Friday Prayer - Sheikh Abdul Rahman Cherri

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[0:00]foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign no no no [Music]

[1:18]more minutes foreign foreign foreign this marks the 40th Day after the

[3:19]martyrdom of the Imam after the tragedy of karbala had occurred and

[3:24]we can see that the processions are happening around the world people

[3:28]walk out on the streets people have majalis they have commemorations and

[3:34]if you look at what's happening in karbala there are millions and

[3:41]millions of visitors that are going there now a person asks himself

[3:44]or herself this question what is it that draws the people to

[3:50]this what is it that makes people want to travel all these

[3:54]distances spend all this time walk on this path people walk from

[4:01]City to City and other people host people for free they give

[4:05]them food they give them shelter they give them water if you

[4:08]think about it you think about other societies this is not something

[4:14]that happens in a normal situation nobody opens up their door to

[4:19]random strangers thousands of them millions of them you let them into

[4:22]your house you give them food but there's something to contemplate it's

[4:26]not just something that we admire and we say oh this is

[4:31]very nice because such an event doesn't occur in a natural situation

[4:34]if you look around the world how many events gather people to

[4:39]this extent how many events around the world we have six billion

[4:42]humans now they're a bit more than that and throughout the history

[4:48]of humanity we have a lot of places where people gather where

[4:50]people get together where events happen sports events and things like that

[4:54]but nothing of this nature this nature sort of goes against the

[4:58]natural laws that we have as human beings so we have to

[5:04]think about it in a more deeper way and a more contemplative

[5:11]way and I was thinking about the story where the companion of

[5:17]the Prophet who went to karbala after the tragedy happened and the

[5:21]story I'm sure most of you have heard of it when he

[5:25]went without the and they visited the graves of the imams after

[5:27]the tragedy happened he says something that's very interesting he tells or

[5:36]he speaks to the Imam alaihissalam after saying assalamu alaikum he sends

[5:43]his regards to those who have been martyred with the Imam and

[5:48]he testifies that they have come to Muslim they've established prayer and

[5:53]that you've done good and that you've established the prayers you have

[5:57]pizza cut and so on and so forth then jabber says he

[6:09]says by the one who has sent the prophet Muhammad as a

[6:13]messenger or a prophet we have accompanied you or we've been your

[6:19]partners and what you have done looks at Jebel and says wait

[6:26]a second you know but how come you're saying this we didn't

[6:29]lift a sword we didn't fight with them they spent their lives

[6:33]they gave their lives they died they fought in the battle they

[6:37]shed their blood we're over here standing alive how are you saying

[6:43]that we've we're partners with you in this so Japan responds to

[6:49]him he says yeah foreign loves the people then he will be

[7:16]resurrected with them and whoever loves the actions of an individual then

[7:22]he becomes a partner with that person just because of loving what

[7:27]that person is doing if you see someone doing something good and

[7:31]you love that they're doing that good thing then you take a

[7:34]share of that goodness as well and this took me to this

[7:39]idea to think about the religion of Islam it really revolves around

[7:44]this notion this notion of love what Islam tried to establish for

[7:48]Humanity is to create this loving relationship between Humanity that people base

[7:55]their relationship with other people on love especially between believers and when

[8:01]we look at this when we speak about him being the son

[8:10]or the heir of Adam the air of Moses when it comes

[8:14]to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam we say that the prophet is

[8:18]described as Habib Allah the beloved one of Allah and this is

[8:24]a title that he had that was special for him because his

[8:27]relationship with Allah was based on love and this is what he

[8:33]tried to transmit Into the Heart of the Believers if we look

[8:37]at the Hadith that we have that speak about love not just

[8:43]with those who are good with you but even with your enemies

[8:48]even dealing with those who will harm you it should be done

[8:52]out of love a person who is a Believer should be that

[8:54]person who it gives security and love to other people you always

[8:59]have to be elevated above others in the society you shouldn't be

[9:02]always on the same level as them for example in a Hadith

[9:13]Imam in his was his will to his son Muhammad he says

[9:18]it's a long will but I want to take one portion of

[9:22]it he says that make sure that you have love for other

[9:29]people and be patient with what people ask you for if they

[9:31]have needs if they have some problems if they have you know

[9:35]things to come and ask you for be patient with them and

[9:37]if you have a friend then make sure you spend on that

[9:42]friend time energy money to increase your friendship with them and not

[9:46]just money but also yourself your time and then he says and

[9:51]for your enemy you must be a just and you must listen

[9:56]to them and this is the type of mentality that the imams

[9:59]have tried to instill in our hearts that as the movement I

[10:03]don't behave like other people if I engage in a conversation with

[10:06]somebody and that person has a very bad attitude with me it

[10:12]doesn't justify that I respond to them in the same way because

[10:14]at the end of the day a moment is supposed to be

[10:19]up and if that person is down and their behavior then I

[10:21]shouldn't be the one who's going down to them I should be

[10:25]the one who elevates them to my level and we have a

[10:29]lot of haditha indicate this that by showing Mercy towards our enemies

[10:34]by showing Justice towards our enemies that will make even our enemies

[10:39]respect us so this is a mentality that the imams have been

[10:44]trying to instill in our hearts in another Hadith says that when

[10:52]you're with people speak to them about things that they like and

[10:56]don't discuss things that bother them sometimes you think you know you're

[11:00]sitting in a gathering and you're with you know other people you

[11:04]have to try to keep the atmosphere there in a good way

[11:09]don't try to find things that trigger other people you know you

[11:13]can have a discussion you can have you know differences in opinion

[11:16]but there's some people that try to trigger others emotions they kind

[11:21]of get a you know good feeling out of that this is

[11:23]not supposed to be what a Believer does when you speak with

[11:32]people don't be a judgmental or blameworthy individual if you do that

[11:38]many times then you're going to create this harmony between you and

[11:43]others and that will lead to anger and enmity with other people

[11:47]and if you do it so much that's from it's from Bad

[11:52]ethics or bad morality or bad behavior a lot of times you

[11:56]know we have friends we have people we always tend to talk

[12:00]with them even in relationships you see someone doing something that you

[12:03]don't like you criticize it you're very critical you're always a critical

[12:07]individual the Imam says if you're very critical to people then that's

[12:12]going to cause disharmony between you and that's going to lead to

[12:16]enmity and bad feelings evil feelings between each other and and from

[12:20]so I'll add up to be an over-critical person try to see

[12:24]the good things with individuals try to say the nice things it's

[12:26]okay to criticize things but to be over critical and we we

[12:30]all know this because we know people like that sometimes we engage

[12:33]in this type of behavior as well but we have to remind

[12:35]ourselves that just because something is not the way we like it

[12:40]doesn't mean that we have to vocalize that all the time especially

[12:43]with one individual if we keep putting them down we keep criticizing

[12:47]what they're doing at the end of the day that person is

[12:49]not even going to fix themselves they're just going to build hatred

[12:52]towards us in another iteration is this is the opposite now how

[13:03]to make people attracted to us and how to make people love

[13:07]us says good ethics if you want people to love you then

[13:14]you have to be a person with good ethics with good morality

[13:18]your behavior because love is not something they acquire by purchasing it's

[13:22]not something where you wake up in the morning and say I'm

[13:24]going to love everybody and I want everyone to love me it's

[13:26]something that you have to acquire your behavior either attracts people or

[13:30]repels people so love is supposed to be a goal that we

[13:34]achieve between us as humans but it needs to be worked on

[13:39]so there's negative things that we have to stay away from such

[13:42]as being over critical being someone who has evil thoughts about people

[13:46]you know Hadith says that those who think evil about those who

[13:53]are around them at the end of the day is going to

[13:56]repel people from himself because he can't think good of anybody he's

[13:59]never going to have any friends he's never going to have anyone

[14:02]who he can hang around with or build a relationship with because

[14:05]you're always having evil thoughts about that other individual on the contrary

[14:09]the Imam says if you have good thoughts about people then you're

[14:13]going to have more friends why because you don't see the faults

[14:17]in them you want to hang out with them you want to

[14:18]talk with them you're always focusing on the good inside of them

[14:22]if you focus on the evil you end up with nobody in

[14:26]society and another Hadith that is related to the etiquettes of the

[14:36]individual and how that would bring love if you're an arrogant person

[14:40]that repels people people don't like Aryan people they don't want to

[14:45]be with them they don't feel that they can get close to

[14:48]them so the idea is that it's now focused on love as

[14:52]being the criteria that a movement has to establish in his relationship

[14:55]between those who are around that individual and between them and Allah

[15:02]that the best form of worship that you can have is that

[15:06]worship of love that relationship of love he was asked about love

[15:13]and he said is religion anything but love so we have to

[15:18]change this mentality that we have even our relationship with Allah if

[15:21]we want Allah to love us then we have to think good

[15:25]of him we have to build that relationship we have to speak

[15:28]with him we have to try to be a good individuals with

[15:33]ourselves and with other people and with him this is supposed to

[15:35]be our ultimate goal foreign Muhammad um foreign foreign that's changing is

[17:25]this movement towards things that are described as spiritual things that create

[17:31]Harmony in our lives and we can label these under different categories

[17:35]so for example if we look at the things that we use

[17:42]as coping mechanisms with our problems in our lives on one hand

[17:46]we have drugs that we can take right so there are certain

[17:49]pills that people take antidepressants let's say for example narcotics even you

[17:55]know smoking weed or physical things that we can take substances basically

[18:02]we take those and use those as coping mechanisms they help us

[18:07]through our difficult lives our challenges our depressions or things like that

[18:11]right so these are things that were created they're physical and our

[18:16]societies they consume them in general because they see that life in

[18:20]itself is a difficult thing naturally we have challenges in this life

[18:26]I mean the idea of just surviving in this world is a

[18:29]very challenging thing waking up in the morning our body doesn't have

[18:34]a pause it demands food it demands drink it demands oxygen you

[18:38]have to move there's a million things going on inside of our

[18:44]body alone that we have to cope with and on top of

[18:47]that we have the demands of a family or the demand of

[18:52]society we have schooling that we have to go to we need

[18:55]a job if you're a child you're growing you have to learn

[18:58]you have to go to school if you're an adult you have

[19:01]a million responsibilities and as societies expand and they move forward with

[19:08]technology our societies are becoming much much more complicated if you think

[19:12]like back in the day maybe 100 200 years ago Society was

[19:17]not as complex as it was now and if you go farther

[19:21]back than that what are the things that you had in your

[19:22]life that were you know occupying you you had a family you

[19:28]had a house you maybe had a tent he had an animal

[19:33]to feed and life was more simplistic at that time nowadays there

[19:36]are so many things that we are occupied with that it's overwhelming

[19:40]and people aren't able to cope with this because as human beings

[19:43]we only have two eyes we only have two hands we have

[19:48]a limitation for what we can do we're not AI robots where

[19:53]we can you know just go on ask any question and they

[19:55]can answer or they can comp you so many different things at

[19:59]at one time humans are not robots we don't have this capacity

[20:02]to function in that way but the way that's being put upon

[20:08]us as human beings is the way of robots we're being treated

[20:12]as if we're just machines but we can't keep up with it

[20:16]right so humans realize that there's this limitation and they move towards

[20:21]developing things that would function in that way because we're not going

[20:24]to be able to we have a limit we can only reach

[20:28]this point so they'll develop AI they'll develop robots they'll develop things

[20:33]like that because where the human stops this will take over and

[20:37]we'll continue because of this we feel that the burden is increasing

[20:41]on us we're unable to have stable relationships we're unable to function

[20:45]daily without taking pills I mean almost everybody I know cannot function

[20:51]throughout the day without taking some sort of not I won't say

[20:55]one pill I know like they take multiple pills a day or

[20:59]maybe smoking weed or maybe doing something and you feel like if

[21:03]they don't do this they're going to explode they're going to be

[21:06]people who are unable to contain their anger and they either harm

[21:10]themselves or harm other people now when it comes to us as

[21:18]a Muslim Society how do we function when it comes to something

[21:21]like this what do we resort to well first of all we

[21:25]have to understand that we cannot deny reality if we live in

[21:29]a society like this we can't say that no we're not living

[21:33]in it we can't say that no everything is perfect especially if

[21:35]you know when it comes to parents and their children you can't

[21:38]draw this you know beautiful picture in your mind as an imagination

[21:41]and think that my child is not going through this if he

[21:46]understands Society then you have to understand that your children are going

[21:49]to grow into this and they're going to go through these challenges

[21:54]and difficulties so your focus has to be on how to cope

[21:57]with these things and this is the most minimal level of survival

[22:03]that we have coping when it comes to Islam the idea is

[22:09]not only to cope with the difficulties of life well if you

[22:14]look at programs that are being proposed to people so let's say

[22:17]the drugs or the weed and you know those physical substances that's

[22:21]what they do they have a temporary effect on the cell and

[22:24]then they go away so you have to take them again now

[22:27]there are other methods that people resort to that are more holistic

[22:33]let's say that don't involve substances and these are things like meditation

[22:38]people say go and do Sports people say you know do yoga

[22:40]and things of the sort so these are non-physical they're not substances

[22:43]that you take but these are more long-lasting effects it's more internal

[22:48]work and you're not altering any chemicals in your body in order

[22:54]to feel better when you're going for a more permanent or long-lasting

[23:00]change now as a Believer what is our approach to this as

[23:04]Believers as a Muslim Community how do we look at life when

[23:08]it has these challenges our understanding is that these things you know

[23:14]a person is good for him or her to be able to

[23:18]cope with the challenges around them so that they can function normally

[23:21]and not harm themselves or harm other people but the idea that

[23:25]Islam wants to do for the individual is that it wants that

[23:27]individual not only to cope with things but to create an internal

[23:33]change in that individual and move that individual towards perfection this is

[23:39]a difference between meditation let's say and between a concept that religion

[23:44]has as prayer now religion does have Notions does have Notions such

[23:49]as meditation it has and I think all of you are familiar

[23:53]with these things but these are only used as tools as a

[23:56]means so I know a lot of people that do yoga I

[24:00]know a lot of people that meditate I know a lot of

[24:02]people that smoke weed I know a lot of people that you

[24:06]know exercise and do all this stuff and basically the common thing

[24:10]that combines these together is that what they try to do is

[24:13]they try to just cope with their daily problems I wake up

[24:17]in the morning I do my yoga session so that I can

[24:19]have a good day at work in the middle of work I'm

[24:22]going to take a little break I'll do a little exercise maybe

[24:24]I'll do another yoga session so that I can continue and remove

[24:28]the stress that I had and this is something that's very good

[24:30]it's not a bad thing to be able to remove that stress

[24:33]to be able to cope it's good because we don't want a

[24:37]bunch of angry people you know with all this frustration and stress

[24:40]walking around each other it's not a good thing right the more

[24:43]you can calm yourself down the more safe it is as a

[24:46]society to have you know you walking around and roaming around other

[24:50]people however we have to understand that we shouldn't mix the concepts

[24:56]together so Islam would recommend you to do to factor it would

[24:59]recommend you to do meditation but it tells you at the same

[25:02]time that meditation and yoga well Islam doesn't say yoga that's a

[25:07]Hindu practice but even the Western version of it is not the

[25:09]Hindu because it's it was related to the Hindu religion the Western

[25:13]concept usually rids the practice from any religious meaning and it makes

[25:19]it happen in a secular way so the main objective of yoga

[25:22]was to reach that uh spiritual Liberty over here is more like

[25:29]cool thing but a snap doesn't present that it presents other Concepts

[25:33]such as salad such as moving towards Allah as a journey the

[25:38]idea in the Quran is that you are laboring towards your lord

[25:44]in a very difficult way but the idea is that you're moving

[25:50]there's a journey that you're on you're not just standing still and

[25:53]trying to cope with things so the factor is good and meditating

[25:59]is good coping is good but you don't want to stay stagnant

[26:05]you don't want to have an objective in your life where I'm

[26:06]going to stay the way I am and I'm just going to

[26:11]try to cope with my life daily on a daily basis no

[26:13]I want to do that that's the first step the first step

[26:16]is to be able to cope with things the first step is

[26:19]to be able to control my emotions and desires and not to

[26:22]be someone who has a lot of frustrations in himself or herself

[26:25]but after that I have to have an aim that I'm moving

[26:30]towards I have to develop as a human being I have to

[26:32]change the way I behave with other people I have to become

[26:38]a better individual spiritually I need to move towards Allah who is

[26:42]perfection I want to perfect myself so it's not just enough to

[26:48]have a daily life of wanting to cope with things but rather

[26:50]we should use that as a beginning as a means to make

[26:55]us grounded to make us be able to move on this journey

[27:00]so it's just like you know if you have that balance rope

[27:01]right if you know I'm sure you've seen the people that want

[27:05]to walk on that rope with the balance deck well first you

[27:07]have to balance yourself if you're not balanced you can't walk on

[27:14]the Rope so these tools exercising meditating you know doing these things

[27:18]they're tools their means to make you balance but they don't move

[27:22]you on the journey you have to move yourself you have to

[27:24]move towards the goal that you have so this is one idea

[27:29]that we have to keep in mind as what we need that

[27:32]if we engage in this we shouldn't think that okay well religion

[27:35]preaches you know Salat and things like that and on the other

[27:37]hand there's meditation in the organisms and they have they serve the

[27:40]same purpose they don't save the same They don't serve the same

[27:47]purpose one of them is more of the introductory to the other

[27:50]the prerequisite to the other and this is something that we have

[27:54]to keep in mind alhamdulillah foreign selling tickets for for macca's second

[28:22]annual community dinner that would happen next month inshallah so if you

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