 تسمى طبال العدي إذا مدانى ماء رمها فالخير وفيرٌ إنصر ما ينجل ما أثوم من الناري اسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كنا لنا هتدي لو لأنهدان الله الحمد لله على نعمة الإسلام وكفى بها نعمة الحمد لله على منة الولاية وكفى بها منة وأشهر أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهر أن سيدنا وعظيمنا وحبيبي قلوبنا النبي المؤيد والرسول المسدد والمصطفى الأمجد والمحمود الأحمد حبيبي إله العالمين أب القاسم محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آل بيته الطيبين الطاهرين سفن النجاة الأعلام مركبة سفينتهم نجا ومن تخلف عنها هليك وغرق ثم أما بعد سلام عليكم جميعا ورحمة الله وبركات أولاً أولاً يجب أن أعرف أن الكالب أهل البيت صلى الله عليه وسلم هو one of phenomenal dimensions because they were always trying their level best to educate and communicate the message of Islam to people in the most profound way possible available to them if we take the example of Imam زين العبدين صلى الله عليه وسلم we find for example that the Imam was at a time which was extremely difficult and crucial in the progress of Islam having come out from a battle where he saw his father being killed his companions being killed women being taken as prisoners of war into Damascus and paraded in the streets of Koufa and returned back to the city of the grandfather صلى الله عليه وسلم where he said where he saw the goriness of the blood that was spilt on the plains of Karbala and at that time he had no helpers he had no one to support him to continue the movement of his father Imam زين صلى الله عليه وسلم and the only medium of communication that he had available to him was that of language was that of the intellect was that of the ability to express what Imam زين صلى الله عليه وسلم was struggling for and why he needs to continue that struggle in the Muslim as it's called or nation at that time so he resorted to nothing else in educating the community than two mediums one was the medium in which the Imam has left a legacy that survived until day until this day in his famous work or book that is known as صحيفة سجادية in which if you read some of these and that is what I often say to my brothers and sisters is that don't keep that heritage of Ahlul Bait just for the followers of Ahlul Bait because it's a crime it's a crime to keep this heritage exclusively within our surroundings because from my own experience one of the most influencing factor that made me change from being a follower of the Sunni school of thought to the Shia school of thought was صحيفة سجادية itself by reading صحيفة سجادية I just could not comprehend that these people were just your average ordinary you know people that roam the streets of Medina and the streets of Koufa and the streets of Jam or whatever the case maybe but the profoundness and the eloquence of their language must have come from a source that was itself the source of revelation and that was none other than رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم the other medium the Imam used was the famous work of the حطة of rights or the bill of rights as it is known in English and it's رسالة الحقوق in Arabic over the course of the next four days insha'Allah if Allah grants us a long life we will look and examine some of these rights that the Imam spoke about in reference to how we should relate to these rights amongst ourselves one of the most important of these right and which comes as right number one is the right of Allah on us what is the right of Allah on His servants the Imam explains he says فأما حق الله الأكبر عليك فأنتعبده لا تشرك به شيئا فإذا فعلت ذلك بإخلاص جعل لك على نفسه أن يكفيك أمر الدنيا والآخرة ويحفظ لك ما تحب منهما what does that say the Imam says The greatest right of God upon you is to worship him and do not associate any partners with him now saying this statement in itself is easy but putting that statement into action is what requires the effort right if you ask anyone a child you tell him for example what is Islam the first thing he will tell you محمد رسول الله but the most interesting about this word itself that it does not begin with affirmation it begins with negation and that's the beauty about لا إله إلا الله it does not confirm first that God is one it negates in another word all Muslims starts as atheists right because we say لا إله there is no God whatsoever do not even tell me or talk to me about God right or any of those false gods right so when we talk about false gods what are we talking about are we talking about entities that are self proclaimed or confessed as gods or are we talking about something else that may assume the position of a God where we take that particular entity as God beside God right it is not necessarily that someone comes and declares himself as God no sometimes our arrogance become God our pride becomes God our wealth becomes God our assets become God why because we give preferential treatment to them over Allah SWT simple example you would find people sometimes abusing God you would find sometimes people abusing the religion you would find some you don't get the required response of defense by people against taking away the sanctity of Allah but let someone mention one bad thing about your dad or about your mom either he will get killed or you will get killed it's one of the two right and defending that particular pride that we have for example in Iraq during the time of Saddam Hussein abusing God or swearing against God in titles five year imprisonment but if you swear against Saddam Hussein it's penalty by death that's the law the law of the land if you blaspheme against the president but if you say God is this it's alright five years imprisonment it's alright just to teach you a lesson so here we find that sometimes we take deities beside God as God for example when Musa came