What Do We Wish & Hope For? (with Sign Language) - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

Opening — Khutbah of Need

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى، وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا، وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ.

The Story of Umar ibn al-Khattab and the Question of Wishes

Imam al-Hakim, rahimahullah, recorded in al-Mustadrak that Umar radiyallahu anhu, the great companion, the great Khalifa of Islam, was once sitting with a group of people during his Khilafah. And he said to them: tamannaw — What do you wish for? What do you hope for?

So a man from amongst them replied and said: "O Ameer al-Mu'mineen, O leader of the Muslims —

"I wish and I hope that this building that we're sitting in will be full of gold and I would spend it in the way and the path of Allah."

Umar radiyallahu anhu heard this and said to them again: tamannaw — What is it that you wish and hope for? So another man responded and said: "O Ameer al-Mu'mineen —

"I wish that this place, this building that we're sitting in, would be full of gems and precious stones, diamonds and rubies, and I would spend it in the path of Allah."

Umar radiyallahu anhu heard this and again said: tamannaw — What is it that you wish and hope for? So someone said to him: "O Ameer al-Mu'mineen, what is it that you wish and hope for? What are your wishes and hopes?" So Umar radiyallahu anhu responded and said:

"As for me, I wish that I had men like Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah and Mu'adh ibn Jabal and Salim, the freed slave of Hudhaifa, and Hudhaifa ibn al-Yaman, and I would use them to spread the religion of Allah."

Hopes and Wishes — Part of Human Nature

This incident is something which you will find commonly mentioned in the Qur'an, in the Sunnah, in the statements of the scholars — the issue of what our hopes and dreams are — because it is something ingrained and built in within each and every single one of us. It is part of human nature. We all have hopes and we all wish and we all dream. It is part of what makes us human.

Even our younger brothers and sisters who are present here today, even they have hopes and wishes. Their wishes may be to get a new toy or to meet a friend or to do something like that. But it's still a dream and a wish that they have. And as we mature and as we grow older and as we progress in life, those dreams and those wishes and those hopes, they also continue to evolve.

The Qur'an and the Sunnah, when they speak about these issues, tell us there are two types of hopes, two types of dreams and wishes that people have: those types of dreams and wishes that a person has which will bring them closer to Allah, and those types of dreams and wishes which are false and hopeless and don't bring really any benefit, neither in this life nor the next.

Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam told us that it is part of our human nature to hope and to wish. He said sallallahu alayhi wasallam:

"If the child of Adam was to have a valley of date palm trees" — and in another wording of the hadith, a valley of wealth, of money — "he would wish and hope for a second valley, and then he would wish for a third valley, and he would wish until he had many such valleys, and nothing will satisfy the child of Adam except the dust or the dirt of the ground" — meaning death. Nothing will satisfy us. It is part of our human nature to wish and to hope.

The Four Companions by the Hijr of Isma'il

But there is a difference in our wishes and hopes. There is a difference in the hopes and the dreams and the wishes of those people who understand that it is something they can use to bring them closer to Allah — something they can use to aspire, to be ambitious, to achieve in this life things that not only benefit them in this life but will benefit them in the next life as well.

It is said that a number of the companions — four of them — were once sitting in the Hijr of Isma'il by the Ka'bah, that semicircle that's just outside of the structure of the Ka'bah in Mecca. And those four were Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr, Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, and Abdullah ibn Umar. And they were talking to one another and they were speaking of their dreams and their wishes and their hopes.

So as for Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, he said: "As for me, I wish to be the Khalifa one day." And Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr said: "As for me, I wish to be a governor." And Urwa ibn al-Zubayr said: "As for me, I wish that I would be a scholar that people would come to and take knowledge from, that I would gather the knowledge of Islam." And as for Abdullah ibn Umar, he said: "As for me, I wish and I hope for Allah's forgiveness."

The narrator who is narrating this says that he saw that Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr would one day become the Khalifa, and Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr would one day become the governor of Iraq. And as for Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, he became from the greatest scholars of his time, that people would travel to from all corners of the world to seek knowledge with him. And as for Abdullah ibn Umar, then I hope and I wish that Allah grants him his wish and forgives him.

The companions would do this often. They would sit and they would speak about their dreams and their ambitions because it would inspire one another. But they were stepping stones to bring them closer to Allah.

