 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise be due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. And peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Master and Prophet Muhammad. The great power of his family and companions. And peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Since we are in this month of striving, I just wanted to share just some of the guidance of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. And the early Muslims about rushing to make the most of the moments of one's life. The Beloved Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, mentioned in the Sahih Hadith that A sikhah و النعمتان مغبون فيهما كثير من الناس. That there's two tremendous blessings that most people miss out on. نعمتان. Two blessings. مغبون فيهما كثير من الناس. That most people miss out on. That they're cheated off. And the term مغبون is from losing out in a transaction. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes this life as being a transaction. إن الله اشترا من المؤمنينة انفسهم و مؤالهم بأن لهم الجنة. That Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth in exchange for paradise. So this life is a transaction. And what you put into it, it's an investment. What you put into it is that you will have the return and the hereafter. But the Prophet ﷺ says there's two tremendous blessings that most people miss out on. What are they? السحة والفراغ. Health and free time. And this Hadith is a Sahih Hadith related by Imam Bukhari and others. And there's a number of similar narrations. Two great blessings that most people miss out on. Health and free time. And that health they say is at different levels. The health that you lose out on one is the health of youth. When you have strength and once you reach adulthood after a certain stage you're only going to get weaker and you're only going to get less able. But the other aspect of losing out on it is the fact that while you can while your heart is still beating while you're still breathing you still have some semblance of health. And as long as you have it make the most of what you have. Make the most of what you have. Don't lose out on whatever you have because sometimes people say well what can I do anymore? I'm sick I'm not well this and that but you still have the basic health. As long as you're breathing you can be remembering Allah SWT. You can be doing the good that is facilitated. But one of the other aspects of that as well is to see that that health is a trust from Allah SWT. It is a trust from Allah SWT and taking care of your health not just because you want to live for a long time but rather because this is the abode of opportunity. The Prophet SAW was asked who are the best of people. He said Whoever's life is long and whose actions are good. So being a little careful about what you eat at Suhur is a religious consideration. Not just because it's not a good thing to eat too much but because the preservation of your health is part of intelligence. Because you're trying to maximize the good that you can attain in this life because you want to maximize the returns in the hereafter. You want to attain Allah SWT's closeness. As one of the ulama put it so beautifully said your body is a horse that you ride into infinity. Your body is a horse that you ride into infinity. So take care of it. This is your don't lose out. Just to look at the kinds of things people do. Around Ramadan you say we have some spectacular cases of ultimately it's foolishness the way we can take care of our bodies. You eat so much you're not able to get up for tahajjud. You eat so much you're not able. A lot of people say you know I had so much at so and so iftar I couldn't even make it to Tarawih. Mashallah that's great. So there's two tremendous blessings that most people miss out on. Health and the other is free time. But health we should really look at one the moments Allah has given us of health that when you find within yourself the ability to pray standing to do these things make the most of it. Even if you're sick you still have the basic health and it's a religious responsibility. Why? It is the Fouqaha tell us it is personally obligatory to take the means to have the health that enables one to fulfill one's religious obligations. Which includes for example taking care of your health such that you're able to pray standing. Someone who out of their own remissness doesn't take care of their health so they're not able to pray standing they will be culpable for that because they've fallen short of worshipping Allah as he has commanded. There's things that are out of one's control. You have an accident you have a bad back trouble this and that but someone who just overeats and doesn't take care of their health etc. That could well be sinful. Similarly to have the health by which you are able to fulfill your worldly responsibilities in terms of earning a lawful living etc. This is a religious obligation and taking care of one's health for the sake of Allah is a door of drawing closer to Allah. The other tremendous blessing is time. Two great blessings that most people lose out on. Cheat themselves off free time. And one of the biggest lies that people say is I'm busy. And it's a lie. Many of the early Muslims there's certain things that they didn't like asking people nor did they like responding to. One of them was, how are you? They said it's both the question and the answer are dishonest. If I were to ask, how are you? Most of the time no one wants to hear that well there's 10 problems right now. It's like how are you? You don't really mean the question and the person will say I'm fine. They don't really mean the answer. Imagine you go to someone's iftar and say uncle how are you doing? And they say beta you don't know all the trouble. What's wrong with this guy? Abu Talib Al-Mikki mentioned this in Khutul-Qur. Many of the early Muslims didn't like asking that question and they didn't like answering it. And similarly another question that they didn't like was what's going on? How are things? Why? Because again the question is not honest and the typical answer would be things like oh I've been really busy. It's a lie. And most people actually they say people who spend extra hours at work it is very rare that people who put in extra hours at work are actually working. And it's just part of how the human being works that people like the stress. So people have like a big deadline coming. Most people aren't actually doing a lot of hard work. They're sort of putting things off and drinking some coffee and stressing, doodling, surfing other websites, doing other things. And it's rare that someone's genuinely putting in 60, 70 hours a week. There's always a lot of fluff time. It can be clear fluff where they're just pretending to work and they're doing other things or they're doing other things on the side. And are you really busy? Usually the answer is no you're not. No you're not. Or okay even if you are working 10 hours a day at work, 12 hours a day. What's happening the rest of the time? What's happening the rest of the time? A lot of times when people get religious one of the questions they start asking is how do I reduce the number of hours I sleep? And the prophet said I mentioned that excess is not in sleep. Excess is in waking. Don't worry about whether you're sleeping 6 hours or 8 hours. That's only a quarter or one third of the day. What's going on the rest of the day? What's going on the rest of the day? And that's something to ask oneself that the hours of one's day are we using them in a manner that optimizes one's standing with Allah SWT. They mentioned about the main teacher of Imam Abu Hanifa, Hamad ibn Abi Sulayman, that if he said to Hamad, that if Hamad was told that you're dying tomorrow he would not be able to increase in his good works. Because he was already going full tilt. And you see people like that, right? We're that careful of their time. Imam Ahmad used to make dua for one of the biggest criminals of Baghdad. Whenever he was mentioned he would noticeably make dua for him. So he was asked like why do you make dua for this man? He's a criminal. He said because when I consider this man and the vileness of what he's engaged in but then I look at how much he is striving to fulfill his vile aims I can't help but reflect on my own life and the nobility of what I'm striving to pursue and he reminds me of how intensely I should be pursuing that noble matter. These are signs. I had it for no good reason. I had Sahur at a friend's house right in downtown Toronto after Sahur we prayed Fajr and we're walking outside. It's like 5.30 in the morning. Downtown we're walking and there's all these fitness centers or there's one of my friends called the fitness centers. They have the glass windows because they want people to see it and we walk by two or three of them. I don't know where we're going actually because we could have taken a cab right in front of his house we were just talking about changing the world. They're half full. I like 5.30 in the morning. Why? Because people are seeking dunya and they're seeking it intensely but one should consider like in your time what are you trying to maximize? Are you losing out on time? That is one of the things. One of the great spiritual works in the month of Ramadan is a work in which you're not actually doing anything outwardly. It is reflection. One of the things to reflect on is your life and how are you spending your time and to do some personal accounting that my weekly schedule, what do I actually do? A lot of times you ask people, do you spend time with your children? I'm so busy etc. But it's not real because we have escapist tendencies and now we have a lot of comfort zones. It's very easy to get into an internet argument with someone about something random but I'm too busy for my son. When's the last time you had a conversation with your daughter? Things are so hectic and stuff, they're not. We waste a lot of time. You're following the Olympics and then you actually ask yourself, do you really care about... A lot of the Olympics aren't even sports. There's an 80-year-old horse riding this is an Olympian who's like 80 years old competing. Or this one in shooting, what do they call it? No, they shoot these guns. There's a lady who's eight months pregnant who's competing in the Olympics. Why do you care about how someone can shoot? What does it do for you? And you ask someone, was there a big deal? No, a lot of it. You're emotionally attached to soccer and whatever, it makes you happy. But do you need to watch that much of it? No, a lot of things that we do. So really to take oneself to account, how are you spending your time? It's not a question of just add extra worship of Allah. One of the greatest doors of drawing closer to Allah is our social relations. How much time do you spend with your parents? How much time do you spend in excellent ways with family? How much time do you spend serving others? Little things that have tremendous consequences. But I'm too busy for that. And it's not a question that you're too busy that we're wasting too much of our time. Because in reality, I'll sound a friend of mine who is a senior HR manager for a very large company. And we're talking about hiring someone for something. Broadly, there's two theories of who you should hire. One thing is to look at who's available, but another way of hiring someone is to look at who's the busiest person and give them the job. I said, why? I said, because the person who's busiest already is making the most of their time. They're already doing eight things, so they squeeze the ninth thing in. But the person who's not really doing anything, if you give them that one thing to do, they probably won't do that either. So this is something that requires serious reflection. And that's why there's an entire Surah about time, Surat Al-Asr, and to look at how one is directing one's time. And one of the best things you can do in this month is to fix your direction in life. So that you can honestly say that that my life, my prayer, my devotion, my life, and my dying are all for the sake of Allah, the Lord of the worlds. So this is something that one should be thinking about in this month. And this is one of the great wisdoms that there's both a spiritual dimension to this month and a deeply social dimension to this month. So that we can recalibrate our social relations. And they have a spirit. The Iftar is a sunnah. We know that there's great reward in it. So we can recalibrate those relationships as well. So we can direct ourselves to Allah both by devotions and in our social life. So take some time out. And sometimes it helps to actually write these things down. Like ask yourself, look, how do I spend my time? And how do I change the way I spend my time? It's not just what you spend your time on, but the things that you do themselves. How do you use them? The hours at work. The hours at work. Am I going to work with a high intent? Am I working for the sake of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala? What are the sunnahs of the Prophet ﷺ related to work? Such as keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah. Have multiple high intentions in your work. What are the opportunities of worship of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, at work? People take breaks in the mid-morning. You know, even productivity-wise, it helps to take breaks. But you take that break, spiritually, you go pray Salat al-Dhuha. You look at what are other sunnahs related to work, and there's dozens of sunnahs related to work. You go to work with the intention of upholding good character, of being of assistance to others. It changes your attitude at work. You're not just sort of minding your own business, but you're striving to be of assistance to others. So you go for your lunch break. You have someone else on your work team. They're not taking a lunch break because they have a deadline because they're slacking off the last three days. So you go grab them a coffee and a sandwich, maybe, or something. Why? Because you're not just working with what's called the GSB, the general state of blah. You're working with spiritual purpose, that I'm here at work to seek the pleasure of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. How? By the way, I conduct myself with work. By the way, I do the work itself. The work itself is meant to be spiritual, right? Because you're trying to excel in that work, not just because you want to get ahead in your career, but because Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty. Allah has decreed excellence in all matters. So that work has a spiritual purpose. You have the intention that people benefit from this work in the best of ways. As you're thinking about your career, as one should, right? You're thinking not just about how do I get to a place where I can make more money or have more procedure, but you're thinking about how do I earn the pleasure of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, in my career? Because this time that Allah has gifted me with, I want to maximize the good in it. So you see, okay, what are career choices where I could be of greatest benefit to Allah's creation? Right? Which maybe right now you're stuck in something that would be hard to argue of particular benefit. But it pays the bills instead, it's good, right? But you could have a plan to gradually go to something that is of genuine benefit. You know, in some industries, frankly, some lines of work, like if you're in the pharmaceutical industry, there's some, you know, the kind of medicine that you're doing, you're involved with, is deeply problematic. But pays the bills is hard to say, how can I be transitioning gradually to something that is of genuine benefit to creation? And that changes one's thinking, right? So look carefully at your life. And it helps to write these things down. Just look at what you do in the course of the week so that you don't fall under the category of people that the Prophet SAW mentioned in this hadith that there's two tremendous blessings that most people miss out on. Health and well-being. And we'll close with another hadith of the Prophet SAW which you've, that the beloved messenger SAW told a person whom he was advising, that take advantage of five things before five. Shababika qabla haramik. Your youth, before your old age, wassihataka qabla saqamik. And your good health, before your ill health. Waghinaaka qabla faqrik. And your wealth, before your poverty. Your wealth, before your poverty. So when you have money, you should be thinking how do I seek the pleasure of Allah SWT with this, right? Wa faraqa qabla shughlik. And your free time before you're busy. Because sometimes things happen that busy you that now you don't have that discretion. You have a parent who slipped down the stairs and you have to be taking full-time care of them, for example. So now you don't have the discretion to go and study and learn and this and that. So you missed out, to some extent. Wa hayataka qabla motik. And your life, before your death. And your life, before your death. So may Allah SWT make us of those who take advantage of these matters. Because as one of the early Muslims, Muawiyah bin Qura said, Aqtarun nasi khisaban yawma al qiyama al-sahi'u al-fariq. That of the people who are most thoroughly taken into account on the day of judgment is a person who had good health and free time. Who had good health and free time. What did he do? And really, like, look carefully. Because so many people and, you know, my father's in the category of, you know, the wise old uncle, right? And they say some very insightful things. One day I was driving with my father. He doesn't usually speak a lot. And sometimes it gets kind of awkward with your, especially with fathers, because you don't know what to say. And he's driving and he says, Faraz, you know, the potato came before the couch. And I'm like, what do you mean? And he said, you know, the way work is structured in our times is that people come back home and they're like drained. It's like they've become a potato. And all you can do with a potato is put it on the couch. So the potato came before the couch. And there's a lot of people, they say, I don't have time for anything. But what time do you get back to work? What time do you go to sleep? What do you do in those four hours? Five hours, right? Look at that. And one of the ways to get things done as well, they say that, you know, to get things done between every two things that you do, put in a third. So you're at home and now you get to work. But what do you do on your commute to work? That's a great opportunity, right? So, well, you know, I'm radio. And sometimes some spending of money is worth it. Like, you know, instead of spending the time listening to the radio to figure out whether there's traffic on the route, get a GPS that has live traffic updates. You spend $50, but you don't have to listen to the radio anymore for that. And instead, listen to something of benefit or engage in the remembrance of Allah. So look at those opportunities. You have a lunch break of an hour. Like, what do you do in that hour? Right? You have a lot of discretionary time. You have a friend of mine, really successful professional. He reads about two or three juz of Quran daily during work. I ask him, how do you do that? He says, basically, you know, you work, you know, you work in bursts and stuff. And as he's working, read a few lines of Quran. Do some more work, a few lines of Quran. And through the whole day, you know, lunch break before heading to lunch, that's 10, 15 minutes, squeezes it throughout the day. He's exceptionally successful at work, but he has that sense of urgency. I am seeking Allah SubhanAllah. And the way that is facilitated for different people is different. The doors of good are many, but we should strive to really do a personal accounting that what's going on in my life. And it can help write it down and make a commitment. And one of the things, they say, you can be rewarded for doing less more than you're rewarded for doing a lot. How? If the less that you take on is something that you're committed to making consistent throughout your life. But there's not a call, look, it only prayed four rakahs of tarawih instead. But to look at all these things that you are doing, how can you convert these after Ramadan into positive routines? How can he maximize the good through them? So we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that He grant us insight and understanding and also that He grant us beneficial knowledge and awareness of the sunnah of the Prophet SAW so that we're able to uphold the sunnah in the things that we do so that we can seek Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in whatever circumstances He places us in. And may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Master and Prophet Muhammad with the great power, and upon his family and companions and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon the world. Praise be to Allah. One of the reminders of the month of Ramadan is of our responsibility to remember Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And this is a month of remembering Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. One of the most beautiful explanations of the reality and purpose and transformational nature of remembrance of Allah is one of the aphorisms, one of the hikm of Ibn Ata Illa. Ibn Ata Illa was a distinguished Egyptian scholar from the 7th Islamic century. And he was a distinguished faqih and theologian being specialized in Islamic law and Islamic beliefs but then he found his spiritual guide, Abu Abbas al-Mursi and after having been a very distinguished scholar he was teaching at Al-Azhar he traveled the spiritual path as well and he compiled these aphorisms there's slightly over 200 spiritual wisdoms and when he presented them to his sheikh to Abu Abbas al-Mursi Abu Abbas al-Mursi said My son, you have summarized the Ihiya of Imam al-Ghazali and added to it and it's an incredible work and at a peak of eloquence too it's very beautiful and there's dozens and dozens of commentaries on it Imam Ahmed Zarruq, who sheikh Hamza quotes so often he himself has 34 commentaries on this because this is something that he used to systematically teach it was part of his spiritual teaching he'd always be teaching on a weekly basis the Hikam and each time he'd write a different commentary on it about a number of those are published and this is about not leaving the remembrance of Allah and the consequence of that but there's a beautiful story related to this because one of the distinguished Imams of Islamic spirituality in the 20th century who has a book written about him as well is sheikh Ahmed Al-Alawi from Algeria from Mustaqanim Martin Lings did a biography of his in the early 1930s he visited Damascus from North Africa from Algeria and sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Shaghouri who is the teacher of sheikh Nuh Keller and one of the distinguished Imams of Islamic spirituality and a great theologian as well he was at that time in his late teens or early 20s when sheikh Ahmed Al-Alawi his world famous scholar came to Damascus and everyone was talking about him because a big deal sheikh Ahmed Al-Alawi is in Damascus and sheikh Abdulrahman at that time was in his late teens early 20s he was quite excited so he gathered his friends and let's go see him and at that time the French because after the first world war Syria was under the French mandate so there's quite strong anti-French sentiment sheikh Abdulrahman when he first saw sheikh Ahmed Al-Alawi this great visiting scholar the first thing he noticed about him was his socks Abdulrahman used to work in the textile industry like he was a scholar but he used to work in the textile industry and in Damascus at that time the socks that they had available were very thick socks they're quite rudimentary this sheikh was wearing very fine socks and he was in the textile industry so he knew about good socks and he was like how could this be a sheikh someone wearing socks like that would call himself a sheikh because the only way you could get socks like that in Damascus were French imports so the only people who'd wear imported French socks would be people who were deeply influenced by the French so he's looking at him he said he was young at that time and not as mature as he perhaps should have been it's like what could he have to say about the saw-woof about Islamic spirituality with wearing socks like that but he got curious so he was following him and the sheikh took off his socks to make wudu and he's standing there how could this man be a sheikh what could he have to say about the path to Allah wearing socks like that like these really fine socks of course North Africa had French influence had actually trade with the French for hundreds of years so these kinds of things were actually quite common from before so then the sheikh put on the socks and Sheikh Abdul Rahman was looking at him so he said he sort of sat at the back of the masjid who is this sheikh anyway? what does he have to say? but then the sheikh explained this hikmah that I'll be reading to you about not leaving the remembrance of Allah and Sheikh Abdul Rahman in his shoes was like whatever just get on with it but then one Sheikh Ahmed Al-Alawi explained this hikmah very soon Sheikh Abdul Rahman was completely attentive and at the end he said I had to kick myself in the heels and say if that's how you talk about spirituality I don't care what kind of socks you wear because it was very profound the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said لا يزالوا لسانك رطبا من ذكر الله keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah a man had come to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam asking for advice that messenger of Allah the teachings of Islam are very encompassing so tell me something that I can hold fast to the teachings of Islam are very expansive because at one level Islam is very simple but in another way Islam is very deep it has both aspects Islam is an easy religion it is very beneficial in one's life to have the five obligatory prayers every religious obligation has obvious even worldly benefits if done properly the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said سوم تصحوا fast and you'll become healthy if you make it a part of your regular routine and learn the lessons from it so at one level it's very easy but it also has great depth it has great depth which is why the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said إنها دينة متين this religion is deep فأغلو فيه برفق so enter into it gently don't overwhelm yourself this is the way of the one who is described in the Quran قم الليلة إلا قليلة stand at night in worship except for a little half the night or a little more or a little less but you can't do that tomorrow it requires it's a high perfection it requires a lot of striving so this man came and said oh messenger of Allah the teachings of Islam are so encompassing are so vast tell me something I can hold fast to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said لا يزالوا لسانك رطبا من ذكر الله keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah so ابن عطا إلا in this aphorism that we will read explains why we should remember Allah SWT and the benefit of remembering Allah constantly even if you're distracted even if you're distracted so ابن عطا إلا says لا تترك الذكر لعدم حضورك مع الله فيه do not leave the remembrance of Allah because of your heedlessness of Allah in your remembrance I don't leave the remembrance of Allah despite your heedlessness of Allah during the remembrance فإن غفلتك عن وجود ذكره أشدوا من غفلتك في وجود ذكره because your heedlessness of the remembrance of Allah is worse for you than your heedlessness during the remembrance of Allah so you're driving your car you're going to work you have 101 things in mind there's meetings in the morning and you have to do these projects that you have to follow up on and you have this and that you have a whole schedule and you're thinking about all this stuff that's going to happen and actually more important than that Ramzan is over you're saying okay where am I going for lunch? that's like number one and then did I talk to the minister of interior about what we'll be having for dinner and you're thinking about all these things so you think to yourself like why should and it's a sincere feeling perhaps that this is not an appropriate time to be making ذكره of Allah my mind is busy but Ibn Atali says do not leave the remembrance of Allah despite your heedlessness of Allah during the remembrance because your heedlessness of the remembrance of Allah is worse for you than your heedlessness during the remembrance of Allah why? he says because it may well be that Allah will take you from remembrance in which there's heedlessness to remembrance in which there is wakefulness ومن ذكر مع وجود يقضى إلى ذكر مع وجود حضور and then he may take you up from remembrance in which there's wakefulness to remembrance in which there's presence of heart with Allah ومن ذكر مع وجود حضور إلى ذكر مع غيبة عما سوى المذكور and then he may take you from remembrance in which there's presence of heart to remembrance in which there's absence from other than the one remembered سبحانه وتعالى and that's the wisdom that change does not happen by merely wishing it a change happens by making something consistent and with that consistency you bring excellence into it because if we all decide from this moment I'm not going to be heedless of Allah it's not like okay it'll happen you need to strive and the nature of remembrance of Allah is that it necessarily begins with a tongue and from the tongue it goes towards the heart so the heart becomes wakeful some of the meanings will come but then from wakefulness you have presence of heart you're active it's not just that you have moments of consciousness but your heart is present with Allah and then if that ذكر continues it goes from presence of heart with Allah سبحانه وتعالى to a state described by the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that that spiritual excellence that you enter into a state of worship of Allah as though you behold him and if you behold Allah you're absent from other than Allah سبحانه وتعالى it goes from ذكر in which there's heedfulness to ذكر in which there's absence from other than the one remembered and then and that is not difficult for Allah that is not difficult for Allah that the fruits of one's spiritual works of one's remembrance are from Allah sبحانه وتعالى but we have to take the means and this is one of the means that one should strive to bring into one's life to make it's a prophetic council لا يزالوا لسانك رتبا من ذكر الله keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah even if your heart and mind aren't all there because eventually it'll become like second nature before when you start driving a car you have to be thinking when you first start driving a car the whole mind especially if you learn how to drive stick shift you have to be thinking first gear now put into second gear now put into third gear it requires thinking automatic is a bit much easier but still like you don't have to be thinking let me look around now check rear view mirror check this you're thinking about all these things but then become second nature you can have a conversation with someone while driving the car you can be listening to a podcast or the radio or whatever and you're driving the car similarly with the remembrance of Allah sبحانه وتعالى and other activities of course this is not at every moment you're having a meeting with someone you might not be it may not be appropriate to be engaged in the remembrance of Allah while someone's telling you about the business report or someone is making a presentation and you're obviously engaged in zikr but much of our much of the moments of our life you're sitting with friends and family and uncles talking about episode 246 of Pakistani politics so what do you do you're sitting there passively you can still listen you quietly to yourself without making a show just engage in the remembrance of Allah sبحانه وتعالى and that is that becomes transformative this is the prophetic council so there's a few comments regarding this that Imam Ahmed Zarruq from one of his commentaries on the hikm that he mentions that when the author says don't leave the remembrance of Allah because of your lack of heedlessness of Allah in the remembrance he says that rather you know what we understand i.e. from Islamic teachings from the Sunnah of the Prophet s.a.w is that one should be striving to remember of Allah s.w.t in whatever circumstances one is in why because Allah s.w.t says regarding remembering Allah that you should remember Allah as you remember your parents or more intensely than that meaning the way you think about worldly matters you're always thinking about something that you