to tell him that I have been sent to you by Allah SWT and that Allah has favoured me with the message to guide you to faith he said I don't see any other God for you or Musa beside me there is no other God then in order to prove a point he says to his prime minister Haaman he says why don't you build for me sarah sarah means a sort of an affidus that is so huge that is above the world it can take you beyond the horizon why don't you build for me for a building by chance I can take a look at the God proclaimed by Moses where does this God sit where is he so that I can come face to face with him so what we need to understand when we negate false Gods we are negating with all the false Gods all our pride all our ego all our attachment to this world because we are saying la ilaha the beauty about la ilaha is that the Arabs when the Prophet came to them they fully understood that word so much so that they told the Prophet we are willing to give you a thousand other statement other than la ilaha Abu Sufyan came to the Prophet he said why do you insist on la ilaha is this because it negates all the false Gods he said that is exactly what we don't want that is exactly what we don't want and Abu Sufyan then pleads his case with the Prophet and he says what we will do with 365 idols where do we take them the idol for the sun the idol for water the idol for sustenance the idol for protection what do we do with them and today we have our own miniature idols in our own set ups in the way we think about certain things we take these particular items as idols beside Allah when we are not supposed to take anything beside Allah so the Imam stresses on the fact that the greatest right of Allah on us is not to associate partners with him and sometimes we associate partners with Allah without even realizing someone for example gets a headache he said the best cure for headache is Panadol it's not Panadol it's Allah the Panadol is only ameen to the cure but the real cure comes from Allah not from Panadol the reason why is because when medicine fails what do we do we text everyone around the world please after every prayer straight away we now recognize that the only entity that is able to cure you save you give you what you want is what even doctors at times when they face a predicament of an ailment or a sickness of a person and they lose hope what do they say to you even the most asiest among them they say pray we can't do anything there is an admission of God one way or another maybe sometimes they do not wish to call that admission God they will call him gosh they will call him hope they will call him every other name beside God because of arrogance like the sailor who came to Imam Ja'far Al-Sadaq when salawat Allah and Imam Ja'far Al-Sadaq Imam Ja'far Al-Sadaq asked him because the sailor asked Imam Ja'far Al-Sadaq proof to me that God exist so the Imam said have you been to see the sailor said in fact yes I am a sailor the Imam didn't know before that he was a sailor he was telling him have you been to see he said yes I am a sailor he said have you ever been shipwrecked he said yes I have I have tell me ship sank what did you do he said I put my I clung to a log of wood he said when the log of wood perished he said I was getting help from my friends the other sailors he said when the other sailors perished because apparently everyone died you are the survivor he said yes he said what did you put your trust after that he said hope he said that is God subhanAllah he said that was God that hope that you sustained in that particular vast ocean that you were certain of death and came to rescue you was none other than Allah subhanAllah but you wish to call him at that moment when in fact there is only God that sustained you and saved you in that regard so the Imam says don't then bring partners with Allah no matter how small that partnership maybe because the Prophet said shirk associated partners with Allah could creep into one's mind much much more subtle than an ant crawling on the back of a stone in a jet black knight so sometimes you associate partners with God without even realizing that you are in fact associating partners with God sometimes we take other names beside Allah subhanAllah يعني for example do we believe in Shafa'a an intercession of Ahlul Bait yes we do but how do we qualify the Shafa'a and the intercession of Ahlul Bait are they a separate entity beside Allah that they can cure us they can sustain us they can give us whatever we want beside taking or soliciting leave from Allah no they can't even Imam Ali says in the most emphatic terms and the Prophet ﷺ he says I do not offer myself any goodness or otherwise I cannot sustain me and keep me I cannot even sustain myself so when we want to invoke the names of the Imam we must invoke it in a way that brings that respect first and foremost to Allah يعني by leave from Allah first I solicit that I put this Imam to intercede on my behalf and that's why sometimes people get confused when they hear us saying something and that's why perhaps they kill us when someone says يعني what the hell are you talking about you taking Ali beside Allah no no no we not what we are saying is by leave that Allah he grants these holy personalities we are saying oh Ali you are closer to Allah than me and I know if I take your name and you are so close to Allah الله سبحانه وتعالى is not gonna turn this supplication down however having said this the argument still is sustainable then can I also go to Allah direct because here it seems there is a tug of war among people these days that no you cannot go to Allah direct but hello Allah says you can come to me direct Allah says to the Prophet ﷺ وإذا سألك عبادي عني when people ask you about me say o