As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. The first step is that you have mercy on us, that we don't have any peace between us. So we say, as-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. The first step for us to have mercy towards one another is that we convey the greetings of peace and we say, as-salamu alaikum peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah upon all of you and his blessings. Therefore, if we want to spread mercy and convey mercy between each other, then we have to send each other salam regularly. Because when we send greetings of peace to one another, we say, may the peace and the mercy and the blessings of Allah be upon us. Because when we send greetings of peace to one another, we say, may the peace and the mercy and the blessings of Allah be upon you. And the one who is greeted responds by saying, and may the mercy and peace and blessings of Allah be upon you as well. So when we convey these greetings to one another, we are sharing and reciprocating the mercy and the blessings and the peace of Allah upon one another. And that is why if a Muslim passes by their Muslim brother, and they do not convey the salams to them, the one who does not convey is the first one who is missing out. Because by not conveying, they are missing out on receiving the blessings and the mercy and the peace of Allah that will then be prayed for upon them by the one who responds. And that is why when we even enter our homes, our beloved, peace be upon us, to send salams upon our family, the people who are living in the house. And if no one is home, then we say, peace be upon the righteous servants of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, meaning the angels and the righteous ones among the jinn, and the servants of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then if we do not find anyone at all, we can just say, and we ask Allah's peace to be upon our own selves, blessed and a good and beautiful form of peace that He descends upon us. And they say for that reason, that salam to their fellow Muslims, that if a person is consistent in that, then at the moment of their passing, when their soul is exiting their body, they will hear the angels responding to them and giving them readings of peace, as Allah says in the Qur'an, peace be upon you. Salamun awwudan ar-rubdu l-rahiim, a word from a generous, from a merciful Lord. And that's why the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, he said, you will not enter paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another. Shall I then guide you to something that if you do it, it will create love between you? He said, spread salam, spread the readings of peace among yourselves. And for that reason, and hampirah Allah, all of us we pray. Every single Muslim prays five times a day, at least the five obligatory prayers, and there are those who add the extra prayers, the voluntary prayers, and hampirah that we all established that. How do you end the prayer when you exit it?  So you send the reading of peace to those that are on your right, and you send the reading of peace to those who are on your left, from those who are praying with you, and from the believing human beings and jinn, and to the angels as well. Oh my loved ones, we heard at the beginning the introduction of the speech, a hadith from the Messenger of God, he said, blessings be upon him, in which he says, those who are merciful are shown mercy by the All-merciful. Have mercy to those that are on earth, and the one in the heavens will have mercy on you. The first person that you have to show mercy towards is your own self. And for that reason, Mom, I ask, how is a person, how can a person be merciful to their own selves? And the meaning of that is that you do not become a cause for the mercy of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala not to reach you. And how can a person do something that would prevent the mercy of Allah from reaching them? Yes, it is a fact that one can do something to prevent the mercy of Allah from reaching them. And this is the worst form of oppression. And this is the oppression and the wrong doing that one does to their own self. How does a person wrong their own self? My two things. Is that a person takes themselves into the area of Allah's wrath. And that is through acts of disobedience and sin. The second thing and the second thing is that a person prevents themselves from the mercy of Allah and his forgiveness by their own self. And that is why when we hear that the reward of certain acts of obedience is that Allah will grant his mercy and forgiveness. For example, when we hear the words of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him said, whoever after they eat food or a meal they say, All praise belongs to Allah, who fed me this food without any power or ability of my own. That their previous sins are forgiven. So if a person eats food and that does not praise Allah after eating the food, then they have prevented themselves from receiving that forgiveness and by doing so they have wronged their own selves. Pay attention. That this mercy is not just to say, All praise belongs to Allah, and then you don't say anything after that. It is the same this prophetic Lu'a that Habib said the translation of which is, All praise belongs to Allah, who fed me this food without any power or ability of my own. This is servitude. This is showing your neediness to Allah. No matter how great you are in the world, no matter how wealthy you are in the world, you are still in need of this water that you drink. You are still in need of food. And with that, Allah has given mercy with that meal and that food, if at the end of it you praise Him and you thank Him for it. Allah has given mercy with that meal and that food, if at the end of it you praise Him and you thank Him for it. And have the mercy and the grace of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is that if a group of people come together over a meal together and they eat together, and one person from that group brings this Du'a and says this Du'a, that the forgiveness and the mercy encompasses everyone personally. Another example, when the Messenger of Allah SAW says, that the Messenger of Allah SAW says whoever says Subhanallah al-Aliin 100 times a day, then their sins, their previous sins will be forgiven even if it is as numerous as the foam of the sea. If a person's day goes fine and they don't say this Du'a, then they have prevented themselves from receiving the mercy of Allah's forgiveness. And also when you remember Allah, Allah makes mention of you and bestows His mercy upon you and bestows His blessings upon you and He elevates your rank. The mercy of Allah is vast. It is great. It is plenty. Do you want to know which mercy is the greatest in particular to your needs? If you send salawat upon Prophet Muhammad SAW, the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him said if a person sends one prayer of peace and blessings upon me, Allah will bestow ten upon them and that means ten mercies will be given to him. One mercy from Allah suffices. So what about ten mercies? Not only Allah SWT glorious and majestic, but His angels as well. Because Allah says in the Qur'an, Allah and His angels sent blessings upon you to take you out of the darknesses into the light. And for that reason if you send one peace and blessing upon the Prophet, Allah will bestow ten upon you and if you do two, then you will receive twenty and if you do three, then you will see thirty and four, forty and so on and so forth. And if one mercy reaches you, branch out. Every prophet that was sent to humanity, those sent to previous peoples, they were sent as either someone coming with glad tidings or as one coming with a warning. But the Prophet Muhammad, he said, blessings of Allah be upon him was sent as a mercy to all the worlds. Whenever when you enter the door of the masjid and you enter this masjid, what do we say? We say, Bismillah in the name of Allah and we send peace and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad and we say, oh Allah forgive me my sins and open for me the gates of your mercy. Because just by sending Salawat upon the Prophet, the gates of mercy are open for you. You just see it as a door in which you enter into the masjid but in reality it is many doors that have opened up for you.  Because we are an ummah, the majority of us have not seen the masjid and therefore when we send Salawat upon him our love for him is renewed and it is reignited and we become more attached to him. So when you make, we'll do it in preparation for prayer and ask you if you are done making the wudu say, I hear witness that there is no god but Allah and I hear witness that our Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and then you enter into the masjid and you send Salawat upon Prophet Muhammad and then you enter into the prayer and in the prayer you say peace be upon you O Prophet of Allah and the blessings and mercy of Allah so in every situation you are connected in something that is connected to you and you say peace be upon you peace be upon you peace be upon you peace be upon you in every situation you are connected in something peace and blessings upon the Prophet saW and it has been narrated in the sunnah of Imam al-Nasa'ee that the Prophet saW saW that the Prophets SAW said, whatever sends one salawat upon me, that they will get 10 rewards and will be reported for them as 10 rewards and 10 sins will be forgiven and they will be elevated 10 degrees in rank. So we will return back to the hadith that was mentioned of the Prophets SAW. That the Merciful Ones are shown mercy by the Rahman, the All-Merciful. He did not say that the Merciful Ones are shown mercy by Allah. But the name that Allah has given himself are Rahman, the All-Merciful. And such that it means that when Allah SWT sees you showing mercy to your own self and showing mercy to everyone around you that you will then be given the greatest degrees of His mercy. So now we have spoken about and we understand how you can show mercy to your own self. Do not fall into sin. And do not withhold and prevent yourself from mercy. Are we all in agreement on that? So now how do we have mercy for one another? Allah SWT when he mentioned the name of the Prophet Muhammad SAW in Surah Al-Fatih, he said Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and those who are with him. So if you want to be of those who are with him then you have these qualities. He said that they are firm on the disbelievers and they are merciful towards one another. The mercy that we have with one another has two meanings. The first meaning is a feeling that you have within yourself. Is that you learn for your fellow Muslim that you are very happy when you meet them. You are very happy when you see them. You are very happy when they call you, for example. And the sign of that is that is that you go and shake hands with them. The Prophet SAW said if two Muslims meet one another and they shake hands then ten mercies are descended upon them. Nine of those mercies go for the one who is happier at meeting their fellow Muslim. And one portion of the mercy for the other one. This is a great mercy. And now, what's the number of the people here? It's Allah. So if you want a lot of mercy of this gathering then when you enter the message you say the dua when you are leaving the message you say the dua and while we are here that the men they shake hands with one another and they express joy and the women shake hands with one another and they express joy and that way you will get a great portion of mercy. There are ten portions of mercy. Nine go to the one who begins and the salam and shows and has greater joy and happiness in meeting their fellow Muslim and one for the other.  So then if we said that the reward the reward of the handshake is nine of the ten portions of mercy and the reward of the salam is ten rewards and the least which one needs to do to attain that is to say the salam and the reward for smiling is as the prophet peace and blessings be upon him said and you smiling in the face of your brother is a charity and then you smile for Allah not just flattering them that you smile and your heart loves that person you're not internally insulting them or saying that things about them and all praise be to Allah because this is a mercy from Him glorious and majestic that it can even occur between a husband and wife that there might be miscommunication and disagreement that saying salam it will get rid of three quarters of the problems and for that reason when we get into the learning about the mercy that we show towards one another the sign of those who are showing mercy to one another is mentioned in the verse is that if you are distant or you have not seen your fellow Muslim that you ask about them you seek out how they're doing where is Zonsa I haven't seen him in the message or at the prayer is he sick so I can visit him is he in need of something so we can give it to him is he upset with me such that I can ask his forgiveness and apologize has he passed away so that I can attend this funeral when I see my fellow Muslim I don't want to be alone why are you sad what is the most important thing to see their fellow Muslims apparently sad they don't just leave them alone to themselves they check in on them and they ask them are you okay what is it that's bothering you what's going on and they see how they're doing and this should occur even between spouses if you see that your wife for example is not saying salam to you she's not talking to you she's not giving you good food then maybe she's upset with you so for that reason you have to ask about her why are you sad now you don't ask because you want the good food but because she's your wife the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had something occurred to him with one of his wives and she stopped the children of the sallam then her grandfather or her uncle is sallallahu alayhi wa sallam then she's Jewish the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam married him and you know the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he had nine wives one day the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came upon and entered upon and said you did not sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said as-salamu alaykum sallam in the mercy of Allah and his blessing the prophet sallallahu alaykum and she said as-salam there was some sadness in her heart he said as-salam was wrong this is how a husband should be why are you sad? so she said that hafsah another wife of the prophet she said something to her she said something that hurt her she said oh daughter of a Jewish man so the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he wanted to you know appease her heart and heal her heart he said oh Safiya tell hafsah yes I am a Jewish woman but my grandfather is Musa and he is a hafid and my uncle is hafid and he is a brother and he is a prophet and my husband is a messenger of Allah he said but who is your father he is your own brother so she got happy she went to the house of hafsah so the sadness turned into a great joy instead of having one prophet she had three prophets with her this is the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam does the prophet have enough time to talk to his wives to talk about their problems nowadays you might not even ask about how our wives or children are doing because we say we are so busy what are you so busy with the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is concerned with the affairs of all of creation not just humans and jinn all of creation because Allah said we sent you only as a mercy for all the worlds from this is where a person comes from when we ask about one another even if you see a child that seems to be sad play with them and ask about them and smile at them such that they might become happier and for the people who are the greatest and most deserving of your mercy are your two parents Allah says in the Qur'an and lower the wing of humility to them for what reason out of mercy that Allah says humble yourself before them not just out of servitude but out of mercy when you look at your father or your mother look at them with a gaze of mercy no passion don't look at them with a gaze of a haughtiness and arrogance or looking down at them you might be a graduate of some of the greatest universities and you have great diplomas many diplomas thousands of followers on twitter for example but maybe your two of your father or mother don't even have any knowledge you and all of your diplomas and all of your followers they are not equal to one hair on your mother's head and not one drop of sweat from the forehead of your father and all of that is gone for nothing if by one tear drop of sadness that comes out of the eye of your mother or father and I am here before you when people ask me who are your teachers I say my first shi yul my first teachers are my father and mother this is true they are the first to teach me the fatihah then the first person to teach you the fatihah then they are of your shi yul because you recite the fatihah in every haqqah of prayer if your mother teaches you how to make ulu or she teaches you how to pray or she teaches you how to clean yourself properly then this is the first lesson in shib how to clean yourself properly how to enter the water and if we reach the water and if they teach you how to do the adab the manners of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam how to eat how to enter the bathroom how to do these different adab of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam even if it is just one adab then are you able to then say that the first of your shi yul are your mother and father if you are kind of nervous or unsure about that then your mercy towards them is deficient and say Allah says and say my board have mercy upon both of them just so they raise me when I was young and be careful from saying if you are in a difficulty oh don't say all this is because of my mother and father even if outwardly they are the reason your adab with Allah and with the two of them is that you attribute the deficiency to yourself and completion and reflection to them this is goodness to parents from the moment a child is developing in the womb until the day that they die every single day they are receiving du'a from their mother and father so what about someone who a woman or a man whom Allah has blessed with entering into Islam while their parents remain upon this belief he must cry for them out of mercy and then his heart becomes up in pieces out of mercy for them and then he humbles himself before Allah for the sake of both of them they are more deserving they are the most deserving the first people that you should pray for are their two parents this is mercy and do not be shy if your friends ask you is that your dad you say yes there are some people who they get nervous about that they say oh my parents are a little bit backwards people they live just according to outward appearances on the day of judgment there is no place for outward appearances on a day when wealth and children are of no benefit except one who comes to Allah with a sound heart so look at yourself who do you show mercy to and those who show mercy to as well and they can also have mercy upon the meek among people those who are elderly those who are ill those who are meek those who are going through tribulation those who have difficulties descending upon them you have to show compassion towards them the least of which is that you pray for them this is our deem the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said wallahi they don't believe wallahi they don't believe who goes to sleep satiated while their neighbor is hungry this is how our deem should be that when the least of what we should do is that if we are sitting down to eat and the food is presented before us we should say o wallahi I ask you that my neighbors are eating better than that which I am eating now the greatest form of compassion is that if you attend a gathering of knowledge or a gathering of remembrance and just like our gathering right now that you remember other Muslims those who we remember the Muslims who do not have a connection to the massage they do not come anymore and do not attend gatherings of remembrance and gatherings of knowledge that it should be enough it is enough for us if that when we leave our homes every day we are going to work or we are going to school going to the marketplace that when we go out of our homes that we have the concern and the desire for the guidance of all the people that we see in all of creation. We learned from our teachers that if we want to leave the home then I should carry some water with me and some food with me and some cash with me. Why? Not so I can drink but if I find someone thirsty I can give them something to drink and if I find someone hungry I can feed them or someone poor I can give them.  So what good is all of the world in in comparison to the sweetness of failure? If you tasted the sweetness of one Subhan Allah, you would never stop saying Subhan Allah. If you tasted the sweetness of sending Salat upon the Prophet, you would never stop sending Salat upon him. If you knew the sweetness of prostration, your heart would remain in prostration until the day of resurrection. This is not just words. You are being called to this dish, to this buffet. Enter into Islam and then ascent to Imam and then to witnessing your Lord. Islam is not just forms. It is a jewel and it is tasting and it is feeling and witnessing and being addressed. Allah is great in man. May Allah honor us with that. Life is short. And the way is long. And the provisions are few. And our life does not have everything we need. But if we were sincere with Allah in for one moment, He would give you all of that. Why? Because He is merciful. One of the names of Allah's beautiful names is this name, the All-Encompassing or the Gatherer. What does it mean that He is the Gatherer? It's that He gathers for you all that has passed you a goodness He has said bless and exalted. Allah does not wrong even at the side of a mustard seed. And if it is a good deed, He will multiply it for whomever He will. One good deed. If you do it with love, servitude to truth and sincerity. And Allah accepts it. He will multiply it. And He will beautify it for you. And He will make it sent fast for you. And He will be given its fruits of it every moment if He loves you. For that reason if you pray, don't say I just want to pray and get over with it. Say I want to pray a prayer that will give me Allah's contentment and good pleasure. If you want to glorify Allah, say I want with every Subhanallah light from Allah in His faces upon me. There is a difference between someone who wants to say Subhanallah just for reward. And others who say Subhanallah purely for the sake of our Lord. Because He loves Allah and He reveres Allah and He knows Allah in which Subhanallah, when He says Subhanallah, He knows who is He and who are you. You remember the exalted, the greatest, the all-independent.  You are remembering the exalted one. That when you remember and reflect upon these meanings, that your Subhanallah is purely for Him. We glorify Allah saying Subhanallah, Subhanallah, Subhanallah. But the reality of glorifying Him comes after He removes the veil for you. For example, if you see a great and exalted scene that makes you bewildered and makes you continuously think about it, the Muslim says what? Subhanallah. When they see this, you don't say wow. You can say Subhanallah first and then say wow. Subhanallah. So what would it be like if He unveiled for you the light of Allah? That's why Allah says in the Quran, glory be to the one Subhan and that He took the one who took His servant on a night journey and showed him these exalted and great events. When you see this flower, you see its beautiful form and its beautiful color and its beautiful style. Three levels of beauty in a simple creative image. So you say Subhanallah. They say that this is glorification of beauty. They say if you see something that is great and momentous like lightning or something eventful like that and you say Subhanallah, this is the glorification of majesty. So then you are close to Muhammad.  That He attained the levels of elevation by His perfection. And that difficulty was removed by this beauty. Then when you send peace and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad that you should know that Allah has given him things that He has given no prophet before him. That's why when you send peace upon the Prophet Muhammad with love, with yearning, with reverence, by witnessing the blessings of Allah upon you, this is how the veil will be removed for you. So you will then see things that cannot be described in your imagination. The cosmos is greater and more vast than you can imagine. But the cosmos requires inner sight, not just physical sight. The sight of the eyes can't see that which is behind the wall. But the inner sight can see from the earth all the way to the throne of Allah. Let your inner sight see. The war that we have between us and the devil is that he wants to skew the inner sight to make you blind. That you don't see anything except the outward. And that you disbelieve in the inward. As the disbelievers said, they say it is only the life of this world we live in we die. There is life and there is one who will give life. There is death and there is the one who gives death.  And then you elevate from a life to the one who gives life to the one who is ever living to Allah.  That you go from witnessing the food to the one who gives you the food to Allah. So if you arrive to Allah, then there is nothing left other than Allah. So then you say Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah. Allah the Incultant says, remember the name of your Lord tomorrow and forevermore. What is the name of your Lord? Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah. Still your book of deeds with this name because when you are resurrected on the day of judgment, you will read your book of deeds. It will be said to you, read your book. So you will read what you are writing today. So whoever sends abundant peace and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad in the life of this world, when it is sent in and read your book they are going to read salawat upon the Prophet Muhammad. And if they make abundant remembrance of Allah saying Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah. Then when it is sent to them on the day of resurrection, read from your book of deeds they will read Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah. And whoever says coffee, coffee, coffee, whatever you say is written down. And now on WhatsApp you can send a voice message and it goes immediately. These are the keys of mercy. So whoever wants Allah to show them mercy, then they should spread mercy to themselves, within themselves and to those around them. And for this reason, this is the reality of the Muslim. How many Muslims are there today? If we say that the Muslim is someone who says, I bear witness there is no God but Allah that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, then the number of the Muslims is great and if they have not actualized the realities of Islam, then there is not complete Is it asking how much what time it is so that we can have mercy upon you all and not tire you out? And that you have been patient hearing these words. We were patient 14 hours in the airplane while coming here. That was just from Abu Lubbi to New York. And from New York to San Francisco, it was 6 hours. He said, I am very happy. This is a blessing from Allah. If there is enough for us that the Prophet says, whoever visits their brother for the sake of Allah, that Allah subjectates for him an angel in the heart. And the angel says, you are blessed and your path that you are taking to visit your brother is blessed and there is a place that is set for you in paradise. And we have come 19 hours in order to visit you for the sake of Allah. May Allah make you set for Allah, may Allah strengthen you. And Islam will remain as long as we are merciful to one another. But if we spread out and have this sport, we will fail. And Allah will bring, others will come and they will carry the banners of Islam. May Allah give us and you all to feed. That was beautiful. And insha'Allah we still have an Arab form of prayer. So insha'Allah we will open up 10 bushels, 30 bushels. And then we will be able to answer the first question. So you mentioned in your lecture that when you give salat to the house, if there is angels or the good of the jinn, then you do salat. If not, if there is nobody there, then you do salat on yourself. So how we can see this? How we can know it? Excellent question. They said, how do you know if your house has angels in it? The angels come to think which there is the remembrance of Allah. That has the recitation of the Noble Qur'an. Within these homes there is the sending of salawat upon the Prophet's siblings. And the homes that have mercy that is expressed between the individuals within the family. So if our homes have the remembrance of Allah and our homes have the recitation of the Qur'an and salawat upon the Prophet's siblings and they have within them mercy that we express towards one another, then the angels will be in our homes. But if our homes have within it people angry at one another and maybe the spouses yelling at one another or even insulting one another, then this is a home that angels will not come to. Rather the devils will come to it and we ask Allah for protection. May Allah fill our homes with mercy and the Noble Angels. And as we mentioned that angels come to the home if the people in the house are glorifying Allah. So what happens if people for example are away traveling? The angels will stay in the house glorifying Allah until the people come home. And that's why they call them people who stay and continue to keep the place developed because they keep it civilized and developed with the remembrance of Allah. So it is upon you to make sure that your houses have angels in them. Are you prepared for that? Yes. The shape can prescribe a zikr that I can just, just to get connected with Allah because a lot of people told me that you know you have to have a teacher and he gives it to you. Like if I want to say yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, all day long something short that will lift the veil that you will say to those talking. Okay. So the question is, is there a particular zikr that can be prescribed to connect oneself to Allah? Typically this is something that you would want with permission or teaching. So is there any short zikr that can be given that you want to do throughout the day? No. He said there are two types of zikr, the first of which is open to all of creation and that is that even a zikr should not occur. And they say at the beginning of the spiritual path one can start off saying it 70,000 times. Why 70,000 times? Because there are people of paradise at the number of 70,000 will enter paradise without reckoning. So the person starts with 70,000 and then after that they remember Allah in all of their states all their time. The second kind of zikr is sending salawat upon the prophet the scholars have said that the sending salawat upon the prophet is a share for one who does not have a share. But she mentioned that it will be a means of lifting the veil between her and Allah. It needs two conditions. The first is sincerity in the remembrance. What sincerity in remembrance means is that you remember Allah because Allah is deserving of being remembered. The second condition is consistency and abundantly doing it. That if a sermon continuously remembers Allah for 50 years and they don't see anything, they don't saw. Because if they saw, the spiritual assistant will stop. We see refuge in Allah from them. So one thing to question is we as a global community are facing a number of challenges such as atrocity and Palestine and other places and seeing signs of the day of judgment. So how are we supposed to properly respond and protect ourselves and our children? The answer is that the other prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, he gave us the words and information that we have to think about. He said a Muslim for another Muslim is like a foundation of a building or that we are one body that they hold one another together. So for that reason if a Muslim commits a sin whether as an individual or as a group or as an entire country you will see a deficiency in the entirety of the Muslims. There are many problems. Why are they not being solved? Despite the fact that we are constantly taken to Allah, there is one reason. Because many of us do not actually look at themselves and say I am the cause. They say oh that other person is the cause. That particular country is the problem. That particular group they are the cause. So what about you? So if everyone says that the other you are the cause of the problem is never going to be solved. That is why the simple servant is that the first step towards rectifying the mistake is admitting the sin. If you say the mistake is mine then you have started to solve the problem. But if everyone says no I am not a part of the problem and everyone says that then the question is okay who is the cause of the problem? That is why the righteous if they hear even about a problem that occurs in another country they quickly turn back to Allah seeking forgiveness for their own sins. And this is what happens to who the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is. Who is greater than the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam? The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is the battle of the Prophet. He had his molar teeth broken in battle. You know that the molar teeth it's not easy for it to fall out. The blow that fell upon the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was so powerful that it made his molar tooth break and fall out. Did you know the extent of the pain that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam experienced in that? If anyone of us goes to the dentist in order to get a molar removed a person requires an anesthetic in order to numb the area for the tooth to be removed. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is the battle of the Prophet. His molar tooth was broken and his cheek was injured. And his cheek was paralyzed. What is the cause of that? Because some of the companions they did not follow the orders of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And they were those who were on the archer's hill. They didn't follow, they were disobedient to his orders. So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was affected by that. And the same goes for us if we fall into a sin, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is affected by that. I'm not saying Palestine or any other country rather the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is affected. For that reason if you want to help and aid Muslims in any country around the world then obey Allah and His messengers. And do not disobey Allah and His messengers. Otherwise you will harm the messenger of Allah. And he does not deserve that from you. He does not deserve for you. Does he deserve for you to harm him? He went through hunger in order for you to be satiated. And he left his homeland so that you could live. And he would cry all night long so that Allah would forgive you. This is the messenger of Allah. Understand this message. And it will solve all of our problems. May Allah make us and you of those who obey Allah's messengers. There's a lot of written questions so unless there's ones I'll take these. So the next one is how do you deal with people or family who hurt you or wronged you so this is in relation to when you were talking about having mercy on your parents and your family and that. This is hard. How can you find mercy if you have with them sincerely? The answer is you yourself. How many wrongs have you done between you and Allah? And with that you keep saying Allah has mercy on you.  You've wronged yourself. You've left the command of Allah.   With that, when they make you happy to see the one who wrongs you being tormented in the fire, would it be better for that person to repent and turn back to Allah and ask for your forgiveness and return your rights back to you from Rasulullah and this will make the messenger of Allah happy. It is only a little bit of thinking. Don't act based on your base human reaction. Respond with the actions of our master Muhammad. We have an example. We have the reciter of Allah. We learn from him.   That all of the Muslims was created. Allah does not need the heavens nor the earth, nor mountains or trees. He's subjugated all of that so that you may worship him so that you can be his representative and steward on earth. A representative has to be merciful. He must be knowledgeable. He needs to be wise. He does not be, does not become angry. Or someone who takes makes decisions very hastily. Okay, so the next question here is could you please give us some advice on how people can deal with loneliness? If you are alone and no one is asking about you, then thank and praise Allah for his injustice. Why? Because Allah wants you to feel intimacy with him.  Someone might praise you today and then tomorrow they might insult you. Today they might say salam to you and tomorrow they might hit you. But on the day of resurrection a lot of people will become enemies of one mother even if it might be a person's father or mother. That's why Allah says on that day a person will run away from their mother and father and their spouse and their friends and their children. So we counsel anyone who feels loneliness to abundantly remember Allah's glory. Allah says I am the companion of the one who remembers me. And if you are someone nobody asks about or no one sends salam to, then you be the person who asks about others and says salam to others and then Allah will subjugate angels for you who will keep you company. How many a servant you see them that they are just by themselves but in reality there is with them an army of angels. So I think everybody heard the question that I will be doing for the live stream. So the question in summary is in terms of needing mercy and needing to learn to be merciful and one of the foundations that we heard about was to avoid disobedience and really the question is it's difficult and how to sort of avoid that. Firstly my brother may Allah bless you and that you should know and believe and have certainty in is that Allah has not created you to punish you but He wants from you is that you admit your sins so that you may forgive you and then love you.   If in one moment of those 60 years you were sincere in your repentance and that you felt remorse for that which came before Allah will accept you and He will forgive you your sins and He will change your sins and turn them into good deeds and He will love you. Allah loves the penitent and that is why He is called the most generous of all those who show mercy and our prophets are sincere. The one who repents from a sin is like someone who has never sinned. Your Lord is exalted. Turn to Him and do not listen to the sheikh. The sheikh wants to drug the servant. He wants them to have a bad opinion on Allah. Allah the lesser involved in his sin. Those are the ones that we accept from them the best of what they do and we forgive them their sins. Do you know my brother? That no one enters paradise except by the mercy of Allah, glorious and majestic and one being. And this is the means by which one enters paradise. It might be this gathering that is accepted by Allah. So then He would forgive all of what came before our sins and I will finish my words because the time is short. I will give you a Hadith that is similar to what you just mentioned for us and for myself and for you and for all of us. A man came to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and said, O Messenger of Allah, I perform the sin. So give me the punishment of Allah in that. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam did not speak to him. So he came to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and he said again, O Messenger of Allah, I perform the great sin. So enact the punishment of Allah upon me. Then the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam did not speak to him. Then the time for prayer entered. Sayyidina Bilalah called the Adhan. Then the Inqamah was called. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam turned towards the people and the people prayed behind him. And one of them was this man. And he prayed behind the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, As-salamu alaykum, finishing the prayer, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam sat there glorifying Allah. So then this man came and he went through the rows to reach and sat right before the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He said, O Messenger of Allah, I would want you to enact the punishment of Allah. The beloved of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, O man, did you not pray with us? Go, because Allah is forgiving. When Allah forgives our sins, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, I'm speaking on behalf of Allah. When Allah forgives our sins, when Allah forgives our sins, when Allah forgives our sins, they are the people that would ever sit with them. They are not of the team. This is what we need. We're going to make a circle. There's a lot of people around that are on my side. So we're going to make a circle. The people around me are the people that would do the closing call. We're not going to be able to do that. We're going to be able to do that.


But Taliban's are not in charge of any part of the military section of the Kabul Airport, so its gates. These remain under U.S. military control, and Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told the news briefing on Friday. And Air Force General Glenn Van Herk in a video conference said he was confident in the security screening of Afghans arriving in the U.S. and that positive COVID cases among them so far have been lower. Firstly, have the Taliban entered or taken control of any parts of the military section of H. Kaya the Euro-Aware? The Taliban are not in control of any part of Hamid Karzai International Airport. I saw that report too. It's false. They are not in charge of any of the gates or not in charge of any of the airport operations. That is still under U.S. military control. For security, I would defer to DHS who runs that operation. I'm very comfortable. We've worked to streamline that operation. As I said in my opening comments, we're doing biographical and biometric testing across the various agencies of the interagency to include our counterterrorism and intelligence communities. What we're seeing is folks coming across cleared by that process which I'm comfortable with. Just to COVID, the Afghans coming from the Middle East into our locations that we have stood up are all being tested actually multiple times. We test them 100% upon arrival at each location. They're getting tested at Dulles as well, and in route they get tested. I'll give you some numbers. We are seeing so far to date when I was at Fort McCoy on Wednesday only three out of more than 1,300 had tested positive. When I went to Fort Bliss the same day, one out of more than 1,200 had tested positive for COVID.


