 Alhamdulillah. As-salatu wa-salamu ala Rasulillah. Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala Alayhi wa sallim. Ask Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala to deepen and enrich our intimacy with Him through learning so that we can fulfill the purposes of our soul because the soul wants to learn. That's what it's all about. The marrow of intimacy with Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is knowing Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala understanding the Deen of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. And what is our purpose here? What we're trying to achieve is quality of Muslim life. That's what we want. So by understanding the Deen and what makes it tick and what it pivots upon, what its priorities are and how it sees the universe, right? Because you want to navigate through the wilderness, right? You want to get through the forest safely to the other side. But you have to have a 20,000 foot perspective on what's the nature of this forest which pathways are safe, which are unsafe, right? Where the poison ivy is, right? And so on and so forth. So two things have to happen. We have to know how to travel through the world in a tactical sense. But we also have to understand the greater perspective. And with Riyadh al-Sadaheen, we're getting both at the same time. And we're raising our taqafah of the Deen. And when you raise your taqafah or your culture, your knowledge, culture of the Deen, it's very satisfying. It's very fulfilling. And that feeling of being satisfied and fulfilled is actually your soul, feeling a little bit healthier. Because you're fulfilling the purpose of your existence. So we are still in the chapter of Bab al-Mubadahati ila al-Khayrat, chapter 10. The chapter of rushing, hastening, as it were, to good things. Wa haitho man tawadjahali khayrin, Aal al-Aqadali alayhi bin jiddi min ghayri taraddut. And encouraging the person who's directed themself toward good things, good purposes, good intentions, good deeds, goodness in general, to direct themselves in that way or to approach with seriousness and without hesitation. No way, because the opportunity to do something good might just pass you by. You've got to jump on it. So we've arrived at the Fidh hadith. And Anas ibn Malik, radi Allahu anhu, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam akhada saifan yawma uhedin fa qa'i. The Prophet alayhi sallatu wa sallam took, here it says, a sword. Elsewhere in the narrations it will say, his sword, he offered up his very own sword. In this narration, he took up a sword on the day of judgment. Excuse me, not on the day of judgment, but on the day of ahad. He took up a sword and offered it forward on the day of ahad. And he said, mayyakhudu haada. No, we start. No, no, it's fine. Or pick up a quarter of the way through. I came to save the day. Mayyakhudu minni haada. Who will take this sword from me? So they all reached out for it. All of them. I'll take it, I'll take it. And then he rephrased himself. He said, mayyakhudu haada. Who's going to take it with its proper doom? They all backed off and withdrew their hands. After everybody's reaching forth and said, I'll take it, I'll take it. They all sahabat Rasoolillah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. They understood that this is something that they're not sure if they're ready for with its proper doom. That's a different story. Who's going to jump forward and do his best? Well, I'll jump forward and I'll give everything I've got. Leave it all out on the field, does it work? Then with its proper doom. From the mouth of Rasoolillah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. But one person, they all withdrew their hands. But Abu Dujjana. And Abu Dujjana, what was his name? He said, Abu Dujjana. Simaq ibnu kharshah. His name was Simaq ibnu kharshah. Abu Dujjana steps forward and he said, I will take it with his right. Interesting. We see here the use of ana. We all want to avoid saying, A'udu billahi min ana. We've been taught this. So we have that knee-jerk reaction. A'udu billahi min kelimat ana. But we'll see the sahaba. Abu Dujjana is a special case, right? But we'll see the sahaba saying ana. We'll see Rasoolillah sallallahu alayhi wasallam say, I, me. The problem is not saying the word I. The problem is not saying the word me. The problem ultimately is in being self-centered. Sometimes you have to say I. Sometimes you have to say me. Are you doing it in the context of being a self-centered person? Or are you doing it because here you need to say who you are, what you're going to do, or what's happened, what's going on? And you use that word. So we have to go beyond cut and paste approaches to the practice of Islam. We have to think about the bigger perspective of things. Because there's all types of ways of being very, very self-centered without ever saying ana. So what's the bigger objective, the bigger purpose? The Muslim oka'i isun falta. The Muslim is smart and perceptive. Or perspicacious. You know perspicacious? Is that one of your spelling words yet? It's like, it will be. So he said, I will take it with its rites. Abu Dujan, it was a seriously brave gentleman. Fa'aqadahu. And so he took it. In this narration, Fa'aqa bihi hamal mushriqeen. And he cleaved awake straight through the heads of the idolaters. Meaning everywhere Abu Dujan, when he cut awake through the idolaters, meaning he mowed them all down with