Muhammad فأني قريب say to them I'm close closer to them than their own jaguar friends أقرب إليه من حبل الوتي closer to him than his jaguar friends not only I am also close فأني قريب and I also أجي for example look at the ayah brothers and sisters الله سبحانه وتعالى every time he produces or gives a question what does he say he says يسألونك they ask you they ask you about anfal say o Muhammad anfal one two three يسألونك عن المحيد they ask you about that special time of the month say o Muhammad one two three يسألونك عن القتال they ask you about fighting but when it came to him he didn't say يسألونك عن الله they ask you about God say o Muhammad directly الله intervenes وإذا سألك when my servant ask you about me وإذا سألك عبادي عني he didn't say say to them God is close did he? because now their address is to who to the Prophet وإذا سألك when people ask you o Muhammad about me so what should be the answer it should correspond to the question then say to them that I'm close Allah says didn't follow that approach to show us how close he answered directly if I'm close I'm close I don't need a medium I don't need a medium then why do we take a medium because Allah told us to take a medium sometimes so what Allah tells us we do what he doesn't we don't in surah محمد what does Allah say in regard to those who are hypocrites he says وإذا قيل لهم when they are told تعالوا يستنفر لكم رسول الله when they are told come so that the Prophet will ask for pardon on your behalf what do they do لو ورؤوسهم they turn their heads away from you so someone who says you cannot solicit شفاعة of the Prophet by leave from Allah is a hypocrite he does not want to recognize the sanctity of the Prophet and this is not our Quran this is the Quran which all Muslims read and I think our line of argument about شفاعة should only concentrate on the Quran when we debate any issue or dialogue and dialogue about these issues don't open heart don't dialogue from the outset on the premise that you are going to jannah and others are going to now and if you don't affiliate with what I do then definitely definitely you are going to take a masala 100% you are going to be barbecued and become tandoori chicken in the kitchen called God held kitchen there is no such thing there is no such thing so from the outset argue and debate your point from the Quran in another ayah وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِظْضَلَمُواْ أَمْفُسَهُمْ جَا أُوْكَ if only oh Muhammad when they transgress against themselves they come to you جا أُوْكَ but primarily condition number one what do they do فاستغفروا الله they come to you or prophet but they seek Allah's pardon وستغفر لهم الرسول and then they ask you or prophet to also ask Allah for pardon in their behalf what is the outcome لو جدوا الله تواب الرحيم surely they will see Allah often forgiving often pardoning and here لو جدوا لو جدوا is for those who know Arabic is for affirmation when Allah says لو جدوا is certainly for sure الله will forgive الله will forgive now some people will come and argue with you on this point and they say what they say this is a true ayah but this is at the time of the prophet not after the time of the prophet has passed or lapsed we say no no no there is something to document that this is also used after the prophet time and not only during the prophet time how we have a rewire by someone called Osman ibn Hanif Osman ibn Hanif was related to the third Khalifa but he was also a very great follower of Imam Ali so much so that Imam Ali appoint him as governor of Basra later on when Imam Ali assumed the reign of leadership he appointed him as the Imam of Basra one day Osman ibn Hanif said i was with the prophet a blind man came into the prophet mosque he said pray for me Allah gives me my eyesight back the prophet said look if you can wait and be patient until the day of judgment i promise you jannah he said jannah is far jannah is too far i want now i want to see i want to be able to experience life at its best he said ok why didn't the prophet say to him go and pray to Allah directly no he said to him do the follow go to the place of wudu perform wudu and then come and pray to raka'at namas and then say اللهم إني توجهتوا إليك بحبيبك محمد سبحان الله سبحان الله إني أتوجه إليك بمحمد او الله اترى لك by the name of Muhammad now i'm turning to you by Muhammad so Osman said this is interesting man let me wait and see what's going to happen so the man who performed the wudu made the dua and came back when he came he could see us ok this is also at the time of the prophet so what happens how can you prove that's after the time of the prophet time when passed the prophet passed away Osman outlived the prophet until the time of who the third Khalifa a man comes to Osman ibn Halif he said Osman man every time i go to your cousin this Osman ibn Affan and i ask him for my needs he doesn't even look at me Osman ibn Hanif waited he said come let me teach you he said what he said go to the place of wudu and make two rakat namaz and then come to the mosque and say oh Allah i turn to you by Muhammad that you fulfill my needs the man said ok thank you so much he did it Osman went this guy what happened 2 days later this man comes to Osman ibn Hanif he wants to kiss his hand he says thank you so much for mentioning my needs with Osman ibn Affan he said i haven't seen him what happened he said the minute i went to him the minute he saw me he said brother come sit next to me is there something i can help you with and this Osman ibn Affan would never even look at me before he said wallah i didn't pray for you it is your prayer when you solicited the name of my beloved Muhammad i think if we follow such an approach and we understand in the concept of tawheed in