Haleh Banani – A Mindful Ramadan 2024 – Motivational Webinar
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The speakers emphasize the importance of mindfulness and transformation in achieving success in life, emphasizing the need for deeds and values to avoid harms. They stress the importance of creating character checklists and finding one's own values to transform and bring others into experiences. The struggles of Muslims with mental health and the importance of inspiring stories and bringing them to enroll in Islam are discussed, emphasizing the importance of fasting, controlling one's tongue, and visualizing one's best versions of oneself in the future to help achieve success.
AI: Summary ©
tivicay si comme le come with Santa Clara Hotel La How are you, brother?
I'm the left Mr. Hall. It's a beautiful day hamdulillah it
looks like the last step, Siobhan perhaps right? Yes, Masha, Allah.
You know, it's funny because someone this morning was asking me, she was like, are you ready for a marathon? I said, Oh, yeah, sure, because we've been preparing for this for six months now. So alhamdulillah which is a blessing, right? Because when you are planning a program, you're constantly thinking about it. And it makes you ready. So and hamdulillah al Amin Salam aleikum, everyone.
Yes, I can have everybody Welcome. Welcome. It's such an honor to have everybody from around the world. Yes, Masha, Allah, just let us know where are you? Where are you tuning in from? And how did you hear about this webinar? And we are we have a lot to share with you in sha Allah Bismillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah.
So when she gets started, yes, yes, yes. Okay. Bismillah. So this year, yeah, we started with mindful Ramadan from 2020. And this year, we're so blessed to have a brother with dude Hassan joining us. And what's really fascinating as you were doing mindful Ramadan, we're like, on the same page as far as our, our focus, and what we're very excited about sharing so it's nice to synergize like this and hamdulillah Yeah, and you know, 2020 was the one then when we actually started our mindfulness masterclass and
locked down and we were thinking, you know, how do we like we wanted to teach about mindfulness and then it was in the middle of COVID right and we were just like, oh goodness, how do we create this? What do we tell people? How do they live? It's a completely different type of Ramadan that year right? Absolutely. That was the year that I think we talked about like this mindful Ramadan about becoming more hey, you may not be able to do a lot more interesting thing between the massage and then going out and all that but you might be able to really transform who you are Ramadan because you have now opportunity to work on yourselves how did that feel that 2020 Ramadan I loved it. I
loved it and I did my mind for Ramadan for the same reasons I felt that we need to just boost the morale and it actually I felt that we were more focused that Ramadan because you didn't have the distractions of all the stars and the events and the fundraisers it was all about you Allah and the family so mashallah was welcome Sister to head off from UAE and we have sister Zane of you're from Nigeria much the low grade you're on mindful hearts. Good to have you here. And we have sister Fatima
and sister Zaina up and sister from Biet from the UK. You're very welcome to be here. Mashallah. So brother, brother would do it. I think that people get very confused about what is what is mindfulness? What what do we mean by having a mindful Ramadan? Because sometimes, it seems that it's like something mystical or something about meditation. But we want to really clarify first and foremost, what mindfulness means and what what we're referring to and how this is going to be actually the thing that transforms you this Ramadan if you have mindfulness. Yes, yes. Hamdulillah. Beautiful, beautiful to see myself people joining in. I'm looking at my other screen where
everybody's joining in here myself. Yes, yes. I see. I see one of my team members here. Okay. Michelle, beautiful. Welcome, everybody. Welcome.
Suzanne everybody, welcome.
It's beautiful to see everybody here. Michelle. So yeah, so how sister how they so in terms of mindfulness, right, yeah, you're right. People think it's kind of like this. What is this mindfulness thing? It's magical mystical, this this term about? So yeah, I think that as a Muslim, as
the mindfulness science, it's about how to not get carried away, how to be aware of what's happening in our in ourselves, developing deeper self awareness, becoming more emotionally intelligent, and becoming more present. And, you know, there's this whole research that emerged, like if you type mindfulness in PubMed, which is like the Research website, you will see 1000s and 1000s of you know, brain labs and neuroscientists studying the impact of illness on like, how does it impact your mental health and emotional wellness and my gratitude and to the point of pain and depression and so many different things and what we
see is that the beauty of that, you know, the beauty of this mindfulness concept that when we look into it, and we see, oh, they're finding all these unlocking of benefits by being present and learning to meditate and learning to really come and train your brain. And we as as Muslims already have these things in everything we do. And mindfulness for us starts at like lack of a coin, which is like,
how do you have mindfulness consciousness awareness of God? I love at how whenever there's some new discoveries, we can trace it back to our Islamic tradition. Right? So the concept is moto Baba, right? We have the maraca. But the watchfulness, the vigilance, and the simple terms of being mindful, is being present, you're here, you're immersed, and you're not distracted. And when you're watching your back, the only way we can improve yourself is when you are aware of your thoughts, your emotions and your actions. Yeah, so this is one of my books that I always keep handy on my right numbers at least eatable Murata maraca well Maha Sabha
so
beautiful book and he mentioned a scholar and he says that my my scholar he is reflecting on Allah's Name Agra theme, and he's reflecting and saying a rocky cannula Harlequin Xiang, Rocky, but Allah is always in watch watching over his slaves and servants.
And he said, If my Lord, if my Lord is watching over me all the time, why should I not be also, you know, be grateful to be in that state of watchfulness?
Lord, so replicating kind of like if Allah is watching over us, how can also we've also been in that state of being watchful, yes. And it really changes things, right. And I want all of you to be able to relate to this, the mindfulness, it's kind of like when there's surveillance cameras, now we can't go anywhere without a surveillance camera, right. And you see that, let's say you're passing the toll, and there's a camera. And if you do the wrong thing, you're gonna get that picture taken, you're gonna get the ticket, there are consequences, right? And so you're going to be much more vigilant in in a situation like that, because you realize that there's accountability. And that is
where we need to be sometimes people can be aware of a love out of their love for Allah. And then other times, there needs to be that consciousness that there is consequences for our behavior. So if we can develop that and realize that everything we do everything we say, behind closed doors, because sometimes people are really good at the masjid, I work with their friends. And then they come home and it's like, you know, they, they just flip. I had one brother who came to one of my sessions, a client, and he goes, Sister, he was very honest with himself, which was good. He had self awareness. So he said, Sister, I am Jekyll and Hyde. I go to the masjid five times a day,
everyone loves me, but at home, I'm a monster. And
at least he had the self awareness right there.
Yeah, no, no, this is what I'm one of my teachers used to say, you know, it's like, you're you you go you, you take your clothes, when you are flat, takes its clothes off and you enter your home, you know, like,
students and he said, How come he like doesn't have beautify itself with a beautiful dress you're wearing outside inside the home as well. Yeah. Beautiful. Think about you know, like,
it really is. And I have sometimes people will say things such as, you know, I wish I was my my spouse's friend, because when they're on the phone, they are so pleasant, and they're so kind, and they don't even smile at me. So this Ramadan, what we are really striving to do is to get us to have that mindfulness all the time know that Allah is watching us, inside our home, when we're in arguments when we're dealing with our spouse, and that's, that's what's going to really transform us. And it's not like just going through the motions, right? If we go through the motions without contemplating like, what is the point of it like what is the wisdom of having this?
Having all the Sebata we have to know that the vine wisdom of doing that? I'll say see that oh, yeah. So you know, this Ramadan about transformation and this Ramadan about that mindfulness? You know, I think that's really important to kind of ask ourselves this question because this is exactly what we're training this Ramadan like you talked about our whole life and
Then in our life in private and our character in private, because when we think about Ramadan and fasting, when you're fasting all day, what are you actually doing? This is something that I asked people, what are you actually doing? And they're like, just the fasting itself, nothing else. After fasting, what are you doing all day? And if they think about it, like we're actually like, it's not about doing it's fun not doing, you know,
not
just not doing anything. And and how can how is that so? So it's so pleasant, so beloved to Allah if you're not doing anything. And this is this is basically one of those lessons of how to not do but be clear. We're not in a state of doing, we're in a state of being.
Could you expand on that expand on that? Because some people may say, What do you mean, by state of being? Yeah, the state of being we're in a state of with boys, that boy, you know, we call it a word state of just preventing and protecting ourselves from doing anything that will break our fast and that will take away from Allah and our best selves are just in that state. We're just in that state of awareness that I'm going to be aware of not doing something that Allah is prohibited from me to do. And I'm going to do what only what Allah has allowed me to do. You're just getting in that state of awareness of Eleni heart all day, you just say to me, that's it. I love how Allah trains us to
have this awareness because, as, as you and I both know that, that is the first step to any kind of transformation, right? When someone is an addict, and they want to overcome their addiction, they have to first admit it, right? A lot of people live in denial, they don't want to admit they have a problem. So Allah is training us to be hyper vigilant, right? We have to be hyper vigilant. And when we have that sense of awareness, that's when we can change because really, if we think about it, does Allah need us to not eat and drink? Does he need us to go up and down in our prayers? There's nothing that add or decreases from Allah with our behavior, a lot out of his infinite wisdom and His
love for us, wants us to do these things so that that we can transform so what is mindful? What is mindful Ramadan? And what is it not? Brother would do I know you had a great presentation on this and I would love for everyone to hear what
my students see i Sister Rukhsana I see all Medora from Nigeria I see so my mindfulness, mashallah
welcome everybody. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome
to see my YouTube, you know, like comments.
Yeah, so what's mindful Ramadan and what it is not? Right. That's a really, really, really good question. And we wrote a little bit about this, I think in 2020, about what is mindful Ramadan and what is not mindful Ramadan, you know, we made a list and mindful Ramadan is not just adding a lot of good deeds without mending your relationship with Allah and His creation. Ah, that's that is something to reflect on. So it's not just doing the deed, but connecting with a lot better. Yeah, and you know, it's beautiful that Shavon Shavon, the Hadees that we learn about that this for sha Allah is preparing us for Ramadan. He's basically the half of Siobhan Allah looks at his slaves, and
Allah forgives everyone except those who has malice in their heart.
People have Iman, they're forgiven if they don't have Schick and if they don't have malice, so we're basically we're rectifying our relationship with God and relationship with people before we enter Ramadan. Wow. And that's so necessary because if you have hatred in your heart, if you have any kind of problem that distracts you, you can't focus really.
Rubina vilda Lilina Amana so this is such a beautiful to Allah, remove that remove the hatred, the books, the ill feelings in my heart, you know, from others and forgiving everybody before him and then rectifying mending those relationships because our teachers they teach us that if our if we don't have good goodness in our heart for Allah, and goodness was not done
for people.
It'd be difficult for us to progress in spiritually to Allah. Absolutely. And just for your own peacefulness, if you're always assuming the worst of Allah like, although he's punishing me Oh, he doesn't love me. Oh, he wants to throw me in the hellfire. When you have that. And you think the worst of other people. You are in a state of turmoil. It's like constant anxiety. Allah may Allah grant us that you know like that contentment, you know, like we're, we're content in always just expecting the best from Allah being being happy.
Be in content like you know, like, like it's, you know, one of the scholars says that Allah does not love is not asking you tomorrow's deed. So why are you asking about tomorrow's provision? Just be content with and Allah will give you what you need tomorrow mashallah, mashallah, you know, being like that bird, the bird that flies out, and the rest is great and it will get what it needs and in sha Allah may Allah provide for all our brothers and sisters throughout the world, especially this Ramadan who, you know, they are really struggling and suffering to provide for all of them, so that they can have that Sakina as well and short long. I mean, I mean, I mean, I just see Mashallah. Our
Cape Town folks joining in this
is a social worker. She's joining myself from Cape Town and she was our emcee for the benefit.
My salah, welcome to have you here. And I see sister Helene mashallah from Mindful hearts. And Suzanne, nice to have you my sha Allah. So what about like, what is like, what is not mindful of mindful Ramadan? What is it that we're not emphasizing? You know, this is I think this this first thing that we talked about is like what the scholars say that if you have filth on your in your dress, you don't you don't put perfume on you. First of
all, hard thing ourselves, cleansing our bad habits before we enter Ramadan, so we can beautify them, and perfume and everything makes sense. So that's one thing. The second thing is primarily being concerned about just the quantities, you know, like the checklist, the quantity is important, you know, we're not saying don't do quantity, you have to have certain there's certain pages certain job, that's important. You have to have those goals and you try working, you know, creating your good habits. But we're saying that, how do we also make sure that it is in balance so that we have a quality and the experience? Yes. And you know, I want people to continue, as you said, with their
checklist, because we do need to check. But what I want to do is tell people to add another checklist. Okay, so we got the checklist, who do the rituals, the things we're going to do, but I also want like a character checklist, right? This is about how I'm going to improve as a person, how am I going to deal with people and just look at your own shortcomings, and recognize what we need to what we need to change and that in sha Allah, I love that. I love that about the character. You know, this is the first year I've heard Sheikh Omar, I'm not sure if I've heard him before. But Sheikh Omar decir talked about like creating like five lists, and I'm not sure if I remember all
five, but he was saying a quality.
