Make Everyday of These Last 10 Days Count
Date:
Channel: Haifaa Younis
File Size: 24.84MB
Related
- Ahmed Hamed – Role Model Of All Times For Entire Humanity
- Ahsan Hanif – Signs Of An Accepted Ramadan
- Hatem al-Haj – Power of Dua
- Haifaa Younis – The Quran Has It All #19 Money
- Yahya Ibrahim – Soften your Heart – The Death of Rasul-ulAllah ﷺ
- Mohamad Baajour – 10 Maintenance Plan
- Hacene Chebbani – Fix Your Salah with the Prostration of Forgetfulness Q&A
AI Generated Summary ©
The importance of following the Islam-confirmed path and avoiding harms behavior is emphasized in a podcast on busier lifestyles. Personal growth and respecting people are also emphasized. The importance of staying realistic in worship and avoiding harms behavior is emphasized. It is also suggested to find a time that is meaningful for oneself and not wasting time. The importance of learning the Quran and not just reading it is emphasized.AI Generated Transcript ©
And welcome back to another episode of Voices
of the Valley, a podcast by the VRIC
Youth. Alhamdulillah, today, we have doctor Haifa Yunus,
the visiting scholar of Valley Ranch, our esteemed
guest.
Welcome, doctor Haifa.
So today's topic that we wanted to talk
about was the concept of Ramadan Muslim. You
know, a lot of people throw that term
around. We've heard some jokes the past few
weeks about if you're a regular at Isha,
you should get VIP parking. And people that
are just coming for Ramadan, you have to
park on the street. Oh.
Joking.
But, what is your thoughts on that term,
the Ramadan Muslim? What do you think of
that? A Ramadan Muslim Mhmm. Or the Muslim
in the Ramadan?
The Ramadan Muslim.
Or you could take it however English Yes.
Because I don't need anything to define Ramadan.
I need to define me in Ramadan. That's
why I call the Muslim in Ramadan.
I think we need to look at 2
things. What is Ramadan,
and what is a Muslim?
Basic. What is Ramadan? The origin, you know,
I'm sure you know, the the name Ramadan
is from or
which is
severe heat.
Or
the faint or a little bit of a
rain, the light rain that comes at the
end of the summer. And they say, what
it does, it actually makes the the, the
ground or the earth is cooler.
Yeah. And so everything comes and everything in
this in our has something to do with
the meaning of it. What it's what it's
supposed to do to me.
They said severe heat because of the heat.
Many
explanation, but the heat of the hard work
we do in Ramadan, the heat of fasting,
the heat of all the admonitions,
and all the lectures, and all the Quran,
what it does to us. And on the
other side, the rain that comes will make
this heat. See the opposite? The heat will
make it less. So it will make me
feel better. So that's Ramadan.
And, of course, all the hadiths we know
and all the you will hear it all
the time. Ramadan,
whomsoever
passed and
and prayed the night in Ramadan out of
faith and looking for the reward. Allah will
forgive
the,
all the sins. What I look at is
actually is the Muslim
because that's what we need to focus on.
Ramadan didn't change. Ramadan from that time till
now, it's the same. It's me, the Muslim.
I I asked myself, and I said, what
is your goal in Ramadan?
What do you wanna be? And don't tell
me I'm gonna fast. The billions will fast.
And don't tell me I'm gonna pray in
Masjid.
Many millions will do that. What is your
goal?
What are you gonna tell Allah before and
after? And see me, yeah, Allah, before and
after. I think whether it's a parking or
no parking, I'm coming walking, I'm coming flying,
is what is your relationship with Allah will
be? Where are you now?
Where do you want to be?
And what are you gonna do for to
get there? Goals.
I think we need to put 3 3
goals, general. And everyone do it according to
their
situation. You need to have a goal with
Allah.
Personal. You and him only.
You need to have a goal with the
with the people around you,
and you need to have a goal with
the with the earth and the creation of
Allah, outside people.
What are you gonna why are you gonna
what's your relationship with Allah? What do you
wanna be?
Real servant of Allah? Really? Really?
If you're gonna say yes, that's gonna be
a tough one. So you're gonna submit to
Allah from the beginning till the end. You
come, you came to the masjid, you came
1 hour before, and you have this beautiful
place in the front, and you were sitting
in just 5 minutes before tarawiyah. You had
to go to the
bathroom. Guess what? You come back.
Someone took your place.
What are you gonna do?
How are you gonna react?
Are you a servant of Allah?
Isn't that Allah made it happen? Are you
gonna say, or
you're gonna get upset and you start making
a fuss about it?
So, 1. Number 2 with people. Same example.
Are you gonna apply?
Nobody will reach the level of faith unless
you love to yourself. What you love for
the others? Okay. You want it to be
in the front that somebody came on it
to the front. Give it.
3rd, same example. And you came with your
bottle of water.
Are you gonna throw it in the masjid
when you leave? Half empty?
Is that what Ramadan?
So the 3 if we put 3 goals,
that will be the Muslim. I will I
will
I will reverse it. I will say the
Muslim in Ramadan.
And I'm gonna say, this is me in
Ramadan.
You Allah, make it happen. You Allah, keep
me going after.
Yes.
But I will say, if I am able
to do it for 30 days,
by his grace, I'm gonna continue. Because you
need 30 to 40 days
to have a habit, to continue
to become a natural thing for you. So,
it will be.
So one of the issues that youth bring
up is that they're a new type of
person in Ramadan. They feel as though they
have impostor syndrome. You know, a few days
before Ramadan, they were doing they were committing
certain sins or they weren't frequent in the
masjid, and now
they're leaving their sins behind and they're in
the masjid all the time. What do you
say to those youth that feel almost that
they're this isn't real? Or and how do
they sustain this good behavior outside of Ramadan?
Okay. I will I will say one thing.
I will say it's beautiful.
I don't want people to say, oh, I
see you only in Ramadan. Yeah. Alhamdulillah.
At least I'm coming in Ramadan.
I will because that's one way of shaitan
coming to me as a person who like
who usually comes to the masjid, and I'm
gonna talk to the people who I don't
see them, but in Ramadan
from a pedestal. That's arrogance. I'm sorry.
I'm gonna say, You Allah, see when you
care about people, the second goal. You Allah,
just like you brought them in Ramadan, keep
them coming.
That's number 1. Number 2,
Every child of Adam is sinner, and the
best among them are the ones who repent.
So when I look at somebody or he
or she comes to me, and or he
comes to me and says, you don't know
what I did before Ramadan. My answer is,
I don't care.
You know why? Because did you repent?
Sincerely.
If they repent sincerely,
and Ramadan was the catalyst, I call it,
the catalyst to make it easy, and you
were sincere in your repentance, you will change
after Ramadan.
If you are not,
you're just going to say, oh, it's Ramadan.
I cannot do that.
It's good,
but may not bring the fruit you want
to.
So Ramadan is absolutely a way to help
you change,
but it will not change you unless you
really want to change.
Let them come to the masjid, but
let them and I don't call it masjid.
You know what I call it?
House of
Allah. It's different. When I put my feet
in that,
it's not my house. It's not my, it's
his house.
I come respecting,
honoring,
having this awe inside me, see what he
will give me. I come casual
carrying my whatever with me, sitting in the
back looking at my iPhone, everything. He will
give you what you want.
That's so true.
I think a lot of youth
feel intimidated almost to come here and, you
know, you have the masjid aunties and the
masjid uncles that will constantly tell the youth,
you're making ruckus, you're making noise, you know,
stop. And sometimes they feel a little bit
discouraged. They feel as though that people are
looking down on them and people even make
comments to to the effect of, you know,
you're being a hypocrite right now. Don't forget
who you are. Let's look at your social
media, different things like this. How do you
respond to that? I
I,
I can see it from the two
sides, right, to be fair. Yeah.
If I am a person who always look
to the masjid as the person, the people
who come to the masjid is only angels.
Right?
