 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته اسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله واصحابه أجمعين We praise Allah سبحانه وتعالى we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم his entire household all his companions we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to bless them all we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to bless his entire household all his companions we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to bless every single one of us my brothers and sisters a beautiful ramadan 1437 hijri 2016 in this beautiful masjid in bosmont at the same time we ask Allah to forgive our sins to accept from us the tarawih that we have just fulfilled the first tarawih this year i have entitled the series save yourself you might want to know where is this from it is from sura surat at tahrim verse number six where Allah سبحانه وتعالى says oh you who believe save yourselves and your family members from the fire save yourselves and your family members from the fire so we would like to know how do we save ourselves it's extremely important Allah سبحانه وتعالى has instructed us he has told us he has made the verses very clear he has sent Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم to explain to us exactly what he wants and so we will be looking at how to save ourselves every verse we look at we will be looking at it from the angle of adopting it or learning a lesson from it in the sense that if we do learn that lesson we will be able to save ourselves let's start off from the beginning and we will be moving through the verses that we will be reading through the tarawih that particular night so the first night as you know we have read one and a quarter parts of the Quran and this is from the 30 parts that we have also known as a جزاء or the جز so you find that Allah سبحانه وتعالى says الحمد لله رب العالمين the opening verses of صورة الفاتحة we read it so many times it is the most powerful صورة in the Quran it is the most repeated صورة in the Quran where Allah سبحانه وتعالى is starting it off by praise the praise of whom the praise of الله سبحانه وتعالى himself he says all praise is due to Allah سبحانه وتعالى the simple translation is lord of the worlds but if you take a deeper look the term ربون means the creator نارشة cherisher sustainer provider protector cure the one in whose hands lies absolute control of every aspect of existence that is the term ربون so he who is the رب of entire عالمين what would we be achieving by praising Allah why should we be praising Allah upon all conditions my brothers and sisters we would be depressed if we did not praise الله سبحانه وتعالى so save yourself from depression from anxiety from stress by praising Allah and thanking him الحمد لله على كل حال الحمد لله على all conditions this is why it is such an important statement this is why it is so powerful الحمد لله all praise is indeed due to Allah سبحانه وتعالى the hadith says عجبا لأمر المؤمن فإن أمره كله له خير strange are the affairs of a true believer for indeed all his affairs are indeed better for him they are good for him فإن أمره كله له خير everything he does is actually better for him a believer all his affairs are good for him how are all our affairs good for us when goodness comes in our direction we are thankful to Allah and when something negative comes in our direction we are patient we bear a lot of patience so we would thank Allah upon all conditions it would be good for us may Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us steadfastness similarly in the same surah we are taught to save ourselves from being cast into hellfire from earning the wrath of Allah from being from among those who are astray do you know the dua we make in surah الفاتحة we make it after declaring that it is Allah alone we worship and الله alone we seek help from الله سبحانه وتعالى says you alone we worship you alone we seek help from this is the verse of surah الفاتحة we repeated thousands in fact millions of times in our lives but do we understand it it is the prime objective of our existence on earth to worship Allah alone we know that and this is why immediately after that we say Maliki يوم الدين owner of the day of judgment why owner of the day of judgment i want to be saved on the day of judgment from the wrath of Allah سبحانه وتعالى from his punishment so i worship Allah alone i call out to Allah alone and i want to be saved because he is the owner of that day i'm asking him اهدين الصراط المستقيم guide us to the straight path oh الله guide us to the straight path my brothers and sisters if you and i are guided to the straight path we will indeed be saved on the day of judgment we will be saved on earth as well from a lot of anxiety from a lot of stress from a lot of difficulty from a lot of hardship this is why it is an important dua and it is not good enough for us to say اهدين الصراط المستقيم a million times and we don't search for the path it's not good enough for us to say oh الله guide me to the straight path but we still go to the nightclubs we still go to the casinos we still commit adultery we are still on drugs we still cannot quit the alcohol that we've been drinking we still cannot quit the sins and perhaps the pornography that we might be involved in or watching without even quitting it and then we have the audacity to stand in front of الله سبحانه وتعالى and keep telling him oh الله guide me and sometimes we have the audacity to say oh الله well you know guidance is in your hand so if you want to guide me guide me استغفر الله that's not how it should work we should ask clearly for guidance and الله سبحانه وتعالى says whoever searches for it whoever wants it whoever looks for it الله will show him the path and الله will guide him for that particular path may الله سبحانه وتعالى strengthen us and this is why الله says guide us to the straight path the path of those whom you have favored not the path of those who have earned your anger or those who have gone astray why does الله say that because those who have gone astray they were not saved those who earn the anger of الله they were not saved as for us we don't want those paths we want to be saved and in order to be saved we will have to tread the path it's not an easy path but it is indeed the path that will lead to جنة the path that will lead to paradise may الله سبحانه وتعالى grant us all جنة and paradise i mean then if we take a look at صورة البقرة الله سبحانه وتعالى is telling us something very important do you know when you have a warning people warn for example today i've got up and i'm warning warning about what about a punishment to come both in this world as well as the next that we all know there is the punishment of hell fire we need to be careful we need to be worried we need to be bothered we need to be concerned do you know that this warning if we are from among those who hear it and we couldn't be bothered in that particular case we would enter a category of people who have disbelieved because you hear a warning and you do nothing about it you know there is heaven and hell you know that there is a hear after but you do absolutely nothing about it what would happen what's the difference between us and those who just believe this is why الله سبحانه وتعالى says verse number six of صورة البقرة إن الذين كفروا سواء عليهم أأنظرتهم أم لم تنذرهم لا يؤمنون indeed those who disbelieve whether you warn them or you don't warn them they will not believe they are not interested they leave it whether you say something to them or you don't say it to them it's equal it's the same سواء عليهم it's equal ask ourselves we are not disbelievers we believe in الله سبحانه وتعالى but sometimes a quality creeps in that is very dangerous for our eman and our belief what is that quality when the warning comes in your direction you don't take heed it's equal whether you were warned or you were not warned it becomes the same if that's the case don't we fall under those whom الله has described here in this verse we may not be كفار as such because we have eman but we are not keeping that eman intact we are now playing the fool playing games this is why we ask الله سبحانه وتعالى to guide us when we continue in those ways and habits that we don't want to take heed الله says there comes a time when the hearts will be sealed the eyes will be closed the ears will be sealed as well الله sealed their hearts and الله sealed their ears and الله سبحانه وتعالى قامت بعمل برائع بينهم و this message by blocking their ears everything gone you know when you commit a sin the first time you feel guilty if you repeat it the second time without taking heed you feel less guilty if you repeat it a third time you feel even less guilty such that when you repeat it a fourth time fifth time you're not worried الله says the hearts become hard and inshallah we'll see that in a few moments الله سبحانه وتعالى then يتحدث عن another quality we need to save ourselves from hypocrisy don't you agree what is hypocrisy those who say we believe but they're not really believers two types of hypocrisy the first is those who say they are muslim but they are not muslim inshallah there are none amongst us from that group those who say we are muslim but they are lying to you they are not muslim may Allah protect us but the second category is what we need to fear what is it those who say they are muslim but their lives are led in a way that does not depict that ومن الناس من يقول آمننا بالله وباليوم الآخر وماهم بمؤمنين verse number eight of surat al-baqarah where Allah speaks about some of the people they say we are believers but and we believe in the hereafter but they are not believers i've already explained both types of hypocrites and i've said that sometimes we are from the second category whereby we say we are مؤمن we say we follow Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم but wallahi our deeds are heading in another direction imagine you say you the umma of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم there's no salah there's no quran there's no عبادة there's no تلاوة how do you expect to have happiness contentment how do you expect to be protected from anxiety and depression and stress this is what we want to save ourselves from you really want to save yourself from all of that you will definitely need to follow the instruction of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم he is the one who came with the word of الله سبحانه و تعالى listen to what الله سبحانه و تعالى says regarding worshiping him people might ask why should i worship الله so Allah responds verse