 We begin by praising Allah, our Creator, our Maker, the one who sustains our existence, the one who keeps our heart beating, the one who keeps our eyes working, the one who keeps our stomachs digesting, the one who saves us from pain, the one who tests us. We praise Him and we thank Him. And then we remind ourselves we weren't made for this world. We were made for another world. We're just visiting here temporarily. And we warn ourselves that we're going back to Allah. Are we ready for that reunion? Are we ready for that transfer? Are we ready to meet our Lord? This world, we've been deluded to expect perfection sometimes. We've been deluded to expect perfection as if it's a right that we have. I'm entitled to always being perfectly comfortable, perfectly happy, perfectly satiated. When in actuality, God, the all-wise, designed this world as a domain of difficulty, a dunya adar al-bala, and designed it to drive us to Him. And so the question for us today, when we're experiencing these difficulties, these challenges, these obstacles, where do we turn? Where do you turn? Where do I turn? Do we turn to our ultimate brilliant strategies in my mind? Do we turn to ourselves? And the question is, do we forget as part of the equation to help us with that solution? Victory, openings, solution, remedy doesn't come except from God. And so the question for us today is, are we adequately turning to God? And turning to God, remembering God in Arabic, is zikr, zikr, remembrance of God, remembrance of God in our heart, in our state, on our tongue, in our actions, are we remembering God enough? Because remembering God is for our own selves. Let's look at Prophet Jonah when he was in a disaster of disasters, in the greatest turmoil, stuck in the stomach of a whale, no one can hear him, no one can see him, no one can help him, no one can save him. In the darkness of the belly of the whale, with the acid and the acidity, with the darkness of the ocean, the darkness of the night, and Jonah, yunus, in that predicament, in that problem, Allah, God tells us if he was not from the Musabihin, he would have stayed in the gut of the whale until the day of resurrection. In other words, if he didn't turn to God, remember God, mention God, do zikr, his problem would not have been resolved. He would have stayed in that problem forever until the day of resurrection, thousands of years. What problem are we enduring today? What problem are we carrying? What problem are we burdening, shouldering? And are we doing tessbih? Are we doing zikr? Are we using that part of the solution, that remedy? Or do we think I can do it on my own? I don't need you, God, not with our words consciously, but subconsciously, where man goes out of bounds, In kella, inna, inna, insana, layatgha, goes out of bounds, he thinks he doesn't need God. Do our actions render us in a position where as if we don't need God, we think we can do it alone, I can solve this on my own. God wants us to turn to him, to be broken and desperate, to turn to Allah. And the question, the invitation for us today is, are we taking advantage of the power of zikr? Or have we been so deluded to think, to forget the power of zikr? And only turn to the material causes, to the material means of the asbab, and forget the ultimate musebb? We look at the other verse in the Qur'an. Listen, God's talking to us. If you're facing a problem, an adversary, an enemy, a difficulty, what does God say? Then God says to do two things. He says, He says, be firm, strong, take the means, take the strategy, so that you can be given success, openings, and victories. Are we only doing the first part, taking the means, doing the politics, doing the strategies, making the phone calls, paying the bills, going to work, but forgetting to mention Allah? Are we forgetting to call Allah? Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, in a hadith khudsi, in a hadith, comes in the last portion of the night and says, Every night, Allah says, Who's calling me? So I may answer him. Who's asking me? So I may give him. Who's seeking my forgiveness? So I may forgive him. So the question is, are we asking Allah? Are we begging Allah? Are we calling Allah? Enough. Or do we think I just need to rely on myself? I can do it alone. I'm strong enough, smart enough, big enough, wise enough, rich enough, I can do it alone. I'm going to work hard enough, persevere, struggle, and strive, and I'm going to take care of it. Yes, that is a beautiful work ethic. That is a beautiful attitude. That is a beautiful approach. If we tag along to the second ingredient, While you're persevering, struggling, striving, working, strategizing, have Allah mentioned on your tongue and on your heart. And then we can expect and hope for the victory from Allah. Victory doesn't come from us. Victory comes from Allah. So the question for us as a community, are we turning to Allah enough? Are we begging Allah enough? Are we asking Allah enough? Are we doing enough dhikr? In another verse in the Qur'an, for anyone with anxiety, depression, difficulty, Allah says, Allah says, we know that your chest is constricting. You're in a tight spot. You're feeling the heaviness because of what they say. Remember dhikr. And be from the prostraters. And be from the prostraters. In a hadith of the Prophet, he says, don't talk so much without sprinkling the remembrance of God. Because those who talk so much without remembering God, it hardens the heart. And the furthest people from God are those with hard hearts. Are we remembering Allah sufficiently, my brothers, my sisters? Are we remembering Allah enough? Allah says, Whoever turns away from my dhikr has a dhanka, dhanka life. Dhanka means miserable. And it means like what it sounds. And it sounds like what it means. And in the other verse, And in the remembrance of Allah, do hearts find tranquility, serenity, and peace? Are we remembering Allah, my brothers? Or did we neglect this part of Islam? Are we going to be the generation that neglects and doesn't pass dhikr to our children? Are we going to be the generation that doesn't value the power of dhikr? This is a real question. This is a serious question. Let's ask ourselves, is our house a house of dhikr? Is our house a house of dhikr? Is your home a home of dhikr? Is your family a family of dhikr? Are you, am I, are we people of dhikr? Today is an invitation to do two things. Number one, to intellectually remember the value of dhikr. And number two, to physically add the practice of dhikr in our daily lives. Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. And so whatever problem we have, maybe it's a marital problem, maybe it's a problem with one of our children, maybe it's work, bring some dhikr to that, sprinkle some dhikr to that. If you're, if we're having marital problems, let's get together as a marriage and let's do dhikr together, me and my wife, me and my husband. And if we're thinking right now, oh that's really going to help, Satan is real, Satan is whispering right now, dhikr is real, dhikr is powerful, whether we comprehend the benefits, whether we see them, they're metaphysical, we don't understand them, but these are divinely promised. As taqfirullah brings rizq, brings, brings rizq, brings providence, providential care. La ilaha illa Allah removes rust from the heart. Relieve you from your problems and removes you from darkness to light. And if we're thinking, oh yeah, really how is that happening? Remember, we don't just believe what we, we don't just believe what we see, we see what we believe. We're believers, we're different, we're Muslim, we're different. The first description of believers in the Qur'an, they believe in the unseen realm. And so if we have been fed for these many years and decades, in 2021, if we have been fed the, the, the, the illusion that dhikr is not something that can help me, that is powerful. It's not just like I'm getting points, I'm getting points in my book to get on the day of judgment, dhikr is more than that. When you mention Allah, Allah mentions you. And so we ask ourselves today, how am I doing enough dhikr? Am I doing enough dhikr? And so we're going to do that in two ways. Number one, we are going to break these ideas, these notions that may have been planted in our minds. That dhikr is this lofty, mysterious thing that's in some other realm. We're going to break that notion and we're going to accept it as a tangible tool. We're going to accept it intellectually as a tangible tool. Like God said with the two ingredients, and then you'll find success. The only thing, the only thing in the entire Qur'an that Allah says to do a lot of is dhikr, is dhikr. The only thing, and so we ask ourselves, am I doing enough dhikr? Did I teach my kids to value dhikr? And it's easy, it's not difficult. All you have to do on Friday, sit for five minutes, 10 minutes before sunset with your kids, and do some salawat together. And then after five minutes, just make duha. Do it 20 times, 100 times, 1000 times. Just don't be heavy on your family, don't be heavy on your spouse, don't be heavy on your children. You can do it more than them. But when they grow up and become 815 and your influence decreases on your children, when they become 18 or 20 and 21 and they leave the house, they will remember my father was a man of dhikr. Every Friday in my life, my father did dhikr. And every morning when we wake up, what dhikr are we doing? Find a qualified teacher and ask them, what dhikr can I do every morning? For your own sake, you're not helping God through dhikr, you're helping yourselves, you're helping your children, you're helping your grandchildren because the barakah flows. This is real. And so this is an invitation for us today to bring, make our house a house of dhikr, our marriage a marriage of dhikr, our home a home of dhikr, and my bari, a bari of dhikr. And if we're too busy out, the dhikr beads, the dhikr beads are a tool to remind the tongue and the tongue is a tool to remind the heart. And even if we don't, Satan's gonna come, the devil's gonna come whisper and he's gonna say, what's the point of this? You're not feeling anything. La ilaha illa Allah, la ilaha. What's the point of this? You're not feeling anything. You're not doing anything. What's the point of this? That's Satan taking you away from doing good. And perhaps if you continue doing it, dhikr, Allah will elevate you from a state of doing dhikr without feeling to a state of dhikr with feeling. Don't give up on it. Start with the minimum every morning of some staghfirullah, of some la ilaha illa Allah, of some salawat on the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And find a qualified teacher and incorporate this in our lives, inshallah. Ameen, Ameen, Ameen, Ameen. And let us be people who at night, let us be a community at night that some of us are standing at night and begging Allah and calling Allah, Ya Allah, Ya Allah. Help those suffering in Syria, in Afghanistan. Because Allah hears all prayers. Allah hears all prayers. And Baal is in our court to pray. Allah is near and he answers the call of the one who calls him. If he calls him, Baal is in your court to call God. Allahumma gfirle al muslimina wa al muslimat. Wa al mu'minina wa al mu'minat. O Allah, we ask you to send peace and blessings on our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. We ask you to make us people of dhikr. We ask you to make our community a community of dhikr. We ask you to help us taste the sweetness of this faith called Islam. We ask you to help us fall in love with you, Ya Allah. We ask you to make us of the shakirin, of the grateful. We ask you to exchange our arrogance with humbleness. To exchange our anger with patience. To exchange our temper with gratitude. We ask you to exchange our ignorance with knowledge. We ask you, Ya Allah, take us from the path of delusion to the path of truth. Ya Allah, Ya Allah, we ask you to save us from our own selves. To let us see the power of your presence and let us not be deluded by the devil and not be distracted by the dunya so much that we become displeasing to you, Ya Allah. Ya Allah, here we are coming this Friday to recommit ourselves to you, to find you, to love you, to dedicate ourselves to you, to learn more about you, to know you, to reorient ourselves to you, to repurpose ourselves to you, Ya Allah. Ya Allah, will you accept our prayer? Ya Allah, on the day of judgment, when people are sweating under the hot sun, put us in your shade, Ya Allah. Ya Allah, we can't tolerate discomfort in this life. Let our grave be comforting. Let our day of judgment be comforting. Let our afterlife be comforting. Ya Allah, let us be pleasing to you, protect our families, protect our children, help us see the truth as the truth and follow it. Help us see what's false as false and protect us from it. You are the turner of hearts. Render our hearts firm on your way, Ya Allah. Render our hearts firm on your way, Ya Allah. And gather all of us in your jannah, Ya Allah. Gather all of us in your paradise, Ya Allah. And let the last words we say, when we leave this domain and go to the other world, our next life, our eternal life, let those last words be La ilaha illa Allah Muhammad Rasulullah Allah says in the Qur'an, Mention Allah and He will mention you.