Rise & Reflect | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | Winter Intensive 2023 | Mon, 12/25

Opening Supplications

If we can, inshallah, please move forward. Brothers in the back, also if you can come here. Come towards the front. If you need to take the help of the wall, then you can sit up front here against the wall in front. Inshallah. Jazakallah khair. Let's all fill up all the gaps.

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

I ask Allah to allow our coming here for Salatul Fajr and praying in jama'ah to become a means of us being under His protection for the rest of the day. And may He allow this to become a means of us receiving reward for praying the entire night. And may Allah allow our coming here to become a means of us being steadfast in our Fajr and Isha in the masjid. And may He allow this to become a means of us all having complete nur on the Day of Judgment.

And may Allah allow our sitting here insha'Allah with sincerity to become a means of all of us hearing and sharing that which we need to hear the most, which we need to benefit the most from. May Allah, who knows our internal and external conditions, who is well aware of every movement of ours by day and by night, allow us to hear that which is relevant to us and may He then enable all of us to put it into practice. Ameen.

The Statement of Ali رضي الله عنه: Hope and Fear

One of the beautiful statements of Ali رضي الله عنه — a very comprehensive statement, very short and concise, but extremely deep. He says:

A servant should never have any expectations of reward — should have no hope from anyone besides his Lord. And he should have no fear from anything except for his sins. He should fear nothing except his sins, and he should not have hope from anything except from his Lord.

What exactly does this mean? Hope — when you have hope, what do you have hope for? You have hope from something that you can benefit from, that could be of a blessing. And fear is something you have from an evil. So a Muslim understands that the difficulty and the problems that he suffers is through his sins.

Whatever afflicts you from any trial or tribulation — مصيبة — whatever afflicts you from any trial or tribulation, فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ — it's because of your own actions. Whatever afflicts you, it's because of your own actions. وَيَعْفُو عَن كَثِيرٍ — and Allah forgives many things. Meaning, do not think that you are going through problems for every single sin. Do not think that you are getting punished for every single sin that you have done. Rather, Allah is selectively choosing to punish you and I for a few things. The vast majority — كثير — the vast majority of things Allah overlooks and does not punish us for.

Good and Evil Come from Allah

Allah says in another place:

Wherever you may be, death shall overtake you, even if you are in fortified palaces. And the hypocrites, when good things come their way, هَٰذِهِ مِنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ — they say, "Oh, this is from Allah. Allah has been kind to us because we deserve it. We deserve to enjoy goodness because we're pious people. That's why we're making money. We have health, we have wealth, we've got family, we've got all these great things happening." Whenever great things are happening, they take credit for it themselves and say, "Because we are good people, Allah is rewarding us with this حسنة." حسنة here is referring to easy conditions, good conditions, blessings.

وَإِن تُصِبْهُمْ سَيِّئَةٌ — And if affliction and difficulty comes their way, يَقُولُوا هَٰذِهِ مِنْ عِندِكَ — they tell the Prophet ﷺ, "This is because of you." Meaning, because we followed you and your advice, that's why we're in trouble. Allah says, قُلْ — tell them, كُلٌّ مِّنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ — everything comes from Allah. Nothing has come because of the evilness of the Muslims, etc. Everything comes from Allah. فَمَالِ هَٰؤُلَاءِ الْقَوْمِ لَا يَكَادُونَ يَفْقَهُونَ حَدِيثًا — What's wrong with these people? They can barely understand anything. These hypocrites, they cannot understand what's going on.

Whenever goodness comes to you, don't take credit for it — فَمِنَ اللَّهِ — it comes from Allah. Allah is the one who's giving you good conditions. You may say, "This is possibly a reward for a good deed that I have done." But who gave you the ability to do that good deed? That also came back from Allah.

If I say, today has been a great day, alhamdulillah — it's the 25th of December, I could have been somewhere else, I made it for Fajr, and then I'm sitting for an hour-long khatira, and then I'm doing dhikr, and then I'm praying Ishraq. And so mashaAllah, something happens to you during the day — inshallah, which I pray does happen — something good, something you unexpectedly enjoy. So there's two ways to look at it. One is, "Alhamdulillah, what do you expect, man? I was there early in the morning at Salatul Fajr, first row, and I stayed in the masjid for an hour and a half. Of course I'm gonna have a great day." And we take credit for that.

Another way is to think, "You know how many days I haven't come for Fajr? You know how many days in the past month I have not prayed Salatul Fajr in the masjid? There's one day after 29 days that I prayed. How can I sit there and take credit for it? The fact that Allah sent this goodness my way is maybe definitely a reward for me coming to the masjid. But the fact that I even came to the masjid — it didn't happen out of my own will. This happened because Allah gave me the tawfiq to do so. If Allah didn't, then I would be sleeping through, praying at home, the way I've done for so many past weeks and months."

How many people, honestly, how many people right around us have not been blessed to be in Fajr since Ramadan? Since Ramadan — 10 months they haven't been. You meet people, subhanAllah, who have not been blessed to be in Salatul Jumu'ah since Ramadan. So all of this is from tawfiq from Allah. Whatever good you and I are enjoying as a result of good deeds, those good deeds are also from Allah. And so that's why we thank Allah for that.

And then, وَمَا أَصَابَكَ مِن سَيِّئَةٍ فَمِن نَّفْسِكَ — whatever difficulty afflicts you, Allah says it's because of your own self. So we learn from here that Allah is teaching us that difficulty comes our way through our own actions.

We test people and we put them through ease and difficulty. حسنات and سيئات here is not referring to sin or disobedience — it means good conditions and difficult conditions, easy conditions and difficult conditions. لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ — so that they may repent. The purpose of all these ups and downs in our lives is to jolt us back to the masjid.

So when unexpectedly something great happens in your life — "I didn't expect this $5,000 to come my way, I got a bonus out of nowhere" — the purpose of that is not for you to use it on a party and to sin with it. The purpose of that is to push you to the house of Allah and thank Allah for what you got. And then there's been an unexpected loss in the business, unexpected loss and harm that you've suffered in some aspect of your life. That should not be a means of despondency or anger. But again, it's supposed to push you and I running to the masjid, sitting in a corner and begging Allah for forgiveness. "Ya Allah, I'm suffering because I have upset You." That's how a believer is supposed to think.

Two Perspectives: The Turkish Minister and the Test of Fitna

There are a lot of atheists out there who make fun of all of this. They say, "We see Muslims are praying and they're suffering. And I'm an atheist, I make fun of God, and I'm enjoying life." This is فَمَالِ هَٰؤُلَاءِ الْقَوْمِ لَا يَكَادُونَ يَفْقَهُونَ حَدِيثًا — they just don't get it.

Recently you may have seen that in Turkey, one of the ministers gave a very riveting speech in the parliament about what's happening in Gaza. He blamed his country and its leadership for not doing enough — one of the few voices who spoke up like that. And then in a matter of minutes after he finished his speech, he had a heart attack right in front of the crowd. And days later he passed away.

There are two ways to interpret that. This event, which many of you sitting here had probably never heard of, was covered by most — or all — of the main media outlets of this country, front and center. They covered this. Because from their perspective, if you speak against what we claim to be the good force, then you're going to get punished. Karma is going to come after you.

And our way of looking at it is, Allah destined for him to die anyway. But he did what we call أَفْضَلُ الْجِهَادِ — the most virtuous jihad — which is to speak up the truth at a time where it's not convenient to speak up, in the company of people who have the power to remove you from power. He did that. And it comes in a hadith that the one whom Allah loves and appreciates, Allah inspires him to do some good deeds before he dies, and then takes him away while he's involved in that good deed.

So from a Muslim's perspective, this is a very good omen, not a bad omen. But the issue is about perspective — where are you looking at it from? With what lens are you understanding this scenario? So subhanAllah, what a fitna this becomes. It's a test. Do you regard this as a success story? Or do you regard it as a story of punishment for the one who chooses to speak on behalf of the oppressed? Same event — dying after speaking — but two completely different perspectives.

This is one of the beautiful things that subhanAllah, we hope Allah accepts on all of our behalf — that Allah inspires us, opens up a door of goodness before we die, gets us involved, and allows us to remain involved in that door of goodness until He picks us up from that.

The Danger of a Bad Ending

How sad it is to see the flip side — that there are people who had a beautiful childhood, people who spent their adolescence in ibadah, people whose adulthood was spent in serving the deen, in ilm, in amal, and so forth. But as they grow older and get closer to their death, unfortunately, they fall into various types of innovations, various types of bid'at, various types of changes in the deen that they begin to promote. And that knowledge that they had, which taught them against all of this — they forget. That spirituality that they had, which held them back from doing all of this — they forget. And as they come closer to their death, Allah opens up the door of evil, and they get involved in those evil bid'at and innovations, in tasahul — being easy with the ahkam of Allah, with the maharim of Allah. Things Allah has made haram — they become lax in that. And in this state, they pass away. They started off on a very good note, and ended on a very bad note. May Allah protect us from such a bad ending.

SubhanAllah, that's why this du'a is so important:

"O Allah, do not allow our hearts to become crooked after You have guided us." Why is Allah teaching us to make this du'a? Because it is extremely possible to be guided and then to be misguided. If it was not possible, we would not have been taught to make this du'a.

The Prophet ﷺ would make this du'a most often. Someone said, "Ya Rasulullah, why are you making this du'a so often?" And so he said to one of his wives who asked him this question: "Because indeed, the hearts of the children of Adam are between the fingers of Allah — He may turn them in any direction that He wishes."

Today you're feeling it, tomorrow you're not feeling it. Today you enjoy the masjid, tomorrow a person feels out of place in the masjid. Today a person feels out of place in a mixed gathering where there's music, dancing, and improperly dressed men and women hanging around — he feels very uncomfortable, he feels nauseous, he wants to leave. Tomorrow he feels extremely comfortable being the last person to leave that type of gathering as he sips his tea and eats his food. What happened? The heart can so easily change. That which you once renounced and regarded as sinful and haram — if Allah does not have mercy upon us, we can adjust to it real quick. We can get accustomed to it real quick. And this is what we see happening all around us.

The environments are changing all across the globe. Environments are changing in the most holiest of lands. And what we could never expect just a few years back is now slowly becoming the norm. And the fear is when we begin to take sin as the norm — then that is the death of our heart, the death of our deen. When sinful environments become our second nature, and we do not feel guilty about it.

Maintaining the Compass of Right and Wrong

My beloved friends, there is an important point — a person, no matter where he or she is, can never become desensitized to an environment of sin. And when we see wrong, we have to feel guilty in our heart. We have to lower our gaze. We have to say:

"I absolve myself from this. Ya Allah, please do not hold me accountable for having passed through this type of gathering." A person must feel guilty in his heart. As the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4345)

"When a sin is committed on earth, the one who is present but dislikes it will be treated as though he was never present. And whoever was absent, but in his heart was pleased with that sin that was taking place, will be treated as though he was present." So a person is sitting on the other end of the world, and he hears about sin happening, and he says, "Oh okay, I guess so, that's what is going on — this is 2024." Then in that case he will be treated by Allah as though he was in the midst of that gathering.

So we may not be able to change the world. We may not be able to even change our family environment. We may not be able to change the environment of our cousins, aunts, and uncles. But at least what is wrong needs to be regarded as wrong. And what is right must be regarded as right. We cannot allow the prevalence of sin to change our understanding of what's right and wrong. The Prophet ﷺ — that is why — taught us all of those beautiful teachings, to ensure that the compass of right and wrong stays correct in our hearts and our minds.

Blaming the Righteous: A Timeless Tactic

Allah mentions in another place the example of the munafiqoon saying to Rasulullah ﷺ, "We're going through difficulty because of you." And this is not new. The people of Lut said:

"Indeed, we've taken a bad omen because of you all. You all are the reason that we're suffering. If you don't stop prohibiting us from a certain type of relationship that we choose to have towards the same gender, then we will pelt you with stones, and a painful torment will be afflicted from us upon you." They're threatening the Prophet Lut alayhissalam. And Lut alayhissalam and the believers responded:

"Your bad omen is with you. We've got nothing to do with this. You can blame us for all you want, but we're not responsible for the afflictions to come upon you."

The same thing is happening today. The biggest oppressors will blame whatever little happens back to the Muslims. Today the hypocrisy again — when you have thousands being killed and you ask any senator what do they have to say... You see a picture — and Allah knows the authenticity of it, I always want to be careful — but apparently of an expectant mother with a white flag, walking towards a hospital, and a bulldozer comes and while she's in that state, runs her over and kills her. With a white flag, an expectant mother running to whatever little is left of a clinic. When you ask someone in power, "You still don't ask for a ceasefire?" The audacity — because you can't say this is permissible — "Well, we blame the aggression of October 7th for all of this."

This is an old trick. Anything happens — blame it onto Rasulullah ﷺ. Blame it onto Lut alayhissalam. Blame it onto the one who is out there to establish justice, who is trying to clean up the world. Every single thing — maybe it stops raining — blame it on the Muslims. SubhanAllah. Allah says the complete opposite:

"Allah will not punish the ummah as long as Rasulullah ﷺ is amidst them." You are saying your problems are because of him? Allah is saying, "I'm not going to annihilate all of you and destroy you off the surface of the earth as long as Rasulullah ﷺ is amidst you. He is the reason you're going to enjoy any level of mercy from Me." And Allah also says in this same verse: "I will not punish you as long as the ummah is involved in istighfar."

So two things here remove the punishment of Allah from us. One is the presence of Rasulullah ﷺ, which we don't have now. So then what do we have? His sunnah. The Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ — as long as it's alive within us, inshallah, we hope Allah's punishment will be diverted from us.

Walk Away with Two Commitments: Sunnah and Istighfar

My beloved friends, let's walk away from this retreat this weekend with this niyyah — that we have to bring the sunnah into our lives. No matter how culturally different it may seem, no matter how looked down upon it may be by people — if it's a sunnah, just do it. Just do it. That includes the simplicity of our marriages. That includes making marriages easy. That includes trying to avoid divorce. That includes being nice and kind to each other, to our parents, to our children, to our spouses. And the list goes on. If it's sunnah, just do it. And you will see how much khair and barakah will come through this.

And the second thing we have is the verse: وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ مُعَذِّبَهُمْ وَهُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ — to seek forgiveness. The more we seek forgiveness from Allah, the more Allah's azab will be turned away from us.

My beloved brothers, I ended my talk yesterday morning, I said whatever is happening in the world — in Sudan, in Gaza, in Yemen, in Syria, in Iraq, and everywhere else, in between and beyond — we cannot say it is happening without the knowledge of Allah. Every single thing:

No leaf can fall without Allah's knowledge. All of this suffering cannot happen without the permission of Allah. It's a wake-up call. It's a wake-up call for me. Allahu Akbar. May Allah give us tawfiq to wake up. How much istighfar have we done on behalf of ourselves and on behalf of the whole ummah? "Ya Allah, we are the ones who've caused this." This is what the verses of the Qur'an tell us — the difficulty will come your way because of your own actions.

And the ummah is still sleeping. The music of the marriages hasn't stopped. The dancing of boys and girls together hasn't stopped. The consumption of haram food has not stopped. Riba has not stopped. If anything, these holidays have brought even more fitna, even within the Muslim lands. What you see — go search what's happening. Such music festivals have happened in the past week that will, subhanAllah, make you nauseate, make you feel sick in your stomach. How could this be happening?

So the ummah is going further and further away. People are neglecting deen. And until we do not have sunnah in our lives, until we don't have istighfar, the help of Allah is not going to come. We need to walk away with this strong, firm intention that we will inshallah engage in learning the teachings of Rasulullah ﷺ, bringing them alive in our lives. And then number two, seeking forgiveness from Allah.

The Three Gifts of Istighfar

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 1518; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 2234)

Whoever does istighfar excessively — that's why there is an istighfar card outside, 5,000. Take that with you. And I implore all of you today, by the time 6 PM and Isha comes, I want you to finish 5,000 inshallah. You're gonna say, "What?" Start working on it — you'll see how easy it is. Once you start doing your tasbih — astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah — you'll see, sitting around, walking around, while people are talking and you're listening, you're doing your istighfar. You're not wasting time. Instead of pulling out your phone, you're doing istighfar. Easily you'll be able to do it by Isha time, and you'll say, "Wow, this is amazing. I could do this every day." Yes, you could. And your life and my life will be completely, completely, completely different. Just hold on to salawat, hold on to istighfar. And that kathra of dhikr will open up doors that you have never seen before — doors of rizq, doors of ilm, doors of righteous children.

This is the best antidepressant. You don't need to get on meds right now. You and I need to do istighfar. Who amongst us isn't feeling the blues? Everyone is feeling the blues. Everyone is feeling blah. So what's the solution? The first solution is start doing istighfar.

Number one: جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لَهُ مِنْ كُلِّ هَمٍّ فَرَجًا — Allah will create an opening out of every single source of depression and sadness. We're talking about mass slaughter, what's happening now. مِنْ كُلِّ هَمٍّ — anything that is difficult for you, anything that's hurting you, anything that's worrisome for you, Allah will get you out of that mess. Who amongst here is not worried about something? All of us have something going on. And the Prophet ﷺ is saying: do istighfar, istighfar, istighfar.

Number two: وَمِنْ كُلِّ ضِيقٍ مَخْرَجًا — And Allah will create an exit out of every tight spot. How many of us are in a tight spot right now — in business, at home, with our children, with our spouse? All the fights are happening between husbands and wives. What if we just start doing istighfar? "I'm to blame. My wife is acting like this with me, or my husband is acting like this with me, because of my fault." If every husband and wife were to think like that — "The reason we're fighting is because of me, not because of her" — Allah would open things up.

Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir — a Tabi'i — he says, "Whenever I see my children disobedient to me, or my camel acting in a stubborn manner when I try to ride it, I immediately start looking at my own self and say, 'This disobedience of my animal, or my children, or my spouse, towards me is only because of my disobedience towards Allah. Which mustahab act, which sunnah act did I leave out today, because of which Allah has turned my subordinates against me? I am a subordinate of Allah — when I turned against Him, Allah said, a taste of your own medicine.'"

SubhanAllah. All those fathers like myself, all husbands, and those women who are listening — wives, daughters — please, let's all turn to istighfar. Don't blame someone else, let's blame myself — ana, ana. "My quality of salah is horrible, quality of my sadaqah is horrible, I haven't done dhikr for a long time, I'm not in a state of wudu. My eyes aren't clean, my ears aren't clean, my tongue isn't clean — what should I expect but this? It's lucky my feet haven't been broken, lucky I haven't lost my eyesight, lucky I haven't become paralyzed. Allah could have done much more. Right now He is simply showing me the power He has to turn the people who I care for and love and do so much for, against me."

Everyone is suffering from people at home becoming a burden upon them, and we don't know where to go. The answer — the number one answer — is take responsibility yourself. I hope all of you are listening. Take responsibility yourself for what's going on in your house.

And to soften the heart of a person in your family — read Surah Yasin and Surah Rahman. Read Surah Yasin and Surah Rahman and make niyyah of isal al-thawab, that the reward of this recitation is going to the heart of so-and-so. This is not specific just for the family — anyone you're having problems with who has become very hard-hearted and very tough to deal with, read Surah Yasin and Surah Rahman every single day. If you can read it morning and evening, go ahead. However much you can read. And you make niyyah, "Ya Allah, the reward of this Surah Yasin and Surah Rahman is dedicated to that individual." And you will see miracles.

I'll give you an example to increase yaqeen — because we like stories, and that's how the Qur'an is full of stories. A few weeks back, I got a call on the day of Jumu'ah. Someone was telling me he had an appointment with someone who was being so harsh and so mean with him. He had a need to be fulfilled by this man who was in a managerial position. The man said, "I'm not going to give you time." With much difficulty, he agreed to give him 10 minutes — a Muslim brother — after Jumu'ah. So he called me. I said, "Don't worry. Inshallah, we'll make du'a. You also make du'a." So all we did was read Surah Yasin and Surah Rahman, maybe 5-6 times, and we made niyyah, "Ya Allah, give the reward for it to so-and-so." After Jumu'ah, he called back and said, "I just don't believe what happened. The person who did not want to meet us before Jumu'ah — when I went, he came running out to greet us. He acted in a manner that we simply cannot fathom. So much change that we would never expect even of a normal person — going so out of his way to be so kind and so nice and so accommodating." And this was just a few weeks ago. This is the power of subhanAllah, a'mal.

Number three: وَرَزَقَهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ — And Allah will provide sustenance from places where one cannot even imagine. How many brothers are also looking for a job? How many brothers here whose jobs are on the line? So then, we can inshallah get that sustenance and rizq bi'idhni Allah ta'ala through istighfar.

What does Allah say?

Seek forgiveness from your Lord — indeed, He is Most Forgiving. Allah will send down rain pouring upon you. And Allah will assist you with wealth. And Allah will give you sons — not just children, Allah will give you sons. And Allah will give you gardens, and rivers. Written right there in the Qur'an — whatever your needs are, Allah says, run towards istighfar, and do it.

Shaytan's Confession: The Plot Against the Ummah

It is mentioned in a hadith — a very, very scary hadith:

Shaytan says: "I have destroyed the people by having them indulge in sins. And they have destroyed me with la ilaha illallah and istighfar. When I saw that all my effort was going down the drain — that they would commit sins and then do dhikr of la ilaha illallah and istighfar every day — I then spread amongst them ahwaa — desires. What type of desires? Bid'ah. So they start sinning, and they do not repent, because they do not think what they are doing is wrong, because they think what they're doing is righteous."

Think about it. This is the winning strategy of Shaytan. When a person begins to think that if he needs to attract the crowd, he needs to have music, he needs to have entertainment. Like, after the dhikr at the end, we'll have music. Most programs now have a music track in the background of the promo video, fundraiser video — whatever it is, music. It's like normal. A Hifzul Qur'an promo video with music in the background. A construction project — a house of Allah — with music in the background. Is this the norm? Yes, it is. I've attended multiple dinners. I'm just like, "What's going on, man?" This was not like this in the 90s, early 2000s. A masjid construction fundraiser with music. A Qur'an program. Unveiling a new Hifzul Qur'an program in our masjid with music. How does this match?

What happens? The idea is you've just forgotten about it. You're so boxed into thinking how others think. What brings in the crowd? Movie night in the masjid. Popcorn night in the masjid. Everyone must come together, enjoy each other's company — men, women together. Just fill up the masjid at all cost. So when people begin to think that what they're doing is right, will they make tawbah? No. And then when you cannot make tawbah, that's how Shaytan gets it. Because when we would commit major sins, we were making tawbah of it, and he was getting angry. So now he has made us start regarding sin as halal, and think that we are actually serving Islam by involving in sin. By involving in sin, we think we're serving the Muslims. It's very scary.

And so this can happen to anyone. We ask Allah for protection. We ask Allah to give us that insight to be able to distinguish right from wrong, and never fall into the trap of switching right, and making evil sound like virtue, and virtue sound like evil.

The "Third Space" Discussion and Compromising Principles

I was thinking about — let me share something relevant. A brother came to me and said, "Sheikh, my masjid wants to open up a third space — an area outside the masjid to attract youth who don't want to come to the masjid. What do you say about that?" I said, "I have spoken about this in many places. I believe it's very important — you make effort not only in the masjid, but you go out and make effort where the youth are. But the only thing I insist on is following proper protocol. Have a third space separate for girls and separate for boys. It could be a bowling alley, it could be a gym, it could be someone's basement, it could be someone's backyard. Whatever it is. But make an effort."

He said, "Oh, but that's not gonna work." I said, "Why?" And he literally told me, "Because if you keep it separate, they won't come." I said, "Look, you got your answer. You yourself are admitting that the reason this crowd is going to come is because of the opposite gender being there. Then how could this be in any sense permissible, sensible, halal?" He said, "No, but..." I said, "There's no but. You just said it yourself. If you have them separate, they won't show up. Do I disagree with that? I don't. That's probably right — that's exactly what's going to happen. But how does that make it permissible?"

Then he said, "Don't we have to make an effort on that group of people?" I said, "Brother, we have to make effort on ex-Muslims, non-Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, atheists, and everyone. But we cannot compromise our deen in order to bring people in."

I gave him this example. I said, "Would you think it's permissible to have vapes, e-cigarettes, and marijuana to get people in?" He said, "No, you can't have weed to get people in. You can't have e-cigarettes to get people in." I said, "Then where does it stop? Having men and women who are dressed in haram — what is this? All schools of thought do not allow hair to be exposed. Showing the hair is haram. And it's part of your satr. To have someone sitting there, and guys looking at her — hair exposed, 'Salaam, how are you?' — this is haram. I am facilitating haram in front of me while I'm speaking about Allah and His Rasul."

What you do outside is not my problem. What you do in your room is not my problem. But how are we going to facilitate a place and an avenue where we enable and encourage people to do haram? If you have a sisters-only program, no problem. The girls want to come without scarf, no problem. The girl who has been completely brainwashed, whatever the case may be — bring her in. I'll tell you a story, mashaAllah, of this year, right here at Darussalam. A girl came to enroll in one of the classes — her dad brought her. She had no scarf, wearing pants, shirt, no scarf, she came and sat down on the sisters' side. No one told her anything. The day ended, mashaAllah, she loved it. The next day she brought a sister of hers — her sister was wearing a scarf. The third day she brought another sister. By the third day, all three sisters were there, all wearing scarves. By the end of the program, mashaAllah, even probably wearing a jilbab. Environment — that's all. You have to provide a healthy, good environment. Let the environment do the talking.

This is a misunderstanding — that we are trying to accommodate only people in this building who were born wearing a niqab or born wearing a turban. That is not true. We welcome everyone. We want everyone from every walk of life to come here. But we want to welcome anyone, from no matter what they have done, to say, "You know what? I've come here to reform myself." And this is a place where you reform yourself. In a place where you're trying to reform yourself, if you are provided with the same things that you ran away from, how are you going to reform yourself?

Imagine a person goes into the ICU. He says, "Hey, I can't give up my vodka bottle. I can't give up my pack of cigarettes." No hospital is going to accept that. What is the masjid? The masjid is a hospital. A spiritual ICU. You have to leave your lifestyle outside, and then you come here.

The Crisis of Relevance and the Test of Principles

Today there are a lot of Muslim boys and girls — unfortunately the number is increasing — who identify themselves as LGBTQ. Isn't there a growing number? Statistics from about two years ago show that more Muslims than Catholics are for LGBTQ marriage in America. More Muslims than Catholics. SubhanAllah. Now the Catholic Church already gave permission for blessings of such marriages last week. And we are reminded of what Rasulullah ﷺ warned us — that the ummah will follow the Christians and the Jews. This watering down of the deen, keep on changing.

We have a talk today in the Winter Intensive on Hilal — on moon sighting. Most people would actually make fun of this topic. They'll say, "The only question in the grave, it seems you all think, is going to be on moon sighting." And they think the next question is about halal — "That's all you guys care about. Hijab, halal, hilal." Muslim people speak like this today. Sometimes, unfortunately, I've heard this from the pulpit, in front of thousands of people — a person ridiculing and mocking these types of discussions. May Allah protect us. SubhanAllah.

But this has become the norm. And now the normal answer is, "Brother, what's the point? You're becoming irrelevant. No one cares about hilal anymore, and no one cares about halal anymore." My beloved students and my beloved attendees — we are not competing in a relevancy contest here. We're not. If you're thinking that, you're in the wrong place. Deen is not about a relevancy contest. It's about doing what's right.

That's why Shaykh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghuddah, rahmatullahi alayhi, in his sharh of Risalatul Mustarshideen, at the very beginning, he quotes some of the earliest scholars who say: Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah can even be one person. It's not about going with the masses. It's about doing what's right. So the world — I know which direction it's going. I don't live in a well. I'm well aware of what's happening. Yes, everyone's gonna say, "Say Bismillah and eat." Or "Don't even say Bismillah, just eat it. If you're hungry, just eat." Grab a burger from anywhere and eat — that's becoming the norm. But we cannot give up. Our job is to do what's right and to teach what's right. That's it. And whoever follows, follows for his benefit. Whoever doesn't, we can't help. We're going to keep on offering it. We're hoping that Allah allows us to die in the truth. That's it. We're not claiming any superiority. As long as Allah gives us that tawfiq, that's it.

The Importance of Building Up Our Masajid

I ended my talk yesterday, and this idea is relevant here: there is so much work to do. Look at how many thousands of children today in America do not know how to read the Qur'an properly. How many thousands of college and high school students do not have strong faith. Education is the key for that.

There was a program that happened last year here that really caught my eye. It was done by Sheikh Hamza Karamali's organization — Why Islam Is True. They did a two-day or three-day workshop in the summer holidays — eight hours each — basically for high school students, to create conviction in them for the deen. And they had a $200 Amazon gift certificate for every single participant. Someone was telling me, "You know what, my son sitting at home would never dream of attending some program like this. But then him and his friends, 9th graders, 10th graders sitting at home, thought: Man, two days, $200 Amazon — now I wanna buy something new my mom and dad won't let me get. Let's just go." And alhamdulillah they went. And insha'Allah if the environment is good enough and you structure the class well enough, you can create change. Knowledge is going to get in.

You could have a summer umrah sweepstakes as an incentive. Find the time when umrah is cheaper. And you can motivate people to come study. That is a great investment. Usually we don't put our money in these types of things, but this is where money needs to be put — to encourage people.

Imagine in our masjid, for the youth now that winter break is here — imagine some of you go and do this in your own communities. For all the youth and kids, we're going to have a sign-up sheet. "Fajr Jama'ah Team — Team Fajr." Every day you come in, you pray your Fajr, maybe attend a short five-minute khatirah by the imam, and sign your name. By the end of winter break, all those who have perfect attendance get a $100 gift certificate. Don't you think that's worth it? From all the money we spend on different things — if you can get 10 youth to not miss a single Fajr over winter break, that is extremely successful.

We're spending so much money on building masajid, changing the carpet, adding new things. But what about filling the masjid? They say, "We're going to appreciate it." That's how we have to do it — we have to appreciate them for that. So you can come up with different ways and tactics. Team Isha, Team Fajr, Team Dhuhr, Team Asr — it's holidays. We're gonna have a Qur'an class on the last 10 surahs and their tafsir. Every single person who successfully completes the course will be entered in a sweepstakes and given a gift. All of us can do something like that. Get started.

The goal is — the amount of work that's out there is huge. The same way we think about how we're going to expand our business, how we're going to study for our MCAT, how we're going to get into law school, how we're going to expand our stores, renovate our bathroom, improve our kitchen — that same level of thinking we need to apply to the deen. Even if we put that amount of effort, I promise you, our deen will flourish.

