In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. Alhamdulillah, O Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the honor of the prophets and messengers, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and upon his family, and he is the one who is most at peace. What is next? My dear respected brothers, sisters, elders, Alhamdulillah, O Lord of the worlds, we are witnessing history in progress. I have already done that and I do it again on my behalf and on the behalf of all of you to congratulate our brothers and sisters in Syria for gaining their freedom. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala granted it to them. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to protect them and to protect all Muslims wherever they are. When we read the accounts of what has happened in Syria in the last few days, we can say that we were witness to that. Some of us can say that about the fall of USSR. I don’t know how many of the younger people here even know the full form of what USSR was, but it was a global force to be reckoned with. And the fall of the monarchy in Iran, I was witness to the coronation ceremony of Shah Raza Shah Pahlavi. And more recently, what happened in Egypt and Iraq and other places. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala told us about the way the world works and to look beyond the obvious. When we see events unfolding where those who thought they were impervious and immune suddenly had to run for their lives and seek refuge and all their wealth and power couldn’t save them, we must thank Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala for his mercy and grace in delivering those who were suffering under these tyrants. Imagine all the power to do good and to help people and to create a beautiful country and to leave a legacy of honor that their wealth and their power offered them. Instead they did what they did. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala warned us and Allah said Come, tarakoo min jannaati wa a’iyoon wa zuroo’in wa maqaamin kareem wa ni’matin kano feeha fakihin kathalika wa awrathnaaha qawman aakhareen fa ma bakat alayhim fa ma bakat alayhim al-samaa wa al-ardhu wa ma kano munzareen Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said which means imagine how many gardens and springs and it refers to all the accoutrements and the signs of luxury that the tyrants left behind as well as crops and splendid palaces and residences and luxuries which they fully enjoyed. And then so it was. Allah’s haqqum came to be. And Allah says we awarded it to all, we awarded all of that to another people. And neither heaven nor earth wept over them, nor was their fate delayed. But I want to say also that given the recent history of regime changes, I hope the Syrian people that they should beware and not just focus on the toppling of statues because in previous events when people were occupied in celebrating in the streets, their destiny was being sold without their knowledge. More importantly, we need to ask ourselves what can we learn, all of us, from these events to correct our ways. And for this we have the Kalan of Allah, the Quran al-Kareem and the Sunnah of Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. I remind myself and you that we see with our knowledge. We see with our knowledge. Where we see a beauty, where we see beauty in a building, Al Hamra for example, beautiful palace, an architect sees how Al Hamra is constructed, the entire palace, everything is constructed on one very simple mathematical principle. And that is taking the hypotenuse of the square, which is the diagonal distance between the two opposite corners of a square, and taking it in a protractor and moving it to the right and creating a rectangle because that becomes a little bit longer, the hypotenuse is longer than the side, so creating a rectangle on that and taking the hypotenuse of the rectangle and again circling to the right and creating a taller rectangle. The entire palace is built on a very simple, beautiful mathematical principle. So for an architect or a mathematician who understands that, the Al Hamra palace is of course something of beauty, but it is also a marvel of the application, the actual application of mathematics in architecture. The eyes of the mathematician and the architect are the same like you and my eyes, but they see because of their knowledge and they see more than we can see. And the same thing, apply this to any person of knowledge, to physicians, to artists, to whoever, they see with their knowledge. Where we see rulers and empires rise and fall, a historian will see the material and political reasons for it. Whereas a person of real insight sees the hand of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, behind the events. I remind myself, I knew that the Akkal, the brain, the intellect, is not a source of information. It’s not a source of knowledge. This is the big, you know, shaitani mumakkal or shaitani trap and deception that shaitan puts everybody in. It must make logical sense to me. Why did Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala say, وَعَلَّمَ الْعَادَمَ أَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَ He said, we taught Adam, the names of everything, name meaning the reality of everything, everything in creation, and whatever Allah means by that everything. Did he say that because Adam was created without a brain? Did he not have a brain in his head? Did he not have intellect? The brain is like, the intellect is like a brand new computer. You open the box, you turn on the computer, does it do anything? Can it do anything? I’m not talking about the computers nowadays, they come preloaded with a lot of stuff, but if they didn’t come preloaded, and you say, no, my machine is bad, machine is not bad, machine is a machine. It has the capability and the capacity to do many things. But you first have to feed in that data, you have to feed in the programs, you have to feed in an operating system, you have to feed in all kinds of software, and then the machine will function. And even then the machine can only function within the purview of the knowledge base it has. If I come to you and I say to you that you need a brain operation or you need maybe appendix removal, okay forget about brain operation. I know what an appendix is, my God removed and God… People made mistakes for which I paid, obviously. Doctors’ mistakes they don’t pay, they either go into the cemetery or somebody else pays. So I say I know what it is about. So lie down, I’ll do an appendix operation on you because you need to have it removed. I will do it logically. You will tell me you are insane, you should be put into a thing because how can you logically decide what to cut? For God’s sake, you have to study anatomy, you have to study physiology, you have to study surgery, you have to study the whole human body and see how it works and you have to be trained under a surgeon, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Before you can touch me, not only will it be illegal, I would be insane if I allow you to do that because your logic does not