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One of the most important aspects of our existence is to ensure

that we are sincere to our Maker. In Islam we refer to it as al-Ikhlas.

Ikhlas is sincerity, it is the cornerstone of your existence and mind.

The reason is when we are sincere, sincerity commences with the relationship between you and your Maker.

You and I need to think and ponder over on a regular basis who we actually are.

In Islam we are taught to ponder. Allah Almighty mentions it regarding creation,

regarding the day and the night, regarding you yourself or human beings themselves.

Look into yourself, wa fi'an fus'inkum afala, to the sriron,

within yourselves, would you not look into or ponder or think similarly in a fi'aq al-qis'ama,

wa ta'yin wa al-al-long beautiful verse that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala makes mention of in Surat Al-Ibrahim,

where he says in the creation of the skies and the earth and the rotation of the day and the night,

and everything that Allah has created. In another verse in Surat Al-Baqarah Allah speaks about the ship that moves

and the way the water is carrying that particular ship and so on.

The thinking of all of that is definitely the sign of an intellectual and there will be signs in all of that pointing towards your Maker for those with sound intellect.

Now I start this way because my beloved brothers and sisters, every one of us knows that before we were actually born,

before the time when we were in the wounds of our mothers, we were actually nonexistent.

It required the fusion of gametes, it required the embryo, the fetus, etc., which was a fusion of two items,

thereafter a soul to be blown. Then we came into existence. I need to think, no matter who I am, where am I going?

I am too sophisticated in my mind, in my existence to just disappear into thin air.

So this pondering would make us genuine, it would make us sincere, it would make us have deeper feeling,

it would make us feel a sense of accountability. The other day I was speaking to a group of students,

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