Hosai Mojaddidi – A Healthy Relationship With Food This Ramadan (Week 4)
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Hello Hannah heme Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Shiva MBI.
Even more saline, say that our Mowlana will have even met sallahu
alayhi wa sallam while he was happy or Salam, the Sleeman
kathira. And similar kind of him said, I'm on a come again.
Brothers and sisters, whoever's out there. I'm not sure how many
people are with us yet I apologize again for the technical issues.
Last week, I had shared some reflections with all of you from
evangelicals, that is our
series he's done on different spiritual diseases and their
treatments. And I wanted to continue to read from from his
content in sha Allah. But a new a new book. So the one that we
covered last week was on Pride and conceit. If you are here, you
might have remembered that for today, I thought it was in because
in sha Allah, next week, likely Friday, maybe Saturday, all right,
we're gonna wait to see what when inshallah there's a sighting,
hopefully. But Ramadan is around the corner, insha Allah and may
Allah bless us all to witness it. But a lot of everybody's kind of
getting prepared, you know, we're in this difficult situation with
the lockdown of quarantine. So a lot of us have been, you know, I'm
sure I hope and inshallah we have been reflecting a lot preparing a
lot. But now it's a new type of preparation. You know, I've seen
in the past few weeks, so many people upping their culinary
skills, a lot of cooking the baking. In a marshmallow, we're
trying to keep busy, keeping the family together, keeping the kids
engaged. So there's been a lot of focus on food.
And now we're going to see a major, major shift happen with
regards to food. And so I thought this would be a good opportunity
to prepare ourselves mentally for the big change that's coming,
because we may not realize it, but for many people food has become a
medicine, a coping mechanism a lot of people turn to with stress,
right? stress eating, I'm sure we've all heard of that. So a lot
of people in this very high stress time where people are truly, you
know, there's just so much uncertainty, there's so much
worry, anxiety about everything, right? The future holds about
whether or not our loved ones are safe, whether we're safe, there's
a lot of tension in our homes. And that naturally makes us want to
turn to something to find some semblance of peace of just, you
know, numbness, I guess from from all of that anxiety and oftentimes
hamdulillah because we're, we're Muslim, there's not that many
things that we indulge in that completely numb us, like other
people may indulge themselves in, for example, alcohol or
recreational drugs. These things are very common, right people turn
to those things to to get a break in our world. This is
unfortunately the world that we live in a lot of people turn to
those types of things. But remember that as Muslims, we
obviously don't do those things. So sometimes that need to again,
just find
peace or numbness. I think Dominus would be the proper word, to
forget about our problems and stresses, many people turn to
food. And so as Ramadan is approaching, what are we going to
do? Right? When we see that our stresses are the same, and maybe
even more, right, more people are being affected by this virus,
either directly or indirectly. You know, with financial stress,
there's physical obviously, stress for those who are, you know, who
are infected with the virus, but aside from that, it's definitely
you know, causing a lot of distress so how are we going to
cope for a month right?
of not having this
food to turn to so we need to start preparing mentally for that
we need to start realizing that food Yes, for some people it can
put you in that because it has sedative properties you know when
you're eating throughout the day we not we don't realize it but a
lot of times it does put us in a bit of a slumber and kind of slows
us down. And it it may promote you know other things like sleepiness
or just wanting to not really be very active in general. So there's
like the slowing down and a lot of that is because you know, the food
that we're consuming, maybe the quality of food is not doesn't
have the the most nutrients or it's
Just we're eating too much, right? We just have to be honest, if
that's the case, if we find ourselves throughout the day
sluggish, really not motivated, our capacity to produce is just
really been hit. Because again, we're home, we're just kind of in
this comfortable states, we're in our pajamas where we're too
comfortable, right? So there's this natural, again, sedative sort
of quality, that, that food causes. So once you eliminate
food, then what's the opposite is very true, right? A lot of people
have the opposite experience.
Marshall, Alaikum, salaam, those of you who are coming, thank you
for being here. But we're talking about, again, preparing for this
beautiful month that is in Charlotte fast approaching, and
realizing that in this quarantine of 40, I think days now, some
people are counting 40 days, many of us if we're being honest, we
have relied on indulging our appetites in order to suppress the
stress and tension that we're feeling from this whole lockdown
and quarantine. And those appetites can be sleep, it could
be food drink, indulging in a lot of entertainment, you know, a lot
of people are binge watching and you see the words associated with
a lot of these things are very similar in this in that they are,
you know, they are reflective of the fact that they're all
appetites, right? If you're binge watching, or binge eating, or
binge drinking coffee, or other things that teas or things that
just give you that feeling, again, of relaxation, you have we have
been self medicating in a way based on our stress levels. Right.
So now that we are continuing to with this lockdown, it's not the
they're still expecting people to remain relatively, you know, under
the radar staying at home or not really, you know, going back to
their normal routines, likely through May, maybe the end of May,
Allah knows, but we are getting some signs that this is going to
continue well into the month of Ramadan. So how are we going to
cope with all of those same variables of stress and
uncertainty and tension in the home that likely some of us are
feeling without the crutch that we've been using a lot of us food
and drink. So let's prepare ourselves because we have to be
realistic, that there will be a time where our bodies are going to
have to make some serious adjustments and that's going to
affect our moods. And it's going to likely affect a lot of you
know, the again the climate in the home. Well Imam Al Ghazali
mashallah, you know, because of his brilliance he has touched on
these issues, very in many of his writings, but specifically in this
that I've the series that I've been talking about, or that I
presented last week started presenting here last week, I've
been actually doing a lot of lives on Instagram and other platforms.
