 عوض بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم والحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيدنا ونبينا وحبيب قلوبنا محمد وأهل بيته الطيبين الطاهرين اللهم صل على محمد وآل محمد قال تعالى في كتابه الكريم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم قلوا دعو الله أو دعو الرحمن أي ما تدعو فله للأسماء والحسناء my dear brothers and sisters السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته in continuation with the opportunity of supplications and prayers and its effect and the coincidence of the month of Ramadan and its relationship we will continue with our topic for the night is the conditions the etiquette and the protocols of a prayer we know that every field they have their own language for example in the computer science they have their own language in diplomatic lines they also have their own language doctors and physicians also they have their own language where they communicate with each other every field they have their own protocols, conditions and etiquette in order to make their discourse very clear and eloquent the same thing with the prayers when we pray to Allah and perform this application there must be certain rules conditions and etiquette in order for the prayers to be accepted and our calls to be answered for example one day a man came to an Imam صالح عليه السلام and told him I have problem with two verses in the holy Quran that I do not see their effects that I do not see their effects the first verse they ask me to answer for you where the Almighty has said call upon me and I will be answering your call he said that I pray but I do not hear the answer and the other one when the Almighty says whatever you spend in his way you will get replenished he says that I pay in his way but I do not see the effect I do not see the return in my hand the Imam صالح عليه السلام answered him this he said he followed his instruction the Lord's instruction in how you present your case how you ask the Almighty he would have answered you disobey him you do not follow the instruction by which he has set the conditions for accepting your prayers therefore you do not see the answers sometimes even we don't know what to pray we don't know should we pray for good things or bad things we don't even ponder about the results, the consequences of our prayers if we ask something from the Almighty and he brings it to us he fulfills it then what would be the consequences the results we are oblivious about that the Almighty Allah says وَةَانَ الْإِنْسَانُ عَجُولَا in the same way that he asks for goodness he also asks for evil things for himself but unintentionally meaning that he has burst his prayers without maybe evaluation of the prayers without knowing exactly what should we ask so there are certain rules certain conditions certain adequity and protocols that we need to commit ourselves and observe in order to see the prayers are answered What are those tonight we will be covering a few of them and Afshallah tommorow we will cover the rest The 1st condition brother brothers and sister and brothers and sisters is that we should know who is Allah We should have a true meaning a true understanding of the Lord المنطقة الهواتفة هي تباً على تعرف الله سبحانه وتعالى أول الديني معرفته إذا أعرف جداً من الله سبحانه وتعالى وما هو يستطيع أن يفعل ويهي the only source of answering my prayers ويهي the most wise, the most merciful, the most beneficent person then our calls will be answered the prophet peace be upon him says لو عرفتم الله حق معرفته لزالت لدعاءكم الجبال if you truly know the essence of Allah the way that you should then to your prayers the mountains will be jolted the mountains will be shaken and will be moving how effective this is how effective the knowing of Allah سبحانه وتعالى when I know that he is the only one who is capable of answering my call he is the only one out of his wisdom and out of his mercy will be either answering my call or not answering my call if I know this the call will be ready for an answer it is narrated that on the moment that Abraham was about to be lunged into fire thrown into the fire the angel jibrail descended upon him and told him Abraham do you have any need he said if the need is to you no I don't have anything from you but to my lord yes he said what is it tell me he said the fact that he is witnessing and the fact that he knows exactly what is in my heart and he knows this situation better than I do then it makes me needless to answer him to call upon him I don't have to call upon him because he knows the whole circumstances this how much Abraham used to understand the meaning of الله سبحانه وتعالى the essence of الله سبحانه وتعالى when we get to that level that we understand the true meaning of the lord and what he is and what he is capable of then our calls will be answered as the Imam الصادق عليه السلام when he was posed by a question that why God does not answer our call he said because لأنكم تدعون من لا تعرفون because you are worshipping asking someone that you don't know exactly who he is what is ألون ما لا تفهمون and you are asking for something that you are oblivious about you do not understand so number one is knowing the true essence of Allah سبحانه وتعالى to whom I am talking to this is number one the second condition we should pray out of necessity out of desperation we should be desperate to the almighty Allah سبحانه وتعالى not that I have many options and let me ask him if he makes it fine if not then I have multiple options these are rejected the almighty emphasizes on the fact of desperation he says إذا دعا ويكشف سو the one who prays out of desperation to him then he will answer him I will give you a few examples sometimes going from my home from my home to my work I have multiple options I can go by my car I can take public transportation I can take a bike or I can go by walking so in such kind of incident I am not desperate if I miss one means of transportation I have the other one this one is not called out of desperation I am not desperate I have multiple options and I will examine my options before I make my selection and my choice but sometimes we are desperate imagine you are a 36,000 feet altitude in the airplane and the airplane undergoes severe turbulence then what will happen to you you know that if the entire population of earth of the planet wanted to save your life 7 million people came to rescue when everything goes with the airplane we are done it's over no other entity than God will be helping us even if the entire planet wanted to rescue us and save us there is no other option there is only one way out and that's in the hand of Allah imagine you are in a ship and then there is a hurricane in the middle of the ocean or sea with those humongous tremendous waves that could go up to 100 200 feet and can toy the ship at that time you are left with no one you know no one can help no one can exert any assistant if he doesn't want at that time you ask out of desperation and at that time you know that always all options have been exhausted and there is only one thing and that is the way to him the almighty at that time the answer becomes imminent الله سبحانه وتعالى will answer in our case we should call upon him in time of desperation even during the time of ease we should ask with the conscious of desperation we should not think one second that we are relying on ourselves the prophet in the middle of night asking Allah says لا تكلني إلى نفسي ضرّة عين طرفة عين do not leave me do not abandon me to myself even for a blink of a second meaning that I would not have any choice if he doesn't want to even the easiest thing even things that I am taken for granted that I am sure and a presumptuous that I will be doing but those minor times easy things could be a big obstacle the almighty teach us how we should proceed he says do not be presumptuous do not say I am confident of myself I can do unless God's will is with you therefore when we pray even for the simple things the prophet peace be upon him says even the shoelace that you want to tie your shoes ask assistance and help from God because believe it or not that tiny thing could be a big obstacle there are many people one day of their life they are mighty they are strong but at one at another day they become helpless you know just a three time world champion of boxing who was the mightiest person in the world just a few days ago he passed away he needed his blessings the God's blessings at that point everybody was so weak therefore we should realize even at the time of ease we should depend on him and the third one is we should prepare our heart for the supplications our heart should be broken we should show our total obedience and subordination to the almighty الله سبحانه وتعالى صادق عليه السلام says God would not accept a prayer from a heart that is just a praying for amusement just to amuse self while there is no attention of the heart there is no feeling of total subordination to the almighty how should we show our total subordination is when we weep when we cry and wail the almighty الله سبحانه وتعالى says those people who wail who weep that will give them more humility in front of the Lord these are the signs when you ask in the middle of your prayers check your heart is it in total subordination and humility and the sign of it is the tears remember that Allah سبحانه وتعالى is giving you full attention here is listening to you as the Imam says if your skin is shrugged ودمعت عينك your tears