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz and the Ladder of Ambitions

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, rahimahullah, the great scholar of Islam, the famous Khalifa, he used to say: Innali nafsan tawwaqah — "I have a soul that craves." Meaning: every time I reach my ambition and goal, I have a further goal. He says: "I wish that I would be a governor. And when Allah granted it to me, I wished that I would attain the Khilafah. And now that today I am the Khalifa, I wish for something greater — and that is Allah's Jannah, Allah's paradise."

They would use their ambitions as stepping stones to bring them closer to Allah. And that is why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam told us that our wishes, our hopes, our desires — that sometimes remain within the recesses of our hearts — are extremely powerful. Even if you never speak about them, even if you never enunciate or verbalize or discuss them, they are powerful because they emanate from the most powerful organ in the human body — and that is our hearts. That's where our ambitions and our desires are contained.

The Prophet said sallallahu alayhi wasallam:

"If one of you wishes and hopes, then let him do so in a plentiful way. Do so a lot, because you are only asking from Allah." The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is equating it to a form of du'a. Your wishes and your hopes are you asking from Allah. So have many hopes and wishes.

But those hopes and wishes are only beneficial — as the Prophet told us sallallahu alayhi wasallam — when they are sincere, when it's something that is good, when you actually want to attain something that will benefit you.

The Four Categories of People — A Hadith from al-Tirmidhi

The Prophet told us sallallahu alayhi wasallam in the hadith collected in Sunan al-Tirmidhi:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2325)

"There are only four types of people in this world." And then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam described those four types of people and gave to each one of them a grading.

The First: Knowledge and Wealth

He said: as for the first one, it is a person whom Allah has given knowledge of the religion and wealth of the dunya — given them the best of both worlds. And this person, because they know how to use their intentions sincerely, they know how to please Allah and come closer to Him. They use their wealth in ways that are pleasing to Allah. They fulfill the rights of Allah, the rights of the poor, and the rights of their family. The Prophet said sallallahu alayhi wasallam:

This type of person is the best of all people.

The Second: Knowledge but No Wealth

Then he spoke about the second category — a person who has been given knowledge but no wealth. They have their religion, they understand their religion. But Allah did not open up for them the dunya, did not give them wealth and money. But they understand the importance of those hopes and desires and wishes and dreams that emanate from a sincere heart. So this second person says: "O Allah, if I had wealth like the first one had, then I too would spend it as he spends it. I too would use it in ways that are pleasing to Allah." So the Prophet said sallallahu alayhi wasallam, giving the second category a grading:

"This person will be rewarded according to his intention and he will be equal in reward to the first." The second person didn't spend a penny — doesn't have any money, doesn't have any wealth, didn't give charity, didn't bring families closer together, didn't do anything with wealth because he doesn't have very much of it. But despite that, he has dreams and hopes and they are sincere. Allah knows their sincerity, and they are framed and used in such a way that will please Allah. And Allah, out of His grace and His mercy, gives this person an equal reward to the first.

The Third: Wealth but No Knowledge

The third person he said sallallahu alayhi wasallam is a person who has been given wealth of the dunya but does not have knowledge of the religion. They have wealth and money, they have the means and the resources, and because of that they too have dreams and wishes — but they don't know how to use them in a way that is pleasing to Allah. So this person uses their wealth in ways that are displeasing to Allah. They incur Allah's anger, they split their families because they are disputing over wealth and land and property. The Prophet said sallallahu alayhi wasallam, grading this individual:

"This is the worst of all people."

The Fourth: Neither Knowledge nor Wealth

Then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam spoke about that fourth and final category — a man who has neither this nor that: no knowledge of the religion, no wealth of the dunya, doesn't have anything — miskeen. But still, despite having nothing, this person has a heart that dreams and wishes and hopes. But because he doesn't understand how to use those hopes in ways that are pleasing to Allah, his aspirations and ambitions only go to that third category. "O Allah, if I had wealth, I would spend it like that third person — following my desires and doing evil and haram." This is their ambition. This is what they wish and hope for. So the Prophet said sallallahu alayhi wasallam:

"This person will also be held to account for his intention and he will be equal in evil and in sin to that third category." That is the nature of how powerful our intentions are — how powerful our dreams, our hopes, our ambitions, and our wishes are. It's not something to be trifled with.

The Etiquette of Wishing: Action, Not Idle Dreaming

And that is why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam also told us that from the etiquettes of our wishes and hopes is that we have to be willing to take action — to work for them. It's not enough just to hope, it's not enough just to have those wishes and desires. You also need to be willing to put in the effort, the time, and the work.

He said sallallahu alayhi wasallam in the hadith in Sahih Ibn Hibban:

(Sahih Ibn Hibban, Hadith 721; also collected in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2459)

"The smart, intelligent person is the one who prepares himself and works for that which will come after death." They use their life — with all of their ambitions, all of their desires and hopes — and there's nothing wrong with hoping and desiring and wishing for a good career, a good job, a lot of money, a nice house, a nice car, all of those things that all of us have: children, family, and everything else. Nothing wrong with it. But it's done in such a way — the Prophet said sallallahu alayhi wasallam — that one is always focused on the next life. How do I use my wealth, my career, my family in ways that are pleasing to Allah? How can I use them in such a way that will bring me closer to Allah? This is the smart individual. They use their wishes and their hopes in ways that will benefit them in the next life as well.

وَالْعَاجِزُ — and the one who doesn't produce anything, doesn't achieve anything — is the one who simply follows his desires وَتَمَنَّى عَلَى اللَّهِ — and all he does is hope and wish from Allah. Wishes that are false, wishes that are futile, wishes that are insincere — or if they're sincere, they're evil in their nature and they're haram.

The Playground of Shaytan — False Hopes and Wishful Thinking

And this is the playground of Shaytan. Shaytan comes to us and he makes us wish for things that are not real, makes us hope for things that don't benefit us, makes us dream — and we spend so much time dreaming that sometimes months and years pass by and we're still stuck in that wishing phase. This is the playground of Shaytan.

And Allah warned us against this in the Qur'an:

"And whosoever takes Shaytan as a wali, as a protector and a helper besides Allah, then indeed they have suffered the greatest of loss — because all he does is يَعِدُهُمْ وَيُمَنِّيهِمْ — he gives them false promises and he makes them have wishful thoughts." Wishful thoughts, false promises. And then Allah says: وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ إِلَّا غُرُورًا — "And the hopes and the wishes and the promises of Shaytan are nothing except deception."

Be Careful What You Wish For

Our Prophet told us sallallahu alayhi wasallam that our thoughts, our desires, our wishes are extremely powerful — to be careful what you wish for. Sometimes in the spur of the moment, in a moment of anger or being upset or sad, we wish for things. And because of their sincerity and because of how powerful they are — because it is a form of du'a — sometimes they are responded to and accepted by Allah. Be careful.

The Prophet told us sallallahu alayhi wasallam:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3026; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1742)

"Don't wish to meet the enemy. Don't wish for that. It is not something that you should hope for because it may come true."

And the Prophet told us sallallahu alayhi wasallam in the other hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5671; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2680)

"None of you should wish for death. None of you should hope for death because of some calamity that has befallen you. But if you find yourself in that situation and it is difficult, then simply say: 'O Allah, give me life so long as life is good for me, and grant me death when death is better for me.'" Don't wish for those things that are evil, because sometimes that wish and that hope is enough and Allah may grant it to you. It is extremely powerful.

Even the Dead Have Hopes and Wishes

And to show how powerful this is, to show how ingrained we are as humans with our wishes and our hopes and our desires — the Qur'an and the Sunnah tell us that even the deceased, even the dead, have hopes and wishes. Even once we pass from this realm and enter the next and we're dead, our souls leave our bodies — our souls continue to wish and hope. That's how powerful this issue is.

The Prophet told us sallallahu alayhi wasallam in the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri radiyallahu anhu, collected in Sahih al-Bukhari, that when the funeral procession is laid — when the body, the coffin, is laid and men come to lift it onto their shoulders — the deceased, if their soul was righteous, will say: "Hasten with me, hasten with me." It wishes and it hopes for a quick burial, for entering into the grave quickly, because it hopes for good from Allah. And if it is not righteous, the Prophet said sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the soul says: "Woe to me, where are they taking me?" And the Prophet said sallallahu alayhi wasallam that its shrieking and screaming is heard by every single creation except for mankind — and were mankind to hear it, they would fall unconscious. Even the dead have hopes and desires.

