 Respected brothers and sisters in Islam we begin by praising Allah Azza wa Jal, God Almighty as he is most worthy and deserving of all praise We ask Allah and we ask Allah alone to guide us to prevent us from being misguided and from misguiding others We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive us of our shortcomings our weaknesses our sins Those that we commit knowingly and those that we commit unknowingly We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless our noble prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sahbihi wa salam To bless his noble companions his family and the righteous everywhere. I mean By the fadal of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala by God's grace we find ourselves on the eve of Rabiyah Al Awal the last perhaps the last day of The first spring as it were or the month in which we as a community and As has become sort of a civilizational culture to celebrate and to venerate the life of the prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sahbihi wa salam and This is obviously Goes without saying that There is no particular day of the year or no particular month No particular moment that we venerate or we celebrate the life of our beloved Sallallahu alayhi wa sahbihi wa salam it is a lifetime pursuit But nonetheless it has been a practice of our community to especially in this month reflect on the life and the legacy of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sahbihi wa salam and So I want to do that today but by Examining the prism or the filter by which we look at The life and the legacy of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam. I say life and legacy But in other words the seerah of the prophet and the sunnah of the prophet his normative practice his life and his teachings First among these is that When we look at the life of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam his seerah We are Instantly reminded of the fact that we are not just reading a biography We're not just reading a historical document of the life of a human being the life of a great human being It is certainly that it is certainly a biographical or historical reading of a Great leader in the world, but for us as believers Studying his life is far more meaningful and far more impactful or should be Than just reading a biography a series of events dates times places and so on What we seek when we reflect on the life of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam is a methodology It is a methodology by which we Can change our lives as individuals and it is a methodology by which we can change our communities Change the state of our ummah Change of this state of our families our collective communities and our collective spaces So it is a methodology of change the life of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam It is also an algorithm that if we follow the recipes and the guidelines in the blueprint That has been left for us in the seerah of the prophet in his example Laqad kana lakum fi rasoolallahi uswat wal hasana as the Quran tells us That truly in the messenger of Allah you find you will find a beautiful exemplary code of conduct an exemplary blueprint to follow by which we can Change our lives as individuals and as a community So the first prism or lens by which we examined the life of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam my respected brothers and sisters and elders is that we seek to find a methodology or an algorithm for change The second prism or lens by which we look at the seerah of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam in his sunnan is That there is something happening here that is beyond just 62 years in the life of the human of a human being 23 years of nubu wa 40 years prior to that It is something that is metaphysical that is beyond just our rational understanding of the life of a human being because there is no other explanation for the Accomplishments that the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam in his community are able to accomplish in that very short period of time because in the span of history 23 years of prosecuting a mission or 62 years 63 years in the life of a human being the life span of a human being is Short it's not a very long life It's but rather a very meaningful life And it is because his life and the life of that community is being guided by the divine hand It is being guided by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There is something greater happening that is outside of human history That is why the time and the life of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam is mubarak It is blessed and what he was able to accomplish in that period of time in that 23 period 23 year period is beyond rational explanation and I say all of this because this is the prism or I hope that this is the way in which When we read the seerah when we reflect on the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam we bear in mind these things That this is not just a biography It is a recipe for change and it is something that is beyond and outside of human history But as we begin to delve more specifically Into some of the more integral components of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam's life a few highlights that I want to reflect on in the brief time that we have remaining is That Contrary to what we often think of when we think of how the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam went about Prosecuting his mission for those 23 years of nubawa of prophethood how he promulgated his message how he invited others to the faith how he grew and expanded the community that we often think that the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam came and He said everything that you've been doing for centuries is jahili is jahili is ignorance and We are here to replace it with a better system a system that is new and that is refined And we are building it upon a blank slate. That is to say wipe away all of the cultural norms and practices of that community and Replace it with the Islamic way of doing things and While certainly we see moments of that we see flashes and instances of that By in large what the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa salam did in sociological or anthropological terms is that he was able to Appropriate parts of 7th century Arab culture Where possible and he operated within those societal and cultural norms and morays And so as long as that practice or a social or cultural norm Was not prohibitive or prohibitive or was contrary to the message and the teachings of Islam He didn't seek to replace it or eradicate it or create or start from a clean to start from a You know