 أن الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه ونستوفره ونستوفره ونجمع إليه ونعوذ بالله من شهور أنفسنا ومن سيئات عمالنا من يحده الله فلا مدلله ومن يدلل فلا هادي له واشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له واشهد أن سيدنا محمدا عبدوه ورسوله يا أيها الذين آملوا اتقوا الله حقا تقاته حقا تقاته ولا تموتون إلا وأنتم مسلمون يا أيها الناس اتقوا ربكم الذي خضقكم من نفسه واحدة وخضق منها زوجها وبث منهما رجانا كثيرا ونساء واتقوا الله الذي تساء أبرون به والأرحام إن الله كان عليكم رقيبة يا أيها الذين آملوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدة يصلح لكم عملكم يوفي لكم ذروبكم ومن يتعي الله ورسوله فقد فازا فوزا عظيما أما بعض فأن أصدق الهديث كتب الله وقير الهديه هديو محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وشر الأمور محدثاتها فكل محدثة برعة وكل برعة بلالة وكل بلالة في النار الحمد لله الحمد لله الذي هدان لها ذا وما كنا لنهتد يا لو لا هدان الله الحمد لله الذي أنزل على عبده الكتاب ولم يجعله إوجى الحمد لله رب العالمين كل بلالة يفعله لله who has blessed us with Islam who has guided us through iman and who has adorned us with ihsan all praises due to Allah who has revealed the scripture unto His servant and He has made no crookedness therein all praises due to Allah for His bounties and His graces which He has showered upon us by guiding us, by sheltering us, by feeding us by blessing the overwhelming majority of us with good health الحمد لله قلبي فضل الله وبرحمته وبي ذلك فليفرحه وخير من ما يجمعون say in the grace of Allah قلبي فضل الله وبرحمته and in His mercy فبي ذلك فليفرحه and this let them rejoice brothers and sisters we should be joyous people not out of any sense of exhilaration because of some frivolous reasons so we shouldn't be joyous people because the music sounds good or we shouldn't be joyous people because the food was so good at the dinner in and of itself we shouldn't be joyous people because of some external extraneous reason that has is totally disconnected from the reason that we're on this earth we should be joyous when Allah سبحانه وتعالى blesses us to fulfill our purpose الله تعالى mentions in the Quran وما خلقتوا الجن والإنس إلا لعبدون I've only created the jinn and the humans that they worship me so if Allah's blessed us to worship Him if He's blessed us with the desire and the ability to get up in the cold morning and make Moodoo with possibly the cold water to leave the comfort of our beds and to pray if He's inspired us to take advantage of these days which we've mentioned previously as our Prophet ﷺ described the winter الشتاء ربي المؤمن طال ليله فقاما وقصر نهاره فصاما the winter is the springtime of the believer it's days, it's nights are long so he has a lot of time to do Qiyam and still get sleep طال ليله فقاما وقصر نهاره فصاما and the days are short and they're also cold in fact these days they're cold so it's easy to fast so this is a time the believer should be praying at night and fasting in the daytime and if he or she has been blessed with the desire or the propensity to do that then for this reason they should rejoice this is better than anything people can get from the dunya what is better to have a heart that's inclined to prayer a heart that's inclined to fast a heart that's inclined to be charitable to share of the bounties and the gifts that Allah ﷻ has blessed us with what's better to have that heart that heart that gives birth to those actions إذا صالحة الجسد كله إذا فسدت فسد الجسد كله إذا وهي القلب is there not in the body and organ if it's sound the entire body is sound and if it is corrupt the entire body is corrupt verily it is the heart so what's better to have a heart that leads its limbs to pray to have a heart that leads its limbs to fast to have a heart that leaves its hand to be a charitable hand or to have 10 or 12 million dollars to own 10 or 12 of these buildings like this in Pleasanton I own 10 buildings each one is at least 50,000 square feet to own an entire car lot and I not only own the lot I own all the cars every time I sell a car it's pure profit I don't have to pay GM I don't have to pay Ford I don't have to pay Toyota I don't have to pay Nissan it all goes to me because I own the lot and I own all the cars what's better to have all of that or to have prayer being recorded for you with a sincere intention fasting being recorded for you with a sincere intention act charitable acts being recorded for you with a sincere intention what's better for the believer the worship is better and so this is what the believer rejoices in قول بفضل الله و برحماته فبذلك فليفره who is better than all of their buildings and all of their cars and all of their houses and all of their whatever they can gather from this world so we should be joyous فبذلك فليفره we shouldn't be depressed a depressed Muslim that should be an oxymoron we should be sober so we shouldn't be giddy and frivolous but we should be our heart should be joyous and the blessings that Allah has given us the entire world as we know is caught up in memorializing the great South African leader and it's a cause for us to reflect we shouldn't ignore the passing of Nelson Mandela it's just another day in the dunya there are events that happen even the Quran records because there are momentous events Allah تعالى mentions in the Quran ألي فلامين غولبات يروم في أدن الأرض وهم من بعد قلبهم سيغلبون في بعي السنين و لله الأمر من قبل و من بعد و يوم إلي يفرحوا المؤمنون بنصر الله ينصر الله من يشاء الاخر الآية so Allah تعالى he mentions in the Quran momentous event occurs Muslims aren't involved in it Muslims have nothing to do with it he says غولبات يروم the Romans have been defeated في أدن الأرض in a nearby land وهم من بعد قلبهم سيغلبون and after this defeat of theirs they will be victorious after a few years و لله الأمر من قبل و من بعد and this is Allah's affair this is Allah's affair نوسم مندل is affair is Allah's affair whatever transpired in his life whatever transpired in South Africa whatever transpired in the freedom struggle of the people of South Africa and it wasn't just the freedom struggle of the African people it was a freedom struggle that involved Africans and it involved Asians such as the many Muslims who were active in the struggle it involved so-called collards people of mixed race descent who are active in the movement and the figure the person that came to symbolize the movement was Nelson Mandela what can we take from his life to take from his life we can look at the title of his autobiography what is the title of his autobiography long walk to freedom long walk to freedom in other words the freedom of his people it didn't happen overnight he was in prison for 27 years and he struggled for 2 decades before even going to prison it was a long walk it was a long struggle it was a hard struggle it was a difficult struggle and so as the lesson for us brothers and sisters as Muslims find ourselves throughout the world in this country even struggling for our dignity struggling for our rights in many instances struggling to live a life that's reflective of the values of a revelation that was given to who we believe and understand to be the final prophet to humanity محمد بن عبد الله صلى الله عليه وسلم that these struggles they're going to be long struggles Nelson Mandela when he discussed the freedom of his people one of the things the things he said to paraphrase him he said this is a struggle is worth living for in other words I'll dedicate my entire life to this struggle and it's a struggle worth dying for so he knew that this might take my lifetime and it also might take my life and so as Muslims we should understand that we're not going to necessarily get what we aspire to overnight life doesn't work like that we've been we've been deceived by this modern condition that has commodified everything and by commodifying everything it moves towards rapidity why? because haste is consistent with the base desire of human beings haste is consistent with the nefs and mar of the soul it's a struggle with the nefs and mar of the soul that lowest aspect of who we are and our lowest form of human development we want instant gratification and so this is appealed to by this state of modernity that we find ourselves in so we culminate in fast food there was a time when usually women this expression of reality I'm not trying to be sexist would take great pride in staying in the kitchen long hours because they knew or believed that they were doing something that was of tremendous benefit and service to their families now women are told why should you serve somebody you should go out and get a job like your husband and force him to hire a maid to feed the family or the modern condition that tells you go out and get a job like your husband provides instant food don't worry about it you can have the meal in half an hour just throw it in the oven turn on the heat and then go get it in half an hour and it's instant it's ready both are consequences of this modern condition and it doesn't just affect women it affects men everyone's looking for the not everyone many people are looking for the ultimate hustle the ultimate get rich quick scheme everyone's looking for big muscles with minimal time in the gym even in this is a childish impulse this appeals to men we buy all the exercise machines this throw them away in the garage no get your abs flat no one wants to spend two years working at it no you can do it in two weeks just get the the abnormizer or whatever and so we spend millions of dollars ordering the abnormizer and then we do it for two days and then we look at our stomach there's no six pack we still have the one pack so we throw the thing in the garage false advertisement it didn't come quick want to get rich quick no don't spend your life saving for something just charge it just charge it people in traditional societies when the idea of a credit card was introduced they wouldn't even use it the whole idea of getting something you didn't earn that's what credit is you get it you didn't earn it you earned it when you saved up for it and you paid for it credit as you get it you didn't even earn it you might earn it later when you pay off the bills or you just might default and get the use of it because we want the use now there was a time some of you remember this time to get a house you saved up you got houses in your 40s no one bought houses in their 20s in this society you saved your money you bought a house or you saved your money you put a huge down payment because that was the only way you could get credit for a house there was an easy fast credit but everyone now he wants a house doesn't want to save up 20 30 years doesn't want to get the house in the 40s he want the house in the 20s 23 years old I want a house so we'll give you a house and we'll take it back in four years because you didn't want to wait until you were ready for it so we'll give you a house you're not ready for it and then we'll take all your equity in four years when you foreclose we'll give it to you no if you look at Mandela's life it's a lesson patience and this is a lesson that the Quran has emphasized and emphasized and emphasized people want leadership now there are many lot of young young scholars no one wants to be an Imam everyone wants to wants to be over an institute of some sort look on the internet there's hundreds of institutes proliferating while the masses are desperately advertising إسلامic horizons this website that website we need an Imam we need someone who's going to come and be patient with the problems of the people we need someone who's going to be able to listen to the young teenager yes who's struggling with a drug problem or the girl who got pregnant this happens in our communities and she doesn't know what to do she knows an abortion but if she tells her parents she fears for her life who's going to bring prophetic wisdom to our communities by patiently enduring the problems the hardships the triumphs the setbacks the victories the defeat of the everyday people that's the work of the prophets there are people who spend their whole whole life working and then at the end of their life الله تعالى ريوزهم because this is from the sunnah of Allah that's captured in the words of إبن عطاع الله the great Egyptian scholar and spiritual sage when he said من أشر قد بداية هو أشر قد نهاية the one who has an illuminated beginning who has an illuminated in the illuminated beginning is with hard work so the person they're inspired they pray they fast every opportunity they get they get up for qiam and lay their illuminated beginning is with the action and the illumination at the end is through the divine الله تعالى reveals are not reveals he gives them understanding he gives them deep insight into the nature of the human condition and the nature of the human soul that's the illumination at the end but it came on the basis of the illumination at the beginning now there are those they want the illumination at the end without the work at the beginning maybe I could just read a few books and I can get it they see the people supporting someone they're supporting them after they've served the community for 20 or 30 years after they've worn out two or three cars after they've gone all over the the region and even the country or even the world exhausting themselves during a period there are no honorariums and so the people الله تعالى leads the people to support them after those 20 or 30 years of service then someone comes along they sees that I want that but they don't want to spend the time serving for 20 or 30 years so that that is the fruit that Allah gives them after they've cultivated the tree main dalla got the fruit at the end the fruit of seeing his people free the fruit of the the presidency the fruit of the collapse of apartheid after a long walk to freedom after 27 years in jail as the Syrians say ما بيجي بالاش it didn't come for free and it didn't come cheap it didn't come free and it didn't come cheap there are too many people who want it free and they want it cheap because one of the greatest lessons of life have passed them by anything worth having has a steep stiff price right you want you want a ring that's worthless get a quarter and go to the bubblegum machine get a nice ring you hold it in the light you see a rainbow in it is 100% plastic but that is that's what you want just go get it go for it it's out there this is what modernity does to seduce us says you want it cheap you want it easy you can have it you can have it cheap you can have it easy you can have it without paying any sort of a significant price for it but if you want the real thing don't take your quarter like you went to the bubblegum machine and then go to whoever is jeweler and think you're going to get a diamond ring that cost $10,000 it's not going to work the guy is going to look at you like you're crazy one of our problems is when the person who's become accustomed to getting his or her rings out of the bubblegum machine comes to us we don't look at them like they're crazy we look at them like they're credible because our standards have been lowered Islam came to raise our standards so brothers and sisters we have to be patient and we have to work Mandela was patient and he worked we have to be patient and we have to work and if we're not patient and if we don't work don't expect to take that quarter and buy that $10,000 ring it's not going to happen greatness takes sacrifice Allah Ta'ala mentioned in the Qur'an وَجَعَنَّا مِنْهُمْ أَأَمَّا تَيَهْدُونَ بِأَمْرِنَا لَمَّا وَمَا وَمَا وَمَا وَمَا وَمَا وَمَا وَمَا صَبَعُوا وَكَانُو بِأَيَاتِنَا يُقِنُونَا we made of them referring either to the prophets of Bani Israel qataada one of the great early commentators equated he said Ad Ba'u al NBA we made leaders from the followers of the prophets لما صَبَعُوا after they patiently persevered وقت رحلت وقامت بيقاناته وقرأتا وعما كانوا يقرأة قصارنا كانوا يقرأة قصارنا لن يكون هناك أقل يمكن أن يأتي اليوم يمكن أن يأتي اليوم يمكن أن يأتي next week يمكن أن يأتي next year يمكن أن يأتي في التالي لقد كانت محاولة لكنها يأتي لقد كانت لا أقل أنها يأتي لكن هل يمكننا أن نكون أياتنا يوخنون؟ لقد كانت محاولة بالتحكي بشكل جيد لقد كنت أجدنا لقد كنت أجدنا أحياناتنا تأتي أحيانات تأتي أقول أنا لا أستطيع أن أعيش معهم anymore كم من أميكين لديك أجد؟ Well, next week will make 6 months. Masha Allah. That's a really long time to determine you can't live with somebody. After patienting he persevered. But they get on my nerves Allah Taha says We made some of you a tribulation for others. هل أنت لست ميلابه وينصف والرصول على القبائق يرده. يرده ورقبه. يرده ويأهده ويأهده ويأهده ويأهده ويأهده ويأهده ويأهده ويعاره ويأهده الشخص في تلك الأبواب. في أنتبه ويسرقه. يضعون في السعر كلامه أو هذا شيء جيد. يمكنني أن أقول أنه أشياء كبيرا أو لا يتبقى أشياء كبيرا أو كبيرا لماذا يوجد فتنة لأخبارهم؟ هل أنت لن تكون محاولة؟ هل أنت تكون محاولة؟ الناس الآخرين كانوا فتنة لأفريقين في أفريقيا يقولون أنه أصبحت أوروبيا لن أرى فتنة الأخبار والأفريقين كانوا فتنة لأخبارهم الأخبار الآخرين كانوا فتنة لأخبارهم ومن one of the things مندلدن كان يكون محاولة وإنهاء فتنة ومن when he got free one of the reasons he celebrated was that he didn't initiate a bloodbath in South Africa which would have been a bloodbath that might have lasted to this very day because the Africans had the numbers and the Europeans had the weapons and so it creates what's called a balance of terror which is in many instances a conscious rather strategic tactic will arm the minority and will allow the majority to be deceived by their numbers and no one will be able to vanquish the others the majority won't be able to vanquish the minority because they're outgunned and the minority won't be able to vanquish the majority because they're outnumbered and so they'll just slaughter each other مندلد was patient with the fitna and