 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمي والسلام على أشف الأنبي والسيد المجسلين وآله واله وسهر وسلم ربي أشح لي صدري ويصلي أمي وحل الأقتة من ليساني يفقه قول لي الله وصلي على سيدنا محمد مفتاه باب رحمة الله عدة ما في علم الله سلام والسلاما دائمين بدوام موكلا وآله واله وسهبه ومن ولا السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته my brothers and sisters الحمد لله for the opportunity to gather and remember Allah SWT and remember the one who took us by the hand to him صلى الله عليه وسلم who came to take you and I by the hand into the Divine Presence and what a blessed occasion that is in the month of Rajab and approaching ليلة إسر ومعراج is blessed ascension and may we all ascend in the footsteps of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to our Creator so insha Allah we're honored to be here amongst you and the people that remember and it's a great blessing so insha Allah with that I wanted to begin with a poem about the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and this poem is a summation of the description we find of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in the early books of Shema and of descriptions of him and particularly when I read the 20th book of the اهي اعلم الدين which is this great summation of the character the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that إمام غزالي is a great scholar he wrote this انسيقلوبيدي of Islam 40 books covering every dimension of the spiritual life of a believer even talking about things we might consider mundane matters like earning a livelihood and how it if approached correctly will be a means for us to draw near to Allah SWT and in the very center of that the spiritual axis upon which that collection of 40 books at turns is the 20th book right in the heart and it's the book on the character of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم because he as our mother I share with you and I said he is the Quran walking his character was the Quran and one of our friends studied ازهار and when he was there he asked the shake he said I want to study تفصير what is the best book of تفصير and the shake said he was in his office he said get that book off the shelf we got the book and it was a biography of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم the best commentary on the Quran is his life صلى الله عليه وسلم so this is a poetic rendition some summarizing بوك 20 بوك 20 of the can you imagine one who was the gentlest of men وبين the most brave and just of all who've been one who conquered all desires of self that make men weak who granted all who asked him precisely what they see whom only Jews poured out his mouth whenever he would speak who was the الذي كان مجرد من المجموحين من المجموحين who shine unique ومن الناس ومن جنراسي that some would say was merely myth حتى يجب ان يرى منه المحبين منه الذي كان منه يقوم بشخص ومجرد منه الذي كان يجب أن يقوم بعمله عندما هو محب who had a noble shyness not gazing long upon a face who honored all he ever met be they king or be they slaves who always found himself at home the most amongst the poor who never angered for himself but only for his lord always just always truthful consciousness of the one even if it brought discomfort to himself and those he loved a satiated stomach his whole life was rarely felt not due to poverty but preference of others to himself who knew the time of day by sun and the direction by the stars who would walk amongst his enemies without a single guard devoid of any lower self just humble and serene eloquent but not verbose just precisely what he means whom all within his company felt light and sacred cheer whom there was not a thing within creation that he feared who loved to play with children and run races with his wives who would join the festivities and honor customs of all tribes when people yelled and lost their cool around him he was calm who asked forgiveness for his enemies even as they did him who kept a goat he'd milk himself for people in his house whose wives when asked about him said he was the perfect spouse who never looked down on a popper or flattered once a prince but called every soul unto the one without even a flinch every single gorgeous trait of character he had of noble lineage yet he was the orphan of his clan one imbued with wisdom and piercing inner sight yet he was the unlettered one who would neither read nor write all knowledge and trait of character unflow were placed inside his very being directly by Allah the way to salvation and triumph after death to detachment and joy in life with each and every breath to walk the righteous path and never falter come what may and may Allah give us success in following his way they call him el-ameen the trustworthy the honest and we call him beloved our master محمد and حمد لله i remember that one of the first things when i was learning about the life of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that most moved me was the story of the isra and i love everything you highlight and you brought the point that the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم traveled these vast distances and ascended there was a right horizontal travel and then a vertical travel and he paved the way for us to ascend into the divine presence and brought us back صلى الله عليه وسلم which is the isra of the movement the mi'raj of the movement the ascension of the believer but as you pointed out the greatest miracle that was to happen that night is that he returned from the presence to show us the life the greatest miracle was not that he ascended the seven heavens not that he passed where جبريل said i can go no further not that he reached the low tree and the two bows distance oh edna but it's that out of love for you and me he returned back صلى الله عليه وسلم now حمد لله as was mentioned we have a new book and it's called the art of remembrance و it has multiple meanings but i was reflecting on what the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم brought us and if you think about our dean every aspect of it is that not only is the prayer that not only is the quran اي ذكه not only is the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم himself a reminder but he left us a blueprint for being in a state of remembrance in every moment of every day and from when we sit there's a thicker to when we stand there's a thicker to when we wake up there's a thicker all the way till we sleep there's a thicker and الحمد لله نفتح لكي تزيد الان باست with زيادات جيدة لما فى فى وضع حاضر جهاز يوشبون ما لن يستهيه� حسب الانجليز ما نفتح كصير منحب انسان و لكن같ي نعلم نحن الآكات فى و صلى الله عليه وسلم ك event every moment waking state stillness every breath that he took, was so and so. The Prophet was calling us to be in this state of remembrance and it could be said that his way is the art of remembrance. In fact, islam is the art of remembrance, how to be in a state of remembrance and every وكان من that sense we are all artists right you are a painter each moment you make a mark when you die you step out of the painting and look at your art your life is your art one of my shakes told me he said you're a poet and that's a beautiful thing لكنه يقول أنه one thing to write poems and it's another thing to make your life a poem for God now what we seek is that our life is a work of art for Allah it is an offering for Allah and your life is your work of art each moment you are making a mark and when you die you will see your artwork will it be beautiful, will it be ugly and Allah is الغفور الرهيم إنك اللعفو انتهب اللعفو فوفو عنا الله can erase some of the ugly marks on your artwork if you turn to Him and so this is what we hope for and this is what we turn to Allah for Subhanahu و تعالى and so we wanted to make a book that was not only with poetry but in fact was like the great manuscripts of our tradition every aspect of what Muslims did was done with إحسان because Allah is beautiful and loves beauty and so if you look at the traditional manuscripts ancient books in the great museums around the world people fill the museums to look at the books of our tradition wow look at how they did them look at the leatherwork, the binding look at the calligraphy and the handwritten and so we wanted to make an ode to the great books of the past and this is what we've done here with the Art of Remembrance And Hamdallah we had it printed in Turkey and may Allah bring his mercy to those suffering in the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey as well as in Syria and so this is what we're here for is to remember and Monana Rumi very beautifully put it he said that there was a servant who was sent from a great king and the great king said go to the marketplace and bring me back a short list of things and you have all day just be back before the market closes its sundown and so the servant went out and he said Hamdallah all day so as he's going to the market he sees a festival there was a fair and there was all the rides and the games and everything that was happening and so he said I have all day I can take some time and enter into this fair and so he entered in and he rode the rides and he made friends and he interacted with people and he played the games and he enjoyed himself but very quickly he lost track of time and he got so engrossed in the festival and the fair that by the time he looked up he realized that the sun was setting and he had missed the market and he had to return to the king empty-handed so Monana Rumi is saying that we are the servant sent into this world and Allah gave us a few easy tasks and we can partake of the festival and the fair sweet things and the rides and all those things but we should never forget to remember the purpose for which we came so we don't return empty-handed and this is the art of remembrance so we pray that Allah makes us people of remembrance and I wanted to read you the title poem from the book I almost had it said remember until it seeps into your bones until December wind remember and remember and remember until remembrance wins till all remember wins remember win there was nothing but remembrance in the presence of beginning-lesses never-ending present tense remember when there was nothing but remembrance in the presence of beginning-lesses ونقوم بأرداء الانتقال أتذكر أن الوصول يتكلم ما أفهمنا again؟ إلى المجرد الذي يتكلم برصة تبدأ تجده أتذكر then أتذكر then أتذكر again again أصبحت أكثر من المجرد يأتي في مجرد وخلال أتذكر أن تسجل حتى تنسى أن تنسى لكي تنسى تذكر لكي تنسى until all your gifts are sent from him تذكر لكي تنسى until when you give it's really him giving and receiving what is need if you are giving him تذكر لكي تنسى until when you die you live again تذكر لكي تنسى until the annihilator tell your eyes subsist in him تذكر لكي تنسى one who taught us how to get to him تذكر لكي تنسى on his soul and on his family and his holy friends تذكر لكي تنسى on his soul and on his family and his holy friends تذكر لكي تنسى to even higher than an angel ever dare ascend تذكر لكي تنسى out of love and mercy he returned into the world of man تذكر لكي تنسى until all that you can see is him تذكر لكي تنسى this if you cannot witness this تذكر لكي تنسى through your seeing vision even though your feeble visions dim تذكر لكي تنسى until he loves you تذكر لكي تنسى that who is seeing them تذكر لكي تنسى when you threw but we threw through تذكر لكي تنسى through your blessed hand تذكر لكي تنسى when you threw but we threw through تذكر لكي تنسى are you surprised the most high تذكر لكي تنسى through a mortal man تذكر لكي تنسى hasn't he told you he molded you from something insignificant تذكر لكي تنسى then spoke to your clay تذكر لكي تنسى as he blew his spirit into it تذكر لكي تنسى until love itself transcends your skin تذكر لكي تنسى beyond you into everything that was and is تذكر لكي تنسى if he wills it to be تذكر لكي تنسى in a million moments تذكر لكي تنسى each affair he begins again تذكر لكي تنسى polish the mirror so his light you reflect within تذكر لكي تنسى that has formed on its face is forgiveness تذكر لكي تنسى each breath is a priceless chance to remember him and the polish of hearts is the art of remembrance صلى الله عليه وسلم وبرك علي وعلى علي صلى الله علي الحمد لله were all artists the takeaways were all artists and one of them said in the pre-modern world every man was a particular type of artist but in the modern world the artist is a particular type of man no everyone was a craftsman or woman everyone was a creator everyone was dedicated to their art and everyone understood that the goal of it was not to be a poet or a book binder or a calligrapher or a weaver but that all of those were disciplines that if approached correctly would transform you and your soul and Titus Burkhart wrote a book about Fez called the Fez city of Islam which he was talking about pre-modern Islamic cities and how they produce saints and he talked about the comb maker who made combs in the traditional way out of bone and this comb maker said I've been making combs like my master made combs like his master made combs like his master made combs all the way back he said but now just in our generation these plastic combs are coming in from China and I can't compete because mine takes a whole day to make they can sell a hundred for the price of mine he said but the way that I was taught by my master is that the comb is a spiritual thing because just as it has many teeth but its spine is one likewise the universe has many forms but one is behind them all and so we are not created to be consumers but creators because we are created with the names of Allah و هو الخالق الباري المصور له الأسما الحسنة he is the creator the fashion or the former and we are to embody his names the most beautiful names and so Alhamdulillah it's a blessing to be with artists of the sacred and these arts that were insha'Allah part of the honor of reviving in our tradition even in the English language that when Islam spread into India or into Turkey or into Africa or far east into China or Java what happened? the people became poets because the Quranic revelation washed over their souls and it infused them with meaning and when you're experiencing meaning you can't but desire to express it and so it is hoped that our brothers here Sidi Abdullah and Sidi Uthman these great efforts to infuse the English language with the barakah of the Muhammadan revelation will be a means to transform not only our hearts but our societies insha'Allah and so it's an honor to be amongst you and may we walk in the way of the Prophet ﷺ and in fact at the end of the day and this is what I'll end with is that Allah is the artist and the cosmos is his art and the true art is to allow Allah to write the qualities of the Prophet ﷺ and the canvas of your soul that is the art that is the art so may we be infused with the art of remembrance ورحمة الله شكرا لله