clear or sort of a blank page But rather build upon those cultural norms and practices that were Permissible that were part of perhaps the Abrahamic legacy that were part of good Practices the ma'aruf of society societal norms that were good that were essentially good and they were not essentially filled with injustices or Inequalities or oppression and so when we look for example at Islamic law and the way in which we Trade and we engage in commerce and practice commercial Enterprises or the way in which we marry or divorce or inherit or so on the much of this is found or is a legacy of That 7th century Arabian milieu in that 7th century Arabian Social and cultural context because there was nothing in it that was prohibitive That was nothing in it. That was contrary necessarily or On examination to the teachings of Islam or what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala desired And so therein lies a lesson for us as a community Especially as a community that lives in a very precarious situation of being in a land that is largely Not Muslim right that is largely belonging to other faith communities and so on But this is a very important legacy and a very important Practice for us to reflect upon that. What are those societal and cultural normative practices in America? That we as a community don't necessarily have to automatically reject automatically Automatically set ourselves up as contrary to Simply because they are American simply because they are quote-unquote foreign or differ or outside of the Islamic tradition and We don't have time to go into a lot of those or all of those but to rather simply Remind ourselves that that is the prism by which we can begin to examine How the life of the Prophet? Has a meaning for us here and now here as a community as a minority community living in the United States Secondly brothers and sisters is that Whatever possible the Prophet's message and the Prophet in which by which he engaged with his community and Which and with the society at large was one of mercy love and acceptance That was the normative approach of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was not to antagonize the community was not to antagonize The society in which he was living but rather one of appreciation of love and of compassion Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says The one I've sent naka illa rahmatah lila alameen that we have sent you as a mercy To all of creation and this adoption this methodology if you will of love and mercy Was the normative prophetic response was the normative profit the normative practice of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam wherever possible if you saw Bedouins engaged in practices that were Perhaps could use some change or tweaking he did it out of love and mercy rather than one of rejection or antagonism and Again as a community brothers and sisters as individuals This is something for us to reflect on Individually and as a community that when we engage with one another certainly and when we engage with the broader society at large That our approach should be one of love and compassion and mercy That is how we win Psychological space that is how you win hearts and minds of individuals and that is how the message of Islam has spread throughout the centuries was through beautiful conduct of character and beautiful examples of love and compassion of Feeding the poor of taking care of those in society who are of need and who need a space or a Community where they feel welcomed where they feel a sense of belonging That is how the message of Islam has always spread throughout the centuries That has always been the hallmark of Muslim tradition was to go into communities and to welcome them and to embrace them Wherever possible and that is the Sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam brothers and sisters is to demonstrate our beautiful character The Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam him himself said that I have been sent Saved for the perfection of character right that In the money, but so we will come in Makarima luck that I have been sent saved for the perfection of Human character that is the pursuit here if the Sunnah and at the Sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is an Algorithm for change then the product of that change is Makarima luck is the perfection of character Is the perfection of human character how we engage? With our neighbors with our co-workers with our classmates with the society at large That is how you open up psychological space. That is how you win hearts and minds It is not through rejection or antagonism or hatred But rather through love and through compassion and that is what we learn in the life and the legacy of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Gives us all the ability to reflect upon the Profundity of the Prophet's life his legacy and that we seek our best to practice it in our lives as individuals and as a Community I call to call to this Wa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Wa lakum wa akhirun da'wana alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen Inna alhamdulillahi n'ahmadhu wa n'estaeenhu wa n'estaghufiru Wa n'audhu billahi min shiroori amfusina wa min sayyati Amalina mayahtihillahu falamu dillala wa mayu dillil falahadiya laa Wa ashadu wa laa ilaha illa allahu wa ahdahu laa shariqala Wa ashadu anna muhammadun abdahu wa rasuluh Sallallahu alaihi wa aalihi wa sahbihi wa sallam Y'kuldu Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala fir Qura'an Al-Kareem A'udhu billahi min al-Shaytan al-Rajim Ya'yuhu aladina aamanu taqallaha Haqqatu qatihi wa laa tamutuna illa wa anta al-Muslimun Ya'yuhu annaasu taqurabbakum Al-Ladhi khalaqakum min nafsin wahidah Wa khalaqa min hazawjaha Wa batha minhum aaridalaan katheelaan wa nisa'a Wa taqallaha ladhi tasa'aluna bihi wa l-arham Inna Allaha kana'a alaykum raqiba Ya'yuhu aladina aamanu taqallaha Wa khalaqa min hazawjaha Yuslahlaqum a'malakum yiyafirulakum zunubakum Wa man yutiyyu Allah wa Rasulahu Faqat faza fawzan a'zima amma ba'd Allahumma sali'a laa siydina Muhammad wa a'la aali Siydina Muhammad wa barik wa sallam Rabbana laa tuwaaqidna inna sinna wa qta'ana Rabbana wa laa tahmila alayna isrun kama hamadahu alaladina min qablina Rabbana wa laa tahmila malatakhatalana biwafu anna wa gafirulana warhamna anta maulana fansurna alal qawma alkaafireen Rabbana atina fid dunya hasna wa fil aakhirah hasna wa qina azaab al-naariya mukallib al-khulub sabit kuluban ala dinik Allahumma inna nas'aluka ridaka wal-jannah wa na'awdubika min sakhidika wal-naar Subhana rabbika rabbil-izzati yama yusifoon wa salamun a'la al-mursaleen wa alhamdulillahi rabbil-alameen wa aqeem al-sala