Well, welcome this really wonderful family of brilliant young people. Your children are really smart. I remember last week you knew everything, and we hope our friends from Indonesia are with us again. So now we're going to, of course, your children are too young to make the Hajj. Have any of you known anyone who went on Hajj, or did Umrah, any grandparents, or did you know of anybody, any of you? Yeah. You've known people? Well, it's a good thing to know about, not only because you want to understand why they go and why it's such an important part of our religion, right? But I'll tell you something really special, everybody. The ideas you're learning in order to make the pilgrimage are also important for your life right now as it is. Do you know there are two journeys. One journey is the one we're on right now.  That's a life, one kind of a journey, right? But the Hajj is another kind of a journey, right? And it has ideas in it which we can use right now. But today, I mean, this book you're looking at, you see the cover, The Mysteries of Pilgrimage for Young People. This book was really written for older kids, sort of 10 years old and older.  But it's all really, really profound stuff.  Would that be all right? All right, so when your parents or people make the Hajj, this tells the inner meanings of it, this book. If they're gonna make a regular pilgrimage like your granny, she needs to buy a proper Hajj manual which is adjusted for everything you need when you get there. So now, what the essential ideas, even though this book was written by Imam al-Dazali, oh, 900 years ago, yeah, 900 years ago, everything is still the same. And so have you ever heard of our friend, Hamza, Yusuf? He's a great scholar. Yes. He's great. Yes, I'll look next time. Yeah, we're here. We have. He wrote the introduction for this book and he said many things make journeys, right? Like, I mean, some journeys we do, we're just going on vacation, right? Or visiting our grandmother. But the Hajj journey is really important for all of you because it's the other part that's real in your life. But think of animals. Don't animals think of the monarch butterfly and think of salmon. They set off on journeys, the monarch flies from Mexico up to Canada and its children know how to get all the way back to Mexico. And the salmon come out of the ocean and they swim all the way back up rivers to get to the place where they came from. And nothing can deter them. They don't lose their concentration, right?  And so we can learn a lot from animals, right? We should be concentrated and we should prepare, right? So what we're going to do as people though, we don't have like animal instincts how to get back to an ocean, but we have the instinct, we have the deeper knowledge to go out and try to become close to Allah and have knowledge of him. And so this Hajj journey is gonna remind us of things we have forgotten.  Did you ever hear that? It says, surely we belong to God and surely the return is to God. And so that very important idea you learn in the Hajj, by the way. So like, I keep doing this wrong here. So you have to know children that again, we all have a really unique golden heart, right? Does everybody remember that? You remember that you all have a golden heart, right? And so you have to remember that your golden heart is the thing that you're supposed to take care of and you're learning how to do that from the Mamal Ghazali, right? Now in the story, the children are walking home from school, but today they're going to the magic garden. Do you see the door to the garden hidden behind the wisteria? Isn't it magical and beautiful? They're going to see Hajj Abdullah, right? And on their way there, they're talking about how much they've learned in their life from learning from him, how they know just like you, the inner things to do with your wudu, the inner things to do with your prayer. These are all things you've learned. You learned about zakat and fasting last week. These are all very special learnings. And so anyway, the children are on their way to see Hajj Abdullah and they, and so let me just say, and so in order to learn anything, we need guidance and we get this from the Quran and we also get it from the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, all right? So then let me just go to the next picture, all right? Now the children go to Hajj Abdullah and they speak to him and he says to them, you know, the Hajj is an incredible chance for you to learn everything you need to know and how to practice. And the Hajj teaches you, it gives you a way to practice how dying, while you're alive in this world. Have you ever known something that didn't die? Don't flowers die? Do people die? When the sun goes, night comes on? Yes, yes. Do animals go to heaven? They go to the next world, yes, everything, you know? And so since everything is going to die, isn't it good that we find out a little bit more about dying? Don't you think you need to know? Yes, who else has their hand up there? Yes, yes? We watch your show called Wild Cratch and it's a lot of animals. Oh, it's about animals. Oh, how lovely. Animals are so beautiful, right? And so since everything- I have a question. Yes? Like a kind of so- Well, I heard once, like, it said moose or something, don't all animals straight away go to heaven? Well, why wouldn't they?  But I think so. So anyway, so they're sitting with Hajj Abdullah and they go to see him. And you know what they tell him? They're in the magic garden and little the fox is listening to him and a spider comes down. And they say, oh, Hajj Abdullah, very exciting news. Two of us, Balal and Layla, we're getting to go on the Hajj with our grandmother and our mother and father. And Hajj Abdullah said, well, that's really interesting that you're gonna be doing this because this gives me a chance to teach you about the Hajj. And I just want you to know something, children. This may be one of the last few times you see me. I haven't been very well. So the children started crying and they said, what? You're dying? What's happening? We don't wanna lose you. And he said, what did we learn at the very first time from the book of knowledge? One, we have two, there are two kinds of learning. One is the special learning how to polish the heart and we're learning to polish our heart because there are two worlds getting ready for the next world. In this life we're in has lots of difficulties. Remember that kids?  So the children were really sad to think that Hajj Abdullah might die. But on the other hand, he'd given his life to polishing his heart. Why shouldn't he be allowed to go to the next world, go to paradise? So anyway, the children said, oh, they would love to know all about the Hajj.  They would love to learn about the pilgrimage. They did know it involved wearing special clothes, visiting the Kaaba, spending an entire day on the plane of Arafat and asking for God's forgiveness in the company of Muslims from every community the world over, right? So Hajj Abdullah said that on his second Hajj, so we have to ask everybody, children, what is behind all these rights going to all these places? What do they mean? And why are they so important? Would you like to find that out today? With lots of fun pictures, we're gonna learn that today. So Hajj Abdullah, when he made his, yes, his second Hajj, he used Al Ghazali's book. And so he's gonna tell us why it's so important to go to Mecca and Medina. Have you ever wondered why is it so important? And then like, why is Hajj considered the special worship, right? One of a lifetime. It is a seal or it's a crown for your other things, for prayer and purification, for zakat and for fasting. This is the crown of all these other ways. So anyway, keep doing that. So here are the two little children imagining themselves going to the Kaaba. This is Balala and Layla, imagining themselves sitting there. Can you all imagine what it would be like sitting there?   And when you return, your return is pure as on the day when you were born. And he also said that a Hajj that is accepted by Allah, right? Is better than all of the world what it contains and everything in the world and is rewarded by heaven. And by the way, Ghazali mentions, when you go on the Hajj children, you will be God's guests and you can ask him for whatever you like. Now, if you have guests that come to your house, would you tell them no if they asked for something? No, so you would be God being God's guests. So by the way, some people ride on donkeys to reach Mecca and the angels run out and greet them. But some people walk there and the angels run out and hug them and embrace them. Why do you think they would embrace the ones who are walking? Yes. They're trying to get more of Allah's blessing. Yes, because they're making more of an effort, aren't they? They're not just sitting, riding, they're actually walking. And so also when the pilgrims get to Mecca, even if you're just sitting there, see the children are gazing that Allah gives special portions of his mercy, 20% to those who are just sitting looking at the Kaaba and another 40 for those who are praying and another 60 of those who are walking around the Kaaba making Tawaf, right? Now you see, here's the black stone. You see the black stone? It's put in a silver casing and it's put in the corner of the Kaaba. And I don't know whether you knew or not, but it fell from heaven and the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him. And others helped to place it in the corner of the Kaaba, all right? Now, there was a companion, radiAllahu anhu named Omar. And you know what he said? He said to the stone, he said, I know you were just a stone with no harm or benefit.  And then the companion Ali, radiAllahu anhu came and said, oh, I'm gonna tell you a story, all right children, get ready for an amazing story, all right? All right, in the very, very beginning, did you know Allah created Adam? He was the first prophet. And from Adam, all of us were inside of Adam before we even came to be. All humanity that would ever come to be were inside of Adam. And Allah said to Adam, Adam, am I not your Lord, your Lord? And Adam said, yes, of course you are. And God said, I ask you this because on the day of reckoning, the day of last judgment, I don't want you to say, you never heard of this. You know, you never heard that I was your Lord. So Adam and Allah, there was a contract written, an agreement. Do you know where this contract is between Allah and Adam? It's inside of the black stone. It's inside of it, can you imagine that? So this is an amazing thing.   Believing in you, affirming the truth of your book and fulfilling your love. So you are remembering the contract that is made in your name. It's inside of there, all right? Wouldn't you all agree to this contract if Allah said, am I not your Lord? Would you all say yes? Of course you would, right? So then just to let you know that if you're in Mecca when you get to go, if you fast for one day or do charity or some goodness, do you know it's worth 100,000 fasts anywhere else in the world. So you could go to Mecca and you could fast one day and it's like 100,000 fastings or acts of charity. And the value of prayer and good deeds are multiplied as well, you know? So see this little girl with her pure heart, do you all have golden hearts like this? You do, can you feel it? When you're praying next time, remember exactly. Yes, you can feel it. This is who you really are. This is the real you inside, right?  No, it would be nice, but you might start taking Mecca for granted.  It's the house of Allah, right? And whoever visits it visits God. So you should be yearning to visit God, not just think, oh, I live in Mecca, I live here. You might get bored, right? You wouldn't want to do that. So you yearn to be near to Allah, right? So then here's a story. See the little boy standing?  That's called the Kiswa. It's a beautiful covering. And they change it every year during the Hajj. They put up the fresh one. And this beautiful Kiswa covers the Ka'ba. Listen to the story. One night I was passing, let me put my glasses on. One night I was praying in the hijra. This is this little semi-circular area where Saddam Ishmael is buried. When I heard a voice between the Ka'ba and the curtain, and the curtain, and the Ka'ba said, to God I complain, then to you, O Gabriel, of what comes from those who make circuits around me engrossed in chatter and vain prattle. If they don't cease, I will quake with such a quaking, like an earthquake, that every stone in me will go back to the mountains in which it came. So the children heard this story and they thought, they said, oh, we have to be careful when we're walking around the Ka'ba.  But you know, making Tawaf around the Ka'ba, walking around it is prayer. But you don't talk to people when you're making prayer, do you? But when you're walking around the Ka'ba, you can ask your mother and father questions when you go.  You would never do that, would you? So anyway, the prophet, peace and blessings, be upon him, right? He, when he used to face the Ka'ba, he would say, you are the best place on God's earth. Now also, by the way, this is the city of Jerusalem. This is the, do you see this is the Harama Sharif near the mosque of Al-Aqsa. This is the dome of the rock. If you quote to Medina or to Jerusalem, if you do prayers and special acts of charity and good deeds, those also get, they're worth many, many, many more of them. So I hope you get to visit these three people, these three places when you get older. So now, here's the Ka'ba. Here's everybody walking around it, right? So one of the things, yes? Okay, I'll continue. The first picture before this one with the Ka'ba, right in there. You've been there? You've been to Jerusalem? Yes. Yes. Masha'Allah. How lovely. Isn't it wonderful? I'm so glad you got to go there. It's so beautiful, so beautiful. I've been there. You've been there. And here is the Ka'ba. Now, by the way, making this Hajj pilgrimage, it's a duty for every, every Muslim, if you can afford to go and if you have good enough health, you want to go because it's so, so important and you all are gonna discover why it's so important. But if you can't go, maybe you're too ill, maybe you could have someone do it for you. Maybe a daughter or a son who finished their pilgrimage already, they can go and do it for you because it's a debt. It's something you owe to a law, right? It's a debt like any other, any other. Let's just read what it says here. The one who dies without having paid Zakat or performing the pilgrimage will be among those who ask to be returned to the world.  "'I have to go back because it's from the Quran." When, until death comes to one of them, he says, "'My Lord, send me back that I might do righteousness "'in that which I left behind. "'Wouldn't you hate to be dead "'and wish you could come back to life "'to do your pilgrimage or pay your Zakat?' "'You wouldn't want to do that, would you?' "'So you're all going to be very careful "'and try to make the Hajj when you can, all right?' "'Now the family, there's a family "'that you're gonna make the Hajj with today. "'We're about to go on Hajj together, right?' "'And here's the family. "'There's the grandmother, the mother and father "'and two of the children and they're sitting at home "'and they're planning their Hajj.' "'That evening, Leila Balal, Zaynab and Abdullah "'were thrilled to share with their family "'some of what they've been learning "'about their upcoming Hajj. "'Balal said, I am so glad we have been watching "'and correcting our characters. "'It seems to me that the very things "'we shouldn't be doing on the pilgrimage "'we shouldn't be doing in our life at home anyway.' "'So you all are gonna learn this, right?' "'Now one of the things you want to do "'is you wanna have a good intention. "'Do you think if you're going on the Hajj "'you should be doing it to do good business "'and make money or to go because you love a law? "'What should you be doing it for? "'What's the intention?' Yes, yes.' "'To go because you love a law.'" That's right, that's right. And so also you wanna take extra money with you so you can be generous. Wouldn't it be horrible to be on the Hajj and you saw people in need and you were stingy and didn't have extra to give? So you wanna take extra to give, you know? Even you children, when you're walking around town or in your lives, you could keep extra change in your pockets in case you saw children like the zakat story that needed something. So also, just like having good intention in your life, also another thing you need to have on the Hajj is pure speech without a lot of arguing.  Are you doing better with arguing? Because we've been talking about it, you are. All right, because wouldn't it be horrible to go on the pilgrimage and argue? Well, it's horrible to argue at home. Do you like to hear people arguing? No, no, so of course. Now, another thing. I even tried to stop making them argue but they still argued and then I tried as hard and then that worked. Oh, bless your heart that you tried, bless your heart. What a great blessing you had for trying that, right? And another thing you're not supposed to do on the Hajj is hurt other people and if somebody hurts you or bumps you or says, you just bear it patiently. Like, shouldn't you do that at school if somebody says something mean? Shouldn't you just be patient and bear it? Yes. But what if they do it by accident? Oh, well, then it's just an accident. Nobody cares, right? Now, Imam al-Ghazali says, a sign that your pilgrimage has been accepted is when you come back, when you come back home, you stop doing and saying bad things, right? And instead of being with your friends that are really naughty and say, let's do this bad thing, let's turn over this, let's break this, let's do this horrible thing, you have better friends and instead of spending all your time when you come back, just going to the movies and being entertained, you try to do something higher with your time. Join groups, maybe people who are praying or doing Vick. So you have to remember something, children. When you make your Hajj, it's a kind of dying, but what are you dying?   That old person is dead and gone.  So, now let's continue. Now, here is Hajj Abdullah, right? Excuse me? Yes. Why does it cost so much to go? Why does it cost so much to go? Yes. Well, you know, planes cost a lot and then you get there and you have to have tents waiting for you, like all travel costs a lot. It's too bad it costs a lot. It used to be in the ancient days people would walk from Africa, come by camel. They would do the long walking Hajj, right? But I mean, unfortunately. Now, Hajj Abdullah was sitting in his garden surrounded by animals and he's like very, very peaceful, right? You see how peaceful he is, right?  He said, no, that there is no way to approach a law except by dying off one's lower desires and qualities, right? And instead of living with excess, having too much stuff choose to live with what are really, what are necessities. When you go on the Hajj, can you take a lot of luggage with you? No, you take a nap sack, you take a few changes of clothes and you're gone for weeks and you can live with all that, right?  So shouldn't we in this life live with fewer things? Is it good to have so much excess? Maybe our excess toys and clothes we should give to orphans, right? So it's very important, right? That we're very taking good care of our hearts.  The young people thought about their own hearts. Were they being polished enough? I hope you all are drawing your hearts and putting dots of the things you wanna polish away. The children wondered why grownups didn't draw and assess their own hearts. They found it very helpful to write down a visible list found inside of their own hearts, things which they needed clearing away. It helped them to remember their true nature, the fitra, their luminous golden self. How did older people manage to fix themselves up if they didn't make a checklist for their jihadal nafs or struggle with their lower selves? And what about understanding? You all wanna have understanding. You don't wanna just be told to do things. You wanna understand it, don't you? Yeah, people need understanding. Now, it just might interest you to know that other faith traditions have different forms of retreats. There can be monks and nuns and they go into monasteries. They go for short periods. They do long retreats. They may live there, but guess what? In Islam, the Hajj Al Ghazali says is our form of retreat in our religion. It's very concentrated, right? It's aimed at dying off all your attachments to the lower things of this world, right? And learning to experience that you can live with less. So our kind of retreat is making the Hajj, right? And the Hajj also teaches you to surrender, to just submit and do what you're supposed to. And that's what the word Islam means, peace, submission, surrender, right? Because part of your pilgrimage are things like things that maybe you can't understand. You can understand if you're fasting how that helps your religion. You can understand zakat, giving charity. But if you're asked to throw stones at a pillar or run between two small hillocks, what you're doing, you're learning just to submit to what Allah asked. Like if a king told you, do this, if you were the servant of a king, would you say, why do I have to do it? Or would you just do it? What would you do? If a king told you, I want you to do this, would you do what he asked or would you say, okay, I'm not gonna do it unless you explain it to me. So you see, yeah, it's a way of practicing being obedient, right? So now here's the little girl she's making duet.   You could be in an accident. You could, something could happen to you. So you have to leave everything in order. You have to make sure the people, the family you're leaving behind, who depend on you that they're well taken care of. And your intention should be that you're doing it for God, right? And by the way, if you discover you're doing it for a low intention, like look what this girl says, be sure it's not to show off or be well thought of. Maybe somebody's making the Hajj because they want people to think, oh, they're really great, they're making the Hajj. The little girl says, it would be terrible to set out to visit the king, yani Allah, for some other reason, like desiring to be seen or to be famous. So look at your hearts carefully. And children, this applies to you right now. If you notice you have a bad intention for something. Maybe you're not really wanting to help mommy. Really, it's just for people to think you're really good. What you can do if you discover your intention is not that great, you can replace it. You can think, I'm gonna replace it with a better intention. Isn't that wonderful that you can do that? That you can replace your intention? So also you have to put everything. Yes, it is, isn't it?  Okay, get ready for this. You have to put things in order.  If you had done things that you were sorry for, wouldn't you apologize? If you owed somebody money, if you'd borrowed someone's bicycle, wouldn't you return them and put everything in good order? Wouldn't you do that? You would, right? So Ghazali said, listen to this image. You won't believe this image. You can take and hang around your neck a bag, a sack. And put all the things in it that you haven't done, that weigh you down. Like for example, if you have been mean to someone and you didn't apologize, it's hanging around your neck weighing you down. You know how you feel bad about something until you put it right? If you've been mean to your brother or something, it's heavy around your neck.   Aren't you ashamed? Don't you wanna fix your wrongs and ask for his forgiveness? Now, you have to do this if you're making the Hajj, but shouldn't you all do this every day in your life? You should, right? And also Ghazali tells us, you should turn your heart wholly and completely in the direction of Allah, right? When you're traveling.  So children, I want you to imagine you're going on Hajj. We're about to do it together, all right?  