 I imagine that all of us have, at some point in the last two years, or what feels like two years, but give or take a year and some months that we are living in quite interesting times, to say the least, and times that are challenging. We face a global pandemic, we face social and political upheaval, both here domestically as well as abroad. We see what is happening in parts of the Muslim world, in our own home countries, and we recoil at the fact that there is so much affliction, calamity, devastation that is occurring. And at times, I imagine that all of us, and this is human nature, to feel despair or despondent at what is happening in the world around us, what is happening in our own communities. And every time we think that we've turned a corner, there's yet another challenge, right? Rather Mounir spoke about the Delta variant, right? We thought a few months ago, a couple of months ago, that perhaps the days of the pandemic were behind us, but lo and behold, another variant presents itself and new challenges that we have to confront and face. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala tells us in the Quran about calamity and devastation difficulty in trials. In Surat Al-Baqarah, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala tells us Wa la nabu l-wanakum bi shay'in min al-khawfi wal-juw' Wa naqsem min al-amwali wal-anfusi wa thamarat Wa basheri al-sabireen Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala says in we will test you, we will try and we will test you Wa la nabu l-wanakum bi shay'in min al-khawfi wal-juw' Wa naqsem min al-amwali wal-anfus with a portion, bi shay'in, a portion, a fraction of fear and hunger and the diminishment or the decrease of our wealth and ourselves. And then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala and the decrease in the fruits of our labor Wa thamarat Wa basheri al-sabireen and then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala reminds us that don't be despondent, don't despair at the fear and the devastation, the hunger, the diminishment of wealth and life and your fruits of your labor and endeavors. Wa basheri al-sabireen because glad tidings are to those who practice and exercise patience. Those who are patient in the face of said adversity and difficulty and calamity. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala, God Almighty is reminding us of the glad tidings to those who in spite of or perhaps in the face of or perhaps even because of the calamities that they face, the trials and the tribulations that they face, that they remain steadfast in patience and patient. Wa basheri al-sabireen Alladina ida ashabatuhu musibatun qalu inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un and then the following verse he says as for those who when they face said difficulty and adversity, they say those who face this difficulty, the sabireen, inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un to Allah we belong and to Him is our return. And what's interesting is that the very things that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala is saying that He will test us about or from or a portion from, fear, hunger, a loss and a devastation to one's wealth or to wealth and to ourselves and the diminishment of our labors. We can certainly see examples of that, replete examples of that that have occurred in the past two years, one year plus or even longer perhaps. A pandemic that has killed 600,000 plus Americans, millions world over, people are sick and suffering, the economic collapse that has resulted from it, the political upheaval that we see happening in parts of the world, all of these things, these are just a portion of that chest and that tribulation that we face constantly, day in and day out. Wa bashiris sabireen, but glad tiding to those who exercise patience and are patient in the face of all of those things. That is what Allah, that is the takeaway message, if you will. The fact of the matter of brothers and sisters is that trials and tribulation, calamity, loss, anxiety, depression, these are all things that are a part of the human condition. They are a part of Hayat ad Dunya, the very nature of this world. There's no escaping it. We are not, this world is not going to be a utopia. This world is not going to be perfect. This world is not going to be free of those tests and those calamities and that suffering that occurs. It is baked into the system, if you will. It is a part of the human condition and it is a part of the nature of this life. We're never going to escape it. And so the choice that we have, the choice that we have is how we respond in times of difficulty and challenge and trials and tribulations that we face. Whether on a global scale or on a personal scale, how do we cope? What are our internal coping mechanisms that we have that allow us to be among those who exercise patience and steadfastness in the face of all of that adversity? And that is the very nature of our religion and our faith tradition. It inoculates us as it were. It gives us the immune system that we need to harness so that we can overcome these challenges and the difficulty and the adversity of the nature of this world. We are inoculating ourselves by our relationship to Allah, with our relationship to the Quran, with our relationship to the Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. It is a way of boosting our own human fitra that we have been created with. It is that booster shot that we need in order to inoculate ourselves from the challenges that we face because just like the human body will constantly be bombarded with viruses and germs and disease and pathogens, it is up to us to strengthen our immune system that God has given us. And that immune system that we have been given, whether physically or to be able to cope with the challenges and the adversity and the difficulty that we face, that is God given. And it is up to us to turn to Allah and the forces that Allah has given us by way of salah, by way of zikr, by way of community, by way of belonging to each other to be compassionate with one another that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala has given us the resources, the wherewithal by which we can attempt to immunize ourselves to begin to inoculate ourselves against these challenges and these adversities. That is the challenge that we face, brothers and sisters. But as I said, I can say all of that. And the reality is that we are still filled with anxiety and despair at times, depression perhaps. We are despondent because of these challenges. But the silver lining, if you will, if there is such a thing, in times of calamity and stress and distress and tribulation is that we learn things about ourselves. We learn certain things about ourselves, certain lessons, if you will. The lessons that we learn from a pandemic, from anxiety, from fear, from hunger, from loss of wealth and life, political upheaval and social unrest. First lesson that I want to share with us or ask us to reflect upon is the lesson of human adaptability. If there's one thing that this pandemic has shown us, and as I look at a massive audience that is masked, that is trying at their best to exercise some social distancing and so on, we learn something about ourselves, right? Two years ago, we would have never imagined having to wear a mask to go into an indoor space. Human touch, shaking of a hand, a hug, a kiss would be something that we suddenly have to avoid or shy away from. Unimaginable two years ago. And yet here we are. Here we are, alive, Alhamdulillah, by the Phadah of Allah, alive and well, healthy, insha'Allah. Our families are safe and secure. Adaptability. We have the God-given ability to adapt and to change and to find the strength and the resolve within ourselves to overcome adversity and difficulty. And yes, live and thrive in a global pandemic. That's human adaptability. That is that God-given fitrah that Allah has created all of us with. Fatrullah al-Latifatran nas alayhiya. God has created us with this human ability. And what we learn from our faith tradition, what Islam gives us, as I said, is that inoculation, that immunization that we need to strengthen that fitrah, to strengthen what God has already given us by remembering Him, by turning to Him, by asking Him and begging Him. That is that human adaptability. We certainly are examples of that. Our children had to suddenly adapt to virtual learning. And now most of our children have returned to school. Again, adapting with wearing masks for eight to 10 hours a day in a classroom, trying to still learn, trying to exercise that muscle of being in a social space, being in a social setting once again. And how do they engage with their classmates? How do we engage with our coworkers once again when we return to our office? What have you? What adaptability is something that we learn and we learn in times of difficulty? Whether it's a pandemic or something else, we learn that ability. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Alladi khalaq al-mout wa al-hayata liyabuluwakum ayyukum ahsanu amala, that He is the one who has created death and life so that He may see and we may experience who among us and what the quality of our actions, how we can best adapt to these new situations and circumstances. The second thing that I want to leave with in conclusion is that calamity, adversity, difficulty teaches us the ability to test our own metal, to test our own abilities. Grace under pressure. How we can remain steadfast and true, which is the true nature of subah, right? When you're presented with an adversity, how do you then respond to that? The ability to test our own metal and the strength of our resolve. Because like a muscle, if you never have to exercise it, if you never exercise it, then it atrophies and it grows weak. It doesn't have to try. It withers and dies. And such is the nature of the human being, that if we have to exercise our metal to display what we are truly capable of doing, the human strength that Allah has given us to exercise that metal and to exercise that muscle will only happen in times of difficulty. If we lived a life that was free of any challenge, any difficulty, we would just saunter through life and we would never, we would grow weak and we would wither because we would never have the ability or be presented with the opportunity to find the better self, to find who we truly are, what we are capable of to push ourselves, the ability to overcome those challenges and that difficulty. So life does present us challenges and difficulty, but there is a lesson there that it teaches us the ability to not only adapt but to turn the corner better than we were when this whole thing started. We've learned something about ourselves as individuals and as a community. That is unmistaken in these past two years, how we have continued to come together in spite of the challenges that we face. That is a beautiful lesson. That is the beauty of Allah and that is what Allah has given all of us, that ability. And so adversity and difficulty and challenges, yes, they are things that we have to overcome or face in our lives day in and day out, but they allow us to exercise the best of ourselves, to be the best of ourselves, how we can become better human beings, better believers, right? Better believers turn to Allah, strengthen our relationship with Him, with His book, with His messenger, with His teachings. That is how we strengthen ourselves. And adversity and difficulty allows us to practice that. It allows us to exercise that part of us. And finally, if I could leave by saying that one of the fadilahs of this ummah, one of the blessings of this ummah is that that adversity, those challenges, those fitan, those tribulations that we face, the anxiety and the depression that goes along with it, that is a form of punishment that prevents us from being punished in the hereafter. The one of the blessings of this ummah is that we will taste a portion of the punishment that awaits every one of us for those who have committed sin and have wronged ourselves, that we get to rid ourselves of that through difficulty and challenges and as we overcome them in this life. That it prevents us and it safeguards us from a punishment in the hereafter that is far more severe. That may seem like cold comfort or little solace, but if we truly believe that this world is temporal, is the life hereafter, then that isn't just small solace. That isn't just cold comfort. It is something far deeper than that because we learn that, yes, I may feel difficulty and challenge, but that it absolves me, insha'Allah, by God's grace and fadil from being punished in the life hereafter for anything that I have wronged. And so this is another, if you will, silver lining or blessing or lesson of the adversity and the challenges that we have faced. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continues to bless us individually and collectively. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala keeps us safe, healthy, our families secure, our communities secure, our nation and the world over for those who are suffering. May Allah subhate their suffering and give them resolve soon. I say this in the word of Allah and I seek refuge with Allah from all of you and the Hereafter. All praise is due to Allah. All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, we worship Him, we ask His forgiveness, and we seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds that Allah guides us, and that He does not harm us, and that He does not harm us. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that He alone is no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. O my children, I believe that you are Allah, the Truth of his fight, and you will not die except from the Muslims. O my people, I seek refuge with Allah from your Lord, who created you from the same soul, and created your wife from it, and made many men and women from them. And I seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our souls. Surely, Allah is most merciful to you. O my children, I believe that you are Allah, and I say this in the word of Allah, that He will help you with your deeds and forgive your sins, and whoever comes to Allah and His Messenger, will have a great victory, as well as later. O our Lord, do not take us, for we have forgotten, or we have made mistakes. O our Lord, do not bear grudges against us as you did against those before us. O our Lord, do not bear grudges against us, for we will not be forgiven, and forgive us, and have mercy on us. You are our Lord, so help us against the disbelievers. O hearts of hearts, fix hearts on your religion. Allahumma, Inna nasaluka ridaka wal jannah wa n'awdubika min sakhidika wal n'ar Subhanah Rabbika Rabbil Izzati yama yasifoon wa salamun aalul mursaleen walhamdulillahi rabbil anameen wa aakimu s-salah