 We begin with the praises of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, we begin with praising him. And I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad of Arabia is his last and final messenger. I encourage myself first and foremost and the rest of the congregation to have taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to have God consciousness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in everything that we do. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, we're so blessed to be here on this beautiful day of Juma. Brothers and sisters, as Ramadan continues to become a distant memory and fall further and further behind as the days move on, we'd like to take a few moments in today's khudbah to remind ourselves about a few things. Alhamdulillah, we've mentioned this before and it's been mentioned by our teachers before on this pulpit here at MCC but inshallah review is good, we can all use a little bit of review. And alhamdulillah, we know that on the path to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala every believer is on a path to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There are four enemies that are trying to get us off this path, that are trying to distract us, that are trying to make us go wayward. And those enemies are the following. And the enemies are four and in Ramadan, Ramadan is designed to help us fight off these enemies, to keep them at bay. The enemies are the following. Number one, Shaitan. Shaitan, Iblis and his minions. Iblis is real and his minions are real. And in Ramadan, Shaitan is locked away. He is locked up and so he cannot affect us. And the second enemy, the second enemy is the ego, the nafs. And Ramadan is designed to fight the nafs because we're giving away, we're giving up halal. We're giving up halal food and drink. We're giving up relations with one's spouse. These are things that are halal for you. But we give it up and so we keep the ego at bay. We keep it suppressed. And then the third enemy is the dunya. The dunya, right, this dunya, this world that is deluding us. And this enemy is also kept at bay in Ramadan because Ramadan is the month where a lot of us give extra charity. We give from our wealth even if it stings. Most of us, you know, you can give your wealth at any time but a lot of us, we give it during the month of Ramadan to get the extra reward and amplify the reward. And then last but not least, the desires, the shahwa. This is the fourth enemy. And the shahwa are also put at bay in the month of Ramadan because when you withhold food and drink for 14 hours right now, right? I think this past Ramadan was 14 hours. When you give up food and drink for that long, the body becomes weak and you can't, you know, you're weakening your desires. So Alhamdulillah Ramadan is designed to help us fight these four enemies. And unfortunately when Ramadan ends, it's normal. A lot of us go back. These enemies return. Shaytan is back. And we have to be aware of the enemies. We have to be aware of these four things that are trying to get us off the path. Alhamdulillah. But today, brothers and sisters, in the few moments that we have today, I want to talk about the dunya in particular. The dunya in particular, this enemy of the dunya and how the dunya is deluding us and trying to distract us from Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. The scholars give so many beautiful examples of how to understand and internalize the reality of the dunya. Our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam gives a beautiful hadith where he says that be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler along a path. Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler along a path. Automatically Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is giving us the mind-work and the mind-frame to understand what this dunya is like. How we should be with this dunya? Understand that you're just a traveler. You're here only for a short moment. Subhanallah. There was once a teacher and a student, a sheikh and a student that were traveling around and the sheikh was giving lectures and what have you. And they were traveling around and they checked into a hotel room. They checked into a hotel room. And the sheikh turned to his student and he said what would you say to me if I told you that I am going to renovate this entire hotel room. I'm going to repaint the walls, rip up the floor, replace it with new flooring, tear down the bathroom, tear down the counters, replace the toilet, replace the sink, get the lighting all fixed, buy a new mattress. What would you say to me if I told you this is what I'm going to do with this hotel room? And his student said to him, he said, Ya sheikh I would say you're crazy. Why would you spend all your time, energy, money renovating a hotel room? It doesn't make any sense, it's a hotel room. The sheikh said exactly this is the dunya. This is the analogy for the dunya. We're spending all this time, energy, money for a short stay, for something that's not going to last. And so the sheikh was teaching the student a lesson by giving him this analogy and inshallah we can all benefit. The sheikh and the scholars, the payasalaf they give us the analogy of the dunya. They say that the dunya is like drinking seawater. The dunya is like drinking seawater. You get a taste, but you only get thirstier. What happens when you drink seawater? You only get thirstier. You think that hey this is water, this should be nourishing me but really the salt in the seawater it's doing the opposite effect on you and it's going to actually kill you. So they give the analogy that the dunya is like the seawater. If you take one sip you're satisfied for a moment but then it kicks in and you just need more and you need more and you continue and you continue and you continue to drink and drink and drink until eventually you actually die. And so it's a delusion. The salaf, the payas predecessors give another and a very beautiful and powerful analogy about the dunya. They say that this world is like you are reaching for your own shadow. You're reaching for your own shadow. When you reach for your shadow, when you try to interact with your shadow it evades you, it leaves you. It's always just out of reach. If you try to shake your shadow's hand you're not going to be able to do it. It's always just right evading you just by a little bit. You can't ever interact with your shadow. It's not tangible. But when you leave your shadow alone and you walk away your shadow has to follow you. SubhanAllah. When you leave your shadow alone and you walk away the shadow has to follow you. It's going to follow you wherever you go. So this is what the salaf say. The dunya, if you're so obsessed with it trying to reach it, trying to grab it it's always going to be out of reach. But if you let it go and you leave it to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and you understand that he is ar-razaq, the one who sustains for you and he is al-wahaab, the one that provides for you and he is al-kareem, the generous one. When you understand these things then the dunya will follow you. SubhanAllah. A very beautiful and powerful analogy. I was recently travelling. Recently I was at a janaza of a very young man 34 years old 34 year old man at his janaza. Life is not promised to anyone. A 34 year old has their whole in life ahead of them. I guarantee if you ask many of you in this congregation you'll all have someone that you know that yes this person was only 23 years old passed away, this person was 35, passed away 40, had two kids, passed away. We all have these experiences in our lives where someone whose whole life was supposed to be ahead of them is cut short. Nothing is promised. But anyway I was at a janaza of a 34 year old man. May Allah give him jannah. Imam there who gave the talk he gave a very beautiful analogy. He said that when we leave this dunya it's like being at an airport. And when you go to the airport sometimes your family can follow you to a certain amount. They can follow you to a certain level. But then when you get to the TSA when you get to the security they can no longer follow you. And so you turn around you say your goodbyes there are some tears and then you go through the TSA check. And you go through the TSA check and they can't follow you. But the family or the friends that are waiting for you on the other side when you get on that plane and you land and you go through security again that family is rejoicing and happy and excited to see you. So the family and friends that you left are sad but the family and friends that you're seeing on the other side are happy. And this is the dunya. So this individual passed away and we can't follow him right now it's not our time. We can't go through the security check we can't go through the tests of the grave right now. But inshallah the friends and family on the other side his ancestors the people of the ghaib the people who have moved on inshallah they are excited to greet him and to honor him subhanallah and so we can keep this analogy in our minds as well for the dunya. And I was recently traveling and had a layover at a very fancy airport very amazing airport brand new Spick and Span latest technology you didn't even need to use your boarding pass anymore you just scan your face and it lets you go through it's really crazy things are changing and you go and all the top brands are in the airport all the top brands all the it looks like you're in a super mall and they're selling everything and actually in order to get to your gate you have to walk through duty-free and there's all these things that are coming out at you and the airport was super super comfortable high-speed Wi-Fi all of these things but not once did I feel or did I see someone in the airport who was like yeah this is where I want to post up I just want to post up at this airport this is where I want to be I just want to stay at the airport for the rest of my days and hang out here no even though the airport was so nice and so beautiful and so clean and high-tech and Spick and Span everyone had this mindset everyone was checking their watches everyone was looking at the boards when is my flight when is my departure out of here oh it's two hours away one hour away half hour away I better get going I have to get in line I have to board nobody had this mindset that no this airport is my home and this is the analogy brothers and sisters of this dunya this is how we have to treat this dunya we have to treat it like we treat the airport no matter how nice and fancy and amazing it is we cannot get distracted by it and it's okay that it's nice and fancy we shouldn't feel guilty Alhamdulillah we are happy with the blessings Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us but we always have the reality in the mindset that no I am checking out of here my time is coming and there is a greater reality than this facade and this mirage that I see around me subhanallah Alhamdulillah I had the ability to travel to Indonesia and I went to an island called Lumbak I wanted to share this with you guys because it was very profound I went to this island called Lumbak and this island Lumbak is called it's called the Muslim Bali and it's called the island of a thousand mosques it's 90% Muslims and it's called the island of a thousand mosques because there's over a thousand mosques on the island every few meters there's another mosque another mosque another mosque and it was amazing to see subhanallah and to interact with the Muslims there our brothers and sisters over there and I took a tour of the island with a guide and we got really ingrained in the culture and we wanted to get away from the tourist experience we wanted to actually experience the island with our Muslim brothers and sisters and not be tourists and so we went around to get a really real experience and we got a tour and we went to different villages and the thing that we noticed is that all of the houses of the villagers were very very simple very simple very just bare minimum just what they needed to live nothing fancy but the mosque of every village was super beautiful like next level beautiful it had you know tiling on it and it had decorations and it had calligraphy and it smelled good and the carpets were plush and we were like subhanallah and the tour guide told us he said here in Lombok it's one of the few places in the ummah where there is still this understanding where all the villagers they don't use their extra money to renovate their homes they don't use their extra money to get a new bathroom to get to you know paint the walls to do all of these things rather what they do is with the extra money they give it to the local masjid and they build a masjid and you can build a masjid but they go next level as you can see it's so beautiful this is they and they believe and they understand if we build a house for Allah Allah will build a house for us in Jannah and so even though they have extra money and extra resources it doesn't go to their houses it goes to the house of Allah because they understand that the house that they're living in now is not their real home it's not their real home their real home is in the next life their real home is what they're preparing for in Jannah subhanallah and that was just such a mind shift to see that and to see it in practice with our brothers and sisters in Lombok in Indonesia subhanallah I'll say this I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Allah and His angels are praying upon the Prophet O you who believe, pray to him and pray for him to deliver Allah prays for our master Muhammad and for my family Muhammad as well as I prayed for our master Ibrahim and for my family master Ibrahim You are like Hamid and Majid Praise be to Allah Brothers and sisters in the first part of this khutbah we talked about the dunya and the advice and the realities that the salaf give about the dunya to understand what it is and the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam helping us have the right mindset about the dunya but now brothers and sisters I want to pivot a little bit and talk about where are we going where are we going where we're going brothers and sisters the goal of every single one of us here is to enter Jannah al-Fardaus in the company of Habib al-Adham sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that's where all of us are wanting to go that's where all of us are wanting to be and so in this last part of the khutbah I wanted to talk a little bit about the gates of heaven we don't talk about the gates of heaven enough right the eight gates of heaven that Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has opened up for us that each and every one of us inshallah one day will walk through and we get to decide brothers and sisters what gate we walk through which one we want to walk through some of us will be able to walk through all eight subhanallah and we'll share what the eight gates are now inshallah it should be noted that there is a lot of difference of opinion around the eight gates of Jannah lots of different scholars have difference of opinion some give different gates different titles there's opinions that there's more than eight gates there's opinions that there's less Allah al-Huwalim there's a lot of room for conversation around this topic because it's not explicitly mentioned for us there are four gates that are mentioned in Bukhari but it's not something that is clear-cut right it's not black and white so if you've heard something different or have a different understanding alhamdulillah that's completely fine in this khutbah we'll just share what the majority opinion seems to be regarding the eight gates of heaven inshallah so we know the reality of the dunya now inshallah we understand what it is and how our mindset should be let's talk about where we're going inshallah inshallah with the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we're going to Jannah inshallah and there are eight gates to enter paradise eight gates jahannam according to the majority of scholars the hellfire only has seven gates but jannah has eight gates and this is out of the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala out of his Zahrahma that he has made jannah have more gates than the hellfire subhanallah this is a good sign for us for the believers inshallah so the first gate is babasalat the gate of prayer and this gate is reserved for those who were devout in their prayers and timely with their prayers and maintained a strong connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through regular prayer this is very basic we all understand this that the five prayers the five daily prayers if you are on top of these prayers you pray them in a timely manner you're concerned about your prayers this gate is for you brothers and sisters and if you do extra sunnah extra nawafil then you're protecting yourself even more you're creating even more of a of a path ahead of you like okay I'm good on my prayers but I'm doing even extra this gate is for those of us who are on top of our prayers if you are on top of your prayers glad tidings to you and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow you to continue to be on top of your prayers until the end of your life inshallah I mean the second gate is babal jihad the gate of struggle or the gate of striving there's difference of opinion regarding these gates brothers regarding this gate brother and sisters some of the scholars say this gate is for those who actively strived in battle for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and they died a martyr and this gate is for them so there is that opinion and this gate is still open even in today's day and age when there's no you know islamic state and you know no centralized islamic government this gate is still open for our brothers and sisters in Palestine who are being oppressed and standing for their rights for our brothers and sisters in India for our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan this gate is open for so many Muslims across the world that are being oppressed there's another opinion brothers and sisters that this gate is not just for those people who you know pass away in struggle with their blood and die martyrs but it's for anyone who's striving in the way of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala anyone who's building an organization or working on a project or something that is strengthening the ummah inshallah this gate is for you this is the second gate the gate of striving the gate of struggle Bab al jihad the third gate brothers and sisters is Bab atoba Bab atoba the gate of repentance and this is one of the most special gates of Jannah because this gate is for those who sincerely repented for their sins and saw forgiveness from Allah demonstrating humility and a desire for spiritual purification this Bab atoba is always open for anyone this one is so easy brothers and sisters we just have to turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and say Astaghfirullah and ask him to forgive us for our sins inshallah this gate is open for you the next gate Bab al saddaka the gate of charity this gate is for those who are generous and charitable in their lives helping the poor and needy and deserving individuals in society Bab al saddaka this gate is for you brothers and sisters give a little bit in saddaka we've all done this masjid coming out of Ramadan inshallah this gate is open for you giving in the way of charity your zakat 2.5% of your wealth that's the basic but if you give more and you give extra then this gate inshallah is for you you're cementing it that it is for you then there is Bab al rayhan the gate of fasting this gate is for those who observed fasting during the month of Ramadan with sincerity, patience and devotion subhanallah and brothers and sisters it doesn't have to just be constrained to Ramadan we can make this gate even wider we can make this gate for us brothers and sisters we can cement it for us by fasting every Monday and Thursday by fasting the 6 days of shawwal by going the extra mile subhanallah and then there's Bab al hadj the gate of pilgrimage this is the gate for those who performed the Hajj pilgrimage to the Kaaba and Makkah fulfilling this pillar of Islam inshallah may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala all make this gate a reality for us inshallah we complete our Hajj our Hajj is accepted and we are able to enter through this gate inshallah and then there is Bab al iman the gate of faith this gate is for those who possessed strong faith, iman and lived a righteous life seeking to please Allah and follow his guidance and all aspects of their existence inshallah that's all of us all of us who have iman but we can cement this gate for us brothers and sisters by really having tawqal in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala putting trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala understanding that all my affairs are in the hands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala they're not in my hands they're in the hands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala giving things over to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we can cement this gate for us and then this gate brothers and sisters the last one is very powerful Bab al khadimin al ghayt wa al afina al nas this is the gate of restraining anger and pardoning people subhanallah this is a beautiful gate brothers and sisters we can be doing all of the other things to get us into jannah but what about restraining our anger and pardoning our pardoning people in our lives you know we can be doing all of these amazing things but if our kids are shuddering if we come home because they're scared of our temper if our spouses are scared of us whenever they interact with us because they're afraid of our temper and our anger then what is the point of all of these things that we're doing if our loved ones are scared around us and frightened around us because we have a strong temper Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in a very short hadith don't get angry very short hadith but very powerful don't get angry this gate is for those who restrain their anger and pardon people and forgive people there's a place before we enter jannah called the kantara where Muslims are going to have to work out their problems these are for the people of jannah the people of they're going to enter jannah but before they can enter jannah they have to work out some issues that they have with each other some issues that they had in the dunya this person hurt me this way this person did this to me and they're going to work they're going to have to work it out before they can enter jannah we don't want to wait till that time brothers and sisters we want to pardon people now in this life so we can enter jannah without any reckoning so we can just go through easily subhanallah these are the eight gates of jannah this is where we're heading if we can understand the reality of the dunya and how it's fake and we don't get caught up in it then we can enter jannah through one of these eight gates or brothers and sisters there's some of us in this congregation that are going to enter jannah through all eight of these gates every gate is going to be open for them and they're going to have their choosing which one they want to enter through so brothers and sisters we just heard about the eight gates of paradise let's double down if we know that we're good at something if fasting comes easy to us let's double down on our fasting and make the gate of fasting cemented for us if we're good at sadhaka and it doesn't hurt to give wealth and we find that we're good at that let's double down and give sadhaka and make the gate of sadhaka cemented for us if we're good at prayer and we can stand up during the night and this is our strength double down on that strength and make the gate of salah open for you, cemented for you inshallah may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the taufiq to practice what was preached may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the taufiq to enter jannah al-Fardaus through any one of these gates may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow all of the Muslims to enter jannah al-Fardaus Fardaus al-A'la and be in the company of Rasulullah sallahu alayhi wa sallam and alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen wa sallatu wa sallamu ala siddina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam adjma'een rabbi djalni mukimu sallati wa min dorriyati rabbana wa takabal du'a rabbana gharili wali walideya walil mu'minina yawm ayakum