came down فدونك دونك فقط قصد قصدك you have reached your destination only with a few words you have made your case in front of Allah سبحانه وتعالى we will come back after this ياما لا يرجاء الا فضل ياما لا يسأل ولا عفوا ياما لا ينظر ولا ابرو ياما لا يخاف الا عدل ياما لا يدوم ولا ملكون ياما لا صلطان الا سلطان ياما وسعات كل شيء رحمة ياما سبغات رحمة ضبا ياما نحاط بكل شيء علمو ياما ليس أحد مثلو سبحانك يا لا خلصنا من النار يا رأى يا فارج الهام يا كاشف الغا يا غابل التا يا خالق الخالق يا صادقا يا موفيا يا عالم السئر يا فالقا رازقاء الأنار سبحانك يا لا خلصنا من النار اللهم إني يسألك باسمك يا علي يا وفي يا غني يا ملي يا حفي يا رضي يا زكي يا بدي يا سبحانك خلصنا من النار ياما لا ينضر إلا بره ياما لا يخاف إلا عدله ياما لا يدوم إلا ملكه ياما لا سلطان إلا سلطانه ياما وسعة كل شيء الرحمة ياما سبقت رحمته غضبة ياما أحاط بكل شيء علمو ياما ليس أحد مثله كه Mukba يجب أن يعد بني شكرا لك شكرا لك ياما ليس علم أن ذاك ياما ليس عار Stella شكرا لك قد يس beneficial لكل شيء ، هو who's wrath is suppressed by his mercy هو who's knowledge encompasses everything هو who's without equal The beautiful words ياما لا يخافوا إلا عدلة هو who fear nothing but his justice We, as a human being in any community, in any society We fear the injustice of the ruler The ruler, the hegemon, the sovereign is always scaring people due to his might He can use his force indiscriminately to subdue the population People fear the injustice of the ruler because it would be very easy for someone like this person who has a military might and power and force can easily transgress and use it against those who he's not pleased with The criteria for people is to seek The criteria for people is to seek just ruler and there are only very, very few throughout history who turn to be just rulers For example, in 2002 the Human Rights Commission in his resolution in 2002 he desecribed علي ابن أبيضالب to be the fairest governor who appeared in the course of history علي ابن أبيضالب was only one of his kind who was just a ruler another adjust ruler Another example is the ruler who used to live during the time of the Prophet but he was in Ethiopia, in Habashah when Muslims used to face persecution and a pressure and torture in Mecca the Prophet asked them to migrate to Ethiopia He told them إن فيها ملكون عادل لا يظلم عنده أحد go to adjust ruler in Ethiopia who would not exert oppression against you So people would like to see in the ruler his justice The justice of the ruler is very sought after is very desirable But in terms of God in the case of the Almighty Allah who was the absolute ruler who was the absolute hijaman and sovereign his justice is not desired We run away from his justice We pray day and night that he would not treat us with his justice We say اللهم لا تعملنا بعدلك Do not treat us with your justice Why? Because in this two way relationship between us and the Lord We are the one who transgress against the commands of the Lord We are the ones who are sinners We are the ones who do not keep our promises We are the ones who always break the contract with the God We always break our oath We are the one who transgress against others We are the ones who do wrong doing So if the Almighty Allah treat us with his justice then we will become all an oblivion We will be vanished The entire population on earth will be punished will be vanished Therefore we ask the Almighty not to treat us with his justice We fear the justice of God Rather we ask for his mercy It is the mercy of Allah that we are looking for As the segment says يا من وسعة كل شيء in رحمته يا من سبق رحمته غضبة We know that we are very optimistic to receive the mercy of the Almighty We are optimistic that he will rescue us that we will succeed in the hereafter Not because of our deeds Not because we have earned it Rather we are entitled to succeed due to the mercy of Allah Because he has a mercy that engulfs everything that transcends to everything that contains everything يا من وسعة كل شيء in رحمته No matter how big is our sin How terrible our wrongdoing Still the mercy of Allah is much greater than our sins Therefore the mercy of God will contain our sins As we say in the prayers which says أهلا أن أبلغ رحمتك فرحمتك أهلا أن تبلغني وتسعني لأنها وسعة كل شيء عليبنا يا بيطالب In the elegant of Khomeil he started with this اللهم إني أسألك برحمتك التي وسعة كل شيء There is nothing There is no sin There is no entity that can claim that he is deprived from the mercy of the Lord Even Iblis himself even the devil himself on the day of judgment There are narrations that even Iblis will come hopeful of the mercy of Allah سبحانه وتعالى Why? Because by default the mercy of God takes everything Extended to everything And the punishment is only after those that are selected by God As the