A Guide for the New Muslim Part 7

hamdulillah salat wa salam ala nabina Muhammad are shadow,

Shadow shadow, shadow.

shadow on today's

lecture we want to discuss the ritual acts of worship of Muslim

are what are known as the five pillars of Islam.

The Prophet says Adam said

boonie Elise l'amour, Allah had a DNA ilaha illAllah Muhammadan rasul Allah, by Thomas alot. Wait waiter is the cat will head with sama Ramadan.

The prophet SAW Selim said, Islam is built upon five pillars.

justifying that there's none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishing the prayers, giving the Zakat making the pilgrimage to the house, and fasting the month of Ramadan.

During this

process alone has given us

a beautiful parable

is given us a picture of Islam like a house or some kind of structure.

And these pillars that he mentioned, these are the foundation.

And the foundation of anything is the thing that other things are built upon.

So in other words, these foundations should actually lead to many other things. I mean, it's true, obviously, that each one of these actions, like the prayers and Zakat and so forth, each one of these actions are actions that are acts of worship in themselves, and they are pleasing to Allah subhana wa Tada. And they are very important acts.

But at the same time, they are not the end of the acts of the Muslim, and they are not even the end of what they should bring about in the Muslim themselves.

We just finished speaking about beliefs, articles of belief.

And similarly, like the articles of belief, you can meet many Muslims, who can rattle off all of the articles of belief in autoaid. There's three categories and, and belief in this, and that is comprised of these components in this in this.

But

that's about the limits of what they know about, they don't realize what kind of effect and what kind of influence is supposed to have on their lives. So they can rattle off all this information, but they they're clueless,

sometimes, unfortunately, about what does this mean for them? How are they internalizing it, and how are they acting upon those.

Similarly, these acts of worship. Unfortunately, if you look at the Muslim world, in some cases, these acts of worship have become the

be all and end all of Islam.

And Islam doesn't have much effect upon the individual, or much influence upon the individual other than the fact that he's still adhering to these basic Pillars of Islam, and maybe a few other things in his life.

While in reality, there is not even what these pillars are supposed to be about.

These pillars form the foundations, these are the foundations and built upon them should be all of the other acts of Islam.

And so inshallah, in this lecture,

I want to give a brief introduction to these different pillars of Islam.

And maybe speak a little bit about their importance.

And again, due to time limitations, and also be due to the fact that ham delivers a lot of literature available about all of these different pillars.

We will not be able to cover the entire topic in detail.

But unfortunately, even even by the way, much of the literature that's available in English on these different pillars, most of them covered cover these pillars just from a legal perspective. How are you supposed to pray, what you do, what you do, what you don't do, what you do, if you do this, it's wrong, and so forth, how to fast and so forth.

There's not much reflection on what is the long run influence that these actions should have upon you as an individual. inshallah, we'll try to touch upon some of these components as we give this lecture today.

First of all, you have to realize that all of these ritual acts of worship

are both an external component as well as an internal component.

And this has been mentioned by the scores and first of all,

They speak about the fact that for any act of worship to be acceptable to Allah subhanaw taala it has to meet

two conditions.

first condition

is not necessarily an order of importance, but the two conditions go together. The first condition is the act must be proper and correct according to Alice guidance.

So, for example, if you're going to perform the query how to perform it according to the way that Allah has ordered us to perform it in the Quran, and

you're going to fast you fast the proper way or, and so forth. So it must be correct, you must do your best.

You must do your best to know how to pray and then and then

implemented properly.

And secondly,

the act must be done solely and purely for the sake of all this man with that

act must be a true act of worship solely for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala and purely for Allah Subhan.

Allah subhanho wa Taala says in the Quran,

whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord let him work righteousness, and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord.

Commenting on this verse, Muslim scholar

wrote,

this is in reference to the only type of deed that Allah will accept.

The deed must be in accordance with the Sunnah of the messenger law and done solely for the sake of pleasing Allah.

And then he continues, by the way by saying that obviously this can only be fulfilled if someone has the knowledge

of how the prophet SAW Selim performed the actions

and he also must have the knowledge of who it is that he's worshiping.

is not knowledgeable whom he who it is that is worshiping, then he cannot intend only Allah subhanho wa Taala in his deeds.

Allah subhana wa Taala

requires of us that we have purity in our hearts.

It is this purity that leads to Allah subhanho wa Taala being pleased with the deen

Allah subhanho wa Taala for example tells us in the Quran, the tea created life and death, as you see also no dialysis

buddy

listen as he in whose hand is the dominion and he is the one who decrees all things, who has created death and life that he may test you which of you is the best Indeed, he is the Almighty, the of forgiving. So, here all this data

is telling us that part of the purpose of this creation, why he is put us here

is seeing

and is asking of us which one of us is the best

is the best with respect to the quality of our deeds, not necessarily with respect to the quantity.

Allah subhanho wa Taala is looking for the best deeds, not the most deeds.

And as some of the scholars explained, the best deeds mean the purest deeds

and the action which is the correct action.

For example, one scholar said if a deed is sincere and pure, but not correct, that is not accepted.

If it is correct, but not pure and sincere, it is not accept, it will not be accepted until it is both pure and correct.

If it is pure, it means it is done solely for the sake of Allah and if it is corrected, that means it is done according to the some of the promises.

So that's an important point to always keep in mind

when about when you're performing any of these pillars of Islam than any of these ritual acts.

We've already discussed the Shahada obviously that is the action that we take upon entering into Islam, and we'll discuss therefore the original acts starting with establishing of the prayers.

It is interesting to note when you when you read the Quran and when you read the Hadith, the process

The continual

command from Allah subhana wa tada with respect to the prayers is not simply the command just to pray. Allah does not tell us just pray, every Muslim must pray.

And in this hadith the process and him did not say that prayer is one of the pillars of Islam.

But Allah subhanho wa Taala is telling us to establish the prayers.

What is known in Arabic is found with the salaat Allah to establish the prayers. So there must be some obviously must be some distinction between just praying and establishing the sort of

establishing the slot means to perform it properly and completely according to the manner in which Allah subhana wa tada has ordered us in the Quran and the Sunnah.

And this distinction in the wording means that there could be many people who pray, it could find people who are praying but they are not really establishing the solid they are not really fulfilling the Surat.

It is similar to what has been quoted from Amara Amara Maha pop the companion the process about the pilgrimage to Mecca.

He said the number who performed the Hajj are few while the writers the number of people who are there writing on their animals and going around and being present at the Hajj are many those who perform the hedge a few while those who are actually there doing all the rituals and everything. There are many.

So he's talking about the fact that actually those who are performing this hedge in the proper manner, really doing it properly with the correct intention everything and inshallah therefore getting the proper results from it. Those are actually few a number even though there might be a large mass of people performing.

Similarly,

you might find a large number of people who are bringing, but those who are really establishing the slots and performing the slot in the proper manner with all of its conditions and with all this guidance from Allah subhanho wa Taala and the province Hassidim. Those might be very few indeed.

And as we said, The salaat is both still not like all the other rituals as external aspects as well as internal aspects.

The internal aspect of overhaul show, for example, of a feeling of submissiveness and remembrance of Allah subhanho wa Taala add in the slot, and the prayer.

These have to be there. These are components of the first the prayer is not just the actual physical action of bowing, prostrating and so forth, but also what is in your heart.

And if you really want to fulfill the prayer properly, then your mind and your heart have to be conscious of what you're doing. And you must have this feeling towards Allah subhanho wa Taala, of submission of humbleness and calmness and so forth throughout the prayer.

And I emphasize this fact, because since the prayer is done five times a day.

And besides the obligatory prayer, there's also lots of similar prayers, it is easy for it to turn into some kind of just a mere ritual without much meaning to it.

Some kind of custom, as I said earlier, this is what we do with Muslims, we go and pray with bow we bow prostrating. So

we must be very careful never to allow our prayers to get to that point.

And if we find our prayers getting to that point, then we have to realize there is something wrong.

That this is not what the prayer is all about.

And it's the birds getting to that point

then we should not be surprised if the prayer actually has no effect on us whatsoever. We can pray and as soon as we leave the prayer we're back doing whatever it is we're doing before whether it is pleasing to Allah subhana wa tada or displeasing to Allah subhanaw taala whatever.

When we approach the prayer, we should approach it with the intention again of pleasing Allah subhanaw taala and trying to get as much from the prayer as we can.

This may take some effort on our part This will take some conscious thinking on our part

but in the in the long run, inshallah it will definitely be.

It'll definitely be to our benefit. The process and him has told us actually that someone may leave the prayer and not get much from the process. Adam has told us that a person may finish from the prayer lead from the prayer and all that is recorded of him of his prayers, one 10th of it, or one ninth or one eight to one seven to one six, or one fifth, one fourth, one third to one half

So, we should keep this point in mind

promises minimum standards, we might go the prayer and only one 10th of it is recorded for us.

We shouldn't be satisfied with that we should think about, we should think about where the difference lies and how inshallah we can, we can improve our birth, because of the actions of Islam, and of the acts of worship of Allah subhanaw taala. The Prayer is from amongst the most important,

maybe even you could argue it is the most important.

And in fact, it is the first thing

that will be held accountable for on the vision. As the professor cinemas told us, in our movie, he loved the Yama, Yama, family he salaatu

wa Salaam said that the first matter that the slave will be held accountable for on the Day of Judgment is the prayer.

Then he said, if it is good, then the person will be successful and prosperous, or another generation if it's good, then the rest of his deeds will be good.

This demonstrates to us number one, the importance of the salaat. And number two, the fact that there must be some relationship between the salaat the prayer

and the rest of his deeds.

Because if it is good, then the rest of his deeds should be good.

If it is good, then he is successful.

Or if he's performing the prayers properly, then there should be some relationship

between the prayers and the rest of his deeds. And Allah subhanho wa Taala has actually alluded to that fact in the Quran.

If you attend the prayer, with humble submission to Allah subhanho wa Taala and remembrance of Allah subhanaw taala it should have an effect.

So let's run with dialysis.

Verily, the prayer keeps one from the great sins and evil deeds.

Rarely the prayer keeps one from

great sins and evil deeds.

Obviously we're not just talking about a prayer which is just the physical

I mean the the physical aspects are important we have to do them properly also. Because all of them work together by the way.

If you perform the outward aspects of the prayer properly this should also affect the inward aspects

and if you bow properly and you really bowing properly and you're coming to a rest in that position and so therefore you're sitting there for your you're staying there for some time and realizing where you are and then you stand up straight

and you feel humbled in front of Allah subhanho wa Taala and then you bow properly all of these actions, both the physical aspects, work hand in hand with the with the spiritual or mental aspects to inshallah improve your salon

and inshallah if you perform the Salah properly

inshallah, this will lead to the forgiveness from Allah subhana wa.

As the prophet SAW Selim stated in the Hadith, some sort of working estado de Haan lo de Allah, when escena will boo or Hoon, or Salah who nearly walked in attempt Morocco for sure when can Allah who had a like a hidden a young fella who? Woman me a frog for laser level Allah Allah insha, Allah insha Allah for Allah who when she

processes him said Allah has obligated Vipers.

Whoever excellently performs their ablutions, praise them in their proper times, completes their bows and prostrations. And for sure,

sure, here means where your heart is attune to the prayer, the feeling of submission to Allah subhanaw taala. Then the person who has done this has met these conditions, he has a promise from Allah, that Allah will forgive him.

And whoever does not do this, then he has no promise from Allah. Allah may either forgive him or he may punish.

Many of you even if you just think about the slot,

if you think about the slot and the fact that you are consciously going to the prayer and standing in front of all this kind of data five times a day.

Basically, as you're going through the day, either you are you have just come from praying or you're going to be praying sometime within the next within the next few hours.

Constantly during the day, you know that you're in between the subtle art

This in itself is a kind of constant reminder, well, let's have fun with that This in itself should have an effect upon. And then when you actually go to the prayer

then when you actually go to the prayer and perform the prayer,

then this should be a further kind of purification of your of your soul. And you should come out of the verbing like renewed and reinvigorate

the process. I said, I'm asked his companions, someone had a stream outside of his house,

and he would bathe in it five times a day. Would there be any filth Remaining Remaining on him?

said no, obviously, there won't be any filter remaining I'm bathing five times a day in the stream in front of your house. shouldn't be any filter remaining on you. And the prophet SAW Selim then said that it can be through saltwater pumps that this is, this is similar to the five daily daily prayers you can follow because

Allah subhanho wa Taala wipes away due to them.

It is a repeated act of of purification. So therefore when you come out of the prayer should feel purified and renewed, your spiritually renewed and reinvigorated. And this should re energize you to turn to Allah subhana wa tada and try to continue to worship Allah and obey Allah subhanho wa Taala in between these different first.

Now the prayer, as I said, is definitely one of the most important acts in Islam.

I think it's hard to even think hard to even imagine

a religion in which there's no such thing as prayer or something similar to similar to prayer.

And so Allah subhana wa tada has commanded us in numerous places in the Quran. To establish this a lot you find this command over and over again.

And not only that, the prophets I send them has made it very clear that the attending to the person actually one of the demarcations between Islam and disbelief Islam and the goal.

