Why We Fast
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Channel: Bilal Philips
File Size: 29.84MB
Episode Notes
Islamic Lecture @ Bin Zaid Auditorium
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AI Generated Summary ©
The importance of fasting during Easter is discussed, as it is required for achieving spiritual transformation and achieving personal and mental health goals. The fasting culture is designed to motivate people to want to help others, and it is essential for achieving healthy lifestyles and achieving goals. The speaker emphasizes the importance of practice and adherence to laws and regulations, control and avoiding backbiting, and avoiding smoking and drinking before each day. The success of fasting is expected to lead to a normal and sustainable lifestyle, and online education is suggested as a way for students to become more knowledgeable and knowledgeable in their life.AI Generated Transcript ©
hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen
wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah al Karim?
Allah Allah was Hobie woman is standing ob suniti he Ryoma Deen all praises due to a law and laws Peace and blessings beyond the last prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and and all those who follow the path of righteousness until the last day.
The topic, why fast?
is one which addresses
the essence of fasting.
What is behind fasting?
Of course, the simple answer. If a Muslim is asked, Why do you fast, they will say, because
a law God commanded me to do so.
So that's the simple answer.
God has commanded it. So we do it.
But
when people are asking,
why do you fast? Why fast? Why put yourself through all those changes? starving yourself,
going thirsty?
prohibiting from yourself things which are in fact good things? Why go through all of that? Why would God have us do that?
Is it necessary?
Is it something necessary for God to worship us? that we have to suffer?
This is the question.
If God is a benevolent God, a good God?
Why would he require his
creation, to have to struggle like that?
To suffer like that.
For us,
as Muslims,
though, it is basically sufficient for us too fast, because God commanded us too fast.
At the same time, it is very important for us to understand why God prescribed fasting for us to understand it. Why? Because if we don't understand it,
and we cannot convey that understanding to our children, the next generation,
then they may find themselves confronted by
people from other backgrounds, etc, who would question them?
And
because they couldn't find answers for those questions, then you might find them giving up fast in
believing that we can worship God without having to fast
it's not a necessity.
So, that is why it is important
for our children who are raising on one hand,
to be able to comprehend to understand
what is behind fasting.
And also, on the other hand, for fasting, to be real.
For fasting to be real,
then we need to know what the actual goals of fasting are.
This falls under the general heading
which I talked about from time to time,
the heading of
living Islam,
Islam, the living faith, Islam, the way of life
every component of that way of life
has to be lived.
Fasting is just one component,
a component, which has to be a living act of worship,
an act of worship which is alive,
not a dead act, an act of ritual tradition.
But one which we partake in,
wherein we understand that those rites and rituals are there for us to achieve a greater goal.
A goal which is beyond the rites and rituals, the rites and rituals are a means
a vehicle, which would take us to the actual goals of fasting.
And when we look into the
Quranic
text, speaking about fasting, we see that Allah from the very beginning,
after describing the fact that fasting has been prescribed is obligatory for Muslims
quotevalet Museum,
that this obligation was not new.
It was an obligation placed on all of the prophets, and those who followed them before.
quotevalet maaseiah mahkamah kuchibhotla dinniman
as it was prescribed for those before,
we can still find in the scriptures of the Torah,
in spite of the changes which have taken place,
it's still recorded there. The prophets fasting, Prophet Moses fasted 40 days and 40 nights,
Prophet Jesus fasting 40 days and 40 nights, neither eating
food, nor drinking water.
It was prescribed before and actually, even if you look into the Hindu scriptures, you do find
a principle a principle Sanskrit principle of fasting called supervisor, or however it's pronounced them, saying it according to what's written in transliteration. Maybe it's a supervisor,
Allah knows best. Afterwards somebody who knows Sanskrit can tell me,
but anyway, the point is that it exists there even in Hinduism, and if you look into Buddhism, you look into all of the various religions, you find it there, fasting.
So, there is a purpose.
Usually, that purpose is focused on
atonement. People have committed certain sins or to the means of atonement to remove those sins
or you will find it
focused
on
Thanksgiving.
However, when we look at the Quranic text,
we find that a law God has stated right from the very beginning, the most important principle of fasting
in simple and clear terms,
Lancome
in order that you would develop
consciousness of God
that you would develop an awareness in your day to day life, in your life beyond that day of fasting
thing or that month of fasting,
you will be more conscious of God.
And of course, when you're more conscious of God,
then you are going to do more righteous deeds, you're going to be a better person
that goes hand in hand.
That is the driving force behind righteousness, true righteousness, righteousness, which is not with a hidden agenda, because of course, you have people who are righteous, but there's no consciousness of God at all. They're doing righteous things, because they want to get you trapped.
You owe them something, they have done you a favor, or they will give it to you if you do what they want you to do.
So you have that kind of righteousness also.
It's externally righteous. But internally, there is an agenda. They have certain things that they want to achieve. And in order to win over the people, they will use righteousness.
But the real and the true righteousness,
what they call altruistic, good,
good done for its sake,
has to be motivated by consciousness of God. Ultimately, that's what's behind it, the consciousness of God. And that is why Allah identifies right from the very beginning, the most important principle of fasting consciousness of God.
And it is true that consciousness, as we said that we become better people. So we have to ask ourselves
before the previous Ramadan, and after the previous Ramadan
was there a difference?
are we coming to a new Ramadan? The same way that we approach the previous Ramadan?
This is the question
we have to ask ourselves.
Because if we are coming into Ramadan, in the same way that we came into the previous Ramadan, then
it is not
what we are supposed to be doing.
The Ramadan that we're doing is not the Ramadan, which has been prescribed for us. We're doing another Ramadan, we're doing another kind of fasting a kind of fasting, which is not the one which was prescribed by God. It may be traditional, it may be customary, that this is what people traditionally do in our country. Everybody does this, I do it because everybody else does it. Yes. That may be the case. But to say this was the fast which was survived by God, if it doesn't have an impact on us, if we have not improved, if we are not better people, then we have to say fast is a failure.
Instead of fasting, we were feasting.
Instead of fasting. We were feasting. We spent most of our time
enjoying the wonderful dishes of Ramadan.
And this is what Ramadan tends to be noted for noted for the dishes. So the women spend most of the time just cooking Ramadan
know and we encourage them because we like those Ramadan, meals, Ramadan, sweets, things, so we encourage them. But this is not the goal of Ramadan.
This is how Ramadan has become corrupted. It has corrupted and corrupted into that. Like the Christians and Christmas you know our Christmas has become commercialized and corrupted in the same way.
Ramadan has become commercialized and corrupted.
So all the focus is on the foods of Ramadan.
We missed the goals of Ramadan.
So we ended up
on
10 kilos more than we were on the first day of Ramadan. You know, we have to spend the next year working off those 10 kilos,
only to come and do the same thing over again.
This is what we ended up doing. This is a ritual, ritual cycle.
And every time before the beginning of Ramadan, we have the doctor's recommendations in the newspapers, people watch out for overeating because during Ramadan, we have so many cases of people who are brought into the hospital, you know, with all kinds of disorders as a result of over eating.
This is supposed to be the month of fasting. And we have so many Muslims in the hospital suffering from overeating.
Because the whole purpose goal direction, essence, lost, lost. Why fast?
Why not feast?
Isn't it will feast.
So
if in fact, God consciousness is the goal, as a law has said,
and we are supposed to experience a change the month the days of Ramadan should be impacting on us.
We should be changing our behavior, changing our ways of thinking, where our behavior is not good. Our way of thinking is not good. We should be improving, we should be getting better.
We should be addressing the problems that we have.
So that's Ramadan, in fact, will be a month of purification because problems as Adam I'd said, you know, whoever
FOSS the month of Ramadan and doesn't have his or her sins removed, they have
thrown away a great good
This was an opportunity which they had which they did not apply as they should have
a great opportunity thrown away.
And there is no guarantee that we will make it to the Ramadan following it. This is the bottom line.
We are thinking well, we still have many more Ramadan to go but do we?
How many people make it to the next Ramadan? How many people make it to this Ramadan?
This is reality.
We're fooling ourselves. We think we have time and that's why the prophet may God's peace and blessings be upon warranty warned us about this issue of time think you have time.
He said there are two things about which people are deluded fool.
Nia mahtani Lagoon fee Makati Roman Alas, to bless blessings
as well for our good health
and spare time.
People are deluded. You think you have time but we don't have time. Time is with a law.
No one none of us knows if we will make it to tomorrow. We all assume we will and we work as if we will.
But reality is none of us really knows.
So it is incumbent on us this it is an obligation on us
to look at this fast which is coming up this month of Ramadan.
Look at it as we haven't looked at it before.
Look at it from a new perspective
to make Ramadan real
To make Ramadan, truly alive, bring it alive.
Take it from the feasting,
ritual tradition, to real fasting.
So we can experience for the first time,
the impact of faith on ourselves. Ramadan is supposed to be a month of rejuvenation,
charging our batteries for the coming year.
It should be something like that, that we come out strong.
We went in the air at past, we reach the lowest point and we rejuvenate and we come back out strong, stronger than we did
the year before, and stronger than we were when we went in.
So to achieve that, we need to keep in mind this principle of God consciousness on all levels of the fast and you know, of course, the fast has a variety of levels,
we could put them into as much as six different levels.
In the end,
they all come down to
realizing the principles of God consciousness in all aspects of the fast. So if we begin with the ritual level of the fast, the ritual is that according to the rules, we don't eat, drink or have sexual intercourse between dawn and sunset for those 29 or 30 days.
That's the ritual.
Now,
if we just
keep our Ramadan there,
again, the night we will feast,
we will enjoy. And we'll do exactly what it says, we will follow the letter of the law, we have will have fulfilled the letter of the law, no one can say you didn't fast according to
the Sharia.
But
the goal of the Sharia the goal of that act of fasting, you didn't catch
even on that level,
that ritual level.
If we are conscious
that
as we go into this fast following the ritual, we are in fact obeying a law.
So our focus is on obedience to a laws command.
Then that can have an impact on us that can have a spiritual impact on us consciousness of obeying a laws command.
Because that is the essence of the deen.
Islam is obedience, that is the essence of Islam, obeying a law.
It was the essence of Islam from the time of Adam,
when he was instructed not to eat from the tree It was about obeying a law.
And it is the same principle with regard to all of his lab. It is about obeying Allah. obedience.
And that is why worship is called a badass.
It's called a bad
a bad are taken from
the slave, the servant who has no choice, he or she has to obey the master.
So that essential principle is there.
And everything that we look at we should look at it from that perspective.
On that ritual level or from that which will level
we can shift to what may be called the physical level of
The past
the physical level of the fast
deals with
eating
in moderation, at the essence of it, that in this fast
there is a level that we should experience of hunger and thirst.
This physical level, we should feel hunger pangs,
pain which hits our stomach, thirst in our throats, we should experience it. If we're not experiencing it, then we're feasting. Simple. We're feasting. We're not fasting.
We're feasting, we're preparing for Sahar zohore is
variani
full fledged.
A full meal.
rice, chicken, mutton, you know, we all sit around, we knock it off, ready.
So what happens after that, then we go to sleep, whatever, our stomach is still, you know, breaking down the food
all day.
The whore assar.
Still digesting,
maybe about an hour before Maghreb or half an hour before mercury. The digestive process ends.
And now it's time to break the fast.
What fast?
What fast,
it's time to feast again.
And again,
we sit at the table, all the foods are all lined up. We're waiting for the than, you know, our mouth is watering.
And again, then goes and we just dive into it.
Two, three times.
So it's no wonder that we gained weight in Ramadan. It's no wonder.
Because the principles, the physical principles of moderation in the fast, are lost. We're not. We're not controlling ourselves in terms of our eating.
Because that physical level, when we experience the pangs of hunger and thirst is supposed to
give us a sense of realization, sympathy and empathy for those people in other parts of the world, or maybe in even our part of the world who are
suffering, hunger, suffering thirst, not because they chose to fast, because they have no food.
They have no food, no water to drink.
starving to death, people are dying in different parts of the world, as we sit here
every day.
That fast, when done in moderation is supposed to motivate us,
motivate us to want to help those people.
We can understand
what it is like to be hungry.
It's not quite the same as theirs because it's not going away for them. We know it's going to go away at the end of the day. So it's not quite the same, but there is some kind of commonality, we felt that hunger pain, but if you never feel the hunger pain, then how are you going to be motivated.
It's gonna be missing.
It's not gonna be there, or it's going to be weak, very weak.
So when we look at the Prophet sallallahu wasallam on the physical level of the fast, we have to fast as He fasted when he went into Soho, he was just eating, you know, some olives,
olive oil, some hobas
Something light.
That's it.
Okay. Have an egg.
slice of bread. Okay, not five eggs.
half a loaf of bread? No, no.
And then when you break the fast How did he break the fast
he broke the fast with a few days fresh or dried dates, and a glass of water. That's it.
He broke the fast that way when he went to pray, but we can't make it to the masjid.
We have to finish off this whole meal before we even think about going so they even delay, delay the Aqaba
knowing that this is what everybody does.
It's a shame.
It's a shame. Prophet Mohammed. Ahmed said
the worst container that a human being can fill is his or her stomach.
That's the worst container we can fill.
A few morsels of food to keep a person's back straight are sufficient.
You just have a few morsels, which are enough to keep you from being doubled over bent over in anger.
Whatever keeps you back straight to morsels. That's enough really. However, he went on to say, if
your desire overcomes you,
then eat a third.
Drink a third and leave a third for breathing.
That is the prophetic Sunnah
in
eating.
The early generation followed it. But the prophet SAW Salaam
predicted Sahih al Bukhari, he predicted that the time would come in which as he said, while her fee Mosimann and you will see amongst them
obesity,
the obese will appear among them.
That was something unknown, except for rare cases people had some, you know, biological disorders.
rare cases, the average person of that time, obesity did not exist.
But today, we know from about seven, eight years back, the UN announced for the first time in the history of humankind as they know it.
The number of obese people exceed the number of people who are starving to death.
For the first time
the prophet SAW Selim predicted that that would come 1400 years ago,
you will see amongst them the obese, there would be many
and he was talking about the Muslims.
He was talking primarily about the Muslim nation
which was supposed to be following his sunnah of moderation and eating, never feeling one stomach.
How many people here could say that I have gone through
the last week without ever feeling my stomach. Put your hand up.
See that?
Not a single hand.
So have we strayed,
Brahms wa sallam said the worst container we can feel is our stomach.
But that's what we do every day. We feel that the meal is complete when you're full, isn't it? You eat until
no more. Okay, stop. I can't take anymore. I'm full. That's what the feel. But that is against the way, the prophetic way. And most of the diseases Professor Solomon said most of the diseases comes through the stomach. The stomach is the root
of the things that we do.
into our bodies, etc, into our stomachs, etc, from there comes all of the problems.
And while on one hand, the physical level of the fast is supposed to
benefit us
in terms of our sympathy, our concern, our love for our fellow human being that we'd want to help them
at the same time,
the medical profession has identified a variety of benefits that come from the physical level of the fast
among them
is a feeling when one fast properly of course, is the point fasting properly.
A feeling of
well being that comes from the fast
is a product of the fact that when we fast, we stimulate the brain, the neurotransmitters in the brain
to create endorphins, the endorphins are what gives you this feeling of well being after you exercise is you get it there, when you exercise, you finish, and you feel good. That is a product of the endorphins which are produced similarly when you fast without all the exercise, it produces it also. And of course, they've shown that you know it, it breaks down it uses up the stored cholesterol, you know, we all know about the problems of cholesterol, checking our cholesterol levels and all these kind of things.
So it ultimately minimises the dangers of heart attacks. So there are major physical benefits that come out of that physical level.
However, as I said, what is most important
is that consciousness, that God consciousness that we can achieve on the physical level when we fast eating in moderation,
because that's what's gonna stop us from that tree course.
Right? What's going to stop us from a three course or it's the consciousness.
So if we apply that consciousness, we are aware of a law, that's going to affect the rest of the fast and when the time comes to break the fast again, the consciousness stops us from overeating, then it's going to have that further impact as not to say okay, after you finish praying, then you can go and eat but again, the point is eating in moderation.
And overeating, excess. It breeds
excess in other areas of our lives because we everything is interconnected.
So, wastage, which tends to come with it, the excess, you know, now we're living in a society where we have huge amounts of waste, produced by
excess.
Fasting in this way, with moderation should raise our level of consciousness of God of law
and
causes us to be aware of this excess and try to avoid it, try to encourage others to avoid stay away from the excess.
Fasting also has an emotional level, and a psychological level, the emotional level, where emotions like anger are supposed to be controlled.
You're not supposed to get angry while fast. It's not the same if you become angry or fast is invalidated. And that's not the case. But
you should avoid argumentation and things that are going to get you worked up.
The profits are so limited and if anybody tries to pick an argument with you tell them I'm fasting. That's your way out. Just tell them. Excuse me, sorry, I'm fasting.
I don't want to get involved in such arguments
that
restraint in the time of fasting, of course, once you get out of the fast, we finish Ramadan, and we have done that successfully, then
obviously that is going to have an impact in how we deal when we're not fasting.
It would be much easier for us then when situations arise to say, it's okay. You're right.
Accept no problem. Avoid argumentation.
Some people say well, no, it's good for you, you know, get in a good argument and let off steam and you know,
express yourself. Yeah, shout scream. Yeah.
Is the time that people said this was a good thing.
But a few years back, the scientist said, Actually, it's not a good thing. Because every time you get to that point where your veins are sticking out in your neck and your head, you're just
when you reach that point, what's happening is that blood vessels are bursting in your brain. That's what's happening. It's not good for you.
It's not good as they say, to get it off your chest. No, it's better for you to
eat it. Keep it inside.
See what's gonna come out another way, okay.
control how it comes out another way better than then letting it all hang out. Not good.
So argumentation.
Also,
the
backbiting
because this is what's happening all around us. Most of our conversations are about backbiting, especially from the female section. You know, we know
it's happening amongst the men too. But the women tend to be noted for it. When they get together, they've got to be talking about somebody,
you know, so and so. You see the way she was dressing? Did you see that? Did you this? Oh, yeah.
backbiting
the men, they tend to talk in an envious way. All the Simpsons was new car. Oh, man, I wish I had one like that. You know, it's more than
this kind of talk. When you were fasting. The professor Sam said that, if we can't give that up, then Allah has no reward for us.
In
our fast, and all we are experiencing from it is just hunger and thirst.
There's no real reward in it.
Yes, the obligation of fasting has been removed from us, but the reward that we're supposed to get out of it, the life changing, principles lost.
So we have to control
not just anger, which is like the excess, the extreme, but even the other things which are norm. We're in a habit of doing it. It's common.
But it's not good.
It's not good.
It doesn't make our lives any better. It only makes our lives worse. Because the more you are jealous of other people what they have and so on. So you become dissatisfied Why me? Why do I have this? Why don't I have like God, why do you always complain that you become a complainer that stress and comes along with it? Your life becomes miserable, wretched. That's why the Prophet said don't look at those people above you.
Don't look at the people above you. Look at those below you.
They are no no.
No matter how bad you think your situation is that I know and of people below you in worse situations. lets you look at them. You look at them you think ah
I'm not in that situation.
So the fast has to develop this kind of character, where we're not
focused in our conversations on backbiting and jealousy and envy and these kinds of emotions which are negative, destructive emotions, destructive for our own personalities, destructive for our families, destructive for our communities.
And the sixth level of fasting Of course, the last level is that of
the spiritual goals of the fast.
That was the consciousness that we spoke about avala
a consciousness, which Prophet Mohammed says Salaam put in the instruction, that whoever doesn't
make the intention for fasting
before fudger has no fast
you said that
somebody was no you make the intention, the beginning of Ramadan. That's it. You don't need to make it again.
As an opinion, some people say that, but what Prophet Mohammed Salim said and this hadith is in
Sahih
sunon Abu Dawood
right.
This Hadith is authentic.
The prophet SAW Salim said, Whoever does not intend to fast before fudger
will have no fast
every day
every day
Why? We could have just done it the first day Why can't we just go with that?
Why every day
so that each day of fasting, we are consciously making this decision. So we don't go on automatic You know, you're on automatic pilot, you just switch it into that gear and then you just flow through Ramadan
no consciousness, it's just everybody, you so routine, you get into it. It's just you know, you like non Muslims, or you just turn into night into the day
is all you doing? You eating all night, fasting all day.
Outside of Ramadan, you eat all day, you fast all night.
That's the difference.
That's how they perceive it. Because unfortunately, that's what we do.
That's what we actually are doing.
So it is essential for us if we can keep this principle alive every day before so sore when you want to take your sword before 5g.
So what is before 5g comes in.
We make the intention. There's nothing to be said no special thing. There's no special, as we say, making the intention, but it's just reflection.
I'm fasting.
What am I going to do today?
What are the principles of the files that I'm going to try to work on today?
Take each day separately, each day at a time. Have a plan for each day
of Ramadan.
If we have a plan, then we have a program that we can follow. But if we have no plan, we just hit it like we do every year. You know, as it comes, we just go with the flow.
Anyway.
Anyhow,
the end of Ramadan.
I did it again.
I blew my Ramadan. Maybe next year I'll try again.
So
we need to
put Ramadan in its proper context.
That it is in fact designed to change certain things about us about ourselves.
Things that we build up over the years.
Bad habits, bad practices, bad words, these bad deeds that we
have become habituated to where now it's habitual. We're doing it all the time. But we know it's not right. Ramadan is the chance to stop it, to clear it to correct it.
You know there's so many people who smoke and probably more people smoke in the Muslim world than anywhere else in the world.
Even
For us, it's hard.
Right? The rest of the world, they're just looking at the package where it says dangerous to health. They got pictures of black lungs and all kinds of things, okay enough, right?
But for us,
we got suckered in, we're just smoking like chimneys.
So
people, everybody knows, you shouldn't smoke during Ramadan, you never see anybody smoking
during the daylight hours, but as soon as the LAN goes, they break the fast way.
Breaking the fast with her arm.
So what's happening?
See the there is enough motivation, there was pressure from society, everything that they don't
smoke for that stretch of time outside of Ramadan, if you tried to get them to stop for those hours, cat
Chainsmokers and just one is burning. The next one is being lit up. You know, that's, that's life. But Ramadan, they actually stop.
But they don't take advantage of it. They don't really benefit from it. That's the ideal time for the smokers to quit.
Because you do it every day you quit every day for that period of time. Just gotta follow through. That's all when the time comes. Don't break your plasma, that cigarette, throw them away. Ramadan, you crush up all your boxes of cigarettes, get rid of them, you know, try to get through Ramadan without a single cigarette.
You do that? You passed it.
That's it. That's what they call cold turkey. Give it up one time. No nicotine patch you put on your arm still feeding you that nicotine, right? He's not smoking, but it's coming into your battery right? Now. This is just cold turkey. You're stopping dead.
This is the best way.
So
we need to relook at our Ramadan.
What are we doing?
Are we only fooling ourselves because surely we're not fooling Allah. Allah knows God knows what we're doing.
If the past is not in accordance with what he has prescribed, then we are only fooling ourselves. We are tricking ourselves.
We are harming ourselves. That is the bottom line.
So we have to decide.
We have to decide. here tonight, we have to decide that Ramadan coming we're going to make the proper Ramadan. We're going to fast as we have never fasted before.
We're going to make this coming Ramadan, real. If Allah blesses us to reach Ramadan,
then we're going to give thanks to Allah by fasting as we were supposed to fast.
And no doubt. No doubt. It is 110% sure that if we fast as we're supposed to fast,
there will be major changes in our lives after a MOBA.
major changes for the good?
