Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Practical Tips to Prepare for and Enhance Ramadan
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Just over a month ago everybody's talking about making new year's
resolutions.
I just don't get new year's resolutions. Why is New Year a
time for resolutions? The only difference is that you just had
some major parties for Christmas. And then the done some fireworks
on 31st of December. The next day has begun it's still snowing, or
still cold is not is nothing new. And you're gonna have resolutions,
what's changed? What's destabilized you? What retreat did
you go into to now have a new resolution that day is the same.
It's still a holiday here. First, you go back to work on a second or
third or something. When some of the when the highest number of
diverse divorces are registered.
What's so special, but if you do want a time for makers and we make
resolutions, it's Ramadan and then after Ramadan. Why? Because
there's so much that we do differently in Ramadan.
hamdulillah your Hamden Cathedral on the UN Mubarak and feed Mubarak
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Gama your Robina Well, the gentle gentle warmth and our Salatu was
Salam ala Sayed Habib Al Mustafa SallAllahu, Derrida are they if
you aren't ready or soft wiki or the Oculus seldom at the Sleeman
caphyon In Iommi be a mother?
God Allah with Isla feel Quran in Mudgee they will for Kali Hamid,
Chateau Ramadan and Libby Uzi, the female Quran so the Kola will have
been
Oh dear brothers and sisters, absolutely wonderful to be here in
your midst. Never been to Hounslow before. I've been on the
underground Hounslow, Hounslow Hounslow on I think the Piccadilly
line or whatever it is, that will be done so before I've been to
haze I've been to Harrow but never to Hounslow and today I'm
fortunate to be with you before this Ramadan is coming up.
So Ramadan is I'm assuming that this will not be the first or even
the second or the third Ramadan for most of us. Is there anybody
here for whom this will be their first or second home alarm?
Mashallah, your first or second? Your first? Mashallah, did you
just convert to Islam or, well Subhan Allah. So, you're going to
learn from all of our experiences Inshallah, so you're going to be
really better off in sha Allah. So it's not our first for majority of
us. It's not our first or second Ramadan. We're probably veterans
in Ramadan. For a lot of us. We've done it so many times. Right?
We've done it so many times. Why do I mention that? The reason is
that as we're getting older, and our birthdays are passing every
year, right, we're actually getting closer to our death. And
Ramadan is an absolute gift. Ramadan is the boost that we were
provided by Allah a special sales you can call it a special window
of time where Allah is going to just magnify everything. It's
amazing how much he magnifies chore totally changes the system.
So for example, there's one Hadith which is an imam Bihari mentions
it and others from Abu Huraira for the Allah one. The Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said
that as soon as Ramadan enters, so if this was Muslim, of the first
night of Ramadan today, then what would have taken place I mean,
we're 40 days in advance. But if this was the day then what Allah
would have done is the doors of the doors of Paradise would have
opened up.
Especially for this month, the doors of paradise opened up. The
doors of hellfire are closed. Right, so for the above will Jana
and the doors of * are closed and the shayateen are locked up.
That's a massive change. Put the shaytaan out of the way shaytaan
is one of our biggest Miss skaters. So Allah puts him out of
the way so there's a change taking place up in the heavens we of
course can't see this we've been told about this. We can't see
this. But I guarantee you Do you guys ever feel that the doors of
paradise are open and those of hellfire close the machine guns
are locked away? Don't you feel different in Ramadan?
Have you felt different you just feel a bit more easier to do good
deeds a bit easier to avoid bad deeds? And because the doors of
paradise are opened and Allah wants to shower shower shower with
blessings?
Have you noticed that there's a lot of abundance in Ramadan?
In everything,
including foods? See the types of food that come out in Ramadan that
don't come out throughout the and this is not a joke but I mean,
have you seen that where the mashallah or women and others get
the ability to provide so much in Iftar and people are feeding and
the generosity and
In the blessing and the baraka and everything, have you seen that?
It's everywhere. There's such amount of solder heart that people
feel generous, and people are getting huge amounts of sulfur.
A lot of people want to get this car during this time as well.
And they contribute they feed one another, there's dates being dis
distributed, food being distributed, money being sent.
Amazing blessing, that's something going on.
So that's what the Hadith says that all of this change Allah
subhanho wa Taala makes, then what he does, what Allah subhanho wa
Taala does to incentivize it for us, is that look, I'm going to
take shaytaan away from you as well.
Now, if shaytan is away, a lot of people are gonna say, but I still
do sins in Nevada and I still do certain things. It's not like it
just stops. It's not like I can just stop doing them. It
definitely becomes easier, but it doesn't necessarily stop for
everyone. So if Shayateen are away, then why is it that we still
can do sin?
So I think there's a very simple answer to that we have to
understand sin sin is usually done for two reasons or through two
properties. One is shaytan Allah the US we Sophie so do the nurse
managing that the wellness, the one who whispers into the hearts
of people whispers into the chests of people. That's the show that's
the whisperings
and there's another source of sin does anybody else does anybody
know what the other source of sin is? Why we sin? If I feel like
doing a sin now why would I say one is because shaytaan prompted
me What's whether that be a human shape on or whether that be the
unseen shape on the gym? The second reason is the nurse but
even the nuts Why should the nurse prompt you to do shade to do a
sin, the knifes if you notice if you can figure this difference out
the knifes will only prompt you to do those things which you are
habituated to do because we've already made it a habit that's why
this Ramadan is coming if you don't already recognize this some
Allah is coming anything that you still feel like doing which is
wrong in Ramadan will most likely be something that we're used to
doing already and it's just a habit kicking in addiction that we
have to still want to smoke because you've got an addiction
it's that you people will say that they hardly ever feel like doing a
new thing in Ramadan a certain thing that they never used to
commit they never listened to music in their cars going to work
in Ramadan Hey, let me put some music on because it's Ramadan man
I'm gonna do that I you
you will hardly do a new synagogue on you would hardly started
initiate a new sin Ramadan unless you've got some really bad friends
or bad company who wants you otherwise, it's usually what we're
struggling against in Ramadan is usually habits a recurring habit,
somebody's used to looking at something bad or is into something
bad relationship or whatever. Or like a smoking you know, that's
what's going to happen.
That's one way to understand this. So now the benefit of Ramadan is
Allah subhanaw taala says that shahada Ramadan, the month of
Ramadan is the one in which the Quran was revealed. Quran is the
words of Allah so it was chosen, so was Ramadan chosen?
Because it was a special month for the Quran to be revealed there in
or did Ramadan, the month become superior and great because the
Quran was revealed in there. Either way you look at it, it's
all good.
Because Ramadan includes many, many different types of benefits
including the Laylatul Qadr as Allah mentions in the Enzo NaVi
later the quarter.
So Ramadan was chosen especially for that Allah says I'm going to
take shaytaan away from you. So I'm taking away one source of sin
from you. One source of you're doing wrong, I'm taken away, you
don't have to worry about him anymore. Now all you have to worry
about is kicking your bad habits that which you're used to doing
you can kick your bad habits. How does he do that? Multiple ways.
Number one shaytan is out the way but number two the nuts right? So
he tells us that in Ramadan what I want you to do, he could not roll
around couldn't be like any other month. We could have just done
tarawih extra we could have because everything is expanded in
Ramadan, you do not feel prayer, you do fun prayer. You do other
good deeds of a culture whatever we could have just had that there
would have been no fasting. What is the purpose of fasting? Fasting
they say is a very different it's one of the most different worships
to all the other worships every other worship you're doing
something like in salad we're offering something when putting,
doing some postures, including the schedule, which is one of the
highest levels of expression of devotion that you can show. That's
why the prophets are some said that the closest a person can be
to Allah is in his sujood
When we're doing anything else, giving sadaqa we're doing
something, we're commissioning something. We're actively doing
something. Fasting is the one thing when we're not doing
something, where it's about not doing something, stay away from
dawn to sunset, from food, drink and * *.
So it's an inaction.
And there's a huge benefit for the inaction.
It's a suburb, it's a patience. It's a perseverance.
And the highest reward in the mentioned in the Quran, so
patients and his patients in multiple things, even coming from
surgeries, or patients waking up for failure is a set is a is a
type of patients. Because this is a struggle. Patience is against
any struggle. And now what happens is that it's Ramadan, the first
day of Ramadan, right? You have a habit of having breakfast in the
morning, and then going to work. When it comes to around 10
o'clock. A lot of people want a coffee and lift up a tea or a
coffee at that time. Anybody has a habit of coffee around 10 o'clock
in the morning, and mid morning coffee.
Looks like you're the only one who has everything here. Nobody else.
I don't know. But yeah, even myself, but help us then one of
the students will make some coffee. It just helps. I don't
drink coffee any other time. Now, if it's the first day of Ramadan,
you're because you're habituated to coffee at that time you start
feeling sleepy, droopy, lazy, ineffective, right, less
productive. I need that coffee man. Especially we've got a good
coffee machine.
At work. There's one guy who started going to a doctor's
because he had
he had some jittery feelings and all of that, and the client will
test and then you know what, they just discovered that they bought a
really nice coffee machine at work. Right? So he's just having
too much coffee, so makes you jittery, sometimes too much
caffeine, right? But anyway, the point is that so I'm at work and
at 10 o'clock in the morning on 1030 I want that lift.
I'll go to get a coffee. You can have a coffee.
You remember you're fasting, but my knifes once a coffee. I'm
feeling lazy. I'm feeling sleepy.
No, man, you can't have a coffee.
It's only your iman and your love for Allah insha Allah that's gonna
keep you away from that coffee. So the first day you're not asked you
said no, you can't have it. It protested, but I'm going to be
tight. You can't have it. Second day protest again. And again, you
reminded by the third day, you will notice that you won't want it
anymore third or fourth day you won't need coffee anymore.
Have you noticed that you don't need it anymore. You don't need
your lunch anymore, you get into that routine, it's very easy to
train the nuts, you just have to push it, you have to refuse it.
According to some studies that shows that if you want to kick
something, you have to refuse it seven times at least. Some have
given the name given the number of days 26 or 28 days. If you avoid
something but 26 or 28 There's certain number like that
Inshallah, you should be able to keep it forever.
And for many sins, it says that if you avoid the prompting of it, at
least 1234567 Then inshallah that prompting will wither away. So
what Allah is doing is Allah is saying you are prohibited from
eating halal food drinking Hello, and hello, husband wife
relationship
which are halala other times during this time so that when
you're not the one stem as you usually do on them, you can't have
them. So you will train you and us to refer to listen to you
and to accept your refusal in Halal things these three are halal
things. So if you if we get our knifes used to
to obey us, then inshallah they'll obey us in Haram things we
shouldn't be doing anyway.
That's I that I see that as a logic behind this and there's a
wisdom behind this. Okay, so where does Taqwa come into it? Allah
says that, firstly was prescribed upon you.
cookiebot Aliko Sia, fasting was prescribed upon you just like it
was prescribed upon the people before you so that you can gain
Taqwa what's Taqwa got to do with staying hungry, thirsty and so on?
Well, taqwa means I don't like to translate to this fear of God
though a lot of people do because fear if you look at the definition
of fear, fear means that when something happens to threaten you,
you feel a sense of threat from something which needs you to
either fight
or flee.
Now you can't do any of that from with Allah. You can't fight with
Allah and you can't flee from Allah because where you're gonna
go,
you know, we have these children, two year old child, one year old
child, if the mother shall send that child
where does the child go?
So you got to
two year old one and a half year old dancer in the most shouted why
you do that for why your break before? Where does the child go?
Goes back to the mother goes and hugs the mother and the mother is
shouting at the child and the child knows that their safety is
in the mother.
And brothers, what about if the father shelter shelter the child?
Where does the child go?
The mother usually go to the mother. Why? Because there's a
sense of trust, safety, security, assurance. That's how our state
should be with Allah.
That's why I don't like the word fear, God consciousness. It's
probably better when you become conscious of Allah. That
consciousness of Allah is what suppose that what what exactly
does that mean? That means God conscious means in a loving way
that Allah has given us so much.
Allah has done so much for us. We owe everything to Allah, He caused
us to be creative in this world that always would be here. Yes, we
came from our parents, but that whole system was placed. And then
the other thing is that if you think about who you are, you
didn't have to be here. I didn't have to be here. Allah chose us to
be here and chose to bless us. And we in England, Mashallah. In this
great city of London, we've got nothing to complain about, have
you something to think about? Have you thought to yourself, that the
lifestyle we have in this country
is literally the lifestyle of the top five to 10% of the
inhabitation of this world.
If you compare ourselves to other countries in the world and the
populations of this world, we literally live a lifestyle of the
top five to 10%.
Love on Top in terms of our security, our safety, medical,
healthwise, abundance of food, abundance of everything.
Allah is pleased to see I'm not complaining.
I'm thanking Allah, because the more we think, the better it will
be. And thanking Allah subhanho wa Taala for giving us this, that Oh
Allah, Ya Allah allow us to use this right? And don't allow us to
use all of these resources that you have given us do not allow us
to use it for your disobedience. Because it all comes with mischief
sometimes, may Allah protect us from mischief of the nurse. And
Ramadan is the time that's coming up for that. So
Allah protect Allah saying, sang, don't eat, don't drink, so that we
can stop out. So
what exactly does taco mean? And the definition I like is taco is
that you're so much in love with Allah, that you never want to see
him unhappy with you, or frown upon you. You don't want him to
even frown upon you. You know, like, there's somebody you really
respect. And you really value because they've done so much for
you. Like you're generally you know, and you are a person who is
grateful.
You would never want to make that person unhappy.
You would just try to avoid anything that would make that
person unhappy, or even question you, or even frown upon you. And
that's what it means. We get to that state, the only way you can
get to that state is by understanding Allah and who he is.
And he's got all the qualities there for us to love someone. When
you love someone, you can only love them for good qualities that
they have. But the reason why we cannot claim to love Allah more
than anyone else is because we've not understood Allah as we should
do. Otherwise Allah in the Quran, he says, well, Lavina Manu should
do have been Nila. The people who believe they are most intense in
their love for Allah.
Just we can just check what our love is most intense for by just
seeing what would be willing to think about all day long. And all
night long.
What do we mostly think about? That's that's the way to figure
out what is our greatest focus, what we're mostly conscious of,
if it's a business line is usually going to be how to prosperity,
your business, nothing wrong with business. But there is that
challenge as part of it, isn't it?
For a lot of people nowadays, their love is money.
And according to one of the pious people of the over recent times,
he said that it's such a good, such a net amount of Allah that we
have Allah that we have to come back to five times a day, or those
people pray jumaan, at least they come back to one time a week
that they remember there is Allah that's my object of worship, and
devotion, not my money. Not the pursuit of just money, money,
nothing wrong with money. Nothing wrong with earning lots of money
and having lots of money. But it just has an ability to distract.
So it's a good job that we've got Allah to come back to today. We're
sitting here after Isha in the masjid. Otherwise we'd be
worshipers of money because lots of people are worshippers of money
today that is the new god of the new century. Money so
It has been the case but the way it's available now, the
consumerism and the capitalism that is there right now is very
different. Today we have availability and access to foods,
products that was only available for the royalty 100 years ago, you
have access to whatever you want to know. Hamdulillah.
So that's God consciousness. And the way we attain it is that Allah
gives us 30 days 29 to 30 days. And that's enough time that's
enough time that by the end of Ramadan, we kicked our habits, the
shaytaan is not there is not going to make us do any nuisance. And
all the old sins, we would have eventually gotten used to not
having them. That's why just a month ago, just over a month ago,
everybody's talking about making new year's resolutions.
I just don't get new year's resolutions. Why is New Year a
time for resolutions? The only difference is that you've just had
some major parties for Christmas. And then they've done some
fireworks on 31st of December. The next day has begun it's still
snowing, or it's still cold it's not it's nothing new. And you're
gonna have resolutions. What's changed? What's destabilize you
what retreat did you go into to now have a new resolution that day
is the same.
It's still a holiday the first you go back to work on a second or
third or something. When some of the when the highest number of
diverse divorces are registered.
What's so special, but if you do want a time for makers and we make
resolutions, it's Ramadan and then after Ramadan, why? Because
there's so much that we do differently in Ramadan. They say
some Allah will have some good up they say that Ramadan is Dr. de la
Tara,
reducing your food,
the clean on mana, reducing your sleep. And the clean you'll if the
ultimate hour and reducing your interaction with just anybody and
everybody. How well luckily the time. You might be saying no, I
mean, I doubled it 30 times. So it's cool. I don't do any less
food in Ramadan. Well, that's not what was supposed to be. We're
supposed to eat a measured amount of Iftar. Just because you've not
had lunch doesn't mean that you have lunch and supper together.
Right? It's supposed to be regulated. That's the whole
purpose of this is not just delaying the time of eating. So
that's what it is. And why is it less than in the sleep less than
in the sleep is
Allah less than in the sleep is because you've got tarawih prayers
at night. That pushes on bedding. I mean nowadays, I don't know if
it disturbs anybody's sleep at all, because we're before in the
earlier days. One of my teachers used to live in Africa, he was
brought up in Africa in one of the countries of Africa is still
pretty much a third world country. This is after Mongolia. It was we
were so tired. I just wanted to go to sleep but we couldn't because
Asia, we had to wait an hour or half for Asia. We were sleeping.
It has nothing to do after Asia.
It was dark, you have to burn lamps. There was no entertainment
nothing.
Nothing. Now it's as bright as day. You can do whatever you want.
You can see whatever show you want into all night. It's a whole
different time we're living the fitna is much greater.
Somebody wanted to commit a haram even 100 years ago they'd have to
go out of their house and find somebody to commit haram with
maybe one person maximum two now in 10 minutes you can you can view
100 Haram
like real life stuff in 10 minutes when a figma there is no way in
history that they have this no way in history they could have done as
much in such a short time as we can do today. What a challenge
that is Allah make it easy. What a challenge that is just thinking is
mind boggling that never in the history of human history have they
ever had this ability are we special
we've never had this ability to be able to commit so much in such a
short time if you if somebody wants to.
So Ramadan is the time if you can pull it through
then that is what's me now.
You know I asked in the beginning that for how many people is it the
first of Ramadan, just one of our brothers It was first time for
right? For all of us were veterans in Ramadan and this is what the
issue is. Many of us have actually a routine in Ramadan that started
2010 years ago some of us 20 years ago we do the same thing every
Ramadan season. What's the problem with that? It's a different
routine to the normal day so what's wrong with that? But I'll
tell you what's wrong with it. Is that I'm sure we can we not do
better than it
is that same thing that we were doing 10 years ago the same type
of fast the same everything else same number of Jews of the Quran
or pages of Quran are
thicker or solid, or sadaqa that we've been doing every year, we're
doing the same every year no difference. For example,
in everything else of the world, we become better. We upgrade, we
update.
Have you noticed that in everything else of the world, for
a lot of people, you know, when they just become the left
university or whatever, they're going to get their first job, you
need to go for an interview. So a lot of people like to get a suit,
right, a blazer and so on. Right? So you go and get a blazer, you
know, any blazer would work on that day. Do you worry whether
it's a
Giorgio Armani blazer, or canali? Or is it George or Primark blazer
would work on that day, you just need a blazer to look, you know,
formal and tired or whatever you just got right.
And then after that, as you move up in the world,
a blazer from a lower shop does not work anymore, that it needs to
be hand stitched, it needs to be designed and because they'll come
and check it.
There's some industries that I've been told by a friend of mine who
works in a big Banking Corporation in New York, they will actually
come in Oh, that's a nice blazer and they will actually come and
check where it's from, and then they'll make fun of you if it's
not from the right place.
So you move up in the world. When you first start going out to eat,
you go to any place I'm going out to eat that's an outing in itself
and then after you become more discriminatory,
right then then you become domain.
A lot of people they by no frills stuff as they move up in the world
and they want
the best of this stuff. You don't stay on Windows 3.1, do you.
That's when we started using Windows, Windows 3.1, which a lot
of younger guys want to hear. And remember, you have to upgrade you
have to update.
Everything needs update, so don't our environment need updating and
upgrading to make them more powerful and intense and closer to
Allah? So stop doing the same old no frills Ramadan for the veterans
I'm talking about. For the veterans of Ramadan, do not do
that same old shock brand, no frills package that you've had
every year that you do know think how much I can do better this
year. And what I've noticed is two practical things. How to get the
best out of Ramadan is that you start preparing in advance. So
it's a good job. We're doing this 14 days before. How do we prepare
from 14 days before? Well, one thing that I found useful is
trying to get all of your major chores and projects out of the way
from now.
So think that what are these projects at work or in the house
certain jobs that need to be done? Get them out of the way so that in
Ramadan, you can focus? I know people who work in mainstream,
they try to take off from among the holidays or Ramadan so they
can actually take off and sit more in the masjid and do their work.
If not the order online. They tried to take off 10 days last 10
days every year to do a ticket if you plan it. Don't be like those
were Romans coming Ramadan is coming rather than then suddenly
enter Ramadan and then it takes two three days to adjust to get
into we've only lost two or three days.
Why don't we want to lose it? Why can't we got 27 days? Because
Ramadan as I said, Allah makes everything changed. Up in the
heavens doors of paradise are opened those of hella close.
If you want to go to * in Ramadan, you lost a break in
like it's not easy to go to * in Ramadan. Because those of
hellfire close. What Allah does, he intends incentivizes, he says,
every third worship you're going to do which you're going to do
like solid fasting, I'm going to multiply it how many times 70
times not two times by one get one free. Okay, it's a closing down
sale, buy one get two free 70 times that's just nobody can give
you that much. That's like did you just take it for free, which it is
for our lives got abundance, every fourth worship we're going to have
to do anyway as a servant of Allah 70 times and every other optional
worship same as a normal form of worship in other times, now listen
to this promise I wasn't said in the Hadees if anybody misses a
fasting Ramadan without any genuine excuse, for example, you
had a football match on that day and it's like man, I'm gonna be
tired.
I just not I won't break it. I just won't fast. I'll do it
afterwards. I've got a major business meeting today I'm going
to have to take some corporate customers for lunch. And you know
you're not powerful enough or confident enough to say no, I'm
fasting which is an aspect of pride nowadays people respect
these things and fasting you don't have to tell him his religious
fast because now someone like fasting is a great lifestyle
choice. You know, the five in two days fasting and five days eating,
you know for
Your health and so on is huge, huge benefits for that.
So just the way you carry yourself says I'm not going to foster a
class later
the professor said that if anybody misses the fast in Ramadan
and then he tries to make up for it by fasting the entire year or
in another reading the entire life he cannot make up for the same
reward that he's missed for this class. Allah absolutely
concentrates and intensifies and brings it all together every
moment
or the man have said every moment of Ramadan is so valuable that you
can't even count it compared to outside the month of Ramadan. So
that's why any good deeds you do is just multiplied multiplied.
So why would you want to waste that time for by getting into
Ramadan and then stabilizing yourself by the fifth or sixth day
you've already messed up three or five days just get into it running
right now a few more points and then we'll open up for questions
so when you have Ramadan
we prepare for it as I was saying get big things out of the way.
Then after that
write down what our usual Ramadan looks like. We know we've been
doing Ramadan Zola life right. So what is the normal Ramadan look
like?
Okay, this is how much Quran I read, this is how much sadaqa I
give this is how much this I do etcetera, etcetera. So, this year,
I'm going to vow to do this much more.
And when you plan for something a lot of people go for homework.
I've seen that the best Umrah or Hajj is the one where you've
planned that how much you want to get accomplished. Aside from the
basic acts of Amara, what else you want to do I want to do this much
Salawat I want to do this many more towards when you got that you
This is how humans work when you've got goals and targets
that I found very useful. In fact I know of women you know for women
who cook one of the most difficult things for them is
not the cooking itself but deciding what to cook Do you know
that
you know that right? Can't see the sisters but that's a very
difficult thing. And if you're a people like me if you're a person
like me, I've only told my wife in the last 10 years isn't it so I
was going to only once what to cook I'm like cook anything as
long as good.
Seriously, like it could be done right completely. I don't mind as
those made well, it's fine. I just can't think like what I want to
cook what I want. So if you're boring like me then they have even
more tough. So what they do is before Ramadan, I would suggest
for the women
to make a schedule of the exact menu for every day.
And because women also have to do worship, one of our scholars of
the past you just mentioned Sheikh Yusuf Matala, our shake his shapes
executive. He used to tell his family Rahim Allah He used to tell
his family, we just want you to cook a simple curry. We're going
to buy the rotis from outside and we're going to buy the samosa from
outside as well.
You know people like their fried stuff, we're going to buy that
from outside. We're also going to buy the rotis and non from I'll
say you just have to cook a simple curry so that you can also wash
it.
They all included I'm sorry if I'm messing it up for you guys. Right?
But that's what they used to do. Because they wanted everybody to
maximize this month of Ramadan because it's really valuable. We
don't know how many more Ramadan. So again, these people today who
just died in these last few days in Turkey, I mean they would have
been looking forward to Ramadan, the Romulans Garner whatever they
lost from Allah was like May Allah bless them and elevate their
status.
Allah gives abundance in the month of Ramadan makes it very very easy
so schedule it and I know these women what they do is they make
their schedule they make their menu then you know there's
obviously preparation work that you have to do for a lot of the
foods cook some basic things they do all of that before Ramadan
Ramadan comes they're very efficient in what they do. They
know exactly what to do. And and and so on Mashallah. Just be
efficient when it comes to your work, lifestyle, or whatever the
case is.
Because in Ramadan every night, there's people Allah writes us
forgiven emancipated from hellfire emancipated from Allah O da minha
na.
Ramadan is legendary. Have you noticed that? Do you get this? Do
you guys get excited at your study time? Okay, I got a few more nods
that 100 Because I was like, No, I'm just going to be boring like
no, we're not excited that if studies
have to come here more often we can have a relationship then you
can trust me May
Allah bless you. So the promises I'm suddenly saw me fall hotter.
The fasting person has two excitements and two things that
make him very happy. It gives us an example of one of them, he says
at his fitter, Iftari time when you can finally eat. I mean,
there's not no harm in
saying yes, I'm excited to eat.
Because in our shell here, if there's a guy who is like a macho
man he says, You know what everybody's doing if thought I'm
going to wait another half an hour. It's not allowed. That's
better. That's wrong. That's not our first we do what Allah wants
us to do. He says eater if they don't eat that's why there's a lot
of people who say, You know what, I feel bad if I eat too much in
source I'm not gonna have school who told you to eat so much that's
not sunnah
just have a date and some points that's all you get the reward for
the school for the selling side.
Right rather than missing it you're missing the suddenness of
all have less so that you don't feel I don't have double
challenge. Don't have biryani you know like don't have heavy hoods
at that time. It's about getting all of this right. So
now what we need to do is we need to identify where we are on the
Iman scale.
What is my Eman level before Ramadan from one to 10 So if I say
that I'm doing okay at five right, I'm at five I try my prayer try to
do my prayers on time and everything right? I'm a five out
of 10 when I go in to Ramadan, doesn't everybody's Iman increase
a bit at least it goes from five to six seven, it might go to eight
nine some people might get to 10 Mashallah, if they're really
careful, and they sit for at golf and you know, mashallah, this
people have told me that.
Now in Ramadan, you've gone from a five to a 789 or 10.
Most important thing I don't know if I'm going to see you again to
give you this message. But after all, Milan shaytaan comes back
home. So you're going to do now, do we want to go back to a five
after a Milan?
No, that's not the purpose on purpose and wrong ways to create
taqwa and get closer to Allah. So that from the five, if we're going
to come back down from anything, if we got to a seven or eight, we
don't want to come back to a five. Worst case scenario, at least a
six so that we're better off next year than we are this previous
year than the year after we're even better and better and better
and better.
At least the 5.5 if not five. Right? Now, I'll tell you a trick
of shaytaan there's two times you have to be very careful of shape.
One is just before a Mullah. And one is strict after Ramadan on the
day or eight. What do you mean?
Just before Ramadan, she Nan will find an excuse to get you involved
in something that's going to waste your time so that you spend the
first few days at least messing he knows is going away. So he's going
to leave a fitna and one of the fitness that he leaves is which
they did Ramadan begin.
So you started out you with somebody else, and stuff like
that. But the worst one is after mashallah, you've done very, very
well, for the whole of Ramadan, you've avoided so many sins, and
you've done good deeds and everything, and you're feeling
really good. So many people have said that on the day of IE, it was
afternoon or evening time. I was alone. And I couldn't help it. I
committed this thing that I just avoided.
She thought comes back out with a vengeance, and tries to make you
delete everything you've done. Be careful. I said, I'm not going to
see. I'm not I don't think I'm going to see you again before the
end of Ramadan. But this is something that I'm telling you
from a lot of people's experience, maintain what you have after
wanna, you don't want to go back to a five. You want to stay high
up. I shot there's one person he's told me that there was this one
Ramadan. He tried his best, he did a lot of dua, he was really on the
ball. He did a decaf that year. And he said, You know what that
benefit was, I developed an immunity from a sin that I could
not avoid before. So even after Ramadan, I didn't feel like doing
this in one month, two months, three months, eight months. It's
like you know, when you don't even feel like it. You know, those
Muslims don't drink. So when we go into a supermarket and you like
shopping, you'd like to check all the aisles out. When you get to
those two, three aisles that have wine and beer, we just miss them
out. hamdulillah we're not wasting money here. We don't have to
bother with that.
But that's because there's no window open in our heart for for
them just like human beings, you know, for their mother or sister.
There's no sexual window. It makes no difference regardless of how
attractive they are. Because that's just closed. That's
immunity. One is that hey, you feel like it but you're stopping
yourself. The other one is I don't even feel like it right now.
That's what we want. You know, on a good day for a healthy person.
Even if it's about 10 degrees, you're not going to feel cold. 10
degrees is okay. Everyone once I came back from another country,
and I had a bit of a flu or a cold and everybody is cool and I'm
wanting to wear a jacket. Why? Because my immunity is low.
Likewise, we want to create immunity from sin by efforts in
Ramadan and they'll pay off so this guy said I managed
To stay seven months after Ramadan without even thinking of that sin
and at the end of the seven months I started getting weak.
And I started faltering
then I don't know he probably messed up I don't know. But then
he said another year after that, I think a year or two later he said
I mashallah some of them my curries, and I did a lot of good
deeds again. And Laura dua to Allah did it take off and he said
that year I also went for Hajj. Two and a half months later, I
went for Hajj. So this year mashallah my immunity lasted for
nine months
of the year where I didn't commit a sin. And then he said, I started
getting weak that immunity or were worn off I started feeling like I
wanted to sing. I was like, No, man, I can't do this. And he says
that what helped me was that there's two months left for
Ramadan. And I thought to myself, if I can pull it through the next
two months and get into the safe sanctuary Ramadan, I've saved
myself. And he managed to do that. He said, This is the first year in
many years of my life, that I was free of that sin for a whole year.
That's what Ramadan That's how powerful Ramadan is.
So we ask Allah subhana wa Tala photographique, we ask Allah to
give us the Bible Rayyan special door for those people who fast.
And we ask that Allah allow us to upgrade our fasting, and our
Ramadan and our worship and everything this year, allow us to
be organized, and allow us to be closer. Allow us to be closer to
him. Yeah, Allah grant us your love, grant us understanding of
You grant us your recognition, and allow us to be close and make it
easy for us and allow our surroundings to be conducive for
that. Well, I can read that one annual hamdu Lillahi Rabbil
Alameen. 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 the insha Allah 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 live, you know to listen to lectures, but you need to have
this more sustained study as well. JazakAllah Harun salaam aleikum wa
rahmatullah wa barakato.