its proper dimension and perspective then there is no question that associating partners with Allah can be part and parcel of our setup or mindset at all and that is how we should appeal to Allah through that concept because he is aware of our needs and he is aware of what we need take the example of ibrahim when he was thrown in fire it says that one of the angels came to ibrahim he says to him should i help you while they are throwing you i mean while they are throwing him the angel says do you want me to hold you back from the fire he said who sent you he said i came i came to you directly he said i didn't order give his commands some people when you tell them that what do they say how could an angel do things without leave from Allah i say hello Allah already gave the leave to the angels it's not every time an angel wants to do something part of his duty he has to go and take the card and put it in to report to duty it doesn't work like this you know why because when iblis solicited Allah to give him the ability to play with people's mind Allah says فإنك من المنظر we grant you the leave does it mean that every time shaitan wants to lure someone he has to go back and solicit the leave no it's already been granted he doesn't have to go back and place the card to report for duty no it's already been given so is other creations of Allah سبحانه و تعالى such as the angels those imams that Allah has granted them leave on behalf of Allah so he came he said do you want me to do something to save you he said no i don't need he said why because the one that created you and created me is more aware of my position direct connectivity with Allah this is pure faith in Allah pure belief in Allah and sometimes we doubt Allah we doubt Allah and we doubt him big time when something happened to us negligent of the fact that Allah is عليم what does عليم mean the all encompassing knowledgeable the all encompassing يعني everything in the world Allah knows and sustain and we think that Allah has forgotten about us a young girl 18 19 years old was chatting with me on facebook and she saying sheikh i sit by the window every day and i ask Allah and i think Allah is not hearing me very well i said that's what you think and mark my words i said to her few days you'll get an answer she said really 2 days ago she wrote back to me sheikh my prayer was answered i said put your trust in Allah put your trust in Allah if Allah delays the call he delays it because either you're not ready or the circumstances will be against you ya Allah i want this man i love him to death i want to marry him mom says no dad says no i can't live with i breathe his name i sleep his name i eat his name eventually it doesn't happen 3 years later you will be on your prayer mat saying thank you ya Allah for getting him out of my life because you've seen his true identity now but at that moment you were blinded you couldn't see beyond your own needs and when Allah says i hold and give because i have a view of a bigger picture your knowledge is limited it's here it's confined to your own needs you can't see the needs of others when you are after your own needs so if it doesn't come your way you become to doubt and this is not something that is bad as long as we can take a recourse back to Allah but but doubting leads to what? doubting leads to certitude how does doubting lead to certitude if you examine introspectively your faith look at ibrahim again if you anticipating that i finished the recourse in 4 days you're gonna be kidding because i'm still in line number 1 of recourse so insha'Allah we'll see maybe that is doing me hints to come back more and more to pakistan insha'Allah of course with your permission if you accept me to be back ibrahim in the ayah he says when the moon rose what did he say ibrahim people were with him he's not saying ibrahim is saying are you kidding me are you saying this is my god when it went he said i don't like things that go away behind the horizon they don't make sense when the sun came out he said this is bigger right in who stand in people stand not in ibrahim stand because people like things that are big like the jews they were with mousa and they had just come out they were just being saved by Allah by splitting the sea for them they just came out Allah says they went past a group of people worshiping some idols right away they said mousa can you please make us some idols like them damn it you just came out of the sea god i just saved you now now you want other because they want something that they can feel that tangibility to and that's why so often sometimes we want to feel that tangibility and we want to feel that affinity with something tangible to us yet Allah says الله says the most important aspect of your faith you are not a faithful person unless you believe in what in the unseen surely this book there is no doubt in it don't doubt it why because the believers believe in the unseen quality number one is to believe in the unseen those who argue that if i don't see it i don't believe it is giving you a lame lame argument because if i go to someone now i strike him across the face with an open backhander right and he says he is in pain right i say show me pain he shows me redness on the face i said no no this is the effect of pain this is not pain itself and if i say there is no pain he will argue that i am out of my mind right so how could you argue i am out of my mind that i cannot see a simple creation of Allah called pain you want to see the creator of pain himself with your own limited abilities your brain is that big 250 grams right 250 grams is the brain of a human being and by the way the brain of a woman is bigger than the brain of a man scientifically proven by the