Jumu'ah Khutbah - February 2, 2018

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَىٰ سَيِّدِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ وَعَلَىٰ خَاتَمِ النَّبِيِّينَ وَعَلَىٰ آلِهِ الطَّاهِرِينَ الطَّيِّبِينَ وَعَلَىٰ مَن تَبِعَهُم بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.

وَبَعْدَ أَنْ اسْتَعَاذَ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ، قَالَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ فِي الْوَحْيِ الْأَخِيرِ:

وَقَالَ تَعَالَىٰ:

اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ. بَارَكَ اللَّهُ لَنَا وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقُرْآنِ الْعَظِيمِ، وَنَفَعَنَا وَإِيَّاكُمْ يَا فِهِيم، بِآيَاتِ الذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ.

The Significance of the Masjid

My dear respected brothers and sisters, respected elders and students—peace be upon you. Indeed, the mosques and the houses of worship that Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, has instructed us to erect and to build is the beating heart of the Muslim community.

Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, in Surah An-Nur, in the ayah that I recited, He says: These are those houses that Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, has given the permission that they be erected. The scholars mention that instead of saying that this is a command of Allah, the Exalted in His Glory—that Allah has ordered, Allah has commanded you to build these houses—Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, says Allah has given you the permission. Which is a very unique choice of words.

There is a particular reason why Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, uses these words. It is to indicate that as believers in Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, as lovers of Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, as faithful servants of Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, as His slaves, we are with great expectation and anticipation, looking forward to see how can we please Allah and how can we gain the proximity to Allah, what can we do to gain the pleasure of Allah, the Exalted in His Glory.

We are seeking permission. We have an application: Oh Allah, what can we do, let us know. We are ready. Then Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, says: Okay, I guarantee the permission. أَذِنَ اللَّهُ—I guarantee the permission that you can build these houses of worship.

The Purpose of the Houses of Worship

What are the purposes of these houses? They can be erected. They can be made lofty and high. Again, this word—it means to make something high. رَفِيع is that which is high. Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, is the most high. رَفْعَة is بِلَنْدِي—highness. There are tons of different words that could have been used. بَنَىٰ means to build a house. But Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, said they should be erected, they should be made high for the sake of Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, to demonstrate the glory of Allah, the Exalted in His Glory.

And what is the objective of these houses? In these houses, the name of Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, is taken. The ذِكْر of Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, is done in these houses in the mornings and in the evenings, throughout the hours of the day and the night. These houses are filled with the ذِكْر of Allah, the remembrance of Allah.

Some people are engaged in Salah. Some people are engaged in Du'a. Some people are engaged in Tilawah of the Quran, ذِكْر of Allah, the Exalted in His Glory. Some people are engaged in giving Dawah to non-Muslims, doing Khitmah in social services, Ta'leem and Ta'allam—learning and teaching. All of these activities take place in this house.

The People of the Masjid

Who are these people? Who does these actions? رِجَالٌ—such men. And the Tanween here is to show greatness. Great people. رِجَالٌ means great people, great men that Allah, the Exalted in His Glory, is praising them. And He says: Neither trade nor merchandise, nor worldly occupations, makes them forget the remembrance of Allah. Neither trade nor merchandise makes them forget the remembrance of Allah, and to establish Salah and to give the Zakah.

The Reason for Revelation

This Ayah was revealed about a couple of Sahaba. There are different narrations about exactly which one. They could all be the causes of the revelation, the reason for the revelation of this Ayah. One of them was a blacksmith who used to work with iron. He used to heat up the iron to a certain temperature. He had to first fire up the furnace with the wood, cut the wood, fire the furnace, make it hot. Then he would soften the iron and he would be hammering the iron and making the swords and the shields. It is a very lengthy process to get the iron to be at the temperature soft enough to mold it into the shapes that is required.

When he would be working with his hammer and beating the iron, if he would lift up his hammer and pound it, then he would lift it up, pound it, and if it was in his arm and he had lifted the hammer above his shoulder, and then as soon as he would hear the Adhan, then even though it is already in his upright position, he just has to strike one last blow. So that final lifting of that hammer would not be in vain. Instead of striking that one last blow, he would put it down on the side. Why? He would say: The caller to Allah has called me. I must respond to his call.

