 Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. In the name of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, most gracious, most merciful. Alhamdulillahi wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasulillah. All praise is indeed due to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Blessings and salutations upon the greatest of creation, the most noble of all prophets of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. Sallallahu alaihi wa salam, his household, his companions, may Allah bless them all, bless every one of us, grant us goodness, remove us from the darkness and keep us, inshallah, within the light that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala has chosen. My brothers and sisters, the days of supplication, they are not all the same. The times of supplication, not all the same, but that does not mean we should delay a supplication. I've spoken about this in a previous episode. I want to say to you that the last third of the night is definitely more likely for your dua and your supplication to be accepted. On a Friday, you repeat the dua throughout the day because there is a specific hour and there is difference of opinion as to exactly what that hour is, wherein the dua that is made shall always be accepted by Allah. So every few minutes, you repeat this dua for the whole day, you stand a great, great chance. Also, when you are in Makkah, the dua is more likely to be accepted. When you're in the Masjid in the house of Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, you're in a blessed place. When you have just obeyed Allah, when you have just done a good deed, there is a greater chance of that dua to be accepted. But there is one that a lot of us don't know. When something bad has just happened, that's a good time for you to call out to Allah with the best of duas. When you've just been oppressed, you've just been robbed, you've just had an accident, you've just lost a child, you've just suffered a great loss. May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala have mercy on all of us. That is a time when dua is accepted as well. So we need to realize this and call out to Allah. Today, I want to go through a beautiful hadith again. It's a little bit long, but it has in it supplications that encompass our entire living. The Prophet SAW said, Allahumma lakal hamdu kulluhu. Now he's starting off by praising Allah. Like I told you in the past, when you want to call out to Allah, you start off by seeking forgiveness, praising Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, declaring his greatness, sending blessings and salutations upon Muhammad SAW. When we seek forgiveness, we are now on par, meaning we're on the same page. We're looking forward to what Allah has bestowed upon us and we will ask him. So the Prophet SAW said, Allahumma lakal hamdu kulluhu. Oh Allah, all praise, every single aspect of praise is due to you. You own it and you deserve it and it belongs to you. Allahumma laqabida lima basatta. Oh Allah, there is no one who can hold back what you have given, which means you're in control. Wa la basita lima qabatta. And oh Allah, there is no one who can give what you have held back. Subhan Allah. Imagine this is all the praise of Allah. It's a way of praising Allah. Allahumma laqabida lima basatta wa la basita lima qabatta. Oh Allah, there is no one who can hold back what you have given. And there is no one who can give what you have held back. Subhan Allah. No one will guide the one whom you have misguided, which means if you have chosen misguidance for someone, that's it. No one can guide them. Wa la mudilla lima hadaita. And there is no one who can misguide the one whom you have guided. We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us guidance and we ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us from those who appreciate that guidance is in the hands of Allah. It's a dua we make every single time we pray. And even more than that, ihdina sirat al mustaqeem guide us to the straight path. What a beautiful dua of the Quran. And we ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to keep us constantly guided, no matter what anyone says or does, we will never ever be misguided if the Almighty has kept us upon that beautiful path. May Allah keep us on the path. Ameen. Then the dua continues. Wa la mu'atia lima manaita, similar to the previous one. Oh Allah, no one will give what you have blocked, stopped. Wa la mania lima a'aita. And there is no one who will block or stop what you have given. Wa la mukarriba lima ba'atta. And no one can bring close that which you have kept at a distance. When Allah has kept something far away, no one can bring that close. Wa la muka'ida lima qarrabta. And there is no one who can create a distance between us and that which you have kept away. Or there is no one who can create a distance in that which you have kept close. In that which you have kept close. Let me say that again. Wa la muka'ida lima qarrabta. And no one can create a distance in that which you have kept close. Now this is very broad in meaning. Anything that Allah has kept close, no one can distance it. Anything that Allah has kept distanced, no one can bring it close. Whether it's a relationship, whether it's physically something, if Allah has kept someone far, if Allah kept something very far, very difficult, etc. It's Allah in absolute control. All this is a prelude to the dua. All this is going to is the run up to this dua that we want to ask Allah. We are praising Him. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, O Allah, praise belongs to you. All praise belongs to you. No one can take away what you've given. No one can give what you've taken away. No one can guide whom you've misguided. No one can misguide whom you've guided and no one can block what you have given and no one can give what you have blocked. O Allah, no one can bring close what you have made far and no one can make far what you have brought close. Here is the dua. O Allah, give us from your blessings. O Allah, give us your blessings. Bless us. Basically, we're asking for the blessings of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. After all of this, we're just saying, O Allah, bless us. And we want your blessings. And we want your mercy. So we're asking Allah for all these things. O Allah, grant us your blessings, grant us your mercy, grant us your virtue, grant us your sustenance. We ask this from you, O Allah, because you are the one whom all those qualities we made mention of apply to you. Ya Allah, Lord of the worlds. Then we continue to say, O Allah, I am asking you. Now, this is Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam asking. We will also ask Allah with the same wording. Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was given this and insha Allah, we will be given this too. O Allah, I ask you, O Allah, I am asking you the gifts that are constant and continuous, that do not go away, that are not distracted or that are not sidelined and they do not deplete. They neither go away, nor are they depleted. So we ask you to grant us the gifts and we ask you to bless us in a way that it does not go away from us, nor is it ever depleted. Now, obviously, the ultimate gift is Jannah. The ultimate gift is Paradise. It will never go. It will never be depleted. But even in this world, we are asking Allah, O Allah, grant us that which is everlasting. When you give us something, let it last long. You know, today we have marriages that come to my mind. When people get married, we are very worried because the chances or Subhan Allah, the number of people who are actually divorcing is becoming bigger and bigger. May Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala protect us. You know, it's a large number and it's becoming larger. The percentage of divorce has increased. So this also is seeking Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala's mercy to let things be durable, continuous, to let them be long, everlasting and so on. So we are asking Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala this ultimately it is Jannah Al-Firdaus. Allahumma inni asalukan naeema al-muqeema Alladi la yahulu wa la yazulu. O Allah, I seek from you that naeem, those gifts, the virtue and the blessings that will be everlasting. That which does not go away, nor is it depleted in any way. Then we continue Allahumma inni asalukan naeema yawm al-ailati. O Allah, I ask you to provide for me on the day of difficulty, the day of hardship. Naeem, ni'matun is a boon, a gift of Allah, the provision that Allah provides us with. So we are saying O Allah, grant us, provide for us on the day that we don't have much, on the day of poverty. Al-ailah would refer to poverty as well. It would refer to the day of hardship, difficulty when we don't have much. So O Allah, on that day we ask you to provide for us. Wa al-amna yawm al-khawf. And O Allah, grant us peace, grant us security and peace, both inner and outer peace, the day of fear. The day when there is a lot of fear, that is the day of qiyamah but even before that, any day of fear. We are saying O Allah, inni asalukan al-amna yawm al-khawf. O Allah, grant me the peace, the day of fear. You know, everyone else is scared and we are calm. We are relaxed. It happens because you call out to Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was the most calm of them all. When the people were worried, he was calm. He knew this is in the hands of Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Why do I need to be worried? Allahumma inni a'idum bika min sharrima a'taitana wa sharrima mana'atana. O Allah, I am seeking protection in you from the evil of what you've given us and what you have kept away from us. When Allah bestows you with something, sometimes it's a test. It can come with some evil in the sense that it can come with harm. You know, Allah blesses you with children. It's a fitna. Allah blesses you with family members with wealth. There is evil that could be within that because shaitan can entrap you through a gift that was initially from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala's gifts. But in it there was a test that we failed sometimes. So we're saying, oh Allah, I seek protection in you from the evil of what you've given us and from what you have from the evil of what you have kept away from us. Allahumma habib ilayna il-iman. Oh Allah, make beloved to us iman. In a previous episode, we mentioned this part of the hadith and we actually said that it is derived from the Quranic this in Surat al-Hujurat when Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about this. So Allahumma habib ilayna il-iman. Oh Allah, make beloved to us al-iman. Wa zayyinhu fi qulubina and beautify it in our hearts. Wa karrih ilayna al-kufra wa al-fusuqa wa al-isyanah. And oh Allah, make detested to us disbelief and sin and transgression. Wa jaalna min al-Rashideen and make us from among those who are righteous, rightly guided, those who guide and are rightly