So I've referred to his workings quite a bit. But last week, we
talked about pride and conceit. And this week, we are reading from
the same series alchemy of happiness, this is the book and
again, I know that it's mirroring the image. So it's not quite
clear, but the title is, of course, Delhi, on the treatment of
lust of the lust of the stomach and the sexual organs. So, you
know, he he's joining these two together because they're both
appetites, but for today, I wanted to read from this text, because
it's relevant again, we are we need to understand the merits and
the benefits of hunger, on the body, on the mind on the soul. And
so this will hopefully motivate some of us to not dread
coming month and you know, I know several people who are good
people, masha Allah, may Allah bless them. They're, they're
righteous people. They, they, you know, they practice their Deen,
they're faithful people, but they do struggle with fasting. Because
it's difficult and hamdulillah if you're one of those people where
you know you you fast because it's, you know, you obviously,
you're almost proud that you have Taqwa of Allah. But if you're
being truthful, it's probably one of the pillars. That's very
difficult for you to do and you don't enjoy fasting. It's okay.
Let me say that because a lot of times, we feel I think that we're
shamed to think that if you dislike doing something that
you're not you're a bad person and that's not necessarily true if you
struggle and fasting is a challenge it is it requires, you
know, willpower, it requires strength. And for some people just
with as with all things, there are degrees some people are less
progress facilitated for them. What
They don't even feel the difference. They wake up and
they're just perfectly fine. They might get thirsty here and there,
but they don't have,
you know, negative experiences with fasting. For other people. It
can be very debilitating to too fast all day, their blood. Glucose
is probably you know, it dropped so significantly that they're
feeling the effects of that some people get very nauseous. Some
people just really feel like they cannot function well. And so
there's that we have to be, you know, compassionate towards people
and realize that not everybody's experience with certain things is
going to be the same. But Taqwa is enduring, you know, those
hardships for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala realizing that
one's sacrifice is being rewarded, the more one one is challenged, so
in anything that we do, if you're, if your hardship is praying, if
your hardship is fasting, if your hardship is with giving, but you
still you know, are steadfast and you strive for the sake of Allah's
pride that there is immense reward in that and you actually get more
reward, the more Mujahidin you do. So if you're struggling with if
you if fast fasting is one of those acts that's really difficult
for you just to be fine constellation in those words that
inshallah Allah subhanaw taala is rewarding you and you shouldn't
feel bad for not necessarily looking forward to that aspect of
Ramadan because there's much more to the month of Ramadan, that is
mashallah beautiful and that we can all agree, whether we're
fasting or not, is Mubarak and I pray we have to pray we have to
sincerely pray to Allah subhanaw taala that even though this will
be a very unique Ramadan in the sense that our community
activities are down to, you know, what's on online, basically, we
won't be doing our you know, our prayers that we purchase together,
we won't be doing our PMS together, we will be really with
our families mostly, so that aspect of the month is going to,
I'm sure affect us because we will miss it sorely. But inshallah we
have to have a positive outlook, always, always thinking positive
and Allah subhanaw taala, that our experiences are really very much
about what our expectations are right? I was proud that it says
I'm in the opinion of my servant, right? So we have to remember what
does that mean that if we have high expectations from Allah
subhanaw taala, he will confirm them. So we should have high hopes
that this Ramadan will be a good experience for all of us that we
will grow spiritually and benefit from the again, the fact that
we're in this situation that we're in, so let's look forward to the
fact that inshallah this month is coming, but prepare ourselves,
right? Because our deen is a dean of being proactive, it's a deed of
wisdom, it's a deal of trying to, you know, solve the issues before
they about right. So this is why this text that in my mind was that
he's has gifted us all with is so important, because he really does
give us active we need to hear. So right away. In the beginning, he
talks about the virtue, spiritual reward of hunger. So let's go
ahead and read from this text. And then we can continue into the next
section, which is the benefits of hunger and the harms of satiated,
right? So being satiated. So he says here that the Bowflex, Adam
said, strive against your animal souls with hunger and thirst for
the spiritual reward of that is like the spiritual reward of
striving in battle against the unbelievers. There is no behavior
more pleasing to God most high than some than hunger and thirst.
And then he goes on to say, another Hadith of the process of
them. He who eats little laughs little and his content.
I'm sorry, I read that out of order. It's a dialogue he's having
and so that was a response. But let me find where I was here. I
lost my place.
Which is, okay, forgive me. So let me start over the Hadith. The most
virtuous of you to God Most High, is the person who's meditation and
hunger is lengthy. The most inimical view to God Most High is
the person who eats much drinks much water and sleeps much. So
again, right away, he's making a clear distinction between those
who deprive themselves for the sake of Allah subhana wa, tada and
those who indulge themselves, right.
He says, again, he said, A man feels no container full worse than
the stomach. A few bites will suffice for a person to keep his
Back straight if there is no remedy, than 1/3 of the stomach is
for food 1/3 of for drink and 1/3 for breaths, right, or 1/3, for
remembrance, that's from another narration. So these are just
reminders of basically, you know, being moderate in terms of
indulging too much into our appetites. And actually having
that structure where you, you don't eat to your full, you
actually divide the stomach into these three parts, and you stop
before you become full. Right? I should say that the brothers I
sent him said, continually knock on the door of heaven until your
door is opened. And then she asked a messenger of God with what shall
I knock? And he said, hunger and thirst. So, you know, again, the
virtues of remaining hungry, he's listed, or there's so many Hadith
that reflect that he himself, you know, we know that. The earlier
you know, in the, in the beginning of the mission, there were
sanctions put on the Muslims, right, and many, they starved,
they actually had a period where they were, you know, completely
deprived of many things. And so there's so many Hadith in the
theater that talk about the hunger that hunger pangs of the prophesy
some of the Sahaba many beautiful, beautiful Hadith that talk about,
you know, how they walked around tying, you know, stomach stones to
their stomach to suppress their, their hunger, and it just shows
you, you know, how, how challenge or how many challenges they face
during those times. And so the problem was, he himself suffered a
great deal, many Hadith again, where others Sahaba kind of coming
to him for relief, maybe he would, you know, give them some relief of
some type of feed him feed them. And he would indicate to them that
he was actually in a much worse state than he then they were. But
here's a hadith where Fatah mer De La Hoya, and she actually came
once holding a piece of bread in her hand. And she came to the
brothers I said, and he asked, what is that, and then she
replied, A loaf of bread that I baked, that I could not eat
without you. So beautiful how, you know, her love for her father. And
he said to her, this was his response. This is the first food
that will enter your father's mouth in three days. So when we're
talking about hunger that the prophesizing them experienced,
we're not just talking about, you know, what we think of as hunger,
especially if we're just talking about fasting or fasting is a
limited very fixed portion of time. We know the start time, the
end time most people memorize, right, the, the star calendars,
they know exactly what time they're able to eat. So it's kind
of you know, it's a lot more tolerable when you know, that
you're going to be able to have your favorite meals or indulgent
food and drink at a certain time. So for many of us, that's our
experience of hunger, right? We deprive ourselves for a fixed
amount of time. Here, the problem was that it was indicating three
days he didn't eat three days. So we need to really think about that
for just a moment. And Allah knows, you know, what, how much he
drank, or if he had even drink, you know, it doesn't indicate that
in this particular Hadith, but the fact that he's letting her know,
you know, that this bread which she baked with her hands, may
Allah bless her hands, is going to be the first food that he actually
eats in three days. I think there's something for all of us to
just reflect on how much he and many of the earlier generation how
much they suffered, may Allah bless them. All.
Subhan Allah, so so many different again, Hadith that talk about
the the great honor and virtue of remaining hungry? Now let's the
email was Ali now. He has a list here and then we see how many
points he has. I think he went on for 910 11 maybe or more points.
10 points. So there's 10 points that he covers on the benefits of
hunger and the harms of soceity. So let's look at what he says
here. He says,
No, that the merits of hunger does not lie in that there is anguish,
just as the merit of medicine does not lie in its bitterness.
However, in hunger, there are 10 benefits. The first benefit is
that it purifies and illuminates the heart, while satiated, blinds
people's hearts and makes them dull of thought. A vapor moves
from the gut to the brain which stupefies people so as to confuse
Thought concerning this the messenger of allah sallallahu
sallam said, enliven your hearts by laughing little cleanse them
with hunger. So until they become finally pure. Now I thought this
was so interesting because Subhanallah we have a term, many
people may know this phrase called brain fog, right? How many people
have heard that term? Right? Many of us I'm sure. Brain fog is this
idea, right? That you're, it's because of maybe food or lack of
sleep, it could the reasons for why someone would have brain fog
could be many. But the concept is that you're kind of, you know,
confused, you're you don't have clarity of thought. And so the
fact that Subhanallah, he remembered was that he uses this
phrase, a vapor moves from the gut to the brain, which stupefies
people so as to confuse thoughts of Heinola, vapor fog, I mean,
these, they knew what they were talking about. And here science
is, you know, confirming that there is this idea that people can
be very confused, and, you know, dull of thought, because of
different reasons. Yes, and food is one of them. If you're eating
certain types of food, that lack, you know, nutrients, it could
contribute to you just not having clear thought getting memory loss,
you know, just not being able to recall things quickly. You know,
when you're, when you're speaking, for example, or when you're, you
know, how many of us have been on our way we leave, you know, to go
do a task, and then halfway through, we completely forget what
we were about to do, right? So examples like that, you know, and
you're just having a hard time focusing, you know, where you're
not able to stay on task, you might open a book because you want
to read it. But then after one page, you start yawning, and
you're just losing your train of thought, you start thinking about
things. You know, I saw someone had a meme recently, and I thought
it was funny because I related to it. She was saying that it was a
joke, but it was the the meme was about how I think it was Netflix
or some one of these streaming services need to have an option of
programs that one can watch while using their phone, right? Because
it's so common now that we our attention. And our focus is
really, it's hard to maintain when you have the phone buzzing every
second with notifications. And so even watching something, whether
it's a documentary news, a film, or whatever, becomes very
challenging because we end up looking at our phones so much. So
having the inability to focus could also be a part of this. But
again, the wording here is what I'm focusing on that in my mind
was that he would use this simple your this line, you know, a vapor,
and that it confuses thought so Subhanallah, great wisdom from our
scholars, may Allah bless them.
And then he said here, the province of some said, Whoever
keeps himself hungry, becomes a student and his thoughts become
great. And then Shibley, may God have mercy on him said, There was
never a day when I sat hungry for the sake of God that I did not
receive some new wisdom or lesson in my heart. This is very
important for us to reflect on. Because it's telling us that when
we deprive ourselves of food and drink, it opens a channel for our
cognitive abilities to sharpen. And if we think of that, and we're
being honest, I mean, I don't have the light again, you know,
everybody's experience is different with fasting. But even
for those who struggle, they will say that the first maybe week or
first few days are really hard and tough, because the body has to
adjust to this new, you know, eating schedule. But eventually,
they do kind of hit their stride, and they find that they're
mentally more astute and sharp, and just like able to focus. So
Subhanallah and science does confirm that that's why you see
people who are huge, I mean, I've done a lot of reading and I've
actually done it before, intermittent fasting is amazing,
because the science corroborates with this, these claims that when
you you know, kind of arrest that, you know, consumption, you know,
process of eating different types of foods, and you're not indulging
your mind is just it has clarity, and it's just so you're so able
to, you know, to be really present. So these Hadith give us
hope, because it's telling us that don't look at fasting as just
about deprivation of food and drink and you know, all the things
that you normally do look at it actually as an opportunity to open
up a pathway, a mental pathway that maybe you don't have access
to normally, which will you know, all of those things that we have,
you know, good intentions of doing. Many of us want to
memorize. Many of us want to take on a new skill set or learn
something, but because of factors that sometimes may be out of our
control or were unaware of like
I said, if you're having a hard time focusing on something, but
your, your intention is there, don't despair and don't fall hard.
Don't be hard on yourself, because I see a lot of people really
taking the blame on themselves. Like as if they have some defect,
you know that they're not smart enough or disciplined enough, but
it could just be something as simple as the diet, the way you're
eating or the the way the schedule or maybe the you know, the way
that you're eating, is putting you into this mental sort of stupor
where it's difficult, it becomes incredibly challenging to go and
memorize or to take on a class or a new skill. So here's
Subhanallah, we're encouraged to look at hunger as not this
negative thing, right, where it's just like, Oh, you're, you're
going to suffer and you're going to feel pains all day and
miserable, miserable, and it's just this really self, you know,
harming all the Billa process, because some people that's, you
know, that's their limited thinking. But if you look at all
the Greek faiths and many Greek traditions, civilizations, fasting
is not unique to Muslims, many, many groups fast. And because
there's benefit to it and human beings recognized science
recognizes there's a there's benefit to it, but this is
specifically telling us that Allah subhanaw taala will inshallah
facilitate, again, our cognitive abilities to, to give us, you
know, to sharpen our states. Here, the problem also said here, and do
not say to yourselves with food, for the light of Gnosis Madiba
will be extinguished in your hearts Subhanallah again, another
indication that if we indulge too much of in food, that we're
depriving ourselves of that closeness, that bond, that
nearness to Allah subhanaw taala that we want another great
incentive to look at fasting and the month of Ramadan as an
opportunity to open up channels, spiritual channels, mental
pathways, open up opportunities for us to grow in our relationship
with Allah subhanaw taala. So that was the first benefit, right? That
it purifies and illuminates the heart. The second benefit is that
the heart becomes refined, so that it finds pleasure in the
remembrance of God and intimate conversation with God. harshness
and hardness of the heart, arise from, say Shia t so that every
remembrance made is made with the tongue and does not enter the
heart. Subhanallah that is so amazing, because again, look at
the words that we're using here, there's parallels that we need to,
you know, be mindful of, and I believe Showhomes was also pointed
this out in previous talks about how, you know, this concept of
hardening of the heart, right, we can look at it from a spiritual
perspective, but also a physical perspective, we know that our, the
arteries of the heart can be come hardened with, you know, with
layers of plaque, all due to the foods that we're eating, which
contribute to a lot of heart disease and heart problems that
people experience every day. You know, it's one of the leading
killers, right heart disease, if I'm not mistaking it is the
leading killer. So heart, the hardening of the heart. Again, we
know that term, but we often related to the physical hardening
here, he's really, he's saying that the hardness of the heart,
the spiritual heart is also connected to the consumption of
food and eating too much. So Subhanallah, you know, just really
powerful words there, to reflect on. And the fact that the
remembrance of Allah subhanaw taala is made on the tongue, but
it doesn't enter the heart. So a lot of people they and I've, you
know, certainly talked to people, you know, just with spiritual, who
are seeking spiritual counsel about how they don't seem to feel
right there, there's, they're recognizing that they've lost that
sense of feeling, you know, when it comes to doing you know, their
prayers or you know, certain acts, and so they're trying to you know,
reclaim the spirit with which maybe they want you know,
worshipped but this this is, you know, an indicator for us that it
might be something related to diet that Subhanallah you know, you
your intention is there, your heart is there you're you know,
you have Taqwa you clearly want to draw nearer to ALLAH SubhanA what
are the barriers that are preventing you it don't conclude
necessarily that there's some innate flaw that you have because
that's that's what suppose that right shaitan likes to tear us
down so that we lose motivation he likes to compare and make us
compare ourselves to other people. And when we see you know, things
that are you know incongruent with our behavior and other people, he
will inspire us to, to look down at ourselves.
helps to make a to make it seem or to make it appear as though we are
just not as good. But in fact it could be just these tweaks these
little things that if we were paying attention to the advice of
our the great scholars like a nominal causality and others, that
we would see that it's really about matter of of of just
changing some lifestyle things to accommodate and to facilitate
spiritual growth and food and drink is definitely a part of that
as we are learning here right. And this is also another powerful
quote from Junaid May God have mercy upon him says And
subhanAllah each each one of you he says each one of you has placed
a feed bag crammed with food. Okay, that's our stomach, between
yourself and God most high then you want to find the pleasure of
conversation with God This will never happen Subhan Allah what a
warning right what a warning to all of us that if we want nearness
to Allah subhanaw taala but we're going to continue to stuff
ourselves and gorge and you know, and indulge our knifes.