that sword. SubhanAllah. The point was, was that Abu Dujan had an intention to do well. And he didn't hesitate. And he went and he executed something that he knew he was able to do. With Tawfiq from Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala and with Rasoolillah, giving you the sword at your back, who's going to stop him? SubhanAllah. Elsewhere, we all know the narrations of Abu Dujan. He took that sword, and he was probably a bit puffed up. He's the one who took the sword, was giving it. Rasoolillah, makes a little du'an for him. And the two armies are lined up on the battlefield. And Abu Dujan is strutting, in every sense of the word, strutting back and forth in front of his own compatriots, in front of the lines of the Sahaba, in front of the Mushriki. Right? And the word strutting that was used here is yitabakhtar. Right? Right? Very proudly and boastfully, he's strutting. And Rasoolillah, points toward Abu Dujan, as he's strutting back and forth. He said, that is a type of walking that Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, dislikes. Except for in a moment like this. Except for in a moment like this. Context. Situational awareness. That was the time for it. Because being full of all that confidence is not going to make the Mushriki, the idolaters, those who want to bring harm to others, those who want to run people out of their own towns, and so on. It's not going to make them feel any more comfortable. It's not going to make them feel any more bold if they think that these other people are not afraid of them. So context is important. Not the context of battle, per se, but the ability or capacity or influence of context to affect the expectations of a situation. There may be a completely different situation, a completely different set of actions but we might let slide in a given context. So context awareness. You can't be aware of context unless you know the actual landscape or the relief of the cartography of the place where you want to work. In Chicago, there was a group of very, very well-meaning suburban young professionals who decided that they were going to roll out this big project on the south side of Chicago and help people out and do all of these things but they didn't know anything about the south side of Chicago but they rolled in and they felt they had a lot of money behind them and all of this and someone said, what y'all doing here? We're here to help you and do all these things and say, well, do you know anything about us? Do you know anything about what's needed over here? Maybe you should go back to where you're from and figure out how to help the people where Allah puts you. So when it comes to knowing and understanding sometimes if we're not from a particular context we just need to be quiet and listen and learn and become students. Allah helps us. So the commentators would also say that what this hadith demonstrates is not, is the courage of the Awud Dujana and his particular readiness to go forward and do the goodness that was in his intention it wasn't meant to imply any cowardice on the part of the other sahabah. We also have to listen to the Dean of Islam if we want to understand it correctly. We have to be careful about looking backwards at Islam historically and having ideas and judging the people there or like sort of like maybe chuckling and thinking ourselves superior because we really know what the archers on the little mountain at the battle of Uhud should have done because we all know in hindsight what they should have done. That's not for us. It's for us to learn from the lessons that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has stitched into the time of the past for us to understand and be respectful for anyone who saw Rasulina Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in a state of faith because that's what makes a person a sahabi after the ba'atha so they have to see the messenger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as a believer after the revelation began at Makkah and that's what secures insha'Allah, sahabah Allah will not put us in their neighborhood in Jannah right? That's some good real estate but the price is high it's expensive, we thought the bay area was expensive Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Allah Allah help us Hadith number six An-ez-Zubair ibn Adi He said So Az-Zubair ibn Adi says that we went to An-ez-Zubair ibn Adi and this is after the passing long after the passing of Rasulina Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam deep into the Umayyad dynasty after it's after the khulatha of Rashidun this is after the death of Ali ibn Abi Tariq An-ez ibn Adi who had been the servant boy of the house of Rasulina Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is most definitely an old man at this point and has seen a lot and learned a lot because what happens if you grow up in your elementary school is Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and your junior high school is Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and high school is Abu Bakr ibn Adi and college is Omar in Erzman in Ali Subhan Allah so they said we went to An-ez-Zubair ibn Malik and we complained of everything that Hajjaj was doing to us all the stuff that we were being faced with because of the Hajjaj ibn Yusuf who was the Hajjaj ibn Yusuf? one of the generals under Muawiyah and he was known as a Safah, the blood spiller Hajjaj was not a Sahabi Hajjaj did not care Hajjaj was ready to kill anyone who got in the way of whoever it was he happened to be serving we have a lot of Hajjajs around it's haram to point any type of edged weapon or any type of weapon itself toward another Muslim even in play this is haram and this is the first one of the first things that we learn if we start our dean off by studying Riyadh-e-Saleh Riyadh-e-Saleh is extremely important you don't play pointing a real dangerous weapon Nerf guns and little play toys and stuff like that that's different but anything that could actually hurt a person is haram to ever do that let alone hurt another Muslim and where are we at in this world well some people believe that we're very pragmatic I say that we have a lot of cowardice in this ummah because the roots of every single instance of abuse whether it is in someone's house whether it is on someone's block or whether it is in someone's society or country it's two things one of two things it is either a dead soul this person is now lower than an animal not even human anymore or it's fear cowardice and the bully who is actually a coward is only emboldened further when? good people people who understand the situation decline to do anything about it that hasn't a gun and don't want to rock the boat and all of these things that go on so that my day goes smooth or maybe I have some benefit on my game from the current status quo don't want to rock the boat why? because I don't want to be a nuisance or because the status quo works out for me who is this going to step up right? bullies need only one thing a spanking they need to be shut down but how many angelic wonderful brilliance knowledgeable bullies do we have running about telling us what we should and shouldn't do and trying to control everything someone needs to step up to them we have all types of problems why do you think though young people want to go to your massages because there are people who are fighting tooth and nail contradicting all of the ethics and teachings of the very deen that we can't claim that the particular masajid is there to bring to who to the people who are members of the club or to the people who Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam met when he said sitting in Al-Baqiyah Al-Gharqat Al-Gharqat wa ditto lo r'ayna ikhwanana oh how we wish that we would have the opportunity to see our brothers and who is included in that people who not only are they not Muslim they haven't even come into existence yet and he's thinking of them inni rahmatun muhadat I am nothing but a gift of compassion to the world these people need to be shut down that's why your young people don't want to come to the masjid because there is a crusty and ugly and boring and offensive status quo and no matter how much you vacuum the carpets or replace them every year it still stinks but it's a stink that can only be smelled at the level of arwah they know something is not right here subhanAllah where is the courage so we complain to Anas about what we were facing from Hajjaj so of course Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf his army is the one that surrounds Makkah is sending manjaniq catapults against the Kaaba that's actually hitting the Kaaba surrounding not letting the people eat, killing the Sahaba subhanAllah left and right kills the Abdullah ibn Izzubayr the son of Asma into Abi Bakr so Anas says to them be patient he's not surprised he's already seen the battle of Safin he said be patient be patient because no time comes except for the time that comes after it will be more evil will be worse until you meet your lord it's only going to get worse from here on out and in reality it only got worse from there on out and we're surprised we're surprised we're surprised but this is exactly what was promised to us by Allah's messenger this was exactly what was expected by the Sahaba who were raised up under the messenger and that there would be Qabi Li that there would be people who hold on to the deen like holding on to a hot coal that's not easy and that's how he described the believers at the ends of time that for them to hold on to their deen will be like someone trying to hold tight on to a hot coal is it hot yet? ask yourself those are words on paper how many times have we heard them but ask yourself is it hot yet? sometimes we forget it's hot are you going to be the one who keeps holding on though? how Aziz is it to you? who will never know unless we know the deen because people who don't know the deen are like the person in Aqidah where our theologian imams have said that it is a sin for an educated muslim to not know the evidences for their own points of Aqidah to not have the capacity to know why? because faith is accepted from a person who cannot explain to you why they believe but they believe that Allah is one and the prophet Aleyhi Salatu Wasalaam is the final messenger they believe that but they can't shore it up with evidence with supporting evidence with knowledge if that person is educated with the slightest degree of capacity to have learned that in their lives they are in sin why? because even though they believe the right thing they don't know why and cannot explain why and therefore they are susceptible to having their own faith be undermined by the slightest wind that blows by the slightest pitiful and petty science teacher that has all types of crazy ideas about atheism and because we don't understand what he's talking about we think he might have a point but in reality everybody in the philosophy of science is laughing at him and looks at him like a hack who's just pulling in the money from the publicity because he himself doesn't really understand the overarching philosophy even of the physical sciences themselves but we don't know that because we're a little bit light in the aqua area subhanAllah we're worried about dieting for our bodies but our brains have been dieting for way too long very slim, very fashionable doesn't weigh much at all you can fit right into that nice cute dress or whatever it has or like the tightest little toboggan or hat or whatever it is but the same thing here if we do not deepen our thekafa of the Dean itself our knowledge culture of the Assam itself we are susceptible to believing things we hear about our own Dean on the evening news we're susceptible of thinking that the behavior of Muslims themselves somehow represents the Dean of the creator of the universe and the final messenger who was chosen before the universe was ever created of conflating those two and then our faith goes out the window with the slightest breeze Allah help us and he went on to say I heard that statement from your prophet subhan Allah so we know this to be the case that's why when you encounter someone who deeply and profoundly and truly loves Allah in his messenger it doesn't matter what he or she may be up to and all about the fact that they have that gem of love and love love and love of love in Allah and his messenger in their hearts that is incredibly significant the fact that you may find a person who is involved in as Imam Shafi'a said every single sin in the dunya after shirk and ilm al-karam as understood at the time of Imam Shafi' of course Imam will say Greek philosophy is better than to be confront Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with something other meaning that they could be involved in anything but they have that gemstone that kernel of love in their hearts that they respect the maqam of taqwa and salah and when they encounter someone who truly has taqwa and truly has salah and truly has the gentle yet resolute demeanor of Rasulillah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam because not every strict person is actually not taqee and salah not every strict person is like Rasulillah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam because there is a difference between il-tizam and the rigidity and mechanicalness the robotics of what some people call strictness and sometimes it's just because they don't have a more elegant vocabulary and what they mean is muldtazim someone who adheres to the teachings of the deem very well some people that's just their demeanor to act like robots and in a bind do they know how to be show rahma do they know how to show him and that's a test test them and see if they can be go and annoy them a lot and see what their response is they start screaming and shouting at you because they're real annoyed and all of this well sometimes I mean so much maybe they would lose their temper every once in a while but even the most you know fiercest of them had a heart of gold and they cared about people's situations they could put themselves in another person's shoes and maybe think about what it's like to see the world from their sides and show that head that forbearance or compassion and how we got on that I do not know so we know that it's only going to get harder so when you have someone who shows up with the love of Allah and his messenger realize that that is everything right there and that is a good start because there are people who can be as rigid as you like front line of prayer got the see what going right 24-7 don't even need a dental plan huh see what going 24-7 but they'll fight you to the death and say things like be careful not to love Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam too much there's no such thing as loving Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam too much because what do you mean do you mean that a person goes over the limits of the deen of Islam and now is violating the teachings of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and calling it love because that's not called love right there is no way to love Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam too much that person does not understand language and they said it the first time language so clearly they don't understand English or Arabic and that's fine ummatun umiyun la nakra wa la nasib we are an unlettered or illiterate umma we do not read the majority of the population right there's illiteracy rates and we do not calculate meaning that we can embrace and be inclusive of people who are illiterate right or don't understand basic math so it's okay for people to not understand literature it's okay for people to not have a grasp of the English language it's okay if there's Arabs who can't speak Arabic even though they don't know any other language they don't have a second language but they still don't understand Arabic they have people who know nothing but English but they're not very articulate or capable in English all of that's okay so long as they're not decision makers in our community and people of Aqa know that so kind of a lot but of course no time comes but the time that comes after is going to be even worse and even harder secretly subtly influenced by the operators on behalf of the Dajal that the Dajal sends out