You guys are ready? Think. Go home and think. Gather with other people. Don't wait for the board to decide. Don't wait for even the imam to decide. Because imams have given up too. I went to one masjid recently. When I visit communities, I try to prop up the local masjid and the local imam's programs. So I said, "Brothers, you all have to come to your weekly program here." I asked what day of the week they have their tafsir or hadith dars. They said, "We don't have any." Seriously? No program? No program. Big, beautiful masjid. Full-time imam. No more program.

The imam was sitting there. I said, "Sheikh, what's going on?" He said, "Exactly what you just said. I started, I did tafsir for many weeks. Five people showed up. I said, forget it, and I canceled it." So now when I go speak to imams, many of them have given up. "People don't come. Forget it, man. I'm just going to do my thing and clock in and out. I've got four kids. They don't want to show up. What am I supposed to waste my time for? They don't care. The board never tells me — they say 'do this program, do that program,' but they make no effort to bring the people." So the imam also just becomes a clock-in, clock-out guy.

Now who's going to take care of the masjid? The president and the board want to make sure the sheets are balanced, the fundraiser goes well, they're making good money, they're purchasing some new property. Looks good on the books. How many rows have you increased since the masjid has been open for the past 30 years? Let's have the stats for that. How many youth? How many college students? That, we're not studying. That's never even a goal. It's about what looks good on a resume when you're running for election.

Astaghfirullah. So I am no one to speak here. It's not like I'm doing any better. I'm suffering myself. And our masjid is in huge need of help. But I can tell you one thing: I can't do this myself. I need you who are regulars in this masjid to join hands. How nice it would be for some of the fathers who have young kids to say, "I'm gonna start up a group for 6 to 12-year-olds to come to the masjid, and we're gonna appreciate them coming." Someone with 18-year-olds, 16-year-olds — "Fine, we're gonna work on that group to get them to the masjid." That should be our goal right now. The goal is to fill up our masajid for daily salah. Once you've got people in the room, then we can do the rest of the talking. All the discussions can happen when you have people inside. Right now, when you don't have anyone in the room, what are you going to do? You can't solve the problem from outside. You have to solve the problem by staying inside.

A'mal and Tawakkul: Turning to Allah for All Needs

May Allah give me yaqeen, and all of us yaqeen, that through a'mal things will happen. I was speaking to someone yesterday. You remember there was a very pious doctor and a very pious alim who recently died in Karachi — Dr. Amjad, rahimahullahu rahmatan wasi'ah. He always used to say, "Take care of your needs through a'mal." Someone shared with me a clip of his where he gave a prescription: any need you want fulfilled, perform a thousand rakats of nafl. Ek hazar rakat — a thousand rakats of nafl salah to take care of that need.

MashaAllah, I was speaking to someone, and we're proud to have such people in our community, who said, "Alhamdulillah, I've completed this" — a thousand rakats of nafl for the tarbiyah of their children. MashaAllah. So this is an honor — that even with all the filth that's happening, we have people within our own community who are doing a thousand rakats of nafl. Not every day, but over a period of some weeks, over a period of however many days. And mashaAllah, it makes me so happy to be connected with such people. And may Allah make myself and all of us like that. Where we turn to Allah in a'mal for all our needs.

The currency of the akhirah is a'mal. Let's build on that currency. How blessed are those souls who, when they're in seclusion, don't run towards their phone. They just say, "Allahu Akbar," and start communicating with Allah. Don't we all want to become like that, brothers? Let's just start desiring that. Let's start making a goal.

As this Gregorian calendar comes to an end and a new year begins — whatever. We celebrate the hijri year, we celebrate every month. Every single night we celebrate and say, "InshaaAllah, tomorrow is going to be better." We need an excuse to change — if this helps you, go ahead. Let's make that resolution. Let's ask Allah, "Ya Allah, I want to be such a person that when I'm in seclusion, my hand doesn't go towards my phone. My hand goes towards my tasbih. My hand goes towards my mushaf. My hand goes towards getting up, doing a fresh wudu, and getting on the musalla." How nice our life will be. All our needs will get fulfilled — of dunya, qabr, and akhirah.

And as someone wisely said — perform your salah, do your dhikr, not to get your needs fulfilled. Do it because you are a servant of Allah, and that's what you should be doing. And it is out of Allah's grace that He chooses to give us so much that we don't deserve. Do not pray and do dhikr for the sake of return in this world. Expect your returns in the akhirah.

One scholar was once asked — he was in the Haram, making beseeching du'a for maghfirah. The ameer ul-mu'mineen saw him, and honored that a great scholar of that era was standing there next to him by the Ka'bah. He said, "Fadhilat ash-Sheikh, beloved honorable scholar — can I be of any help for you?" The scholar scolded the ameer. Who can scold the ameer? Only the one who has nothing to expect from the ameer. He told the ameer, "I'm in front of the Ka'bah — you don't feel shy? You're asking me how you can fulfill my need while I'm in front of the Lord of the Worlds? I'm sorry. I'll wait for you outside."

So he completed his tawaf, his du'a, and what not. He went outside, and that person was waiting for him. He said, "Honorable Sheikh, can I be of any help?" He said, "Oh, okay, now you can talk. What would you like to fulfill — the need of the dunya or the need of the akhirah?" He said, "Honorable Sheikh, the need of the akhirah — of course, there's no way I can fulfill that. What is it from the needs of the dunya I can help you with?" So the scholar said, "You're asking me to fulfill the needs of the dunya? I was at the Ka'bah in front of the Lord of the Worlds and I didn't even ask for dunya over there. Why would I ask you for it?" SubhanAllah.

The fikr is: if Allah gives me tawfiq for goodness, my dunya will automatically be fulfilled. Allah will take care of it. Whatever means I need to become an abd, Allah will give me. Whatever means I need to be able to serve the deen, Allah will provide. From here or from there, I'll get it. If I have been accepted to serve the deen, Allah Himself will then provide all the means for that.

Why are we so focused on means? Any youngster — you tell him, "What do you want to do?" "Sheikh, I need to earn a lot of money." "Why?" "Because I've got to build a masjid like this. I want to build a madrasa. I want to do these types of things." And his first thought is not to pray two rakats of Salatul Hajat now after this talk and say, "Ya Allah, accept me to become a mujaddid of the era. Accept me to become an alim of deen. Accept me to become a mujahid of the deen." His first thought is, "Ya Allah, give me a better promotion. Allow my stocks to do better so that I can build."