should be thinking about Allah s.w.t remembering Allah like you remember worldly matters but rather even more so i.e. if you think about how much time we spend think about worldly matters how much time we spend thinking about Allah we should be thinking about Allah at least as much if not more but the way you do it is you engage in the remembrance of Allah regardless of what you're engaged in okay and this is one of the aspects of Islamic spirituality Islamic spirituality is lived not in retreat from one's worldly concerns but it's lived through one's worldly concerns right the believer they're at work and they're excelling at work but their heart is with Allah s.w.t you're with family and you strive to have the best of character to be the most helpful and most concerned member of your family but your heart is with Allah s.w.t they say it's a bit like the court of the king right that you're that the king has a court but then he has private chambers and the one who loves Allah s.w.t is with Allah s.w.t both in their general life they're in the court but they're also with Allah s.w.t in their private moments right that and it becomes a situation where one is conscious of Allah s.w.t even if one's tongue is not busy with Allah s.w.t and that was a state of the prophet s.w.t the Sahaba were once shocked because the prophet s.w.t went to sleep and he was lying down and he got up and he went to pray and the Sahaba had immaculate adab with the prophet s.w.t but they're also very straightforward if they saw something that they didn't understand with the utmost of adab and respect they would ask and that's one of the aspects of adab that are ignored and that we should instill that we should have the highest of manners and respect for our scholars for our elders and instill that even in our children that they should be able to question us but with respect that if they see us doing something strange to ask that I just wanted to know you know and with full respect that they should be able to object but respect so the Sahaba said ya Rasulullah you've told us that if you go to sleep lying down we should make wudu but we saw you sleeping and now you're praying and he said s.w.t I am not like you my eyes sleep yet my heart is awake my eyes sleep and the ruling of that is unique to the Prophet s.w.t because his sleep was a state of complete wakefulness such that he was in a complete state of remembrance of Allah and that's from what's considered there's an aspect of the sunnah the sunnah can be haram to follow the sunnah there's certain things that the Prophet s.w.t that are haram to follow they're called the khasa'is the things that are unique to the Prophet s.w.t and there's a wisdom to them that we are commanded to emulate him but there's certain things that are distinct about the Prophet s.w.t and these are things that are not like dispensations for the Prophet s.w.t but they all show his high rank and higher level of relationship with Allah s.w.t even while sleeping his heart was still in slavehood to Allah s.w.t in worship of Allah s.w.t but it becomes a constant state because true remembrance is remembrance of the heart and the tongue wakes up the heart they say it's like a house in which on the ground floor is this really lazy person who's asleep and your goal is to wake up that lazy person and get them to be doing something meaningful in life so to wake the person up you have to make some noise so your bedroom is on the first floor that's like where the tongue is the heart is asleep on the ground floor so you gotta make some noise so that eventually the heart wakes up and says what's going on up there and once it wakes up it'll start hearing what it's saying then it'll get closer to okay what exactly are you talking about and then it'll understand and then the meaning of what was being said will go into the heart but you have to wake up the heart and the heart takes time to wake up and one of the wisdoms of that struggle is that it expresses sincerity it expresses sincerity because if being conscious of Allah s.w.t was so easy that you didn't have to strive for it it wouldn't require any sincerity anyone could do it but it's just a Sunnah of Allah s.w.t that's something that is precious requires effort and part of that requirement of effort is do you really want it do you really want it this is why they say the sign of loving Allah is love of His remembrance and the sign of loving Allah s.w.t is loving His remembrance and this is a divine command and Allah s.w.t tells us in Surah Al-Ahzab verse 42 remember Allah with much remembrance zikran kathira and he doesn't simply say adhkfurullah kathiran adhkfurullah zikran kathira remember Allah with much remembrance and that's not sufficient he says and glorify Him by morning and by night. Sab'ihuhu from tasbih. But they say here, it's not referring simply to saying subhan Allah for example, but glorify Him in your remembrance by morning and by night. And many, many other universes, والذين آمنوا أشدوا حبا لله. Those who believe, what is their say? They are more intense in their remembrance of Allah, in their love of Allah. Why? Because they remember Allah at all their times. الذين يتكرون الله قياما وقعودا وعلى جنوبهم. Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and on their sides. And the Prophet ﷺ said, ألا أخبركم بخير أعمالكم. Should I not tell you of the best of your actions? And the purest of your actions with your Lord. وخير لكم من انفاق الذهبي والورق. And better for you than giving gold and silver and charity. And better for you than for you to meet your enemy. And for you to fight them and for them to fight you. The Sahaba said, do tell us, O Messenger of Allah, what is better for you than any other work? More beloved to Allah. Better than charity. Better than jihad. Do tell us, O Messenger of Allah. He said, ذكر الله عز وجل. The remembrance of Allah, mighty and majestic. ابن حجر العصطلاني. In Fatah al-Bari, his commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari explains. Because anything that is done with the remembrance of Allah is greater than that very same thing done without the remembrance of Allah. In any action. And in reality, the very purpose of every other action is the remembrance of Allah. Why do we pray? Allah SWT says. إنني أنا الله. لا إله إلا أنا. Indeed, I am Allah. There is no God but me. فعبدني. So therefore worship me. وأقم الصلاة لذكري. And establish the prayer for my remembrance. Okay? What is meant to be the state of the believer in their work. In their business. In their leisure. Allah SWT tells us, right after the Ayat al-Nur, the verse of light. رِجَالُ اللَّاتُ الْهِيْهِمْ تِجَارَةٌ وَلَا بَيْعٌ عَن ذِكْرِ اللَّةٌ Right? Those accomplished ones whom neither trade nor transaction busy away from the remembrance of Allah. And establishing the prayer and giving zakat etc. Right? So the state, the desired state of the believer at work is what? That their work does not distract them from the remembrance of Allah SWT. And they work and they excel in their work. But they're working because the work itself is done for the sake of Allah. Seeking the pleasure of Allah. Striving in everything they do at work to make it pleasing to Allah SWT. But in that they are engaged in the remembrance of Allah. And one of the aspects of the remembrance of Allah is the remembrance of Allah beautifies everything else. Why? Because if you're walking down the street right? So Zubayr is walking down the street and he's sort of just in a GSB general state of Allah. He's just sort of thinking about Zubaydah and how will he ever talk to Uncle Jamil that he wants to marry her and he's scared stiff of Uncle Jamil. Because he used to give him a hard time doing tarawih when he was a kid and he's been scared of him since. So he's just thinking about this and that and looking here and there checking his Twitter feed and just distracted. Right? So how will he be in his walking? He'll just be drifting down the street. Whereas what was the Sunnah of the Prophet right? It won't even be in his mind, but someone who walks, remembering Allah will be walking with purpose and if you're remembering Allah with your tongue it's only a step or two away from the critical question in life. How do I walk in a manner that's pleasing to Allah? So you're going to walk with purpose. You're going to walk, how did the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam walk? How do you walk with resolve? The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam read about his walking. It's incredible. The Sahaba talked so much about how the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam walked. He walked as if he was walking down a hill. He used to walk with purpose. He used to walk fast. The Sahaba said we used to we were younger than him but we used to struggle to keep up with him. Yet he used to walk with complete composure and grace. They said it was like a ship that was cutting through the ocean. Majestic. Yet people who walk fast if you have if your boss is walking down the corridor and they're walking fast would you stop them? No. Someone who's walking purposefully they're going somewhere. So you just leave them alone. After a pair of relasives headed out of the door you leave them alone. Though he walked fast and with purpose and resolve he walked with such calm and grace and concern for those around him that no one would hesitate to stop him Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam because he combined between complete majesty and complete mercy. Complete concern. If you remember Allah Subhanahu Alaihi Wasallam you'll be reminded of these sunnas. If the Prophet said someone who's walked he'd always be smiling, he'd always be cheerful. If you pass by someone he would be the first to initiate greetings and it's not just a sunnah for Muslims you're walking down the street you pass by someone we should be the first of people to be upholding those social graces of making eye contact of smiling of saying those little things sometimes just a nod would be appropriate other times you greet with the best of the etiquette that is suitable to one's context in other situations that work you know someone you'd say those social niceties but if you're in a state of remembrance of Allah Subhanahu Alaihi Wasallam your walking would be different you're remembering Allah Subhanahu Alaihi Wasallam your talking would be different you remember Allah Subhanahu Alaihi Wasallam your spending time with your parents would be different you having suhur would be different because you wouldn't just sit there you remember all the opportunities you have of seeking Allah's pleasure I don't just sit there waiting for everyone else to do whatever you'd be the first person to serve other people to try to give them water to help clear up because that's so that's one of the which is why and we'll close with this when Allah Subhanahu Alaihi Wasallam tells us about the prophetic example he says verily you have in the messenger of Allah the most beautiful of examples for whoever seeks Allah for whoever seeks Allah and the last day you have in the messenger of Allah the most beautiful of examples for whoever seeks Allah in the last day but then it mentions something that people forget وذكر الله كثيرة and makes much remembrance of Allah why? because if you go to sister Zubayda who Zubair wants to marry and she's sort of just drifting in her deen you know she used to have 10 classes at the MCC when sheikh Yahya was here but then sheikh Yahya left and she didn't take any of the new classes that MCC started after Ramadan she's just drifting you know she asks her do you think you should be following the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam no muslim would say no I don't think so it's not in my 2012 plans no one would say that you see your family members who maybe not as religious and you follow the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam no one would say no I don't think so but why doesn't it happen everyone would accept that yes we have in the messenger of Allah the most beautiful of examples but there's two aspects that make us not follow the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam one is Allah says you have in him the most beautiful of examples for whoever seeks Allah in the last day so you need to have that sense of purpose that you're seeking Allah in your final life but the other one is and makes much remembrance of Allah what brings that sense of purpose into one's life that I need to be seeking Allah no one would say no I don't think I should be seeking Allah and the next life dunya is enough for me no muslim would say that but what is it that keeps them from actually having a reality in their life is the lack of remembrance of Allah you have in the messenger of Allah the most beautiful of examples whoever seeks Allah in the last day how is that sense of seeking Allah stirred up through the remembrance of Allah because that's exactly what you're making Allah primary in your concern and consciousness that's what remembrance of Allah is and it is that remembrance then brings into mind the urgency of taking the messenger of Allah as your example and not just as any example to take him as the example