either knowingly or unknowingly to prepare for his coming to habituate us to be comfortable with nastiness to be comfortable with what is Beshep to be comfortable with what is actually supposed to help us to habituate us to heroes who are vampires and heroes who are little Shealtine and devils right it started with Casper the friendly ghost and where did it get to after that hellboy or whatever it's called to habituate us toward the normalization of what is actually fundamentally ugly of ugliness to be human nature to the point where the world is directly dominated by the Dajal himself it's only going to get worse Allah help us and repair us and take us from the earth before any type of fitna that we cannot handle and we might stand to lose our faith in front of the seventh hadith from radiAllahu anhu that RasulAllah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said so remember we're in so in order to read the hadith if the hadith book was written by a proper muhadith scholar and it was gathered and they were categorized and put into chapter headings every hadith in that particular chapter you look for that what's called mahal ash-shahid right the actual point of citation why is this hadith under this chapter right this one is about rushing without hesitation toward doing good the hadith the seventh hadith is very odd list the messenger alayhi wasallam is telling you rush to do good actions before seven things happen the first I have to now start remembering to bring them to class right I don't have to do this anymore he'll attend to the runa illaa what are you waiting to do that good action that you should do are you waiting until you are overcome by a poverty that will cause you to forget everything that you're supposed to be doing a poverty that will cause you to forget to do this and forget to do that why because you're racking your brain trying to figure out how to get you and your family out of this hole how to get healthcare for you and your family how to save this member of your family from falling into that hole and so on how are you supposed to remember even other type of basics or what you can do for another or or the other thing that might prevent you from doing a good act is wealth that will cause you to lose your way and forget priorities in the world so habituated to certain luxuries certain comforts or preoccupation in rushing to maintain a wealth that you forget actual priorities or you forget the way others might suffer or you become so self impressed that you accept the values of the Protestant work ethic which means that if I'm wealthy I am godly and if so and so is poor they are ungodly and of course this ideology has nothing to do with work it has nothing to do with actually having this idea that I have to earn and I have to go out and do what I have to do to take that's not the Protestant work ethic because the Germans are well organized and efficient and effective and all of these different types of things Europe had its industrial revolution and all of that we don't equate that with another ideology which is about blaming the poor for their poverty enough people in your neighborhood wake up to find one of their relatives hanging from a tree in the front yard and you think twice before you're too bold any town that you live in you think twice because you know that out of the ten people in the past five years that got home from a tree in your neighborhood half of them only got home from a tree because they looked someone in the eye and what's the first thing you're supposed to do when you go into a job interview right? if you haven't lived that let's not judge people who do that's only the beginning I was told when I went to Damascus to Syria that this was their country and I had to learn to do things their way and I had to respect their culture I had to respect their story I had to respect the narrative that got them to where they are and why they do what they do because I walked into Damascus knowing full well what the 1980's history was and every time I saw the soldier walking down the street with his AK-47 like a group of them two or three I couldn't let them pass by in the very beginning without giving them a hard shoulder and seeing what they were going to do about it right? but slowly I learned they were like so surprised they wouldn't do anything but you learn slowly and slowly and if you respect people and you come to their country you learn their culture you respect their story you respect the circumstances because it's not your shots to call I was there for ten years in my country we were really giving someone citizenship but they weren't about to give me citizenship I used to have to jump over the border to Shorah or Irvit come back once or twice a year for ten years but we did, we respected and we expect nothing less from people who would come here learn our story learn why our society is what it is and we don't want to hear your opinion we do not want to hear your opinion if you're a child in the history of this country even if it's only 250 years old a law gave you two years and only one month for a reason listen and learn and respect practice what you preach along, help me practice what I preach or just not preach I share or you're waiting to do that good deed for what is to come Mara den, Mufsiden a sickness that's going to make you unable to do those good things Haramen, Mufninen what if I went to Bosnia what if I went to Sarajevo or any