Because you might be leaving all of your friends and never see them again. So be sure you leave everything in beautiful working order, right? Because the Hajj is gonna help you practice for your final journey when you do die. So the Hajj is a chance to ask for forgiveness, to put things in order, to get used to living with less, and also the best thing you can take with you on the Hajj is a golden heart. So children, don't you realize all these things that people have to do for the Hajj journey are the same kinds of things you have to do for your journey right now in your everyday lives, in your families and at school. So then the children are leaving. They're going to be leaving the next day for the Hajj. And just as they're leaving Hajj Abdullah, look what flew into the garden. What is it, everyone? It's a white peacock. Do you see it? In some traditions, the peacock is the symbol of paradise, of Jannah. So sometimes in nature, there are signs, yet. Maybe this was a special sign because they would not be seeing Hajj Abdullah again, right? So the next day, they're getting ready to go on the Hajj. Children, are you all ready to go on the Hajj now? We're all going together. We're gonna have this journey. So you can pay attention and you'll have a good idea because you're gonna see pictures of it and learn some very interesting things about it, all right? So the first thing is, you see everybody's dressed in Ihram. Do you know what Ihram is?  The woman can wear a dress. It's all right, right? And so this cloth that the men wear Ihram, right? It's a, what you in a special state. And you know what it looks like Ihram?   They're gonna have a week or so where they're only thinking about a law and asking forgiveness and trying to get their hearts back in order.  Would you wear a party dress or would you prefer to dress in something that shows you are empty of everything but him? Would you wear a Ihram or would you wear blue jeans? Which would you do? And I'm not blue jeans. Right, of course, of course. Yeah, so anyway, the children that the family is making certain prayers and do as and then they get in the car to leave. And you know what Layla says to her parents? Oh my God, she said, I am so glad I apologized to my friend Rukia because I was mean to her. And now if I hadn't done that, I'd be carrying that like a sack around my neck, a heavy sack saying, where are you headed with never having apologized? So children, we also, we always wanna ask ourself every day, did we apologize for what we've done? You know, we have to be very careful, all right? Okay, the family is packed lightly. Do you see that? And the main thing is their hearts have a good clean feeling. And so they're setting out and they're going to the plane. And here is Balal, he's sitting on the plane seat. Okay, pretend you've gotten to the plane, everybody. You're sitting on the plane, right? And then, okay, you're on the plane. And then the plane flies over a place which is called the Mikat. It's a place where you actually enter the state of the Haram where there are things you can no longer do. And at that moment, you know, you see, he's making an intention. Everyone sat straight up in their seats and repeated. I make the intention of entering Ihram, a special clothing, special state for the sake of accomplishing the pilgrimage. Balak could feel the intention deep in his heart. And then everyone gets to say the Talbiyah. Have you ever heard people saying the Talbiyah? Here it is. La Beka Lahoma La Bek, La Beka La Shariqa La Ka La Bek Inna Lahamda Wa Niamatau La Ka Wal Mulk La Shariqa La Ka. Do you see it right here? Here I am at your service, oh God. Here I am. Here I am. You have no partners. To you alone is all praise and all blessing. And to you is the sovereignty, the dominion. You have no partner. And you say this, you say this all the time whenever you're moving forward, whenever you're with other people. But do you know what you're doing here? This is quite amazing. What you're saying here, you're answering the call of Abraham, Saydena Ibrahim. You know that Abraham and his son Ishmael built the Kaaba. Do you remember that? They built it. Abraham lived around 4,000 years ago. And when they finished building this beautiful sanctuary where people were, God said, for a claim that people come here to this sanctuary to worship me. And Abraham basically was thinking, I'm out here in the middle of the desert. If I call, you know, who will hear?  So when you're making, when you're saying this statement to Talbiyah, who's you're answering Abraham, he called 4,000 years ago and you're answering him now. Isn't that amazing to answer over 4,000 years?  Boom! And that calls everybody back, people who are died, all the way back to be alive to the resurrection together. So this Talbiyah you're saying, you're responding to the trumpet blast and also to Abraham.  You're going to be wearing this in Tawaf and making the sigh and going to Minna. And also when we go to Arifat, you see here the mount of Arifat at sunrise. Do you all see Arifat here? All right. So anyway, the next thing, let's get going. We've reached Saudi Arabia by plane and here are pilgrims from all over the world. You see all the luggage they have, these boxes of things they have, you know, they've got tons of luggage, somewhat even bring food. And you see the buses in the background, you see the buses children, right? And there's some cars. Well, Ghazali points out, you don't want to show off with your transport, right? You can take a bus or a van. You don't have to have a fancy, fancy car. And then he says something. Here they are in the bus. Do you see they're in their bus with the luggage on the top?  Now children, we're on the journey. We're going toward the house of Allah, the beta law. Now on the way there, the grandmother tells them something very, very important. She said, this vehicle, a vehicle is something that transports you. Here in this case, it's a bus, right? She said, but really this bus is to remind you of another vehicle. When you die, they put you on a flat board. It's called a beer, B-I-E-R. And that beer is taking you to the Kaaba.  You want to make it like you're on your beer. You're dead and you've left everything behind and you're going to Allah with an empty golden heart, right? So now are you ready to go? Are you ready to reach Mecca now? All right, here we go. Oh my goodness, everyone gasped when they saw the tall minarets of the Masjid al-Haram come into view. Okay children, we're just reaching the front door of the Kaaba, right? So we're going to go in now and be his guests. We're going to be the guests of Allah with our hearts open. Is everybody's heart open right now? All right, all our hearts are open, right? Imagine kids, now you want to have a good state of being and soon you're going to even be able to touch the Kaaba, touch it itself. This building built by Abraham 4,000 years ago with his son Ishmael. And so in you go, here we are, right? Now grandmother was worried, she said to the children, you know, you have to be a little bit worried here, right? That maybe you're not worthy to be so near to Allah. But on the other hand, you can have hope because Allah is so generous, you know? So you say the Shahada and come on in. So the children come in, oh my goodness. They first set their eyes for the first time on the Kaaba and Layla and Bilal were dazzled by its grandeur and beauty. It stood majestically before them like the silent center of the universe around which all else seemed to turn. It was as though their golden hearts recognized it. Had always known it, they were home at last.  She was overcome by the splendor she beheld and the peace in her heart, right? So remember that Tawaf is prayer. So as you make it, let your heart be filled with fear and hope and reverence and love. Now, this is something children, this is very exciting what you're about to hear. You see, in making and going around the Kaaba, right? Making Tawaf, you are circumambulating, you are going with the angels. Did you know that, right? And by the way, this walking around the Kaaba that you're gonna be doing, don't suppose that the aim of making the circumambulation is for your physical body just to be walking around it. The aim, the purpose of Tawaf is of your heart, the Tawaf of your heart by remembering God in his house. The Kaaba, do you see the Kaaba right here? You're seeing it with your eyes, everybody, right? Are you seeing it with your visual eyes, with your physical body? But it's a symbol in this world for a presence that your eyes can't even see, right? The Kaaba exists, the real Kaaba exists in the Alamel Malakut, a realm of dominion. Listen to this, the Kaaba is mentioned in the Quran as the Betel Mamur or the much frequented house and has been thought to correspond to the Kaaba above the one you can see with your eyes. And the angels are going around it just as we are about to do. And since we are far from being angels, children, we are asked to imitate them. We've been promised that he who imitates a folk becomes one of them. So we're going to pretend we're angels, everybody, all right? We're gonna imitate the angels who are above the Kaaba in a world you can't see. The angels are going around the throne, right? The throne of God. Okay, are you all ready, children? You are all being angels right now, all right? So now the next thing, oh, I'm gonna go a little bit further. You're gonna begin at the Blackstone, all right? We're gonna, the seven times walk, you start at the Blackstone. And remember what we're gonna do.  In the name of God, God is the most great. We are remembering what? We're remembering what is inside of the Blackstone. We're remembering that we made a contract with God that he is our Lord. Remember that, all right? So then we renew our pact, our contract with God. And this is very, very serious, all right? Now, see this little girl? You know, the Kaaba has a curtain on it. It's called the Kiswa. It's a beautiful covering. You know what you can do, kids? You can go up and cling to it. And you can cling and hang on to it. You know, if you want something from your mother, have you ever clung onto her skirt or the hammock and just beg her for something and you cling until she gives it to you? Has that ever happened? Oh, mom, you've got to do it. Please, I beg you, let me get the new doll. Let me get whatever. Mom, please, please let me whatever it is. And you cling and beg. So this is what you can do with the Kiswa. You can go cling onto the Kiswa and beg a law, beg a law to help you, all right? Now, the Black Stone. The prophet said, the Black Stone is the right hand of God on earth with it he shakes hands with his creatures just as a man shakes hands with his brother. Now, you start moving, you've started at the Black Stone. You're moving along and you're just passing the first corner. It's called the Iraqi corner, right? As Balau looked up, the Kaaba seemed immense. It was amazing walking with people whose faces showed they came from all over the world. He couldn't believe he was finally taking part in what he had only seen in picture books. Right now, children, if you haven't been, you've just seen pictures like this. But guess what?  And there are all kinds of prayers you say when you're walking around the Kaaba.  It's called the Yemeni corner, right? And it's hard to get near the corners because there's so many people, but at least their father was able to bring them close enough to the Kaaba itself so they could touch the Yemeni corner. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, not only touched it as he made to Wath, but he placed his cheek on it. So if you can, everybody, place your cheek. Yes, you have a question there. What is your question? When you touch the black stone, you touch it once you walk around the Kaaba once or like seven times. Well, you know, I'll just be quite honest. There's so many people there that you can't get close enough. You know, maybe sometime if you wed at Fajr or Dawn or some middle of the night, but the ideal would be to touch it. But since you can't do the ideal, that's why we just put our hands out like this and say Bismillah al-Akhbar. It's the same thing and you go like this. You see, so you can touch it. That's a very good question. Thank you for asking it, all right? And then as you see here at this corner children, all right, now you're gonna move to the right. Okay, we're moving to the right, to the black stone again. And you're gonna hear a prayer. All these pilgrims are saying, they're saying, oh God, our Lord, give us goodness in this world and goodness in the next and save us by your mercy from punishments, right? So you're gonna learn that prayer. People are saying in an Arabic, but after you've gone around a few times, you always hear people. And finally, you get to feel comfortable. You always know you're gonna be hearing it, right? So then this is, okay, you've passed the black stone again and right there next to the door, it's called the Babel Multazim. This special door, if you can reach up and touch it, they pretend you all are doing it children, you're reaching up and anything you ask Allah, he will answer your prayers. And when you get up close, you're touching it and you can hear all these people from different countries. They're all trying to touch it too. And you can hear people crying and sobbing. What do you think people are asking for? What kinds of things? They've come from Timbuktu and from Japan and Afghanistan. They finally made it and they're touching the door and they're asking from the bottom of their heart. He always said Timbuktu. What? Timbuktu? Anyway, it doesn't matter. But you see here is Bilal. He's reaching up and he's asking, what kind of thing would any of you ask for? If you finally were there and you could have anything you wanted, what would you ask for, everybody? Jenna. What? Jenna. Jenna, you're the smart one. That's exactly what you should ask for. Your coronavirus going away. Yeah, you're really good, by the way. You're really smart, okay. So then when you finish the seven Tawafs, this is called the Makam Ibrahim. Under it is a footprint of our prophet, Sayedna Ibrahim. When he was lifting some of the stones onto the Kaaba, he made a footprint and they have it covered very beautifully. You go over to that place, to the Makam Ibrahim and you do two Rakaz and you do two Surahs that you all know. You all know Kulu Allahu Ahad, don't you? Right. And you all know Kulia Ahyuhul Kaffirun, do you know that one?  Yeah, yeah. You know those, you already know those. That's half of Surah Kaffirun. That's it, those are the two you say when you're standing where Abraham was. See all the pilgrims standing here? You'll be standing with them. Imagine you're standing there. Right now you're doing two Rakaz of prayer and you're saying those two Surahs, all right? And then you know what? You couldn't go have a drink of Zem Zem water, right? You're going to have Zem Zem water. It used to be when I made my first Hajj, the fountain was right near the Kaaba but because there's so many people going around, they could have fallen and gotten hurt. So now they have pipes and they bring it outside and they have wonderful barrels of water here and they supply pepper cups. So you can go and get a drink of water at this point, all right?  Pretend you're with them, all right? Now we are going to do the sigh. Now this is the special running between the two hillocks like little mountains of Safa and Marwa. And do you know why we do this everybody? Well, you need to know the full story. Before I remember the green light was there and my dad told me to run. Yes, you can get to do that. That's up ahead here. You can't quite see it in the picture, right? But anyway, you now should know the story of why you do this. Okay, remember when Saddna Ibrahim, alaihi salam, brought his wife, beautiful Hajjer and they came to this area which became Mecca. They left Palestine, right? And they came here. And he told her, you know, I have to be going and I'll come back. And she said, you do everything that you are asked to do. I trust in Allah, whatever he asks us to do. But then her little baby Ishmael was thirsty. So she ran from one hillock to the other looking to see if there were any people coming that could help her find water. And at the seventh time she didn't find anything and she was really worried about the baby but she trusted Allah. And you know what happened when she trusted Allah? Suddenly a beautiful spring of water, Zem Zem, came out of the ground and it's still bubbling there. This is 4,000 years. You can still taste the same water and the well keeps giving and giving and giving, right? And so you see, it's very important to always trust Allah, right? Not doubt or not be afraid. So now as the family, now the family are leaving the sigh and as they're leaving, they're very careful to give charity to everyone who reaches out. Remember in the book of Zakat last week, how if someone reaches out, you don't disappoint. It's very important because we have so many blessings. So we have to share them. What we have is on loan to us and it's a trust. So remember, so as the family was leaving and they're now leaving, they're going to go out. They're going out to the tent city of Minna. Look at the tents out there. Do you see it? Pretend you're arriving. You're going in the afternoon or evening. Look at all the tent city and this is where you're going to sleep. You're gonna sleep here because next day tomorrow is the day of Arifat. And that day is what Hajj really is. So you see, do you see how beautiful it is out there, everyone? And by the way, by the way, you see the people walking? Everybody's walking all the way there. It's not far from Mecca all the way out to Minna. It's about five miles. It's an easy walk. I've done it myself. It's nothing, okay? Now, some people may take cars or fancy cars but the problem is maybe they're doing it to show off or feel better than other people.  What would it be, children? Much better to walk. Because you're trying to polish your heart with the Hajj. Remember the whole idea is you're polishing off everything so you can come back new like the day you were born, right? So anyway, let's see what's the next. So anyway, here it says here. It says, the walk from Mecca to Minna was a challenge but a wonderful experience. The family enjoyed being in the company of pilgrims from the world over. Of course, all men were dressed alike but their faces were from everywhere, Africa, China, Indonesia, all sorts of other places. Now, when they got to their tents, okay, the family got to their tents. Let's see what happened. Okay, they decided to go out for a walk and guess what, children?  You pass through the Muslims who come from Canada and we don't know what they're cooking, right? But suddenly, Layla here, Layla noticed an older lady maybe from the Far East who seemed all alone and in need. Immediately, she offered her some of the sandwiches they had with them. Layla whispered to her mother, Hajj Abdullah told us that pilgrims should carry enough extra long so they can be generous. Imagine being stingy here. He explained giving charity from one's provisions on the road to pilgrimage is spending for the sake of Allah. So here is Layla and she's giving some of the sandwiches. She's sharing them, right? Now, by the way, this day before Erafat, this nice, the day before day of Erafat, it's called the Yom Terawiya. And this was the night, everybody, that Sayyidina Ibrahim alayhi salam had a vision. Now, you all probably have heard this story, but if not, you need to know it. Abraham had this vision where Allah, a vision said you should sacrifice your beloved son. You should take his life. And Ibrahim thought, this must be from the devil.  But the same dream came the next night and then he knew, Arafat, just say he knew in Arabic as Arafat and that's the day of Erafat. He knew that this was from Allah and he trusted God and he was willing to do anything that God asked. So he said to his son Ishmael, you know what he said? Oh my goodness, what do you think about this? I'm being commanded to take a knife and sacrifice you, right? Sacrum facheri, sacrifice to make sacred. And his son said, do as you were commanded, my father, right? Insha'Allah, you will find that I am patient, right? And since both Ishmael and his father both surrendered, they had a command from Allah and they said, we are ready to do it. You know what? Since they both surrendered, they submitted their wills to Allah, then Allah said, oh Ibrahim, right? You have already fulfilled the mission, the vision. So now he didn't have to do that. That's why we sacrifice a lamb because at that moment a lamb was put in place of Ishmael. All right? So by the way, so they start walking home here to back to their tents and they pass people, look at people from many different countries. The man on the left is from America and his name was Warrith Adin and this next man is from Venezuela and then the little girl is from Germany. You see all the different countries that come, all the different families? So the next day, right? Is the day of Arafat. The day, you know what people do on this day? They spent the whole day asking God's forgiveness, right? And so Ibn Abbas said, I saw the prophet making supplications, right? Standing on Arafat with his hand on his heart, like a poor man asking for food. Imagine if our prophet peace and blessings be upon him. We're begging Allah. Shouldn't you be doing that too? So Bilal was a bit worried, you know? He was worried that maybe his hajj wouldn't be acceptable to God. But it said, when you're at Arafat, when you're a president at Arafat, you shouldn't think, it would be terrible to think that your hajj wouldn't be accepted and that God wouldn't forgive you. So don't ever think that. So then the next, that evening, people spend everybody the whole day, children, thousands of pilgrims as far as your eye can see.  Okay, you're standing there. You're in your beautiful clothing. You're standing with pilgrims as far and everyone is asking Allah's forgiveness. And it's utterly beautiful. And then the sun starts to set. And you know what you're gonna do next?  So you're gonna be walking up the hill, right?  It's gonna look like a preview of the Yom Kiamah, the last judgment when we're all brought back to stand together before Allah. It'll look just, it'll look like this. So you know what, you were actually in your religion doing this Hajj, going to Mount, going to the plain of Arifat, you were actually getting a preview of what it's gonna look like at the end of time. Can you imagine getting a preview, getting an idea of what's ahead at the end of everyone's lives? So anyway, you start up the hill and you hear thousands of voices saying the Talbiya, right?  She had some tattoos, she was African and she looked at me and she said, come on, come on, sister. And I got to the top of the hill and there were some Nigerians and they opened their umbrella and you know what was inside? Cookies and tea and they said, please have some. And so after half the night has passed, you stay awake or you can sleep a little bit. Then you collect pebbles. Do you see these people collecting the pebbles?  You only need seven on the first time, right? You'll be using over the next few days, right? So then, you know, at dawn you're gonna walk back toward Minna, right? You're going to say the Talbiya that you know and a, yes, question. Um, how, how many days? You know, why do you need them? The pebbles? Yeah. You're gonna find out right now. Excellent question, my dear. Excellent. Yeah, okay.  There are three columns and these represent like Shaitan and you are going to throw your stones against them.  It's, you're like thinking about Abraham. He said no to his temptations, didn't he? He must have had the temptation.  So you're, if you have any doubts you're saying no to your doubts, no to wrongdoings. So you throw these and in you do, you'll go several times to do it. And so then after you've thrown the stones, you don't say the Talbiyah anymore. A lamb is sacrificed in, because a lamb was substituted for Ishmael. And don't you all on at the Eid, don't you all have lamb to eat? Right, yes. So that's what you're celebrating this moment that's going on here out in the desert of Saudi Arabia, right? And of course you buy an animal of good quality and the meat is given to the poor because remember that your generosity purifies you. And then look what goes on with boys.  How would you like that boys?   And after you've done this, right? It says, the time had arrived to leave the state of Ihram. Father and son easily found a barber who was shaving the heads of men and boys who were sighting. Oh God, for every hair shaved off, affirmed for me a good deed and removed from me a bad one and raised my standing with you a degree.  They go walk back into Mecca to do what's called the Tawafalif Fada. Yes, question. Yes. How many days are you supposed to like camp or stay there in the tent?  Yes. Is the, I thought you're not supposed to cut your hair.  And so- Maybe I don't know about this. What I'm teaching you all here is just what is from Imam al-Ghazali, but it could be these, we'll have to ask someone about that, all right? That's a good question. We should ask it, right? So now the family goes back to the Kaaba, see the little boy is ahead of shave, there's his mom, right? They go back and they do the Tawafalif Fada and this is completes the Hajj, right? And the mother says, we are lucky to be worn and dusty as we return to visit his house. It's a brilliant reminder of who we really are. Oh, look, everyone can see the Kaaba through the columns. Now, the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him. He loved people to be humble and barefoot and all disheveled like this. The hair all messed up because it showed that they were trying to be empty of everything. They weren't thinking, oh, I have to look good. I have to be dressed up. I have to be perfect clothing. It showed, right, that we are trying to empty everything from ourselves except our golden hearts are innate good. You taught me not to do that. Okay? You taught me not to do that. So then after doing Tawafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafaf water. It started from a well 4,000 or more years ago, all right?  Yes.  I'll ask your answer your question right now.  Yes, what is your question? Yes. Is that a question that I have to leave? Oh, you have to leave. We only have two minutes more doing Medina. Can you just stay for Medina for two minutes? No. We'll go really quick. Okay, we finished the Hajj everybody. You've all been on the Hajj today. Mabruk, you've experienced the Hajj, you've imagined it. And now the next thing is we go to Medina. Oh, you can see people from all over the world carrying their children. You know, if you get tired, your dad will carry you. All right. Now they have arrived in Medina. Father Hamza reminded the family, imagine that we are standing on the very ground on which the prophet and his companions walked. Imagine the humble reverence that he carried in his heart and the immense knowledge of God and that they are remembered together. We are nearing the house where he, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, lived. See the green dome? That's over where his house was. And now he is buried there. Take each step with dignity and awe. Falaal was filled with joy.  There's a hadith by the prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.  So when you go to visit him here, it's as though he alive. He was alive. If you all were going to be standing before him and he could hear you, what would you say to him? Somebody say what they would say to the prophet? Yes. Go ahead. If you were standing in front of him right now and you could speak to him, what would you say? Yes. I see your hand up. Go ahead. I wish we could take off the dome and just see him. Oh, that's so lovely. That's so lovely. Because guess what, kids? Let's pretend you're in Medina right now and you're going to say something to him, whatever you say he can hear. Can you imagine that? And more than that, do you know how when we say, give our salams to the prophet all the time, right? Guess what? Allah is saying his salams continuously to the prophet. So when we say ours, we're joining Allah. Can you imagine joining Allah's salams being part of that? What an honor, right? So remember, you're standing on the ground where our religion and all of its laws were established. This is exactly where you'll be standing. And then the next thing you do, right? Visiting the tomb is the same of visiting him.  So here is Bilal.  Father and son entered the mosque, which today encloses the garden, the prophet's garden, Al-Rawda, next to the prophet's house. Peace and blessings be upon him. On entering, they first made two rakhaz of bowing next to the pulpit to the membar. And then they went to the nearby enclosure. Are you all with me right now? You're standing right here with me, right? And this is where the prophet's body is buried. His noble being is in the ground right in front of you, right? And then the father said to Bilal, he said, Know that the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is aware of your presence. Okay, children, pretend you're all here. We're all here right now. Know that he is aware of your presence and your greetings are conveyed to him by angels.  Even if you're in far away lands, he's aware of the salams you're sending him, even if you're in California or Indonesia. There's a hadith that says, he who blesses me once, God blesses ten times. Also, by the way, you see what you're looking at this grill work? Do you know there are two other people buried here? The companions Abu Bakr and the companion Omar, they are who helped establish the dean. They're buried here too. So you would be greeting them as well. And then you go back to the Rauda, to the inner garden, right? And you can do some more prayers and more supplications. Isn't Medina beautiful? Look at how beautiful it is. Now, this is what we're finishing up right now so our little friend here can leave. There are other things that are good to do while you're there, important visits. Here is al-Bakia. This is the graveyard. And the graves of the companion Usman, radiallahu anhu, is here. As well as, did you know the prophet peace and blessings be upon him, had a little baby son named Ibrahim who died? He's buried here too, right? And also, you would visit the Kuba mosque, which is very, very beautiful. And some of the wells, they're wells that you could, that the prophet drank out of and washed in. You could visit the wells.   Bilal said, a sign our great journey has been accepted is if we pull back from so many worldly concerns and renew our efforts to be ready for the next world. After having met the house, this is the house of God right here in front of you. After having met the house of Allah, now you return and you make ready to meet the Lord of the house. So when you die, that is your great hope that you will meet the Lord of your house, right? And look, look what look about Medina. We will come to the grandmother said, we will come to know this dear granddaughter from our hearts and deeds. And if we find on our return, our hearts turning away from this world of delusions, inclining toward closeness to Allah exalted and find our conduct, how we act more complying with the sacred law. Then we can have confidence that Allah has accepted our heart. And now children. Leila, the little girl who made the hodge. She wrote in her diary and this is the end of our presentation she wrote in her diary. Why was it so overwhelming for me be imagine you all of you imagine standing right here. And so Leila is saying, why is this so overwhelming. This is our normal daily life in your homes right now. Can you get a glimpse of the underlying awesome story of humankind, because you know what happened at the Blackstone. You were at the beginning where Adam is asked by Allah, am I not your Lord. And so you have the contract with Adam, the big first man right there in that Blackstone. When you go to the plane of Arafat, you're, you're having a preview of the very end of time when time is all over and everybody is gathered together when the trumpet blast. So she said, imagine that I have been standing with every race on earth. And, and I've had seen the Blackstone. And then we end by saying, Leila said, even though now kids, this is this is the end pretend you're there. Full of crowds. See how many people are there. Imagine you're there right now, even though you've got a huge crowd. Leila said, you know, I found the experience very natural. She said, very natural. And I experienced my golden heart. I wasn't separated from other people. I was with the whole. Do you see here, if you were there with everybody wouldn't you, would you feel separated or would you feel that you were, you were whole, right. So what you have done here is Ghazali has introduced you to the mysteries of the pilgrimage. Right. And it will change the way you look at your life. And then this, the book also has a manual and then there's a children's book here. A children's book with lots of activities where the grandfather tells talks to the little children. This is included in the bigger book. And then a bird comes and shows them his big chest because he's no longer alive and they read his letters to them and they do artworks. They make mosaics from pieces of color paper. They make lists of the bad heart and the good heart. The bad heart says being lazy, being rude, being grumpy. Right. And then they also learn about the three keys that open the doors that bring them closer to meeting the king. They remember the story about their boat turning over with all their stuff and their golden heart going on and on. They remember that you have to dress well, that your clothing makes you play the part. If you're dressed sloppily, you feel sloppy. And they learn again, they practice weighing their good deeds and their bad deeds. And they, they love the thought of going on the hodge with their grandfather and being carried by their father on the side. And look at the tents they got to stay in with thousands of pilgrims, the simple tent they spent the day before Erafat. And this little girl will end with her. She said, look into your heart luggage and pull out your third golden key. If you remember, this key is called trusting God, which means everybody, kids, pay attention to happily say yes to everything that the king, meaning a law, everything he asks you to be asked of you because of your love for him. Right. And then the children, this is on the day of the Eid, the children are having fun and look at all the activities. Like you can paint pebbles, you can imagine gazing, you can make cabas out of paper.  So yes, we really went to visit the prophet himself. So children, yes, okay, I'll ask, it's over. I finished. Yes, you wanted to leave, didn't you? Yeah, can I tell you two things? Yes, you certainly, yes. The first thing is I know something about that, the black stone on judgment day, a lot makes it alive, like it's given there enough, it's have a time and then it stops. Sarah, thank you so much, Sarah. You're so bright and so wonderful to contribute. You know, bless your heart. I mean, I know that this was hard for all of you, but children, today you got to go on the hodge. Did you imagine yourself in all of those places? Did you imagine it? Good, good. Well, I hope you had a blessed hodge, a preview of hodge. Yes, Sarah, another question, yes. I also started doing this. What did you say? I also started doing this. So you're doing the voodoo right now? I was doing it today.   That's just so wonderful. And you did it when you were washing your hands, you thought when you rinsed your mouth, you were also asking a lot to help you say the right things, weren't you? You'll never do your voodoo differently. It'll feel thin and not happening. I'm so, I'm so grateful, Sarah, for that. I'm so pleased.  Anybody praying better, doing their voodoo better? I have a question. Yes? So, if your good deeds are made higher, if you do them in Mecca, does that mean your bad deeds are lower than me? If you do them in Mecca or higher? Well, what the Ghazali is reminding us of is that when you're in Mecca and Medina, one of the important reasons for going there is your prayers and your good deeds are just multiplied. You get more of them. If you fast one day, it's worth 10,000 days or something like that. These ideas are to show you how important our blessed cities of Mecca and Medina are. Thank you, Jabril, for that. Any other questions or comments? I have in comments. All right. I learned to act all myself. Who is speaking? Raise your hand so I can see you. Who is speaking? Is it Jabril or who is talking right now? Abdu'l-Basit. Abdu'l-Basit. Yes, Abdu'l-Basit. Say it. Now, what did you like to say, my dear? I said, Abdu'l-Basit. You did? Yep. Oh, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. Mashallah. You're so beautiful. Thank you for making that comment. That's wonderful. Thank you, Abdu'l-Basit. Yes, Sarah, you want to say something more? I was just thinking very little, Karam. Oh, that's wonderful. Oh, that's wonderful. Yes. And I see other hands raised. Yes. So I think by now you all are very tired. Oh my goodness, we went an hour and a half. I feel so sad. You know, it was supposed to be an hour and now you must be very tired. Well, guess what, children? I love you so much. And next week we're going to do the book of belief. And then you're going to find out who and what and where is a law, right? And the things we believe. Yes. One more question here. Go ahead. No. Good night.  Can I tell you something? Yes, yes, yes, Nazan. Wait, can I tell you something here? Yes, go ahead and say. So, Nazanid, yes, yes. It was really nice having you read the book to us about the well and Islam. Oh, I'm so glad. Thank you. What I'm hoping is that, you know, this was a big and wonderful book with hundreds of wonderful fun stories. I've only given you a few highlights, everybody. I really would love it if you'll now get to read the real book and do the activities and make and play the games that go with it and do the workbooks because you will have fun doing all the activities. Really fun things. All right, children. Can I tell you something? Yes. So, this is a wild grass. So, Oh, that's Sahara. That's your use of right? Or is that Sahara? Wow. Oh, this looks lovely. What a lovely book. A lot animals. Oh, I love that book. We love animals. Thank you so much. Well, I'm tired now and I'm going to go to bed. You all are three hours earlier than me. I'm 1030 at night. So, I'm going to give you say, Asalaamu alaikum and sleep well.  It's really special. Asalaamu alaikum everyone. Bye. Bye-bye, dear. Asalaamu alaikum. Bye, Asalaamu alaikum. Asalaamu alaikum, everybody.


The one thing that every mining company needs is capital. Much of this week we've been talking about mining companies, we've talked to some experts on global issues. Today we're talking money. We're with Marcus De La Monja from SKS Business Services in London, England. Thanks for coming by. Thank you for having me. You and I have been trying to meet each other for months now and the mining show is when people get together. What services do you provide? We provide the whole outsourced accounting function, finance and accounting for specific mining entities. So several of our clients are single asset or multiple asset across several countries with several currencies. And what we do is we provide that financial outsource and accounting provisions. So then the CFO is free to increasing the value of the company instead of being in the tedious act of doing bookkeeping and payroll. So we take care of that and then we present. Jack Welch, well he was CEO at GE said make your back office somebody else's front office and that's what you're doing. You're becoming their back office. Basically. Yeah. So how many clients do you have? We have right here. We have Mandalay Resources, one of our biggest clients. Mandalay has three mines. They had a death a couple of years ago, their stock took a hit and they're growing the company again. Correct. Okay. Yeah. So that was in one of their assets in Chile. Right. The mine flooded I think. That's correct. That's correct. So they're permitting now and then they're expecting to go Q1 of 2019. Nice group of guys. Yeah. Another of our clients is Circum. They do potash in Ethiopia. Right. So with that we do all of their financial and accounting provisions. We take care of that and additionally we sometimes help to raise capital. We've been successful with that. Is the capital that you raise from private funds, from brokerage firms in London, third party? Yes, private and from investors in London sometimes. It depends. Okay. So how have you found the show? I've been having a great time talking to a lot of people. The investors exchange has been very, very... I'm describing it as cautious optimism. There's a nice little electricity in the air this year. Yeah. Well, it's my first time so I didn't know what to expect. 2015 was a bit depressing. It's nice to be optimistic again. Yeah. Well, thanks for coming by. Thank you for your time. I look forward to seeing you out on the floor. Yes.