Beginning of Guidance by Imam Al Ghazali The Chapter of Fasting
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Channel: Hasib Noor
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The speaker discusses the importance of fasting during the month ofoff to avoid embarrassment and achieve health and wealth. They emphasize the need to pray and stay at home during the time of the thought, particularly during the time of Easter. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of healthy eating and staying at home during the time of Easter.AI Generated Transcript ©
Thank
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sorry already hungry as well. Just no handouts awesome Ross. Willa, what are you slap yourself this week Athena? We're here in the blessed city of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I will say salam upon the prophesy, Salam and Medina and when Allah and His message and message the nebo Inshallah, we're going to be doing a very exciting class something I've been looking forward to this entire week. And, you know, since we announced that Inshallah, we're going to be talking about the chapter of fasting from Imam Al Ghazali, Rama who laws book be dialectical hedaya which is the beginning of guidance and amazing work and amazing book, which I think perfectly, you know, is
suitable for every one of us, those of you who you know, obviously mashallah have knowledge, those of you who are just starting out, those of you who are, you know, kind of finding their way all of us has something to benefit from this beautiful book. So shall I'm gonna let you enjoy the view and I have another treat for you guys. Actually, we're going to be doing a special kind of tour of the profits by selling the city until we get to starting this class and shall shortly I'm going to let everybody join and what we're going to do is we're actually going to do this class in the place where the prophets Allah sent him a pray to eat in Medina. So tying it to Ramadan, we're going to go
actually to the place where the prophets like Selim would pray there, eat salah, and that's why it's going to be so much more special inshallah because we're going to be talking about the Ramadan and fasting in the place where the prophesy cinema celebrated Ramadan, which is obviously Medina but where he prayed that Eid prayer and I think it's going to be even more special shall when we get there. I'm going to give you guys a tour until we get there in salsa. So you want to walk with me inshallah and everybody say salaam Ottomans upon the Prophet Selim.
So, just let everybody join inshallah and get started shortly.
And we're gonna be walking Shala down here. As you can see, my saw Medina is starting to get a little bit packed with people coming into
the Ramadan inshallah is only a very few short days.
And you see much all the Turkish people over here.
And one of the beautiful things that while we get to our place, we're going to do our class. As you can see this part on the outside, this is still considered the city of the prophets of Allah epsilon, this entire marble area, these are called an Arabic DISA hat. So how to haram, which means the courtyards of the Haram, this entire area here was considered part of the city of the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam, in fact, the entire city of the prophesy setup is within the bounds of this green gate that you see on the outside here, that green gate on the outside that you're going to see, that was roughly the limits or the borders of the city of the prophets of Allah Hadiya Salam,
and the Prophet saw a salon, you know, lived underneath that green dome, that is the house of eyeshadow, the Alana, and the prophesy, some is buried in there. Underneath it, that's where I shall be long as home was, and behind it also the rest of the homes of the wives of the prophets of Allah Hadees Hello. And the Prophet SAW Selim lived here with his companions. Inshallah, in a future time, we're going to do a proper tour of the city of the prophets. I said, I'm in the midst of a new era, South Sudan. What we're doing now is we're actually walking outside of the city. And you might ask, why are we walking outside of the city, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. As you can see,
this entire area was the city of the Prophet where you're looking at, this was the city of the prophets, I send them in his time. There was not enough room in the masjid of the prophets, I send them to encompass the entire population of Medina, it was not possible for everybody to fit into the Masjid. So what the prophesy cinema did is he had to actually leave the city to an open area where
they could pray, eat Salah in an open area, and this is why they would go outside of the city, where we're walking to now in order to lead the prayer for the people so that what they would do is they would pray
the fajr prayer in their locations in their masajid in their villages or in the prophesy centers, masjid for those of them who made it, and then they would walk where
I'm walking now, where we're walking is the direction where the prophets lie Selim would walk. So you're taking those same footsteps in the footsteps of the prophets of Allah and they would walk outside of the city limits and that is where they had enough room to
have space for everybody to the prophets I send to lead the salah. And this is why it was outside of the city of the prophets I said right now,
it is in a place which is known as Allah masala and masala and the books of Hadith and also known as mercy then Omana mi* and all my my that's where we're headed right now inshallah you will see it in front of you. It is a beautiful Masjid with an orange glow. It is the last people who built it were the Turks, the Ottoman Empires, and you'll see it up ahead of you Inshallah, as we're walking, but as you can imagine, this is the footsteps of the Prophet salallahu Salam, this is the exact footsteps he would take from the mercy of the prophets, I send him where he would pray Fudger and then he would walk in this direction, all the way until he gets to this open space, which we're
going to talk about as well. So I just want to let you enjoy the view. Once we get there.
We're going to talk about the messenger that you see in front of you. We're starting a class inshallah and let everybody kind of come in share the video and also people can can benefit and
once we get there you will see the
place where the Prophet salallahu Salam
prayed has eight
so as you can see in the middle right now, that orange message with the orange glow, that is not should Aloma, I'll tell you why it's called that that is where the profits by selling used to pray, eat salah. That is where we're going
to have our class we're going to have our class inshallah in the same spot where the prophet says and pray to eat, because it relates to fasting. And we're going to talk about fasting and Medina from the place where the prophets lie Selim celebrated the end of his fast so hands are about me
it's about the 300 meter distance from the mercy of the prophets of Allah and Islam as you can see in the back the green dome
Good luck here
Alright, so we're almost there.
And
may Allah allow everybody who's saying make dua for us to come Allah allow everybody to come to the deed and the city of the prophets. I said, learn and experience the beautiful city
and visit the Prophet salallahu Salam here and get to pray and measure the level we and make Ramadan Shaolin Mecca.
So we have the intention child to come to this Ramadan
is one of the most beautiful experiences
and for those of you who can you still get the reward for your intention, shot without it so right in front of you, as we can see,
is Mr. Little Mama this orange Masjid. This is built by first Ahmad Abdul Aziz, the Omo way, Khalifa he built masajid where the prophets I said Mr. Pray, and
he built this spot because this is the last spot. The prophets I seldom I pray to aid in this mess in this area. There was no mission at that time. It was an open space, as you can see. It's an open space. And it was on the outskirts of Medina. You want to know what the outskirts of Medina looked like? I will show you right now. Okay, you see these green gates. This is roughly the city of the prophets of Allah audio salams limit. That's how big the city was. That's how far
it took for you to go outside of the city of Medina. That's it. 300 meters. You can see the green dome in the back. And where are you where I am right now this is considered outside of the city. It's Paola. So they would gather here and if you can imagine the Companions all gathering here after the fajr prayer,
and they're doing they're talking a lot. Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. La ilaha illa Allah Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar out what? He will hunt in order, they will do it they will do it right here
in this exact place.
That's the beauty of, of being here. This is the place where it's called measure that will mama this semester. This method is known as mentioned in a little mama, because the prophets lie Selim.
He prayed here and this exact location a prayer called called the ray
In prayer, when he would ask Allah for rain so when he made that prayer in this location, it started to rain. This is also the exact location where the prophet peace be upon him Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, he would pray varied prayer when the Muslims would fast the month of Ramadan. This is the exact location where they would gather and he would lead the Eid prayer for them. The Ottoman Turks expanded this measure that's why it looks so beautiful and it has this orange light and the government here has preserved it. To this day this is known as the exact location where the prophet peace be upon him prayed his final or Eid prayer
and now inshallah we're going to start here and we're going to talk about our class inshallah.
All right, so hope everybody's ready. Sharla Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah Allah, you will save yourself to SeaMonkey Vela. So we're going to talk about the chapter fasting from Imam Al Ghazali Allah him a whole lot out as book, the beginning of guidance, this is the beginning of guidance for those of you who want to follow along if you have the book we're gonna be going through it and shallow dedicates a facet, we're gonna start from the beginning for for those of you who don't have it, you know, take a screenshot of this, make sure you get this book it is the beginning of guidance by chicken lasagna, obviously. But it's translated by Michelle Calif, white
thread press. So I recommend this book for everybody, everybody should have this book. It's an amazing book on literally what is called the beginning of guidance. So we're going to talk about in our session here as the chapter from this book on fasting, fasting the month of Ramadan. And what we're going to do first and foremost is talk about 15 Different
subject points in this entire talk. So 15 points, the first thing we're going to talk about his introduction about Imam Al Ghazali, about this book, and what did he intend with writing it? We're going to talk about number two,
the life of enviromental zali. As it relates to this book, it's very important. Number three, where do we start? When we talk about, you know, faith? And what is the purpose of discussing this? Number four? What is the message of that particular faith? Which is Islam? We're talking about? Number five, what is the beginning of guidance? So the books name is beginning of guidance? What is the beginning of guidance? And number six? What ingredients? Do you need to achieve this type of guidance? Like? What is the secret? What do you need to have in order to achieve it? Number seven, a strategy for achieving this kind of guidance? And number eight, what what realms do you need to
consider? Like what are the different realms of this seeking guidance? We're gonna talk about that. Number nine, the strategy of obstacles and Satan, which tries to stop you from achieving this guidance. And number 10, defining the beginning of guidance, what are they? And what are we trying to achieve with this particular guidance? Number 11 Imam Al Ghazali as the spiritual teacher, the spiritual trainer, the one who's giving us discipline, and what we need to understand as a scholar who is going to take us through this journey. Number 12, is the etiquette and fit of fasting, the actual Fick of how of Ramadan and fasting number 13 The inner dimensions of fasting, number 14,
we're going to talk about some real talks, you know, tips and suggestions on how we should take up fasting in the in the 21st century. 2017 a lot of contemporary issues, talk about some obstacles, you know, like social media, talk about how, you know, we can get over some of the humps like laziness, you know, things that obviously every one of us goes through, and we'll finish off with number 15. We'll take some q&a If there is any inshallah at the end, so let's get into it. There's lots to cover, obviously, but let's get into inshallah. So first and foremost, we have the Los Altos, our salah, we're going to name of Allah, the Creator, the one who fashioned everything, we
praise Him, we thank him and upon him, we have reliance, and we ask Him and Him only for true guidance, and we asked him to send His peace and His blessings upon the best of human beings and prophets, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam upon whom he prays until the very end of our days, and we asked him for steadfastness, guidance, mercy, and to never lead us astray. And for him to save us on Judgement Day. So if I'm gonna Hosea from Allah Who wrote this book, he was an amazing person. You know, he lived in a time where the Muslim empire was at its peak in civilization and airlock. And they were the ones who at this point in time in this in this century, which was the
sixth century of Islam, they were at the peak of giving back to society, they were at the peak of science. You know, they were some of the ones who dedicated works in technology and mathematics etc. And that is why scholars
errs in the tunnel. Remember those were some of the highest paid more than doctors at the time I remember that shows you how much they took importance to knowledge. Now, one thing we need to know about this is that Imam Al Ghazali went through a existential crisis, he started to question himself. And he started to realize in himself that he may be seeking knowledge and the status as a great scholar, for the wrong reasons. He was given the highest position in Madras southern naval army, which was the new Huami University in Iraq, which was the highest form of education in Iraq at that time. And he was the head of it, he became the head, D, not only that, he became the advisors
and advisor to the photons. So he had this like massively huge position. Everybody was going to and asking questions, he had professorship, he was the man an airlock at that time. One day, he found this particular crisis in him to such an extent that when he went to start to teach, he was feeling like this restrictive feeling in his chest like restriction. And he couldn't even talk when he started to open his mouth. He just stopped talking. And he felt that why he was seeking this knowledge wasn't for true sincerity for God. To the extent that he lost the ability to talk, and he just walks out of Metropolitan near La mia from Baghdad, what happens eventually, long story short,
I'm not gonna go into the life of mine, because it was that he went through 10 years searching, and training his soul to overcome the feeling of showing off and the ego and the self and having sincerity and truthfulness with the Creator with one with one's Lord in teaching and going into
teaching this, the Religious Sciences, the sacred sciences. And what he did is in these 10 years, he lived in Damascus, and he lived in Jerusalem and he went to Mecca and Medina and he spent his time in seclusion. And he, he spent his time in secluded worship and reflection, and truly understanding the deeper meanings of Islam and the inner objectives and inner dimensions and spiritual understandings of Islam. So it took him 10 years, he just separated from everyone. And what he said is I'm going to go to pilgrimage to Hajj. And he wasn't lying. He did go to pilgrimage. But it just took him a 10 year long journey for him to do that. Now the amount of lasagna Rahim Allah Tada. In
this 10 year period, he wrote a book, which is known as one of the greatest books to be written in the entire corpus of Islam, and that is the revival of the sacred sciences. Yeah, OMA Dean, he wrote this book in this 10 year period. And in there, he talks about all of the integral factors, you need to overcome your ego and yourself, and to revive the sacred sciences for the true purpose and objective that they came for, which is what to call to the sincerity of the oneness of God, to be truthful to God and God alone to not to seek with this religion, a position in this world or material game. That's the entire reason he wrote this book. Basically, it was a manual for himself,
which he thought everybody else could benefit from. When he came back to Iraq and became, again, a headmaster, he became even greater, because Allah subhanaw taala, God raised his status, because he made his intention sincere. And that is why it's important to know this story of this man, why? Because all of us are going through this existential crisis, every one of us is going through the same difficulty. So when you hear from a man who has actually gone and done it, and overcome his self and his ego, and he wrote this book, telling you the steps of the beginning of guidance, this is a man you need to listen to. So this is why we're talking about this particular book. And this
man, now one of the most amazing things about this particular book, again, the beginning of guidance, is what is the point of this book emammal has alila Mala talks about it. So in the beginning of this of the book, he mentioned something very, very powerful. And he says that all of corruption goes back to the actions of the deluded man of his ignorance. And any good that's brought back to him is when he seeks knowledge, sincerely, meaning anyone who becomes corrupt is based on number one, his own ignorance, and also because of the corruption of his own soul. And the beautiful thing is, he then goes on to mention that the point of seeking this knowledge to seek your purpose
is what is the point of Islam? What is the point of faith is to understand that you have a purpose in this world, not that you gain materially and that you just live and work nine to five, you know, go on vacation here and there. And, you know, buy a nice car and
marry your dream man or woman and have some children and that said, you go, you go off of this earth, and you have your difficulties and moments, but what is the purpose of you being here that purpose a mama has already mentioned is that purpose is to understand that you are integrally tied to the Lord, the Creator who has fashioned you and he said that if you just look around the creation, if you look at the differences in humanity, this integrally points to a creator and a reason for us being here. So what is that reason? And that's obviously for us Muslims. It needs to have a
message given to show us what that reason is, and that message has to be from God. It can't be from someone else that says, hey, let me tell you, this is what
your prayer your purpose in life is rather has to be directly from the Creator. And that message is the Quran. That is our purpose. And in there it is said that we have not created humanity except for the worship of one Creator. That is the purpose of our life, where we find out from the Quran. Now when you know that, you know, unless it says, Then you have to understand that the one who delivered you this message has to be truthful, and that is none other than our Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was buried right over there. And as you saw earlier, and with that understanding that you understand that you have now guidance, through understanding your purpose that was delivered by a
message, which is the Quran infallible, has now has never been changed, is authentic, and is the literal word of God. There is no other book on this earth left. That is the literal word of God and it will be preserved until the day of judgment. And its miracle is that it is preserved and authentic. Since the time the Prophet peace be upon him, received it and Revelation until now,
when you understand that, that you will understand you have to seek its guidance. So how do you seek its guidance? You understand that it is in this book? And what does it say in this book, he mementos it says, If you then ask what is the beginning of guidance that I may test myself with? Know that the beginning is from outward form of what's called an Arabic Taqwa God consciousness that is the beginning of guidance. He said that Taqwa is your beginning of guidance, how to seek consciousness of Allah subhanaw taala. Your Lord. And how do you do that? He will outline in this book is how do you achieve tequila? He said that tequila is composed of two parts. Number one is to fulfill what
God has said, and commanded and told us and number two, to stay away from what he has
forbidden. These two aspects, so number one, obedience, and number two, to stay away from disobedience. And that is why this book is divided into three categories. Number one, the category of obedience, how do you obey God and number two, the section of how to stay away from the disobedience of God. And number three, he talks about the etiquettes and dealings and your relationships with others. And that is why it is it is important to understand that when we're talking about fasting, it's not just fasting in and of itself, but it's composed of something very integral, which is to understand that it's supposed to lead us to God consciousness Taqwa. Now, what
does Telkom mean? Now, a lot of us say fear of God. A lot of us think that taqwa in God consciousness, maybe even a little bit rough to understand, but it is to think of your Creator before doing any action. That is what God consciousness is before you. Feed, you know, eat before you sleep before you drink before you do any type of worship. Before you even deal with others. You think of your Creator, Allah subhanaw taala. And you do it for his sake. Ultimately, now, when we talk about number six, what ingredient do you need to achieve this guidance? And Imam Al Ghazali rahamallah talks about that too. Imam Al Ghazali says about this, that the
secret of this is, if you turn in reality to the to the inward reality of God consciousness, there is no Ultimate Bliss except through understanding its guidance and Taqwa will allow you to understand truthfulness with God. So truthfulness of God is your secret ingredient of guidance. And that is what Allah Subhanallah said in the Quran, Regina, alongside Omar Abdullah Ali, there are people who became truthful with God. So he fulfilled what they wanted and what they what he promised them. So the secret ingredient of achieving Taqwa is to be truthful, to have said Kumar, Allah. And this said,
is very, very important, because it's something that it'll take us a lifelong journey to achieve, to be truthful to our Creator. And the Prophet peace be upon him said Be truthful to God, and God will be truthful to you. So this is the secret ingredient of this guidance is to be truthful with Allah subhanaw taala, turning and in truth to him. And
the number seven aspect of what we're going to talk about is the strategy for achieving this type of guidance. And that is that you always be constantly aware of reality, that you look at things in their true reality, and to not be so blinded with whatever worldview that you have other than what Allah subhanaw taala has told us. Now Malcolm X had a very powerful statement was drive this point home, which is how to understand reality and that is, he said, Do not be so blinded. And he said with patriotism, that we can't face our reality. And what he means by that is don't let some ism a
blind you from understanding the reality of life, whether it's, you know, your nationality, your ethnicity, or a certain view that you have a certain belief that you have other than Islam, don't let that be the driving force of blinding you and binding you from understanding to reality. And that is very, very important for us to understand, to always ask God to show us what is true reality and to stay away from what is false. And this is why Allah subhanaw taala said in the Quran, something very, very beautiful and powerful. He said, well also inside that if you also Illa Lavina. Nuwara means slowly, but also will help you to also discover, he said that by time, fleeting time,
time, that is always constantly, you know, passing us, God is swearing and making an oath by this, mankind is always in a state of loss. This is true reality, we're all going to eventually end up you know, passed away in the from this earth and eventually go on to another stage. So mankind is always going to be in a state of loss until they lose their life. In Lavina, Armand Waimea solid except for those who have faith who searched for faith, and they act upon that faith not to say outwardly I Muslim, but rather they act upon it. And lastly will tell us what will happen with us or with somebody and those who call to truth and who have who call to patients. So Imam Shafi Rahim Allah
said about this particular chapter of the Quran, which is only three verses, he said that if the entire Quran was only sent with this one chapter, it would have been enough for humanity. Why? Because Allah subhanaw taala talks about the three domains or realms of guidance. What do you need to be aware of when you're asking for guidance, when you're trying to seek God consciousness with sit with truthfulness, you have to be aware of three realms, because we in Islam do not believe that everybody seclude themselves in the masjid, or in a place of worship, and they become monks. And they become, you know, dedicated only to God, we don't believe in this, we believe that the realm of
humanity is three, the realm where we respect the rights of God, that we dedicate ourselves to God and ritual worship and rights over yourself. So God is the first round your self is the second realm, you have to maintain your own body, your own self, to work and to provide, and to make sure that you don't cause harm to your own body. And number three, others, your family, your friends, your co workers and the rest of humanity. These are the three realms of this guidance. And that is why in our discussion, we're going to talk about the three realms of this type of guidance. Now, real quickly, before we just jump into it Inshallah, as we have to understand, first and foremost
that for those people who would think that, you know, why would we care about only one month so much? You know, why would I only dedicate and discipline myself just in the month of Ramadan, when I may go back to my back by bad habits afterward? First of all, what a horrible pessimistic person, right? Why he's so pessimistic. Number two is, we have to understand that this is a time where God gave us as almost spiritual rehab for the rest of the year. What you get out of Ramadan, you will face and you will see its benefit for the rest of the year. That is why it's so important to focus in this month, and to try your hardest in this month. And you'll see why the virtues and benefits
for it later, but Jibril the Alon who said something very powerful he said don't make the month you fast the time you fast. Like the time you don't fast meaning make this special actually go out. Even if you say hey, what what if I you know, stop giving up the habits that I built in Ramadan? What guess what the Prophet peace be upon him said, what if it's from shaitan. So all automatically are falling into the satanic strategy of derailing you from Ramadan. So don't make the time you fast. Like the time you don't fast like Jabba the Alonso said.
The also we need to understand that there's nothing more powerful to bringing you immediately nearer to your Lord to God, whether you're Muslim or not Muslim just goes for everybody is that where he answers your prayers, and responds to your needs, then fasting. And this is proven throughout all of the Abrahamic faiths, which we're going to talk about. And if you haven't realized that Ramadan was supposed to mentally spiritually and even physically prepare us for the rest of the year, this is the time to realize it because there's only less than a week left now.
If you don't discipline yourself in Ramadan, you'll you see the effects of it for the rest of the year, whatever you achieve in your spiritual you know, revival and rejuvenation and as well as physically and the habits that you built in Rome, Milan, you will see for the rest of the year, this is tried and tested, try to test it. And lastly, before we we start most of what we're going to talk about revolves around one thing you might miss as Ali mentioned himself, he said that all of this discussion of guidance and how to you know continuously be on guidance revolves around one thing, time management, managing yourself. These said all of this is useless if you can't manage yourself.
If you can control your your own self
Your ego your knifes, then this guidance will not be useful to you. So that is why nine tenths of Ramadan is about control. It's about time management and it is easy to say you know what I can't do and what we can do rather with the mentality what we should have is how can I fill my time? So while we're talking about this, I want you to have that mentality What can I do in my capacity to fill my time in order to manage my myself and my time? And lastly, again, like we said, this there's only like a week left inshallah to Ramadan, starting, this is the time Ramadan is not the time for you to prepare for Ramadan. I know a lot of people in Ramadan started like, hey, let's grab a book. Let's
listen to some lecture about Ramadan. Hey, let's listen to some motivation about Allah. That's not the time Ramadan has gained time you don't go to an exam and you review for your test.
Does that make sense to you? Of course not. So Ramadan is the time where you act. Before that you should be preparing that is exactly why we're going and sitting in March all the beautiful city of the prophesy Salem talking about this. So take the rest of the time child to prepare, listen to your lectures now. And then we're going to give some practical tips of what you we you know, we all should be doing it all along the Charlotte data. Lastly, we're gonna talk about what can be the main obstacle of your Ramadan, and that is the satanic obstacle. And Imam Al Ghazali mentioned this in detail. And that is that
he mentioned
about how Satan derails somebody from doing what is beneficial to him. So what he mentioned is, is that
say Satan will have his deceit and misleading you by visiting you and thinking that something is beneficial to you when it's not.
When you think that you're actually involved in something as beneficial, said, he immediately realized that you have been attacked by you know, Satan, who wants to derail you from doing what is correct. And that is why he says at this point, if you find your heart, you know, distancing from God. He said,
That, know that part of your lower self wanting knowledge and wanting guidance, and, and, you know, straying away from and becoming bored from it, is that because your own spirit commands to evil, which has risen up out of the obedience of the accursed Satan, and Satan strategy, is to throw to you the rope of deceit to make you neglectful and heedless, and then pull you by it into the abyss of destruction. So the more he can make us heedless, and what's called War and deceitful of our true reality of this guidance, the more he tries to lead us to destruction, and his intention is to present evil in the form of good until he succeeds in making you have those who lose the most out of
their deeds, and whose efforts were wasted in this life. While they reckon what they did, they thought it was good. So Satan will try to keep doing this to you until he pushes you out of the understanding of true reality and what guidance that you're following busying you in something that you think is good, but it may be horrible. And at this point, he said, Satan will recite to you the excellence of knowledge and the high rank of the scholars, and all that has been related about it and Hadith and other narrations, and he will divert you from the warning of the Prophet peace be upon him, who said he who increases the knowledge, but not in guidance increases only in distance
from Allah. And the Prophet peace be upon him statement who said of the most severely punished on the Day of Judgment is the knowledgeable person whom Allah did not benefit through his knowledge. So this is what shaitan will do, he will try to push you out of the fold of this guidance by visiting us something you think is good, but it unfortunately is horrible for you now. So now on to fasting Ramadan. Why is Ramadan so special? You have to understand Ramadan is a pillar of our Islam pillar, meaning if you look at this machine behind me, if I rip off one of these pillars, will the will the structure stand? Of course not. It'll fall parts of it will fall down. And that is why one of the
most powerful things about our faith, every one of these five pillars is one of the doors for you to go to paradise. So for example, the Prophet peace be upon him said whoever is regular in their prayer, they will have paradise they will have a house built in paradise for them, they will have castles built in paradise for them. And the first thing they will be asked about on the Day of Judgment is their prayer.
Obviously, number two we're talking about, for example, these a cat the charity, he said that whoever gives their obligatory charity, there's a cat it will come on the day of judgment as a protector of them from the hellfire and any kind of punishment it will protect them from any kind of
harm and lastly for example like Hajj This is the fourth pillar of Islam. Right Hajj, the Prophet peace be upon him as whoever does a righteous and accepted Hajj from abroad. There is no reward for it except paradise and they go back to their family as if the day their mother gave birth to them. So you will be purely cleansed from sins. And one of the most beautiful things about this month is that the Prophet peace be upon him said this is the virtues of Ramadan, he said mon Sol model Milan EMA and the Saba and Ophelia Holmatro.
As narrated and imparting wisdom, the prophesy selama said, Whoever fasts Ramadan, hoping in the reward, and having faith, Allah will forgive them for any sin that they've had before that. Look how powerful this month is. What are the conditions, do it with true faith and believe in the promise of God and hope and the promise of God, Allah will forgive your sins. And in a weak narration, which was which its meaning is correct, is that the Prophet peace be upon him is narrated. And I've set has said that if you fast Ramadan, with faith, and with hoping in the reward, you will leave Ramadan as if the day your mother gave birth to you. It's the same meaning as the hadith of that we
mentioned previously. And the prophets I sent also mentioned, whoever stands in the night in Ramadan, hoping in the reward and believing truly in God for this reward and doing it for him. Whoever stands in the night in Ramadan, Allah will forgive their sins as well, whatever they seems to have done previously, so those are the second type. The third type is whoever stands the Laila to Qatar, which is the night that the Quran was revealed, and the last 10 nights of Ramadan, one of those nights, the odd nights, whoever stands in that night, the prophesy sentiment says Mount Carmel a little called the EMA and what is seven Orfila Hermetica WA, whoever stands and that night in true
faith and and hoping the role in the reward Allah will forgive their,
their all of their sins, so three types of forgiveness, for fasting Ramadan, for standing in the night of Ramadan, and for standing in the night of late at two o'clock. So just in case if somebody misses one of them, hopefully, obviously not the obligate Tori, right, Allah Subhan, Allah will forgive them in Sharla data. And this three layers of forgiveness is what we should strive for. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi salam has said that Allah said, every act of the son of Adam is for him, anything that you do is for you, you're gonna get a higher level of paradise. The more guidance you do, the more good that you do, you will get a higher reward and Paradise except for fasting.
Fasting is exclusively for me, and I will reward him and he's Allah subhanaw taala said, fasting, a Soma junuh Fasting is a shield when any of you as observing a fast, they should neither indulgent, obscene language, nor should they raise their voice. And if anyone curses them, or tries to argue with them, or get into a fight with them, they should say, I'm fasting, I'm fasting, by him, in whose hand the soul of Muhammad is, the breath of one who is fasting is sweeter to God, than the fragrance of musk, meaning God enjoys this person who was fasting breath, then, if they weren't even put on perfume, why, because they're doing a truly for God. And you might think, Oh, my breath
smells, but you know what Allah subhanaw taala enjoys this because of your striving, of your striving. And he says, The one who fasts experiences to joys, he, they feel pleasure when they break their fast finally you get food, right? 100 Allah, we get to eat. And number two, they the second joy they will get is when they see what reward this fast will have in the sight of God on the day of judgment. And one thing I will leave you with, with the virtues of fasting is a very powerful, very powerful, powerful Hadith. And that hadith is something which shows you the importance of never ever taking a single Ramadan for granted. And that is that all happened obey the law on the law. Nordoff,
a companion of the Prophet peace be upon him, reported that two men came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and who had both of them accepted Islam at the same exact time.
One of them was busy in defending the Muslim empire and he surpassed his friend in this kind of struggle and in terms of defense of of the Muslims and from being attacked, etc. To the extent that he fought and battle and he was martyred. The other remained behind for an entire year. Now the status of a murderer is very high and lofty in Islam. So Paul has said I saw in my dream that I was at the door of paradise. And there was in front of this this door of paradise. Both of these two men I saw someone came out of paradise and allowed the man who passed away after the murder to enter first.
So tall he was confused. He's like wait a martyr. Isn't he supposed to go first? to paradise? But why is the man who passed away after him his friend
Who didn't die as a martyr. So then he came out again and then he allowed the martyr to enter after him. So he said, Paul has said, Now I wanted to go to paradise in my dream. So the man told me go back, because it's not your time yet. So thought has said, I woke up from my dream. And I started to tell people about it. This is an amazing dream. Like, we thought, obviously, the martyr has the highest level and Paradise. And he would obviously be entered first. So what's the meaning of this hadith? They all have this dream, I'm sorry. So they all went to the Prophet peace be upon him. And they narrated to the Prophet peace be upon him what he saw Al Hassan his dream. So the prophets I
said, I'm, I want you to pay attention. He said, What are you surprised about? And they said, O Messenger of Allah, out of both of them, that one strove harder, and he struggled, he lost his life defending his faith. And then he became a martyr. And the other one was allowed to enter paradise before him. Why is that? The Prophet saw a lot instead of me. He said, Did he not his friend remain for an entire year after him and then pass away? And they said, Yes. So he said, Did he not reach Ramadan?
Did he not reach Ramadan? And he fasted? And he prayed such an such number of prostrations and sujood. In that year, in those years, that after, after he lived in that year, and they said, Yes, so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, so the difference between the one who was a martyr and the one who fasted Ramadan, and did all of this righteousness for an entire year, is like the distance between the heaven and the earth. So authentic hadith narrated by the manager. And this shows you the power of Ramadan, how you should never take for granted this Ramadan. And
this is why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he mentioned the reward of Ramadan, it is almost always tied with some of the greatest actions in our faith, to the extent that they said that among the greatest actions of our faith is number one prayer and immediately after that, it's mentioned with with Ramadan, with fasting of Ramadan, excuse me, with the fasting of Ramadan. Now
when we're going to get started with the with what he promises alila him Allah mentioned shortly in this, we have to understand how Ramadan actually came about. How did fasting come about, and this is something very beautiful and very amazing. But I'm alone actually went through a number of stages, fasting in itself and Islam went through
three stages, and the three stages of fasting was that before the Prophet peace be upon him,
started to fast. The very first revelation that came to the Prophet peace be upon him about fasting was not about fasting, from food and drink and carnal desires are to sleep with one's spouse, that was not the very first fasting revealed to the Prophet peace be upon him. In fact, the very first fasting that was revealed to the Prophet peace be upon him was about fasting from speech. The very first mention of CRM or Psalm in Ramadan, excuse me of Psalm was in Surah Maryam. So that's Medion was revealed in the early stages of Makkah. And it was revealed before the migration of the companions to Ethiopia, to the Sunnah, where they had to actually run
away with their with their lives and their property because they were being killed and tortured, and persecuted for having their beliefs. So Allah subhanaw taala commanded them to migrate to a country of Ethiopia, where a righteous Christian
king called a Negus of Abyssinia was the one who preserved them and who, who,
you know, gave them safety and refuge and it was then bright before then where Allah subhanaw taala revealed to the Prophet peace be upon him. So Let's marry him the chapter in the Quran known as Mary chapter 19. And in that chapter, when Allah subhanaw taala talks about the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, he talks about the difficulty that that Maria Mary, may Allah have sent his piece on her, went through and one of those things that she went through is she's while she was giving birth, Allah subhanaw taala says about her. So her mother, Topher fonteva That became a cannon costlier Fajr. Hold mahalo legendary knuckle audit ya late and emit to Kabbalah had our country nasiha man
Sia, so when we it was ordained that she would be she was the one who would conceive Jesus, she withdrew to a distant place and when the pains of childbirth drove her, to, you know, this, this pain that she was having is that she held on to the trunk of a tree. And then she she started to say, I wish I was dead. And I wish I was forgotten and long before this. And the reason for this is that she went through such difficulty that first and foremost not only the pains of childbirth, but now she has to go to her to her people and go through the difficulty of explaining how she had this child and it's an amazingly difficult moment. So Allah subhanho wa Taala talks about the difficult
She went through and this is again
to the Prophet peace be upon him and the Companions who are going through also massive difficulty with their faith in Mecca being persecuted. So this is the tie of this chapter. So what did she say in this? She went to our people. And when she went to her people God had commanded her, don't even speak to them. Tell them in Nina's are two little Rahmani Salma, felon who can Lima Yama and Sia. God commanded her to say, say to the people, I have taken an oath, with the most merciful God, that I will do a soul a soul means fast but fast here means fasting from speech, that I would not speak I will not speak to you all. So when she came and she had a she had her son Jesus Christ, at a salami
God half piece on him.
People asked her what's wrong with you? Oh, Marian, aren't you it? Weren't you a chase woman, a righteous woman, a worshiper? How can you do this and they thought that she had done an act that was vile, and she just pointed to the child. And Jesus Christ spoke in while he was a child and as a toddler, and this was one of the miracles of Jesus Christ. So this is why God told her to seek a soul a fast and that is why one of the meanings of fast is to do M sack on a che to withhold from something and Turkish che and a watery and to leave something so to withhold and leave is what Psalm comes from. So yeah, I'm fasting. So the very first fasting in Islam that was spoken to to the
Prophet peace be upon him, was fasting from speech. Isn't that very powerful, and that has a lot to do with the objectives of our fasting as well. So before you even worry about fasting and all along before he might worry about fasting and from from drink and your carnal desires, and from cursing and from anything else, you need to fast from this from your mouth from your speech. This was the very first type of fasting that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam in the Meccan period. The second type was the prophet peace be upon him and narrated by the hadith of Aisha on the Alana. She said that the Prophet peace be upon him and people in general used to fast on the 10th of
Muharram. Mashallah, before in the times of Jahai, in the period of ignorance, before Islam, they used to fast in Ashura. So when the Prophet peace be upon him came to Medina, he also saw the Jewish tribes that were settled in the city, also fasting martial law. So the Prophet peace be upon him said and was surprised, you also fast martial law, why do you all fast martial law and they said that we fast this day in thankfulness to Allah subhanaw taala, to God who saved Moses, on this day from Pharaoh, so the Prophet peace be upon him when he heard that he said that we have more rights to Moses, because he is a prophet of God, from the same God, that who said, Moses, saying, I'm from
the same lineage of Prophet, I have more right to be fasting, so I and we all will fast on this date, as well. So he commanded the Muslims to fast on our Shula. So the Muslims started to fast on Asha law and it was not an an obligation, rather, it was whoever wanted to fast the Prophet peace one would announce and whoever heard his command, they would fast and whoever did not hear his command, then he would allow them to not fast so that was just one day a year. This was right at the beginning of the Medina and period also the Prophet peace be upon him in this stage, he told them to fast three days in the month,
okay. So, this is, this is the 10th of Muharram, Ashura and three days of every month for those who want it, it was not an obligation, then, which is the third stage. Allah subhanaw taala commanded the revelation of fasting in Ramadan, and that was in the second year. Hey July, that means two years after the Prophet came to Medina and the month of Siobhan which is the month right before Ramadan, Allah commanded and that second year too fast. Yeah, you are Latina Armando quotevalet como si yarmulke makuti, Valentina mill. clublink. When Allah upon that all you who believe fasting has been now prescribed on your prescribed meaning obligated on you, like it has been obligated and
prescribe to those before you so that you may attain what I want you to pay attention to this now look into taco, so that you may attain what guidance is for Toccoa God consciousness, you see how this all relates? Now why we went off on this entire introduction, because the purpose of this fasting is for us to reach the fruit of it the purpose of guidance, which is God consciousness. So when this verse was revealed, the Prophet peace be upon him at that time, was commanded a to fast in Ramadan, but it was it was optional. It wasn't even obligatory yet. It was optional, meaning if somebody wanted to fast, they could fast, but if they didn't want to fast then they had to pay
what's called the Kafala, which means the expiation or they had to feed
The poor people instead of fasting so it was purely voluntary everybody Medina whoever wanted to fast they could fast and whoever didn't want to fast they just pay you know to port pay for for poor people. Then Allah subhanaw taala revealed the Quran after that, which is the fourth and final stage that alarm Oban becomes obligatory on every capable person, except to those who are too old. And those who are sick and cannot fast and those who travel they get a
a concession to break their fast while they're traveling. Everybody who is of age who reaches the age of puberty, and has their senses and has the health capacity to fast then Allah subhanaw taala revealed that shuffle Ramadan Olivia onesie Luffy Hill Quran, who then Linares he will be anatomy and Hoda will for clients for men Shahida Miko Mushara for the month of Ramadan is the month that the Quran was revealed. This is the reason why Ramadan is the month of fasting. This is the reason because the Quran was revealed in this month. That is why Muslims fast oh my god, the Quran was revealed in this month so Allah chose this month to be our spiritual rehab a fasting Allah says the
month that the Quran was revealed a guidance for mankind and clear paths to guidance as well as a criterion of what is true and what is falsehood and whoever witnesses this month, then he should fast. So this is the fourth stage and the final stage where it becomes an obligation of Ramadan for to be on every single person who was capable. Now
the moment has led to him Allah Tada then starts to discuss the details of the etiquette of fasting which we're going to end with inshallah Tada by discussing, and that is, he said, You should confine yourself to fast you should not confine yourself to only fasting in Ramadan. Why? And I want you to understand why. Remember, the four stages of revelation of how fasting was prescribed, number one from from bad speech from fasting from speech, was the first reference to fasting, then those different stages? Why did Allah subhanaw taala Make It Right fasting in Ramadan, something voluntary. And the reason for that is so people could get used to it. If Allah told people to just
immediately start fasting, they just had accepted Islam, as I'm sure many of you have faced this was accepted Islam. When you're told to fast 30 days of Ramadan, it's hard. It's not easy. I mean, people were born in Islam, they think it's obviously you know, they're used to it. They were taught since they were children, but people who accepted Islam, they find it very difficult and hard. So Allah made it gradual for people's hearts to become acclimated to it to become used to it. And that is why the Ramadan came in and the fasting of Ramadan came in stages. And this is why Imam Al Ghazali starts off with the very first sentence you should not confine yourself to fasting only in
Ramadan. Why? So that your body can be used to fasting if you jump it on Allah and all of a sudden, the first day you're passed out, right? And then it comes time for fasting? What do you do most people what do they do? They crushed samosas and fried food and then their body goes into like dead mode. And then they don't have they don't have enough energy maybe to even last for praying in the night. So what should you do what what the Prophet peace be upon him himself? That is he would fast in this month we're in right now, the month before Ramadan, I shall have the Alon has said that I haven't seen the Prophet peace be upon him fasting in any more months other than Ramadan, then in
Schad, than the month before Ramadan. So look at the beautiful wisdom of this fasting and how Allah told us about it. And that is why he said you should not confine yourself to fasting only in Ramadan.
Because you would be neglectful of the spiritual commerce the trade that you are doing with voluntary acts. What does he mean by this? The Prophet peace be upon him said that Allah Our Creator said that there isn't anything that my servant can come closer to me with except obligatory things, things I've obligated on him or her. And the more you do things, these obligated matters, which is the five pillars of Islam and other obligations, the closer you will come to me, Allah subhanaw taala he says, and he says, You will keep coming closer to me until you do voluntary extra optional actions. Soon, right, you've done though Awaji. But now Now you're doing more certain until you do
these until you come so close to me that I love you. And when I love you, I announced to the angel Gabriel to love that person and to announce to the heavens and the earth to love them. So the angel Gabriel announces to the heavens of the earth that this person is loved by God. This is why He said you're trading you What are you trading? You're trading your actions for Allah's pleasure for for the pleasure of God sincerely for him and truthfulness to him. And that's my last point that it says in Allaha estado Amina meaning and foster home Vienna Hamid Jana, that God has indeed bought the souls of his servants of the believers. For what for Paradise
They have dedicated themselves and in their physical and spiritual dedication and truthfulness, and God in transaction gives paradise. And this is what he means by that. And then he says, so that she would feel regret on looking up toward the one who fasted extra fast. Don't be the one who regrets that. Look at this person who fasted, who God said I reward personally, for the one who fasts meaning for every other deed, it's multiplied, it's you know, given but the reward of fasting is personally given by loss monitor. So the one who fasted extra he gets more first, just he said, just as you look up toward the brilliant stars, as they would be in the highest of the highest of
Heavens, who fast extra, not just only that in Ramadan, and also it prepares you spiritually. He says, the days that are, that are blessed in our tradition, for you to fast is the day of alpha that which is the ninth of the ledger, the day when all of the pilgrims that when they go to Hajj, they stand on this plane called alpha and they pray to God on that day, it is a good day to fast. The day of Ashura, we already mentioned it remained a recommendation, which is the 10th of Muharram, the first 10 days of the ledger, the days of Hajj, and the first 10 days of haram Rajab and Shabbat and it's also good to fast the sacred the four sacred months, which are there Claire, the ledger,
Mohammed Raja, these are the Islamic months based on the lunar calendar, right. And with regard to each of these months, it is virtuous to fast the beginning, middle and end of it as well as the white days remember the three days that the Prophet peace be upon him, used to command the companions to fast, those are called the white days, they fall in the exact middle of the month, the 13th 14th and 15th of the lunar calendar. Why are they called the white days because the moon is out fall in the sky, the Prophet peace one recommended to fast these days. And he said we'll fast three days in a month, it can be any more any of those three days or these particular three days that
Allah will reward him for each day, as if he fasted 10 days. So if you fast three days a month, you will get the reward of having fasted the entire year. And this is why it's it's very virtuous to fast these extra days. So this is what he started with. And I told you why the reason for it is so that your body can become prepared for Ramadan. Now,
then he goes on to say, as for the week, the days of virtue are Mondays and Thursdays the Prophet peace, we wanted us to fast and Friday to expiate for the sins of the rest of the week by fasting these days, the Prophet peace be on him used to fast every Monday and Thursday, as well. And make up for the sins of the month by fasting the first day of the month, the middle day, and the last day as well as the white days and make up for the sins of the whole year. By fasting these three days, like we said, If you fast three days of every month, you get the reward of firing faster the entire year. Now when you do fast, he says, Do not think that fasting is simply leaving off eating, drinking and
marital relations. This is the objective of fasting that we're gonna talk about now. It's not just about leaving food and drink. Why? He said because the Prophet the messenger of allah sallallahu Sallam has said, how many are those who fast, yet get nothing out of fasting except for hunger and thirst. You see people who act out they yell, they scream, they curse people. They continue to watch things that are impermissible. They engage in impermissible relationships. What do they get out of it except for hunger, hunger and thirst as the Prophet peace be upon him said, May Allah protect all of us and this is why it's so important to try to break off, break off from what you can in this
month of Ramadan, this is a month where you should focus as much as possible. And he said, a complete fast entails restraining every part of the body from what Allah the Most High dislikes, restraining every part of your body from what Allah dislikes, that means your eyes with what you see your ears with what you hear your mouth what you say. So instead of listening to your favorite song, you're listening to Quran instead of speaking ill and saying, you know, things that are like curse words regular now, say something good or refrain from it at the very least.
And he said, You must protect the AI from looking at things that are disliked the tongue from uttering What does not concern you, and the ear from listening to what Allah of the magnificent and majestic has forbidden, because the listener is a participant with the speaker and he counts as one of the two. If a person speaks ill about somebody in the back bites, you're counted as the one who backlight it because you're listening to it as well. So Backbiting is also a no go at all times, but even more in Ramadan. And you must restrain all the limbs just as you restrain the stomach and the private parts. Because a narration tells us five things break the fast, lying, backbiting tail
bearing which is to carry on, you know what somebody said about somebody to them. Hey, did you know what somebody said? Hey, look, girl, what she said about you can't do that.
The false oath and looking at things with lust, like continuously staring at somebody with lust, like, you know, that's not, that's not good. Now this this hadith in particular, is weak in narration, but it is strong in meaning meaning that you're fasting depreciates. And there's even many scholars that even depreciate some of them even said that you have no fast if you backbite about somebody, so be very careful about this. And the prophets I said, Emma said, Verily, fasting is a shield, a Soma Jana, so if one of you is fasting, you should not engage in obscene talk or behave foolishly, then if a person is hostile towards him, or wants to attack him, or argue with
them, or get into a Twitter war or whatever or on assaulted them, they should say, I am fasting, I am fasting, why to number one, remind themselves number two to sit, tell the other person back off, I'm fasting. Number two. And by the way, this isn't to yell at anybody you shouldn't, you shouldn't say hey, I'm fasting back off, that's not the point. The point is to say, I am fasting in order for them to understand that you're not going to engage them. Moreover, he said, You must make every effort to break your fast with lawful food. So, you know, if you faster than you go have double bacon cheeseburger, you know, that's completely going against the fast. Obviously, we don't eat pork
as Muslims, I'm just joking. And you should not eat so much that you end up eating more than you normally eat every night. It's panela. This book was written in the sixth century, and they said had the same issue as we do. There is no difference if you end up eating the same amount. Whether you do that in one meal or two, meaning your body just like today, we you know, we hear from obviously doctors, that your your stomach sends signals at a much later pace than what you put in your in your mouth. So you become full faster than you actually feel full. So this is what he's saying is you're gonna you could be full in one or two meals very easily, but you're stuffing yourself thinking that
you need to crush and make up for the rest of the month that you're missing out on food. And he said, there's no container that Allah the Most High dislikes, more than a stomach filled with the lawful meaning crushing food and filling yourself is something that Allah is part of the dislikes. Now that you understand the meaning of fasting, he says, fast as much as you can for it as the foundation of the act of worship. And the key to that which one draws nearer to Allah. The Messenger of Allah says, that Allah the Most Blessed and Exalted says, every good deed is awarded from 10 times, to 700 times and every good deed you do, you give $1 Allah rewards that multiply that by 10
to 700, based on what your sincerity or level of truthfulness, so every good deed, every good deed that you do, multiplied by 10, at least, except for fasting, for indeed it is for me, and I will reward for it, what's the reward of fasting only Allah rewards personally and delivered reward. That's how great it is. And we also mentioned the rest of it, the Hadith of the one who has given up his desire and his food and his drink only for my sake, fasting is for me, and I will give reward for it. And the Prophet peace be alongside said Paradise has a door called Rayyan, the door of paradise, which none except those who fast
enter through this door, and whoever enters through this door will never be close. This is what emammal does. He talks about in the etiquette of fasting, we're going to finish off with
what he talked about immediately after this, which is immediately after the chapter of fasting. Interestingly enough, what is he started the second part of the book, which is the part of refraining from disobedience. So as if he's signaling that part of your fast is to abstain from
horrible manners and things that are forbidden, and he starts with
the, the things that you should refrain with with your limbs. So he says, with regards to the ear, he talks about the eye and he talks about the mouth from lying from breaking promises, from backbiting. And then he goes to disputation argumentation, and competitive debate with people ascribing goodness to oneself and showing off like, hey, guess how much I fasted today? It was awesome, right? That's not something good to do. You should try to generally hydrogens unless you're encouraging somebody else, like, hey, let's fast together Mondays and Thursdays, that you should generally encourage others cursing, he talks about, and he goes on to talk about the supplication
and like cursing other people, supplication against others, mocking people, it's not a good thing to do. And he ends it with, you know, preserving your private parts. And then he goes into the things that you should worry about in your heart. He shouldn't worry about you're worried about envy, and ostentation and looking other people with conceit and arrogance. And he talks about the details of all of these why, why does he follow it up right after the etiquette of fasting, as if to show that you're fasting is integrally tied with the spiritual state of your heart. If you're looking at people with a negative eye, and you're trying to maintain truthfulness with your Lord, they don't go
together. This is why the three rounds of your fast go together, how you are with God and your fast how you are with yourself.
By maintaining yourself and how you are with others and that's what we're going to end with inshallah Tada, which is practical tips. So first and foremost, when it comes to your intention in the ficlet Fasting practical tip number one, you have to have your intention at nighttime. So before you go to sleep you have to make the intention that the next day I'm fasting the obligatory fast of Ramadan every single night you have this obligate Tory intention it has to be the night before right so in any case, everybody does that anyway you go to sleep with the intention to fast next day that's pretty easy. Number two it is a consensus of scholars of all scholars in this OMA that's you
should eat the whole so what is the morning meal before the fast and it is a consensus also to delay it as close as possible to the beginning of the fast given some time you know to save some time obviously before dawn breaks oh you're not chugging massive amounts of you know juice and cereal and mango juice and whatever you have mango lecien etcetera rather you give some time give it like 510 minutes or you you know eat until you
obviously before the event before a short time when the event goes off, you should stop drinking there is no drinking there's no eating put your food down there that has gone off budget time has come in your mama Nollywood I'ma holla to Allah speaks about this thing. It is complete ignorance for someone to hear that and they're still chugging down food, what the prophets of Allah they said I meant as as if the time for the Dawn has come has come close, then you if you have a glass of water or food that you should finish that food and then when the alarm goes off, that's it. There's no There's no more eating practical tips with regards to yourself. Hydrate, drink water, and I am
giving this advice straight to none other than myself because I am a horrible person in terms of when it comes to drinking water. And as I was just giving water now, I will drink water now in this villa.
So hydrate yourself, we got to implement what we say Right?
hydrating yourself is very important. So number two is
making sure that you eat your soul and your if thought as well as soon as he has and for sunset goes goes and is recommended by consensus of the scholars that shoot as fast as you can break your fast as the Prophet sallallahu to set them aside. God loves those who break their fast as soon as possible. And with regards to some real talk, right? So we're gonna end with this Inshallah, then take your questions. First and foremost, Ramadan is only as good as you prepare for it. Just remember that that's just the reality, if you're preparing for Ramadan, now by listening to this, or sharing this or sending it to somebody, this is how you prepare for Ramadan. And the Quran was
revealed in this month. And we fast in this month so that we can take time from everything that we've neglected the Quran for an entire year, maybe this is the time to focus on the Quran, that is the main action of this month of Ramadan is to read the Quran, reflect on the Quran, listen to the Quran, as much interaction as you can, with the Quran, make a schedule. And obviously many of us, you know, we have nine to five jobs, I'm gonna get to that. I know you guys are sitting there looking at me like Hey, is he you're sitting in Medina, what do you know about me in my nine to five job and how I'm gonna get through my schedule, we're getting to that chill. Alright, so everybody
needs to make a schedule, you have to make a schedule with Quran. So you need to block your time, that's the most effective way, say this is the goal. So pretty much there's 30 Jews or 30 parts, or 30, pa whatever way you say of the Quran. And that is
to be divided in 30 days roughly. Right. So every day essentially should be reading at least one chapter of the Quran or sorry, one section of the Quran, their study sections are just so this part of the Quran that you read, it should be dedicated time, that means you take your phone, you put it on silent airplane mode, put it in the car, leave it in the drawer, whatever you need to do, go to the masjid early by an hour,
you know, sit in the garage for 20 minutes before you go into the house. Whatever it takes, you need to schedule it, write it down, take a piece of paper, put your time in, make alarms, whatever it needs, because we constantly make the same excuses. And we're so lazy every single year that we don't get this done. So make time for the Ramadan. And making sure to read it at least one part every single day. And you will find that it takes roughly about 35 to 40 minutes. And if you read obviously handled at a much slower pace, it'll take you about 45 minutes to an hour right to read this
20 pages, which equals one part of the Quran. So some some practical tips. Also you have the Android app, you can get Quran for Android, and it has an app in there which we'll pull up right now for your child so you can see and it's called Quran for Android. The beautiful thing about this app is that okay, it has the entire Quran obviously, you can read but it also has a transit
ation. Now, the beautiful thing here is you can go to the translation, I recommend you download the translation called Abdul Halim
under Help translation because it's very, very easy to read. There's other translations I have. But that's the number one translation I like, because it's so easy to read Abdulhadi right here. So just go to the translation menu, download the update Haleem translation. Hold on for Android. For those of you who have iPhones, buy an app is really awesome. I think you have to pay for it. Oh, well, sorry. You're an iPhone user. I'm not gonna feel sorry for you.
But I'm just joking. You can you can do Quran explore. There's a number of other apps you can use for iPhone. So inshallah make sure you download that put it on your phone. So if you hey, I don't have my Quran I can't read, pull out your phone and read the Quran. We're living in 2017 Come on. Alright. Another practical tip is dedicate time to understanding the meaning of the Quran. So reading is very important.
And understanding the meaning of the Quran. Some of the most effective way that I have is pick a chapter of the Quran, and listen to podcasts. There's so many podcasts on entire Tafseer as of one chapter of the Quran, so say you like stuff that you'd like to learn from it and you just heard about sort of menu. I want to know the entire meaning of this of this chapter. So buckle up, pick a chapter go through it, you're done. Go on to the next one. There's so many podcasts out there by amazing people. My you know, our
you know, there's for example, Sheikh Hamza Nasir Junga no matter Johan, there's so many people out there masala with beautiful tafseer sections, make sure you check that out the podcast, put it on your podcast, replace it with all the stuff that you're listening to, especially on the commutes. This is a time you can listen to the understanding of the meaning of the hood on on your commute. While you're, you know on the train, you're riding your motorcycle, whatever it is, you know you're in the gym and late late at night. Listen to the meaning of the Quran. Yep. Okay, so a lot of people ask what's better to read more Quran or to reflect on understanding it, I have an entire article
that's been translated on this, it will be in the comment section down below Inshallah, we'll post it up for you, or you can check out my Twitter.
And I have posted it on there as well. And it's called What's better to read more Quran or to reflect on understanding it? Okay. So with regards to social media, we need to cut down on social media and on the lawn, you need to put social media away social media takes out so much from you and your time and your attention and you start scrolling, you know, going down, but this happened that happened. Your political and Twitter and Facebook debates need to go away. And I'm alone. That's just reality. There is no need to debate there's no need to argue the most hated thing to me personally, is Moon citing debates and arguments, who cares? We are not going to solve this problem
amongst us, this is not going to happen. Why? Because the old love Islam has had the disagreement for a very, very long time. We're not going to solve this issue. So what's the solution to our moon sighting issue? Fast as the Prophet peace be upon him said with your community, when they fast fast with them? What if you have multiple masajid fast with the masjid you trust? Whatever, don't ask me more questions fast with the people you trust. You have multiple massages, fasting on different days, fast with the message you go to more often very simple, don't argue don't have a discussion don't have a debate. Why the reason was because none of us are scholars. For those of you who have
not studied in depth and plan those arguments amongst one another is completely fruitless, you're not qualified to have those discussions. So it's completely useless. And that is why moon fighting is completely useless to do it. Now,
working on Breaking Bad habits in the final days before Ramadan is very, very important, you know, relationships that people have working on having patience, removing the you know, slowly pull yourself away from social media and these five, six days, you got to do it now. Because when it comes to my bonsai, it's not like, Hey, let me know, if you want to break off completely great. If you don't, let's be realistic, you got to cut your time, at least and at least you know, following things that are improper to follow and look at and read or watch on YouTube. You just got to cut it out. It's not it's not worth it. It's not worth it at all.
One of the important thing about you know something I mentioned on Instagram, sorry, on on Twitter, as you can Instagram the state of your heart and you can't snap the sincerity that you have. You can't do that. It's only that Allah subhanaw taala sees you. So you know if you want to Instagram and snap your food, that's great, but remember that don't show off with your worship. You know, I'm reading Quran now. And you put up a picture of yourself or even for long, there's no benefit to any of this just breaks your sincerity. And we don't know how much of it is sincere how much of it is encouraging others you want to encourage others post up an idea of the Quran that you came across in
your understanding, post up you know, a tweet about a beautiful understanding you heard on one of your podcasts, encourage others by sharing and you know do that that's that's awesome. But as far as you know, things related to yourself. Don't Instagram yourself doing like active worship. It's just it's kind of lame to me. But anyway.
Ramadan is one month so make sure you take the best of it and
One of the beautiful things that scholar said is that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has said that, for every person that you feed, who is fasting, you will get the reward of that person who is fasting as well. So in this month tried to feed people, and this, this is beautiful, because there's so many charitable organizations, also your masajid also, you know, like, poor countries like Somalia, who are, you know, they're, they're fasting and they're dying of hunger. You know, we're fasting because we have a choice, people are fasting, and they don't have a choice, but they get the reward as well as panela. So send food to Somalia says send food to Sudan to Ivana Stan, to
Syria, to you know, Iraq to, you know, all these countries which are suffering with people you know, who don't have food, you will get the reward for it and, and this scholar, he said something very beautiful, he said, Feed 36 people, and you will get the reward of having fed a person for the entire year. How, because 36 is multiplied by 10. Remember, every good deeds multiply by 10. So you fed 360 people. So you've basically fed a person for the entire year. If you feed 36 people, there's just a kind of cool formula he made. Another thing is practical advice. Little things matter. If you have a nine to five job, you have a very rigorous schedule, you're a researcher, you're a doctor,
you're whatever. There are little little things that you can do which have massive reward among them is thicket. The Prophet peace of mind said the more vicar that you do with saying Subhan Allah Subhan Allah Subhan Allah and hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah 100 Allahu Allahu Allah, because this is the best deeds that you can do in Islam, and the prophesy centum is that whoever says Subhan Allah who will be handy 100 times a day, Allah will forgive their sins, even if they were as much as the form of the ocean, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Whoever says 33 times Subhan Allah 33 times Alhamdulillah 33 times hola hola kebab, and then says Lila and Hola. Hola. Hola,
chica. de Haan Makoto Hangul Horta coalition Kadir, after every single prayer, Allah forgives the sins that they have done from the previous prayer. Look at these small things. They're so small, smile, open doors, give charity do the small things. If you don't have time for anything else. Don't just say okay, I can do it. Why would I donate $1 If I can, you know, read 30 Observe the Quran in one day. Come on, donate, give, you know feed people you see a homeless person on the street, give them a can of soda. Here you go, buddy. Do the little things. Lastly, and I've said last week, twice, but this is it and so we're gonna end with this. How do we
deal with Ramadan when it comes to family having young children and having a nine to five job so number one, I've asked people who actually have this so this is not for me, only. This is from my friends. May Allah bless them who gave me some really good advice that I'm going to share with you. So one of one of them he said that one of the most important things to me is that I understood that praying Fajr and Isha is two important prayers. Their award is actually more than playing voluntarily at night in Ramadan, the prophet he's gonna said Whoever prays Orisha AND CONGREGATION he will get the reward of praying half of the night and whoever prays Fajr which is the morning
parent congregation, he will get the reward of praying the entire night. So pray Fajr and Alicia and congregation. I mean, for sure many of you don't have work at that early in the morning, most of us and those of you who do Hey, hit at least Trisha when you're off of work, inshallah. So make sure you hit those prayers. And he said that for the day that you can do total we do taraweeh and if you can't do that home and congregation with your family, it doesn't matter how short it is. And this is something important about Holloway tunnel. We have any prayer after the Isha Prayer until the Fajr time anytime in the night that you pray even if it's to raka you counted amongst those people who
stood in the night of Ramadan. Subhan Allah Islam is so easy. So if you can't, you know, go to Talia because you have work because of whatever. Just pray to rocker before you sleep. That's all you need to do. And you did it. You did it with what the Prophet said Eman and you meet with faith and St. Saba and hoping in the reward you're counted as those who stood in the night of Ramadan and make sure you finish it up with Witter at least one rocker and three rocker according to the other two, the majority of opinion among scholars
is that when it comes to other acts of worship, I tried to recite a Judas and read five to 10 pages of Tafseer. So that's what he does understanding of the Quran and reciting of the Quran. He's that as far as family goes, we try to limit if thought accepting invitations. I mean, there's so many Iftar parties I mean, you're going to literally every other day to Iftar parties, you're gonna lose your your time for Ramadan. And he said that we limit that and for the kids, we dedicate our time to them and I tried to help my wife in doing so. And he also in Ramadan takes off a few days every week. Yes take off from work. This is part of Ramallah this is your month of striving so take off
from work that's very important. And he says I recommend using personal leave time during the end of the month, which is the last time nights we should strive even more and time management skills always matter. And he said I tried to come home
to work and sleep for 30 minutes to have that energy and
be able to worship for the rest of the night. Now, one of the important things I also want to mention as you mentioned, this is do I do is very, very essential and critical, the Prophet peace one who said that the dua of a fasting person is accepted, and the other Hadith which is also amazing, the DUA at the time of breaking fast is accepted. So to two things, number one, if you don't have if you're rushing, especially for ladies, they're preparing food, you know, they're getting the table ready, whatever, if you're, by the way, making your women do all that get up and do some work, you know, in the house, that's very important. You help help you know the ladies,
prepare the food, wash dishes, etc, as much as you can Inshallah, anyway, and if somebody's busy during that time of the thought, they can make dua at any time of the day as well. So a lot of people they don't have time to make dua at the time of the thought what you should be doing make throughout that time because one has accepted but the other hadith is also amazing, because you can make dua anytime of the day, the DUA the fasting person in general is accepted. So that's important. I will end with this your food Alhamdulillah food is not a major issue in my house, I don't make Ramadan about food, you know, make, you know, try to try to make my wife cook all this food for no
reason. Honestly, this is the month where it should be time off. I understand people have Ramadan food, you love your mama samosa, that's great, but give them some time off like once, twice, three times a week more than that. It shouldn't be about you know, making our women folk Stay in the kitchen the entire time cooking food, this is not what Ramadan is about. Ramadan is a month of trying to preserve your body from intake. Right. So I will not make these massive feasts as well. But also in proportion, feeding others is very good, try to feed some poor people etc with that.
And I will finish with that inshallah. Tada, I hope this was beneficial to you with some practical advice. And remember that this Ramadan, you never know, it could be your final normal month. I've already had over four or five of my friends who have lost family members in this in this.
Last week before Ramadan, I've had a one of my friends, his aunt died from cancer, another one of my friends. His family member did not wake up from their sleep, they passed away in their sleep. Another one of my friends, you know, a great scholar in Medina, he lost his wife just a few days ago and she was buried in the back here. No one of none of us have a guarantee in life. And also think of your brothers and sisters and throughout the world in Syria who have lost their lives who are losing their lives now. And they're going to lose their lives this week because of this of this war and oppression in Kashmir and Somalia, in Burma, in in Yemen and in Central Africa. We have to
really reflect over the blessing that we have. Having the ability to fast and reach Ramadan is such a great blessing that the Companions would take six months making dua Aloma Bolivia Ramadan Oh Allah allow us to be from Allah, escuela to allow us to reach Ramadan to bless us and this month, and I apologize for this being a little bit longer than I thought but I ask Allah Subhana Allah to make this inshallah beneficial for everybody. If you have any questions
I'll have my friend Muhammad, check the questions inshallah Tada if I don't get to all the questions I'm sorry we'll try to get them maybe in the comments, but I'll let him read them out to me inshallah Tada with questions. I'll take off five minutes of questions inshallah and then
we will wrap it up here from Medina in the read masala of the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam
have any questions
any questions write them in the comments inshallah.
Oh
no questions on
questions, my fasting
health issues, right.
Good. Okay. So the question is if you have health issues, and you can't fast you have to pay figure if you have health issues is divided into two categories, temporary health issue or,
which is basically permanent acute health problem which remains with a person and a person cannot fast. For example, people who have maybe stomach problems stomach ailments, cancer, etc. mela cure all of those who are sick of sickness in Charlottetown. So if it's if it's temporary, and the person is sick, they make up those days in Charlottetown after that, and that's something that's very clear. And for those of you who cannot and they cannot fast, they give fifth year which is basically a meal for a poor person every single day that you are not fasting and hamdulillah made it easy. Allah subhanaw taala says that in the Quran
And as well, Allah Subhana Allah says about fasting during the lobby convolution What are you read we come on also that with fasting this entire discussion that we had what is the purpose of it we want for you ease and we don't want for you hardship Allah Allah
is there any exceptional packet that can be done in Ramadan but not in other months? Is there any exceptional action that can be done to Ramadan but not any other months? Yes, fasting Ramadan is very important right? An exceptional action and Ramadan is as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, whoever does or Umrah in Ramadan is as if you have done hygiene with me Hajj with the prophets of Allah Hadees so if you do if you can do Umbra and Ramadan, this is an exceptional action that you cannot do at any other time, because the reward is Hajj with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as well as the prophesy selama said the best charity is charity and Ramadan, we forgot to
mention that. So the best charity is charity in the month of Ramadan and the the hadith of Ibn Ambassador the Allahu Allah, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was the most generous in the month of Ramadan. So give give charity give locally, give globally, give your time go to homeless shelter while you're fasting and feed people with a soup kitchen. do amazing things be amazing in the month of Ramallah? Yes. Can you skip some food because of work?
Can you skip the whole because of work? It really depends on the nature of your work, because the whole is anytime before dawn, right? But the whole of the walk, which is called Walk the Sahara is that moment before dawn that moment before dawn is called to walk them out. But what you should do is hydrate and eat before that. So at least your intention is Oh Allah, I can eat as close as possible to the Fajr time. So I'm going to eat before that by like an hour or whatever, just so you can get the reward of it as well as your body needs it. I mean, you don't want to starve yourself for the rest of the night. So a lot. Can you still fall into temptation? Yes. The question is, can
you fall into temptation during the month of Ramadan? Of course you can. Of course, as we were discussing earlier, carnal desires and temptation is one of the main forms of destruction. And being misled, imminent claim Rahim Allah has an amazing quote. He said that the path of misguidance is based on two things, misunderstandings, and carnal desires, your misunderstandings, if you don't ask your question based on what you don't what you have doubts on, it will lead you to destruction and your desires. Why? How can your desires lead you to doubt because you may even change your faith based on what you uncontrollably desire. So you still have temptation in this month. But why is
fasting so amazing, because the Prophet peace be upon him said that fasting is a WeChat, which means is a constriction. You're not thinking about water and food and, and filling yourself. So therefore your temptation becomes less. Now initially, somebody might say, well, I get more temptation, because I'm fasting. Well, yeah, but the prophesy sentiment says, Whoever continues with their fast meaning as the fast goes by, you will notice that your temptations become less. And obviously this has to do with your body, not having enough
food at that time, so you can focus and he allows you to focus really on your soul. So obviously, you have temptations, and that's why you need, as we said, a moment as it mentions in his book, beginning to guidance, right after the etiquettes of fasting, he talks about how to withhold from temptations. So get this book, read that chapter right after the chapter of the etiquette of fasting. Alana,
is it better to listen and recite were to put on and it wouldn't be good. Excellent. Is it better to recite the Quran? Or what if you don't know Arabic, so or listen to the Quran? So listen, check this out. If you don't know Arabic, this is a month to try your best to listen to it. Listening to the Quran is one of the most amazing ways to also receive the reward. If you don't know Arabic, there's websites which will put out the English and Arabic so for example, Al Hamdulillah al H A MD, right? So you can actually recite it in English, kind of, but you're reciting Arabic. And you can do that while you listen to the Quran. So you listen to one verse, and then you repeat after it. So do that.
If you can't do that with the whole Quran, obviously, do it as much as you can, and try to take up in this month of of Ramadan, a class if you have time to learn the recitation of the Quran, even if it's some. So if you can't finish the entire Quran, Allah will give you the reward, because that was your intention. The prophesy said Emma says in the minute amount of vignette, verily, actions are but are judged by their intention. So you are a person who Allah Subhana Allah will reward and maybe even more so because the prophets I said and said the one who struggles with the recitation of the Quran will get double the reward of the one who recited very quickly. So listen to the Quran.
Try to take the class also focus on understanding the meanings like we said in podcast listening to tafseer the