 And his messenger, they will be amongst the people, the ones Allah has bestowed His graces upon. Those who truly affirmed and upheld their mission, the martyrs, those who gave their life struggling for the sake of the truth, like Hamza, and those after them were the righteous and righteous people. What an excellent host to be amongst. So what's the key to being amongst that host? Obeying Allah and His messenger. So what better opening could there be? Reminding us to seize and to use these two great keys to paradise. And then he says, So as to proceed. So he says to proceed. O people, listen well to me for I'm going to make some things clear to you as I do not know. Perhaps I will not meet you after this year of mine in this place. So the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, he's already been given indications that his death is imminent. And that came when a little before this address, Hijjat al Wada'a, Surah Nasser was revealed. So when that Surah was revealed, the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, as did Umar, as did Ibn Abbas. They realized that this was a foretelling of the death of the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And then when the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam mentioned these words, Al-Qaqum ba'da'ami hada fimaqi fihada, Abu Bakr radiallahu anh also realized that the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, knew that his death was imminent and he was letting the ummah know but not in direct language. So we don't refer to someone's death directly. We don't say mataful an, say tuwufiya, tuwufiya ful an, so and so has passed away. Even in English we don't go to a person, yeah I heard that your father died. Yeah, he croaked last night. He kicked the bucket. Let's say I heard about the passing of your father, that your father passed away. And so the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, why because out of consideration for the sentiments of the people and not to make something that's painful, more painful. And so the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam doesn't want to pain the ummah. Okay, sallam alaykum guys, I'm going to die in a couple months. So they all dropped dead from sadness and grief. So he's letting them know, perhaps I won't meet you at this place next year. And so those who had inside understood, Abu Bakr understood right away. Ummah, radiallahu anhu, understood. Ibn Abbas, despite his young age, understood, radiallahu anhu, that the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam his death was imminent. And then he addresses them, so he says ayuhannas, or before that. So he's addressing the people at a level that unites us, at a human level. So he didn't say ayuhal mu'minun. What did he say? Because we can spy on the leaders of even nations that are allies like Germany or Brazil. Or Mexico. Because we can do what we do do it. And so technical capability has been divorced from moral and ethical restraint. So the crisis of privacy is really emblematic of one of the great crises of the modern world. And that is the lack of moral restraint. So in other words, there are no higher moral principles that will constrain what we can do. And reduce it to what we should do. What's right, fitting, and proper to do. And so because I can film someone without their knowledge, I'll do it. Because I can put it on YouTube, and it comes from my page. And it'll drive traffic to my page and my Facebook. I'll get 10 more lights. That'll give me 20 lights. So I'll do it. And what about the restraints of the religion? For the wider society, they're gone. Because we can build bombs that can kill millions of innocent people, we'll do it. You know, we don't wear the moral restraints. Because we can genetically modify seeds and make new plants, that we can modify the tomatoes to make them redder. We can modify the bananas to make their shelf life longer. Because bananas, they rot real fast, and then you can't sell them. So we'll put a pig gene in the banana. So it'll look pumper. Well, pumper bananas. Man, that banana looks like a punk pig. If you say that, you should start scratching your head. That's why when the bees are dying off, all of you have heard about the bees are dying. One reason is the genetic modification. The bee comes through the flowers. The bee has been hardwired genetically to recognize by scent or smell or sight out of the bees recognize it. A certain pollen, they don't recognize it and they go away, they don't eat, they starve to death and they die. Pesticides, same thing. We want to kill all the weeds. We want to kill the competitor's crop. So we'll spray roundup on everything. And the Monsanto genetically modified corn won't die. But your organic corn will die. If it doesn't die, once it's cross-pollinated with the genetically modified, it's no longer going to be pure organic. And so because we can do it, we do do it. But we don't think about the consequences, the bees. We don't think about, we don't know the consequences to our health. But because we can do it, we do do it. So as Muslims, the first question we ask is not, can I do it? Should I do it? Because Allah tells us, تلك هدود الله فلا تقربوها. تلك هدود الله فلا تعتدوها. These are the limits set by Allah. Don't come close to them. Don't approach them. Don't go beyond them. So Allah has set limits. And He instructs us not to transcend, not to go beyond those limits. So it's not a question of what we can do. We can eat pork, right? Don't say, yeah, we can. Just answer in your heart. But you know we can physically eat pork, right? We might even like it. Some of you weren't always Muslim. Don't start reminiscing. But we can eat pork. We might even like it. Weren't we to eat it? But Allah said, don't eat it. So it's not a question of what we can do. It's a question of what we should do. But once you throw out those limits, then it just becomes a question of what I can do. It's like I can seduce my neighbor's wife. You know, she's winking at me every time she passes. So there's no moral restraint then. I'm just waiting for him to go on his next business trip. Because I can do something. No, it's a question, should I do it? And not just what are the worldly consequences or lack thereof. He'll never know. There won't be any consequences. No. What are the consequences in the next world? This is how believer approaches reality. This is how we approach our situation. This is how we approach living in this world. What should I do in every situation? What is right and what is wrong? I mentioned previously when Allah mentions in the Qur'an, Shah-e-Ramadan, and Ledy-Uz-Ilaqid, and Huda-Li-Nas, and the United Men, and Huda-Li-Furaqan. So Allah tells us the month of Ramadan when the Qur'an has begun, has been revealed. Huda-Li-Nas, guidance for humanity. Wa bayi-Nati min al-Huda. And so a detailed explanation of that guidance. This is law. Wa-l-Furaqan. And the criterion for distinguishing right from wrong. Ethics. So the Furaqan, you read the translation even, the criterion is the standard by which we determine what's right and what's wrong. So the essence of the revelation is law and it's ethics. It's law and ethics. The two go together. We mentioned last week, and we'll see, Taqwa-Allah. Aqfu-Uma-Yutakhilin-Nas al-Jannah. Taqwa-Allah wa-Husno-Khulq. So what interests people in the Jannah? Taqwa-Allah, mindfulness of the commandments and prohibition of Allah, of Allah, adhering to the law. Wa-Husno-Khulq and good character. Law and ethics. Wa-Bayi-Nati min al-Huda. So the guidance is the whole system. The Bayi-Nati is the law and the Furaqan is the ethics. And the two can't be separated. The two cannot be separated. When we separate them, then as we say, we devolve into a situation where we're governed by what we can do, what we're capable of doing. They say, you can steal. Just make sure you don't get caught. No, you can't steal. The question of, can you get away with it? You know, I was in a situation when I was in early high school. We would go and buy all of our sneakers. Back then, we had Converse All Stars. But they weren't a fashion statement. It was like what you wore to play everything in. You didn't have tennis shoes and cross-traders and boxing shoes and basketball shoes. You just had Converse All Stars. And you only had two colors, black and white. All the other stuff came when they were no longer for athletic purposes, they were for fashion. But so there's one store, I forget the name of it. I went after school one day and I got there late. It was like about 6.10, they