Transcription
Doesn't matter who you are. Either Allah takes it from you or Allah takes you from it. That's the nature of the cars, the wealth, all of it. Even the loved ones, yo, even the loved ones, it all goes away.
You, how many famous people have we seen pass away in '25, '26? You can't take it with you. But you start to realize the first sign that N is entering your heart is that you start to incline towards. Now, this doesn't mean you quit your job, you know, you go, you, you go to Morocco or somewhere, you know, I mean, go live in the desert. It just means that you don't place your heart anymore on the, your focus is on what is my eternal life? I got to build that.
The heart gets rusty. Remember I said, like the glass needs polish. He said, the heart gets rusty. So the Sahabah, they said, "How do we clean it?" He said, "Read Quran and remember death." What that means is any form of Allah, just glorify Allah, guys. That is our N, because it's remembering your creator. And so much as you remember him, that's you getting closer to Allah subhana wa ta'ala. That's your source of clarity, your source of removing your lack of understanding, your anxiety, your depression, your source for alleviating all of that is to know Allah by and call him out by that name. Allah has the most beautiful names, but what do you do with them? You got to call them by the name.
Alhamdulillah. Ya Allah, we ask you to fill our hearts with light. The light of knowing who you are. Tonight, inshallah ta'ala, uh, we discuss a name of Allah subhana wa ta'ala that I feel is directly connected to this blessed month that we are witnessing right now. We all experience, uh, that change that happens in Ramadan. Uh, if you asked one of us to pray eight or 20 extra raka'at just three, three weeks ago, we wouldn't be able to do it. We wouldn't be able to do it. But all of a sudden, something happens. This month comes and all of a sudden, spiritually, we feel feel so strong. Feel we feel like we want to do better. Even the sins that we are accustomed to doing become a little harder to do. Yes, we still slip up. Yes, we still make mistakes because we're human beings, man. But the reality is that this month brings something special.
When you look at the names of Allah, the scholars, they typically split the names of Allah into two categories. There's the names of Allah that represent the Jalal of Allah, the might of Allah, the magnificence of God, right? And then you have these other names of Allah that represent or they reflect the Jamal of Allah, or the beauty of God. And tonight, I was trying to think of which this name, which category does it fall into? But I realize that this name falls into both categories. And in order to understand how this name relates to the blessed month of Ramadan, we have to begin with the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. We have to begin right when revelation began.
Prior to revelation beginning on the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, he was in a time of complete confusion. He didn't, he realized that there was something wrong with society. There was something wrong with life. Things weren't the way they should be, and he felt like he needed to get out of that environment. So what did the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam do? The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, he went to the cave. We all know the story. He went to the cave because he needed somewhere to distance from. He needed somewhere to be alone so that he could figure out which way he's going.
As I talk about this name, by the way, what name is it? The name is Anur. In Arabic, it means light. And when we say that Allah subhana wa ta'ala's name is, what we're saying is that Allah subhana wa ta'ala is the only source for clarity in your life. Whatever difficulties you're having, confusion you're having, the only source to clear that up is to connect yourself to An-Nur, the source of all light. And it is the best place to begin because it was in the month of Ramadan, the month that we're witnessing right now, that he distanced himself from the rest of creation to be alone, to find God, to find clarity. And Aisha tells us the story. She says that the truth came to him, and she says these words, she says, "Like the break of dawn." That's the way this light came to him. And you have to understand, the only people that truly understand the light that Islam brings through the connection with God are the people that had a time of darkness. And the darker that time was, the brighter the light of knowing God becomes.
When I started today's session, I said a dua, a supplication that we say at the beginning, which is, "Oh Allah, fill our hearts with light." That's what this month is about. It's about filling your heart with that light of God because that light of God is what's going to get you through the most difficult moments of your life. Without light, you walk in a room that's dark, you're going to hurt yourself or you're going to hurt somebody else. And that's how many of us lived our lives. Before we had that light of Islam, that connection to God, An-Nur, we were hurting ourselves. The addictions that we had, the problems that we had, the family strife that we had, we were hurting ourselves. And not only were we hurting ourselves, but you walk around a dark room, there's other people in the room. You're going to bump into them. You're going to hurt them.
So tonight, inshallah, we connect our hearts to this name and understand the function of knowing who Allah is. This series we've been doing is all about knowing God. It's all about knowing who He truly is. And if you don't know that He's the source of light, which means clarity, which means guidance, if you don't connect to Him for the next 40 years of your life, you're going to be on YouTube trying to find new, yo. And ain't no new over there, yo. Except some videos, yo. It's a good, we got a good channel over there. We got a channel with some new. But the point, the point I'm making here is that Ramadan, this month, is the time when the believer turns so intensely through our reading of Quran, our remembrance of God, Subhan Allah, Alhamdulillah, just glorifying God and staying away from sins. This is how we connect to that light, to that An-Nur.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala, He says, and many of us, we can relate to this verse. All of us should relate to this verse where Allah says, "Is the person who was dead?" Dead, not literally dead, but spiritually dead. There was a time in my life when I was literally spiritually dead. Meaning, I, I couldn't feel empathy for another person. I couldn't feel empathy for my own self. I didn't know where to go for anything. I didn't understand what was my purpose. What am I here for? And that's what connection to Allah subhana wa ta'ala gives.
Why do we have such clarity in this month? We have such clarity because we connect to that name of Allah. And so if you're struggling right now in life with not understanding what's your next move, if you're struggling with the darkness of a sin, if you're struggling with confusion, tonight you learn the name of Allah, An-Nur. And I want you to say the name, "Ya An-Nur, oh source of all light, give me my light." And that's literally what the Prophet said. He used to say, "Oh Allah, give me my light." Like, each one of us in this room has a light, a special light, a different light. But you, you have to ask Allah because He's the source. "Give me that light."
So I want to recite this verse: "Is the one who was dead?" Meaning your life had no purpose. You didn't know what it was about. Was it just about making money? Was it just about finding the opposite gender? Was it just about clout, status, and attention? Is that all life was for many of us? For me, at the age of 18, I said, "That can't be it, man. There has to be more. There has to be something more." Allah says, "And then we gave that person life." But not only do you get life when you accept Islam, not only do you get life, again, you're already alive. Everybody here's alive. But there could be some of us in this room that feel like our hearts are dead. Tonight, we revive the heart. How? By connecting to An-Nur, who is the source of all light.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala, He says, "This is so beautiful to me." Allah says, "We gave this person who was dead spiritually, life. And then we gave them a light, a light by which they can walk amongst people with." What's amazing is walking is the first thing you learn as a child. You crawl, then you walk. And walking is a major milestone. But spiritually, walking isn't enough. You have to walk with light. You have to walk with light. Are you walking with light in your life right now? Or are you just feeling around like someone with no light? Some of us have light, but we close our eyes. You know why? You know your mom woke you up for the morning prayer, Fajr. What she used to do in the old days, man? Flip the light on. Flip. What do you do? What's the first thing you do? Cover back up. Turn it off. Turn the light off. That's how a lot of us responded when we first see this light of Islam. You start to feel the light, but you're scared of what you'll see when you open your eyes up. You're scared of the reality. Like, yo, if I let this light into my heart, my life's going to be different. For me, it was different. I started putting on throws. They were like, "Yo, Mike wearing dresses now." Yo, I'm dead serious, man. It was like the circus. They were like, "Yo, go see Mike. Just go see him." They're like, they're like, "Oh, what's up with him? He's like, he's wearing dresses now. He's wearing dresses, yo." But, but you know what happened? I was looking at life through a different lens.
I met a brother who converted recently. Recently. And he said something so profound. He said, "Ever since I accepted Islam, it's like I have a new pair of eyes I'm looking at the world through." And I was like, "It doesn't matter if you're a Muslim already because some of us are sleeping and we need to be awoken or woken up. We need that light to come on." But what happens is, just like mom flicking on the switch, what we do is we cover up. We say, "Turn it off. Turn it off. Turn it off." But we have to understand a life with clarity. Even though there's scary realities, like when you accept Islam and you accept the reality, you're accepting the reality that there's a Day of Judgment. A Day of Judgment is scary, man. Every action, every moment, every second of my life is now going to be judged. How many moments of my life that I spent completely disobeying God? Man, I, I'd rather put the sheet back over my head and go back to sleep. But at some point in life, whether it's at 18, 25, 35, or 55, you have to wake up. You have to wake up and you have to accept that light into your heart.
So Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, "Is this person who was dead spiritually and then we gave this person light, life, and then light by which they walk amongst people?" Is that person like the one who is living a life of darkness? And this person can't escape the darkness. Think about what life is like without Islam, without the Quran, without the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. How are you living life in darkness? No clue where you're going, where you came from, or where you're at right now. And that's Islam. Three things that gives you clarity on who you are right now, where you're going, and where you came from. And if you know those things, you got it. You got it. But that's the source of light. That's who Allah subhana wa ta'ala is.
One of the scholars, he said, "An-Nur, who is An-Nur? Who is Allah?" Let us get to know who this name is. He says that An-Nur, Allah is Al-Hadi, the one who guides. Ar-Rashid, the one who shows you your path. Every single one of us in this room has a separate path, man, a separate path to your home, and you need a guide to get down that path. There's a verse in Surah Al-Hadid where on the Day of Judgment, all of the believers are gathered, but all the believers weren't at the same level of how much Nure they got back in the dunya, how much light they got. You got to get as much light in this dunya as you can, 'cause the Day of Judgment is dark, and it only has the light that you bring to it.
There's a hadith, man. There's a hadith where the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he said that a person will have to walk on the Day of Judgment towards their Jannah, but it will be completely dark. Completely dark. But then everybody will be given their light according to the light that they got in the dunya. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he said, "Some people will have light shining in front of them, shining in front." You know, those in Texas, they be got the head, the the trucker dudes be having those lights on the. What do you use those for, bro? Like, who's waiting for the worst? Like, it ain't happening, bro. Like, someone's got to have light where they can see everything ahead. Then the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, "Some people have less light, and less light." And then the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, "There will be a believer, may Allah protect us, a believer who has light the size of the tip of his pinky." And even that's blinking. And even that's blinking. How's he going to get where he needs to go? He can't.
So the Quran says that all of the believers are gathered together, but not everybody had the same amount of light. And the Day of Judgment is a day where everybody gets separated. On the Day of Judgment, your rank really comes out. Right now, we don't know who's the Wali of Allah in the room. We don't know who's the friend of God. There's somebody up at like 3:00 AM crying to Allah in this room. But on that day, everyone gets separated. So Allah subhana wa ta'ala says the believers start to move forward and a wall comes down. A wall comes down. On one side, nothing but light. On the other side, nothing but darkness. And the people on the side of darkness, they'll say to the other side like, "Wait for us. Let us borrow your light. Let us borrow your light." And an angel will say, "No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. Yo, y'all just go back and get your light over there." The moment they go back to try to get light, the wall comes down and separates them from the believers. On the inside is mercy. On the outside is the punishment of God.
These realities are scary. These realities of the Day of Judgment, Heaven, Hell, they're scary. But would you rather live a life of darkness and unknown, not knowing who you are and where you're going? Or would you rather have that reality playing in your mind so that you could live your life right now and connect your heart to An-Nur? The more light you gain in this dunya, the more light you gain on the Day of Judgment. You won't be borrowing light; others will be trying to borrow your light. And so Allah subhana wa ta'ala is Ar-Rashid, He guides you to your path. And the one who is Al-Hadi, He allows you to discern between the truth and falsehood. That is the greatest blessing of, of, of having light. You're able to distinguish between what is Haqq, what is true, and what is Batil, what is falsehood. And the other aspect is that you get to walk with this light, and you get to live with this light.
But, but where does this light come? This light that we're searching for in this month of Ramadan, where does it come from? Listen to this verse of Quran. Allah subhana wa ta'ala, in the most beautiful way, He explains the reality of you bringing An-Nur, light, into your heart. Allah subhana wa ta'ala, He says, and this verse is known as the verse of the light. The verse begins: "Allah, God is the source of all light." Allah is the source of all light in the heavens and all light on earth. But then the verse continues. The Quran is filled with these, uh, these parables, and you got to allow your mind to imagine the imagery that is being depicted so you could get the true meaning that God is communicating to us.
So Allah says, "I want you to imagine that there's a, a niche," like, uh, like a cut into the wall. You know, like, you know, like you put a light into a niche, right? And, and Allah says, "A niche in a wall." And in that niche, there's a lamp, a lamp that has a flicker of light on it. But that lamp with that flicker of light has glass around it. Glass. And that lamp, that glass is shining bright because of that small flicker that's inside. Then Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, "And there's oil from a blessed tree that is coming into the lamp from the bottom of the lamp." I want you to get the imagery in your head. This oil is a very balanced oil, very balanced oil. Allah subhana wa ta'ala says that this oil doesn't even have to touch the fire for the fire to be ignited. So imagine when the oil actually touches the fire, the light that will come.
What is this talking about? What is God talking about in this verse? The scholars, they say, "Look, that niche, why do you put a light in a niche?" Because if you just leave a light in the middle of the room, it'll get bright. But if you put the light back in a niche, it'll reflect all throughout the room. But then you have this lamp that has glass on it. The scholars, they say the glass around that light is your heart. Now, here's the deal, y'all. That light, that lamp, I'm sorry, that glass, due to the sins that we commit, due to the heedlessness that we live in, due to our distance from God, for many of us, that, that, that glass is foggy. That glass ain't reflecting clearly the light that's shining inside. And so, what we're learning in this verse is that God has blessed you with this heart. And this heart, every person in this room, Muslim, non-Muslim, praying, not praying, I don't care your level, every one of us has a light inside that knows God, that wants God. Everyone has that light. Every human being walking has that light. But what happens is that glass around the light, that's our issue. That glass gets foggy, man. 11 months of sins made that glass dark. And when that glass is dark, the true beauty of your light can't shine.
And I've been trying not to say it, bro. Man, from my old days, we had a little gospel joint we used to say. Y'all know it, Justin? I know you know it. "This little light of mine." Man, the whole time I was preparing, I was like, "Don't say it, Miko. Don't say it." And man, this, this, there's, I don't know where it came from, but we used to sing it in church, which is, "This little light of mine." Why y'all laughing? It's got wisdom. It's got wisdom. It ain't no shucking it. Relax. "I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine." And what you have to realize, see, some of us are like, "I ain't got no light." Shake, you got light, man. You got light, but you just got to clean that glass off, man. You got to give up that hatred you have for people. That jealousy you got for that cousin that got married to that baller. Yeah. You got to remove that jealousy you got. You got to, you got to scrub that glass. You got to refrain from sins. Because when you refrain from sins, and then you start to add on the prayers we make, the remembrance of God we do, the, when we say all of those things are cleaning that glass. And guess what happens when you clean that glass? "Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine." That's it. Went back to church on us here. Relax. Listen. Relax. Relax. Relax.
So, so, so my first point is, it doesn't matter who you are, where you are, you have that light inside of you. But that light, and here's where the Quran is so deep. The Quran says it's almost as if that oil is about to touch the lamp. So, what's amazing is, let's take the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, before he went, received revelation, he went back to the cave. He had that light inside. He had that light, but he didn't have the zayt. You know what the zayt is? The oil. It's the revelation of God, man. That is why we shine so much in Ramadan because we're in a state of just getting that oil. We're in a state of just getting that oil. You know, the wick is absorbing the oil. And if you think of the metaphor, it's profound because even if you take the oil away. Take Eid day. No more Tarawih. No more Tarawih. Once Eid comes, Masjid empty. If you're a convert, this your first Ramadan, don't get shocked. Ain't nobody going to be here the day after. But, but hold on. Some of us, our, our light continues to shine after Ramadan. Why? 'Cause that wick absorbed the oil. That wick absorbed the oil. And so you still keep going. You just let me get my six days in Sha'ban. You know what I mean? Sha'ban, whatever. The ones after, whatever. The point is, you keep going. But this month is where I need myself to realize, Miko, you have no source of light except God. And this month is where you get it. This month is where I access that light because it's being given in a way that isn't given in other times. Don't get me wrong, all the other 11 months of the year, that light is accessible. It's never gone. Never, never. But the amount that is being given right now, man, that lasts us three months, four months, five months. Then you got to go to Umrah or something. You got to do something just to like, pick yourself up. But recognize first that the Prophet went to that cave. He had that light inside. And then the most miraculous thing happened in the month of Ramadan. The Archangel Gabriel came. The angel Gabriel came and he came with that pure oil. What's the oil, y'all? The first verses of the Quran revealed right there. And the moment that that oil touched that flame, we're still in the light till today. 1400 years later. 1400 years later, we still see the light. Why do we still see the light? 'Cause the glass was clean. 'Cause the glass around was clean. Until today, we benefit from that light.
But here's the crazy part. This isn't just a history lesson. Quran tells you about who you could become. When you tap into that light and clean the heart, though, now all of a sudden you walk into the house, you're the light. You walk into the school, you're the light. You walk into work, you're the light. And that's what we want to become. We want to become the light. Not just benefit from the light, but become the light. Because look, the only way to light one candle is with another candle. That's the only way to light one candle. That's the only way to light a candle is another candle, and another candle, and another candle. And that's how light spreads. And that's what this month is all about. So Allah subhana wa ta'ala, He says, He's teaching us that you got to, you got to work on that, that, that heart so that you could protect that light inside of you and take care of that light inside of you.
And so I want you to look at Ramadan as the month of rekindling. This is rekindling. This is the month I put that wick in that zayt. Maybe I stay for 12 raka'at, 14, 16. I need that wick inside of that zayt. Why? Because I need that light and I need the connection between my light inside of me to connect with that true source of light, who is Allah subhana wa ta'ala. The light is always there, ready to shine and guide you. But you have to clean the heart. So polish it, work on it, build it. I want us to understand how we have to protect the heart. Now, I want us to understand this name. How we protect the heart, how we work on the heart.
One day, Imam Shafi, Imam Shafi is one of the great scholars of our Ummah. He sat down in front of Imam Malik. And Imam Malik, he could see the light on this man. See, because when you have light, you can see light. So Imam Malik was sitting with Imam Shafi and he says to him, he says, Imam Malik is looking at Imam Shafi and he says, "I can see that Allah has placed on your heart light." Now, hold on. What happens when light enters the heart? I'm telling you this so that when you feel it, you don't get scared. Just like light getting turned on in the morning, mom telling you to go to school, you get scared, you shrink back. I don't want to get up. I don't want to face the day. I was comfortable where I was at. Forget comfortable. We, we don't want to survive. We want to thrive. And you can't thrive unless you're living your full spiritual life.
So, so what happens when the light comes on? Listen closely. He said, "When the light of God begins to enter your heart, the light begins to spread throughout your body." Spread throughout your body. That means your eyes, your ears, how you speak, how you touch, how you walk, how you carry yourself is filled with light. Filled with light. And then the Sahabah, the companions, they said, "That's very abstract, like light spreading inside of me. They said, Allah, are there any signs? Like, what are the pragmatic, physical signs that light has come into my heart?" Here they are. Number one. Number one, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he said, "Your heart starts to incline to your eternal home." To your eternal home. What does this mean? The disenchantment of this dunya that we live in now, this worldly life, the enchantment goes away. Your heart starts to incline to the, the hereafter. Your heart starts to think about Jannah. Your heart starts about thinking about the Day of Judgment. Your heart gets tired of this dunya. And it, and it, it wants to go home. It wants to go home. It realizes that all of this is a facade. I'm not saying life is fake, but life is just a place to build your hereafter. That's all it is. Your hereafter. The Prophet, he said that this is, it's where you plant the seeds for your hereafter. That's what we're here for, y'all. Everything else, the clout, the recognition, the house, the cars, it all goes away, man. It all goes away. Doesn't matter who you are, it all goes away. It goes different places. Either Allah takes it from you or Allah takes you from it. That's the nature of the cars, the wealth, all of it. Even the loved ones, yo, even the loved ones. This, it all goes away.
I was watching this interview. Not interview. What's the dude's name who just passed away from, uh, Y'all act like y'all don't watch TV. >> Yeah, that dude. >> Whatever his name is. Uh, he, he passed away from that. What's this? The disease. >> ALS. ALS. I don't watch TV. Y'all watch TV. I don't watch TV. >> No, but I, I saw this thing. Hear me out real quick. We'll wrap up in a minute. I saw this video where he was recording a video before he passed for his daughters. It was powerful. Yo, it was powerful because you could be at the top of dunya, but you can't keep it, man. You can't keep it. You, how many famous people have we seen pass away in '25, '26? You can't take it with you. But you start to realize the first sign that N is entering your heart is that you start to incline towards. Now, this doesn't mean you quit your job, you know, you go, you, you go to Morocco or somewhere, you know, I mean, go live in the desert. No, it just means that you don't place your heart anymore on the dunya. Your focus is on, what is my eternal life? I got to build that. I got to build that. I got to work towards that. That's the first sign that the light is coming on. You start to think these thoughts. Man, why am I, why am I focused on this dunya so much? It's trivial. It's, it's fleeting.
Sign number two. Sign number two. It's the natural reaction of the first one. You start to distance yourself from this house of deception. What is the house of deception? This life we're in right now. This ain't it, y'all. It, it makes you feel like it's it. What's crazy about life? The Prophet said it best. As you get older, you feel like you got more dunya. Y'all look at me like, "Yo, he's old." I look at me like, "Yo, I just hit prime, bro." Like, that's the dunya. The dunya is set up in a way. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, "As you get older, you start to think younger." And so you look at this dude who's sitting on the chair 'cause he can't sit on the floor, and you're like, "Yo, he's, he's old dude." He, in his mind, he's like, "Yeah, I'm like one of y'all." As he be trying to be on the basketball court, tear his ACL 'cause the body's like, "Bro, you ain't 18 no more." But the re, the reality is, there's a point where you realize you're moving out of the dunya. There's another 18-year-old stronger than you, more handsome than you, more beautiful than you. You're moving out, bro. Yeah, you're moving out. It's that next generation is coming in. Means you start to distance yourself from this home of deception. And it's only a deception for the one who doesn't have light to see it clearly. When you have light to see it clearly, there's no deception. What is dunya? It's the place I build my. I love the people that I love. I care for the people that I care. The money I make, I invest in my hereafter. That's what it is. Anything else is for somebody else.
The third quality. The third quality of what happens when light enters the heart. He said, "And you start to prepare for death." Oh, that sounds morbid, shake. I don't want light. Right? That's what you felt when you heard that. When you heard that, you were like, "Nah, yo, trying to get the Lambo. I'm trying to," right? You don't understand. Preparation for death and realizing the shortness of life is what gives life meaning. That man did not record that video for his daughters till he saw death right in front of him. Oh, Allahu Akbar. He had his whole life to do what he said in the video. He had his whole life to do what he said in the video, but he couldn't do it till he saw death right in front of him. And now, at that moment when he realized that I won't be here forever, every second, he said something in the video that was so profound. He said, "Just live in the present moment. Don't think about the past. Don't worry about the future. Live in your present moment right now." But he could only do that when death was in front of him. And look what the Prophet gave you. You're 19 years old. You're 25 years old. 45 years old. And you're hearing about thinking about death right now. That means I'm gonna go home and hug wifey and pay attention to her when she's talking about whatever, like closely. Yo, like, Mhm. You don't say. Why? Because this present moment with her is all that I have. I'm going to read that story with my girls. Why? Because this present moment is the only moment I have. That is what it means to remember death. Not to just lay down and don't live. It means to actually live in the moment. And if you lived in the moment, man, everything changes.
So, Imam Shafi, he said, "What?" He said, "That the sign of light coming in your heart are these three things." And I share them with you so that you can welcome it when it comes. Yo, when you feel these coming in your heart, say, "I knew you would come. I needed you to come." The other thing we need to understand is that when we feel darkness in our life in the form of anxiety, hatred, confusion, loss of purpose, like, what am I here for? A hardness of my heart, then realize that I'm feeling that darkness only because I've moved away from the source of all light, An-Nur.
So, so look at your life. Anytime you're experiencing that darkness in different forms, I mentioned some of them, but there's so many. At that moment, all you got to reflect on in that moment is, "Ah, I know what's happening. I need to put some more oil in the wick. Yo, I need some more oil in the wick. I've distanced myself from An-Nur." And the moment I get back close to An-Nur, clarity comes. Now I can see again. Ah, it makes sense now. Everything is clear. Everything makes sense. So when a person distances himself from the guidance, when we stop reading Quran, when we go away from the Sunnah of the Prophet, when we give up our Dhikr, guys, Dhikr is one of the most beautiful Ibadah you could do in this month because sometimes you're just tired. Like the fatigue hits 3 PM, 4 PM. What do you do? It's hard to read a little bit. I'm tired. At that point, all you're doing is remembering Allah. Subhan Allah. Alhamdulillah. Allahu Akbar. Why? The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam one day he came to the Sahabah. He said, "Yo, the heart gets rusty." Remember I said, like the glass needs polish. He said, "The heart gets rusty." So the Sahabah, they said, "How do we clean it?" He said, "Read Quran and remember death." What that means is any form of Allah. Just glorify Allah, guys. That is our Subhan Allah. Alhamdulillah. Say it in English if you got to. Yo, it don't matter. Language don't matter. It cleans the heart because it's remembering your creator. And so much as you remember him, that's you getting closer to Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
So, let's put this all together. Ramadan is, is this month where we are invited to come back to An-Nur. The fasting removes the food and the distractions, and it allows us to see more clearly. The Dhikr that we do, remembrance of God, polishes the heart, and the Quran does the same thing. So the goal by the end of this month is not just to pray more. Now we understand from tonight, we understand my goal, that wick has to be dipped into that oil because I need that light to live for the rest of my months, going and going and going.
Now, I want, there's another thing we have to do with all of these names of God. One of the things we always reflect on is, how do I live with this name? First thing, number one. Living with this name, An-Nur. First thing, number one. Make dua. Ask Allah to give you your light. Look at this verse of Quran: "Oh you who believe, repent to God. Repent to God because He will forgive your sins and enter you into paradise. And what will He do? Your light will be shining in front of you on the Day of Judgment and in life." And these are the people who said, listen closely, "Oh Allah, complete my light for me, Ya Allah." That's the dua we leave tonight saying, "Oh Allah, complete my light. Ya Allah, complete my light. Oh Allah, complete my light. Give me my light."
And then there's one dua also that I want to end with, but there's one more aspect I want to talk about. This is a longer dua, but it's beautiful. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, when he would go to the morning prayer, see, real quick, how do you get light on the Day of Judgment? The worships that you do in the darkness of dunya give you light on the Day of Judgment. The Prophet said, "When you walk to Fajr prayer, it's dark out. That's light on the Day of Judgment. When you walk to Isha prayer, it's dark out. That's light on the Day of Judgment." Anything done in that darkness for God is light on the Day of Judgment. So on his way, walking to the morning prayer, he used to say this dua: "Allah, write some of this down. If you don't get the whole thing, write some of it. Oh Allah, place my light in my heart. Oh Allah, place light in how I listen. Oh Allah, place light in how I look at things. Oh Allah, put light on my right side. On my right side. Put in front of me. Put no behind me. Put no all around me, Ya Allah." And then the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he would say, "Oh Allah, just make me An-Nur."
And that brings me to my next point, which is we all have to become the light for other people in our lives. We cannot be the sources of other people's darkness. We have to become the light for other people. That means we help them to goodness. We help them to do. We help them to know God. We help them to whatever will bring light and clarity to their lives. And you have to surround yourself with other people that have light. Because on my day that I'm feeling down, as long as I got an ace that got light, we're good for the day. But if I'm surrounded by people of darkness, on my dark day, we're in nothing but darkness.
So tonight, brothers and sisters, we realize the purpose of Ramadan through this name of Allah. This name of Allah, An-Nur, is a deep one. It's a beautiful one. And for all of us tonight sitting in here with confusion, anxiety, worries, lack of clarity, not knowing where our next move is, tonight is the night we learn who An-Nur is. And then what happens when we know who An-Nur is? Then we become the An-Nur for other people. By sitting in the presence of An-Nur, you become An-Nur. And by becoming An-Nur, you start to light the way for other people around you. And that is why the Prophet was described as he was a bright lamp. He was a bright lamp. And he's so bright that till today, 1400 years, you just read this hadith and you get An-Nur in your life. You get An-Nur in your life.
And so that's our name for tonight. An-Nur. We ask Allah to fill our lives with An-Nur. We ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to allow us to know that He is the only source, source of true An-Nur. We ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to make us a light for those people around us. Inshallah ta'ala, before we conclude this An-Nur that we like to bask in, we have to become part of the people that build that An-Nur. And Kalam has been a source of An-Nur in my life. I don't know about y'all, but Kalam has been a source of my life. An-Nur Roots, a source of An-Nur in my life. On the screen right now, if the tech team is with me, you'll see a QR code. I'm simply asking for y'all, a dollar a day, $30 a month to help preserve and amplify that light. And I'll say it this way. Allah says there's haters out there, Islamophobes, just haters. They try to blow out the light of God. But what is necessary? Yo, is that QR code up? Yeah, there it is. I don't see no phones out though. Yo, >> it's not up yet. >> I know it's there. I see it there. $30 a month so that we can keep this Nure going. The literal Nure right there, the lights and the Nure that spiritually is guiding us in our lives. Take out your phone and be a part of keeping this Nure going. Any person that gains light from what you donate, you're contributing. You're that candle touching the next candle. And I understand this room is young, man. We, we know, you know what I mean. I understand. But take out your phone, scan the QR code and just give a dollar a day so that we can continue to spread this Nure across the world. And you are at the source of that Nure that is spreading everywhere around the world. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala bless everyone.