Why we need to prepare for Ramadan now!

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a Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh thank you so much Zack Aloka for joining me for another Facebook and YouTube Live and today, we've got a super, super important subject a very, very important topic we want to talk about. And it's Ramadan. Now I mean Subhanallah Ramadan is really just over a month away. And a lot of us I know so many of us we get surprised is that oh Subhanallah Oh mg oh my god, Ramadan is here. It's like, oh, Ramadan is tomorrow. And we get taken surprise by the arrival of Ramadan. And really one of the things brothers and sisters, you see Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Allah gave us Islam and hamdulillah were Muslim. And yes, it is enough for you as a

Muslim to pray just five times a day. You don't need to pray sunnah you don't need to pray. No, if you don't need to pray tahajjud it's enough for you as a Muslim. To give your circa you don't need to give any extra charity unless you want to. You only have to fast the month of Ramadan. That's all you have to do. You don't have to fast any other days if you don't want to. And you have to make Hajj once in your lifetime if you can afford it and treat what is halal as halal and treat what is haram? Haram and if you do that, Inshallah, you will go to Jana. But brothers and sisters, you see what I'm about. And I'm not saying I've reached this, I'm not saying I'm there. In fact, I look back

on my life. And I think in some ways I might have got worse, I might have slipped I might I don't think I pray as much sunlight and do as much fasting as I used to I mean handled I do other things. But the point is, is that we always have to be improving ourselves. Why don't we aim to be the best that we can be? Why don't we aim to be the best that we can be? Because at the end of the day, that is how we are going to taste the sweetness of faith we're going to the sweetest thing in this life is that we really know Allah we connect with our Lord Allah subhanaw taala and we master ourselves that we acquire Taqwa unlock code, and this is what Ramadan is all about as Allah subhanaw taala

told us in the Quran, yeah, are you Hello Dina amanu katiba la cama CAMA. CAMA katiba Allah Latina men couple of con men Kubla con la la Contacta con O you who believe fasting has been prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those who came before you, la la quinta taco and so that you may acquire Taqwa. So this is what fasting is all about. Fasting is so that you can acquire this most important that we talked about this last week we talked about Taqwa. We talked about how important takeaways and I made a promise to you, which I asked you to forgive me. I didn't keep that promise. I said that. I think two weeks ago, I said that I was going to I was going to have some videos up on

my YouTube channel about how to get tacos and I haven't got round to it. I apologize. In Sharla Britney Alone Charlotte, I'm going to have that up by the end of next week inshallah make dua for me. I'll handle I've been super super busy. And anyway, no excuses mail last month I helped me. The point is brothers and sisters, I talked about how important Taqwa is. It's this quality is this dimension, this inner dimension it within ourselves that I think it's mindfulness of God. That's really what Taqwa is. It's being mindful about Allah and mindful about Allah in the way that keeps you away from doing haram. You're always thinking, Is this really what is pleasing to Allah? Is this

really what Allah wants me to do? Is this the best way to be? Are these the best manners to have exist the best type of speech? So when you think like this, this is a person who has Taqwa because they're always trying to protect themselves from the anger and the Wrath of Allah. subhanaw taala. So fasting gives us Taqwa. So how does fasting give us Taqwa? Fasting gives us Taqwa. Because it's really all about self control. That's what it is all about. And you know, I've been going on and on and on about willpower self mastery.

self control. It's like a broken record. I know. And I'm not even going to apologize brothers and sisters, because it is so important. These things are all linked we okay they have different names they and yes, they are different dimensions. Willpower is slightly different from patients. And it's slightly different from Taqwa. They all have different dimensions, but essentially the core is the same. It's all about self control, self discipline, true grit, determination, being in control of yourself, but as a Muslim, we're in control of ourselves for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala, not merely to achieve some worldly goal, wealth and status, women, music, fame, whatever it is, no, no,

the reason is because we want to get to Jannah. That's really what it's about. The reason we develop self mastery, the reason we develop Taqwa The reason the reason we want to have patience, sub self discipline, is ultimately want to reach that goal of Jannah. But it's so this is what it's about. What I'm saying, brothers and sisters is I want you to be ambitious, I want you to be ambitious, I want you to aim for the highest, I want you to aim for the best. Now I want to talk about why we need to prepare for Ramadan. Now, this is something this is something in Islam that we find the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he's always preparing himself for acts of the border. So I want

you to remind you about something about personal allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, okay? Before when he used to hear the other than when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you stay here the call to prayer. The Sahaba would notice that his state would change, his state would change. Suddenly he become a totally different person. Because when he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and this is how we should be as well. When we hear these words, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. We hear Allah is the Greatest Hi yah, Allah Sana. Hey, yah, Helen Fela. When we hear this call to prayer, we should start preparing ourselves for something truly amazing.

The we are going to stand in front of Allah. And there is no barrier between you and your Lord, you are going to talk to the Lord of the Worlds think about it. If you if you are going to stand in front of some king or some president or some super important person, or someone you really admired. You imagine how your state of mind would be? Imagine how you prepare yourself. So how about when we are standing in front of the Lord of the entire universe? So this is the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam, even when we make wudu think about it. It is a type of purification. You're purifying yourself, you're making yourself clean because you are preparing yourself to stand in front of the

Lord and the king and the master of the entire universe. So this is how the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was so even before every thority Salah before every obligatory prayer there is what there is sunnah. There are prayers to get you ready for the main prayer. So the Sunnah prayers are there in a sense to get you prepared

for those for the the obligatory prayer. So this is something we find the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he entered this altered state. So this is why you know when when we are in the masjid, we should be quiet, there should be an atmosphere of preparation of standing in front of Allah subhanaw taala so this is an example of how the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam prepared himself for acts of Ibadah even in terms of our sadaqa when we're giving charity as well, we should make sure that we giving the best the best not like our rubbish that we don't need any more. Not like our haram wealth. That you know, okay, this bit I'm not sure this is maybe it's a bit dodgy. Maybe this money

I'm not really sure. Is this halal or haram? I put this aside and that's what I've given charity. No, we should be giving our most pure and our most Halal money. That's what we should give the best for Allah subhanaw taala so for Ramadan, brothers and sisters, so let me tell you, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi salam what is the month before Ramadan? The month before Ramadan is called the Shabbat and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the Companions mentioned and there are quite a few narrations authentic. Never

ations about this. Okay that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would never fast a complete month except Ramadan and Chawan okay? I mean Shaban. Shaban so Siobhan is the month before Ramadan. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, this is the only in fact the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would often fast the whole of the whole of Shaban and the whole of Ramadan, So brothers and sisters, why, you know, a lot of us complain, we complain about the state of the Ummah, the state of the Muslims look at our condition that we find ourselves in. And our condition is there is no doubt our condition is a very sad one. We look at what's happened in Syria we will look what's

happened in Somalia right now with the famine. Okay, we look across the world we look in Kashmir, we look in Burma, what's happening to the Muslims, they're even here in the West West, we used to be so free, our life used to be so easy. Now. Well, most a lot of us are, you know, tasting hard times things are getting really really much more difficult across the board for Muslims. And a lot of us complain, we complain we all the media, this and the rulers that and the such and such. But listen, what really can we do about the media? What really can we do about these rulers? What what are we doing ourselves? How is our ibadah? How is our worship for Allah? How many of us are thinking right

now? How am I going to prepare for this Ramadan? So I tell you what, for those of you and I'm including myself here, for those of us who really want to see change for this ummah, why don't we decide right now, right now tonight to make this Ramadan, the best Ramadan ever. Our best Ramadan ever. This is the Ramadan, we want to really acquire Taqwa. We want to become really conscious of Allah. We really want to develop our fear of Allah, we really want to keep away from sins. We really want to master ourselves and master our desires. Because that's what fasting teaches you. You see when you fast what do you do you keep away from drink. You don't drink water the whole day. Some was

non Muslims that they are how can you do that? How can you not You can't eat or drink the whole day. That's just that, how do you even manage that? And that's what we do every day, every day from dawn until sunset, for the whole month. We don't eat we don't drink. We don't have sexual intercourse. We keep away not only is very important not just to not eat and drink, but also to keep away from haram in our speech. And in our actions. This is very important because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Allah does not care about the one who gives off who abstains from eating and drinking but doesn't abstain from haram in their speech and actions. This is the meaning of what the Prophet

sallallahu alayhi wasallam said now brothers and sisters, let's be real.

If you know if Ramadan is like let's just say Ramadan was tomorrow and you haven't even thought about it suddenly on it's Ramadan tomorrow, mastering yourself keeping away from haram. Even fasting is difficult. abstaining from haram and evil in your speech in your action is difficult. At the best of times, reading the Quran every day, it should be our habit and in that should be our habit. Anyway, every Muslim should read the Quran every day. If you can't read or maybe you can't read, you should listen to the Quran and listen to the meaning and contemplate upon it. And even if it's a little bit even if it's a page, even if it's 10 if even if it's one ayat, but in Ramadan, obviously

it's the sunnah to try and complete the whole Quran. But if you're not used to reading the Quran every day come Ramadan, how are you going to manage to read the whole cram? It's, I found it really really I have not managed it that many I'll be honest, I've been a Muslim 30 years, and I have not managed to read the whole Quran that many times I think maybe only three times in Ramadan. That and to be honest, I'll be honest with myself, it's only recently in the last 10 years that I've really, really regularly committed myself to reading the Quran every single day is when I heard a chef he gave a talk and he said, he said that is the right it's the hawk of the Quran that you read it every

day. And I think about I thought you mean it's like I'm oppressing the Quran. I'm transgressing a gout against the Quran if I don't read it every that's scary.

So I committed myself and that's that's part of Taekwon. I'm not saying I have taqwa, but that's part of Taqwa. When you know Allah has ordered something, you do it and when you know Allah has told you to keep away from something you keep away from it. That's what Taqwa means. But also you need to know what has Allah told you to do? What are the things that Allah loves? What are the things that Allah is pleased with? What are the things that Allah hates? What are the things that Allah is displeased with? You have to have this knowledge. If you don't have this knowledge, you can't have Taqwa. So brothers and sisters, what I'm saying is you need to start preparing yourself for Ramadan

now, so number one, I want you to make a commitment to read the Quran every single day. And the best thing to do is pick a regular time, my regular time is after fajr that's the regular time I choose to read the Quran every day. And I have a set amount that I tried to read every day I maybe I don't do it every day, sometimes. Occasionally, I miss it altogether. Subhan Allah shaytaan makes me forget, but most of the time Alhamdulillah I stick to most of what I've committed myself to do, make it something that you can do. The other thing is make this Shaban let's all of us together, make it a month we fast a lot, maybe every single day like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, let's

try and do that. Let's try and commit yourself I know I have, I have a lot of fasting to make up. Until now I haven't made up the fast some of the fast I missed in Ramadan, because I was traveling I do a lot of Unfortunately, I do a lot of traveling. And the type of traveling I do, because I'm driving, it's actually quite dangerous. To fast, I actually find myself falling asleep, and it's dangerous. So that's perfectly permissible for you. In fact, you if it's difficult, you should not fast when you're traveling. So maybe some of us we have to make up our thoughts. Anyway, it's a great time to prepare yourself for Ramadan, brothers and sisters, another thing I want to invite you

to do, and I'm going to keep this short, this is very, very important. I know that a lot of you know about the course that I have the online course that I have been really encouraging people to sign up to this course. And it is at the lowest price it has been and it is not going to get lower than this. In fact, I think from tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the price is going to go up again, the guys who I work with, they've agreed to put this price down for this amount of time. So what is this, this course is called The Seven Pillars of willpower. And what I have done is I've linked my study of psychology of human psychology, and also my study of Islam and the teachings of Islam. And

I've combined the two things and it's all about what it's all about how to control your knifes how to control your desires, how to increase your mastery of yourself, your will power willpower is something you can grow. It's something you can increase. It is very, very similar to tacos. Actually really what I teach in this course is really about how to grow your tequila. So if you want to commit to something like reading the Quran regularly every day, there are certain things obstacles, things that will stop you, you will procrastinate your delay. How do you overcome procrastination? How do you overcome that? You know, you're always delayed. How do you overcome that addiction to

your phone? And every time you have to, you know you see an email you have to check it and every time you see a tweet, you have to answer it. And every time you see martial law, a lot of people in Ramadan give up their mobile phones altogether. They say that's it. no Twitter, no Facebook, no, this is really good. Mashallah, because it's also a way of controlling your knifes. So brothers and sisters, I'm just telling you, please, I really, really recommend that you do this course. And it's it's like 90, maybe I can't remember it used to be 19 days, but the brothers made it a little bit longer. But it's just about perfect. If you do one lesson a day, one lesson a day. And each video is

like five minutes, seven minutes, I think the longest one is like 1112 minutes. And there is a little exercise that I give you at the end, right? So you know, it may be to think about this or to do this particular exercise or to do that or to write these certain things down and see how these things are happening in the in your life in the week. So it's just about right and so even if you skip a few days, no problem. By the time you get to Ramadan, believe me in sha Allah if you do this course, I think that your Ramadan will will be the most amazing Ramadan that you've ever had. Right? So brothers and sisters is only $47 it was before that $120 $97 Okay, it's $47 is just for a few

more days. Literally. Maybe

Even today, I can't remember, I think today or tomorrow is the last day. If this doesn't work for you seriously, if you try it and you implement it and you do this course and you do the exercises and doesn't work for you, I'll give you money back. Brothers and sisters, I want this to be the best Ramadan for you. And hamdulillah even if you don't do the course, just do the things that I've said fast this month of Shaban

start reading the Quran Alhamdulillah be mindful of Allah connect with your Lord Allah subhanaw taala this is what it's all about. Actually, if I'm going to summarize everything in my course I can summarize it right? It is all about being mindful of Allah, mindful of yourself and mindful of Allah understanding what you do, why you do it? What are the reasons that you do it? It's all about being honest with yourself and learning to do things purely and sincerely for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala so that's simply really what it is about, but I show it in all sorts of different ways. Brothers and sisters, really today tomorrow the next few days are the days we need to start

preparing ourselves for Ramadan it's just over a month away it's that close let's not get taken by surprise let's all of us imagine Ramadan is around the corner now it is around the corner even to be honest last month when I heard the Ramadan was in May I'm saying in May Wow, that is just so close. So brothers and sisters let's make this the best Ramadan ever. Who knows? Maybe it will be our last Ramadan only Allah knows. Maybe we will not how many people Subhanallah last Ramadan was the last Ramadan. Maybe it is your last Ramadan. Why not make the intention right now, to make this the best Ramadan ever. For those of you brothers and sisters, please check out the course on mastery.

classes.com www. Mastery. classes.com There's a landing page where you can find out more details. I've got a couple of videos, you can watch at least subscribe to the mailing list in Sharla. Please don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. I really apologize. I said I was going to have some talks ready on or a talk on how to get Taqwa actually probably mentioned a lot of stuff already. But in sha Allah very soon. I will have those talks up on my YouTube channel. Don't forget to subscribe. This video is also up on the YouTube channel in Sharla. In HD Alhamdulillah brothers and sisters JazakAllah her for joining me. I will be with you again. If Allah gives me life if I am alive. Who

knows? Maybe this will be my last Facebook Live ever. I wanted to say by the way, thank you for joining me. I really look forward to this evening, Thursday night. I really look forward to it. It's one of the chances I have to share the little bit of knowledge that Allah spunda has given me with you. It's something that I feel really so blessed that you have joined me Alhamdulillah JSOC Aloka thank you so much for joining me please keep joining me I didn't even mention please share this. Please share this video as we always say sharing is caring if you haven't shared it already. I always say you never know that the person you may share it with it may change their life some

amazing thing may happen to them that may be the best Ramadan for them ever and you will share on the road for that just because you press that share button. And for those of you I know not all of you can catch this live you know may Allah bless you keep watching it keep sharing it that's it really for me brother and sisters I will as usual be going through your comments in sha Allah and replying to as many of them as I possibly can so Amir and serene and soul Tom and Idris desire Calaca all of you and Alhaji Aman Abdul and henbane and sorry, there's a few names that I got to read out tonight. May Allah bless all of you for joining me tonight on my Facebook and YouTube live

until next Thursday if Allah gives us life Zakka A salaam aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh and let's start preparing for Ramadan. Now