 Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, we start in the name of Allah Azza wa Jann, the most merciful, the most kind. Allah Azza wa Jann, when we start with his name, Allah, we call upon the one that is universally magnanimous, the one who is rigorous in his qualities, the one who is majestic Azza wa Jann, the one who gives death, the one who avenges, but we also call upon the one of jaman, we call upon the one of beauty, the one that reminds us that he is ar-Rahman, the most merciful, the universally merciful, that mercy that extends to the believer and disbeliever, to the one that is grateful and the ingrate as well, that's that deity that we call upon Azza wa Jann, we start with that name and we start with ar-Rahim as well, the one that's particularly merciful to the believers, the one that has given us our particular mercy of iman, of having the Friday prayer, of having Eid, of having Ramadan, of having Jumu'ah, of having brothers and sisters to pray with, of having the Qur'an, of having the Prophet ﷺ, of having any blessing, you name it. And if you were to name the blessings, you could never encounter them, you could never enumerate them. We're into uddu ni'matullahi la tuhsuha, as Allah Azza wa Jann says, that if you were to enumerate the, if you were to count out the blessings of Allah Azza wa Jann, you could never enumerate them, you could never count them. If we were to sit every single night, or sit maybe one night, and it's a good habit to teach ourselves, is just do muhadara, just do istihbar, just have presence, to just have cognizance of how many blessings Allah Azza wa Jann has given us, that He's given us eyesight, He did not have to give that to us, He's given us hearing, He's given us seeing, right, just the five senses in themselves are blessing, He's given us an intellect, when the rest of creation, the rest of creation, has not given intellect, Allah has chosen intellect for insan. And that intellect by which we become either better than angels, or worse than animals. That intellect, the differential, the thing that makes you what you are, you are the human being because of your intellect, we are human beings because of our intellect. That intellect is either used to worship Allah Azza wa Jann, it's used to please Him Azza wa Jann, please His Messenger, Salah, send them. It's either used for that, and then when we use it for that purpose, for that end that it's been made for, we are better than angels, because angels do not have the capacity to disobey Allah Azza wa Jann. And so if we can overcome the capacity that we have in ourselves of disobeying Allah Azza wa Jann, if we can overcome that capacity and use the intellect to obey Allah Azza wa Jann, Allah gives us a station higher than angels. We know the prophets are better than the angels, Alayhi Musa'at wa Salaam. Right? Why? Because they are actualizing the capacity that Allah has given to them. And who is our model of conduct except the prophets? And who is the best model of conduct except our prophet, Salah al-Sannam? That's the greatest intellect. Whose intellect should we emulate, Salah al-Sannam? It's that intellect that we should emulate, that intellect that will make us better than angels if we actualize that potential that Allah has given us, that potentiality that Allah has put in us. But if we don't actualize it, and we allow ourselves to transgress the bounds and the honor that Allah has put in our souls, when Allah says, that we have ennobled the child of Adam, Alayhi Salam. And who is that referring to? That's referring to us. And what is the reason that he has ennobled them? It's the intellect. He has ennobled the child of Adam, Alayhi Salam. With that intellect, if we use that intellect for what it's not made for, for disobedience of Allah, if we use that intellect for making rouses and plans, for how can I displease Allah? How can I engage in sinful behavior that makes my heart happy but hurts the heart of the prophet, Salah al-Sannam? How do I engage in that behavior that when I do it, I find enjoyment? But when I look at the face of the prophet, Salah al-Sannam, on the day of judgment, there's no enjoyment in his face when he looks at me. If that's what we use our intellect for, this makes us worse than animals. If it's just reproduction, it's just consuming food, it's just survival of the fittest. If that's what we use our intellect for, it's worse than animals because animals just eat how much they need to eat. They sleep how much they need to sleep, and that's it. And they don't go beyond the bounds. And we as human beings go beyond the bounds. That's why Allah says, Allah reminds us that we are people who go against the bounds against ourselves, who go past the bounds against ourselves. We're not harming Allah by disobeying. We're not harming Allah in any of our disobedience. This is harming ourselves. Allah says, O my servants who have transgressed against themselves, and there's a Rahmah in this, there's a mercy in this, Allah reminds us that we've transgressed against ourselves, transgressed against ourselves, that we have forgotten why we were created, that we have forgotten that we were created as a servant of Allah, that we've forgotten that we were made to please Allah, we were made to please the messenger, we were made to follow the Sharia, we were made to be in line with the Sunnah in all of our acts, whether it's an act of happiness or an act of sadness, whether it's in our stillness or our movements, whether it's those things that are worship or social conduct, it's all ibadah so long as we have the proper niyah, the proper intention behind it. And the proper intention is to be in line with the Sunnah of the Habib sallallahu alayhi sallam. We cannot claim the love of him sallallahu alayhi sallam if we have no care for his Sunnah. If we love him sallallahu alayhi sallam, what do we want to do? We want to emulate him. We want to mimic him. We find celebrities that we love and we want to wear the clothes that they wear. We find our role models in our lives. We want to be like them. But who's the greatest role model? Who's the role model of all role models? Sallallahu alayhi sallam. He sallallahu alayhi sallam is the greatest role model. And so if we do not fall in line with the Sunnah, we are transgressing against ourselves. And then there's the mercy in that when Allah says qul ya'ibadi, oh my servants. Allah reminds you that regardless of the fact that you've sinned or you haven't sinned, that you're still his servant. And Allah Azza wa Jalla is kareem. He's kareem to his servant. He is generous to his servant. So that when we have transgressed the bounds, it's not too late to turn back because he Azza wa Jalla is our Lord. Our Lord is one that's more merciful to ourselves than we are to ourselves. He's more merciful to us than we are to ourselves. So when we transgress, he says la taqunatu mir rahmatillah. That don't despair in the mercy of Allah. Inna Allah yagfiru dunoobah jami'a. Allah covers, he pardons, he overlooks. All sins, right? And so on this day that we have, we have happiness of Eid. And every Juma'ah is in Eid. Every Juma'ah is a festival for us, right? Because we are emulating the Juma'ah in the Akhira with Allah's Azza wa Jalla khutba. When we gaze upon His face, gaze upon His countenance and His Azza wa Jalla. Every Eid is a, every Juma'ah is in Eid for us. Every Juma'ah is a festival for us. This day of Eid that we have does not just come once a year. It comes 54 times a year, or maybe 53 if it falls upon a Friday, right? We have the opportunity, 54 because you have the Eid prayer and then you have Juma'ah as well after. You have the opportunity every single year to say, what have I done in this last week, just like at the end of Ramadan? We ask ourselves, what have I done in Ramadan to improve myself as a human being? What have I done? What sort of tahdib? What sort of refinement have I had of my character, of my practice, of what sort of refinement did I have with my family? What sort of refinement did I have in my diet? What sort of refinement did I have in, whatever it is that you do in your daily life. What sort of refinement did I have in my school? What sort of refinement did I have at work? Where was the taqwa in these things? Where did I inculcate taqwa? Where did I inculcate God consciousness being aware that He Az-Zawajan is there? What did I do in this month? We do that at the end of Eid and then we ask ourselves, what do we do and how can I have Istiqama after it? I have tahdib, I have refinement and then how can I have steadfastness thereafter? That I have done, spent 29-30 days doing something good. How do I continue that habit? Similarly, every Friday is an Eid for us. To ask ourselves, what have we done in this last week? How have we improved the condition of our heart? How have we improved the condition of our soul? How have we made our soul more receptive to the rahmat, to the mercy of Allah Az-Zawajan? Those breezes that blow his mercy Az-Zawajan. How have we made ourselves more receptive to that? And that's a question we should ask, not just on the day of Eid, but on the day of Juma'a. And so we ask ourselves that, what can we do to make ourselves better? Because the believer is not the one that when something goes wrong, they point at others. They look inwards to themselves first and see what's wrong with me? Before asking what's wrong with someone else, what's wrong with me? Because if Allah wants, as Imam Abu-l-Hassan al-Sha'zani says that if Allah wants to humiliate His servant, He shows His servant the falset that the others have and veils from Him the falset He has in Himself. And so week to week, month to month, year to year, we should ask ourselves how have we improved our state? What faults have I found in myself that I can improve? What character flaws can I work on? Do I have outbursts of anger? Am I lazy? These are questions we should ask ourselves. And then once we are aware of the error, the next step is to actually do something about it. Mere knowledge of something does not benefit unless it has action. Ilm is not beneficial unless you have action. And so Muslims are people who are introspective, who look inwards to themselves, primarily before looking out to the rest of the world and seeing what is it that we can improve on? If you feel like you haven't done much this last Ramadan, or you feel like you haven't done much this last week following up to this Jumu'ah, if you feel like you haven't done much in your life, it's never too late to orient yourself, to check yourself. It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish. And your beginning is at the moment you make your tawbah. So if your tawbah is sincere, at that moment, if your tawbah is illumined, then your end is illumined. Ashaqat bida'atuhu, ashaqat nihayatuhu is the sage, Ibn At-Ta'ala As-Kandari, B'Him-Allah Ta'ala says, Whomsoever's beginning is illumined, then their end is illumined. And sometimes you hear statements like that and it makes us sad that my beginning hasn't been so illumined. I've had so many mistakes in my life. But your beginning starts the moment you realize you're on a path to Allah Azza wa Jalla. That's your beginning. That's when you have your submission to Islam, right? And so even people who are born Muslim, there's a day when you feel like you've converted to Islam. There's a day when you feel like this is not just an inherited tradition from my parents. This is real. Jannah is real. Jahannam is real. Allah is real. The Messenger of Allah is real. Hishariyah is real. These are realities. And there's a moment that comes in a person's life when they recognize that and realize that. Insha'Allah it comes. And if it doesn't come, at least we have the salvific technicality of the shahada. But there's a moment that comes and that moment is your bidaya. That moment is your beginning. And if you allow yourself to have sincerity when you recognize that Allah is real and His Messenger of Allah is real and every moment could be a bidaya, every moment could be a renewal, then your end is also illumined, right? If you're sincere in the beginning, you'll be sincere in the end. And so we should take today as our beginning and every day as a beginning for us. We should take every single day as a beginning. A new day that if I have not done much, it's not too late. Allah is the one who is ever-pentinent. Allah always accepts a toba of the believer, regardless of what is proceeding. There's a man who killed 99, murdered 99 people and then finished it with 100 and Allah accepted his toba. Fir'aun had the opportunity of toba open. There's nobody worse than Fir'aun. He had the opportunity to make his toba. All he had to do is accept. If someone as bad as Fir'aun can make it, we can too. And so we should have hope in Allah as a wajan that maybe Allah hasn't given us many opportunities before. We ask Allah to give us opportunities now to turn back to him. And if there's been opportunities that have been given to us before, we have gratitude for those who increase us in our opportunities. Because if we have gratitude, Allah will increase us. We ask Allah as a wajan that we be people of tahdib, of refinement, and people of istiqama, of steadfastness, of people of toba, of repentance. We be people of mercy that when we people look at us that mercy we ask Allah as a wajan to be people of kindness, and gentleness, and subtlety. May Allah as a wajan make us a people of peace that when other people see us they find peace in our hearts. May Allah as a wajan make us a people who see him as the only source of peace. The only source of peace. So we say, Allahumma anta salam. Wa minka salam. Rabbana aatina fid dunya hasana wa fid aakiratina hasana qanata bin naar. Rabbana hablana min azwajina wa ja'ana l-muttaqina imama. We ask Allah Azza wa janta have mercy on our teachers, particularly our first teachers, our parents. So we say, Rabbir hamhuma kima rabbiaani seghira. We ask Allah Azza wa janta allow us to recognize that Allah and His angels send their prayers in peace upon the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And that we are asked to do the same inna allah wa malaikituhin saluna ala nabi. We ask Allah Azza wa janta have mercy on our teachers, our parents, our partners, our teachers and our friends. We ask Allah Azza wa janta let us recognize that we do take the children to the right path of the Lord of Glory and the United States. We ask Allah Azza wa janta let us recognize that our children are the chosen ones. And we ask Allah Azza wa janta let us remember the things that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Shadu Allah, ilahe illallah, shadu anna Muhammad al Rasulullah Haya'al al-salat, Haya'al al-falah Adh Qamat al-salat, qada Qamat al-salah Allah