number 21 of surat al-baqara oh people this address is not just for the believers oh people worship your lord who created you and those before you that is why you should worship him because he made you so this is why when we say ربٌ as i explained earlier it actually refers to the one who made you the one who is in absolute control of every aspect of your existence in mind that is the term ربٌ so we are saying oh الله سبحانه و تعالى is telling us oh people worship الله worship your ربٌ alone the one who created you and those before you whoever made me i owe him worship whoever made me whoever i'm going to return to i owe him the fact that i put my head on the ground every day i will not put it on the ground for anyone besides he who made me may Allah سبحانه و تعالى so for that god protect us and grant us goodness in order for me to be saved from the difficulties of this world and the next imagine if every one of us had to do as we desired whatever you wanted you did if that was the case we would be stressed we would be depressed we would really be suffering we would be ducking and diving from the police and everybody else والله سبحانه و تعالى says be careful you have an enemy فقط كما انت and I are worried about thieves and we are worried about people who might come into our homes and break in to those homes to steal our property we should also be worried about someone who is bigger than just an ordinary thief coming to usurp material wealth who is that someone known as iblis شيطان if you take a careful notice you will come to realize that in صورة البقرة verse number 34 الله سبحانه وتعالى speaks about iblis and what he did شيطان this is the beginning of the Quran Allah is already warning you save yourself save yourself from what the whispers of the devil he's an evil creature Allah says when we instructed him to bow or prostrate to Adam he refused so don't be arrogant because if you are you won't be able to save yourself from the clutches of that devil remove all pride from your heart and arrogance hotness become humble don't follow the footsteps of the devil recognize the devil for indeed he is the one who is going to try and trap you no matter where you are may Allah سبحانه وتعالى protect us from شيطان so we all need to promise Allah سبحانه وتعالى and we promise ourselves that we will look out for how the devil is trying to affect us sometimes it is through jealousy envy the qualities of the heart sometimes our hearts are blackened or darkened or made murky because of those qualities and sometimes they are open qualities a person starts going into habits that are terrible all this is from the devil Allah says protect yourself from the devil if you want to save yourself from the punishment of the hereafter as well as from the disaster of this dunya then Allah سبحانه وتعالى makes mention of something very very powerful when we read these verses we don't pick up some of these points unless we ponder over them i'm sure you've heard verse number 40 and 47 of surat البقرة tonight where Allah says يا بني إسرائيل الذكورو نعمتي التي أنعمت عليكم oh children of the prophet jakeb who was also known as israel may peace be upon him oh children of the prophet jakeb remember the فاوز of Allah upon you سبحان الله why does Allah say this to us the Quran was revealed for us the children of jakeb were already gone long before the Quran was revealed so Allah is saying oh children of jakeb remember the favors upon you that Allah has bestowed سبحان الله this shows us that in order to achieve goodness in order to protect ourselves from evil we must be people who show gratitude who are thankful Allah has given you so much we concentrate on the things we don't have that's why we're depressed we forget about how much we have my brothers and sisters today we look at the problem we have i have a cough for example i have a sore throat for example but guess what i'm walking i'm talking i'm looking i can smell i can hear mashaAllah i'm okay i can feel i can catch i can i've earned i have a family and so on we forget about it we only concentrate because the devil wants us to on matters that happen to seem negative to us sometimes Allah takes away things from you and i my brothers and sisters because he wants you and i to concentrate on thanking him for what he's given us and sometimes he takes things away because he knows those things are bad for us he takes them away from us we're looking for jobs all of us looking for better jobs looking for more money and so on hang on الله سبحانه وتعالى wants us by telling us that it is not material materialistic items that you should be running behind rather you should be running behind the pleasure of Allah if that comes as a result or in the process الحمد لله we thank Allah سبحانه وتعالى but we don't make it our main aim we will be dying one day without anything in our hands may Allah سبحانه وتعالى be pleased with us then Allah سبحانه وتعالى says thereafter regarding acts of worship it's important for us to worship Allah one might say what is this salah the five daily prayers why one might say the charities the arms to the poor the zaka Allah says in surat البقرة verse number 43 واقيم الصلاة واتو الزكاة واركعو مار راكعين استبليش your prayer fulfill your زكاة or the charities to the poor and bow with those who are bowing do