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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. Wasalatuhu wa Salamu Alaa Asharafil Anbiya’i wal Mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi wa Alaa Alihi wa Sahbihi wa Sallamu Al Jaseeman Katheeran Katheeraan. Fama Badhu. My brothers and sisters, I want to begin by once more congratulating our brother Conor for becoming a Muslim today. He gave me the honor of having Iftar with me and we were sitting in my room, there’s the two of us, and eating our food. When he said to me, I wish I was born a Muslim. We talked about how he came to Islam and so on. And he said, I wish I was born a Muslim. And spontaneously a thought came into my heart and that thought was, I wish I were accepting Islam today. Wallahi. I wish I was born a Muslim. My family for at least a thousand years have been Muslim. Traceable. But I said that I wish I was accepting Islam today, now. And the reason is that he accepted Islam and right now, this is the purest person among all of us. The only one who has zero sins, insha’Allah with Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, the only one whose, whose amal, his book of deeds is absolutely pure as the day he was born, is this man here. So I said, I wish I was born a Muslim. So the first thing, then the thought came to me again, Wallaha, I’m not claiming to get Wahi or something, naul billah. But the thought came to me was, what prevents you from accepting Islam today? Who said I cannot accept Islam today? So I’m going to do that now, loudly and clearly, before all of you, whoever wants to join me, join me. And then we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to count us from today as Muslims, meaning wipe out all our sins, whatever we did till today. From today we are newly born, insha’Allah. Ashadu an la ilaha illallah, wa ashadu anna Muhammadan rasulullah. Wallaha, I bear witness that there is nobody worthy of worship except you. And I bear witness that Muhammadan rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam is your rasul and the last and final of them after whom there is no other. This is the wealth of Islam. What is the value of that? And Conor said to me, so what is your advice to me as a new Muslim? Alhamdulillah, today all of us right now are new Muslims, insha’Allah. He said, what is your advice to me as a new Muslim? And I said to him, because before that we had a conversation about his education in Amherst College. And he said how he was studying religion and different religions. And he made a very beautiful statement which stuck in my mind and heart. He said the problem with approaching religion from an intellectual perspective is that it takes the belief out of religion. It takes the religion out of religion. It became extremely academic. And the thought to me was, if I were to say Muslims believe that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah. See the statement, Muslims believe that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah. This is one statement. And the second statement is, there is no one worthy of belief, worthy of worship except Allah. Is there a difference between the two statements? The difference between the heavens and the earth, right? One is Muslims believe there is no one worthy of worship except Allah. And the second statement is, there is no one worthy of worship except Allah. There is a world of difference because one is coming out of the heart out of belief. The other one is an intellectual state, Muslims believe this. So I said to him that the advice I give him and the same advice I give myself is, leave the intellectual piece out of it. Know Allah. Know Allah. Because if you look at Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala from an intellectual perspective, you can only define Allah in terms of what He is not. He has no shape. He has no form. He is unlike anything. He is not. He is not. He is not. What is He? What is He? So the way to describe Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala is in two ways. One is to look at how He described Himself. Who did Allah say He was? Allah is the only God, the only living, the only standing. To the end of the verse. I am shortening because of the khatira. Say, He is Allah, the one. To the end of the surah. He is Allah, the one, who has no divinity but He. Knower of the unseen and the witnessed. He is the Most Merciful, the Most Merciful. To the end. To the last of those verses of Surah al-Hashr. And many other places. Who did Allah say He was? Who is He? Read that. And then reflect on the creation of the earth and the heavens and the earth. Inna fi khalqi samawati wal ardi waqtila fi layli wa annahari la ayatil li ulil al-bab. Allah said truly in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the day and the night are signs for people of intelligence. Ask yourself a simple question. Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala created the earth and He created gravity. And He tilted the earth at an angle of 23.5 degrees exact. If the axis of the earth was not tilted at 23.5 degrees, we would have no seasons. One side of the earth would be like fire burning hot. Nothing could survive. The other side of the earth would be freezing, freezing cold. Nothing would survive. 23.5 degrees. On this earth Allah created gravity. If there was no gravity, if gravity goes to zero for one second, everything which is not rooted will fly out. Centrifugal force because the earth is spinning at a speed of 1000 miles per hour. 1000 miles per hour. And this spinning ball is spinning around the sun at a speed of 67000 miles per hour. Nothing would stay on it. One second gravity goes, you’re gone, finished. One second, nothing will be there. We’ll fly off into space. And if Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala made this gravity 10 times what it was, you would not be able to get up. Seriously, you would not be able to stand. If you’re standing, you will not be able to move. Gravity. This is Allah. This is Allah who said, Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. I begin in the name of Allah. He could have introduced himself in any way he wanted. Bismillah wa haidhu l-qahhar. Bismillah Ya’zizun Muntakhim. Anyway, he said Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. I begin in the name of Allah who is the most merciful, the most beneficent. Ar-Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. All praise, all thanks to Allah who is the creator, the sustainer, the maintainer, the protector, the rub of all the things that he created. Al-Alameen. Ar-Rahmanir Raheem. Most beneficent, most merciful. Once again. Malik Yawm al-Deen. The owner, the Malik, the Malik, the king of the day of judgment. And then, who are you? Who am I? Iyyaka na’budu wa iyyaka nastain. O Allah, I am yours. O Allah, I am yours. I worship only you, nobody else. And I seek help only from you, nobody else. My connection with Naram. Before I ask him anything, I first establish my identity. Right? When Conor came to meet me, he said, I am Zakaria’s friend. I hope it is not inconvenient for you. I said, if you are Zakaria’s friend, it is not inconvenient. Now he tells himself, he is also my friend now. Establishing the connection. Why should I show you? Who are you? I am yours. I am from your country. I am from your family. I am related to you. I have got this connection with you. I am your student. I am your teacher. What is the connection with Allah? The connection of the Abda and the Rabb. Yallah, I am yours. I don’t worship anyone other than you. Yallah, I worship only you. I don’t ask for help from anyone other than you. I ask only from you. Yallah, help me. Iyyaka naabudu wa iyyaka nastain. Ihdeena sirat al mustaqeem. O Allah, guide me to the path of Istiqama. The straight path. The path of righteousness. The path that leads to you. And the rest of the ayat is the tashreeh of what is sirat al mustaqeem. Sirat al ladheena anamta alayhim waili maghdubi alayhim walad dhalin. The path of those who you blessed. The path of the righteous. The path of the nabiyyin wa siddiqeen wa shuhdaa wa salihin. The path of Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Not the path of those who went astray. Not the path of those who were rebellious and who incurred your anger. Not the path of those who were guided and who guided themselves. This is Allah. So I said to Kaunal I am saying to myself, throw away all the academic stuff. Know Allah. Who is Allah? Because when I know Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, then obeying Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala becomes very easy. And that is why in these ayat of the Quran in surah al-baqarah, connected and relating to Ramadan al-Kareem, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, wa ida sa’alaka ibadiyanni fa inni qareeb ujeebuda wa tadda’i dha da’aan fal yastajeebuli wal yu’minu bi la’allahum yarshudoon Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, when my slave asks about me, ya muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the slave is fasting. He is fasting so he becomes a muttaki. Right? la’allahu ta’taqoon So he becomes a muttaki. And when he becomes a muttaki, he feels close to Allah. Allah says, when he feels close to me, when he asks about me, I am close to him. I am near him. Tell him I am near him. Let him ask me, I will give him. Whatever he asks me, let him ask me, I will give him. And then two conditions. fal yastajeebuli wal yu’minu bi Let him obey me and let him have faith in me. la’allahu yarshudoon He will be rightly guided. Ask yourself, why obedience before faith? Why not say I have faith in me, then obey me? That’s not how it works. Faith comes because of obedience. You obey and when you obey, you see the karamat of the obedience. You see the effect of that obedience. And the effect of the obedience is that it brings faith. When I stand before Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and say Allahu