It's we're not going to have what we want in terms of our you know,
that spiritual yearning so you got to make a choice and if you can
compromise
the latter right? Then you'll have what you want, which is nearness
to Allah subhana wa Tada. So again, the first benefit I'm just
going to summarize for anybody who's coming into the chat if
we're talking about your mom and daddy's
chapter book here on the left of the stomach and the sexual organs
from alchemy of happiness, and we're talking about the benefits
of hunger and the harms of satiety. We went over the first
two which are, the first benefit is it purifies and illuminates the
heart. The second is that it the heart becomes refined, so that it
finds pleasure in the remembrance of God and intimate conversation
so that you're, you know, again, as you deprive yourself of food
and drink. This is one of the great benefits. The third benefit
is that whilst arrogance and negligence are the gates of *,
humility, helplessness and weakness are the thresholds of
heaven, say Shia T brings about arrogance and heedlessness, while
hunger brings weakness and humility. So long as the servant
does not look at himself with the eye of weakness, by missing one
bite, the world becomes straightened and dark for him, he
will not see the majesty and power of God. It was for this that it
was for this that key to the treasures of the world was offered
to the Messenger of Allah little audio sent him and he said, I do
not want it. But for a day of satiate T and a day of hunger,
when I become hungry, I impatient and when I'm sated, I give thanks.
So again, you know, it puts you in that state of benefit is that it
puts you in a state of humility and helplessness, you recognize
when you are hungry, that you are dependent on Allah subhanaw
without it and it reminds you of your servitude, toolless patata,
which prevents arrogance from taking, you know, hold of the
heart. If you look at people who are arrogant or who are very
entitled people, they are indulging people, there are people
who are they, you know, they have the money, the the power, the
influence the status, to be able to constantly feed their appetites
and go overboard, if they want to, because they can. And so that can
obviously breed arrogance in their heart and entitlement. Whereas you
see Subhanallah, some of the most humble and generous people are
oftentimes the ones with very little. So this is what hunger
does is it just reminds you, that you, you know, to brings the best
out in you and reminds you of your humanity and makes you more
thoughtful and caring and empathic towards other people suffering.
Whereas when you're constantly full, then the opposite can happen
where you again, can be become full of arrogance. So that's the
benefit of keeping hunger. The fourth benefit is that when one is
sated, one forgets the hungry and feels no compassion for God's
people. One forgets the punishment of the Hereafter. But when one is
hungry, one recalls the people of *. When one is thirsty, one
recalls the thirst of the people of the resurrection. Subhanallah
so, you know, again, when you're in that deprived, you know, status
state of not having an estate of reflecting on a loss powder
because all of these things are happening, right? You're drawing
on more nearness tools, whether you're reflecting on things you're
you're not, you're not in a humbled state. It automatically
reminds you of, you know, the next life and what's going to
happened in the next slide, because this world is, you know,
temporal, we're not here forever, right? It's a temporal place.
There's a, and we know and we recognize that whatever hardships
that we endure here, that there's a reward for it a but also that
it'll come to an end. But the next life when you imagine how the
biller, you know, if you're, for example, someone again, who
struggles with with fasting, and you're thinking all day long about
how you can't wait to break your fast, and have that, you know,
first morsel of food or drink, oftentimes for a lot of people, I
think it's the thirst, that can really overcome them, then it's a
good opportunity to think about, yeah, the villa, you know, the
experience of the people in hellfire that they are going to be
desperate for one drop of water begging the people of Jannah for
relief. But this is there, you know, this is their punishment for
what they've done on earth. And so just reflecting that there is in
the in that you know, yeah, the Beloved, may Allah protect all of
us from that, but it's a good way of just keeping your you know,
maintaining your fast with that state of humility and gratitude,
toolless panda that we that we are not from insha Allah among those
people who will incur His wrath and just to continuously ask for
guidance right
here it says that you civilization was asked you possess the treasure
of the world, why do you remain hungry? And he said, I fear that
if I eat my feel I shall forget the hungry poor. So I'll have that
we're learning also from the tragedy of the words of the
prophets before us that this was their practice as well that they
it wasn't you know, the prophesy centum actually there are other
Hadith here as well that I didn't that I read, I'm not clear where
but I read it, where he talked about how he deprives himself
because his the prophets, his brothers, who referred to them
before him, all of them, you know, did were often went hungry. And so
he wanted to basically be amongst them. And so here we see an
example of usage but I said, um, you know, answering why, although
he's a prophet of Allah and he had as much you know, power and status
he did, why he did, you know, went hungry and he Masha Allah is
giving us the most beautiful answer that, that if he indulges
themselves, his fears that he's going to forget those in need. And
that's one of again, the beautiful treasures of the month of Ramadan
is that you do see the community coming together in ways that are
not the same throughout the rest of the year? We haven't changed,
right? It's not like people's characters just change, you know,
throughout the year, Inshallah, we believe and we always want to do
good, but what is it about the month of Ramadan, that inspires a
lot of people to become very charitable, that inspires people
to start thinking about those in need more. It's the fact that we
are feeling what they're going through, you know, I was thinking
about, for example, you know, this whole lockdown.
