Khalid Latif – Essentials of Ramadan #4

Khalid Latif
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The speakers emphasize the importance of gratitude and balancing behavior with partner. Prayer and understanding the source of one's prayer is emphasized. The community will hold ceasefire conferences, joint events, and a grassroots movement to demand the removal of slavery, community dinner, and a welcome crisis drink.
AI: Transcript ©
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Hope everyone's doing well.

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So I'm gonna try to talk about a

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bunch of different things tonight,

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just because

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next Monday,

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I'm not gonna be here, as I mentioned

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in the last halika we just finished. I'm

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gonna be flying out to Turkey on Monday,

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for a relief project we're doing

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with children who,

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evacuated from Gaza, grant the knees, and then

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the occupation is taking place there.

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That we're gonna be assisting during Ramadan

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as one of our charity projects.

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People who are in medical

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need from Gaza who are in Turkey.

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I don't know if we're gonna have somebody

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who will cover this part

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of, like, the Monday night thing, but we'll

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try to get somebody to do that. Because

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one of the people I was hoping to

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have come in were to cover 2 topics.

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One was just around nutrition,

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to have a nutritionist come in

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and somebody to talk about

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the fiqh of zakat,

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because I know a lot of people give

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their zakat in Ramadan,

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which isn't a requirement. Like, you don't have

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to give your zakat in Ramadan. You have

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to give your zakat when it's due in

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the year.

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But we'll see. So if you can keep

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a eye out

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on the

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email list, it'll kinda give us you know,

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give the insight on that.

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So

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there was 3 things I wanna talk about

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today. We're actually

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a few different things, but we'll see as

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much as we can get through.

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The first one I wanted to start out

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with was just

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talking about dua,

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because Ramadan is a big

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part of Ramadan is we're just making duas.

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And the duas in and of itself is

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like a very subjective

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act. But to give an overview,

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there's different hadith

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that really emphasize, like, the nature of Dua's

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importance. There's a hadith where the prophet

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he says,

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the du'a is worship.

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You know?

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Similar to the hadith we were just looking

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at in the

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that religion is sincerity. Right?

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The

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Hajj is Arafa. You know, it's giving, like,

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a big

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sense of emphasis.

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So worship is a lot more than dua,

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but the prophet is saying it's like a

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big part of

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what worship is, what makes up.

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Another hadith says,

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the dua is the essence of worship. But

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in Arabic, the word,

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doesn't mean, like, essence and the way we

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understand essence to be, but

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is like your kind of skeletal system, your

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nervous, you know, system.

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And so what the hadith is saying is,

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like, Dua is a very cerebral act.

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It's not meant to be something that's just

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mechanical or rote. You know? And we'll talk

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about really tonight a bunch of different things

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relevant to this, this act of prayer supplicating

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to the divine.

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But it's meant to be in your own

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words, in your own language

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so that there's that much more of a

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sense of presence, like, within it.

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So there's a verse in Surat Al Ghaffir.

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It's the 40th chapter of the Quran.

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It's 60th verse. Can people pull that up?

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40.

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So 40 60. Does anybody have it?

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You read the English, the Arabic?

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Chapter 40 verse 60.

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You can read the English if you can't

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read the Arabic, but somebody reads some of

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it.

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I'm so sick of hearing myself talk. No.

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Not because of that. I've been sitting in

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this room since 4 o'clock. We did, like,

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a undergrad helika and then the last one,

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and I'm just, like, annoyed at hearing my

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voice at this point.

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Yeah. Are you also? Were you nodding your

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head in agreement? No. No. It's okay. You

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can't I don't mind. I'll just send you

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back. Yeah.

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Does anybody have it? For

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60? 4060. Yeah.

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Yeah. Look at that.

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Friendship

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forever.

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And your lord says,

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call on me.

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I will answer your answer your prayer.

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Those who are too arrogant to serve me

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will surely find themselves

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on.

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So this verse,

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it's, like, very expansive

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in this kinda understanding of dua. And you

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wanna start to know, like, where the Quran

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says what things,

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so you're building a relationship with the Quran.

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Right? Then you read, like, the entirety of

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the chapter.

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So we'll call

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it

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a and your

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says call upon me, make dua to me.

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I will respond to you. It's a divine

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promise.

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Do you know? And you'd wanna be able

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to recognize,

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like, the language here is really important.

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In Arabic, if you were to look it

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up,

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in a dictionary,

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like, its definition, the word

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is not like lord the way that we

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translate it as. But the word if you

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were to pull it up, it would say,

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you know, means

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like the one who is the owner of

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something.

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Like

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the one who makes the decisions about it.

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Because you can own something,

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but you might not decide

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how it's used. Right? Like, the IC owns

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these chairs,

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but you're deciding where they're placed and how

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they're sat on. Right? I own my television

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in my house, but my kids decide what

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we watch. Do you get what I mean?

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Right? So you can own it. It doesn't

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mean you get to decide how it's used.

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So Rab means Malik, Al Malik, and Sayed.

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Rab means

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that he's the giver of the nahma, the

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giver of blessings.

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Rab is.

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Right? The way in the Quran, it says

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that,

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they say be merciful,

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to them, like meaning your parents,

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as they did nurture me when I was

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younger. Right? So

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right? That they cultivated. They took care of

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me. So

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is like your caretaker, your nurturer,

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the one who provides care to you.

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Is is the one that holds everything together.

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The

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is the healer, the mender of all things.

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Right? So

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your

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is saying call upon me, meaning Allah wants

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you to make dua to him. And then

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he's not

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leaving anything

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out of place,

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I will respond.

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Divine promises are always true.

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So there's no kind of mincing words here.

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So if one was to ask, well, what's

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the point of dua?

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One,

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God wants you to make Dua to him,

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to call upon him. And 2, he's telling

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you he will respond to it.

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My reflection upon the divine comes a lot

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through various experiences I just have in the

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course of my day.

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So for example,

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when we go for Umrah every year to

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Mecca and Medina, you all should come and

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join us. And if you've gone before, you

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should come again.

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And I'm standing on the roof of the

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Haram in Mecca,

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at the Masjid, and the Kaaba is in

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front of me. There's, like, millions of people

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there. You know?

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And it's very easy to feel very small

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in that moment.

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That in a sea of millions of people,

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how is it that my prayer is being

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heard?

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When I've taken my kids to New York

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City playgrounds I don't know how many of

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you have children in your life. You just

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saw this little baby that was here before.

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Right?

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Whoever is the mother of that child

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can tell you that she can hear her

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kid anywhere.

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So when I take Kareem and Medina to,

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like, the busiest of New York City parks,

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where kids are making, like, all kinds of

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noises, you know, and I don't know if

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you ever been to New York City parks

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before. And all their kids running around, and

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people are, like, doing stuff. There's always guys,

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like, weightlifting in the, you know, the playground,

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like like you know? And people are like,

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I mean, it's strange, New York City. Right?

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So there's a lot of different noises. But

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if I'm on this end of the park,

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I got 2 kids. They never want to

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do the same thing ever. Do you know?

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And I have to be able to keep

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an eye on both of them. Right? Like,

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this kid does not wanna be here clearly.

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Do you know what I mean? So my

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kids, one wants to be over here, and

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one wants to be over here.

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And I'm seated now in a place where

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I can only keep my eyes as best

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as I can on them back and forth.

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But the minute I hear one of my

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kids cry,

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I can hear them through the entirety of

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the playground,

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just like most any other parent can do

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that as well.

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You might sometimes get faulted a bit,

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like, was that my kid? But when it

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is yours, you know it.

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If I can hear my children in a

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crowded playground,

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Allah can definitely hear me

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amongst the many voices that are calling upon

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him. And when I stood at the top

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of the Haram

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looking at the

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Kaaba, thinking how small I am,

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also in being able to recognize in that

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moment instantaneously

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just how

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grand my god is.

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That it's not how is it that

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Allah

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could possibly hear my prayer in the midst

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of all of this,

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but

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taking away what my insecurity and anxiety define

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and taking what the Quran says is being

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true,

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in the midst of all of this, Allah

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is hearing not only mine, but every prayer

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that's being prayed. Do you see what I

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mean?

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In that regard, you wanna be in a

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place where you start to think out for

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yourself

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like du'a in this nature. Allah wants you

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to make du'a.

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So I'd like you to do for a

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couple of minutes right now, whatever you have,

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a notebook. If you didn't bring a notebook,

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you can pull out a phone. What are

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the duas that you make?

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Because embedded in your is gonna be an

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understanding of what's important to you but also

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who you know god to be.

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Because when you ask, you don't want to

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ask just for, like, Jannah. You wanna ask

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for Jannah.

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You're asking of god.

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Right?

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Like, don't ask for, like, the bare minimum.

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Ask with a sense of the majesty of

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the divine that you were asking of.

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But in order to get to that place,

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you gotta first think out, well, what are

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the duas that I actually make?

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So if you take a few minutes, just

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write those down to yourself, pull out a

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notebook at the top, what are my dua?

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Not the ones that I should be making,

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but the ones that I do. And if

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you don't make any du'a, like, you'd wanna

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think, like, well, why is that also the

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case? Do you know?

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But we'll take 2 minutes. What are the

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duas that you make?

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And then we'll come back just like 2

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or 3. We'll start that list, and then

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when you go home, you should build upon

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it.

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Okay.

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What is that like so far for people?

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You don't have to say what you're making

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for.

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But just to kinda

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engage in that reflection,

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the things that I make Dua for.

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Like, what does it tell me about me

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or who I know the one that I'm

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asking of? Like, what is that I'm putting

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there? Any thoughts or things that come up

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for anybody?

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Yeah.

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Free free Palestine.

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Free Palestine? Yeah. I mean,

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Yeah. And so that's a part of it.

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Right? Like,

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if you want the rain to fall from

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the sky,

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why would you not ask the creator of

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the rains?

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Right? That's what it goes down to. So

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when you get to this place where you're

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asking for these types of things, it gives

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an indication

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of who you know you're god to be.

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If you make dua for others

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as well as for yourself,

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why do people make so much dua for

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people in Palestine, in Sudan?

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Right? Why do they make duas for people

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who are oppressed or held down? There's a

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sense of love that's there. Do you know?

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You have to love yourself enough to make

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the duas that you need to make for

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yourself, not the ones you just want to.

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Does that make sense?

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Like, you have to love yourself enough

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amongst everything that you love

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to pray for the things that you need,

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not just the things that you want.

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You wanna be audacious in your duas, like

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bold

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to be able to understand and recognize again

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who it is that you're making dua for.

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So we're gonna go through a couple of

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things like the how to's of dua because

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there's mechanics to it. The same way there's

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mechanics to your prayer. Right? You stand and

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bow and prostrate.

00:16:27 --> 00:16:30

You don't start by prostrating and then stand.

00:16:31 --> 00:16:33

We just yield to the form because these

00:16:33 --> 00:16:34

are time tested practices

00:16:35 --> 00:16:36

that go into,

00:16:37 --> 00:16:38

like, the

00:16:39 --> 00:16:41

highest potential of spiritual

00:16:42 --> 00:16:44

kind of ascension. Do you know?

00:16:45 --> 00:16:45

So

00:16:46 --> 00:16:48

one of the things that we're taught is

00:16:48 --> 00:16:50

that when you begin your duas,

00:16:50 --> 00:16:53

like, you praise God for it. Right? The

00:16:53 --> 00:16:55

prophet alaihis salam heard a man supplicating during

00:16:55 --> 00:16:58

prayer. He did not glorify Allah nor did

00:16:58 --> 00:17:00

he invoke blessings on the prophet. The prophet

00:17:00 --> 00:17:02

said he has been hasty. Then he called

00:17:02 --> 00:17:04

the man and said either to him or

00:17:04 --> 00:17:06

to someone else, when any one of you

00:17:06 --> 00:17:09

prays, he should begin by glorifying and praising

00:17:09 --> 00:17:11

his lord, and then he should invoke blessings

00:17:11 --> 00:17:13

on the prophet, peace be upon him. And

00:17:13 --> 00:17:15

after that, he should supplicate Allah for anything

00:17:15 --> 00:17:18

he wishes. There's a hadith that says,

00:17:22 --> 00:17:25

that any affair that does not begin in

00:17:25 --> 00:17:26

the name of Allah,

00:17:26 --> 00:17:27

then it's cut off.

00:17:28 --> 00:17:31

In another variation of that hadith, the word

00:17:31 --> 00:17:33

is replaced with the word

00:17:34 --> 00:17:34

In another

00:17:35 --> 00:17:36

narrations, the word

00:17:36 --> 00:17:37

is replaced with

00:17:39 --> 00:17:41

When you have the words Abdar and Akhtar,

00:17:41 --> 00:17:44

the difference between it is if you visualize

00:17:44 --> 00:17:46

it, one is talking about being cut off

00:17:46 --> 00:17:48

from like the front and one is being

00:17:48 --> 00:17:50

cut off from the back. But what is

00:17:50 --> 00:17:52

being cut off from is barakah. You're taking

00:17:52 --> 00:17:54

away like blessing from it. So part of

00:17:54 --> 00:17:57

the formulaic nature is that you are going

00:17:57 --> 00:17:59

to start Bismillah or something

00:18:01 --> 00:18:02

just as simple as that.

00:18:03 --> 00:18:05

You're rendering consciousness because you know who it

00:18:05 --> 00:18:07

is that you're making du'a to fundamentally.

00:18:08 --> 00:18:10

And I said this in the last session,

00:18:10 --> 00:18:12

if people were here, we're talking about sincerity

00:18:13 --> 00:18:14

to Allah's book.

00:18:14 --> 00:18:17

Sincerity to the book of Allah necessitates

00:18:17 --> 00:18:18

knowing Allah

00:18:18 --> 00:18:19

through his book,

00:18:20 --> 00:18:22

not like the way we sometimes conceptualize God

00:18:22 --> 00:18:23

to be unconsciously.

00:18:24 --> 00:18:27

So when you are invoking Allah, you're invoking

00:18:27 --> 00:18:29

Allah for who he tells you he is,

00:18:30 --> 00:18:32

and you have to build that relationship in

00:18:32 --> 00:18:34

such a way that ba and bismillah

00:18:35 --> 00:18:38

has, like, so many different utilizations grammatically.

00:18:38 --> 00:18:40

One of the meanings of ba and bismillah

00:18:40 --> 00:18:42

is, istayana,

00:18:42 --> 00:18:43

that you're seeking assistance,

00:18:44 --> 00:18:46

help from the divine. And Istiana

00:18:47 --> 00:18:49

is a certain kind of help that, like,

00:18:49 --> 00:18:51

you've done what you can do.

00:18:51 --> 00:18:53

It's like, I can't do it without you.

00:18:54 --> 00:18:55

You know?

00:18:55 --> 00:18:57

It's I need you

00:18:57 --> 00:18:58

to do this.

00:18:59 --> 00:19:02

The ba also denotes that everything is from

00:19:02 --> 00:19:04

Allah. So when I sit down to eat

00:19:04 --> 00:19:07

a meal, I think about how remarkable it

00:19:07 --> 00:19:09

is that the egg that's in front of

00:19:09 --> 00:19:11

me, what did it have to go through

00:19:11 --> 00:19:13

in order to get to my plate?

00:19:13 --> 00:19:15

It didn't just pop up out of nowhere,

00:19:15 --> 00:19:17

but I recognize everything that had to be

00:19:17 --> 00:19:20

put into motion for me to have this

00:19:20 --> 00:19:22

cup of water, to have anything of what

00:19:22 --> 00:19:24

I just ate. There's a lot that goes.

00:19:24 --> 00:19:26

It's all in the ba in Bismillah.

00:19:28 --> 00:19:30

And then you send blessings on the prophet,

00:19:30 --> 00:19:33

alayhi salaam. This is the second kind of

00:19:33 --> 00:19:35

grouping that goes into it.

00:19:36 --> 00:19:37

So in Surat Al Azaab,

00:19:38 --> 00:19:39

it's the 33rd

00:19:39 --> 00:19:41

chapter of the Quran

00:19:41 --> 00:19:44

verse 56. Can people pull that up?

00:19:48 --> 00:19:49

So 3356.

00:19:58 --> 00:19:58

So I go

00:19:59 --> 00:20:01

does anybody have it?

00:20:12 --> 00:20:14

Oh, man. Somebody's having fun outside.

00:20:19 --> 00:20:20

Do you have it?

00:20:20 --> 00:20:21

Can you read it?

00:20:37 --> 00:20:38

Give me the translation.

00:20:38 --> 00:20:41

Yeah. Indeed, Allah converts blessings upon the prophet

00:20:41 --> 00:20:42

and his angels.

00:20:43 --> 00:20:45

Oh, you who have believed, ask Allah to

00:20:45 --> 00:20:47

convert blessings upon the prophet and ask Allah

00:20:47 --> 00:20:49

to grant him peace.

00:20:49 --> 00:20:51

So it's a sunnah of the divine to

00:20:51 --> 00:20:53

send peace and blessings upon the prophet.

00:20:53 --> 00:20:54

What's really interesting

00:20:55 --> 00:20:56

is there's a hadith,

00:20:57 --> 00:20:58

ibn Umar radiallahu anhu,

00:20:59 --> 00:21:00

he narrates that the prophet

00:21:01 --> 00:21:01

says

00:21:02 --> 00:21:04

that indeed Allah and his angels

00:21:04 --> 00:21:07

send blessings upon those who eat before

00:21:07 --> 00:21:08

fasting.

00:21:09 --> 00:21:11

Right? That the hadith says literally,

00:21:19 --> 00:21:22

that Allah and his angels send blessings on

00:21:22 --> 00:21:23

the people who take suhoor.

00:21:24 --> 00:21:25

Right? Which is you know, that could be

00:21:25 --> 00:21:27

any one of us. Right? May Allah make

00:21:27 --> 00:21:29

us from amongst them. So it adds to

00:21:29 --> 00:21:31

the barakah of it. So here,

00:21:32 --> 00:21:34

like, the idea with this

00:21:34 --> 00:21:37

is that duas that are made praising God

00:21:38 --> 00:21:40

and sending peace and blessings on the prophet

00:21:40 --> 00:21:41

are always accepted.

00:21:43 --> 00:21:44

So formulaically,

00:21:44 --> 00:21:47

you start in the name of God, send

00:21:47 --> 00:21:49

praise upon God, send peace and blessings on

00:21:49 --> 00:21:52

the prophet. You make dua for the thing

00:21:52 --> 00:21:53

you wanna make for. Right?

00:21:54 --> 00:21:56

Then you send peace and blessings on the

00:21:56 --> 00:21:59

prophet again, and then you praise God at

00:21:59 --> 00:21:59

the end of it.

00:22:00 --> 00:22:03

So what you've done is you've sandwiched your

00:22:03 --> 00:22:06

dua in between duas that are accepted,

00:22:06 --> 00:22:07

guaranteed,

00:22:08 --> 00:22:11

increasing the likelihood that if what starts and

00:22:11 --> 00:22:14

ends the dua is accepted, then what's in

00:22:14 --> 00:22:15

between is also accepted.

00:22:16 --> 00:22:19

Does that make sense? It's part of the

00:22:19 --> 00:22:21

how to's, the etiquette of dua.

00:22:23 --> 00:22:25

When you're making the du'a, you wanna be

00:22:25 --> 00:22:27

firm in the du'a.

00:22:27 --> 00:22:30

The hadith says the prophet says,

00:22:30 --> 00:22:33

when you are making du'a, do not say,

00:22:33 --> 00:22:36

oh, Allah, forgive me if you wish. Oh,

00:22:36 --> 00:22:38

Allah, forgive me if you wish. You should

00:22:38 --> 00:22:41

be firm in your asking for there is

00:22:41 --> 00:22:42

no compelling him.

00:22:42 --> 00:22:44

You say, you Allah, forgive me.

00:22:45 --> 00:22:46

Right?

00:22:47 --> 00:22:50

The dua that Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala An has

00:22:50 --> 00:22:51

taught in anticipation of

00:22:56 --> 00:22:58

That, oh, Allah, you are the forgiving. You

00:22:58 --> 00:23:01

love to forgive, so forgive me. It doesn't

00:23:01 --> 00:23:03

say, like, if you want to.

00:23:03 --> 00:23:06

Right? It says just forgive me. Do you

00:23:06 --> 00:23:09

know? So you have a sense of, like,

00:23:09 --> 00:23:10

concreteness in the Dua.

00:23:11 --> 00:23:12

You know who it is that you are

00:23:12 --> 00:23:15

asking of. You be firm in the dua,

00:23:16 --> 00:23:19

then there's focus in the dua. The prophet

00:23:19 --> 00:23:21

alayhi salaam says make dua and be assured

00:23:21 --> 00:23:22

of it being answered

00:23:23 --> 00:23:25

and know that Allah does not answer a

00:23:25 --> 00:23:27

dua from a careless heart which is not

00:23:27 --> 00:23:28

concentrating.

00:23:30 --> 00:23:32

There was scholars of the past who said,

00:23:32 --> 00:23:34

kushurah, focus

00:23:34 --> 00:23:37

was a necessary part of prayer, that if

00:23:37 --> 00:23:39

you didn't have kushurah, your prayer was invalid.

00:23:40 --> 00:23:42

That wasn't the majority of people, but that

00:23:42 --> 00:23:43

was some people's perspective.

00:23:44 --> 00:23:46

So dealing with distractions

00:23:47 --> 00:23:47

is

00:23:48 --> 00:23:49

important because

00:23:49 --> 00:23:50

du'a

00:23:50 --> 00:23:52

comes from the heart, not just from the

00:23:52 --> 00:23:52

tongue.

00:23:53 --> 00:23:53

Right?

00:23:54 --> 00:23:57

So you want to deal with distractions

00:23:57 --> 00:23:59

as best as they can.

00:24:00 --> 00:24:02

This is gonna be what really catches people.

00:24:03 --> 00:24:05

When you sit down to pray,

00:24:06 --> 00:24:08

what is it that's going to make your

00:24:08 --> 00:24:10

prayer a little bit more all over the

00:24:10 --> 00:24:10

place?

00:24:11 --> 00:24:14

And how do you anticipate that? Right? Like,

00:24:14 --> 00:24:16

my kids are not this young anymore,

00:24:16 --> 00:24:18

but they're still, like,

00:24:18 --> 00:24:21

crazy kids. They're 8 and 11. When my

00:24:21 --> 00:24:22

son

00:24:22 --> 00:24:24

was, like, from

00:24:24 --> 00:24:27

3 till 6 or 7, and we stand

00:24:27 --> 00:24:28

to pray.