little village outside of Sarajevo and started talking junk about everybody smoking cigarettes these people don't they know that's bad for your health don't they know that has a nasty smell what am I really doing I'm being absolutely insensitive to a holocaust that people live through and they live through it and they got through it and they smoke some cigarettes to calm their nerves in the process right? Subhanallah that's not my business Haramen, Mufniden or age old age when a person starts to just not be able to gather their thoughts as well as they used to meaning they're starting to like reach that point Allah listen to us and see us and see us when we reach that point of sin Allah protects our strength and our eyesight and our ears and our minds when we reach old age if we reach old age yeah, don't be I'll note in Mujhezen or a quick death a sudden death these are all of the things what are you waiting for to do the good deed sudden death, when it's too late right? number six or the antichrist himself to come because that is the most evil absent person who's awaited for yeah or the hour of judgment for because the moment of judgment is the worst and most bitter calamity Allah save us and give us health and help us to get some good things on our record that we can take with us and some good Salat Bajaria that's called retirement planning A-16 when do we say we're going to stop A-30 so you got me for about 14 more minutes the eighth Hadith also from Abu Huraira that Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said on the day of Khaybah La'aqiyannahabihirayatah Rajulan, you hippu Allah wa Rasulah Yaftahu Allah wa Alaiyatahi that on the day of the battle of Khaybah Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam announced the evening before okay so all of the details that we know about this incident are not necessarily in this particular narration and different Sahaba memorized an incident or a statement in different ways with different usages perhaps a statement of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he said it with several different variants but from the moment of the memorization of the Sahabi and it's passed on to his or her students it's sealed historically no a particular narration may be put into a particular chapter because that narration highlights the aspect that the narrative critic or the Hadith scholar wants to bring out in this particular chapter and elsewhere the same Hadith scholar may bring an alternative narration that has a little aspect that narrates what he's trying the theme that he's gathering in another chapter so here he says the evening before the battle that we know from other narrations I am most definitely going to give this banner to a man who loves Allah and his messenger Allah will give victory at his hands and in the other narrations that I will give this banner tomorrow to a man who loves Allah and his messenger and Allah and his messenger love him and Allah will bring us victory at his hands so now you know why Allah was extremely excited that night and couldn't sleep so Rehira says that Allah said I never wanted leadership huh in my life except for that day on that day I wanted to be in charge why the 21st century it's 2017 Muslims clearly don't know why because everybody thinks they should be in charge well Rasulullah said whoever desires to be in charge should be denied it should be prevented from it because it's a passion it's a caprice coming from their own ego and they don't understand how smart they should be that when Rasulullah says who will take this station with its due to pull back their hands like the Sahaba did on the day of Uhud from that sword but Abu Dujana was the one who was for it because we know because Rasulullah concurred that he was the one for it it had his taqriya which is one of the ways of establishing a sunnah the one who wants it to be in the position of leadership or to be in charge they say that the last illness of the heart to be taken out of the heart of a wali of the wali is the love to be at the center the love to be out front the love to be in charge so whoever wants it should be denied it why because they don't realize the gravity of accountability that they are taking on to their own shoulders when they take responsibility for the affairs of the believers right this is a sickness and we don't want sick people on our behalf if someone has cataracts in their eyes right or some other like serious health condition we're not going to let them be the drivers of the bus that has our children on it but we let other people drive our communities because they want it because they're the most bodacious because they're going to kick and scream and whine and make a scene and make us all miserable if we don't give it to them and so we give it to them why they've always said it several times so Omar is saying I really wanted it that day right why I wanted to be the one who loved the law and his messenger and the law and his messenger loved me and the law will manifest success for the ummah at my hands that was a very inviting thing and if I had been the one who was selected for a haqq I would have been that person Rasulina Asala Allahu Alaihi was our Omar ibn al-Khattab Ralli Allahu Anhu was a mutaqa to him right he was a theologian he was a metaphysician he knew what the haqq was why because in the Qalaam what the Sunnis Sunni in the Qalaam what I said earlier that was what I said earlier that was what I didn't like but later years after Imam al-Shaafi there would come another thing that was called in the Qalaam which was Sunni in the Qalaam at the time of the Sahaba in the Qalaam was a knowledge that had no name now it's a knowledge that hardly anybody understands and then we just cry about how atheism seems to be attracting our children and how we don't have any responses to things that are said at the university in books and movies and television shows and discovery channel documentaries and all those places where it's embedded but we cannot recognize it because we don't have any in the Qalaam we thought it would be a clever thing to get rid of it at the turn of the 20th century but that's another discussion that you probably heard me talk about too much so Omar wanted to be that person he said so I jumped at the chance hoping that I would be the one he would call out and in the other narration he says so all of the people they'd awake that night especially me hoping that tomorrow it would be my name that was called Fada'a Rasulullah peace be upon him peace be upon him peace be upon him so the next morning Here is the rush to do good with resolve and without hesitation and all do seriousness and look at the seriousness of Ali ibn Abi-Italia. He gave him the instructions as he gives him the raya. But what's the raya? Right? This is not a parade. It's not the banner. I want to be the one to carry the pink flag or the green flag or what have you. Right? Because that's cool. Like I want to be the one to carry the pinwheel and the wind and stuff like that. That's not what the raya is. Nobody had. Right? Communication systems on the battlefield back then. They had banners. So there's a main banner. Right? And then every single group, battle group has its own banner. And the battle commander is in the back. He has eights to camp. What are eights to camp? Right? Not just someone who hangs out and makes your coffee. The eights to camp are very young officers who are on horseback and the commander has to see all of his banners. He's sending communications back and forth with his group of young officers in his entourage, his retinue. They're going back and coming. So they're, so you have under each, so he knows it under each banner and sub banner. Right? There's a sub commander who's in charge. Right? And what happens is that banner stays up and cannot fall because then the person who's orchestrating the chess game, you can't see where his main groups are at. And each banner has a particular insignia that tells him what the abilities or skill sets or purposes of that group is. Okay? So he's running the chess board from the back. But more importantly, the person with the main raya, the main banner, and each of the sub banners has to keep it up and push forward. And everyone who's fighting, they're in this little debacle here, in this little debacle here, and they're wrapped up with this guy who's like a really good fighter and all of this, but out of the corner of their eye, they're watching their banner. So if everyone's trying to sort of, you know, make their head away with a different opponent on the battlefield, what happens if that banner drops? That fighting force, that small fighting force scatters because everyone out of the corner of their eye, they can't see where they're supposed to stick close to. Right? And then the person with the banner, right, is supposed to push forward. Right? As much as he can. And then he's telling him what he's sending messages with, what he's seeing is getting instructions go this way, come back, go forward, all of this. If the banner falls, it's over. And of course the big banner, right, is the center of the main push. And someone might be outflanking, someone might be doing this. All of these things are going. Guys, just read War and Peace. It's all in there. Right? And this is a good read, too. But I met this brother, a French-American brother, who is from a family that still speaks French. And he had told me that he read War and Peace. And I said, wow, because, you know, War and Peace is like a brick, right? I said, that's impressive. He said, well, you're in prison, don't have a lot else to do. Right? I said, wow. So I went back to Syria and I read War and Peace. And it was so good, I couldn't put it down. It was so good. I did Anna Karenina after that, right? Subhanallah. But anyway. So, yeah, now, so this is the raya and it's incredibly important. This is the raya and it's incredibly important, right? And the big raya went to Ali and Abu Talib. So the instructions are this, Rasulullah gives him the raya. That's confidence and that's prestige, because he's the main one. The main raya is the one that's pushing the force forward. And he gives them the instructions here in this narration. And another narration. And another narration. Go forward and don't look right or left. Don't look back. So Ali and Abu Talib walks forward, just like he was told in the battle commences, the attack commences. He gets so many meters forward and he has a question. So he stops and he has a question for Rasulullah who's back there, but he was told not to get it. So he hollers out, right? And the other narration that will close with, right? He hollers out, should I fight them until they become like us? I fight them until they become like us. He said, go forward and know their responsibilities to their creed. It is not necessary to make any of the objectives in the mission.