 We began with the thanks and the praises of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saying alhamdulillah. And we think and we praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because he has allowed us to come here on this blessed day of Juma'ah. And him allowing us to come here on this blessed day is a mercy and a blessing from him for us. And so every moment that we spend in this gathering we should be training our hearts to constantly be gracious of him. And there shouldn't be a single moment that we spend in this gathering except that our hearts are in remembrance of him subhanahu wa ta'ala and that our hearts are grateful to him subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Qur'an wa huwa ladhi ja'ala layla wa n'ahara khilfa ta'al liman arada in yadzakara aw arada shukura that he subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one who has created the night and the day and he has them alternate one after another. And this night and day and its alteration is for a specific purpose. It's for those people who remember him subhanahu wa ta'ala ayyadzakara and those people aw arada shukura those people who are grateful to him subhanahu wa ta'ala. So as we live in these times as we pass in our lives we need to remind ourselves of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and always be grateful to him subhanahu wa ta'ala. In this time that we live in the nafs has been given authority over God and his messenger and religion. The nafs, the self has been given authority over every single person. The nafs has become the authority over your own self. Our tradition teaches us to manage our nafs, to train our nafs, to guide our nafs. Yet in these times our children are being taught how do you let your nafs control you? How do you allow what occurs inside of you to be the truth by which you live by? Ignoring the commands of Allah, ignoring the commands of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. In addition to the praising and the divinity of the nafs that has occurred in our time we have succumbed to materialism and we have succumbed to idol worship. Except the idols are no longer the statues during the time that the pagans of Makkah used to worship. But the idols have become those individuals and personalities that our kids worship on TV and in the radio and on YouTube and in sports. They have become the idols who we worship. They are the people that our children chase after. This is the type of time that we are living in. Along with the divinity of the nafs, along with these idols and this materialism that has surfaced we have also begun to chase fame and humor and popularity at the expense of others. The most popular videos that are watched by our youth are those videos in which people are embarrassing others, making fun of others, making others seem as if they're ignorant, making others seem as if they're stupid, people going on the streets, pranking people, asking people questions, showing off how ignorant are these people, how stupid are these people, how silly are these people and we sit there and laugh. These are the videos that are most popular. Our talk show hosts, our comedians, what do they do other than make fun of people? And they do it for the purposes of popularity. They do it for the purposes of fame. They do it for the purposes of gaining opinion from people. And then you see this same behavior in our children where the students will get together and pick on one person, bully one person, make fun of one person, make sly comments about one person because it gets their friends to laugh. These are the type of times that we are living in. We've given power over to the self. We've given power over to these idols that we worship today and we've given power over to those who make us feel good. All of this is without a purpose. All of this is in vain. All of this that we are striving towards that makes us feel good, that makes us feel happy. It has no benefit for us. We have lost our vision of the Akhira. We have lost our vision of Allah and we have lost our vision of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam knows this about us, that we want to be pleased, that we want to feel accepted, that we want to feel good. And the Sahaba went through that same feeling. They wanted to feel love. They wanted to feel acceptance. They wanted to fit in. They knew they were strangers. They knew that they were different. So they would come, Ya Rasulallah. Ya Rasulallah, Dulla ni'ala amal. Ida amiltuhu ahabbani Allah wa ahabbani an-Nas. Guide me to an action, Ya Allah, that if I can do this action, Allah will love me and the people will love me. The Sahaba asked for this. They wanted to be loved by the people. They wanted to be loved by Allah. They wanted to feel accepted. The difference is the way that we go about it is disgraceful. It is shameful. It's demeaning. But Allah and His Messenger give us the answer. Qala Rasulallah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. How does he respond? Is hadfid dunya, yuhibbuka Allah. Was hadfima, ainda an-Nas, yuhibbuka an-Nas. Leave off. Leave off everything in the dunya and Allah will love you. And leave all, all attachments from what the people have and the people will love you. And so our approach to fitting in, our approach to being loved, our approach to feeling that sense of belonging is in doing the opposite of what we want. Is to give it up. Give it up and you'll get what you desire. But we need to give it up with the right intention. We need to give it up with the idea of doing it for the sake of Allah. And the things that we have been given to have gratitude for those things regardless if Allah increases us or decreases us in those blessings. So yes, we can seek out love. We can seek out acceptance. We can seek fitting in. We can seek belonging. But attaining these things is by leaving the dunya and leaving what the people possess. The dunya includes all of the attachments that we have to this world. It includes the attachment that you have to your family members when it comes in place of Allah and His Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The attachment that we have to money when it comes in place of Allah and His Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The attachment that you have to fame and popularity when it comes when it comes in place of Allah and His Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So to give up those things for His sake, subhanahu wa ta'ala. And what do the people possess? The people possess your access to fame. The people possess access to your recognition. The people possess access to your acceptance. The people possess access to your belonging. Leave those things that the people possess and then the people will love you. So we have to come to this harsh truth, this harsh reality. It's the truth and it needs to be heard. And it's not gonna feel good to hear it. But it's the absolute truth and we have to bring it into our hearts and that is that no one in this dunya cares about you. No one and nothing in this dunya cares about you the way that Allah and His Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, care about you. No one can love you more than Allah and His Messenger. Not your parents, not your spouses, not your siblings, not your children, not your friends, not your co-workers, not your boss, not your teachers, not your students. That is the harsh and bitter truth that we have to accept. No one and nothing care about me the way that Allah and His Messenger care about me. Let that sit with you as much as you think so-and-so loves you. As much as you think so-and-so cares about you. As much as you think that you owe so-and-so this and so-and-so that because they did this and they did that. The reality is it all goes back to Allah and His Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. That is the reality that we need to live with. That is the reality that exists in this dunya that we are living in. That does not mean that we go about not respecting people. That does not mean that we don't go about loving people. That does not mean that we don't interact with people in the best of manners because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was sent to perfect our character and to perfect our manners. So we act in the most beautiful and in the most excellent way with everyone, our parents, our children, our spouses, our siblings, our teachers, our students, we act with perfection. But in our heart we recognize Allah and His Messenger love me more than anyone in anything in creation. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has made more dua for every single one of us. For every single individual in this gathering. He has made more dua for every single individual in this gathering than all of creation could have made from the beginning of time till the end of time. No one has prayed for you more than him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And no one ever will pray for you as much as him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Every blessing in our lives is a mercy from Allah. There is absolutely nothing that we can possess in this world except that it is a mercy from Allah. Everything you have is because of Allah. Everything you do is because of Allah. Everything you possess is because of Allah. Everything you are is because of Allah. Everything about you, you are because of Allah. Yet what is our relationship with Allah and His Messenger? How do we interact with Allah and His Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? That's why in the ayah, he says subhanahu wa ta'ala Those people that remember Allah and those people who want to be grateful to Him who are these people? Wa ibadur rahman. The humble slaves of the most merciful. The humble slaves of the most merciful. Wa ibadur rahman. That is your reality. That is your truth. That is your existence. You are these two things. You are an abd. You are a humble slave. And the one that owns you, the one that commands you, the one that cares for you, the one that loves you is known as ar-Rahman, the most merciful. That is who you are. And that is who you are going to return to. And then on that day on which you return, you are going to be greeted by nothing other than mercy because the one who greets you and takes your hand and enters you into Jannah is rahmatan l-alameen sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. There is nothing in your life, nothing in your existence except that it is encompassed by the mercy of Allah and the mercy of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. They have given us everything. It is time that we abandon everything and go back to them. We abandon the ideologies and go back to him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. We abandon the role models that we have in this life and go back to him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. We abandon the possessions that we have and go back to him. We abandon everything that we love until we love him more than anything else. Did Umar radiallahu anhu not say, O Rasulullah, I love you more than everything except for myself. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam sent him away and said, come back until you love me more than even yourself. Have to love him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and then act upon that love. And not just because I'm saying it, but come to the realization that they love you sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and him subhanahu wa ta'ala they love you and they have had more mercy upon you than anything in existence. We owe it to them to love them. We owe it to them to have gratitude towards them. We owe it to them to follow them. We owe it to them. So that is the message insha'Allah that we should leave with. That is the message that we need to hold on to. Spread to our children, spread to our parents, spread to our cousins and our uncles and our aunts. Tell them Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam loves you and me more than anyone and anything else and Allah loves you and me and has shown mercy to us more than anyone and anything else. What then can we do to respond? We must follow. We must follow. We must obey. We must come back to these teachings and give up everything else in this life for their sake and their sake alone. May Allah forgive me and you and the Muslims. May Allah forgive him. He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his family and companions. O you who believe in Allah and say a harsh word that will improve your deeds and forgive your sins and those who obey Allah and His Messenger have a great success. Allah and His angels are praying to the Prophet. O you who believe in Allah and pray to Him and submit to Him. May Allah pray to our master Muhammad and our family and our master Muhammad. As you prayed to our master Ibrahim and our family and our master Ibrahim, you are the praise of the Majid. Our Lord has given us in this world a good and in the Hereafter a good and a good and a punishment of the Fire. Our Lord is Most Merciful, as is the Lord of the Young. Our Lord, do not let our hearts be destroyed after Our guidance and leave us with Your mercy.