way subhan Allah and still reclaim authority of a woman now what can you do may Allah help you sustain these problems you are the main chauvinist that can you do but insha'Allah we can compliment one another because life is about complimenting the roles of one another صلى الله عليه وسلم so ibrahim says this is my god فلما أفلت قال لا أحب الأفلي when it went down he said i don't like things that go down he says all my people then he says to them all my people why don't you then turn to the real god who created the sun and the moon this is an effective approach of proving the oneness of Allah and the ability of Allah سبحانه و تعالى so it's a paramount importance sisters to understand and the two brothers of course to understand you are in minority god help you today we are in minority so it is of paramount importance to understand how we can relate to Allah and the beauty about Allah سبحانه و تعالى is that there is nothing that can actually block you from reaching him that thing at all in that ayah in particular why let them believe in me and respond to me because i am here to respond to them can you believe this الله is saying look i created you but i want to respond to your needs what do you want i will give you but be patient you know why be patient because i love to hear your voice and you know what on the day of judgment they say what this is a hadith they say the melaika will identify those who used to call on god they say how how do they know them because they often used to hear them appeal to Allah a lot every second they ya Allah this is a familiar voice so when they come on the day of judgment and say ya Allah the melaika will come while they will be people next to them they will say ya Allah but the melaika will ignore them they will ask the melaika why he says because your voice is not familiar الله your voice is not familiar we didn't hear it in the dunya we didn't hear it in this world you often used to give ya Allah i want this we Allah doesn't come we don't hear your voice for another 10 years how we gonna identify you how we will you know our hearing abilities because it was so nice when you appeal to Allah and Allah loves those look what Imam Hassan i think in one of the or Imam زي العبدين he says the one who knocks at the door and insistently keep knocking at the door will one day he the door answers alright so Allah loves you to knock at his door very often keep saying ya Allah مسكينك ببابك فقيرك ببابك Imam Hassan used to go to the Kaaba and once he used to enter the Kaaba this is Imam Hassan brothers and sisters not your every human being he is an infallible Imam goes into the Kaaba crawls on his knees before Allah and he says فقيرك ببابك your poor servant oh Allah at your door Imam زي العبدين he says to Allah when I sinned against you I didn't sin because I want to sin but it because the laws of shaitan and I know when the laws of shaitan go I come back to you and you have taught us that when someone comes to you don't push him away and you are the best of people or the best of gods that one can approach so here I am coming and approaching you don't push me back from your look at this style of communicating with Allah can you find two lovers in the face of this wall that can communicate this sort of love with one another they call me doctor love I am not doctor love doctor love are those Imam they are the ones who really taught us what love is when it comes to Allah سبحانه وتعالى will continue so the greatest right of god upon you is to worship him and do not associate any partners with him then what happens if we do that look what the Imam says he says once you do that you fulfill this duty with sincerity he has pledged to you to save you the effort of this world and the Europe you don't have to worry about sustaining yourself you don't have to worry about protecting yourself he will provide all this means of protection all this means sometimes you don't even know it you know that at this particular time while we are sitting Allah سبحانه وتعالى is dispatching his angels to do things without us knowing and you only realize this later on you only realize sometimes you come with certain facts that are available to you that you don't know that why it happened in such a particular way a man during 911 you know he was saved after becoming so angry with his shoes can you believe this what happened he wore on 911 a new pair of shoes it gave him blisters on the way to work as he couldn't walk anymore so he diverted his route from the building the twin towers to a chemist by the time he went to the chemist to get some band-aid so he can put on the blister the 2 towers went down this guy adores those pair of shoes now he keeps them at home but the shoes are not the cause it's Allah who sent his you know command at that moment give him blisters because this time is not up subhan Allah but we often leave the real cause to the medium you know to the mean don't go to the mean go to the one that gives orders to the mean which is Allah subhanahu و تعالى Allah is the one that you should turn to in this regard and don't give up on him he says he will wish to you to save you the efforts of this world and the hereafter and to store for you what you like from both worlds يعني if you miss on an opportunity here Allah says don't worry I will give it to you later and there is a hadith about the prophet is so amazing that says what من عفع عن شيء في الحرام من لكه الله له في الحلال whoever refrains from something because it's haram it's guaranteed Allah will give you something similar in حلال so if you're dreaming about that blonde you can't get him because it's haram Allah will give you a blonde or will give you a brunette you want that Bentley so much you want that Merck 500 SEL you want that convertible 330 CI BMW you can't get it except if you touch haram and you say no no no I don't want haram I will not go neither the prophet is promise promise you will get it in حلال either in this world or in the hereafter promise but you need a heart to believe you need a heart to believe sometimes we look only at phase value superficial value I'm not getting it that means Allah is not pleased with me there is a hadith the prophet says what Allah sometimes does not give his awliya his saints what they want because he wants to give them the biggest surprise of their life in the hereafter what is this world transit who's gonna be here for so long and look what happens look at the human mentality we work we do everything in our power to save so we can make a big chunk of money and when sometimes some people ask us give us you say no I'm saving it for what for a rainy day this rainy day never comes man never comes this rainy day and we still pushing the money in look what happened you have not enjoyed this money you have not enjoyed this asset then comes your children you enjoy it after you you stand on the day of judgment not your children will be asked where they got the money but you will what's this disaster I suffer all my life then I give it to my kids then I get asked for it man let me enjoy it let me enjoy it and let them sustain themselves no I'm not saying that be balanced be balanced in all of your approach don't Allah says what in surah rukman or in not in surah rukman he says to the prophet tell the believers don't hold your hand too much back and don't open it too much wide so that in both cases you won't become regretful subhanallah all back you're regretful because you're not enjoying it if you open too much and you end up without nothing you say if only I saved it for her this day on that day so be a real economist when يوسف صلاة الله عليه was in jail and the two people asked him you know قال أحدهم إني أراني أعصر وخمره one of them said I am actually squeezing great for my king so I can give him a drink to have وقال الأخر إني أراني أحمد فوق رأسي خبزا تأكل طير من نبئنا بتأويله إنا لراك من المحسن and the other one says what I see myself holding bread on my head while birds are eating from it so he said the first one you will be released and you will work for the king in his squeezing, winery whatever the case as for you you are going to be hanged and the birds will eat from your head the one who heard that he will be hanged said what to you no no no it wasn't actually like this so as you said he said there is no reason to change your words because it has already been really distant so it's gone it's gone when they tell you sometimes when you see a horrible dream don't say it don't go out and utter it don't let it come into the world of the scene leave it in the world of the unseen don't quickly I saw this most horrible of horrible dreams when you get up from your dreams say go and pay صدق and leave your trust in Allah leave your trust in Allah so the story is what how to be an economist be like Youssef they said I'm past my time what's the time he said what he said the king saw a dream 7 big cows 7 very starved cows what did we do Youssef tell us you will get 7 good years of harvest and 7 bad years of harvest so what you harvest in the 7 good years keep it for the 7 bad years then Allah after the 7 bad years will open his rahmah why does Allah do these things Allah does these things to challenge us to see how we will cope at times of difficulties but if I am born with a silver spoon in my mouth all my life the minute I hit a problem I collapse I fall to my knees I don't know what to do I am used to the silver spoon I am used to that Versace plate eating in it I am used to the tender hands of my mother feeding me day and night I am used to the maid making my bed what happens if you go to university or you have to work at MACAS from 7 to 9 to sustain your tuition fees what happens if the empire of your dad goes look at Mousa classical example yesterday I was speaking to one of our learned respectful members of our community it's amazing how sometimes we don't look at the Quran for answers I said what is it brother he said Mousa was raised in the lap of luxury where was he raised with Quran in the lap of Quran so much so that when Mousa came to Quran and told him look Quran you better believe in God the first thing Quran said to Mousa was what he said Banna we raised you man we raised you you forgot that you were raised in my lab now you coming to me a teacher and telling me what is right and what is wrong who are you your non entity then what happens to Mousa you know because of the conflict that happened at that time and because of the killing of one of the supporters against his enemies he was expelled from being in the lap of luxury to being what a shepherd a shepherd he had to go and work for 10 years in honor of his wife if only men would hear this type of stories because when he went and you know sometimes we have to also look at the paradigms we are living in and challenge those paradigms and I know in challenging in challenging those paradigms sometimes we get ostracized sometimes people look at us in a very funny way but we have to challenge because it's a Quranic concept it's a Quranic concept what is a Quranic concept is it always the norm that the man has to ask in marriage the hand of a lady that's what we believe in God help a girl if she comes and tells her father or her mother I'm interested in a good decent man and I want you to ask him to marry me God help you God help you you will be dissected you will be disowned you will be thrown out of the house yet Allah tells us when they came to water the herds they were men around the well they could not just go inside and push the men aside respectfully they waited but they were working so women can work respectfully they can work there is no problem Musa is looking at them you say wow look at these two ladies amazing a human being so he felt the need to offer his services he said should I take the herds and water them for you they said if you can we will be very thankful so one of the girls was looking at Musa how manly he was and Musa's masha Allah was Arnold Schwarzenegger he had such a big build and he was very musly so he went between the crowd he didn't push and shove his bodily abilities allowed the crowd to move away from his track watered the herds came back gave the herds back to the two ladies and he said what he didn't say no he said he said oh Allah allow me the means to thank you for giving me the ability to help others doesn't take pride in himself because he knows that this ability is not from him it is from Allah what happens they go back one of the two says they relate the story to then she says to him one of them she says my dad why don't you hire him because the best of people you should hire is the strong the what the trustworthy why the trustworthy because the Quran is relating this story to us because the Quran tells us is that when the lady came back to tell her father about what happened should I say call him so I can repay him with gratitude tell him come maybe the guy has is homeless he didn't know it was Moses maybe he's homeless he doesn't so he came to that girl that had interest in Moses was walking in front of Moses the wind blew her dress so Moses said come come stand behind and show me the way to Europe she said how would I show you the way to Europe he said here's few peoples whenever you want me to turn chuck a stone in that direction trustworthy on the honors of other people not one of our youth if the blue if the dress blue he says look this the wind is from Allah and the girl is from Allah and Allah is giving me some hasana become right can you find someone to pluck them what is that supposed to mean he's not talking about dates in his backyard he's talking about the fruits are his daughters they've become right they're out of marriageable age can you find us a suit يا رسول الله not sit at home and wait we will not allow this even if they rot choose the language unless they marry the one we want he has to be from our village and if you're a sayyid God help you not gonna marry anyone if you come from this stringent mentality where sayyid has to marry a sayyid otherwise it won't work and sometimes he has to speak the same dialect he has to have a bank account to a car two apartments one in Karachi one in New York where is this boy gonna get all this where is he gonna get this even if he doesn't and we have daughters at home that no one will marry them will still wait and we will not give them the liberty to decide whom they should marry within the parameters of religion within the parameters of religion so he says yes I will marry them because you also like her because she's honest so he said where are you offering what did he offer 10 years of service no he says I'll offer sorry he said to her father what do you want for Hadari he said you serve me 80s instead of my girls going and I'm a man of old age you take the hurts from me you live with us will feed you will house you in return just water my hurts from me look what Moses says he says no you are too kind I'm offering 10 years he didn't negotiate 8 years 8 Lakh what do you call it the currency you use here no Lakh you say Lakh Lakh this is a bigger number right 1 Lakh 2 Lakh that's a big number right you want 10 Lakh make them 5 make them 2 حبيبي just honor the wife you want to be with because if you honor her from day 1 she'll reciprocate that honor from day 1 because if your wife is going to start with negotiation then it's going to be turmoil after that because she knows from the start you don't honor her however having said that let us also be reasonable in terms of our dowries let us facilitate marriage rather than end up the institute of marriage you know I was listening once to a a a speech by one of our learned say it is an Ayatollah he said you know it's funny human beings they pray 100 درقانمز they do so much تسبيح at night and they pray which is all good acts he's saying very good act but you know what they're not married and a married person comes and pray تورك اتنماز he will outright all the worship of this single person with just 2 درقانمز a married person praying تورك اتنماز is equal to all the night prayers that you do if you are single سبحان الله why because marriage prevents you from so many bad stuff the marriage of Allah of course not our concept of marriage the concept of marriage of Allah which is based on what which is based on love and mercy not based on problems who fighting who yelling this is mine this is yours this is not married and unfortunately when we marry people what do we say to them now you have entered the cage of marriage why cage for God's sake say a garden say a lake say a continent say something that you feel good about cage because are you going to be cage now I'm going to suppress every part of your ambitions no in marriage is where you launch yourself into unlimited horizon of fulfilling your needs so going back he will fulfill everything if you truly turn to Allah with sensei belief to him with this I conclude وآخر دعوانا الحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله وسلم وبرك على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله الطيبين الطاهرين سبحانه وتعالى سبحانه وتعالى السلام I think the best way to make marriage life an ideal institute for our children to look forward to