Ismail Londt – Niyyah and Nerves. For those leading Tarwh. Suggestions advice reminders.

Asmaa, assalamu, alaikum. Warhamat Allah.

We all know of the Prophetic narration that speaks of intention

and that all actions are judged by intentions. The issue with tarawih

and leading tarawih and being under the spotlight is that one in

one's intention is tested.

So I'd like to remind you of a unique Islamic concept, and that

is that we can have a multitude of intentions for one action, or a

set of layered intentions for one action. Consider charity. You can

give charity to please Allah, along with helping someone in

need, along with reading your heart from selfishness and along

with using it as a potential investment of reward for the

akhirah. So likewise, I would like to suggest a set of layered

intentions for Tarawa. Number one, to please Allah. Number two, to

consolidate your relationship with the Quran as a memorizer through

taraweya to potentially get to know it better. And thirdly, with

your rendition and performance, to bring and instill some joy to the

hearts of your attendees, the congregants, the the musalis

Rasulullah sallallahu said that of the best of actions is that you do

that which instills joy in the heart of the fellow believer. So

they you would like to be pleased with your condition, which is no

problem, and contented with it which is good. And you would like

also those who are who are following you to be happy with

your rendition, and contented and pleased by it, a pleasure that is

drawn from Quran, a pleasure that is pure and beautiful. That's

number one, and then number two, nerves. The issue of nerves, it is

natural. It is natural to be nervous. You tell yourself, it's

Quran and it's salah, and it's Ramadan and it's a an act of

worship. But your body reacts, your heart rate increases, your

palms become sweaty, and you know you're not the same. You're not as

calm as you would like to be. It is natural. All I can tell you is

this, prepare as best possible. Be honest, that you put in the time

and you did whatever you could to prepare and then reach a point

where you hand over to Allah. You say to Allah, I've done whatever I

could, Ya Rabbi, and I hand over to you to save me from any

embarrassment

and any negativity, and to guide my tongue and guide my mind and

guide my heart, and I'm contented with whatever you decree for me,

because somehow there is a lesson for me in it.

And once you do this, once you hand over to Allah subhanahu wa,

then you will be ridding yourself from that responsibility and

freeing yourself from that weight

of of the the limelight and the stage, and that pressure just hand

over to him, Subhana, who wa Taala at the end of the day. It's about

the recited text. It's never about the reciter, but you are a vehicle

for it, and you feel that pressure. So it's normal to be

nervous, and if you are not nervous, then there's something

wrong with you, with me, with us, we are only human. So I thought as

a start,

just to remind ourselves about the intention and about nerves, which

is natural and normal, and how to potentially deal with it.

Inshallah, I'll be releasing a few more clips for our colleagues who

are leading to our we have this year in hope that they find some

solace and some support and some guidelines in it inshaAllah to

make the salamata one of the best we've ever experienced. May Allah

guide our paths, may Allah ease our paths, and may Allah bless us

with acceptance. I mean, salaam alaikum.