No doubt in terms of law. Yes. This is the problem of civil law. You do it right. He's gonna help. So all the people who have issues problems, can find a job.
Do it right. And Allah wouldn't help you.
This is a lost promise.
And of course,
after Ramadan,
we all know there are six days in sha Allah were encouraged to fast
on the basis that the 30 days of Ramadan is equivalent to 300 days. Why?
Because one good deed is worth 10 as the law as said in the Koran.
So six more days gives us 60 then 360 that's the year. That's why I said fasting those six days
gives us the reward of fasting the whole year,
along with Ramadan gives us the reward of fasting the whole year. So we should try our best. Soon as we get past the IED knock off those six.
Try to keep them the same way we did Ramadan don't change the quality,
fasting quality fast.
And we have that reward. And outside of the six, the province I'll send them still gave us three days every month,
the three days of the full moon, not because we believe in werewolves.
We don't believe in werewolves. Right.
But because
those three days, the profits are seldom as prescribed for us, as the best days as a group in the month too fast.
We don't know the physical issues that are involved. Well, of course, the pull of the moon, on the earth, the tides, something happening there, maybe there's some benefit that comes out of fasting specifically on those days, Allah knows best.
But these are the recommended days, every month, three days.
And further.
He recommended Mondays and Thursdays every week,
Mondays and Thursdays every week.
So
if you add it all up,
you're getting to almost
more than a third between the third and half of the month. You fast. If you do it like this, thinking Mondays and Thursdays, three days of the full moon, you know, just make that a regular habit.
Mashallah.
That's fasting, a way of life.
That's what the prophets of Salaam was trying to get us into a mode, where fasting is a way of life. It's not just Ramadan. It is with us all the time.
Because everything that we stand to gain from Ramadan, we need it throughout our lives.
throughout the rest of the year, we needed those same principles, keeping them in tact, fasting, those extra days will just help to reinforce those principles of eating in moderation, controlling our emotions, controlling, being psychologically sound and how we deal with people, you know, all of these different things, compassion, looking out, helping people all of these different positive things which come from that consciousness of a lot. And our bodies taking part in the consciousness of a law where the fast touches our hands, our eyes, our ears, our mouths, our feet. Everything takes path parts in the fast trying to do what is pleasing to Allah obeying a law in all the areas
of our lives. So the fast ultimately,
the fast ultimately has us give up what is halal?
Because this was a question that the non Muslims raised at the very beginning we said, right? Why? Give up? What is halal? You're just hurting yourselves.
The point of giving up what is halal
abstaining from what is halal for that period of time
is to make it easier for us to abstain from what is haram.
The pressure, the force, which calls us to the haraam
is so great.
That
among the only things that can help us overcome its enticement, it's magnetic magnetism. draws us is fasting, abstaining from what is halaal
it's training
It is much easier to abstain from what is halal than abstaining from what is haram.
In Arabic, they say
that the forbidden
is desired
you know what is forbidden? Somebody says forbidden? Yeah, really?
Now you're interested, you didn't know you weren't interested. That's human nature like that.
So,
knowing that that is the factor,
then inshallah
I ask and hope that a law would help us to reach this Ramadan
and take it as we have never taken Ramadan before.
Knowing that Ramadan is there for us,
for us to make a change in our lives,
to turn our situations around.
Some people it's a great turn big change other people it's less it's very, each and every one of us has something there
it is there for us a laws prescribed it because each and every one of us has a need.
There is none of us that can say everything is perfect in my life. None of us
we all have imperfections. We're all committing sins.
All in need of repentance, we're all in need of purification.
Ramadan has been prescribed for us as it was prescribed for those who came before us.
So inshallah
I hope the point is clear.
Ramadan needs to be brought alive
as a life principle,
living Islam making Islam real.
Taking it from tradition custom rituals into a life giving principle, a life changing principle. This is Ramadan
May Allah accept it from all of us, blesses to reach it and to have many more Ramadan's but to make this one coming special
special so that all the other ones following it can be more special inshallah. Radical Africa.
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