And the quantity list and I'm like, This is awesome. Because, you know, like we're talking about this for the last four or five years, like how can you just focus on the quality? And I know that our scholars have always emphasized it, but this year, who specifically mentioned that as a separate list, I love your your thing right now. But yeah, let's get your character list. Wow. Right? I feel like 100 Like each year brother would do it. Our scholars are really embracing a lot of the concepts that you know, from a mental health perspective, as far as, you know, really being able to be more balanced. Not to be anxiety provoking, because in a lot of times, there's this like, if you're able
to it's not perfect, and then your prayers going to be not accepted. And then you're going to the hellfire and people who have let's say a tendency for OCD, then they may even stop praying, right? So I feel like they're becoming so much more Alhamdulillah enlightened. And they are really combining a lot of the psychological principles, which is it's beautiful to see and hamdulillah and it's beautiful that you know, no matter the scholars like our teachers and scholars like especially you know, people ask me like I was in Cape Town like what is it about Dallas or what's it What's it about you know, why so many scholars so many Institute's so many beautiful things happening right
here in Dallas and
it's a blessing you know, I remember I wouldn't just say make a short though offer my email my teacher email me subsea Qaddafi was a resident scholar in Dallas for several decades. And His thing was, how to support everyone and every organization, every med student, bring everyone together and all the Imams coming together and having this unity and this unity we have off like there might have different teachers different motherhood. No, but the rest says different universities but they have this sense of love and respect and for each other and the differences of opinions. I feel that that has really helped us grow as as people that are taking into lots of different things that our
communities into consideration. I agree. I agree when we first came here because I lived in Houston before and that was my hometown. And when I came here and I saw the fun
racist and mashallah so many massages were being filled at the same time and you'd go to one method and then the other method was donating mashallah 5000 10,000 And everyone was doing that for each other and I said, you know, this is this is the way it should be mashallah, something I wanted to bring up is, you know, the certain words that buzzwords that may not be very clear to everyone. What is most most Maha Maha Sabha right, the MaHA Sabha is being able to self reflect. If we don't reflect on ourself, if we don't know our thoughts, our feelings, our behavior, then there's no way of purifying it. So that's something we're doing to the Moraga, right? We're doing the Morava is the
watchfulness we're going to be aware. And then the MaHA Sangha is also like, kind of calculating, you know, it's like a business person who ended the day. Okay, what are the, you know, what are the profits? And then what are the losses, and sometimes we have a lot of profits, and we've done a lot of good deeds, and then other times, the day is maybe filled with a lot of losses. So just doing that on a daily basis really will help us inshallah. Yeah, I mean, something that I'd really recommend is, you know, the other the Allama will call them, you know, Allah has a lot of thought you buy the pen, always keep like a pen and a journal, like always have a journal with you always
have a pen with you. And sometimes when you have like these thoughts or reflection, write it down. And if you're not able to do it, throughout the day, at least tried to do like a short, you know, like one or two or three bullets on what are you really grateful for today? How did you go? What are some things you want to make intentions for? So just finding your focus, and even if it's just one thing, or up to three things, not too many things, but something that makes you kind of take that account of how to do when haven't done
it? Here's some things I want to work on tomorrow. And just that shift, just that awareness? Yeah. Huge. There's something very powerful and magical and transformative about writing it down. So many times I've had until I got into this habit very early on, like for middle school, every time like I would just write my goals. And it just kept developing. And anytime I wrote it, it seemed like something maybe unattainable. But as you're writing it, it's like you put your brain on that the RAS, the reticular activating system is set on I got to achieve this. And it will find ways to help you get there. And I want everyone to stay till the end because we have a very important
announcement regarding our Ramadan series. I don't want anyone to miss out on that. That's going to be
should we talk about it a little bit while we have everyone online and make sure that
you're tuning into that? Yeah, I just wanted to call out a few more people that I see Safira from Johannesburg, Michela Oh, nine burner alumna and sister Xena Parker, you know, everybody everybody should know about her work. She's doing some beautiful work in Cape Town. It's called warriors of Pope she's a chaplain that's literally being there in the side of the grieving families as they're using their children and
that I have observed and watched while I was in Cape Town so really want to welcome orders of Masha Allah, Masha Allah, may Allah reward you, you know, it takes a very special person to be there for individuals at that at that critical time in their lives. Mashallah.
Alhamdulillah so you're talking about our mindful Ramadan series? Wow, I am so grateful to have this partnership to meet so many people, you know, Hamdulillah you know, they're the guests that I was able to bring in and they're so beautiful. I met through your team and
blessing to meet and listen to them. I was just every interview I came out on like, Al Hamdulillah Allah who helped me reflect and connect with such beautiful people. Absolutely. Mashallah, you know, what? Well, it's called, you know, transformed by the light. And we're, we are interviewing at all of these inspirational conference. These are people who are much like they're famous. They've changed not only themselves, but they're changing the world. And every interview has been so enriching. I mean, yesterday after the interview, I was so elated and I was just like, oh my god, I'm so pumped. So we're excited to tell you about this. And, and we will, you know, we'll we'll
continue with our webinar. I don't want anyone to miss out it's going to be Mondays and Wednesdays are the the release of these videos, these interviews we've done? And then on Thursday, we're gonna get together like we're doing today and reflect on it. Take the lessons and apply it in our life, right? Because a lot of times people will just say, Sister Be patient, but you don't know that how we're going to tell you the step by step in sha Allah
Yeah, yeah and do ask the questions like I see some questions coming in here as well do do ask the ask the questions you know and we can have those conversation and kind of be as a community like you know, just that just a couple of hours listening to someone that has really transformed you know, after they came to Islam and not just didn't just transform they're transforming others global Yeah. Unbelievable. Each of their work in their different field and what they've done and everything they're doing is from from the principles of EMA and principles that are deep Yeah. Beautiful to see people succeed and do beautiful things in this world that are rooted rooted in our in the teachings
and the principles of for the day I really converts really inspire me because they were actually the the group of people that woke me up and made me realize there's so much more work I need to do on myself. So it is it is a definitely inspiring series to see how does someone go from atheism to being a one Nakaba How does someone go from you know, living a decadent life maybe being on in gangs and, and living it up and thinking that life is all about the superficial things and then is now one of the biggest Dawa mashallah die in, in the world. So it's like, it's just, it's gonna really blow you away in sha Allah. So yeah, it's beautiful, beautiful, too. And, you know, the, the company we
keep right, yesterday's lesson, one of the lessons that company we keep, and when you surround yourself with these role models, yeah, you start visualizing your best self. And you start thinking about, Oh, my goodness, how do I, you know, how do I also unlock my potential? Yeah, download my book potential. That's so critical, because we are the average the sum average of the five people we spend the most time with, and when we even if it's virtually we connect with people, and you are in a group of like minded individual, like we have, like in our mentorship program, like everyone is like minded, you feel that sense of support, you don't feel like you're alone. And, and so that's
going to be really critical. This Ramadan, we're going to get together, we're going to kind of regroup every like, you know, three times a week, Mashallah. And, and one of the reasons it, maybe we should just reflect on this, why we chose converts, why, you know, I just, I felt that they tried, we're talking about transforming, and they've transformed everything in their lives, right. And so we can learn from that transformation and apply it in sha Allah. And we talked about, you know, how many of us born Muslims or had to convert at a certain point in our lives to, to the, to the faith or, you know, or we might have been through our own journey of losing God and losing faith
and coming back? And those are also stories that can connect with these stories. Yes, yes. So did we cover the points that you wanted to mention about what is what is rum mindful Ramadan? What what Mindstorm of that is not so another thing about mindful not what mindful Ramadan is not is what we're just talking about, over indulging in food prep. So
it's so like, we're all into like, you know, our samosa list or symbolises our cafes, and you know, all the fun stuff. So it's just like, how do we the process and there's one Hadith he says that the one who makes the task or the burden easy on their subordinates or people that work for them, Allah will forgive them, you know?
The hadith says that allow forgiveness will give them gender just by taking it easy on people that are serving your take in order right under you. So they have more time to focus on their, their Ramadan. So we how are we I mean, a lot of times I've seen in certain cultures, like the men are having all these expectations, but Hamdulillah you know, here in the US, I see more of that corporation and depending on the culture, but it's such an important thing as a Muslim to remember that we also have a Muslim culture, we have a prophetic culture that can connect with our culture, you know, cultures are beautiful, Allah created all these beautiful people and cultures and and we
take the good of every culture and then we ensure that within a prophetic framework that the person himself was someone that came and said, Is there any food and if there is no food, he did not say Did he didn't even ask did you cook a food you know, like, did you just listen to the way that he asked his question? Did Allah sent some Is there any risk? Is there any provision, alright, I'm helping out and everything that he could at home or family, he served for power and he said, The best amongst you is the one who serves his family or his best his family and I am the best of my team and I serve my family and, and that's that's such a beautiful example. I
I some some of the brothers tuning in may not be very happy with what you just shared about reducing the, they're waiting for their samosas we need to balance right? So we can make some of the goodies but not be overly consumed with it and, and make sure that everyone chips in, you know everyone shipping it. So and then the focus is really like about the transformation, right? We need to know, how do we how do we transform? Because how many people do we know, who are very knowledgeable, they may even have Islamic degrees Outwardly they are, they look impeccable, religiously. But then when it comes to their character, you feel like there's just there are a lot of there are a lot of flaws,
and there's a lot of major issues with the character Subhanallah Subhanallah Yeah, it's it's just so unfortunate. We all have those stories in our extended families, right? We all have those, you know, and this is something that Allah Samantha mentioned in the Quran, you know, how about matura? Like, their some of their deeds, may Allah protect us from this, people are going to turn into dust. And they will say, How did this happen? And then it will be told that you did all this outwardly for people in front of people. But when you're alone, when you're in private, you write in Illustrator. So this is such an important thing to think about the how can my private life become better than my
public life? Yes. Let's make that the focus. You guys did this Ramadan? How can my private life be better than the public because we put so much emphasis on the image on what we're portraying to others. And, and really, it's all about Allah, you know, being God conscious. And it reminds me of the Hadith that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi salam asked the Sahaba is like who is the bankrupt person? And they're like, the bankrupt person is the person who doesn't have dinars or didn't have. And he said that actually, the bankrupt person is the one who does the prayers, who does the fasting, who does the charity, who gets the knowledge, but they do it for the wrong reasons for the
wrong intention.
And you know, if you are you're someone that you know, have issues, losing your patience, or your character, on an outside Ramadan, in a certain setting, and that's something you want to make all then you know, just focusing on that maybe one goal that this term of I'm going to really transform my character, not just for Ramadan, but beyond Ramadan, right? I'm going to, I'm going to really, you know, no, I'm going to write down when I lose myself, I'm going to write those down the three areas, three things people say or do that makes me lose myself, or where I'm not able to have my patients or whatever. And based on that list, you say that I'm going to really in those moments,
make vicar stay silent and try to cultivate a prophetic character. Yes, I love that. That's so important. We need to do a shout out to your wife, Mashallah. She's saying she's excited about the series. You have been you have been very patient Mashallah. And my husband Abdul Majeed and your wife, sisters mashallah, we couldn't do it without the love and support and patience of our of our spouses. So may Allah reward you both tremendously. And everybody please make
other videos saying I mean, so please make dua for both of them. And and that will be you know, that would be beautiful. So,
brother brothers saying Alhamdulillah sister Hollis my spiritual mom, I get a lot of support and encouragement from her work. May Allah reward her abundantly I feel I feel like I belong here. Michelle, I just like for law shade I'm for your very kind words. May Allah bless you for sharing. So there is there the question I think I saw earlier. I think Fatima. Let me just double check the question about like reading Quran and forgetting where I saw this.
Saving Muhammad
along the city on saving, oh, yeah, Sister Holly, how do we get over the nervousness of reading Quran? That was nervousness? Are you nervous about making mistakes? What are you nervous about? Or the pressure that you have to reach so much? Because
something that we need to keep in mind a friend was just telling me to listen to a lecture and it was saying how a lot of people get nervous before Ramadan because of all that we heard that it's like, you know, if you don't do this, you're not going to get forgiven and there's a lot of pressure. You have to remember that it is the month of mercy and that Allah is it is the month that we're going to be forgiven Inshallah, it is the month that we are going to ascend spiritually. So if you're nervous because maybe you don't know how to
I know when I mean years ago, I would have a hard time just following along and I would be completely lost and every Ramadan I would just cry and tada we and saying, y'all Allah, this is so beautiful, it makes me cry not knowing it, like what would happen if I actually understand, right? And it's like when you make that intention, like Allah helped me to understand it, the doors open up, right and and so this just take your time with it don't be nervous about how much you do. But do the, the amount, you know, and if you don't know how to read it, get some help. There's so many resources of reading and learning the, the touch weed and knowing how to pronounce all those classes
like made a big difference for myself and hamdulillah hamdulillah beautiful. So you know, one of the things that I would add is that even the Hadith of the Prophet SAW Selim that he says that even if you win the people that is reading despite faltering despite having those, you know, like difficulties in reading, they will get double the reward. Yeah.
Not always kept me going. I always, okay, good. So because that's a beautiful thing, that you having a difficulty when you're still reading aloud, give you double that I was like, wow, and think about think about your child, how much you love your child, when they're learning to read something. They're just making mistakes, and they're saying the word wrong and you don't even want to correct them. And it's so cute. It's so so fun. Like, so it's just so so amazing to see that love between the parent and the child. Like, you know, there are certain words that my daughter used to like, say, in a very weird way or different way. And we it was so cute, and we didn't want her
we love her so much. So Allah loves you 70 times more infinite times more than
reading in front of Allah, Allah is paying attention to your faltering and you're still reading, think about how much I love, I love that it's so nice to remember, the love Allah has for us. And I feel like sometimes there's not enough emphasis on that. There's a lot of, you know, fear tactics that are used. And a lot of parents use that, you know, if you don't pray fighter, you're going to *, if you don't fight, you're going to * and, and there's just so much it instills so much anxiety, and you feel many, many of my clients will tell me Well, if I'm going to *, I might as might as well live it up. And so we need to realize that Allah is so merciful. If you take one step
towards him, you know, he will come writing to you. And you know, many of you may have taken advantage of Shabbat. Many of you may have not, maybe you increased in your sin, maybe you were totally negligent. Maybe you you know, you did many things. Yesterday, someone on my life came on and said, My chef told me what you've done, Allah will not forgive you for I said, What could you have done? I mean, whatever you do, you can ask for forgiveness. So no matter what stage you're at, right now, make sure that you make the Toba and you know, it's like the toll but you could tell us about the benefits. It not only it's like imagine you have straight apps, okay, you have straight X
on your report card. It's not this removing the x, it's turning the EPS into a pluses. You know, like, how amazing is that. So no matter if you have the straight apps right now, in your ibadah, in your behavior in your relationship, don't be discouraged, this is the time to transform and Salah
hamdulillah and bring your hobbies on board, right? All the sisters that are here, I see
lack of a brother representation. So get your hobbies to join on this
live and he wasn't released.
That is very important. Because, you know, when we're transforming, and we're gonna get into how to transform, when we're transforming. The more people we bring on board with us, the more we feel like our were supported, it's kind of like if let's say you're, you're trying this new diet, and we went through this. And it really helps when you have a group of friends that you're kind of on the same page, you have the same depravations you're going through the same things, and you see the same results versus trying to do it alone. So all of you like Brother, what dude said, Bring your friends, your family, your, your husband's on board and your kids in sha Allah because this is this
is going to be transformative. And let's talk about transformation since like, how, how can we transform because for year after your people are you're doing the same things. And there's not a whole lot of change in some people. Right? So what what are what would you say are some of the maybe the key factors here
The factors are, you know, what, who we become, who we become this is from events. So if we are the ones that are complaining about what's for Suhur and Iftar? How can we change that to become a person who is grateful to receive anything that comes in front of me and think that at this moment, a child in Gaza, you know, is is, is they get one bread a day, that's like, we thought you saw a little clip that kids are all moving in, I don't know what it was like a pulling card or something. And they didn't eat and they're passing through this, and they're trying to find food, and somebody ran and brought them just this course bread. And I can show you one of the books, I think is
probably my background, even bizarrely, is breaking the two desires, you know, like, and one of them is like the food app in the shower, you know, the appetite.
Too much food and desire and too much all these beautiful, nice, luxurious food comfort that we have, sometimes fuel, you know, our Sharkboy our desire because we we fill ourselves with your stuff ourselves. And this relationship with food. It's so important because among us, I mentioned that to some scholars stopping from eating another morsel when you are like that, you know, like the prophetic holidays, like when you're about to be full. And
that that taking away your hand at that point to some scholars are more beloved than praying all night long. Ah, subhanAllah look at that self control, right? It's regulation and that emotional regulation is going to be is going to be with you everything you do. Because
once you lose it there, you're gonna lose the other pieces. That is that is so critical. And the way I like to look at it is is like a little child a toddler, right? If you give the toddler everything they're asking for, they're gonna be spoiled, rotten, right? They're gonna be a brat, then our nap is very much like a spoiled rotten brat. And it needs to be tamed. Right? So whatever it wants, if you keep giving it, oh, I want to eat this, you know, I want to buy this, buy it, I want to go here, go. And you're constantly doing that. And then you wonder, Oh, why don't I shed tears when I hear the fur on? Why do I not have maybe like empathy for others? Why don't I?
Why am I not affected by these verses on these Hadith? And it's because of that, over indulgence. So being caught, that that is critical. So important. And I know that if you love food as much as I do, it is it is the biggest truth.
To kind of like simplify, but you know, one thing Hamdulillah, you know, is to understand that we are I as a man, like for the husbands and the men, you know, I'm responsible to put the food on the table for my wife. And if she's preparing, so who or if they're helping, or my mom or anyone else, no expect no expectation from anyone, I should be serving them if I get the opportunity. And if I can't, and they beat me in serving everyone and get the reward that I should have deep gratitude, so that Asians and gratitude with your food, you will So who are your star, and whatever it may be being grateful for even
thinking about where it came from. And we were discussing this you know, I think in Cape Town, we were doing our mindfulness, we did a gratitude meditation on one night on a date, like where did this date come like a stock therapy had
this sitting down and that just like looking at the texture, the smell that and then thinking about where this date came from? You know, and how did it get produced? Which tree whose hands how many hats, and then thinking about how Allah made that one fruit that moonlight had to travel millions of miles to sweeten this fruit and the sunlight had to travel millions of miles to feed the leaves of that tree. So if you reflect and meditate on just one date, you have nothing to complain about, you know, and I am this dua that the prompts have taught us Hamdu lillahi Lizzi at Amani Allah you have fed me hasn't what also funny him in very Halloweeny Voila, who are the I did not have any house or
any cooler just like when you say that how to write it or any power. And you have brought this in front of me I had no power to develop or grow that seed into that tree into that branch into those you know, leaves into the fruit and for the farmers and the tree and the supply chain everything to be right here in front of that that is mindfulness brothers and sisters, and we have to do a shout out to our uncle
from South Africa, we're so happy to have you Mashallah. Such such an exemplary exempt
blurry brother mashallah I'm gonna do such a treat he flew down all the way to be with me for a few days and really light you know lit up our our our nights you know like
like a
vise I love my Shama we're so happy to have you here with us such an honor. Mashallah. Now as far as transformation, right, we're not. And this is something that I do on a daily basis, right? For the past three decades, the clients that I work with, it's all about taking a person in a lot of stress at the brink of divorce, maybe brink of suicide, and then transforming that, right. So there are a lot of psychological concepts that we can, we can reflect on, and take from that and apply it to our, to our changes in Ramadan. Right. So the first thing we have to do, and this is what I always work on with my clients is cognitive restructuring, we have to change the way we think about things.
If you're thinking about it with negativity, oh my god, how am I going to do this, oh, this is such a, this is such a pain, or I'm going to be so tired, oh, the kids are going to give me a hard time now and walk in and you have this negative self talk, your experience is going to it's going to be horrible. I mean, we can just be sickly guaranteed, right? That it's if you have a negative mindset, you're gonna have a negative experience. So we have to really change the way we talk to ourselves, and be compassionate. And also try to change those negative thoughts to something, if you can't be positive, at least, maybe give it a little bit more hope in the sense of, okay, I've struggled in
the past, but this time, I'm going to make an effort to be a little more maybe cheerful, I'm going to make an effort. You don't want to say something you can't believe. But you also want to stop the negativity. Yeah, and I think that if you're losing yourself, that's one of the things that we we is on our list for what my former does not and what it is
that micro that is not continuously running from one thing to another, it's taking some time to cultivate personal silence, some personal reflection and mindful, you know, so having a little bit of that, like transition time in between things where you sit and kind of catch yourself, because you're kind of like getting, you're so stressed or you're just so tired, that you don't have the capacity anymore. And it's normal for any human being at that point to lose themselves. So at that point, just kind of having a little bit of self compassion and sitting down and saying, you know, I can just take a few deep breaths, I can just sit and relax, I can calm my mind, and then showing up
with some intention. Because the person said that, you know, come have the baraka, like the so called The angels are, and angels are giving you a company and as you're waking up or so, you know, when you making the tour, aka the angels are bringing bring behind you just think about, like what Allah has blessed you with, with each of the things we're doing in Ramadan, and look forward to it. But you're only gonna look forward to if you're not like constantly running from one thing to another, right? You're having a lie.
And do the best that you can. Right? I always wanted the things I would
emphasize to my kids, whether it was academically whether it was in whatever they were doing, I wouldn't say be the best, right? I was told to be the best, right? I had to be the best in class. And that puts a lot of pressure in performance. Right? So if
you were to write I it pays off in some ways, but then there's this always like you feel like it's never enough and you need to do more and more and more.
What I what I told the kids as be your best, right? Do whatever you can. And if that's your level, you know, then then be content with it. And depending on your circumstances, you may be a mom of like young kids, and I remember having my little kids they're there now Mashallah. My kids are 2421 and nine queen so much Alta botica. Love very different states. But when they were younger, and I was overwhelmed, I remember asking Mike or auntie Tirana? Does Allah understand that I can't, I can't make it to the tenant, we end up just so exhausted and she goes, she first corrected me she said, You know, it's it's not about Allah understand that Allah knows your circumstances. And and of
course, you know, this is a temporary period of time. And so doing your best with what you have. Now, I wanted to brother with if if you're a key with this, I wanted to share something that is very transformative. And it's called like self determination theory, okay, but I'm gonna simplify. And if you think of it as like building a house, if you're building a house, you
Need like three key ingredients, right to make it to make it strong. And to make it comfortable. The three things you need is one competence, right? It's like you have to know how to build the house, you have to feel confident that I can lay the bricks, I can paint the walls, okay? The second thing you need is autonomy, right? It's like having that freedom to design the house the way you want it, you get to pick the paint, color, the furniture, it's all about making choices, that feel right to you. And then the third is about the relatedness. It's like having neighbors and friends who support you feel like okay, I'm connected. And I feel like I belong here. Right? So, if you think about
building the house, and you enjoy the process, like every, like every nail, you're you are hammering every flower you're planting, like you're taking joy in this. This is called intrinsic motivation. Okay? You're not building the house because of a prize, or money you're gonna get, it's just out of your own joy and satisfaction. Now, what does this have to do with Ramadan? What does this have to do with you know, with how we're going to transform,
think about building your spiritual house, okay? So instead of just going through the motions of all these religious practices, find joy in it, find fulfillment, right? When you're building your spiritual house, you want to feel like you're competent in your faith. And you have the the freedom to not practice just the way like of course we want to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu salah, but the freedom to choose what you're capable of doing, and then feeling connected to the community right so just like building the house is a labor of love, think of practicing your faith needs to bring you that you know the inner peace the inner peace and and the happiness
sisters that Kira saying Subhan Allah does a beautiful way to look at it every whatever since our workshop was that I have literally just been trying to be mindful and present it's not always easy but I'm trying Alhamdulillah Masha Allah had an impact on her become a spiritual builder. Okay, love that. We're all going to be spiritual builders in sha Allah, Masha, Allah beautiful, you know, that some tools, I think it's beautiful. What you just shared right now, this is a lot to take in. I think like, we need a whole session on just that how to, you know, how to have that motivation from inside.
Yeah, and you know, the competence. You talked about, like a lot of people say, well, it's difficult for me to do, I don't know how to do this, you know,
how to how to, like, be a good Muslim, I don't know how to have patience, I don't know how to do.
What I tell them is what, you know, some of my early teachers taught us, you know, one of my early teachers give us an analogy. And he said, if you call it was more of more or less like this, if you tell an engineer or a doctor, that can you take this book? And can you bind it for me? Like, can you actually wrap it from Oregon gift and getting gift, wrap it and they would say oh my god, gift wrapping is so difficult. I don't know how to wrap the gift. And then you ask them that was becoming a doctor more difficult, or learning how to get more difficult. It's a very simple analogy. But if you spent 16 years 20 years, medicine becomes easy. You know, practicing medicine becomes easy. But
if you don't spend 15 minutes, you don't learn a simple, very simple skill of finding a book or rapping again. So we're all about taking a little bit of time to learn. How about something so we've never taken a class on Okay, here are some ways of emotional regulation or patients this is what happens to my brain. This is what happens to my heart. So we've never invested in ourselves, you know, like whether it's a mindful Hearts Academy, you know, where you have sisters and you're, you're they're investing in themselves, right? Whether it's based on Morocco, or mindfulness masterclass, they're investing in themselves. And this is something I talk about regularly, that
you've invested in upgraded your home, your car and everything else in your life and you're looking to invest in yourself. Yeah, yes. It's such a good point that is such a tool and not to be discouraged. And whatever it is you've spent time on, then you can master it and not to give up so that is excellent reflection. You know, I wanted to just kind of bring it since we're coming close to to the end, is the reason we chose to talk about, you know, the converts, right. Why one we said is because they completely transform their lives, but it's also because they're very marginalized, right? They're marginalized.
As everyone is excited when they take their shahada, everyone comes and hugs them and, and they feel they feel supported in that moment. But then afterwards they get, they get forgotten. Right. And they're not sometimes included, because majority of people even though we, you know, we, we have that a unity, but it is still the people going, you know, that the Palestinians like to be by themselves, the Egyptians like to be together the Syrians, like, it's all about the Bengalis, and then the Pakistanis, and the Indians, everyone kind of like groups off, and then the comrades find themselves like, Okay, where do I fit in? Right? So what are your What are your thoughts about how
marginalized they tend to be and how their struggles during Ramadan and practicing Islam, it's very tough because, you know, we see them, like, Chris was talking about one of one of the converse, that he had coffee with him after he converted, and then he met three months later, and, and it was like, the only Muslim media we had. So because they're live and circles or somewhere else, and, and learning to kind of be there for them and that journey, you know, and it's so important. So I think I think it's a really important connection for us as Muslims to understand that journey, and also use that as an empathy for even other Muslims that are on their own journey. Yeah, I think it's more
it's connecting with the converse, opening up your home's saying that, you know, don't do your thoughts alone. Don't do your support, you're done alone, comment and do, let us know. And that's where we see a lot of our friends posting online or posting in the groups and saying, Hey, if there's any convert, if you're doing or Madonna alone, let us know we'd love to have you over don't do your either. And a lot of our Converse are doing they're either alone, you know, it's just,
and it's uneventful, all that hard work, all the all that they're going through, because sometimes the families abandon them. Sometimes they're this, you know, they're just cut off from from everyone they know and they love So maybe let's make it our intention, since our focus, and mindful Ramadan is about inspiring stories of Congress, let's,
let's have more empathy towards them. And let's try to include them like you just said, as far as the stars and the elite and, and make them feel more supported in sha Allah. Also, you know, how we, those of us that are a little more mashallah, you know, advanced in our deen, we've learned some certain fix certain rules, when the congress first walk into our messages, our communities, how we can come to them as they are, ya. First just be there, ask talk to them, listen to them. Don't advise until you get to know someone. Because it's so important. Yes. You know, I remember, it was how many, maybe four or five years ago, and
it was during the last 10 days, I think it was the 27th night. And I had I had worked all day. And I was very, very sleepy. And it was one of those 90 Not maybe, yeah, I think it was a 20. So, you know, there are some nights that you're like, totally omit and you're just in the flow state. Other times, you're just like, oh my god, I'm gonna fall from sleeping this right. So I was having one of those nights. And I just like, okay, when are we going to finish and then when I was heading out