Not only for Jummah, but for every Salah. Jummah is of course even more important, as Allah Ta'ala says: When the Adhan is called for the Salatul Jummah, then hasten to the Zikr of Allah and leave all your transactions. So this was the standard practice of every Sahabi, every believer. When the Adhan of Jummah was called, they would run to the remembrance of Allah. But this particular Sahabi's action was for every Salah, five times. Whatever action he was engaged in in the day, if he was working in Zuhur or Asr time, he would leave it immediately and come to the house of Allah.

So Allah Ta'ala said: The business does not beguile him, does not make him forget Allah, وَإِقَامِ الصَّلَاةِ—to establish Salah and give the Zakah. They are afraid about that day. Why are they coming to the house of Allah? Because they are afraid of a day. On that day, قَلْب is to turn over. The heart is called قَلْب because it keeps on fluctuating, keeps on pumping. It's always changing condition; it's not at rest.

Even when you are physically resting, your heart is not resting; it's pumping. Before you are born, all of us who had children remember the moment when you go to the doctor's office and they put the ultrasound and you hear your unborn child's heart is beating. The child is not even born—thump, thump, thump—you can hear the heart is working. The heart is beating the entire life till you die. Even when we are resting, the heart is not resting. When the heart takes a rest, the game is over. So that's why it's called قَلْب. You've heard of the word انْقِلاب? It is when there is a revolution in a country, to change. So قَلْب is to change.

On that day, the hearts will be overturned. In the eyes as well—why? Out of fear and fright and horror of that day, the hearts and the eyes will be overturned in fear. They are afraid of that day, that is why they are punctual in their Salah. But do they have cause to be afraid? Allah Ta'ala says: Allah will give them the full reward of their good deeds that they had done, and he will give them even more from his grace. He will give them full reward—that is due to them. فَضْل is to give that which is beyond what you deserve. To give what you deserve is عَدْل—justice. And to give beyond that which you deserve is فَضْل.

Justice Versus Grace

That is why the scholars say that you know in the world we have marches. We have protests and we have banners and we say: We demand justice. We demand justice. We have to make sure that on the day of Qiyamah, this would be a very, very big mistake. We should never, never demand justice from Allah. Because if we demand justice from Allah, what does that mean? That means we are lost.

One of the courts on the day of Qiyamah would be between the servants of Allah, between the Ibadallah. But there is another court. If you say: I never heard anybody. Out past that court. I never backbited. I never heard anyone. I never borrowed money that I didn't return. I didn't steal any money. I'm okay in the courts of fellow human beings. What about the court of Allah? On one side: blessings of Allah. On the other side: commandments of Allah. You will be asked regarding the favours of Allah. Are we going to be able to pass that?

So we do not ask justice from Allah. Never ask Allah for عَدْل—justice. Then we would give the failure we deserve. Rather, we always ask from Allah: فَضْل. O Allah, give us beyond that which we deserve. We are in no position to demand Jannah based on our actions. But rather, we ask from your فَضْل, your grace.

Is there anyone who could say they deserve Jannah based on their actions? If there could be anyone who would say that, it would be none other than Rasulallah. Who could be a more perfect worshipper than Rasulallah? Whose Ibadah is more complete than Rasulallah? Rasulallah's Ibadah is a model of Ibadah till the day of Qiyamah. We are all trying to make our Ibadah like his Ibadah. He was the pinnacle in perfection of Ibadah. He said: Perform Salah the way you see me performing Salah. It's the model. Yet Rasulallah said: I will not be able to enter Jannah based on my own actions, on my good deeds.

The Sahaba said: O Rasulallah! He said: No one will be able to enter Jannah based on their good deeds. The Sahaba said: O Rasulallah, what about yourself? You have such good deeds. Will you not be able to enter Jannah based on your actions? He said: No, I cannot enter Jannah based on my good deeds until I am completely covered with the Rahmah and Fadal of Allah.

That is why many times, if you have debates with Christians and they say that: We believe Jesus Christ is our saviour. We cannot enter Jannah based on our good deeds. Jesus Christ died on the cross as a means of our forgiveness. We believe in our saviour. And you are so proud, you think Muslims—or Muslims—you are going to enter Jannah based on your good deeds. So what should your response be? No, we have a saviour too. You believe someone died on the cross, your saviour. سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ. But we believe in a saviour. Our saviour is Allah. We are only doing good deeds to gain his pleasure and happiness. We don't know which good deed he will love and he will forgive the rest of our sins. Which Sajdah might become beloved to Allah and he will forgive everything else? We don't know which one that is.

That's why we are continually striving. It's like we don't know which night is Laylatul Qadr. So we try every odd night, at least, of Ramadan, of the last ten days of Ramadan. Likewise, we don't know which Ibadah will be accepted. But can we enter Jannah based on our own accomplishments? Absolutely not, until Allah covers me with his فَضْل. That is what Allah Ta'ala says about such people.

By praising them, after he praises them, he says: Allah will give them full reward for their good deeds and will give them additional rewards from his فَضْل, from his grace. And Allah Ta'ala grants whosoever He wills, whosoever He wills, whatever He wills, in whichever quantity He wills, without any measure. No one can ask Allah Ta'ala: Why did He give him so much? No one questions Allah on what He does. Everyone else will be questioned by Allah on why they did. But no one questions Allah Ta'ala.

The Position of the Masjid

So in these Ayahs we started from, we see the position of the Masjid in the Muslim community. We see the attachment the Muslims have to the house of Allah Ta'ala. Allah Ta'ala says: Only those people are dedicated to serve the house of Allah who believe in Allah Ta'ala.

Rasulullah mentioned in a Hadith—it is so beautiful. When you see Rasulullah doing this, we see our teachers when they are giving Khutbah or speech or lecture or advice or teaching a lesson, they mention points and then what do they do? They back up their points by quoting Ayat of the Quran. They say: This is how Allah has expressed it in His Quran. And then they back up their statements. But this is a Hadith of Rasulullah. But where did the scholars learn this style? Who taught them this? This was taught by Rasulullah himself.

In the Hadith, when he is explaining things, Rasulullah has every word. His Khutbah is a Hadith by default. Whatever he utters, he is the messenger of Allah speaking. Whatever he speaks is revelation from Allah. He does not speak from his desires. So he is speaking and then he says: Okay, I will back up my speech. Does he need any backup? He is authority himself. But he says: I will back up my words with Ayat of Quran. Then he quotes Ayat. You will find this in Hadith of Rasulullah—that he is giving a speech and he is quoting Ayat of the Quran. That is so beautiful. When you come across these examples, one of them is when he said:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 223)

When you see the person frequenting the house of Allah, even though there is no storm, even though the roads are blocked, even though the businesses are closed, schools are closed, he still comes to the house of Allah. In the difficult times, when you see someone frequenting the house of Allah, then you may testify. Then you may testify and you may swear that that person is a true believer. This is a very powerful statement. If you see someone frequenting the house of Allah—you are frequenting the house of Allah right now, and we hope you continue, and we all continue until we die—what is to say, Inshallah, he is a mu'min? What is to say he is a mu'min?

What is to say: Testify? Testify means when you go to the court of Allah and you ask: Is this person a mu'min, a believer? You can say: I swear to tell you the whole truth, the complete truth, nothing but the truth, nothing beyond the truth. And I testify: Wallahi, this person is a mu'min. Rasulullah said: Testify—he is a mu'min. The one who frequents the house of Allah.

Now he made such a big claim, and Rasulullah has the authority to make that claim. But then he wants to back himself up. He said: If you want to believe me, you need further evidence. Then why don't you read the ayah of the Quran? Nabi quoting Allah, he says:

The first word here is إِنَّمَا—a كَلِمَة الْحَصْر. It is an exclusive article which is used to mean only. إِنَّمَا means only. إِنَّمَا يَعْمُرُ مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ—only those people who frequents the house of Allah, only those people who are concerned about the house of Allah. يَعْمُرُ is a very all-inclusive word. It means attaching themselves. It means attending, it means cleaning, it means maintaining, it means bringing up, building—all of that comes into the word يَعْمُرُ, تَعْمِيرِ of the masjid.

إِنَّمَا يَعْمُرُ مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ—only those people who will be attached to the house of Allah, who will be maintaining the house of Allah, who believe in Allah. In the last day, and they establish Salah, and they give the Zakah to the poor, they do not fear anyone but Allah. They are the guided ones by Allah.

Our Attachment to the Masjid

So we have to examine in our heart: How much is our true attachment to the house of Allah? How much do we love the house of Allah? I want to share one story.

We know that when Rasulullah came to Madinah, we have heard this many times, the first thing he engaged in is that he himself did not have a house. He was staying as a guest in Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari. But the first effort he engaged in with the Sahaba was building the Masjid An-Nabawi, the heartbeat of the Muslim Ummah. He physically participated in the effort building the walls of Masjid An-Nabawi. In fact, before he came to Madinah, when he stopped for a while for a rest at Quba, he built a house of worship in Quba—the Masjid Al-Aqsa At-Taqwa. He built the Masjid An-Quba. Then he came to Madinah, he built the Masjid An-Nabawi.

But are there examples of people who continued that tradition? Any inspiring example we can find of people who made the Masjid, the house of Allah, their priority?

The Story of Al-Masjid Al-Awwal

One very, very moving and inspiring story that I had the opportunity to witness is from back in the days in 1998, 1999, when we were studying in the late 1990s. In South Africa, we had the opportunity to visit Cape Town. In Cape Town, there was a Masjid that is known as Al-Masjid Al-Awwal—the first Masjid. This is the first Masjid in the entire Sub-Saharan Africa, in the whole Southern Africa.

The first Masjid, of course, there were Masjids that were built by the Sahaba themselves in the era of Umar Farooq. They entered into Africa. Even in the life of Rasulullah, the Sahaba entered into Abyssinia, the first Hijrah of Habesha and Abyssinia. The first Hijrah and the second Hijrah—two Hijrahs were to Abyssinia. Those were the first Sahaba, even in the Meccan era. But afterwards, they came back to Medina when Allah granted Medina. So the Muslims who had resided in Abyssinia came back to Medina.

But the first permanent settlement of Muslims in the African continent was during the Khilafat of Umar Farooq. The second Khalifa, Umar Ibn Al-Aas, he was deployed in Sham, in Syria. Then he wrote a letter to Umar Farooq that: I only have these 4,000 soldiers with me. Can you give me permission to take on the entire Egypt? So he gave him permission. He sought permission, he was given permission, and he was the Fatih—the conqueror of Egypt. Umar Ibn Al-Aas is the one who conquered Egypt. There is a great Masjid in Cairo—Masjid Umar Ibn Al-Aas—that is a testimony to the first conqueror and the first Governor of Egypt, Umar Ibn Al-Aas.

But in Southern Africa, the Muslims were not there. The Muslims were in Egypt. After that, to the west of Egypt is Libya. 12,000 Sahaba's graves are in Libya. After that, you have Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco. In the western extremity—in the Western Extremity of Morocco—there is a town of Asifi. I had the opportunity to go to Asifi. So they said: I said: Why is this town called Asafi? أَسَف means sadness. أَسَفِي means my sadness. So I thought there was some very great tragedy that occurred here. Why is the whole town called my sadness? What a sad name for a city! The whole city is known as my tragedy, my sadness.

So I was thinking in my mind that was there some great massacre that took place here or some tragic incident? That is why... In the French, when they were colonizing North Africa, and the Italians came to Libya, they were shooting the people, killing the people. Maybe there was some mass grave. So they said: We will explain to you tomorrow. Our host will show you why this town is called Asafi. So I thought they were going to take me to some site of a mass grave and say: This is why. This is the tragedy that occurred here. And recite all the souls that died.

Then they took me to the beach. They said: This is the reason why this town is called Asafi. So I said: What happened at this beach? They said: This is the place where when he was traveling west, spreading Islam, then he took his horse into the waves of the Atlantic Ocean on this beach and he let out a cry. It says the same words in Surah Yusuf. When he is missing his son, after he is missing Yusuf for all these years, then he loses Binyamin on top of it, then he says: He said: Oh my grief! I have lost my sons! And he became blind from excessive crying.

So he charged into the waves as far as he could go. He said: Oh my sadness! Sadness for what? The end of the land to spread Islam. They kept going west, west, west. From Egypt to Libya, from Libya to Algeria, from Algeria to Morocco. Continued spreading Islam throughout Morocco. They reached the edge of Morocco, this is the western tip of Morocco. He saw the Atlantic Ocean. Then he went into his horse as far as he could go into the waves. Then the horse was going to start drowning. Then he said: If I know there is any land beyond this Atlantic Ocean, then I will spread the Deen of Islam there. But I see that this is the ocean till the end of the world is ocean, from his perspective. So this was North Africa. But in South Africa, there was no Islam.

The first Muslims that came into South Africa came under very trying circumstances, very difficult, different set of circumstances altogether from the glorious story of the North. That was when the Dutch had invaded Indonesia and they were enslaving the population. So there was a group of Mujahideen and freedom fighters that were fighting against the Dutch invaders and they were led by a group of righteous scholars. These were the leaders of the revolution. Like in the United States history, we study about George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson—these were the fathers of the USA who fought against the British. So the fighters against these occupiers were the scholars. So these Dutch imperialist colonists imprisoned them, these Mujahideen, and they put them on ships and they brought them to the middle of a jungle, unpopulated land of Cape Town, and they put them into forced political exile, these Mujahideen.

So these scholars were the first Muslims from Indonesia and Malaysia that came into Cape Town in the 1600s. In Cape Town, there was a small fort and a small garrison that was established by the Dutch to replenish their ships when they would be sailing from Europe to the Far East. Of course, this is before the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal was dug, so they had to go across the entire African continent. They could not make the shortcut through the Red Sea. So they would bring these political prisoners and enslaved them there. They were under harsh circumstances. One of the rules was: they would be tortured if they would perform Salah. They were prevented from performing Salah and Ibadah because they had so much hatred and animosity for their Deen.

Then what happened is that the British came into Africa as well. There was a war—the Boer War. But before the Boer War began, in the beginning stages, there was a General from the British who was going to attack the Dutch in Cape Town. The General there had very few soldiers to defend himself, and he had all of these fierce Mujahideen warriors that they are all prisoners, though. Now he looked at his choices. That if I am going to try to fight by myself, I will be destroyed and I will be killed by these British. But I have these valiant fighters. But they are in chains. What should I do? So he was under such trying circumstances. He ended up negotiating with them and he said: Is there any way you could help me? The captor is asking the captives!

So they had such power of leverage. They could have asked for any condition and their conditions would have been fulfilled. But what is the first thing they asked? They did not ask for freedom. They did not ask for better conditions, better food. They said: We will fight with you and defend you with the condition you allow us to build a Masjid and perform our Salah. That's all we need. They asked permission from their captors: If you allow us to perform Salah and build a Masjid, then we will fight with you. They said: Oh, that's a good deal. They gave permission.

So they fought with the Dutch against the British, and they got the permission and they fulfilled their terms and they built from their own hands that first Masjid. They did not even have a compass. They did not have the ability to determine the correct direction of the Qibla. So when you go into the Masjid Al-Awwal, it is like when you buy a church or when you buy any other facility—the Suhoof are at an angle. When you build this Masjid from the ground up, the Safs are straight because we know where we are going to. We want the building to face the Makkah. But when you buy another building, we have to adjust it. Likewise, when you go into that Masjid that is built from the ground up, the Qibla is adjusted because they did not have the correct direction of the Qibla.

