We're at the gates of Ramadan and the Prophet (SAW) of Allah said "When Ramadan comes, the Doors of mercy are open and and hell gets shut down " for a time being the demons have restrictions placed upon, them so it's a blessed time it's a time in which muslims have the opportunity not just to return to the book of allah subhana wa ta'ala but also to their lord and the quran is an incredible book
i mentioned earlier in in the the earlier session that the quran is in essence it's it's our gps on the road of life just like if you buy a new car you have
a GPS system and and if you're going
anywhere you can just type in where
you're going and it's amazing it'll come
up and it'll give you a map and then you
have voice guided directions it tells
you to turn right turn left go 500
meters take this road the quran in
essence is a book that provides us with
a map and with guided direction
literally tells you what to do now
the Quran is a book that takes a great
deal of time to learn how to access the
Quran is not something that comes
immediately to you but it will begin to
open it up to you the more you give to
it the more you give to the Quran the
more it will give back to you one of the
things that a lot of Muslims become
frustrated with is and I've met Muslims
who've told me that I've been doing
dhikr for so long and I don't see any
benefits given out by allah said lola
worried mcconnell would had it not been
for the opening of god you wouldn't have
been doing any consistent vicar that
that in itself is an opening from god if
you're reading the book
consistently that is a gift from Allah
subhana WA Ta'ala I was with a
Mauritania and recently in in Mecca and
he said to me that his dua his father is
a beautiful scholar and somebody who
really does a phenomenal amount of
worship and he said to me that one of
the prayers that he supplicates to allah
subhana wa ta'ala is that god give him
the delight of his heart in the prayer
because he sees his father praying
constantly and his father can't live
without the extra prayers not just the
five daily prayers but the actual extra
prayers he could not live without
praying to had you do that for him it's
like breathing
it's like eating it's part of his life
and that's what he asked me he's told me
that that was his prayer to Allah to
give him the same delight in prayer that
he sees his father achieving in prayer
but his father did not get that
overnight
it comes with mujahadin because the
beginning of the struggle is that one
works but it becomes easier and easier
Allah subhana WA Ta'ala will make it
easier and easier for you to derive
benefit and this is why if your prayer
after 20 years of praying if you're
praying at the same level that you were
praying prior to that something's wrong
Imam al Junaid who's called Imam Appa if
attain the Imam of the two groups
because he was among an imam a leader in
his spiritual understanding but he was
also a leader in the thought he made
that he was a leader in fifth and in
others so he was called the Imam of the
two groups the people who were mastering
the inward sciences and the people that
were mastering the outward sciences Imam
and Junaid is an imam by consensus Imam
and Junaid of the law and who said and
mock me no yet available via our Barina
Harlan film in Wyeth the movement state
will change 40 times in a
well Cafiero yep Karla Holland wahida
tinleigh Albertina Sena and the
disbeliever will stay in the same state
for 40 years now one of the things you
notice about children if you have
children or have been around children
they're constantly changing a child will
be happy one moment and crying the next
moment the reason for that state is
because the child is is always in the
moment he's the child he or she is in
the moment and the moment is very
meaningful to the child so if something
happens that that that upsets the child
because they're so present in that
moment it manifests quickly in their
state if something makes the child happy
because they're so present it manifests
in their state but there's people
walking around in the world that are
somnambula
there's sleepwalkers they haven't
experienced the joy of the moment one of
the things that the early community used
to say is that alluvion wok-te that the
Sufi and that and this word which is a
good word there are people in imam abu
hadees collection that have the lap up
of a sufi which what the Suva the severe
the early people who were the sylvia
they were considered people who had
divorced the world people who had
divorced the world a group later who
imitated them and often were not people
of the same upright character became
known as the mutasa wathah and the early
community distinguished between the
Sylvia and the mutasa Wafaa the people
of tasawwuf
and the people pretending to be of the
people of Tazawa most of what people
condemned today from amongst the
so-called Sufis is actually condemning
the matter so Eva and it's important
that the Muslims should be able to
distinguish between these two groups
most are well buna one of the great
scholars and erudite masters of the
Islamic tradition in Mauritania said
that Oman I should be haha drew Alicia
for Sioux here at Mumbai
Monisha you dial a DMC alayha Sadek was
santa coloma his bond Halleck that this
phone the the early people they were
called al phone because of many Hadees
that refer to the phone who mome lyashko
be him jelly so home they are the people
that if you sit amongst them you are not
amongst the wretched just the fact that
you are in their company
means that you are amongst the people
that are close to God even if you're not
amongst them the fact that you're in
their presence you're not one of them
but you're one of them by being with
them because there's a blessing and mato
madman I have a man is with the one he
loves so if you love somebody close to
God you will be with that person insha
Allah on the day of judgment and the
Sahaba said nothing made them more happy
than this statement that a man is with
the one he loves because they all knew
that they had muhabba if they had
anything if they didn't have anything
they knew they had muhabba of Allah and
His Messenger and so they knew because
one of the Sahaba came to the prophet
and he said yo suit Allah we have the
blessing of your company but in the
after ah
your mom is so high how we won't be with
you we won't be able to be with you and
the Prophet SAW eyes have looked at her
he said and model Mammon I have a man is
with those he loves and this brought so
much joy to the Sahaba it brought so
much joy into their hearts to know so
the phone these people that that are
really their heart is directed to Allah
subhana wa tada
see deokman's aruch in his extraordinary
book called Kawada Tazawa the principles
of Tazawa see deokman's aruch says in
his book that there are over 2000
definitions of Tazawa
but all of them derived from the
essential meaning sits but to what you
in a law to be truthfully directed to
God and this is in essence what our
religion is telling us to do to turn to
God to vote in allahi jami and to turn
to God to set out on the path to God to
set out on the journey to God you are on
a journey the prophets Allah lied he
said
said Sapphira Tulsa who travel and
become well he also said sumo tasuku
fast and become well the journey of to
God will make you well by merely setting
out on that journey you will feel better
the reason that you're depressed if any
of you are depressed really if any of
you are depressed do more for the sake
of God give more money get up in the
early morning pray to Allah subhana wa
ta'ala begin to read the Quran you will
see your thoughts will change the way
you experience the world becomes
differently well I I can I can attest to
this and I know many Muslims my wife
who's been with me over 20 years now
will attest to the changes that she's
seen in my life from the way I was
twenty years ago to the way I am now to
the way that I react to things
I'm a choleric by nature there's four
temperaments in in Islam by me just
telling you this is dangerous because
you'll know too much about me
but we have four they're called the clot
or the papaya there's four temperaments
in the Islamic tradition the demo we the
so that we the Bulava me and the Safra
we some doctors are rolling their heads
because they know the HMDA Institute in
Pakistan where they give the Costa to
treat people and things like that but
don't make fun of things you don't know
about the Imam Ali he said that man jaha
- a an Idaho
whoever is ignorant of a thing will
condemn it and attack it this system has
been around for a long time and there
are Hadees that indicate that the
Prophet not only understood it but
actually practiced it in his diet and
this is something that is said in the
Imam and by jewelry's commentary on the
Shema head of imam at-tirmidhi when the
prophet sala i am used to eat dates and
cucumber together and said how do you
buried or how they you buried Ihara hada
this cools off the heat of this because
dates are hot and dry
and cucumbers are cold and wet and they
create a perfect balance the egg is a
perfect food because the yolk is hot and
dry and the white is cold and wet this
is a science there are books written on
this by great Muslim scholars that go
into great detail the Chinese still
practice this in their tradition but
temperament is no justification for bad
behavior or bad manners and unfortunate
in my own life there are many times that
I regret because I allowed my
temperament to overcome my control of it
and and then I suffered the consequences
of it but because I feel bad at least
that I can say that much that if I got
upset at somebody I feel bad about it
so the choleric temperament by the way
john mccain is clearly a choleric person
the choleric temperament is a very
dangerous temperament to be in
leadership positions because they are
very quick to get upset they do things
you rationally when they get upset went
really imam zain i'm gonna tell you now
a little secret about imams eight imams
8 is sanguine demo ii demo we people are
the nicest people to be around because
they're always positive they're always
happy they make you feel good about
everything that's why I need Imams aid
like Imams aid for me it's like an
antidote to my choleric nature alright
whenever I'm feeling too choleric I get
around him I'm Zayd and I start getting
that dumb OE feeling so it is a nice
it's a nice thing and then you have the
melancholic and the flag Matic one of my
children is flag matic knowing that
helps me to be patient with him really
just knowing that about my child helps
me to be patient with him because like
matic children are slow my one of my
boys who's also he's actually a choleric
demo II he's a sanguine caller but he
what he's always there on the prayer
when I the other one the phlegmatic one
he's slow he catches the second rocket
his he took too long doing wudu really
but it's not it's not it's there's
nothing
he's a beautiful boy but it's his nature
so when you understand people's nature
it helps you to be more compassionate
with them it helps you to understand
them better this is Minato fond of SU
the auto far up the hole it's apocryphal
but many scholars come and commentate on
it some say it's actually from the
Jewish tradition but it's mentioned in
many many books the one that knows his
Lord the one that knows his self knows
his Lord if you know your servanthood if
you know your dependence then you
understand the independence of God if
you know your in significance you
understand the significance of God if
you know your place in the world then
you understand the place that God should
have in your heart that self-knowledge
is very important one of the things
about Ramadan is it's a time to reflect
on the self
it's a time to take yourself to account
has evil come down to a high assemble
take yourselves to account before you're
taken to account so my advice to you I'm
gonna give you some few pieces of advice
and this is first and foremost to myself
while llahi first and foremost to myself
at hamdulillah when ramadan comes i I
look at no media I just stop media that
really you can do without it for a month
I guarantee you some of you are addicted
now they're admitting that the Internet
is an addiction and I know there's
people in here that are addicted to the
internet because if the first thing you
want to do when you wake up in the
morning is check your email you're in
trouble well lie you're in trouble
people can laugh if that's the first
thing you want to do you're in trouble
if the first thing you want to do is
have breakfast you're in trouble if the
first thing you want to do is put the
snooze and go back to bed you're in
trouble there's a lot of signs that
you're in trouble
but if you get up in the morning and say
it ham did Atlanta Dhani buy them an
Imagineer a Danish or if that's the
first thing you say if you get out of
your bed and you're looking forward to
praying to a lot then you're in a good
state that's a good state and that state
is achievable that state is not an
imaginary state
that state is achievable ie shuttle
Dilma and has said that if the profits
Eliza woke in the morning he would get
up like a lion can a Yeti be worth
battle I said he would get up like a
lion ready to face the day so use
Ramadan to change your experience of
time when you cut out a lot of the
things I never accept the excuse I don't
have any time ever I never accept that
excuse from anybody when I hear people
say I don't have time they're lying to
me what's what you don't have is you
don't have what I'm asking you to do on
your list of priorities everybody has
time but it's what you prioritize your
time everybody has time don't use I
don't have time as an excuse because
that's all you have all you have is time
you have nothing other than time but
it's how you manage your time and the
greatest time manager in human history
was the prophet of God because he never
wasted one moment of his life he never
wasted one moment of his life they said
about Imam and Noah we adore the Aloha
and who mob is a lot to who up he never
wasted any of his time I waste time I
know I waste time I waste time and I ask
Allah to give me the ability to get out
of any time wasting habits because I
know time is a limited gift from God
just like last night they had the grains
of sand going through the the time clock
and I have one of those clocks in my
office and I have it in my prayer room
in my house that clock reminds me and I
turn that clock over and I watch those
grains of sand those grains of sand are
like every breath you take and one day
those breasts come to an end you don't
know where you are in that time clock
that God has given you you don't know
where you are if you think that you're
at the beginning you're a fool because
you don't know you could be a few grains
away from the end you walk out the door
that got the allah god forbid but
there's people that will walk out the
door and drop dead there's people that
will get in their car and they don't
realize that they're headed towards an
action
was decreed to them before they were
born that's the nature of life it's an
absolutely uncertain condition that God
has placed us in and the only certainty
that God has given us is that we will
exit this life just as we have come into
this life and now it's a matter of what
we do with the time allotted to us what
will you do and so my request for myself
and all of you the first thing if you
have a television we don't have a
television in the house I don't we don't
watch television - my children don't
watch television if you have a
television in your house take it and put
it in the closet lock it in the closet
for one month don't allow your children
access to a computer they say it's not
TV HBO it's not TV it's TV trust me HBO
is just tricking you to make you think
you're more intelligent than the average
person wasting his time watching ABC NBC
or CBS really HBO is TV if you're
watching a Showtime shame on you really
shame on you
these are our sinister forms that that
are out there destroying people's time
taking eating their time away so my
advice to you is put that machine away
cut down all of your sensory stimulation
CD a little Gemma and one of the great
North African said that as the sensory
diminishes the meaning increases as this
the meaning decreases the sensory
increases there's a correlation between
hiss and mana that your highest points
your peak points in life and and if
you're blessed with having experiences
of profound significance in your life
you will know what I'm talking about the
peak points in life are not sensory
experiences their experiences of meaning
of discovery of understanding of
cognitive awareness of a divine when you
realize in truth that it is allah
subhana wa ta'ala that is is behind this
entire universe in america no man i am
attuned sor Kulemin you Derek Ojeda
Kahneman a holiday bar this universe is
nothing but images that are meanings
their meanings set up in images if you
understand this
from the people of a bra what is he bruh
in the Arabic taboo yeah you need a
bizarre think deeply about this yeah
Yulin observe people of innermost
understanding think deeply a t-bar in
the Quran is used several times the word
a bruh is a discerning lesson it's a
lesson that you derive meaning from the
word abre
means a tear because often when you when
you discover the truth tears well up in
your eyes because of the profundity of
what you're experiencing and also a bra
tears emerge out of some understanding
whether it's the loss of somebody
something like that but the root word a
para Lube or means to move from one
place to another that is what it's about
is it's moving from not understanding to
understanding the Quran is there to take
you from not understanding to
understanding who you are to whom you
belong where you are and where you're
going may allah subhanho wa taala give
you all a blessed journey this ramadan a
journey to the lord of the world may
allah subhanho wa taala increase all of
you in this ramadan may he make this
Ramadan a blessed Ramadan for our ummah
may he increase our Ummah may increase
it in numbers anyone who's left Islam
may he replace that person with a
hundred people
anyone who's turned their back on his
some and and I guarantee you nobody
leaves Islam Islam leaves them that's
the truth of it nobody leaves Islam
Islam leaves them we have many young
people and this is my advice to the MSA
we have many beautiful young people do
something with your life you're here for
a brief moment in time we're all here
for a brief moment do something profound
with your life utilize this opportunity
it's a blessed time allah subhanho wa
taala will give you great gifts if you
do for the sake of our loss of a Noah
talent one of the greatest tribulations
on this planet is tribalism tribalism
and I've talked about this before
tribalism is a bliss ism tribalism is
ibly 'some it's thinking you're better
than somebody because of your lineage
because of your color because of your
religion
and beware of religious tribalism to
think you're better than the Jew or the
Christian or the Hindu because you're a
Muslim you have to be very careful
because you don't know who you are until
the last breath you take and you enter
into the next world and then you'll know
who you were but you don't know if
you're better than that person who's a
homeless person on that street knocked
down and busted by life you don't know
if you're better than that person so
beware of thinking that you're better
than anybody on this planet because
that's a bleach ism tribalism is
destroying this planet in Kenya in Kenya
where Barack Obama comes from his father
became an alcoholic because of the
tribalism that was tearing that culture
apart a brilliant man who came to this
country studied went back to his
homeland and it was tribalism we saw in
the last Kenyan democratic elections the
whole thing fell apart because of
tribalism because of one group thinking
that that tribe shouldn't be elected
that we're better than that tribe and we
should be supporting our tribe and Kenya
by the way Obama comes from a very
powerful tribe in Kenya but in America
tribalism means nothing tribalism means
nothing and that's why the African
Americans whether they realize it or not
and I got this from dr. su demon yang
who said that one of the great gifts of
the a from African American community is
having their tribalism rooted out from
them because they're one people in this
country but if they were in Africa right
now they'd say who are you i'm house'
and automatically you're in a box
according to the Mandinka or according
to the fool an or according to the
Yoruba or the Evo or whatever group
there is but in this country it's a
unified group of people that have a
solidarity that have a solidarity
because of a struggle that they have
shared in this country to obtain their
rights Thomas Jefferson one of the
founding fathers of this country said I
shudder for my nation when I recall that
God is just that's Thomas Jefferson
that's a person from this country who
knew the meaning and you know what he
was talking about he was talking about
race
he was talking about slavery in this
country
he said he shuddered for this nation
when he remembered that God was just we
have a just God and we pray for God's
mercy because God's justice when it
comes it leaves nothing standing no UI
for the nasa with on me him now you ask
allah llahu Nessa bugle meum Matt Erica
a Hammond dubba if God took people to
account for all of their oppressions
there would be nothing remaining
standing nothing living or breathing
would be remaining that's the reality of
God's justice well you have one cause
here he forgives so much tribalism is
killing the world right now whether
you're an Arab that thinks you're better
than a bangali or a Pakistani whether
you're a Pakistani Punjabi that thinks
you're better than a Belushi whether
you're a Belushi that thinks you're
better than a Pathan whether you're an
Indian that thinks you're better than a
Pakistani whether you're a Russian that
thinks you're better than a Georgian
nobody is better than anybody else on
this planet and the best of Allah's
creation said I was commanded to be
humble I was commanded by God to be
humble the best of creation was
commanded to be humble and why he said
haughtily aha ahá Dona Ana I had so that
no one would boast of being better than
any other because if anyone had a right
to boast that he was better than anybody
it was the messenger of allah sallallahu
sent him and yet he was the humblest of
men this is where this world has to come
to and so I congratulate the United
States of America for putting a
Democratic candidate as the primary
candidate from a black family this
country needs to be congratulated but it
needs to be redeemed it needs to be
redeemed this country needs to be
redeemed we want redemption for America
not destruction we pray for America's
Redemption we pray for the Toba of this
country was Saddam I did come along
[Applause]