Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – How to Get the Most Out of Ramadan
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AI: Transcript ©
Alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala Sayidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa
sahbihi Obamacare was seldom at the Sleeman curfew on July 18.
A mother had got a load of article with their if you put an emoji
duel for final Hamid Shaka Ramadan and let the Zilla feel for who the
leanness you will be uniting in and who they will record
locally there is a URL Lavina elemeno Cookie Valley colloseum
come up with the ballerina mewn
so the color of Levine
Dear brothers and sisters dear friends so dear brothers and
sisters, dear friends
today our discussion is about Ramadan since we've entered into
the month of Ramadan for everybody pretty much and today this program
was actually supposed to be from Sweden, from Gothenburg in Sweden.
So this is specially dedicated to our brothers in in Sweden,
Gothenburg and around mashallah, I can see a few of them a few of
them on the screen.
We're just simultaneously broadcasting it on the zum zum
Academy link as well. So what we'll do is in Sharla will speak
for some time regarding Ramadan since we've entered into it I want
to speak about how to get a productive Ramadan and how to make
the most of Ramadan because I think that's very, very important
for us, for us to get the most out of this month. And then after
that, if we've got some time you know, we'll allow some question
answers related to Ramadan if anybody has any issues about
Ramadan. So Masha Allah, having said that, we ask Allah subhana wa
Taala for Tofik. And
we begin see hamdulillah many of us here have spent many many
Ramadan before so it's not the first Ramadan that I'm assuming
that many of us are spending. This is not our first Ramadan, we've
spent many many Ramadan before. So what am I going to say to us
that's going to be any different or that's going to be anything
new. Because you know, we all know about Ramadan mashallah Muslims
fast and I mean, unless you're a convert who just recently
converted or somebody who just recently started observing Ramadan
hamdulillah we've done many Ramadan is before. So I think the
focus of Ramadan is that as Allah subhanaw taala says that all
people who believe fasting has been prescribed upon you, just as
it was
prescribed upon the people before you, so that you can get Dakota,
you can attain taco. Now, the way the way this is to be understood
is that it's not just for the month of Ramadan, that we change
our schedule. I mean, there are certain things that we will have
to adjust for Ramadan change are scheduled for because you know,
you don't get taraweeh outside the month of Ramadan, and you don't
necessarily have to do so whole every day, you know, outside the
month of Ramadan. So there will be some things which we're going to
do specially for Ramadan, no doubt. But in terms of what we're
trying to achieve from this the major objective of Ramadan, which
is Latin local data cool. So that you can gain God consciousness,
that's a state that we're trying to gain. That's not something that
you just do that, okay, you know, you're going to fast. Now fasting
is a cause for something fasting, at the end of the day is the
reason for something. There's an objective behind fasting which
Allah subhanaw taala mentioned just one of them, which is so that
you can gain Dakhla so that you can gain God fairness, God
consciousness. So that's the objective is God consciousness. So
if we're going to observe Ramadan as some kind of ritual where we
change our,
our schedule, in time in terms of when we wake up when we eat, and
so on, and then we don't gain the taqwa, then the objective isn't
being realized. So how do we attain this objective, it's like,
when you've got a child, and you tell, you know, we're trying to
tell the children when they're young, that you need to, for
example, respect your elders. Now, the obviously the point is, you
just don't do that when you are young. But the whole point of that
training in the beginning when you keep telling them that and you
kind of
informed them of that advise them about that is so that it becomes a
state in them. So that if my parents told me that I must
respect my elders from a young age, that should still be with me,
because that should be become my state as such, that should be who
I am now. So likewise, with the fasting, it's the same kind of
thing. Ramadan is the same kind of thing. Allah makes these massive
changes, not just for the one month is not that you just want a
holiday, you're gonna really enjoy it for this month, and we're gonna
give you all of this extra for this month. No, it's actually
supposed to be something that develops us and we get this
development this retreat, we getting this retreat and this
development every year so that we can keep pushing ourselves up. I
think probably the most important most. The easiest way to probably
figure this up is the following. If we can
I'm looking at ourselves and decide before Ramadan or going
into Ramadan. That what was the the level of my Eman? What was the
level of my Eman in the sense that
if I'm to score my Eman from one to 10, right you know my faith
level if I'm to score it from one to 10 Faith level means, you know
how regular I've been on my worships and devotion and thinking
about Allah subhanaw taala and remembering him and, you know, in
reading my car and my litanies and observing my prayers, and
observing my behavior and avoiding sins, and so on, and so forth,
let's just say that somebody starts off at five out of 10.
And that's how they go into Ramadan from nearly all the time
for pretty much the majority of people, they will increase in
Ramadan from five, they'll go up to a 678, you know, they're really
lucky, they'll get to a nine or they might even hit 10. If they
really get into it, they do it I tick off and everything they will
get, you know, they will hit a higher number. Now, again, this is
not just for 30 days that we do this for 30 days, and then after
that, as soon as we come out of Ramadan, as soon as we come out of
Ramadan, everything turns back to normal as we were before,
including the sins and everything else. shaytaan is the shaytaan
will actually want that. And it's been the experience of many, many,
many people that once they finish Ramadan, they've been very
observant during the month of Ramadan abstinent in fact of many
things. They've abandoned many things and is going wonderful.
It's probably one of the best times of their life. And then
suddenly shaytaan comes out on the day of Eid, and then they finish
their they finish. They go from eight prayer, they go home. And in
the evening, sometime in the afternoon, sometime they end up
committing a major sin. Right, that Subhanallah you know, that
they'd been avoiding all of this time. They feel wrecked. They feel
really messed up and despondent. And that's the thing that shaytaan
tries to make us despondent by playing with us in this way.
That's why we need to be very, very careful. So the whole point
of Ramadan is to actually gain a consciousness, right? It's to gain
a consciousness. And what exactly is this Taqwa mean? Taqwa
essentially means that we're constantly conscious of Allah
subhanaw taala, as much as possible, how much we can be
conscious of Allah subhanaw taala literally as much as possible, if
somebody can be conscious of Allah, in every waking moment of
their day, that when they're doing something they're thinking about
Allah subhanaw taala what would he like me to do in this case? Right?
Or I should just remember Allah or I should just thank Allah, there's
many ways to be God conscious and to remember Allah. So for example,
if you're doing something and you attain the success in service
Alhamdulillah right, and if you saw something that is astonishing,
Say Subhan Allah.
Every time you do something, you make a DUA, for example, or that
you remember Allah in some way or the other. That's God
consciousness. So that would obviously keep us away from sins
as well. That would keep us away from wrongdoings as well. So for
example, let's just say that you go outside and you it starts
raining. Okay, it starts raining, and or it starts to slightly
drizzle. So you immediately you make a dua Allahumma how Elena
Well, Elena, oh, Allah, the rain should be around us and not upon
us. This was one of the two hours that the prophets Allah made once
on the member when it started raining a lot. Right? And
Inshallah, that door will be accepted, at least you've
conversed with Allah subhanaw taala. And I've seen that
hamdulillah it's actually worked many times where the rain will
actually stop or the rain will not continue, and it won't be a
downpour. If I'm biking from one place to the next I need to get
home I need to get to teaching or something like that. You know, you
don't want to be biking in the rain. I mean, that's really,
really miserable thing to do. Right. Another one is, for
example, I mean, it just happened yesterday, I felt a bit of a
allergy coming on. And this has happened so many times Subhan
Allah It felt a bit of an allergy coming on while I'm fasting in the
morning. Now what happens is that for those with allergies should
know that when you
if you start getting an allergy, you're supposed to take an
antihistamine as soon as you know you feel the irritation in your
nose. Otherwise, once the allergies kick in, then it takes
two three days and some heavy medicines to try to get rid of it.
So when you're fasting, you can't take the medicine. So I mean,
whether you're fasting or not to be honest, you read the DUA, you I
just held my nose and read the DUA Allahumma robinus, as he will does
wash we under Shafi, la Shiva, Illa, Shiva, Shiva and La Johar,
the supplement,
basically calling out to Allah to say that you're the cure, or
you're the one who gives therapy. You're the one who gives the cure.
There is no cure except your cure. So cure us And Alhamdulillah I
felt much, much better afterwards. Sometimes, you know, these are
small, small issues that you can think about. You've had a little
issue with somebody. You've had a little tiff with somebody a little
misunderstanding or whatever it is, or you feel that
that somebody might have taken something wrong or you've taken
something wrong from someone immediately you make a dua
Allahumma Elif Bina Colombina Allahumma Ursula Davina?
Oh Allah reconcile between our hearts of Allah reformed the
affairs between us And subhanAllah and hamdulillah I've seen the
benefits, it benefits you can do this with your children, you can
do this with your spouse, you know when you may have a little issue
with your wife, with your with your with your spouse, with your
children, with your colleagues, with your friends Subhanallah you
know Allahumma leishmania Kuruvilla reconcile our hearts
These doors are there for us to call on to Allah and Allah would
you would that with a doctor either and Allah says that tell
them for any Corrib or either Salah Kariba the irony for Indian
Corrib OG with their with their either their amphibious the G
booty will you know be there Allah whom Yoshitsune likewise if
you're getting sick or something like that, then again the same
thing you know, you call out Yeah, Shafi ish finish it, that's
another door that you can add. Likewise, if you have to make a
quick, quick, a quick decision about something and you're unsure
what to do in a particular predicament or a situation. You
read the door obviously harder the short one Allah has hidden you
utterly. I mean, you don't even have to read the same words you
can just call out to Allah subhanaw taala that oh Allah do
this because that's what you mean consciousness of Allah. For
example, let's just say another thing. Another thing is that let's
just say that you have mashallah got a new car, or you've got a new
property or you've got a new jacket, or you have, you know, a
new job or whatever. And every time you know, it comes into your
mind that oh, I'm in my new job right now. Right? I mean, my new
job, or this job is bringing me much more money or it's more
comfortable that much more friendlier people, or I've got my
new phone Oh, it's just so much better than my old one that used
to have a crack screen for example. Or my jacket look, it
makes me look really nice. Somebody has just maybe praised
you for for your jacket or something like that. That
mashallah you've got that really nice, you know, multicolored
green, green tarp on or whatever it is that you're you're wearing?
So, what are you supposed to do them? Like? You're supposed to
return it back to Allah subhanaw taala that's what God conscious is
like, at that moment, we remember say yes, Alhamdulillah Allah gave
it to me. That's what you think in your heart. Allah loves that when
people remember him.
There's a there's a hadith about somebody in hellfire. Right? So
he's in hellfire. He's being punished and everything, as many,
many people are being punished in the hellfire. And suddenly he
says, to the gods, there he says, that.
Didn't Allah subhanaw taala say didn't Allah promised that you
know, he will take me out after this so that this is the only
punishment or something like that. So Subhan Allah, Allah subhanaw,
Taala hears that, and he says, okay, free him, get him out of
there because he knows me. So anybody that recognizes Allah
knows Allah, and shows that they know Allah by recognizing Him and
by being conscious of him. Allah subhanaw taala loves to give them
because that's why He created us, Allah created us, so that we can
know Him. But if we live our whole lives, without that consciousness,
we literally just disengaged, distracted
and totally heedless and we don't think about a line what we do,
then we don't get anything done. We're not fulfilling the reason of
why we're here.
So I wanted to just clarify what Taqwa means Taqwa is a very deep
it is just a connection to Allah all the time, you know, as much as
possible whenever we need him and we need him at all times.
Subhanallah Subhanallah I would say that
even on the simplest things to return them back to Allah subhanaw
taala to think about Allah subhanaw taala in that regard,
that is what you call Taqwa. I think that's very important to
understand. Now, that's one side of it is the consciousness aspect
of it. Another side of it is that obviously when you have God
consciousness, then it means that we need to avoid sin, we need to
avoid wrongdoings
and that that is what Ramadan is trying to teach us. That part is
very, very important. Right as well. So I think it was
one of the Sahaba abou, either Abdullah Mr. Holder or the Allahu
Anhu. I think he was asked by Omar with the Allahu Anhu. That to
define taqwa, because Abdullah Masuda the Allahu Anhu was a
manifester of the Quran. Like he was known to be an alum and a
special scholar of the Quran. So he was asked to define Taqwa. And
he said to Omar the Allah when he said that, have you ever gone
through a field or something? A garden and orchard a field or
something where there's a lot of thorny bushes
Have you ever made your way through one of those? And Amara DM
said, Yes. So he says that when you went then when you did that,
what exactly did you do? How did you avoid the thorns? They said,
Well, I had to be very careful because I have to, you know, make
sure that my garments are all close together, that there's
nothing that's gonna get caught in a thorn. And if there is, then I
have to extricate it, I have to take it out. I have to extract it,
and carry on and make myself get through that unscathed, you know,
without too many, without too many Thorn pricks, or without any
wounds at all. So he said, This is exactly how Taqwa is. Taqwa means
the same thing that if you do that, then in your life, the
various things that are beckoning you that are inviting you that are
calling you that are obsessing you that are attracting you, away from
Allah subhanaw taala in the form of distractions in the form of
sins in the form of major major, you know, major wrongdoings,
you're supposed to avoid that and it's gonna be difficult was a
perfect example actually, because they like thorns, they come in our
path to take us away. Right, although in the case of thorn, we
don't like them there with this not enjoyable, you know, for us to
have thorns is not enjoyable. But sins are enjoyable, you know,
unless it's like, you know, there's roses with them as well.
So you're enjoying the roses, but then the stones that come with it,
I think that's probably the point that he was trying to make. So
that's the concept of Taqwa to avoid what's wrong and to try to
remember Allah as much as possible to do as much as that pleases Him
and to be in constant contact with Allah subhanho wa taala. So how
does Ramadan teach us that? Ramadan teaches us that because
Allah subhanaw taala has obligated for us in the month of Ramadan,
one of the oldest and most effective forms of devotion and
worship, right, which is fasting. And fasting is an abstinence, it's
an inactivity, when you actually don't do something. You said,
You're told not to eat or drink, or, you know, engage in lawful
sexual *. That's what's told to us that that's what you
don't do. Whereas everything else, you commission something, you
enact something, you perform something in fasting, you avoid
something, but it's difficult. You know, it's difficult because we're
so used to eating. And the reason we're so used to eating is because
Allah has kept there being pleasure, they're kept to pleasure
in the food that we eat. There's a certain pleasure in the different
foods that we eat. Right? And generally, we eat what, especially
if you're a person of substance, you actually eat what you enjoy.
Right? You just look at dates, you know, you're gonna have a choice
of what dates you like. Okay, so what we what we're trying to do
then is
in Ramadan, what happens is Allah subhanaw taala tells us not to do
those things, we enjoy doing those things. In fact, it's a need of
our life that we have to eat and drink. It's essential part of
life. However, Allah subhanaw taala says, don't eat between this
time and that time, you know, from from Fudger time until sunrise
until sunset, don't eat during these times.
So what happens is that I'm going to feel like eating like today, I
My mouth was extremely dry. Right. And I think
it was extremely dry. And I feel like if I could have taken some
water, that would make me feel really good. Right? And I thought,
Okay, I hope this doesn't last the whole day. But I've actually
noticed that after Sahul within an hour, you actually feel thirsty.
And then after him the light goes away. Right, but you should have a
lot of water during the night anyway. Right? You should have a
lot of water during the nights, because that just keeps you
hydrated. And psychologically it benefits you to know that actually
I've had you know this many liters of water during the evening, after
Iftar so even when you do feel a bit thirsty during the day, you
you feel like no, I should have enough water in me so I'm not
harming myself and Allah subhanaw taala can never obligate us to do
something that harms ourselves because the worship and Allah says
it very clearly in the Quran in those same verses about fasting so
till Bacara you read Allah will be Komal usara wala you UD Dobby como
Larissa, Allah subhanho wa Taala intense ease with you not
difficulty. This is good for you. It seems like a bit of a
difficulty and trouble, but it's actually good for you. When people
work out. It's good for them. Right, though it's hard to do
that. And that's the point of Ramadan. It allows ourself to
really, really focus so what happens is that when I want to eat
when I feel like eating or drinking, I say you can't do it.
So now that eventually my nurse will say no, you know, okay, fine,
you know, eventually nurse will come and I won't feel like eating
again. Right? I won't feel like eating again. So just like we're
training ourself to stop eating something which is essential and
something which is enjoyable. Likewise then after the month of
Ramadan the whole training here like the child is trained to
respect the elders for example, the whole training here is so that
after you finish Ramadan, you continue with that we've learned
to overcome our knifes right from permissible things. So now it
should be even more incentive, there should be more incentive to
abstain from the Haram because they're haram to even start with
and we trained ourselves to abstain from lawful things in
Ramadan. So now it shouldn't be much easier to abstain from haram
things even more so more reason to do that. But the problem is after
Ramadan shaytaan comes back out so it does get more complicated in
Ramadan things are easier
right so having said all of this now the way to improve our Ramadan
is that we should have this in our mind and this is what helps me is
that this Ramadan must become better than any Ramadan before it.
That's my goal. This Ramadan must be better than any Ramadan before
it.
As I said to you earlier, many of us have done many Ramadan's. So
what more can I tell you? Well, what we can do Subhanallah is that
we can try to make this Ramadan better than any Ramadan before it.
And how do you do that? Well, all of the objectives that I mentioned
about Ramadan earlier, the the various worships that people do in
Ramadan that are encouraged in Ramadan, like reading the reading
the Quran, more than last year, giving more sadaqa than last year,
giving zakat in a more timely fashion than last year, doing more
good deeds for others and for ourselves and accumulating more
vicar more Quran reading more Quran comprehension, more Tahajjud
prayer, more memorization of the Quran, so that we can actually
then use that I mean, what a beautiful thing it is, and what an
amazing thing it is and how wonderful it is an excellent that
you can learn more Quran and then you can do that in your tahajjud
and in your other other prayers. So let me just mention one thing,
I mean, some of the profiles of the Quran if you have is of the
Quran, and you've got Ramadan off, you know, many who falls mashallah
they do between 12 to 15, Jews in no time, right. And the way they
do this Subhanallah is for example, after after tarawih
finishes, before they go to sleep, they read toujours and if you're a
half is of the Quran, it doesn't take too long to do that maybe
it'll take 40 minutes to an hour, right. So they read two chapters
of the Quran, then they wake up as a whole. And in Soho, they do
another two Jews from the whole time to after fajr. And that could
be they could do one Jews in tahajjud, or maybe one and a half
Jews or half of Jews or however much. And then they make sure that
they finish off the other two Jews altogether the entire two just so
that means you can count with me, that's foragers.
Thereafter that they wake up in the morning at whatever time and
they read again to Jews, right? So that gives them six Jews
thereafter that before the her until after the hot within that
period, they go to the masjid, right, whether that was for
Fudger. And further, they go to the masjid, you could take a nice,
you know, luxury walk, relax, walk to the machine that you're reading
Quran, like while you're going, you know, on the road, preferably
a really nice, you know, if you have a nice walk, it'd be it'd be
wonderful. Then what they do is they read some of them. So you
don't have to sit down read it. They read it while they're
walking. They really in their Salaat especially in their Sunnah
prayers, it's so easy to read a half pages easily in photocards of
prayer. It's so easy. You can easily do quarter Jews in Torah
cards, right? For especially for the half is right the people who
have memorized something. So they finished another teacher, that's
eight Jews already, right? That's ages. And it's not difficult for
half is to do that thereafter that other time, same thing. I mean,
they might they could read more, but they've got other things maybe
to do. So as startTime going and coming back for us, they read
another two Jews in the same kind of way. They've done 10 years. Now
if they want, they can add some more on or in taraweeh they're
doing another juice in there. So that's 1011 They can add a lot
more than that if you're not a half is of the Quran, then
obviously you can't do as much as going to be much more difficult
and I mean, to be honest, I know people who are not half of the
Quran who can read 15 Jews, but they're pretty much at it all day.
Right? It is a possibility that we know of people who have actually
finished a whole Quran you know, in
a whole Quran right in one day as well. But okay, we don't have to
go over if you're not a harvest of the Quran, fix for yourself. You
see what drives these five these people have memorized the Quran is
that I must do this much a day. And if they can't, if they if they
weren't got busy one day with something distracted, then they
just remember that and they try to push that in some other day and
finish it off.
All right. So that's what I'm telling you try to decide for
yourself. This is how many knuffel How much the budget I want to do,
or for this amount of time. Or this is how much Quran I want to
read this is how it's other kind of, and then aim towards that
write these things down if you can. And that's how you get the
best out of the month of Ramadan. It's just that we want to develop
an amazing immunity during the month of Ramadan that helps us for
afterwards, it's like where we save up, store up, we get our
supplies in the month of Ramadan. And they last for a long time
afterwards in many people who have mentioned that as well, that
that's what's happened to them, that they when they made a big
effort in the month of Ramadan, it helped them for several months
afterwards. So may Allah subhanaw taala make this month of Ramadan
better than any Ramadan before it?
And may Allah subhanaw taala bless us all, with more than we've ever
done before. And Allah subhanaw taala accept from us. And yes, if
you have any questions now inshallah we can, we can take them
this, okay, Alhamdulillah, can you divide that reading into two of a
day, you can do it as you wish to be honest, you know, you can do
the reading as you wish, just try to do more than last year, right.
And just see what your potential is and what your ability is. And
you just do that because, you know, one of the things in Ramadan
is that because we're so used to, because we're so used to wasting
time, right, and there's so many distractions in our life, if we
have a purpose, and a goal of this is how much I want to do. The
benefit is that you will probably end up doing that much and wasting
less time because you'll have this in your mind that I need to do
this much. So that's really what you can do. What I mentioned was
just an example. And you don't have to do that you can do
whatever is easy for you. And of course if you want to consult
about you know what you you know what you personally could do then
of course, you could do that as well. How can you divide his will
are them with the label Herat again, you see at the end of the
day, while it's best to read both of those books in one in one week,
at least. You don't have to do that, especially in Ramadan, what
you can do is
you can have certain times when you do your HIS WILL of them, I
think the two really good time. So doing His will album and Delilah
write a portion of each is before it starts. Because that's the time
for dollars acceptance, literally the end of the day before you
break your fast. And number two is at Soho time after tahajjud. So
you do your personal door. And then after that, until the until
the Soho time ends, you do your his word album or Deluxe layout.
And again, whatever works for you there is no fixed amount known
from the Prophet sallallahu. And that you must do this much of that
much. Just do as much as you can.
Whether there's two pages, or three pages each, how would you
balance your time between reading the Quran and reading the meaning?
You just give yourself enough time for both? Right? So for example, I
think good, a good compromise is 50% for reading 25% for reflecting
and 25% for memorizing and then you can adjust it otherwise, what
I would say is that you definitely do read some and you definitely do
also, what do you call it reflect over some? Right? Because
otherwise, if one is easier for you than the other, then you're
doing one just because it's easy, right? That's not That's not good,
because then you're losing out on the other one. So try to do a bit
about is it advisable to return? Absolutely, you know, there should
be a portion that you can try to read of the Quran try to make your
current that's why most of our lectures are based on the Quran in
the month of Ramadan now, because we want to try to make it the
month of the Quran as much as possible. So yes, you can read but
again, it's much easier for some people to just read general books
on Islam write about or whatever it is, as compared to you know,
reading the Quran or reflecting over the Quran itself. That's why
for example, I would stop reading any book of fact I don't try not
to do any work on jurisprudence or
or even Hadith for that matter because I want to focus on the
Quran during this time, right? Because the month is for the Quran
and we want to try to get as much of the Quran as possible. Okay, as
salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. The point of a lecture
is to encourage people to act to get further and inspiration and
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 the 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 organize 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 leave,
you know, to listen to lectures, but you need to have this more
sustained study as well as local law here and Salam aleikum wa
rahmatullah wa barakato.