dear brothers and sisters when the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam was in the cave with Abu Bakr sik and they were all alone in that cave as far as human beings were concerned and what stood between a religion of two billion people today and a religion that would have ended with the murder of two men were the feet of the enemies right at the mouth of that cave and I want you to imagine that moment where looks out and he sees the feet of the enemy and the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam is his responsibility as far as he is concerned taking care of the Prophet Sall alhi wasallam and protecting him and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam looking to and saying the words that two billion people recite today don't be afraid do not grieve indeed Allah is with us there's no need for you to be scared there is no need for you to be sad Allah is with us and the certainty of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam the affirmation of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would bring coolness and Stillness to the chest of any human being especially aik the one who affirms the truth and affirms the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in all that he says and all that he does a few years prior to that moment the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam was himself affirmed by none other than Allah subhanahu waala when Allah subhah wa taala said Allah subhana tala swore that your lord has not forsaken you nor has your lord found you repulsive and here the prophet Salli wasallam is giving this affirmation to his closest friend it comes down however to something on an individual level are are you confidently able to say that Allah is with us right now what does it mean to say in verily Allah is with us and I'm not speaking about the theological construct here I'm talking about in the way in which we intend it when we say it that Allah subhah waala is with us as a means of support and as a Divine Aid and if Allah is with you then it doesn't matter who is against you and if Allah is against you then it doesn't matter who is with you we ask this question to ourselves on an individual level is Allah answering my duas is Allah pleased with me is Allah subhah wa ta'ala looking at me with his Divine favor but how do we actually broaden that to ask ourselves does Allah subhah wa tala love us as a community is my family pleasing to Allah subhana tala is this a household that Allah looks to with his Divine pleasure is this a Masjid that Allah looks to with his Divine pleasure is this a community a country that Allah looks to with his Divine pleasure is this an umah that Allah subhana wa tala looks to with his Divine pleasure and I want to take you actually to a verse that you recite every Friday in Surah verse number 28 where Allah subhana says Allah subhah wa tala says keep yourself patient with those who call upon Allah subhana wa ta'ala day and night seeking his pleasure and do not look past them don't turn away from them looking for the Allure of this material world and don't follow those and don't pursue those whose Hearts have been veiled from the remembrance of Allah subhah wa ta'ala who follow their lowly desires and whose Affair is complete loss I want to give you a visual to this ay we know the very famous story of the blind man who came to the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam rushing to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam while the prophet s wasall was speaking to some of the elites of Mecca andd because he could not see he comes to the prophet in haste grabbing for the prophet Salli wasallam saying oh Muhammad teach me from what Allah taught you and he's not aware of the surrounding of the prophet sallai wasallam and the meeting that the prophet Salli wasallam just secured with some of the Nobles of Mecca who had rejected his up until that point partly because of the presence of people like the prophet Salli wasallam frowned at a blind man meaning he wasn't hurting abdullah's feelings because Abdullah makum could not see his frown but the frown of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam represented something that Allah subhana wa ta'ala saw worthy of correcting that it doesn't matter what these people think of you what matters is that you surround yourself with sincere followers that it is not the political iCal strength or the material strength of those people that will secure your spot in history and more importantly secure your spots in the Hereafter but it is in fact the presence of people like abdah that Allah loves to see in this community and that Allah subhana is indeed pleased with and how did the prophet Salli wasallam receive that admonishing when he would see abdah he would say welcome to the one who Allah scalen me on behalf of Welcome to the one who Allah admonished me on his behalf he would welcome him sallallahu alaih wasallam now I'll give you another visual says that this verse was revealed in the general sense of course about the people like and and those who were looked down upon but he gave a specific sentiment he said that it was revealed about who were the people that resided in the Masjid of the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam and they were at that time 700 take a visual shot and imagine the mid of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and his humble means and he looks out sallallah alaihi wasallam and he has 700 homeless people in front of him sallallah alaihi wasallam and that's who Allah will give Victory to that who Allah will give Victory through yes yeah Muhammad s keep yourself patient with those people don't just be patient with them in the sense that you talk tolerate them but build a community of resilience a community of patience because what Allah loves to see that you see a people bowing and prostrating there is no sight more beloved to Allah subhana wa ta'ala than these Mass being full and the people on their bowing bow with those who bow prostrating because they there's no position to Allah that's more beloved to him on an individual level than the position of SJ where you lower your ego where you lower yourself to your lord and whoever lowers themsel Allah Allah raises that person in rank there's no sight more beloved of a community than that community in and we just came back from ha may Allah accept it from the delegation of Allah subhana wa tala as the prophet s was referred to them and think about how Beloved the sight to Allah of 2 million people in with their hands to The Sky Under The Heat Of The Sun disheveled Dusty as narrated in thei crying calling upon Allah subhana tala in their different languages the king and the peasant equal in the sight of Allah subhah wa ta'ala and Allah says oh my angels look at these people what do these people want they want your mercy they want your forgiveness and Allah subhana wa tala says bear witness that I forgiven this group of people I love this group of people I love this um and Subhan Allah we are most pleasing to Allah in that state when we are in our and in our back to the Ayah back to the verse I want it represents to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam alhamdulillah The Prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam said as is narrated [Music] all Praises be to Allah who placed in my um those who I have been commanded to be patient with alhamdulillah for an full of an full of an um full of Sal narrates authentically such a beautiful narration she said one night I came I was coming home from and I was late and when I got home the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam asked me where were you she said when I was leaving the Masid I got caught up listening to the recitation of a man and the prophet s wasam said let's go and listen to him together so imagine the prophet walking the streets of Medina listening to the listening to the recitation of a man and the prophet s wasallam says this is Sal the free slave of Abu all Praises be to Allah who gave me in this um a person like this can you imagine that was what was pleasing to the heart to the eyes to the ears of the Prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam alhamdulillah for an of alhamdulillah for an of alhamdulillah for an of Islam and as said when he entered into Jerusalem and came to him and he told him this isn't the best look the leader of the truly free world because we are people who were freed from servitude to slaves to servitude to the Lord of all slaves it's not a good look Omar your your thob the slave on the horse or the camel it's not a good look and he said to him that we are a people who Allah gave dignity to through Islam when we seek it through anything else Allah humiliates us if you were to ask every Muslim what's your vision for Progress what's your vision of the Muslim world what's your vision of the Muslim Community different people will have different ideas but Allah tells you exactly what it is it's a community that is pleasing to him subhanahu wa taala and that first and foremost is sincere in their Pursuits of his pleasure sincere in manifesting the acts of worship the Commandments and the values that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given to us it starts from the place and I want you to appreciate for a moment that the Muslims were always the underdog we were always the ones that were looked past what does that mean in Mecca the prophet sallai wasallam was followed by the lowest of society in Medina as says the prophet was Keen to build relationships with the Jewish community in Medina with the people of the book in Medina he was Keen sallallah alaihi wasallam to build with them but they looked at him and it was one thing to say that the prophet to come is not from bani is but from B is it's another thing to say wait that's your community those 700 these migrants they don't look like the community that Allah has chosen they don't look the part and when Muslims went to different parts of the world when they came to this part of the world you didn't look the part why because you're value system is different and if we were a people that were relegated purely to Aesthetics as beautiful as this Masjid was we would all be sitting on you know high chairs and and pulpits and benches right we would wear golden shoes and Golden Slippers and golden hats but the reality is is that what's beautiful to Allah subhana wa tala are these faces on the ground when we sit on the floor in humility to our Lord subhanahu wa taala so we start from that place what type of community does Allah love Allah loves a community that worships him Allah subhana loves a community that's in a state of in a state of seeking forgiveness this Ayah in the Quran Allah says that verily Allah swears by time that man is in loss except for those who believe and do good deeds and they enjoy patience amongst each other they enjoying truth amongst each other they enjoy patience amongst each other and here Allah says keep yourself patient with those people who do I want to be on my side I want Believers on my side I want to be amongst them as said the very famous poem I love the righteous even if I am not amongst them I don't consider myself to be amongst them so that maybe I can at least gain their intercession on the day of judgment IM and he is who he is he's saying I have imposter syndrome when I'm amongst the righteous and he says to him you love the righteous and you're amongst them we feel like imposters around you but we want to enter ourselves amongst the righteous because we want to be raised on the day of judgment with those people that Allah subh loves so it starts off with that and how is it that Allah describes them they worship Allah in the day and in the night meaning in public and in private in public and in private because the night worship is unseen the public worship is the daytime worship it is the values of Islam that are manifested the of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam the characteristics of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam if you think that Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala loves a community that prays but cheats that reads Quran but then lies in the next breath that comes to the Masjid with such observance of the etiquette but is completely an entirely unethical in their daily business and in their daily affairs with everyone else that puts their face on the ground in humility and suud but then enters into their home with arrogance towards their family if you think that's the person Allah is talking about wrong person that's not who Allah doesn't love a community of Hypocrites because that R and that translates into something it's a humility that overtakes your entire presence why because they're seeking his countenance they're seeking his pleasure they're seeking his attention not the attention of other people not the pleasure of anyone else all of them together have one audience and that is Allah subhanahu wa tala himself and Allah says and don't look past them don't look past them as the prophet wasallam said find me amongst the weak and the downtrodden are you given Victory or Divine Aid except through your poor ones your downtrodden ones but on top of that Allah says who are your Ro models who do you look to are you really following these losers and I call them losers cuz Allah calls them losers who have been put up as symbols for you as individuals or as communities whose Hearts have been veiled from the remembrance of Allah subhana wa tala who have become Idols of gluttony and greed is that who you want to be is that what you want to look like is that your insecurity that as a community you want to look like that you want your Society to look like that you want to be that person that's a person that is barred from remembering Allah subhana waala they follow their lowest desires and everything that they've pursued Subhan Allah is another word for loss verely man is in loss that person is in loss the prophet s wasam said on the day of judgment do you want to know who a bankrupt person is not a person with no money in their bank account it's a person who has incurred through their tongue so much sin so much sin so much evil their Affair is in loss everything they earned me nothing it only became a proof against them on the day of judgment so Subhan Allah you can actually contrast Allah says the community that he loves the community that he is with want him what they want him Allah subh says so these people pray day and night these people are not allowed to remember Allah subhana tala these people are pursuing Allah subhana T these people they are people that follow their lowest desires there are those that worship the most high and there are those that follow their lowest desires look at the contrast these are the people that will be given victory in this and the next these are the people whose Affair will be complete loss some of the scholars say the word f here means they will fail to achieve happiness in this life or in the next the most miserable people on Earth are the ones who tasked themselves with happiness they thought they could create a model of happiness and they could make their own happiness and when they got to their top they realized that they were at their lowest cuz it didn't give them anything the fame the money all of it nothing it gave them complete emptiness and loss and on the day of judgment it is loss as well how do we bring that back to ourselves what is the community that Allah subhana T loves if you were to then take dear brothers and sisters every Hadith or every Ayah and then every Hadith where Allah talks about a quality that he loves or a person that he he loves the more people that represent them the more that that Community is beloved and so the more that you look to the umah and you find those that manifest those qualities that Allah loves the more beloved that umah is when you look at a locality the more that people manifest those things the more that Allah subhana tala is pleased with them if you want to know if Allah subhana tala is with you when the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says that Allah is with the believer so long as the believer is with his brother well then Allah is with the Believers so long as the Believers are with their brothers you can easily maximize that grow the circle take every Ayah every Hadith where Allah says that he loves a person or he's with a person and say how many people cumulatively represent that where are we as an umah with the those ethics how much do we represent of those things the less we represent the more that we incur the anger of Allah subhana wa tala the more that we represent the more that we incur the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and then finally dear brothers and sisters when the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam talks about Unity when the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam talks about a community that is together Subhan Allah it is in complete accordance with everything that Allah mentions about those whom he loves in the Masjid Those whom he loves in the battlefield Those whom he loves in the marketplace Those whom he loves at all times Allah loves those people who fight alongside one another think about the row of prayer in lines in rows they fight together in his cause for good things they pursue his pleasure together and they don't let anything come in between them they're like a well fortified structure likewise Allah loves the the line of prayer that is straight where the Prophet sallai wasallam says do not leave gaps between you lest the Shan interrupt your hearts stick together the way that you are in your lines of prayer stick together why not for other than him but for him subhanahu waala hold on to the Rope of Allah together do not become divided amongst yourselves and Subhan Allah Allah started in this verse by mentioning the Rope of Allah because those who loose who lose sight of the Rope of Allah subhana wa ta'ala will become divided over their lowly threads I want you to think of the parallel on an individual level we become distant from the most high when we succumb to our lowly desires on a community level we become distant from the most high when we succumb to our lowly egos all of the divisions that you find in our communities all of the divisions that you will find in our umah even if they have the disguise of being for truth you will find under that veil of Truth a bucket of falsehood B ego personal agendas division two people will divide an entire Society will embroil an entire country in chaos will embroil an entire umah in chaos because of their lowly Egos and Allah says that those people that came before you they did not divide themselves after knowledge came to them why arrogance ego personal agendas to where they lost sight of the bigger picture and the only thing they could see was they're big Egos and communities become divided UMAS become the umah becomes divided why because we forget that bigger purpose if you don't remember your higher purpose you get divided over the smaller things every small division is inflamed and becom a means by which you destroy yourself as an um and Allah says and so as a result of that tanaz as a result of that division you fail and your energy goes to waste your subh Allah you think about this how much energy is placed in division how much energy is placed in drama how much energy is placed with the um fighting amongst itself and as a result of that consumption of energy that consumption of the heart with ego and envy that consumption of the community's minds and thinking space the consumption of the resources of the umah who suffers we all suffer we all suffer we all suffer in the process and Allah subhana wa taala will hold us accountable for that and I want you to think about this and this is something that I put forward to my dear brother brothers and sisters think about the things that cause us to argue and to fight and imagine being a person sitting in a tent in Gaza right now hearing the drones and the air strikes above you having just buried 13 or 14 or 15 members of your family and you get access to your social media and you start scrolling and you say this is what my um has time for this is this is what you're doing this is what you're occupying yourself with we're dying over here holding down the fort literally for the entire umah in this small strip of Gaza that's what you're occupying yourself with oh Muslims what drives us to that you think Allah subhana T would be pleased with that and so when the prophet sallahu alaihi wasallam says the best charity is islah is reconciliation why you give charity to an individual to feed their stomach and to alleviate their situation you give charity to the individual to remove them from incurring debt you give charity to the individual to uplift them in their circumstances but what a charity to the umah a charity to the community when you sit two people down and you cause them to reconcile and you squash their differences so that you save the entire Community from a headache what a a charity to the entire Community a charity to their and to their but so few people are willing to do that to be people of reconciliation people of is people that sit people together it's so much easier juicier to gossip and to chew into the deadbeat of your brother it's so much harder to be that person that says I will hold this umah together I will hold this community together when there are people that are fighting I will get in between I'll say remember why we got here remember what brought us together in the first place let's grab on to the Rope of Allah subhana tal and stop fighting over these scraps it's not worth it we have bigger priorities as an um this um cannot afford Division and I end with the Hadith of the Prophet s wasallam he said sallallahu alai wasallam that I asked my lord for three things I asked my Lord that he would protect us this umah from famine from plague and Allah granted me that this um will not be wiped out by a plague and Subhan Allah you can imagine how reassuring that was to the um under the year of the plague where it seemed like the um was going to be wiped out Prophet Sall alaihi wasallam said Allah promised me this um would not be wiped out by a plague and here we are 2 billion people later I asked Allah that this umah would not be wiped out by an enemy Israel is not capable of defeating the um of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam do you understand me they are not capable our enemies are not capable of removing us from the face of the Earth they will inevitably fail and Allah granted the prophet s but the third thing I asked my Lord that he would not allow their ruin to come amongst themselves meaning that the disunity amongst them would not consume them and hurt them and Allah did not give me that Allah did not give the prophet s was that of the wisdoms of that dear brothers and sisters Allah will take care of our externals Allah will fix what is on the outside but he's given us enough to fix what's on the inside you have to take care of your heart let Allah do the rest take care of your intentions Allah subhana T will take care of your outcomes and plan for you in your favor as an individual even when you can't see the wisdom of the outcome as a community as an umah take care of what is among yourselves Allah will take care of what's outside of you but you have to fix your hearts we have to fix our issues we have to fix our problems and Allah subhana wa ta'ala will not look favorably on the day of judgment Upon A person who brought chaos to this umah can you imagine standing in front of Allah subhanahu wa taala on the day of judgment and you were a cause for disunity you were a cause for disputes you were a cause for the inflammation of ego you were a cause for people hating one another you were a cause for people cursing one another you were a cause for other people to go to Hellfire that otherwise would have followed a path of guidance can you imagine meeting Allah on the day of judgment as an agent of division as the scholars mentioned it's better for someone to pursue a Haram outcome a lowly outcome with a lowly means a gambler Gamble seeking something lowly the alcoholic seeks something lowly the drug Lord seeks something lowly those that manufacture these pervasive and disgusting narratives in the world they pursue something lowly the concert is for the concert but don't you dare use the dean of Allah which is the most noble of gifts to you to pursue something lowly use what has been given to you of greatness to pursue something great every single one of us is an agent of unity and we have to ask ourselves am I what Allah loves do I manifest the aat and thei on an individual level of what Allah loves and then my household is this a house that Allah looks at and Allah loves and then my community is this a community that Allah loves and then we can say with confidence Allah is with us Glad Tidings to the people of Gaz the whole world can see their beautiful qualities and so they can say with firmness Allah is with us can we say Allah is with us may Allah make us worthy of human being with us may Allah make us worthy of his love oh Allah we ask you for your love and the love of those that are beloved to you and the love of every deed that would bring us closer to your love as individuals and as communities and as an s