 We begin with the thanks and the praises of Allahu Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala declaring openly and truthfully Alhamdulillah. We thank and we praise Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for allowing us to come on this blessed day of Yomul Juma'ah, for he has selected us individual by individual to be in this blessed gathering. And if he had not shown his mercy and his favor upon us, there is nothing that we would have been able to do to be here. And so our very presence and existence of being in this very gathering, for that we proclaim Alhamdulillah. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us in the Qur'an, a verse that we hear every week. O you who believe, have taqwa of Allah. Be people who are aware of Allah at all times. Fear Allah when it is appropriate to fear Allah and love Allah in every moment and with every cell in your body. And be amongst the Sadiqeen. Be amongst those who are truthful. So we must ask this question, what does it mean to be amongst those who are truthful It means to be like them. Be truthful like them. Be people of truth and do not be people of falsehood. Be people of truth and do not be people of deception. Be people of truth and do not be cowards. Be people of truth and be courageous. Truth in this time that we live in has been discarded and treated and it is treated like it is nothing. Everyone who you encounter is trying to either lie to you or to deceive you. It is very rare to find someone who is completely truthful, especially when we engage with those people who do not share our faith, who do not have an idea of recompense in the hereafter. There is no consequence to their lies. And so we must be aware that we need to be people of truth and we need to surround ourselves with the people of truth. Unfortunately this demonic presence of lying and deception has become widespread. But this should not come as a surprise to us because Allah SWT told us و يريد الشيطان أن يضلهم ضلالم بعيدة That Shaytan desires deeply wants you to be led astray and far astray. But far astray from what? Far astray from the truth. He wants you to be guided away from the truth. And so we look to our tradition, we look to our Allah, we look to our Nabi SAW and those people that surrounded him and we see that they belonged to the truth. If we began with the companions surrounding the Prophet SAW, the best of creation after the Prophets, the best of man after all of the messengers that was sent was Abu Bakr radiallahu ta'ala anhu. And so it is appropriate that he deserved the best of titles. And so what is the title of the best of men after the Prophets other than As-Siddique, the truthful, the one who establishes truth, the one who chases after the truth and rejects all falsehood and rejects all deception? When we talk about our faith, iman, how do our scholars define iman? We throw around the word iman, but what does iman mean? They say iman is a tassdiq to affirm truth, to affirm reality, to witness reality and to accept it in one's heart. When we look at the scholars of our tradition, one of the greatest is imam al-muhasebi and one of the statements that he says that's very short but very concise. He says wa'lam know that there is no path to gain closeness to Allah other than the path of truth. When we look and begin to ponder who is Allah, we encounter the name al-haq, the real, the reality, the truth. He is and there is nothing other than him. So over and over and over throughout our tradition we encounter this theme of truth and reality. And so now if we look at our condition, if you look at every single evil that has existed from the beginning of creation until the end of creation. Every single evil, you can identify that that evil exists because of its opposition to the truth. Begin with shaitan. You see that he denied the truth that Adam al-salam has given a rank over him. And so what does he do shaitan? He promises to Allah that he is going to stand on the straight path and misguide us from the straight path so we also do not follow the truth. If you look at Fir'aun, he denied the reality that he was mortal. He denied that there was something greater than him. If you look at Abu Lahab, the verses come down. All he had to do was even lie and say I believe in Muhammad but even that he could not do because he irrigated himself over the truth of revelation. In our times what are the truths that we are denying? What are those things that we are turning away from? The most simple and most basic truth of reality is that Allah is the supreme creator and he is real. How many of our youths are being deceived into thinking that Allah does not exist? What a bold-faced lie that they throw against you? What a foolish of a lie that you don't have a creator? What nonsense? It's incredible that people believe that there can be no God. What ignorant and stupid people these are? That the signs of God are brighter than the sun in the midday sky and you're foolish enough to believe this lie that God does not exist. God does exist. Hear it now and say it proud. La ilaha illa Allah and following that absolute declaration that we have no doubt about in our hearts that every being testifies to this truth we say Muhammad al-Rasool Allah. What a fool would look at the life of the Prophet and say this person is not a messenger of God. What fool would look at the beauty in the sunnah of Nabi Kareem sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and not witness anything but mercy? What fool would say the name Muhammad on his lips and not have his heart melt out of love for the best of creation? Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is truth. Should we be people who irrigate ourselves and deny this truth of Allah and his messenger? Do not be of those people. Do not be of those people these basic truths that you were created with la ilaha illa Allah Muhammad al-Rasool Allah. Never let that go. Or perhaps it's some other truth that we don't believe. Perhaps the truths that we are scared to face are the truths against ourselves. Are those things that make us look weak? Are those things that make us look like we're less than? When we fall short, do we accept that we are sinful? Do we accept that we failed? Do we accept that we need to try better? Are those the truths that we deny? Allah SWT says in the Qur'an that be of those people who stand up for truth and justice witnessing before Allah even if it is against yourselves. You made a mistake. That's okay. But take responsibility for that mistake. Own that mistake. Don't turn your back away from that mistake. Don't give up on the truth because only a coward gives up on the truth even if that truth is against yourself. Be brave enough and courageous enough to say I failed but I'm going to do better. I'm going to try again. Or is it perhaps a parent looking at his or her child and how many times parents come to me and they say it's not my kid, it's his friends, it's his influence, it's what he's being exposed to, it's what she's being exposed to. Parents, we need to come to the reality that yes my child too can make mistakes but I need to be there at the receiving end of that with open arms, accepting their mistake, teaching them, helping them grow and showing them love throughout that process so that your child can be supported in standing up for the truth when it goes against them. So that your child learns what it means to own up to his or her responsibilities. Even if it's against yourself, even if it is against your parents, even if it is against your relatives. So we must be better. What does it mean to be better? We must be truthful. And so we should not look for truth in this world that is against truth. In a world that says that there is no truth, rather we should look for truth in al-haq al-mubin, the true one who is clear. And we should look for truth in al-nabi al-kareem, sallallahu ta'ala alayhi wa-sallam. And so I leave you with three tasks. I leave you with three tasks to chase the truth, to accept the truth, to drown yourselves in the truth. That after we finish this prayer, first you will be truthful to Allah. First you will be truthful to Allah and you will raise your hands to Allah. And that sin that you are committing because every single one of us sins, you will tell Allah, help me get out of this sin. I accept that I am weak and I accept that I commit this sin. Ya Allah, take me out of this sin. That's task number one. Task number two is find your family member, whether it's your parent or your child, your brother or your sister or your spouse. And go and tell them whatever argument that you had because we're humans and we argue with our closest family members, those are where most of our arguments are. Most of our arguments are with our parents or our siblings or our spouses. Go and sincerely tell them I sincerely forgive you for the sake of Allah and I sincerely love you for the sake of Allah and hug them and kiss them. And cry in their arms if you can. And number three, promise yourself that from this day until next Friday, you will not be caught in a lie. You will not be caught in deception. And then from that Friday onwards, you will never be caught in a lie and you will never be caught in deception until the end of time and until the end of your life.