 Allah Ta'ala, we praise him and glorify his name, Subhanahu Ta'ala. We ask him, Jalla Thanahu, to send peace and blessings and salutations upon the best of creation, our Sayyid, our legelord, our master, Sayyidina Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi sallam, and upon his blessed family, companions, folk, and followers, and excellence until the end of time. That these are very heavy days. These are very heavy times. We are all overwhelmed with the tribulation, the extreme unimaginable levels of violence, of cruelty, of barbarism, barbarism, barbaric. What many scholars of genocide have classified as a genocide that's unfolding right now in the holy land. And we know that our prophet, sallallahu alayhi sallam, foretold that this ummah would experience tribulations and genocide and killing. And the hadith that Haqim relates in his Sahih and the Habib confirms its authenticity that our prophet said, sallallahu alayhi sallam, This community of mine, this nation of mine is a nation, a community that receives a special grace, a special mercy. It's punishment is not in the next life. It's punishment is in this life. Earthquakes, tribulations that overwhelm fitna and to be victims of murder, of cruelty, of atrocities, of genocide, of all sorts of war crimes. This was foretold. And we, as a community, whenever we are confused, perplexed, overwhelmed, distraught, disconsolate, we go back to the book of Allah Ta'ala. That is our first refuge. We go back to the book of Allah, our scripture, that was revealed to us. This sublime book, thealika al-kitab, aliflameem, thealika al-kitab, after the mysterious muqatta'at letters that open baqarah, aliflameem, thealika al-kitab. That is the book, that, for something distant, because it's so sublime. La-raibafi, there's no doubt in this scripture, the words of Allah Ta'ala, hudan l-muttaqeen, a great guidance for the people of piety, for the people of a moral compass, a moral compass for the people of God consciousness. When we are revealed from the Qur'an, ma hua shifa'un wa rahmatu lil mu'mineen, and we have sent down from the book, that which is a great healing, shifa. And a great mercy, rahma, for the believers. Wa la yazidu l-zalimina illa khasara. But the book, what is the implication of the book for the tyrants? What is the implication of the book for the oppressors? What is the implication of the book for the war criminals and the war mongers? Wa la yazidu l-zalimina illa khasara. It increases such people only in utter loss. Utter loss. Because they have to account. They have to answer to Allah. Everyone has to answer to Allah. No one will bypass the akhirah. No one will bypass the hesab. No one will bypass the meeting, face to face as it were, quote unquote. The direct encounter with Allah for the questioning and the accounting for every single act. Every life that is destroyed by a criminal. Every life that is destroyed by a war monger. Every life that's destroyed by a cruel soldier. By a soldier who presses a button and completely destroys an entire building with all of the precious lives, civilians, innocent civilians, men, women, and children in that building, excuse me, that they have to answer to Allah Ta'ala. And our prophet said in Sahih Muslim, Sada Dari Sallam, Ittaqud Dhulm, beware of ever oppressing anyone. Beware of being oppressive. Fa inna Dhulm, Dhulumat yawmil qiyamah because oppression and tyranny will be layers of darkness on the day of judgment, Dhulumat, darknesses in the plural. That's what they will be enveloped by, the tyrants on that day enveloped by darknesses. Wattaqud shuh and the prophet continues Sada Dari Sallam and beware of stinginess, miserliness. Fa inna shuh, fa inna ahlaka man kana qablakum because miserliness destroyed the peoples before you. It destroyed the peoples before you. Hamalahum ala ansafakud dima'uhum It moved them, it incited them to spill blood, to spill blood. It's a tremendous thing. One life, to kill one life as if to kill all of humanity, to spill the blood of one life. It's the wadiest thing. Wa la hawla wa la qudsa illa billah that shuh moved people, hamalahum ala ansafakud dima'uhum wastahalum aharimahum and then to transgress every boundary, every moral boundary, every right of a human being. And reflect on this hadith because the two go together, these two diseases, tyranny and oppression, Dhulm and shuh, stinginess, miserliness, because most wars and war crimes that unfold from wars, especially in modern warfare especially, that it's more often than not rooted in a type of shuh, a type of miserliness, a type of stinginess for power, the lust for power, the lust for dominion to dominate over others, the lust for wealth. And we have an entire international monetary system, a corrupt international monetary system that facilitates most wars on earth today. So the two go together, that Allahumma salli ala Syedna Muhammad. This is the, and Allah ta'ala revealed, wa la qad karamna bani Adam. This is our scripture. And this book, that's a mercy, it's a healing and a mercy. What part of that mercy is that it guarantees the sanctity of every human life. Reflect on that. When other ideologies have twisted, have such a twisted worldview that it's completely justified in these diseased minds and diseased hearts to destroy lives, to destroy the lives of civilians, non-combatants, men, women, children, in the thousands to completely destroy their lives. And Allah protected this community from such injustice with the revelation amongst many others in the Quran and Sunnah wa la qad karamna bani Adam. We have ennobled, we have honored every child of Adam, literally bunny, every child of Adam. It's amazing. The gift of Islam, the gift of Islam, the gift of our Prophet, sallallahu alayhi sallam, wa ma'a arsalnaka illa rahmatin l-alameen. We have not sent you, except as a mercy, to all al-alameen, to all humanity. Raghub al-Isfahani in Mufridat al-Quran, he says al-alameen al-insan, in classical Arabic, the primary meaning of alam is al-insan. So the primary meaning, al-alameen are nas jamee'an. The Prophet was a mercy to all of humanity, sallallahu alayhi sallam. So we have to turn back to Allah Ta'ala and we go back to the book and the sunnah and from the sunnah and from the book and the sunnah is to really supplicate to Allah, don't underestimate dua. Don't ever, we can never, we can never underestimate dua. This is a trick of the devil. Allah Ta'ala has revealed, wa qala rabbukum ud-du'uni astajib lakum and your Lord has proclaimed in His sublime glory and infinite wisdom, call on me and I shall answer you, guaranteed. And our Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam as is related in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad in an authentic hadith that he told the sahaba that there are mysterious ways in which Allah Ta'ala answers dua but it's always answered. As he said, sallallahu alayhi sallam ma min musnim yad'u bi da'awatin there's never a single Muslim, there's never a Muslim that makes a supplication to Allah, laysa fiha itham wa la qati'at al-rahim so long as it does not entail any sinfulness or the breach of a family tie, a family bond, illa a ta'ahu allahu ta'ala biha ihda thalath except that Allah will give for that supplication in response, astajib lakum, one of three things. Imma yuajil lahu that either, imma yuajil lahu da'awatu that either Allah will immediately answer the supplication. Wa imma an yaddaqiraha lahu fil akhirah or the second possibility that Allah stores it for that person in the hereafter, in the akhirah, the day of the hesab. Wa imma an yasrifa min as-su, mitlaha, and the third option that Allah will ward off, will protect from some harm the like of that supplication. Qalu sahaba, radilah anhum jami'an, they said, izan nukthir ya Rasulullah in that case we're gonna make a lot of du'a, plenty. We shall be plentiful in our supplication O God's messenger, salallahu alayhi salam and how did he respond, salallahu alayhi salam? Qala, allahu akthar. He said, salallahu alayhi salam, Allah is more plentiful. Allah is more plentiful. Allah's mercy does not run out. Allah is not short. He's not in a want of mercy. He's not in a want of ability to respond. Allah has every single thing. Tabaruk alladhi biyadihil mulk. How exalted and blessed is the one in his very direct grasp, his omnipotent grasp is the entire dominion, the east and the west, the north and the south, the holy land and every land on earth belongs to him, jal lathana uhu. Allahu akthar. This is what we have to do is to make plentiful du'a to Allah ta'ala. It's a time of du'a, of serious du'a, of turning back to Allah ta'ala because with the du'a is the toba to Allah and the oba to Allah and the inaba to Allah. All of these levels of repentance in the Quran to turn back to Allah from any sinfulness, that's toba. To turn back to Allah from any vices of the heart that pull us time and again to sinfulness, that's oba. And to turn back to forgetfulness from Allah, to turn back to consciousness of Allah, that's inaba. Munibin, munibina ilay, the people who are in constant recognition and cognition of their creator. Such people, their du'a is mustajab. So we have to turn back to Allah in that way while we make this du'a. And it's from the way of the early masters of our tradition to have such universal concern for the ummah and to make it a regular practice to pray for this ummah. That one of the early imams of our tradition, ma'ruf al-karqi, he was the sheikh of Surah al-Sakati who was the sheikh of Imam Junaid who by consensus of this ummah was in Imam of this ummah, Imam al-Junaid, Rahimullah Ta'ala, the sheikh of the sheikh, ma'ruf al-karqi, that he said, man qala kulli yawm, ashera marrat, Allahumma aslih, umma ta-Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam, Allahumma farrij an umma ta-Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam, Allahumma rham, umma ta-Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam, kutiba min al-abdaal, that he said, whoever says 10 times a day, O Allah, rectify the community of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam, make the community upright again, remove the sinfulness, remove any transgressions, remove any dholm from our ummah, remove any shuhh in our ummah, wherever it may be, ya Allah, rectify us, rectify me, rectify our families, rectify the ummah, Allahumma farrij an umma ta-Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam, O Allah, relieve, provide relief to the ummah of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam, relieve them from the tribulation that's overwhelming, Allahumma rham, umma ta-Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam, have mercy on the ummah of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam, and that this is a, that the result he says that he shall be written amongst the abdaal, this mysterious category of saints in our tradition that is translated as the substitutes. And one meaning of that is whenever one of them die, Allah substitutes with another of their like, and another explanation is that they are consciously working on substituting vices of the ego with virtues of the prophetic way. I'll say this, wa astaghfirullah li walakum fa astaghfirullah, inna Allaha ghafuru raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, wa sallillahi umma la Sayyidina Muhammad al-Nabilummi, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim jasliman kathira, Allah ta'ala states in Surat Sa'd, A'udh bilal min al-Shaytan al-Rijim, Ya Dawudu inna ja'annaka khalifatan fil ardi fahkum bina al-nasibil haqq, wa la tattabi'il hawa fa yudillaka an sabi'il Allah, inna al-ladina yadilloon an sabi'il Allah, ilahum azaabun shadeedum bimaanasu yawma al-hisaab. O David, reflect on the context. Reflect on the context. O David, we have made you a vice-gerent on earth, a representative of the pleasure of God Almighty, a representative of the way, of the beautiful way of all prophets, the moral, a moral exemplar on earth, fahkum bina al-nasibil haqq, so judge amongst humanity in truth, truth and justice. This is the way of prophet David. This is the way of all prophets. This is the way of our beloved prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, who was the reviver of the way of all prophets. He completes it. He is the mutammim inna ma bur'ithu li utammim ma makarim al-akhlaq. I was sent only to complete and perfect good character. Wa la tattabi'il hawa and never follow pride. Lest it cause you to go astray from the path of God. Verily, those who go astray from the path of God shall have a painful torment because of what they forgot. They're forgetting the day of khaisab. wa maa khalaqana as-samaa wal-arada wa maa baynahumaan ba'atila. And we have not created the heavens and the earth and everything between them as ba'atil. This world is not made in vain. This earth was not made in vain. The heavens were not made in vain. Where, how can, you know, where is the answer? Where is the moral response from the secular liberal world order? Where is the moral response from the atheistic world order? From the civilization that claims to uphold human rights? Where is their response in these calamitous situations? No, all of these slogans are then bent and manipulated because the victims are dehumanized and demonized. That's not our way. Allah has revealed a Quran that establishes an objective moral order. wa laqad karramna bani Adam. And so we believe that heavens and earth are replete with purpose and meaning. That lika zannu ladina kafaru to believe that this is all without meaning is the conjecture of disbelievers. Fa wailu ladina kafaru minan naar. So woe to such disbelievers from the fire. Amna jaalu ladina aamanu wa aminu al-sali hatika al-mufsidina fil-arad. Shall we treat those who are righteous, are believers and work righteousness on earth like we do those who sow corruption on earth, who kill, wanton, warmongers on earth? Are they the same? Shall we treat them the same? Do we think that the hereafter will have the same outcomes for both categories? Is that even a, is that any way possible? Amna jaalun mutteqina kal-fujjar or shall we treat the righteous like the sinful, like the transgressors, the genocidal maniacs? Kitabun, a sublime book. That's what we have. That's the treasure that we have. Don't underestimate the treasure. Don't underestimate the gift of our Prophet, Saddle Dari Sallam. Kitabun anzal nahu ilayk that we reveal to you, O Muhammad, Saddle Dari Sallam. Mubarakun, that's so full of blessing, replete with blessing. liyadabbaru aayatihi so that they might deeply contemplate and deliberate its signs and its meanings and its verses. wa liyatadakkara ulu al-albab and so that the people of true intellect, intellect of mind rooted in spiritual accomplishment, virtue, when the two are conjoined, akil and kalb purified and oriented to truth and justice. So that such people, ulu al-albab, the people of lub, the inner core liyatadakkara, that they might wake up, that they might be people of consciousness, of the divine and of the prophetic way and of the moral order and they do their best to establish that in their sphere of influence. And we have to ask ourselves, where is the Quran in our lives? Where is the Quran in our family life? Are we people liyadabbaru aayatihi? Are we people who deeply contemplate? Do we study the Quran regularly? Is that part of our habit? Young people, are you committed to studying the Quran? Ask yourself, this is not just for the elders. We need the young people to lead us sometimes. You should tell your parents, if it's not a staple in your house, I wanna study the Quran. Give me a good translation. Find me a teacher. Because when I look at the world, it breaks my heart. So I want to know what my Lord has told me. And I want to come to know my prophet, Sallallahu alayhi sallam. So I can have some type of clarity in my heart and I can be committed to doing something good with my life. And so that when I meet my Lord and I meet my prophet, Sallallahu alayhi sallam, I have a chance to be received with beauty and mercy and pride. That's what each and every one of us, especially the young people should be saying right now. Wa wahabinali Dawood Suleiman and we gifted David, the one that was designated as Khalifafil Ard, we gifted David Solomon. Ni'am al-Abd, what a beautiful, what a great, what a supreme servant. Innahu awab, he was always turning back to Allah. He was a person of oba, a person who's consistent and constant in rectifying the heart so that he could be a moral exemplar to everyone he encounters, Muslim and non-Muslim. Muslim and non-Muslim. Are we ni'am al-Abd? Are we striving? Are we aspiring to be ni'am al-Abd, someone that Allah boasts to his angels? What a great servant of mine. Are we aspiring to be people of oba? Innahu awab. Sallallahu alayhi sallam, and another early master of our tradition, he said, He said repentance is to stop procrastinating. Repentance is to start now, today, this moment. We ask Allah to Allah for Taufiq. We ask Allah to Allah to make us people committed to guidance and truth and justice and moral clarity and the prophetic example of morality and the prophetic way in every aspect of our lives. We ask Allah to Allah to enable us to help the ummah. And we ask Allah to Allah to give us the ability to serve those who are victims of criminality. We oughta ma usätta umatum Muhamm RDF, Allah ma wajra jnanumontum MuhammRM, Allah ma 얼마나 umatum MuhammRM, Allah ma fajrij al-mustiston fi al-arad al-maqaddas fi fi r optimization, wafeekallin ma khan yaa allah Allahumma Restore Amin and Afi in the Holy Land. Allahumma Restore Safety and Security and Peace and Well-being in the Holy Land. In all lands, in all places, ya Allah, where innocent people are being harmed and killed.