 جميعاً ورحمة الله وبركاته بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين الحمد لله الذي يجيبني حين أناديه ويستر علي كل عورة وأنا أعصيه ويعظم النعمة علي فلا أجازيه نحمده ونسبحه ونقدسه على آلائه ونعمائه ونشهد الله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له إله واحداً أحداً فرداً صمداً قيوماً نؤمن له بالربوبية ونقر له بالعبودية من يهد الله فهو المهتد ومن يضل الفلا تجد له ولياً مرشدة ونشهد أن سيدنا محمداً عبده ورسوله أرسله بالهدى ودين الحق ليظهره كله اللهم صلي وسلم وبارك وترحم على محمد وآل محمد كهبضلي ما صليت وسلمت وباركت وترحمت على إبراهيم وآل إبراهيم في العالمين أنك حميد المجيد وصل اللهم وسلم على جميع الأنبياء والمرسلين والأوصياء والصديقين والشهداء والصالحين وعطرة نبيك والطيبين الطاهرين المأصومين والأخيار من صحابته المنتجبين ومن تبعهم بأحسان وإيمان إلى يوم الدين عباد الله أصيك المأصي نفسي بتقوى الله ولزوم أمره أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم حتى إذا حضر أحدهم الموت قال رب برجعون لعلي أعمل وصالحا فيما تركت كلا إنها كلمة هو قائلها ومن ورائهم برزخوا إلى يوم يبعثون صدق الله العلي العظيم صدق الله العلي العظيم the best gift and present that we can extend to our own selves on the new year the beginning of the new year is self evaluation and self examination of our past record during the past year what did we achieve how far did we go what did we do we have to have some reflection on these questions we have to look at ourselves where do we stand today are we heading into the right direction in our life حاسب وانفوسكم one of the best a hadith that have been narrated by our imams is this hadith حاسب وانفوسكم قبل أن تحاسب hold yourself accountable accountable accountability do the accountability to your own self before they hold you accountable you take the initiative حاسب speak to yourself examine yourself your achievements your deeds your direction in this life قبل أن تحاسب before it is too late and then they hold you accountable وزنوها and evaluate yourself قبل أن توزنو before someone else and that someone else is on the day of judgment before they tell us that it is now too late you cannot fix it so you have to do this process to yourself every day يسمننا من لم يحاسب نفسه كل يوم he is not of us he does not belong to our tradition the tradition of أهل البيت he or she who does not do accountability to his or her own self every day every day الله سبحانه وتعالى says احدهم الموت when death arrives to some of them قال رب ارجعون he starts begging please give me another chance I did not do good now I woke up this is a wake up call for me I was unaware of this I was busy with my life I was busy with my engagements I was busy with friends and family members and this dunya قال رب ارجعون لاعلي I can fix the damage I did لاعلي أعمل وصالحا فيما تركت things that I abandoned and I did not pay attention to them maybe I can fix them again لاعلي أعمل وصالحا فيما تركت the answer comes to him كل name إنها كلمة this is a wishing this is wishful thinking a wish that we cannot grant him كلمة هو قائلها and now you embarked on a journey that is endless there is no return have you seen no return policy I was told that these speakers just five minutes ago no return you buy them you are stuck with them no return there is no return when Israel comes there is no U-turn there is no U-turn at least here before you arrive in Mexico they tell you this is the last exit before the international border you can make a U-turn but Israel does not give you this warning كلا إنها كلمة هو قائلها ومن ورائهم behind them برزخون إلى يوم يبعثون so we have to think what we have achieved and what we did not achieve what should we do you all know about New Year's resolution even the kids I was listening to them asking each other what do you have for New Year's resolution people think of getting into shape losing weight upgrading their iPhone remodeling the kitchen talking to a divorce attorney this year and this and that it's all about حيات الدنيا it's all about حيات الدنيا how many of us we thought that am I prepared for my next life sometimes people complain they say don't mention death I don't want to hear about death it's not about death it's about life Allah سبحانه وتعالى when he speaks about death this is a transferal transferal from here into there تبارك الذي بيده الملك وهو على كل شيء انقدير الذي خلق الموت والحيات he created death and life so after death we have life it is not death it is not death there is another life waiting for us we have to think about it the kids teenagers they think about their marital life when they graduate when they get a job the new life for us too it's a new life after death there is another life a permanent life an eternal life الذي خلق الموت والحيات ليبلوكم ايكم احسن وعاملة we have to think about it this life is very fleeting did you feel 2014 how many of you really felt it at the end of the year this is the discussion among us this is the discussion among all people we realize in December we realize that life is too short too fast too fleeting because we did not feel it 2014 was fast 2015 is going to be faster believe me 2016 is going to be even faster and faster this is the reality of this life this is what Allah describes this life وامل حيات الدنيا في الاخرة إلا متاع this lower life is nothing is a fleeting and passing and too short compared to the after متاع one of the meanings of متاع is that it moves very fast because you are not meant to stay here you are meant to move to get it transferred into another life to be prepared for another life have we prepared for that one have we planned many people have planned for their retirement have we planned for the rear retirement where we are going to leave everything behind and move into that one this is what we have this is our New Year's resolution this is the rear resolution if we have missed then we have to make it up now before it is too late يا أطول الأنبياء عمرا جبريل asked who survived 1600 years the time of his preaching and his ministry was 950 years فلبت في قومه ألف سنة إلا 50 عام he worked 950 years but he lived 1600 years so جبريل asked him oh the longest serving prophet of God يا أطول الأنبياء عمرا no one lived the life that you the age that you lived كيف وجدت الدنيا tell me describe this for me he said وجدتها وجدتها كدار لها بابان دخلت من أحدهما وخرجت من الأخر I saw this life to be like a house that has two gates one entrance and one exit I passed through this life I did not stay in it he lived 1600 years and he said I passed through it I passed through this life we are aging now we are growing physically but are we also growing spiritually and mentally or we are stuck in an perpetual infancy are we growing are we thinking about the next chapter of our life this is a question that we all have to ask ourselves what did I do for my future for my next chapter what did I do have I prepared something وما تقدموا لأنفسكم من خير تجدوه Allah says if you leave behind you don't find it but when you send it ahead of you تقدموا when you advance and send it ahead of you you don't find it تجدوه let's work let's work hard I remember a story I read many years ago of Alfred Noble the guy who presented noble peace prize and other other prizes also but the main one is the noble one is the peace prize this guy so he had a brother with the same last name who died in Sweden and Alfred the following day read the obituary of his own brother in the newspaper but they thought mistakenly they thought that Alfred himself died the one who invented the dynamite so in the obituary in the newspaper in the eulogy it was very bad about him they said this man is bad he left a very bad and evil legacy he invented dynamite which is causing death destruction destroying people's life people's homes people's properties so the obituary was very bad when he read it it was about him it shook his foundation he said this is how people are going to remember me this is how people are going to remember me I made a fortune I made so much money I have a great brain this is how people are going to remember me with evil, with destruction so he decided he said this is a wake up call for me this is a wake up call for me it is good that they made this mistake in the newspaper he called them the following day he said listen, I am Alford I am still alive they said oh we apologize he said no don't apologize to me thank you so much thank you you sent me a very powerful wake up call I have to salvage the remaining of my life I don't want to die to leave this life with this terrible legacy to destroy people's life I decided to promote peace to promote compassion love, harmony and this is how he dedicated his wealth his entire wealth to promote peace and reconciliation among the people in the world by dedicating his wealth to give a prize every year for those who