The term McDowjo has been circulating the internet for quite some time now and when we first launched this channel one of our earliest videos was what is the McDowjo and in that video We tried to give some tips and advice and tools that you could use to evaluate your school and your training just to make Sure, you were getting out of it what you wanted now Of course We've had a lot of interaction since then and I thought this was worth revisiting as a topic because there's a couple things I want to address one I want to address some popular misconceptions I've seen in regards to the usage of the term McDowjo and actually how to apply it to identify in a school as one To I want to clarify some of my statements based on feedback and comments from you guys three and a few more things I want to throw on the list and For I want to reiterate the intention of the video and how to use the advice to your advantage So let's get to it Now I want to reiterate this list that we released was not a definitive checklist in that if your school hit these certain things They were definitely McDowjo So the list was just some ideas for you to observe and look at your school and just Evaluate and ask yourself the question. Do I feel like I'm getting quality training? But by no means does that mean if you checked off three things on that list or if you said Oh man, my school This is one item that automatically meant your school was McDowjo. No, that's not how that works It was just again a general guide first McDowjo is not an official term It is a pejorative term used to imply negative connotations to an idea or a concept of schools So you're gonna find that definitions are gonna vary and you might see some blurred lines Generally McDowjo is defined as a school that focuses priority on making money in a profit over the quality of what they're teaching That is in a nutshell when a McDowjo stands for also and I saw this comment many many times and they still see it Whether we do an art history video or somebody's talking about a different art Somebody inevitably comes in and goes oh that art's a McDowjo an art cannot be a McDowjo a specific style cannot be a McDowjo This is often being mixed up with the term bullshido, which is very another pejorative term But basically bullshido is an art that basically people think is crap or not worth it or not You know not up to par so a lot of times people will interchangeably use the words and that's not really correct A McDowjo does not apply to an individual art how you feel about an art and its effectiveness and its history and whether it's got Value or not, that's a whole separate topic But an art cannot be a McDowjo because a McDowjo applies to a specific school BJJ is a fantastic art Most people agree with that, but I have heard people say oh BJJ is a McDowjo No, BJJ cannot be a McDowjo You can have a BJJ school be a McDowjo and I've seen those before that their training was horrible It was all about money money money money that sign people up because this is the catch term So that school could be a McDowjo, but the art cannot and kind of going back to the bullshido comment Just because it's a school that teaches something you don't like doesn't make it a McDowjo either There's different qualities of schools or different intentions schools So you can go to a martial arts school that focuses on self-defense other schools focus on exercise or kids programs or Cardio programs other schools are tournament based and other points sparring So if you're looking for a school that's primarily self-defense and you come across when it's all about tournaments They got room full of trophies. Well, that doesn't make a McDowjo because that because of something that you don't want to train That's their specialty They might be fantastic and they might teach excellent programs that actually win competitions, but that might that's their goal So just because it's something that you're not looking for it does not make a McDowjo It comes down to is that school teaching what their specialty is are they doing it? Well, or are they just putting out a crappy product in just the hopes of making money. That's where the line is drawn So you got it to you have to look at it objectively not based on just what you are personally searching for All right now I want to do some clarifications based on comments We've gotten this video over the past year and a half now A lot of the controversy about people training martial arts or teaching martial arts for living comes down to you Oh, this should be a passion. They're teaching people to defend themselves. You should have a look for the art You should teach out the look for the art. I understand and I even agree with that sentiment However, does that not apply to doctors and teachers? I mean doctors, you know, they're saving people's lives Literally, should they not teach it for should they not do it for a for free or just to help the public? You know, maybe they should go get another job and as a passion see people's lives on the on the side It's kind of the same thing, you know a martial arts instructor is a specialized Tracement. Yes, it is the trade because even back in the days early as the martial arts They were used for bodyguards. They were used for you know, gardening transports. They were soldiers So yes, it is a skill is a highly developed skill that is taught for multiple intentions They didn't teach people to save their lives teach people for health It is a specialized trade and I personally don't see anything wrong with it of opening a school and running as a business again As long as their goal and objective is to teach a quality art Honestly, you're not gonna get rich off opening school I'm gonna promise you that unless you're someone like who goes and does a whole big, you know High-profile program like Billy Banks and the you know back when he had Taibo or if you're gonna Franchise your school across United States if unless you're in that top tier of marketing You're not gonna make a huge amount of money off of opening school. Trust me. I've seen this many many times I've seen schools open and close. It is a struggle to run a business as a martial arts There's a lot of work into it. You don't go home rich But there's nothing wrong with making that your profession and teaching as a livelihood As long as you keep the lights on you keep your staff paid and you keep the school running And if you can live on it and you can focus on the art I personally don't see anything wrong with that again as long as your passion is teaching the art and not Opening school just for the profit if you're opening the martial arts school just for the profit Chances are you're not gonna get very far because there's there's certain things you have to do for that And then you start to go into the mcdojo realm Another comment is if the school focuses on kids, then it's the mcdojo hands down and it's all fake karate No, I disagree with that going on the last point is You need if you're going to run a school and you want to run it full-time and teach full-time You pretty much need a children's program just to keep the lights on and it's just this program can cover a different thing It could be just about exercise depends on what age group But you can still teach kids life skills teach them self-defense just because there's a kids program or even the bulk of your business Is a kids program. There's nothing wrong with that again It comes down to the quality of what you're teaching also the whole concept of kid black belts Then we did that in another video.   I don't think children should be adult level black belts I think that's a skill that you have to grow into and as far as an age I don't think it should be based on specific age at all when you're 16 I think it comes down to the student that when that student grows up old enough strong enough to be able to hold Their own and reasonably be able to defend themselves against an adult Then I think they're more in the qualifications to be a black belt if you want to give them a showdown rank now over to Junior black belt program. That's a little bit of a different story and I've got more leeway on that The school I used to teach at had that program And I think that's fine because as long as you make it very clear to the student that this is not a black belt It's a junior black belt was just meant that they've spent the three or four years completing the children's curriculum and now they're transitioning to the adults So they knew it wasn't a full black belt And it was just the beginning of their adult training and they would spend another three four or five years achieving that So by the time they got their showdown rank, they were training 10 to 12 years I think that's appropriate, but you have to make that distinction a lot of schools don't do that So if you do walk with your school and you see a 10-year-old at the fourth degree black belt Mmm, that's definitely a big warning sign That's probably not the school you're gonna want to train at in the previous video I mentioned the comment that if the instructor is shady or secretive about their lineage and that's a warning flag And I got a lot of comments saying oh just begin with liege doesn't mean anything You know just the quality of a person's training doesn't matter on who their master was and I I agree It does not matter what lineage they have it all comes down to individual instructor But I'm talking about the way they handle that question the way that the effort if they're putting effort into hiding What the background is or if they're keeping it extremely vague I'm sorry. That is a red flag to me and this goes on to what kind of art they teach I also mentioned if they're not clear about what their art is That's also a little bit suspicious and I don't mean that you know, they have to say oh we are kiyokushin We are shodokan a lot of schools are hybrids hybrids are fine But if you go to a school and you ask the instructor what they teach and they say it's karate And you say well, what kind of karate that looks just karate There's no such thing as just karate their styles There's just different methods of training and hybrids are fine Even if they say oh, what's a little bit of this little bit of that or you know I use my own system this combination this and this this totally valid that can be totally fine But if they won't tell you what's in the program There might not be a lot to the program So just some food for thought the no feel right I mentioned that if the school never fails a student that that's a warning sign I wanted to find that because a lot of people are like and I agree with this Some schools will not even test you unless that instructor feels you're ready So if there's no fail rate that might be because nobody tests until they are ready What I was referring to more Sam's back to my early experience at my first campus school, which was kind of mcdojo It's we had monthly tests and it wasn't that the instructor didn't pick you or you or you There were monthly tests that you shut up for if you felt you were ready and you perform the material And if you performed it correctly You got your stripe if you didn't you had to wait till next month My problem comes into you when there's a school with that kind of a setup and nobody fails that You know, not everybody gets a striker at times.  I wasn't ready. I'm like, okay. I didn't get my stripe Fine that happens. I'll get it next month But if it's a monthly test and everybody who shows up and everybody who tries out gets it Is kind of odd. I also want to clarify my comment about dating students I mentioned there that it's teacher dates students. So that's definitely a big red flag I want us again clarify this It's one thing for an instructor to date another instructor or if it's an adult class A relationship can develop out of it. That's not such a big deal. That's that's actually fine What I was really referring to and this is my fault for not specifying it more clearly were Instructors who use the school as basically a single bar. So I'm not poo-pooing on anyone having a relationship in school That's fine. It happens. That's good. That's all good. I'm talking about when the instructor abuses the format It abuses the opportunity and treats the school as your own personal singles bar. That's a problem. That's a big problem And I ruffled a couple of feathers with this one But I'm going to stand by this point if the school teaches you no touch knockouts or throwing a sheet across the room Leave find a different school Unless you're studying theatrical arts That is not a practical martial art or self-defense and I try to be objective All of you guys who are regular viewers know I try to be as objective as possible When it comes to no touch knockouts, I'm sorry That's just that doesn't fall into the category of legitimate martial arts. That is It's psychological. It's theatrics and I've had a few comments going. Oh, but you got to keep an open mind Or just force it up that we don't know. No, I'm sorry My belief is with martial arts you learn hands-on effectiveness. You have to learn how to manipulate a person You've got to build strength. You got to build technique in your body. It's about skill It's not about throwing magic across the room. So I'm sorry if I ruffle any more feathers with this But if the school teaches no touch martial arts and your goal is self-defense or do you get stronger? That is not the school for you So now I want to add a couple of small things to this list if they say that their art defeats everything If this is the perfect art for you and you ask, well, what about ground fighting? Oh, we don't teach ground fighting because our system defeats it You know, you don't even have to learn on their ground fight Now see when they start to disparage other arts and say you don't need to learn blank because ours covers everything That's a problem because that just means they don't want you learning something else because I'm sorry The best way to defeat a grappler is to learn how grappling works and learn how to grapple There's no magic techniques that are going to stop every other art If a school preaches that that's the only art you're ever going to need in your whole life that defeats everything Then no, I'm sorry. They're they're they're selling you something because it's that's not that's not real And finally instructor says oh, you're a prodigy and they want to push you through the system quicker Gifted students do exist I've seen a couple of them We've had a few kids come through our classes that show some natural skill and they advance fast But you know who they are, you know, you know, we had a couple kids who we teach them a technique in class They would go home and practice that technique go on youtube Learn the next one and come back and ask questions about it And they but they wanted to know they knew they weren't going to learn just from the video But they like hey, I watched this how does this work and they just they're like a sponge And they soak it up but they could perform it They had this natural athletic ability that went along with it that does exist An instructor who truly believes you're gifted is going to not just tell you they're going to show you They're going to actually spend more time with you They're going to show you more advanced material because they're going to know you're going to handle it They might put you in more Supportive roles, you know, it's your instructors or assistants You can tell by their behavior. So it's how they act towards you Can a school have a prodigy or one or two gifted students? Yes, absolutely. It happens If they've got 20 or 30 gifted students I would question that when everybody's a prodigy nobody is So that's basically it in a nutshell The term mcdojo is such a fuzzy term and it's got blurred lines that I think it really comes down to common sense You just have to look at your school if you are very happy with what you're where you're at If you're going to a school for exercise and they and they teach that and you're getting your your value out of it Great If you want self-defense and you come out there as a great fighter Or even if it's just a school that focuses on kids, but it's teaching them discipline and life skills That's fine As long as you get what you are after everyone's got different goals If you find a school that is accomplishing your goals effectively There's nothing wrong with that. So I hope these ideas helped and of course I want to hear any more feedback and comments you guys have any more signs or concerns Let's talk about it. So please comment on that below and we'll keep this conversation going Thank you so much for watching guys And like I said, I like I like reengaging with you I get so many good comments that I want to come back to you sometimes and talk because you guys give me more defeat off of And hopefully we keep the style going to the point where I'm exploring doing some live chats So that might be fun to do some discussion groups on future topics. So again, thanks for watching Please be sure to subscribe join us up on patreon We've got a lot of exclusive content there and let's get this conversation going guys and we'll see you next time Thank you