in the most beautiful of ways because he's the most beautiful of example he's not just an example he's the most beautiful of examples whoever seeks Allah in the last day and makes much remembrance of Allah that's why the remembrance of Allah is something that we should strive to make an integral part of our life how do we do that first is have daily routines of remembrance and the Prophet SAW told us how and when he said strive for complete uprightness in life but know that you'll fall short so what do you do he gave us three keys he said three words and this is from the Jawaamil Kelim the encompassing words of the Prophet SAW remain steadfastly committed do the best you can if you can't do something completely you know you're falling short that's how I am do the best you can you know you're falling short you're not you heard that the Prophet SAW prayed 8 rakaz of night worship so the first few days of Ramadan you did it now you're struggling to do 8 rakaz you can't do the whole thing do the best you can you're not able to do 8 to 4 you can't do them like lengthy do them fast but remain steadfastly committed do the best you can and be of glad tidings because it's a tremendous gift you're trying to seek Allah SWT doing the best you can to do that it's a tremendous place to be and then he said seek assistance in the early mornings and the late afternoons and a little of the depths of the night seek assistance in what in striving for that complete uprightness that complete Allah's centricity but you know you'll fall short so what do you do remain steadfastly committed do your best and be of glad tidings how do you make that happen in your life seek assistance in 3 critical times the early mornings which is the beginning of the day and he left the general because someone could do it at Fajr time someone could do it before they head off to work most people take an incredible amount of time even if they think they're in a rush take a you know it doesn't take that long to have breakfast reading the you know you check your flip board app on your iPad and you know you even though you live on the west coast you're subscribed to the New York Times and you know you know if you were to do some what's called you know you know net eternal analysis NEA or ERA eternal return analysis anything you read in the New York Times couldn't possibly be as beneficial to you as remembering Allah SWT as reciting a little bit of Quran the fact that Romney, Dist Obama in Oklahoma has nothing to do with the only thing that matters is really to be informed that on election day when you put your vote who should he be voting for most of the news that you find out about it's kind of useless anyway it's not that important to know that if he wins his 22nd medal or not big deal but seek assistance in the early mornings have some routine of remembrance of Allah of Quran, of zikr at that time warrohati and the rohah refers to the time of rest which is when people finish work and they get home or it also refers to the time of returning home that late afternoon once you're done work and they say around asr time but the process I'm left to general because people's circumstance is different on your return home you're done work now and actually even productivity wise people who stretch their work to all times of the day it's not good for stress levels it's actually not good for productivity you'll get actually less done at work it's good to have a time where you're focused on work and time when you're doing other things so you're done work, take a break on your car ride back take a break remember Allah swt or do something else of benefit or once you get home what do you do once you get home you spend some time with the family you freshen up etc then what are you doing engage in a little remembrance of Allah and by little five minutes we're not saying hours once you got home every day you engage in five minutes of remembrance of Allah after spending time with the family etc by the end of the year that would add up to 30 hours of worship that you've engaged in wa shayin min ad-dulja and something of the depths of the night and the expression in Arabic is so beautiful wa shayin min ad-dulja something of the depths of the night as if the depths of the night are this really rich treasure or you dip into it just a little bit I was telling this to a relative of mine from my wife's side one of my in-laws so it's like you mentioned Hadrabadi sweet dish so it's like that it's really rich I don't like that sweet dish something like that something really rich shayin min ad-dulja a little of the depths of the night that even a little worship at that time will change your life and this is something if you could institute that in your life and this is what Ramadan is teaching us that one of the great wisdoms they say even if you're full you should still get up for sahur and have a little something one of the wisdoms of that is that it's easier to convince yourself to have some sahur it's harder to convince yourself to get up and pray to rakahs but we finish sahur 10-12 minutes before fajr time why? you can engage in a little remembrance of Allah at that time but try to make a commitment you're able to do it for 30 days in this month or 29 try to carry that on the rest of your life get up 10 minutes before fajr engage in some worship during this month you can do it the rest of the year and this will be transformative you can't do it all the time do it on weekends and keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah in your daily business of life it's not that difficult to walk to your car most of us can do it without too much struggle although I have a tendency to stumble and trip and bump into things but it's not that difficult to walk so what are you doing while you're walking nothing much remember Allah swt you're in the mall it's not that difficult to get to the store you want to get to the apple store and finally buy the macbook pro with the retina display what are you doing in the meantime nothing much really remember Allah swt and it'll take you up in the levels of remembrance from remembrance in which there's heedlessness to remembrance in which there's wakefulness and remembrance in which there's wakefulness to remembrance in which there's presence of heart with Allah swt to that remembrance in which there's absence from other than the one remembered and that's not difficult for Allah swt so may Allah swt make us of those who become of those who are constant in their remembrance of Allah and whose remembrance is transformative so it changes us in our relationship with Allah