are peacemakers of course not all those who receive this prize unfortunately are peacemakers some of them are if you look at the history of those who received it some of them are war mongers too but this is politics unfortunately and I know Alford is not happy with this decision I am sure he is not happy but some of them who received it they are peacemakers so he decided to change his life we have to change our life let's imagine if they write an obituary about us today in the newspaper or a letter about us or someone who is genuine a friend, a family member someone who knows me very well he would write a paragraph about me what did Mustafa al-Pazweeni do did he change people's life into better or he destroyed people's life let's ask this question let's ask this question when we do salat al-janaza this is what the dua we recite if he has done good if he has done good Allah increases his goodness so let's think about ourselves if we are doing good if we think we are doing good let's increase this goodness let's intensify it and if we do bad then there is room for recovery still we have room for recovery still still Allah can embrace us with His mercy we can change our relationship with people that we live with bring some hope some stability some peace into their life we can change it before it is too late بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم إن الإنسان لفي خسر إلا الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات وتواصوا بالحق وصلى الله عليه وسلم على سيدنا محمد في حال بيته الطيبين الطاهرين بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين نحمده ونسبحه ونقدسه على آله ونعمائه وإلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأن سيدنا محمد عبده ورسوله أرسله بالهدى ودين الحق ليظهراه على الدين كله اللهم صلِّ وسلم وبارك وترحم على محمد وآل محمد كأفضل ما صليت وسلمت وباركت وترحمت على إبراهيم وآل إبراهيم في العالمين إنك حميد مجيد وصلِّ اللهم وسلم على خلفاء نبيك وأحبته وأهل بيته علياً أمير المؤمنين وقائد الغر المحجلين وعلى البضعة الطاهرة فاطمة الزهراء سيدة نساء العالمين وعلى سبطي نبي الرحمة وسيد الشباب أهل الجنة الحسن والحسين عليهم السلام وعلى علي بن الحسين ومحمد بن علي وجعفر بن محمد وموسى بن جعفر وعلى يبن موسى ومحمد بن علي وعلى يبن محمد والحسن بن علي والخلف الهادي المهدي عجل الله تعالى فرجه وسهل مخرجه وجعلنا من أنصاره وعوانه عباد الله أصيكم وأصي نفسي المذنبة المقصرة بتقوى الله ولزوم أمره رؤية في الحديث الشريف أن لُقمان الحكيم أوصى ابنه بأربع وصايا أخبرت هذه الحديث قليل من الأشخاص لكنني لم أفهمها بعض الناس يسألوني أن أفهم الحديث لُقمان الشريف أدمانه أخي وإذ قال لُقمانه لبنه وهو يعظوه قال له صحيح إذا كنت تحاولون فلاح سكسس وحب وصايا في هذا الدنيا لديت أشخاص لك أخبرتهم أخبرتهم في حياتك أنا أخبر أخبرت هذه الحياة في كثير من الأشخاص وأريد أن أعود ومعود حياتي لك أخبرتك لذا أخبرتني وإضافت إلى هذه الأشخاص أخبرتهم أخبرتهم أخبرتهم أخبرتهم أخبرتهم أخبرتهم بني ليكن سحمك للدنيا بقدري بقائك في الدنيا دعوك دعوك أن تقوم بشكل هذا الدنيا بحياتك في هذا الدنيا لن تقوم بشكل هذا لا تقوم بشكل هذا تقوم بشكل ما تحتاج ما تحتاجت سيكون تكون أجل سيكون تكون هناك أرابط أرابط إمام الحسن عليه الصلاة والسلام سيكون وما تقوم وما تقوم سيكون تقوم بسرعة وعلم ان في حلالها حساب even if you accumulate from a pure and 100% حلال they hold you accountable they hold you accountable وفي حرامها if you accumulate حرام إقاب the responishment وفي الشبوحات and money that you don't know whether it is really حلال or حرام شبها this is شبه uncertainty وفي الشبوحات إتاب there is a rebuke and reprimand they tell you this was شبه if there is a cup and you don't know whether in this cup there is poison or not would you drink it? if there is one in a million possibility that this cup has been poisoned would you touch it? you don't touch it you stay away from it the same thing with the dunya with the money of the dunya you have to stay away from it وعلم انك لا تجمع من المال شيئا فوق قوتك إلا كنت فيه خازنا لغيرك أي مoney that you accumulate above and beyond what you need you are accumulating that for others not for yourself you the imam says you get exhausted and tired and work hard to make the money others they enjoy it on the day of judgment you will be responsible you will be responsible even for the earth the inheritance that you leave behind if your inheritors they mis-handle it you will be responsible for that you will be responsible for that although you didn't use it someone else used it but you were the source of giving it