 Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. So it's difficult for me to speak tonight, there's so many of the people of knowledge that are here listening to me for whatever reason. But please humor me for a few minutes inshaAllah ta'ala. You know there's people in this community that actually remind me of Sahaba, you know, when Sidi Firi doing for example reminds me of Sayyidina Umar. He's actually a descendant of Sayyidina Umar, right? The Mujaddidis come from Sayyidina Umar, radiya Allah ta'ala anhu. I remember when I first met Sidi Faridun, I was 17 or 18 years old, I was actually afraid to speak with him and it's not like I was afraid of him because he's going to hurt me, astaghfirullah, I was just awestruck by him. Like Sayyidina Umar, if you saw Sayyidina Umar you'd be awestruck by him, right? Shaytan is afraid of Sayyidina Umar, right? And he was doing khitmah. At the time he was with Shaykh Hamza, they were teaching classes and I noticed that there's an intention in his walk, you watch Sidi Faridun walk, waqsid fee mashyik luqman al haqeem says to his son, walk with a maksad, walk with an intention, right? So as Imam Zaid said, some of us walk with an intention, our maksad is to go home and watch Michael Phelps take the 100 meter fly and celebrate or watch Ussein bolt, we bolt home to watch Ussein, right? But we should bolt home and emulate Hussein, alaihi salam, sorry that was my joke. When I see brother Mas'ud who's kind of flying under the radar, I think of Ibn Mas'ud, a multi-talented brother. Brother Mas'ud came to me a few years ago and said, I want to be your Arabic student. Okay, let's study Arabic, so I was his tutor. A few months later, he was my peer, not peer in the Desi sense, he wasn't not peer, not like that, peer as in we were at the same level after a few months, right? So, jazaq Allah khair for humoring me, there's people here that are from Ahlul Bayt, Sayyid Mu'been al-Husayni, Husaynun minni wa anamin Husayn, Allahumma ahabba man ahabba Husaynan awkama qala alaihi salatu wa salam. Very blessed individuals are here, may Allah SWT bless all of you, all of you are blessed InshaAllah Ta'ala for coming here tonight, may Allah SWT bless the Masjid, the people who run the Masjid, Sidi Asif and Sayyid Pervez, may Allah SWT preserve them and preserve their families InshaAllah Ta'ala. So, kind of to continue what we were talking about last night, I might repeat a few things because I just forget I'm getting a little bit older, so I have to forgive me, but that's okay because the Quran says, وذكر فإن ذكر تنفع المؤمنين, remind the believers because reminders benefits believers, so I have to excuse me. The Ulama say, the Ahlu l-ilm, they say that just as the body needs ta'am or food for nourishment, the spirit needs nourishment as well. And the nourishment of the Ruh is ذكر الله. ألا بذكر الله تتمعين القلوب, verily with the remembrance of Allah SWT our hearts made tranquil. And if you eat too little then the body becomes sick, likewise if you don't make enough ذكر, the Ruh becomes sick. If you eat too much the body becomes sick, but there is no gluttony with the ذكر of Allah SWT, this is the only difference. يا أيها الذين آمنوا, اذكروا الله ذكرا كثيرا, كثيرا is an adverb, Allah SWT doesn't use this adverb with any other active عبادة, it doesn't say سيام or سوم كثيرا, صلاة كثيرا, حجا كثيرا, اذكروا الله ذكرا كثيرا. And when we remember Allah SWT, we are in actuality following the example of our Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. This is the goal of our ذكر, the objective of the ذكر is to emulate him and to align our character with him, as we said in the past. And to taste some of the Ahwal of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the states of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, because our mother, آيشا رضي الله تلعانها, said, كان صلى الله عليه وسلم يذكر الله في كل احيانه, that the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he remembered Allah SWT in all of his states. Think about the wadiness of our ذكر. There's three types of ذكر, ذكر on the tongue, ذكر on the tongue and heart, and then just the heart, right? The hearts of the Sahaba were making ذكر of Allah SWT. And many of them, when they were sleeping, it would come to the tongue. You can hear them making ذكر, and this still happens contemporary with Awliya. This is something that's documented, something that's seen. They're sleeping, they're making ذكر of Allah SWT. This is a holy language. Arabic is a holy language. Allah SWT chose Arabic. The Quran is in Arabic. The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, who is خير الخلق الله, was in Arab. Right? Qari Umar, Hafitha Allahu Ta'ala, when he recited a ذكر, Imam Zaid, gave the hadith, tradition, the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, describing the power of the ذكر. He didn't translate it. He said, you know how we say, سُبْحَانَ اللَّهُ وَ بِحَمْدِهِ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهُ العَظِيمِ The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, said about this statement, كَدِمَ تَانِ خَفِيفَ تَانِ عَلَى اللِّسَانِ There are two statements that are very light on the tongue. It's very light on the tongue. It's easy to say. فَقِلَ تَانِ فِي الْمِزَانِ But extremely weighty on the Mizan. Extremely weighty on the Mizan, on the يوم القيامة. There are scales. And this supplication, or this praising of Allah SWT, this tasbih of Allah SWT, is very weighty. حبيب تاني إلى الرحمن. They are beloved to Ar-Rahman, Allah SWT. سُبْحَانَ اللَّهُ وَ بِحَمْدِهِ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ العَظِيمِ So we have to think about these things. We have to have to dabbur when we make ذكر of Allah SWT. Engage our hearts and the meanings of these things. Right? The goal, again, is to tap into the states the Ahwala of the Prophet SAW. The station of patience, for example, we quoted this hadith the other day at the ذكر. What is true ذكر? What is the objective of ذكر? Is to reform the internal character because the Prophet SAW said اِنَّ مَا بُعِثْتُوا الْيُتَمِّمَا مَكَارِمَ الْأَقْلَقْ I was only sent to reform character or to perfect character. Right? So true patience is something that you don't have to think about because you've habituated yourself into emulating the Prophet SAW that it becomes second nature. It becomes adat. And this is according to our virtue theory, right? That you fake it till you make it. You have to khalluf. The Prophet SAW said, cry in your prayer. If you can't cry, make yourself cry. If you can't make yourself cry, pretend to cry. Pretend to cry. And then that will eventually become your adat. That's how you acquire a virtue, right? So it's not enough just to come and do ذكر although there's blessing in that. The Malaika descend. Some people are forced into coming here by their parents and whatnot. The Malaika still bless them according to the hadith. But we have to benefit from the ذكر and have this internal transformation of character. The Prophet SAW, there's a hadith that he was walking through Baqir through the graveyard, the cemetery in Medina. And he saw this woman far off sitting by a grave and she was down on the ground and she was weeping and she was being a little excessive with her weeping. There's nothing wrong with weeping, right? What comes from the eye and from the heart is permissible. But if you're wailing and things like that, this is not man daraba khududa wa shakal juyuba wa da'abi da'awal jahiliya, awkama qala. You know, hitting yourself and renting your clothes and things like that. So the Prophet SAW, he approached her and he said, and he walked up behind her. So she did not turn around. And he said, Ya'ana ta'Allah, Oh, made servant of Allah. Ittaqullah, ittaqilla wasbiri. Have a taqwa of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and be patient. And then she immediately snapped at him and said, you've never been afflicted like I've been afflicted. You've never been afflicted like this. And the Prophet SAW, there's no refutation of this statement. Now we know Ashad the Bala'an, the most extreme type of, severe type of tribulation comes to the Prophet's and then those closest to the Prophet. The Prophet SAW was orphaned at six years old. His grandfather died when he was eight years old. His beloved wife Khadija Tulkubra, she died after over 25 years of marriage. He had seven children, he buried six of them. Imagine seven children, you bury one child. People go into depression. They can't function. He buried six of his children. And he knew that his seventh child, Fatima Zahra, Qurratu Aini, the light of his eye, the apple of his eye, he knew that she was going to pass six years after. And he knew about Imam Hussain, what would happen to Hussain, alayhi salam. In Sunni traditions, Ahlu Sunnah wal Jama'a, hadith of al-haqim in his mustadrak, hadith sahih. Umma Salama says, the Prophet SAW, he was sleeping, he suddenly isstayqadah, faj'atan. He woke up suddenly and he was agitated, agitated. And then he tried to go back to sleep and it was difficult for him. And then isstayqadah, again. He eventually slept and then he woke up again. This happened three times. Thumma isstayqadah. Wa fi yadihi shareefa turbatun hamra. And in his hand was red soil. This is a hadith in al-haqim, in his mustadrak. Sound hadith, rigorously authenticated hadith from Ahlu Sunnah wal Jama'a. And he was yuqabbiluha, and he's kissing it, this red soil in his hand. And she said, yahu Rasulullah, what is this? He said, this is the turab of Karbala. This is, Jibril alayhi salam came to me and said that my grandson Imam Hussain, the beloved Habib Rasulillah, the beloved of the messenger of Allah, Sallallahu alayhi salam, Hussain alayhi salam, who came into the masjid, who heard the voice of his grandfather on the minbar and he comes into the masjid, following the voice of his grandfather, the prophet, he descends the minbar, picks him up, hugs him, kisses him, and then re-ascends the minbar and finishes the khutbah. This is Hussain alayhi salam. When the army of Yazid brought the heads into Damascus, they paraded them around. This is part of our history. It's painful to talk about, but we have to mention it. We love Ahlul Bayt. We love them, it's all of our heart. And this is Fard from Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. They brought the heads, they're parading them around. They're Sahaba in Damascus, who had no idea what had happened. Sa'ad ibn Hussain, a Sahabi, old man at the time, he sees this Eid happening in Damascus, right? So he goes to Zain al-Abideen who's tied to a camel. And he says, what can I do for you? Zain al-Abideen, who is Zain al-Abideen? Ali ibn Hussain. This is the son of Imam Hussain, right? The great, great grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu alayhi salam. He said, what can I do for you? He said, do you have any money? He said, yes. He said, pay these soldiers to allow the women of Ahlul Bayt to cover their faces. They had torn off the hijabs to insult them. And then they brought the head of Imam Hussain in front of Yazid and he took a stick and he was hitting the blessed lips of Imam Hussain, alayhi salam. And he said, al-harbu sijal, had a yawm li-badrin, like Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harb said before he became Muslim. Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harb, radiAllahu alayhi salam, was a Sahabi and we respect him. He became Muslim, he proved good as Islam. He died in a ghazwa. He lost his eyesight. But this is what Yazid did. He hit the mouth of Imam Hussain. He said, war is attrition, this day for Badr, right? Sa'd ibn al-Sad said, wallahi, he said, way haqqa, woe to you, wallahi, wallahi. I saw the lips of the messenger touched those lips. I saw the lips of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi salam, touched those lips. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi salam, he knew about this. So anyway, back to the hadith. He didn't argue with her, you've never been, you've never had a museeba like I've had a museeba. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi salam, he goes home. The sahaba, they approached this woman and they said, you know who that was? He said, and she said, a hadminkum, he was one of you, right? And they say, no, who are Rasulullah? This was the messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi salam. So she makes haste, she runs and stands behind his door, standing behind his door, waiting for him to come out. Eventually he comes out and she says, I wanna be patient. I wanna be patient. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi salam, does not scold her. What does he say? He gives her a gem of guidance. He said, inna ma sabru enda sadmatil ula, awkama qala alayhi salatu wassalam. So true patience is when the affliction first hits you. That's true patience. That's prophetic patience. When the affliction first hits you and you have patience. Imam Ali said, giving a tafsir of this hadith, that if you hear something, if you hear about a museeba and you just slap your thigh like this, he said, ah, like that? He said, you haven't been patient. What do we do when we hear about a museeba? This is our reputation now. That Muslims have short fuses. That Muslims are very reactionary. They don't think, they just react. They don't know how to think. This is a stereotype about us amongst non-Muslims. Muslims don't know how to think. They just react. Al-ajalatu, al-anatu minallahu al-ajalatu minash-shaytan. That precaution and thinking things through is from Allah SWT. But haste, being hasty, being reactionary. This is from the shaytan. The Prophet SAW, he never acted in anger. The Sahaba couldn't even tell he was angry, except that his face, his blessed face, countenance would have a little bit of a tinge of red and there would be a vein in his forehead. Like Sayyidina Umar one time is reading the Torah scroll. He's reading the Torah. And that's not for Sayyidina Umar. That doesn't mean that you're not allowed to read the Torah, right? Zaid ibn Uthabit, he mastered Hebrew, learned the Torah to make da'wah. That's his job, that's his occupation, his wadifah. But Sayyidina Umar is not supposed to read the Torah. So Sayyidina Umar said, I'm reading the Torah. I look up, the Prophet is looking at me and he's angry. He said, describe his anger. He was smiling. He was looking at me angry. So he was smiling, he's yes, but I saw a little vein in his forehead. His face was slightly red, tinged red. He said, I dropped the scroll and said, I seek refuge, I seek refuge from the ghadab of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and from the ghadab of his messenger, from the anger of Allah on his messenger. There's another Sahabi, Abdullah ibn Muqaffal al-Muzani who was on an expedition. He found a piece of food on the floor. He hid it like this and he said, wallahi, I'm never, I'm not gonna share this with anyone. He just said it to himself under his breath. I'm not gonna share this with anyone. And then he said, he looked at a distance away. A distance away, I don't know, 30 yards, 50 yards. Men understand yards more than feet, probably because of football. Many, many yards away. He sees in a distance, somebody is smiling at him. A disapproving smile, right? So he called five other men and they shared this little piece of food that he had found. This is the concern of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So this is true patience. Patience isn't, you know, I'm gonna be patient after I've punched someone in the face or after I've abused my wife or after I've made a fool out of myself and I'm all embarrassed and I'm gonna have patience. No, true patience is that when that sadmatul ula hits, when that first musiba hits that you remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam remembered Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When you remember Allah, who do you remember next? Rasulullah, this is bi al-idhaafa. This is according to annexation. Rasulullah, the messenger of God. And when you remember the messenger of God, you remember his zikr. You remember to be patient. You remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Therefore, you control your actions, right? So this is one of the benefits of zikr, is that it aligns our character with the character of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Last night, we were talking about love of Ahl al-Bait and the special position that they have, love of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. We discussed the shahada of Imam Ali, Karam Allahu wajja and its significance and the lessons that we learned from it. So we'll continue with that inshallah ta'ala for a few minutes and then we'll end the talk inshallah ta'ala so we can hear from my teacher, Sidi Faridun inshallah ta'ala. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam according to hadith of Ammar bin Yasir, radiallahu alayhi wa sallam. He said that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, and you can read this in tarikhul khulafa of Jalal ad-din al-Suyuti, Rahimahullah al-ta'ala. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said ta'ali. He said that two men are going to have the most grievous type of punishment in al-akhira. Two men are going to have the most grievous type of punishment, the most painful tormenting type of adab in the afterlife. He said the fair complexioned man of Bani Thamud who hamstrung the naqatullah, the sheikhamal of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's one. And then he said, and the man who is going to strike you here and this will be saturated with red. The man is going to strike you here and this is going to be saturated with red. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is a prophet. What does a prophet mean? A prophet means someone who prophesizes, someone who gives information. We have this whole corpus of eschatological literature. Hadith fi akhira zaman. Really interesting stuff. Amazing, ajeeb. We don't read these things anymore. Muslims go into the newspaper and I'm a Sagittarius and oh, I'm going to meet someone nice. Read this hadith, really, really unbelievable from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Sound hadith. Give you an example. During the Meccan period, there was a lot of persecution of Muslims. Very, very heavy persecution of the Muslims. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he approaches the person who carries the Miftaah of the Kaaba. His name was Uthman ibn Talha. He said, I want to enter the Kaaba, right? And he said, no, I'm not going to allow you. You're a Muslim, you can't come into the Kaaba. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, la'allakatara ya Uthman, la'allakatara haathal Miftaah yawman biyadi. Perhaps he will see that key one day in my hand. Perhaps you're going to see this key one day in my hand. He said, laqad halakat Quresh. He said, Quresh must be destroyed on that day. Quresh must be destroyed on that day. He said, no, Quresh is honored on that day, right? This was during the Meccan period during a time of massive persecution of Muslims. Many years later, during the Fatah Mecca in 8 Hijri, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he's coming into the city. It's a long procession coming into the city. And in the front is Sa'a ibn Urbada. He's carrying the standard of the Muslims. And he's shouting, and he passes by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. He just become Muslim. And Abu Sufyan is standing next to Al-Abbas, radiallahu alayhi wa sallam, and as Sa'a passes Abu Sufyan, he says, al-yawma yawm ul-malhamah, al-dallallahu Quresh. Today is a day of slaughter, the debasement of the Quresh. Today is a day of slaughter, the debasement of the Quresh. And Abu Sufyan hears this, and word reaches the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he doesn't like it. He didn't like that. So he sent a rider up to Sa'a ibn Urbada, and he says, take the standard from him and let them see that the standard is being, because he's scaring the people. People are being frightened. Take the standard. So the rider comes to Sa'a ibn Urbada, and he says, the messenger of Allah says, give me the standard. He says, no, I'm not going to give it to you. I don't believe you. I'm not going to give you no standard. Right? So he comes back, the rider comes back to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he says, he's not giving up the standard. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he unwinds his red turban, his aymama, Sharifa. And he says, give this to Sa'a, and say, give up the standard. But give it to Qais ibn Sa'ad. Who's Qais ibn Sa'ad? The son of Sa'ad. This is the wisdom of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Because when you honor the son, you honor the father. If I shake your son's hand, in reality, I'm shaking your hand. I'm honoring you. Right? Because he knew this would bother Sa'ad. It's going to bother him, and it's going to be in public. So let them see that you're giving it to his son. Right? This is how he deals with people sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So he went up back to Sa'ad, and he immediately gives it up. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he passes by Abu Sufyan into the gate, and he says, اليوم يوم المرحمة يعزوا الله قرش. Today is a day of mercy, the exaltation of the Quraish. Today is a day of mercy, the exaltation of the Quraish. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, what did he do then? He climbed Abu Qubais, and people were saying, you know, he said, what should I do with you? According to the jahali custom, what is he to do? He would cut their forelocks and sell them into slavery. And they knew that was going to happen. And that's if he's being merciful. You know, the Torah says, wipe everyone out, Deuteronomy chapter 22. If the city is of these cities that the Lord thy God gives you as an inheritance, save nothing alive that breathes. This is the hukum in the Torah. Right? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, what does he do? He climbs Abu Qubais and he says, I'm going to say to you what Yusuf alayhi wa sallam said. And many of them don't know what Yusuf alayhi wa sallam said. He said, what did he say? La tathribah alaykum ulyon. Yawfirullahu lakum. There is no blemish on you today. Allah has forgiven you. Go and you're free. Go and you're free. Many men had fled Mecca during this time. Like Ikrima ibn Abu Jahal. Ikrima is the son of who Abu Jahal? Who is worse than Fir'aun? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Abu Jahal was worse than Fir'aun. Because when the waves crashed, what did he say? Fir'aun. Amantu. I believe in the God of Bani Israel. Wa anamina al muslimin. And Allah swt said, we're going to save you in your bedan, in your body. Right? But when Abu Jahal was slain by Ibn Mas'ud at Badr, he said, I want you to remove my head from the base because I want it to be big and I want it to scare Muhammad. This is what he said. Obstinent. Ainad till the very end. So Ikrima, he fled. He tried to cross the Red Sea and there's a couple of traditions as to what happened at this point. But one of the traditions say that the boat man was a mu'ahid. He was a monotheist and he wasn't allowing any mushrikian unto the boat. So somehow Ikrima got on the boat. Maybe he just said, okay, la ilaha illallah. He got on the boat. Somehow now he ends up in the water. He's splashing around in the water and he says, yahubal, yahubal. Oh, you know, this God, this God that the pagan Arabs used to worship. And the people on the boat started laughing at him. You're calling on a God, hubal, who's hubal, right? Call on Allah. He said, then I knew. He said, faith entered into my heart. So he goes back to the Prophet, say, but he sends a messenger before him. He said, I'm getting the time out here. I'm getting the axe, inshallah. Finish the story then we're done, inshallah. He sends a messenger before him to come into the city. And the Prophet, say, he tells the Sahaba that have been wronged by Abu Jahl. He was the most wronged by Abu Jahl. He says, I forbid you from abusing Abu Jahl. His son Ikrima is coming. Look at the magnanimous nature of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. His son Ikrima is coming to me now as a Muslim. He's going to make ba'a to me. So he comes, the Prophet, say, he takes ba'a with the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he says, let me do something for you. The Prophet says to him, let me do something for you. And he says, just ask Allah to forgive me. And he says, I always knew there was some good in your father. I always knew there was something good about your father. And it was you, you are his son. This is how the Prophet says, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He dealt with people. This is just one example of a prophecy. One example of a prophecy. So finishing the story now, Imam Ali, when, because there was a pact, right, we don't have time to go through the story, but there was a pact by Khawaraj. Khawaraj are interesting lot of people. These people are fire and brimstone theology. If you commit a minor sin, your blood is listed, they'll kill you, right? They declared Imam Ali a katha because of the ta'keem, the arbitration that happened. So they met in Mecca, at the Kaaba, in Ramadan, three of them. And one of them said, I'm going to go to Damascus and kill Amr Ibn al-Aas, the other said, I'm going to kill Muawiyah, I'm going to kill Ali. Those two failed. But this man, Abdul Rahman, Abdul-Muljim and Murari, and the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he described the killer of Ali to Ali. And Ali used to point him out to his companions. He says, this man right here, he's going to kill me. This is according to our sources. This man over here is going to kill me. He said, why don't you kill him? He said, oh, who's going to kill me then? He wants to become Shahid. And he also said, how is that going to look? It's going to look like I'm killing an innocent man. And these people are going to say, oh, he's killing his companions. His poor man didn't do anything. So Ali, he's leaving the masjid and he gets hit here. It splits the cranium and his beard is immediately filled with red. And his last words were what? Fuztu wa rabbal kaaba, fuztu wa rabbal kaaba. I have triumphs by the Lord of the Kaaba. This is an Araf billah. This is a Gnostic. This is someone who knows Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is someone who's in a state of istighraq who's annihilated to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. His only object of contemplation and love is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I'm out of time. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us like Imam Ali and Sayyidina Umar and Sayyidina Abu Bakr and Sayyidina Uthman. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us Taufiq to know the reality of things, to see the world as it really is, to make us people that are people of knowledge, to make us people that are people of patience, people of mercy like the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Muhammadin wa alaihi wa sallam.