 As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu Alhamdulillah we thank Allah for the blessing of life. We thank Allah for the blessing of Islam. We thank Allah for the blessing of iman. We thank Allah for the blessing of gathering today for Juma'a and we ask Allah through His infinite mercy for acceptance in all of our actions. In the hadith Qudsi, Allah explains to us on the tongue of the Prophet, I am as my servant thinks I am. We mentioned this I believe, I mentioned this hadith in the last time that I was here. I am as my servant thinks of me. Allah swt probably wants nothing to do with me. I'm so bad. I always make mistakes. I don't deserve any good from Allah. I don't deserve any good from Allah and as a punishment I probably won't find any good in any areas of my life. Think of what I just said and think of the hadith that I just mentioned. Allah says to us, I am as my servant thinks I am. Now perhaps many of us have felt this way or even said something like this in our lives. Sometimes our sins weigh heavy on us, no doubt. And we recognize our mistakes but instead of turning towards Allah, we allow ourselves to be turned away from Allah. And we create a story about ourselves that we must be so bad that even the most merciful, Orham al-Rahimin cannot forgive me and that he will reject us. I am as my servant thinks I am. Other times we may tell ourselves that we will not be rewarded but we will not be rewarded and we will not be rewarded and we will not be rewarded for ourselves that we will not be rewarded for what we have worked so hard for. It's not easy to get up for Fajr every single day. It's not easy to fast in the month of Ramadan. It's not easy to give charity. It's not easy to come here to bring our children the hopes of having a connection with Allah SWT for Dunya so that he is pleased with them in Akhira. It's not easy to maintain our marriage. It's not easy to run a business. It's not easy to do any of these things. But yet we will put ourselves in a position that when we have wronged ourselves we will think that those actions that are wrong which do not define us except for a moment in our lives will wipe out all of the good that we've done because we've created this narrative in this story about Allah. When he does not say that about himself perhaps we may not even begin an endeavor because we think that there is no use. Unfortunately when we do this we are attributing human qualities to Allah. We act as if Allah has something against us. We act as though Allah is just waiting for us to make a mistake and we assume that we have to deserve the mercy of Allah by living a nearly perfect life. This may sound absurd perhaps when we articulate it but at times I said over the years of dealing with people, engaging with people, people seeking guidance, people seeking responses, people seeking clarity. That this is what people will bring and unfortunately actions will indicate this. So what does this thought process tell us about ourselves? It tells us that from the beginning of this endeavor or at some point that we do not place our hope in Allah. Rather we place our hope in our good deeds, in our abilities. And once we slip or we feel that we don't have the strength to continue we do not think well enough of Allah to believe that he will guide us through our missteps. And this is what one of the great scholars said that the sign of the individual relying upon their actions is a loss of hope when they make mistakes. A sign of a person اعتماد على عمله The sign of a person placing their their اعتماد their dependence on their actions is that when they lose or when there is a mistake they lose hope of the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So we should understand that when we think well of Allah that that's what we will find. Think of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when we are embarking on something difficult even when we fail or outwardly fail because there's an in reality to everything. The most beloved person to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sallallahu alaihi wa la ala wa sallam and the migration to Medina before the migration began speaking to the tribes at Hajj and we know from the seerah it says that he spoke to 26 tribes seeking one tribe to take him in during this transition and all 26 tribes rejected him in the beginning of this message. What would we do if we went to five groups of people to tell them about Islam and they didn't accept they didn't listen to us? We accept maybe 10 maybe 20 but every single person that we stepped forward to to talk to them about Islam to seek assistance in Islam all of the community partners the police about all of the agencies that this community has dealt with imagine that every single one of them said no. Can you imagine the feeling of reject that we would have but then finally Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends his help this outward reality is not the inward reality this reality that Allah will place in the dunya is not the reality that exists with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but he did not despair because he had a good opinion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he did not despair because he had a good opinion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he knew that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would not leave him so that's in our idea of thinking about is that we should not be disheartened in these things and we should understand that by having a good opinion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that failure in quotes if you will here or not achieving something perhaps in the time that we are desirous of or in a manner that we are desirous of or in a way that we are desirous of because Allah through his infinite knowledge has another time in another way in another manner for it to be manifested we cannot call that failure but rather it is a minor setback because without being strengthened we will not increase in resolve and know that and know that when we ask Allah that we will be given by his promise the how the when the why that is