No, that's not the proper way to think. The Prophet ﷺ never exhorted his sahabah, "Go earn! We need money. Tabuk needs money, Badr needs money, Uhud needs money — go earn." That wasn't the approach. Whatever you have — you've got one date, give one date; you've got three dates, give two. Whatever you have, give. The deen doesn't tell us that until you become rich, you can't serve the deen. Whatever you have, give from that. And there will be barakah in it.

So many brothers are involved in this unfortunate delusion — when you tell them, "Come, start attending the masjid regularly," they say, "Inshallah. Right now I'm trying to fix my affairs and my business. Promise you I'll be the first one in and the last guy out. But I need a little time. Give me about five years to set things up. Develop my business — I've got a whole business plan." And they literally say this. "I won't even have to work. I'll just be here all day, I'll wipe the masjid floor, I'll vacuum, I'll study the deen, whatever you want me to do. Because money will be flowing. And the madrasa here will be the first one to receive." But you know what? Stop dreaming. Just start coming for Salatul Fajr and start learning how to read your ten surahs properly. Then we can talk about those other things.

These things the youth many times fall into — this delusion. What we need to ask Allah first is not asbab. The first thing is to ask Allah for hidayah and tawfiq to allow us to use whatever asbab we do have in the right manner. And what's one of the greatest asbab we have? Life — 24 hours of the day is one of the greatest asbab we have. The ones who are six feet under don't have that. If you've got life and you're breathing, what you can do is unbelievable. That is something we all need to value. "I'm alive right now — let me make the best use of this."

Dream Big for the Deen

My dear students from across the country who are here listening, mashaAllah, and online as well — we need to all dream big. I want you all to please honestly make this intention with Allah and dream big. The way people of the dunya dream big for the dunya, we need to dream big in terms of the deen. So much to do.

The way we think about how we're going to expand our business, how we're going to study for our MCAT, how we're going to get into law school, how we're going to expand our stores, how we're going to renovate our bathroom and improve our kitchen — that is the same level of thinking we need to do for the deen. Even if we put that amount of effort, I promise you, our deen will flourish.

Four Practical Prescriptions

My beloved brothers and sisters, we are honestly in a very difficult era. And the only way we can hopefully stay safe is in the company of the pious. Find righteous people who the environment has not yet changed. Find elders who don't absorb all of this junk. There are certain people whose hearts cannot be corrupted by certain wavelengths. Those are the hearts that we need to spend time with. Travel even if it means to the other end of the country. There are lots of pious people still around in our communities. Sit with the elders — elderly ulama and elderly people in general. And that pious person might be your grandmother, might be your grandfather, might be your mother, might be your father. They may not know more than 10 surahs, but they'll say, "This is a bunch of trash — son, don't do that." Those are the people I recommend you hold on to and stay in their company.

Number one: Suhbah of the pious. Find and maintain the company of the pious.

Number two: Kathra of dhikr. Constantly do dhikr of Allah with the niyyah that Allah keeps the compass of your heart in the right place. Lots of istighfar, and lots of dhikr of Allah.

Number three: Read the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ. All the time have seerah on your table. Once you finish one round of one book, start with the next book. Every seerah book author wrote it from different perspectives. Seerah never becomes old. There's always something you can constantly be getting out of the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ.

Number four: Begin your journey of seeking knowledge — at the hands and feet of such scholars who you feel will be able to guide you through these turbulent times without changing their ways. Who are principled. Who are not looking to simply see that the things aren't working, so let's just change it. No — we will remain steadfast on our deen even if we have one person sitting. Because we are wedded to principles and not loyal to the crowd.

This is not politics. Politics — you say whatever needs to be said to get you the vote. And if your populace changes, then you have to change too. We can't do that. We have to be wedded to principles. And you're going to learn that from ulama who have these principles inshallah.

Closing: Dedication to Dhikr and Change

I hope your participation — my participation — in this year's fifth annual Winter Retreat inshallah will become a means of bringing this massive change within all of us. And I hope you took note of these things. Right now, kathra of dhikr and istighfar. Suhbah — the company of the pious and elders. Kathra of dhikr. Seeking knowledge from principled ulama. Reading the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ.

Inshallah, through the barakah of these a'mal, Allah will keep us steadfast. And our goal should be that whatever khair we heard here, we take it back to our communities and start efforts like this similar to what's here. Do not give up. By the will of Allah, true deen will be successful. We don't believe in despondency. We believe inshallah the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ will prevail. And so we have to be committed at all cost to establishing and teaching the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

Today, since it's the last day — if you have any questions about the one-year program or the summer intensive, by all means ask one of us, one of our students who are here, the volunteers, and try to make your plans from now. The summer program starts in June. The one-year program starts in July. And of course all our programs are for men and women, boys and girls. And inshallah, attending one of those programs will help you further become stronger, and help you not just learn for yourself, but bring a change within your network of family and friends.

May Allah give all of us tawfiq. Let us inshallah, with concentration and focus, make the dhikr of Allah. You just heard the hadith — we have to destroy the efforts of Shaytan through la ilaha illallah, through istighfar. So do it with that niyyah. "Ya Allah, all the efforts of Shaytan — let it come out of my heart. Everything filth that he's put in my heart."

Closing Du'a

Oh Allah, we ask You to accept this gathering. Oh Allah, reward all these brothers who patiently — Ya Allah — sat through this program, Ya Allah. From before Salatul Fajr they have been here. Ya Allah, on this day when shirk is being committed wholesale across the globe — people in the greatest ghaflah, the most major of sins being committed on this day — Ya Allah, You have allowed this group of people to sit in Your house and to do i'tikaaf and to sit in the masjid after Salatul Fajr for two hours. Oh Allah, this is nothing but a sign that You love us. Oh Allah, we ask You to grant us qabuli and acceptance, and grant all of us steadfastness after today as well. And Ya Allah, make this hour sitting here become a means of genuine change in myself and all of us here.

Oh Allah, make it easy for us to run away from our sins. Make it easy for us to hate our sin, to detest sin. Oh Allah, even if our hand extends towards sin, allow our hands not to reach it. Even if our eyes want to look at haram, create obstacles between our eyes and haram. Even if our ears want to listen to haram, create obstacles between our ears and haram. Oh Allah, even if our heart yearns towards some haram, put a barrier between us and the fulfillment of that desire.

