Beware Of The Panting Dog

Nouman Ali Khan

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Episode Notes

This Khutbah was recorded at the Islamic Center of Irving on June 22nd, 2016

A chilling reminder for Muslims to hold on tight to the revelation of Allah occurs in this unparalleled analogy in Surat Al-A’raf. As Nouman Ali Khan explains, Allah warns believers against being only artificially committed to their faith, those who seem to comply on the outside but their soul is completely detached, just like a snake that sheds its skin.

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Don't be shy. Sorry we are silly Emily watlow looked at me lissoni of Coco de la la COVID-19 del monte de la ilaha illallah wa la Medina Amina Latina, a mano y mano salekhard whatever. So Bill, what are also the sub minella been alameen Allah azzawajal in Surah Allah are off the seventh surah of the Quran, which is one of the longest mucky Solas in the Quran mentions towards the latter half of the surah that he himself explains the ayat. You know, Allah oftentimes says that he reveals the ayat but sometimes he also says things like what gallica? No fossil is, that is, that is how we ourselves explain the signs. I art is not just a reference to Revelation, it's also a reflect

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reference to reality. Allah explains everything around you. And every time he explains something, there's a purpose. And so the purpose mentioned in this particular ayah is peculiar. He says that under homeodomain, so that they can come back. What Allah is about to talk about now is he's going to explain some phenomenon and the purpose of explaining it is to talk to people that have gone far away from Allah, and to bring them back. That's the purpose of it. And so he says that Allah homea God, so that they may return. He says this peculiar story. Oftentimes in the Quran, Allah will tell a story, but he will not tell us the name of the characters, he will not tell us the details, he

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will not tell us the geographic location or the dates or the you know, the, you know, the intricate, you know, history involved. In order for us to understand the full picture. It's very different from any book of history. As a matter of fact, the language here is so general it could apply to anybody. And yet Allah azza wa jal makes it very specific at the same time and says, What do I lay him never, unless the artena who I atina

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read on to them, recite onto them, the news or the event of the one to whom we had given our miracles. Now, Who in the world is this person to whom Allah gave his miracles? The first thing to note here is the word wetlook Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was sent to the unlettered people the mccanns. And he himself is in a bl o me, the messenger that is unlettered. And so Omar comment, how is he reading on to them the idea was this story and Other Stories like it when Allah mentions the word what he's actually telling the people of Makkah, and by extension, all of us, that he's going to educate us with something that we had no idea of before, and something that must be

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repeated over and over again, because its relevance will be renewed. It's not just a story of old times, it's something that applies to you and me, now, it's a living text. It's a living account. And that's why keeping the general is important. I told you a lead doesn't mention the specific names of the characters involved in this account, this person that Allah is going to talk about, why because it's an archetype. What that means is, it could be any one of you, it could be me, it could be two, it could be our own story. Pay attention to it and see if it applies to you. I pay attention to it, and I see if it applies to me. And then the artena who is it that those to whom we had given

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Our Ayat, our revelations, in other words, this is a person who was given by Allah access to his guidance, some scholar who has been studying the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And the history of our Deen and the divine law, the Sharia for 50 years has been given the Ayat of Allah, but also someone who was sitting in a public library and opened up a translation of the Quran and read a couple of pages and became a Muslim. He's also been given the IOD. So Allah does not qualify here that he's talking about someone at a very high caliber of scholarship, as opposed to someone who just knows a little bit about Islam. It's everybody and

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everybody because Allah has given some to every one of us. As a matter of fact, especially the people sitting here listening to the Juma prayer, you have all including myself been given I have a lot to at one level or another. It applies to all of us out there you know who I atina because even if you know just a little bit about the Quran a little bit about ullas guidance even if you just know like the first words of the Fatiha are all you know his Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim that is still from the Ayat of Allah, that is still something Allah gave you. So the favor of Allah the intention of Allah in this ayah is established on everybody listening. It's not talking about

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someone that is distant from you or me, Tina, who is Tina, but then he describes the problem, the news of this person to let me tell you about the account of this person who had we had given our guidance to our revelations to we taught him something about this faith. Allah himself says he's the one who facilitated that learning. And then he says, fine, Salah ha minha and insula, Ferrucci just handle Juan Juan Miguel de mestral hayyan. They say in Arabic that the word insula is used for when an animal sheds a skin, like a popular example would be a snake snakes shed their skin and so only the four skin is left behind, like especially larger snakes, they do that a lot and you have this