Akbar, then khushu comes in my heart, then Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala opens my heart, then the nur of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala comes into my heart. But if I never stand and say Allahu Akbar, nothing will happen. I say I have faith, I believe in God. Nice. What is the evidence? What is the evidence? If you believe in God, how come you don’t worship Allah? Right? And if you really believe in Allah, then how come you don’t worship Allah? I want to close by reminding myself to you. The time is passing. Passing very fast. Very, very, very fast. One minute we are here, next minute we are gone. Right? So don’t waste time. Do not waste time. Turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. Each one for ourselves. Because of the Day of Judgment, we are going to stand alone. Karna will be alone, I will be alone. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to gather all of us together in the company of Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, in Jandatul Fidha, those who are without his arm. Because this one kalima, la ilaha illallahu Muhammad Rasulallah, I will tell you two short beautiful ahadith and finish with that. Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said a man will come before Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala on the Day of Judgment. And on the scales, the mizan, on one pan, his deed, his book of deeds will be placed. And they will be books and books and books and it will be piled up like a mountain. And they will be full of masyad, full of sins. And the angel will say to him, do you have anything for this other scale, any good deed? He said no. He said not even one. He said no. Not even one good deed in your whole life, you did all of these sins. He said no. And then it will be said to him, he will be given a card. It will be said to him, put the card on this other’s pan. Man will say what card? He says put the card. He will put the card on that pan. Rasulallah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, now imagine this one pan is sitting on the, whatever the surface is, with piles of books, all full of sins and the other pan is obviously high in the air, right? He says the minute he puts that card in the scale, this pan slams down. It slams down with such violence that the other pan flies in the air and the books all fly away. And they will ask him, read what’s on the card. And what is on the card? La ilaha illa Allah muhammadun rasulallah. Because the man had accepted Allah. His heart had demand. And Allah forgave him. The second hadith I will close with that. Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said Allah SWT will call a slave. And he will remind him, he will say on this day you did this. And the slave will say, of course, how will you deny Allah? And then Allah will say to him, on this day you did this. And he’s talking about sins. You did this sin. The slave will say, yes, ya Allah. And the third one and the fourth one and the tenth one and the thousandth one, Allah will remind him. I go on reminding him, this sin and this sin and this sin. And the slave will say, ya Allah, I did all of this. And then the slave will say, ya Rabb, when I was doing these sins, and thereafter you covered me with your lehaf. You covered me with your cover. Because you are satar ul yub. You covered me with your cover. You did not let anybody know this. You did not let anybody see this. And the people respected me and they loved me because they did not know any of this. And the slave will say, ya Allah, but today on the day of judgment, everybody is here. Everyone is here. My parents are here. My grandparents are here. My children are here. My wife is here. My everyone is here. And in front of all of them, I have been humiliated. All my evil deeds have been exposed. Allah will say, turn around and look. And the slave will turn around and looks. And there is a cover. There is a cover. Allah says, I covered you in the world and I cover you here. Now I forgive you. Go into Jannah. We ask Allah for this. We ask Allah to recover our sins and to keep this cover until we meet Him. Allah says, We ask Allah to recover our sins and to keep this cover until we meet Him. Allah says, We ask Allah to recover our sins and to keep this cover until we meet Him. Allah says, We ask Allah to recover our sins and to keep this cover until we meet Him. Allah says, We ask Allah to recover our sins and to keep this cover until we meet Him. Allah says, We ask Allah to recover our sins and to keep this cover until we meet Him. Allah says, We ask Allah to recover our sins and to keep this cover until we meet Him. Allah says, We ask Allah to recover our sins and to keep this cover until we meet Him. Allah says, We ask Allah to recover our sins and to keep this cover until we meet Him. Allah says, We ask Allah to recover our sins and to keep this cover until we meet Him. Allah says,
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