 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته. May the peace and blessings of the Almighty be upon one and all. My brothers, my sisters, we start off by declaring the praise of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين. نبينا محمد على آله وأصحابه والتابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين وبعد. We always praise Allah سبحانه وتعالى upon all conditions we send blessings and salutations upon the greatest of creation, the most noble of all prophets محمد ابن عبد الله صلى الله عليه وسلم may Allah bless him, his household, his companions and may Allah bless every one of us and grant us the best month of Ramadan. As you notice, the month of Ramadan comes with so much of blessing because Allah سبحانه وتعالى has blessed this month from the 12 months of this beautiful calendar known as the Hijri calendar that the Muslims use Allah سبحانه وتعالى has definitely made Ramadan the best of the months. As soon as the moon is sighted, we're all excited. As soon as the moon is sighted we can actually taste the beauty of this blessed month. May Allah grant us the softening of our hearts. May Allah سبحانه وتعالى accept the supplications and the du'as that we are making and may Allah سبحانه وتعالى make us from among those who truly achieves the forgiveness that this month is meant to bring towards us and Paradise Jannah الفردوس. This year, Alhamdulillah, we have a brand new episode and it is known as supplications from Revelation. Supplications referring to the du'a, referring to calling out to the Almighty for our needs and we want to know from Revelation what the Almighty has actually written for us in the Quran. The words of Allah سبحانه وتعالى, He has described various supplications and then we also want to look at some of the words of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him when he supplicated the Almighty. When he called out to the Almighty, the reason why we want to look at the Quranic supplication is because you and I know that our words are not as valuable as the words of others who were chosen by Allah سبحانه وتعالى such as the prophets and definitely nowhere near the word of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. So if Allah Almighty has chosen words to be placed in the Quran and those were words of supplication either something where He is asking us to call out to Him using specific words or where He is showing us the words used by others. He is describing what others have said. Either way, they are the most blessed words in comparison to us and this is why it's absolutely important for us to realize that whenever we call out to the Almighty, He hears وإذا سألك عباد عني فإني قريب أجيب دعوة الدعي إذا دعان. You know the verses of Surah Al-Baqarah where Allah سبحانه وتعالى speaks about Ramadhan. Immediately after that, He speaks about calling out to Allah and He says whenever my worshippers call out to me when they ask me something, I am very, very near. I respond to those who have supplicated to those who have called out to me whenever they call out to me. فَلْ يَسْتَجِبُواْ لِيْ وَالْيُؤْمِنُواْ بِيْ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْشُدُونَ The Almighty is speaking about how we can achieve guidance by believing in Allah سبحانه وتعالى by responding to the call of Allah. So there are two things. One is you and I when we call out and two is when Allah has asked us to do something. So it's not like Allah is calling out to us in terms of supplication. But He is calling out in terms of instruction asking us to actually be from among those who call out to Him and who listen to Him when He has asked us to do something. This is why we always say when someone is asking Allah سبحانه وتعالى when Allah has asked them to do things and they are not interested. So if you look very carefully at what Allah سبحانه وتعالى is saying He is saying, You need me indeed. I don't need you. But I'm going to ask you to do a few things. When you ask me to do things I'm going to do them for you but I want you to do what I have asked you to do. It's quite simple. You know when we have children you have someone when they listen to you and they were to ask you for something small thereafter you would actually give it to them. But if they don't listen to you at all and then they were to ask you for the smallest thing. Well sometimes we may do it out of our goodness but on a lot of occasions we probably would turn away and we wouldn't even give them. So this is why the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has reminded us about the importance of listening to what Allah has to say. To being on the same page. We have people who come saying I'm calling out to Allah for such a long time but I'm not being responded to. That's a feeling that some who are weak would get in their hearts. It's a sign of the weakness of Iman. The Almighty definitely listens. He answers. He gives. He even gives when we don't deserve it. That's the Almighty. That's how He operates. Subhanallah. He is الرحمن. He is الرحيم. He is the most merciful. The most beneficent. But we definitely do need to ask ourselves if we are doing what the Almighty has asked us to do. Do we dress appropriately? Do we fulfill our obligations? Do we try our best to abstain from prohibition? Do we seek the forgiveness of Allah سبحانه و تعالى? Do we really ask for Allah's mercy? And it brings me straight to point number one. My brothers, my sisters, whenever you want to call out to Allah Almighty, ask yourselves what is your relationship with Allah Almighty? What is your relationship? Why are you calling out to Allah? Who is Allah to you? Who is your maker, your creator to you? Do you really believe? And that will lead you to checking yourself. Are you definitely from among those who try their best to become closer to the Almighty? Who try their best to be on par with what the Almighty wants? If that is the case, then when you call out to Allah سبحانه و تعالى, He will listen to you. سبحان الله. And He will give you what you want as you want it, how you want it, when you want it. That's the power of Allah سبحانه و تعالى. Because the Prophet has taught us that when you call out to Allah سبحانه و تعالى, Allah hears it definitely. There's no doubt He's heard it. He responds to it and He gives you what He knows is best for you. So what is best for you? You don't know, I don't know. Sometimes I'm asking Allah for something and He knows that's not good for me. I want a certain job for example. And He doesn't give me that particular job but He's heard me and He's responded in a better way. I will be patient for two years and then He will give me that particular job. But He's heard me and then He will give me a much better job that will open doors beyond my imagination. That is Allah. But when you don't have that conviction, you become depressed during the waiting period. So the Almighty sometimes gives you what you want as you want it, how you want it, when you want it Mashallah. May Allah grant that to us. But when we when we don't know it's bad for us and He knows it's bad for us, we need to say may Allah keep it away from us. So that is why when something delays it's another way of Allah responding. Sometimes He gives you what you want but when the time is right, it's not yet right. Sometimes He does not give you exactly what you want but in place of that He gives you something either in the hereafter either in the dunya or either in your future something that would be beneficial for you. So you're never going to lose by calling out to Allah سبحانه وتعالى أدعوني أستجب لكم Your Lord is saying call out to me I will answer you I will definitely answer you How I answer you that is my job سبحان الله that is up to Allah سبحانه وتعالى So my brothers and sisters never lose hope in the mercy of Allah سبحانه وتعالى When you do good deeds you actually are becoming closer to Allah and this is why many times when we've just finished our Salah or you know at the end in the قعدة of the Salah or sometimes we've just given a charity we've just done some good deed call out to Allah ask Allah that's a very blessed moment of calling out to Allah سبحانه وتعالى perhaps one of these episodes I will go into the timings of dua and to try and look into which time would be better for a person to call out to Allah but I must say there is no fixed time anytime call out unto Allah I give you one example of seeking the forgiveness of Allah which is also a blessed dua it's a beautiful supplication don't wait for a season before you call out to Allah people say I've been very sinful I'll wait for the time I go for Hajj when I go for Hajj I will definitely be able to call out to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and seek forgiveness you don't know if you're going to make it to Hajj you don't know if you're going to make it to the Friday you're waiting for you don't know what you're waiting for so why are those blessed moments and occasions and places there in order for you to repeat and reiterate that forgiveness that you sought from Allah but not in order to hold on and wait for that time that means anytime you want to call out to Allah call out to Allah it might just be a moment of acceptance I have a habit while I'm speaking I say may Allah forgive us may Allah open our doors may Allah grant us cure keep on calling out to Allah you never know I say أمين to that dua as per the hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم it's just amazing it's something very powerful so if you are to call out to Allah don't wait for any moment call out to Allah now here and now with your du'as repeat them repeat them as many times as you want you call out to Allah you repeat the du'a and when the blessed moments and times come and the seasons come if Allah has given you the opportunity that moment that time that place you repeat the same du'a again you repeat the seeking of that forgiveness again and Allah سبحانه وتعالى will indeed grant you what you want and if not paradise awaits you because those who have sought something from Allah and they may not have seen it here in the dunya in this world the Almighty replaces it with something better in the hereafter understand this so your du'a is never wasted I'm one of those who constantly calls out to Allah with all my needs with whatever I want whether it's for myself for others for those suffering across the globe don't be selfish in your du'a call out to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and you will see the great great blessings of that particular calling now if we look at the Quran and the Sunnah meaning revelation in terms of the Quran and when it comes to the Sunnah we're talking of the words here we're referring to the belief of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم we will find these beautiful wordings why do we look at the Quran Allah speaks about the messengers for example and he says أولئك الذين هد الله فبيهوداه مقتده those are the ones whom Allah has guided so follow that particular guidance we need to follow the messengers so when the stories of the messengers have come to us and we see they are chosen by Allah called out to Allah whether it was for forgiveness whether it was for some saviour you know to be saved from something whether it was for something they wanted all of those that have been recorded they are recorded for a reason for you and I to go through them to look at them to learn from them to understand the greatness of the Almighty the helplessness of man the dependency of man upon the Almighty and to be able to use the same words if possible when it comes to our own needs why the same words well the reason why the same words should be used or preferred to be used the same words as have been used by the previous messengers those supplications have already reached Allah and that wording worked it worked so if you were to use the same wording you would also be calling on that mercy of Allah that has already come down in the past with exact wordings it's like a pass code if I told you if you want to open this bag the code is 733 for example if you were to say okay let me just try all these other numbers and you tried you tried et cetera I know 733 worked it's a combination let me use that number and it will open the bag so I used these wordings but we definitely would not have the exact level of sincerity as the prophets however we should be working on our sincerity we should be working on that closeness with Allah and we definitely will be able to benefit from that so this is Allah telling us and encouraging us to look into revelation and to be able to look at these words that were used in order to call out to Allah and in order to call out with the same words another very interesting point Allah speaks about the Qur'an and Allah says إن هذا القرآن يهدي للتي هي أقوم you know this Qur'an this Qur'an definitely guides towards that which is the best أقوم you know the most upright the most in terms of value the best the straightest this is what the Qur'an leads you to even in terms of supplication the Qur'anic supplication is of a value of its own it is definitely very very high may Allah سبحانه وتعالى make us from those who understand this particular beauty of the Qur'an I want to go into the beginning of the Qur'an right at the beginning we have a surah known as Al-Fatiha that surah to Al-Fatiha is the most important surah in the entire Qur'an it's called أم القرآن the mother of the Qur'an it's called السبع المثاني the seven verses that are constantly repeated and it has many other names it is the dua it is also called الصلاة sometimes the term صلاة is used not to refer to prayer or supplication but it is used to refer to the surah صورة الفاتحة so it's important for us to know why the reason is it is an instruction of the Almighty to repeat this surah in every unit of prayer not just in every prayer in every unit of prayer you know we call it دراكعات the units so فجر has so many units ظهر has so many units et cetera et cetera even if they are voluntary units that you are fulfilling for the sake of the Almighty you need to know that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has required you to read a surah a specific chapter everyone needs to know it off by heart whether you understand it or not and that is صورة الفاتحة the opening surah it starts off with بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين in the name of Allah the most gracious the most merciful all praise is due to Allah سبحانه وتعالى if you take a look at this surah it is actually amazing because it has in it just a supplication but it's divided into two and the Almighty has that to us through the blessed lips of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم in a hadith in Sahih Muslim the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says that Allah Almighty says that's called hadith qudsi so a hadith qudsi is that hadith where the Almighty is speaking to us but Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is telling us what he has said and it's not a verse of the Quran but it's an explanation of the Prophet peace be upon him of what Allah has said so he says قسمت الصلاة بيني وبين عبدين السفين I have divided صورة الفاتحة between myself and my worshipper into two wow صورة الفاتحة divided into two my brothers my sisters when you're reading صورة الفاتحة it's totally between you and Allah divided exactly half so how many people might not understand it so the hadith explains it when my worshipper says الحمد لله رب العالمين when my worshipper says all praise is due to Allah Lord of the worlds I say that means Allah says my worshipper has praised me imagine Allah is so happy you just praised Allah and now Allah is saying wow my worshipper has praised me Allah is saying my worshipper has praised me whenever you say الحمد لله رب العالمين or others are saying it or a billion people are saying it at the same time when Allah responds to all of them at the same time when they say الحمد لله رب العالمين he says and the angels are witness to this my worshipper has praised me verse number one you get a response verse number two الرحمن الرحيم now who is my lord who is the lord of the worlds he is the most beneficent the most merciful الرحمن is a special mercy الرحمن is a common mercy right that Allah has upon all his creatures and الرحيم is a special mercy that Allah has for those who believe so the hadith is telling us that Allah Subhanahu و تعالى has kept this mercy and he is the most merciful the verse of the Quran is so beautiful it has in it الرحمن الرحيم as the next verse the second verse Subhanallah as you open the Quran people say oh this book has in it so much of you know nowadays with this Islamophobia people think the Quran is a book that makes people drift away from kindness and yet the very second verse Allah is saying الرحمن الرحيم he is the most merciful he is the most beneficent and he responds to anyone who says that or who reads that verse that Subhanallah my worshipper the first one my worshipper has praised me حميدني عبد my worshipper has declared my majesty مجدني عبد he has declared my greatness amazing how Allah Subhanahu و تعالى is responding to those who are saying الرحمن الرحيم by saying my worshipper my worshipper has actually declared my greatness Subhanallah Subhanallah my brothers and sisters when we read سورة الفاتح let's take it seriously we move to the third verse we are talking of supplication but this is the build up to supplication when you want to call out to Allah first seek forgiveness make sure that you have sought forgiveness from all that which you've done that was evil that which you know that which you don't know declare the greatness of Allah declare the fact that you are helpless you are totally and solely dependent upon Allah and ensure that you are humble when you ask Allah you are humble softened you know don't just ask Allah like if you want do it for me and if you don't want don't do it for me that's the reason why when we call out to Allah we are not allowed to say إن شاء الله we have to call out with conviction you don't say oh Allah forgive me إن شاء الله no oh Allah forgive me and you stop there because you don't want it to connect it to whether Allah wants to do it or not you desperately want it you desperately want it ultimately Allah does what he wants so the hadith in صحيح البخاري he says when you call out to Allah don't say إن شاء الله after that if you were to say إن شاء الله it's a mistake because it's like someone saying if you want to give me if you don't want I don't really need it I'm sure those of us who have said إن شاء الله when we say a dua we don't do it intentionally some of us don't even know what it means or we haven't thought about what it means so my brothers and sisters when we're calling out to Allah we need to declare the praise of Allah we seek the forgiveness of Allah and show our dependence upon Allah we need to send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم because all the goodness that we have came to us through him and Allah chose him the best of creation most noble of prophets so what Allah considered and what Allah decided would be the highest and the greatest we're also confirming indeed we're not jealous we're not far off we're not we're acknowledging we're appreciative and indeed he is the highest the most noble of all prophets et cetera et cetera صلى الله عليه وسلم once that has happened we call out to Allah here مالك يوم الدين a person is saying the third verse الحمد لله رب العالمين Allah responded my worshipper has praised me الرحمان الرحيم my worshipper has declared my greatness or majesty مالك يوم الدين owner of the day of judgment owner of the day of judgment so that statement is also a great declaration of the greatness of Allah سبحانه وتعالى we're confirming it in fact when we say الرحمان الرحيم Allah says أثنى علي عبد it's actually a little error of mine but it's fine أثنى علي عبد my worshipper has praised me in a different way the first was praised the second was also a form of praise the third is declaring the majesty of Allah the third is مجدني عبد where we say owner of the day of judgment now you're declaring the greatness of Allah سبحانه وتعالى if you take a look at this verse it is so powerful it is actually something amazing that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has given us because immediately after that we say إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين you alone we worship you alone we seek the help of you alone we worship you alone we seek the help of the three verses were connected to Allah then we have the one verse in the middle that verse in the middle half of it is for Allah and half of it is for you because when you say you alone we worship you declaring that that is your connection with Allah and you alone we ask for help it's something you need so you are actually asking Allah and Allah سبحانه وتعالى responds in a beautiful beautiful beautiful way إن شاء الله tomorrow we will be going through the next session I know today was a very very interesting session I would have loved to complete the entire صورة but I don't want to rush it we have an entire month ahead of us we will be speaking of supplications and I want to show you how powerful صورة الفاتحة is so إن شاء الله don't forget to tune in again tomorrow to look for the next session and by the will of Allah we will meet again إن شاء الله until then أقول قولي هذا وصلى الله وسلم وبارك على نبينا محمد والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته