last week we covered a few headings we were introducing the topic of enjoy your Salah and we spoke about why it was important that we chose this particular Topic in the build up and the coming to the month of Ramadan we spoke about how the topic of or the lack thereof was an international complaint the struggle with Joshua in Salah is something that spans borders is cross-continent it's cross-cultural everyone at some point in his or her life has struggled with the battle with Joshua we mentioned the complaint of a sahabi by the name of us who complained to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam who was essentially standing between him and his roshua and his recitation of Quran we mentioned then the statement of Abdullah man if you remember who said that there will come a time when you will enter a Masjid and not a single person will be praying foreign and then we gave a definition of the word from an Arabic day-to-day usage perspective if you remember and then we gave a definition an Islamic definition a working definition of the word that we wanted you to remember who was the Imam who gave us the definition do you remember his name very good and then we went on to ask the question what is in it for you so should we succeed in again attaining and we pray with what is in it for you what can you expect as a reward and then we asked the other question which is what are the consequences of allowing your your life to pass by without praying in a state of hoshua and then we went on to speak about examples of people from our past who prayed in the state of just to humanize the discussion and this was really where we left it off I think we concluded as well by speaking about the layers of kushua if you remember and we said that a lot of people assume that the topic of hoshua is just about keeping your mind focused on Salah so that when you are praying your mind doesn't drift left and right and for them this is the be-all and end-all of such that if you attain it you are akashya and we said that's not true that's just entry-level Joshua it's a Noble Battle don't get me wrong that struggle that you and I have and we are in Salah to keep your mind fixed on the prayer but this is not the epitome of this is the beginning of Joshua your first layer then what was the second layer we added on top of that a stage higher what was it the the the understanding of the dimensions of Salah understanding the introductory to our understanding al-fatiha understanding the Dua the thicker the Bowing the prostration that brings your hoshua to yet a higher level in this week we are going to introduce yet a third and a fourth layer needed before you come into Salah these are mindsets these are frames of mind that we want you to be and the moment you say Allahu Akbar and then next week if Allah gives this life until then we're going to mention a fifth and a sixth then in the week after that we will enter the Salah and even then we're not going to begin nasala we will speak about Adam we will speak about then we will begin with Allahu Akbar and what you are to expect in Salah and as I said to you last week we don't want to see this as a lecture series we want to see this as a holistic training program rehabilitating program so what is the third layer the third type of thinking mindset frame of mind that is required from you and I the moment we say Allahu Akbar this is just before you begin your Salah we've spoken about keeping your mind focused on the Salah we've spoken about understanding that's all that we're going to do this all throughout our series inshallah now the third layer is a very special one it's a particular mindset you need to load up before you begin your Salah and this will help enormously in bringing about Focus attentiveness humility inside what is that third layer it is a type of sentiment that you are all familiar with and it's something you work with perhaps on a daily basis it's not something you're unfamiliar with or something that is out of touch or out of hand it's something you feel inside of you when you meet a friend whom you're attached to the moment you are reunited with a beloved one this is the feeling of Raja the feeling of Hope and this is Asim calls it one of the three pillars of Iman to have hope in Allah and it is so sad I find it really a miserable reality that so many people have been missing out on this for so many years worth of Salah 10 years 20 years and he does not come into Salah feeling a sense of hope you are expecting the best from Allah the moment you say Allahu Akbar and You Begin your Salah have you felt that before now that you have begun your prayer you've realized that you've come into a place of security Raja says to you I am confident that security will be given to me to enter your Salah means you've come into a space of forgiveness of sins means you're confident that Allah will give you that forgiveness by the time you finish your Salah to say Allah it means you've come to a space of mercy of Allah it means you're confident Allah is going to give you his you begin your Salah and your mind says to you Allah will give me Allah will endow me Allah will forgive me Allah Will Repair me Allah will fix my problems he'll heal my pains he'll answer my Dua he's going to draw me near to him you come into your heart your Salah and your heart is open when your hands are spread forth and you believe that he's not going to allow you to finish your Salah till he fills your hands with his name under his bounty and he will not allow you to walk away with a branch without leaves have you felt this this one mindset really is enough to transform the Salah to come in with excitement hope you're going to be given you're not going to be let down how do we go about fostering this how do we develop it if you feel it's lacking what can you do to bring it about such that you come into Salah with a huge level of anticipation excitement to Hope a man who's poor who's walking to wealth a man who's ill who's walking to health a person who is unmarried Allah will give them the answer to a person who is weak Allah will give them strength deplorable Iman Allah will replace them with stronger Iman if you don't feel that good expectations how do you bring it about one of the quickest and easiest and most efficient ways of developing it if it is lacking in your life it is simply to know Allah the more you know of him the more hope you will have in him the more you realize who he is through his words and through the descriptions of the Prophet Muhammad and through the universal signs he's put around you the more you will come into Salah with hope desire a yearning an expectation excitement things will go my way and I will be fixed and I will be forgiven knowing Allah so take a tour of some of the texts that speaks to you of Allah and why he is deserving of Raja hope Allah said speaking about himself Allah wants to turn to you in forgiveness but those who've deviated they want you to deviate with them a great deviation wants to Enlighten your burden and Man by his nature was created weak subhanallah have you thought about coming into Salah with this mentality I'm about to stand before a lord who wants to forgive me he told me that he wants to lighten my burden and he wants to make things easy for me so remove from your mind that image that some people have of their lord a monster who's out to get them a monster who's setting up traps to harm them that is not the Lord we worship our Lord we worship is he who said about himself why would Allah want to punish you if you are grateful and you are believers why would I why would I want to punish you what is in it for me to punish him my kingdom doesn't grow and your sins don't harm me why would I want to punish you so come into Salah with this hope you're meeting a lord who has every good you Aspire for and he will give you every good you Aspire for look at the Hadith where the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said which bukhari and Muslim narrate on the authority of Abu hurairah he said when Allah completed creation he wrote in a book wrote in a book where is the book and that book is placed on top of the throne subhanallah on top of the throne meaning above all of creation at the very top there is a book and in that book there is a sentence what does it say my Mercy has prevailed over my anger this is how my Mercy has prevailed over my anger Allah said my Mercy encompasses all things coming into Salah therefore with that type of anticipation is huge it's exciting it's no longer a chore it's something you need and you stand before a caring Lord whom you now know not only has everything you need but wants to give you everything you want and everything you need and then you read that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that Allah said I Allah will be just as my servant expects me to be so let him expect of me whatever he wishes Allah says I will be everything you expect me to be so why not come into Salah with that high expectation of Allah you come into Salah and your expectation is that all of the sins you've committed minor and major public and private Allah will erase them he will erase them why not come into Salah with the anticipation that I will be given Jannah through the Salah my heart will finally rest in the Salah why not come into Salah with the expectation that Yara you will place me in the highest Gardens of paradise and you will make me the neighbor of prophet Muhammad Allah said I will be just as you expect of me to be so expect wherever you want when you read these narrations what happens you know Allah and when you know Allah Almighty what happens you begin to think highly of him and you begin to expect the best Salah now is an excitement something you need and then you read the Hadith Allah's Mercy is divided into 100 parts and he's only brought down to earth one of those 100 parts of Mercy and this one part of Mercy is shared between Mankind and Jing kind and the animals and the creatures through that one bit of Mercy they show affection to one another and through it they shall Mercy to one another but you see an animal raising its hoof from the ground so that it doesn't trample upon this young one to that level in other words every dimension of Mercy you may see in this world and what you don't see in this world is a part of one part of 100 parts of Allah isn't that amazing every dimension of Mercy that you may see or you do not see because Allah said he creates what you don't even know that is shared between doctor and patient when he shows Mercy towards him or her that's from that one part the mercy that is shown from a surgeon to the person he's about to operate on it's from that one part subhanallah the mercy of your mother towards you and all mothers of All Creatures the mercy of children towards their parents the mercy of neighbors towards one another the mercy of righteous governments towards their people the mercy of animals towards one another the mercy of the dinosaurs all those millions of years ago the mercy in the oceans the mercy in the heavens the mercy of the prophets and Messengers towards their communities the mercy of prophet Muhammad imagine subhanallah the mercy of the Jinn between them all of this and more all of it is part from one part of 100 parts of Mercy belonging to Allah so the question now is where are the other 99 parts and the Hadith continues and it says Allah has reserved the other 99 parts of Mercy to express his Mercy to the Believers on the day of judgment and that is why Abdullah he would say Allah will forgive people on the day of judgment in a way that no human mind could ever imagine so when you read a narration like that what happens it causes your marriage your knowledge of Allah to grow when you're not a job Allah grows what happens your hope in him mushrooms it compounds Hope come into Salah with this expectation he will forgive he will have rahma he will change my ways he will repair my broken heart he will repair my relationships he will help me he will and Allah will be above my aspirations as well and that is why subhanallah in one of the most breathtaking Hadith which I did Medina rates on the authority of anas said that Allah said and really open up your heart for this type of Hadith as Allah speaks to you and he speaks to me he said Adam o son of Adam o son of Adam so long as you call upon me and you have hopes in me I will continue to forgive your sins and I will not mind um oh son of Adam if your sins were to reach as high as the heavens and then you apologize to me and you repent I will forgive you and I will not mind Adam oh son of Adam if you come to me on the day of judgment with sins as much as the planet Earth but you come to me having not associated partners with me I will bring for you the same amount of forgiveness thank you if you read this Hadith what happens your heart is filled with excitement now you're looking forward to Salah you're excited or maybe you're PM your night prayer because you're going to stand in a space before a lord who wants to give you he has what you need and he's saying to you from narration to narration I want to give you just ask of it and I will be up to your aspirations and and I will give you more than your aspirations see remove therefore that image that a lot of us have of Allah God forbid a ruthless being who is looking to harm you to torture you who's searching for your faults to disgrace you and embarrass you this is not a God that whom we recognize that alone submit to our worship Allah has no Vendetta against people those were not my words those were the words of image correcting the Akita the belief of a lot of people towards their lord foreign he said Allah Almighty does not have a vendetta against people therefore feeling compelled to punish them nor does Allah experience any pleasure in punishing people nor does punishing people add to the kingdom of Allah in any way melting words he said but if it wasn't for man if it wasn't for man himself who closes the doors of mercy and goodness on himself by his bad decisions in life he will find that his Lord is greater for him than his aspirations and greater than all of his hopes he's saying there is no fault in our Lord he's saying it's the ill decisions that we make that therefore close these doors of mercy and goodness in our face as for Allah if you have hope in him you give him the worship he deserves he will be above your aspirations and he will be above what you hope for so tell me of the Salah of a person who comes into it with this type of mindset hope hope open heart open mind expectation excitement he will give me he will grant me he will endow me he will shower me with prayer and goodness he will give me from his Bounty my life will change Raja one of the three pillars of Iman Iman one of our righteous predecessors had just passed away and he was known for his worship and his righteousness and knowledge so sahil he says to Malik later Allah brother Malik what happened when you met Allah Almighty how did it go and in the dream said to him I came to my Lord carrying huge amounts of sin but they were arranged through my good expectations of Allah think well of him said none of you should die except in a state when you're thinking the best about Allah think well of him and come into Salah with this mindset now naturally there is a there is a line although blurry in the eyes of a lot of people between having Raja hopes in Allah Almighty and the other side of it which is being delusional what is the line which shaytan is invested in blurring so that you cross from the former into the latter what is the criteria he says that if your so-called Raja hope in Allah ends up pushing you to do more Good Deeds it makes you a better Muslim then this is this is Hope that is praiseworthy you can expect goodness from Allah if however your so-called hope in Allah is actually pushing you to become lazy complacent you found now justifications for sin because apparently Allah is Mercy he will merciful he will forgive and it's causing you now to uh cut Corners to find shortcuts then this is not hope in Allah this is this is delusional thinking this person is deceiving himself so a person who thinks good of Allah he does good in his life so this is layer number what layer number three