passing it to them you are responsible so take what you need above that it's a burden believe me it's a burden I gave this example the other day that when we fly with united with American they allow you only one carry on if you have extra luggage you have to pay it's not free you have to pay so if you don't want to pay penalty then carry only one small bag with you the carry on don't take more than that with you the second he said to him وليكن زادك زادك your provision as Zad the traveler what the traveler carries with him it's called in Arabic Zad Zad the provision وليكن زادك للاخرتي بقدر بقائك في الاخر according to you stay in the after how long you want to stay in the after how long you going to stay 10 years and then we change and then they bring us back here خالدين فيها مادامة السماوات واتو ولأ as long as there is cosmic system we are staying there there is no expiration and by the way we don't age there here some people don't remind them of their birthday they get irritated especially when they women don't at all even if they are in their 20s men when they pass 50s don't tell them happy birthday painful reminder in the after there is no aging الحمد لله you are always fresh always ready الحمد لله energetic full of energy so take for the after according to your need in the after and we need a lot in the after we are going to stay forever so take as much as you can from this dunya for the after وَالتَكُنْ عِبَادَتُكَ this is number 3 to service to God and your worshipping of God عِبَادَتُكَ لله بقدر حاجتك لله الله أكبر lets your worshipping of God be according to your need to God how much do you need God how much do we need we only need Him and we need no one else يا أيها الناس وانتم الفقراء وإلى الله والله هو الغني الحمد نحن نحتاج الله سبحانه وتعالى نحن نحتاج Him every second لا يوجد حال that we feel that today we need Him less than yesterday day by day we need Him more and more and more وامير المؤمنين says those who are the most wealthy the most influential the most powerful in the society they need God more than those who are poor and needy they need Him more so lets worship Him and obey Him according to our need to Him and number four he said to his son والتكن وقاحتك في معصية الله lets your audacity and recklessness وقاحة in disobeying God بقدر تحملك لعذاب الله according to your capacity in receiving His punishment do you bear the punishment امير المؤمنين says وهذا ما لا تقوم له السماوات والأرض the heaven and the earth cannot stand for your anger and your wrath the Quran says اذا رأتهم من مكان بعيدا سمعوا لها تغييظا وزفيرة when the fire observes them from a far distance observes the guilty ones the criminals سمعوا لها تغييظا وزفيرة they hear the roaring and the vehement raging of this fire تغييظا وزفيرة وإذا ألقوا منها مكانا ضيقا when they are cast into the fire into a narrow place in the fire مقرنين handcuffed دعوا هنا لك ثبورة دعوا هنا لك ثبورة they call for destruction oh God take my soul take my life I can't bear this pain here دعوا هنا لك ثبورة Allah says to them لا تدعوا اليوم ثبورا واحدا ودعوا ثبورا كثيرة one call for destruction is not enough as much as you can call for destruction they can't stay we can't bear Allah's punishment so let's not disobey Him let's remember that there are consequences for what we say for what we do in this life for our acts and nothing can escape Allah's observance nothing Allah can see ما يلفظوا من قولن ما يلفظوا من قولن إلا لديه رقيب وحتيط a friend one time told me he said say it I made a mistake in my life I'm not going to repeat this mistake forever until I die I said what is it he said I cheated on IRS and they came after me very harsh and very hard and they taught me a lesson that for the rest of my life I'm not going to forget it I'm not going to forget this and I'm not going to cheat on them again IRS made of people like me and you but the fire is made by Allah سبحانه وتعالى and no one can cheat on Allah and Allah comes after us if we do not repent Allah's system is stricter than IRS than the government and he comes after us so let's observe him observe him in what we say as we age and grow when we speak we have to think about it we have to reflect about the consequences of my speech my comment with my family with my friends in the community let's think about these four points and let's make them our a new year resolution Insha'Allah for all of us