is when the parents themselves live an ideal marriage if the parents are happy if the parents are respectful if the parents are loving if the parents are caring then the daughter and the son in that setup would say wow look at my mom and dad I would love to be in that position but if a girl or a boy in that setup every day they wake up on a fight they sleep on a fight the mother is being abused the father is being abused the mother is being sworn at then what institute are they looking for it the first thing they want is to leave that environment altogether and be as they call it in the word free birds roam the world and roam the streets so that they have no commitments why because they don't want to be part and parcel of such a setup which is miserable which is a miserable setup so in order to encourage people for marriage first and foremost let us create the right environment at home for them let us tell them that if a husband stops to be a husband I will not stop to be a wife and if a wife stops to be a wife I will not stop to be a husband which means what if there is differences between husband and wife at home the wiser party should not stop playing the role that they are supposed to play for example someone came to Musa once he said I don't believe in God and you are going to talk to your God you say you go to talk to him when you go and talk to him tell him I don't believe in him so Musa said what's this dude first thing in the morning coming telling me these things Allah gave him the tablets the commandments then he said what news do you bring he said you know he said no you tell me there is this guy downstairs he is saying to me he doesn't believe in you he said yes and he is waiting for an answer Allah is telling Musa he is waiting for an answer he didn't go although he claims he doesn't believe in God but he is still waiting downstairs when you go down to him tell him the following statement if he stops to be my servant I will never stop to be his God unbelievable why because Allah treats people from his standards not from the standard of his opponents and that's how we should be in relation to one another I should not treat someone who is my opponent from his mindset I should treat my opponent or whatever I am sharing my life with opponent or my partner from my own standards of morality so if my standards of morality are good I will never change and that's what children need to learn that when you we don't teach our children at home you know when you stand up to a husband who abuses if he abuses abuse back no this is not the standard secondly we should show them the merits of marriage what is it that they will get in a marital life as opposed to single life so we need to sit to them and talk to them who among our parents ever sat their children and spoke about marriage no one no one we think that by God in a curious way they are going to be ready for marriage at an ad hoc basis no it's all a training program we must sit with them and talk to them what is the role of a wife what is the role of the husband what is the role of respect what is the role of mutual help and talk about it let us at least understand the mindset of our kids number one number two let us understand why do they not want to get married because many of our kids today they don't want to get married do we know why we don't even talk to them about it we don't even ask them we don't even explore with them why they are feeling that way so unless and in your community you must run marriage workshop positive parenting workshop marriage workshop all this workshop will enhance because a workshop is not like a lecture there is no splitting into various group giving them scenario and tell them come up with a solution if this happens right and then give the right islamic perspective perspective to it that's what you need to do firstly as an individual family and secondly as a collective community in order to shed some light on the correct understanding of what constitute marriage yes yes here no problem but good dreams tell them to a mu'min to a mu'min and you don't go and tell it to everyone tell it only to someone that you trust alright the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he has a statement in which he says do not invite and don't misunderstand this hadith because I need to qualify this hadith he says don't invite or that's what they say the prophet said I don't know about the authenticity of the hadith but it says that this is a hadith it says don't invite to your table someone unless he is righteous and do not take a friend unless someone who is faithful but that does not mean that does not mean that hadith that I cannot be good to people no it's saying those that you want to confind in make sure there are mu'mins because if you tell him a secret he will preserve it but if you tell a secret to someone that hates you that someone does not like you but though he may not tell you face to face he will use this information one day against you you invite someone to your home who is envious who is full of malice he comes into your home he sees what you have he will start envying you day and night he will start praying that Allah take your risk from you so he says invite to your table someone who is righteous someone that when he sees something good in your hand what does he do he prays for extra you know the prophet told us this when you see something good and you wanted pray the following prayer meaning what oh Allah bless what this brother or sister has and grant us something better don't say oh Allah bless them and then when you bless him well enough bring it to me all together no bless him and give me right so we need to be balanced again in that regard yes thank you so much