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Topic: Some lovely Ramadan Reminders II (Read 8207 times)
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Jannah
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Madina Mujahid
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Bismillah
Again a few of the wonderful pearls and gems of the Quran. We implore Allah to change our hearts to see the inherent beauty of the words of Allah and to live that beauty in our lives with the wisdom of Allah [swt].
We’ve completed today, Bi’idhnillah, Surah Naml and Surah Qasas and started Surah Ankabut. Many of these Surahs start with letters and then talk about the Quran itself. They are drawing our attention to the Quran itself, to the value of the Quran itself. Those of us who claim to have Imaan and believe in God and His words, messages and the messengers of those words, ought to pay attention very seriously to what is said. Sometimes because of our own concerns we might be in a state of boredom or laziness. We should ask Allah for refuge from that and to ask Allah to make us always alert when the Quran is read. This is a reminder first to myself and then all of you.
From Surah Naml, a reflection. Allah tells us about Musa and then about Dawud and Suleiman [as] and though their stories, Allah is the creator of cause and effect, the creator of means and what the means is meant to relate to. Allah changes and creates through means and without means.
The very laws we study and observations we make from cause leading to effect, that itself is His creation. The cause and means is a creation. The effect is a creation. And a relationship between the two is a creation. And Allah at any time can change that. And thus we are not meant to worship creation. It is not just an angel or human being, Jinn or thing, but even conceptions, concepts, ideas. We end up worshiping them, when inside of our minds and hearts we become so strongly, almost religiously, attached to them. In their presence we become comfortable, without them uncomfortable. Because of my habit of seeing the means lead to this or that, I become so entrenched with that I forget the Creator Himself!
Surah Naml has an indication of this. An ant talks and communicates in ways special to its own genus, and Allah made Suleiman [as] understand that. In the course of our habits that does not happen. Allah makes him understand in ways Allah did not describe to us how. He made him understand the communication of the ants, the birds, and even his Qalb and the Qalb of Dawud was made to be aware of and hear the Tasbeeh of even inanimate objects let alone animals, like mountains, rocks and trees. Allah made them understand that, feel that and see that, while others don’t.
Then Allah [swt] tells us about that story of Suleiman when he ordered some Jinn to bring the throne of the queen of Sheba. “Who amongst you will bring me the throne of the Queen of Sheba before she arrives?” One special powerful Ifreet said, “I can bring it to you now before you even stand from your seat and I am able to do that and am trustworthy.”
“Said the one who has knowledge of the book, ‘I shall bring it to you before you blink’”. The speed here isn’t ‘when he brought it’, there’s no ‘and then’. It’s immediately he saw the throne standing in front of him. SubhanAllah. This is the one who has knowledge of the book. Some people talk about equations, solving the equations of space-time, and folding of space-time. They still have not resolved those yet. Allah knows. Even in science, it’s not science fiction; theoretically it’s possible to fold space. It’s right there without anyone moving or doing anything. And Allah has ways that we don’t have knowledge of. [swt]
In our habits, four dimensional knowledge, that’s impossible, but in other mathematical dimensions it’s possible! Now the wonderful thing about this also is what the answer of Suleiman is after all of this. When he was made to listen to the Namlah and the throne was brought to him, what was his response?
It wasn’t ‘look what I can do’, like the Dajjal or like so many human beings. His response was, “O Lord make me grateful to your Grace that you bestowed upon me. Grateful and that I act in accordance to that in righteousness that pleases you and enter me into the fold of your righteous Ibad.” To be Abd Saleh to Allah. No matter what you give me, please, make me Shaakir acting in accordance to that in a way that pleases you and make me a righteous person.
When the throne is brought in that miraculous way. What was his answer? “This is from the grace of my Lord.” I’m like a beggar, someone gave me, Allah gave me, it’s not mine. This is a grace from my Lord to try me, whether I’ll be grateful or an ingrate. Grateful and acknowledge it’s from Him not from my knowledge and ‘hard work’, and I don’t act in arrogance in that. To act as an Abd in Salah, Dhikr, patience, Sadaqah and all the beautiful qualities He loves. That’s Shukr. And Akfur is to be an ingrate, to first not acknowledge it’s from Him, that it’s from me, my ‘hard work’. Second I don’t act in obedience to him. The more he gives me the more I should act in Taa’a to him.
Compare that to Qarun in the next Surah, Surah Qasas. Qarun was not given an iota compared to Suleiman, but he was given plenty. He had knowledge, and did business well, was a shrewd businessperson who worked hard. What did he say when he was reminded to be grateful and thankful and use that in good ways and to remember Akhirah and to give? “I was given that by knowledge I had.” I was smart, I worked hard, I went to school, I paid money, I had diplomas, I did that, I deserve that. That’s the other response.
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Allah reminds us of the story of Sayyidna Musa [as] in Surah Qasas along with other wonderful and beautiful lessons. Musa [as] from when he was very young as an infant was in the loving care of Allah [az]. Allah assigned him to be very special. Allah tells us, ‘If you rely on me, trust me, give up, surrender to me truly from your heart. I can do to you like what I did for Musa.’ “And so shall we reward those who are excellent in conduct.” Allah tells Musa’s mother breastfeed him, nurse him and if you fear for him, throw him into the sea!! La ilaha illallah, is this the way we act? Understand cause and effect. If you are afraid throw your child in the sea!? Not the way we act. Allah is telling us something.
“And do not fear and do not grieve, we shall bring him back to you.” But it required surrender from her, surrender from her heart that He is the Creator of cause and effect. If she only trusted the empirical nature of cause and effect and relied on that, she would not be a Mu’minah ENOUGH. But when she had surrendered Allah showed us through her child what He does. Then Allah takes that child and raises him in the very household of the one who was killing every Muslim of the children of the Israelites. Is that the way we understand cause and effect? Is that the way we operate? Allah is telling us something beyond the very obvious lessons. This lesson. What Allah wills will be. He creates cause, He creates effect. And when He wants that cause will not work or operate.
So Pharaoh who was out to kill every newborn child was made inoperative and Musa [as] is reared in his household with love and care. SubhanAllah! ‘I shall fashion you under my gaze. I have cast upon you love from me’. When that occurs, nothing hurts.
“And so we shall reward those who are Muhsinoon.” SubhanAllah. And Allah makes him go upon hardships upon hardships of so many kinds. Did Musa live in restlessness and anger or did he live in patience and perseverance and forbearance? And how long was it? 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 year? Few hours? Many of us subjected to a few hours of hardship and Astaghfirullah we are angry even with God!
For years. For YEARS. And Allah took him from a household of power and luxury and where did he end up. In the desert living as what? A shepherd? Imagine tended to by beautiful maids and servants in the household of Firaun to himself attending sheep and goats. Did he miss that? He continued in forbearance. Allah [swt] changed him and he lived in forbearance and Sabr. Then began gradually the gifts of Allah to him.
Wondrous gifts to him [as].
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One other reflection. When he was running away from Egypt from Firaun and he got to Madyan and one scene. He’s traveling through the desert imagine that. How long was it? Some say 40 days more or less. Not enough water or provision. Tawakkul Allah. He arrives and there’s a well and there’s many tough men getting their herds to water. And there were two women waiting, for as they said ‘our father is an elderly person’ they had no brother or men in the family so they had to come themselves Musa saw that with all the fatigue hardship he had for himself. He stops and he gives them first, and he gets their sheep to drink first. Subhanallah look at that. That Akhlaq, mind of spiritual gold.
Then does he ask them for a favor? Does he say what’s your name where do u live? Etc SubhanAllah. Nothing. He did that as the wonderful person he was, Nabi, Ulul Azam. So he lets them go and turns to Allah. He could have asked them for reward, a piece of bread, None of that. He turns to Allah [swt]. Imagine that humility. He turned to the shade and invoked Allah, “O Allah I am indeed destitute for whatever good you would like to bring to me.”
Did he ask the men that were there? He could have done all that. Allah is telling us something very special about His Ibad. Then another lesson, one of these two ladies. Ya my sisters pay attention to this, Ya Mu’minaat of all who seek nearness to Allah of women. Under these dire circumstances one of these two ladies came to him. How did she come? Like a man, saying ‘Hey you?’ with a loud voice and fast talk attitude of I’m equal to you I’m a woman I’ll show you! ‘She came walking Ala Stihya, upon a state of Haya’. You can imagine her walking very softly, very gently, in a shy modest way, lowering her gaze, not talking loud. Her attitude is totally unlike how they show it in the Ten Commandments if you’ve watched that! As though walking on eggs. ‘My father is inviting you, to reward you on account of helping us’. And that’s it. Then the narrations of Hadith and Athaar tell us how that occurred. Some say he was not walking behind her. Some say he did not lift his gaze at all until they got home to the father.
Haya’ that wonderful characteristic of any human being. Wonderful in particular to the Mu’min and to the Mu’minah most particularly. My dear brothers and sisters, one of the first signs of the Hour, one of the first virtues to be lifted from this Ummah is Haya’.
Then when they arrived at home, I believe another act of Haya’. Now the Haya’ with her father. She wants to marry Musa [as]. She didn’t say ‘I love that man, he’s strong he’s good he’s this or that I’m in love with him and if you don’t I’m gonna run away!’ La ilaha illallah where we have come.
She said “Ya Abati, O my dear father. Hire him to do work for us’. In those days, the Mahr of a woman is that a man will work for the family for a certain number of years they agree with. She doesn’t say marry me to him. She says Istajir, father hire him, the best one you can hire for us is the one strong and trustworthy. That’s why the father now speaking to Musa says directly Ureed, “I would like to marry you to one of my daughters in exchange of you working for us…”
The point I’m trying to reflect on here is a point of Haya. “Haya’ Kulluhu Khair.” “Haya all of it is beautiful”, says Rasulullah. For men it is beautiful, for women it is more beautiful. Unfortunately I must warn my brothers and sisters Shaitan comes to us in so many ways. Shaitan and our Nufoos. And there are those who incline to greedy things, to selfish, base things. They would like you to be deviant. To incline away from these values. So I remind myself, and my sisters in particular and my brothers. There are so many ways we are made to leave our Haya’, men and women. So let us ask Allah to forgive us and to give us the values of the Anbiya like we are reading here in this wonderful story of Sayyidna Musa [as].
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lala marcy
Madina Shahid
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[slm]
So you type all this out during the talks? Either way, great notes! Thanks for sharing this with us. Indeed, they are all reminders we should all take into practice.
peace and love!!
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Jannah
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Madina Mujahid
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Innallaha ma3a Sabireen
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wsalaam,
yeahhh crazy huh! i can only type so fast tho... but hopefully some of the good stuff comes thru 
ws
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Jannah
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Madina Mujahid
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Bismillah…
Again a few reflections from the many many pearls and treasures of the Quran. By the permission of Allah we have completed Surah Ankabut.
Allah begins by telling us, “Alif Lam Mim. Do human beings think they are going to be left saying they believe, and remain untested? We shall test them. And it shall be very clear who is truthful and who is a liar.” That is, who is truthful in their claim of faith in God and His Rasul. Truthful in their attachment, mentally, heart-wise, spiritually to Allah. For many human beings may claim they love and have faith, but if every claimant was given according to his or her claims then many people would claim the lives and wealth of others! We are tested through trials, tribulations, calamities in our friends family, social life, communal life, outside at work. Who amongst us complies with what Allah loves, loves Allah still and obeys Allah despite the difficulties and challenges?
This is a very powerful beginning for a Surah. This Surah is called Ankabut, because Allah is saying don’t build your claims like the house of a spider. The web of a spider is very fragile, when tested with hard things it will collapse and break. Thus those of us who build attachments inside of ourselves, away from ourselves, it’s like we’re building a web of a spider.
Allah says many more wonderful things in that Surah about reliance on Allah and to not be obsessed by what we have, the means or the causes.
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Surah Ar-Rum begins by telling the Muslims of that time, about something futuristic about the state of world power between Persia and the Romans. The Romans were defeated by the Persians and Allah said in a few years the scale will be turned and the Romans will defeat the Persians. And many Ulema said and then the believers will be pleased by the victory of Allah. This is another prophecy of Badr. Indeed, years later the Romans defeated the Persians and in that year Badr took place, and Allah gave victory. This is a prophecy given to his Rasul.[saw]
Allah concludes this Surah by saying ‘Be patient despite what you shall see and hear, challenges, distractions, deceptions, attempts of others to convince us that there is no Hereafter.’ Allah says ‘Wasbir’, 'Be patient.' Don’t let those that don’t have that persuasion abase you or take you lightly. Don’t be a featherweight in front of them, frightened by them, their styles of life or their writings.
Make yourself remember the destroyer of passions frequently: Death. Come back to it. In the Surah before in Ankabut Allay says, “If they had knowledge relative to this life and all what is in it, the Hereafter is THE LIVING thing’. In other words Hayatu Dunya is not living. It’s jest, distractions, entertainments relative to Akhirah. Don’t give up the reality of the Akhirah for the insignificant, shallow reality of Dunya.
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And then comes Surah Luqman after that. A father advising his child, his son with beautiful, wise advice. What does he say? ‘Be a doctor, engineer, athlete?’ ‘If you don’t go to that type of schooling then you’re not anything.’ ‘Does your son go to school? --Yes he studies Fiqh, Quran. --No I mean SCHOOL.’ I sat in a place where that was actually said!
Be not only just to your parents, be magnanimous in conduct with them. Allah reminds us of our stages in infancy, embryonic and after, the hardships they went through for us. Then Allah says nothing in this world escapes Him. Allah provides for everything no matter what it is. Then Luqman says, “O my child, establish Salah.” Many of us, if our children don’t perform Salah, but if they have degrees in school we’re so happy. But if they don’t have degrees and pray, we’re so sad. We think they’ve done nothing, achieved nothing.
“Enjoin that which is good and forbid that which is evil.” At the end of that Surah, there is a powerful ending: “O mankind be conscious of your Lord”. Build consciousness of your Lord daily. People struggle for so many things every day. We wake up every day, before Fajr if we have to for work, for 40 years and we’re happy! And we struggle to be better and better and be promoted. Then why not, why not struggle to be better with Allah? Tomorrow I’m going to be better and conscious of Allah, better than today. Struggle, that’s my aspiration. We’ve lost that, many of us.
“Then fear a day no parent will be of any avail to any child, and no child will be of any avail to any parent.” What is all this that is preoccupying our lives? Give good quality time to our family I’m not against that, but many of us forget the best of whom our time should be given to. In other words, don’t let your resources, including your children, make you forget Allah and Akhirah. Don’t forget your order of priorities. We live with our children and families, all of us must live together, walking together to Allah [swt]. Whether its my child, my spouse, my mother, my father, myself. “Fear a day in which no one will be of any benefit to anyone, except those who live in awareness of Allah.”
What is my aim? Allah is my aim. I shall not do anything that deviates me away from my aim. A man asked Rasulullah (s), ‘Give me an advice for which I shall ask no one else.’ ‘Say Amantu Billah and then be straight’. Meaning my aim has become Allah in my Qalb, my Qalb sees my aim. Then after that walk straight to my aim. And feel that every day, every instance. And thus he’s telling him in this very powerful statement, every second be aware of this aim. Don’t veer away from the aim until you arrive. Some arrive in this Dunya with their Quloob before Akhirah. And some never. Neither here nor in Akhirah.
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Jannah
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Madina Mujahid
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Bismillah
Again, briefly a few reminders from the many treasures of the Quran...
From Surah Sajdah that we read tonight, Allah tells us of His special Ibaad. When they hear his signs rehearsed, they prostrate themselves and they do not show arrogance or indifference. They also lift themselves up from their beds. Their sides develop a not so kind relationship with the bed, as though their sides don’t like beds. They lift themselves up when most of us want to sleep or are sleeping. This is pertaining to those who wake up at night say the scholars. They do that with sincerity with Allah. That has great reward to the heart for those who do that with devotion and persistence.
Also mentioned by the Ulema are those who do Nawafil between Maghrib and Isha. They are in Dhikr and Salah. And also after Isha until the time of Fajr. And those that wake up for Fajr, and come to Jamah on time. And those who come to Isha in Jama instead of performing it at home and sleeping, which is halal. But these ones, their sides leave that, they develop a relationship of indifference with the beds. Allah describes them as such and Allah tells us at the end of that, they don’t know what Allah is concealing for them of refreshing coolness to the eyes as a reward. Because their Ibadah was hidden in privacy at night, so Allah has for them hidden, unknown rewards that he did not explicitly describe and expose. Only Allah knows.
And also the Ulema of the Quloob would notice those who are persistent in Qiyamul lail and Dhikr at times where the average of us do the average. Allah has in store for them, for their hearts, knowledge of Him and states of Ahwal with Him that only Allah knows. That also is a reward for those in devout worship of Allah unlike the average amongst us that prefer to do the average that people amongst us do.
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In Surah Ahzab, Allah says “Indeed there is for you in the messenger of Allah a beautiful example for you in everything." This is a beautiful, powerful ayah with such lessons for us. We will mention only a few of them. We see that Oswa, example, and it’s a living example for us. There is something very interesting in this Ayah. That special Oswa will only be seen, enjoyed, and loved by those who have two qualities:
1. The first is Rajaa in Allah and for the day of Judgement. To have desire to connect with Him and in Akhirah.
2. Second those who are intensely in Dhikr of Allah [az], continuously, always, very frequently in Dhikr of Allah.
Only the ones who have tasted this, especially the last one, know what this means. Those who in their aim of Allah practice a lot of Dhikr not only with their tongues but with their Quloobs have discovery in their hearts and He becomes truly the love of their hearts. Then it becomes easy to follow the Rasul (s). Without why, ifs and buts. Without trying to take the words of Rasululllah and give them meanings consistent with our Hawa.
Let us implore Allah [swt] to give our hearts desire and Raja for Him and His abode on the Day of Judgement, and let us implore Allah frequently to make us of those frequently in Dhikr with our hearts and minds. Then perhaps we will be of those who will follow his Oswa. [saw]
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Jannah
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Madina Mujahid
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Salaam,
I didn't take notes for tonight's cuz we're staying overnight inshaAllah, but i'm going to put up last night's inshallah (it's very long) soon. just very busy right now.
ws
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Jannah
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Bismillah…
May Allah let us benefit from what we hear and read. We have completed last night Surah Saba, Surah Fatir and today Yasin, Saffat, Saad and we started Zumar. A few reflections Bi’idhna t’ala.
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From Surah Saba:
Allah tells us in that Surah about Sayyidna Dawud and Sulaiman and many other wonderful lessons. He tells us [swt] that He gave both of them of His gifts of worldly matters, power and spiritual knowledge.
Allah tells us about Sulaiman and what He gave him of authority and power. And then Allah says (again spiritual and worldly power), ‘We made available for him molten minerals, iron copper and so on,’ in addition to spiritual gifts. He invoked Allah to have power, a kingdom that no one would have after him. So Allah subjected to him the wind, creatures beyond our sight, Jinn and Shayateen.
Then Allah says and speaks to both Sulaiman and his father Dawud. “O family of Dawud work in righteousness, be thankful by deeds.” Shukrul Amal is when we use whatever Allah bestowed upon us whether spiritually or worldly in the way Allah loves. If I use what Allah gave me, my legs, my hands, my organs in a way that Allah does not love then I am NOT thankful. I am not Shaakir! If I am not a person who uses his gifts in Ibadah, Sawm, Dhikr, Salah, Qiyam, the works of the heart, I’m not thankful to Allah [swt].
Rasulullah (s) as his daily habit spends his night in Qayaam for so long until his heels were swollen and broken. Aisha, our mother, asks him, ‘Why, why Rasulullah, you don’t have to do that, your station with Allah is exalted, the nearest. Allah has forgiven you everything.’ What does he answer? “Should I not be then an oft-grateful servant?” Shakoora -- siratul mubalagha. So his Qiyam and Ibadah are par excellence, THE acts of Shukr.
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From Surah Fatir:
Allah tells us of a scene of the Hereafter. Very powerful very moving. Those in the fire of Hell on the day of Judgement. (May Allah protect all of us.) They will be acknowledging their guilt , pleading with Allah to give them respite, another chance. To bring them back to life and they will act in righteousness. In this scene Allah [swt] answers them. And again these scenes are as though they’ve already taken place already, in the past tense, yet it’s the future. “Haven’t I given you enough years in your life, sufficient enough for those to remember?” Haven’t I given you 40 years or 50 years or 70? It wasn’t just a week, a few years, 15 years where you’re not accountable. I gave you enough years so you were accountable, enough age so you’re Mukallaf. And I sent you warners. You had him [saw], you’ve heard about him, what he taught, you heard about his way and that he’s the way to me.
What else as Nazeer, warner has Allah sent to us? Many Ulema say white hair! For those of us who live long enough depending upon one’s genetic makeup. White hair that grows in my beard or in my hair is that reminder to me. We may not like that but the countdown has started. As a matter of fact the countdown started the day we were born. Once I’ve lived one year that means one year less, 2 years less then 3 years less, then my appointed time. Some of us wait until we retire to begin to live. To really as they say, take a good shot at life. ‘I’m gonna start living the way I like.’ that’s what they wait for, to retire to really live Dunya.
A few days from now we shall read how, among the early ones, when a person reaches 40 years, they retire to Allah. They’ve lived long enough in Dunya! Now let us take Akhirah very seriously. Many of us when we are 40 we still want to be children! We want toys, we cry for toys, we fight for toys and we kill for toys if u know what I mean. The warner had come to you. And some of us when we look in the mirror and see it we want to dye it.
As the poet said,
“Had I known that I wouldn’t be honoring this guest I would have concealed that guest.”
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From Surah Yasin:
There are many powerful verses in Surah Yasin including one of the last ones: “Does not the human being see, remember and reflect that We created him/her from Nutfah (an ejaculated thing) and in another Ayah (despised fluid). Most of us are making a face, ill, ick. Allah could have created us from iron, from something strong from the beginning, but look at His Hikmah so we remember at every stage who we are. He created us from that, so Allah says, “Don’t the human beings see, how we originally created them from Nutfah, yet they turn as an avowed litigant against Allah, an enemy disputant.” We learn and grow a little bit, develop a bit, and have beards and wealth and power and we start arguing about God. ‘God doesn’t exist’ and we argue with some people ‘why does Allah do this to me’ ‘I should have this, be like this, etc.’
The manifest disputant against Allah should remember where we are. Remember our origin. That is our origin. Nutfatin Nathirah and in the end we are Jeefatan Kaabirah. A stinking body and in between when we’re living we still carry inside of us Khabeeth. We walk everywhere with it! Subhanallah we carry the stink inside. Imagine some of us, we perfume outside and what do we think we are. Imagine if we have spiritual x-ray vision to see inside. Subhanallah. Allah reminds us of that. Know who you are. Such a human being says there is no God, says I know better than Muhammad [saw], than the messengers and the prophets of God. Such a human being says I have so much power and I can have all power and thus I have no need for God!
May Allah [swt] help us realize where we are, our right place
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From Surah Saffat:
There are many wonderful lessons that Allah talks to us about. One reflection is the story of Yunus in this Surah. You know the story of Jonah, Yunus [as]. He was swallowed by a whale. Was it a huge whale was it a blue whale? Allah knows. In that time there might have been other creatures. The blue whale is the biggest creature on earth and he was kept alive by the Qudrah of Allah in those darknesses inside the whale. And what does Allah say? What saved him?
Dhikr of Allah [swt].
The person who is in Dhikr inside of the whale, would he be a person who was never in Dhikr outside of the whale? In the moment of distress we are as we truly are. Our personality appears when we are in distress. What do I remember first? That’s my personality. Dhikr was the first thing that came to his heart, his tongue. Incessantly. So when we die, when we are dying, the way we lived should be the way we are in the Barzakh. If we lived a life of Dhikr our life in Barzakh will be one of Dhikr. It is said when the angels come to the grave and makes the person sit up, the person who is always in Dhikr when he/she wakes up the first thing he/she says: La ilaha illalllah wahdahu la shareeka lah. When they sit up in the grave La ilaha illlah! The angels then say “Let’s leave. That’s the way he has lived.” So it’s said naturally Allah inspires them to be like that in their Qabr.
Something wonderful we’ve read in the stories of Ibn al qayyim and others of the Salihoon. When Thabit ibn Bunani was laid in his grave with mud bricks and they were about to live, one of those bricks fell. Allah wanted them to see something. Lo and behold both of them saw Thabit ibn Bunani sitting in his grave in Salah. They were men of spiritual knowledge. They know what the Asrar of the Quloob are. So they went to the sister to inquire about him. When they inquired in this strange way she said, “Why what did u see?” They told her and she said as long as she could remember every night for 40 years he’d be in Qiyamul lail and after he used to call Allah in prayer and say ‘Oh Lord if you have given any one of your Ibad Salah in his grave, please give that to me.’ Every night when he finishes his Salah that was his Dua always.
See, we are in the grave the way we are outside the grave.
The belly of the whale of Jonah was to teach us how Jonah’s life was.
In the darkness of despair of some challenges, hardships, light for us will be Dhikr of Allah. Dhikr of Allah and a lot of Dhikr.
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From Surah Saad:
A very powerful story about Dawud [as] and many other beautiful reflections can be drawn from this Surah. Allah [swt] made mountains and birds be in Dhikr of Allah with Dawud.
Also the story of Ayyub [as]. Ayyub was tried by the calamity of disease and in every capacity of what everyone does normally. Allah [swt] took all of that and he had disease for years, some say for 18 years. He never despaired and he never forgot Dhikr of Allah. He was always in Dhikr. Always. Trusting in Allah, relying on Allah, accepting what Allah [swt] gave him. Not challenging that, not debating that, worrying about that or complaining, but accepting the Qada of Allah [swt]. And when he ultimately surrendered, Allah fashioned him anew. New body and new Qalb, made his Qalb even stronger.
Destiny was decreed for Ayyub [as]. Allah did not give him more than what was decreed. It was hidden from Ayyub. As the best things for us are hidden from us. Thus what happens to us WILL Happen. Either we are patient or we are restless. The disaster is if we respond in restlessness when we are challenged by difficulties, or if we respond in arrogance when we are challenged with prosperity.
What Ayyub had at the end was always the decree of Allah. As Rasulullah (s) says the person who accepts the decree of Allah, for such there will be satisfaction and there will be a pleasing state. For the person complaining, restless, such a person will have displeasure from Allah and even in this life will be displeased.
Think about it when we are befallen by difficulties, when things don’t go the way we like, when faced by challenges, what happens to us? It happens to all of us. What happens inside? Pressure, anxieties. Isn’t this punishment, torment itself? If when those things happened we accepted those things, we wouldn’t be distressed. Call that psychology if you want. It’s only when we don’t accept that, it gets worse, we will SUFFER because all of that means we have not accepted His Qada.
Once we do, even in Dunya we shall be at ease, not in pain, anxiety or torment. Some of us go to the extent of losing our minds. Some of us go to the extent of becoming unbelievers. At least have Sabr. If we don’t have Rida may Allah give us Sabr. But Rida is the best, Rida is the station of the Awliya.
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Jannah
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[sl]
I didn't take notes this night cuz I wanted to concentrate on Ibadah but here are some quick reminders from another sister.
[wl]
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Absolute power corrupts absolutely
Ultimate knowledge is knowledge to know to submit to God in ibadah during the night, in qiyaam, who perform salaah.
Yaa ibadi who have imaan, 'BE conscious of your lord'
those who do righteousness in the way of ihsan in this duniya. they will have a great reward in the hereafter
truly the persevering patient ones, allah swt will give them a reward without account.
make it a point to remember allah when u are in a state of ease, when it is easy to forget. when things go bad, we pray, and when things are good we are apt to forget.
in our ibada there shall be difficulty and challenges. it will be hard. and when we don't have wealth and power, people may not look at us fondly.
don't be fooled, deceived, dissuaded for your reward will be 'ghairi hisaab' in the hereafter if you do in fact patiently persevere.
oh my servants, who have overwhelmed themselves with sins....with disobedience, excessive were they in their negative conduct; now that you have become abd do not despair from the loving mercy of allah swt.
never say, i am a lost person. never say i have no hope. never let the so many fumblings to lead us not to come to allah swt. never let shaytan tell us,
'you have done too much for god to accept you'
do not despair in the loving mercy and merciful love of allah swt. verily allah forgives all sins. He's saying, 'COME to me, no matter how many horrible things you've done, if you come to me sincerely and truthfully, with the weight of the globe of earth in sins, i shall come to you with the same of forgiveness!
if a human being knows this about allah through rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam. for this, rectification is worth it. even more than for the sake of being safe from hellfire. this is opportunity to have allah swt come toward us RUNNING.
before there shall come to you, punishment again in a state when you are unaware. punishment comes unexpectedly when we die, and then what will we say when we are resurrected. beware that you will say this when it is too late, 'ya hasrataa' (miserable anxiety, agonizing pressure). because of the opportunities i had missed of reaching closer to allah swt. Allah swt, has shown us the way, he HAS guided us, he has presented islam. now it is up to us.
how many of us have had difficulty in our lives? how many times did we go begging and pleading to allah swt to help us? to rescue us? and how many times did he save us? and how many times did we forget to thank him as fervently as we pleaded in desperation?
let's pray for each other. let's pray for one another. let's pray that allah swt liberate our hearts from this habit of procrastination of tending to further our relationship. to avoid lies and bad habits, and to take a firm position to change and live our lives in truthfulness with allah swt by our sides.
to live our life in this duniya as a life of generosity to others and for sincerity in all of our actions.
let's be reminded that we are going to die. nobody lives forever. TAKE a stand and take control of your life. make the most of today, right now.
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Jannah
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[sl]
btw of there are some Arabic words that you don't know the meaning of please write!! There are tons of them and I didn't know what to translate...
[wl]
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placeholder will type this up soon inshallah
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Jannah
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Bismillah…
Part I:
Tonight is the night of the 27th of Ramadan and in the knowledge of Allah this could be the most honored night of the year. As we’ve been learning all this month, the month of Ramadan is very special, the last 10 nights are very special, the odd nights are special and the night of Qadr is special. I pray that all of us here can spend more time in Ibadah Dua, Dhikr and internal reflection, the more the better. It’s once a year. It’s not a regular hardship. It’s just once a year. The heart that loves Allah, how can it feel in hardship when it is in Ibadah? The more love for Allah the less feeling there is of Takkaluf and Takleef in Ibadah. (burden and struggle)
And thus I remind myself and you to renew our Niyyah to bring that about inside of us and to do that constantly. As long as we struggle to do that we are in Ibadah even if we don’t achieve that. We should struggle to have Sidq all the time, and especially tonight. Sidq in our Salah, sincerity devotion and all of that and desire inside of us, forgetting anything else. Try to build that Sidq inside of us in our Sujood, Ruku, Qiyaam, Dua, Dhikr. Inshallah t’ala.
As Rasulullah (s) taught us it is advisable to invoke Allah with that which Rasulullah taught us. ‘Allahumma innaka afu’an, tuhubbul afwa fafuanna.’ And try to build Sidq through the night. Whether you are here or at home, you leave or stay. Try to build Sidq in that Dua. I advise myself and you to dispose of those legitimate forms of conversation and those of entertainment etc. I advise all of us to converse with Allah through Dhikr and Salah. InshaAllah.
There are windows of time, windows of blessings of opportunities that we wait for as Rasulullah instructed us to wait for that spiritual breeze from Allah [swt]. There are special times during which that type of spiritual breeze is expected and waited for. Such as the odd nights of the last 10 nights of Ramadan. Most particularly the night of the Qadr in addition to other opportunities that Allah affords us such as the middle of the night, the last 1/3 of the night, after every Salah, in Sujood, after Arafat during Hajj and right after breaking the fast. Allah always gives, always gives. There are so many opportunities. Not only should we expect those special times and places, but we should also make our hearts ready for that gift. Allah as a gifter is always there, always giving. The question is are we a receiver? Have we opened our hearts to receive from Allah? When our Quloob are not in a receiving state they simply don’t land on our Quloob because they’re not ready to receive.
And thus a wonderful offer Allah has for us and I felt like sharing with many of you this wonderful Qudsi Hadith that Rasulullah [saw] taught us. It might help us to clear our hearts a little more to receive the gifts of Allah.
‘Ya ibadi, O my ibaad (those devout servants of mine, those who seek me), verily I have made oppression aggression forbidden to Me. And thus I have made it forbidden to you, so do not do injustice to one another.’ In other words He’s telling us that He can do anything He wants to because everything else is a creation. Allah is the only one, is absolute no one else owns anything else but Him and He made injustice forbidden to Him, so what about you who own nothing. Whatever you have is a steward, vicegerency from Him. You don’t even own yourself. Then understand this and do not do injustice to one another. Do not do injustice to anything. And if we want a more general definition, justice is putting things where they belong. Like if I threw garbage on the floor or spoke a word not good, if I’ve killed someone unjustly, if I spoke a word to someone that hurt someone wrongfully and so on. Do not be unjust to any creature of Allah.
And then He continues to say in this Hadith Qudsi: ‘All of you are lost, except the one whom I show the path to. Therefore seek to find the path from Me. Ask me for guidance and I shall show you the path to guide you.’ But how many times truly do we realize we’re lost and how many times do we sincerely and truthfully ask Him with state of full surrender and Sidq to show us the path. Instead of arrogantly and with vanity we think we know and we are obsessed by what we think we know.
‘O my Ibaad, O my servants, all of you are hungry, seek food from Me, I shall give you.’ Of course Allah often times feeds us even though we don’t ask him. That’s His Rahmaa, merciful love He’s given all creatures. He asks us to realize that. When we realize that then the Rizq of Ta’am will be from him and not from our Nafs. Because we can have things from our Nafs and we will be punished for that. For example if I have a lot of food and I use it, but if I truly ask Him and through surrender, it will be Halal and will be a blessing. It will not cause me to be arrogant and I will not abuse it, because I’ll be eating it by Him, not by me. Let us not be deceived ‘well I have food, why should I ask’. Have you ever thought about the way you’ve acquired what you have. We should not be deceived by what we have. So Allah says, ‘Ask Me for nutrition. I feed you.’
‘Seek clothing from Me. I shall clothe you”. ‘I have clothes, I can buy all the clothes I want’, but as we said, you don’t know what kind of clothes you have, Halal or Haram. The money with which you purchased it Halal or Haram, is he pleased with it or not.
When He clothes me, it’s not like when I clothe me. Do you know what I mean? By my violent desires I clothe myself and I still remain naked. Many people are clothed on the day of Judgement and that clothing will be burned on their skin. Ya Lateef!
What is the best of clothing? Taqwa. ‘Wa libasa taqwa, dhalika khair.’ Instead of clothes dubious in its origin and I have it but I am naked from Taqwa. So says Allah seek clothing from Me I shall clothe you. And the one that Allah clothes even if it’s one single thing. He /she is clothed with Taqwa with that, but he/she who clothes by himself/herself shall remain naked.
‘Ya ibadi, you commit sins by day and by night, and I am the one who forgives all sins. Seek my forgiveness I shall forgive you.’ I shall forgive you. Think. Don’t be an arrogant fool as we often are. Don’t say I don’t have time. Don’t be busy with other things and then when you do ask, be truthful, be Saadiq. The person who is in a hurry to leave Salah, their Dua is most likely not Saadiq. Sidq is in the heart. It’s a state that humbles the heart. It makes the heart aware of his/her insignificance in front of Allah, her destitution and her need. So how can he/she be in a hurry to leave!
‘Ya ibadi, O my servants, you will never, never reach the level at which you’ll be able to hurt Me and you’ll never reach the level to benefit Me, even if you’re put together.’ And then He even gives us more hope and love. Even if we think of benefiting or harming spiritually. Because there are those who think they’ve reached a level that God benefits some way divine of the Ibadah of human beings! As we need him, he needs us! Authobilllah! Yet Allah says,
‘Ya ibadi, O my servant, if the first of you to the last of you, from the first of creation until the end of it, billions of you, to the human of you to the jinn of you, and each one of them had a heart filled with beautiful Imaan of all the hearts, that will not add to my Kingdom anything. And if each had a heart of wickedness and evilness that is the sum total of all the hearts of wickedness, it will not diminish from my sovereignty, kingdom anything.’
‘If all of you Jinns and humans from the binning to the end of it and if all was collected in one place and each one asks Me anything they want to ask, and I give each one of them, his or her Mas’ala (desire) that will not diminish what I have except what a needle takes from a sea of water when it’s dipped into it and taken out.’ This is a note of hope and love from Allah. Then he says be responsible.
Look how much forgiveness and love I have, so be responsible. ‘O my Ibaad you are your deeds, I record them for you, your deeds and then I give you them in fullness. Then if you find with Me Khair, be thankful to Allah and if you find other than that you have no one to blame but yourselves.’ If you find Khair say Alhamdulllah, because the way He awards is more than what we deserve. Don’t’ say ‘I made it’ say Alhamdullah.
Tonight is the night of hope. A night of Rahmaa. The gate of Allah is open the widest. Let us be truthful, implore Him to be truthful and struggle to be truthful. And the best thing to ask from Allah is what He loves us to be. Not what I love, but what He loves for me. He loves me to be obedient, to be good, to love him, to be righteous, to be consistent and so on. Let me ask Him for that. Not for asking Him about wealth and power. Those are not necessarily things He loves. He gives wealth and power to the ugly and beautiful, morally speaking. He gives to those who love Him and don’t love Him, the believer and non believer. To ask him that is to be not any different from those He doesn’t love. He didn’t say don’t ask me that, but if we truly love Him it’s better to ask Him for what He loves.
Allahmumma innaka afuan tuhibbul afwa fafuanna….
Part II:
will post soon inshallah
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Jannah
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Bismillah…
Ramadan is basically over. It has gone so fast. There is a feeling already of loss… of missing something. I can really feel the air changing the last two days. Wallahul atheem. This is a sort of spiritual evidence about the Barakah of Ramadan. It’s incredible. Inside you change. Your notion of time changes. Your energies change. And thus these wonderful last 10 nights were for change. If we were to summarize what we learned:
1. Tawheed Allah– That we affirm Allah’s oneness
2. A consequence of that in the path to Allah is the change of our Akhlaq inside of us.
3. Consequently change outside in our Afaal - our deeds
Patient or not patient, forgiving or not forgiving, just and fair, or unjust, unfair, humble modest, bashful or arrogant and conceited ostentatious, content or greedy. The Deen of Allah [swt] intended to change us inside. Performing Salah is wonderful and beautiful but there are many ways to perform Salah. Some of us perform Salah but it’s external, we don’t change inside, we continue to believe the Deen is an external exercise of obligations. And we continue to be what we are inside. And thus our acts and our deeds vis a vis the creatures of Allah, humans, animals, plants, Jinns, angels do not change either.
We need to be conscious of this and ask Allah for help with it. If we continue to live our lives routinely and we never change then it will be too late. For we are to come to Allah with hearts cleaner than we started. The ultimate encounter with Allah on the Day of Judgement will be with our hearts. Thus I and you, men and women, brothers and sisters, young and old must daily be observing ourselves. Not only about our external Afaal, and we must perform our external Afaal properly and legally, but that is not enough. It’s necessary but not sufficient. Our Quloob must be clearer. We didn’t pray before we have to begin to pray. We were not patient before we must learn patience. We didn’t have Haya’ before we must learn to have Haya’. We didn’t have Kanaa; we were arrogant and so on.
We must change.
Ramadan is about that Barakah Allah gives us to change. Allah, in what we have recited, said to us so much. We human beings and others follow a course of seeking prosperity, wealth and power, success so to speak. We do that and the way we spend our time and set our priorities is all about that. Those of us who plan it that way or just imitate others that do that. Allah says you are all losers in the way you plan and the way you prioritize your time. You are all loser, if you do what you do away from the Dhikr of Allah. in other words, we want to spend more time in something we think gives us victory, wealth and that is really losing when you are unmindful of the Dhikr of Allah [swt].
‘O you who have attained faith, don’t let your wealth, your resources, your children distract you from the Dhikr of Allah. The one whose pursuit of wealth and power distracts them from Dhikr, thinking they want to win, are the losers.’
This is the Qawl of Allah. Whether some of us humans accept it or not is a different matter. That’s what He says. And those that believe in God know He is the infinite source of all that is beautiful and truly prosperous. He is the Creator of infinite happiness. They know that. Ask them what have you won if you lost Allah. They will say nothing, but you lost everything.
Some of us have forgotten that. We need to be reminded and told and sometimes taken by the arm and pulled away from what we were doing to enjoy that divine company and not to lose everything.
And Allah says, ‘There is no calamity that occurs in yourselves or outside of you, anywhere on earth, a challenge, difficulty hardship something we don’t like, something not agreeable to us, internal or external, except by the decree and permission of Allah [swt]’.
Now when things like that happen to us, things difficult and challenging, what happens usually to us? Stress, anger, we’re uncomfortable. Are we in a state of ambiguity or clarity?
‘In that state the one who has Imaan in Allah, his/her heart will be guided.’ He or she will think the right thing, will feel the right thing, won’t do the wrong thing, won’t do injustice, will not feel lost. That Noor in struggling to change themselves, to detach their heart from being a slave to other than Allah when there are Musibahs, she will be able to see clear.
How often do we pass by these wonderful Ayats, with these wonderful practical meanings and just pass them by. Our hearts have not woken up to see that. May Allah illuminate our Quloob.
May these two days or three, whatever is left, may Allah make the last of this month the best of it. May he accumulate for us all the Khair, may he give us the momentum of what He loves. When this beautiful friend of Ramadan leaves us, waving one more time, may we still have love and desire for Allah.
Ameen.
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Jannah
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Bismillah…
Tomorrow is our last night of Taraweeh. We implore Allah to give us steadfastness in our obedience to Him. To forgive us, to give us strength and resolve to walk in this life. When we leave this Masjid, at home, at work, at school, to walk away with light inside of us, light from Him inside of us.
Everything Allah has given us of resources, worldly resources all of that keeps us as human beings captives and hostages. What we have actually of matters of this world keeps us captive. Can we understand that? Actually what we have we’re hostage to, except in what case?
‘Every soul, person, self is hostage by that which it has, earns, possesses, except Ashabul Yameen -- those men and women who’s limbs, time and priorities are oriented towards Allah in the right way.’
This will be exposed on the Day of Judgement and these Ashabul Yameen will talk to those others who were imprisoned by their possessions. Allah gives the Ashabul Yameen Naeem in Jannah in Akhirah. This is Ilm of Ghayb of scenes that will occur in that dimension. They will address those in the wrath of Allah [swt] and ask,
“What has led you to be in this abode of Hell?”
All of this will occur Allah tells us, this is for us to learn not for us to rejoice for no one knows which abode will be for him/her. We are not yet to judge those. This is for us. We don’t know. Allah is telling us and to tell the world so we don’t end up that way. No soul knows where it will end up, the general rule is.
The others will respond and say 4 things:
1. “First we were not of those that prayed, turned to Allah in Salah. We neglected that”
2. “We used to not feed the poor.”
3.”We used to enter into arguments.” – I think it’s this or that and we embellish our intellectual arguments in whatever matter in Deen. Itabaaul Hawa. Then we say ‘this is what God says’, or ‘this is better than what God says’ or ‘we don’t care what God says!’
4. “We used to reject and deny and not believe in the Day of Resurrection” We did not have firm belief. That includes those that didn’t believe at all and those that doubted until certitude came upon them. And what is certitude here? Death, when we died. For that is when everything we don’t know becomes certain. Death is a metaphor for no one will escape it, everyone will die, and after that everything will become certitude. SubhanAllah.
Thus Allah tells us to develop that consciousness of Akhirah inside of us and keep away from those elements that distract us from this fact.
Allah describes that moment when death comes upon the human being and then one would say “Is there a cure, a doctor?” None of that will help. And as I was reading this what came to mind are scenes of doctors in hospitals. When the patient is in the hospital and they did what they could, some of them humbly acknowledge, and in the end those who were humble doctors and those who are fools the same, see the wife or son or someone comes and says “please doctor do something”, and he looks down at her and lowers his gaze and says “I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything”. And he just leaves. “Is there a doctor” Ruqya. Is there a healer? None at that point. That’s Yaqeen.
That we all have to go through.
Rasulullah (s) says, “Be frequently in remembrance of the destroyer of passions, because it’s the most common, most certain thing. And yet we deliberately forget it most of the time. But if we remember it most of the time in the right way we should have the best life possible in the state of Yaqeen.
My dear brothers and sisters, may the blessings of this month bring Noor to our hearts and increase our faith in Akhirah. May it be an increase to our devotion and to the correct orientation of our hearts to Allah. May Allah, as we finish these last two days, not let us leave this beautiful month of Ramadan except with a renewed vigor to travel to Allah [swt]. May we think more seriously and qualitatively about Akhirah and Yaqeen.
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Jannah
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[sl]
Today the shaikh did mostly tafseer of Surah 'ala and it was very short then admonished us to keep our hearts motivated and straight even after ramadan. InshaAllah I'll add it after Eid sometime next week.
[wl]
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dhikra
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i know that maybe with all the excitement of Eid you forgot the last installment And though Ramadan is over I still await the last words of this blessed time.
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