Hosai Mojaddidi – Ramadan Reflection Feel Grateful
AI: Summary ©
The importance of gratitude in the context of the pandemic and quarantine is discussed, highlighting the benefits of gratitude in the garden of gratitude and the need for witnessing and expressing gratitude. The speakers stress the importance of gratitude in various types of gratitude, including belief, actions, and words. They also stress the need for expressing gratitude in actions and deem it as a form of gratitude.
AI: Summary ©
hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Shiva MBI evil mursaleen say
that our Mowlana were heavy Mohammed sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam while he was sofiero Salim the Sleeman Kathira and a Salam
alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatu Ramadan Kareem Ramadan Mubarak to
everyone out there. It is such an honor to spend the very first day
it's still day time, it's close to Iftar. But it's such an honor to
spend this day with you the very first day of this blessed month.
I'm in a state of just gratitude. It's been an incredible day.
Alhamdulillah a lot of openings. I'm just very grateful to Allah
subhana wa that I'm in a state of just real true, immense, immense
gratitude. We had a beautiful Soho, my family and I all of us
woke up together. We planned ahead. So we woke up a little bit
early, we were able to eat together, we were able to pray
together. And we did some thicker together And Alhamdulillah we
waited until Fudger. And we prayed again and hamdulillah everybody
just really, you know resumed the rest of the day with with openings
and with with just peace and I of course it's because of this
beautiful month that has come upon us but also just our Lord
Alhamdulillah wa shukhov Lila and an amateur Islam, for being Muslim
for having this beautiful gift of Islam. And for knowing Allah
subhanho wa Taala one of the things that I did in preparation
for for this month was to set up right here in this very room in
this office, I've converted part of the room, it's actually looking
right at it into a little mini masala because, as all of you
know, this year is very different. For those of us in the MCC
community, of course, our hearts, you know, deeply miss the
experiences of years before of coming together seeing beautiful
faces, hearing the laughter of children listening to of course,
the beautiful recitation of the Quran by our beloved adiamor May
Allah increase him and preserve him and everyone at MCC for all of
their efforts year after year. And even this year, they have done a
phenomenal job of putting together programs not not only for Ramadan,
but even during this pandemic and quarantine. So I asked you please,
to make dua for everyone at MCC all of the board members, the
staff, every single person who has a who's who's somehow involved in
Shaolin, of course, all of you all of the community members, because
without your support, none of this would happen. So humbled up for
today, we are just sharing some gems from the Quran and reflecting
on them. So I wanted to kind of bring in, it's just quite amazing,
you know, last part that he he plans, we plan he plans, and he's
the best of planners, I woke up actually earlier today to do
another talk. And I prepared for it last night and the entire topic
was on sugar. It was for a tech company, a local tech company
Alhamdulillah they had, they wanted to do something to usher in
again, this beautiful month in honor of the month. So the the
Muslim staff put together a program for the entire company,
which is really beautiful. And I was able to speak this morning, or
close to noon actually, with with them. And the whole topic was on
this topic of gratitude. So I wanted to share some of those
reflections that I had this morning for today's program. Just
because you know, this is the state we should all be in we've
had a difficult time, you know, under this quarantine, but
Alhamdulillah there's so much to be grateful for. And we should
really try to push away all of the negative chatter, the noise, the
worry, the fear all of those, you know, anxieties that we've had for
the past month or more, we should really just try to push that away
and really try to create a an environment of just abundant
gratitude. And so that's really what I tried to focus on in my
talk today. And what I'd like to share, I shared with these, the
group some verses of the Quran. So let's look at what I was proud of
that says about this topic of gratitude of sugar. Of course, we
know one of the most famous or well known, I should say, sutras
is sort of the rough man, and even if those who haven't memorized it,
or they might not know it, but they're very familiar with it
because of its beauty. Of course the entire book of Allah's Prophet
is beautiful, but there's something quite distinct about
sort of the rough man, because Allah subhanaw taala is asking us
this question right? He asks it 31 times which of the favours of your
Lord will you deny right Febi ala era become Attica, divine, this
beautiful verse that is so powerful and it shakes you to the
core when you hear it, because it really is about waking up like
thinking about everything that Allah Subhana Allah has given us
right? When you think of this incredible world that
Almost Father has put us in, I was listening to Sheikh Hamza earlier.
And he said something beautiful that I never quite thought of, to
use as a descriptor for the earth, but he just referred to it as a
garden. In and of itself, the earth is this garden, yes, it's a
sphere, it's this, you know, round ball that, you know that, that we
recognize that moving around in space orbiting in space, but the
concept of this garden and all of the beautiful the beauties of this
garden, right, the benefits that we get from everything that the
Earth gives us,
the the plants, the, the, the animals, just the the waterfalls,
the rivers, the oceans, all of the beauty that we see inside the
Earth, but of course, in the universe itself, look at the sun,
the moon, the stars, there's so much to look out, and to see in,
you know, in creation, and to really reflect on the majesty of
all of that, and how much we should be and gratitude to him for
this for existence, and for being able to bear witness to all of
this. So that's, you know, one, one aspect of gratitude is to
really look outwardly and to, again, bear witness to everything
that almost pot that is giving you, and that can be on a very,
you know, macro level, where you're looking outward into the
universe and the world as we just described, or it also can be
within just your, your life, your existence, your individual unique
existence, the family, that almost mother's giving you the
privileges, the the body, the health, all of those things that
we should account for, and we should be able to quickly recall,
when we're trying to count, of course, we'll never be able to
count all of the blessings of the other last path that He's given
us, but to at least, you know, try to take account and to be witness
to those things, is such an important part of being grateful.
And that's why the sewer is so powerful because it was part of
that is asking us, you know, look around you look at everything that
I've given you. Do you deny this, you know, and so we have to ask
ourselves, what are we in denial of? Because of course, we don't
want to ever answer to this question all the biller, as though
we are guilty of denying His favor is right. So we should do the
opposite and have a full account as much as we can of everything
that he's he's blessed us with. In other verses, Mashallah. There's
so many, I mean, describe the concept of gratitude and sugar is
repeated throughout the Quran. But in chapter 14, verse seven was
part that says, if you are thankful, I will add more favours
unto you. So now he's, he's engaging us in another way. You
know, he asked us this question before about are we in denial, but
now he's telling us right, clearly, there's a formula to how
things work here, that if you express gratitude, and if you are
a thankful person, then this is the reward, you will see an
increase in whatever it is that you're grateful for. So this is of
course, an incentive to be more grateful. He also opposes another
question. So it's so again, the beauty of the Quran, there's so
much to say about it. But this conversation that's happening
between us product and us is really amazing to witness again.
So you know, just to see the way that these concepts are presented
to us. Here's another question he asks us, he says, Why would? why
would why would God punish you, if you're thankful and believe in
Him, God always rewards gratitude, and he knows everything. So he's,
again, questioning some of our own ideas. Sometimes people come to
conclusions that are just simply wrong. And it's because we're
trying to make sense of things. So when we don't understand
something, we might just, you know, come up with our own
understanding of it. But here always find those challenging some
of those ideas we may have, and and and telling us, why would he
punish us if we're thankful and believe in Him, so anybody who
thinks that for example, this pandemic is a punishment? This is
a really beautiful answer to that, you know, if you're in a state of
gratitude to him and you're doing everything, then why would you
think that right? He's aware of everything and inshallah don't
don't come to these conclusions, right. Many more verses, so many
martial art beautiful verses, but in chapter 16, verse 17, through
19, he says, is then he who creates comparable to any that
cannot create, will you not take heat for should you try to count
Allah's blessings, you could never compute them Subhanallah again,
putting us in our place, right? Because sometimes this is part of
the human problem is that we get ahead of ourselves, and we start
to make a lot of assumptions about things and we may even, you know,
irrigate ourselves to think that we know things when we don't know
them. But here, the last part that is clearly making it clear for us
that you there's no comparison don't even try. And then he's also
further humbling us by telling us that you couldn't possibly count
the blessings I've given you. But you know, our response to that
should be to try because we should bear witness to all us upon us
blessings, right? So many again, powerful verses here in chapter
two.
Verse 152, he says, Then remember me, I will remember, remember you
be grateful to Me and do not reject me. This is so beautiful
because again, this is a different type of exchange. He's again
telling us how the formula works. He's saying to us, that this is
reciprocity. If you remember me, I'll remember you. And gratitude
is the opposite of rejecting a belief in Him of coffer, right? Do
not reject me. So it's, you have a choice. If you are in a state of
gratitude, you're witnessing Allah subhanaw taala and everything he's
done for you, you're believing in Him. So that's belief, but if you
are an ingrate, and you're ungrateful, then it's equivalent
to being in a state of Cofer audible. So may Allah protect us
from them? In verse, chapter two, verse 243, he says, Indeed, God is
the Possessor of bounty for all people, but most people do not
give thanks, again. SubhanAllah. He's humbling us. He's telling us,
you know, to question whether or not we're truly thankful, I mean,
most of the people, if you think that you are an exception to that,
maybe you need to have you know, a little bit more inner dialogue and
see if that's a true assessment or not, because if most of the people
don't give thanks, and we possibly are in that category, so May Allah
forgive us, first and foremost, and guide us so that we are more
thankful so that we do not fall short in this effort of bearing
witness to all those promises, blessings, and there's so many
ways to express gratitude. So I wanted to just pivot and talk a
little bit about how, again, we can express gratitude, because
it's important to understand there's three types of gratitude,
right, there is gratitude of the heart, which is in the, into the
club. And this is again, you know, belief, it's recognizing things,
it's really internalizing it, it's letting that gratitude permeate
the body permeate the heart permeate the soul. And and then
intending goodwill towards all of God's creation, right, the
Commonweal, this is another this is a form of, of gratitude.
Another form of gratitude is gratitude of the tongue or of the
design, which involves celebrating the praises of Allah subhanaw
taala. So this is why we are to make a con while we're supposed to
do that good. While we are supposed to say the names of all
osteopath are no, no His names. You know, that's one of the things
that I think I may have alluded to it before, I don't know if I
completed that thought. But I was saying that, you know, in my, the
space that I've created, here in the office, I have a banner, kind
of it's all in Arabic, but it has all been IDI names of all US
Panthera and last night, after we prayed, we were able to look at
all those names and contemplate those names. And it was just
really beautiful. And I realized, like, that's something I need to
do more of I have that I've studied them before. But to
actually make a practice of it is a great way to again, do this form
of gratitude of the tongue, to know His names to utter his names
and to praise Him by saying Subhan Allah and hamdulillah Allahu
Akbar, this is how we exercise gratitude of the tongue. And then
there's gratitude of the limbs that Joanna which are, which is
really by action, right? By putting your belief, your faith,
your gratitude in action, it's not enough to just say I'm grateful,
I'm, I'm thankful, it means a lot more when you actually go to the,
you know, take it, take it one step further and actually show
your gratitude. And this is, you know, for most of us, we can
certainly relate to that if you're, for example, you know,
treating, or taking care of someone, or helping someone with
something personal to them. And you're, you know, taking time away
from your schedule, and you're just, you know, running around
doing things for them. And they just say thank you, you know,
after seeing all of the efforts that you've put forth, most of us
would probably feel like we did we were undervalued underappreciated,
because words Yes, are important. Right? All those processes, let me
just get in Estonia. scrilla, right, the one who doesn't think
the people is not thinking a lot. So we should certainly express our
gratitude with words. But it's very meaningful to go beyond that
and to actually show our gratitude. So this is where gift
giving is so important, right in the process of encouraged us to,
to give gifts because it spreads goodwill and love, you know, and
it's just a beautiful thing to do. And so this is how we express
gratitude of the limbs is by actually fulfilling first and
foremost gratitude to all of us pronto. That's the most important
thing. So we fulfill our photo, edit the things that are required
of us in a state of gratitude to him because we recognize that life
is such a gift and we want to do our part as small as it is to show
our gratitude to him, and then to also show our gratitude by by
taking care of his creation.
of doing our best to serve his creation. So these are the three
different forms of gratitude, and 100. Again, there's so much in our
deen about this concept of shortcode. And this is really the
time for all of us to take account of how grateful we are to Allah
subhana wa Tada remember all the verses that we just talked about?
And really question your sincerity, this is what I'm going
to be doing certainly, and I'll be doing it with my family to talk
about all the great blessings that He's given us from, you know,
again, you can start just right here with yourself and look at
the, the spidey that he's given you and how much have we really
expressed our gratitude to very basic functions that our body does
that we don't even think about or reflect. So insha Allah may Allah
Subhana Allah bless all of you, I look forward to hopefully engaging
with you on future broadcasts in a more dynamic setting where we can
actually dialogue. But I am grateful again to the MCC
community and to all of you for tuning in. May Allah subhanaw
taala reward all of you and make this the most beautiful Ramadan
you've ever had, that's been my dua for this.
past day or so. I've been sending a lot of messages to people but
that really is my sincere dog, I want this to be the best Ramadan
of our lives, and I truly believe it can be if we put that hope out
there and we believe in Allah subhanho wa Taala He can do
anything, this is an incredible time, we should really just move
forward in that state of gratitude and positivity. And Charles pada
will confirm that for us right, he says, and I did any appdb I'm in
the opinion of my servant. So let us have the best opinion of Allah
subhanaw taala and let us really, you know just move forward
expecting this is going to be an easy fast and shallow the fast are
gonna go quickly, that the Knights are going to stretch for us so
that we can wake up and worship Him. And the days are just going
to be beautiful what we're we see the smiling faces of our family or
children or we you know, our parents, anybody else that that's
in our homes, that we were able to actually spend time with them. And
of course we spend time with the with with the most intimate friend
of ours, the Quran, the book of Allah subhanaw taala Which reminds
me of my dear friend Suzanne Asada, Suzanne and Annie, for
those of you who don't know, she's in our community, she did not ask
me to do this. I didn't even think to do this until right now. But
mashallah, she just recently released her book, I encourage all
of you to check it out. It is to really to increase the love that
we have for the book of Allah's father, particularly our children.
It's a children's book, but I encourage you to check it out.
She's a member of our community in sha Allah. So look out for her
book, which I'm sure she'll eventually do things here and MCC
but for those of you who are out there Her name is against Suzanne
did it in sha Allah is like more hidden again, to all of you for
tuning in and I will see you next time. We'll end in this matter to
him. When I started in Santa Fe hustle Illa Lilina Avenue I'm so
sorry, Hattie. Whatever, so we'll happy whatever so the sub Subhanak
Alohomora. Behind the culture the way Leila and the stockbroker
wanted to buoy Lake wa salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh