Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – A Believers Winter
AI: Summary ©
The coronavirus pandemic has caused people to feel sad, depressed, and unhappy, and the "monarch" concept of preparing for the extreme heat and staying warm during warmer moments is discussed. The use of twork and natural products, such as wool and shower, is emphasized. The importance of social and political events, including the return of Islam, is also discussed, including the use of heating facilities and the potential negative impact on health and safety. The importance of staying at night to improve one's sleep is emphasized, and taking advantage of the upcoming winter to wake up early is suggested.
AI: Summary ©
In Hackney, we used to actually work with
one of the churches.
They had a hall next to their church.
We didn't have that facility in Stamford Hill.
They had a facility, so for three months,
if it was three or four months during
this winter period, we would assist to go
and provide a hot meal for the homeless
people that would come during these months.
They're homeless throughout the year, many people, some
people, unfortunately.
But at least during this time when it's
the coldest outside, they don't have a place
to stay, they will come there, we lay
out the bedding, and we provide a soup
or some kind of hot meal so that
they can eat and at least sleep for
those nights.
And you'd be surprised that there were Muslims
that used to come there as well that
were homeless.
It was quite surprising.
Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah al-Ladhi khalaqa al-samawati wa
al-ard, wa ja'ala al-dhulumati wa
al-nur, wa ja'ala al-layla wa
al-nahar, wa ja'ala al-barda wa
al-harr, wa fee ta'aqibi al-layli
wa al-nahar, wa tanawu'i fusuli al
-aam, wa taghayyuri al-mawasimi wa ikhtilafiha, inna
feehi dalila ala qudrati Allah.
wa ash'hadu an la ilaha illa Allah,
wa ash'hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu.
Sallallahu ta'ala alayhi wa ala alihi wa
sahbihi wa baraka wa sallama tasliman kathiran ila
yawmin deen amma ba'd.
Qala Allahu ta'ala fil quranil majeed wal
furqanil hameed.
Alam tara anna Allaha yuzji sahaban thumma yuallifu
baynahu thumma yaj'aluhu ruka'an fatara alwadaqa
yakhruju min khilalih, wa yunazzilu min assamai min
jibali fiha min bardi fayusiibu bihi min yashaa,
fayusiibu bihi min yashaa, wa yasrifuhu ammin yashaa,
yakadu sanaa bardi wa yasrifuhu ammin yashaa, yakadu
sanaa bardi wa yasrifuhu ammin yashaa, so
as we approach winter, or some would say
we are already in winter, the changing of
the weather which happens every year for us.
In fact, it happens multiple times a year.
As we see it sometimes, sometimes it gets
very hot and sometimes it gets very cold
even when it's supposed to be summer and
then when it's supposed to be winter.
So, Alhamdulillah, we see this constant change of
the weather.
It is a sign of Allah.
Now, I know we don't see it like
that because it's so usual for us.
It's not unusual.
We see it all the time.
I've been to some cities where they say
they have four seasons in a year.
Like in Melbourne, Australia, they say they have
four.
It's raining, the sun is shining and then
suddenly it seems like spring or autumn.
These are things that we just take in
our stride because unlike before, Alhamdulillah, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala has given us ability that
in winter it seems like summer.
You have enough artificial light so that in
the homes you can put in artificial light
which everybody pretty much has.
In fact, you can have bulbs with daylight
function so it makes it seem like you're
in daylight.
And there's enough warmth.
In fact, you could have it even warmer
than in summer without any smell of fire
which people in the past used to have
to do where they used to have to
burn logs or they used to have some
other contraptions called the Bukhari.
Bukhari, Bukhar means smoke.
So it's something that gives out smoke.
It was this kind of old-fashioned boiler
you see in some...
And I know that our brothers here from
Bukhara and in Uzbekistan and Samarkand, they're getting
a bit excited by the name Bukhari but
that is what it was.
It's an Arabic name and that's interesting.
Anyway, so now you can literally mimic summer
and people get very hot.
There's enough clothing.
You go to various different stores and they
promise you that this base layer will perform
the function of multiple sweaters and jumpers and
layers and so on.
Ya Allah, the technology has...
So it's made us forget that this is
actually a sign of Allah.
That all of these things are literally just
signs of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
we have to reflect on them.
So every time the weather changes, we're actually
supposed to reflect.
What is going on here?
Do we even think of the Qudra of
Allah, the ability that He can make the
sun change in its orbit with the earth
on its axis...
in different axis...
the earth changes axis so as to then
create a different weather system.
In different parts of the world at the
same time like right now if you go
to certain parts of the world closer to
the equator it's actually gonna be hot.
Whereas if you go to some other places,
right now they're going into their summer in
the southern hemisphere.
In Australia, in South Africa, in Mauritius, all
of these places down in the south they
are going into summer.
So it's becoming even hotter than it is
normally.
For them summer and for them winter is
actually in July.
So these are different phenomena.
If you've never experienced it, it does sound
strange, it sounds really weird.
But all of this is the Qudra of
Allah to create this variation in different places
so that the world is never boring.
The world is never gonna make you weary
as long as you're looking for what the
purpose of these things are and what these
things bring behind them.
So this is what we're trying to look
at.
What is the purpose of this?
One of it obviously is that Allah is
in control and He can change the weather
as He wishes and He does.
There is a certain pattern usually which helps
in the predictability in our preparation.
This world is a bit of a predictable
place though everything is in the control of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Now some people, they actually enjoy the cold
weather, the cold season.
I've come across quite a few people, they
actually enjoy the cold weather.
They say there's no escaping from the heat.
Especially if you're outside, there's no way you
can escape heat outside.
But definitely you can escape cold if you're
outside by wearing more clothing.
And in some places it gets so cold
that you cannot stay for more than a
minute or two outside.
Two years ago I found myself stranded for
a day and a night in Calgary which
is in Canada.
And with no excuse, with no exaggeration, sorry,
it was minus 40 degrees.
Minus 40 degrees, not minus zero.
You know your fridge it's colder than a
freezer.
And when you have to go out, you
can't be out for more than a minute
or something.
Everything will start freezing.
Your finger will if you left it out
for too long, it will actually, you can
snap it off.
And that's not the coldest, there are places
that are even colder than that.
But I, mashallah I got to experience that
and it was a very interesting experience.
Just so that we can praise Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala for what He has given
us.
That it's not that extreme for us and
may Allah make it easy for them.
And what's interesting is in those places is
minus 40, school carries on.
School carries on, everything carries on because Allah
has given the human being ability Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah
to manage all of these things.
With the heaters and automatic starting cars the
garments and the clothing and so on and
so forth.
That's Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's creation.
So some people actually enjoy the cold weather.
For others though, it creates the grey skies
and the lack of sunshine.
The winter blues they call it.
It makes them feel low.
They get depressed.
Some people psychologically get affected without sunlight.
Literally.
We pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
that Allah relieve certain people.
Such people because that's not a good thing
because we're going to have winter.
Unless you want to move out of here
to a place that you expect to be
sunny all the time.
So we're going to have to deal with
the winter.
That's why one of the ways to deal
with this so that we can really benefit
from it and we can see the bounty
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in it
is to change perspective.
Changing perspective.
A simple example I'll provide is that about
two months ago or so, we got to
go to Scotland for about four days or
something.
Four or five days we stayed in Scotland.
And when we checked the forecast, we had
to go during those days anyway, but we
checked the forecast and it was going to
be very rainy.
So on the first day it felt very
miserable.
We were just hoping for a miracle.
We were hoping that it's suddenly going to
become sunshine.
I don't produce miracles.
Nobody in my family managed to produce a
miracle.
So it was raining.
And we're feeling miserable.
So then I said, we've got another three,
four days to stay here.
And if we don't change perspective, we don't
embrace the rain, we don't embrace this weather
and see the blessings in it, we're going
to suffer.
We're going to suffer and our holiday, or
whatever our visit, it's going to be much
more difficult.
Alhamdulillah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given
one thing to the human being which unfortunately
many people don't use to their benefit, is
a change of perspective to make the situation
better than it is.
You'll have two people in the exact same
situation and one person is actually enjoying it
and the other person is completely hating it.
What is the difference?
One person has changed his perspective and I
tried this out.
So we said to the family, we said,
look, we're going to have to embrace the
rain.
Rain is a blessing from Allah, we're going
to have to embrace it.
There's no escape from it, especially when there's
no escape from something, what else are you
going to do?
Alhamdulillah, as soon as we said, we're going
to enjoy it with the rain, the next
few days were absolutely amazing.
The rain added the new dimension that you
don't usually get in other places where you
don't get so much rain.
The rain there had created so much greenery,
so much freshness, so much lushness and you
could appreciate all of that.
All you needed was a rain jacket.
Alhamdulillah, Allah had provided us that as well.
It's a ni'mah of Allah and then you
enjoy it.
Alhamdulillah, then Allah did give us a nice
one day or one and a half days
with no rain, which was an absolute treat
on top of that.
But the rain was there and we embraced
the rain.
Same thing, embrace the winter.
It is a sign of Allah.
يُقَلِّبُ اللَّهُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is it that
brings the night and day.
Major changes like night and day and then
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brings the different,
the Rabee' which is the spring and the
shita which is the winter and the saif
which is the summer and then the kharif
which is the autumn or fall as the
Americans call it because the trees fall so
they call it fall.
I used to get really confused with that.
It's fall.
I was like, what is fall?
Right?
But anyway, fall is when the leaves are
supposed to fall.
Right?
That's what the Americans call it.
We call it autumn, a really cool word.
Okay?
So, changing perspectives insha'Allah has a massive
impact on your psychology on the way you
feel.
If you think something is difficult, I can't
overcome it, then though you have a physical
ability to overcome it, you won't be able
to overcome it.
But if you realize that, yes, I think
I can overcome this, I'm going to push
myself, you'll surprise yourself.
This is in everything in life.
There's a lot of cases, the Prophet ﷺ
said that if, he said in different words,
but what he meant was that if your
wife or any woman in your household, because
he was talking to the men, and this
works exactly the other way around as well,
that if there's some things that you dislike
of their characteristic, everybody has characteristics, some good
and bad.
If you dislike their characteristics, focus on their
good, because they'll certainly have good characteristics, and
then you'll be satisfied that will blind you,
that will overwhelm, and that will then diminish
the bad characteristic.
It's about changing of perspective.
The Prophet ﷺ teaches us changing of perspective.
Allah ﷻ teaches us this, multiple verses tell
us about how we should have good hopes
in Allah, good opinion about Allah.
The Hadith Qudsi says, I am with my
servant as he thinks of me.
As long as it's not wishful thinking, right?
I am with my servant as he thinks
of me.
So the idea is changing perspective to make
winter a time of great advantage.
And I'm glad I was given this topic,
I like it when masjids give me topics
so I can talk about whatever you want,
because it gives me an ability to, I've
never spoken about this subject before, so you
give me an opportunity to research it.
What is the winter?
I forget the title, but it's about the
believer's winter.
The believer's winter.
So usually winter is a negative term they
say.
The summer brings out sunshine and so on.
But Alhamdulillah, for us nothing is negative.
For a believer, عَجَبٌ لِّي أَمْرِ الْمُؤْمِنِ فَإِنَّ
أَمْرَهُ قُلْ لَهُ لَهُ خَيْرٌ وَلَيْسَ ذَٰلِكَ إِلَّا
لِمُؤْمِنٍ For a believer, all states are good.
You can make the best out of each
state and get something out of it.
Allah has made us very productive.
He wants believers to be practical and productive
and beneficial and take advantage.
That's a believer.
That's how believers should be.
We are not people who stop when something
else stops.
We carry on.
May Allah give us Tawfiq.
So the grey skies, lack of sunshine can
make us feel down and glum.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us
to be motivated.
So instead of approaching this winter now, like
any other winter, let's make this winter different
now.
Let's make it as a believer's winter.
Change of perspective so that we achieve much
more.
Let us find inspiration now from the Qur
'an and the Sunnah and the lives of
our predecessors to beat the winter blues and
make it a special season.
A season that includes a lot more worship
and reconnecting with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make this
beneficial.
May Allah make it useful for us and
allow us to follow.
Now one thing is, one of the things
about cold, we know about hellfire.
Hellfire is usually depicted and symbolized by fire.
However, if you've studied hellfire, even as mentioned
in the Qur'an, the different verses, and
we have that series on hellfire.
There's a punishment in hellfire which is of
cold, of intense coldness, of intense cold.
It's called Zamharil.
One of the there's a I'm going to
cover some of the hadith regarding that, but
one of our pious predecessors, he was actually
an ascetic.
He said, ما رأيت الثلج يتساقط إلا تذكرت
تطاير الصحف في يوم الحشر و النشر.
When I see the snow, imagine this, when
I see the snow falling, he said, it
reminds me of the way people's record books,
the pages, the folios of people's records of
deeds will be scattered on that day to
everybody.
How he went from there to there is,
mashallah, is absolutely amazing.
We would never think of that.
But that's what he reminded, how is it
going to be on the day of judgment?
He's looking at the cold, the snow falling.
So rather than going and making a snowball
and throwing it at somebody, which is not
a problem to do, he's remembering this part
of it.
Or rushing to make a snowman.
As long as it doesn't have eyes, it's
fine.
You can make something that resembles something halal,
it'd be fine.
So, that's how different, I'm just saying, different
people look at it differently.
You don't have to look at it that
way.
But this is one way to look at
it.
It's just about being closer to these phenomena
than just so busy that we don't have
time for it.
That's what it is.
You don't have to think that way, but
think in some way.
Think about it.
That's what's important.
As believers, we're supposed to do tathakkur and
tadabbur, right?
We're supposed to think about these things.
Why is this like this?
What is it trying to remind me of?
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the hadith
I was talking about, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam spoke about a complaint of the
hellfire to Allah.
اشتقت النار الى ربها فقال يا رب أكل
بعضي بعضا My Lord, parts of me have
consumed other parts.
أكل بعضي بعضا So, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala then allowed Jahannam then to release, breathe.
It says in the hadith, بِنَفَسَيْن Allowed it
to take two breaths.
I see that as a release of the
intense heat that was being generated for that
heat of the hellfire which is more than
70 times the intensity of any heat in
this world, right?
So, he allowed it to breathe out twice.
One in the winter and one in the
summer.
This is telling us that the summer and
winter is a breath of hellfire, the two
times it's allowed to kind of release itself.
So, that doesn't make summer and winter bad
things.
It's just an effect of it.
But to remind us of the hellfire.
Even when summer comes, it reminds us of
the intense heat.
And the winter comes, it reminds us of
the intense cold.
That doesn't mean that we become despondent and
all we're remembering is death now and the
hellfire.
But no, it's supposed to be this timely
reminder so that we stay in our lane.
And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give
it, make it easy for us.
Hadith of Sahih Bukhari.
And then the Prophet ﷺ said, this is
the extreme heat that you experience and this
is the bitter cold that you experience.
So, the day when there's bitter cold, just
remember that this is Jahannam's breath that it's
taking.
So, yes it's tough, but Jahannam will be
more tough.
So, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow
us to protect ourselves from it.
How do we prepare for winter?
Our tradition also tells us to practically prepare
for winter.
It's not all about just do good deeds
in winter.
There is practical advice on just how to
look after yourself.
There's a...
Umar r.a gave this advice.
He said, كان إذا حضر الشيطاء تعاهدهم.
When winter used to come in, he used
to literally be considerate.
And he used to be concerned about it.
So, he used to give some advice.
He said, إن الشيطاء قد حضر.
Winter has set in.
وهو عدو.
He called it an enemy.
SubhanAllah.
I guess it's an enemy in the sense
that it's tough.
So, it's like you have to deal with
your enemy, right?
فَتَأَهَّبُ لَهْ أُهْبَتَهُ مِنَ السُّوفِي وَالْخِفَافِ وَالْجَوَارِبِ
وَاتَّخِذُوا السُّوفَ شِعَارًا وَدِثَارًا فَإِنَّ الْبَرْضَ عَدُوٌ سَرِيعٌ
دُخُولُهُ بَعِيدٌ خُرُوجُهُ Ya Allah.
That's his advice.
What he said was, when winter approached, he
would take care of them and say, winter
has come.
It is an enemy so prepare for your
enemy.
Prepare for it with wool.
So, use wool.
Right?
Leather footwear.
And socks.
That's why I did try out all of
these new all of these new layers that
are made of usually polyester, nylon, artificial.
And I found, to be honest, some of
the best things to be pure wool.
That's merino wool.
Right?
It doesn't smell.
It's very light.
It's very comfortable.
And so on.
Whereas the other stuff, it's okay.
It's good.
You can use it.
It's not a problem.
But sometimes some people just swear by natural.
So a whole review recently about some of
these uni clothes come and say that you
can literally wear this one top.
You know, you can take off all your
jackets and everything.
And there's some people who researched it and
everything and they say that it's not, it's
good but it's not that great.
And he said that those those Eskimos or
there's a certain name for them in in
Iceland.
What they wear of animal skins and so
on just keeps them a lot better.
Right?
It's more breathable and so on because Allah
has created all of these things.
All of these mountain goats in Kashmir and
other places that have wool.
Right?
And they survive through these really bitter winters.
So those are the natural things.
Omar Rehman is saying so prepare, I mean,
he didn't have the artificial things in those
days.
So it's not that he's prohibiting them.
Right?
Leather footwear and socks.
So wear this, wear this kind of stuff.
So get some clothing.
You know, some winter winter clothing.
Make wool your inner and outer garments.
Use it for your lining, for your inner
layer and your outer layer.
For the cold is an enemy that enters
quickly and leaves slowly.
This is when cold penetrates.
Alhamdulillah in England the cold is not so
bad.
What do I mean by that?
If you go to a place like Johannesburg,
Natal South not Natal but Johannesburg Khauteng which
is South Africa that particular area.
Cape Town is different.
Durban is different.
Particularly there or Delhi and UP during the
cold season that cold even though the degree
may be the same is actually worse than
the cold of the UK.
It penetrates into your bones.
So we don't feel it in our bones
unless somebody's got like vulnerabilities but usually we
don't.
It gets cold and you can get cold
all over and you do get cold if
you expose yourself but in those places it's
worse because it penetrates to your bones.
It's a dry kind of cold.
And sometimes in desert areas the cold is
much worse.
Even though the degree wise it may be
exactly the same but it's actually worse in
terms of its effect.
Cold is different types of cold.
Right?
There are different types of cold.
So he's saying it comes in very quickly
it will effect you and then it will
leave very slowly.
You have to do a lot to get
it out to protect yourself.
He wrote also to the people of Syria
when it was conquered during his time fearing
for those among them because it was a
colder area than Arabia.
It was colder in Sham.
So he wrote there and among those among
the companions and the sahaba who were there
who were unaccustomed for them they were unaccustomed
to such cold.
It does get cold in Medina Munawwara less
in Mecca Mukarrama but there's definitely a change
of season but it's much worse in Sham
and other places.
This was a part of his complete council.
Good perspective and compassion for his people.
So that's why we're actually told to prepare
for it.
It is recommended to do that.
Now we move on to our spiritual perspective.
Alhamdulillah we don't need to know how to
prepare for it.
This is not a, there's lots of stuff
that you can buy now and people already
have jackets and you know special shoes and
footwear and everything.
I don't need to go into that but
I just wanted to say that this was
also something that has been practically dealt with.
The blessings of Allah.
That's where Inshallah we're going to take our
Inshallah focus this year.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala discusses discusses is
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala refers to the
cattle.
The cattle.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says and the
cattle he has created for you.
Right.
In them is warmth and other numerous benefits.
Allah is telling us that look at the
cattle.
Don't just focus on it for your mixed
grills, right and your barbecues and your lamb
shanks.
But there's a lot more to it than
you for you is the warmth and numerous
benefits and from them is what you eat
as well.
So the wool and the fur and the
hair of these animals is a source of
protection that Allah has it all by design.
It's not a random idea.
Allah has created a comprehensive animal for us
to benefit from both in terms of food
in terms of drink from the milk and
also from the wool and the hair and
the fur of these things.
So he created all of this that which
is on Earth for our benefits.
So when you wear that nice wooden jacket
or coat or whatever it is or nice
woolen socks.
What's the purpose of that?
Thank Allah.
Thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for his
bounty.
It's a bounty.
Allah is telling us in the Quran.
Did we ever think about that?
Wool being a bounty of Allah because Allah
mentions these things in the Quran.
Allah has provided this for his servants emphasizing
the utility of the animal in multiple ways
for our sustenance warmth and our other benefits
and he also shows the interconnectedness of Allah's
creation as a whole and Allah's divine wisdom
in making all of these things to benefit
and then all thanks to Allah that he
made us of the most noble of all
of creation.
We could have been a sheep to have
its wool sheared and be used as a
jacket and then for its throat to be
cut, to be consumed for qurbani but Allah
made us a human being that he gave
us the ability to govern all of these
things.
Ya Allah.
I know Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu used to
make a he had this idea that how
I wish I was just a blade of
grass.
I guess there's less liability the blade of
grass is cut or consumed then that's the
end of you but with a human being
if we strive we get to meet Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala in paradise.
So may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow
us to benefit spiritually.
So winter now becomes even more than summer
in some cases according to many of our
scholars treasure for the devout and they call
it the springtime of the believer.
So the spring is gone but this is
the springtime of your ruhaniya of a believer.
Winter is a spring for the believer because
believers can more easily graze in the gardens
of obedience and roam in the fields of
worship more easily.
Because some of the best time for worship
personal worship is the night time.
Daytime is ritual worship.
You have to do fajr, zuhr, asr and
then maghrib.
But then the night time is your time
for your intimate discourse with Allah.
Private time with Allah and the night expands
in winter.
That's why it becomes the springtime for believers.
Yeah wonderful we're going to get a lot
of hours now.
They look at it differently.
For us it's like the spring is here,
the farmers will say the spring is here,
our crops are going to grow.
For the religious when the winter comes they
turn that into something wonderful.
Yes we can do a lot now.
Yahya Ibn Mu'adh Yahya Ibn Mu'adh
used to say the night is very long
now.
Don't shorten it with your sleep.
Ya Allah.
Don't shorten it with your sleep.
Meaning don't sleep more in there so that
you have less time to do other things
in your night.
Islam is pure.
Islam is pure and clean.
Don't sully it.
Don't dirty it with your sins.
May Allah protect us.
Don't tarnish it with your sins.
Now what routine should we have?
The best way to practically benefit is through
a routine.
The problem is that it's very difficult to
have a yearly routine.
Because our time fluctuates so much.
From maghrib at 3.55 in London in
the winter to 9.25 or so in
summer.
And the more you go north it gets
even more crazier.
So to have a certain time you sleep
and a certain time you wake up for
tahajjud and a certain time then maybe go
back to sleep if you've got time gets
very complicated.
So that's always difficult.
However the one thing which is easy is
that during the winter months at least the
4 or 5 months that we have we
can have a schedule during that time.
Give or take.
We can have a schedule for tahajjud and
for other things.
May Allah allow that to happen.
Firstly let's start off with some of the
benefits of winter and why is it a
spring time for the religious?
Number one is fasting.
Fasting is the easiest during winter.
It's a perfect time for optional fast or
for any qada that you may have to
do.
For any make up fast that you have.
Hassan Bassi used to say نعم زمان المؤمن
الشتاء ليله طويل يقوم ونهاره قصير يقوم Actually
the first one should have been the second
one should have been يصوم.
So he says what a wonderful and excellent
time for the believer is the winter.
It's nights are long that they can stand
in there.
And it's days are short so that you
can fast in there.
The fast of the winter time are much
easier than our long days of 19 or
20 hour fasts.
So Abu Hurairah radiyaAllahu anhu In Surah Al
-Tirmidhi There's a statement of his He says
على الغنيمة الباردة Shouldn't I guide you towards
a very very easy gain The word غنيمة
الباردة غنيمة refers to the spoils of war
So after you've gone through the trouble the
difficulties and the hardships of war and what
you receive in terms of the spoils, the
booty, the equipment that you receive People like
that eventually But you have to go through
combat to get that You don't get it
for free So what he's saying is, he's
using that idea to say that this is
الغنيمة الباردة Cold spoils Cold spoils literally means
what you get for free without having to
go through all of that difficulty or easier
So all you have to do is fast
قالوا بلى Said yes, they said yes Let
us know what is this easy way فيقول
الصيام في الشتاء Fasting in winter, it's an
easy way to do it And our fasting
in winter is even easier than where he
was saying this Where he was saying this,
which is in the جزيرة العرب Which is
in the Arabian Peninsula The winter is still
longer than here For us, it's from like
7 something to 4 o'clock Which is,
how many hours is that?
Is that 9 hours or something?
It's like 9 hours And most of your
day, you're just missing breakfast You're having an
early breakfast and a late lunch You just
can't have your addictive teas and coffees during
the time May Allah make it easy Allah
make it easy for us Now that is
a statement of Abu Huraira But it can
be supported by something which is, actually this
part is in Sunan Thirmidi From the Prophet
ﷺ Related by Ibn Mas'ud And he
says The easy game is fasting in winter
Or fasting in winter is an easy prize
It's something, a very easy achievement to do
So winter is also an ideal For our
sisters, it's an ideal time They usually have
between 5 and 10 fast to make up
Because they miss them in Ramadan due to
menstruation A wonderful time to finish it up
And get them done And the husband should
probably just join them So that it makes
it a bit easier So that two people
in the fast, the family can fast Have
iftari together at 4 o'clock But otherwise
Allah make it easy If not, then at
least try to fast Mondays and Thursdays If
we can't do it during the year And
you really want to do it MashaAllah, lots
of people do it But this is one
way to benefit from that Is Monday and
Thursdays And if not that, then at least
Outside of Ramadan, the most effective fast Usually
aside from the ones on specific occasions Like
Ashura and Arafah Are the three days of
the middle of the month Which is usually
the 13th, 14th and 15th The Ayam Bid
Which is when the moon is at its
Brightest We try to do those Muaz Ibn
Jabal RadhiAllahu Anhu, the great Sahabi On his
deathbed he was weeping Somebody asked, why are
you weeping for?
I weep because I will miss He's missing
this, Allahu Akbar What did he used to
experience In his fasting And other worships that
he's missing them So this is why he
said, I will miss the thirst I felt
when I fasted He's missing the thirst Seriously,
when you feel thirsty during your fast It's
tough, it's difficult But at Iftar time, when
you can drink Something, whatever it is That
you're drinking Doesn't that drink feel better than
any other time?
And that is why the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam Said that a fasting person gets two
joys Two exciting Moments, one is when he
does Iftar, and the second one is when
You're going to meet Allah And in the
hereafter, everything is going to be more intensified
So just imagine the Absolute joy The joy
that we feel at Iftar time When you
can have your Kisuri And your Whatever else
we have And that cold water And everything
else And the excitement you feel, it just
feels so much better than other times Imagine
that same level of Excitement and joy And
pleasure we're going to get When we meet
our Lord Inshallah Inshallah Iftar time is like
Ya Allah, I wish you give me The
same excitement When I meet with you Because
this is so beautiful It's so joyous, it's
so Tasty at that time That water, the
food just tastes wonderful At that time So
I weep, he said, because I will Miss
the thirst I felt When I fasted, praying
at night During the winter And sitting knee
to knee With the scholars during the gatherings
Of knowledge He says these are the three
things that he would miss The benefit of
sitting In gatherings of knowledge even though we
know Our obligations Is that we learn more
And it reinforces what we already know And
it encourages us To do those things which
we're not doing fully That's the benefit A
lot of this stuff I knew But it
wasn't on my radar We, things go beyond
Our radar, other things fill our radar As
such Our immediate memory Our focus So reminders
like this Are supposed to benefit us so
that If we've been lax It helps us
insha'Allah The next thing for winter Which
is easy to do is our tahajjud Winter
is probably the best time for tahajjud If
you're not already doing so And if that
means just waking up Literally 15 minutes before
If not, that would wake up 10 minutes
before fajr Begins Quickly go and do a
wudu in 5 minutes And quickly put down
2 rakats And do some dua If you've
got 15 minutes 5 minutes for your wudu
10 minutes for salat and dua The ummah
needs our duas May Allah give us tawfiq
To the minimum that we can do For
everybody that needs it And we need to
make dua for them That's the minimum that
we can do We can't be so helpless
Another thing that we have to understand Is
that During the tahajjud time I would incentivize
it Further by saying Do your qadha prayers
at that time And you will be rewarded
for tahajjud Essentially, wake up And if you've
got missed prayers Do those at that time
And because it's at that time And you
have an intention for tahajjud Insha'Allah you'll
get the reward for tahajjud as well So
don't waste that opportunity And then after that
Try to find a masjid that is closer
That has a salat closer Go and pray
your fajr there if you can Then at
least that way You've entertained both of those
And there should be some masajid At least
in every area that do an earlier jama
'ah Because it's very difficult If they're all
doing it at the hanafi time Of the
later encouraged time Because our nights are so
volatile And so difficult That it becomes very
very Nowadays it's easier in the winter So
between the fajr time As soon as it
begins once we've done our tahajjud We can
just spend that time doing some dhikr Quran
reading or some work And then make our
way to the masjid and do it May
Allah give us tawfiq The Prophet ﷺ said
again in a hadith Hold on tight to
the night prayer Not an obligation But try
to adhere to it as much as you
can Indeed it is the habit Of the
righteous who came before you This is how
It was either a sign of their righteousness
Or it was a way That they became
more righteous So use it to our benefit
It brings you close to your lord Wipes
away your sins And then prevents you from
sinning By Allah Abu Sulaiman Ad-Darani One
of the righteous people of the path He
said by Allah if it wasn't for the
night prayer I would not have loved this
world For some reason that was the most
exciting thing If it wasn't for Mixed burgers
Sorry smash burgers Sorry I don't get this
right Because I'm not into that right If
it wasn't for Good meat And steaks and
wagyu beef The world wouldn't be worth Living
in If it wasn't for fast cars What's
the point of this world If it wasn't
for these amazing games That we play The
world would be boring You see what I'm
saying I don't know these people just looked
at things differently He's like If it wasn't
for the qiyam al-layl And tahajjud I
wouldn't have liked this world What were they
getting in there It must have been the
same excitement And pleasure that we get in
Nice cuts of meat Nice garments Nice cars
Nice toys and games Why would they want
it Allah replace it for us Allah change
that perspective in us Then it just becomes
easier By Allah The people of the night
prayer experience More delight he says In their
nights than the people Of entertainment experience In
their entertainment People go to night clubs And
enjoying their night In their so called way
right He's saying it's better Exaggeration I don't
think so It's all about perspective And what
you think is right because ultimately It's definitely
better because that's Going to benefit you whereas
your Time in the club dancing away the
whole night And drinking Is not going to
get anywhere Sometimes The hearts experience moments in
which They leap out of joy due to
the Remembrance of Allah to the Extent that
he says I say That if the people
of paradise have anything Like this then how
Blissful must their lives be When winter would
approach Ubaid Ibn Umair He would say Oh
people of the Quran The night has become
long for your Salat now The people who
knew the Quran Now you got time in
winter In summer there's no time right There's
not much time in the winter now You
can read a juice The night has become
long for your Salat and the day has
become short for your So now take advantage
Now beyond this now There's another thing that
as Muslims It's not all about worship and
prayer We've got a whole practical other Aspects
to it which is the social Aspect winter
is also A reminder of how The blessing
of Allah that he has Bestowed upon us
Of being able to stay warm Having a
home having a Roof over your head having
Warm clothing Having warm food And warm drink
There's a lot of people who don't Get
that in Hackney we used to Actually work
with one of the Churches they had a
hall Next to their church We didn't have
that facility In Stanford Hill They had a
facility so for three months If it was
three or four months during this Winter period
we would assist Right to Go and provide
a hot meal For the homeless people that
would Come during these months they're homeless throughout
The year many people some people unfortunately But
at least during this one when it's the
coldest outside I don't have a place to
stay they will come There we lay out
the bedding And we provide A soup or
some kind of hot Meal so that they
can eat and at least Sleep for those
nights and you'd Be surprised that They were
Muslims that used to come there as well
that were homeless It was Quite surprising So
They had a place that they could open
up Put out the bedding and Volunteers from
the Muslim community would go to set up
The bedding and help with this So this
is How you can join with people of
Other faiths or no faiths to do Good
work because that's All encouraged in our faith
that We remember the people who are out
on the streets Who are shivering through the
long nights They're trying to sleep under some
bridge Or under some Tree or behind in
a doorway Or in an alleyway or something
like that While we remain wonderfully warm in
our houses There are obviously Countless people during
this time Who are facing great difficulties Like
our brothers and sisters Who are suffering in
Ghazan It's gonna get bad again they've already
had one winter It's gonna get bad again
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us
The ability to have heating facilities Clothing which
protect us Saeed Al Kalbi Rahimahullah used to
weep during the cold nights He was asked
about this He said that I am thinking
about The poor among the Ummah of Muhammad
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam during this night And I
cry out of compassion for them Have we
ever felt that it's warm And safe and
secure May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Also
relieve our brothers who don't have The security
and who don't have the warmth And who
don't have the access To what we have
access to Allah give us Tawfiq Now a
few other duas And how to approach Other
phenomena before we finish off So number one
it's a really interesting thing Right and I
don't want you to make this like Into
some big obsessive Sunnah as such But the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam Is a hadith in
Sahih Muslim From Anas radiallahu anhu The Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam When they used to rain
Now in those areas it didn't rain as
much So how many times you do this
I don't know But when it used to
rain We were with the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam The Sahabi is saying The Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam used to Open up one of
his garments To reveal his body So that
the rain would touch his body That part
of his body فَقُلْنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ لِمَا
صَنَعْتَ هَذَا Why are you doing this Ya
Rasulullah Why because لِأَنَّهُ حَدِيثُ عَهْدٍ بِرَبِّهِ تَعَالَى
It has just come from its Lord It's
fresh It's just coming from its Lord From
this natural freshness of the clouds Right And
yeah That was his reason So you go
out Take off your hat Let it get
your head Just take it easy You don't
want to get too cold here Because in
a lot of these tropical places It rains
but the weather is nice The weather is
hot So it'll dry off anyway Just be
careful That's why I said don't get obsessed
It's sunnah so I want to do this
And then you end up with a cold
The Prophet ﷺ is not encouraging you To
become sick So if the rain does touch
you Consider it from Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala However If it's too much rain Because
too much of a good thing is an
issue Honey is shifa If you have a
whole bottle of honey Especially if you have
diabetes Then nobody is going to say that's
good Right So everything is shifa in a
certain amount Beneficial Certain proportions That's everything So
if the rain And this the Prophet ﷺ
actually demonstrated to us The rain was extreme
Somebody came and complained you don't have any
rain So Prophet ﷺ made a rain du
'a And mashallah it started raining And then
the person comes back and said It's raining
and it's flooding everything So the Prophet ﷺ
then made another du'a And that was
a beautiful du'a Say if it over
rains Then Allahumma hawalayna wala alayna That's what
he said Oh Allah around us not upon
us directly We need the benefit of the
rain Because it goes into the grounds And
we need the water And into the oceans
and rivers And the lakes and the streams
But we don't want it on us to
affect us negatively like that Allahumma hawalayna wala
alayna This was a du'a I was
making in Scotland as well Allahumma ala al
-akam Allahumma ala al-akam wad dhirab wabatni
al-awdiya wabanaabit al-shajar Prophet ﷺ literally
is saying Oh Allah let it be On
the hills On the raised areas where nobody
is there And in the dhirab which is
in the valleys On the smaller mountains And
other places And into the valleys And other
places Into the roots of the trees Where
the trees grow So he's asking for the
benefit Now if you have wind, usually winter
brings along some storms And some winds Again
we have guidance in that regard The du
'a for winds and storms Especially when you've
got a heavy wind somewhere Allahumma inni as
'aluka khaira haa wa khaira maa feeha Oh
Allah I ask you for the best of
this wind Because Allah is sending and there
must be a reason for it But oh
Allah I ask you for the best of
what it brings Not for the harm of
what it brings The best of it And
the best of what it contains Meaning what
it's going to provide as a consequence And
as a result wa khaira maa ursilat bih
And the best reason For which it was
sent wa a'udhu bika min sharriha And
I seek your refuge from its evil wa
sharri maa feeha Any evil that it contains
wa sharri maa ursilat bih And the evil
that it brings That it has brought Again
Imam Muslim's narration Then after that we'll have
During winter usually We'll have lightning And thunder
Again what is thunder And apparently thunder Is
called ra'ad Ra'ad is the name
of an angel So literally It's the angel
That is moving its whip And other things
for which The thunder sound is coming Right?
Science will obviously explain it through Its own
physics perspective But this is what's In the
back of it as mentioned Subhanalladhi yusabbihur ra
'adu bihamdi Right?
Glorified is he who the ra'ad Angel
glorifies with his praise So When you hear
the thunder We don't have a specific Hadith
about that directly From the Prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam But from Abdullah ibn Zubair radiallahu
anhu He used to read this verse Of
the Quran Subhanalladhi yusabbihur ra'adu bihamdihi Wal
malaikatu min khifatih Glory be to him Whose
praise Right?
Whose praise is sung Or proclaimed by the
ra'ad angel And also the other angels
Not just that angel But all the other
angels Out of his reverent fear La ilaha
illallah Then he used to say that this
is actually a warning For the people of
the earth This is a warning for the
people of the earth That Allah is behind
this And there's a lot more that can
happen So to conclude now What we have
been told essentially Is prepare for the winter
First by looking at it positively It's inevitable
We can't change the circumstance We can't change
the weather And not everybody, some people They
escape the winter by going to places that
are hotter In winter, that's not a luxury
for everybody So we are here And we
take the benefit from it And the way
we take the benefit is that we realize
That it's a sign of the qudra of
Allah We take the benefit from it by
saying That it's going to give us more
opportunity To fast It's going to give us
more opportunity to pray at night And we're
going to be able to do some tahajjud
It's going to remind us about the benefits
That Allah has given us And we're going
to try to give some sadaqa And assist
those who are in need and who are
homeless And who have no warmth And we're
going to do a lot of shukr For
the warmth that we have And for the
good food and the good clothing And the
good drink that we have We're going to
try to make up our qadha Prayers during
tahajjud time if we can To the best
of our ability And night time before going
to sleep We're going to try to make
up our fast That I missed, an additional
nafl fast That we can keep, at least
some of them As much as we can
do And We're going to Deal with the
rain More positively now And we're going to
have a good dua To read for all
of these things So that we become true
believers Who take the winter for the benefit
InshaAllah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make this
winter One of the best winters we've ever
had Full of blessing and ruhaniya And closeness
to him and make us closer During this
time than we've ever been before And allow
us to realize All of the good things
that we've wanted to do But we've never
been able to do May Allah make this
a moment for that And Allah accept it
from us And Allah accept it from all
those who organized this And who decided on
this talk May Allah accept A good routine
For the next 4 to 5 months could
be That we Because isha is early So
If the optimal would be To try to
sleep a bit earlier Right by about 10
o'clock 10.30 if that's possible Latest
11 o'clock and then to wake up
So whatever your time of sleep You need
like 6 hours some people can Survive very
well in 6 hours Some people need 7
hours so whatever it is Try to get
that much sleep and then wake up And
then after that so that means wake up
at least 20 minutes or so Before the
fajr time Right so find the fajr time
And wake up 20 minutes before that Do
a bit of tahajjud And then some dua
And then after that Prepare whatever Quran reading,
adhkar Duas etc And then after that if
you can go to the masjid to pray
You pray there and then after that you
come And If you've got time to rest
I don't think so because if you work
early You don't have time to rest usually
So the main thing is try to get
the night What's messed everything up for us
is the fact that There's just too much
to do at night Before for hundreds, thousands
of years There was nothing extra to do
at night There were no Movies you could
watch There was no screen It was boring
once the sun went down You had these
basic lamps No lights like this And people
just wanted to go to sleep So mostly
everybody went to sleep and they were up
at fajr I was in India 30 years
ago 25 years ago and people would Wake
up for fajr and not read fajr Meaning
even those who didn't Pray fajr they would
be up at fajr I was a foreigner
I looked like an idiot sleeping after fajr
Because in England we're used to That because
of our time schedule But in India at
that time at least in the village Nobody
slept after You know Fajr time They wouldn't
pray fajr Some of them who didn't pray
but they would wake up Our whole thing
has been Completely messed up And what's made
it worse is the fact that we have
Too many things to do at night That
nobody else had before And unfortunately a lot
of that is haram nowadays So that's a
problem So we need to get control of
that And then the fasting Whatever is If
there's any qada fast get those done And
then At least then try to fast Monday
Thursdays If you can't fast anymore And otherwise
at least the three days of the month
The point of a lecture Is to encourage
people To act, to get further An inspiration
An encouragement, persuasion The next step is to
actually start Learning seriously To read books, to
take on a subject Of Islam and to
understand all the subjects of Islam At least
at their basic level So that we can
become more aware Of what our deen wants
from us And that's why we started Rayyan
courses so that You can actually take organized
lectures On demand whenever you have Free time,
especially for example The Islamic essentials Course that
we have on there The Islamic essentials certificate
which You take 20 short modules And at
the end of that inshallah You will have
gotten The basics of most of the most
Important topics in Islam And you'll feel a
lot more confident You don't have to leave
lectures behind You can continue to listen to
lectures But you need to have this more
sustained Study as well Jazakallah Khair