In the long hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari of al-Bara' ibn Azib radiyallahu anhu, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam gave us a detailed explanation of what takes place in the grave when each and every single one of us will be questioned by the angels that come to our graves. Towards the end of that hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam again mentioned the wishes of the deceased.

As for the righteous person in their grave who has answered their questions, who sees how expansive and how wide their grave becomes, and for whom Allah opens a window from the windows of paradise and they take from it its blessings and beauty and radiance — this person, at the end, their wish is:

"O Allah, establish the Hour. O Allah, let the Day of Judgment come quickly" — because they know that what Allah has prepared for them in the next life is far greater and better than what they already have in their graves.

And as for the other person — the one who was not righteous, who was not able to answer those questions in the grave, whose grave is restricted so much that it crushes his body into itself, who has a window from the windows of Hellfire open before him with all of its evil and filth and torment and punishment — this person also has a wish and a hope at the end, and his wish is:

"O Allah, never let the Hour be established. Never let the Day of Judgment come." Even the dead have hopes and desires.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam once passed by a grave and he said to his companions:

"Who is the person in this grave?" So the companions told him it was so-and-so. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said:

"For this man to come back and pray two quick short rak'ahs is more beloved to him than the remainder of the lifespan of the earth." The remainder of this world — with all of its years and decades and centuries to come — two rak'ahs that he can pray are more beloved than everything else.

And that is why Allah tells us that from the wishes of the dead is that they will be able to come back to do more actions, to make up their prayers, to give sadaqah, to do any small action that may help them on the Day of Judgment. Allah says:

"Spend from that which We have given to you before there comes to you death, and then one of you will say: 'O my Lord, if only You would return me back to the world, I will give sadaqah — charity — and I will be from the righteous.'"

And Allah tells us in the other verse:

Their wishes and their desires will be: "O Allah, return us back to the dunya, to the life of this world, and perhaps we will do some of those righteous actions that we never used to do before." Even the dead have hopes and ambitions.

Conclusion of the First Khutbah

Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam told us the difference between these two types of wishes and hopes: the difference between people who use their hopes to come closer to Allah — who wish in a way that is beneficial, that will bring them goodness in this life and the next, who are willing to have sincerity within those wishes and are willing to put them into action — as opposed to those people who simply have wishful thinking, make false promises, spend their lives dreaming and dreaming but never achieve. And their dreams aren't things that will bring them closer to Allah; instead they are things that will take them further away from Allah.

We ask Allah that He grants us the ability to have righteous dreams and wishes and ambitions, and that Allah grants us sincerity and makes us from amongst those people who, when we wish, it is those types of dreams and wishes that bring us closer to Allah and benefit us in this life and the next.

Second Khutbah — Shaping the Wishes of Our Children

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ عَلَى إِحْسَانِهِ وَالشُّكْرُ لَهُ عَلَى تَوْفِيقِهِ وَامْتِنَانِهِ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ تَعْظِيمًا لِشَأْنِهِ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ نَبِيَّنَا وَسَيِّدَنَا مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ الدَّاعِي إِلَى رِضْوَانِهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَإِخْوَانِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا، أَمَّا بَعْدُ.

From the greatest and most powerful of wishes that we can have are the wishes that we have as parents for our children. And seeing as today is a holiday and we have many of our younger brothers and sisters here, the dreams and the aspirations that they have — we, as their elders, as their parents, as the people that are their role models that they look up to — we have a responsibility to give it direction. We have a responsibility to help them to formulate those wishes and hopes. We have a responsibility to make sure that they're in line with those teachings, some of which I mentioned in today's khutbah.

The way that the scholars of the past — many of the scholars, the vast majority of them — those names that we hear so often, those names that you often hear in the khutbah, that you often hear when you read a book or any Islamic lecture: people like Imam al-Shafi'i and Imam Malik and Imam al-Bukhari and many others, rahimahumullah ta'ala ajma'een — these were scholars of Islam. When they were young children, it was their parents who helped them to shape their dreams and their ambitions and their wishes. It was they who had their aspirations and then helped their children to also have similar ambitions.

Imam Malik, rahimahullah, when he was a young boy, it was his mother who would encourage him to go and study Islam. It used to be common in those times — in the generation of the students of the companions and their students, the early first, second, and third generations of Muslims — it was commonplace that parents had this desire that their children would fall in love with their religion, that they would study Islam, that they would learn the Qur'an. And those desires and those hopes were not that they would become great scholars one day — none of them knew that they would become great, illustrious Imams whose names and works and opinions and words would last for centuries after their deaths. But they had a sincere ambition, a sincere wish and hope, and they did what they could. They put their trust in Allah and they did what they could.

Imam Malik's mother would take him by the hand to his teacher. Imam al-Shafi'i's mother would spend the little wealth that she had — because she was a widow, she didn't have a husband and she was from a poor family — she would spend what she could so that her son could go and study Islam. Imam al-Bukhari, rahimahullah, in his childhood when he was blind, it was his mother who would spend the night awake in prayer, beseeching Allah, making du'a, hoping that Allah would give her son his sight back so that he would be able to study the hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

It was those honest, sincere dreams and wishes that they had that Allah placed barakah in. Allah blessed them, and then Allah allowed them to flourish and nurture those dreams and those ambitions until those scholars reached the heights that they had.

It is very important. Each and every single one of us has dreams and ambitions, and our children likewise have dreams — whether they tell you or not, they have those dreams. It is important that we help them to formulate them in a way that brings them closer to Allah.

The Final Wishes — of the Disbelievers and of the Last Man to Enter Paradise

I want to leave you with two final things — and those are the very last things that people will do on the Day of Judgment — because they also relate to the wishes and hopes that people will have. One will be from the believers and one will be from the disbelievers.

Allah tells us that as for the disbelievers, their final wish on the Day of Judgment — after Allah's law has been established and those people have been told that they will have eternal damnation in the fire of Hell — these people will say, as Allah mentions in the Qur'an:

"The Day when a man will look at what his hands have sent forth and the disbeliever will say: 'Oh, I wish I were dust!'" Their wish and their desire at that time — once they see the evil deeds that they have put forth — is: "O Allah, if only You would turn me into dust." That is their wish and their desire.

And then the Prophet told us about the last man who will ever leave the fire of Hell — who will also be the last man to ever enter into paradise. This man will spend as long as Allah wills in the fire of Hell, being purified for his sins and cleansed for his evil deeds, until every other person will have entered into Jannah and taken their places. Then Allah will bring this final individual out of the fire — and it is a long hadith — stage by stage, slowly but surely, this person comes closer and closer to paradise, until he is standing at the gates of Jannah. He sees Jannah with all of its beauty and all of its blessings and everything that Allah has placed therein for the believers.

Then Allah will say to this man: "Wish." So the man will wish — he will desire what he wants in Jannah. And Allah will continue to say to him: "Wish." And when the man doesn't know what to wish for, Allah will prompt him and say: "Ask for such-and-such, ask for such-and-such." The Prophet said: until he has no more wishes left. Everything that he could possibly dream of, everything he could possibly wish for, everything he could possibly hope for — he asked Allah. And then Allah will say to him: "That is all for you, and ten times its like." And this will be the final person to enter into Jannah. He will enter into Jannah, and the Prophet said that — because of Allah's great blessings upon him — he will think that there is no one in Jannah better than him, no one with more favors or blessings than him, even though he is the least of them in reward in paradise.

The power of Allah and His treasures are many. And when we have sincere hopes and desires and we turn them into du'as and then turn them into action, they are extremely powerful. It is something that we should use wisely, because it is a great way of attaining reward and safeguarding ourselves from the punishment of Allah.

We ask Allah that He gives us the ability to have hopes and wishes that He is pleased with — that are sincere and that are beneficial for ourselves, our families, and our communities in this life and the next. We ask Allah that He blesses our families and our children, and that Allah protects and safeguards us and our communities, and that Allah lifts the suffering of our brothers and sisters across the world and makes their affairs easy for them. We ask Allah to grant us that which is good and that which He is pleased with, and to guide us to that which He is pleased with, and to keep us safe from that which misguides us from His path. We ask Allah that He keeps us steadfast in this life and the next, and that He grants us and our families the highest ranks of Jannah.

And peace be upon the messengers, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

Community Reminder — "Conversations with Allah" Campaign

Brothers and sisters, there will come a time when you will be alone. There will come a time when you will be afraid. There will come a time when you will be the last. Are you ready for that day?

Brothers and sisters, I have a question for you today: if you were to die right now, in what condition would you return to your Lord? Remember this question.

What you see here today can happen to any one of you. How many of our brothers and sisters leave this world every single day? Kullu nafsin dha'iqatul mawt — every soul shall taste death. Every soul will taste death. When will we learn? How many of our brothers and sisters must die before we change?

How many of us have cried over our loved ones — crying so hard we don't know if we can stop, crying so hard we can't cry anymore — powerful emotions yet little actions. Crying, yet our hearts remain hard. Crying, yet our salah does not improve. When will it be enough?

Don't you know how easy you have it, my dear beloved brothers and sisters? Let me remind you of a situation you are already well aware of — you have seen it broadcast everywhere. Let me remind you about our beloved brothers and sisters in Syria and Yemen. The situation is dire, the situation is at breaking point. But we have young children here and I don't want their innocent ears to hear about the horrors going on. You know, brothers and sisters, the situation is bad when we have to censor what we say because it will traumatize our children — yet we stand here today living in comfort and security whilst their lives are slowly being destroyed day by day.

My brothers and sisters, I know it's hard. I know the daily grind can wear you down. Maybe your children aren't listening to you, maybe your parents aren't understanding you. It's difficult. But let's face reality — we all sin, we all get worn down, life can take its toll. But we still carry on, we still continue, because we are resilient. The biggest trick the devil can play on you is convincing you there is no hope. But let me tell you that Allah says:

"Say: O My slaves who have transgressed against themselves — despair not in the mercy of Allah. Verily Allah forgives all sins. Truly He is the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." This is your lifeline, brothers and sisters.

Change, my brothers and sisters, occurs step by step. Change is small sometimes, and that's fine. Every single one of us will better ourselves, inshallah. This is your chance to change. This is your chance to be better. Make an intention right now to take one small step in the right direction and commit to it.

Alhamdulillah, you are all here today and that's a good sign. But think about your family, your friends, your neighbors who are not here today — who are not praying, who are involved in haram, and who are slowly slipping further and further down a path that won't end well for them. Your family, our friends, are still out there, lost. You can guide them.

We are one team. We have each other's backs. We are a community here at Green Lane Masjid. We are organising a campaign to help guide people back to a way that will ultimately benefit them. We have launched a campaign entitled Conversations with Allah — a grassroots campaign to encourage people to start praying. We have organised a variety of events that will cater for all sectors of the community. You will have received a flyer with all of the events listed on there.

Brothers and sisters, remember the question I asked at the beginning of this reminder: if you were to die right now, what condition would you return to your Lord in? Only you truly know the answer to that.

Three Action Points

Please pay attention and take note — don't let this go in one ear and out the other. The following three points are important for you:

Number one: We have organised practical salah demonstrations for you right here, right now. A group of brothers and sisters will take you through the prayer step by step and ensure that you are praying correctly. Take action now, brothers and sisters — you can go into the main prayer halls after this reminder. The brothers and sisters are wearing lanyards and high-vis jackets. Learn how to pray properly now, before you leave.

Number two: We have organised many high quality events just for you, tailored to different sections of the community. Please sign up. Visit the stalls and find out which events you wish to attend and sign up to as many of them as possible. There is a stall on the brothers' side to my left and there is a stall on the sisters' side to my right.

Number three: Remember my point about the fact that you are here yet your family and friends are not. You must do something about this. We have made this so easy for you by creating a WhatsApp broadcast list — not a WhatsApp group; a broadcast list where we will write messages about our events and send them directly and privately to your phone, and you just need to click the share button. This is the least that every single one of us should be doing here today.

So just to recap — the three points:

One: We have organised practical salah demonstrations for you to attend here today. Please go to the main masjid hall and attend.

Two: We have organised a number of very high quality, must-attend events for all of you. Please register at the brothers' desk or the sisters' desk, or go to the main masjid office, or visit www.conversationswithallah.co.uk or www.greenlanemasjid.org.

Three: Sign up to the WhatsApp broadcast list and share these messages across to all of your family and friends.

Thank you for listening, my brothers and sisters. Anything good I have said is from Allah — anything bad I have said is from myself. JazakumAllah khayran for attending, and please do attend the salah demonstrations and sign up to all of the events.

Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.