You know, a lot of the things that we're experiencing, we most of us
in the West, likely have never experienced anything like this
before. And but I feel like it's, that's one of the benefits is that
it's inculcating empathy, primarily for the lack of
security, because many people in the rest of the world, this is
their daily experience, they do not have security, you know, and
that can be financial security, it could be food security, it could
be physical security, but the concept of security is, is
something that an overwhelming majority of people in this world
do not have on a daily basis. And those of us in the West who have
lived with incredible privilege, and again, just a lot of comfort,
we maybe our entire lives have never known what that has felt
like to not feel secure. And here we are. So many people, millions
of people really insecure about their future, about their health,
about their family. But what does that do? It creates a sense of
empathy, right? And I'm sure we can now better relate to people in
other parts of the world than we could have a month ago or two
months ago. Because we understand now that we do not live in a world
that is free from from hardship and harm, the way that maybe we
have convinced ourselves to right when the West we're in the safest
country it's the biggest superpower we have all these you
know, privileges we have order you know, civil obedience there's all
these great things that will have the legs from our somehow that
that we live in countries that offer that type of sick
already, but I think again, the ability to relate to people who
don't have what you have is hard until you go through that. So here
also has put us in the situation where we are, you know, again, not
not sure about what's going to happen tomorrow, let alone a week
from now or a month from now. And we can finally, at least to some
degree, understand what billions of people throughout the rest of
the world feel like when it comes to really just not being sure
about what's going to happen. So in the same vein, when you go
hungry, you can empathize more with those who are suffering, that
inculcates empathy, which makes you more generous, which makes you
more thoughtful, and mindful about your spending, you're likely not
going to do a lot of online shopping in Ramadan, and all those
sales that you might see, you know, coming because of, you know,
random holidays, or maybe after this Quarantine is over, a lot of
businesses are going to try to make up for lost, you know,
profits, and offer a lot of incentives for people to go
shopping, we might double, you know, like, kind of, you know,
second, or make better choices, because we're looking at, well, I
could splurge on this, by the, you know, this purse, or this shoe or
this, you know, whatever accessory that I don't really need, I could
do that because it's you know, to sale and I haven't been to the
mall and months, it sounds good. Or I could actually feed orphans
across the world. And hopefully Inshallah, because of the fact
that you're fasting, and these reminders are sinking in, you will
make better choices and realize that giving always is better,
right? And of course that doesn't mean that you can't spend on
yourself. But in times like this where we are really supposed to
think of the other and we are supposed to be more generous and
more thoughtful that inshallah we'll make better choices because
the sales will always come they'll always come you know, don't don't
think that those it's just a one time offer, even if that's what
they tell you. It's not though they'll find a way to come back
again. So, that was the fourth benefit right is that you will
think of those who are hungry and feel more compassion, the fifth
The benefit here according again to the moment because it is that
is that which is at the head of all benefits and spiritual
happiness it is that one keep one's own animal soul under one's
control. Subhanallah wretchedness is that one the under the control
of the animal soul, just as a stubborn animal cannot be tamed
and soften except by hunger. The animal soul is the same. This is
not just one benefit. It is the alchemy of benefits for all sins
arise from the carnal appetites, and all carnal appetites arise
from specialty so that's profound right?
Excuse me, when we think again about our objective all of us are
here we're here to worship Allah subhanaw taala that is the
ultimate objective of every single human being and jinn on That's why
Allah created us. But knowing that that's our objective, we also know
that we are up against some obstacles that will stand in our
way and that is primarily shaitan because he's you know, I do and
Roubini is the greatest enemy, and then our knifes our own selves,
our own lower selves, that's what this is referring to the animal
soul or the lower self, the carnal base desires, that every single
human being has our obstacles to our spiritual growth. So, when we
deprive ourselves of the in the appetites that then lower knifes
loves to indulge in, and again, they can be you know, food, drink,
sleep, sexual appetites, any of you know the behaviors that one
indulges in and and get some sort of arise from if you're a person
who has an appetite for idle talk and gossip, right, this is your
knifes, it responds to that it loves to do those things. The way
to control it is to to deprive it. So you force yourself not to be in
the company, for example of people who are doing those things. So you
know, this is for most of the diseases of the heart. You can you
know, there's there's obviously treatments on how to protect
ourselves but for those that are connected to these different
appetites, that is one way is deprivation. So you, you because
the whole point is you're trying to tame this knob so that it does
not Lord over you that it does not control you that you do not become
a slave to your lower self but that it is enslaved by you and you
command it and you decide when to indulge and when not to indulge.