you know why look what it will do for you we're only going to mention one or two things if you pray five times a day you are showing gratitude to Allah at the same time your day is tailor made everything is in order get up early you sleep early and at the same time in the middle of the day you have a prayer you are thanking Allah you have a beautiful time through the day everything is in order you are relating the fact that Allah has bestowed upon you so many things to Allah سبحانه وتعالى الله gave me the morning what do i do so when ظهر strikes i read صلاة الظهر to thank Allah for what he just gave me when عصر strikes i thank Allah for what he's just given me and because our entire life is connected to earning in most cases الله says don't forget to give the arms to the poor so that your heart is not stuck to materialism imagine if we didn't have to give charities why did Allah make some of us poor some of us rich some of us filthy rich and some of us extremely poor in order to test us to see whose heart is stuck to wealth entry into paradise will never be connected to how much you have it will be connected to what you did with whatever you had remember this entry into paradise is connected to what you did with whatever you had there are people who are filthy rich who knows they may not go to jannah and there are some filthy rich they will use their wealth to go to jannah by spending it in the right course and there are some who are very poor if that makes them disbelieve they question الله some say i've been calling out to Allah for years on end he doesn't respond i don't want to call out to him again guess what the tunnel was almost complete and you pulled out so you lost it's like you almost had a job and suddenly you stopped trying had you gone the one more day you would have perhaps got that job but you know what you didn't go you lost hope in Allah الله knows when it's the right time for you to get what he wants to give you الله knows that so my brothers and sisters let's not fool anyone we will be only fooling ourselves الله سبحانه وتعالى says establish your prayer give arms to the poor don't be attached to this world do you know the general percentage of zaka the normal percentage of zaka for the general wealth that we have two and a half percent which means for every one hundred dollars two and a half dollars are for الله not actually for you so الله says when you have a hundred dollars in your pocket it's actually 97.5 the change is mine give it to me so when you give it to الله سبحانه وتعالى you are fulfilling your duty unto الله if you don't you have robbed from الله سبحانه وتعالى thereafter over and above that you give extra voluntary charities from your own heart the zaka is necessary that's from الله it always belong to Allah it's not yours it's like something costed 97.5 rands for example and you have to give the person two and a half rands change you have to you can't just say by the way it's a hundred it's okay go away they want that change سبحانه وتعالى الله wants that two and a half so when you give it you've just fulfilled your duty yes you will be rewarded for fulfilling your duty but if you want an extra reward you will need to give much more than just that zaka سبحان الله so my brothers and sisters let's learn to be charitable let's learn to give a lot let's learn to give because giving will indeed save us from hellfire the حديث speaks about بلا you know what is بلا بلا means calamity or tests that الله puts in your path it says which means charities will actually extinguish the tests that are coming in your direction if you were supposed to have a massive test from الله سبحانه وتعالى an accident whereby your bones would be broken perhaps due to a charity that you have given الله سبحانه وتعالى would then make you go through the test in a lighter way where the accident happened and you just bumped your head on the side what happened the charity extinguished the magnitude of that بلا this was from الله سبحانه وتعالى this is part and parcel of تقدير it does not negate predestiny because الله already knew that the charity was going to come through that's a topic on its own perhaps we may discuss it one of the nights may Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us ease and understanding remember my beloved brothers and sisters usually we like to tell our children to do things and we like to tell others to do things and sometimes if you have an opportunity like mine here you will tell everyone to do things masha Allah Allah warns us الله warns us verse number 44 of صورة البقرة when you instruct people to do things don't find yourself going against the very instruction that you have dished out imagine صورة البقرة أنا حقاً أردت أن أخبر my son hey you dare smoke and he looks at you and says but dad لا لا لا تتكلم what is far more effective is for you to say son I stopped smoking I don't smoke I will never smoke again and I don't want you to touch a صورة because and then you can rattle out whatever you want to in terms of the harms of the صورة what's the point of a person saying don't ever go and watch bad movies but dad at night you're the one who's flicking all these channels and you stop when you see dirty things the children are sharp they know so الله says verse number 44 أتأمرون الناس بالبري وتنسون are you ordering and instructing people to do good while forgetting yourselves the lesson is for myself and yourselves let's try and improve ourselves in a way that we الله سبحانه وتعالى is pleased with us and we achieve the pleasure of الله سبحانه وتعالى in this way we would be able to save ourselves from the calamities and difficulties of this world as well as the next you have children who don't listen to parents anymore do you know that you have children sometimes who instruct their parents what to do some of the scholars say when you obey the instructions of الله without delay you will find your children obeying your instruction for as long as that instruction is within the command of الله سبحانه وتعالى may Allah make it easy for us may Allah سبحانه وتعالى help us bring up our children and very important to us those who don't have children yet may Allah bless you بستو upon you children so my brothers and sisters another extremely important point is for us to be patient bear a lot of patience if you want happiness in this world you need to bear sabr without sabr you will never ever be able to be happy sabr is patience forbearance things will happen that you don't like someone has to die close to you or you have to die leaving behind people close to you crying may Allah grant all the مرحومين جنة just today i got a message a very good friend of mine his mother passed away suddenly as good as my own mother what can i do i'm far away the best gift to make a dua may Allah grant her جنة الفردوس i mean and may Allah grant all the مرحومين جنة الفردوس from all our families and the day we go may Allah grant us جنة الفردوس without reckoning bear patience الله سبحانه وتعالى says more than once verse number 45 as well as 153 of surah to البقرة you will hear the words seek help through seek help through sabr and salah what does that mean that means through patience and prayer you will have difficulties in life الله says we will test you we will test you negative things will happen to you but they will all be perceived as good and positive through two things patience and prayer keep on praying to الله keep on bearing patience don't lose hope never ever lose hope in the mercy of الله سبحانه وتعالى look at what happened to those who lost hope or to those who did not bear patience do you know the children of يعكوب عليه الصلاة والسلام or those who are known as the followers of musa عليه الصلاة والسلام the people of the book الله makes mention of a story in surah to البقرة in verse number 61 الله says when you told meaning the children of يعكوب when they told the prophet moses may peace be upon him that we are not going to bear patience with this one type of food listen carefully it's a very important point الله blessed them with man and salwa the heavenly food that which came from jannah that which came from الله سبحانه وتعالى they were eating it but after a while they got fed up we eating the same thing every day that's what they said we eating the same thing every day so they said oh mosa we don't want this food anymore we're not going to bear patience any longer we want the various different types of herbs and cucumbers and corn or garlic or various types of lentils and onions we don't want man and salwa every single day so الله سبحانه وتعالى says that was in gratitude we gave them something they didn't want it or they got fed up and sick how many of us we don't have as much as the others who have unique exotic dishes every single day to select from rather we just have the pop and vegetable mashaAllah thank Allah سبحان الله thank Allah and keep on having it and thanking الله even if it means every single day because الله سبحانه وتعالى says in these verses ثم سبحان الله سبحان الله الله سبحانه وتعالى says are you trying to change that which is better for that which is not even better that which is okay you want to change something which is better Allah has given it to you he knows it's good for you i want to pause for a moment do you know the people who have high cholesterol high sugar high this do you know a lot of the times it's those who are wealthy who are eating all the different types of food you take a look at the poor people who cannot even afford all of that they eat a basic meal a lot of them they are healthy they work hard سبحان الله and they don't have all those struggles this is not a rule but i'm saying it's an observation may Allah سبحانه وتعالى يجب علينا أن تفهم وفهم my brothers and sisters إن شاء الله we continue tomorrow الله سبحانه وتعالى makes mention of something very interesting i will close with it إن شاء الله الله says those people who are not patient with that food that we bestowed upon them we converted them or we affect we inflicted upon them humiliation and poverty why because they did not appreciate the نعمة and the gifts of Allah upon them when you don't appreciate what Allah has given you he takes it away and replaces it with something worse remember that so thank Allah even if you have to eat the same thing every day even if you are leading a life that may not be as high as you wanted it to be keep on thanking Allah who knows he might take it away from you and replace it with something worse look at those across the globe who don't even have what you have what i have may Allah سبحانه وتعالى help us be thankful