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My brothers, my sisters, the fact that we are here in the house of Allah Almighty is a sign that we have been chosen by Allah Almighty.

Chosen to be from among His worshippers may Allah accept it from us. Remember it is only through the guidance of Allah that one is guided.

If Allah wills guidance for any of His servants, none can misguide that servant.

And if Allah has not wielded that, then no matter what happens, one will not be guided. Therefore, continue to seek from Allah on a daily basis that He guides you and I to the straight path.

We repeat that so many times and we have to repeat it in prayer. In every unit of prayer it is said, guide us to the straight path. We ask Allah to accept that do you from us and truly guide us to the straight path.

My brothers, my sisters, yes, an effort is required by us within the capacity given to us by Allah Almighty. But the acceptance is granted by none other than Allah.

The fact that you are here today, you made an effort. Thank Allah. Ask Allah's acceptance, cleanse your heart, make an effort to be here for the next salah, make an effort to connect yourself to the houses of Allah.

Allah would have chosen you. May Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, choose all of us to do good work and to do good things and to worship Him alone.

And may He protect us from harm, from evil, from association of partners with Him and may Allah Almighty protect us from being cast into Hellfire.

So my brothers, my sisters, how do I know I'm chosen by Allah? The reality is if I continue to seek that from Allah and I continue to try to achieve that by the will of Allah, I would be from among those chosen by Him to worship Him.

Allah doesn't need any one of us. Allah makes it clear that if you are to turn away, Allah will replace you and I with others who will not be so ungrateful.

And Allah Almighty says it very clearly in more than one place in the Quran. In fact in one place Allah Almighty, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, He makes mention of it in a beautiful way.

And He says, wa in Ta'ala wa ta'ala, wa established in Kaum and qayra, kumfum, malayakunum, amfah alakum.

If you are going to turn away, we will replace you with others and they will not be like you in transgression, in disobedience, in ingratitude and so on.

But they would be those who worship Allah, this verse shows us that Allah does not have a shortage of worshipers. Allah doesn't even need them.

Allah is great and the great test will or without those worshipping Him. It is us who need to worship Allah.

It is us who need to gain closeness to Allah so make an effort to come to the houses of Allah. Those who strive in our path, in our way, those who strive to come close to us, those who make an effort to do the right thing, those who make an effort to get closer to Allah.

Allah says, we will guide those to the path, to the correct path, SubhanAllah. And the path here, referring to the one straight path that has so many avenues, because to gain closeness to Allah, there are so many different acts of worship, but all of them would be only and solely for the sake of Allah.

You and I know to render an act of worship to anyone or anything besides Allah is unacceptable. So if you were to do an act of worship that is correct and valid and you were to do it only for the sake of Allah, then you are heading in the right direction.

To be a person chosen by Allah, you need to make it your business to increase your knowledge and you need to make an effort to learn more and more about the revelation that was sent to you and I.

About the revelation that was sent to mankind at large and jinkine, you need to make an effort to learn about the sumna of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

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