So when we fast and when we keep regular fasting this ability
to take charge and take control over that lower soul is
facilitated it is actually much easier as opposed to again
indulging
so let's see here
the sixth benefit, okay? Of again, fasting, I'm sorry of depriving
oneself and going hungry, and not eating too once fool is sleeping
less. This is the basis of all acts of worship, intimate
conversation with God, remembrance of God and reflection, especially
at night. So we have to,
again, I think, remember that those moments of nearness to Allah
subhanaw taala, a lot of it is in those quiet hours that offer
solitude that offer, you know, just quietude. So you can be
alone, but also there's peace, many of us, we want closeness to
Allah subhanaw that we want it. But if we're looking for that,
during the day, when we are distracted by everything, right,
as I said, our devices, phones calls, our children, our spouses,
our parents or siblings, our friends, our community members,
whatever noise just noise outside, you know, many people are very
sensitive to distractions. And what that does is it's going to
affect your connection with all US Panda, if that's primarily where
you're looking to draw close to Him. And because we're indulging
so much in our food, and then that, again, puts us in those
states of slumber. And then the night is just lost to sleep,
right? You're just because you're so tired from all of the maybe
things you're juggling during the day, and then the food is not, you
know, really helping you too, to, to ward off fatigue and actually,
you know, makes you more tired, then you're likely going to start,
you know, shutting down around 1011 o'clock, for some people,
it's even earlier, and then you can't you know, a lot of people
have a hard time I know several people who have talked to me about
how to overcome this, you know, just the fatigue because of their,
they're doing so much and then it's hard for them not they're not
even necessarily looking at, you know, the hedges or trying to
maintain a nighttime routine, they're more concerned about
Fudger, right, like, so all those hours of sleep, still put them in
a state of just real, like they're, they're like logs, you
know, they have a hard time waking up. But a lot of it has to do with
again, you know, training oneself there's, there's, you know,
different I think viewpoints about how much sleep one needs, and I'm
not a medical expert, so I'm not going to challenge the medical,
you know, on these things, but from our scholars and you know,
those on the spiritual path, there is much to be said about, you
know, having a little bit more flexibility with sleep and not
indulging your sleep too much, especially at night. That one
tries to either, you know, wake up for the night prayers, or, or you
are Oh, Santa Monica.
Okay, someone is telling me that I'm breaking up so I hope you guys
can hear me. But I was saying that you know that that you either you
know divide your nighttime for between sleep and prayer and you
wake up or you wake up you know a little bit before budget and you
inshallah do the tahajud prayers, and then whatever sleep you might
need. This is again, prophetic, you know, path was that he would
spend his nights intention with us, Partha, and then he would
sleep, you know, obviously, he's human being but he would portion a
time in the day that pallulah Right, which is a prayer, I
believe it's after I said a prayer between a Muslim I couldn't be
wrong. It's either awesome, or most of them are louder, and I
said, but I feel like it's acid and Maghrib. There's a small
window there that he would pray or he would asleep, excuse me, it's
called the pillow and he would basically, you know, try to
compensate for the sleep that's lost at night during that time.
And so, you know, that's something that we can possibly do now that
we're in quarantine, a lot of people are not going to work,
they're not going to school. So we can actually experience a Ramadan.
That is, you know, that we have the hijab that we actually are
doing
Seeing these beautiful acts of worship, and it's facilitated for
us because we can, we don't have to be up to get up early in the
morning to go to work or school or, you know, drop off and do this
and that. So these are all the things that we have to kind of,
you know, keep in perspective about this experience of Ramadan
under quarantine, that a lot of things are being opened up for us
a lot of opportunities that we normally would not have, are being
offered to us. But are we going to, you know, take those
opportunities, or are we going to neglect them. So Subhan, Allah,
the sixth benefit, right, sleeping less. And let's see here.
What else
the seventh benefit is that time becomes ample for one and one may
attend to work and learning should one eat a lot. He will spend all
of his time in eating, cooking, sleeping, buying, preparing and
waiting for the means. Then he will spend time and going to the
Peruvian moving his bowels. Every breath is a jewel and it is the
capital of the human being wasting is unnecessarily wasting it
unnecessarily is foolishness. So how what a brilliant point because
I don't think we think about that. food consumption is not only a
problem, when it comes to, you know, indulging the next this way,
but it's also taking away from the time that we have to do other
things because as he's saying, and it's true, I've definitely, you
know, mentioned this throughout this quarantine a lot about how
it's such a, you know, time waster, if you're going to spend
time cooking, and then eating or preparing, excuse me, your foods
all day long. And then, you know, the next day someone actually
close to me had mentioned that, you know, he was noticing that he
you know, has he's using the restroom more because he's there
home more, right. And so you're eat, you end up snacking here and
there. And so people are eating more food than normal, which means
that they're spending more time in the restroom, which means it's
just an it's waste of time. So, you know, we, my husband, I were
talking like, I just wanted to really not do much, especially the
next week or so in terms of any shopping. But we're just going to
try to clear out what we have in the fridge. And you know, be a
little bit more conservative, because, you know, it's it's like
I said a waste of time. And then, you know, Ramadan to how many
people overdo it in shopping for food. But then because we're not
eating as much you're not as hungry, right, you ended up with a
lot of food spoils. So we have to be a little bit more mindful of,
of, you know how much we're investing in the whole food prep
preparation. But here, this is a great point that it can it's just
a waste of time. So once you learn to scale back a little bit and not
invest as much in in preparing and cooking and doing all that you
actually end up having so much more free time to do more things,
right?
Yes, Brittany, exactly. We spend way too much time in the kitchen.