Which 90% of the regular people who come
to the masjid are not I'm one of
them. We're not angels. But let's assume, meaning
they are really righteous people. May Allah make
us all righteous people. I can see what
they are seeing.
But also they are seeing it from one
side only. Why? Because if every uncle and
auntie
looked back at one point in their life,
some maybe from the youth, from their young
age,
majority, they were not there.
Majority, they didn't come to the Masjid when
they were 15 and 16. Majority, again, there
could be. Or the majority, they did not
wear hijab when they were 15 and 16.
So if I look at that person, and
I say, you know what? Just like Allah
guided me,
Allah will guide them if I am that
side. Now as a youth,
if I only change one thing,
is why I am coming to the Masjid?
Well, it's a beautiful place so I can
meet all my friends. Oh, they serve beautiful
shawarma or beautiful
then I'm getting what I am getting from
it, and then I don't blame that group
because I'm gonna act as if I am
in a cafeteria.
I'm gonna eat. I'm gonna drink. I'm gonna
have fun.
Can I do this in the way that
pleases Allah?
The answer is yes.
So what I
ask from the youth, definitely
come. The house of Allah is for everybody,
but
there is rules.
It's not my house. That's what I say
to people. If you invite me to your
home,
Okay? And you put a big sign at
the door, and you say, take your shoes,
please. And you said, please.
And I come, and I said, What is
that? No. I'm not convinced. Why do I
need to take a shoes off? And I
come. Will you let me in the first
time? You will, out of courtesy.
Will you invite me again?
No. You're Doctor. Haifa, of course. No.
No, you shouldn't. No. Because if I didn't
respect you, you shouldn't.
Right?
So how can I do this to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala? Right?
I'm coming to Allah's house. What, what is
the big deal? I say this to the
youth all the time. What is the big
deal if I came for 2 hours?
2 hours? 24?
2 hours,
Right? Come dress the way pleases Allah. Don't
dress please to please people. You come the
way dress that pleases Allah. I'm gonna try
as much as I can to focus the
way that pleases Allah. What is the big
deal? It's only 2 hours. Then you want
to have fun when you are done, which
a lot of us have a lot of
energy after.
SubhanAllah.
The the energy of spirituality, I call it.
Then, yeah. Go with your friends. But also
when you left
and wherever you are going, remember you're still
the Muslim in Ramadan. Yeah.
But there is a difference in the Muslim
in Ramadan inside the house of Allah versus
outside. So I shouldn't say don't come, but
I will say when you come,
remember where are you.
Yeah. No, of course. And one of the
questions that the youth ask is, you know,
we have all of these great habits that
we're forming in Ramadan, and we are essentially
the best versions of ourselves.
So
for our lifestyles,
school, work, everything,
this amount of worship is not necessarily realistic
for everybody all the time. So how do
you maintain that spiritual high throughout the rest
of the year? I love that because this
is a problem not only for the youth.
That's for everybody. I will say the following.
Put one
goal of worship,
one goal of worship. You have to be
very realistic.
Ramadan has this spiritual energy
that
none of us has. It's the same thing
when you when you go for umrah,
and you're so tired and you're all in
Hajj or and you say, I'm just gonna
go and do one tawaf. No, I'm so
tired. And then you say, come on, and
you came from the stage, just go. And
then you don't know how you are. The
moment you start the tawaf, you don't know
where the energy came from. You are exhausted.
And then when you finish tawaf, you're ready
to do another one.
Here you go. So the Ramavan gives the
energy because of the spiritual energy. Now don't
remember Shayatein are chained. Don't remember the barakah
of everybody. When you come to the Masjid
and see thousands.
But it's not realistic. I'm not gonna be
reading Quran as as frequent as I do
in Ramadan. I'm not gonna be doing this
amount of salah, let alone every day I'm
fasting.
What is the goal? That's what I kept
saying.
One good
act of worship, I am gonna add to
my daily life, and it's gonna be non
negotiable in Ramadan. Most of them that I
heard, I wanna make sure I pray 5
times a day
and 5 times a day on time, and
I'm nice to my parents.
If you can achieve this,
do it in Ramadan, ask Allah to help
you, read about the virtue of it, what
you are gonna get. You finish this and
you continue with this after Ramadan, you have
achieved a lot. Not everybody is gonna do
20 every day.
I mean, most of us don't do it
every single
day.
Every day, I'm gonna read a juz or
2 of the Quran. If you're not half
of the new, you're not very comfortable with
reading the Quran, Very few people.
But I will get one act of Ibad
in Ramadan.
That's I'm gonna ask Allah, beg Allah, cry
on the day night of Qadr when I'm
crying. I'm gonna say, Allah, keep me doing
it, and he will do. A lot of
my personal
extra acts of Ibarra was goals of Ramaba,
and it continued.
That's how you form habits. It's the boot
camp. Boot camp. Absolutely.
And when it comes to lesson nights, if
there's people that have very busy work schedules
or busy school schedules, I mean, you're a
gynecologist. I'm sure you understand the crazy workload.
How do you deal with that guilt of
not being able to give as much as
the people around you? A couple of things
before even I feel guilty. Number 1, I
tell everybody who works, take time off the
last 10 days nights of Ramallah.
Take it off. I mean, we all take
vacation.
Right? So if you take 1 week,
I will. If everybody wants, personally, you ask
me, I always took it off
when I finished residency. Before residency, I had
no choice, of course. Right? But once I
started working, my vacation is always I said
the last I said everything is negotiable. They
all they always know this. Everything is negotiable,
except the last 10 nights of Ramadan. This
is off because if I wanna really do
it the way I want to do it,
it's gonna be tough
with with work.
Let's say I can't do that. I can't
take time off. I'm I'm a mother of
3. I am a student.
High school or in college, what do I
do? What does what does he want me
in the last what is the spirit of
the last 10 nights of Ramadan? I think
that's people miss it, And even those who
come every night and do a tikar, they
miss it. What is then what is the
spirit of the last 10 nights of Ramadan?
I am gonna be
severing myself from dunya.
That's why there's a tikaf in it. And
what is tikaf? It's seclusion. Seclusion from what?
Seclusion from people. Seclusion from all distraction. So
here I am. Let's take a regular
college student. They have classes. They have classes
in the evening. They have classes in the
morning, and then there's probably tests and everything.
Okay. That's dunya.
But that's not dunya. That's Allah wants you
to do this because that's part of your
growth. As a Muslim, we need educated Muslim.
This is not gonna change.
Can I make this with all the struggle
and act of worship? The answer is yes.
By,
number 1,
don't disobey Allah.
Don't disobey Allah in there at all. I
am not gonna be doing what everybody else
is doing. It's the last 10 nights of
Ramallah.
I am not gonna saying what everybody else
is saying. I'm not gonna be watching what
everybody else is watching. It's the last 10
nights of Ramabah.
I will
sever,
pull myself out,
move myself out? Social media.
It's a huge problem.
I will say YouTube, yes,
but you watch only, like, definitely I have
one coming in in in Ramadan. I know
Sheikh Omar does one in Ramadan. If you're
gonna watch only that one, that's fine.
Even better, we can we will send it
to you in in the email, in the
newsletter daily.
So you don't have to go and check
the YouTube. But
why do I have to have TikTok every
day in the last 10 nights of Ramadan?
What is TikTok is gonna give me?
No.
Why do I have to check my Instagram
5, 6 times a day in the last
10 nights of Ramadan?
The last 10 days of Ramadan for those
who cannot really cut a lot of their
time,
it will be taghliya, we call it. In
in in spirituality,
there is 2 concepts. Like, one concept called
takhliya, you empty, you clean, and the other
one is takhliya,
you beautify, you you add sweets.
The add addition of sweets has to come
with the after this. It's like infected wound.
Unless you remove the pus, it's not gonna
heal and you can put to the medicine.
So if I cannot
do both
in this day and age, especially youth, you
need this. There's a lot of poisons we
are faced. We don't even know it's a
poison, but it's poisoning us, poisoning our thoughts,
poisoning our hearts, poisoning
our humanity.
If I can work on this,
again, I'll put 5 spiritual goals for the
lasting
nights of 10 days of Ramadan. Let's sit
on the nights.
Don't waste.
I don't have to stop
going to college. Don't waste
at all. I'm gonna put whatever in my
food for iftar, I'm gonna eat it. Well,
I don't like it. I'm gonna eat it.
It's the last 10 nights of Ramadan. Let
alone it should be all Ramadan.
2nd, all my salah on time.
I people say I don't have time. I
said, please forgive me.
Don't you go to the bathroom?
Right?
You have to. And nobody will tell you
no. Look at it this way. You have
to.
I need to relieve my spirit.
And I'm not gonna say go and do
30 minutes salah all the sunnahs. If you
really cannot, then you're salah on time.
It is like you have to go to
exam on time. That's number 2. And number
3,
add more to your relationship personal with Allah.
Add more Quran.
Read the Quran. You're driving. Listen.
Instead of talking to people or checking greed,
I can't do I can't come to the
masjid every night because whatever the reason,
2 extra rakat alone with Allah. Open the
mushaft
to in your room, look at the corner.
Open the mushaft. Read from it
and feel
it. Then you have done a lot. The
last but not the least, one negative
in you,
any character or negative habit that you will
change. If you can do that, you still
can go to college. You still can study.
You still can do everything.
And don't don't and I will say this,
don't think.
And those who spend all day and night
in the masjid are better than you.
Allah only knows because I don't know the.
I don't know how they will do it
because they will be asked more than you.
When I have the 10 days off, and
I'm not working, I have somebody who take
is taking care of me. Am I gonna
be the same that the woman who's running
around with 4 kids
and everything is going the norm, and then
I have to be also spiritual? Her with
all the struggle, way better than 10 of
mine. I'm in the masjid and the comfort.
So let's not look at people, what they
do externally. It's internally is the most important.
And whatever Allah allows you.
Anything you do with a lot of struggle
is actually even more reward than when you
are in comfort
zone. I think that's so important. A lot
of youth, they get stuck on,
the lack of time that they have in
these things, but they don't realize that, you
know, Allah will put their time, and he'll
help them through that. You know, as simple
as you come to the masjid and you
find somebody, may Allah forgive us all. Put
the shoes not in the right place. Just
take one second. Yes. It's not my shoes.
Yes. I'm not gonna correct the world. But
I want my reward. I'm gonna pick it
up, and I'm gonna put it in the
right place.
This will suffice if you did it for
the right Miya, and you had to leave
before the end of Tarawik because you have
things to do tomorrow, and you can't be
that late. You have just done something. 90%
of the people in the Masjid didn't do
it. You did it.
That's the most genuine deed. Yeah. Exactly. Taking
doing it for Allah. Anything that pleases Allah,
don't belittle it.
Don't belittle any good deed. Don't think it's
only salah and salaam. I tell people you
have made Islam so narrow.
SubhanAllah, what about people who cannot stand for
a long time? They cannot read Quran. They
can't they don't they don't see
they're so
is a huge
opportunity, huge options. Pick up the options, not
the easiest one,
the one that is feasible for you with
your circumstances.
So
these last time nights are here, and a
lot of us are, like, gearing up on
our spirituality and we're doing a lot more.
But at the beginning of Ramadan, a lot
of people ask this question is, what is
better? Is it better for me to connect
more with Quran on a level that I
can that's more meaningful for me or to
actually do a khatma?
For our youth that have never maybe done
one before, what do you recommend?
I recommend whoever's gonna get closer to Allah
I will put, let's say, a 1 hour
on the day for Quran. Number 1, you
have to really allocate time for the Quran.
Don't make it just whenever, because whenever will
never be.
Right? So I'm gonna say, you know what?
Let me look at my schedule. You have
to be very organized and all that. Let's
look at my schedule. In the morning, it's
very difficult. I'm running around. Go before I
go to bed, bed, normally, I have time.
I have the 30 minutes or 45 minutes
or after
or after.
Everybody is different.
That or this 45 minutes or 1 hour
should never change,
should never be compromised. Look at it as
you are breathing the air.
And that will be the Quran time.
I call it again to be to feel
it. I will call it my time with
the words of Allah. Don't say Quran. Say
the words of Allah. It makes you feel
different.
Now
in this 45 minutes or 1 hour, how
much I can read? People are different. Some
people will will be able to read barely
one page.
As long as I'm really using all the
45 minutes.
I'm not like no phone next to me,
no talking or texting in between. It's like
I'm talking to you.
Think of it this way. I'm talking to
you right now and then suddenly, I go
and start texting and I'm talking. How do
you feel?
You're ignoring me. Absolutely.
And I and you are not important. Right?
I'm giving you the message. This is more
important. Imagine this is the words of Allah.
So you turn it off,
and you start your 45 minutes or hour
time yourself and start with the Quran. Whether
you will wanna read 1 verse
and with all the commentary on it, and
you start crying after reading 1 verse, that's
a lot of khair. Verses, I wanna finally
in my life, I wanna read all the
the these words of Allah, so I'm gonna
do everyday juz. It's gonna take me 1
hour. Let it be. That's also
khair. The sunnah is Rasool alaihi salatu wasallam
reviewed the Quran every year with Jibreel once
except the last year when he passed away
He did it twice.
But that is not something obligatory. I'm not
gonna be punished if I didn't do it.
What is my ability
with true ability? I'm not being lazy. I'm
not being procrast I'm not procrastinating.
I am being realistic.
Do what will get you closer to Allah.
One of
the things I have done, especially when
in my residency and afterward, is I used
to try to read that juz
from that the imam will read.
And then when you come and listen to
the Tarawiyyah, it's not gonna be something completely
strange.
Right? You've read it. Of course, if you
know the Arabi, that's alhamdulillah, but even if
you didn't, it's going to be some
And as you are driving, going, whatever,
keep listening to the same Jews.
So in the day,
reality, if you read 1,
listen to 1
yourself, listened to 1 in Tarawiya, you've done
3 khatmas.
Right? Khatma in listening,
khatma in reading, and khatma
in behind the imam, which is usually
you will focus
more than when you listen. Alhamdulillah rabbani. But
I wouldn't focus on, oh, I didn't do
khutma in the Quran.' And I say, why
is that? Okay.
Did you understand one page in this Ramadan?'
They said, yes,
Hamdulillah. Hamdulillah. So allocate time, not amount.
Time is the most important. I think a
lot of youth get stuck on just the
amounts and all of that, and they feel
intimidated. Some of our audience struggles with reading
the Quran and understanding it. Do you think
that just reading the English is sufficient for
them if that's how they connect?
I will I will recommend reading the transliteration.
Yeah. Yeah. Because the transliteration
will count as you're reading the Quran. If
you read the translation,
you should, because then you will understand what
Allah is saying to you, but you are
not reading the words of Allah. Transliteration,
you're reading the words of Allah.
And then if you can give our audience
one piece of advice before you log off,
what do you say? I will say think.
May Allah give us all long life. And
imagine, when when I was coming to the
class today, Allah sent me a note
saying, tell all the youth,
give me one du'a in Ramadan,
and I will give
it. What du'a you will do? I will
say the following to everybody, not only to
the youth. Think of it. This is the
last Ramadan you will you will have. That's
it.
There's people who are 20 died, or people
who are 80 died, or people Allah the
age is not the guarantee
I am living.
If this is the if
Allah sent me a note saying, This is
your last Ramadan. That's it. Day of Eid,
you're coming back to me. How you will
do in this Ramadan?
That's it.
You're gonna look at it very different. You're
gonna take it seriously.
You are gonna be focused.
You will not waste a minute.
That's how that's how you should every Ramadan
in fact, every day should be like this.
But definitely for Ramadan, it should be like
that. Just like a little bit of a
rainbow. May Allah give us life to live.
Allama balayrna Ramadan. And may Allah make it
the best Ramadan for everyone.
Everybody listening to us, everybody will listen to
all need this spiritual push to keep going.
all need this spiritual push to keep going.