with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but know that in having that good opinion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is that he only wants good for us and will not have a god but Allah alone will not have a partner and will be our master and our beloved master and our master Muhammad his servant and his messenger by Allah and will remember you by saying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and will remember you by saying Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam wherever he says beware of Allah wherever you are and will remember you in the place of Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam wherever he says as we know in the Holy Quran Inna Allah wa malaiqatuhu yusalluna ala nabi Ya ayyuhalladina aamanu sallu alaihi wa sallimu taslima Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barika ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ala Sayyidina Muhammad kama barakta wa sallayta ala Sayyidina Ibrahim wa ala ala Sayyidina Ibrahim Inna ka anta hamidun majeed I'm closing out here with just a few thoughts what about if we are constantly slipping up what about if we feel that we cannot leave a act of disobedience for some it might make us give up on ourselves believing that we don't deserve any good from Allah s.w.t. but remember that Allah s.w.t from his sifat and we talked about this before experientially how do I experience the name al-wadood the loving how do I experience ar-rahman from Allah s.w.t because his mercy overtakes his wrath and rather it is not about deserving because if you thank Allah s.w.t he's going to increase us he says this in Quran and it's not because we deserve more but rather it's because Allah s.w.t is al-akrbar that Allah s.w.t is great and that Allah s.w.t is generous but rather a shiaqan that makes us focus on how bad we are so that we will despair of Allah s.w.t when the prophet s.w.t has said to us this is the hope this is the rope that we cling to this is the mercy that we seek for ourselves and our loved ones and everything that we care about although the children are constantly making mistakes or erroring or sinning however you want to translate it but the best of those who constantly make mistakes are those who constantly repent and the prophet s.w.t has said that one of the signs of excellence of the worship is thinking well of Allah s.w.t one of the signs of excellence of one's worship is thinking well of Allah s.w.t this in the sahib Imam Ahmad now this does not mean obviously that we do not reflect on our mistakes Hassan al-Basri has said here who was the direct student of Imam Ali he said that a true believer is the one who thinks well of Allah s.w.t and therefore does good whereas a disobedient one the one who thinks bad of Allah and therefore is bad and if we think well of Allah no matter how bad we are we also have to hope that we can do better and strive to do good deeds so Alhamdulillah when we are thinking about this as I said just in closing that Allah s.w.t says about this situation or here just looking at this when we do wrong let us feel guilty but also let us flee to Allah s.w.t flee to Allah s.w.t having a good opinion of Allah and if we are sincere then that forgiveness of Allah s.w.t is promised to us that forgiveness of Allah s.w.t is promised to us he is that forgiving s.w.t and he is that great and that magnanimous that even when we commit the same sin again and again our good opinion of Allah s.w.t has made us though that as long as we are constantly striving against ourselves and we slip and we make the mistakes and we want to perhaps even do that again that Allah s.w.t would that sincerity of Tawba that he will forgive us and at the end of the day it is Sheikh Khan who wants us into the fire who wants us to lead astray who wants us to not only go to hell but wants us to live a life of hell in this world tormenting ourselves separating us from Allah s.w.t and just like he despaired of the mercy of Allah s.w.t he too wants us to despair so in closing I just want to say with this we should just know that thinking well of Allah s.w.t make us look beyond any test that we are facing right now and the test is something from Allah that he wants to teach us to purify us from sin to strengthen us and to bring us closer to him we do not have a cruel God we do not have a cruel God our God Allah s.w.t describes himself as the most merciful of those who show mercy so when we approach this test it is that frame of vine that we grow through these tests that we will grow in understanding and grow in our experiences inshallahu ta'ala and just in closing here what does it mean to think well of Allah it means to take that step that even when we are filled with mistakes even if that mistake is major that we return to him we return to him recognizing that what we did was problematic but when asking for his forgiveness that we will find his mercy encompassing everything and I think of this hadith ibn Adam that if your sins were to fill that was between the heaven of the earth and you come to me seeking my forgiveness and you associate no partners with me I will meet you with a forgiveness greater than that which you have brought to me wa la'u bali that's the part for me wa la'u bali it's of no concern to me go back to the first hadith that we started off the khutbah with la'u bali he says subhanahu wa ta'ala wa na indavuni abidi bik and I am as my servant thinks I am perhaps when we feel sick of ourselves that we return to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with sincere dua to help us to stop knowing that he will respond and it means having grand hopes and aspirations and working towards them knowing that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in Surah al-Kahf which we read every Friday inna al-Ladheena amunu wa amal al-Saliha that we will not allow to be lost the reward of anyone who does good deeds for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ma ala sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala alayhi wa sahbihissalam subhanahu rabbika rabi al-arizatina wa sallam wa sallim wa alhamdulillahi rabbil alamin aqim al-salat yurhamani yurhamakum Allah