closed at 6 o'clock. And they forgot to lock up. And I went inside. Now, here's this poor kid from the projects inside of a sporting goods store. So you know what I did? I went and found a cop and told him they forgot to lock up. And I might have regretted it, but you know, Hamdulillah, I felt good. And now I look back and I say, Hamdulillah, that I did that. Because that's what I, in that situation, that's what I'll meet Allah on. I won't meet Allah like I loaded up. I got some for all my friends, all my boys. And we didn't have cell phones. I went to the phone booth and put a dime in and called up, yo man, the sports store is open. You gotta get down here quick. Clean them out. I went and found a cop. So it wasn't a question of what I could do. I could have swiped a lifetime supply of speech sneakers and football cleats and baseball gloves. This is what I should do. So I did what I should have done. And we should never lose sight of what we should do in every situation we find ourselves in. What is the ruling of Allah in this situation? If we do that, this is part of the trust that the deen involves. In the movement of Allah. So we have a trust. Our children are a trust. What are we doing with them? How are we guiding them? Are we protecting them from all of this facade? Are we letting the television babysit them? Just brainwash them and inundate their innocent brains and their innocent hearts with all of the facade and all of the occult and all of these things that are being pushed, foisted onto the people via the medium of television. Do we let them listen to this good and decent music because we want them to be cool and to be able to relate? Or are we trying to raise them in a way where they'll be conscious of Allah? Conscious of the Messenger of Allah and shield them from these negative influences? Even if it means and show up one day they'll appreciate it. Their circle of friends is very small because we don't watch television so you're not going to have friends with anyone who does because they're just going to corrupt you. So we have to make hard decisions but one day we'll answer to it. If we say I did my best then we and that would be good. But if we didn't do our best we're not going to be able to fake it when we stand before Allah, Ta'an. Wallah al-Musta'an. Ta'an. Will this verse Inna Allah Ya'muqman tawaddu la manatil ahliha wa idha haqamtum bayna nasin ta'akumu bil'atil. Ibn Ta'amiyah says this is an expression of the philosophy that governs the relationship between the rulers and the ruled. That the rulers have a trust that they have to deliver to those they're ruling. So government shouldn't be self-serving. Government shouldn't serve the interest of the strong and the rich and the wealthy. That's what happens now. So the rich people, you know, we want more subsidies for major farming corporations like Monsanto, we mentioned Cargill, Midlands, Archer, Daniels and these big agribusiness concerns. That's what the Farm Bill has in it. And we want to cut billions of dollars to poor people who are getting food stamps. And so that's what they do. Why? Because all these big companies, look when they're here and in Washington State or what are the organs at? GMO labeling. Washington State, right? Why was it defeated? It started out, why in margin people are for the ballot measure? As time goes on and Monsanto and the rest of them are pumping all of this money into these television campaigns, brainwashing people and then they end up losing by double digits. So who gets their way? The rich get their way. The powerful get their way. And the poor people just have to suffer the consequences. This is not a question of the government doesn't have money. More and more money gets directed towards the wealthiest individuals and concerns in society. It goes to Wall Street. It doesn't go to Main Street even though it came from Main Street. It came from the taxpayers. But the taxpayers just poor ordinary people. They don't know how or can't afford to have lobbyists in Washington. Three or four or five for every elected representative. They don't have those connections. They don't have the money to put their commercials on television to advocate for their interests. It's the responsibility of government to advocate for them. After all this supposed to be government for, by, and of the people. Abu Bakr, radiallahu anhu when he was elected as the Khalifa his first speech amongst the things he said ʿadʿayfu ʿadʿayfu fiqu fiqum qawiyu ʿandi ʿataʿakhu ʿakhu ʿaʿakhu ʿaʿakhu ʿaʿakhu ʿalhaq. The weak amongst you belong with me until I take the Right that's owed to him. ʾataʿakhu ʿaʿakhu ʿaʿ. God willing and the one who's strong with you is weak with me until I take from him the Right he owes to others if Allah so wills. This is the philosophy of government he understood like this is a trust this isn't about me it's not about the rich It's about serving the people, and that includes serving the poorest of the people. And when a society neglects its poor people, it's on the way out. This is on the way out. Because we believe in, the Marxists believe in economic determinism. Right? Economic determinism. If you want to know how a society functions, if you want to know the social order of a society, the cultural mores of society, look at the economic infrastructure, and you will know the social superstructure. This is Marxism. We as Muslims, we have what we call spiritual determinism. If you want to know the social and cultural structure of the society, look at the state of the people's hearts, look at their morals, look at their relationship with their creator, and you'll know about what's going on, culturally and socially. You'll know about what's going to be for that people. And when a people disregard their poor people, trample on the interests of their poor people, they're inviting divine wrath upon them. And what kind of spares? So, we should respect privacy. This is, people have permission to record, to organize it. And you can say, listen, this part, ABCD, if you're going to post this, edit that out. If that process of consultation is absent, then a sacred trust has been violated. Because for example, this is a private gathering. We're not talking to the whole world. We're talking to the people here. So, people here understand the context. Everyone here is a Muslim. Understand the context of what we're talking about. Understand the references. Understand if something is literal, or if something involves hyperbole for rhetorical effect. People understand that. People out there might not understand that. And so what people here would take is just a passing thought. Someone out there might take as a conspiracy to overthrow the government. And so, there is a trust that's involved in a private gathering. The Prophet, peace be upon him, mentioned. A private gathering involves a sacred trust. He also said, peace be upon him, Peace be upon him, peace be upon him, peace be upon him. Now, if a man speaks and then leaves, what they said is a trust with those they spoke to. In other words, they're not free to broadcast that. They're not free to broadcast that. And that's mainly in private. This is kind of semi-private. Anyone can walk in. But if you're having a private conversation, it might be with your spouse, your neighbor, your coworker. It involves a sacred trust. And that trust should be respected. And then that should be incorporated into our laws, our doctrine. This is a part of our religion. So the Prophet, peace be upon him, emphasized that trust. One of the greatest trusts, as you mentioned, is money and wealth. That's something we've been entrusted with. Give them from the wealth of Allah He's given you. It's not our wealth, it's Allah's wealth. If you think it's yours, take it with you when you go. You think that car is yours? It'll wait until you die. Someone else is going to get behind the wheel. But Ahmed's car is so nice. Man, this seat is so soft. You're not going to drive that car into your grave and then put the lid on the casket and the car is going to stay. Someone else is going to drive the car. Someone else is going to spin your one. Believe me, they'll get access to it. You think it's in a safety-positive box. If they invent a way to bring me back, it'll be waiting for me. No, it won't. It's going to be gone. It's in a safe. Someone will figure out the combination. Believe me, they'll bring in an expert of the stethoscope. They're going to get it. It's not yours. It's going to go to the car. Someone else is going to live in your house. It might be your children, their families. Someone else is going to be in there. It's not ours. It's Allah's wealth. It's Allah who entrusts us with it. How do we use it? Do we use it for our akhirah? Everything in this world, if we don't use it for our akhirah, is cursed. And this is the meaning. The world is cursed. If we use it for our akhirah, it's a benefit. At dunya matah. It's up to us how we use it. Which of the two? At dunya matah. The world is cursed. The world is something to be utilized. Matah is something to be benefited from. So it's up to us how we use it. What's it going to be? If we use it for our akhirah, it's matah. If we use it for just self-angredisement, just to pile up more and more wealth and haqam uthaqafur hatazurtumun maqabir. So they're distracted by piling up. Piling up the world with all of the world. That's what we're doing, right? We pile up. We used to live in little one-story houses. Now we have two stories. Three stories. There's still only the two or three of us. Husband and wife, one or two children. We used to live fine in the one-story house. Al haqam uthaqafur. Second story. Third story. Hatazurtumun maqabir. Until you visit the grave. Then the reality will be made known. All that was useless. My wealth doesn't benefit me in any way. Unless we spent it in good ways. Then as an edger, that's waiting for us. So, he then talks about, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, riba, interest. Whenna awwala riba. Abdu'ubihi ammi al abbas ibn abdin muttalib. So he says that the interest from user's transactions contracted before Islam is waived. However, you can keep the principle involved. You will not oppress others nor will you be oppressed. Allah has decreed that there is to be no interest. And the first interest to be waived is owned to my uncle Abbas bin abdin muttalib. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, after telling people all of this ill-gotten wealth is null and void. He's not saying, for you guys, but for me and my family, you know, I'm the Prophet after all, so, you know, we have to live. He said, and I'm starting with my own family, my uncle Abbas. Anyone who owes him any interest is void. You don't owe him anything. Just the principle. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So there's a connection he mentions. You won't oppress others nor will you be oppressed. So there's a connection between reba and oppression. Oppression of self, oppression of others. All of the oppression, all of the wars in the system, they emanate from interest. Without interest, you couldn't afford to finance these war machines. You couldn't do it. In World War II, they were selling war bonds. Interest-based. These massive accumulations of wealth by leveraging money, derivatives and hedge funds, and financial instruments. They're all reba-based. You couldn't do it. The prohibition of reba is ancient. So these practices, they're ancient. They're not new. They're a globalized system of finance built on interest. That's new. But in the Bible, interest is condemned in the strongest term. So we'll just share some of that. To give you an indication. If you lend money to any of my people who are poor amongst you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him. You shall not charge him interest. Exodus 22-25. Take no interest, no usury or interest from him, but fear God that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit Leviticus 36-37. So food. So when the Prophet saw the Sun for the interest, and the Qur'an for the interest, it's in food, it's in money. And the gold for gold, silver for silver, not allowed. Salt for salt. I'll lend you two cups of salt, but when you pay me back, you have to give me two cups. It's haram. Flower for wheat for wheat. So like for like. Handful for handful, like for like. It has to be equal with no increase. So it's interesting that in Leviticus mentions food, you shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. You shall not charge interest to your brother, interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. The good man is described. Here's the description of the good man from the Bible. If he has not oppressed anyone, but has restored to the better his pledge, has robbed no one by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing. If he has not exacted usury, nor taken any increase, but has withdrawn his hand from iniquity and executed true judgment between man and man, if he has walked in my statutes and kept my judgments faithfully, he is just, he shall surely live, sayeth the Lord. Ezekiel 18.7 through 9. Okay. He eats at the mountain shrines. He defiles his neighbor's wife. He oppresses the poor and needy. He commits robbery. He does not return what he took and pledged. He looks at the two of the idols. He does detestable things. He lends that interest and takes a profit. Will such a man live? He will not because he has done all of these detestable things. He is to be put to death. His blood will be on his own head. There's a few of the things that the Bible mentions condemning usury and interest. The Dante inherited this Christian tradition. So in his infernal, he puts the ones who deal in interest in a lower level of hell than murderers. The commentator explained why. So we read from Dante. And then some commentary from one of the scholars. One of the Mufassirin of Dante. So he says, once more go back a little to the point. I said, where you state usury offends the divine goodness and untie the knot. Philosophy to one who understands points out and on more than one occasion how nature gathers her entire course from divine intellect and divine art. And if you follow nature, as a pupil does his master, in effect your art is like the grandchild of God. Art here means all of the creative potential of human beings. So art isn't just painting, it's all the work, constructive work that emanates from the divine law. The law of nature is a reflection of the divine law in the Christian theological sense. It's very close to the Muslim sense. And then he said, your art is like the grandchild of our God. For art and nature, if you will recall the opening of Genesis, man is meant to earn his way and further mankind. But still the user takes another way. He scorns nature and her follower art because he puts his hope in something else. In other words, the user doesn't earn his own way through the creative work of his hands. He makes money just sitting back. He makes money from money. And this was considered a violation of God's law. And the foundation of exploiting one's fellow human being, this is why it was considered worse than murder. So the commentator says, Dante puts the users in the lowest sub-circle of the seventh circle of hell with others whose sins are regarded as doing violence against nature and nature's God. Many people have noted that users are placed deeper into hell than violent murderers, violent suicides, blasphemers, and sodomites. Because all of these were considered as going against nature and against God, who's established nature and who's established the foundation for law that emanates. This is natural law from the natural order that God created, both in humans for to love. It's the natural disposition of God as God has created people upon. Let there be no alteration in the creation of God. And so, usury is an alteration in that law. Dante regards users as perverting art, i.e. productive skill, by means of which we are supposed to produce and create and thereby imitate the goodness of God. So we make a house for someone to live in to take shelter from. It's an act of goodness. We make a plow for someone to till their fields. It's an act of goodness. So this is reflection of the goodness of God. The Muslim gives charity to the Wayfarer. Why? Because we are Wayfarers in the world and God spins on us to help us get through. So we're imitating the goodness of God when we assist the Wayfarer to help them move on their way. It merely gives the usury... Dante regards users as perverting art, i.e. productive skill, by means of which we are supposed to produce and create and thereby imitate the goodness of God. Usury is the anti-art. It produces nothing substantial, being just a set of multiplication games with money, and therefore does not really contribute anything to, quote, earning one's way and furthering humankind. It merely gives the illusion of doing so and is therefore a sort of mockery of both human reason and divine providence. Indeed, a sort of universal violence against neighbor, God, and one's own reason. An extraordinarily efficient form of violence by which you do the most damage with the least effort. This is how pre-modern people look at things that are normal now. People, how can we live without interest? So everything that Shaitan introduces and then normalizes, then it becomes a fate of complete. It's an accomplished fact, a done deal. That's a good translation. If you want to know what this fate of complete means, it means a done deal. It's a done deal. You can't go back. You can't get rid of a cell phone. You can't live without it. We lived without it 15 years ago. Life was fine. People were prospering. No one was dropping dead because then we need a cell phone. What's that? Are these things that's going to take over all of your private time 10 years from now? Really? Interesting. A lot of style. So the Quran and Sunnah inherits this tradition, if you will. It's not a good word to say inherited, but continues this tradition that we find articulated in the Bible. There are two major crimes, sins. There's one that's not well-known. I actually forgot it. It's in Hajj-e-Haitami's list of the Qaba'i. But Imam Dhabi doesn't list it. But there are two sins that Allah declares war on the perpetrator. He declares war on the one who engages in interest. And he declares war on the one who transgresses against his awliyat. He's befriended and beloved. That's it. So these must be really, really grave things. So Allah ta'ala says, What is the second one? The first second one. So transgression against the awliyat of Allah. And then Reba. So all you believers, be mindful of Allah and leave off what remains of Reba over and beyond your principle. Leave it. If indeed you are believers. And if you fail to do so, be warned of war from Allah and his messenger. And if you repent, then you can have your principle. You will not harm or oppress anyone, nor will you be oppressed. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. One of the most humiliating. Now think what I will mention. He says sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Qaqa to the messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Aribah 70 hooban. So interest involves 70 degrees of sin. Ahwanuha ka waqa al rajali, ka waqa al rajali ala umma. So Reba involves 70 degrees of sin. The lightest of them, the least of them, is like a man having relations with his mother. That's the lowest. So what is the 70th one? Ahwanuha ka waqa al rajali ala umma. Ahwanuha ka waqa al rajali ala umma. Ya Allah Tief, ask serious stuff for people to take this stuff so lightly. And then he said with the Rewaitin in another version. Ahwanuha ka ladhi yankihu umma. It's the same meaning, different wording. The least of these 70 degrees, the least is like a man who has relations with his wife. One uses a verb, one uses the name, ka waqa al rajali ala umma, ka ladhi yankihu umma. Nassallahu ala afya. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah and His Messenger established an interest-free economic order. You can't say you can't do it. The Muslims did it. And there was prosperity. People prospered. There was prosperity. Because Muslims took it seriously. Muslims took it seriously. So what today do you think people can benefit? There is a book highly recommend. Actually it's an online, it's an online, it's an extensive online article called The History of Usury Prohibition by an individual by the name of Alastair McIntosh. This is a quote from his book. He says in particular it is the belief of the authors that individuals or organizations in the West with money to invest, especially those which like to consider themselves as being ethical, might have rather more to learn from Islam than is generally acknowledged. But first society needs to be reconcienced, this conscience size, getting regained a consciousness to the relevance of the IHO usury debate in modern times. So what the authors are saying is that the Muslims have something to teach us in this realm. But before we can even begin to learn what the Muslims have to offer, we have to gain the consciousness necessary to realize the significance and damage that interest in usury causes. Poor people, I went in one of these check cashing places several months back. I was trying to send the Western Union. Safeway the machine was broken and next door was the Rite Aid, their machine was broken. Next door. So they said go to the check cashing place. They have Western Union. So I went to the check cashing place. I'm glad the machine was up. But I had to wait because there were people in front of me. So I started reading the conditions for these payday loans. There was one loan. You know how much the interest was for the loan? Take a guess. 40%. You're close in a sense. What did you say here? 40%. You're both close. But take your 40% and multiply it by 10. It was 400%. 400%. So this machine who is working at Burger King and gets a $300 loan because his car broke and he can't pay his rent and fix his car with the money he makes flipping burgers at Burger King. He gets a $300 loan at 400% interest. Misses a few payments. He's gonna be in debt for the rest of his life. It's criminal. This is what's going on. It's criminal. And you know what made it possible? Any interest is bad. That's why some of the biblical verses say usury and interest. Interest was interest. Pure usury was exorbitant interest. And those who distinguished between the two. There was a usury law in this country. There was a ceiling. You couldn't have any interest-based transaction that exceeded the ceiling. You know who got rid of the ceiling? It wasn't the Republicans. Bill Clinton. You know what the ceiling was? Take a guess. Nine percent. Nine percent. Clinton got rid of Glass-Steakle. Banks couldn't be finance houses. Finance houses couldn't be savings banks. Insurance companies couldn't be. That was the Glass-Steakle Act. Clinton got rid of it. It paved the way for the big collapse. But before the big collapse, we were exorbitant amounts of money. Clinton got rid of the usury ceiling. So anyway, Muslims have something to offer. But we have to hold on. We're like the last man standing. And we're like about to fall. We were punch drunk. We were almost out on our feet. But we're still standing. So we have to take the water, pour it over our head, wake up, and get back in the ring and start throwing some haymakers. We're the last man standing. As a community, those who seriously take seriously the prohibition of interest. A lot of you are renting houses because you don't want to pay interest. A mortgage. A lot of you are living in a small house because you bought it cash. You couldn't afford one big enough house for your family. Why? Because you take interest and prohibition seriously. When you hear a war from Allah, fathunubi harbin min Allahi warahsuli. You shake. You get nervous. So may Allah give us Taufiq to stand on and be strong and hold on. And to set an example for others. Because if we fall, then who's someone like Al-Ster Makintash going to look towards? So this is going to go back to the trust. This is the trust that we're holding for humanity. If we squander the trust, we're lost. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and these are, you'll notice virtually everything that's been mentioned so far. That will be mentioned subsequently is a reflection of either a verse of the Qur'an or a Hadith sallallahu alayhi wa sallam so you mentioned that the heart of you and your desires and your desires a Hadith means the Muslim brother and Muslim does not understand does not say anything the Muslim brother and Muslim does not listen to the Muslim the haram, the blood, the blood all of these teachings are reflecting just restating and a final advice and counsel to the old man to humanity at large the message of the Qur'an and Sunnah. We'll stop here and after the event we'll leave the couple questions Any questions over here? Yes sir? It's me here to do the rain prayer the prayer of the rain there are some Christians it rained they sent me comments they were happy the rain happened It's raining now it's supposed to rain tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday sallallahu alayhi open the gates sallallahu alayhi we received some even cards people thanking us none name of the article again excuse me history of the prohibition of interest by Alistar McIntosh yes it's all prohibited taking it, using it and there nah nah nah it's all the same yes but here say if you have a bank account and an interest you should give the interest away anonymously you shouldn't have it as if something you want credit for just give it away there is an opinion in the Hanafi school that you can take interest in the men that aren't governed by Muslims but it's a minority opinion I think it's the opinion of a Muslim a Muslim an opinion of one of the men but it's rejected by the others and they're all Muslims I think it's maybe Muhammad but it's rejected by Abu Halifa and the other Muslims the other Muslims Abu Yusuf but the other schools don't give that fact at all it's Karam so we can open with questions insha'Allah insha'Allah I'm not going to be late I wasn't late today insha'Allah Peace be upon you Peace be upon you alright so any questions from last week because we left so much over questions, comments so I think the last thing we discussed was our Yusuf interest so after mentioning the relieving of interest and then starting with his own family peace be upon you peace be upon you peace be upon you he then goes into the issue of blood so he says peace be upon you peace be upon you peace be upon you when I was Allah so he says the blood retribution of pre-islamic times is remitted and the first kind of blood is that of the son of the son of Abdul Maltalib who was a relative of the Prophet who was killed by members of Bani Huzayl and so the Prophet said there is no one who can just go out and kill someone from Bani Huzayl in retaliation then he says all of the institutions of pre-islamic days are avoided other than the institution of custodianship of the Kaaba and providing water to the pilgrims this is the real small this is what a small this was small when I was growing up now small is like this and a large is 64 ounce big gold the straw is fatter than that yellow wire there is like a water hose so they can sell you more sugar the farmers whose corn is being said eyes can sell you more high fructose corn syrup and people can get bigger and bigger look at yearbooks from the 60s like high school and college yearbook everyone is skinny look at yearbooks now don't you might get discouraged alhamdulillah for the small alhamdulillah so it says all of the institutions of pre-islamic days are avoided by the institution of the custodianship of the Kaaba that are providing water to the pilgrims in other words those state with the people who are operating them during the time of jahidiyyah and then he said some murder is subject to retribution while manslaughter such as death resulting from a stick or stone that will ordinarily not kill is governed by blood money compensation owed to the family of the deceased is 100 camels whoever gives or demands more is displaying pre-islamic behavior have i not delivered the message all are bare witness so the prophet in this passage sallallahu alayhi wasallam is consolidating the new order that islam has established by providing institutional structure both human and physical institutions the human institutions such as the eradication of blood fuels so those are institutions people in organized way behaving in certain ways as groups so he's saying one thing you can't do you can no longer just kill people in these back and forth blood fuels here we have the famous case of the hadfields and the moqois some of you have heard of that the hadfields and the moqois who have you heard of the hadfields really nelson the successful life we're living that is feuding like the hadfields and the moqois so anyway or maybe kenny rogers i'm not big in the country music but one of those guys so and like or more in recent times the bloods and the crypts for the norteños and soilenios these street gangs that you kill one of them they kill any one of your guys it doesn't matter if that person was responsible or not so you're walking down the street you're up on the wrong color koofy or you're up on a crypt koofy i'm in trouble and the blood see you and you don't have your red koofy in your pocket you can't switch up real fast so they just shoot you so this is what the prophet sallallahu sallam is ending pre-islamic ignorance that leads to oppression and loss of life then the physical institution such as the institution of providing the water the custodianship of the kaba those remain but a lot of the others were ended then he mentions the murder so we talked about the sanctity of life but here he's mentioning that if someone and this is a very modern approach legal approach if someone, so here we have manslaughter if someone kills him this is why we translated it i.e. aghair al-amad unintentional killing as manslaughter in other words if you threw a rock maybe that big at someone you wanted to hit them maybe you want to hurt them but you didn't intend to kill them but the rock, it hit them just right right in the tip they just expired that would be manslaughter why? because so he said manqutina bil-asad wal-hajar so a stick or stone that wouldn't ordinarily kill so a little rock or a rod you might smack someone with a thin stick and you hit them just right at the base of their neck and they expired that would be manslaughter in that case no one can demand that you're killed in retribution so that would not be a capital offense as we say in our legal system but it would be a crime that we make that demanded the dea or 100 camels and there's a very important point that the prophet makes here peace be upon him and that is whoever increases for mansada whoever gives more demands more it's from the days of pre-islamic ignorance so a deeper lesson in that is that our religion is based on taqwa it's based on mindfulness of Allah of His commandments and prohibitions it's not based on doing more when we're not asked to do more definitely not doing less when we're asked to do more so we do what Allah ta'ala asks so by way of example there's no virtue in delaying breaking the fast in Ramadan but the sunna is once you are sure the sun is down so that doesn't mean when the calendar says like 813 so 813 the sun is here on by the calendar sunset, this is sunset so you should add a couple of minutes because this is sunset with this now this is the horizon this is the sun okay there's some yellow that's the sun this is when the calendar says sunset this is where it's actually sunset you should wait a couple of minutes the sun is completely below so you should wait a couple of minutes well once you wait a couple of minutes you look and you're sure the sun is down, you hasten to break the fast there's no virtue they bring you the water in a couple of days I'm a tough guy I'll wait till after tarab I'm strong no you hasten to break the fast that's from the sunna or the sahur in the morning you don't delay the meal or put it off well you know, I want to fill it today so I'm not going to eat any breakfast before fasting there's no virtue in that there's a virtuous to take the pre-dawn meal which makes the fast more challenging because you have to get up early so some people is not that they want to be tough and they skip sahur they want to sleep for an extra two hours and so they skip it say you know what you can find right before I go to bed I'll drink a lot of water and I'll set my clock for 6.40 and the sun's coming up at 7 and so I'll wake up and I'll pray ma'am pray fajr and then I'll just fast that's not there's no virtue in that the virtue is in following what a law and its messenger has instructed us so in this case 100 camels for manzada for women ahlul jahlia if you give more or demand more you know, my son was really precious, I know you didn't mean to kill him but we want 200 camels and the man ahlul jahlia person who does that is from the people of pre-islamic ignorance I know you're poor and it's hard on you so you can give us 75 no, what the prophet said sallallahu sallam fihi mi'atul b'ayil so, Allah ta'ala bless us to realize and to appreciate the wisdom in that, another thing going back to the blood fuels is that the tit for tat mentality, the prophet sallallahu sallam is reminding the people, you don't have time for this nonsense because the deeper it goes the tit for tat goes, they get one of ours we get one of theirs, it becomes harder and harder because it requires more and more time and more and more energy and more and more exertion at any level even international, you see nations get involved this tit for tat, tit for tat and ah ends up escalating demanding more and more lives more and more money, more and more suffering from from innocent people so the prophet sallallahu sallam is ending that mentality so big things and small things and our personal relations don't allow yourself to get caught up in a cycle of tit for tat retaliation you know they you stopped on my toe the next time I see the brother I'm going to stop on his toe he probably didn't even see your foot but he's thinking at such a petty level say next time I see the brother I'll give him a nice hug and if he has a problem then he'll have a bigger problem because someone he doesn't like is hugging so that's your revenge but we don't have time brothers and sisters our life is too short and we should be focusing on a lot if I'm thinking about a lot I didn't even feel my toe being stepped on I just go home and it's swollen but why I was thinking about a lot so I was gone I didn't feel anything Quna'Allah would add to that be with Allah don't worry about people and in that sense don't worry about who stepped on your toe or didn't give you a gift worry about who gave you a gift so you can thank them but who didn't give you a gift and you gave them a gift and they never gave you a gift so next year I'm going to give them a gift when Eid comes no Eid gift for them no they didn't give me one what's happening your mentality is going down it should be going up up up Allah Allah Allah you should be thinking about Allah because we never know when we're going to meet them we never know when we're going to meet Allah we could think we could be in perfect health perfect health and Allah protect us the earth could swallow us you guys hear about the Corvette Museum the earth a big sink hole in Kentucky swallowed all the cars we heard about it driving here half of the museum just a big sink hole opened up and swallowed the cars it's happening more and more the guy in Florida right sleeping in his bed the earth opens up it can happen to us perfect health nothing wrong and the earth just swallows us something just falls on our head we don't know so we shouldn't assume we have so much time left in this world that we have the luxury of spending on petty insignificant things we have to be with Allah we have to be with Allah so after mentioning those things and then another point that can be made here he says the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the usury he eliminated any interest that was old to his own uncle he started with his family and the same thing here so he started with the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he started with his own family his own relative he didn't start with okay this is a loop policy this is a new policy but it's for you guys not me he started with his own family so to lead by example this is very important for people in leadership leaders have to be exemplary meaning examples for people to follow so exemplary from example so a leader doesn't just talk as they say doesn't just talk a leader has to walk the walk otherwise they become hallowed and the people don't take the person seriously so if you're in a position of responsibility you have to make sure you start with yourself don't be ashamed don't be ashamed don't be ashamed like him don't be ashamed like him don't be ashamed like him don't forbid a characteristic and then you come with that which you're forbidden don't be ashamed like him it's a shame on you it's a great shame on you if you were to do that so the Prophet SAW when he forbade the blood retribution he started by forbidding his own family from retaliation when he forbade interest he started by forbidding anyone to give the interest they owed to a member of his family so and this illustrates that in Islam all of us from the top the Prophet SAW at the very top what would be the lowest if you will because no believer is low the lowest member of the Ummah we're all we're Amr al-Mursaleen we're Amr al-Mursaleen we're Amr al-Mursaleen we're Amr al-Mursaleen so Allah has commanded the Prophet's messengers with what he's commanded the believers with so we're all under the same commandments we're all under the same prohibitions and we should never lose sight of that we shouldn't be people we get up in front of people and admonish them and with wonderful words and then our actions betray our words there should be a consistency between the actions and words there should be a consistency between leaders and followers there should be total consistency so we're like one united hand all together so then after that he mentions something about shaitan shaitan is our enemy so he says and he says so he says to proceed or people shaitan has the spirit that he will be worshipped in this land of wars however he is pleased to be obeyed in other ways in your seemingly insignificant actions so things you think are not that big it's not that important so beware of him for the sake of your religion he says and and and and and and and and and and so beware of shaitan for the sake of your religion shaitan is at war with us he has his doops and he realizes he's not going to get most believers even the average believer even weak believers with grave transgression so shaitan is not going to get anyone here to eat a ham sandwich laced with bacon smothered in swine it's not going to happen it's not going to happen he's not going to get most people to eat pork he's not going to get most people to drink there are most Muslims that drink they all read them of that of course they have it most Muslims don't drink even some Muslim countries they have liquor stores most Muslims don't buy the alcohol they just walk by and mind their business they have some weak people most Muslims don't drink shaitan is not going to get most Muslims to drink he's not going to get most Muslims to eat pork etc but he comes in other directions where people aren't so vigilant and so we have to be on guard against them so one of the ways that we're on guard is to take the religion seriously Allah Ta'ala when he tells that he says don't follow the steps of shaitan because he is an enemy or you believers enter totally into Islam two things some and leave some I like this I don't like that religion is to challenge us with some things we might not necessarily like so we're to be if everything is totally consistent with us we should say either we've arrived at a high station or we should examine what we're doing because we might be distorting things so that they're easy and light and I don't like this so it's really not part of it then oh this isn't really a part of Islam oh this would go against fundamental principles of human rights so that can't be a part of Islam and so this isn't and that and then what we're left with is everything that we like to go with that's a part because some things we should have to really be challenged by Allah says he's test us surely we're going to test you with something not overwhelming amount but something of fear loss of lives and fruits give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere so we have to persevere through the trials he's created death and life to test you best indeed so a test is something that challenges us a test is something that challenges us so the religion should challenge us it should set a higher bar we want to lower the bar some of us so the bar is here we want to bring it down here so we can skip over it instead of straining and strengthening our legs and improving our techniques high jump right so we want to bring the bar down you don't get medals for bringing the bar down you don't get distinction for bringing the bar down you get distinction for jumping over the bar when it's high inshaAllah that's a gold medal jump he jumped 7 feet and whatever inches as he brought the down bar down to 5 foot and then jumped over it so we should let leave the bar where Allah ta'ala placed it and strengthen ourselves so that we're capable of jumping over the bar those are the people that make a difference in the world we were at the avarles how many of you got the avarles did you stay for Dr. Leonard satan I bought his book and just he's documenting the slacker culture of boys and boys meaning men who still act like boys who is this Dr. Leonard Sax S-A-X like saxophone so he's just documenting some of the reasons that increasingly young men don't mature and then get into a slacker culture more and more staying at home with their parents not having the motivation to go out not having the inspiration to succeed in school and the point is Muslims we can easily become religious slackers and not people who challenge ourselves I want to learn Arabic I want to I want to fast voluntarily sometimes challenge ourselves you know I do my five prayers I fast Ramadan which is good that's the minimum requirement for gender and we want everyone in gender we're not saying people who do that they won't go to gender but who are the people that have cultivated within themselves the inner strength to go out there and assist others to assist others you have to have an access generally speaking you can't give what you don't have so there has to be an access of faith an access of spiritual fortitude for that to spill over to others and people are hurting people are suffering so if we just okay you know take it easy Allah Ta'ala reminds us over and over in the Quran Islam is not a cruising religion you want to cruise you're in the wrong religion I'm not saying leave I'm just saying you're going to be disappointed brother said if you want to cruise become a Christian not knocking Christians no don't leave but you're going to be disappointed because this is not a cruising religion this is a religion of struggle strive in the way of Allah as should rightfully be the case in other words as much as you can because we'll never fulfill the right we owe to Allah the right that's owed to Allah haqqa jihadi so just do the best you can give it your all who watched the back he's chosen and made no difficulty for you and your deen we pray five times it could have been fifty times and musa aley salam at first during the mi'raj used fifty times but it was reduced to five and then the five were given the multiplied ten times over ten times over so they're like fifty it's not difficult we fast Ramadan what if we were commanded to fast the whole year or fast a month and skip a month that could have been the deen wa ma ja'ala aleykum fi deenim al haraj it made no difficulty for you and your deen millatabikum ibrahim is the way of your forefather Abraham to remind us we have a spiritual lineage we're the descendants of great people we're the descendants spiritually of prophets so we have muhatum wa minim the probably most of us it probably may be a say it or two here but most of us we're not related to the prophet al-salam by blood there might be a faruqi here but most of us aren't related to Umar there might be siddiqui here maybe a lot of siddiquis but most of us are siddiquis or faruqis or sayyids shurafa but spiritually we're from the family of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam Allahumma salli ala sayyidina muhammad wa aalihi wa sahdi wa salam aalihi what this meaning is includes us millata abikum ibrahim this is the way of your father ibrahim so he most scholars say Allah some say ibrahim the majority of Allah has named you Muslims so this is a name what we received rather from Allah it's honoring it's from Allah what Allah gives is honorable don't dishonor what Allah has given who wa sammatum musnimeen min qabbu wa fi hada previously in the previous scriptures and in this Quran liyakona rasul shaheedan alaykum so that the prophet would be a witness against you wa takoonu shuhadaa ala nas and you will be witnesses against humanity your witnessing is in the akhirah it's in this world also as an example but primarily in the akhirah if anyone says yawm al qiyamah our prophet didn't bring us the message we were witness that the prophet did bring them the message we were witness against them and us were to say i didn't know what to do i didn't know how to dress i didn't know what to eat the prophets of the salam were witness against us wa yakona rasul shaheedan alaykum wa takoonu shuhadaa ala nas wa aqeemu s-salat wa atu zakat wa atasimu billah wa maulakum wa ni'am al maula wa zakat and hold fast to Allah trust in Allah wa atasimu billah wa atasimu billah wa atasimu bihablillah to the Quran its teaching but wa atasimu billah have trust in Allah Allah is not going to betray you brothers and sisters Allah is not going to betray us Allah is not going to abandon us. Allah is not going to forsake us. Allah is going to test us but we meet the test with dignity and courage and patience and The test a lot of the tests are going to come through shaitan So if we give ourselves to the religion and we're serious about the region And if we refuse to follow the way of Sayyid and his rebellion and his arrogance Well, that's a typical to what is shaitan in the hulaqum adhu mubin So how does shaitan undermine our religion in ways that we might not perceive Allah Ta'ala reminds us in the Quran we'll give a few examples. So Allah Ta'ala says as shaitan And he commands you with that which is good and indecent will allah. Yeah, he I do come off ira. I mean what fuck that will allah What's an Aleem and Allah he promises you? Forgiveness from him and from his bounty and Allah is Most expensive in his bounties most knowledgeable of where to pay the two positive How does shaitan use the threat of poverty to undermine our religion? So number one He tells us not to spend when when we Really don't have too much So when is there's a lot he leaves us alone. He knows we'll spend but When there's not so much. No, you better hold on to that kind of he's bad lose your job Hold on to that money Those Muslims encourage you to give all your money away hold on so Do we trust in shaitan or do we trust in Allah if we hold on? Then our trust in Allah as you wrote it Because Allah and his messenger tells us to spend Shaykh Hamza made an interesting statement recently said the Quran is One is it's a book about fundraising And I thought about when you start reading the Quran that the second thing Allah third thing Allah says about the believers they spent and They didn't you mean one of the way people you came on us a lot What my mother was a kind of a million fuck on this you go through even back around over now We're spinning spinning spinning and I'm looking at my mother I'll talk to you. I'm coming at you. I don't feel he will a cool it will a shit I won't go to the cafe room with volume Spend all you believers before day comes and you won't be able to spend no over or at least in Baqra alone 5-6 references to spinning from the very beginning then throughout the Quran and one of the verses on spinning is the following. So Shaytan says you know you only have this little bit of water so if someone asks you for some water you better hold on to it you don't have the big gulp you have the little dixie cup so you better hold on to that second one you might get thirsty talking makes you thirsty so I hold on or you hide it so no one sees it what does that do one of the verses in spinning you will never attain righteousness until you spin from what you love until you spin from that which is going to make you say ouch so if Shaytan can get us to be stingy and not to trust in the promise of Allah and not to trust in the promise of the Prophet Muhammad so the gates to righteousness are blocked and when the gates of righteousness are blocked then we become open to the indecent and the perverse Shaytan threatens you with poverty and commands you with that which is violent and indecent so we fear his threat of poverty and we stop spinning and then we don't spin and the gates of righteousness beer are blocked and the gates of fashya are opened up and it could be avoided by trusting the promise of Allah Allah promise you forgiveness or footwear and his bounty his grace and Allah controls everything Allah controls everything you know the mashallah mca nice center when was this center when was it built when was it purchased it was purchased right at the time of the financial collapse and Allah gave the believers the money and we had zaytuna college man he got his building in berkeley when was it purchased it was purchased after the financial collapse after all this economic trauma because Allah Allah's in charge not wall street Allah controls the wealth not wall street so Allah says spin i will give you spend i will spend on you and shaytan says don't spend you will keep your money shaytan only promises deception he promises deception you you say oh no hold on to your money you keep it Allah can take it anyway and give it to someone else who'll spend it and we see it happening all the time another way people humanity eat of that which is in the earth and don't follow the footsteps of shaytan he is unto you and about him you are what you eat eat of the good and pure so when when when the man prays to Allah and then his prayers and answered even though he has all the ostensible causes all the surface causes for prayer being answered and it's at the end of mentioning the pure and Allah ta'ibah will I Allah's good and pure he only accepts that which is good and pure then at the end of the hadith he mentions the man utilo suffer he's traveled a long way so he's disheveled and covered with dust so he looks like a miskeem you look like someone who's poor and impoverished the the dua mustadaf mustajab dua mustafir mustajab utilo suffer stretches his hands to the sky one of the adab of the prayer we had the rain prayer the Prophet ﷺ he did the rain prayer and he stretched his arms up until the people could see his armpits he's seeking Allah it's from the adab of the prayer Ya Rabb Ya Rabb to call on Allah it was wububiyah it's from the adab of the prayer he has all that why isn't his prayer answered the first thing he mentioned his food is haram Allah ta'aluhu li say his food is drink his clothing are haram how is his prayer ever going to be answered so this is a way shaitan gets to undermine the people don't worry about how the money you're buying your food don't worry about if the food is pure enough all right if that animal is treated properly and raised properly and properly slaughtered that animal wants you to eat him that's what he's been put here for he doesn't want someone who's a sinner to eat him because once you eat him part of that animal physically is going to be part of your blood part of your cells how is our blood replenished how are cells replenished he's physically going to be part of us he wants to be part of our prayer he wants to be part of our fasting he wants to be part of our recitation of Quran then there's spiritual qualities what about an animal that's in some feed lot and cramped in with thousands of other animals knee deep and manure antibiotics because there's so much bacteria in the manure you have to pump the animal antibiotics some of the some of you see on the it was on the that did some of you see like that's probably no one did but someone might have it was on the bbc website anyway the story on the bbc website was about the disappearance of the vultures in india anyone see that this is called the kind's best dust men or something like that in any case you know why the vultures disappeared in india because they were giving the cows a vaccination that was poisoned and when the vultures were eating the dead cows they were getting poisoned and dying now what about people who eat in the cows i know a lot of people in india don't eat cows but what about those who do the the poison they're giving the cow poison to protect it that's killing the vultures and so that the story so now you have all of these dead animals rotting all over the place and spreading all kinds of disease the vultures actually eliminating these carcasses and preventing the spread of a lot of diseases so the point is we're pumping the animals with all of these chemicals antibiotics and poison then we're eating those animals hormones we're eating those animals we're drinking that milk so what is it doing to us and there's they say that uh 250 americans out of 310 million have candida bacteria or bacterial culture which causes obesity lack of focus fatigue etc it all goes back to what we eat and one of the main reasons mentioned the sugar the starch and the diets that are put in by the come the sugar sugars are poisoned they did experiments in the 40s and 50s they fed dogs diets of sugar they died and the sugar companies covered it up now they're pumping unfathomable amounts of sugar into our diet it just has this glucose fructose high high high fructose corn syrup sugar itself aspartame uh aspartame they they had they they uh manipulated the food and drug administration to get it approved and it caused cancer and tumors and laboratory rats test after test after test and this is what we're doing to our children this is what we're doing to ourselves Allah says eat up the good and pure and don't follow the footsteps of Satan so so we eat we eat impure things and it it affects us spiritually we are what we eat we're eating products not food and we'll stop it we'll continue next week but just reflect on this as human food is cooked with with love a product is made by machine and so just as with all of these things in many instances if we overindulge we become extensions of our machines we become extension of that production process that produces our food because we are at the end of the line you start with inputs then there's an output then there's consumption we're the consumers what does that do to us spiritually that's a question we should ask ourselves Allahumma s.a.m so if you have questions drop them down because we have to pray and uh we'll start I asked this earlier I'll ask more emphatically next week if you have any questions so anything you might be thinking about so let's ask Allah to give us tawfiq subhanahu wa rahmanahu wa rahmanahu wa rahmanahu wa rahmanahu wa rahmanuhu wa rahmanuhu me wa sallat wa sallam ala sayyid al mursaleem sayyidina Muhammad wa la alihi wa sahbihi asalim tastiman katira abana laka al hamd tama yamma ghiri jali wa jali riawim sultanik subhanika la ahsyit ala alaykan ala fulafnika ala nefsika Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka ala sayidi Muhammad wa fahmina wa atua al-a'litim Allahumma alamna mayan fa'una wa nfa'na lima alamtana wa zidna ilm al-u'amad bi qabla khali salli wa jikr al kareem subhanahu rabbika rabbal aizzati hama yasifoon wa as-salaamun a'lil mursaleem wal hamdu ilahi rabbal a'lamin insalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh So last week we hasty concluded, so that being the case, there any questions? Yes, so what topics does the prophet choose for his final lecture and why? The topics we're going through, so why does he choose? Because I think these are the most vital issues in terms of maintaining a society that is infused with God consciousness. In other words, these are the things not building an economy based on rebab, not having a social system that's characterized by this. So not building an economy based on interest, which opens the avenues to tremendous inequalities in terms of wealth distribution. With no rebab there's going to be a basic levelling, if you will. You couldn't have billionaires without interest. And without interest these disparities of wealth both nationally and internationally wouldn't be possible. The mechanisms of war we mentioned you couldn't finance a modern war machine without interest. It's all interest based. The financing that makes it possible because there's such a tremendous financial investment that goes into maintaining, moving these mechanized armies. Or even now with the satellite communications and laser guided bombs and these electronic digitalized networks of targeting and all that takes tremendous amounts of money. You couldn't do it without rebab. So and then the revenge in human affairs that sets brother against brother in many instances. So the Arab tribes are all Arabs who are engaged in these blood fumes. And then what we were talking about, Shaytan, we see now in our day and time the rise of the occult. Look at this, you guys saw in fact, this 19 year old girl that was murdering guys luring them on the Craigslist. She says they stopped counting how many people they killed. They were part of a satanic cult. And they just wanted to kill somebody. And this is what Shaytan, everything that Allah is a messenger have condemned. Shaytan tries to get people to engage in it. So Allah and his messengers are condemned gambling. Shaytan wants you to gamble. Allah has condemned alcohol. Shaytan wants you to drink alcohol. So we create between you enmity and hatred with gambling and alcohol. Allah tally condemns men wearing gold. Shaytan wants men to wear gold. Allah tally condemns men who imitate women and women who imitate men. Shaytan wants everyone to get into this androgynous mess of feminizing men. Women come in complaining like we can't find good women. And women complain we can't find good men. And one reason is the feminizing of men. Men who don't want to take responsibility. Men who don't want to assert themselves and be virtuous. So yeah, men they want to wear skinny jeans. So everything Allah tally sanctified life. Shaytan has denigrated the value of life. And a lot of these rituals require human sacrifices. A lot of these kids you see on the side of the milk carton were kidnapped by Satanists. Allah tally dignified women. Shaytan hates women and wants women to be defiled through pornography and all of these things. So in condemning and warning against Shaytan, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is again laying the foundations for a society that's going to be permeated by God consciousness. What's the first thing he said? O siqum ibadullah bi taqwa allahu wa ta'ateh. I am minus you. Advise you, O servants of Allah, to be mindful of Allah and to obey him. And what does Shaytan wants? He wants you to rebel.