 So today is February 9th and there's a lot of important months of our year that everyone likes to know. The same one that knows me when I give a talk, I'd like to be able to connect us with our history. Because we have a tendency of forgetting. We have a tendency of forgetting what happened yesterday. So this is all important information for us because it reminds us of who we are, where we came from, and where we're going. And we all know that we are destined to return to the presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we say inna nindadhi wa inna inna hira jiyoon. In order for you to return you have to know where you came from. There was an origin and there was a day that all of our souls stood in straight lines in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and recognized him subhanahu wa ta'ala in his magnanimity as our Lord. And so we're now in a situation where we have a history and we have to understand what our origin is as a people, as a community, as a culture. So on the fifth day of Jama'at al-Hawwal, this was the birth of our mother, Ibn Zayn al-Shinq Ali. Ibn Zayn al-Kubra, the sister of Imam al-Kusayn. So we're now in a situation where we have a history and we have to understand what our origin is as a people, as a community, as a culture. So Ibn Zayn al-Kubra, the sister of Imam al-Kusayn. And one of the great leaders of our ummah and one of the incredible examples for any woman to have as a person coming into our maturity, looking at her life example and studying, understanding her piety and her ability to speak and truth in the face of injustice. The fifteenth day was the birth of Imam Zayn al-Abidi, the sole member of Imam al-Kusayn's male family to survive al-Kubra. The twentieth day of Jama'at al-Hawwal marks the day that Sultan Muhammad al-Fatiha opened Constantinople. I actually mentioned the same event some years ago. I think it was maybe three or four years ago in the same place. Now he's the person that the Prophet ﷺ saw or mentioned in the hadith when he says, Constantinople shall be conquered. And he says, ni'imatil amidin. How blessed the commander. How blessed the arms. This hadith had such an impact upon so many of the Sahaba that if we were to go to Constantinople today, Istanbul, you'll find many Sahaba that are buried there. In particular, Ayyub al-Ansari. Who was at the time under the army of Sayyidina Muawiyah? And he went to attempt to conquer Constantinople at age 83. And that is where he was martyred and where he's buried. Because he remembered this hadith, that Constantinople would be open for us. And if you were to go to this day, in certain parts of the city, you will actually see this hadith written outside of Topkapi palace in many other places. So, Saddam Muhammad, in fact, this hadith is narrated in the Imam Ahmad collection, Imam Tabarani, in Bukhari Shari, Imam Suyud's collections, and Hafzat Mubarak. He was Hanfi in his spiq. He was Maturidi in his aqida and he was Qadri in his hadith. There were 14 attempts on his life. 14 times people tried to kill him in a sasvaitan. When he finally died he was due to poisoning, but he was aged 49. He was a young man when he died. He was tall. He was muscular. And he had a full face. He was, according to all the people of his time, one of the most knowledgeable human beings alive at his time. He was foremost in poetry. In fifth, he was an artist. He was a master of the Arabic language, of science, mathematics, astronomy, and theology. And he had mastered Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Greek, and Latin. This was how a leader was developed. We have leaders now that can't even speak their own native language. They don't even make sense when they speak. This is how a leader was developed, identified, cultivated, and brought up in order to lead a collection of people, a community of people. He never disclosed his secrets to people. He kept his plans close to his chest. And they say about him, and even many of the people around him in his inner circle, said that he was unparalleled in controlling his nafsya, a tremendous ability to control his lower self. And he was always calmed in the face of tribulation and trouble. He conquered Serbia, Albania, Bosnia, Romania, a portion of the Greek kingdom, Hungary, and Monerovia. And when he expanded the empire, he set over 40,000 prisoners free, just as a showing gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He codified the criminal justice system and constitutional law in the Ottoman Empire. Interestingly enough, if a person wants to understand the nature of the dunya, quite literally, because I've only mentioned he codified the criminal law system, where the head or the main prison was in all of Istanbul, today stands built in the exact same building, stands the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. If that is not an analogy for how to understand dunya, I don't know what is. This was the public jail, the public jail for criminals, like the dungeons where they put criminals. What stands there today, they bought the exact same building and they just built the inside differently, is the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Think of that as a sign to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. His enemies that tried to fight against him, they called him the Great Eagle, just out of sheer reverence for who he was. The head of the Greek Orthodox Church at that time was in Istanbul. The Christians were scared. He codified it, he protected it for them. To this day, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church still remains in Istanbul. He protected the churches in the synagogues, he protected religious freedoms, and even when he converted the Hagia Sophia into the masjid, he didn't destroy all of the previous relics that were there, he simply covered them up, and on Sundays he would allow the Christians to worship inside of the building. He divided it and allowed the Christians to use it for those mass service sometimes. It was an incredible view to be. February 21st, this month is also the month of black history. And as Muslims living in this country, we should understand that we are not present here. We don't preserve our tradition here, we don't have a connection with this dean unless we understand the people that came before us. And that there must be a recognition of the African American community and what they did to preserve our dean in this country. In particular on February 21st, the martyrdom of al-Hajmah al-Shaba'z al-Nalqa al-Aqsa. Shaqqanza told me that he had a chance to go and see the Qur'an, that al-Nalqa al-Aqsa al-Hajmah al-Shaba'z studied. He said it epitomized a person who was dedicated to God, who was searching for the truth. He said he saw notes and highlights literally on every single page of the Qur'an. It just wasn't underlined or highlighted, there were specific notes written. And references from one surah to the other, connecting different ideas, connecting commandments, Qur'anic commandments. Like Imam al-Haddad says when you read the Qur'an, don't think, just don't read it like a story. Look at the Qur'anic injunctions. Look at the prohibitions. Look at the