00:24:28 --> 00:24:30

Kids, follow us in our prayer.

00:24:30 --> 00:24:33

Have you ever seen my son, Karim, even

00:24:33 --> 00:24:34

now when he's 8, like,

00:24:35 --> 00:24:37

moving. I don't even know what he's thinking

00:24:37 --> 00:24:39

during the salah. But when he was, like,

00:24:39 --> 00:24:40

3 or 4

00:24:40 --> 00:24:41

and

00:24:41 --> 00:24:42

a little older,

00:24:43 --> 00:24:46

we'd be praying. He wakes up super early

00:24:46 --> 00:24:47

in the morning. So fudger

00:24:48 --> 00:24:50

till, like, the time he's in bed, he's

00:24:50 --> 00:24:53

standing next to me. Sometimes, he's, like, shaking

00:24:53 --> 00:24:56

his butt back and forth. He's slapping me

00:24:56 --> 00:24:57

on, like, my backside.

00:24:58 --> 00:25:00

You know, he, like, one point I'm not

00:25:00 --> 00:25:02

even joking. One time, I was prostrating,

00:25:03 --> 00:25:04

and he leaned over and kissed me on

00:25:04 --> 00:25:06

my cheek. And I'm like, dude, what are

00:25:06 --> 00:25:08

you doing? Like, you can't do it. And

00:25:08 --> 00:25:10

he's super cute. Right?

00:25:11 --> 00:25:13

That's not a distraction. That's my child.

00:25:13 --> 00:25:15

I'm not gonna, at the end of it,

00:25:15 --> 00:25:17

yell at my kid and be like, you're

00:25:17 --> 00:25:19

ruining my prayer. What's wrong with you? No.

00:25:19 --> 00:25:21

I just have to understand

00:25:21 --> 00:25:23

that it's a different aspect of focus and

00:25:23 --> 00:25:23

spirituality.

00:25:24 --> 00:25:27

Focus is not that there's complete silence.

00:25:27 --> 00:25:29

When we're taught to be the imam,

00:25:29 --> 00:25:32

we're taught the prophet would shorten prayers when

00:25:32 --> 00:25:34

he heard the cry of a child because

00:25:34 --> 00:25:35

he didn't want distress

00:25:35 --> 00:25:37

to come to the mother.

00:25:37 --> 00:25:39

How can he do that if you can't

00:25:39 --> 00:25:40

hear the cries?

00:25:41 --> 00:25:43

If you make a mistake in the prayer,

00:25:44 --> 00:25:44

somebody

00:25:45 --> 00:25:46

corrects you from behind.

00:25:47 --> 00:25:49

You can't do that if you can't hear

00:25:49 --> 00:25:50

them.

00:25:50 --> 00:25:52

You go from

00:25:52 --> 00:25:53

standing

00:25:53 --> 00:25:55

to, like, bowing and prostrating,

00:25:56 --> 00:25:57

but when you were supposed to stay kneeling,

00:25:57 --> 00:25:59

you got up, someone's gonna say,

00:26:00 --> 00:26:02

you have to hear them say it. Right?

00:26:03 --> 00:26:04

Does that make sense?

00:26:04 --> 00:26:06

So focus in and of itself

00:26:07 --> 00:26:09

is gonna necessitate understanding

00:26:09 --> 00:26:11

that the causes of distraction

00:26:12 --> 00:26:13

have a definition.

00:26:14 --> 00:26:17

1, there's a lack of ability to pay

00:26:17 --> 00:26:17

attention.

00:26:18 --> 00:26:20

What's causing the lack of ability

00:26:20 --> 00:26:21

for me to pay attention

00:26:22 --> 00:26:23

in my dua?

00:26:23 --> 00:26:25

Because you're not praying at that time. You

00:26:25 --> 00:26:27

don't need wudu to make dua. You don't

00:26:27 --> 00:26:29

need to be sitting in congregation to make

00:26:29 --> 00:26:30

dua.

00:26:30 --> 00:26:33

You can make dua pretty much anywhere.

00:26:35 --> 00:26:38

So what's creating the lack of ability to

00:26:38 --> 00:26:39

pay attention? Right?

00:26:39 --> 00:26:41

Well, before I got married,

00:26:41 --> 00:26:42

I had,

00:26:43 --> 00:26:45

like, tons of guys that just lived in

00:26:45 --> 00:26:47

my apartment with me. You know, you all

00:26:47 --> 00:26:48

have been some of you to our place,

00:26:49 --> 00:26:50

the lounge, if you've been to our actual

00:26:50 --> 00:26:51

apartment.

00:26:52 --> 00:26:53

I used to live

00:26:53 --> 00:26:54

in

00:26:55 --> 00:26:58

a place where, like, literally, like, for a

00:26:58 --> 00:27:00

while, when my son, Karim, it's his bedroom

00:27:00 --> 00:27:02

now where these other guys used to live,

00:27:02 --> 00:27:05

we'd go places and all kinds of random

00:27:05 --> 00:27:07

men would say to my son, you know,

00:27:07 --> 00:27:08

I used to sleep in your room. And

00:27:08 --> 00:27:10

my son had no idea. He was like,

00:27:10 --> 00:27:13

baba, like, what? How many men lived with

00:27:13 --> 00:27:15

you? I was like, a lot, Kareem. I

00:27:15 --> 00:27:16

don't know what to tell you.

00:27:17 --> 00:27:19

One of my friends who used to live

00:27:19 --> 00:27:20

with me,

00:27:20 --> 00:27:23

it was literally like mugger time, short window

00:27:23 --> 00:27:25

of time, and we had to pray. And

00:27:25 --> 00:27:26

it was during the NBA finals,

00:27:27 --> 00:27:29

and in my apartment, the TV,

00:27:29 --> 00:27:31

like, faces the kibla. Like, when you're facing

00:27:31 --> 00:27:32

the kibla, the TV is in front of

00:27:32 --> 00:27:34

you. So I'm like, hey, man. It's Maggrib

00:27:34 --> 00:27:36

time. He's like, okay. We stood up, and

00:27:36 --> 00:27:38

I was like, you gotta turn the game

00:27:38 --> 00:27:40

off. And then he just muted it. Right?

00:27:40 --> 00:27:42

And I was like, we can't, like, have

00:27:42 --> 00:27:44

it play. He's like, no. It's fine. I'm

00:27:44 --> 00:27:47

like, no. It's not fine. You know?

00:27:47 --> 00:27:49

You deal with the distraction.

00:27:50 --> 00:27:52

Right? This is why the hadith says

00:27:52 --> 00:27:54

there's, like, no prayer when food has been

00:27:54 --> 00:27:57

served. It doesn't mean you don't pray, but

00:27:57 --> 00:27:59

your mind is gonna be thinking about the

00:27:59 --> 00:28:01

pot that's on the stove. Right? This is

00:28:01 --> 00:28:02

why it's

00:28:02 --> 00:28:04

silly, you know, then and some of you

00:28:04 --> 00:28:06

do this because you don't wanna make wudu

00:28:06 --> 00:28:09

again. So you sit and you clench up

00:28:09 --> 00:28:10

your whole body

00:28:10 --> 00:28:12

hoping like nothing comes out and you break

00:28:12 --> 00:28:15

your wudu. So the entirety of your prayer,

00:28:15 --> 00:28:18

you're more focused on, man, I better not

00:28:18 --> 00:28:21

fart, man. I better not fart. Like, that's

00:28:21 --> 00:28:21

what you're making

00:28:22 --> 00:28:25

the focus of your attention then. Do you

00:28:25 --> 00:28:26

get what I mean? Right?