function in the absence of basic knowledge. The brain is not a source of information, it’s not a source of knowledge, it’s a processor of knowledge. The knowledge has to come from somewhere in the human being, there are two sources of knowledge. One is tajriba, it is your experience, you fall into a hole, you know there is a hole. And the other one is knowledge which you cannot possibly get by experience because you can never have that experience. For example, what happens in the grave? You can have the experience but you can’t come back and tell me about it. I would love to if somebody did that, they can’t do it. What happens on the day of judgment? There is no way to get that knowledge by experience. But we need that knowledge because we are going to be in that place one day, make no mistake about it. And that is where the knowledge of the Wahi Ali is from Rasulullah, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, through Rasulullah, he sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, run like rats looking for a hole, to try to find a hole through which you can escape without passing through the Rasulullah, good luck to you. There is no way that anybody is getting into Jannah without passing through the Rasulullah, no way. That is the source of knowledge and information, Tajribaq for worldly things and the Wahi for worldly things and other worldly things. My brothers and sisters, this is very very important. We see with our knowledge, that everything that is alive has sight, but only Allah’s men. Those who have sight, and sight is from a heart that is illuminated by the light of Allah, the light of Allah’s fear. That is why Allah said, Did they not walk on the earth, and there would be hearts that could understand it, or ears that could hear it. It does not make sight, but it makes the heart that is in the breasts. We see with our knowledge, every living thing has sight, illa mashallah. A cow sees, a dog sees, a cat sees, you see, I see. But the difference in perception is based on knowledge. That is not a question of sight, they all have sight, they have better sight than you and I have. David Attenborough has not just beautiful sight, but also access to some of the finest equipment, camera equipment in the world, so that he sees the qudrat of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala at a level that we can only dream of. When may Allah grant him Hidayah before he dies, not once does he say Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, Allah Akbar. Allah said that is why? Allah said they are not blind because their eyes cannot see, they are blind because their hearts cannot see. Because the sight that I am talking about the inside comes from a heart which is filled and illuminated with the khashyat of Allah. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave us many examples of those who had wealth and power and what they did with it and he sent warners to them to try to correct them, but they were so drunk and intoxicated with what they had that they ignored them or they killed them or and when they exceeded all their limits, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala did not call them to account. Hajiib, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said when they exceeded all limits, when they ignored all the warners, Allah said we opened on them the doors of everything in this world. We gave them more money and more wealth and more power and more influence and more politics and everything more and more and more and more. And when they were engrossed and completely immersed and enjoying all that power and wealth and glory and oppressing people, Allah said we grabbed them without any warning and they were broken in despair. My brothers and sisters, when we read the different stories in the Quran al-Karim, story of Yusuf alayhi salam for example, from being the victim of attempted murder to being sold into slavery to being wrongfully accused and imprisoned, and then to be made the ruler of Egypt. We see the story of Ibrahim alayhi salam which is again a story of test after test after test. The key thing is and of course Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala also narrated for us the stories of the opposite, the stories of the Pharaoh of Egypt, Pharaoh and Namrud and Shaddad and Haman and Qarun. It’s very very important to remind ourselves even though the stories refer to the Ambiya and to rulers, the ayat and the lessons are not only for rulers and Nabi’s, the ayat and lessons are for us. That is why Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala reminded us of who He is. And He said And He said Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said say O Rasul Allah alayhi salatu was-salam, say O Prophet, O Allah, Rabb and Lord over all authorities. You give authority to whoever you want and you remove it from whoever you want. You honor whoever you please and you disgrace whoever you please and all good is in your hands. And surely you alone are most capable of everything. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala sent His kalab and He sent His messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam to teach us how to navigate this life so that we can become real winners of this race. Allah said Allah said whatever good, whoever does good, two things, do good and have iman. Whoever does good, whether male or female, and is a believer, has iman. Allah says surely we will bless them with the hayatan tayyiba, the most beautiful existence in this world. And we will certainly reward them in accordance to the best of their deeds. See the mercy of our Rabb jala jala hu. Allah says I will take the best deed they did and give them that reward equal to that reward for all their good deeds. No matter what the level of the other good deeds was. To show us what this way is, the way towards hayatan tayyiba in this world and to a khatimah bil khair and to jannatul firuzaoos insha’Allah. Insha’Allah we ask this from Allah SWT for all of us. Allah sent His messenger Muhammad SAW and Allah SWT told us blanket statement For who? For whom Allah wishes and the Day of Judgment. And Allah has mentioned many times. Allah said indeed in the messenger of Allah you have an excellent example for whoever has hope in Allah. Whoever wants to meet Allah and whoever remembers Allah SWT a great deal. My brothers and sisters, Allah told us that the way to live is to follow His messenger Muhammad SAW. Always be aware that we will die. I know we know that in our heads. We need to know it in our beings, in our hearts, in our visara. And that this can happen at any time. I remind myself and you that winners are decided at the end of the race. So focus on winning the race. Forget everybody else. Doesn’t matter what this one is doing or that one is doing. Don’t get distracted in the race. Keep running. Focus on the target. And if we do this, then insha’Allah we will have a beautiful life on this earth and Jannah in the Yarabtah. If we do this, then insha’Allah we will have a beautiful life on this earth and Jannah in the Yarabtah.
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