Literary Gems of Prayer - Formatted Khutba

They say that he treated him like one of his own. Right. We say that. It's like a phrase. It's a figure of speech. He treated him like one of his own. Right. Abu Talib did not treat the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم like one of his own. He treated him better than he treated his own.

And if that seems impossible, emotionally impossible, how do you treat somebody else's kid better than you treat your own kid? Abu Talib proved that you can do it when you're sincere. There are books of history that talk about that you know how city councilmen or the student government at your university they have an office. Right.

The SGA has an office. Similarly, the city council of Mecca, the chiefs of Quraysh, they had offices. They had basically had seats, little corners where they had special seats reserved in the haram. And they would go and they would sit there for a few hours every day and people would come to them and ask questions and bring their complaints, etc., etc. Right. Abu Talib was a chief of Quraysh.

So he also had a specially reserved office, if you will. And the people of Mecca say, we used to see Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم sitting in the lap or sitting next to Abu Talib more than we would see him even with his own children. Because he would never let him out of his sight.

He would always be taking care of him. When he would travel on business outside of Mecca, he would leave his wife and his kids, he would leave them behind. But he would be extremely nervous about leaving the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. He would be like, I worry about him all the time.

He loved him so much. He cared for him so much. He essentially became the parent of the Prophet صلی was the man who raised the صلى الله عليه وسلم He was the family of the Prophet .الله عليه وسلم Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Now I want you to think about how much he must have meant to the s'صلى الله عليه وسلم Three to six months after the passing of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Prophet wife, the mother of his children, his biggest and first supporter, he lost his family, he lost his parents, he lost his uncle.

The Tragedy of Abu Talib's Death

And there's another tragedy embedded within the death of Abu Talib. And that was that Abu Talib died without accepting Islam. He did not become Muslim before he passed away. He supported the cause, but he didn't accept Islam. When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم heard that Abu Talib is on his deathbed, he's dying, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم rushed to his bedside. Rushed to his bedside, went there and held his hand, and he said, Uncle, please.

Uncle, please. You don't talk to a brother or talk to a sister who is a convert or a revert, somebody who has accepted Islam, taking shahada. And if their parents or their family members have not yet accepted Islam, ask them what is the last du'a they make at night before they go to sleep and what's the first du'a they make when they wake up in the morning.

And they'll tell you they make du'a for their family members to accept Islam. I have a friend, a very close personal friend, who is an imam. He's an imam of a community. Until today, his mom has not accepted Islam. And whenever he's like, and he does it very regularly, almost once a week, every other week, he does something really, really nice for his mom. You know, he'll take her out sightseeing, take her to the mountains, or he'll take her with the kids to a picnic or to a park.

And he'll do all these nice types of things for his mom because that's his mom. Right? But subhanAllah, whenever he's going out and doing something nice with his mom, I always get a text message from him early in the morning when he's heading out, still till today, after all these years, I get a text message from him that, salam, make du'a, bro, that today is the day. Make du'a that today is the day.

That today she takes shahada, that she accepts Islam. So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمI want you to imagine his pain. He's giving du'a, he's preaching and teaching all of humanity. And the man who raised him, who is his family, has not accepted Islam yet. It was tearing him up inside. So he rushes to his bedside, on his deathbed, he holds his hand and he says, uncle, please, please, just once, say it once.

Abu Jahl and the other leaders of Quraysh who were against the message, against the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمthey don't want Abu Talib to accept Islam here. So they're already in the room. And Abu Jahl started screaming as loud as he could at the top of his lungs, Abu Talib, don't forget the religion of your forefathers.

Abu Talib, he started screaming really loudly, like obnoxiously. So that Abu Talib couldn't hear what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was saying. He's an old man. So he's trying to disrupt the conversation. So the hadith actually mentions that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمput his blessed mouth up to the ear of Abu Talib. Like he touched his mouth to his ear, and whispered inside of his ear, please, just once, just one time, just whisper it into my ear. These guys don't have to hear it. Just whisper it in my ear. I'll be your witness on the day of judgment that you said it. Please, for me, just please, just do it. Abu Talib finally refused the request of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم saying, dear nephew, you know how much I love you. You know how much I love you, but I'm sorry I can't.

I can't do what you're asking me to do. He denied his request, and he ended up passing away without accepting Islam. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was devastated. He was crushed. The Sahaba say when he walked out of that room, his face was just like, like the color had gone out of his face. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was literally questioning himself.

You know when you question yourself? He was questioning himself. Did I do what I could do? Did I say everything I could have said? Was I approaching things right? Did I handle things properly? He was questioning himself. Allah revealed the verse of the Quran at that time.

"

Allah consoled the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم,saying, stop beating up yourself about this. Stop questioning yourself. You could not have given him hidayah. You cannot give hidayah to those people whom you love because it wasn't in your hands to begin with. This is only and solely in the hands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Year of Grief and Sorrow

Now my point of telling you all of this, so far this has nothing to do with prayer. Alright. But my point of telling you all of this is, I want you to view prayer differently. I'm not here to talk to you about you have to pray five times a day. One, two, three, four. No, no, no. Alright. I'm not here to do that with you. You know how to count to five. Alright.

But the point is I want how you view prayer, how you feel prayer, what you think about salah. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمwhat I'm describing to you is the most personally trying time of the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. The scholars of the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم who study his life, spend their entire lives studying his life.

They have dubbed that time period as عَامُ الْحُزْنِ )The year of grief and sorrow). The year of grief and sorrow. We feel his pain when we talk about it, when we think about it.

Personal Stories of Loss

I want you to imagine how difficult it must have been for the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم the next day. I actually was giving this lecture one time, in a khutbah. This is going to kind of throw my talk a little bit off track, but I think you need to hear this.

I was explaining the same thing in a khutbah one time. And after the khutbah, a gentleman came up to me. And usually after a khutbah, you know, people come and they give you compliments or feedback or whatever. Jazakallah. Thank you very much. Nice khutbah.

And usually to try to protect your own humility, you say, yeah, yeah, sure. Thanks. Thank you very much. And you get out of there. Okay. So this one gentleman comes up to me and he goes, you know what you said in the khutbah today? It really hit home with me. It just personally affected me. You know, sometimes you meet somebody and you look in their eyes and their eyes or their face tell you that they have a story to tell. Their eyes are showing you that they got a story to tell.

And this gentleman had that look on his face. So when he said it hit home with me, I said, you know, if you don't mind, can I sit down with you and you could tell me how it personally affected you? He said, yeah, sure. No problem.

He sat down with me and he told me that today was the first time that I've prayed in almost a year. And I was like, really? Subhanallah. And he said, and it's not like, you know, I accepted Islam a year ago or

something like that. No, no, no. He said, I grew up in a very religious practicing home. I grew up performing salah.

I grew up around the masjid and prayer, but I had not prayed in almost a year. And today was the first time I prayed. I said, what happened? He said, a year ago, my life was at the point where things were working out.

You know, everything, the plan was coming to fruition. All right? Things were going my way. I was nearing the end of my medical residency. I was fielding offers from clinics and doctors and medical groups. Right? And I was, you know, we had lived in a small little apartment driving a beat up car. I had a young wife, two small babies, two small children.

And now that I was about to, you know, get a real job, I was going to be making a lot of money. So we were house shopping and checking out nice neighborhoods and good schools for our kids. And we went minivan shopping. It just, everything was mashallah. It was amazing. Everything was working out.

I had two beautiful healthy children. I loved my wife. My wife loved me. Everything was wonderful. And he says, one afternoon, I came home a little bit early and I walked in and said salam. I didn't hear anyone.

But it was the time that my wife usually used to put the kids down for a nap. And she would take a nap herself. So I decided, you know what? I'm going to let them sleep. I'm not going to disturb them. So I ate a little something. I started reading something.

After a while, I started to hear some commotion from the room. You know when kids wake up and they start to get a little fussy and you can hear the commotion in the room? So I started hearing the kids getting fussy. So I make my way over to the room and I open the door and the kids are sitting up on the bed.

They're awake and they're getting fussy. One of them is crying. And my wife was just laying there still. So being a doctor, I just jumped right in and I checked her and she'd been dead for a while now. Just passed away in her sleep. He said, at that moment, I just completely fell apart inside.

I just, I fell apart. And he said that for the next two weeks, he said, I did not leave the confines of my room. I sat in my room in the dark alone by myself for two weeks. He said that for two weeks, I did not even hold my own children in my own hands. My mom and my brother and everybody was taking care of my kids. I was just in a daze. Nothing made sense to me anymore. I didn't even know where I was. And he said, slowly, slowly, I started to recover.

I started to get over this tragedy. But he said, spiritually, I was still busted. I was still broken. And my brother, he said, who is very devout, very regular about his prayer. And he was there for me the entire time. He was telling me, he said, you need to pray.

You need to talk to Allah. That's how your wound will finally heal up. What will close that wound on your heart is when you talk to Allah. You need it brother, you need it. And he was slowly, slowly, lightly been talking to me. Not pushing me too hard because he knew what I've been through.

And eventually today, this morning we woke up and he said, you're coming to the masjid with me. You need to come, listen to some Quran, listen to the khutbah, the talk of deen, and then pray in the congregation and you will feel better. So he said, I said, Bismillah and I came with him.

And then when you talked about the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and what he went through and he lost his wife and his children lost their mother. He said, it solved my problem for me. Because now I realize I'm not alone. I'm not alone. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم went through the same thing that I was going through. He knew my pain.

And if he was able to wake up the next morning and go out there and keep doing what he had to do, then so can I. And I'll be okay insha'Allah. You know, the reason why I tell you that story is for me that was like the light bulb moment. You know sometimes you know something about the life of the Prophet صلی الله عليه وسلم or you know an ayah of the Quran, and then you meet someone, you hear about an experience and it just, it hits you like a ton of bricks.

And that's what happened to me. And subhanAllah, it's been about two years since that meeting happened. And after some time, you know, time passes and you lose the effect of that conversation. So Allah sends you another reminder. About a month ago I was giving the same talk at a community. When I get done giving the talk, this one brother walks up to me.

And this brother says, you know the story you just told? That same thing happened to me five years ago. He said, I didn't have small children. I had two sons, 10 and 12 years old. But same thing, they were in their rooms playing their video games, doing their thing. And I came home from work and salam, salam, salam, and I don't hear anything. I'm calling her name, I don't hear anything.

I go in the bedroom and she's passed out on the floor and check her, she's been dead for a while. She just died. And he said, five years later now, my sons are 15 and 17 years old and now I can stand before you and say, me and my boys have just now started to kind of get over losing the most important person in our life.

Now I want, the reason why I say this is I want you to think about the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم . He lost his wife, his children lost their mother. And then on top of that, he lost the man who was his family.

Prayer as the Divine Solution

But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had a job, didn't he? And he had the most difficult job any human beings ever had. To take the message of truth to all of humanity. How did the Prophet صلى الله عليه

وَسَلَّم wake up the next morning and do what he had to do? Keep going out there, keep teaching the message, keep preaching the message.

Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him an outlet. Allah gave him a resource. Allah gave him something that healed his wounds, that recharged his battery, that reinvigorated his spirit. And what was that? That is what we call salah, prayer. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at that point in his life took him on the journey that we call al-isra wal-mi'raj, the night journey and the ascension above the heavens. And there Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him the gift of the five times daily prayer.

The five times daily prayer. And that five times daily prayer is what charged the battery of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). It's what allowed him to work through all this adversity and difficulty and all the other adversity and difficulty that would come later on.

The Loss of Ibrahim

Later on in the life of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) his youngest and last child Ibrahim died in his childhood. Have you ever seen the lifeless body of a child in person? Anybody ever seen? Right? Subhanallah, subhanallah. It's something that really honestly cannot be described in words.

I still remember my first exposure to it. Man, subhanallah. I still remember this. I was 20. I was 20 years old. I was studying in Karachi in Pakistan. I was studying my advanced Islamic studies there. My grandmother passed away. She was very elderly. She was very old. She had been sick for a while. My father alhamdulillah, she first got really ill and she was in the hospital for about a week.

My father had flew over immediately. I was studying there. So he flew over from the States. He was able to spend a week with his mother and then she passed away and we had the janazah and everything. Three, four days after the janazah, my dad was flying back to the States, flying back home for his business or whatnot. We went to the masjid to pray at Asr and then after that we were going to go home, grab the luggage and we're going to head out to the airport.

We go to the masjid for salat at Asr and there's a janazah there. And there was a small little poor family that lived in the poor little neighborhood that was like the little shacks behind the masjid. And one of the families had a son, not older than four years old. And he had been running a really high fever, he had gotten really sick and he ended up dying. And it just happened all of a sudden, they weren't very wealthy people, very influential people, they didn't even have a lot of family, small, meager, humble, like strangers in the community type of people. So they came to them, they brought, you know, they washed the body in the house and they wrapped up the body in the kafan, the shroud, and they brought the body to the masjid.

And there was literally maybe five or six people there for janazah. And the reason why just like me and my dad were there and it broke our heart because Alhamdulillah, my father and my uncles are very well

known in our community. My uncle was one of the people who established the masjid. So my grandmother was very well known and there were literally thousands of people at my grandmother's janazah. And here you have the janazah of this child. There was literally five or six people.

And so we were like, who cares if we miss the flight? We're staying for this. And so we stood up and we prayed the janazah. The imam of the masjid led the janazah prayer. When the janazah prayer was done, it was time to lift the body and carry it. So, you know, they usually like a bunch of brothers get together and they lift the body. This is the body of a child.

And they didn't even have enough advance notice or preparation to have that little casket carrying thing type of thing that they used to carry the body. It was a body of a child. You could carry him in your arms. But the father was literally like, he fell on the ground in front of us. When the janazah finished, he just fell on the ground. He couldn't even get himself up.

He just lost his baby. And so the father was incapable of carrying the child. And my dad is a very soft person at heart. And so my dad went to, he was shaken up himself being a father. He looking at the man and he was there comforting the man. So they needed somebody to lift the body.

My dad told me, go. And subhanAllah, I lifted that child's body in my hands. And it's been 11 years to the fact and I can never forget that experience. I learned something about death that day. And so I carried the body of that child all the way to the graveyard. It was like a good 15-20 minute walk.

With the father standing next to me with a hand on the head of the child. Unbelievable. And the reason why I tell you this is the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) went through that same experience.

Muhammad Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Went through that same experience. And when he went through that experience, as if this wasn't painful and tragic enough. What was worse was that the opposition, the people who were against him and his message, decided to exploit this tragedy.

And they started calling him discontinued. Cut off. No legacy, no more sons. Look how unfortunate he is. He doesn't have anybody to carry his name on forward. And Allah (جل جلاله) consoled him in the Quran,

They say you have nothing, we say you have a lot.

They say you have no legacy, we'll see who has a legacy on the Day of Judgment. When you stand at the fountain of Kawthar and you serve water with your blessed hands to hundreds and billions and trillions of all of your followers who ever lived in this world. But then Allah (جل جلاله) gave him the remedy in the next ayah.

How do you solve the problem of the pain here? Because Allah (جل جلاله) said,

We know that it hurts your heart. Your chest becomes tight because of what these people say. How do you solve that problem? How do you heal that pain? How do you make it go

Keep making tasbeeh and be in sajdah, keep praying to Allah.

Salah is the remedy. Salah was that gift given to Allah. And that's what I wanted to explain to you here today.

Understanding the True Nature of Prayer

I wanted to share some actual literary gems about Salah and I'll try here in the last few minutes. But before I do that, if I just shared some cool things, like guess what guys, this word means this, ooh, and this word means that, haa, look, right? It pulled like stuff out of my sleeves and stuff, fantastic, that's great. I'm not trying to belittle knowing what the Quran and what the Sunnah means, no, no, no, no.

But I don't want to, we too often treat these type of sessions like a magic show or like a trick session. Like look what I just did to the meaning of this word. No, no, no, no. First thing I need you to understand is, what is prayer? What does prayer mean to you? Prayer is not a responsibility. It's not a burden you carry around on your shoulders. Prayer is your way to solve your problems.

Prayer is your means of talking to Allah. Prayer is your way of connecting to your Lord and your Master. That's what Salah is.

And subhanAllah, that's why the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said جُعِلَتْ قُرَّةُ عَيْنِي فِي الصَّلاة )Bukhari hadith 5985) The coolness of my eyes has been put in Salah. Imagine being out in the middle of the desert, burning scorching heat, the burning sand blowing into your eyes and your eyes are itching and scratching and drying. They feel like they're on fire.

And then all of a sudden you come across some cool clean water. And you take it and you splash it into your eyes. Think about how invigorating and how energizing and how refreshing that would be.

The Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, When I stand up and I say, Allahu Akbar, all my problems go away. All my problems go away. So now, we have 10 minutes left inshaAllah.

The Key Ingredient: Quality in Prayer

Let's go ahead and talk about some of the actual practical literary gems of the prayer. So, before I do that, let me just segue properly. If prayer is so amazing, and prayer has so much to offer, many of you might be sitting here thinking, but you know what, my prayer doesn't do for me what you're talking about.

My prayer doesn't do that for me. It doesn't solve my problems. I just don't find that emotional fulfillment through my prayer. What's missing? What's the issue? What's the problem? The problem is, there's one key ingredient in prayer that's needed to make it effective, and that is quality in the prayer. Khushu, quality in your prayer. We need quality in our prayer.

And the best way to develop quality in your prayer, know what you read and what you say in your prayer. I always give people this ridiculous example, and I'm going to share this completely preposterous example with you as well. Alright, anybody in the room speak German? Okay, Alhamdulillah, good.

Alright. There's always one guy in the back of the room. Yes. It's like, no, I don't need a translator, right? So, nobody speaks German in the room. Now imagine if I would have prepared 30 minutes of German poetry. I found a book of German poetry, and I prepared a recital, 30-minute recital of German poetry for you.

And that will be one of our sessions today. And I stood in front of you, and I started reciting German poetry to you. And by the way, I don't know a lick of German. I don't know what a single word means in German, and neither do any of you. How long before you guys would start to get bored? There we go, that's an honest brother. 30 seconds.

30 seconds, alright? And to be honest with you, it would be about 5 minutes before I'd get bored, and I'd be like, what's the point of this? This is stupid. Right? Because then your Facebook updates would start to pop up on my phone. Right? Some crazy dude reciting German to us.

Right? And so what would be the point of that? There'd be no point of that session, that exercise, whatever you want to call it. It'd be pointless. As ridiculous as that example seems, and this is a part that's going to sting a little bit, so I apologize in advance.

How different are our prayers from the ridiculous example I just gave you? We stand up in prayer time after time, day after day, and we say,

What does that mean? I don't know.

What does that mean? I don't know.

What does that mean? I don't know, but I got Abdul Nasir Jangda's email address. Right? You know what that means.

Then it shouldn't be so shocking to us. It shouldn't be such a great mystery to us. Why we can't focus? Why do we don't have quality in our prayers? We don't know what it means.

You have to know what you're saying in your prayer. I'm gonna give you a few examples. I wanted to share a very lengthy example with you. I apologize we weren't able to do it. But I'll share a few quick examples with you. Allahu Akbar.

I've taught this class twice in Chicago before. So this is not the ideal setting. All right, nevertheless. Now, let me use a different example for you guys. Let me just give you a solid example with you guys. Surah Al- Fatiha.

The Conversation of Surah Al-Fatiha

I won't get to do it in detail, but I'll do it kind of quickly with you guys. Surah Al-Fatiha. There's a Hadith Qudsi (Muslim hadith 395), which means that the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that Allah has said.

That when we stand up and we recite Surah Al-Fatiha in our prayers. And by the way, what is the status of Surah Al-Fatiha in the prayer of the common average Muslim? What's the position of Surah Al-Fatiha? It's a formality. All right, I'm being really really honest here.

All right, gloves. I don't wear gloves. That's how I roll. All right, so Surah Al-Fatiha is the formality of the prayer. It's a formality of the prayer. I'll tell you why.

Watch this,

Right? See if I can do it in one breath. Right? Even if mashaAllah you're a good person.

And when you go to the masjid, you don't know what a lot of it means, but you try to follow along and pay attention to when the imam's reciting. So you go to the Taraweeh prayer or you go to Isha and you go there and this imam's recitation is really nice. So you're like I go pray there because it helps me concentrate in my prayer.

Right? So you go and you pray there and you stand up and the prayer starts Allahu Akbar and the imam starts

and then you just kind of tone out, you zone out a little bit and you look at the wall. Pretty nice. That's a pretty baller chandelier.

Pretty awesome. Hey, that looks like Safi. Safi's here. Yo, what's up Safi? Right? Right? Right? And it's all just in your head. Right? You know how to control yourself. It's in your head.

You're just like... Right? And then you see a stain on the carpet and a stain on the carpet has never been so fascinating to you before in your entire life. It's like, Oh my God. What's the history of the stain on the carpet? Right? Right? Even though two weeks ago you're the one that made the stain on that carpet.

Right? So, all this is going on and you're just disinterested and all of a sudden you hear

and everyone goes

and then the imam says

And it's like, Oh yeah. Cool surah today. Booyah.

Time to pay attention.

Now I'm gonna pay attention. Surah al-Fatiha has a formality. Everybody knows it. Right? Even my little, my three year old recites Fatiha. Everybody knows it.

Right? So no big deal. But Subhanallah Surah al-Fatiha is the essence. It's the core. It is the primary experience of prayer. It is the primary experience of the prayer. The Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) tells us that Allah tells us that when we stand up for the prayer and we recite surah al-Fatiha in our prayer there's a direct conversation that we engage in with Allah.

Allah says,

(Muslim hadith 395) I have divided the prayer between me and between my slave into two equal halves.

And for my slave is

whatever he wants. Whatever he has asked for, he will get it.

When the slave says I'm gonna give you real quick summarized versions now because it's crunch time here. Alright? When the slave stands and he says الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ which means that the ultimate praise at all times, at all places is due to Allah جل جلاله alone, exclusively. Meaning Allah is worthy of praise at all times, at all places, in all situations.

Regardless of whether people are praising Him or not, He is still worthy of praise. And who is this Allah? He is رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ . He is the one who created, who sustained, provided, maintained, protected and guided every single human being regardless of whenever and wherever they have ever existed.

And you say all praises for Him. Allah جل جلاله you don't just go on to the next ayah. Allah responds. And Allah says, حَمِدَنِي عَبْدِي (Muslim hadith 395) My slave has praised Me. My slave has praised Me. You know what that means? What that means? The way I explain it, usually when I teach a class, I got a few more adults in the room, older folks, like parents and stuff.

But you guys will be able to understand. Alright? You know when a child, like I have a three and a half year old. When a child makes something for their parents. Like one time my daughter came to me. She handed me a sheet of paper and she said, Abu, I draw you. Right? Abu, I draw you.

And it looked like a horse. Right? So I was a little worried, very thankful, thank you very much sweetie pie. But at the same time, I was a little bit nervous. Right? She views me as a four-legged animal. We're gonna have issues. So, so as hideous as it is, right? And as demeaning as it is, guess where that drawing went? Refrigerator.

For literally for a couple of weeks, I actually kept it on my nightstand by the side of my bed. I traveled with it. I traveled. So I literally had it in my bag. The backpack I always have on my shoulder, I had it in there and I would pull it out. I took a picture of it and kept it on my phone.

It was the most precious, the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my entire life. And when somebody came over to my house or I met my friend, I ran across brother Saqib, right? And I met him and I was like, look, look, look what my daughter drew for me. Right? I'm showing it to him, right? Look what she drew for me.

When we praise Allah, He says, حَمِدَنِي عَبْدِي My slave has praised me. Allah is showing off, just like that proud parent shows off that hideous cup slash hat slash bowl slash ashtray. Alright, you know what I'm talking about.

All of you have made something like this for your parents. Right? Right? So, right? Just like you put it up on the fireplace on display, right? Ruining the rest of your house. You put it there and when people come over and you say, look, my son made it for me.

And the person sitting there is thinking like, oh man, I don't want to say nothing mean about your son. Right? But it doesn't seem like he's the sharpest tool in the shed, you know? But, right? Just like that parent shows off, says, my son made that for me. My daughter drew this for me.

Look at it, isn't it beautiful? When we stand in Salah and we say الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ Allah says, حَمِدَنِي عَبْدِي My slave has praised me. My slave has praised me. الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ abundantly merciful.

The one who is constantly merciful. Allah responds again and says, أَثْنَى عَلَيَّ عَبْدِي )Muslim hadith )395( أَثْنَى Comes from the meaning of the word to fold something. To fold something. Let me give you guys a real quick example. How many layers is this everybody? One layer. When I fold it once, now how many layers is it? Two.

When I fold it again, now how many layers is it? Four. Alright. As I continue to fold it, what am I also doing to the layers? I'm multiplying the layers, I'm stacking it on top of each other.

That's what folding does, you stack something on top of each other. Alright. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, when we say الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ He says, أَثْنَى عَلَيَّ عَبْدِي My slave keeps on praising me, praise after praise after praise.

He keeps on stacking a praise on me. Look at the level of the generosity and the graciousness that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has with us, when we pray. He is رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ If he once in our lifetime, would have paid us some attention and just said, Mashallah, or like, you know, look at my beautiful, look at my blessed slave.

He has praised me. That would be enough honor and distinction for a person, right? But no, no, no, no. Look how generous and kind Allah is when we pray to Him.

We said الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ One, two, three, four. So what does Allah say? My slave keeps on praising me. He appreciates us even more.

And then Surah Al-Fatiha goes on and on and on. And this conversation continues between us and Allah. We got to wrap up the session here.

Conclusion: The Greatest Conversation

But what I want you to think about is this, before I leave. Two questions I want to put to you. The first question is, how tragic would it be? How tragic would it be to have gone for 20, 30, 40, 50 years of your life having recited Surah Al-Fatiha multiple times a day, every single day.

And having been completely oblivious to this conversation between you and Allah, effectively having missed out on the greatest conversation of your life. You had the chance to talk directly to Allah. Imagine realizing after a lifetime that you missed out on that opportunity.

You'd never forgive yourself. And then the last question I always like to ask people at the end of a session on this type of a topic. All you ever got to ask yourself is, when was the last time I experienced Salah? Not prayed, not performed, not offered, right? No, no, when's the last time you experienced Salah? When's the last time you stood up and you prayed and it changed your life? It just was such a profound experience.

It changed your perspective. It solved your problem. It took away your pain. You connected with Allah. When's the last time you felt that? Because if you haven't felt that, and don't worry, don't worry. If you haven't felt that, you haven't had that experience, doesn't make you some horrible human being.

It doesn't make you hopeless. It just makes you aware of the fact that I'm not gonna go another day without experiencing that for myself. Make an effort to learn what the prayer means.

Like I said, I've taught this class in this general community in the Chicago area twice before. There are probably plenty of brothers and sisters you can find. I've had them raise their hands in the beginning of class.

Maybe sit with one of them. Talk to one of them. I think the nearest location where I'll be teaching the class next is next weekend in Michigan. Lansing, Michigan. I know it's a bit far away, but if this is something that is extremely valuable to you, you'd like to repair this part of your life, then please, you're more than welcome to join us out there next weekend, inshallah. But nevertheless, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't have to be Bayyinah, it doesn't have to be meaningful prayer, it doesn't have to be Abdul Nasir. But just make sure that you find an experience within your salah. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala give us all the ability to pray properly.

Closing

Alright, shame on you people. Say

Alright, no, no, don't. So, alright. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala give us the ability to pray as the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) instructed us

(Bukhari hadith 631)

pray as you have seen me pray.

جَزَاكُمُ اللهُ خَيْرًا . السَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