 Satan with man had been our fan who is reported to have said that there are signs of taqwa. So every Juma we come and we're reminded the same reminder, we receive the same admonition that we should be people of taqwa or piety, of God consciousness and an intelligent person would want a way to gauge that. They would want a way to say, I've been told this time and time again and I have attempted to realize this time and time again. So what are some signs I can use or some gauge that I can use to measure the extent to which I have realized this idea of taqwa or piety? And the first thing he says is that a person of taqwa, a person of true God consciousness does not sit with somebody except for a person who is concerned about the affair of religion and somebody who has control over their desires and over their tongue. The Prophet, peace be upon him, is reported to have said a person is on the religion of their companion. And he says, So let each of you consider who they keep company with. Whoever you're with, which is another saying, whoever you're with, you will be in that person's state. So when the Prophet says you are the religion of your companion, literally you're on the way of your companion, that means that your religious matters, your worldly affairs, your personal, psycho, emotional, social well-being is going to depend primarily and largely on the company that you keep. So let each of you consider well who you keep company with. Naturally, there are people who we spend time with or by necessity engage with that we would not consider our companions. People who are going to be casual associates, people who may be colleagues, neighbors, et cetera. People who are peers at school that we wouldn't apply this standard to. We wouldn't say that the company isn't full of really righteous people I'm quitting or if the school isn't full of completely righteous people I'm dropping out of school. That would obviously be erroneous. What's being talked about here is swaqwa, who you keep company with. Who are the people that you spend one a lot of time with and two who you spend meaningful time with. The people who you are with most often. And in that regard, it tells us, do not keep company, do not be a regular companion with somebody whose state does not elevate you and whose speech does not guide you to God. In other words, when you're around them they lift you up. They make you feel closer to Allah. They make you want to do better things. You and Hiduqah Haruq, just their state, before they say anything, makes you want to do better. It wakes you up. And you've all been around people like this. You're around certain people you say, why was it easier to get up and pray? Why was it easier to avoid that which is prohibited? Because you were around a person who's state elevated you. Wa la yadulik ala la yamaqalu. And their speech does not guide you to God. So this is one of the ways we can measure the first sign. The people that we keep company with, how do we feel when we're around them? If we feel that we get dragged down when we spend extended time with people, then we should consider that. And this is very important, especially for young people, to say that BFF, the person who's my best friend forever, granted I just met them last week, but all of the sudden they're my best friend forever, until Monday. Friendship has become cheat nowadays. It's become something that people take lightly. But for us as Muslims, it's a very serious thing. It's a very weighty thing. And so if you say that a person is your friend and because you called them your BFF, best friend forever, it doesn't matter what they do, you'll ride or die. I'm going to go out with them no matter what, even if they're going to do something really stupid, it could cost me my life. Like they say, we're best friends. We're good friends. If you cry, I cry. If you laugh, I laugh. If you're happy, I'm happy. If you're sad, I'm sad. But if you jump off a cliff, I'm going to miss you. Because what? I'm not going to say, oh, ride or die. He's the one who jumped off the cliff? Tell them we'll pray for you. Salaamu alaykum. He jumped off the cliff. No one told you how to jump off the cliff with them. And what do you have to prove? And it's one thing to say that you're down for your friends, that you like to be supportive of your friends. It's another thing to say that you would be willing to be dragged into destruction for the sake of someone who you said was your friend. And I remember when I worked in a prison not far from here as a chaplain, there was a young boy about 19 years old from a Muslim family, born Muslim, and was a good boy. And I thought to myself, what are you doing in prison? Why are you here? And he said, do you want to know the real story? I said, yes. He said I had a night shift at the company I worked at, and a friend of mine asked me to give him a ride home. So I went and picked up this guy after work to give him a ride home. And the police pulled this over. And when the police pulled this over, he had a firearm on him. He had a gun on him, and he put it under the seat. And when the police searched the car, they found the gun. And then he said that the gun was mine, and that gun had been used in a robbery and had been used to kill somebody. And his friend said that it was his gun. So this young boy spends nine years in prison just because he wanted to give his friend a ride home. So one little decision. If you're around the wrong people, it can make or break you. The right decision can also make you. If you're around the right people in the right place at the right time, it can mean everything for you. And if you think about it, how do the companions, a lot of people, please with them, attain the great station that they attain? Besides the fact that there were grace to be, companions of, and the company of, say you know Rasulullah Muhammad, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So we should choose our friends wisely. And he says that you do not keep company with someone, except someone who's concerned about the matter of religion and a person who has control over their tongue and over their heart. The second thing he said about a person of taqwa, a sign of a person of piety, is that if a great fortune befalls him from the dunya, he or she deems that a trial. In other words, if they get increased in worldly matters, if they get more money, or they get the job that they had been seeking, or any number of things that you can apply those to by analogy, and increase in worldly matters, they see that as a trial. People tend to think the opposite. God must love me because I'm getting all of this really good stuff. I'm too blessed to be stressed and too annoyed to be disappointed. Everything's fine. Pichikin, why? Because I've got a lot of increase. But a person of taqwa, if they get an increase in worldly matters, they deem that as a trial. And what does he say? Fa'em al-insan al-idham aptalahu rabbahu. Idham aptalahu rabbahu fa'akramahu wa na'amahu fa'yukulu rabi akramahu. As for the human being, when his Lord tries him, by what? How does he try him? By treating him with honor and making him lead an easy life, he says, my Lord has honored me. Wa'emma idham aptalahu faqadra alehi ris-tahu. Fa'yukulu rabi ahamin. But if he tries him differently, and he limits or strains to him his means of subsidence, he says, my Lord has disgraced me. So in other words, what Allah is talking about here is the human tendency for people to say, if I'm getting increase in good, my Lord is honoring me. But he calls that iptilat. He calls it a trial. Or if the provision has been limited, it has been strained for them. That's also iptilat. And the human being tends to say, oh my Lord is disgracing me. So for all of us who are seeking success, we're not people who are to be seeking failure. We're seeking success. And we have aspirations, and we have ambitions, and we have goals, and we should work to fulfill them. But when the fortune comes, we see that also as a trial. And why is it a trial? Because we have to be thankful for the good that we have been given. And that's why Imam Ali said, how wretched wealth is halaluku isaab. Permissible wealth is something you're going to be accounted for. So all of the good that we have, all of the wealth that we have, it's a isaab. We'll be asked about how we spent it. Where did we get it from? Were we attached to it? Wa harama hui iqab. And then permissible wealth is something that we would be punished for. So it's a trial. And one has to ask himself, what did I do to gain this new fortune? What did I do to gain this new good? And to see it as a trial. And this is really, really important, especially as we sit here in at least relative safety, and at least relative luxury, compared to many of our own community members, not only globally, but nationally, and sometimes even locally, when we are enjoyed by the grace of Allah, abundant good, and other people are suffering. Well, do we think that we're somehow chosen people? Do we think that we're somehow better than they are? Or do we see that we are being tested through ease while other people are being tested through difficulty? And remember the example of the companions. When they would have good times, they would be worried. When things were going easy, they would be worried, because they know that that inevitably will be followed by what? Difficulty. And when they were having difficulty, they would find ease. They would find rest. They would be at ease, because they knew that that would inevitably be followed by good times. The third sign, he says, is that if he or she finds a practice to be from the deen, to be from the religion, they cling to it, even if it may seem insignificant. If they find out about something, it's that the Prophet, Salah al-Isra'la, it's from the Prophet's example, it's from the way of the righteous people, that they cling to that, even if it seems insignificant. And there's really two points I'd like to reflect on here. The first one is this. As Muslims, we have a lot of things that we do that if you don't know any better, it could seem insignificant outwardly. So as we came here today, we entered the mosque, inshallah, with our right foot. And we're going to leave, inshallah, with our left foot. And that's something that most people are mindful of. Unless, of course, you're trying to Instagram your foot as it enters the message, so you can get people to like, or take a vine of yourself, getting ready to enter the mosque, and go to pray, find a prayer, snapchat. That's obviously, you may forget that you're entering the house of Allah. But most people are going to be mindful of the fact that you come in with your right foot and you go out with your left foot. Do we hold on to that, or do we take the attitude toward the deen and say, oh, it's just sunnah. The early Muslims and the lovers would never say something like, it's just sunnah. They would say, what, it's sunnah. I might not be able to fulfill that thing. But the fact that the beloved did it, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, means it's an honorable thing. And you've heard the story of the Sudanese man who would be offered watermelon at parties. He'd be at a wedding and they'd offer him watermelon. He'd say, no, I don't like watermelon. And next time he'd be at another gathering, they'd offer him watermelon. And he'd say, no, thank you. And then one day they saw him sitting there, eating watermelon to his fill. And he's got seeds everywhere and watermelon rinds. And they came to him and they said, I thought you didn't like watermelon. He said, to be honest with you, I didn't. But then I heard that the prophet liked it, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And I did not want to dislike something that the prophet liked, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The point isn't that we all go out and eat watermelon. That's not the point. The point is that if something is a practice from the practice of the deen, we cling to it even if we deem it insignificant. Because in reality it's not insignificant. And remember, one of them came to the door of the masjid and he walked in accidentally with his left foot. And then he said, whoa unto you, speaking to himself. He said, whoa unto you. Would you come into God's house, come into the house of Allah and you're heedless? I swear that I will fast a year as an expiation to repent from entering the masjid with my left foot. Now again, if we forgot to do that today, it doesn't mean that you have to fast a year an expiation. But the point is if you hold fast to something because it's from the religion, that's a sign of taqwa. And this has very serious implications as it pertains to the preservation of Islam as a community for the Muslim community. I was once with a student and they covered that we were sitting in the courtyard of the front of the school. This is a Muslim school. And they covered the water vessel, the cup with a pen. And I said to the young lady, why did you do that? She said, oh, it's just Bosnian culture. And I said to her, it's actually not just Bosnian culture. It's a sunnah of the Prophet's As-Salaam that you should cover up a water vessel. If you have a glass or a cup you should cover up. She said, oh, I didn't know that. What's the point? The culture had adapted something that was part of the practice of Rasulullah Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and it became the default cultural norm so that Islam becomes a healthy practice. Now, obviously we have to have knowledge to differentiate between those things that are just made up of those things that are authentically from the religion. May Allah make that easy for us. The second point here is that if we give meaning to something that seems insignificant to us outwardly, that enables us to be able to see broader meaning in society, 27 plus percent of college age male American students say they believe that life is nothing more than a meaningless existential hell. That life is nothing more than a meaningless existential hell. In other words, it's all pointless. It's all meaningless. It doesn't mean anything. What's the big deal? You only live once. And this is what leads to phenomenon like the knockout game. I'm sure that you guys have heard about the knockout game. People walking down the street, knocking people out, one blow KO throughout different American cities. You can Google search it, but don't do it till after you walk, obviously. The knockout game. People walking up on the street and hitting people and knock them out as a game. Old men, young men, old women, young women and it's become a popular thing amongst youth. Let's just see if we can knock a person out. One lady had a gun and shot the kid when he came to do it. How could you, you know, and people used to do that thing, but they were at least trying to rob somebody or there was a point, not that that's a good thing, there was a point to it. Now there's knock people out and hit them in the face. And this leads to ultimately people being willing to kill, to take human life with no justification whatsoever. And isn't this what the prophet, peace be upon him, said that the end of time, killing would become so prevalent that the person killing doesn't know why they're killed and the person who was killed doesn't know why they were killed because we begin to see things as meaningless. So tying this back into our practices, Muslims that when we give meaning to even the simplest things, it enables us to be people who preserve meaning in the broader elements of life. I remember sitting with the teacher of mine in Egypt and it was, we were up late, there was a group of students with the shade, up late. And all of a sudden we heard the dawn call, the dawn Adhan, Adhan al-Fajr, the call to prayer for Salat al-Subah. And the shade as he sat there, he said, astaghfirullah al-Aliyuh, inna lilahi wa inna ila ila hirajim, la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. And we're thinking, what? That's not the prayer you say after the Adhan. Why are you? So someone said to him, shaykh, why are you saying all of those prayers? He said, I forgot to pray with him. I forgot to pray with him? With him. He heard the Fajr prayer come on and he almost wept because he forgot to pray with him. He had a more exaggerated, visceral reaction to missing with him than one of us may have, to missing Fajr al-Duhun, as well as the mother of an angel. As if somebody told him a love one died because he forgot to pray with him. And this is what good practice develops in us. It develops in us a dedication. And this is why the companions, Allah be pleased with them. If they took on a sunnah of the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, they did so and they intended to do that until they died. They didn't just take on a bunch of stuff and then leave it and then take it on and leave it. When they adopted a prophetic practice, they did so and attempted to die practicing it. May Allah make it easy for us. Ya'llabud an-Amin. The fourth side of a person of tough work is that he or she would avoid filling their stomach with that which is halal out of fear that the halal may be mixed with it. In other words, they would avoid overeating food that is permissible. They would avoid engaging even in food that is permissible out of fear that that thing may be mixed with what is halal. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Imam Ashafiri were contemporaries and they benefited greatly from one another's company. And Imam Ashafiri once came to visit Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and he served dinner and Imam Ashafiri ate well. He ate his food, his fill. And then after dinner, he went to rest and he slept the entire night. And Imam Ahmad ostensibly, they thought he slept the entire night. Imam Ahmad's daughter was a shock by that. She said, you're always talking about the greatness of this man, Muhammad ibn Idris ibn Ashafiri. And I noticed that when he came to your house, he ate like normal people eat. He didn't avoid the food. He ate his fill. And then when he went into the room, he slept the entire night. He didn't wake up early for night prayers. So Imam Ahmad, after you heard his daughter make this complaint, and this is why you have to be careful when you judge people. You don't know what's going on. So he goes to Imam Ashafiri and he said, my daughter took issue with the fact that you ate your fill at dinner and then you slept all that long. He said, actually the reason I ate as much as I did at your table is because you're one of the only people whose judgment I trust as it pertains to bringing permissible food. Because I knew your food was permissible. I knew that the food you had was halal. I ate my fill. He said, okay, what about the praying night prayers? He said, actually I laid in bed thinking about a particular ruling of Islamic law all night long. And my mind was preoccupied all night long. And that's why I didn't get up to pray night prayers. So this is someone who if we looked at him, he would say, oh, he was just eating and sleeping. But in reality, he had intentionality when he ate and when he went into his room, he was busy thinking about a ruling all night long. And you heard the story of the man, a scholar who spoke truth to power. He spoke against the power structure of his time, the ruler. And so the ruler said he had to be executed. They were going to kill him. And how are they going to do that by bringing a hungry lion and feeding him to the lion in front of the whole court? They used to be really brutal. They're still brutal now. They just have other ways of doing it. Sometimes they're just brutal. But he, so he brings the cage and the lions in the cage and it's been starved for days. And now the sheikh is brought in. He's supposed to be eaten by this lion in front of everybody. So they open the cage and push the sheikh into the cage. And when they come, the lion lies down. He doesn't attack the sheikh. But just before he lied down, they said that the sheikh started to become pale. It was profusely sweating. And the king, seeing the lion unwilling to eat the man, he said, let him go. Because why isn't the lion eating him? He's starving. So he let him go. The reason the lion wasn't eating him is as they say in Haaf-ul-Lah, Haaf-ul-Quru sheikh. Whoever is fearful of Allah, whoever is mindful of Allah, everything fears that person. So as they left the room, the students said to the sheikh, why were you sweating? And why were you turning pale? We weren't used to you becoming afraid. He said, by Allah, I wasn't afraid of being eaten. They said, then why were you sweating? He said, I forgot the ruling of lion saliva. And whether or not it was nudges, whether or not it was impure. And I was sweating because I didn't want to die and have an impurity on my body. I didn't want to die with an impurity on my body and I was worried. I forgot what was the thing, pure and pure. So naturally, Allah makes the lion and I had to attack him because I was his level of dedication. May Allah make it easy for all of us. Now, the fifth sign, which we'll talk about after the Jaluz, insha'Allah, St. Yufman said that the fifth sign of the person who talked was that this person supposes that if all of the people were to be saved, he would be the only one who would perish. If everybody was to be saved, he would be the only one who would perish. So, the fifth sign of a person of piety, according to St. Yufman Ibn Aqfan, he says that this person supposes that if everybody were to be saved, they would be the only one who would perish. This is a very, very powerful and very, very significant element of Islam's understanding and the Muslims lens through how they should view the world. A very similar statement is attributed to Sayyidina Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, who is reported to have said that if it was called on the Day of Judgment, everybody will enter the garden except for one person. I would fear that I would be that person. And you've got to wonder, what would be somebody who gave half of what they own for the cause of Allah? Somebody who the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam reported to have said that if there was a prophet after me, it would have been Umar. Somebody who the Prophet said that when Umar takes a roadway, Sheykh Khan takes a different one, etc., etc. What would lead somebody who he knew the Prophet said these things? None of us here, not a single one of us has a hadith about them. Some people think they do, but they don't. None of us has a hadith about them. The Prophet didn't mention me by name or mention you by name. He mentioned Sayyidina Umar by name. And he still says what I fear that if on the Day of Judgment it was said everybody was going to go to Jannah. Now, do you think Sayyidina Umar is confused about who's going to be there on the Day of Judgment? He knows that he doesn't just mean the people from his age. Who is going to be there on the Day of Judgment? Everybody, from all times, anywhere. And I still think that if everybody was going to go to paradise and there was only one person in the whole creation ever who was going to be damned, it would be me. What happened to their hearts? What happened to them to be able to see the world that way? But he also said something else. And if it was called on the Day of Judgment that everybody was going to go to the fire except for one person, I would hope that person was me. That's called sincerity with God. That's called sincerity with Allah. I want to go to Jannah. I really hope I do, but I haven't done anything to deserve it. I haven't done anything to deserve it. I don't want to go to the fire. May Allah save us all from the fire. I don't want to go to the fire.