Hosai Mojaddidi – Ramadan Sorority Halaqa
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We have, excuse me, the ability to listen to these brilliant parties
from all over the world who have, you know, so much beauty and
melody in their voices and we can connect with the book of Allah has
panned out through them. There's apps, there's just so much YouTube
free channels, it's abundant, there's, it's everywhere. So if
you're, again, at that place where you don't necessarily know how to
read very well, and shallow, that should be a goal that may Allah
you know, make it easy for you that you become, you know that you
get a teacher that you eventually do that. But in the interim, don't
beat yourself up rather just say, I'm going to still commit to
having my relationship with the Quran every day. And if that means
listening to certain parts, or sutras, listening to the English
and Arabic, whatever makes sense for you, that's beautiful. And
you're fulfilling this wonderful and most important form of each
other during this month, which is connecting to the book of Oz
panda. So feel good and positive about that and feel uplifted, that
also that is giving you that ability to do that. Now, if you
can read the Quran, and if you have ample time to do so, by ample
time, I mean, you have free time, you know, and we're now you know,
looking again, fast, I think are 15, maybe 16 hours of the day. But
the entire day is really available to us, when we look at our iba, we
can do it either during the day or like the prophets in the odia. And
the scholars before us who maximize their Eva at nighttime.
And that's the next thing that I wanted to talk about, which is
really the sweet spot, the sweet spot of our EBA is timing, timing
is so essential. Because there are moments during the day that we
should you know that we know that our our you know, there was almost
a jab, they're accepted. But we have to seek out those moments and
then know how to, again, maximize the potential of those moments. So
as far as you know, Ramadan is concerned, again, I this is just
my assessment, after listening to a lot of people and just my own
experiences, I feel that there's a few tweaks that we can all make,
to actually improve our overall experience. And those tweaks are
simple practical things, like I just said, as far as far as the
prayer, number one priority, we've got to get better about praying
our prayers on time, Inshallah, and being in a state of will do
those things, I just feel like, that's just should be really the
habit of every Muslim. And Charlemagne, a lot increases to do
that.
But when it comes to the actual fast that we're you know, when
people have a difficult time with their fast, I think that there's
usually a few practical reasons for why that is. And this is kind
of, you know, my again, assessment, that typically what
happens is, for most people, whether it's on a normal, let's
say, you know, Ramadan, where we're working, and we're we have a
lot of commitments, we end up delaying or pushing that point of
Sohar, to maybe about 30 minutes before Fajr, you know, or maybe 45
minutes, if people are really elaborate with their meals at that
time. But it's still not an adequate amount of time to prepare
a meal, eat a meal, pray extra 200 prayers, Inshallah, we should try
to always, again, look at that sweet spot, it's a time of the
better, right? So if you're sleeping, because you got to wake
up at eight or nine, and then you set your alarm for, you know, four
o'clock in the morning so that you can do certain stuff before five,
right? Like practically speaking, right? That is likely going to put
you in a bit of a rush. Okay, because what you're trying to do
likely again, this is again, not maybe it doesn't apply to you, but
I feel like a lot of people does apply to is that they're trying to
get everything squeezed in into the small pocket of time. And
then, you know, after you pray Fudger it's like a lot of people,
if they have the ability to they'll try to get a little bit of
cat nap and other you know, rest before they have to get up and get
ready. Or they'll just sleep until, you know, maybe 10 3011 in
the morning. Okay, so in that first scenario, if you're just
again, trying to wake up or take a little bit of a nap so that you
can wake up, you are depleted, right? You're depleted because you
didn't get enough sleep, you probably slept late the night
before. And you know, and then you had to wake up and do all this
rush stuff. So your sleep is off. And once our sleep is off, once we
are not in a good restful state. It sets the stage right for what's
to come. Because as I said in the beginning, we have things that
affect our mood, lack of sleep or inadequate sleep is absolutely up
there. So certain foods, dehydration, medication, a lot of
variables, right that can contribute to someone either being
in a good, positive state or not. So we're in a compounded situation
in Ramadan, because we don't have food and we don't have to
caffeine and drink to wake us up, and then we're also not getting
enough rest. So obviously, it's going to impact our experience for
the rest of the day, if we start off in such shambles, right? So
this is why a lot of people get lethargic, and they don't have
really much motivation. And then, you know, shaitan Yes, he's locked
up in chains, but people have to keep it real, or be honest about I
mean, they have to know that, despite that, he's still able to
whisper and still able to, you know, affect us inspire us to do
wrong. So you see a lot of people because they're so drained and
exhausted from their lack of sleep, and just really low
motivation that they end up you know, indulging in things because
it's just easier to lay in bed and watch a bunch of videos, social
media, or Netflix, you see people still I've seen threads where
people are still watching Netflix shows,
you know, that, that are probably not appropriate at all, anytime,
but especially in Ramadan. But this is where does that come from?
It's because you know, she wants you to really not look at this
month as being what it is, which is a jackpot and a lottery of a
batter. With, you know, there's just so much opportunity there, he
doesn't want you to see that he just kind of wants you to focus on
what you're not able to do. And all the stuff that you're enough's
is deprived of. Right. So it's kind of like, it's an inconvenient
time. And that's what shaitan makes it all about him for a lot
of people a time of inconvenience, you know, I don't get to eat, I
don't get to sleep, I don't get to drink what I want. I don't get to
do this. I'm inconvenienced. But of course Insha Allah, their Eman
is still there. So they're persevere. But that if that's the
experience that you allow for, then that's what you're going to
get right. Because all of us, pat that tells us and are indeed any
of the view, which is, I'm in the opinion of my servant. So whatever
we put forth, we will have confirmed upon us. So if we kind
of just look at Ramadan is just this month of
I'm just gonna, you know, push through 30 days and, you know, go
through this deprivation and maybe I'll lose weight, you know,
there's some people somehow a lot that that's the, that's the,
that's the silver lining, you know, that it's like a little
opportunity to just lose some weight. And, you know, or when it
was before pandemic, to socialize. Yeah, so we have alter ulterior
motives or intentions, right. But if that's your experience, that's
what you're gonna get. That's it, that's what's confirmed for you.
But if your experience or what you expect, is greater, and you say,
oh, Allah, this is a month of immense baraka and I don't want to
squander it, I don't want to lose a month that, you know, the people
before would weep the moment it was over. And they were weeping
the whole year until it came back, you know, the Sahaba, and great
people of the past, because they appreciated what it was they
understood the value of this month. And we, you know, we kind
of, like I said, just biding our time waiting for the inconvenience
to be over so that we can just get back to our lives again, that is
all Westeros from shaitan, those thoughts are inspired by bliss. He
wants to strip, the beauty and the glory and all of the just
amazingness of this month, so that you only focus on the physical
deprivation that you're going through. And then you because
you're falling into that trap. That's what unfortunately, you
experienced. So then you look at Ramadan as being
here it goes again, we have to fast, I'm not happy.
All of it is mindset, right? It's mindset. So changing your map
mindset, shifting your mindset and saying, I'm not going to squander
this opportunity to gain massive rewards with all this data, to
actually really have those spiritual openings that people are
writing about and talking about and lecturing about for hours, and
hours and hours. And there's books written about this, like I don't
want to squander my opportunity. So what am I going to do
practically to not do that? This is where the tips come in. So my
advice is to really look at every individual all of us, we're all
different, and we all have different needs. So you have to
this is where self awareness Self knowledge is so critical. If you
know me, you know I talk a lot about emotional intelligence. And
the first part of it is self awareness. Right? Self awareness
knows knowing yourself very well. If you're the type of person that
is asleep, like you just love sleep a glutton for sleep. Right?
And you may very well be that's just your reality. You love your
sleep. It's like the greatest thing to you. You can't wait for
sleep. Admitted hulless be open and honestly I love my sleep.
Okay, so now if you love your sleep, what are you doing waking
up or going to bed at 11 at night, you know, because you're reading
blogs or reading a book or doing something for fun or amusement
that is not helping you if you're asleep
Being late, you're going to wake up in that frenzy, and then you're
going to have the day that I just described. So you have to be more
realistic and say, because I love sleep, I need to work with my body
and train myself to adapt to a maybe less sleep dependent
schedule. And I need to start working on that. So what am I
going to do? I'm going to be smart, and I'm going to maybe push
my sleep or you know, sleep around 10 o'clock, maybe if normally at
11 I'm still groggy and it's just not enough for me, then let me
sleep attend. See what happens. I make that one adjustment. Now look
at what what you might think it's a loss because I know I'm a woman.
I'm a mom. I know how amazing. The nighttime is, okay, like when the
kids are in bed, and house is quiet. Trust me, like many of you,
I'm sure I covered that time. However,
if it were to impede my spiritual practice, I certainly would
abandon it, I would give it up. And that's how you have to look at
it like that one extra hour where yeah, you could maybe be doing
something that you want to do. Your enough's wants to do
something, whatever it could be. How about you just give it what it
wants, which is the sleep right? And then wake up earlier than what
you've been waking up like that, you know, four o'clock or 430? I
think a lot of people are probably, because Fajr comes in
around five, so maybe 410 415 People are waking up. But what do
you think would happen I present a scenario to you, if you slept a
little early, and then you woke up a little early. Because you're
adjusting, right, you're adjusting asleep. Now you wake up and you
are not rushed, you have an hour or more to prepare yourself or you
have an hour or more to actually pray some to hedges, read some
Quran, or listen to Quran while you're preparing stuff, you have
ample time, then you have an hour or more like I said, to get
everything in place, either for yourself or your family, and then
to slowly wake up the members of your family so that they can join
you in the meal and everything. The tension is easy. There's no
tension, there's no rushing, there's no crazy mad, you know,
madness. And you know, yelling across the hall like are you up
and do this, you know, sometimes people because of time, and you
know, just that anxiousness, they let all of that they invite all of
that in that negative energy. And then again, because we're rushing
and we're not, we're not sleeping enough, it just kind of sets the
tone for the rest of the day. But the opposite can happen when you
plan and you prepare and you maximize your worship for
nighttime. Because you're doing it to fulfill the Sunnah and to you
know, please Allah subhanaw taala you want to be in that easy state,
you will see the difference. Allah Subhana Allah will inshallah
facilitate your day for you. Time is a creation, right? We should
know that. That time is something else that creates and He can
stretch time and he can decrease time and that's why a lot of
people have that feeling that in Ramadan time is stretched right or
when you go certain places or or you're in the company of certain
people, you feel like there's this stretching of time, right? That is
a that's a reality, when time is being stretched. That's basically
Allah subhanaw taala is baraka in that moment in that gathering for
you. So you have to believe that when you as I said before,
prioritize the worship of Allah subhana wa Tada and make him like,
the objective of pleasing him your number one priority, and you start
to plan your day and make those little tweaks. You don't think
he's going to repay you. You don't think he's going to reward you
with ease in your heart with rest in your body with strength to
endure the fast of course he is. Because he sees that you are
saying you're Allah, your priority to me you're more important than
anybody else and I'm going to even give up my nighttime whatever, you
know, leisurely activity I normally do. I'm going to give up
these things because I want to have a beautiful peaceful, calm
state, calm heart when I'm in the remembrance of you and I want to
ease into my prayers I want to fulfill the Sunnah of doing
tahajjud prayers because this is again the prophesy Salam every
night I mean when I think of the prophesy Saddam who had Jana, he's
guaranteed he's the Beloved of Allah. But yet he felt compelled
he felt compelled to stand up and pray tahajjud every single night
until the point where his legs were swollen. You know, I mean,
it's just really sad that we may Allah forgive us because we don't
we fail we fail a lot. You know, we fail to see how important it
is. But here he's teaching us that he's you know, what was the answer
when I share you know, some
Are his feet so swollen? And he said, Should I not be a grateful
servant? Right? I mean, this is the perfect answer for all of us.
How are we displaying our gratitude to Allah subhanaw taala?
Where is the gratitude? Where is the proof and the sincerity of the
claim of gratitude to all of us for how that if we can't
prioritize, you bother to him, and what we're talking about, if
you're looking at time, I mean, if we're being honest, prayers in and
of themselves five minutes, max, because most of us stand and we'll
do the short as soon as we know, because we got something else to
do. So we're looking at 2530 minutes that you're spending on
your prayers. And that even that it's not good quality. This is
where we also have to come back and question our claims, right? of
sincerity. Because, you know, as there's this, let me pull it up.
There's an AI in Quran almost panda says in Surah Baqarah verse
two, sorry, verse 243. He says, Indeed, God is the Possessor of
bounty for all people. But most people do not give thanks. You
know, when I contemplated this, I just was like, soft Allah.
We all
assume a lot of good things about ourselves. And I think we all want
to assume that we're grateful to Allah, we want to assume that we
want to make that claim. Because we aren't doing what we should be
doing. You know, in sha Allah, we're fasting where we believe we
have, you know, certainty of faith. So 100, those are all great
signs. But I think when I read this, and I that last part, most
people, you know, for us proud that I just say that, I think it's
really a win a challenge, you know, for all of us, or we should
see that as a challenge to whether or not to ask ourselves whether or
not we fall into that category or not. You know, that's how I'm
looking at that I I'm looking at that I like yellow, I have I say,
I'm grateful to you all the time on Hamdulillah. I probably I mean,
we all do it right? In sha Allah, we all say in sha Allah 100 Spa,
we're constantly praising all US panda. But Al Hamdulillah, if it's
a big part of your vocabulary, and the way that you speak, and it's
like uttered very frequently, you know, this is the time to question
Are you really in a state of gratitude, if you can't wake up,
when our beloved solo lives that I'm would wake up to the point
where his legs would get swollen, and I'm not saying to stretch and
make your hedges, you know, a painful process, but I'm saying
just the fact that we don't think to do it, or we don't prepare
ourselves to do it. We don't, you know, plan around these things,
should actually, you know, make us, you know, really question our
since the sincerity of that claim of gratitude, right. So,
when you wake up with ample time, you will see the ease, I promise
you, if you give yourself a little bit more cushion in that time of
support, and you even though you're going to be groggy, and
it's going to be difficult for you, you will see the difference.
And also just I mean, I'm not a medical expert, so I'm going to
put this out there. But you can do this search yourself on the
benefits of sleep training, because the idea that we need
eight to 10 hours of sleep is been questioned, it has been refuted by
people. And there are many people who actually very much like what
the prophesy said, habit was, you know that sleep, sleep is done in
cycles, right become sleep cycles. And you can cycle through your
sleep so that you do it in a way where you're waking up. At the end
of a deep sleep REM cycle, instead of interrupting that, which is
what most of us do, we interrupt a REM cycle. And that's why we wake
up heavy and not able to push forward. But if we make these
adjustments and learn about sleep training, we can actually learn to
wake up in a time that it will not that we will benefit that we won't
be, you know, lethargic and slow and rundown, but we can actually
wake up we can we can be alert. And then what we do is we whatever
sleep is lost, we compensate for that later, which is the practice
of the prophesy centum. Right, he would practice or he would have
kalola which was between the hunter Nasir so he would worship
through the night. And then he would make, you know, whatever he
lost, he would make up for it during the day. So these are all
very practical things that we can do adjustments, just to again,
facilitate the fast experience because if you wake up and you
have nutrient dense food rich foods that are really just you
know, you know, going to nourish your body and have lasting you
know, a
effect for that for the day, in sha Allah, you'll see that your
levels aren't spiking all over the place that make you, you know,
hungry and just angry and all those things that people
experience. So you want to look at being responsible with what you're
eating. And then also timing yourself so that you're allowing
yourself to pray those sweet, that sweet spot of Tahajjud prayer and
open your heart to Allah subhanaw taala you know, create a space I
actually
I created 100 Here, I'm in my office. And right behind my
screen, we've created a little masala area. And it's just I love
it. I'm thinking honestly of keeping it throughout Ramadan,
because I didn't realize how much I needed it. Just to have a space
that's dedicated for prayer in the house is really special. And then
a friend of mine, she gifted me let me grab it real quickly
she gifted me this
prayer outfit, and it's so beautiful, but I never I mean,
I've worn them before, but I've never had one quite like this. So
it comes in this cute little bag. Okay.
And it's like this nice, I don't know the material, but it's just
really soft and pretty. It's a huge prayer outfit. But it's very
fancy.
And martial law. I just love it because it puts me in the right
state of mind
to worship Allah subhanaw taala. And I'm telling you, these things
have an effect, the space that you're in like this whole, you
know,
thing sway or Marie Kondo all these people, what are they
tapping into, they're tapping into this idea that the spaces that we
create have an effect on our mood and on our states, right. So when
we create beautiful spaces where we can worship, and we take the
time to wear something like, that just puts us in a state of, I
don't know, I can't explain it, but it just, it just makes me feel
like I'm doing something special. Although I know I'm doing
something special, I think the mood that putting this, you know,
just wearing it as opposed to standing, what I used to do before
I had a shorter like, Jersey material one. But you know, my
pajamas were bottoms were showing because it didn't fully cover the
whole body. So you know, it kind of, I mean, it works you pray you
do, it's functional. But this is elevating the experience, right?
When you actually put all that effort into making your EBA
beautiful and sweet, you have to believe there's going to be an
effect on you on your heart. And almost part that, like I said, is
going to reward you so that your experience throughout the rest of
the day is just facilitated and I'm handling that like this is our
what fourth fast I think I you know, just my own experience. So
hamdulillah from the beginning, so far, haven't had any issues at
all. Like I don't even remember honestly, that I'm fasting,
because I also try to keep busy, which is another tip, you have to
stay busy. A lot of people ask me like, Oh, you're doing this and
doing that you're doing so much. But that's because I'm aware of
myself, I know that if I don't regulate myself and work on
projects, and teach and try to offer, you know, whatever I can
and do more outreach, outreach, that I will fall into my own FC
behavior. And so this is self awareness. I'm very aware of
myself, so I have to keep busy I have to have moving. And like I
said, Thou is in my blood. So doing any form of Dawa to me is it
just re energizes me It charges me up, it gives me that motivation.
That's me. So all of us, though, have our own unique outlets,
right. But we have to believe that almost had that will facilitate
our experience of Ramadan if we prioritize Him and His pleasure
above everything else, including ourselves. So sacrificing our time
at night and committing to a serious regimen where we sleep
enough so that we're not in this totally demoralized, just
unmotivated state when we wake up rather, we wake up with like
mission I have a mission right? And you know, there's other like
little practical things like making more do with cold water you
want to wake up you know, you don't want to rub your eyes and
like you know, are just like making some food and eating in
that state. No, you got to be like, present, you know, like, I'm
awake, y'all I woke up I abandoned my bed because I love to please
you and I'm going to now you know create a meal or prepare a meal so
that I can nourish my body and the body of my family or their bodies
and I can you know we can fast because we know that fasting is
something that only you know the reward of and it's for you and
you're so pleased with it. That's the kind of attitude you have to
have. Right? But if you don't have that, as I said before, then your
experience will be
He confirmed based on what your attitude is. So you got to be very
careful about your mindset. Okay, I'm going to take a quick break
and look at the comments here
so now they're saying sometimes I feel that because I have so many
prayers to make up from the past, I rush to get that number down
before I die. It may not be qualitative prayer, because I'm
just so anxious when the few 1000 prayers, you know, mashallah,
thank you for mentioning that. Nadia, first of all, may Allah
bless you and reward you for doing for committing to making up your
past prayers. That's a beautiful reflection of your Nia and your
state. So may Allah increase you in that? But remember you, you
know, this Dean? Is it the Edina? Yes, Rania, the prophesy centum
said, the deen is easy. And we're the ones that actually
complicated, we humans were the ones that make it harder on
ourselves. So you have to dial it down a little bit. If your
experience of prayer is anxious, and you're not really feeling
like, Good, then you need to make some adjustments. And that maybe,
is, you know, where you look at how many prayers you're making up
every day. Is it like, you know, is it too much for you and because
given your other commitments and other things, and Inshallah, if
you have the NIA and you're working towards that, Nia, you
have to believe with certainty, that just by having the intention
and making the effort, Allah subhanaw taala will reward you,
whatever your Nia is whether or not you accomplish it, that is
just a promise, in a minute amount of Binetti your intentions are
driving the reward that you're gonna get. So I know we're very
sometimes qualitatively wired to think of a numbers.