guided. Allahumma tawafana muslimin. Oh Allah, grant us death as Muslims, as submitters. Wa ahyiina muslimin and resurrect us as Muslims, among the muslimin. Wa al-hiqna bi s-salihin. And oh Allah, join us with those who are righteous and pious as well when we are resurrected. Unite us with those who are righteous and pious. Ghaira khazaya wa la maftounin. Without being disgraced nor being tested in a way that we fail. So this is a powerful dua of the Prophet SAW. I want to repeat this entire dua being such a blessed season. Imagine if Allah were to give this to us. If we repeat this so many times, I'm sure Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will definitely hear and he will give it to us. Let me repeat this beautiful dua. Allahumma laka al-hamdu kulluhu. Allahumma laqabida lima basatta. Wa la basita lima qabatta. Wa la hadiyah lima al-adlalta. Wa la mudilla lima nha'dayta. Wa la mu'atiyah lima man'ata. Wa la man'a lima a'atayta. Wa la muqarriba lima ba'atta. Wa la mubaida lima qarrabta. Allahumma bsuta alayna min barakatika. Wa rahmatika. Wa fadlika. Wa rizqika. Allahumma inni asaluka. An naeem al-muqeema. Al-ladi la yahulu wa la yazulu. Allahumma inni asaluka an naeema. Yawma al-ailati. Wa al-amna yawma al-khawfi. Allahumma inni a'idumbika. Min sharrima a'atitana. Wa sharrima man'atana. Allahumma habbib ilayna al-eemana. Wa zayyinhu fi qlubina. Wa karrih ilayna l-kufra. Wa l-fusuqa. Wa l-isyanah. Wa ja'lna min r-rashideen. Allahumma tawaffana muslimina. Wa al-hiqna bsalihina. Wa ahyina muslimina. Wa al-hiqna bsalihina. Ghayra khazaya wa la maftuneen. SubhanAllah. It's an amazing dua. And I really ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us this dua and to make us from those who have jannahul firdous through his mercy and through his power for indeed for him it is not, it does not displace anything for Allah to grant every single one of us whatever we wish and whatever we want. That is Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. SubhanAllah. We move on to another supplication of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Again it is about increase and protection from decrease. So in this hadith which is also narrated in Sunnah at Tirmidhi, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is reported to have said Allahumma zidna wa la tanqusna. O Allah grant us increase and not decrease. O Allah grant us increase and not decrease. Zidna wa la tanqusna. O Allah give us more and don't give us less. Wa akrimna wa la tuhinnna. O Allah honor us and don't disgrace us. O Allah grant us honor, protect us from disgrace. We only make these dua sometimes when we have a major problem and we are worried about being disgraced from you know something might happen and perhaps we might be disgraced make the dua all the time. Allahumma akrimna wa la tuhinnna. Allahumma zidna wa la tanqusna. Allahumma akrimna wa la tuhinnna. Wa akrimna wa la tuhinnna. O Allah give us don't block it from us. O Allah give us and don't block it from us. The first part was O Allah grant us increase and not decrease. O Allah honor us and do not disgrace us. O Allah give us and don't block it from us. We're talking of goodness here. Goodness in every single way. Give it to us and don't block it from us. Wa akrimna wa la tuhinnna wa la tuhinnna. Oh wow, that's powerful. Akrimna means O Allah give us preference and don't give preference over us. Now we as human beings are taught that when people are in need and we are in need, we should try our best to meet the needs of the people. Even if it means for us to give preference over ourselves to others. As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about the Ansar and Allah says you threw me on for see him. Wa lo kana bihim khasasah. They used to give preference over themselves. Even if they needed that thing. We've heard of so many stories where the Sahab radiAllahu anhum the Ansar gave away what they needed and they gave away the water they needed. They gave away some of the wealth that they needed and so much that they needed. So Allah praise them. But in this dua that we're speaking about right now. We're talking about the blessings and the mercy of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. We want the mercy. So we're trying to tell Allah that oh Allah don't leave us out and get to someone else. But we want that mercy. Please grant us the mercy. You know when it comes to jannah tul firdus. We're all on our own as much as we make dua for everyone else, but we want to be there. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us. So this is why we're saying Give preference to us. Wa la tuathir alayna and don't give preference over us when it comes to guidance. We want to be guided. We want to be the first to be guided. This is why in another verse you're talking about Isma Ibrahim alayhi salam. Musa alayhi salam. Wa ana awwalu al-mu'mineen. Wa ana awwalu al-muslimeen. Oh Allah, I'm happy that I'm the first of the believers. I'm the first of the submitters. These are beautiful du'as, beautiful statements because it's an honor to be the first who was guided. The first who came to Allah. You have more deeds. So this is why we say, oh Allah, give preference to us. You know, in these matters here, we would like preference and don't prefer over us. So you leave us out. Wa riddina wa ridd'anna. Make us happy. Oh Allah and you be happy with us too. That is a powerful thing. You know, the day of Eid comes twice a year. On that day of Eid, it's a day where we give charity. It's a day where we give part of the meat sometimes when it comes to Eid al-Adha, you know, the sacrifice. We give Eid, we give Sadaqat al-Fitr when it comes to the Eid of Fitr. But it's a day given to us by Allah as a celebration for the worship that we have engaged in for that season. If it's in the Ramadan or just after Ramadan is because of the fasting and the tarawih and the recitation of the Quran and so much of the acts of worship that we've been engaging in. If it is the Hajj, then it's because of the Hajj. It's because of the season known as Dhul-Hijjah, the first days of Dhul-Hijjah, the blessed days, the Ibadah that we've been engaging in. And so at the end Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala gives us a day of happiness. The problem is that day of happiness that Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala has given us. We make everyone happy but Allah, we make ourselves happy but Allah is not happy with us because number one, the way we dress. Number two, the fact that we miss our Salah. Number three, the fact that we commit sins on that day thinking, it's a day of happiness. I can do what I want. Many people meet up for immoral activity with people whom they're going to commit immorality with. That should not be the case. We should never allow that to happen on the day of Eid. More so on the day of Eid but as it is any other day, we should be conscious of Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala's command and instruction. So here we're asking Allah in this beautiful dua that says, Oh Allah, Allahummarda, no, Wa'ar'dina wa'ar'da'anna. Wa'ar'dina wa'ar'da'anna. Wa'ar'dina wa'ar'da'anna. You could say it that way. In fact, it would be more correct to say wa'ar'dina instead of wa'ar'dina because that Hamza, there is a rule of the Arabic language. So wa'ar'dina wa'ar'da'anna. Oh Allah, make us happy wa'ar'dina wa'ar'da'anna and be happy with us. We don't just want to be happy. We want you also to be happy with us. What's the point of Allah making you happy in this world and your happiness is so limited, so negative, so small and it's all about minute small things that really don't help. I'm not interested in being happy at the displeasure of Allah. People get happy to sin as well. People get happy to do the wrong things and they're saying, Oh, I'm extremely happy. I'm very, very delighted but they don't even worship Allah and they don't even obey Allah's instruction and they become evil people sometimes because of their habits and because of so many other factors. But to themselves, they're very happy because they drank alcohol because they might have gone to the clubs and won something in the casino. They might have won the lottery. They might, you know, something might have happened. So they're happy, but Allah is Allah happy. That's a question. So this supplication, we learn a lot from it because while we're asking Allah to give us, we're also asking Him not to decrease. While we're asking Allah to honor us, we're also asking Him not to disgrace us. While we're asking Allah to grant us or to give us, we're asking Him not to block us. While we're asking Allah to grant us preference, we're asking Him not to prefer over us. And while we're asking Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to be pleased with us, we're asking Him also. No, to please us. We're asking Him also to be pleased with us. So these are both aspects. It's easy to have just said one, but the beauty of the words of the Messenger, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, are such that nothing is left out. Imagine if we only said, Oh Allah grant me increase. Oh Allah, honor me. Oh Allah, give me. Oh Allah, give me preference and oh Allah make me happy. I mean to us, we would have been happy. We would have been excited, but there is a possibility Allah may give you, but it's not good for you. And then there is a decrease in a different way, or perhaps Allah might give you and then take it away from you. Perhaps Allah might honor you and then disgrace you. Perhaps Allah might give and then block. Perhaps Allah might Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala might give you preference and then there's no longer you being preferred. Perhaps Allah might make you happy, but He won't be happy with you. So in order to cover all of that, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has taught us such a beautiful, beautiful dua. It is so amazing. And I truly ask Allah to grant it to us in this beautiful, beautiful season during these beautiful days and nights of this lovely, lovely month. We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to accept it from us. We repeat. Allahumma zidna wa la tanqusna wa akrimna wa la tohinna wa a'atina wa la tahrimna wa a'athirna wa la tu'thir alayna wardina warda anna. Birahmatika ya Ar-Rahman Rahimin. Normally, you know, when you're asking Allah and you've just completed the dua that is the sunnah, it's good to say through your mercy, oh you who is the most merciful of those who have mercy. Birahmatika ya Ar-Rahman Rahimin. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala truly have mercy upon every one of us. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala bless us during these days and nights. And may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala grant us the best of the rest of this particular series. There are only two more episodes remaining. Insha'Allah, we meet again. I'll say this again. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.