 Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhum. Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for this gift of life. We thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for our ability to be here, to have iman, to act upon that iman, and to give us as we said life as nothing is guaranteed for us. I'm going to share with you, for a moment, I pulled up and went to grab my khutba, only to realize that it is sitting back on my desk at Zetuna College. And it was another time that this happened. I was giving a khutba in Vermont, and I know that I had walked to my car with the khutba. And I looked everywhere for this khutba, and I had plenty of time, maybe 40 minutes before the khutba, and I could not find the khutba. And then after I came back to my car, the khutba was in the visor. And the metaphor that I took from that was that I looked down. I looked everywhere, down, but I didn't look up. Not to create space with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but to get what I'm saying. And that was what I walked away from, that I didn't look up and ask Allah, but yet I tried to exhaust all of my means that I could without taking a moment to say, yeah, Allah, where is this khutba? And it was four inches from my face. So what I wanted to talk about today, we, or myself, in the past couple of days, I have been getting messages about, you know, October is mental health month, and perhaps we could talk about that, or there has been a lot of talk about that and the circles that I am in and other things such as this. Or perhaps we could speak about the situation that is happening in Iran and what is happening there, tragic, no doubt. This other issue also that we could talk about, I'm sorry that I meant to say that October is Domestic Violence Month, that's what I went to say. And there were talks about perhaps speaking on that. But as I thought a bit more, and by no way am I belittling any of these actions, but I thought to myself, there's a clear imbalance in that each one of these things, the issue of domestic violence, the mental health issue, or the situation that is happening in Iran, to me the imbalance is that I am not hearing anything that is guiding me back to my ultimate reality, to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And I understand these as being our life in this world, no doubt, and I understand the importance of these things. And that's what made me, what I wanted to speak about today was thinking about this, du'a'a Allahumma la taja'a al dunya akbarahamina. O Allah, don't make this world the greatest of my concerns. And not that those things should not be our concerns, don't get me wrong for one moment of what I'm trying to say here. What I'm trying to say is that where is the balance? Where is the balance that at each time when I'm engaging with people or I'm looking, even my social media, which means that there are things that this AI is understanding and it's sending to me that I'm not being reminded of my ultimate journey home. And I'm not being reminded of the hope that accompanies that knowing my shortcomings. And I think about this in a hadith that I can remember from my khutbah that I had prepared. And I'm going to paraphrase it because I can't remember it verbatim, forgive me. But it tells of a story of a man. It says he is the last inhabitant to exit the Hellfire. And he looks back at the Hellfire and he says like, I am done with you. And he praises Allah and he thanks Allah for removing him from this. And as he is walking away from the Hellfire, he sees a tree and he asks Allah if he can sit under this tree and he has granted this. And he rests there and then there's another tree that's greater than the one that he is sitting under. And he says, oh, Allah, that tree. And Allah responds to him by saying, Abdi, if I give this to you, I'm not sure that you'll be content. You'll continue to ask for war. No, no, no, Allah, only this tree. Only this tree. So Allah grants it to him. And he moves to this tree and the same thing happens. A greater tree is presented to him and he asks, oh, Allah, that tree. I will not ask you for anything more after this. By servant, didn't you just ask me for this? I'm afraid if I give this to you, you will not be content and you will ask for more. No, Allah, only this one, only this one. And it says that as he moves to that tree and he sits there, he then sees the gates of Jannah. Of course, he's going to ask. Oh, Allah, this one. Oh, Allah, this one. Please, just the gates. And as I share with you this hadith, it reminds me of my, Alhamdulillah, absolute blessing from Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, the first year that I became Muslim, I was able to make Hajj. And one of the most vivid memories that I have is standing just back from the Black Stone and looking at the door of the Ka'bah as it is shrouded in all of its beauty and thinking to myself, and I'm looking at the people that are scrambling, making dua'a, multazim, because the dua'a between the Black Stone and the door of the Ka'bah is mustajab from Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is accepted by Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And I'm looking at the people that are scrambling to kiss the Black Stone. But I'm looking at these doors and seeing that all of these people are outside and what if this was the fight for me? And those doors are closed. And there is no entrance into Jannah. And I sat there and I looked and I looked and I thanked my Lord because just a few months later, earlier, I would have been on that group that I had I died in that state that I would have been on the outside of those doors. Allah knows best. And this hadith continues and the man has let into the Jannah and he has seen all of these things. And there's more that continues in the hadith but I'm going to just stop here to say that the hope that I felt when I read this hadith that this is the last person to enter from the exit from the Hellfire to be entered into the Jannah and the type of Farah, the type of joy, the type of happiness that this person has. And you think about it and all of the hadith that we hear about and at the end of time that someone who just has a myth, Allah, a mustard seed of, of Iman and their heart will enter Jannah. What type of hope does that give to us who find in our lives Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala facilitating us to be here for Jumu'ah week after week after week. Facilitating for us Ramadan after Ramadan after Ramadan. Facilitating for us our children to memorize the book of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Facilitating for us a life insha'a Ta'ala that we are exhausting and spending our time seeking the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala with all of our shortcomings. The joy that that brings me just to be considered, if you will, to be considered to enter into Jannah. So that's why I'm saying why I started off talking about yes, we could speak about mental health or yes, we could speak about domestic violence or yes, we could speak about this situation in Iran. We can speak about all those things. And rightfully, we should. But all I'm saying is that for me, it felt, it feels like an imbalance. And to bring us back to this place of balance at an absolute minimum. But to be around and seek company and seek conversation and even start conversation about the joys of this journey home. And what we will experience in Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Not because of what I do, because of the promises and the grace of our Lord. And that through all of these struggles that there will be this mixture of these hardships but also the sweetness of Iman. And when I think about this mixture, I think about the story of Bilal radi Allahu Anhu. It said that when the Sahaba saw his back from the punishment that he received that they wept and they asked what brought you through that. And he said, yes, both were there. The pain of this was there, but the sweetness of Iman was there. And the sweetness of Iman was superior. It eclipsed that pain. That's what I'm talking about of why that balance is needed. These are difficult times. And seemingly, I don't know for you, but for me, they seem like they get more difficult. And the next thing unfolds. And the next thing unfolds. And the next thing unfolds. However, we should not be surprised because we were warned about this. We were told about this. So just taking these moments that I'm able to share with you here that this is a reminder. First for myself, as one of my early teachers said to me, my ears are closer to my mouth than they are to yours. So I am the first one to hear it. This is a reminder for me. That one, when situations look bleak, that we have this hope to look forward to. And not, as I said, to negate our existence in this world, nor to say that this world is profane because it's actually beautiful. It's beautiful that we are here. Our families are beautiful, wallillah and hamd. There are beautiful aesthetics such as sunrises and sunsets and mountains and all of these other things that we can find. Hope of our children, of our grandchildren, whatever it is, these are things that are all beautiful. No doubt. So I said, I don't think that this world, I personally do not look at this world as just being profane, lah, abadan. But there are trials and will be trials and we all know these things. So insha'Allah this will serve as a reminder first and foremost for myself, that through all of that and hearing of this last man granted this gift, if you will. How could we even call it a gift? I don't even know that I can have a word to describe what that is from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be granted paradise after a duration in the fire. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us from the fire, from seeing it, from smelling it, from even knowing of its existence.