 Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim al-hamdulillahi rabbil alamin wa sallallahu ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alayhi sallam. Someone asked an interesting question, so I thought I'd give an answer to it tonight that they asked that, what is Afya? It's Afya because they said that, you know, they heard that the Prophet SAW said ask Allah for Afya, ask Allah for well-being, but it's sometimes also used to refer to forgiveness, they said. So what is Afya? And the Prophet SAW said that, Salallahu ala Afya, ask Allah for well-being, for the servant can ask Allah for nothing more comprehensive than Afya, than well-being. And we know that's one of the things we ask Allah for a lot in Ramadan. So the ulama say that when one asks Allah for Afya, there are at least four different considerations in what one asks for. There's a distinguished Ottoman scholar, alama Ahmad Ibn Omar al-Izmiri, who says that when we ask Allah for Afya, you know, Allahumma inna nasalluk al-Afya, for example, we ask you for well-being, what it means is that we want it to continue and to be completed, and to be grateful for the well-being that we have. And the fourth is to behold the state of well-being that we have as being from Allah SWT. So for it to continue and for it to be completed and for us to be grateful for it and to behold it as being from Allah SWT. And when we ask for Allah for well-being for Afya, it is for one to be free of every kind of harm, right? Every kind of harm and every thing that results in harm, right? So it is to be safe from harm itself of every kind and from everything that leads to harm. And some of the scholars of the Arabic language said that Afya, although there's dispute about this, Afya well-being is from raffa ul-afa, from lifting destruction itself, halak, lifting all that causes perishing or that results whose consequences are perishing, right? And what are its expressions, right? What is the expression of Afya? It is that one be free of harm in both deen and dunya and akhira, right? In one of the very famous du'az, in one of the very famous collections of supplications by Imam Al-Hassan Al-Shadhili, he says in the beginning that we ask you for as salamata wa lafiyati wa as salamata wa lafiyatiya fi deenina wa dunyana in our religion and our worldly life, right? And in our this life and the next, right? And in our this life and the next. So Afya is truly one of the most comprehensive of matters that we could ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for, right? It's one of the most comprehensive of matters that we could ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for. And the key to asking Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for Afya is that we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for the most comprehensive, comprehensive, sorry, possible expression of Afya. And when we say, Allahumma inni asaluka al-Afya, Allah ask you for well-being, right? You consider those four qualities for it to continue, to be completed, to be grateful for it and to behold one state of well-being from Allah but then to consider the different types of well-being, whether it be physical well-being, emotional well-being, mental well-being, spiritual well-being, well-being in one's worldly affairs, well-being in one's social affairs, well-being in one's deen, well-being in the ways in which one is seeking the good pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, right? So we try to make it as encompassing as possible. We try to make it as encompassing as possible so that nothing escapes the state of Afya, right? Nothing escapes the state of Afya. So like any other dua, we should remember the words of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that we should ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala with presence of heart. فإن الله لا يقبلوا دعاء قلب غافل or قلب لاهن. Allah does not accept the supplication of a heedless heart. Now Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is more generous than our imaginations, right? But we to the extent that we reflect on the meanings of what we ask Allah in our dhikr or in our dua to that extent will the dhikr or the dua be fruitful, right? So we should reflect on the meanings of Afya, right? Of Afya when we ask Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala for it. And if we ask Allah to be free of harm, right? Then we are also asking Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala to be in a state of complete good, right? So Afya has a sense of being free of harm in any way. But it is, you know, why is it a great perfection? Because you say it's like, say, I don't want bad milk, doesn't mean it's good milk. The reason we are asking Allah that we be free of harm is that we want to protect all good, right? So Afya has both a negation of all harm at every level, but it also encompasses within it being possessed of every possible good, right? Being possessed of every possible good, not just in our deen but also in our dunya, right? And not just in simple ways, right? We think of the highest of meanings, right? We don't want to lose out of the highest possible of meanings, right? So if you ask Allah for Afya, it is not just, okay, I want health and I want religious practice. But part of Afya is that you are aspiring for the highest possible meaning and you want to be protected from being harmed away from it by anything. So if you are seeking the love of Allah, then you are asking Allah for Afya from everything that would hold you back from being beloved to Allah. And to preserve all the qualities that would ensure belovedness to Allah. When you ask Allah for Afya and you want to be of those who are close to Allah, then you are asking Allah for Afya, for well-being, from being protected from everything that will harm you and keep you from closeness to Allah and to have encompassed within you all the qualities of those close to Allah. If you want to be of those who behold Allah SWT, similarly you want well-being from all that holds you back from beholding Allah and to possess all the qualities of those who behold Him SWT. And likewise every meaning, likewise every single meaning. So we ask Allah SWT that He grant us of these meanings and that He grant us complete Afu and Afya, complete well-being outwardly and inwardly and in every expression. Wa sallallahu ala Sayyidina wa Nabina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam Wa alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.