he understood how easy it is to fall into an irreversible spiral downward spiral of violence so he chose the difficult path the path of peace the path of reconciliation the path of surrendering some of the rights to do and owed and inherent to a particular people under certain conditions because he understood by so doing he would avoid a bloodbath اتصبيرون we have to understand if Allah is telling us this this is the nature of our condition the kufar the arrogant disbelieving people the tribulation for the believers the believers are tribulation for the kufar there are people that are troubled they're deeply troubled by this gathering what's wrong with those people why are they leaving their work skipping their lunches for God some atheists are troubled they have to be patient and we have to be patient if Allah wanted He could have made all of us atheists كون فاية كون if Allah wanted He could have made all of us believers كون فاية كون and there wouldn't be tribulations of those sorts if He wanted He could have made all of us rich the poor are a tribulation for the wealthy and so how do you deal with that tribulation do you share the wealth or do you say no we don't want to pay any taxes we don't want to pay for schools for poor people they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps and build their own schools like we did but how did you pull yourself up by your bootstraps they should engage in 200 years of slavery they should rob and steal people people's retirement funds most investment bankers are conservatives or Wall Street a large percentage they live in Fairfield County Connecticut I tell you about Connecticut they live in places like Greenwich Connecticut they're politically conservative they don't want to pay any taxes for the poor people the poor people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps so are they saying poor people should open up investment banks and rob people's pensions and retirement funds like they did they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps be patient allow your patience to be translated into compassion and empathy and vice versa rich people are tribulation for poor people and some of the Mufasireen they say the poor people they're led to say oh we wish we were like them like Karun that's a very bad thing to do look what happened to Karun the earth swallowed him in his nice house that the poor people were envying it's better to be content before God has given you إنما الغينا غينا النأة ليس الغينا ان كفرت الأرض ولكن الغينا غينا نفس true wealth is not an abundance of material possessions true wealth is contentment of the soul that's true wealth so be patient بسكول الله سبحانه وتعالى to bless us to be patient people to bless us to build to deal with patients the tribulations he might expose us to in the context of our relationships in the context of our societies in the context of the world we find ourselves in may we be blessed to have the patience of the likes of a Mandela so that we'll have a long walk a long beautiful invigorating walk not to freedom to jannah إن شاء الله because that's the end of our journey that's the end of our journey that is the end of our journey is jannah وفي ذلك هفى اليفره وبي ذلك هفى اليفره هو خير من ما يجمعون أقولوا قولي هذا وستغفر رضي ولكم نسأل مؤمنية وستغفر الله الحمد لله ربنا المين والصلاة وسلام على سيد المرسلين سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحمه وسلم تسليم كثيرة إن الله هو مناكة ويسرون على النبي يا أيها الذين آمنوا سلو عليه وسلم وتسليم اللهم صلي وسلم وذلك سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحمه سيد راح اللهم وفيل المسلمين والمسلمات والمؤمنين والمؤمنات الأحيائي منهم ولماتوا ربنا لا توزي الكلوبنا بعد ذهديتنا وهبلانا من لدنك رحما كنت الوهاب ربنا أفرق علينا الصبران وثبع قدامنا ونصورنا على قبل الكافرين ربنا أفرق علينا الصبران وثبع قدامنا وتوفنا مسلمين وعافوا عننا وفعلنا ورحمنا أنتم ونصورنا على القبل الكافرين اللهم اقسم لنا من خشاتك ما تعلو به بيننا وبين معاصك ومن طعك كما تبلغنا بها ينتك ومن يقين ما يهون علينا ما صائب الدنيا وماتعنا بأسماعنا وابسارنا وقوتنا ما أحييتنا وجعله الوارث مننا وجعل ثقرا على ما انظالمنا ونصورنا على ما دانا ولا تجعوا مصيبةنا فريننا ولا تجع للدنيا أكبر emphasis growth ولا بقرئ منا ولا تثل باعالنا بذنوبنا من لايخافك ولا يرحمنا يا أرحمر راهمين اللهمأيا يهلدينا ملتقوا اللاء وكونوا مع الصادق وكونوا مع الصادق يا إياذ يهلدينا من التقوا willstاق والصادق يتايد الكربة و ينهى عن الفحشي والمونكري والبقى يعلوكم لعلكم تذكرون أكمل صلاة الرحمة