I'm sorry, quantitatively, but we're talking about quality
Trump's quantity when it comes to are you bad, okay? It's very
clear, we should try to strive for the best of worship, not just, you
know, a number. And if you feel like you're doing multiple prayers
during the day, then maybe you need to commit to just doing one
prayer that you're making up with every prayer, or, you know, kind
of tweak it a little bit, but just have have that trust and almost
patho, that you're going to be rewarded for your intention,
regardless. So I hope that answers your question. So we are past
time. I'm sorry, it's um, I just noticed that I went over. I'm
apologize for that. But I thank you for sticking around. Are there
any questions before we end, and again, we'll be doing these
throughout the month of Ramadan, possibly if,
if they, if the wealth of the feedback is positive, and I am
able to then we shall we will continue afterwards. But we have a
few more sessions. So I'd like to just keep the same flow. And you
guys are always welcome. Like I said, to come and join the
conversation or talk or ask questions or comment. I actually
really appreciate the feedback, it's helpful because then you
don't feel like you're just talking to yourself. But if I if
there are no other questions, and we'll go ahead and end this first
session, and I really again, appreciate your spending your
afternoon with me there's so many things that could be happening or
that you could be doing, but I do appreciate that and I hope to see
you on the next or next Monday. Also for any moms in the room. If
you have children and 10 Plus, I am going to be doing purification
of the heart Inshallah, Tuesdays and Thursdays from the same time
five to six. You can find that information on the MCC page on
Facebook or their website and TC East Bay and sign up inshallah
we're getting a lot of great I mean signups already my shops,
it's gonna be a full class, but I'm really excited. I love to
teach children so I'm looking forward to that.
Zara John, yes, the class will be same time next week five to six
and I'll try to end on time. Forgive me again for going over.
But please join us let people know it's open to everybody. It's not
just the MCC community. Anybody can join my show and thank you. I
mean, I mean, what is mine? May Allah reward you as well. Thank
you for being here. Again, I'm very grateful to all of you for
spending your time with me. Oh, this is the part of online stuff
that is like afterwards when you watch the recording, you're like,
Oh my God. Yeah. Because I have like a bit of OCD. So I'll see
like, things that are off and I'm like, Oh, I wish I could go to the
camera and just fix my hijab.
I asked my salah Habib did so good to see you. I miss you miss my
crew. From you know where
it was good to see you sweetheart. Thank you again ladies. I will end
in
sha Allah Subhana Allah Hama will be home they get a shadow and de
la isla and then a stuff recorded to the lake, along with cinema
cinema better, honestly than our Mowlana Have you ever heard
Salallahu Salam, while it was the same and Kathira Bismillah R
Rahman Rahim Allah
So in in Santa Fe hospital in the Latina I'm going to have this
funny have you with us or will happy whatever so this
is like more okay then please keep us in your doors and Sharla said I
want a coma