This is important obviously for a new Muslim to to recognize

that becoming lackadaisical with respect to the prayer This is very dangerous. The prophet SAW Selim said in the banner, Roger Lee, we're being a Schottky. We'll call that the salaat.

The prophets I seldom said between a man and

shook polytheism and disbelief, Cofer is the abandoning of the prayer.

So as I said, especially a new Muslim, he must be very careful about the salaat and do his best to try to form the salaat.

As as I said, it is a basic component of Islam, and inshallah it will benefit you.

And the more you adhere to the Surat inshallah, hopefully, the quality of your salon over time will also improve.

And this will also help your Islam as a whole.

So do your best never to become lackadaisical with respect to the salaat

and perform the salaat.

And do your best to perform the slot at the proper time.

I'm not going to be able, obviously, to get into how to pray exactly and the rules regarding the slots, but I want to make some important points. And one of the important points is that the prayers are to be performed at specific times. Allah subhanho wa Taala, says, Ron,

barely the prayers are enjoined on the believers at stated times.

And I'm going to

talk about this point a little bit because I know I've made many comments in the past who were confused on this on this point. For each prayer, there is a period of time during which that prayer is supposed to be performed.

So for example, the new prayer, it might start at 1230. And the time for the noon prayer continues, let's see until 330.

So anytime during that time, you can pray

from the time of the start of the prayer time until the end of the prayer time.

Unfortunately, some Muslims due to whatever reasons

some Muslims actually delay all of the prayers until the end of the day and they think okay, they're going to pray all of them. At the end of the day, they pray the noon the afternoon, the sunset and the night prayers and so forth.

together at home, let's see. And in particular new conference, new converts, during the take the time to see and work, they might find it difficult or maybe there's still a little bit shy or embarrassed to pray. And so and and so therefore they might end up delaying the prayer or if they're they're living at home you know, they don't want their families to see them praying or something of this nature. And so therefore, they delay all their prayers until they find some time that they can they can perform the prayers.

I don't know what to tell you exactly about about this except for the fact that it is very dangerous

idea of delaying your prayers beyond their stated time. This is not proper wisdom.

And in general, you have to pray them within their specific time.

But if you find for some reason, due to work or something else, that you do have to combine some, some prayers. And you really are in a situation where you feel it is difficult for you to pray. Then you may combine the noon and the afternoon prayers.

From any time from the beginning of the noon, until the ending of the afternoon prayer times, you may combine the noon and afternoon prayers.

And you may combine the sunset and night prayers at any time of the sunset or not per time.

So you can combine the noon and afternoon prayers, pray them together. Or and you could also combine the sunset and night prayers and pray them together. But no other combinations are feasible.

Well if for some reason, you really find that you have to for example, delay the noon prayer. Make sure you do not delay it until sunset. Make sure you pray the noon in the afternoon prayer sometime before sunset. And you always pray the prayers in order even if you

if you're late for example, for the noon prayer you pray first and then you pray the afternoon for general Be careful not to make this regular practice. I want to stress also the importance of the congregational prayers of going to the mosque and praying in congregation. There There are numerous Hadith, okay, and also many verses in the Quran that refer to the importance of

the prayer and congregation.

So there are lots of special virtues with respect to the prayer congregation. I'm not going to get into those right now. But I want to emphasize the importance of prayer and Congregation for the new Muslim.

There are a lot of benefits and a lot of importance for praying the prayer and congregation as especially for the normals. This is based on my own personal experience and experience of many Muslims I know. For example, when you go to the mosque and attend the congregational prayers,

for so it demonstrates your seriousness in Islam.

It shows that you are serious about the most basic act of the faith. And this is this will immediately send a good sign to the other Muslims in your community that you are, you know, you've just converted and you are actually serious about Islam. Because many Muslims convert and then you never see them again or you just see them on Friday we just see them Ramadan and they become like Muslims who don't really care about Islam they've converted but they don't care about Islam.

So by going to the mosque regularly and attending the congregational prayer, you're sending a sign to your fellow Muslims that yes, you are serious about Islam.

And if you show that they that you're serious about Islam then they will take you seriously as a Muslim.

And when they take you seriously as a Muslim, they will show you respect they will try to help you they'll do whatever they can inshallah to improve your Islam and to make life

your life as a Muslim as trouble free as possible.

So it is a sign it is a very important sign of your seriousness to Islam and this will reflect or this will be seen by the other Muslim.

Secondly, it is also a good opportunity

for you to meet with other Muslims and to see other Muslims and perhaps befriend other Muslims

and hopefully inshallah those Muslims who attend the mosque on a regular basis, inshallah, they are also from the better the more sincere Muslims and the more dedicated Muslims. So you are able to meet these more dedicated Muslims and inshallah, you will be able to create a friendship between you and them and you will be able to benefit from their example. I cannot express to you from my own experience, how important it is to learn from the example of other Muslims

You know, you can read in books, you can read in books about how to pray, you can read in books about, about how Muslims are supposed to behave, and what are the manners and the behavior. You can even buy lectures and CDs about this stuff.

But there's nothing, at least from my own experience.

There's nothing as good.

And as influential upon you as seeing a live example, seeing a Muslim who is actually applying these behaviors, applying this Islam right in front of

the fact that that will be long, long lasting, you will really believe Yes, this is the way that you are supposed to act. And you can see that people do actually take it seriously. And they do apply it, and you see how beautiful it is in front of you.

So therefore, inshallah, when you go to the mosque, and you find these kinds of people, first of all, if you don't go to the mosque, except maybe Fridays, then you're just going to be meeting a mass of people who knows who's good, who's bad, who's what.

But if you go to the mosque regularly, inshallah, you'll be meeting these serious people. And if you befriend them inshallah and come into contact more with them, you'll not only inshallah, get some of their knowledge via conversations or whatever with them.

But you will also be able to benefit from how they act, how they behave. You'll see in sha Allah Islam being implemented in front of

the companions, that Mashallah they had the problem of homelessness in Him, they could see how Islam was being implemented in the provinces, so send them and there's no doubt that that had an effect upon them as well.

And so therefore, when you go to the mosque, inshallah, and you can befriend someone of this nature,

that one inshallah have a great, a great effect upon, as I said, I can tell you this from my own personal experiences, and how seeing certain individuals and how they're behaving and how they implemented Islam, how that greatly helped me in my own Islam.

And not only that, inshallah, if you can find these kinds of friends, because I know Muslim, you know, convert to Islam probably still have a lot of non Muslim friends.

And

so now, when you spend your time, if you continue to spend your time with your non Muslim friends, chances are, they're not really going to help you very much.

Like, they might drag you back down

to where you were before. This is a common thing with people who, excuse me for making this analogy. But this is a common thing with people who go to prison.

Now, some people go to prison for two years, and then they come back again, they come out of prison, and they go back right to the same people who really led them to go into prison in the first place. And what do you know, and some of them, unfortunately, are even Muslims, they go into prison, and they become Muslim. And you see them in the in the prison, I worked for a while, as a chaplain, you see them in the prison, and they are practicing and talking about Islam and this and this, they get out of the prison, they go right back to their old friends. And then in a year or two, you see them once again. In the prison, you ask them what happened, oh, you know, I did this and this and this.

And then once again, they're, they're Muslim in the prison again.

So you still have all your old friends from before Islam.

And obviously, I mean, even if they don't necessarily have a bad intention, but obviously, they're going to lead you and try to influence you to do things like what you used to do and do things maybe which go against Islam.

But if you attend the mosque regularly, and start befriending Muslims, then inshallah you'll be spending more of your time with Muslims, and you will inshallah cancel any negative effect that you might have from non Muslim friends.

Also, by attending the mascot is a good opportunity for you to increase your knowledge of Islam.

Because as I said, if you attend the mosque on a regular basis, again, not just for the Friday prayer, but if you try your best to attend the mosque on a regular basis, the chances are better that you will meet inshallah, those individuals, those individuals in your community will have more knowledge.

And so therefore, you'll be able to sit with them, or you'll be able to talk to them and you'll have the opportunity to ask them questions, and they'll be able to guide you and assist you.

By the way, these positive benefits of attending the mosque

or new convert, obviously, they apply both to two brothers as well as sisters.

The emphasis in Islam on the congregational prayer, the emphasis is more for the men. In fact, some scholars even say it's obligatory upon the men the five daily prayers and congregation. But this was also and this offense really on the community that you're that you're in. If you are fortunate enough to be in a community that is large for

Example and has sisters regularly attending the mosque Chela, this would may be a good opportunity for you, again to try to attend the mosque and therefore inshallah meet those sisters in your community that will have the kind of effect upon you that I described. Now, by the way with respect to the prayer, as we mentioned before the Quran is in Arabic.

And so therefore, we recite the Quran and the prayer you have to recite in Arabic You cannot recite the English translation of the Quran. It's not the Quran.

And in fact the rest of the prayer although some

people might have a different view, I think all the prayer inshallah should be done should be certain Arabic. So until you actually learn the prayer, and until you actually learn and Fatiha, which is the opening sort of the Quran that you have to read in every regard, every unit of the prayer

until you learn these words, then as the prophets I seldom thought one of his companions, until you learn the prayer until you learn and then you just say, this expressions

Subhana Allah with him, the left will learn a lot lower, will Allah put in the lolly, lolly? Subhan, Allah, this is an expression that means how great and how excellent.

And how exhausted is Allah above any kind of imperfection above any kind of partner and so forth, and have the lead this means all praise and thanks due to Allah, that Allah Allah is none worthy of worship except Allah. Allahu Akbar, Allah is greatest. And there's no Willa hollow locati level, there is no power, no might accept an Allah. So you repeat this throughout the prayer. And of course, obviously, you don't just repeat them. But you think about what they mean, you think about what it is that you're expressing, until you can shall learn the prayer.

As you begin to memorize the Quran,

do your best if possible. And again, this will depend a lot on where you happen to be, you know, where you converted, and so forth. But do your best to learn the Quran and to learn the words of the prayer from a native Arabic speaker or from someone who knows how to pronounce the words properly?

Do not this is my recommendation to and this is a recommendation based on again, my own experience do not rely on transliteration.

Because unless you really know how the letters are pronounced, you're going to

you're most likely going to be mispronouncing things.

And what happens

what happens is once you learn them incorrectly, it becomes difficult then to start to try to learn them correct. So even though the specter of the Quran as you as you memorize the Quran, as you start memorizing parts of the Quran, try to learn them from someone who can teach you them properly, even with all what they call the tige. Wheat. Because for you to try to come along later and then fix everything. As I said, I can tell you from personal experience, this is not that easy, especially as you get older. And this is another recommendation that I have, that I can give you. But it's a well known theory among linguist or I don't, I guess they may be even considered a fact. But the older

you are, and especially even if you're above like 13 1415 1617 years old, the more and more difficult it is to learn a foreign language and to learn it without learn how to speak

in particular, and in particular, to be able to speak it without an accent.

So my recommendation to you is to try to start getting into at least How to Pronounce Arabic and the basics of Arabic. As soon as feasibly possible. You know, you don't want to spend all your time on this and not learn, you know some of the more important aspects of the deen at the same time. But try to start this as early as possible. And if you're still relatively young, in your late teens or early 20s, don't miss this opportunity. Don't miss this time to try to learn this.

Some people have known including myself, after I became Muslim, I kind of left this area for a little while and and therefore I will always have accent when I speak Arabic It will not be as proper, for example, as a native Arabic speaker and so forth. So try to take advantage of your youth shala of your young age, and try to start learning at least How to Pronounce and getting the sounds down as soon as you can and learn them directly from someone who knows how to pronounce them properly.

Another one of the pillars of Islam, of course is the Zakat, the giving of zakat. The word Zakat actually

comes from the same roots the same word that means perfect

And blessing and growth. So for example, we find in the Quran Allah subhanaw taala says,

indeed, Whosoever purifies himself from the same root as the cut, whoever purifies himself shall achieve success. But when we're speaking about the cat, that's one of the pillars of Islam, obviously, we're talking about the giving of a specific portion of one's wealth on a yearly basis to specific groups of recipients, okay, so

there's a certain portion of your wealth, which is going to be 2.5%. In general, it's 2.5%. of the wealth that you have had now for a period of one year, it's not, it's not actually on income, but it is on wealth.

And you're supposed to take this money, and you take this money and you give it to certain categories of people. You don't just give them to anybody, obviously, and Allah subhanho wa Taala, sort of Toba and in the nine surah, verse 60, Allah subhanho wa Taala mentioned the different categories, but for the sake of time, inshallah, we will not go into that right now.

The importance, the great importance of the cat can be seen by the fact that Alyssa hen without a mentions over and over again in the puran slot and the Zika they are the prayer and the Zakat I mentioned together over and over in the Quran. It's like at two different places in the Quran in which Allah subhanaw taala mentioned them together. And this is a clear sign since we know the importance of the cut. This is a clear sign

of the importance of giving the ticket.

Giving others a cut has many purposes behind it.

As I said, they come from the same route does purification, and blessing and growth. So it actually works. It actually works to purify the wealth of the individual who has given zakat.

Allah subhanho wa Taala said to the process,

take us through the process that I'm taking on from their wealth, in order to purify them, and Sanctify them with it.