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the fourth skin left now, even though

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That's the image of a of a snake. Allah wasn't talking about a snake Allah was talking about a person who will lead taught religion to Allah taught them something about his Deen, he gave him some IOD. So what does that have to do with a snake leaving its skin, I was actually painting the picture of a person who kept the religion on the outside, but slithered out of it from the inside. He removed it from the inside. So the religion was only something they wore, almost like a disguise. Right, it didn't really impact them on the inside, even if they were doing the practices of the religion, like prayer, or eating halaal or saying Salaam or dressing a certain way that was all on

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the outside. But the inside had already left there was no soul left in this person that is attached to the faith. It's just this artificial expression of the religion. It's like the shell without the egg, that kind of thing. You know. So Allah says, I want you to hear the news about someone who we gave access to our religion, they learned about our faith, and yet, they just kept it on the outside, and they slithered out of it, they slipped out of it, you know. So it gives the impression that they're there in Islam, that they're sincere, they're practicing, they're learning, etc. but on the inside, there's nothing left what a terrifying image when Salah ha minha. Now let's talk about

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that at multiple levels. This could happen like I told you, in the beginning, it could happen to somebody who just knows this little about Islam. And this could also apply to someone who spent their entire life studying their religion, people that are very minimally knowledgeable of the faith and people that are even scholars of the faith. It could happen that at one point or another, they and by the way, Lindsay Lohan if they add quality to distance oneself, they lose touch with what Allah had given them. If a person loses touch with what Allah has given you, with the revelation that Allah has given you, no matter how much knowledge you and I acquired in our life, no matter how

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much you've read, or studied or worshipped, the nature of this religion, the nature of this revelation is that you cannot just have it and hold on to it without any effort. You can't say I read the entire Quran two years ago. And now I know what it says it's good enough, you can't, unless as to the Israelites huduma atina can be cool within once guru Murphy in another place Western metal, hold on to what we've given you with with great strength, you got to hold on tight to this book, and keep remembering what's in it. And in another place, he says keep listening, keep on listening, you have to put yourself in an environment where you're not just giving advice, but also

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taking advice. You're not just I already know this stuff, you have to review this stuff, you have to reconnect yourself with the religion over and over again. Otherwise, from the from the outside, you're still knowledgeable from the outside, you can still quote the IOD from the outside, you still seem like you're practicing. But from the inside your heart has been separated from the word of Allah from the IR that you were given. And so he says when Salah homina he basically internally, emotionally spiritually distanced himself from the revelation. So the outside is different now from the inside. And when that happens for us, but our who shavon shavon immediately got behind him and

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started pursuing him wholeheartedly. Now, the idea of VR in Arabic tabea means to follow someone, but when you sit at the bar, it actually becomes a kind of mobile Aha, he followed him 100% like there was not a second that shaitan will leave him alone. We're learning something very interesting about shaitan now, we're learning that the people who come towards Allah, who Allah gives guidance to when they start slipping, shaitan seizes the opportunity. And he gets on your case, like he you become his main project, you become he drops every other distraction, he's on you for a fun, you know, and associaton will constantly poke at him. And now of course, chiffon is going to give him

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suggestions that conflict with that are the exact opposite of the IOP that Allah had given him. Allah had taught this person, a man or a woman the difference between right and wrong, the difference between being courteous and caring and honest and generous, and between being selfish and self righteous and diluted. All of these things, which I found will come and take what he wants you to follow, and he'll start making the revelation something distant from this person. And the disobedience to a lot starts becoming beautified was a and Allahumma shaitaan shaitaan beautified their deeds to them and so as he starts doing that, what is the less safe Academy no Halloween

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when he became from those who have gone off course of Allah in Arabic is when someone was going on the right course and they took a turn and they just went off the wrong course. Or when you took the wrong exit on the highway and you can't even get back on the highway. That's why

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Allah is describing a very scary phenomenon here. shaitaan is not his his project in this this story in this account is not people that have forgotten about a lot that don't believe in Allah isn't he's not talking about those people. He's talking about good people who have the Ayat of Allah. And somehow they started slipping away, distancing themselves, and then Siobhan got them good. And when Shannon is completely on your case, he will make you do things, even other people that are not even religious. They don't even do such things. And here's this person is a person of faith. He's a person of religion, and he can stoop down to those levels. He can do things that weren't even

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expected of a non Muslim, he can alter those levels. Yeah, and he is philosophically the lowest of the low. And so as the, as the story goes on of this person, who slipped out of the earth and shaytaan God on his case, Allah mentions the tragedy. He says, Well, I was shaking da da, da, da, who Bihar had we wanted, we would have raised him because of the knowledge we had given him because of the fact that we had given him Bihar. Jani be suburbia. So why is saying that the IR Kerala gave you the point of them was to lift you up. The idea of lifting up is actually part of neurons imagery. Other places in the Quran like Soto nor a level described three kinds of creatures on the

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earth. You know, there are those like human beings like the human being stands up straight, he stands up straight. And then there is yum Sheila Alba, those who walk on four legs, animals that walk on four legs, yum Sheila botany mean homonym Sheila botany those who walk on their on their belly like a snake. Now here you see already there's already an image of a snake mentioned. And the snake is closest to the ground. And a human being as far as his face his eyes you know his his body is furthest from the ground. The only thing touching the ground for us is our feet. Other animals were the ones that walk on their floors, they're constantly looking down you notice because of the

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way their bodies are designed, they're constantly focused towards the Earth. So the lowest of the animals is the snake and ally is now describing happy wanted he could have been a human being standing up straight lower far now he'll be huh Mike, Allah created the human being and by the way, when we when human beings look up, they look up at the sky. They have higher goals. We have we aspire to things that come from the heavens, as opposed to like animals whose only pursuits are on the earth they only look down and have looking they don't they don't you know, they don't look forward from a Yoshi McKibben Allah wa G. Adda, ammonium, she's heavy and Allah serata must seem

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like a source of milk. How can someone who just has his face buried into the ground be compared to someone who stands up straight, this is the imagery of the Quran and these ions. So he says had we wanted we could have elevated him. In other words, we could have made him even better and better and better, you know a little bit. You don't know much about the dean, you know, just a little bit but because of that little, you know, a lot could have raised you to the next level, and then from there to the next level and then from there to the next level. It's okay if you didn't compare to the Imam or you didn't compare to the greatest scholars or the greatest worshipers, you yourself are on a

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trajectory to become better and better and better because of what little Allah had started you off with. What guidance Allah has given you what I can know who Allah Allah.

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However, he became completely inclined towards the earth after that comes from the word hulu's. Actually, here interestingly, it's the word Islam, which is to make something permanent, not to be something permanent, but to make something permanent. Yeah, and enough Sahu

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la isla de hombre who a lot of he made his entire all that he wanted, everything he ever wanted, now became something having to do with this world. This is a person who knows about gender. He knows about meeting with a law, he knows about judgment, a and yet as they distance themselves, the only thing they think about the only thing they love, the only thing that becomes their priority are things they can get in this world. Whatever desires they have of money of wealth, theme of lust, that's all they can think about. They can't think about anything else or control. There's no concern about when they're going to stand in front of a law What a tragedy that a person who would have

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revelation who would know that they should have better priorities in life. All they can think about is this now US law

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and so the fire as a low concludes this parable, he says from a fellow who then how can this person be described this person that first of all is acting like a snake and now let's going to give you an a worst example. You know, he says, For Martha Luca methylene. Can

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is example is something like a dog likes a dog. That's already offensive as it is. Because a dog is one of the creatures that can on the one hand have loyalty

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But Allah is gonna describe, he's talking actually about a rabid dog or like a stray dog. We're gonna see that from the language itself. Now as this dog that Allah describes, and you know, in the Quran, you get other examples of people and they're compared to animals. Like the Israelites who didn't do right by their book. They were compared to mules, Gamaliel, hemmati, amilo, as far as they were compared to meals, but this person, even worse, they're being compared to the dog. And what does he say about this dog? He says in Milan, he has, if you were to put something on this dog, if you were to burden this dog with something, tie this dog to a load and he has to drag the load, he

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has the dog is made to do work of some kind, carry something. Yell has, he's gonna start panting stay empty, don't listen, Masha tectona, first, they say you'll have means breathing heavy and sticking your tongue out literally panting. That's what the dog does. When is when someone's stick when an animal sticks its tongue out, and it's panting heavy, it actually means that it's exhausted. So Allah says, very specific languages, as if you put a load on it, it start it's gonna start painting. What into trochu. And if you were to leave it alone, yellow has, it will start painting, it'll keep painting anyway, it'll stick its tongue out and draw Anyway, what in the world does that

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mean? What does that have to do with you and me and a person who had guidance that Allah gives this strange, strange image of a dog that is being made to do a lot of work and it's painting or if it's left alone, it's still painting. The idea of, of love of painting is actually a kind of disturbance, a creature a human being any animal doesn't paint until they're disturbed, overwhelmed, bothered, unsatisfied, thirsty, this this is the image of someone that's unsafe, created unfulfilled. And so our villamar commented exactly exhaustively on this the use of the word human to load onto it to put a responsibility on it is using the Quran for revelation. This person becomes like a dog, when they

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hear about the religion now they start getting bothered.

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Like, this is a religious person. This is a person who knows about the deen. But since they've shied away from it now, even when they hear a reminder about what's what's, you know, what's right and wrong in their faith, internally, they don't like it anymore. They're bothered by it. They're disturbed. They can't even find peace, in prayer in the gatherings of Muslims and learning. They can't. And so they want to get away from this company and they want to slither away to some dark company, some bad environment. But when they go there, of course, they're still disturbed. They were hoping they can leave this place and find peace somewhere else, they don't find peace. Others have

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said this has to do with their

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satiated, thirst like when they become worldly. Then Allah azza wa jal makes their thirst for the world. unending shebang, God behind them, they allow shaitan to get behind them. And now basically shaitan makes them want to consume and consume and consume, even if there's no more to consume.

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What in the world does that mean? It actually means a person who's, for example, they get they get obsessed with money. They get obsessed with desire with lust, they get obsessed with food. They're gonna obsessed with stuff. They're they're thinking about food when they're hungry. They're thinking about food when they're not hungry. That's all they can think about. They're busy, they're throwing up from lunch, and they're worried about where am I going to have dinner? You know, they have they and they get, they get obsessed with stuff. They're buried under debt, and they're thinking about what can I put on my What can I buy from my credit card now? What more can I get? People become

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indulged in unhealthy things and they can't stop themselves, like a dog can stop itself from panting. Whether there's a reason to or not, whether there's a need or not, whether it's justified or not. And so as as this hideous image is brought to a close, Alonzo just says vaniqa method will comb and Latina cats will be IR Tina, that is the example of people who called or who considered our miracles ally. The phrase and Latina wb IR Tina in the Quran is used for disbelievers. It's not used for believers. And here in this ayah, it's actually started off talking about someone who actually believed and then says, These people at this point, they are no different as far as ally is

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concerned, than disbelievers. What's the point you were given this revelation? So you could live like a human being not like an animal? Not like you have an impulse and you follow it? If you couldn't do that, if you couldn't live up to that, then what's the point? How are you any different than anybody else, just pretending to abide by revelation to have reverence for the book of alarm?

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outside and not abiding by any of its teaching on the inside and then the NACA boo, Tina. And so I'm just baffled by how a lot of xojo concludes this ayah Fox social causes that Allah homea tuffa karoun tell multiple stories so they can think that's how the ions tell multiple causes the plural. In other words, this phenomenon is not one phenomenon it's going to happen over and over and over again. There are going to be people around you that used to be religious and then just disappeared from from a you know, just secretly not abiding by the religion to outright just not even abiding by it at all. There are going to be you know, stories like this that are going to happen all around you

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think about them land the homeopathic Quran so they can think deeply think deeply. Am I heading down this path? Why does a person have to think deeply? When I'm every time in Quran Allah asks you to think deeply, it's actually about yourself, look up the word of God in the Quran. Every time it's actually about yourself, somehow it comes back to you. When this ayah ends, instead of us thinking about some other horror story of somebody else, Allah saying, Tell them those stories, so they're not the next horror story. So they're not the next ones to fall down these traps. You know, in this among those who cited how this applies, I'll leave you with this thought.

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There are people who Allah has made the study of the religion easy.

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Like this is even a stories of people at the time of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam people who learn the Bible, learn Arabs who learned Hebrew studied religion became more convinced of the idea of one God, they were okay with all of that, but they weren't so sure about Mohammed Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and they came and they said, you know, a slum to build hanifa I, I'm okay with this one god concept. I like this concept. I don't like chef either. But I'm not so sure about you. I'm not so sure if you're a messenger, they would say to the prophet or they sell to a salon. And also salon would challenge them and show them guidance and, and give them the proofs. And

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those people it would become clear later on that their study and their infatuation. And their interest in the concept of religion was something else. And their personal insides were something else. And was sort of lost all along where it was Helen had the had the foresight, the inside actually to catch it and say, what you have on your tongue is not what you have in your heart. There are two different things and they became some of the worst enemies of Islam. There are people to this day who slither out of the teachings. Like I when I was doing some Islamic Studies at a university. We have professors non Muslim professors that are like they, they they said they've

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studied the Quran for decades. I mean, they're they're very, very knowledgeable in Quran. And they're even as willing to go as far as to say, it can only be divine, it can only be from God. It's not even human.

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You went that far, that's practically saying you're Muslim. So I would just come out and say, so what's keeping you? Well, it's remarkable, really, but it's a it's something to consider, isn't it?

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That's it, you can't take the next step. You can't do it, because you have you been given so many I have, but you just don't want to make the commitment because it requires change. Oh, if you because if you change if you if you accept this, then you're gonna have to make changes, you know, you know, Allah says, but you need to insano Leah Jorah amama, who that's the real reason, people just want to keep doing whatever they feel like doing. That's the real reason. They just have some stuff in front of them. And they want to be impulsive and do it and not think about the consequences. When you accept this religion. Every time you say something, every time you do something, every time you

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every time you're about to take an action, every time you're about to make a transaction, you're going to think about the consequences. You're going to stop yourself, you know, when I had enough set, and then he stopped himself from following whatever thought came in his mind. That's what one of the things that this religion does. They don't want to do that. They can find the religion interesting. They can study it, they can learn it, they can quote a lot about it. You know, they can be fascinated by its learning. But that's it. And unfortunately, that becomes the case of some people, even the regular Muslims there. They love recitation of Quran and love it.

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They love listening to talks. Have you heard this one speeches? Have you heard that one speeches, man, I downloaded all of them. You love listening to stuff you love quoting stuff? You love collecting books, but living by that stuff? You know, let's let's just do insular. Let's just shut out of that and keep our priorities no different than the priorities who don't have human milazzo just make us of those who aren't just artificially committed to our faith. But from the outside and the inside. We are wholly giving ourselves up.

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before Allah, may Allah azza wa jal, you know, overlook our shortcomings and not make us of those who shaitan has gotten behind and we're not able to seek protection from Him. May Allah protect us from the whispers of shaitan and I asked a lot of agendas, especially our young or old or men or women or children, that they are all given a genuine, a genuine love of the deen of Allah, the Book of Allah and a sense of appreciation for the revelation that has been gifted to every single one of us that we hold on to it for dear life. barakallahu li walakum Fillmore Anil Hakim, when a fire anywhere er can be it was the kill Hakeem

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hamdu lillahi wa kafa wa salatu wa salam O Allah, Deena stafa Hassan Allah, Allah him Mohammed Mohammed Al Ameen what are the early he will be here in your hula hula azzawajal fee Kitab al Karim bandana hula rubella Jimenez shaytani r Rajim in aloha Amala eketahuna Luna ala Nabi

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Latina amanu sallu alayhi wa sallam who Taslima Allahumma salli ala Muhammad Anwar the early Mohammed kamasan later Allah Rahim Allah early Ibrahim philomene. In NACA Jaime de Majeed Allahumma barik Allah Muhammad in what Allah Allah Mohammed comma Baraka Allah Ibrahim Ali Ibrahim al al amin in naka hamidou Majeed Alba de la Brahim Akuma LA, it's a cola in the La Jolla mobility with a son when he will corba when an infectious evil won't come. What are they called La he akeeba Well, La Jolla la moto snon Optimus La La in la sala de cada mini Nikita makuta