As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim wa salatu wa salamu ala Sayyidi al-Mursaleen, Sayyidina wa Nabiyina Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim. Ya Rabbana lakal hamdu kama yin bagi lijjala li wajihika wa azaim sultanik. Allahumma fattah alayna fi dhufal harithin. Allahumma allimna ma yanfa'una wa anfa'na bima allal panaya atama r-Rahimin. Today's session will focus on the eighth outer action that would draw us closer to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and gets us more prepared for the day when we will leave this dunya to meet Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. So what is this outer action? What's today's outer action? It is good companionship. In fact, there are several categories for having good company with the creation of Allah. So we have several different categories. And in this session, inshallah, we are going to address three of these categories. Of course, there are more, but I think with time limit we have, hopefully we can cover three of these categories. The first category is the companionship of people. We live with people. And the lowest degree of the good companionship to people is not to harm them. So they are safe. Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-Aas, may Allah be pleased with him, says, So Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, a Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hands the Muslims are safe. So he doesn't cause any harm to any people. After this comes the point of helping the people of Allah, helping the servants of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. And Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, al-khalqu kulluhum ayaalullah, the creation of the people are all the family of Allah. Wa ahabuhum ila Allah anfa'uhum li'ayali. So those who are loved most to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala are those who are good to his slaves, to the people he has created. And Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam also gives us a deeper meaning and he says, al-muslimu akhu il-muslimu la yazlimu wa la yashtimah. Man kana fi hajati ahi, kamallahu fi hajatah. Wa man farraja'a muslimin kurbatan min kurabid dunya, farraja'a Allahu anhu biha kurbatan min kurabiyyawmi al-qiyamah. Wa man satara'a muslimin satara'a Allahu yawm al-qiyamah. So Bil'Umar sallallahu alaihi wa sallam reported that Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, a Muslim is the brother of another Muslim, so he should not oppress him, nor should he hand him over to shaitan, nor to curse him. So he should be good to his fellow muslim. So whoever fulfills the need of his brother, man kana fi hajati ahi, then what will happen? Allah will fulfill his needs, kamallahu fi hajati, if he needs anything, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will fulfill his needs. Wa man farraja'an muslimin kurbatan min kurabid dunya, and whoever removes any trouble of his brother in this dunya, what will happen? Farraja'a Allahu anhu biha kurbatan min kurabiyyawmi al-qiyamah. Allah will remove one of his troubles on the Day of Resurrection. Wa man satara'a muslimin satara'a Allahu yawm al-qiyamah.  So this is how a person should be to the people, to the slaves, to the people whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has created. After that, there is a higher stage. So not only to cause any harm, but also to be good to them, even if they are not good to you. So this is a higher maqam than the first one. Sayyidina Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, was once with Sayyidina Abu Huraira, and he said to him, عليك بحسن الخلق يا أبهوريرا. Oh Abu Huraira, you have to have good manners. And of course Abu Huraira, in order to teach us what حسن الخلق, he asked Sayyidina Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, what is, وما حسن الخلق يا رسول الله? What is the best manners? What is the best behavior يا رسول الله? So Sayyidina Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, said, انت صل من قطعك وتعطي من حرمك وتعفوا عن منظلمك.  Is this easy? No. Imagine that someone has hurt you and he used bad words to you and you don't deserve these bad words. So how can you forgive that person if you have anger against him? How? Just with the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.  Whatever he ordered you to do. And the order was, انتعفوا عن منظلمك. You forgive the person who has oppressed you, who was unjust to you. Then you would say, okay, but am I right? I don't want to leave my right. I want to take whatever I have to take from that person. And Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam answers you and he says, ان من أحبكم إليا وأقربكم مني مجليسا يوم القيامة أحاسنكم أخلاقا. So this is what the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is saying, the dearest and the closest of you to me on the day of judgment will be those who are the best in behavior, those who have the best manners. It's a complete system. It's a complete program. Be good. Forgive those who oppress you, then you will be highly rewarded. And the best reward is to be next to Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Now, if we ask, how can we have good manners with others? There are several ways. And I will list a few of them, of course, not all of them because the list is countless. So you can have good manners by loving for your Muslim fellows what you love for yourself. Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, لا يؤمن أحدكم حتى يحب لأخيه ما يحب لنفسه. None of you will become a true believer, will have a complete faith until he likes for his brother what he likes for himself. You like to have a beautiful car. Okay. You can like that also for your brother, for your Muslim fellow. And you won't feel any grudges or you won't feel anything against a person who will have that car if you don't have it. So what would this do? This would cancel envy. This would cancel bad eye. This would cancel hatred for people. So just to love for your Muslim fellow what you love for yourself. Something else. A Muslim must be humble among people. And again, of course Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam the best of teachers, he said, ما تواضع أحد لله إلا رفعه الله. No one shows humbleness towards another. And his intention is pure that he is doing that just to get the pleasure of Allah SWT to please Allah SWT, then what's the result? إلا رفعه الله. Allah exalts him in ranks. He elevates him. So be humble. No showing off. Showing off among people is not of the manners of the good manners of Muslims. Also, a Muslim should excuse people for their wrongdoings against him. How can you excuse people? Don't have any ill thoughts. Any bad thoughts. This person said to me this, then he means that. There is no such an argument. Just have a clean heart. These whispers are of the shaitan. Someone made a mistake. Okay. Just forgive that person. Just be like Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam about whom Sayyidah Aisha sallallahu alaihi wa sallam كان رسول الله سallallahu alaihi wa sallam لا يجزيب السيئة السيئة. ولكن يعفو ويصفح. رفت محمد sallallahu alaihi wa sallam as narrated by Aisha sallallahu alaihi wa sallam would not return an evil with an evil. But rather, he was pardoning and forgiving. He would not treat people the way they are treating them. If they are doing a mistake towards them, he will not do a mistake towards them. When he was asked to make a dua against one of the tribes, he said no. Maybe some of them, some of their grandchildren will be a good Muslim. He was pardoning. He was forgiving. Another way also of how to be good to other Muslim fellows is to respect the elders and to take care of the young ones. And that was very clear by the narration when Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, He is not one of us who does not have mercy on our young ones, who does not love our young ones, who does not help our young ones and does not respect our elders. So we have to respect the elders and at the same time we have to take care of the young ones. And how can you apply this? You can smile to others. Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, So when you smile in your brother's face, this is counted to you as a charity. And in another narration, Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, So do not belittle any good deed, no matter how small that deed is. Even meeting your brother Muslim with a cheerful face. So what a cheerful face will do? Nothing. Just it will move a few muscles in the face. But the effect, the result will be headed directly to the heart of the person you are with. It's a charity to smile when you see your Muslim brother, Muslim fellow. Okay, another thing is to rectify between Muslims who have arguments among each others. And you hear this everywhere, every now and then you hear the mother-in-law had an argument with the daughter-in-law. The son-in-law had an argument with the father-in-law. The son had an argument with his mom. The sister has an argument with her brother and so on and so forth. People are having arguments among each other. This neighbor is not happy with this neighbor. So what should you do? What should you do? You should rectify between Muslims. Because when society is good, then everything will be good. Sayyidina Muhammad SAW said something about this, which is very interesting, even for rectifying if you are going to lie to say something that this person did not say it, but it will help the other person forgive him. So even if you do that, it won't be considered as a lie. And Sayyidina Muhammad SAW said that.  When he conveys good or says something good. So the intention is not to lie. The intention is to help people forgive each other. Another thing, remember always to be good to everyone, whether a person deserves it or not. And you would say, how can that be? Again, our master, our teacher has explained it. And he said, So do good deeds to people and those people who deserve it and those people who do not. So if you discover that they deserve it, then what? Then you did the good you should do. But if you discover that they do not deserve it, that they do not deserve the good that you did, then what? Then you are of the ones who do good. So always do the good things. Be good. Even if people around you deserve it or not. What you do in this case, you are dealing with Allah SWT. There are so many cases in this Dunya, so many incidents that happen. And we have to deal with it with wisdom, with love, with care. Even if the other person you are dealing with does not appreciate it. Why would you do it? Because you are doing this for the sake of Allah SWT, only for the sake of Allah SWT, seeking the pleasure of Allah SWT. You're not doing it for people to say, oh, how good this person is. Oh, this one is amazing. No. We don't want our reward to be in this Dunya. We want to save our reward. We don't want to care about what people say. We want to have our reward in the day after. Something else you should talk to people in a way that they can understand. They can understand you. They can comprehend what you are saying. They would not misunderstand you. So you cannot talk to the illiterate people the same way you talk to the illiterate. Adress people by the way they understand. And Abdullah Ibn Masrood said, He said, it's the case that you do not relate to the people a narration which their minds cannot grasp. Why? Because what happens then there will be a fitna for some of them. They will misunderstand you. They will interpret it in a wrong way because they did not understand what you're saying. So there will be a fitna. There will be a problem. And most of our problems in this Dunya are results of misunderstanding each other's is communicating between each other. A person would say something. The other person would not understand it the way that his intention was. So there will be problems. And this is how problems originate. Misunderstanding. Most of the problems between people are just misunderstanding. So what should we do? We should ask Allah SWT for wisdom. We should ask Allah SWT to make us of those who listen and understand. So you have to listen to people. You cannot just hear the first sentence and then start fighting. You cannot. You have to be a good listener. And when you listen, you have to understand the intention of the person who is talking to you. Do not misunderstand people. Do not interpret things. Ask them, did you mean this? Did you mean that? Can you clarify this? So you have to treat Muslims righteously. You fear Allah SWT? Then treat Muslims righteously. Once Sayyidina Muhammad SAW ascended the pulpit, the member. And he called people. He said, oh people who accepted Islam.  While faith has not reached the heart. Do not harm Muslims. Nor reveal them. Nor spy on them to expose their secrets. Why? For indeed whoever tries to expose his Muslim fellows, the secrets of his Muslim fellows, then Allah will expose his secrets wide open. And even if that person is in his house. So even if that person is in his house. In his house. That Allah will expose him. Allah will unveil him. So just treat people righteously. And remember, the way you treat people, Allah will send someone to treat you the same way. If you are a good person, then treating people, then Allah will send good people to be with you around you. Treat Muslims righteously. And also when you treat them righteously, when you are good to them. Then you should help them. And you should be of service to them. Al-Muslimu Akhu Al-Muslim. La Yadlim Wa La Yashdim. We just mentioned this hadith. You have to be good. You have to help. When you help your brother, your brother, your Muslim fellow, then Allah will help you when you need help. When you help people in this dunya, Allah will help you on the day after. So these are all just a few points. Just a few of so many good manners that a Muslim must practice towards the other Muslim fellows. With this, we talked a little bit about the first category, which is to have good relation to the creation of Allah to other Muslims or to other people around us. We move on to the second category. And the second category for having good company and good relation with the creations of Allah is to be good with your kinship, your neighbors, your servants, and with everyone. So this category is a subcategory to the first one. The first one is just in general, but now we are specifying. So kinship relationships are highly honored in Islam, especially close family members. To be good to your parents. Be good to your parents. Be a good, obedient child. Be a good, obedient person. To be good to Isra, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, emphasizes on the good relation to the parents.  And to parents, good treatment. إِمَّا يَبْلُغَنَّ عِندَكَ الْكِبَارُ أَحَادُهُمَ أُوْكِلَهُمَ فَلَا تَقُلَّهُمَ أُفِّمْ وَلا تَنْهَرْهُمَ وَقُلَّهُمَ قَوْلًا كَرِيمًا So when one of them or when both of them reach old age while with you, while you are living with them, say not to them the word of and do not repel them. But speak to them noble words. Say nice words to them.  رَبِّرْحَمْ هُمَا كَمَا رَبْ بَيَانِ صَغِيرًا Oh my Lord, have mercy upon them as they brought me up when I was young. If you look deeply into these ayas and into other ayas that talk about the parents and how you should treat your parents, you see that Allah SWT did not order the parents to be good to their children. I'm sure you noticed that. But he asked the children to be good to their parents. Do you know why? Because by default it is natural for the parents to sacrifice their lives for the sake of their children. They work hard to ensure that their children have good life, that their children will have good education, their children will have good future. But on the contrary, Allah SWT ordered the children to be good to their parents. Again, why? Because it's hard on the kids to take care of their parents when they get old and sick. And that's why you find the nursing homes full. Children cannot take care of their parents. They put them in nursing homes, let someone else take care of them. With really good Muslims, the parents and the grandparents are highly honored. They are not thrown in nursing homes. The children take care of their parents. It's not like they want to get rid of them and they rarely visit them there. No. It's their duty to take care of their parents when they get older. It's their duty to look for them. It's their duty to provide for them. It's their duty to take care of their health. It's their duty to be good to them. When a child is young still, he cannot do anything by himself. Who's taking care of him? The parents. So it's just the wheel revolves. They took care of you when you were young. You have to take care of them when they are old. So this is, again, the first point of the second category, which is to be good to the parents. And of course, we can have sessions and talks about being good to the parents. We move on to the point of being good to the neighbor, which is a very important point. And there are several relations by Sayyid al-Muhammad ﷺ, focusing on the rights of the neighbors. And Ibn Omar and Aisha, they said, He said, Jibreel kept recommending treating neighbors with kindness. He kept asking me to take care of the neighbors. He kept talking good about the neighbors until I thought he would assign a share of inheritance for the parents. For the neighbors. Subhanallah. And there are so many rights for your neighbor over you. You have to treat them well. And if you are cooking something and the smell is all over, you have to put some food to your neighbor. So just it's a way of telling them I'm not causing any harm for you for smelling the good food and you are not eating it. You have to help your neighbors whenever they need help. And a good way of having good connections with the neighbors is to send them gifts in Ramadan, gifts in Eid, just to expose them to Islam. Someone might say, but my neighbor is not a Muslim. And I would say you could manners with your non-Muslim neighbor can actually be the reason for this neighbor to become a Muslim. I think you all know the story when this happened to Sayyidina Muhammad, one of his Jewish neighbors hated him.  And Sayyidina Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would take this garbage, put it aside. He would remove it. I would never say anything to them, to that neighbor. And this happened on and on and on.  And he was worried about his neighbor. He said there's something wrong with him. Is he sick? Well, what's going on? So he went to his neighbor to check on him and to see if there is anything wrong with him. And to see if he needs any help, to see, to check on him. And that really had a deep impact on the heart of that Jewish neighbor. And he said to him, I hurt you. I caused harm to you. I am not good to you. And you are good to me. So what good is, how great is your religion? And he became a Muslim. So why did he change his religion to the religion of Sayyidina Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam? Because of the good manners of Sayyidina Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Because of the way he treated him. After all that bad things that he did for him, he was still checking on him. We move on to another, to the good relation of a Muslim to his servant. Sayyidina Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam gave us the way. He gave us the system of how we should deal with our slaves. He said, I feed them what you eat. And I dress them with your clothes. And don't talk to them about what they do. I feed them from what you eat. And close them with what you wear. So do not burden them beyond their capacities. And if you need something that they cannot do it by themselves, then help them. So be good even to your slave.  Things came against him and he became a slave. He became a servant. But imagine that you are in his shoes.  How would you want him to treat you? You treat him. Okay. The last category that we are going to talk about today is the category in which we have a good company with the angels. Okay, so we all know, of course, on the right shoulder. There are angels who are responsible for recording all our good deeds. And on the left shoulder, there are the angels who are responsible for recording our bad deeds. So let's befriend them. Let's befriend them and give them a special treat. Let's give hard work to the angels of the right shoulder and give no work to those on the left shoulders. So let's increase our good deeds. So the responsible angels are kept busy. And when we always remember that anything we do, anything we say, anything we look at, anywhere we go, I think our hands do is recorded. Then we want our record to be filled with good deeds. So we do our best to do only good things. So we do our best to make those angels responsible for the good deeds just to keep them busy. We know that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is over watching us and we want him to be pleased. So we want our records to be filled with good deeds. We want the angels of the good deeds to be hard workers, to work hard. We want to meet Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala on the day of judgment and he is pleased with us. And this is the main course. This is the idea of these sessions that we're not doing. We want to meet Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala while he is pleased with us. So we want to be ready to meet Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. We want to be ready for death which might call us any second. Nobody knows when the ending will be. But we always ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to have the best of endings. So this is having good relations with the angels. And also we want to have a good company with our nefs, desires, anger and our mind. And these are all our companions. We want to have good relations with our companions.  And not to let them be the reason for your destruction in the Akhira. This should be your means to get you into Jannah, not into Hellfire. You should tame your nefs and your desires so they do not lead you to any disobedience.  And by doing this you change your anger from being against the creation of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to be against your nefs.  So you have also to subjugate the nefs, the desires and the anger to the mind. So the mind will guide them all to the right path. However, to be able for the mind to do this, it should be sound. And in fact, the soundness of the heart is the result of having a sound mind. So the whole issue revolves around the heart, goes around the heart. So we should always get our heart to be connected to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and to his messenger. In order to have a good, in order to have a sound heart, this is the focus. This is our focus in this dunya. And Allah mentioned that in Surah Al-Shu'araa, verse 88 and 89 when he said, يوم لا ينفع مال ولا بنون إلا بنأت الله بالقلب سليم. On the day of judgment, the day when there is not benefit, there will not be any benefit from wealth or children. No one will benefit anyone. Nothing will benefit a person except. إلا مالأت الله بالقلب سليم. But only one who comes to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala with a sound heart. With a good heart. A heart of the person who has good manners. SubhanAllah, the topic is broad and we can talk way a lot more about it. But we have to stop here and until we meet next week, insha'Allah. Why send my salam and your salam to Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam. Wa salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.


My name is Angela Haney, but I prefer to be called Angie. Most childhood memories are on the south side of Chicago in a community called Inglewood, which so happens to be one of the most violent communities in Chicago. And from eighth grade, I would say my family life just deteriorated. Everything fell apart. About time I was 14, my parents were separated, and I was told by both of them that they didn't have room for me. So at 14, I was out on my own. I graduated high school when I was three months pregnant with my first daughter. And I'm proud to say that I am actually the only one out of my mother's children who actually did graduate high school. I walked across the stage with a stomach, but still proud that I did it through everything that I've been through and had witnessed I succeeded at that. I knew for me the best thing to do was to go back to school. A lot of friends had told me about Gateway, so I decided to give it a try and here I am. That was the best decision I ever made in my life. Gateway has completely changed my life in a positive direction. It just helped me to focus more on me, which is important because as a mom, as a sister, as a friend, as a wife, you tend to kind of lose yourself, but coming to school helped me get back to Angie and they instilled the belief in me that I needed to know that I will succeed. My dream team is my Human Services teachers. The Learning Success Center team is also part of what I call my dream team. These are the individuals that whenever I'm going through, I'm stressed out about anything, school-related or non-school-related, I can go to them and they'll pep talk me and get me on my feet. So those individuals are my dream team. They help keep my dream alive. I feel that there are a lot of things that need to be done in order to help everyone, all types of people, no matter what they've been through, no matter their age, their race, their ethnicity, their gender, their sexual orientation. It's just things that need to be implemented and changed so that others can realize their strengths and that focus on their weaknesses and I feel that that would be my niche to get in and to make those changes and those differences. What I have learned at Gateway that I will always take with me is that no matter what you have been through, always look at your strengths. You are strong in what you are and that I will always carry with me. The importance of having an education and having support and how family isn't just those people that you were born into per se, it's those people who support you, who love you and to guide you and that's what I will take away just to dream big.


praise the lord everybody come on let's get ready to worship hallelujah come on in and let's magnify the name of the lord hallelujah to shield the faith long beach name of Jesus hallelujah we come into your presence this morning we thank you because you're here with us oh thank you lord your spirit you said you'd never leave us nor forsake us thank you lord you're our hope and our salvation you're our peace you're our trust in you Jesus thank you lord thank you for loving us thank you for saving us hallelujah thank you because you said you'd never leave us nor forsake us you're with us all the time we trust in you hallelujah thank you lord because we gathered here today to praise you to honor you to glorify you and our king our deliverer our hope our salvation our peace hallelujah oh god receive our praise and worship in the name of Jesus lord let's your anointing hallelujah build this house oh your spirit lord dwell in our presence for always forever thank you lord you said you'd never leave us nor forsake us and we love you we honor you we give you glory hallelujah touch the hearts of those who are not here give them a desire to come to church to worship and to praise your name oh god build our church lord with people who love you people who honor you oh god in the name of Jesus be glorified in all that we say and do send your word this morning speak to our hearts open lord whatever you have to say to us we receive it now glory to god help us to be holy and righteous before you help us to spread the gospel message that others might be saved in the name of Jesus hallelujah lord be glorified in all that we say and do today this morning hallelujah send your word speak to our hearts through your word our hearts open to receive it in Jesus name I pray we honor you lord we thank you lord in Jesus name thank you Jesus amen but I'm oh shabba praise the lord thanks praise the lord thanks hallelujah we will be reading from psalms 27 one through four psalms 27 one through four the lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked when the wicked even my enemies and my foes came up on me to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell though in host should encamp against me my heart shall not fear though a host shall encamp against me my heart shall not fear the war shall rise against me and this will I be confident one thing have I desired did you desire it one thing that I desire of the lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the lord and the and to inquire in his temple may the lord add a blessing to the reading the hearing and the doing of his word amen hallelujah oh the lord is in the place today he's already in the house come on everybody and praise the lord with us amen come bless the lord and bless the lord and bless his holy night hold that man with praising to give him glory hallelujah hallelujah we were created to give god glory to give him praise when we give god glory and praise hallelujah when we worship him with our innermost being hallelujah hallelujah the lord is pleased the lord says that if we delight ourselves in him he will give us the desires of our heart is god the joy of your desire amen he is the joy of my desire bless you and spirit and true are the joy there will never be a friend he is coming up and people are probably some people are are feeling like they're not loved nobody loving them but lord the lord the lord our god jesus there's our solo this morning our bishop is coming this morning to have some words with us just now nobody can love like jesus nobody nobody can love you like jesus hallelujah hallelujah thank the lord for the relationship we have with him we never have to worry he's faithful god is faithful in the scripture that we during devotion period helps us to understand it talks about in the time of trouble when enemies come against us they come against us not to be our friends they come against us to eat our lunch they come against us to take us out and we can give up and we can decide that i can't go any further but the lord is saying that i'm faithful i'm faithful in the latter portion of psalm 27 at verse 10 it says when my father and my mother forsake me he said then the lord will take me up he says when the people who care the most about me they've known me all of my life and all of my my so-called friends have forsaken me he said when it comes down to it where there's nobody left but father and mother he said you don't have to worry he said because i'm with you i'm there he said things are changing all around us i was out in east bell recently and i had been going out there until pandemic came and i knew the route i knew where i was by the buildings i saw after the pandemic began to let up i went out to to meet my in-laws and i couldn't find their house because everything had changed there had been cow pastors all around and when i wrote through there i didn't see the cow pastor i saw large buildings so things change but there's one thing that never changes there's one person who never never changes he said when your father and your mother will forsake you he said i'll take you out and so what i want to sing today is i want to sing hold to his hand hold to his hand the song says time is filled with swift transition not on earth unmoved can stand so you can't build your hopes on that he said but build your hopes on things that are eternal build your hopes on the word of god build your hopes on the testimony that you have of how faithful god has been to you hold to his hand now wait wait wait wait give me a little slower one to start there we go all right time is filled with swift transition no unmoved can't stand on things eternal sing that again oh time is filled on the cheese no matter what's going on what's going wrong in your life god is still there he promised promise his promise is never faulty gods unchanging hand you can stay you can stay on your feet at this time it's time for the word of god somebody ought to say amen amen it's time for the word of god thank you lord see what we need to do is we need to hear what the spirit says to the church and hold on to that hold on to that that's the victory we see the elder kevin ross as he comes in jesus name elder ross god bless you tell somebody hold on hold on say hold on it may get rough sometimes but you gotta hold on yeah he doesn't change he says i'm the same yesterday today and forever so it doesn't matter what you're facing today hold on someone said weeping may endure for nights but y'all if you just hold on amen take your seat i tell you we could go on with that trust in him that will not leave you i had some people walk away from me i had some people that died on me but he won't leave give honor to my lord and save you jesus christ and giving honor to our excellent bishop and our fabulous first lady we love you we miss you to all the minister saints and friends i say give god all the praise everybody he's worthy of praise he's worthy of glory he's worthy of honor sometimes i just imagine what's going on in heaven how the four and twenty elders they cast their crowns before him and fall down at his feet she said worthy is a lamb that was slain to receive glory and honor dominion and power oh my god he said we're seated in heavenly places in christ jesus we are so honored to stand before you we covered your prayers we don't like to take it i consider it an honor to stand in a pulpit behind such a great man of god after he got to sing and i said i ain't gonna get up someone said you won't get up and say get up behind that i don't know about that you know it's interesting the other night i was it was late at night and i was just looking at some things in the word just thinking about some things in the word and i thought about an old song i hadn't seen i haven't heard or sung in years we used to sing it at christ temple the word says his cross is not greater than the great than his grace and the storm cannot hide his blessed face but i'm satisfied to know with jesus here below i can conquer every fold i like to say his cross is not greater than his grace god we just thank you for your grace what a wonderful constellation of victory father we thank you for this time we thank you lord for everything that's going forth up to this point we pray for your anointing your word is already anointing but we need your anointing speak to our hearts today speak to our hearts today encourage us that we will hold on to your unchanging unwavering wonderful wonderful hands we give you praise in jesus name the word that the lord gave me for today was we can finish the race tell your neighbor we can finish we can finish we can finish the race no retreat no surrender i don't care what the obstacles i don't care what the problems are i don't care how tough it is we can finish the race i like that we can finish the race turn in your bibles to philippians chapter one verse six wednesday night during bible study minister maryland she ministered that scripture to us and i tell you i have feasted on that all week long it has blessed me all week long and if you've been missing bible study you've been missing a tree you need to come because if you come to bible class i guarantee you will grow in jesus and you will be encouraged and have a good time i tell you minister maryland she got on that thing and she got to preaching then first lady she got to preaching and then bishop he jumped in you know he had to preach i said look out here look out here but i love this it says being confident of this very thing that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of jesus christ he who has begun a good work i like that he says but being confident that he who has begun a good work in you he's going to complete it he's going to take it to the end let me read it like this it said he being confident of this very thing that he which has begun a good work in you he'll perform it he will complete it he will finish it until the day of jesus christ or until the day that the lord calls you home or until the day that you finish the race hey i like that see i like how that scripture starts it says being confident sure being almost cocky about it about this very thing that he jesus who started a good work in you and in me he's going to perform it he's going to complete it he's going to see it to the end bishop preached one time and he mentioned how some people said i just can't seem to live right i can't seem to do it but if you'll come to jesus the bible said and after that the holy ghost has come upon you you shall have power power to live right power to walk right power to talk right power to finish your race that's one thing the one thing that we can be confident in that jesus is going to finish the work that he started and it's going to continue until the day that we finish running our race even though with all of the trouble and with all of the problems with all of the challenges that we're facing in life this is not the time to give up this is not the time to give in this is not the time to give out this is not the time to throw in the towel this is not the time to walk away because the bible tells us only he that endures to the end the same shall be saved not he that begins and stops but he that endures to the end the same shall be saved i like that tell your neighbor neighbor your neighbor i'm going to finish i'm going to finish i'm going to finish the race hey hallelujah she is not enough just to start the race anybody can start but you've got to get it in your spirit you've got to make up your mind i'm going to see this thing to the end i'm going to finish my race see here at shield of faith long beach we end our service with a song says i'm determined to walk with jesus yes i am through hard trials and tribulation and persecution and hard times and covet i'm determined i'm gonna finish my race i'm not gonna give in i'm not gonna give out i'm not gonna run away but i'm gonna finish my race see when we get saved we get saved and we're so excited seem like the lord is blessing us on every hand everything we want seem like we pray for a proof there it is some of us we got new homes and we got new jobs and we got new cars we got some money and some of us got a honey and everything seemed like everything was going my way and we were walking around singing he's sweet i know oh yeah oh yeah he's sweet i know and then and then say and then say and then and then some bad stuff began to happen in your life now i wish i could tell you differently but that's just the truth tests and trials are going to come the adversary is going to try to attack you in the name of jesus the enemy will try to convince you you just need to give up and walk away what's the point what's the use it's just too hard if not that the enemy will try to think to make you forget that you're saved and that you're a warrior for jesus and that you're on your way to heaven my father used to tell me and my brother this story when he was a young teenager one of his good friends one of his best friends got saved i don't know if it was christ temple where it was but he got saved and that Friday somebody threw a big party and this young man went to the party and he was dancing and he was drinking and he was doing all manner of ungodly things and someone said i thought you got saved he said oh i forgot i was saved you know we've done that same thing except that i forgot i was saved but the truth is sometimes we feel like i don't know if i can make it sometimes we feel like i'm just i'm just not sure that i can finish my race turn in your bible to hebrus chapter 12 verse 1 hebrus chapter 12 verse 1 now monday when you leave this place i don't want you to go to the party and say oh i forgot i would say lord have mercy hebrus 12 and 1 says wherefore seeing that we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses so let us lay aside every weight and sin which does so easily but set us and let us run say let us run let us run with patience the race see not just any race not the indianapolis 500 not the boston marathon but the race that is set before us the race that jesus has placed us in he said let us run this race with patience and so it says that we are compassed about or we are surrounded about with so great a cloud of witnesses or or so great a crowd of witnesses saints like bishop morris golder and saints like arning alexander and saints like bishop battle and on and on and on bishop james johnson the great men and women of god they are surrounding us they are telling us they are standing in the grandstands of heaven they're at the real superbowl and they're telling us you can make it the genus i said you can make it don't stop don't quit keep running you can finish your race if i finish my race and i did you can finish your race so all you have to do is lay aside every weight see weights are those things that slow you down weights are the things that stop you from reaching your potential the weight of things that just just just make it you can't move like you want to move and then he said lay aside every sin those sins that people can see those secret sins that you commit when nobody's around sin will dis will disqualify you from running the race just like the olympics they find that this person has taken a bad substance and they're disqualified sin will disqualify you from doing what god wants you to do now there is forgiveness james say don't sin but if you sin you have an advocate with the father but if you want to run this race if you want to reach your potential if you want to do all god told you to do lay aside every weight and every sin and run your race run your race but he says run your race with patience set a pace and keep running your race you're not going to get through overnight but you've got to run your race you got to put one step in front of the other step and in front of the other step if you've ever run track or run a race and i know bishop has and many of us had you got to pace yourself you got to pace yourself you got to save yourself to the end of the race because you want to have some kick at the end of the race it's not so much how you start the race but it's how you finish the race and we're going to run our race with patience and the bible said wait on the and be of good courage and he'll strengthen your heart he'll make you fit for the journey you'll finish your race and they're standing in the grandstands and then cheering us on in the same sense of god run your race you got this don't stop tell your neighbor you got this you got this you got this you can finish your race turn to second timothy second timothy chapter four paul is coming down to the end of his life and he has run the race with patience he has suffered many things for christ and he's ready to enter into his reward let's start with verse six it says for i am ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand he says i fought a good fight i finished my course hey said and i have kept the faith his fourth that is laid up for me a crown of righteousness hey i like that a crown of righteousness with the lord the righteous judge he's going to give it to me on that day and this is the best part and not for me only but to all them that love his appearing so in this text paul has run his race and he's run his grace well now he's ready to go home to be with Jesus and he has a young protege he's under study young timothy and he charges timothy to preach the word be instant in season and out of season repure rebuke exhort and then he tells him beware of false doctrine you need to be aware of what you listen you can't eat from everybody's table you need to know that they've got the truth and that they're rooted and grounded in the word of god they're established in the word of god he says watch out for false doctrine and false teachers you know some people they're so eloquent and what they say and they will lead you straight to hell i won't call her name but i know one brother that i know that he has fallen into idolatry and some other things false truth and he was on i guess it was facebook i was looking and he was on and he was speaking so eloquent and he was twisting the scriptures to say some stuff that god never intended but he said it so well if i hadn't been rooted and grounded in the words i might have believed in myself and when i got to listen to him i said that was nice but devil you still a liar i'm not gonna hear any false doctrine i'm not gonna hear any false truth just would tell me what thus saith the lord and so he tells him beware of false doctrine and false teachers and then he tells him do the work of an evangelist say we've got to do the work god's called us to do the work see a lot of times people say he's just called preachers and teachers but he's called everybody everybody in this room he's called you to do something for the kingdom it's something in you that nobody else can do but you and god is looking for you to do what he's called you to do evangelize your neighborhood evangelize at the grocery store so i know if you get close to dr. sciss she gonna preach to you if you if you but if you trying to buy a baloney sandwich you better grab it a run because if you stand still long enough she gonna tell you something about jesus but he says evangel evangelize in your home see sometimes we think just because our children and our grandchildren are in our home that they know the truth you better sit them down and make sure that they know the truth and what god said in his word and make sure that they're saved and sanctified and filled with the holy ghost if they're not living a life damn that sin i love you but you're wrong gotta repeat do the work of an evangelist and then i like this bishop paul eulogizes himself hey he didn't wait for somebody else to eulogize him he eulogize himself he says i fought a good fighter and a good fighter it's a fight you win and paul said i fought a good fight of faith and sometimes the battle was tough and sometimes it was intense but i kept on fighting till i won never gave up never surrendered never retreated but i kept fighting i fought a good fight and then he said i finished my course everything that god wanted me to do and every assignment that god gave me to do i did it and i did it with excellence and i finished it i finished my course sometimes it was tough sometimes it was rough sometimes i wanted to give up but i finished my course since we have to learn to be finishers see sometimes we are quick to start something but we never see it through it just seemed like every time the enemy does something to stop us but we have to learn to finish our course and then he said and i kept the faith the bible said that the just shall live by faith even when times are hard and it seems like there's no way out i kept the faith when people were talking about me and laughing to my faith i held on to my faith when the eyes were stacked against me didn't think i could make it i held on to my faith but this is the part that i like about this and paul shared up when i leave this earth and when i get to heaven there is a crown of righteousness that's laid up for me and jesus himself is going to give it to me i don't know about you but i want a crown i'm i'm looking for a crown and he said not just for me but for everybody that loves jesus do you love jesus today are you serving jesus today are you walking for jesus today he said he's making a crown for everybody everybody that loves jesus everybody that's looking for his return to everybody that finishes their race there's a crown laid up for you said if you finish your race you get a crown and you get a crown and you get a crown and you get a crown and you get a crown everybody gets a crown the finish is their race so i said i shall wear a crown i shall wear a crown win the trumpet sounds win the trumpet sounds i shall wear a crown i shall wear a crown i shall wear a golden crown are you looking to wear a crown that's the golden that's the hope to wear a golden crown and i gotta stop myself because they used to say as soon as my feet strike Zion i'm gonna lay down my heavy burdens hey but i'm looking to wear a crown i don't know about you but i made up my mind i'm gonna finish the race i'm gonna finish the race i'm gonna finish the race i'm not gonna quit i'm not gonna stop i'm gonna cross the finish line i want to hear him say well done well done my good and faithful servant you did run well so let me and minus you today don't be discouraged i said don't be discouraged don't get tired don't quit don't listen to the fake news that tells you you can't finish this race be strong in the Lord and the power of his might know that you have the holy ghost and power after the holy ghost has come upon you you shall have power power to finish the race power to go on in power over the adversary and we can and we will i said we can and we will we can and we will finish finish finish finish the race and i'm gonna do it in style i'm not gonna let my way in but i'm gonna sweep in through the city i'm gonna go in the joy of the Lord because the joy of the Lord is my strength i'm gonna praise him when i feel like it praise him when i don't feel like it praise him because i know he's giving me power praise him because i know he's giving me victory praise him because i know he's delivering me see that's how we finish the race that's how we finish the race and and this one thing i am confident of he that has begun a good work hey a good work hey a good work in you and in me he's faithful he's faithful he's faithful to complete it he's faithful to deliver he's faithful we can finish the race i said we can finish the race can't nobody stop us can't nobody block us can't nobody hold us up up god is with us god is for us the saints are in the grass and telling us don't give up don't give up don't quit you you can finish the race yeah yeah yeah you got this you got this you don't even have to worry about it we can finish the race and i'm rejoicing and i'm celebrating and i'm getting my praise on because i'm running my race and i'm running like a thoroughbred horse i'm i'm running down the track i'm not looking to the left i'm not looking to the right but i've got blinders on because i've got heaven in my view i'm gonna finish my race bishop when i see jesus amen hey when i see jesus amen all of my trials all of my sorrow all of my pain every test is over say over say over over when i see jesus amen hallelujah see it says it will be worth it all when we see jesus it's gonna be worth it all hey every test every trial every tear when we get to heaven it will be worth it all we're gonna forget about all of those things and we're gonna see jesus sitting on the throne we're gonna see the streets of gold we're gonna drink from the crystal fountain it will be worth it all see sometimes i just lay and imagine what heaven is going to be like how beautiful it is how wonderful it is some people say i'm gonna go find my father and my mother in this certain part and nothing wrong with that you know i hope to see my father but i want to see jesus i want to see jesus the one that died for me the one that lay down his life for me the one that shed his blood for me the one that opened the door for me the one that rescued me from myself i want to see jesus i want to see him face to face we can and we will finish finish not stop but finish the race say i'm gonna finish the race i'm gonna see his face in peace and i'm gonna walk down those golden streets because i finished the race it's a done deal the pictures on we can finish the race go ahead and give god some praise if you believe that if you know you're gonna finish the race bless his name finish hallelujah hallelujah thank god for power he shall receive power after that the holy ghost has come upon you and you'll be my witnesses thank god for the power the power of the holy ghost keeps us from forgetting the lord has saved us come on somebody oh hallelujah thank god thank god thank god elder ross said it's not how you i think i not how that's right not how you start the race but it's how you finish many have started and they wimped out they walked successfully with the lord until they listened to the adversary of the soul who is the devil the devil will tell you you can't make it it's too hard the requirements are too stiff but with the power of the holy ghost come on somebody you can't do it by yourself no matter how hard you try you'll never accomplish it on your own you need jesus come on somebody hallelujah hallelujah the lord is stands by he's ready and willing he's ready to take you in and he's ready to hold your hand as long as you hold on to his hand come on somebody come on somebody he wants to he wants to see your save he wants to deliver you he wants to give you peace and satisfaction right here in this world you got to come to jesus you got to come to jesus the lord stands ready and willing said if any man will hear my voice he said i'll come in and i'll suck with him he said i'll come in and i'll have communion with you if you're not baptized in water in jesus name which is the way that your sins are remitted you need the baptism in jesus name and the lord has promised that he'll wash all of your sins away did you hear what i said all all all every single one of them no matter what it was the devil would tell you you're too far gone the lord can't possibly love you because of who you are but he said i'll take all of your sins away when it takes all your sins away you're forgiven and you're ready to go to heaven but you need the power of the holy ghost that's right power the holy ghost is the fuel that gets you there you can't you can't stay saved until you have the power and the lord has the power he wants to share it he wants to give you he wants to see you in heaven if you've not had that experience you need to have that the lord loves you and i like to say he loved me even as bad as i was that's right he said i i know who you are i know your deeds and i know your thoughts i know your thoughts before they reached this portion of your body he said but in spite of that he said i love you enough to go to calvary's cross and give my life hallelujah hallelujah so the the lord wants to come into your heart if you've not had this experience we invite you to come 49 34 long beach boulevard in the city of long beach california 90805 i want to put that address in your mind so when the lord touches you when the lord moves upon you you come on down just come right on down he's here waiting for you he wants to receive you and he's got he's got ministers and saints here to see to that you get what you need from god and will embrace you this is a good church this is a good church amen people of this church love the lord is our desire to please him in all we do and say so that includes embracing you come on down come on down you can finish the course yeah after you get started you got to get started first amen so come on down we invite you to come come on down come over here where the table is spread and the feast of the lord is going on god bless you in jesus name time to bless the lord god i tell you i thank you i thank you i thank you i thank you i think we can finish y'all we can finish hallelujah hallelujah amen those who have your offering come on come on and bring it to the lord hallelujah finish this you all draw strength from the holy ghost hallelujah draw strength from the holy ghost those will show you how the holy ghost will lead and give you strength it'll tell you when it's when you're supposed to not do something you have to yield thank the lord for that word elder ross hallelujah we can do this saints hallelujah is we can finish this hallelujah when it got rough hallelujah because i gave you the strength i gave you to finish this thing oh how god loves us because he sends the word god we are without excuses hallelujah every sunday he builds us up every sunday he builds us up and i thank him i thank him for the leadership i thank him hallelujah for the word of the lord that come hallelujah has everyone given has everyone been served all right father we thank you for your awesome hallelujah awesome you're a great god mighty god hallelujah we love you today thank you god for giving us meat to put in your house we thank you god for blessing us to be a blessing to the kingdom we give you glory god thank you for thank you for allowing us to bless this kingdom hallelujah for giving us the uh the wherewith hallelujah to be a blessing to your kingdom we thank you for god we give your name praise and glory and freely and cheerfully we give to your kingdom god we thank you hallelujah have your way hallelujah meet every need hallelujah that's here at the shield of faith in long beach god hallelujah allow it to meet every need hallelujah that is here in this house god we thank you and we praise you bless the giver god in jesus name amen amen amen hallelujah hallelujah man i tell you i'm determined i'm even more determined elder all the way i mean this hallelujah thank you lord hallelujah yeah come on i feel like holding on and see what the ends gonna be jesus yes i am we thank you for everyone that came god we know that you blessed them with the word father god now take them to their several of bows care for them like you always do keep them in the palm of your hand oh god until we come back again ready to give your name praise ready to give your name glory hallelujah in jesus name we pray you are dismissed hallelujah q shouldn't i be faithful through hard time tribulation persecution i'll be faithful through hard time tribulation persecution i'll be faithful i'm determined to walk with jesus yes i am


Last week, the billionaire businessman Richard Branson hurled himself to the edge of space on a ship he helped privately fund and develop, and came back smiling. Now Jeff Bezos is doing the same. Billionaires launching themselves skyward on their own dime has occasioned a bitter debate about income inequality, whether the government should be taking more of their wealth through taxation. Here on Earth, in the richest country on the planet, half our people live paycheck to paycheck, complained Bernie Sanders. But hey, the richest guys in the world are often out of space. Yes. It's time to tax the billionaires. The anger directed at Bezos Branson and SpaceX's Elon Musk stands in striking contrast to the high approval long enjoyed by NASA, even though the space agency spent the better part of the last decade unable to get humans off-planet at all, while still soaking up billions in taxpayer dollars. Should billionaires play out their space travel fantasies, tweeted Congressman Ro Kehana, a member of the NASA caucus, or should we invest in schooling, provide health care, and create prosperity for everyone? The irony is that NASA takes our money without our consent to finance a space program that no ordinary citizen can ever hope to access. But when Branson, Musk, and Bezos spend their wealth with the explicit goal of selling ever-cheaper tickets to all comers, that's when congressmen get grumpy. There's every reason to believe the democratization of space travel is upon us. Bezos, Branson, and Musk have already delivered on that promise in other sectors, unless the government manages to screw things up. Following the pattern of commercial air travel in the 20th century, a novelty for billionaires today may well be accessible to the ordinary rich and then the middle class soon enough. The billionaires also say they're taking a long term view. One day the capacity to get off-planet cheaply and at scale could be humanity's salvation. But what they want or envision isn't what really matters. Just as bubble wrap was invented to be wallpaper, enlisting was for cleaning floors, consumers will decide where the private space industry ultimately leads. Bezos, Branson, Musk, and others have overtaken a wildly expensive, ineffective government program and built a competitive industry, driving down the cost of getting a kilogram into low-Earth orbit by 44-fold already. Which billionaire goes to space first, how high he flies or how big his rocket is, or how much he pays in income taxes? None of that matters. What matters is what the rest of us are going to do with access to those same spacecraft and bigger, better, weirder ones in the years to come. Oh, space!


The name of God, the most beneficent, the most merciful, praise be to Him, the All-Knowing, the Creator and the Sustainer, I begin in His name, I begin in the name of Allah, and I send my peace and blessings upon Muhammad and his holy progeny, and I send my condolences to the Imam of my time, Imam al-Mahdi, al-Mintadar, may Allah hasten his reappearance, on the martyrdom of the tragic occasion of his mother, Sayyid al-Fatima al-Zahra, a peace be upon her, in which it was reported that Imam al-Mahdi, peace be upon him, has said, in my mother, Fatima, and the daughter of the Masjid of Allah, is an example for me. Al-Qa'im of al-Muhammad, Imam al-Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance, speaks about his mother, Fatima, as being an Uswa Hassana for him. Tonight we will continue our journey in speaking about the events that happened towards Fatima al-Zahra. Our time is very limited, so we will go straight to the events. We will first speak about the prophecies from Rasulullah, peace be upon him and his holy family concerning the events that will happen towards Fatima al-Zahra. Inshallah we will begin with the first reports, and we will try our best to narrate all three reports in this chapter. The first report is found right here, and before this report, I want to narrate to you the beginning of the Ziyarah of Sayyid al-Fatima al-Zahra, peace be upon her. Imam al-Baqarah, peace be upon him, says, Ya'amum tahana, imtahanaki Allah, qabla an yakhluqaki.   This mazlumiyah, this oppression that she went through and this test that was taken by Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah took a covenant with the Ahlul Bayt. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, took a covenant with the Ahlul Bayt and a promise to them, and he tested them in the world before this world, the world of Al-Muddar, the world of the particles and light, the world of the souls from before this universe. Allah tested Fatima, and with this test Fatima, peace be upon her, succeeded. And she succeeded in this test and she endured this test and was patient. Again, we will start now by narrating to you this beautiful report. This report is also found in the Bihar of Al-Alam Al-Majdisi, Volume 43. Volume 43 of the Bihar, it's the volume that is specifically compiled by Al-Alam Al-Majdisi for what for? Say the Fatima. We will read to you the Nus, and with me I want you to join me in reading this Nus together with me. The text says it was reported by the Messenger of Allah, ﷺ. You see, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his holy family, when he went to his ma'raj, when he ascended to the heavens, Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, told him of what is going to happen to his Ahlul Bayt. And of these things that's going to happen to his Ahlul Bayt, here in this hadith he begins to explain. First, he begins to speak about Sayyidah, Fatima, peace be upon her. He begins to inform you of the Manaqib of Fatima. He says, Fatima is my soul. Fatima is the heart that is between my chest. Fatima is the chief of all women. Fatima is the lady amongst all women and the best amongst all women. Lady Fatima, peace be upon her. She is the transcendent being that was created by Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, in the heavens. After he begins to narrate the Manaqib and the merits of Fatima, from the tongue of Rasulullah, peace be upon him, Rasulullah says this. He says, every time I look at my daughter Fatima, I begin to reminisce. I begin to remember what is going to happen after her. He says, I begin to remember what is going to happen to my Fatima. He says, I begin to see as if the shameful, lonely and vile ones entered her house, violating her and transgressing on her sanctity. He says, taking her rights, denying her her inheritance. Rasulullah A'lam, peace be upon him and his holy family, the Apostle of Allah Muhammad is telling the people of what he was informed by Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. He tells them I see them as if these vile, shameful creatures entered the house of Fatima, transgressed her sanctity, ruined her, oppressed her, usurped her rights, denied her from the rightful inheritance that was given by Rasulullah. He says, breaking her ribs and causing her to miscarry her child.  This is the prophecy of Rasulullah peace be upon him and his holy family concerning his mother Fatima. After me, she will be sad, distressed, disheveled, oppressed, terrorized. She will continue to weep. She will continue to weep. Why? Because she starts to remember. She starts to remember that at the time when her father was around her, she was respected and honored. And now after, after the fall and martyrdom of Rasulullah peace be upon him and his holy family, she has begun, she has been rejected and oppressed. She would remember her separation from Rasulullah. She would remember that Rasulullah used to be around her. Now he's not here anymore. And she would remember the recitation of the voice of the Quran. She starts to remember the day when the revelation cut off from the house of Rasulullah. She starts to reminisce and remember that voice of the Quran when Rasulullah used to read the verses that came onto him from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. She would feel forgotten and left over. She felt as she was, she felt herself living in solitude, living in solitude in her own city in the Medina of Rasulullah. Of course during this time Rasul, the angels of Allah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would send angels towards my daughter Fatima. They would consult her, condol with her, speak to her. They will tell her, Ya Fatima, you have been chosen amongst all the women of the Paradise. You have been chosen amongst all women of Allah's creations. So supplicate to Allah. Glorify Allah. Prostrate and bow down with those that bow down. These are all the words of Rasulullah. She would then feel pain and get very sick. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would send Maryam, the daughter of Imran, to also come to her and condol with her. Maryam would take care of her. Maryam would nurse her. Maryam would nurse my lady Fatima and peace be upon her. She says, This is Rasulullah's words. Rasulullah says, Allah will take her to me. She will be the first from my family to die after me. She will come to me in a state of distress, afflicted in pain, suffering and be murdered. And I will say, may Allah curse, may Allah remove His mercy from those who oppressed her, from those who oppressed her, denied her rights. The Rasulullah would say, may Allah damn those who oppressed her, cursed her. The messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace be upon him and his holy family. He would say this. He would say, may Allah remove His mercy from those who oppressed my daughter Fatima from those who left her in distress, pain, anger and suffering. Then when Rasulullah would read this dua, the angels would say, Ameen. This is the prophecy of Rasulullah, peace be upon him and his holy family concerning his mother Fatima to Zahra, peace be upon him. The second report. The second report can be found in the book of Ibn Qawlawi al-Qummi, Kamul al-Ziyarat. This book can be found online and it can be purchased. It is a book that's translated in English and you will find this hadith in English. It says, again, when Rasulullah, peace be upon him and his holy family, ascended to the far heavens on his ma'raj, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala called out to him and he told him, O Muhammad, I am about to test you. Three tests. Do you accept?  We will skip to the part that we need, which is the third test. He says, the third test, O Muhammad, as for your brother, Ali ibn al-Abi talib, he will be betrayed, oppressed and murdered after you. His rights will be taken away. O Muhammad, do you accept? This is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaking to Rasulullah, peace be upon him and his holy family. He tells them, do you accept? Rasulullah says, surely I accept this test and I will endure this test. Then he says, as for your daughter, Fatima, she will be oppressed. Her rights will be taken away. Her inheritance that you gave her will be denied. The inheritance that you left her will be denied. She will be pregnant and she will be hit and she will miscarry her child.  Rasulullah, peace be upon him and his holy family, said, Ya Rab, I accept. Inna lillah wa inna ilayhi raji'un. Surely we are to Allah and to him we will return. And my patience and endurance is only from you, my Lord. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continue speaking to Muhammad, peace be upon him and his holy family. He tells him, O Muhammad, again as for your daughter, I will make her stand. Listen, I will make her stand by my throne and the caller will say, Verily, O Fatima, Allah has made you judge His creations. Therefore, you are the Haqim on that day.  Whomever loves you, they may enter heaven. Verily, Allah says, I will accept your judgment of them. She will continue to look upon the courtyard of people. And when she sees that subperson that oppressed her, he will be taken straight towards the fires of hell. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continues. The first person that will be judged for the oppression that he faced will be al-Muhassin ibn Ali, alaihi salati wa salam. The son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the miscarried, unborn child of Ali ibn Abi Talib, who died on that tragic day when they attacked the house of Fatima, followed by his murderer, ibn Al-Khattab. followed by Qunfud.  And the judge will be Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And Fatima will be the one to make this judgment. They say they will be whipped with lashes, lashes of fire. These lashes, if they are to hit the oceans from the far east and the far west, they would start to boil. If these lashes, if these lashes were to be whipped on a mountain, it would make them crumble.  Now, there are many more prophecies and I have here many more prophecies from Rasul Allah speaking to his household, gathering his household, telling them that the first person after me will be my daughter Fatima. Her ribs will be broken. She will be kicked on her stomach. She will be slapped on the face, followed by Ali ibn Abi Talib and the sword of ibn muljam la'anahu Allah, followed by Al-Hasan, being stabbed in the leg and the poison that will be given, followed by Ibn Abdullah al-Hussain, peace be upon him, on the lands of Karbala. He will be taken, his family captive and he will be murdered in cold blood. There are many prophecies, but I want to narrate to you this hadith, which is after the attack on the house of Fatima, just so that you can see the status Sayyid al-Fatima peace be upon her was, when what, when she was about to die. The following hadith can be found in the Bihar of al-Alam al-Majlisi. You see, Sayyid al-Fatima peace be upon her, she was the first woman in Islam to be put in a coffin. I am Ali ibn Abi Talib, peace be upon him, that Fatima, the daughter of the messenger of Allah, when he was a prophet, when the messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, died and was martyred, Fatima became very, very weak. She went to Asma ibn Tawmais, she started telling her of the position she was in. Do you know what this means? Sayyid al-Fatima says, what do I do? How will they wrap me in the coffin? And men will hold me when I have become bone and my skin has dried up and has become glued on my body to the point where I'm just bone, no more. Asma told Fatima to al-Zahra, the Abyssinians make coffins for women. I will ask them to make a coffin for you. Hence, Fatima to al-Zahra, peace be upon her, was the first woman to be put in a coffin. I will ask them to make a coffin for you. Hence, Fatima to al-Zahra, peace be upon her, was the first woman to be put in a coffin. She was the first woman to be put in a coffin. And this shows you the amount of pain. Sayyid al-Fatima to al-Zahra went through to the point where her body was so weak she was just bone. There was nothing, there's no meat, there's no flesh on her body. What did they do to Fatima to al-Zahra? We will see, insha'Allah, we will read the tragedy of the attack on the door of Fatima. Be in the light of Allah in the next episode.  And may Allah hasten the reappearance of your awaited saviour. And insha'Allah, He will show us your grave.


Complex situations are driving higher levels of migration all over the world. They are delivering new challenges that test our existing ways of working and require a much more strategic approach in both the short term and the long term. It brings us to a critical moment, not just for IOM or our member states, but for the people that we serve, for those who have moved, for those who are going to move, or those who will be on the move in the future. The world is increasingly relying on IOM and our budget has grown, but the need for our help has grown even faster. That's why IOM is launching its first ever global appeal. Along the three key priorities of our new strategic plan. Number one, saving and protecting people on the move. Number two, driving solutions to displacement. And number three, facilitating pathways for more regular migration. The consequences of underfunded or partial assistance are dire, protracted displacement, heightened tension, conflict, increased incentives for irregular migration, and greater risks to the lives of those on the move. Much worse, we lose the tremendous human capacity of millions of people. We can and we must do better. If we get this funding, IOM can be more strategic and proactive. We can anticipate problems before they occur and become even more costly. We can leverage our data and our partnerships to give more people the chance to flourish in peace and safety. To help us achieve this goal, we invite our member states, the private sector, and individual donors to join us and contribute to the IOM Global Appeal for 2024. Together, we can deliver on the promise of migration while supporting the world's most vulnerable.


We're gonna be focusing on going through pre-block. Now remember, the pre-block is a isolated pillar six throw. The idea is we're gonna have a flatter orbit. We're gonna be staying down pre-blocked here. That always means locked up here at the hip, locked at the knee, staying down, right? So what we're gonna do is learn how to turn everything through. We're already in that pre-block position. So all we wanna feel is that. And then right at the very end, it straightens up. So we've kind of refined this over the years. This is why we're throwing today in your action 4.0. We keep making nuances and adjusting and the things that we test, and what are the cues that work better and what are the technical things that we keep seeing translating to bigger throws. So staying here, we've always talked about syncing deep. My first 72 foot shop putter was a kid named Matt Katnick in 2015, and one of the things to cue we used to use was sync. And so we wanna really focus on that. So the first thing that we're gonna do, again, is teaching that pre-block. And you'll notice again, I keep my wrist wrap. I have small wrists. You definitely gonna wanna do it. It keeps that support behind the wrist and it's gonna help you create more stretch against your fingers. Really important. Now, one of the things is, we're gonna line up our 12 o'clock. I'm setting up our pre-block because I'm throwing and I'm going this way just to demonstrate. But you're gonna notice when I'm here and I'm gonna be setting it up, bringing it in and getting that elbow into position. That's really key. So when we look from this angle, you're gonna see this. You're gonna see how as I come down and I bring it in, I'm gonna get that shot higher up on the neck and I'm always trying to get that crease the elbow down. We talked about this again in the week one and we wanna get that elbow back. And we're gonna see this. So we're gonna see getting ourselves set the angle, elevator drop. Notice the double bend legs. You're gonna see me kind of wind flat. So I feel that separation and stretch reflex. So again, you'll notice when I'm throwing from this 12 to six line and I put everything into position this way, I'm here and you're gonna see that my hips are facing about eight o'clock. My knees at nine, my hips are at eight. This is about 637, probably more 630. And so as I'm in here and I feel the lock, we wanna make sure that the head and the shoulders are over the knee and we're gonna be winding flat and we're feeling that motion here. So in the pre-block, we're holding that block here. 630, turn the hips through. So you're gonna wanna feel that, but typically you'll feel this type of position and that's what we're looking for. So again, what we're gonna be doing in these throw sessions is teaching you do a throw, add in your specific pillar drills. If you always watch your video and your heels always low, you're gonna be doing the heel up push. You're gonna be doing a drill down.  If your block leg's always here, it's gonna be block leg extension, right? So you go from here to here. It's still not hyperextended, but extended up so that the hip turns through.  Okay guys, thanks for watching. We'll see you for your stand throws next.