And I really feel like I've been telling my husband like I feel
like it's the repeat day, like Groundhog's Day, that movie, you
know, it's like, I feel like I'm waking up the same routine
because, you know, breakfast, and then you got to clean up and
there's dishes and we empty the dishwasher so much more now. But
it's this whole, you know, staying home and getting into these habits
of just, you know, trying to pass the time. And so you end up baking
and cooking. And a lot of people are doing that. And again, we
can't fault people we're trying to keep our sanity and not you know,
have a hard time. So it is a convenience. It's something to do
as a family together. But we have to keep in mind that there's other
things that we could be doing and inshallah during the month of
Ramadan, we'll see that we have far more time to do other work. So
let's see here. The eighth benefit is that whoever eats sparingly is
always healthy, and is delivered from the torment of illness, the
provision of medicine, the mincing of doctors, the pain of cupping
and the taking of better meta medicine. So Subhanallah another
great benefit that we sometimes forget that most of the health
issues that people suffer in today's world, a lot of it
actually has to do is related to diet is related to you know,
imbalances in the body due to maybe, you know, lifestyle choices
that are unhealthy. And so when you start to take on practice a
healthier practice and you know, 100 I in my life I've I've
definitely, you know, been through phases where I have
you know, cut
out a lot of toxic food and just things that were not good. And I
can 100% attest to this, you feel healthier, your cells feel alive,
when you're cutting out certain foods especially, there's just
this total, it's hard to describe unless you experience it, but
there's this sort of just rejuvenation that you feel in your
body. Because the dietary changes can have that much of an effect,
you know, not just the mental clarity that you have, but your
physical body just feels lighter, you feel just healthier. And so
hamdulillah and then you find that people also who are, who eat
really well, they they rarely get a sick, you know, even the colds
and flus and the seasonal issues, the allergies, a lot of people
because they're paying attention to the food sensitivities maybe
they have or just the different things that harm them, you know,
the, the bloating, the you know, all the things that food can do to
one, you know, the the skin disorders, a lot of people, once
they start eliminating certain foods, they just feel that their
health improves. So he's outlining but that's also the other benefit.
The ninth benefit is that hope for whoever eats sparingly, there is
little expense, and he does not become a need of much wealth. So
Subhanallah you know, practically This is also makes a lot of sense,
you're not eating as much, you're making wiser decisions, you're
likely going to save more money, right, and your your bills, your
grocery bills are be much less than they normally are. So
hamdulillah we'll see that those drops also in Ramadan, right.
Because the you know, the snacks and the constant refilling of the
fridge just seems to you know, not you don't need to do that as much.
So inshallah we'll see some relief there.
And then the 10th benefit is that when one has mastered one stomach,
one masters that giving a voluntary charity, giving in
abundance and being generous for the place of whatever enters the
stomach is foul, while the place of whatever is given in charity is
the pure treasury of God Most High, the prophesy centum looked
at someone who had a fat belly and said, If you had put that which
you have put in in that place in another place, it would have been
better for you. So he's talking about voluntary charity. So again,
subhanAllah that you will, as you can control your appetite more or
your appetites more and you can deprive yourself more Inshallah,
it just makes you more generous in your giving, and you portion
things, your wealth in a healthier way you're not hoarding and you
know, just indulging yourself that you're actually thinking of the
other. So, Michelle, we have gone over a little bit in us because we
started late, so I apologize for those who needed to leave or I
mean, if you've left thank you for being here. But if you needed to
go we're pretty much at the end because that was number 10. And,
you know, there's more commentary, but maybe inshallah for next week,
I can just you know,
I can read a little bit more from this book because there is a lot
more great content, such as short martial law book but so much
insight from our beloved masters that preserved and gifted us with
their with their gems. So Hamdulillah that was, again from
your mama was daddy's
Porsche, a book on alchemy of happiness. This chapter was on the
lust of the stomach and the sexual organs and I felt like it was
relevant for us to get in the right mindset as we make our
preparations for this beautiful month of Ramadan coming, that we
have to again look at this month, not as one
deprivation and is there's you know, all the things you can't do
but rather all of the great openings and opportunities of just
you know depriving oneself of food and drink, it opens up so much
other benefit as we just heard from him that was it, with regards
to one's connection with almost patho when spiritual growth, one's
mastery over the lower self one's giving and charity one's concern
about their fellow Muslim brothers and sisters or humanity we should
say. So all of those beautiful virtues and qualities that we
should all want to to have are facilitated inshallah by fasting
and and again withholding ourselves from the Lord enough so
inshallah I hope this was beneficial to you if there's any
questions, please
go ahead. I'm here. And I'm I can stay on for a few more minutes to
answer any questions inshallah.
I'll just wait.
But thank you for
are from being here. Thank you, Brittany. Thank you, Kristen, for
your comments.
It's a siesta I'm sorry, it's so hard when you're doing these lives
to do to follow along. So forgive me
as I'm talking I'm not I'm kind of scanning but I'm not really
reading so now I can actually catch up with your comments but I
do appreciate your your your contributions and your
participation so thank you.
And thank you for the to John for letting me know that my mic was
maybe
faulty there, but I hope things were clear. So inshallah if
there's no other questions, and I will see you guys hopefully next
week in sha Allah and we can, again, prepare for the beloved
month it'll be likely a day or so later that we will all be fasting
so maybe a nice little refresher on what we talked about right now.
And just some more reminders will help us all Inshallah, but thank
you if you have any questions you can, we'll see you next week and I
can address them there. Have a wonderful evening males further
protect all of you accept all of your dogs your prayers facilitate
for you Inshallah, and make things easy for you and your family. And
we will see you next week just like well okay, then I will end
indoor actually so that I fire him spackle over him to show them that
in a in tennis stop recording to the lake whisperer Hunter himolla
Serena Linsanity Ecosa il Edina m&r mo Swanee Heidi whatever so
we'll help you with the rest of the summer Bismillah R Rahman
Rahim are some article what we have to consider? Enter the
software required to work unique. Thank you again. And we'll see you
next week. Okay, so don't want to come with a while but to get to
where you Okay, thank you. My name, John. Thank you. Wait, yeah.
Ken Shaw. Alright, so I want to come