 This is my final reflection during this blessed month of Ramadan, 2021 of the common era, 1442 after the Hijrah, May Allah SWT accept our actions, our salawat, our siyam, our and bless our community. May Allah SWT bless the MCC. Please support the MCC. It is an extraordinary organization with extraordinary people. They serve our community in beautiful ways, support them in any way that you can. I just want to say that as my parting advice, don't live your life in fear of anything other than Allah SWT. Tie your camel as the hadith says, and trust that Allah SWT suffices you. Allah SWT says in the Qur'an, may yatawakkal ala Allah wa hua hasbu. Whoever places their trust in Allah SWT, Allah SWT suffices him. We live in a time when our religion, our faith, and our beliefs are becoming more and more, I guess you can say culturally unacceptable, and it seems like this is just going to get worse. This idea of wokeness is kind of taking over in a major way and creating this cancel culture that seeks to eradicate whatever it deems to be offensive. And of course we know that the Qur'an takes certain theological and moral stances that many people will be offended by. We cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated. Remember the advice of the Prophet SAW, when he said, very beautiful hadith where he says, believe in Allah SWT, and be upright. He's steadfast upon that. Don't be afraid. Face the world with courage and a confident faith. Speak the truth even if it's bitter. And do not be afraid of those who approach you for your faith. Life is too short to let the mob scare you into selling out your religion. After the Battle of Uhud, the hypocrites in Medina tried to scare the Sahaba. Right? They're quoted in the Qur'an. Indeed, the people are gathering against you. Right? So be afraid of them. And then Allah SWT tells us, this only increased the faith of the Sahaba. And so this only increased their faith. And they said, God suffices us. What an excellent guardian he is. If God helps you, no one can overcome you. And if he forsakes you, then who can help you? Thereafter. And in Allah SWT, let the believers place their trust. It is related that Imam Ali Ar-Ridha, who was the great, great, great, great, great grandson of the Prophet SAW, he once visited a certain town and hundreds of people surrounded him and asked him for a gem of wisdom to give them a psalas. So he said, I heard from my father, Musa Al-Qadim, who heard from his father, Ja'far Al-Sadiq, who heard from his father, Muhammad Al-Baqir, who heard from his father, Zayn al-Abideen, who heard from his father, Hussein Ibn Ali, who heard from his father, Sayyidina Ali, Karam Allah-u-Wajjah, who heard from his father and Allah, the Prophet SAW, who heard from Jibril Ali Salam, who heard from Allah SWT, said, La ilaha illallah is my fortress. And so whoever says, La ilaha illallah, with sincerity in truth, has entered my fortress and whoever enters my fortress indeed is safe from my wrath, from my punishment. So say, La ilaha illallah, with sincerity, with truthfulness, and practice istiqama in the religion, be upright, be steadfast, and we will be safe and secure from the adab of Allah SWT in the next life. And that is ultimately the adab of entering jihannam and abiding therein. The ummah of the Prophet SAW will achieve salvation. قد أفلح المؤمنون. Okay, this is وعد الله. This is the promise of Allah SWT. وعد الله يحق ومن أستقوم من الله قيلة. And no one's word or promise is truer than that of Allah SWT. Okay, so we will achieve salvation in the form of paradise and spiritual proximity to our Lord. That is the supreme publicity and it is everlasting. Okay, it does not come to an end and nothing in this world is worth that salvation. If you go into a random synagogue in the Bay Area, like I have many times over the last several years, you'll notice that they let the circus in. You know, the circus is in town. If you go into a random church in the Bay Area, you'll notice that they let the circus in. They were pounded into submission by the woke zeitgeist. You know, as Muslims, let's stay our ground. Let's not capitulate to the circus. Let's keep the circus where it belongs out on the street, not in the masajid, not in our schools, not in our community centers. Let's not drink the kool-aid. It's really not worth it. Allah SWT says in the Quran, Okay, that you will surely be tested in your wealth and in yourselves. And you shall surely hear much hurt from those who are given the book before you, okay, and from those who are idolaters. But if you are patient, and if you guard yourselves, then that is indeed a course worthy of resolve. Imam At-Tabari, the celebrated exegete, he said that that event that hurt here in this ayah, it means taunts and insults, as well as falsehoods and blasphemies about God and his prophets. So these things are expected. Allah SWT, he says, well, it's a, there's heavy emphasis in this verb. Indeed, indeed, you will hear these things. These things are expected. This is the nature of a dunya. The answer isn't to simply relinquish one's principles, right? The Prophet SAW, he said, This ummah of mine, this ummah of mine is an ummah that has been granted mercy. Its punishment is in this world. And that is in and of itself, of course, a form of mercy. Therefore, being in Allah's fortress, okay, does not mean that we will not experience hardships. Allah SWT says, Do you think you're going to just enter a paradise without experiencing struggle and showing patience? In a hadith recorded, Imam Ahmad, Imam At-Tirmidhi, that the Prophet SAW was approached, Ya Rasulullah, ayyuha nas, ayyu nas ashaddu bala'an. Which of the people has the most severe experiences, the most severe of tribulations? Qaala al-anbiya, he said the Prophets, the Prophets, why is that? Because the Prophets teach us how to respond to the most difficult of conditions, okay? It's not because Allah is punishing them, the Prophets have their ismah, okay, they are divinely protected. It's not punishment for them, okay? So read the Seerah, read about Mecca, read about Medina. The Prophet SAW had a very, very difficult life. It was one challenge after another, after another. But look how he faced it, the grace, the courage, the steadfastness, the trust, the love. Ibn Majah, he records a hadith in which the Prophet SAW said, I have been tortured for the sake of Allah as no one else has, and I have suffered fear for the sake of Allah as no one else has, okay? And don't forget, his station is the station of the Habib, he's Habibullah, he's the beloved of Allah SWT, he's the highest station, he's the best of creation. Allah SWT was raising his degrees, okay, and establishing the sunnah of his messenger. Allah teaches us through him, SAW. He SAW is the greatest teacher. I was only sent as a teacher. He teaches us how to properly deal with adversity. He teaches us to be principal and not to obey our passions, okay? We're going to feel these inclinations, you know, to just go with the flow sometimes, to make things easier. Or this feels right, maybe I should do that, maybe this is how it's supposed to be. The Prophet SAW, he teaches us to be principal, he SAW, al-kayyisu, mandana nafsahu, wa'ameena lima ba'da al-mawth. The intelligent one is he who subdues his nafs, his lower self, and works for that which comes after death. Beautiful hadith. And the unintelligent one is he who puts his lower self in the pursuance of its desires, okay, and has vain hopes in God. Okay, like someone who says, I hope to go to jannah and then his food is haram, his clothing is haram, he looks at the haram, he listens to the haram, you know, he's lax on his prayer. You know, what do you expect? That's, you know, tamanmi is a type of hope that is not backed with action. It's not raja, raja is good hope. Raja is hope that is coupled with action. Right? You have in the beauty, you have in the messenger of God, a beautiful pattern of conduct for whoever has raja, hope in Allah and in the final day and makes frequent remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This idea that I hope this and I hope that, but there's no action. It's just someone pursuing their lusts, their desires, right? And then a lot of these people justify themselves through the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, through the Quran. Many of them are young people, you know, at the university after taking some, you know, intro to philosophy course, they have now deconstructed the text of the Quran and shown how the evil, traditional and patriarchal Ulama have weaponized the Quran to maintain their power or the oppressed masses. You know, this is just ridiculous. It's nonsense. It's really just nonsense. But that's their MO, right? They attack the Ulama because the Ulama stand in the way of them engaging in their immoral and degenerate behavior, right? That's not to say that, you know, there are people who are posing as scholars or people who are who are bad scholars who are doing things for different motives. But this idea of just like, you know, condemning 1400 years of scholarship, 1400 years, thousands of scholars, they're all wrong. They've all misread the Quran. I mean, such arrogance, they all got it wrong. This is what the Quran really means, right? This is called radical hermeneutics. And it advocates this idea that there is no normative or orthodox interpretation of any sacred text. So may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la protect us, protect our children from such things. We ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to give us istiqama in our religion, into increase us in knowledge, to increase us in confidence, and to be able to share this religion in a way that is appealing to the heart and to the mind, which is really the same thing in our tradition, right? And to appeal the people on a personal level and let them see, let them see the tradition as something that is not only relevant, but something that is good, something that can help them, right? Something that benefits them in both worlds. Wa Sad'Allah Sayyidina Muhammadin Wa La'Alihi Wa Sa'hi Wa Salam Wa Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen Wa As-Salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu.