 Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah SWT for His infinite blessings. I've been reflecting on this for a few of the khutbahs that I've been given and for me, I think it is a great place to start. When we think about the verse, that if you were to enumerate the boundings and the blessings of Allah SWT, that you would never be able to count them. And we can think of many blessings, but at times I feel that we overlook one of the greatest blessings, which is this blessing of life. That He SWT, in His infinite mercy, in His infinite rahmah, in His irada, in His qudra, in His will, has brought us from a state of non-existence into a state of existence. In Surah Al-Insan, Allah SWT mentions, Has there not come a time among human beings when He was not even a thing mentioned, where you and I were not even a thing mentioned? But from the will of Allah SWT, He has brought us into a state of existence. I was listening to a lecture the other day. In the scholar, she said that statisticians had created an algorithm in which they calculated what was the statistical percentage that a human being would be born in the time that they are born, which is right now, with the DNA that they are born with. And she said that the calculation was 400 trillion to one, that it's a 400 trillion to one chance that you are born in the time that you are born in right now. And if you were to enumerate the bounties of your Lord, you would not be able to enumerate them, bringing us from a state of non-existence into a state of existence. How could it be that this is just some random chance that we are here? What I look at that is the miraculous nature of Allah SWT's desire for each and every single one of us to be here at this time. Then I thought to myself, how could they even calculate 400 trillion to one? Because that means that they would have to have had determined every single possibility that brought my parents together. And brought their parents together. And brought their parents together. And the circumstances that prevented the things for them from meeting other people. Only Allah SWT can determine this. What I take from it is that each and every single one of us is a miracle sitting here right now. From the desire of Allah SWT and we should not think of ourselves of anything other than that, of that miraculous nature. And then as I said from the mercy of Allah SWT that we are not running around in this world trying to figure out why we are here asking that question. Who is my Lord? What is my purpose? Where am I going? That He, Alhamdulillah, by blessing us with Islam has given us a path to answer those questions. Has given us a messenger, SAW, to show us in the human form that way to His pleasure, SAW. And as we begin to think about things in this manner then perhaps we will see ourselves in our relationship towards Allah SWT in a different meaning. There is a lot to deal with right now. We understand this and we know this. This pressures both internally and externally with regard to Muslims. But the reality is the state in which we exist is left up to us. What we determine it to be is what it will be and what do I mean by that? What I mean by that is the incredible opportunity that each and every single one of us is given by Allah SWT as mentioned in the Hadith Qudsi. As short perhaps as this hadith may sound it is incredibly profound. That regardless and irrespective of whatever the situation is outward, whatever it seems like is happening on the manifest there is the reality of Al Haq Allah SWT. And he says in that hadith that I am as my servant thinks I am. I am as my servant thinks I am. The oneness for happiness and joy is on us. Allah SWT has already created us and guided us and given us Islam and given us iman to act upon it and then allowed us to make the choice of how we will feel. Of how we will take in all of this ebb and flow that we have seen historically happening time and time and time again. Yes these are difficult times but the ummah has passed through difficult times. One million people or I'm sorry it said that there were yes a million people killed in a week when Baghdad was raised to the ground. In a week that's without the type of technology that exists today for how human lives are taken. Can you imagine that? So the ummah has been through dark times. This nation has been through dark times. But the determinant is with us of how we will respond to that. And I will respond to that and I will be as incredibly liberating. It's incredibly liberating. And then the fight is all of those external factors that will prevent us from having the phalaah that Allah SWT talks about. Having the joy that Allah SWT wants to talk about. That Allah SWT mentioned. Come to success, come to success. Alhamdulillah we heed to that call coming here and we thank Allah SWT for that. We thank Allah SWT for that. I just want to share a few notes with you. A few thoughts of something that I was talking with one of the faculty members. One of the Sheikh Abdullah, Abdul Hamid. We are talking about the zikr. The zikr that we read after the Salat. So there are many of Qar. There are many forms of zikr that we read after the Salat. But one that is mentioned is that we read Subhan Allah 33 times. Alhamdulillah 33 times. And Allah Akbar 34 times at the end of a Salat. And we know this. And we do this. But in my opinion he had an incredible insight into something. He said why did Allah SWT teach the Prophet SAW to read them in this order? Why the Subhan Allah first? And what he shared with me in my opinion is something that is profound. Insha Allah we will find meaning in it. He said that the Subhan Allah coming first is this idea that when we look out into the creation of Allah SWT, we are absolutely in a state of astonishment. And we are bewildered by it. Subhan Allah. When we look at these mountains or rivers or whatever it is that we see in this world, we look at it on one level and we say Subhan Allah we're bewildered by it. But then there's another level. And that second level is a level of appreciation. Alhamdulillah. So now I look at that same thing. And I look at that river and I say Alhamdulillah for that river that is flowing, that is bringing the aquifer so that we can have water so that it will have grass, so that it will eat the cows, will eat the grass so that I can have it. I understand this whole cycle now in a different way. So now when I look at that river and it went from Subhan Allah, from bewilderment and astonishment, it now comes to appreciation. And what does Allah SWT say about appreciation? And when you show appreciation and gratitude to what I have given you, then I will increase you. May Allah allow us to be people that are not only enamored, masha'Allah, by His creative abilities, because some people get stuck just at that, they are enamored by this world. But what we're saying is no, continue. Go further. Go into a state of hamd and go into a state which He said the last and final state is what? Allahu Akbar. Complete celebration. Complete celebration. So let's talk about very briefly each one of these points here. Subhan Allah. It comes in verses of the Qur'an. Ibn Taymiyyah says that the command to glorify Allah by saying Subhan Allah also implies declaring Him to be above every fault in shortcoming and affirming the attributes of perfection to Him. Declaring Him to be above any fault and venerating Him. Sabbih. This means that Allah is free from all faults. That's the glorification of Allah, which we do not prescribe to anybody. Which we do not prescribe to anybody. And if you look at this, the first time that we see the Subhanaka that comes in the Qur'an is when the angels are responding to Allah in the challenge that Allah swt puts out to them when He says that He has given Adam the names of all things. When He has given Adam the names of all things. And then He says to the Malayka, Inform me. أم بيوني بأسماء هؤلاء إن كنتم صادقين. Tell me the names of these things. Tell me the names of these things if it is true that you are informed of these things. When the Malayka say, قَالُوا سُبَحَانَكَ لَا إِنْ مَلَنَا إِلَّ مَا عَلَمْتَنَا إِنَّكَ عَنْتَا إِنَّكَ عَنْتَنْ عَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمِ العَلِيمِ الْحَكِيمِ The all-knowing and the wise. The all-knowing and the wise. And what did the angels say to Allah swt, they said, Glory be to you. We have no knowledge except for that which you have taught us. But the initial response is سُبَحَانَكَ. That's the point that I want to make. Their initial response is سُبَحَانَكَ. And then again, when do we find it? اللذين يذكرون الله قِيَامًا قُعُوُرًا وَعَلَا جُنُوبِهِمْ We are thinking about the creation of the heavens and the earth. Our Lord did not create this. Those that glorify or make the Zikr of Allah swt قِيَامًا وَقُعُوُرًا and standing up or on their sides or lying down meaning that the scholars said, if there is no other state that a person can be in, either you're standing up or you're reclining or you're lying down unless you're able to levitate or something like that but that's another tefsir. But these are the states meaning that in all of those states that's when a person is remembering Allah swt in all of those states. And what do they do? Thinking about, contemplating about this world contemplating about it, thinking about it and using it as a means to increase them in their Iman and what's the next thing that it said مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذَ بَالْتِلَنْ You have not created this in jest you have not created this in play, Subhanak Subhanak glory to you So we're again at this state of bewilderment that we're just astonished by the creative majesty of Allah swt Masha'Allah And then this ayah moving now into the Hamd It's a longer ayah and I'll read just the last part of it when it's talking about people of the inhabitants of Jannah, the Hamd So Hamd now is what as we said Hamd is the praise, the showing gratitude to Allah swt This Hamd So first we have this bewilderment and then we have this appreciation if you will Appreciation for all things that are given to us وقالوا الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا ما كن لنهدري لولا أن هدان الله لقد جاءت رسول ربنا بالحق ونود أن تلكم الجنة أورثتموها بما كنتم تعملون That Allah swt mentions here that the inhabitants of Jannah will say الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كن لنهدري لولا أن هدان الله The first thing that the Alhamdulillah All praise the appreciation to Allah swt Who has guided us to this This meaning Al Islam And we will not be guided if he did not guide us So showing appreciation not just for the things that we have That's a material level And perhaps you've heard me say this before The difference between a material view And a material world And the view in the spiritual world is like this A material reality is a thing that I am this physical being That contains a soul So I look at all things in a material plane But the spiritual view is to look at the reality That I am a soul which is contained in this body And now I will look at things spiritually The physical things are only secondary But the soul is given the primacy The soul is given the primacy The spiritual reality is given the primacy Because it's not just about things Let's look at this du'a Beautiful du'a of the Prophet All of the du'a of the Prophet S.A.W. are beautiful But let's look at this one in particular The du'a that he reads when he gets up to Hajj When he gets up for the night prayer We'll read it in Arabic first And then I'll read the translation after He says Rabelabad O Allah to you is all the praise ووعدك الحق وليكائق الحق وقولك الحق وجنة الحق ونار الحق ونبيون الحق ومحمد صلى الله عليه وسلم قلحق وسعاد حق والحق اللهم لك أسلمتوا وبك آمنتوا وعليكتوا وكالتوا وإليك أن ابتوا وبك الخاصمتوا وإليك حكمتوا فغفل لي ما تقدمتوا واخرتوا and it continues on to the end the first thing he does when he's getting up and making these duas to Allah it's all about praise it's all about praise but it's not about praise for material things it's orienting us to the Akhira that's what he is constantly doing he's constantly orienting us to the Akhira over and over and over again when he gets up the first thing he says all praise us for you you are the possessor of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them and all praise is for you are the possessor of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them and all praise is for you are the light of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them all praise is for you you are the king of the heavens and the earth and all praise is for you are the truth and you are the truth and your promise is truth the meeting with you is truth the word is truth paradise is truth hell is truth the prophets are truth and Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's truth, I surrender my will to you and I believe in you. That's that, that's that hamd. That's an appreciation that he has guided us to all of this. So when we sit after that salat, it is not just something as simple as alhamdulillah or subhanallah wa alhamdulillah wa Allahu akbar. Let's look at them at a deeper level. What is that thing that I'm saying Subhanaka for right now when I'm making this 33 times? What are 33 things that I can think of right now in my life that I'm saying Subhanaka for? What are 33 things in my life that I'm saying alhamdulillah for? What are those things for that glass of water that has quenched my thirst all the way through this home that I've got to the children that I have, the life that I have, this degree that I have, for the future that I have and for the fact that you have put me in the ummah of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam where Musa alaihi wa sallam and the B that a quarter of the prophet, a quarter of the Qur'an is mentioned about, a quarter of the Qur'an is written about Musa alaihi sallam that he asks Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when he sees the reward of the ummah of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam the ummah that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has brought you and I to alhamdulillah he asks Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be a member of the ummah. What did I do? What did I do to receive that honor that a prophet such as Musa, Kallam Allahu Musa tekliban who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has spoken to, asks Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be in the ummah and Allah chose you. And Allah chose you. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Ilahi illa Allah wa shar'u anna Sayyidina wa Habibina mula anna Sayyidina Muhammadin wa la alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Al-ibad Allah, wa dhikru kummi taq'u Allahi subhanahu wa ta'ala. Wa dhikru kummi kawlihi Sayyidina Muhammadin sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wa sallam haith yakul it taq'u Allah haith ma kuntum. Fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wherever you are. Wa dhikru kummi kawlihi Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Wa dhikru kummi sharifim mekan mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa la alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam haith yakul it taq'u Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala fi l-Quran kireem. Inna Allah wa mada'ikatuhu yusalluna ala nabi. Ya ayyuhal ladina aminu sallahu alaihi wa sallim utasneema. Allahumma salli wa sallam wa barik'a ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ala Sayyidina Muhammad. Kama barrakta wa sallaita ala Sayyidina Ibrahim wa ala Sayyidina Ibrahim. Inna ke anta hameedum majeed. Alhamdulillah. From that astonishment and bewilderment to the maqam of appreciation we then find ourselves with Allahu Akbar in the maqam, in the station of celebration. When does this Allahu Akbar something that we are ordered to do? When does it happen? Happens at the eid. It happens in the eid khutba. It doesn't happen in this khutba. We have the takbirats of the eid. Why do we have the takbirats of the eid? Because it is a celebration for something that we could only dream of. A celebration that after the arafah, after the hujjaj have left the arafah that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala never will turn away the dua of the supplicator. So all of the supplications that people have been asking for all of the supplications that the people have been asking for all of the desires that they had to be forgiven of their sins that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has forgiven them. So what is the command there to do? It's to celebrate. How do we celebrate? And the shame of it, the shame in our day and age is how this beautiful celebration is being twisted and being used to take innocent lives. The beauty lies in the celebration of the ridh law of the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and nothing else. As much as people want to claim it, it remains true to its essence. Allah is the greatest. And again just a few or an ayat, the ayat that we know about Ramadan So this ayat and it continues and it goes on here this month of Ramadan it is at the end. It's this last part right here and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't want to make things difficult for you and he wants you to complete the number of days it's talking about the days that you would have been fasting he doesn't want to make things difficult to you he wants you to complete these days and that with that completion of the Ramadan that you magnify here or you celebrate Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala i.e. by saying the takbirs for having been guided so that we can be grateful to him subhanahu wa ta'ala that's that reality. That's that reality. And then again connected with the eid with the slaughter the sacrifice of that lamb that happens What does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say? Again here in closing it is neither their meat on that sacrifice it is not this physical act of sacrificing but the act of taqwa that we would sacrifice our wealth and our time and following in the way of our father ibrahim and our prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam that we would sacrifice for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but as he said it's not the meat it's not the blood that reaches Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala it's the taqwa in our hearts and no one can judge us on that and no one knows what it is no one knows what that reality is it's a secret between the abd and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala it's a secret between the servant and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we ask Allah to make us of the muhlisin and what does he say here and like that he has allowed these animals to be subjugated by you so that you will glorify Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so that you will celebrate Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for what he has guided you to for what he has guided you to may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the reality of the celebration of Allahu akbar may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow our astonishment and bewilderment of him be turned into a beautiful means of appreciation Allahumma rahmah al mu'mineen wal mu'minat al muslimin wal muslimat al ahya'i minhum wal amwati ya rahmah al rahimin Allahumma ifta'a alayna fathan qareeban mubinan wasyaan fathan yulik bi karamika wal rahmatika ya rahmah al rahimin Allahumma kun ma'ana wal ati kun alayna abudan ya rabbil alameen Allahumma ridn al adinik raddan jameelan ya rabbil alameen Allahumma man yureen khayr la hadi umati muhammadiya fa wa fiql al kuli khayr wa man yureen ghayr al daalik fa khudhu aqt al azeez al muqtala ya rabbil alameen Allahumma arhamna fawq al ard wa taht al ard wa yawman akum bayni yadeik ya rabbil alameen Allahumma nawwe kaburana wa kulubna bil quran al kareem wa krimna bitilawati kitabika anna laywa atraaf al nahar ya rabbil alameen Allahumma warza Allahumma warza ankhul faira shidin abibakr al umar wa oothman wa alayh wal hasim wal hussein wal fahdim al zahra wal azwaj al nabi sallallahu alayhi wa ala alayhi wa sahbihi wa sallam tahrirat umahad al mu'mineen wa an sahabati ajma'een wa tabi'een wa tabi'een bi ihsan illa yawm ad-din wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahi la ila azeem aibad Allah aqeem al salat yurhamni yurhamakum Allah