 We start with the name of Allah. We start with Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Allah, the one who necessarily exists. Allah is the name that indicates that entity which necessarily exists in his primary two attributes that he mentions. That revelation anytime we begin reciting revelation or anytime we begin doing any action we start with Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. The ar-Rahman and ar-Raheem. The two names of mercy of Allah. The ar-Rahman, the universally merciful and that he gave us existence and he gives us and he continues to feed us. Though we didn't ask. We didn't ask for existence but he gave it to us. We didn't ask for him to provide but he provided man ar-Raheem. The one who is particularly merciful and that he has given us our iman. That particular mercy that is for the Muslim. The particular mercy that is to be from the ummah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And among this particular mercy that he has given to this ummah is the wudu. It's an action that we don't think about too often. The wudu, the word wudu comes from the root wada'a which means to be illumined, to luster, to have light beaming off of you. This is where the word wudu comes from. We know that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that he will recognize his ummah on the day of judgment by the shine that they have on their limbs from the wudu. That's why one of his names, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is the qaidun ghurun muhajaleen, the leader of those who have glowing foreheads. You know the horse, when the horse has that white spot on its forehead that's called, that's a ghurra. The glowing ghurra that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that those of my ummah who extend their wudu, they'll be recognized on the day of judgment by him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam from the glow that they have with their wudu. And this wudu that we do, of course it removes the impurities that we may have on our limbs, right? If you have dirt on you and you wash it off, that comes off. It's a purification for that. And purification is part of our faith that, how many ahadith do we have? The at-tuhuru shatr al-iman, or at-tuhuru nisw al-iman, at-tuharu nisw al-iman, right? How many different ahadith do we have, speaking about the importance of purification in our faith? That it's half of faith. But what is this wudu that we're doing before we enter the prayer? Before the prayer starts, we are, whether we have dirt on us or not, we are going through a ritual in which we signify the purification of ourselves. Both the exterior, the limbs and the mind from the sins that they may commit and the interior, the inward reality that is within us. The Imam of Hanifa, radiallahu anhu used to see the sins of the people when they made wudu that he would see the sins falling off of them. That this wudu is not merely for the external purification. It's to enter into a spiritual state of purification, right? If you make wudu and dirt gets on you, that dirt doesn't invalidate your wudu. You still have something that you consider filthy on you. You wouldn't want that on you. But the point is the spiritual state that you enter into wudu. When you enter into wudu, you enter into a spiritual state, not necessarily a physical state. And in this regard, the ulamas speak about wudu as a reminder that we have purified ourselves from the exterior that other people see. That other people see that you've washed off any impurities that you might have on you, right? But this wudu is also a reminder for the toharat, for the purification that happens to a person inside. That the purification their soul receives. Particularly if that wudu is made with the intention of purifying the soul. The thing that animates us and gives us life. If that wudu is made with that intention. And we know from the hadith that nothing that no servant makes wudu except that when the water reaches the face and the sin falls through the eyelids from under the fingernails and all that the sins fall out. But when we make that wudu that we wash our mouth, that we purify our mouth from whatever impurities might exist physically, but also the spiritual impurities of backbiting, of lying, of slandering, of mockery. That when we make that wudu that our intention should be that we also purify ourselves from the spiritual impurities. Then when we wash our face in wudu, what are we doing? We're removing the physical impurity short. But we're also reminding ourselves that we should remove ourselves from facing towards anything that Allah doesn't want us to face towards. Whether it's our faces orientation with our bodies or our hearts orientation with our souls. That that wudu is a reminder. That presence in wudu is a reminder that orientation is not towards the physical, the material. That our orientation is towards the spiritual, towards Allah Azza wa Jal. That when we wash our arms, that what do we do when we wash our arms? That we remove that physical impurity short. But that we are seeking to remove ourselves from impurities that our hands may commit. To use our hands for things that it wasn't meant to be used for. That that's also a purification that we're doing at that moment. Then when we wash our heads, that we wash that part of our body that is high and mighty, that we consider so high and mighty. And that when we wash ourselves, we remove the sense that we're above anyone else. The arrogance that might be inside of our hearts, that we think that we're at the head of society, that we are the center of attention. The chief of your clan. Whether it be your family or friends, circle at work, whatever it may be. That when we remove, when we wash the word for the head, it's raqs. When you wash the raqs, you also remove the riyasa, the desire to be in a state of leadership. So that people look at you and say, wow, look at that person. The desire to have rank and status among the people. And that we become people who want status with Allah and His angels. That if people don't mention us in their gatherings, that we know Allah is a person. Allah mentions us and His angels mention us. They will become people of zikr. When Allah says, Remember me and I'll remember you that what's more important to us is our rank with the mention that we have with Allah. And in the circle of the angels. That when we wash our heads, that's what we imagine. That we're moving from ourselves, the desire to be above anyone else. When we wash our ears, when we wipe our ears in that wudu. That we wipe away the sins that our ears may have committed. To listening to something we shouldn't have listened to. To be part of conversation that we weren't supposed to be part of. And when we wash our feet, to wash away the physical impurities, yes. To wash away the sins that our feet commit. To walking towards and striving towards things that Allah does not want us to strive towards. To strive towards anything other than Him, Azawajal. To wash that away from ourselves. That wudu is removing that physical impurity. But it's also a reminder for us to remove our spiritual impurities. And when we have that wudu, that wudu that is coupled with cognizance. With presence. With the state of mind that I am purifying myself for Salat. Or I'm purifying myself for the presence of Allah and when is Allah not present? When is Allah not present? Should we not always be purified for the presence of Allah? That that's what we're doing. And that's when wudu becomes Salah al-Mu'min. As we know that in the Athar, in the narration. And that it said that the wudu is the weapon of the believer. That it's a weapon against who? Against Shaytan. Against the force that wants you to distance yourself from your Lord. That that's when that wudu becomes the weapon of the believer. And that's when that wudu becomes Meftah al-Sala. And that Salat al-Mudu. The Prophet SAW said that the key to prayer is wudu. That yeah, you can't do your prayer with that wudu wudu. But also to have a proper prayer, a prayer with presence. You need wudu. You need purification. You need tahara. So that when we're in our prayer and we want more presence. And all of a sudden when we enter that, when we say that Allah Akbar. That prayer and all of a sudden, that's when all the thoughts about what's happening with so and so at work or what that friend did or what I have to do at school or this assignment that I missed or this thing that I'm worrying about. That when those thoughts come in the prayer and take away from our presence in the prayer. That we know that perhaps our preliminary for that prayer that wudu is not properly done. So may Allah make us people of purification. I'm going to leave this. My dear Muslim friends. May Allah forgive me and forgive me. In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. And upon his family and companions and his relatives. This act of wudu itself is an active worship with the Nia of Taqrub with having proximity towards Allah. That this act that we do the wudu that we try to stay on whether we're in whether it's a time of salah or not, it itself is our preparation for being in the presence of Allah, our cognizance of being in the presence of Allah. And for this reason the ulama of this tradition, the metaphysicians of the tradition have recommended that people be in a consistent state of wudu whether they need that wudu at the time or not. As a reminder that I might not be in prayer and in prayer we don't distract ourselves with things other than what the prayer is for. We don't move our arms about, we don't move our tongue about, we try not to allow our mind to wander in places that are not meant to, they're not meant to wander. That wudu that we do for that prayer is that that that presence that we have can equally be applicable to the presence we have with Allah outside of that prayer. To stay on that wudu is to stay cognizant, be a person of taqwa, of wariness, God wariness, aware that Allah is watching, that that's what this action is. And for this reason it's that the ulama recommend that we stay consistent on wudu and that the person who wants to travel the path towards Allah is a person who tries to remain in purification outwardly and inwardly. So may Allah make us people of purification, may Allah make us people of tahara, may Allah make us of people who have consistent presence with Him, may Allah make us of people who purify our outer bodies but more importantly purify our limbs from sins and purify our minds from thoughts that we shouldn't have to purify our tongues from words that we shouldn't say. Purify our thoughts from thinking badly of others from assuming the worst of others. May Allah purify our inner states, may Allah purify our souls from the diseases that might afflict us. May Allah purify us from our physical disease and our mental diseases and our spiritual diseases. May Allah make us of people who seek purity and seek presence with Him, may Allah make us of people who seek to consistently be in His presence. May Allah make us of people who seek no presence other than His. May Allah make us of people who find security and a man in Salam, in His presence to find solace solely in His presence and in no other presence. So we say, Allahumma anta salam. Wa minka salam tabaru tayyad an-jalam, yulikram hayyina wa adkhilna dara salam. Rabbana aatina fidduniya hasana wa fid'aakhti hasana qinada banna. Rabbana hablana min azwajina wa dhiriyatina qurra ta'inu wa ja'nil mutaqina imama. May Allah makes us people who are grateful for our teachers, particularly our first teachers, our parents. We say, rabb glorious to them. May Allah make us of people whose experience of the heat of the hereafter is lightened because of our experience sitting in the heat today. May Allah allow us to be people who experience the coolness of the shade, even if we don't experience that shade right now, may Allah make us of people who experience security from the fires that that are that surround us and security from the fires of things like jealousy that eat up our eat up our good deeds may Allah make us the people who are people of security and people of Salam people who have complete solace in him may Allah make us the people who find solace in his Habib Salaam and recognize that Allah and his angels send the Salawat and the Salam on him Salaam and were commanded to do the same Allah and his angels send the Salawat on the Prophet Ya ayyuhal ladina amunasallahu alaihi wa sallimutasneema Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala Azwaj Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala Ashab Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala Atba'i Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala Ahbab Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala Ummati Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala Alak wa sallimasalli ala him Inna Allah i'mun bila adi wa l-ihsani wa ita iti al-Qurba wa inha'i al-Fasha'i wa l-munkiri wa al-baghi Ya ayyuhakum la alakum tathakkaroon Remember Allah and remember you wa d'u'uhu yastajabilakum Call upon Him and He'll answer you wa ladikul Allahi akbar and the remembrance of Allah is greater wa Allahu ya'lum ma atasna'una wa aqim al-sara Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar