To begin let me make dua for Shaikh Muhammad Metwalli al-Sha'rawi to whose inspiration I owe today’s Khutba. May Allahﷻ grant him the best of the best in Jannatul Firdous. What I find the most impressive and endearing about him is his love for Allahﷻ, his pride in being Abdullah, and his relationship with Allahﷻ which is visible in every word he speaks. I ask Allahﷻ for this for myself and all of you. I want to remind myself and you about the greatest honor that Allahﷻ bestowed upon us, the honor of being His slaves, his Ibaad. Why is that an honor? It is an honor because Allahﷻ said about the best of all creation, His beloved Messenger Muhammadﷺ:

سُبْحَـٰنَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِۦ لَيْلًا مِّنَ ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْحَرَامِ إِلَى ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْأَقْصَا ٱلَّذِى بَـٰرَكْنَا حَوْلَهُۥ لِنُرِيَهُۥ مِنْ ءَايَـٰتِنَآ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ

Isra 17: 1   Glorified (and Exalted) be He (Allah) Who took His slave (Muhammadﷺ) for a journey by night from Al-Masjid-al-Haram (Makkah) to the farthest mosque (Al Aqsa), the neighborhood of which We have blessed, in order that We might show him (Muhammadﷺ) Our Ayat (signs). Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.

Allahﷻ addressed Rasoolullahﷺ not as His Rasool, but as His Abd (slave). That is the highest of all honors that any human being can be given, which Allahﷻ gave to His beloved Messengerﷺ.

Umar bin Al-Khattab (R) narrated that Rasoolullahﷺ said: ‘Whoever performs Wudu' and does it well, then says: "Ashhadu an la ilaha ill-Allah was ashhadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa rasuluh (I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allahﷻ and I bear witness that Muhammadﷺ is his slave and Messenger)," eight gates of Jannah will be opened for him, and he may enter through whichever one he wishes.”

Let us thank Allahﷻ that He gave us the guidance to recognize that we are His Ibaad (slaves), to appreciate that honor, to thank Him for it and for keeping us in the Ummah of His beloved Messengerﷺ.

The best indicator of any relationship is the attention we give it. How focused are we when we are with that person? Do other thoughts and feelings distract us from the one we are with? When we are with someone we love, child, parent, spouse, anyone, we are totally engaged. We look into their eyes, we listen to them, nothing can distract us. Not even our phones. Our attention is an indicator, a metric of our love. It is really that simple. But what happens when we are with Allahﷻ? When we are in Salah? Let me tell you a true story. I quote from Benjamin Grundy’s tweet:  

“In September 2002, Tibetan monk Mingyur Rinpoche flew 18-hrs over 3 days to reach a brain imaging lab in Madison WI run by neuroscientist Richie Davidson. He was taken to the EEG room to have his brain waves measured during meditation. The resulting scans shocked everyone. The protocol had Mingyur alternate between 1 minute of meditation on compassion and 30 seconds of a neutral resting period. He would have to do this 4 times in rapid succession to ensure confidence in any effect measured. But the scientists had doubts that this would work. Davidson, a meditator himself, knew that it takes time to settle the mind, much longer than just a few minutes. Surely it would be impossible for Mingyur to enter these states so quickly. He would need to achieve an inner quiet almost instantaneously for the experiment to work. With all eyes on the EEG monitor, Mingyur began the meditation. Suddenly there was a huge burst of electrical activity on the display! All assumed he must have moved and tugged on the sensors, a mere artifact. But strangely, this electrical burst lasted exactly 60 seconds. Also strange, the giant spikes diminished but were still present during his 30 seconds resting period.