Ya Allah, Ya Allah, we are very weak. Oh Allah, we beg You — do not allow us to become enslaved by our nafs. Do not allow us to become a prey of Shaytan. Oh Allah, we are being weakened every day and every night by Iblis and his army and our own nafs. Oh Allah, grant all of us the willpower, the strength, the spiritual strength to be able to stand up to our two biggest enemies — the Shaytan and our nafs. Oh Allah, grant us victory in this battle.

Oh Allah, allow us to remove all our sins through istighfar, through dhikr, through du'a, and through good deeds. Oh Allah, grant me and all of us here the ability to keep our tongues moist in Your remembrance. Oh Allah, much has been said in all these past two days, and much will be said today. Oh Allah, I beg You — do not allow this knowledge that is being shared to be a proof against us. Allow it to become a proof for us. Allow it to become a means of change for generations to come. Oh Allah, three days is more than sufficient for a person to change — nay, it's enough for a generation to change. I ask You, Ya Allah, to allow this Winter Intensive to become a means of bringing worldwide change. Oh Allah, across the globe, let it inspire thousands and thousands of people to change their lives and make them better. And allow them to run towards You. Allow them to leave haram and come towards halal.

Oh Allah, allow us to improve our relationships with our parents, with our children, with our spouses. Oh Allah, protect us all from the haram of the internet. Protect us from the haram of music, the haram of all the other filth that exists on our phones. Oh Allah, we beg You to protect us all from committing major sins. Make it easy for all of us to become regular in the masjid for Fajr and Isha especially. Oh Allah, allow all of us to find righteous, pious spouses. And those of us who are married, allow our relationships to become beautiful at home. Allow us to grow in deen together. Oh Allah, allow our children to become the coolness of our eyes, and allow them to become respectful and mindful of their duties towards Allah, duties towards Rasulullah ﷺ, and duties towards their parents and elders. Oh Allah, allow us to become amazing parents who with love, kindness, and wisdom raise each and every one of our children properly.

Oh Allah, we ask You to unite the Muslims across the globe. Unite them in our masajid. Protect our masajid, madaris, deeni institutions, and all deeni efforts. Oh Allah, protect all those who are doing deeni work from insincerity. Protect all those involved in any deen effort from materialism. Protect all these deeni efforts and masajid and institutions from internal and external strife and fitnah. Oh Allah, we beg You to protect this institution and all the efforts of Darussalam, far and wide, from being afflicted by nafs and Shaytan's evil efforts and planning. Oh Allah, allow Your millions and millions of angels to continue to guard this place from all fitnah. Allow Your special mercy to descend on every single attendee, musalli, volunteer, staff member, teacher, student, and everyone's extended families.

Oh Allah, allow all of us to be able to distinguish right from wrong, and follow the right and shun the wrong. Oh Allah, grant all of us wisdom to be able to spread the message of Islam across the globe in the best possible manner, such that people will be able to accept without us compromising on any of our principles. Oh Allah, we ask that You allow us all to enjoy the suhbah of the pious and the pious ulama. Oh Allah, allow all of us to be blessed with the company of the pious, wherever they may be. Oh Allah, allow us to be granted repeated, accepted ziyarah and visits to the Haramain Ash-Sharifain and to Masjidul Aqsa. Oh Allah, accept those ziyarats and make them blessed.

Oh Allah, all the millions of Muslims from across the globe who are right now in the Haramain Ash-Sharifain and throughout the year are going — Ya Allah, allow them to walk away with ruhaniyya and not materialism. Allow them to walk away with spirituality. Allow them to make du'a for the ummah. Allow their du'as to be accepted. Allow them to make tawbah while they're in the blessed lands. And allow every one of them to come back as a changed person. Oh Allah, free the Haramain Ash-Sharifain from all the filth, and free Masjidul Aqsa from the filth. Oh Allah, protect all of our three harams, and all the other masajid and madaris from all the different assaults that are taking place.

Oh Allah, our brothers and sisters in Gaza, and across the globe, who are going through so much difficulty — we ask You to grant them victory. Oh Allah, we ask You to grant them protection. Oh Allah, protect all of us in our homes, in our businesses. Oh Allah, wherever the ummah is going through some sort of trial and tribulation, remove them from that trial and tribulation and grant them peace, security, and aman. Oh Allah, whatever khair and good any one of us is expecting from You, grant us more than we're expecting. Whatever evil we are seeking refuge in You from, grant us refuge from all of those things.

Ameen, ameen, ameen. Wa jazakumullahu khayran. Wassalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

A Note on Dhikr

Downstairs in the bookstore, alhamdulillah, we have an amazing collection of books. Please make sure you stop by today and take a look. One of the books — alhamdulillah, a short risalah of 50-60 pages on the permissibility, with all the proofs from the Qur'an and Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, on the permissibility of doing dhikr out loud. There's a misconception about it, which is why I would encourage you to read it. The book is called Dhikr in Its Vocal Form, written by Shaykh Abd al-Hayy al-Laknawi, translated into English. You'll find it downstairs inshallah.

One thing to keep in mind: when we do dhikr together, our teachers would not do it in chorus. That's how I've learned from my teachers. The purpose is to create an environment for dhikr, because we know we don't do it enough. So you say, "Alright, let's everyone dedicate five minutes to do dhikr." You can do dhikr softly or out loud, but you've got your own tune, your own pace — it's up to you. But we're going to dedicate five minutes. That's the purpose. Our teachers did not teach us to sit and do it necessarily in a melodious tone together. They would say that doing it in one's own individual manner would be closer to imitating the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

So this is something good to bring into our own communities or at least start in our own homes — five minutes of la ilaha illallah, five minutes of istighfar, everyone in their own tone and at their own pace, but simply dedicating the time. Like we have time at home to read Qur'an together — everyone reading their own juz, or everyone reading Surah Yasin, but not necessarily together. Let's just keep that point in mind.

Also, I encourage everyone — prayer of Ishraq, two rakahs and two rakahs, carries the reward of an accepted Hajj and Umrah, and has your needs of the day fulfilled. We'll have breakfast, and then try to rest for an hour, an hour and a half. And after that, please do message family and friends. This is the last day of the event. If you're from Chicago or have friends in Chicago, please ask them to come for these two extremely important discussions — one on Hilal and one on Halal. And if you're from out of state, do encourage people to join us on the livestream link and listen inshallah to at least this final day.