Almighty in the Holy Quran says هالعذابي أصيب به من أشاء ورحمتي وسعة كل شيء I am only selective in punishing people and bring in my wrath against selected entities and selected people while my mercy is extended to everything is so extensive that takes everything الحسن البصري one of the scholars during the time of الإمام زين العابدين he would say عجبت لمن نجا كيف نجا يوم القيامة I am so surprised of someone who can win and can succeed on the day of judgment how he can be successful despite the wrongdoings despite the sins and despite the punishment of the Lord how we can become successful but listen to the reply of علي ابن الحسين عليه السلام who replied to this word he says بالعجبت لمن هلك كيف هلك مع ساعة رحمة الله I am surprised of someone who vanishes who goes in despair who goes in the hellfire despite the tremendous mercy of الله سبحانه وتعالى how did he lose his way how he failed on the day of judgment despite so many opportunities despite the vast mercy of الله سبحانه وتعالى as an example you do a certain act if that act is considered to be good God will multiply that into 10 من جاء بالحسن فله عشر أمثاله but when you do a single mistake a single wrongdoing only one wrongdoing is registered but not immediately the Almighty orders the two angels who write who corroborate everything that we do on our shoulder on the right and left of our shoulders the Almighty order them to wait for a period of time sometimes it is narrated up to 7 hours 7 hours those angels will wait do not write a mistake until we forget we ask for forgiveness if we ask forgiveness that mistake is erased otherwise it will be registered as one the segment number 20 is to disperse worries as the segment goes يا فارج الهم يا كاشف الغن يا غافرة الغن يا قابلة توب يا خالق الخلق يا صادق الواحد يا موفي العهد يا عالم السر يا فالق الحب يا رازق الأنام or a remover of an anxiety expeler of sorrow forgiver of sins acceptor of repentance creator of the creatures truthful in a promises fulfiller of a promises knower of secrets sepliter of seed provider for the creature the beautiful word of remover of an anxiety when do we have sorrow and anxiety at what moment we have an anxiety when we are desperate when we see ourselves that we are helpless there is no one can come to rescue us when I am chronically ill terminally ill and I see no hope by the doctors by physicians by hospitals I become desperate I go into despair the only one who will come to remove this an anxiety and despair as the almighty الله سبحانه وتعالى on those right moments regardless whether I believe in him or I make believe not to believe in him at that desperate moment all people all humankind face toward him as he says in the Holy Quran it says وإذا مسكم الضر في البحر ظل من تدعون إلا إياه the call is to the idol worshippers he tells them in the middle in the midst of the ocean when there are turbulences when there are huge waves shaking the ship at that time you know that you are in despair you know that you are hopeless you have no one to rescue you you turn your faces to the almighty you look at the almighty because he is the only one who can remove your anxiety segment number 21 is to ask for pardon it says يا مليه يا حفيه يا رضيه يا زكيه يا بديه يا قويه يا وليه it says in the translation oh Allah I beseed you oh the high oh the perfect oh the independent oh the rich the kind the agreeable the purific the purifier the eternal the mighty the believer the friend despite the name of Allah سبحانه وتعالى the Ali high where he mentions his name repeatedly in the Holy Quran with this attribute the Ali وهو العليه العظيم وإنه في أم الكتاب لدينا العليه الحكيم despite his high stature yet he is very faithful he is devout to whom to his servants to his slave who entrust him when we entrust the Almighty and return he entrust us he put his faith in us he becomes faithful one of his beautiful attributes is المؤمن may Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us in these holy nights and days to learn about those beautiful attributes of the Almighty and get equanted with them and have full trust in them والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبعض when he peace be upon him returned from the battle of syphine and noticed the graves outside kufa he said O residents of houses which give a sense of loneliness of depopulated areas and gloomy graves O people of the dust O victims of strangeness O people of loneliness O people of desolateness you have gone ahead and preceded us while we are following you and will meet you the houses you left have been inhabited by others the wives you left have been married by others the properties have been distributed among hires his is the news about those around us what is the news about things around you