 So in this, insha'Allah, we're talking about the art of living, and you know, in this discussion about the art of living, there's always opportunities, of course, for us, there's like our version, right? And then there's the other, what we would consider the version that we hear, of course, from the world. So the first thing is that I want to remind us that in this moment, we can practice it together, right? The first point of the art of living. And that's about niyah, for us to have intention. And even though we're going to practice it, we're going to do it together right now. This is something literally I want us to do every single day you wake up, every, before you let your feet touch the ground, what is your niyah? What is, what's, what in the world are you doing here? What is your purpose for that day? Alhamdulillah, our Lord of the worlds, that we don't, we actually, in making the intention, Allah SWT gives us power beyond our ability. He literally gives us power beyond our reach. Why? Because he says, inna'a amalo biniyat, that every action is by its intention, right? So Alhamdulillah wa shukrillah, that we get to, that we actually get to make intentions that even if we're not physically capable of accomplishing them, Allah Azawajal will actually make that possible for us. So before I do that, before we do it together, I'm going to tell you a narration, a true, true story. So when I was a student in Tareem, I had an usteda and Alhamdulillah, one, you know, one particular day we were actually at her home, we loved to, you know, we would love to go to our sheikh's houses and study with them, but mostly just to have like, be able to be in their company, to have sohba with them. Because it wasn't necessarily a time that they would teach it with either like we're making after-margharat-e-athkar with them, or it would be the case like, you know, just hanging out with them and then, you know, some gyms are going to fall from them. So this particular time, we go to the usteda's house and, you know, we're all giddy as we always are, like standing outside the door and she opens the door and she lets us in and she's like, you know, got her arms, her sleeves rolled up, her scarf is to the back and I'm like, I don't know, she clean in her house or, you know, what's happening? So she actually takes us to her kitchen, right? And so she's in the kitchen and literally she's making bread. She's like making bread and it's a, in Yemen, they have like this, this wide circle. It's like a, I guess a hot stone, right? But it spins. Right? And so she's like making this adini bread. And so, you know, we're all sitting there and I'm not too far from coming back to America. So I'm like, Osela, please, please come visit us in America. Like, you gotta come. You gotta do a tour for you. And she looks up like sternly and she's like, I'm not coming to America. I'm never coming to America. I've heard the stories about you guys telling, telling me how bad it is. Why would I go to America? Right? And so when she said that, I was like, oh, but you know, then that way your dowel will spread just like beyond Yemen. And she says, I'm going to give dowel to the far ends of the earth. I'm going to give dowel all over the world. And I remember looking at her like, how you going to give dowel all over the world and you don't want to leave your house? Right? You're not going to leave Yemen. Right? And so in that moment, I had this, like, I was seriously questioning my teacher. Now for those of you who were students of knowledge, you're already like, right? You're already like, you're so silly. And so I was having one of those moments where I was like, seriously, having a dowel, like, what does she mean? How was she going to give dowel all over the world? Like, everybody knows you can give dowel from like, if you go to America, then that will, you know what I mean? Like, that's the beginning of the world in my mind. So next day, we're in class. I still have this, like, you know, disfessuring thing in my heart. Like, my Ustada, she's very knowledgeable, Masha'Allah. But, you know, she's got this one flaw, which is what I'm thinking. And so as I'm sitting in class that day and she talks, she's literally talking about Nia and the importance and she's going through that. And she must have been, she was having those moments, but she was probably just reading me from the day before, right? And so I sit back still and that's, you know, and I sit back in my same disappointment that I had the day before. And as I'm sitting there, I look to one of my friends who's actually from Kenya. She's from Mombasa. And then I look to another, you know, I look to another one of my sister friends in the class and she's from the UK. She's actually one of the greatest, we would know actually one of the greatest scholars to date, like contemporary scholars to date, who's built, Masha'Allah, an amazing institution that educates over 300, she graduates over 300 students every year. In addition to my other friends, SubhanAllah, who was from Somalia, another one who was sitting on the other side for me, who was from Singapore, not to mention the other sister who was sitting there from Australia. And I began to think, oh Aisha, you really missed it. Like she is literally giving dowah to own over the world. And she hasn't left, and she doesn't, and she has a very clear understanding that she's not living here, man. But as a result, SubhanAllah, of course, of who she's teaching in that classroom and the way that she arms it with Elm, she literally sends them out. And they are teachers, literally from Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, Kenya, definitely inside of Sudan, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Gambia, the UK, the states, literally SubhanAllah, her dowah has spread all over the world. Why? Because she had neosalia, because she has a righteous intention. So even SubhanAllah, what we're thinking, sometimes we make an intention, and we think, like I don't have the ability to accomplish this, so why would I make that intention, right? Or we kind of make it haphazardly. But in reality, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, when he says I'm giving you an intention, right? Don't worry about how it's going to happen. You just make the nea. I didn't ask you about the results. I asked you to make your intention. And of course, we learned this from our prophet Ibrahim A.S. Peace be upon you. God bless you. I love you. May Allah bless you. So Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, So in it goes back to our Prophet Ibrahim A.S., he's standing in a mountain and Allah Azor J bluetooth tells make the call. Call the people. Call the people to this land. Like basically that what would be the considered of that at the time. And he says, Ya Allah, there's nobody here. Like who am I calling to? Allah said, I didn't ask you that. That's not what I asked you about. I asked you to make the call. And subhanah and khanaq till now we are literally answering the call of Prophet Ibrahim alaihi s-salatu wa s-salam. Until now, subhanah and khanaq, as we go for Amra, as we go for Hajj, as we have that yearning even in our heart to return back to these places, to do the things that Prophet Ibrahim alaihi s-salatu wa s-salam did, we're still answering his call. So this is the subhanah, literally Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala extending, right? This is what I'm going to do. You just get, you just have qalban saliman, right? You just have niya saliha. You just have that righteous intention. So in this moment, we want a jam packet. I know you said, I just came to see, you know, the sister, right? Alhamdulillah. But, Bismillah, make the intention, Ya Rabbi, by sitting here, I intend to be in gender for those with the Prophet s-salatu wa s-salamu alayhi. Ya Rabbi, I intend for my entire progeny to be from amongst the salihin wa saliha. I intend for my entire progeny to be amongst those who not only walk in the way of Sayyidina Muhammad alayhi s-salatu wa s-salam, but all of them will be beacons of light for Islam. I intend to spread downward to the far ends of the earth. I intend that I could walk away from every darkness. Ya Rabbi, I intend to seek refuge in you. Ya Rabbi, I intend to seek refuge in you from the torment of the grave and the punishment of the hellfire, even for being and sitting in this masjid. Ya Rabbi, I intend your refuge from me and all of my progeny to Yama Qiyama. Ya Rabbi, I intend to follow the footsteps of Prophet ibrahim alayhi s-salatu wa s-salam with Sayyidina Muhammad alayhi s-salatu wa s-salam. Ya Allah, I intend to strike a blow to the fitna of Masih ad-Dijan. Ya Rabbi, I intend to be a means of beacon of light. Ya Rabbi, I intend to enjoy the good and to forbid the evil. I intend to follow all the commandments in the Quran just by being here and to avoid all of its prohibitions. Ya Rabbi, I intend to be amongst those that you have numbered from amongst the righteous. Ya Rabbi, I intend to complete and total Shifaah from my physical state, my mental state, my spiritual state. Ya Rabbi, I intend your spiritual cure. Ya Rabbi, I intend you. Ya Rabbi, I intend you. Ya Rabbi, I intend you. This, when you, before you step out of your bed and even forget before you leave your house. I intend your refuge. I intend your righteousness. I intend to obey you. I intend your maghfirah. I'm seeking you in every circumstance, in every face, in every place. Ya Rabbi, I'm seeking you. So that's the first thing. That's just the first step, is our intention. And then after that, wa man, you gotta do something. Something. Hamdulillah wa shukrillah, we're not accountable always for the results, but you gotta do something so you came to the masjid. You have to have some attention about it. This part is important. Is that we don't do anything for the most part, without some level of knowledge about it. You don't make eggs unless somebody at some point, either you watch a YouTube video, or you watch your mamas do it a hundred times. You somehow, you learn how to make an egg. You learned it from somebody. Right? Most of us in our work, it's either because it's something that we either studied, we went to school for, or we had some kind of training for how to do that. Right? And so Hamdulillah, we'll talk about that when it comes to work and training. Is that when it comes to what we're going to do, we should be informed about it. We should have some, you know, some knowledge about that thing that we're going to do. There are lots of things that we do in our Ibala, or even in our, in our daily lives, that we don't really know what we're doing. And so it's important that a part of like, if you want to do something really well, if you're like, I want to, I want to master that. I don't know about you, but one of my, one of the most beautiful things to me about what Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, and all of the titles that Allah gave Prophet Muhammad, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, the fact that he gave him the title Abdullah, what is like, he accomplished the goal. Like Allah created him with the intention for worship. And it means like, you, you reach the target, not the target that we have for ourselves. I want to make a million dollars with the time I'm 30, not the target, you know, I want to be married by the time I'm 27, you know, but the target of like why Allah Azawajal actually thought to create you. That he actually reached that target, he reached that goal. And so we learned so many other things, right? We become masters of, you know, masters of education, masters of organizational leadership, we got masters in psychology, we master so many other things. But what did we think about? Like the purpose for why I'm living. And when they wash my body and literally lower us into the grave and throw dirt in our faces, all of that, whatever it was that we mastered from the dunya, the only portion that's gonna matter is what we mastered in terms of our purpose from the beginning. The part of us that says, Allah says, I created you for this. I created you for me. It wasn't just worship to anything. I created you to worship me. Why? So that you would return to me in a state that I would elevate you, that you would return to me in a state that you would have Jannah, that you would see Allah Azawajal, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar. So this is something we've got to learn to master. I remember when I was new in Islam, I was like maybe a couple weeks after taking Shahada. And there was a brother named Suleyman, Allah bless him, Allah yurhamu. And I asked him like, okay, like, you know, when you're a convert, you're like, you want a list? Okay, like, what are all the things I got to do? Like, I know I got to pray. I know I got to do this, like, what are all the things? Just give me like a list. So I know exactly. So I can just like, you know, in your mind, you're like, okay, check, okay, I did that, check, okay, check, I did that. And so he told me that your whole life, the number one focus is to perfect your salah. And I remember I must have looked at him for about 20 seconds without blinking. Like, perfect your salah for years, probably a good 10 years that reverberated in my mind. Till now, perfect my salah, perfect my salah. Because in my mind, that was like, one, two, three, four, like, I did it, right? I got this. So then I was like, okay, got to get the fat. Yeah. Then it was like, okay, getting the jaza and how and reciting fat. Yeah. Okay. All right. I got my jalsa correct. Okay, let me get the foot in the ankle thing. All right, what kind of yoga do I need to learn so I can make my foot flat like this and that one like that? Like, okay, did I perfect it? Right? Till now, I'm like, you know, don't be blessed me to perfect my salah because I realized what he was saying had nothing to do with the physical. I realized when he said that I would spend a lifetime perfecting my salah, he wasn't joking. Like, what it means, you know, there's a mom or son, he was said, everybody say, you know, bina, mona and Muhammad. Like, even when you think you're in the salah, you're like, alhamdulillah. Finally, I have kashur and concentration. Right? You're thinking about now I have kashur and concentration. Now you don't have kashur and concentration. The moment you're thinking about your kashur and concentration, the moment you're thinking about what it is that you're doing, you're no longer thinking about Allah Subh'ana. You're no longer immersed in the salah. So I say that to say, it's like, what is it? I even subhanAllah think about our salah in every circumstance. Do we know what to do in every circumstance? Remember when I was a student and today they used to give us like these crazy masalah, right? You're on a mountain. You're in the middle of the desert. There's no water. Your sock is torn. Right? A sandstorm happens. Like, it was, you know, you're with a dog. Do you give the dog whatever? You know, just all kinds of like, you know, strange things. And they would tell us, come up with all of them. And I remember thinking, this is the craziest exercise. Is this like a what if game? And then I found myself, I'm in an airport, right? My sock is torn. But I don't actually have a place to pray. I'm in him like, subhanAllah. I'm going through, how am I going to approach Allah in the best manner now? Do I have enough information? Have I paid enough attention to the most important aspect of my life to know what do I do in every circumstances of my life? Have I given it enough attention? If you ask me a curriculum question, right? I'm like, I think I can come over there. You ask me an education question, right? School, kids. I'm like, I can go through whatever it is. But did I spend enough time in the thing I was actually asked to do? And the part that's actually obligatory upon, I promise you, the Malatika when I, when they lower me into the grave is not going to ask me about what are the best practices of the teacher in the classroom. They're not going to ask me that. They're not going to ask me about the ends and out of curriculum. So Allah, the first thing they're going to ask me about on Yom Muqiyamah is what? My Salah. The equation of my living, how beautiful was my life, is ultimately going to be equated for how, what was my Salah, my silah, my connection with Allah, subhanAllah. That's, that's, that's the, that's the first thing, right? That's number one. That's the first thing. So the question, of course, always becomes, did we pay enough attention to what we made intention about? We made the intention to be Muslim. Did I accomplish all of that correctly? Did I do that part soundly? Alhamdulillah, Allah will afford to Rahim, but those things we have to pay attention. So now I want to get into another aspect. Beyond attention. And it has to do with this concept of balance, creating balance in your life. I'm probably going to say the most unconventional thing ever. And that is give up on balance. Give up on work-life balance. Give up on that. Why? Because we're trying to balance things that aren't necessarily meant to be balanced. Forget about balance and then think about priority. What, how are you going to prioritize things? When I was a child, my parents wrote, like in our living room, they had like this, you know, that big, I don't know what they call it, it's like a huge post-it note. Like the stick it thing, you know, it's, you stick it and it's, but it's big. You know what I'm talking about? All the teachers you've, you've seen, right? So they put it on the wall and they put down what are our priorities as a family. And I remember, I probably was about seven or eight years old. And I remember I grew, I'm a convert, right? So I grew up as a Christian, but number one, I remember the first priority was God. And the second one was family. I don't even remember the rest. I remember like friends, health, something like that. But I remember just kind of also having like this really clear thing in my mind about God and family, God and family. If I can't remember, and my parents are like, if you can't remember the rest, you stick to that. And then also kind of looking at my family, most of my parents, right? Looking at my parents, like, is that most important to you? Let me see. To date, I can honestly say the way my parents prioritize God and family. So work for us has become like, it's like a cult. I've been out of work for us as like a cult. Like, honestly, before we even, if I ask you, especially for men, I'm so sorry, but this is your case. If I ask you, tell me about yourself. What's the first you're going to tell me? You want to tell me your job? I'm a doctor. I'm an engineer. I'm a business analyst. I'm in computer science. If I ask women, right? Tell me about yourself. You're going to tell me what you studied. You're going to tell me what you do. But I've done this multiple times. I have these workshops. We're going to tell me who you are. And if I ask that question, usually it takes them like, I start to see their eyes go back and forth. It's like, they tell me who you are. I know what you do, okay, but who are you? That becomes a much harder question. But ultimately, this is something the Prophet, Salatullah was said, you have to know yourself. Who are you? Who are you? What is it that has shaped who you are? What are the things? What are the experiences? What are the beliefs that have molded? This is who I am. But for work, work has become such a, like I said, it's a cult, right? It's become our identity. It has become like, and basically, if you don't have like that thing defined, it's like, oh, definitely, you're not going to get married. Right? You're not going to get married because you don't have the right job. Right? You don't, you're not going to get married. You're not going to get in certain clubs. You're not going to have, you're not going to be invited to certain places. You're not going to get certain friends. You're not going to, there's just a number of things that are connected to you don't have the right job. That's what I mean by like, it's a cult. It even has certain friends, right? And if your job doesn't earn you this amount of money, you're not even in that circle. Sadly, even in the mushroom. You're not even, like we don't even look your way. Right? Like she just does, I can just tell. I can just tell by the way she walks. Right? She don't have the right job. Her husband doesn't have the right job. I can tell by the kind of a buyer. You know, she got that buyer from Walmart. I know that Walmart doesn't sell the buys, but I'm just saying, right? You're like, that's subhanallah. It's hard to believe like we as Muslims have this, but Alhamdulillah, Allah is so kind that he shows us and not just us. Once the Prophet, Salaamu alayhi was sitting in the halukah among Sahama. As they were sitting, there was a very wealthy man sitting next to him. And he had on Masha Allah, the most beautiful clothes, the most beautiful robe. And another one walked in and he was poor. And he had the stench in the dress of poverty. And as he was entering into the circle of the Prophet, Salaamu alayhi said, the man folded up his clothes. He folded up his clothes and folded up his legs, as if to say, let me make sure that you, that you pass by me without touching me. His poverty has a stench. Right? So the Prophet, Salaamu alayhi said, I'm on A, he noticed. He noticed what was happening. And the Prophet leaned over and sent him, don't worry, you won't catch what he has. Meaning that your proximity to poverty won't cause you to be poor. And he said, Yad As-Salaamu alayhi, don't worry, I'm more concerned to catch what he has. Arrogance. He didn't say it. He just said, I'm more concerned to catch what he has. That belief that my job, again, gives me, makes me better than you. My job makes me more important than you. My job makes me more knowledgeable than you. Even my, some people actually believe my job makes me a better Muslim than you. One of the beautiful things I love about living in Gambia is one particular time recently, it happened to me about, I guess about two years ago. I was moving from one house to another. And I had asked a friend of mine to help me get some movers. And so my friend helped me get these movers. And so there's, you know, these young men, and they look what we would consider somebody who's coming to move. So I had them some baggy jeans. He had on like a t-shirt. It was a little bit torn. His hair was actually a little bit scruffled, to be honest. There's one particular man I'm talking about. And I remember thinking to myself, oh Aisha, you're all your internal, Allah sent you just a test for who you think you are today. I'm like, okay, these are people I want moving to my house, picking up my stuff. So I see, he's putting things on the truck. Yeah, me too. So they put in things on the truck. And I heard the man say something. And I turned sharply because what I realized he was doing was reciting Quran. So I turned to my friend who already, I guess, had figured out, you know, this friend, you know, you have that friend that knows you. And he says, yeah, they're Hafez. I got them from the Quran school. Like I gave a look from the look. I didn't imagine they were Hufaq. That he would be doing his moraja while moving my stuff. What am I concerned about? I don't know. You're going to take my couch. You're going to take my pillow that I got from Pierre. What am I worried about? I'm going to be more worried about my state, my own state, own condition. I'm the one. I'm worried he has something. I've got the disease. Allah, I'm almost done. Allah, I'm almost done. Why? The things of dunya we think that actually define us, but they might define us in ways that we don't actually think about. They may be definitive things for us in ways we haven't contemplated. And so that's something I want us to think about is sometimes we're balancing. We're trying to balance our Dean. My spiritual practices, my religious practices, right? With my work life. Why would I do that? Why would I do that? In reality, man loves Allah. Allah make our work a part of our Ibadah. You can do that also with your intention, right? By your Nia. Why are you having this job, this profession? What are you seeking? What is the reason that you chose it? Ask my five-year-old, what does she want to be when she grew up? And I asked her because, you know, her sister is a little bit more like the mama, this is what I'm going to do when I grow up. I'm going to do, you know, she's like telling me. But my five-year-old was like, she's totally different. You know that, you have that child that's like a flower child. She's like always smiling and literally butterflies and sprinkles. Like, how did, now she's eight. But at the time I asked her, like, what do you want to be when you grow up? She said, I want to be happy. I said, la ilaha illa anta subhan, I can't even come to Minna Nali, man. Right? Like, of course. She told me, like, mama, whatever you got going on in your mind, right? About these things I need to accomplish doing your way out, I want to be happy. We adjust. So that's another thing I want to say. It's like part of our living. Don't limit your education, right? To just things that I related to, this place, this time, this, look at every opportunity, every opportunity to learn, to study, to grow, every opportunity. For how can I be better? How can I have more understanding? How can I be closer to you, ya Allah, today? What is it that I know? What is it that I'm missing? I don't always think I'm missing it. I know there's something I'm missing. I know it. And so I know there's a lot that I'm missing. There's a lot I don't know. My mother used to have a saying, she would always say, there's more. When, you know, when you're a teenager and you get a little bit sassy, right? And she would always say to me, there's enough you don't know to make a home to the world. I think about that. Now I'm like, there's enough I don't know to make a home to the universe. Even what we think we know. No, there's more room for growth. There's more room. And don't, you know, again, with the work balance, knowledge balance, if you're a student and you're studying, take from the story of so much you can learn from the most unexpected places that you didn't think. Never believe you're the most knowledgeable. Never think you're the best at it. Always come with it at a humble place. Always believe, even if you're not, always believe you're the worst person in the room. If you have difficulty, no, I know that brother. I heard about him, but I don't have that sin. But maybe you have another one. You don't know how he repented from that. You don't know what kind of topo he made in the middle of the night. You have no idea how he might be crying to Allah subhanahu ta'ala to ask to correct him. And some of us are walking around with sin that we're absolutely comfortable with. We live amongst major sin that we have complete complacency about. So always have your sin here and your complacency right in front of you. Why? So you can stay at the rug level. You can stay at this adjude level. Never believe, of course. Never have that. That allows us, if you keep that, then there's more, there's always opportunity for growth, for expansion, for elevation. There's always opportunity for anyone to do anything by actions or by words. Is that, what time is it? I'm sorry, I'm on a whole nother time zone. So okay, this is me now. So after the work-life balance, I don't also want us to only prioritize the physical ibadah. Also for us to prioritize two things. One, your mental well-being. Your mental well-being. I know that we, you know, I don't know about you, but I grew up in a pretty traditional household. So in my traditional household, you know, what do you mean self-care? Self-care was not a thing. Time for yourself. What did they say? That means you have idle time. You have idle time. What in reality? No, you have to have some time. Right? To sit, to have muraqaba, to journal, to think, to analyze yourself. You have to have that time. So even if you use that time, set aside, even if it's five, ten minutes, every day, you have to have space to breathe. I know subhanallah, as parents, we're always in, right? You're always in a, in a rut. We're always like, okay, I gotta get breakfast in the morning, gotta fix lunch, gotta, you know, make sure you're dressed for school, get in the car, drive there, let me get to work, gotta pick this up, on my way home, whatever I have to pick up, gotta go to the grocery store, come home, I gotta cook, I, oh wait, you got basketball practice, you got volleyball practice, okay, let me get back there, okay, you've got court and memorization, let me get back. By the time you're like, I've done everything, okay, then husband time, and oh, I'm asleep, and then I gotta wait, and I'm gonna try to pray to Hajjah, come on, God, I was having daila ilallah, God, okay, okay, oh, I got five minutes before Salatul Fajrullah, who I can go to, right? You have to have some time, you have to have that time, just to remember, you gotta be, wait a minute, how is my heart? You have to have that time to ask yourself, how is my heart? There are a number of assaults that you experience in a day, there are a lot of things, even from billboards, what you heard, and even on the news, we have become so like hardened to the things that we hear, that even Salatul Fajrullah, it's like, it's ideal, it's normal, like hearing about someone got murdered, someone got shot, typical click, onto the next. We hear about children missing, we hear about human trafficking, 20,000 people in Libya, 20,000 people, 20,000 people, how many, how many, if that's just 20,000 people, how many wives, children, mothers, daughters, sons, communities that will be affected, how many things are not going to actually go well because 20,000 people? With those 20,000, many of them of course had major responsibilities, let's say each one of them are connected to five people, and of course we know that they're affected than more than five people. Those who are in their family, those that they worked with, those that they went to school with, those that they were neighbors, so that means how many people are experiencing some like severe trauma because daddy did not come home, and this 20,000 people dead, look at the property, the devastation, where are they going? Where are they going to eat, how are they going to go to the bathroom? Let alone where are they going to live, how are they going to rebuild their lives, but we're used to it. Oh yeah, you know Texas had a flood last year, it was pretty bad, but they recovered. That's not the way of the believer. We know that our beloved, the ummah is one body. If one portion of the body is sick, the entire body is up with fever. Have we prayed one qiyam alaym, just for them, one khatam of quran, just for them, for their families, for their communities, for the people that they served, for those who love them, for the mothers who buried their children, for the parents, subhanAllah, that have passed away with small children, for the orphans, we're up with fever. That's a part of our human, that's actually part of what keeps us human. Like those moments, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is not just may Allah grant them all jenatul furthos al ala, but he's waking the rest of us up. Like he's literally shaking our hearts like a CPR. Are you dead? Are we dead? Are we alive? Are you living? Are we just, how many in Morocco? How many in Morocco now? We have people in our community that have Moroccan families. Their families are in Morocco. Their families are in the village. Do we call them, check up on them? How you doing? Is there anything that I can do for you? Do we have the organizations? Do we have their numbers? Have we already donated? Trust me, there's something you can do if you did nothing but spend a few hours in Qiyam al-Ail, in Sujood, crying for them. We're alive. Because when he said, the whole body is up with fever, I said subhanAllah, we're not up with fever, then what are we? Flat line. But we're used, we've become what they call it, emotional burnout? There's another word though. Desensitized, yes. Jaded, that's one. Jaded. Jaded. But these things are not meant to weigh us down. They're actually meant to make us run back to Allah. Why? We could be tomorrow. They're meant to send us fleeing back to Allah. Ya Rabbi, my brothers and my sisters. Ya Rabbi, their grandmothers, their elders, Ya Rabbi, please protect them, take care of them. This is one of the signs, are we alive? If we don't have that level of concern for other people, could we honestly say that we follow in the footsteps of rahmat al-alameen? That he's rahmat al-alameen. He's a mercy. The next thing is, what do you read? Even if it's five minutes, no, everybody does not read, and I'm not talking about TikTok and Instagram. I read a whole bunch of shorts. I read like 20 passages today as I was scrolling through my phone. No, like what did you read? You know, we do focus on, you know, today they have every kind of, they have every kind of exercise in the book, everyone. Anytime they like have everything from you can do chair exercises, you can do wall pilates, you can do, you can do hot bikram yoga, you can do that, every kind of physical exercise, which is alhamdulillah. But what about also the muscle of the mind? And beneficial reading, beneficial reading, not much time, even five, ten minutes. And if you're like me and you're like, okay, it takes me a long time to finish, like I'm one of those, like I got to sit with it, right? Don't try to read it fast. Read it a little bit, let it digest. Then let me read some more about that. Then, okay, that's a little overwhelming for me. Let me read, let me, I have to have like literally, okay, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I read that book. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'll touch that book. Tuesday and Thursday, I'll touch this book. Right? Because that's too, but that's too heavy. Right? That's too intense. We make big intentions, especially after Ramadan. After Ramadan, we have big intentions. Right? I'm gonna read out of Salihin by the six of Shua. I'm gonna finish it. You know what I mean? I'm gonna complete it by, you know, the next six days. All right, how about just one there, one I did, one, contemplate it. Read another book, Righteous Minds. It's actually a pretty decent book. I learned about that one from Ustala Ubedullah Evans. He might say, is that like a Muslim book? Just read the book. Has it helped me understand even about different people, right? Different circumstances, different categories, like why people respond to certain things or information that they respond to it. That was super helpful for me. Also, what is the beauty in your life? What's the beauty in your life? Like if I were to ask you, like, what is the beauty in your life? What's the beauty that you bring in and you appreciate it? And you're like, like for me, I found this, I'm like the mountains and the green here in California is so beautiful. Do you take time to just sit and look at it? Nature is healing. But what's the beauty that you bring into your life? Brothers, what's the beauty, I know you say your wife, but I mean other than her. What's the beauty in your life? Do you, I don't know, if you don't paint, if you're like me, I paint like a five-year-old, it's like color by number, I can do that, right? But to watch other people or calligraphy or even just like abstract art or just to see it, think about it. Flowers, I love flowers, I love all different types and like the different shapes of flowers, the different vets like flowers. Do you bring yourself flowers? I know you're like, that's his job. No, not really, but you know, bring yourself, you can do it for yourself as well. It'd be nice. Yes, that's nice. Right? Bring home dinner, get flowers for yourself. This thing, what's the beauty in your life? What do you, what do you, you know, and I don't want you to say, yeah, I was buying this beautiful hijab the other day. No, no, no, no, no. In your life. Yes, for sure. Can you appreciate them when they're naughty? It's not so much. No, for sure. Yes, a righteous spouse is definitely beautiful, for sure. Yes, definitely for sure. But I'm asking you, what beauty do you bring in your life? That's his, him being a righteous spouse, right? That's his beauty. What's yours? La hola. That's the beauty, the cooking and the cleaning. Okay. So I want you to think about something that you really enjoy. You really enjoy it. It's something that just, it brings, it makes you smile. It's like, there's like that burst of just, you know, that burst of energy when you see it, it gives you joy and it's not connected to a person. How do you bring that into your life? Yes. I hope do it on a regular basis, right? You don't have to like set it and make it, you know, but do it on a regular basis. Yes. Right. You have to have something that you're bringing into your life that gives you like that breath of fresh air. And then the next step is I want you, though, to be grateful about everything. Grateful about everything. Why? Because if you complain about one thing, two things, a lot will give you more to complain about. Right? The more you complain, the more you have, it'll just become like, well, how come you didn't do that? Well, how come, how come you parked the car in the driveway that way? Well, how come you breathe like that? That clock is ticking so loud. I wonder why they chose this shade of green. I mean, a brighter green would have been better. Is that the only koofer that you could find to wear today? Oh my goodness. What cologne is that? Did you use the whole bottle? Why is it that you're walking like that? Is something wrong with your leg? And you never make doctor's appointments. And a matter of fact, you never used to take the children to the dentist. I was doing it all by myself. Yeah, when you took me to dinner the other night, you know I don't even like Afghan food. I'm really more of an Asian person, but you just did it because you like Afghan food. You will just, it will just become non-stop, right? Until now, you're complaining about people you don't know. Right? Honestly, you'll walk into the masjid. This masjid is always crowded. I don't even know why those brothers pray on that side. That's normally where the sisters pray. And why does she have on those earrings? Is that halal? Even though I've got flowers on my scar. So I mean, I don't know why she's doing that. I don't know why she's the one talking. Normally the brothers are always on, you know, why they have to be the one reciting Quran. We have to do it in this corner, but they can do it anywhere else. They will just become non-stop, right? Until it is exhausting. You'll look at your day, and if we were to, if they were to give you a printout of your words, right? Subhanallah. But Allah, if you're grateful, I will increase you. If you're grateful, I will increase you. And the good things for you to be more grateful about, everything. Alhamdulillah. If you have a bunch of dishes, that means there was a meal. Alhamdulillah. I'm being serious. If you, subhanallah, if he brought home whatever it was, he brought home Mexican Alhamdulillah. I don't have to go thank you. You thought about us. I appreciate that. But hey, the car is Alhamdulillah. The car is working. Alhamdulillah. We have a car. I can go into the masjid. There are places in the world you can't go into the masjid. Just be grateful for everything, every, every, everything. Even the difficult things. Even the difficult. There was a sister who, she had been married, I guess, somewhere in over a decade. Long story short, her husband left her. And, you know, initially she was devastated. She was like, you know, we've been together since this time. And she was going through the list. And then she said, but I'm very, very grateful. I'm very grateful. And I was thinking, you know, she was going to say like a list of things that he had done like really wrong. And she was like, finally, I'm grateful that he's gone. She said, no, because he exposed me to my arrogance. She said, I didn't understand that I didn't see that about myself. That the sister he ended up marrying, she was like, I, you know, saw her in this light. I saw her in this way. I saw her, you know, basically I looked down on her and said, had I not been exposed to myself in that way, I would have never entered into general. So she said, I didn't, I didn't necessarily deserve him. He was a gift from Allah. And Allah wanted to teach me something about myself. So there's a reason why I mention this is because sometimes in life, we don't trust the process. What do I mean by this? And this is actually my final point that I want to talk about in terms of the art of living and trusting of the process, trusting the process is about also the process Allah is doing with us. That we make dua, y'all will be give me jannah. Right? And we make, you know, I don't know about, but sometimes we're bold. Give me jannah for those. Right? Give me, like, I want the highest level. I even have friends who pray for we liar. I'm like, ooh, that one, I don't know what comes with that. All right. You want it in your heart. You want it. I told you, you want to always add that caveat. Right? By your gentleness, by your mercy. I'm asking for this. And you know, all of us, I'm a big one, big one. Y'all will be give me jannah without hesab. Right? By your mercy, your gentleness without too much traveling this dunya, y'all. And please bless me to live a long life healthy with all of my children alive without suffering any hardship. I want us to understand that sometimes we're asking for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for things. And he says, I'm going to give you that. But in order for you to have this quality, or in order for you to have this characteristic, or in order for you to achieve that level, there are certain things that require you. Right? There are certain things that have to be adjusted about you, about your personality, or about your character, or about your Dean, or about your understanding. Right? Or about your life in order for you to achieve that level. There may be some weight, some baggage that you're carrying. There's a load that you're carrying that you can't get to that level with this on your back. So if you want to go to that level, then you've got to drop this. You've got to get rid of that. That's got to go. That can't go with you. That behavior, that attitude, or that speech, or this belief inside of you, that's not Jinnah Firdaus material. Hey, to be close to the Prophet, there are things about us that don't, that, that keep us distant from Nabi Allah alaihi s-salatu wa s-salam. So Allah says, I want that for you and you're asking for that. So I'm going to have to do some things to remove this from your life. So that now you can move past that hurdle. So now that door can open for you, for you to become closer to Allah, as it were said, closer to the Prophet, s-salatu wa s-salamu alayhi. But it's challenging when it happens. Right? It's challenging. And I want us, I want us to clearly understand there is a difference between blaming Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for what people do. Right? And knowing that Allah will use what people do for your benefit. Allah, you will say, why Allah, why did you allow that to happen? Even the question. I'm praying. I'm fasting. I wear hijab. I read Quran. I come to Jumu'ah on Friday. I'm a good son. I'm a good, I do this. I'm a good, y'all will be, why would, why me? Why would you allow that to happen to me? That by itself would be a reason. Why? Our beloved Messenger of Allah, alayhi s-salatu wa s-salam, he lost his wife. He lost all of his children. His entire family, but a handful of people were actually waging war against him. Like literally they were plotting to kill him. It's not that he had done something wrong against Allah. It's not that you're more worthy of less trial. No. That's not the case. It's not that you're, that you've done something. So now Allah owes you a certain life or he owes you a certain ease or that he owes you. No. It's not that at all. Reality, when Allah Azawajal breaks our hearts, he allows for situations, right? For us to fall apart. What is he doing? He said, I want you to look at the contents of your heart. I want you to be fully aware of the contents of your soul. Some of them, some of them great. I don't want you to think it's all about bad. Some of them you can look at it and say, y'all Allah, I didn't recognize the strength that you've been giving me. Y'all Allah, I didn't recognize the level of tenacity. Y'all Allah, I thank you for my ability to just my resilience and to keep going. Y'all Allah, I recognize your mercy on my life for how worse it could have been. Y'all Allah, you've been carrying me all this time. And then yes, sometimes y'all Allah, I didn't recognize that I was so arrogant. I didn't recognize that I was so vain. I didn't recognize that I was so unloving, so unkind, so ungenerous, so selfish. But you got to be able to tell the truth to yourself when you see it. And why does he expose it to you so that you can say, I realize that I don't look at people with the eye of mercy. I look at people with the eye of criticism. And therefore I speak to people in an unkind way. Or I treat people in an unloving way. And I've got to change that about myself because Nabil al-Mohammed, I'm asking for proximity to be next to or to follow his example. He's definitely the most kind and the most loving and forgiving. So we're telling ourselves, this was the strength of my character when really it was just harshness. And it's time to remove that. See, nothing can grow on rocky land. It actually has to become soft soil for something to break through it. So if you're asking for a garden and you're sold for garden of Jannah, you've got to be, are you, are you number one, are you teachable? But also can something grow there? Are you fertile land? Where new habits, new thinking, new image, new character, new spirituality, can, is it possible for you to grow? But part of that is to really, truly, truly submit, not just accept. There's a difference between la hola wa la ko wa fa'in la bi'ma. And qadr Allah ma sha'a fa'ala. Praise be to Allah in any situation while being angry with Allah, while blaming Allah, while feeling like Allah, I didn't deserve this. By feeling like Allah owes me something. There's a difference. As opposed to y'all don't be, you know me. You know me better than I know myself. You know my weaknesses. You know what I struggle with. You know the darknesses in my soul that I'm too afraid to expose to myself. And you know what I've got to heal from. You know what I've got to grow from. You know what I've got to change. And you know my da'as. And so I know that if you gave me this trial, it's designed for me. It has my name on it. It has my da'as attached to it. It's meant for my growth. It's meant for my expansion. It's meant for my betterment. It's meant for my elevation. It's meant for my maghfirah. It's meant for me. And it's difficult, y'allatif. It's difficult. I believe in you. And with your name, and by your name, there is no harm. There is no harm. There is no harm. So if you gave it to me, you've meant something good for me. And then no. Like Allah saying, don't worry. You're going through this. But what's on the other side is two eases. It's two eases. If you accept it, you submit, and you welcome it with the welcome change and healing that it comes with. If not, you'll be going around it again like the Kabul. You'll see it again in your life. You'll be in a different place, same situation. You'll be with different people having the same trial. Why? Because Allah is saying, I'm giving you every opportunity to address this. Come on, let's get it. Let's fix it. But trust me in this process. Trust me in the process to build who you asked me, who you said you wanted to be. Trust me to make you the believer that you said you want to be. Trust me to make you the person that's worthy of proximity to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Trust me to make you from Ahlu jannu al-Firdaus. Trust me. And that's like, that's a, that's the true, Allahu Akbar. That's the true, I put my face to the ground that whoever I thought I was, whatever I thought about myself, whatever I thought about the situation in the circumstance, Allahu Akbar. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless us to be able to see the beauty and the sweetness in the surrender. There is a sweetness in the surrender. Oh, I said last point, I have one more point I didn't want to forget. Be gentle with each other. Be gentle with each other. In families, sometimes we put a lot of responsibility on each other. I'm expecting you to do this, this, this, this, this as a woman, right? You do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, and you do that regardless, right? As a man, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, you do this, that's your job as a man. And the child, right? Do this, do this, do this, do this, be gentle with each other. Like these definitions that we have, sometimes are beyond harsh. They don't match our priorities. I'm giving an example. If I say the job of the wife, I'm just giving an example. I promise. If I say the job of the wife, you know, you're always, the mother, she's supposed to be with her children. You're supposed to be the one who takes care of them no matter what. If you have a job, that's something extra that you've decided to do, right? That's funny to me, but right, if you have a job, that's something extra, and you're doing this as a mother, and you have to make sure your job is to take care of the home, you're up to the bait, you take care of all this in this house. So these dishes, the cleaning, the laundry, it's on you, it's your job, it's your responsibility, right? And of course, a good wife, she's good to her, that's your job, that's your responsibility. But if it's like, okay, we've all eaten together as a family. And family is the, is it, is the house the priority or is the family the priority? If the family is the priority, then we can wash these dishes together, right? Everybody has a job. You got the dishes, I got the, I've got the trash, and the counters, I can sweep, the kids can put in the dishwasher, whatever it is, we're doing this as a family, if that's the priority. And if it's just like, hey, we're all too tired, is it going to, I mean, will it fall apart if we didn't do it for a night? Could we like wash it, gen, we don't make sure the gen don't come break, and we like do, but it has to be done, it has to be perfect, like it's got to be spiky and span, she's got to smile like the woman on the commercial, right about her sink and like love it. No, what's the priority? And are we gentle with each other in that? I heard a sister tell me she wanted a new her, her, she was coming to me for counseling, she said, you know, my husband has been talking about that we're going to move and we're going to get out of there, we're in a townhouse, we're going to get this house, and he's been talking about it for, you know, whatever, whatever, however years, and it hasn't happened, and he's making promises, and he doesn't keep them, and, you know, I really want this house, and our kids are growing, it's time to expand. I said, okay, well, how many hours is he working now? Well, he works about 45 to 50 hours a week, he comes home, he leaves early in the morning, he comes home somewhere around seven, she's giving the whole thing. And I said, okay, so what should he, like, but he's always saying he doesn't have enough money, he's always saying he doesn't have enough money. I said, so what should, you know, in addition to she was complaining, like, we don't spend as much time together as a family, you know, he doesn't help out with the kids, he doesn't help out with the children. So I said, okay, so what should he do about the house? So well, he should just work harder, he should just work more. And when he works more, when would he have the time and the energy to spend time with you? And then when would he find the time to spend with the children? And actually, like, be present with them. Is it about the family or is it about the house? The bigger house, the bigger car, the, what, what is it about? I say that to say that we have held each other to a standard, to a way. And we're like, this is where we got to get. Do we hold each other to that, like, we're gonna do Maraja of Koran together? All right, we got a deal. We're gonna memorize five hadiths a month together as a family. We got a deal that we're gonna have, you know, every, every once a month, we've got family game night. Or once a month, we've got, you know, we're doing this trip or whatever, we go into the park together. And what aren't, like, are we gentle with each other? Are we loving with each other? Are we in this together? Because I want to know, at what point did the Prophet, as on the line, send them have, like, the five bedroom house in the suburbs, right with the chandelier in the middle of the living room, while at when? When? I'm not telling you, living in a matchbox. I'm just saying when. It gives it a, what are the, what's, what's the love between us? The love. And whatever it is, whatever the mundane activities of life, whether it's work or do dishes or whatever, I will promise I close with this. Once the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, went to visit Fahtima Zahra. And when he came in, he asked her, what was she doing? And she said, I was, I was cleaning yara, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he said, what else were you doing? She thought, she said, well, while I was cleaning, I was saying, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that's the reason there are 70,000 angels outside of your home. Whatever we do. Naya, diker, add to it. I could be, we could actually have a whole two hour session. There's so much more, even as I would get to diker. But I want us to really think about, hey, about, are we intentional? Are we living our life intentionally? Are we living our life with gratitude? Are we living our life with attention to what it is that we, to, to what it is we're supposed to master? Are we living our intention of, we're living our life, sorry, without complaint, but take time to notice the beauty and then invite the beauty in. And are we living our lives accepting, having that, the sweetness of surrender? Those are the, insha'Allah, the points about the art of living that I wanted to bring to you. I think we have time for a Q&A, if you have questions. Assalamu alaikum. Thank you for your amazing speech today. Allama Badaq. I hope everyone benefits from what you had to share today. I have a question that's like, it kind of goes back to that first anecdote you gave about your teacher. I'm curious, what led you to her and what brought so many people from different parts of the world to her? Because I'm very fascinated by that dawa is going everywhere around the world and how she was able to bring that to herself. Well, once she had that intention. But the other thing is she was a teacher at Dara Zahara. She was the principal at the time of Dara Zahara in Teni Miman in Hamdor Amal, where I studied. So it was a university where people would go and enroll. But she took it upon herself to even open her home to the students. Was there another question? First of all, thank you. Most definitely learned a lot. So my question is related to interacting with others. So like majority of the topic was like improvement, self-improvement, and then the last topic touched with like how to work with others. And I think from like literature, I've kind of like learned that most of the time when we're interacting with people, it's sort of like a unconscious process. And so like, you know, you could be impulsive if something triggered you, where you become angry or your dialogue goes gets derailed in such a way where when you are present, you realize that you've made a mistake. Is there like sacred wisdom or just wisdom in general that you could provide in like, I guess, either catching yourself or mitigating this behavior when you're like already in the process of interacting with people? So to be honest, most of it happens when you're not in the process. So that's literally just sitting after your shala and just spending longer time in Sujood when you're in shala, but also sitting and just making dhikr. Like honestly, but also just like sitting and taking that time. Why? Because even those moments of sitting and making dhikr, you're also regulating your impulses, right? So you're not, eventually you will find if you do that, especially Sujood, if you send salawat on the prophet, let's say 10 times, it'll take you less than a minute. If you did that 10 times after every shala, I would say within 40 days, you will find yourself not as quick to become angry, right? Another thing is that I remember when I was younger, you know, that temper, right? That firecracker like, you're not going to tell me what to do, you know what I mean? And I had a mentor who, you know, she would just advise me, she would always say, like, what is it that you're thinking that you need to respond, right? What is it that you're responding to? And so one of the things I remember is kind of going over is like, I think this person is disrespecting me, or I think this person has a certain view about me, or I think that this person is, you know, just basically, and I realize she's like, so basically it's, it's what's in your head, right? It's what you have decided that this person is thinking about you. And their opinion of you is none of your business. Like I don't actually need to respond, because what you think of me is really none of my business. It's what you think, that's what's, that's what's in your mind. I don't need to defend, right? What's going on? And by me defending it, I may actually confirm, or I may actually affirm what's in your mind about me. So I don't need to, I don't need to respond. And there's a, also, once the Prophet, Salatullah was with Abu Bakr, and actually Abu Bakr was standing with a group of people who were insulting him. And they were insulting him, and calling him names, and subhanAllah, the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, came closer to him, and Abu Bakr remained quiet. And the moment then Abu Bakr became like, you know, upset, he got offended. And then he responded. And when he began to respond, the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, actually left. Later on, Abu Bakr went to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, said, Ya Rasulullah, what happened when you, you know, when they were defending me, when I was, when they were insulting me, you stood with me. But then I started to defend myself when you left me. Like, what happened? He said, as long as you were silent, the angels were literally pouring blessings on your head and making dua for you. He said, but once you started to defend yourself, Shaitan came, and he said, and me and Shaitan cannot occupy the same space. All right. And so he left. There are two things about that narration that stick with me a lot. If I defend myself, but the malayikah are no longer pouring blessings, it might be, for me, it might just be a selfish thing. Like, I've been thinking, do I care that you're saying something bad or do I want the angels to make dua for me? Like, I think I would rather, much rather the angels make dua for me and actually rack up the blessings. But in addition to, the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, it would stand with you in that case, that Allah is with the patient. That Allah is with the patient. So that for me, like, if Allah is with the people who have sabr and Shaitan is with the people who are arguing and fighting, I'm thinking like, which company do I wish to be in? Right? That's my, I try to bring that to mind a lot. Like, if I say, if I start arguing back, Shaitan is going to come, Allah is not going to be with me. Now I'm good. My question would be then, how do we gain that patience? Time. Don't ask Allah for patience. I know you're like, what? Don't ask Allah for patience. My teachers used to say that I was like, but that's what we want. Call on Yalatif. If anything, every day, 133 times in the morning, recite Yalatif. There's another one that you can recite. Yannasur, Yannasur, Yannasur. If you call on Allah's names, Yassubur, 17 times. Quick, it'll take you like 30 seconds. Yassubur, Yassubur, Allah's names. These qualities, right? Will become manifested in you without asking Allah for patience. Why? If you ask Allah for patience, there'll be certain circumstances that will come to you for you to gain patience. Right? But if you call on Allah, his name, Yassubur, then this quality will grow. It will also grow inside you. But Yassubur will be present with you, fortifying you to be patient. Does it make sense? As opposed to, Allah, you do it for me, as opposed to me trying to do it for myself. Yalatif, 133. Yassubur, 17 times. Yannasur. I don't want to forget that. Yes, Bismillah. 17. Yalatif, Allah is the subtle, the gentle kind of one, the one who's clement. Yeah, 133. After Fajr. If you do it after Fajr, it's best. Why? Because Allah will be gentle with you in your life. Bismillah. Bismillah. I want to say thank you for the lecture. It really hit me. So thank you for that. One of the stories that always was very interesting to me was how about the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and his companions? When they were living in Mecca, him and his, him and the Sahabah were always oppressed. And it was the message of like patience. And then they kind of took the initiative of like finding sanctuary in Medina. And then after many years, it was like, okay, now you can defend yourself. So for me, my question has always been at what point do you stay patient? And then at what point do you be like, okay, enough is enough. I'm going to defend myself. So I never really knew like, at that point, like how do you balance it? Like when is much too much? Because then at one point, they're really being oppressed. And then at one point it's like, okay, like this really is too much. Okay. So for me, it's like navigating. So the first thing is, is that the commandable law, right? When a law gives a clear command, now it's time for you to defend yourself. Right? That's one thing. The other thing is, is that there were certain, the reason why, or at least one of the ultimate, you know, reasons why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala refrained them is because there's certain things that they needed to learn. There's certain qualities. Because even inside of defending oneself, there's certain rules, right? There's certain regulations for how one can defend themselves. So even inside of defending yourself, there is an act of patience. Right? So for example, I can't just curse you out. I can't, you know, just become unglued. I can't, I can't allow muslims to say, I can't come out of character. Right? That even inside of defending myself, I cannot transgress boundaries. But you don't know how to, how to make, like where are the limits and where do I begin and where do I end and how am, how do, how do I navigate defending myself unless you first practice passivity. Right? Then you can actually hear, then it's easier to say, okay, when I, when it comes time to defending myself, there is no, let me put Islam to the side and deal with you. No. That Islam is, now it's, it's ingrained, it's entrenched, and it comes with a different quality. Like there is a, there is a different quality when someone righteously defends themselves, as opposed to someone just out, defend themselves. Right? So in the beginning, the companions were learning, right, what true sabr was about and the, or should I say the first aspect of sabr, which is to wait for the command of Allah, right, to wait for the command of Allah, to actually train yourself, right, to train your nafs and as well as to fully, to fully have a submission to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, so that when it comes time for the second time of sabr, which is perseverance, that perseverance is actually governed, right, by the rules that you learned in the first half. Makes sense? Love it. But did you pray? Have you prayed? They're meant, they're meant for you. They're meant to give you that test. They're meant for you. So Allah, Allah al-Mustah. Right, Allah al-Mustah. The first thing is I want to say, there is, there has to be non-stop dua for your children. You have to pray, like you have to pray qiyamulayl for your children. You have to, every salah, you have to make dua for your children. You have to make those dua that give me the dua, like, like asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, make them the coolness of my eyes. Like that just has to be for parents. It's just non-stop, right? It's just non-stop making dua for them. The other thing is, is that when you remind them, right, to pray, leave it. Because you will frustrate us. Did you pray now? When did you pray? Okay, you still waiting to pray? Okay, five minutes have passed. Did you pray? Like, I'm aggravating myself, right? Leave it. I've told you to pray, right? When you're home, then it's like, make wudu. You have, from this time to this time, make wudu. Meet me, meet me on the carpet at this time. Right? Then you got, I mean, I mean, being honest, when you're a mother, you're, you're on it, right? So I'm standing here. We're going to the bathroom together. Do it with a smile. Like, my daughter's always, my oldest daughter, she has, you said, why are you smiling and you're, you're, what do you say? You're smiling, but you're fussing at us, right? You're doing it with a smile. Because this is the best way I can do it. I'm doing it with a gentleness because if you move right now, what happens next might not come with a smile. So take it while I'm smiling. You see that, you know, they also train you. My mom always says I was the one who trained, she had eight daughters, but I trained her. You have that child that says, okay. And you know, let me say this about patients. There's a difference between having patients and being someone who's patient. When you are establishing to the McComb of being sovereign, right? This is different because it means that it doesn't run out. Right? There is no, I was patient an hour ago. Right? I was patient last week. No, no, no. When you are in the McComb, when you have reached the station, that this is, this is who I am. Right? I'm from the Saabirin. That means that you have already passed these tests, but you never reached that McComb until you've been tried multiple times to say, I passed that one. I'll be there. I passed the next one. Okay. And I passed the next one. Okay. You keep sending them. I passed the next one. You won't be trying forever. I know that's hard, but they do grow up. They do grow up. They grow up. They won't be they won't be in even in that stage forever. Subhanallah. That's question. Did the brothers have a question? I have four like on the women's side, so I wanted to be fair. Okay. Bismillah. Are there any other questions? No? Here we go. Let's make do it. Inshallah. Allah, we thank you for allowing us to be listed from amongst the Muslims, mold and shape us to be from amongst those who are truly Mu'mineen. Ya Rabbi, numbers to be from the Salihin, but the Siddiqeen. Ya Rabbi, numbers from amongst those who are Qanateen. Ya Rabbi, please envelop us in your love. Ya Rabbi, grant us your cradle of comfort. Ya Rabbi, that never fails. Ya Rabbi, Al-Muhaymin, grant us in our lineage your fortress of protection. Protect us from every harm, from every evil, envious one, from every devil. Ya from every shaitan. Ya Rabbi, in the fitna of Masih al-Dijal. Ya Rabbi, number us in our entire lineage to be from amongst those that are from or from surat al-Mustaqeem and never deviate. Ya Rabbi, save us from every form of hypocrisy. Mold and shape us with the most beautiful of character. Ya Rabbi, the most beautiful of speech, the most beautiful of action. Ya Rabbi, we ask that you please grant us a light from your light. Ya Rabbi, bless us to stand in Nur Muhammadiyyah. Ya Rabbi, grant us proximity to the Prophet, salatullah wa salamu alayhi. And mold and shape us, Ya Rabbi, by his guidance. Ya Rabbi, make us from amongst those who are saved from the torment of the grave and the punishment of the Hawfire, even for the blink of an eye. Ya Rabbi, have mercy on us when the angel of death comes to take our soul. Ya Rabbi, and save him from taking it. Ya Rabbi, all of a sudden, Ya Allah, while we're unsuspecting, Ya Rabbi, Al-Muhaymin, grant us your gentleness, Ya Rabbi, at the moment of death, that we have time to say la ilaha illallah Muhammad the Rasulullah, salallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Ya Rabbi, we ask that you please be gentle with us, Ya Rabbi, when they wash our bodies and lower us into the grave. Ya Rabbi, let it be the Prophet Muhammad, salatullah wa salamu alayhi, that greets us with an embrace, Ya Rabbi, as we enter into the Qabr. Ya Rabbi, let it be the illumination of the Quran, Ya Rabbi, that accompanies us, Ya Rabbi, with the great Malaika. Ya Rabbi, let it be the Prophet Muhammad, salatullah wa salamu alayhi, that pulls us out of our grave on Yomu Qiyamah, Ya Rabbi, after a gentle rest. Ya Rabbi, let it be the hand of the beloved Messenger of Allah, alayhi salatullah wa salam, that we take a drink from at the Haudh. Ya Rabbi, let it be with the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa salam, that we stand in front of you, Ya Rabbi, and on that moment when we stand in front of you, Ya Rabbi, be exceptionally generous and kind with us, Ya Rabbi, Ya Allah, tifu, Ya Rahim, Ya Rabbi, by your gentleness and your mercy, Ya Rabbi, grant us your genital fardos and Allah without reckoning, Ya Allah. Ya Rabbi, we ask that you please handle all of our affairs in the dunya that they may end with khusna al-qatima. Allahumma salli ala sayyidina Muhammad, Ya Rabbi bless us to enter into genital fardos al-ala with him, Ya Allah, by your gentleness and your mercy. Allahumma salli wa salam wa barik ala sayyidina wa habibina wa munana Muhammad, wa na'anihi wa sahbihi wa salam wa alhamdulillah, Ramadan alameen.