good advice. All of this was studied deeply. How many of us in this room can literally say that we have read the Qur'an, cover to cover, not just in the Arabic language. Some of us may not have even done that. We shouldn't be afraid of emotional practices, but really trying to understand what our Lord has told us to do. This advice is for myself. Wa-Lah-il-Azim, it's for me. I don't need to be a hypocrite, let me shape and form. This is truly the commandment of Allah SWT. This is the infinite speech of Allah SWT. We are supposed to read and understand. So Ibn Atta'Allah starts. I'm going to give some good advice from Ibn Atta'Allah. He says in Tajr al-Rus, he says, when you enter into the prayer, you enter into a private conversation with Allah SWT. He says, and you talk to the Prophet, for you say, peace be on to you. ayyuha nabiyya. Wa-rahmatullahi wabarakatuh. As-salamu alaikum ayyuha nabiyya wa-rahmatullahi wabarakatuh. And he says in the Arabic language, the Arabs only use ayyuha followed by a definite noun when they're actually addressing a person directly. Some of the awliya, some of the ulama, they're not necessarily invisible in court, but they would not continue in their prayer until they got to this place and were present with the Prophets also. Because they realized that they were sending their salams to the Prophet. So even Arabic, Shaykh al-Aqbar says in Mishkat al-Anwar, he actually specifically talks about al-Qadir al-Qadir, narrated by Abu Huraira. Because we have to understand, what are we saying to God in our prayer? So as Abu Huraira said, I heard the Messenger of Allah SWT, Allah SWT says, I have divided my prayer into two halves, between me and my servant. And my servant shall have that which he asks. When the servant says, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen, praise me to Allah, Lord of the Universe. Allah SWT says, my servant has praised me. This is the dialogue. You've just praised Allah SWT, and there's a recognition. Ar-wahman m'roheem, the compassionate, the merciful. Allah says again, my servant has repeated my prayers. Maliki yawm ad-dila, sovereign king of the day of judgment. Allah SWT says, my servant has glorified me and in one narration, the Prophet SAW said, my servant has given himself over to me. It is you who we adore, and whom you we ask for. And Allah says, this is between me and my servant. And my servant shall have that which he asks. And when he says, Ehidina sirat al-ustaqeem, sirat al-ladina hanam ta'aleehim, aghaid al-madadoubi al-eem, madad al-eem, Allah SWT says, this belongs to my servant. And my servant shall have that for which he asks. So when we recite the prayer, we recite the Fatiha, we should recite it in presence. So we should understand that there is a dialogue happening between the one who is worshipping and the one who is worshipping. There is a dialogue happening between the slave and the master. He continues. Now that we understand, even just one portion of what the prayer is, one portion of the Fatiha, he says, Ibn Anta'Allah, he says, two units of prayer in the middle of the night are better than a thousand rakahs in the day. And you only offer such prayers to find them that on the Yom tiyamah they will weigh heavily on your scale of good deeds. Then he asks the question to you, does anyone hire a servant or a worker only to find him eating and sleeping? He says, remember that you are a servant who has been purchased by Allah SWT. You are a servant who has been purchased by God. Allah SWT Indeed Allah SWT has purchased from the believers their lives and their property in exchange of giving and paradise. In exchange of paradise. Allah SWT has purchased from the believers, from the Mu'mineen, their lives and their properties. In exchange for Jannah. A servant can't sit around and just eat and sleep all day. You actually have to do work. You wouldn't hire your gardener or people to come clean your home or people to do work around your home or employees if you're in a position of leadership. Any of those things that they only ate and slept while they were getting paid on the job. So the question you have to ask yourself is what am I doing for Allah SWT? How am I being employed and being serviced? How am I going to service the community? How am I going to give back? How am I being a good adult? And then he says anyone who does not place the obligations of Allah SWT upon himself will find himself or his nafs clinging to him constantly and pulling him down. And anyone who does not make demands of himself they'll find that the nafs will make demands of him. Obey me. Feed me. Continue to do things for me rather than for Allah SWT. Don't let go of your money. I need it. I need to increase the amount of money I have in the bank or whatever it is. Because were you to place yourself into the burdens of obedience of Allah your nafs would not demand anything regarding disobedience from you. You wouldn't have the time. If you demand from your nafs obedience to Allah SWT the nafs will serve you. Imam Khazali says it's like training a dog. When you tell the dog you can't be nice to it all the time. You actually have to tell the dog sit down and be firm with it. That's when it sits. When you say roll over it rolls over. You don't do it kind of be nice to it all the time. You actually must be firm in many cases. The same applies to the nafs. Like I said this is advice to me. The righteous and the devotees they don't aimlessly cruise around at community celebrations. This is how he describes it. He says do not indulge yourself and amuse yourself too much. For this will distract you from your night prayers. It is said to him you distracted yourself away from us so we distracted you away from worshiping us. He says again two rakahs in the night will weigh heavier for you from the mountain of Bukhul and this is something amazing because I just have my trees trimmed at home. This is actually the most perfect time of the year to actually have your trees trimmed. If any of you need to do it this is the time. Quite literally. He says but for the members of the body that have become too rigid for Ibadah they're only fit for cutting off just like you have to trim your trees. When the branches dry up you trim them only good for fire. The first thing that the gardener does when he trims the trees is cut off all the dead branches. Many cats even some of the healthy branches in order for the rest of the tree to grow. Sometimes you have to do that. You have to get rid of the dead. If we don't engage in Ibadah our limbs will literally become dead. You have to ask yourself what portions of my soul are challenged? What portions of my soul need to be trained? What portions of my life should be changed? What components of my day-to-day activities should I alter in order to get closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? If we do these things He's given us the formula. If we do these things by the permission of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we do Iblas, we will find ourselves getting up in the night. May Allah make us amongst the people who get up in the night. May Allah make us amongst the people who get up in the night.