And when you come in, there is a glass case. In the glass case, there is a Quran that is handwritten by one of the Malaysian prisoners of war, scholars in exile, in the 1600s. He wrote the entire Quran from his memory. So if you want to ask yourselves: What is the value of the house of Allah? Then we truly do not appreciate it. We have to ask such people who underwent such sacrifices to build the house of Allah. They can tell us what it means. What is the value of the house of Allah? The one who does not have the blessing—he is the one who has the true value of the blessing.

A Recent Trial and Blessing

Alhamdulillah, I believe all of us have vision. We welcome those who do not have vision and the blind ones as well. But I see in front of me everyone has vision. We cannot truly appreciate the blessing of vision. The one who is blind cannot see—he is the one who will tell us what is the blessing of vision.

As I conclude, as the time is up, we had a recent incident which reminded us about the blessing of this Masjid that is so dear to all of us. We had a rupture in the sprinkler system, and that ended up flooding the entire basement. At the same time, Allah's decree was that the ejector pump stopped working. So the entire basement, as we are speaking, has been flooded. We have brothers who are cleaning, removed all the carpet right now. Downstairs is still not accessible.

But beyond that, what happened is that because the fire sprinkler system was not working, then—as you might have heard or not have heard—many are not on the WhatsApp groups. They are busy in their Ibadah. They do not have time for WhatsApp. So they do not know. Nor do they ever check their email, perhaps. They might not have heard that for the first time since we opened in 2013, the occupancy permit was taken away, and they said the building has to be shut down and Salats cannot be performed.

This happened yesterday. So officially, Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha, and Fajr of today, we could not perform. Officially, it was illegal to perform. No one is allowed to occupy Dar Es Salaam. The email was sent out that we will not have Jummah today. Unfortunately, Jummah will not take place. But as you see, with your eyes of certainty, you can see we are here in Jummah. How are we here? With the Fadal of Allah!

Allah Ta'ala reward the brothers, the volunteers, who made effort day and night. The entire day they went and got the different parts from all over, installed the pipe. May Allah Ta'ala give Hidayah and guidance to our DuPage County officials who are very lenient with us and were very accommodating. We had to get permit and this and that. They said: Okay, just give us a letter. You have done the job and we will issue the occupancy. So Alhamdulillah, we are back and we are performing the Jummah right now. This is such a blessing from Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. We realized it when we lost it.

But let it not be that the only time we realize the blessing is when we lose it. The fact that we do have permission—and I cannot express thanks to all the brothers and Imams and Masajid boards from all over the Chicagoland area that have been calling, emailing, giving their condolences, asking: Can we support? Can we come and clean? Can we help? It is the Du'a's of everyone that came together in the efforts that Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, allowed us to perform the Jummah.

But it took this tragedy to make us realize how important our Masjid is. This is a very minor tragedy. People throughout the world are undergoing much more severe conditions. People in China—if they turn the light on and they are having their Suhoor in the privacy of their home, they are arrested that you cannot fast. They are force fed in the days. In China, as we are speaking, people cannot fast in Ramadan. People are prevented from worshipping Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. People are undergoing severe trials throughout the world.

This was a small test that came. May it be sufficient to wake us up and realize: How many other days of the year? The entire year we have all the Salat that are being performed, and are we coming or not? Are we saying Labaik to the Muradi Allah—the one who calls towards Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala—and answering his call, coming to worship in the house of Allah? Or are we just so excited and we become so passionate when the Masjid is closed down?

It does not need the Masjid to close down for us to become passionate about the house of Allah. We have to continually remain attached to the house of Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Then we will gain the shade on the day of when there is no shade beside the shade of the Arsh of Rahman. The one whose heart is attached to the house of Allah, the one whose heart is hanging, attached to the house of Allah, he will have the shade on the day of Qiyamah.

May Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, make us amongst them. We ask all the brothers: We want to thank all the brothers for their Du'a's, for their support. And Inshallah, we request everyone that if they can donate generously to cover some of the losses—all the losses will not be covered. Some might be covered by insurance; others will not. There was damage to books. There was damage to carpets. There was damage to a lot of the property. So make Du'a for Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, and donate generously to help cover those expenses.