Subhanallah the timing of it the way Allah planned everything because it was very crowded. And we just came to Weigh where I was put this, that she looked like a you know, just white American. And I just said, so I had a call, even though I was like not I just wanted to go home and I wanted to sleep. But I said you know what? So I they come and she's like, I'm like, Oh, you're new here. I haven't seen you before. And she goes, Yeah, this this is one of my first times coming. And I'm like, How long have you been Muslim? She goes, I'm not Muslim. Oh, I woke up, I woke up I'm like, okay,
Alrighty, let's, I just got a boost of energy. SysEx because, you know, you're the first person who's ever talked to me, I've come with my husband, my husband is Muslim, and I come with him. But no one has ever greeted me. No one has ever taught me. Thank you so much for talking to me. And I said, Oh, my God. It's a pleasure. And then I started, you know, I'm like, you know, there are millions of Muslims who are asleep right now. They don't care about, you know, they don't care about the prayer. They don't care about Ramadan. They don't care. It's the last 10 days and you are here. That means like, you know, you're here for a reason. I started talking to him, like what do you know
about Islam? And do you believe this? Do you believe that and mashallah Tabata kala that she actually went ahead and took her shahada with a small circle of sister we were at the Allen masjid and it was like, and that just was such a reminder to me
I saw that it's like, first of all, you never know what another person is going through, you know, you never know that even a smile and Hamdulillah you know, to be and then to be rewarded, you know, on the 27th night like my prayers, I don't think I was as focused, but inshallah that makes up for it right so we can we can do your Abad does can be different, you know, someone may be really great at the fasting, but they're not as good about the charity, right? Maybe someone is very friendly, and another person is always struggling with their moods. So try to capitalize on that. Yeah, and also remembering the same principles for every Muslim that you meet this Ramadan. Yeah, because
every one of us are converting in a certain way, we're all struggling to, you know, move from our lower self to our higher self, we're all on a different journey and a different stage. And somebody, you know, Chapter somebody may be in their chapter one, you're, you're in a Chapter 20. And you can compare their chapter one with your right, so you can compare everything you expect out of yourself and everybody else with somebody that might be doing their best at the stage that they're in. So no judgement and welcoming them and getting to know them just making people feel like they belong. Yeah. And it makes such a difference. I mean, I mean, we know from a mental health perspective, is
that some people are at the end of their rope. I mean, I mean, they're contemplating suicide, they feel like no one cares about them. And because they think that every behavior kind of reaffirms that belief. So what I what I want us to do is really keep that in mind and whoever you're next to just you know, shake their hands give a hug Give A salaam you don't know that might be the reason they don't come into those days that might be the reason they don't get into a fight with their spouse because you you kind of gave him a boost. Yeah, we talked about this yesterday I
was so honored to be with the security team of Valley Ranch messages
to gas the chick Homer silly man is we've got like plus 30 plus brothers and sisters they they train themselves to become like official security personnel and they
take care of the masjid, you know, and the flow of traffic and Ramadan and the parking and they are mashallah beautiful group of people that serve our community all the time, especially in Ramadan, it's a lot to take in Ramadan, with older people coming in. So they invited me to talk to them a little bit about emotional intelligence.
Yeah, and certain leaders hard because they can get stressed out of like 1000 people walking in and then sell them or, you know, not listening to the instructions and not following the right you know, so we were talking about this and we mentioned this hadith about, I'm going to be honest, that he used to say that the prophets I seldom used to embrace he used to give a hug to the worst of us, until their hearts would soften and then you would be able to speak to them. And then I would have been asked added that the Profit System used to give me an embrace, give me a hug until I thought I was the best of people. Oh, so that is something that you really have to think about. That he's
literally making somebody random anyone that's walking in making them feel like broke from their lower self, whatever distraction? You're talking about that I might work that do I have any value? Do I have any purpose or have any meaning to just that embrace of the profit?
Become this best human? Oh, that's beautiful. I love God. So we have a lot of things to focus on. Right? And one of them is to pass on that love that gentleness, like the Prophet SAW Malala was salon. And we want to do that on a daily basis. And I would love for all of you to have your, you know, your reflections, what, what resonated with you? I always like to do that after like a halacha. Like what resonated with you? What are you committed to doing? And it's like a commitment you're making to yourself and you're doing it publicly so that inshallah you can hold yourself accountable. And as we do that, really put it on your calendars. Mondays, we had a time change here.
I hope that didn't confuse anyone in the US. But Mondays and Wednesdays, we're going to release the videos and Charlotte, the interviews, every interview, I would say was it they're all powerful, and it's hard to pick a favorite. Each one is insightful and Thursdays at 12:30pm Central. We're gonna go live kind of like what we're doing today and go in depth. We're going to talk about the first Thursday it's about mindfulness of worship which mashallah brother would do it has done an amazing
thing job in, you know, in building that mindfulness in the prayer in the woowoo. And just bringing yourself into focus so that you can really actually purify yourself. So we're going to talk about how all our worship is going to improve us. What is the next Thursday? What are we going to talk about? Information on the character, right?
Yeah, go ahead, please. Yeah, the next one is about transforming our character that how to rectify a relationship with God. You know, that's where we start. But in that God centered presence, you know, that if done is when you have the presence of Allah and your heart, and you don't have adjust with God in the worship, but how can you live outside Salah become like your life inside Salah. So your character reflects that that centeredness that you show up with the Presence of Allah in the way you serve your spouse, and your family and your kids and your friends. So how to transform your Mashallah. And that that's going to be very critical, right? Because when we work on ourselves, then
we're going to respond to people differently, and they're going to respond to us differently. The next Thursday, the third Thursday, is like kind of mindfulness in our relationships, that how are we going to take all of this step we're working on ourselves, we're working on our EPA, we're increasing our knowledge, we're doing the beyond. So how is that going to? How is that going to be demonstrated in the way I treat my spouse in the way I treat my parents and how I treat my kids? And if we see it, the litmus test by the end of Ramadan? Is, all of my relationships improved, some people's relationships gets worse, right? Because they're just like, Don't ask anything of me. And
you'll get angry. And there's like, sadly, some people go through Ramadan, only experiencing hunger and thirst. And that's what the prophets are letting Salem taught us. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I just wanted to end sister Holly, before we I know that we're reaching our hour mark, you know, I just wanted to say something really important about this hunger and thirst you mentioned because any other scholars talked about the different levels of fasting. And I think there was a commentary about also controlling our tongue. And then because you know, the, we have so many I had these about the tongue. And if the tongue is in violation that how we can not lie, or you know, you know, it can
really take away the blessing from your fasting. So the Saudis and others are talking about three levels of fasting. Anybody want to guess in the chat in the ice that mashallah, but 92? or So watching?
Or what are the different levels of fasting? One, one of them is fasting from food, water and intimacy, right? This is the first that's the easy part. Yeah, tumbler, lamella. Make it easy for us except from us.
And, and if you if this is where you starting off, may Allah bless you. May Allah bless you This is No, no, you're, it's a beautiful, beautiful, start from the start of that. And then slowly see how you can slowly move up to the second level, where we are also doing the casting of the limbs, seven limbs, our eyes are yours, our tongue, our hands, you know, and then our gut, our private parts, or our feet, or legs, all of these in all seven limbs. He says, if you can rectify that actions, deeds that are coming out of his limbs, then you are a second level of fasting, you know, and then they talk about a third level of fasting, which is your heart should be fasting from dunya and it should
be always present. So it doesn't mean that you don't go to work. No, you go to work, but your heart is present with Allah and you have the right intention while you're working. You will go to your studies and do it and turn that into worship and your heart is Allah so how can you heartbeat in the Presence of Allah and vicar of Allah throughout the month? MashAllah I, I really, I'm impressed with how you you're explaining that, that you are at different stages and for us to aspire wherever you're at for us to aspire to be more, make sure that you sign up inshallah for the series because it will be recorded. I mean, they are recorded, the interviews are recorded and the Thursday lives
will be recorded. And if you miss it, first of all, you'll get reminders will tell you the day before who is coming on. And each person that is coming on, we have a special connection with them, right? So it's either myself or brother would do it. There's like a friendship, there's history. And so you're gonna get those emails about the back of the backstory, and then inshallah you'll get the replay as well and please share it share it on your group share the hair as life my friend always says share the hair mashallah we want to benefit
May Allah allow us to fast with our hearts. Oh, that's beautiful
disease dua, Amin, and I wanted to give away a gift which I have given to my workshop attendees and my students, you know, in the chat in the YouTube chat output in this best self blueprint, it's basically your visual vision of your best self. And what dollars are you going to make for those for those best self right, so if I if I, you know, share my screen here really fast? I see my screen here.
Yeah, and it's basically visualizing like, if Allah accepted all your flaws and removed all your obstacles, what is the best version of yourself look like five years from now? And the reason why five years from now is because you can get you know, to your best selfish listing right away but it's a journey slowly you will get there think about the five years spiritually how are you and emotionally physically you know, in this different aspects, sometimes just visualizing your best visualization is so powerful sister how I can tell you more about it. And then we talked about a lot of people, you know, look at their last 10 years, and they see wow, I really have so many blessings
and so much growth in the last 10 years you know, so in the reason we reflect on that is because sometimes we forget that we can still grow you know, more even more in the next five to 10 years. Right? So you're thankful for the growth in the last 10 and then your best visualization for the five years from now and then how will I become this version of myself? Oh, you know, move towards that burden myself, this Ramadan, your intentions, you're not able to do it completely go all the way. But maybe one thing you can do one step you can take towards a better spiritual, emotional, physical, social, financial, occupational self that can help you get to your better self. So even if
you're not able to do the entire worksheet to as much as you want but this dual part is really important for Ramadan, where you choose like okay in my dua list this Ramadan when I'm making dua at night, I will include this vessel visualization, you know, and so
thank you so much for Byculla Hey, did you really add so much value it is a pleasure to have you on You've done so much extensive research mashallah and, and you know, it's nice to get get this feedback and you know, we can really learn and transform So together we're going to make changes. Cicero Sana is beautiful. What is she saying? Do every day the mobile hotspot? Yeah, you asked them What about good job analyze why I lose my patience and do Likud and breathe and be silent? Make my private life better than my public life and contact my revert friend sister Rukhsana Hi Fi sister. Is this sister Oksana?
Brother it's released oncology's. This is your Roxana or
or no. Maybe not. It's
their accent. I think it's from our community. Oh, is it okay. John from Minnesota? Yeah. MashAllah Masha, we want to hear from more people. What else? What are you taking away from? Oh, no. Okay.
All right. So what is it that you're walking away with? And we'll, we'll be ending it soon. It's always nice to give like a little recap.
Yeah, just a moment of silence and reflecting Yeah.
My salah, thank you all for, for joining and, and meeting with us. May Allah bless all of you all your families. Now love really help us in cleansing our heart doing the test kiya there may be things we don't even realize that we have to change in ourselves. And you know, in our in our private draw this ask Allah like y'all Allah, if I don't know that there's something about me that I need to improve. Let me do that now before it's too late and to have a good end, and make a lot of really relieve our brothers and sisters and Lhasa and inshallah bring a ceasefire and open up the doors for aid and we have to really keep them in our DAW and you'll see that in our series. We're
always mentioning them and we're gaining a lot of wisdom from each speaker, in in their view about what's happening with us. So it's really going to be it's going to be very impactful in sha Allah. Ya Allah may Allah grant us Sophie and all the things we were talking about Sister Holly me and you and all the all the events and preparation right until this launch humbler to both of our teams are working hard and I see how hard especially for the machine and the team are working on. May Allah get them out of the failure or the
and hopefully now after this weekend, we will also
Oh me and sister how are you? We too are also going to relax a little now there are recordings
especially after today, we still have a major work to do but no, absolutely it is such a blessing and every year that I do this, I feel like Allah is providing my risk right and I feel like I learned and I grow and so we are learning and growing with you all and and it's it is it brings that mindfulness into the forefront of our minds so just like a law Shana and everyone for tuning in. There's some people putting their reminders What is it make Ramadan more simple, but more meaningful? Very nice. And then just like the LA Heydon Ramadan Mubarak and let's see mashallah, thank you so much. May Allah bless you abundantly on me. Anything else? So thank you so much this
but this one can feel ready for Ramadan journey. Oh, good. We're glad we're glad that you feel more motivated. We set a motivational webinar. So it's like a lot of hate on for coming. And we like Monday so tomorrow 12:30pm Central. That first interview is gonna go out so tune in and
yes, any parting words brother would do it.
Humbly legislate making the word to Allah that Allah you know, you've given us these knowledge and these tools give us the ability to practice them and the kind of cultivate our best selves from other more than we spoke more than we heard. May Allah make this source of beneficial than benefit. I
mean, this is one
you guys know, send a lot of love. Send a lot of hearts lots of prayers. It may make it easy for you. My my advice make sure you wake up for savour. If you drink coffee, have your coffee before so who would put some butter unsalted butter and you'll feel full all day long. That's my that's my
Yeah, butter or the MCT oil. Good. Yeah, and then chia seeds is another way to say
for longer Yeah. Oh, my salah thank you all and thank you it's a can't wait for y'all to see the series in sha Allah we'll see you live again on Thursday. But the two videos will come out Mondays and Wednesdays any questions
ready to call it yeah all right, Mashallah.
The Muslims that are you know, trying to get to their better self and getting getting more into the practice of being and also the the conference that are coming into the invite them over to a see Yes, yes. Well, that's a good reminder. Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah May Allah make it easy for you yes have protein and healthy what fats at Sohar time thanks Suzanne. Can brother would do its share the name of his Institute please yes interested in Islamic mediation or metadata all we love you to
meditate Chad it's Morocco Baghdad Avenue. Yes. Excellent program we highly recommended Mashallah. He's done extensive research on this so we can benefit tremendously.
Uncle Idris, we're really honored that you're here with us. Yes, yes. Salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah.
Bye