All right, hi everyone. So we are going to continue with exploring library databases for finding scholarly articles on your potential topics for your media criticism class. So in keeping with what I set up in the introduction video that is available on your course guide, we are going to keep looking at one of the examples from a student I have worked with in the past. So if you haven't had a chance to watch that introduction video, I highly encourage you to do so because that is the video where I talk about different avenues of ways in which you can start to think about breaking down the research for this particular assignment that you guys have. But this video is all about searching library databases. So the example that we're going to keep using is the student who is interested in examining the divisive language that was used in President Trump's inaugural address. And because at the time the topic was so current and the inaugural address had just happened, she knew there wasn't going to be much research on it. So we had to get a little bit creative with the way in which we searched our databases. And this is the same thing that you all are going to have to do is think creatively about the big questions that you're asking about the type of artifact that you have and the ways in which your artifacts are helping to answer that big question. That's how we approach library database searching for this assignment. So let's go ahead and jump into a couple of our resources here. As a reminder, all research should begin from the library home page, www.goran.edu slash library. And when you're on this page, we are going to scroll straight down to the search the library section, click on our databases tab, and then click on view all databases from here. And once this page opens, you will see an alphabetical listing of all of the databases that we have at janks. And what I would encourage you guys to do is to filter this list by subject area to communication arts.  So you'll notice when we do this, this best bet option comes up here, this resource communication and mass media complete is a somewhat new database we have available that I'm pretty excited about that you guys can all begin your searching in and we'll pull in a couple of resources as we go along. I always love to search in a subject specific database for a class like yours, because no matter what type of combination of keywords we enter, we're already scoping to a specific subject area in this case communication. So it's a way to help narrow our search results already, even without having to think about narrow keywords and things like that. So we're going to begin from this database to answer this question. So what's going to happen when you guys click on databases from our list when you're working from home is the blackboard login page is going to pop up right away. And this is the only difference between searching on campus first off campus for information, you'll be prompted first to log into blackboard. So you'll go ahead and click login. And then once that loads, you will be immediately landed on the database that you are trying to access. So that's it. That's the only difference. So we're just remember your blackboard login credentials. Okay, so this should look familiar to you if you've ever done any kind of research before in any of our library resources. One other thing that we are going to do that's maybe slightly different before we start entering our keywords is we're actually going to pull in a couple more databases to our search that we're doing. So we've already established for searching communications and mass media complete. But if you go up here to this blue choose database link, you'll see a list of all other EBSCO databases that you could potentially pull into your search. So you can cross search multiple databases at the same time. Another database I'm going to pull into my search right now is academic search ultimate. This is our largest multidisciplinary database that we have available. So it's always a good idea to search that one. So no matter what your topics are, I would recommend having these two checked at all times for your search. Others in this list that might come up. It depends entirely on the big question that you're asking. Some of you might be asking big questions that relate to a psychology topic, maybe something about mental health or wellness. So choosing psych info is a good idea. Others might be looking at research that's specifically about a cultural perspective or social work or sociology. So social index would be a good one to pull in. Still others might be looking at this purely from a text perspective like literature or language. So MLA international bibliography would be a good source of information for that. So scan this list and ask yourself what other subject areas might be useful for me in my search. I think for right now, we're going to keep it at just these two for the type of question that I am asking. All right. So then from there, we're going to enter in our keywords. So I recommended to her that she begin a little bit broad with her keywords. So we started with the keyword rhetoric since she was specifically looking at rhetorical style and language used within presidential speeches. And then the student was specifically looking at divisive or division language within presidential speeches. So on the second line down, we're going to look at division or divisive to get at that kind of language that was potentially used. And notice that we're connecting those two keywords together using our or search operator. So our database understands that I want either of these terms in my search. And then lastly, since the student was specifically looking at presidential addresses, we are going to type in the keyword president. But we're going to throw the little star symbol or asterisk symbol on the end of this so that we can get president presidential presidents, any variation presidency, any variation of the ending of that particular word. So think of each of your search boxes as their own separate keyword and entering them as such. Notice that we've got our search operator and over here so that we can connect our keywords together in our search. And then everything else on this page is about how you actually want to limit the results that you're seeing. And we have a couple of those limiters already set for you. They are print at Gordon, full text in EBSCO and full text in another database. And all that means is that the information that you're searching for, you'll have immediate access to either as a PDF or a web document of some kind. In the times that we're living in right now, I highly recommend you leave those boxes selected so that you can actually get access to the content that you need right away. But remember, there's always one box that's super important to check off in this list, and that is the scholarly peer review journals checkbox. Select that to make sure that you're getting academic scholarly research for your paper. Once you've entered your keywords and set your limiters, let's go ahead and click search. All right. So at this point, what I'm doing when I get a results like this is I'm scanning to see how did I do from my initial pass for my keywords. I'm looking at the blue title links here to the articles and seeing if any jump out at me as potentially ones that I want to look at. Obviously, this first one looks pretty good. But if we scroll down, there are others as well. Even if for my topic, they're coming from a different presidency, all of this is generally talking about the rhetoric of presidential speeches. So for this particular student, some of these are really helpful. All right. So let's say this top one was one that we actually really liked. Let's jump in here. And once you click on a blue title link, you are looking at the articles record page, we can learn a lot more about it such as who are the authors? What is the journal that it's coming from? So in this case, it's the Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric. It's always a good idea to pay attention to which journals are publishing a lot in your the articles that you're finding. If you're seeing one journal or a couple journals come up over and over again, then that might be a good time for you to actually go to this journal, look at search for it in journal finder from our library homepage and do some searches within it because that's probably a journal that publishes a law on your area of interest. As we scroll down here, we also get the abstract for the article, which can be really helpful in determining whether this is actually useful for our research or not. So read this abstract or summary. And then since we were searching with those full text limiters on, we should have the PDF or web document link right over here underneath the details record category. So click on that PDF. And ultimately, this is what you'll want to read for the research for your paper. So one other thing that I want to mention that I do in my research before I even spend time reading an article like this, I'm actually going to mine it and use it for the types of sources that it can connect me to. So I'm glancing at this particular article and I noticed that their sources are actually footnotes. So I'm looking at the footnotes across these pages, and I'm glancing to see are there other articles or potentially even books that this person cited that can actually help me out here. So for example, if we were to scroll to page two here, let's say that this article here jumped out at me seizing the moment the presidential campaigns use of Twitter, blah, blah, blah. I was really excited about that one. And I was like, let's go and find it. All I would need for searching for this particular article and see if I could find it is the name of the journal New Media and Society. And you can use our journal finder search on our library homepage for seeing if we have access to that. There is another video on your course guide that walks you through that process. But people's references or end notes on articles can be a really great way and fast way to help you mine for information on your topic. So that's the basics for searching within databases for information on your topic. Notice in here that we focused in on those big picture questions. And I think a lot of you for the topics that you're interested in might have to do that. So back it out a little bit and think about what is your artifact helping you to answer about that big picture question. If you need any help, feel free to email me.