection of the Qur'an Moistening our tongues with the remembrance of God And the remembrance of His Word, of His Book Is something that transcends beyond, again, just the prayer That we are reminded constantly to be connected And to have a relationship with the Book of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala And that that relationship should be infused in our lives The relationship with Allah in His Word should be infused in our lives That the Qur'an is not just something that we place upon the loftiest of shelves Or the highest place in our house, gathering dust But rather, the Qur'an is something, is a living, breathing document And a living, breathing text by which we live our lives By which we are constantly connected with That constant connection with the Book of Allah The constant reminder that we should be moistening our tongues With the remembrance of God And the remembrance of His Word, of His Book This is what the salah is teaching us Is to be mindful of being connected Being wired, if you will Just speaking in Silicon Valley parlance To be connected, to be wired, hot wired To the word of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala And if your connection is loose You'll find that aspects of your life are missing You're not downloading anything Because you're not connected You're not downloading any inspiration Any aspiration, anything from God Because you're not connected You're not hard wired You're not downloading what you need to be downloading Because that is what the Qur'an is doing us Is affording us a constant connection To Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala And so the recital of the Qur'an In the prayer is a reminder of us to be connected To the words of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala And so to begin concluding The perhaps the most crucial Or one of the most beautiful aspects I should say Of the prayer is the prostration Which is the symbol of the prayer The symbol of the prayer Is a place of sujud Is a place of prostration It is where we prostrate And we know that according as the messenger of Allah Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam told us That one of his miraculous things Was that the entire world was made A place of prostration A place where we can engage in the prayer But that act of prostration itself The most intimate act Of obedience and subservience To Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala In the words of the poet Iqbal from the subcontinent This is a prostration that you think is so difficult For a man to prostrate himself That this one prostration That you think is so taxing So difficult on your life Something that you struggle with Don't you know that it prevents you From a thousand sujud Because once you have submitted To the Lord and the creator of the universe To Allah How can you surrender or submit to anything else How can we submit to any other power La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah There is no power or might That is greater than Allah There is nothing greater than Allah Certainly not our base desires And passions When we submit to our nefs When we submit to those Lower animal drives and instincts Whether it's for hunger or thirst Or sexual satisfaction When we find illicit needs By which we satisfy those needs Satisfy those very real needs How are we... That doesn't comport There's some dissonance here How can you surrender to Allah The greatest of all powers The greatest of all things And then surrender to something As base and lowly As our desires As our passions As our ego But the very physical act of the prayer Of the sajda itself Brothers and sisters This one sajda Imagine that Right here Our frontal lobe, our brain Whatever you want to call it This contains our ego Our sense of worth Our sense of who we are I'm this My resume looks like this I have these initials after my name I'm somebody I'm someone unique I'm someone great And should be measured accordingly All of that ego All of what we comport ourselves to be Right here in our brains What do we do with it? A minimum of five times a day We literally put it into the dust Into the dirt where it belongs That ego Feelings of who you are What makes you different What makes you better Than someone else Because of who you think you are Or what skills or knowledge That you've accumulated That somehow makes you better Than someone else That sense of ego And having a sense of self-worth Is not something that's Necessarily problematic You should value yourself Allah has made you human beings And we are a beautiful Creation of Allah So it's not to devalue that But the ego That which makes us think Or better than someone else How much we have in our bank account Or what car we drove in This afternoon Those things That sense of ego and pride And arrogance Right here And we put it into the dirt And we submit it to Allah Because that's where Those things belong That's where we belong And indeed Even that sense of self-worth Is meaningless When it comes to How we feel And how we should Be subjugating ourselves To Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala And finally by conclusion Brothers and sisters By way of conclusion Is the communal prayer The congregational prayer Something that InshaAllah We will be engaging in shortly This is a beautiful reminder Not only of the sense of community That affords us That coming together Of all of us Look around The realities And languages And creeds And social status Right here represented In our midst And we will join together And line up Row by row Shoulder to shoulder Feet to feet You know Feet adjourning each other And we line up straight Before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala No distinction Right between Who is rich And who is not And who has the knowledge And who doesn't But we line up In a single file And we submit And we surrender ourselves To the Lord And Cherisher of the universe But the congregational prayer Is not only a reminder Of the beauty of our community But it also informs us A lesson in leadership Right Fortunately or unfortunately I will be leading this prayer Very shortly And I am the Imam Of this particular prayer And the communal prayer The congregational prayer Informs and teaches us A lesson of leadership And how we should Obey leadership Unless leadership Is doing something wrong Or incorrect And even if leadership Is doing something wrong Or incorrect There is a procedure There is a process to follow By which we correct Our leadership Right If I were to make A mistake in the prayer Shortly You will correct me If I mess up in the recital You will remind me If I forget a verse of the Qur'an That I'm reciting You will remind me If I make a ruku When I'm not supposed to Or when I stand up When I'm not supposed to Insha'Allah You will remind me You will correct me But you don't correct me By following By forming your own Jama'a Or mess with it Or mentalist somewhere But there is a process And a procedure To correct our leadership To correct our leaders And beautifully enough It's by glorifying God SubhanAllah Alhamdulillah To correct Allahu Akbar To correct a mistake And if all the men Are asleep The ladies The sisters Have a way That they can correct Our leadership An equal opportunity To correct leadership To rectify the course of action That a leader has taken But again There is a process There is a procedure By which we do that It doesn't require us To be disagreeable Disagreeable with one another To form different groups And offerings But rather We work together For a common cause And if there are mistakes That are made By our leadership By our leadership And indeed There will be mistakes Made by our leadership Because our leaders Are only human And so those mistakes Will be made But the question is How do we engage In a process by which We not only hold That leader accountable But what process And mechanisms Have we created In our communities By which leadership Can be corrected And yet still maintained That leadership Can be corrected But still followed And so that Is the beauty Brothers and sisters Among many Of the virtues And aspects Of the communal prayer And insha'Allah At-ta'ala Of the prayer itself And so I hope That we can begin To realize And reflect On the profundity Of these rituals These things that We almost go In autopilot mode And engage it But rather We should be reflective Of and be mindful Of the beautiful And profound lessons That these rituals have In our lives Not only with regards to The form Or the ritual itself But rather that something That transcends And should be infused In the way in which We live our lives I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say I say wa taqublahi ladhi tasa'aluna bihi wa l-ar-Raham innallaha kana aleykum rakiba yaihi wa ladzina aaminu taqublahi wa kulu qawnaan salida yuslahlakum amalakum wa yaghfirulakum hrubakum wa main yutiyu Allahu wa Rasulahu faqad faza qawzan hazima innallaha wa malaaika tuf yusalluna aalun nabi yaihi wa ladzina aaminu sallu aleyhi wa sallim al-dusseema Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala aali Sayyidina Muhammad mubarak wa sallam Rabbana laat wa khidna innasina wa wakthana Rabbana wa la tahmel aleyla israan kama amadak wa laladina min al-habilina Rabbana wa laat wa hamilna ma laat wa khatlana biwafru anna wadhu fi lana wa rahamna anta maulana faan surna aalil qawmi al-kiafilin yaa biqalib al-khulub thabit khulub al-aladinik Allahumma inna mas'aluka bihdaka wa l-jannah wa n'awudu bikka min safitika wa l-naab Rabbana aatina fi dunya hasna wa fi l-akhliya hasna wa khilaa adab al-naal Subhana rabbika rabbi hizati yama yasifoon wa salamun abdu l-mursaleen walhamdu lillahi rabbil al-alameen wa hafinu s-salam