 Certainly, all praise, gratitude is due to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Na'hmaduhu, for that reason, we praise him. Wa Nasta'inu, who asks for assistance. Wa na'udu billahi min shururi, and Fusana, and we ask for all kinds of protection, especially from the things that we have done, the things that we are engaged in. Wa min sayyia'ate a'amalina mayyahidahullahu, falamudhullahu wa mayyudhullahu, falahadi ilah, wa nashhadu alla ilaha illallahu, wahdahu, la sharika lah, wa nashhadu Muhammad na'abduhu wa rasuluh. Allah says in his book, wa a'adahudhu billahi min shaytanu rajeem. Ya'ihi wa ladina amaluh, believers, ittaqullah, be mindful of Allah, be aware of Allah, be conscious of Allah, be in a state of mind that you do not disappoint Allah. Haqqatuqaadihi, the way he deserves it, ala tabutinna illa wa anthu muslimoon, don't you dare forget what we just said, which means be in a state of gratitude and awareness of Allah and do not find yourself that you are dead and you are not in that state. So, let's see. A couple of things came in mind when I was asked to do this at this hour. You know what's coming up this Monday. There's a holiday in this country and around the world. Allah says something in the Qur'an which is really amazing, it struck me. Allah says, So pay attention to this word. Ahsan and hasana, same good word, which means excellence in Arabic. Allah says, invite. Doesn't qualify who, invite means everyone. To the path of Allah, sabili rabbik, in the path of Allah. Sabil, it's a very important word. Which means everyone have their own ways of inviting someone to the path of God, to the truth, to the salvation. How do you do it? Allah gives you the ingredients. It says, Two things. You got to have wisdom. You got to have wisdom. And you got to give them kind advice. Invite them all. Especially in this day and age, in this atrocities that we are facing. Allah says something else. And it particularly came to me because of the following reason. Whenever we have interfaith dialogue, and we do, we host some at MCC, or it's around the Bay Area. There's a group of interfaith dialogue. What I often see, and from Muslims, is when we engage in that as a participant, we want to prove someone wrong. We want to be aggressive in our approach. And it's really disheartening. The idea of that is to come and have a dialogue. Allah says, In the event, in the event there is a debate, if there is a debate, then you need to do something that is called Ahsan, excellence. You be at your utmost behavior, utmost adab. You can't be demeaning someone. So, this holiday is coming up, December 25th, around. It is not upon us to debate the validity of this holiday, but rather find commonality with our brother, our Christian brother. And Allah talks a ton in the Quran about it, and that's what I'm going to highlight a few things from that perspective, insha'Allah. First of all, Allah says, Jesus, was the son of Mary. The kind of respect we have, this is what we need to highlight. One of the other reasons I'm mentioning is this. In the recent event that's taking place around the world, the atrocities are Muslims facing, the oppression Muslims facing. There's an awareness. You already know that. There's a strong awareness among everyone. People who believe, not Muslims, non-Muslims, believe in whatever faith they are or they don't believe at all. There's a strong awareness. You may have noticed people walking through the doors of MCC asking questions. I go to the center, the other center. I faced multiple times myself, young girls, young men, young ladies, or elderly, whatever they are. They walk in and they ask me questions about Islam. This is going on a whole lot around the world. I want to know what is it that you guys do? What is it that you guys believe? What is the purpose of the center? Who is coming? Who is going? Not interrogating, but they're curiosity questions they're asking. One of the things is this that I usually talk about. If you're a Christian, then hey, guess what? We believe in Isa, alayhi salam. We never call him by his name Jesus to stop, but rather we send our peace and blessings to him and he was the son of Mary. That's what we say. Isa in the Miriam, right? This is what it says in the Quran everywhere. Well, he was an honored messenger. Allah mentions in the Quran several places that among other messengers, for instance, All these names that you heard, Moses, John, Jesus, Isa, or Ilyas, they're all among the righteous messengers. That's what Allah says. Allah says also in the Quran, something called the disciples of Jesus, which means the ashab of Jesus, which means the follower of Isa, alayhi salam. Once upon a time, Isa, alayhi salam asked him. Allah says he came to this earth. Allah sent him with Ayat and bayinat, with clear proof of his prophecy, with a clear proof that he is the Messiah. That's what Allah says. Then he asked his disciples, his ashab said, who's gonna help the cause of God? And some raised their hands and said, we are it, we're gonna do this. And Allah says, among the children of Israel. Remember when he came, he came to the Israelites, the last of the prophets. Some believed and some didn't believe. And the good news is this, Allah says, those who believed, we aided them against the non-believers. How do I understand this? YAHIL LADDIN AAMUNU KUNA ANSAR ALLAH KAMA QALA AISABNU MARYAMALA LAHWARIYINA MAN ANSARI ILALLA Isa, alayhi salam, asked him for his disciples. Who's gonna help with Allah, Allah's cause? QALA LAHWARIYUNA NAHNU ANSAR ALLAH The disciples said, we, we're gonna stand by you. We're gonna stand by the truth. We're gonna defend the oppressed. We're gonna be holding the flag of the revelation for you along your side. From the Bani Israel, children of Israel, some believed. And some disbelieved. And the good news, as I mentioned is, Allah says, clear victory given to those who were actually following that. Okay, elsewhere. Allah says, Allah declares that He is the one who made the decision to take Jesus to Him, raise Him up to Himself. Allah says that. To save you from all those who are causing harm against you, I chose you, Allah says, to raise you up to where I am, up to the heavens. And that's what Allah said. And it says, and you're gonna be back. You're gonna be back in the last days. The other part, these are all the things that we can discuss with the non-believers. And there's a couple other parts that becomes a little bit sticky. And this is one of them. We're not trying to massage our message and make it all look nice. That's not what it is. Here's an interesting question Allah asks. In the last day, when everybody's standing in front of God, Allah's gonna ask, did you tell to these people that take you and your mom as gods besides Allah? Is that what you did? Is ask point blank to Isa Allah. By the way, we use Subhan Allah differently in our culture here. Subhan Allah is being used whenever something is really horrific, it's being said. You say clearly, all the beauty and all the perfection belongs to Allah. Allah is far removed from any imperfection. That's what Subhan Allah is indicating. He's saying, why would I say something that I have no knowledge about? And he goes on and says, if I did, Allah, you know it. You know everything in his and everyone's heart. Everyone who is intending if I did that. Allah says, you know me better than I know myself. You know all the secrets. Here's a thing about Isa Allah. The way Islam talks about Jesus, we speak upon him. It's not just about Isa Allah. There's a chapter in the Quran about his mom, Mary. Awesome discourse in there. Really awesome discourse. You should read it. There's another chapter in the Quran about his grandfather, Ali Imran. The family of Imran. Entire chapter is dedicated to that. And it talks about who was Ali Imran, who was his wife, and what did they wish for? And they wished for a child and Mary came and talks about Mary, the mother of Jesus, Alai Salam. And talks about all what happened, all those instances, and how what kind of person Mary was, how incredible she was because Allah says in the Quran that, I chose you above all the woman of the world, Mary. Talk, speaking to Mary, Maryam Alai Salam. What am I talking about? Allah talks about Isa Alai Salam, Jesus, we speak upon him in multi-generational in the Quran. It goes even further. He says when Mary, Maryam, she was a young woman, she dedicated a place in the corner of that mustard to dedicate herself to worship of God, then talks about someone else. Another prophet, Zakaria, talks about Zakaria, who washed over Mary, Alai Salam. Whenever you talk to someone who is in the Christian faith, who just walks in through the door about these things, trust me, it warms up, it warms up their heart and warms up your heart. It really truly shows you where the, how Muslims us, we think and we believe. It's not just thinking, what we believe about Isa Alai Salam and what kind of prophet he was to talk about someone's grandfather and mom in that manner. Then there is amazing discourse about the birth of Isa Alai Salam in the Quran and through the Maryam. Maryam, one of the child, the angel came and said, hey, you're going to have a child. And she's like, what do you mean I'm going to have a child? I'm not married. Angel says, yeah, God wants, can do whatever he wants and guess what, you're going to be pregnant, you're going to have a child. And then the entire story goes what Maryam felt like. There's an incredible human psychology embedded in there. It's just amazing to read about that. So all I wanted to do is give you a few hints about what Isa Alai Salam is. And in this time, if you see someone walking through the doors want to talk to you, get in a conversation. In a conversation that you're not debating. In a conversation that you're not putting someone's belief down. You're not trying to win an argument. That's not what it is. According to Quranic and prophetic tradition, debate is not to win an argument against the person and insult the person. Inna Alhamdulillah was salatu was salamah ala Rasulillah. Allah says in his book, one of the most awesome things you can do on Friday, we just did that, is to send as many salutations and salams and peace and blessings to the Prophet, as you can. From now until Maghrib time at a minimum. All you're going to get is more reward for yourself. That's what Allah is going to give you. Tremendous amount. So make that part of your habit. It is easy to be overwhelmed. And it's also easy to be a little bit laxative, a little lazy. But keep the brothers and Muslims and brothers and sisters around the world in your prayers. Please keep them in your prayers. They're going through really, really, really, really hard time. It's not something you can even fathom. So the least you and I can do at this point, from here, from far distance, to keep them in their du'as. I just read the Ayat of Quran for you, that Allah is not the one who is going to let things go, the oppressions go, the atrocities go, the genocides go. He's going to respond on his timeline. All you and I can do is remember them in our du'as. As time passes, it becomes one of those things for us that we can become lazy and forget about it. Advice for myself and for everyone else. Allah says in his book, this is how you become successful. One of the areas. إن الله يأمر بدعل بالعدل والإحسان وإيتها إذ القرباء. There are three things that you have been commanded. Be just in your manners, in your actions, in your conduct. إن الله يأمر بدعل والإحسان and excellence. We talked about excellence just a few minutes for a few words. Do the best you can do in everything that you do. By the way, for you and I, we cannot be status quo. As a believer, we cannot be on a status quo. You have to do something better. Every single day, learn something new. Do whatever job you should do, make it better. That's the command of Allah. وإيتها إذ القرباء and start from your own family. Be the best to your own family, that Allah says. And what kills the three things that we just mentioned is the following three things. الفحشاء, all sorts of shamelessness, all sorts of corruption, it kills justice. Allah says, stay away from that. I get questions about munqar all the time. Munqar means find loopholes. And every single thing that we do, I'm getting questions about what is, how can you go around this, a loophole? I'm a simple man. I don't have answers for that. Even as latest last night. Allah says, if you keep on shaping your life in a way that you keep on looking for loopholes, you know what is black and white, you know what is grey line, you know what is right, what is wrong, and you're just constantly trying to push the envelope, it's a bad habit. It's a bad character. And the oppression.