 إن الحمد لله نحنده ونستعينه ونستحديه ونستنفره ونتبه إنيه ونؤمن بيه ونتوكر عليه ونعود بالله لمن شروع أنفسنا ومن سيئات عمالنا من يهدي الله فلا مضللا ومن يضلل فلا هاديلا وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحته ولا شريكلا وأشهد أن محمدا عبده ورسوله الله مسلم وسلم وبارك على سيئنا محمدا النبي الأمي وعلى آله وصحه وسلم تسليم كثيرا يا أيها الذين آمنوا اتقوا الله حق تقاته اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تغوتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون يا أيها الذين آمنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم عمالكم وينفل لكم ذنوبكم ومن يوضع إله ورسوله وفقه فازه فوزن عميما الحمد لله رب العالمين أرجوكم بيطو الله سبحانه وتعالى أسنا لكم ورسولكم ومساعدة ومساعدة على أفضل بيطواتنا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم ومساعدة ومساعدة ومساعدة ومساعدة ومساعدة ومساعدة ومساعدة ومساعدة الحمد لله رب العالمين نبدأ with a verse from the Quran بأن أبقاء الناس تقوة الله لقد حقوا عمالكم ومساعدة مع حقك الناس تقواته كما أنه يقوم بإمكانه أساعدة ومساعدة عز وجل ولا تموتنا إلا وإنتم مسلمون وليس لن تتبع هذا بأنه يقوم بإمكانه أساعدة ومساعدة يأيولدينا أمام تقوة الله وقولوا قولا سديدا ومساعدة ومساعدة لقد حقوا أبقاء الله عز وجل بأنه يحقا ومساعدة مع عز وجل your Lord يقوم بإمكانه أساعدة وقولوا قولا سديدا ومساعدة ومساعدة ومساعدة ما هو right لا يقوم بمساعدة ما هو إل أو فاول أو تباسين إلى one soul ومساعدة تباعدة بأنه تقوة الله تقوة تقوة نفسنا من تقوة الله من تسويلنا ومساعدة ومساعدة أحد من أول أخباريات تقوة في تقوة إبن أطاق who is a contemporary of إماما جميل in Baghdad in the 3rd or 4th century of the Islamic calendar that he says رحمه الله لتفوى ظاهر وباطن لتفوى ظاهر وباطن that تفوى has an outward reality and an inward reality فالظاهره محافظة حدود and so the outward of تفوى is to stay within the limits that الله سبحانه وتعالى has set down to stay within the limits that الله سبحانه وتعالى has set down to not transgress the balance of our creator this has to do with our personal practice making sure we are performing our obligations in prayer and fasting and charity et cetera and extra charity this is another of the outward to give from one's wealth to people in need and not only the obligatories of God but extra charity this is increasing our تفوى of الله سبحانه وتعالى and in particular right now there's catastrophes unfortunately all across the globe and we should be generous to every situation that we're able to but right here in our state there are wildfires that are decimating and destroying so much property and livelihood we should be generous out of تفوى of our Lord out of recognition of the oneness of Allah and respect to the commands of Allah and honoring what Allah loves is to serve people in need and so all of the residents of California are our neighbors and our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that من كامة يومي نبلاحي وليوم العفل فا يوترين جاربو that whoever believes in Allah and the last day then let him honor his neighbor and so we have we should be open-handed and generous again with all situations of need that we encounter but in particular our neighbors then our neighbors had the first right on us and so I encourage myself and everyone to even if it's a little bit to maybe to give some charity for the people that have suffered from these fires and we should also make prayers that Allah سبحانه وتعالى bring ease safety, security to our fellow neighbors and that Allah سبحانه وتعالى stop these fires and bring tranquility and safety and so this is our du'a that we should be making du'a as well as charity but this is from تقوى the hour is to be open-handed and generous to all of Allah's creation irrespective of creed, color or any other distinctions amongst humanity وَا بَا دِيْنُهُ but the inward of تقوى the inward of تقوى انية تُوَنِخْلَس is intention and sincerity for Allah in other words when we do the good that we attempt to do in the world it's not for the sake of the world even though we have care and concern for everyone in the world but it's for the sake of God it is rooted in God consciousness it is rooted in an awareness in the توهيد of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and so we should have تقوى the inward then is انية تُوَنِخْلَس is intention and making our works sincere for the sake of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and so just as works can be either sincere or insincere a heart can be either sincere or insincere and this is all from the تقوى of Allah سبحانه وتعالى ابن عطا إلا who is different from ابن عطا ابن عطا إلا is 400 and some odd years later in Egypt he says كما أنه لا يحب العمل المشترك كذلك لا يحب القلب المشترك and just as Allah سبحانه وتعالى does not love spiritual works good deeds that are mixed admixed with wrong intentions done for example not for the sake of our Creator but to show off so that people can maybe give an applause or people can give a like on some I don't know Facebook or YouTube or people can praise you in the community this is عمل المشترك this is an action that is admixed and so this is displeasing to Allah سبحانه وتعالى كما أنه لا يحب العمل المشترك كذلك لا يحب القلب المشترك so to Allah does not love our heart that is admixed and in other words the قلب just like the jisim we can only have one qiblah when we pray you can't face two directions at once so to the heart can only face one direction you can't face two directions at once and just as the qiblah of our prayer is to to the sacred Ka'ba the qiblah of our heart is Allah Himself right the direction the orientation of our hearts needs to be the divine Himself as the wajal and so even Allah continues that القلب العمل المشترك لا يقبل that good deeds that are done with mixed intentions Allah تعالى does not accept that those are unacceptable to Allah when we ask Allah to accept our deeds even with their admixed intentions out of his pure mercy and generosity but we know that our deeds are not worthy of divine acceptance it's only the mercy of Allah سبحانه وتعالى that allows for an acceptance divine acceptance العمل المشترك لا يقبل the deeds that are done that have admixed intentions mixed intentions He does not accept them والقلب المشترك لا يقبل عليه and notice the eloquence of the statement because it's the same verb the same root العمل المشترك لا يقبله He does not accept it القلب المشترك لا يقبل عليه that He does not turn towards it the heart that is admixed Allah سبحانه وتعالى does not turn towards that heart Allah تعالى does not turn towards that heart and we want Allah سبحانه وتعالى to turn towards our hearts to accept our hearts and so the top of the inward seeking a life of increasing in our إخلاس this is a process not an event and so every day every evening we should cultivate practices that increase our sincerity to the divine this is something that is lost on perhaps some of us if not many of us is that we often think in terms of quantity it's like every day I should try to increase the good deeds that I do today if I this week if I gave 10 dollars in charity next week I should give 15 and that's good في حير that's that's more حير that's more goodness in the world but perhaps some of us if not many of us should be focused on increase increasing the quality of our works in other words we have our limits you know we can't continue to just increase the amount of charity that we give for example because we have limited bank accounts and limited incomes we can't continue to add add infinitum to increase the number of extra prayers that we do because we have limited energy in our bodies limited time plenty of other responsibilities we can barely maybe get a little bit of extra prayers here or there but what about the quality of our worship what about the quality of our devotion this is something that we can always aspire to increase we can always aspire to increase and we should aspire to increase and we should cultivate the practices and we should cultivate the companionship that facilitates this because it's through صحبة one of the most powerful means of increasing our sincerity in orientation and awareness of our Creator of Allah عزة و جل is by being around people with such awareness by being around company that have greater awareness of Allah and so that shows them such that when we're around them even if they're not speaking of of ultimate reality of the divine reality of الله سبحانه وتعالى even if they're not speaking about the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم but we see something in them in the way they are and in the ways that they are not such that we are inspired such that we are inspired we should seek the company of the intimate company of people who's very حال elevates us who's very the way that they are they're being increases our being but then we have to ask ourselves what is the barrier then why is it that we fail and we fall short in our awareness and remembrance of الله سبحانه وتعالى such that we have قلب that is not مشترق such that we have عمل that's not مشترق such that we have hearts that are that are that have one orientation such that we have good deeds that have one intention behind it and that's الله alone the main reason according to our tradition is the nafs the main reason is the nafs which is our own selves our own egos our own entire collection of shortcomings all of the vices of a person if they're collected in one collective they're called the nafs the ego of an individual and this is why the first step that we need to take if we want to be people who cultivate days and nights of increasing our sincerity of our intention for Allah is introspection to be aware of our realities and to constantly seek to apprise ourselves of how we really are of how we really are this is why the early Salaf they used to focus on this as the first lesson عبد الله بن مبارك one of the great early masters of our tradition رحم الله he says أكثر الناس وفي الأدب he says everyone has given their opinion of what the definition of أدب is and this to until today you'll find scholars and sages who have different perspective what exactly is أدب it's actually a word that's difficult if not impossible to translate does it mean manners does it mean etiquette does it mean compartment does it mean just the very right the right way of going about things there's all these different meetings included in this profound beautiful word of أدب the أكثر الناس who can أدب you know all sorts of people have chimed in and given their two cents as to what أدب is ونحن نقول وإمام إبن مبارك says but our opinion on this هو معريفة الناس it's to know oneself it's to know oneself know thyself is the beginning of wisdom in all classical traditions of of philosophy and metaphysics معريفة الناس know thyself is the beginning of wisdom and so too in the prophetic tradition so too in the teaching of prophets because توبة is impossible without self-knowledge توبة is impossible without self-knowledge and so to recognize our weaknesses and to recognize how big our egos actually are and the one that doesn't think they have a serious ego probably has the most serious ego we ask Allah for أفية but each of us has this text and this is at bottom at the heart of the matter the only way that we can aspire to be people of Allah is to be people who seek to subdue the nafs this is what يحيب المعاد الرازي the famous statement unfortunately it's ascribed as a hadith of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم often in even in some of our of our books of our tradition but it's not a hadith of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم it's a statement of يحيب المعاد الرازي who says من عرف النفسة هو عرف ربه that whoever knows himself truly shall get to know Allah whoever knows himself truly shall get to know Allah one of the meanings of this if they are genuine in introspection such that they increase in their طوبة such that they increase in the quality of their hearts and their deeds in their days and their nights then eventually they will reach a level where they get to know Allah directly there will be people who are the friends of Allah سماره و تعالى and so this is the greatest thing then not only to know the nafs is not only the most important thing to know but the most important thing to keep it checked to keep it checked what did the prophet say صلى الله عليه وسلم according to the hadith يَلْكَيْ يَسْ مَنْدَانَ نَفْسَبُ you see the intelligent one it's not the one with the biggest IQ the greatest IQ although today apparently that's the measure in all arenas whoever the most intelligent is the one with the greatest IQ that's not the chaos it's not the one who is who has the most popular who has the most friends that's not the chaos it's not the one who is able to use their prestige to do this that or the other it's not the one that has ascended in their corporation such that they are the high levels of the corporate structure of their corporation it's not the one that has the most degrees from this university or that it's not even the one with the most hijazas in our sacred tradition although that's a noble sacred thing but that's not the chaos the chaos the truly intelligent one according to our prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم من دار نفسه is the one that takes himself to account is the one that keeps his nuffs in check is the one that is able to subdue the ego and not let it take over through anger through revenge through speaking ill of others through spreading tales and gossip through backbiting through miserliness all of these vices and these diseases all of the sins of the tongue and the sins of the heart where do they emerge from? the nuffs so in case من دار نفسه وعملني من بعض الموت and the prophet continues صلى الله عليه وسلم and that intelligent one therefore he keeps himself in check through accountability through recognition of his faults and then he works for what comes after that he works for the afterlife his intention is the عمل is not مشترك he's seeking الباقيات الصالحات eternal good deeds that will awaken him in the presence of his master عزل وجل والعاجز ونأتبع نفسه وعواه but the incapable unintelligent one the one that is unintelligent and عاجز incapable of being something special is what? ونأتبع نفسه وعواه just allows his ego to roam freely in all the whims and follies and the stubborn prejudices of his ساكي this is the عاجز this is the one that lacks intelligence whatever their IQ score is whatever their resume is whatever degrees they might have achieved this is this is the عاجز and we don't belittle success in the world we don't want anyone to misunderstand what we're saying it's from the سنة to seek أسباب that are real and so all of us should aspire to increase in our worldly intelligence and our positioning in our education primarily and then positioning in the workplace so that we can position ourselves to do more good there's nothing wrong with that but that's not in and of itself indicative of what the Prophet something like سنة is teaching us of true intelligence intelligence is to realize what's greater than what at bottom intelligence is to realize what is greater than what is like 8 versus 10 10 versus 12 12 versus 14 any number versus a lot any benefit versus a lot any thing I can achieve in this world versus a lot eternal good pleasure with the master and creator of every atom in the universe and this is intelligence which is why it's worth it to keep the nafs in check and so allows himself to roam freely in all of these wrongs and prejudices of the soul وَتَمَنَّا عَلَى اللَّهِ الْأَمَانِينَ but then has vain hopes that Allah is all-merciful Allah is forgiving so even though I'm not taking my relationship with him seriously I can just rely on the fact that Allah is all-merciful yes Allah is all-merciful but His mercy is specially selected for those people of Ihsan those people that takes them so seriously for the sake of Allah Azawajal and one of the greatest harms of not taking oneself to task of not being a person of introspection is that this is the recipe for heedlessness this is why most people are unaware of their Lord this is why many of us go about our days and our nights not in a direct relationship with Allah not having the remembrance of Allah on our tongues and in our hearts what is the great veil that prevents us from seeing Allah it's not a veil in objective reality because Allah cannot be veiled the infinite by definition cannot be veiled the eternal by definition cannot be veiled it's a logical contradiction there's no veil of Allah the world is ayat when we read the Quran Allah SWT is constantly uprising us and signifying to us the ayat we are ayat each human being is an ayat a sign, a miracle pointing to Allah's infinite reality and eternality and omnipotent power subhanahu wa ta'ala nature the wonders of the horizon the wonders of human cooperation of human societies the cosmos the terrestrial realm the celestial realm all of these are ayat it's a matrix of signs signifying Allah as the wajal then where is the hijab it's a subjective feature of reality it's not an objective extra-mental feature of reality the hijab the reason why we can't see our Lord as the wajal in other words recognize him in the world as the wajal is because we have what happened in the mind is because we have illusions and delusions that cloud our ability of the heart to see reality as it is and the dua of the Prophet الله مأرين الحق الله مأرين شيء كما هي أو الله شوهز things as they really are what are they really signs of Allah because they're the action of Allah is nothing that exists in the world except it's the direct act of Allah عز وجل هذا خلق الله in the words of the Qur'an itself Allah تعالى says this is the creating of Allah عز وجل the khilb here is indicating not the machlu as often it's translated but the actual activity of khilb the muscle means activity it only means a direct object by metaphor and the default reading of scripture is literal so unless the literal reading is something that cannot is illogical and so then هالخلق الله this is the creating of Allah عز وجل this is the creating of Allah عز وجل this is why another early master لنور المصر رحم الله تعالى he was once asked ما أثطر الحجاء و أشده you know what is the heaviest and most intense veil that prevents people from seeing their Lord from recognizing their Lord from knowing their Lord ما أثقوا الحجاء و أشده he said رؤية النفس رؤية النفس و تدبي ليها is to just see oneself me myself and I me myself and I و تدبي ليها and to be fixated on one sense of control you know the تدبي it is not simply to plan it's from the sunnah to plan it's from the sunnah to plan we have to use the asbab in the world but تدبي it is to be fixated on outcomes and to think one has control of outcomes and this is something blameworthy in our tradition and this is going about our days and our nights and our tasks and what we need to do and what I should have done and we're fixated on our sense of control and our sense of designating outcomes this is the veil because outcomes are in the hand of Allah جل حكمة أزلي أن ينضاف إلى العللي جل حكمة أزلي أن ينضاف إلى العللي ابن عطالا says the eternal ruling is too magnificent is too special to be ascribed to means in the world الله سبحانه وتعالى doesn't need means الله سبحانه وتعالى has determined things eternally in pre-eternality as it's often translated the decree is already decreed the decree is already decreed and so to be obsessed with our seeming ability to control outcomes this prevents us from seeing our Lord as a well of recognizing our Lord as a well أقول أقول إهاله أستنفر الله إليه وركم فاستنفر الله إن الله أفول الرحمن بلا ألمين وسد الله على سيدنا محمد النبي الممي وعلى أوليه وصحيه وسدت تسكيمة كثيرة one of the most important ways that we can actualize these meanings is through supplication to Allah الله تعالى says ودعوني أستجب لكم call on me and I will surely answer you and so look at the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ that the Prophet ﷺ he teaches us du'as of asking for the loftiest things to ask for the loftiest of things the most blind of things إما مسلم رضيص ونسحيه collection the beautiful du'a of the Prophet ﷺ to say اللهم إني أسألكه الهدى واتقى ورعفاثة والذينة and these are the types of things that we should be asking genuinely from a heart that is aware of our desperate need of these realities Oh Allah, I ask you for guidance خدى and تقى and تقوى again in all of its dimensions تقوى of the outward to not fall into explicit disobedience with our limbs or our speech and especially speech look at social media today look at how quickly we fall into sins of the tongue through social media سيدنا أبو بكرة أعطى بقى with them he used to keep some pebbles in his mouth such that he would always have to think once, twice thrikes before saying whatever he wanted to say he didn't have to take the pebbles out to speak give some time to think so he doesn't just react even if someone tries to do this سيدنا أبو بكرة today the keyboard we'd have to put I don't know juggle pebbles or something every time we go online because how quick people are reacting and then غيبة global global غيبة global backbinding نميبة global slander global tail bearing خدى global lying just أعوذ بلا the اللهم إني أسعب مدى وطقى we should beg Allah for تقوى for ourselves and our communities that we have respectability we have the dignity of respecting Allah when dealing with فتن especially and it's with فتن that people cross the bounds and so اللهم إني أسعب مدى وطقى وعفافة عفاب dignified restraint chastity modesty you know the honor of being able to control oneself and not just falling into what's low and vile and shameful والغناء والغناء and to ask Allah for the first meaning غناء نفس is to be satisfied in our hearts with Allah رديت بالله ربا what a beautiful dua of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in one narration he would say during the adhan and then after the adhan this is something we should be it should be on our tongues every morning every evening رديت بالله ربا asking Allah for غناء of the نفس but also غناء so that we don't have to ask people for help financially or otherwise we should be self-sufficient asking Allah to Allah for these beautiful things because these are the protections and this is dignity this is honor this is إزا this is إزا we have to understand that we have to teach our young people this they need to know the door to honor and dignity إبراهيمة من أدهب هيستمك دوعا الله من قلّي الله من قلّي من دلّي معسية تب إلا عزي طاعتك oh Allah take me out take me out of the a basement and debasement and humiliation of disobedience the folly of futility of disobedience into the honor and dignity and mighty triumph of obedience the mighty triumph of obedience and so once once people are like that they have the you know إمام زي talks about we need to put the fear of God back in people the fear of God back in people you know we don't talk about that enough part of the recognition of Allah is to fear Him as a legit the fear is my mom الله سبحانه وتعالى can punish and it hurts and we ask Allah for Affya's safety from His punishment whether this side or the next but this is why our speech and how we write it should reflect the fear of Allah in our hearts and the people that fall into folly and to fall into sins of the tongue and sins of the keyboard so quickly it's because they don't have the requisite fear of Allah we should fear Allah and Ibn Al-Ka'zid another early 4th century master of Egypt he says إذا سكن الخوف القل you know when the fear of Allah resides in the heart when the fear of Allah resides in the heart it makes its home in the heart لم ينتق اللسان إلا بما يعالين and this tongue won't say except for what concerns it the tongue will not speak except for what concerns it out of عدب and love and respect to the teaching of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم من حسنة إسلام المري تركوه مرة يعني it's from the beautiful Islam of an individual to not speak about what doesn't concern him ومن كان يؤمنوا بالله وراء من آخر فليقوا الخيرا أول يسمى whoever believes in Allah in the last day let him speak good or be silent let him speak good or be silent all of this emanates from hearts that have a loss fear of Allah respect for Allah and relent then manifest this light we ask Allah to make us people a prophetic light and we ask Allah to make us people of hearts filled with the remembrance of Allah the light of Allah and His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم the light of faith and certainty the light of fear of Allah and hope in Allah and love of Allah and recognition of Allah we ask Allah to make our speech and our writing reflect these illuminations we ask Allah to make our actions reflect all of these beautiful meanings وانا يساختك هو الأول والعفير والظاهر والباطين وهو بكل شيء عليهم إن الله وملايكته يصدون على النبي يا إله الذي نأمل يصدو عليه وسلم وتسلم الله وسلم وسلم وبرك على سيدنا محمد النبي رومي وعلى آله وصحته وسلم تسلم كثيرا والحمد لله لله بالعالمين وأقيم السلام