Now, tonight when we gather, we're going to be having, as mentioned, a different message. And so what I've chosen to do today is to give one message found in Luke chapter 23. And so let's begin reading at verse 39. I'll read to verse 43, and we'll look at this very famous and beautiful portion of Scripture that reveals to us the grace of God. One last chance. In verse 39, then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him, saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, do you not even fear God seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Obviously, as we pick up our portion of Scripture today, there's so much that could be said. There are so many events that have led up to this. But as we pick up our portion of Scripture, we see that Jesus has been condemned to death. We know that one of his trusted disciples, a man by the name of Judas, has betrayed him. He betrayed him into the hands of the Romans. And Jesus has been sentenced to die by crucifixion. The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was a ministry of healing. It was a ministry of preaching. It was a ministry of teaching. And it was brief. It only lasted around three years. But in those three years, he ministered to many, many thousands of people. Multitudes began to follow him. And many of those in those multitudes began to trust him as Lord and Savior. The previous Sunday, people had actually lined the streets of the city of Jerusalem, even as we looked at the events of the triumphal entry, Palm Sunday, just this last week. We pointed out that the people had lined up the streets. Some had come from the city of Jerusalem and moved towards them as he entered in. Some had followed him as he descended the Mount of Olives. And as Jesus was coming down that descent and about to enter into the city, the people began to throw palm branches in front of him. They began to shout and Mark tells us in his gospel, chapter 11, verses 8 through 10, that many spread their clothes on the road. Others cut down leafy branches from the trees, spread them on the road. Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our Father David that comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. Now in the midst of all of that exuberance, in the midst of all that excitement, as you read your Bible, you discovered that there are some people there who are not sharing in that kind of sentiment. They are the Pharisees. And as I mentioned normally when I use their name, I point out that the word Pharisee means separated one. And this was a religious group of people. They were small in number, but very large in influence. There were only about 6,000 of them. They centered most of their activity around the city of Jerusalem. But they were in high power and positions of influence and they didn't appreciate the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't appreciate his ministry. And even as the Lord had was entering in, Luke tells us that they began to cry out from the crowd and the Pharisees had said to the Lord Jesus Christ, Rabbi, silence your followers. And Jesus there said to them, he said, listen, if I told them to be quiet, the very stones themselves would begin to cry out. And when you take into consideration that everything in the city of Jerusalem from the pavement to the walls of the buildings was made out of stone, he was simply saying that everything would openly voice praise to God. Creation itself would praise God if these who want to worship Him were silenced. Luke tells us that he came to a place where he stopped for a moment. And he began to weep over the city. If you had only known this your day, he said, but the problem is going to be that you're rejecting the one who has been sent to you. And ultimately what's going to happen is you're going to be surrounded. An embankment is going to be built around you. But a stone in you is going to be left upon another because you didn't recognize the day of visitation. The Pharisees are crying out and saying, silence your disciples. You see, they didn't like the Lord Jesus Christ at all. They were opposed to him. They disapproved of him. And they were very, very open about it. They especially were offended by the fact that Jesus Christ actually spent time with sinners. We know in Matthew chapter 9 verses 10 through 13 that it reads, it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous with sinners to repentance. I didn't come to call those who don't think they have a need. I came to call those who are aware that they do. I didn't come to call the self righteous who think that they don't need a savior. I came to call the sinner who knows that they do. That was common. When Jesus entered into Jericho, there was a small man by the name of Zacchaeus who, because the crowd was so packed and he was so small, he climbed into a tree. And Jesus was passing by. He knew where he was. He looked up at him. He said, I need to come to your house. And when Jesus went into the house of Zacchaeus, the people got upset. Why is this man eating with these sinners? And Jesus made it very clear when he spoke to Zacchaeus, he said, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save, that which was lost. That's when Jesus Christ came to do. He came to seek and he came to save the ones who are lost. It's interesting how the Lord Jesus Christ saved his most scathing words of rebuke for religious leaders. He called them a variety of names. He called them blind guides. He called them fools. He called them whitewash tombs. He called them serpents. He spoke of them as being a brood of vipers. And when he spoke concerning their hypocrisy, he meant it very plain. In Matthew 23.5, he said, all their works they do to be seen by men. They would stand on street corners and pray. They would give their alms in a very ostentatious way. They would fast and they would disfigure their faces so that men would know they were fasting. He said, everything that they do, they do to be seen by others. And from others, they receive their reward. But their mouths will profess great love for God. But their hearts, he said, are far from me. So he saved his words for them. And he called them various names, including hypocrites. And he said that they were hypocrites directly to them. Matthew 23.28, he said, you outwardly appear righteous to men.  You see, the Pharisees followed a religious path that elevated human effort. And they were ignorant of the grace of God. When men create a religion, the goal or ideal will normally be achieved by human effort. There will be rules that will be followed to achieve the end of an outward change. And the more demanding, the better. Because ultimately, the goal is achieved because we begin to receive glory. It's obvious that you can change behavior, but the changing of behavior never changes the nature. Rules and regulations never change nature. Rules and regulations can modify behavior. And Jesus taught people that they needed to be born again. They needed to receive a new nature. They needed to have faith in Him because you see, the faith that you have in God, the faith that you have in Christ is a transforming faith. Because when you say, God, be merciful to me, I'm a sinner. And you humble yourself before the Lord. And you say, have mercy. God has mercy. And He gives to you something you didn't have before. He gives you a new heart. Like it says in Ezekiel, 36, 26, God promised, I'll give you a new heart. I'll put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And the things that you begin to do, the fasting and the praying and the giving and all of those things actually originate from within. They actually begin to come from within you. They pour out from within you. So it's not simply an outer change in and of itself. It's an interchange because of transformation. That's why Paul would say, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And so the Lord Jesus Christ was opposed by the Pharisees. The Pharisees were religious leaders. But the Pharisees believed in their rules and their regulations. And they would get upset at Him because He didn't follow their rules. They called Him a Sabbath breaker. They called Him a blasphemer. You see, He had made to them an outrageous claim and they called it blasphemous. He had stated that He was the only way to get to God in order to enter into heaven. And that was beyond anything they could receive. But that's what He taught. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Now that's outrageous if it isn't true.  If that church has any wisdom at all, they'd get up and they'd be moving on out pretty quickly. Because that pastor must be a lunatic. Or there's just something really wrong with that man. There's something wrong with him. I'm not going to follow him. He's crazy. He's saying the only way to get to God is through him. You've got to be kidding me. But that's what Jesus said.  If he's a liar, then why would I follow him? If he's a lunatic, then he shouldn't be followed. But if he isn't a lunatic and if he is not a liar, what if his words are true? If his words are true, then even as C.S. Lewis once said, then he would be Lord. And that's what Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. And that got these Pharisees absolutely incredibly angry. He in Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 through 30, Jesus had said, Come into me all you labor and I have you laden, I'll give you rest.  Learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart. You will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy. My burden is light in the business and frustrating activity called life. Jesus promised something that you can't have without him. He promised rest. That's something we understand today. We are busy and we have anxiety that fills this world. Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verses 22 and 23 says, What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days, his work, his pain and grief. Even at night his mind does not rest. Rest too is meaningless. So Jesus gives an invitation, come and receive forgiveness of sin. Come and enter in to my rest. It's an invitation that is open to anybody who is willing to come. Like it says in Acts 10.43 to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins. So he says come. And he says to those who are laboring, those who are heavy laden that they are to come. Laboring speaks of being exhausted and heavy laden speaks of carrying a great weight. So he's saying all of you who are carrying a heavy burden of sin that is unforgiven, you need to come to me. Like it says in Isaiah 1.4 sinful nation people loaded with guilt, root of evildoers, children given to corruption. They have forsaken the Lord. They have spurned the Holy One of Israel, turned their backs on him. But he's still giving the invitation, come and you'll have rest from your labor. Labor can also speak of your long journey. And he said your journey will be over and you can be revived and you can settle peacefully. He says take my yoke and learn from me. The term yoke is a rabbinic term. It represents some total of obligations which a person must take upon themselves. But this yoke had become a burden and Jesus is saying I can set you free. And you can learn from me because he said I'm gentle and lowly my burden is light. Well, that angered the religious authorities who rejected him as well as his message. They especially desired his death because he had stated he was the son of God. But that statement alone could not get Jesus put to death because that's a religious charge.  He made himself out to be the son of God. Well, that's a question concerning Jewish law Pontius Pilate's response would be. That is something that the political government really has no jurisdiction over. The government isn't supposed to be telling the religious people how to practice their faith, is what he was saying. And so when they said we have a law, he needs to be put to death, that wasn't something that Pilate necessarily would be listening to. So they created another charge that was political. You see that charge in chapter 23 here in Luke, verses 1 and 2, when it said the whole multitude of them arose and led them to Pilate, they began to accuse him saying, we found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ the King. So the charge for them was really religious in nature because they saw Jesus to be a blaspheming, Sabbath-breaking, false teacher. But that was not sufficient for the Romans to put Jesus to death, and thus they created a political charge saying that Jesus Christ was guilty of insurrection. And that's what Pilate had to respond to because the charge had been made. Now, as he's been led to be crucified, picking up at verse 39, and Jesus is there on the cross, and I'm going to develop this a little bit further, it says in verse 39, one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answering rebuked him saying, do you not even fear God seeing you are under the same condemnation? We, indigestly, we receive the due reward for our deeds. This man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Well, Jesus didn't die alone. Notice it says he died between two criminals. Now, Mark gives us insight into these men in chapter 15 of his gospel, verse 27. He said they crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. The word robber speaks of a man who is violent and capable of murder.  Now, they didn't realize that by placing him in this way, he was actually being given opportunity to fulfill a prophecy that had been given by Isaiah the prophet over 700 years before. And it's recorded in Isaiah 5312 when when Isaiah speaking of Messiah said he was numbered with the transgressors. So Jesus is placed there between these two thieves. And and in verse 33 continuing in verse 33, it had said, when they had come to the place called Calvary, they crucified him and criminals one on the right hand and the other on the left. And so this occurred at nine o'clock in the morning. According to Mark 15, 25, and he is now in excruciating pain. Now, Jesus could have done what normally would have been done during that day. And there's there are records of what would take place when people were crucified. They would die. Many of them would die in a prolonged agonizing way. And as they were dying because of the great pain and suffering and there that what occurred to them emotionally and mentally, they would begin to shriek and they would begin to curse. They would begin to spit at people. They would they would go crazy. They would beg to come off of that cross. But what took place? Well, Jesus was a bit different. The Gospel writers record something that has been called by theologians, the seven last words of Christ. You see, in the various Gospels, there are things that Jesus said while he was on the cross and they have collected these sayings of Christ. And they actually recorded that there were seven specific things that Jesus said when he was on the cross. And they've actually been broken down into categories. For example, in John 19, verses 26 and 27, we have what has been called a word of compassion. Because when Jesus is on the cross, John records that Jesus said to his mother, Behold your son in reference to John, the apostle.  So that was what is called a word of compassion. He spoke to his mother, Behold your son. Pointing out John, by the way, he wasn't saying look at me and what they've done to me. He was simply entrusting his mother into the care of a beloved disciple. And he says to the disciple, This woman now is to be treated as your mother. It's been called a word of compassion. Mark in chapter 15, verse 34, records what is called a word of anguish. When Jesus was there on the cross and he cried out, Alleluia, alleluia, lamas, the Bahtani, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? A word of anguish. John 19, verse 30, records what is called a word of victory when Jesus Christ said, It is finished. Luke 23, verse 46, records what is called the word of trust. When Jesus said, Father, into thy hands, I commit my spirit. And I've shared with you before that that was actually taken out of a psalm. And it was the night prayers of Jewish children that when they would go to bed, they would recite the psalm into thy hands, I commit my spirit. Which was a much more beautiful bedtime prayer than, Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And if I die before I wake, who's going to go to sleep? But there it was, Father, into thy hands, I commit my spirit. And what I love about that image is because when he said, Father, into thy hands, I commit my spirit. The scripture says that his head went down. He placed his head on the cross like it was his pillow. And he went to be with his Lord and he dismissed his spirit. Into thy hands, I commit my spirit. And he died, a father that he trusted. And here we have two words. In verse 34, we have what is called a word of mercy. In verse 34, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And we also have a word of grace that we'll see in verse 43. When he gave the word of mercy, that simply reveals that he prayed for them. Here's something for us to remember. His mercy towards sinners and his desire for sinners to be saved is revealed that even on the cross, he continues to pray. God wants people to be saved. We need to remember that. Ezekiel 33.11 says it like this. As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. And as they're watching, Jesus die and they hear him and they hear him say, forgive them. What is their response? Well, the Bible tells us very clearly what's going on. In verse 35, the people stood looking on, but even the rulers with them sneered, saying he saved others. Let him save himself if he is the Christ that chosen of God. The soldiers mocked him, coming and offering him sour wine, saying if you're the king of the Jews, save yourself. That's how they responded to Christ's prayer for them, as they rejected it. They even made light of it. Save yourself. Save yourself is the primary mentality of human beings, looking out for number one. They were simply saying, you're powerless to do that. But seeing that we have you under our control, why don't you do it and show us that you can. But if the Lord would have come down from the cross, then mankind would have been doomed forever. And as this is taking place, the criminals in verse 39, one of the criminals were hanged blaspheme to him saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. What do you see here in this first thief? At the heart of his cry, he's simply saying, get me off of this cross. Now if I come off of this cross, I'm going to remain exactly as I am.  You don't see any fear of God. You don't see any sorrow. You don't see any repentance for a life that was poorly spent. You don't even see in him a sense that he deserved the punishment that he was enduring. It is a picture of a sin-hardened man. While he's dying, even while he's dying, there's no sense and there's no sorrow. There's no sense of repentance. As a matter of fact, he's mocking Jesus Christ. He does so throughout the whole ordeal. The other one had done so too. Mark tells us in chapter 1532, those who were crucified with him reviled him. He just continued to the very end. But as this is taking place, it's given time for the other one to see the things that Christ is doing, how he's responding, the things he's saying. He's hearing him. We don't have a full catalog of the things that were said there on the cross, but undoubtedly this man who is listening, knowing that he's about to die, turns in verse 40 and he rebukes this one. He says, do you not even fear God seeing you are under the same condemnation? Wake up! You're about to enter into eternity. You don't even realize it. When I was in the military, I was in the airborne. And in the airborne, we jumped out of planes and helicopters. That's what you do. We were at a jump exhibition. And it was a contest.  And those who were competing in this particular competition, when they would hit and they'd get their score, I was the guy that they would come with their parachute and climb in the back of the truck and I would drive them back to wherever it is that they needed to assemble. And so I still remember looking into the sky and they're jumping and seeing this guy with a malfunctioning parachute.   And yet what happened is his parachute hung up on a tree. And when it hit the tree in the branches, it actually saved his life. And it was kind of like a spring. So you hit the tree and you keep going down but you're not hitting the ground and went back up. And when he was picked up, all he was doing was swearing, cussing because he got a poor score. And I never, never, never understood that. That this, this, this bozo is about to die and he's cussing using the name of the Lord in vain. But that's how deeply our sin can be embedded in it. That's what's in us. That's what comes out. It's what's within us. And that's what's taking place. On the one hand, you have this criminal saying, if you are God, if you are God's son, get me off of this. I'm in such agony, I'm dying. I'll do anything, get me off of this. I'm not going to change but I do want to be removed from this physically. I want to be saved spiritually. No, but the other one's saying, don't you even fear God, seeing that we're under the same condemnation and yet we justly, we are people who are criminals and we deserve what we're getting. But this man has done nothing wrong. You're about to enter into eternity and you don't even care. You think you're going to continue on the way that you are even right now and that's not true. This man believed that the soul lives on after, after death and he was concerned about that. Ecclesiastes 321 says, who knows the spirit of the sons of men which goes upward and the spirit of the animal which goes down to the earth. Ecclesiastes 12.7 says, the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God who gave it. He says, you're about to stand before God and you don't realize that. And so what he does is he's being touched by what's going on and he realizes it's not too late. He recognizes his own sin. He asks the question, do you not fear God? The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. He recognizes Jesus as innocent. He says, we're condemned justly. That is a revealing confession. Then he recognizes Jesus as king. Lord, remember me when you enter into your kingdom. This is what would actually be what we today would refer to as a sinner's prayer. Lord, remember me. Lord, forgive me. Lord, grant me mercy. And what does Jesus say to him?  In Scripture, you have the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden sin is introduced to humanity. In Scripture, you have the Garden of Gethsemane.  And now you have another garden. The word paradise is actually a word, it's a Persian concept and it refers to the king's garden, a private garden, where the king would take a favored subject and give to him permission to be in his private garden. The word paradise is speaking of the private garden of God and he's saying, I have a place for you and the place that I have for you is a garden in heaven. There was the garden that was in Eden, there was the garden that was in Gethsemane, but here is God's garden and this repentant thief is going to enter into the Garden of God. The Bible tells us in Revelation 2, verse 7, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Today you shall be with me in paradise. Your death next to me in that you have received me and my words, you're going to close your eyes here, but you're going to open them up with me. What a promise.


Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu Ramadan Mubarak won't be able to say that too much longer but may you have a blessed Ramadan khitamuhu misk and may the end of it be sealed with Mosque we greet Imam Tahir and it's always a pleasure to be with Imam Tahir even virtually but the virtual is only our bodies the hearts are actually in touch with each other so the the spirits are arranged hosts and that was before we came into this physical world so the spirits have their own ways of communicating directly without the need for any sort of a virtual means in between Alhamdulillah MCC as you know is the people's Masjid and it's a very beloved institution beloved to my heart I'm sure beloved as obviously to Imam Tahir's heart he shared a few anecdotes that clearly indicate that it's beloved to the hearts of everyone who's joining us and MCC is doing all sorts of work and not just there in Pleasanton the reach of MCC extends throughout the Bayer area and beyond it certainly extends into Oakland via the various collaborations that have occurred with the lighthouse must be that in that can't distribution be that in supporting very generously the thrift store that the lighthouse was running for a little while and in many other tangible and intangible ways I think it's very important for us to and I'm not going to say anything until I encourage you to spend some more as Imam Tahir said the risk doesn't come from the economy the economy in reality is just an illusion this is one thing the coronavirus showed us you know some of our people we won't say who were boasting as late as February we have the greatest economy in human history and the greatest economy in human history was undone in two weeks by something so small you can't even see it and so it's an illusion an illusion of strength the reality of the human and the human condition is given clearly to Allah by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and who just mentioned two verses the many verses in the Quran the human has been created weak we are weak our systems are weak our economics are weak our politics are weak look how quickly this this country sliding into authoritarianism look at the divisions in this country look at the racial divides on the one hand a couple of white guys can stalk down a black jogger with a t-shirt and and short pants on in broad daylight says a burglar like no backpack to put the stolen property in no crowbars to get into the house just a t-shirt and short shoot him in cold blood and spend two months uncharged on the other hand a white mob can walk into the michigan state capital with swastikas and assault rifles and nothing happens like reverse that have have a couple black guys armed with a shotgun and a 57 357 magnum a magnum chased down a white jogger in broad daylight and shoot the the guy what's gonna happen to those black guys they're gonna walk around for two months with no charges they're gonna put them under the jail day one and get a black mob or even an arab mob or pakistani mob with nice beards like imam tahir's beards and get a bunch of assault rifles and go into any state capital and threaten the governor what do you think's gonna happen they're not gonna read them their second amendment right i can guarantee you but look how it's unraveling but Allah is is this is this is the reality so Allah says the humans create a week and anything we do is weak in reality even if it portrays the illusion of strength and Allah tells us yeah you henna's not the muslims all of humanity you are all in desperate need of Allah and Allah is free of our need worthy of our praise that's the reality of our condition so the economy doesn't give you wealth Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives you wealth and Allah ta'ala withholds the wealth from whom salvi pleases that as imam tahir said some people are making money hand over fist in this in this coronavirus everyone's wishing they would have bought three m stock three m makes the n95 mask they wish they bought three m stock like three months ago like why not buy three m stock subhan Allah three with you if you if you you have some three m stock your stock is probably quadrupled Allah Allah gives the risk to him salvi please and he withdraws the risk from whom i've asked him salvi please and he says in a hadith qudsi an ebi hurayrat al radiyallahu an and wassuli lahi sallallahu anayhi wa sallam or is direct from the professor i think it's hadith qudsi fima yarwihan rabi adhwajal and fiqh yabna adama and fiqh aleik spend oh child of adam i will spend on you and fiqh yabna adama and fiqh aleik spend oh child of adam i will spend on you so our our receiving our risk is conditional on our continuing to spend so if everyone out there has some sort of cash flow they've already given a lot of those checks and all of your tax files so most of you got to check for for what 1500 dollars or 1200 dollars and 500 dollars for every child give some of that to mcc and Allah will continue to give you and fiqh yabna adama yabna adama aleik spend oh child of adam i will spend on you i will spend on you and this is ramadan when the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was exceptionally generous sallallahu alayhi wa sallam kana rasulullahi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam adjwada nasi wa adjwada ma yukunu fi ramadan hin yalqahu jibreelu fa yudarisuhu l-kuran fa la rasulullahi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam hin yalqahu jibreelu fi ramadan yudarisuhu l-kuran adjwada fi l-khaidi min al-rihan mursila he was more generous in ramadan when jibreel came to review view the kuran with him then the free free blowing man and he had no mom this is a great opportunity to get close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala don't look at social isolation as a bad thing look at social isolation as an opportunity for divine intimacy the great sage and scholar ibn al-ta'illah rahimuhu la ta'ala and one of his aphorisms he said ma na fa ala qalba ma thlu azlatin yad kholu biha madana fikra nothing benefits the heart like isolation that enters the person along that enters the person into the realms of reflection so we have a lot of time to think but that reflection should be about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala about the favors of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala about the uncertainty and trials and tribulations of this world that we will inevitably encounter this is the dunya this is the abode of trials and tribulations this is what it is brothers and sisters don't be surprised by it we've just been spoiled humanity's been spoiled the last time something like this happened which was much worse was a century ago the 1918 so-called Spanish flu so-called because it started here and our soldiers brought it to Europe and then it was derogatorily attributed to Spain anyway 26 million dead coronavirus as of right now quarter million dead that's a quarter million too many but compare a quarter million to 26 million you know before that the black plague of several centuries many centuries ago but in recorded history and devastating the heartland of the muslim world 200 million dead think about that 200 million dead over half of the earth's population at the time over half of the earth's population at the time wiped out this the reality is muslim we know that the the plague of justinian 50 million dead again at that time a large percentage of the world's population gone and the vestiges of that plague afflicted the muslims so yeah ta'un al-amwa amwas amyas excuse me ta'un al-amyas that took the likes of mu'ad ibn jabal abu abayr ibn jarah shahrajil and many other of the luminaries of the companions in present day Palestine or present day Jordan the Jordan river valley so this is this is the reality this is the reality of the human condition we need a law we need a law brothers and sisters whether there's plague whether there's pestilence whether there's good times bad times we need a law more in the good times than we do in the bad times or we should be turning to a law excuse me we should be turning to a law more in the good times than we do in the bad times why what does Allah say introduce yourself to Allah during the good times the easy times He will know you during the difficult times so the easy times were the times we should have been we should have been getting to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala introducing ourselves and you introduce yourself through your prayer through your fasting through your awrad and your affqar your supplications your invocations this is how we introduce ourselves to our Lord and He already knows us but it's for our benefit it's for our benefit may Allah give us tofiq may Allah bless us they carry the lessons of Ramadan through the year and they how do we do that by continuing to do the things we were doing in Ramadan continuing to pray qiyam al-layl or tahajjud continuing to read our Quran continuing to fast not continuously that might be a burden but Mondays and Tuesdays the white days the three white full moon days so continuing the good practices as they say there's nothing to it but to do it Islam is a beautiful religion brothers and sisters one of the beauties is that it allows us to deviate from our normal pattern but still know that we're following the prophetic guidance that's beautiful so we have a precedent for not praying in the masjid during the times of heavy heavy rain the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he had mu'adhin tell the people salu feebu yutikum and ibn abbas after him radi Allahu anhu ma gave the same order to the mu'adhin in his time and when question he said one better than me who preceded me gave this order pray in your houses so you don't get muddy and and cold and you get sick from the being drenched and soaked in this heavy rain salu feebu yutikum we have the precedent of tarawi being scattered many different jamats before Omar gathered the people radi Allahu anhu behind who bay bin qab radi Allahu anhu there's a precedent there it's not the norm but these are not normal times we have imam tari it's something in another context but it's very beautiful if you ponder or ponder on it the whole earth has been made a masjid for the ummah of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam we can pray anywhere and we're in the masjid lal hillallah lal hillallah the entire earth has been made a masjid for the ummah of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam so we can pray anywhere and we'll be in the masjid lal hillallah this this from the beauty of Islam this is from the flexibility of Islam and we're not comfortable a lot of times we're used to the norm but getting out of our comfort zone is one of the great means and to encourage spiritual growth as the scholars of spiritual training say muqalafa to hawaq i know dawaq to oppose what your soul inclines towards is the essence of its treatment as we get comfortable go to the masjid it's more social than religion we get there and hang out with the fellas before salat for having if tar it's a it's a big social gathering and the the imam has to break up the conversations and get us in a mind in a frame of mind to pray just chit chatting catching up chomping down mashallah and we get comfortable with that then after the prayer we're in the parking lot for another half an hour chit chatting after we're in the masjid and there's nothing wrong with that my point is we get used to that and we get comfortable with that and when something comes that disrupts that it provides us an opportunity for spiritual growth because our hawa and our nets become accustomed to something and they don't want us to leave it but in leaving it we subordinate them and this brings our deeper spiritual powers to the four so it's a beautiful thing this is our religion there's a silver line and every storm crowd that may darken the sky of Islam temporarily we just look for that silver lining lal hillallah allah bless all of you give you tofiq give you tesir give you kawwud so again there's nothing too about to do just do the good things you were doing and try to find someone to do them with even if it's virtual just call up you know it's time for our weird latif that we were doing in Ramadan and we committed to do it after did you read your jiz today you know start a club like some of the sisters beautiful practice they finish their quran every month or cut them up quran then they read duads and usually they write out the duad so it's a very specific duad they don't forget and they they pray for the people they ask them for duad this and they do this every month every month and so we need brothers to start a group like that we need the youth to start a group like that this is where the good comes from this these are the foundations of good good good is built on a platform on a foundation and these acts of righteous pious people provide that platform may Allah give us tofiq may Allah give us kabul may Allah elevate our station may Allah elevate your station may Allah bless all of the wonderful people working to make this program possible may Allah bless all of the mcc the board the teachers the staff the administrative personnel wonderful wonderful people deserving of your support deserving of your support so brothers and sisters again our end is i started encouraging you to spin and fiqh yabla adama um fiqh al aleyk spend a child of Adam i will spend on you so may Allah give you tofiq to see him kabul inaya or remaya or hidayah or hima or hidayah and alhamdulillah wassalat wassalam ala Rasulillah wa alihi wa sahbihi wa salam tasneeman kathira bismillah wa manhurahima alhamdulillah rabbal alameen wassalat wa salam ala sehid al mursaleen sehid al ma hamil wa la alihi wa sahbihi wa salam tasneeman kathira Allahumma jaal jam'ana hadha awli wayh sultana jinn Allahumma jaal jam'ana hadha jam'al mohooma wa tufarruqana min ba'di tufarruqama asluma wa la tad'a indana wa la fiina wa la ma'ana shaqiyan wa la mihruma Allahumma teqabbin minna zidna wa la tenqusna Allahumma anta maulana fa umsurna alil qumil kathireen bi buraqatil Qur'an al-Azim wa bi hurmati man a'ar salatuhu rahmatah lill'alameen sehirin wa habibina wa kurrati a'yunina muhammad wa alihi wa sahbihi wa salam tasneeman kathira sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sahbihi wa salam Allahumma teqabbin minna ma qaddamna ilayka fi shahbika al muazzama al-Ramadhan minna al-salati wa al-zikati wa al-qiyami wa al-siyami wa tuwotilawatil Qur'an fa taqab al-hadha minna ya Allah taqab al-hadha minna ya Allah taqab al-hadha minna ya Allah Allahumma anasaluka al-Huda wa tuqaw wa al-gina wa al-afaf wa al-mawfira Allahumma, Allahumma barik lana wa hamna wa unsurna wa wahfazna fi hadha al-ayyam al-azmati Qur'ana virus ya Allah fa hafizna min haadha sharya Allah warfa'hu anna ya Allah, warfa'hu anna ya Allah, warfa'hu anna ya Allah wa madama ma'ana ya Allah, fa ja'ana min al-sabireen fa manfa ja'ana min al-sabireen wa al-sabirat wa al-qanib wa al-mu'ma wa al-'abideen wa al-'abidad wa al-zaahideen wa al-zaahidad wa al-salihin wa al-salahat wa al-mutawakilin alayka wa mutawakilat ya Allah, inna nasaluka al-Huda wa al-tuqaw wa al-gina wa al-afaf wa al-mawfira anta maulana fa unsurna al-qum al-kaafireen Allahumma taqabbal minna haan ahno wa aqifuna anta baabika ya Allah, fi shahrikya ya Allah fa laa turuddana ya Allah, khaybeena ba ruddana salimena ghalimena falihin anta maulana fa unsurna al-qum al-kaafireen bi barakatil Qur'an al-Azim wa bi hurmati man arsaltu rahmatan li al-'alameen Allahumma al-haqna wa al-salihin Allahumma al-haqna wa al-haqna bil muttaqeen, Allahumma al-haqna wa al-mujahideen Allahumma al-haqna wa al-sabireen Allahumma al-haqna wa al-ta'ideen Allahumma al-haqna minna ba'a ma al-laddina ya'amelun fi khidmati haadad deen Ya Rabbi al-alameen nasaluka daalika wa na tawassalu ilayka bi kulli wa jabbi jamia al-a'amel al-khairat qama biha ibaduka ya'Allah fi shahrika Ramadan al-mu'addam na tawassalu ilayka bi hadhi al-a'amel al-salahati Allah bi kulli ma qama bihi ibaduka al-salihin fi shahrika Ramadan bi kulli salatin wa bi kulli kurshin minna al-zakati wa bi kulli aayati minna al-Qur'ani wa bi kulli tawbatin wa kulli istaghfaratin wa bi kulli tasbihatin wa bi kulli hal hal hal hal qalatin wa bi kulli tahleelatin wa bi kulli amal al-khairi qama biha ahadin min khalkika ya'Allah na tawassalu ilayka bi daalika ya'Allah wa na saluka al-qabool ya'Allah wa na saluka al-iqwas ya'Allah wa ziyadat al-iqwas ya'Allah wa idamat al-iqwas ya'Allah wa ziyadat al-khairati ya'Allah fi shahrika roba ma Ramadan ya'Allah wa fi aakhiri shahrika Ramadan fi aayam al-wailayal al-ashr ya'Allah na saluka fi hadh al-yawmi ya'Allah anta taqabbal minna wa zidna wa la tanqusna anta maulana thansuna al-qum al-kaafireen bi barakat al-Qur'an al-Azim wa bi hurmati mal-ar-sattu rahmatan l-alameen Sayyidina wa Habibina wa Qurrati aayunina Muhammadin sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sahbihi wa salim taslima katiyara Allahumma man Allahumma man tawathaitahu minna yalata tawathahu alal iman wa man ahyaitahu minna yalata ahihi alal islam anta maulana ya'Allah na saluka minfadlika wujudika wa kheerika wa sakaika wa karamika rahmatika anta wa thakna ila ma anta tuhibu wa tardahu ya'Allah wa thakna ya'Allah ila ma anta tuhibu wa tardahu ya'Allah wa thakna ya'Allah bima anta tuhibu nasalu ka thaalika Allah nasalu ka thaalika Allah yasalu ka nasalu ka thaalika Allah fi shahrika ramadhanan ma adhan Allahumma inna Allahumma ja'al fi khulubina lura wa fi apsarina lura wa fi asma'ina lura wa fi bayna aydina lura wa min khalfina lura wa an yaminina lura an shama'ilina lura wa min faqina lura wa min tahtina lura wa fi jildina lura wa fi lahmina lura wa fi dhamina lura wa fi izamina lura wa fi sha'rina lura wa fi kulli zarra fi haadihi l'ajsam ya'Allah nawirha ya'Allah nawirhan ya'Allah nawirha ya'Allah fi haqtika fi haqtika fi haqtika ya'Allah nasalu ka thaalika ya'Allah fi hibka li nabiika Muhammad insallallahu alaihi wa sahbihi wa salam subhana rabbika rabbila izzati amma Allahumma barik lana fi ma baqia min ramadhan Allahumma barik lana fi ma baqia min ramadhan Allahumma barik na fi ma baqia min ramadhan anta bi lana fa'un surna alil qawma al-kaafirin subhana rabbika rabbila izzati amma yasifoon wa salaman alil mursaleen wa alhamdulillahi rabbil alamin al-fatiha alhamdulillahi rabbil al-ash-taimir shu'at al-mustakhim al-talladin al-fatiha ima l-lil l-lil


Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup with People's Dispatch where we bring you some of the top stories from across the globe. Let's take a look at today's headlines. Activists of the People's Health Movement raise concerns ahead of World Health Assembly. Afghanistan's Ashraf Khan and Abdullah Abdullah arrive at a deal. Egyptian journalist detained for interviewing jailed activist's mother. Major victory for Zibabian nurses after union and government arrive at deal on working hours. We begin with a short update on the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of reported infections have gone up to over 4.8 billion as of today afternoon and the number of deaths has come up to 317,000 in the meanwhile. The United States has over 1.5 billion of these infections reported so far with close to 91,000 deaths. India has become the third most infected nation in Asia, behind Iran and Turkey overtaking China. It also stands forth in a number of new reported cases. Economic crises continue to hit nations across the world. Japan has officially fallen into recession as it recorded a consistent economic decline in the last quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020. Experts have warned that the worst is yet to come. In the meanwhile, the Central Bank of the US has estimated that the nation's unemployment rates could peak up to 25% by June. The World Health Assembly begins today but public health activists have raised concerns on the inadequacy of global preparedness over COVID-19. In an article published by People's Dispatch, activists from the People's Health Movement said that governments have failed to coordinate the fight against the pandemic and ensure access to healthcare for all. The article decried the recent US attempts at promoting disinformation about China and the World Health Organization. And also its recent move to halt financial support of the UN Agency. The PHM also said that these US efforts will jeopardize global efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak. In our InFocus section, newsclicks Pravir Purkayasar talks about the global response to the pandemic and the role of the corporate interests at this crucial point. Pravir, thank you so much for joining us. So what we see is that there is definitely a clear divide in terms of responses to COVID-19 between the developed countries and the developing countries in the global north and the global south, so to speak. But one of the key interesting aspects is that in the global north, the idea of how to respond to a pandemic itself, there's been a lot of confusion. It's like, in some senses, they've almost, it is public health in that sense, it's kind of disappeared from a lot of the perspectives of these countries. So could we start a bit by talking a bit about this? You see, if we look at the issue of what I call the problem of infectious diseases in the west, it's really that it disappeared from public view, as you said. And what took over is infectious diseases are really the problems of the poor, the people who have not developed countries, dirty, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It was essentially a colonial view of the world that infectious diseases are no longer the problem of the west or that and the colonial countries. But it is something which only bothers those who are colonized, the poor countries, and who live in all kinds of filth. Now, if I take the racist part of it out, which of course it was, the underlying issue is that in advanced countries, they have actually been able to control infectious diseases, even before we have the quote unquote arrival of the modern medicines in the shape of antibiotics, the sulfur drugs and all of that, which really did, of course, have a huge effect on the infectious diseases. So before that itself, if you see the plague, for instance, which as you know, probably killed about 20 to 30% population in Europe. Those infections were a real cause for concern. And you have this plague picture, which was on basically of London and how it really decimated the people over there. Now I'm not going to talk about how much it affected different sections of the people, because we have now figures of different kinds to show it of course affected as it is doing now. Also the poor much more than it did the well off, but it also did affect the rich then too, as it is affecting now, even if it is less than the, you know, what's affecting the poor. So this really spread over Eurasia. This is what's known as the second plague where the first one happened in about 600 odd AD, what's called the Justinian plague. But if you leave that out, there is also a third plague, which people seem to have forgotten. And that also took place in Eurasia. If you see, it really took place in countries like India, in countries like Southeast Asia, in, of course, China. And the total was something like 10, about 12 to 15 million people, 10 million died in India alone. Our memories are quite live to this picture of the plague. And when we had the Surat plague, if you remember, in India, there was an instant and immediate reaction. That is a part of our historical memory. But this did not happen in Europe. In fact, Europe saw only about 1700 plague deaths in the third plague. So therefore they thought that this is not their problem. And of course, we are not going to talk about the impact of all of this in terms of inequality. It's also interesting. Once you have the plagues in Europe, it, in fact, you had a labor shortage economy and the distribution of wealth actually improved, not because of the plague, but because of the consequence of the plague, the short much less population. Now people have tried to bring it about the influenza epidemic also, the loss of the wealthy losing part of their wealth, being a less divided, less unequal society. But I think they forget it was really the socialist revolution of 1918, 1917, which coincided with the influenza epidemic. So you see continuous reference to influenza epidemic being the last known epidemic. And what happens is we have a whole set of diseases which get forgotten. But as I said here, the third plague was not considered a major one by the West, they considered it that the last pandemic, therefore, not the third plague, which continue up to about 1950, that they consider it only the last pandemic only being the Spanish flu, which of course, as we know now did not come from Spain, but came from Kansas probably.  Peter Hotez has written a book on this, forgotten people forgotten diseases. And the question is, if you take the population today, about 65% of the global population, if you also include in this forgotten diseases, TB, malaria and dengue. If we include that 65% of the global population really suffers from the so called forgotten diseases, or what I would call is the diseases which are forgotten by the pharma companies and the advanced countries, the quote unquote advanced countries of the West. So here is the issue, these are forgotten diseases, but not by the people who are suffering from that, but really by those who do not see the effects of in that on them. And that's where we come to the chart that I quite often show that here you have what the Forbes magazine Forbes publication quotes as the best prepared countries. Of course, it's not their preparation is really a global health security index prepared by john Hopkins and john Hopkins and I think nuclear, some nuclear body, which looks at all of these kinds of issues, nuclear threat index, I think that's what came from. And now they can also join with john Hopkins for a global health security index, then you will see these figures are a couple of days old, you will see that those countries which are supposed to be the ones which are best prepared have fallen really victim to COVID-19 is a big way. I'm not going to make this a theoretical point that that is why because they did not look at infectious diseases. Therefore, they were, they have suffered the most. The reality is, of course, they're also the most well connected countries, and therefore start surprising that it has spread to them so fast. The real issue is that how unprepared they have been for the reemergence of an infectious disease, and the fact that people in the United States, for instance, the first thing they did with the lockdown was imminent for stock up on guns and ammunition. So that is their collective memory that they don't remember the infectious diseases, and they don't know as a society, how to respond to it. And of course, the fact that CDC has been gutted under Trump, the fact that we have a person heading CDC, who essentially represents the American right. All of that meant that CDC, which probably has a much bigger budget than the WHO was completely unprepared for the epidemic, could not even prepare a test kit, which a number of countries did, even after a month after they had put out the kit and it had failed. They still could not develop from producer kit which was working. So from the time they launched the kit, which is somewhere in February, they took one more month because the testing could start in the United States. And as you know now, that one month is what made all the difference. So I think this is the first issue that we really need to look at, that essentially what we have is the fact that there is no collective memory. The public health system have been gutted in the West. They have been handed over to private capital. There is what is called just-in-time manufacturing principles applied to the health system, by which you don't keep the beds empty. You plan for the influenza peak that comes in the flu seasons. And once that peak is met, during the peak, you should just pick cut to cut. That means you should really not have any surplus capacity. Then of course, the fact that private healthcare has taken over in a big way. So what they're discovering is private healthcare as well as the pharma companies basically want ill health because that's what gives the money. Public health is completely opposite to that. And that's something that seems to have forgotten. Moving on to our next story, Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani and his political opponent Abdullah Abdullah entered into a power sharing deal on May 17th. The deal will break the months-long political stalemate over election results. As per the deal, Ashraf Ghani will continue to be the president of Afghanistan. However, Abdullah Abdullah, his rival, can appoint half the cabinet and will also be leading the peace talks with the Taliban. Elections were held in Afghanistan in September 2019. Official results showed Gandhi to have won the election. However, Abdullah alleged that the results were fraudulent. He also declared a parallel government of his own and held a separate inauguration ceremony. This breakthrough in the political uncertainty comes at a time when Afghanistan is grappling with the spread of coronavirus and the intense fighter attacks in the country. In April, the Taliban had ended intra-Afghan talks over disagreements on a number of the released government-held Taliban prisoners. Moving on to Egypt, Lina Talha, the editor-in-chief and co-founder of the Independent Egyptian News Outlet, Madan Masar, was arrested on Sunday. Talha was arrested outside the Tora prison complex by the Egyptian Security Services. She was conducting an interview with Leila Soyeb, the mother of imprisoned Egyptian activists, Allah Abdul Fattah. Fattah has been on a hunger strike for the past 35 days, protesting the government's decision to suspend lawyer visits and court sessions under the guise of the pandemic. Talha was taken to the Mahdi police station and interrogated for more than three hours. She was released after an order from the prosecutor's office and signing a bail amount of 2000 Egyptian pounds, which is around US$127. According to Madan Masar, the authorities had refused her access to her lawyer while she was held. They also did not disclose the reason for her abrupt and extrajudicial arrest. The news of Talha's arrest prompted journalists and press freedom advocates around the world to express their concern and condemnations. Madan Masar has been subjected to several repressive measures by the Egyptian government under President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi. Last year in November 2019, the officers of Madan Masar were raided and ransacked by Egyptian police. It is also one of the more than 500 news websites that are currently banned from reporting and publishing inside Egypt. Finally, nurses in Zimbabwe's public hospitals won a major victory after the government announced that from May 18, they will get two weeks off after each week of work. This is in accordance with the new agreement between Zimbabwe Nurses Association or ZINA and the government. The agreement was reached on May 13. The shift for each day will be for eight hours. On returning to work after the two weeks off following a week's duty, nurses will be tested for COVID-19. Due to the extreme shortage of PPEs in Zimbabwe, nurses are particularly vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. Nurses have been threatening a strike due to the working conditions. The real income has eroded by over 85% over the past two years. Nurses have a monthly salary of as low as 1000 to 2000 Zimbabwe dollars which is around 40 to 80 US dollars. They are often unable to travel to work. Two years ago, prior to the de-dolarization and introduction of a new unstable currency, the lowest paid nurses wage was equivalent to 284 US dollars. And this is all we have for this episode of The International Daily. Round up for more such stories and videos. Visit our website peoplesdispatch.org, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thank you for watching. Thank you.