And the process and I'm also said whoever pays does a cut on his wealth will have its evil removed from him.

So the individual himself

is being purified.

And his wealth is being purified by the giving of the cat. Now, obviously, the cat also has a very important role to play for society, because that is money that is collected is given to the board is given to the needy.

But and this and this, obviously should strengthen the bonds of brotherhood within the society, the poor are being helped by the rich, they all realize that they are

supposed to be brothers and loving and helping one another for the sake of Allah subhanaw. With that, so they are all part of the same community. But for the one who is giving the cut, there are many benefits actually for him. And many ways in which this can affect this being.

One of the things that many people feel when they have money, you know, the stinginess and greediness obviously are very dangerous diseases. But many times people feel like they cannot afford to give away money, they cannot afford to give money to us.

And they are afraid to lose some of their money they're afraid even to give some someone else some money. And they think you know, there's there's some harm, you know, there's going to be some great loss to them or they're never going to be able to get that money back and so forth.

So Allah has commanded us,

we have a certain amount of money Alyssa, Allah Subhana. Allah has commanded us every year that we have to give this money.

And when we give this money

and we give it away, and we realize, well, what do you know, we gave this money away and we didn't die? We didn't starve. We know we're still okay and we're still buying the things that we need and so forth. So Allah subhanho wa Taala and this command of the cut makes us realize that we can give money away

and it's not going to kill us.

Well, this makes the person realize that yes, he can, he can give money away. And inshallah, if you realize this fact, you will not just give money away in Zakat and, you know, give charity and Zakat, but he will also give on to charity, because he knows that it's not going to be the end of his life if he gives up

some money.

And this is this is a lesson that he has learned from the fact that he is obligated to give up some money and when he gives you the money he says Oh, Mashallah, nothing really negative happened to me.

And so therefore I can give money for the sake of all this fun with that.

Once he experiences By the way, even though it is obligatory, but inshallah once he once he experiences the feeling of giving money to others and seeing how they benefit from it and how he held his see that this is really something good and he'll think about Allah subhana wa tada and now let's pledge upon him shala This will encourage him to become more and more generous.

So, this will remove from him some of the, of the diseases of stinginess as I said the greed that can be so dangerous for an individual.

Instead inshallah he will become someone who realizes he can give and he will start to enjoy the pleasure of giving for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala.

And so therefore, he will give in sha Allah and Allah subhanho wa Taala will be pleased with him.

That's all that I will mention inshallah about the cut right now, and we'll move on to the festival on

the first of the of the month of Ramadan. Next pillar of Islam, of course refers to abstaining from eating and drinking sexual intercourse during the daytime of the month of Ramadan.

in Ramadan, obviously is one of the months of the Islamic calendar.

And many religions also have this concept like the prayer have this concept of fasting

because fasting should really have an effect upon a person when Allah subhanaw taala gives the command to fast. Let's run without Asus

bobbidi boo,

boo.

all believers fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you that you may attain taqwa.

And this term taqwa is a very comprehensive term.

You can understand it to mean fear of God and God consciousness and self restraint and piety.

All of these should be developed through the the act of fasting. Because when you fast, you know you become even more conscious of Allah subhana wa.

Because as you go through your day, you're going to be reminded of the fact that you're thirsty, you're going to be reminded of the fact that you're hungry, you yourself will do that to yourself. You don't need other people to tell it's time for lunch, let's go.

But you will be thinking about the fact that you are hungry and thirsty. And every time you think about it, and every time you see other people drinking or eating or whatever, for example, especially here in a non Muslim land, and you'll realize oh, I can't do that why am I not doing it?

These are all ways by which you're constantly going to be remembering Allah subhanho wa Taala during this month of Ramadan

well let's run with that is constantly going to be on your mind and you're going to develop you're going to develop a greater consciousness

and realization of Allah subhana wa tada during this month of Ramadan.

And so therefore when you're when you're also thinking about when when the temptation comes to you to do something wrong during this month of Ramadan, well you are more aware of Allah subhanho wa Taala and so therefore, you will also keep yourself from doing other things.

And so during this month of Ramadan, you develop a kind of patience, you develop an understanding that you have

the ability to control yourself for the sake of Allah Subhan with that

during the month of Ramadan, you control yourself with respect to some of the most basic things you need, you may become very thirsty during the month of Ramadan.

You may become very you may become very hungry during the month of Ramadan. And yet you control yourself. You don't drink you don't eat Why?

Simply for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala

simply because you know that these things are haram they are forbidden for you during the daytime of the month of Ramadan.

So therefore, you demonstrate to yourself actually your own potential.

You make yourself realize that you Yes, you have the ability.

You have the ability if you really want to, to do things for the sake of Allah Subhana with that

you have the ability to raise yourself above your needs, your desires you want

for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala.

So in the same way, then during this month of Ramadan that you can

elevate yourself not to eat to drink for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala you're also showing yourself that you can do

Other things also for the sake of illustration with that, for example, during the month of Ramadan, if you look, unfortunately, in the Muslim countries,

you'll find, for example, smoking.

Smoking, oh, by the way, if you ask me is smoking is haram. But then if you just ask me, so I'll throw that out too. But if you go to Muslim countries now, if you think about smoking, smoking is addicting. Right? Over here, we have the patch. And we have all these things trying to help people to go smoke. And yet, if you go to the Muslim world, you'll find

you'll find Muslims that as soon as sensit comes during Ramadan, the whole day they kept them from so from smoking.

They realize that smoking was wrong that they cannot do it during them during the daytime, Ramadan. And even though this thing is greatly addicting.

And even though we see for example, in this society, how difficult it is for people to give up smoking, during the month of Ramadan during the daytime, they do not smoke.

Yeah, so in a sense, it comes they think, okay, now it's okay. Now we can even I mean, unfortunately, in the Muslim world,

in many places, they think, you know, as soon as it comes, you can even do any harm,

you know, obviously wrong. And I hope none of you fall into that kind of situation.

But it shows that even these people, even these people who are doing this act, even these people can elevate themselves above this. Suppose I need an addiction for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala.

So the first thing of the month of Ramadan really demonstrates to ourselves, what kind of willpower and what kind of strength we really can have for the sake of Allah.

So now it's a matter of taking that from the month of Ramadan, and channeling that into our lives throughout the rest of the year.

Now, there's a lot of special characteristics with respect to Ramadan. There's a lot of things that go on during Ramadan that further assist us and make us able to do these things during the month of Ramadan. But if we really increased our taqwa, if we really get closer to Allah subhanaw taala, during the month of Ramadan, it should be reflected as well after the month of Ramadan

because you don't just worship a lot during the month of Ramadan, but your worship Allah subhanaw taala during the whole year, so if it was a true act of getting closer to Allah subhanaw taala that should continue to have an influence on the person

after you fast the month of Ramadan evanoff they mean was once asked about. If a person who embraces Islam during the daytime of Ramadan,

someone became Muslim during the daytime of Ramadan, should he begin fasting immediately.

It says if a non Muslim embraces Islam during the daytime of Ramadan, it is obligatory upon him to fast the remainder of that day, as he is now one of the people upon whom the fasting is obligatory.

However, he does not have to make up that day at a later date, you know, since in this part of the day, it doesn't have to worry about that, because that wasn't obligatory.

And it continues similarly, he does not have to make up the days of that month of Ramadan that he did not fast before becomes so he like became Muslim on the 23rd Ramadan, well, now the fasting become obligatory upon him. So the last 10 days of Ramadan are obligatory upon him, he doesn't have to worry about the previous 20 days because those were not obligatory upon him because he was not Muslim.

And the last of the five pillars, of course, is the Hajj or the pilgrimage,

the pilgrimage to Mecca, the pilgrimage,

and which one journeys to the Kaaba, the house of Allah subhanaw taala to Mecca, and to perform all of the rights that are associated with it.

And this is, inshallah Allah subhanho wa Taala will give you the opportunity to perform the Hajj soon.

And this is an event which it is hard to describe, if you haven't experienced it, there's many aspects of it that are hard to describe. And there are many things that that you'll get from the experience in effect. For example, when I made Hydra, the things that I remember the most, and the things that I got out of it from a spiritual point of view, are very much different from things that other people have mentioned. There's so many aspects to it, there's so much involved in it, and there's so much that you can get out of it. But we don't have the time right now to get into into those these things. So I'm not going to actually comment upon it. But I will tell you that there are

some organizations that assist in helping Muslims go to make hedge and in particular in the United States in particular

At least there used to be I still think there still are some organizations that are actually

actually can't concentrate on taking converts to Islam know Muslims of Congress to Islam and taking them to the Hajj and giving them programs that are relevant to them to teach them about Islam while they're making the highs and so forth. And inshallah I recommend that if you can

benefit from that. That will be very good inshallah.