00:28:27 --> 00:28:29

This is silly when you say it out

00:28:29 --> 00:28:30

loud.

00:28:30 --> 00:28:32

Wudu is its own spiritual exercise.

00:28:34 --> 00:28:36

You don't make wudu just to pray. You

00:28:36 --> 00:28:38

wanna be in wudu as much as you

00:28:38 --> 00:28:40

can all the time. It's an elevated state

00:28:40 --> 00:28:41

of being.

00:28:42 --> 00:28:44

But the lack of the ability to pay

00:28:44 --> 00:28:44

attention

00:28:45 --> 00:28:47

is sometimes caused by these things outward to

00:28:47 --> 00:28:51

us. I gotta run back. My phone is,

00:28:51 --> 00:28:54

like, vibrating. Who texted me? Who's calling me?

00:28:54 --> 00:28:56

You know, who's sending me a notification?

00:28:56 --> 00:28:58

I gotta go look at all the messages.

00:28:58 --> 00:29:01

Did anybody respond to my message in this

00:29:01 --> 00:29:03

group that I'm in or on this post

00:29:03 --> 00:29:04

that I put up?

00:29:05 --> 00:29:07

A second part to distraction

00:29:07 --> 00:29:09

is the lack of interest in the object

00:29:09 --> 00:29:10

of attention.

00:29:11 --> 00:29:12

Like, you're not gonna make Dua if it's

00:29:12 --> 00:29:13

not important to you.

00:29:14 --> 00:29:15

If you don't think you need to do

00:29:15 --> 00:29:18

it, then you're not gonna do it.

00:29:19 --> 00:29:22

And 3rd, the attractiveness of something other than

00:29:22 --> 00:29:23

the object of attention.

00:29:25 --> 00:29:27

Most of the thoughts that pop up in

00:29:27 --> 00:29:29

our head when we're praying are usually not

00:29:29 --> 00:29:30

unimportant things.

00:29:31 --> 00:29:33

I'm not sitting in my prayer

00:29:34 --> 00:29:37

thinking about, you know, la la la, what's

00:29:37 --> 00:29:39

for TV dinners tonight, and this and that.

00:29:39 --> 00:29:41

I'm thinking about the fight I'm having with

00:29:41 --> 00:29:42

my brother.

00:29:42 --> 00:29:45

I'm thinking about how, you know, I'm stressed

00:29:45 --> 00:29:47

by this thing or that thing.

00:29:47 --> 00:29:50

What's crazy is how many of those thoughts

00:29:50 --> 00:29:51

stop when you go into sajda.

00:29:52 --> 00:29:55

You should just experience that and think about

00:29:55 --> 00:29:57

when you're standing versus you're prostrating

00:29:57 --> 00:29:59

when the thoughts just disappear.

00:30:01 --> 00:30:03

But, also, in understanding,

00:30:04 --> 00:30:06

how much of your time is spent

00:30:08 --> 00:30:08

unfocused?

00:30:10 --> 00:30:11

Like my kids,

00:30:12 --> 00:30:14

it takes them not so much now, but

00:30:14 --> 00:30:15

when they were a little younger,

00:30:16 --> 00:30:18

it would take them, like, 45 minutes to

00:30:18 --> 00:30:20

eat 1 bowl of cereal.

00:30:21 --> 00:30:24

Like, I couldn't understand. I'm just eating it.

00:30:24 --> 00:30:26

It tastes gross after 10 minutes. It's all

00:30:26 --> 00:30:28

soggy and, like, why would you wanna wait

00:30:28 --> 00:30:29

that long?

00:30:30 --> 00:30:32

So I'd be like, guys, just focus. Just

00:30:32 --> 00:30:34

focus. And they'd be like, yes, baba. Yes,

00:30:34 --> 00:30:34

baba.

00:30:35 --> 00:30:36

And after, like, a week or so of

00:30:36 --> 00:30:39

this continuing to happen with different kinds of

00:30:39 --> 00:30:39

meals,

00:30:40 --> 00:30:41

And I was like, just focus, and they

00:30:41 --> 00:30:43

said yes. And I said to them, like,

00:30:43 --> 00:30:44

do you know what it means to focus?

00:30:45 --> 00:30:46

They're like, no, papa.

00:30:46 --> 00:30:47

Right?

00:30:47 --> 00:30:49

I was like, well, whose fault is this?

00:30:49 --> 00:30:51

It's not theirs. They're innocent.

00:30:52 --> 00:30:55

You wanna think about how you have consciously

00:30:55 --> 00:30:56

learned

00:30:57 --> 00:30:58

to be focused

00:31:00 --> 00:31:02

versus how much of your life has existed

00:31:03 --> 00:31:03

unconsciously

00:31:04 --> 00:31:05

being unfocused.

00:31:07 --> 00:31:10

The gross majority of most of us

00:31:10 --> 00:31:13

is in this state where we don't have

00:31:13 --> 00:31:14

focus in what we're doing.

00:31:15 --> 00:31:17

And you can train yourself to be focused,

00:31:18 --> 00:31:20

to be in a place where you have

00:31:20 --> 00:31:22

that kind of mental strength and mental edge.

00:31:22 --> 00:31:24

If you've ever played sports, for example,

00:31:24 --> 00:31:27

that's like what they teach us. Right? I

00:31:27 --> 00:31:28

was supposed to play sports in college.

00:31:29 --> 00:31:30

Most of my, like,

00:31:30 --> 00:31:33

high school career, it stopped. I had multiple

00:31:33 --> 00:31:35

concussions when I was a senior in high

00:31:35 --> 00:31:37

school, but I'm not a large human being.

00:31:37 --> 00:31:38

Do you know what I mean?

00:31:39 --> 00:31:41

So I had to be in a place

00:31:41 --> 00:31:42

where a lot of

00:31:42 --> 00:31:45

it required, like, knowing, like, the mental aspect

00:31:53 --> 00:31:56

with I could still be mentally stronger than

00:31:56 --> 00:31:58

them and be able to engage at that

00:31:58 --> 00:32:00

level. Do you get what I mean?

00:32:00 --> 00:32:03

If the majority of our time is spent

00:32:03 --> 00:32:04

being unfocused,

00:32:04 --> 00:32:06

it doesn't mean thoughts stop.

00:32:06 --> 00:32:07

Do you know?

00:32:07 --> 00:32:10

And most of our thoughts exist just automated.

00:32:11 --> 00:32:13

You think 12,000 to 70,000

00:32:14 --> 00:32:15

thoughts in a day.

00:32:15 --> 00:32:16

96%

00:32:16 --> 00:32:19

of them are repeat, meaning they're on autopilot.

00:32:20 --> 00:32:20

4%

00:32:21 --> 00:32:22

are done consciously.

00:32:23 --> 00:32:25

So that's what's gonna get you here.

00:32:26 --> 00:32:27

What's gonna create distractions?

00:32:28 --> 00:32:30

What's more attractive to me elsewhere?

00:32:30 --> 00:32:32

What are the things that are gonna get

00:32:32 --> 00:32:33

in the way?

00:32:33 --> 00:32:35

So I want you to do is take

00:32:35 --> 00:32:37

a minute now and reflect to yourself.

00:32:38 --> 00:32:39

What are some of the things that I

00:32:39 --> 00:32:41

know create these distractions for me

00:32:42 --> 00:32:44

that disrupt the focus of my heart?

00:32:45 --> 00:32:47

It doesn't allow for my heart to be

00:32:47 --> 00:32:47

present,

00:32:48 --> 00:32:51

sounds from the street, the spaces that I'm

00:32:51 --> 00:32:52

in. Right?

00:32:52 --> 00:32:54

You gotta pray your prayers

00:32:54 --> 00:32:57

whenever you're like, the window comes in.

00:32:57 --> 00:32:59

But if you're not strategically

00:32:59 --> 00:33:01

planning and then you get stuck, it's one

00:33:01 --> 00:33:04

thing to say the bus got delayed, the

00:33:04 --> 00:33:06

train was delayed. How am I gonna pray

00:33:06 --> 00:33:08

Maghrib in 5 minutes in the train? Well,

00:33:08 --> 00:33:10

like, you just do your best. You know?

00:33:10 --> 00:33:12

But that's not because of you.

00:33:13 --> 00:33:16

But the importance of it, the lack of

00:33:16 --> 00:33:18

interest in it in relation to something else,

00:33:18 --> 00:33:21

You know you're gonna leave your home.

00:33:21 --> 00:33:24

You know that these prayers are gonna come.

00:33:24 --> 00:33:26

You know that there's certain times that Dua

00:33:26 --> 00:33:27

is more accepted.

00:33:29 --> 00:33:31

So why didn't you plan a better place

00:33:31 --> 00:33:32

to pray

00:33:34 --> 00:33:36

where you could be in a place where

00:33:36 --> 00:33:39

you're not, like, worried or you're looking for,

00:33:39 --> 00:33:41

like, just a place to kinda bang out

00:33:41 --> 00:33:43

some kind of physical movements. Do you get

00:33:43 --> 00:33:44

what I mean?

00:33:45 --> 00:33:47

What's gonna disrupt your focus?

00:33:49 --> 00:33:51

So think about it for a minute, and

00:33:51 --> 00:33:52

then I'm gonna ask you to turn to

00:33:52 --> 00:33:54

the persons next to you to talk this

00:33:54 --> 00:33:58

out. What disrupts focus and what enhances focus?

00:33:59 --> 00:33:59

For you particularly,

00:34:00 --> 00:34:02

so that we can kind of benefit from

00:34:02 --> 00:34:04

each other on this. This is what's gonna

00:34:04 --> 00:34:07

make and break, like, our dua, the presence

00:34:07 --> 00:34:09

of our heart. So what's causing something else

00:34:09 --> 00:34:11

to get in the way? So let's take

00:34:11 --> 00:34:13

a minute to just reflect for ourselves.

00:35:32 --> 00:35:34

Okay. If you could take 2 minutes and

00:35:34 --> 00:35:36

just turn to the persons next to you,

00:35:36 --> 00:35:37

if you don't know their names, share some

00:35:37 --> 00:35:40

names. What is it that disrupts focus for

00:35:40 --> 00:35:42

you, and what are things that would enhance

00:35:42 --> 00:35:44

focus for you? Right? What allows for you

00:35:44 --> 00:35:45

to be attentive,

00:35:45 --> 00:35:48

and what kinda takes it away? We just

00:35:48 --> 00:35:49

talk for a few minutes, and then we'll

00:35:49 --> 00:35:50

come back and discuss,

00:35:55 --> 00:35:55

but

00:35:56 --> 00:35:57

go ahead.

00:40:56 --> 00:40:58

Okay. So what are what are some of

00:40:58 --> 00:40:59

the things we're talking about?

00:41:00 --> 00:41:02

What are some of the things that create

00:41:02 --> 00:41:04

distraction? What are some of the things

00:41:04 --> 00:41:06

that enhance attentiveness?

00:41:09 --> 00:41:10

What do we discuss?

00:41:21 --> 00:41:23

And think of what we would have done

00:41:23 --> 00:41:24

in a different way so that we get

00:41:24 --> 00:41:26

the result that we want

00:41:26 --> 00:41:29

or being also be acquired by the future

00:41:29 --> 00:41:31

or something that we want, and we are

00:41:31 --> 00:41:32

thinking how to do it.

00:41:33 --> 00:41:34

But it's it's,

00:41:34 --> 00:41:35

ironic because

00:41:36 --> 00:41:39

as, she said that if you're purified by

00:41:39 --> 00:41:41

the future and then we can make it

00:41:41 --> 00:41:43

happen, we are actually praying. We're not making

00:41:43 --> 00:41:45

duets. So we could just, like, send the

00:41:45 --> 00:41:46

ascot

00:41:46 --> 00:41:48

to manifest it in our life, like, to

00:41:48 --> 00:41:49

bring it to our future.

00:41:50 --> 00:41:52

We hope us do. But we will distract

00:41:52 --> 00:41:54

the focusing on how can we do

00:41:56 --> 00:41:59

it. Things that would help us to, to

00:41:59 --> 00:42:00

focus will be,

00:42:00 --> 00:42:03

like, transfer process and leave in God's hand

00:42:03 --> 00:42:05

and be sure that it's gonna be fine.

00:42:05 --> 00:42:07

And we don't need to do that much

00:42:08 --> 00:42:09

because God can take care of it.

00:42:10 --> 00:42:13

And we can also use the guidance that

00:42:13 --> 00:42:15

to help to ask God to help us

00:42:15 --> 00:42:16

make better lives.

00:42:16 --> 00:42:18

But we can pray to have a better

00:42:18 --> 00:42:19

prayer.

00:42:19 --> 00:42:20

So this one.

00:42:21 --> 00:42:22

Great.

00:42:23 --> 00:42:24

Other thoughts?

00:42:25 --> 00:42:27

What gets in the way or what can

00:42:27 --> 00:42:30

be helpful? Yeah. Something that was said

00:42:33 --> 00:42:34

that I don't know. I think, like, a

00:42:34 --> 00:42:35

lot

00:42:35 --> 00:42:37

of people probably feel this, and I think

00:42:37 --> 00:42:38

in the past, I thought also it was,

00:42:38 --> 00:42:39

like,

00:42:40 --> 00:42:42

this idea of kind of, like, futility of,

00:42:42 --> 00:42:44

like, if it was, like,

00:42:44 --> 00:42:47

going to happen, like, Allah would have provided

00:42:47 --> 00:42:48

it already or,

00:42:48 --> 00:42:50

if it's, like, predestined,

00:42:50 --> 00:42:53

then it's gonna happen anyway. So, like, almost

00:42:53 --> 00:42:56

like stopping ourselves from making the for it.

00:42:58 --> 00:42:59

Great.

00:43:00 --> 00:43:02

Other thoughts? Yeah. To,

00:43:02 --> 00:43:03

clear your

00:43:04 --> 00:43:04

working space

00:43:05 --> 00:43:07

no matter where you are in order to

00:43:07 --> 00:43:09

focus and have better mental clarity

00:43:10 --> 00:43:10

and also

00:43:17 --> 00:43:20

Great. Yeah. Anything else? Other thoughts?

00:43:24 --> 00:43:26

Hey. Smiling. Do you wanna say something? Just

00:43:26 --> 00:43:27

the same time.

00:43:28 --> 00:43:28

No.

00:43:29 --> 00:43:30

No? I like your face.

00:43:31 --> 00:43:32

I'm not sure.

00:43:32 --> 00:43:34

That's so nice. Thank you.

00:43:34 --> 00:43:36

I can share it now. Yeah. Go ahead,

00:43:36 --> 00:43:36

man.

00:43:37 --> 00:43:38

Is that one of those things you do?

00:43:38 --> 00:43:39

You just kinda smile

00:43:40 --> 00:43:41

because you want us to call on you,

00:43:41 --> 00:43:44

but you're just not saying you're welcome. Very

00:43:44 --> 00:43:46

thoughtful. Yeah. I don't wanna distract

00:43:53 --> 00:43:54

the

00:44:00 --> 00:44:03

Welcome. And the group share about how I'm

00:44:03 --> 00:44:05

thinking about things that occurred with us before,

00:44:06 --> 00:44:07

whether it's previous conversations

00:44:07 --> 00:44:10

or just our schedule and calendar.

00:44:13 --> 00:44:15

Yeah. So you wanna think. Right? What are

00:44:15 --> 00:44:16

the elements

00:44:16 --> 00:44:19

that want to keep me from being distracted

00:44:19 --> 00:44:20

from God,

00:44:20 --> 00:44:22

and how are they built?

00:44:23 --> 00:44:24

Dunya, the materialistic world,

00:44:25 --> 00:44:26

of shaitan,

00:44:26 --> 00:44:27

Hawa, desire.

00:44:28 --> 00:44:30

Right? The nafs, the lower self.

00:44:30 --> 00:44:31

These things

00:44:32 --> 00:44:35

exist in a frame where they're real

00:44:35 --> 00:44:38

and they're gonna be vying for your attention.

00:44:39 --> 00:44:39

So

00:44:40 --> 00:44:40

even

00:44:41 --> 00:44:42

where you

00:44:43 --> 00:44:45

can be, like, pulled towards something

00:44:45 --> 00:44:48

that is futile or pointless or detrimental,

00:44:49 --> 00:44:51

you can also be pulled towards something that's

00:44:51 --> 00:44:52

of lesser benefit

00:44:53 --> 00:44:56

in comparison to something of greater benefit.

00:44:56 --> 00:44:59

Do you know? So if I'm feeding people

00:44:59 --> 00:45:01

to break their fast in Ramadan,

00:45:01 --> 00:45:03

that's really good.

00:45:03 --> 00:45:05

But what if in the midst of that,

00:45:05 --> 00:45:06

I'm also the preventative

00:45:07 --> 00:45:07

obstacle

00:45:08 --> 00:45:10

from them praying in the nights in Ramadan?

00:45:11 --> 00:45:12

Do you know?

00:45:13 --> 00:45:14

Like, do you get what I mean?

00:45:15 --> 00:45:17

Right? So it's not an either or. It

00:45:17 --> 00:45:19

can be a both end, but to think

00:45:19 --> 00:45:20

preemptively.

00:45:20 --> 00:45:22

Right? We're gonna gather in our home.

00:45:23 --> 00:45:25

I want you to make Dua in my

00:45:25 --> 00:45:25

house.

00:45:25 --> 00:45:27

It adds to the Barakah in my home.

00:45:28 --> 00:45:29

I want us to all pray together.

00:45:30 --> 00:45:32

I buy into the whole thing.

00:45:32 --> 00:45:34

What's creating distractions?

00:45:34 --> 00:45:35

Anxiety,

00:45:35 --> 00:45:36

unease.

00:45:36 --> 00:45:38

We've never done this before. People come over,

00:45:39 --> 00:45:40

we eat, we stay up till the middle

00:45:40 --> 00:45:42

of the night, but we talk to each

00:45:42 --> 00:45:43

other. We don't talk to Allah.

00:45:44 --> 00:45:46

It's gonna only be awkward once or twice,

00:45:46 --> 00:45:48

and then it'll be over it. And it'll

00:45:48 --> 00:45:50

create a deeper bond amongst you and the

00:45:50 --> 00:45:52

people you're breaking fast with than you could

00:45:52 --> 00:45:55

have imagined ever before because now you're connecting

00:45:55 --> 00:45:57

in a lot of different ways simultaneously

00:45:58 --> 00:46:00

that have benefit to them.

00:46:00 --> 00:46:03

There's a social experiment that I like to

00:46:03 --> 00:46:04

utilize as an example

00:46:05 --> 00:46:06

of this element of distraction,

00:46:07 --> 00:46:08

with a man by the name of Joshua

00:46:08 --> 00:46:12

Bell. Joshua Bell was put on the DC

00:46:12 --> 00:46:13

Metro subway

00:46:13 --> 00:46:15

early 1 morning during rush hour, and he's

00:46:15 --> 00:46:16

playing the violin.

00:46:17 --> 00:46:19

And tons of people are passing him by

00:46:19 --> 00:46:21

during this rush hour traffic,

00:46:22 --> 00:46:23

and he said nobody's really paying attention to

00:46:23 --> 00:46:27

him. Joshua Bell stays there for multiple hours,

00:46:27 --> 00:46:29

and he says when children stop in front

00:46:29 --> 00:46:32

of him, they just don't move. They're fixated

00:46:32 --> 00:46:34

on him, and the adults that are with

00:46:34 --> 00:46:36

them have to pull them away and he

00:46:36 --> 00:46:38

can see them looking over their shoulder and

00:46:38 --> 00:46:41

they can't see anymore. He said one old

00:46:41 --> 00:46:42

man stopped for a little bit and then

00:46:42 --> 00:46:44

moved on. And in the time he was

00:46:44 --> 00:46:45

there for hours,

00:46:46 --> 00:46:48

he collected maybe 10 or $20.

00:46:48 --> 00:46:51

What makes it crazy is that this man,

00:46:51 --> 00:46:53

Joshua Bell, is considered one of the foremost

00:46:53 --> 00:46:55

practitioners of the violin in the world.

00:46:56 --> 00:46:58

The violin he was playing that day was

00:46:58 --> 00:46:59

valued at $2,000,000.

00:47:00 --> 00:47:03

And he had sold out concert hall after

00:47:03 --> 00:47:04

concert hall

00:47:04 --> 00:47:06

in the area of the DMV

00:47:07 --> 00:47:10

where tickets started for 100 of dollars a

00:47:10 --> 00:47:12

piece. And all of these people could've watched

00:47:12 --> 00:47:14

him for free,

00:47:15 --> 00:47:17

but none of them took it in because

00:47:17 --> 00:47:19

they were distracted by something else.

00:47:19 --> 00:47:22

Something else was pulling them away from it.

00:47:23 --> 00:47:23

The companions

00:47:24 --> 00:47:26

are told at the end of a prayer

00:47:26 --> 00:47:27

to just

00:47:30 --> 00:47:33

recite 10 times each. Not the, like, 33

00:47:33 --> 00:47:35

times that we know, but just 10 times.

00:47:36 --> 00:47:37

It says, alay salaam, you do it 10

00:47:37 --> 00:47:40

times each over 5 prayers. It'll be written

00:47:40 --> 00:47:41

for you

00:47:41 --> 00:47:45

like tenfold over. So 30 times 5, a

00:47:45 --> 00:47:45

150,

00:47:46 --> 00:47:47

is 1500

00:47:47 --> 00:47:48

good deeds on your account. And then he

00:47:48 --> 00:47:51

tells the companions, a time will come where

00:47:51 --> 00:47:53

people won't do it. They said, why? Like,

00:47:53 --> 00:47:55

it's so simple. You could say these words

00:47:56 --> 00:47:57

on your fingertips

00:47:57 --> 00:47:58

in seconds.

00:47:59 --> 00:48:01

The prophet says, because their hearts are gonna

00:48:01 --> 00:48:02

be pulled by something else.

00:48:03 --> 00:48:06

You have to figure out what pulls your

00:48:06 --> 00:48:06

heart.

00:48:07 --> 00:48:09

It can even be something that's good.

00:48:10 --> 00:48:12

I work down the hall from this prayer

00:48:12 --> 00:48:13

room.

00:48:14 --> 00:48:16

I'm not saying this to you. I have

00:48:16 --> 00:48:17

to say to me,

00:48:17 --> 00:48:18

what fundamental

00:48:18 --> 00:48:22

reason could I possibly have to not pray

00:48:22 --> 00:48:24

all of my sunnah and nafil prayers?

00:48:25 --> 00:48:27

What reason would I have to not be

00:48:27 --> 00:48:28

able to pray

00:48:28 --> 00:48:29

every prayer in congregation

00:48:31 --> 00:48:32

while I'm in this building. Do you get

00:48:32 --> 00:48:33

what I mean?

00:48:34 --> 00:48:35

And I could sit there. 1 of you

00:48:35 --> 00:48:38

could come and say, life is tough. That's

00:48:38 --> 00:48:38

great.

00:48:39 --> 00:48:41

It doesn't have to be an either or.

00:48:41 --> 00:48:43

It's a both and. What's going to take

00:48:43 --> 00:48:44

me away

00:48:44 --> 00:48:47

from what it is that I need for

00:48:47 --> 00:48:49

my own spiritual benefit how many of you

00:48:49 --> 00:48:49

did the gratitude letter that we talked about

00:48:49 --> 00:48:50

a few weeks ago? Like, how many of

00:48:50 --> 00:48:50

you did the gratitude letter that we talked

00:48:50 --> 00:48:51

about a few weeks ago?

00:48:56 --> 00:48:59

How many of you did the gratitude letter

00:48:59 --> 00:49:01

that we talked about a few weeks ago?

00:49:02 --> 00:49:02

You did it?

00:49:03 --> 00:49:04

Yeah? How was that for you?

00:49:05 --> 00:49:08

It was good? Why why is it good?

00:49:09 --> 00:49:10

Does your face mask not allow for you

00:49:10 --> 00:49:11

to use words?

00:49:14 --> 00:49:16

So think about it as an exercise. Right?

00:49:16 --> 00:49:18

You did it. I know that Nadia did

00:49:18 --> 00:49:21

it. Like, did anybody else do it?

00:49:22 --> 00:49:25

Yeah. Okay. Did anybody have a terrible experience

00:49:25 --> 00:49:27

doing it? No. Right? It was nice.

00:49:28 --> 00:49:29

When you did it go ahead. Yeah. No.

00:49:29 --> 00:49:29

I was just gonna say that you can

00:49:29 --> 00:49:29

also create a journal. That's what I have.

00:49:29 --> 00:49:30

I brought you to

00:49:30 --> 00:49:31

journal.

00:49:35 --> 00:49:35

Gratitude

00:49:36 --> 00:49:39

journal. Amazing. Gratitude journal. What's happening in the

00:49:39 --> 00:49:39

exercise,

00:49:40 --> 00:49:41

content aside,

00:49:41 --> 00:49:42

is you are focused

00:49:43 --> 00:49:43

also

00:49:44 --> 00:49:46

for the portion of time that you're writing

00:49:46 --> 00:49:48

this thing. Do you get what I mean?

00:49:48 --> 00:49:51

That's why notebooks are so important. You come

00:49:51 --> 00:49:53

and you sit and you just absorb like

00:49:53 --> 00:49:55

a sponge. You're not a sponge.

00:49:55 --> 00:49:57

There's all these other things vying for your

00:49:57 --> 00:50:00

attention. The minute you can have something that

00:50:00 --> 00:50:02

becomes a focal point of your attention,

00:50:02 --> 00:50:04

it allows for you to be that much

00:50:04 --> 00:50:05

more present in the exercise.

00:50:05 --> 00:50:08

And as you're building gratitude through the gratitude

00:50:08 --> 00:50:11

letter, you're simultaneously building mental strength because you're

00:50:11 --> 00:50:13

engaged in an exercise

00:50:13 --> 00:50:15

that requires focus and attentiveness.

00:50:15 --> 00:50:17

Do you get what I mean?

00:50:17 --> 00:50:19

Okay. I wanna read through a few other

00:50:19 --> 00:50:22

things in relation to dua. So good times

00:50:22 --> 00:50:24

to make dua, these are just hadith of

00:50:24 --> 00:50:26

the prophet alayhi salaam.

00:50:26 --> 00:50:29

The prophet says, in the last third of

00:50:29 --> 00:50:32

every night, our rub descends to the lower

00:50:32 --> 00:50:33

most heaven

00:50:33 --> 00:50:35

and says, who is calling me so that

00:50:35 --> 00:50:38

I may answer him? Who is asking me

00:50:38 --> 00:50:40

so that I may grant him? Who is

00:50:40 --> 00:50:43

seeking forgiveness from me so that I may

00:50:43 --> 00:50:46

forgive him? The last third of every night.

00:50:48 --> 00:50:51

The prophet says the closest any worshiper can

00:50:51 --> 00:50:54

be to his lord is during the last

00:50:54 --> 00:50:55

part of the night. So if you can

00:50:55 --> 00:50:58

be amongst those who remember Allah at that

00:50:58 --> 00:50:59

time, then do so.

00:51:04 --> 00:51:07

Allah's messenger was asked, oh, messenger of God,

00:51:07 --> 00:51:10

which supplication is heard by Allah? He said,

00:51:10 --> 00:51:12

the end of the night and at the

00:51:12 --> 00:51:14

end of the obligatory

00:51:14 --> 00:51:15

prayer.

00:51:16 --> 00:51:17

So

00:51:18 --> 00:51:19

you can't gain it without

00:51:20 --> 00:51:23

kinda the preceding act. So you you wanna

00:51:23 --> 00:51:25

make the at the end of the night,

00:51:25 --> 00:51:27

you gotta be up at that time.

00:51:27 --> 00:51:29

You wanna make the at the end of

00:51:29 --> 00:51:32

obligatory prayer, you gotta pray your obligatory prayer.

00:51:33 --> 00:51:35

The prophet said, 2 will not be rejected.

00:51:36 --> 00:51:36

Supplication

00:51:37 --> 00:51:39

when the Adhan, the call of prayer is

00:51:39 --> 00:51:41

being called and at the time

00:51:42 --> 00:51:43

of rain.

00:51:43 --> 00:51:45

These are moments of barakah, a blessing.

00:51:46 --> 00:51:48

So when the adhan is being called, you

00:51:48 --> 00:51:50

wanna be in the places the adhan is

00:51:50 --> 00:51:51

being called.

00:51:52 --> 00:51:53

You could do this in your house.

00:51:54 --> 00:51:56

Right? If you can't get to a masjid,

00:51:56 --> 00:51:58

you can't get to a masala, call the

00:51:58 --> 00:51:59

adhan in your home.

00:52:00 --> 00:52:01

If somebody says, why are you calling the

00:52:01 --> 00:52:03

adhan in your you're the only one in

00:52:03 --> 00:52:05

your house, still call the adhan.

00:52:05 --> 00:52:07

If not for any other reason so that

00:52:07 --> 00:52:09

you can then make the dua

00:52:09 --> 00:52:11

at the end of the adhan being called.

00:52:12 --> 00:52:13

Do you get what I'm saying?

00:52:14 --> 00:52:16

You don't have to overthink it to a

00:52:16 --> 00:52:17

place that creates obstacles.

00:52:18 --> 00:52:20

Am I gonna get to, like, you know,

00:52:21 --> 00:52:22

the Masjid

00:52:22 --> 00:52:24

5 times a day? Oh, man. Just call

00:52:24 --> 00:52:26

it wherever you're at. Do you

00:52:28 --> 00:52:28

know?

00:52:29 --> 00:52:33

3 people's duas never rejected, the prophet says.

00:52:33 --> 00:52:34

The fasting person

00:52:35 --> 00:52:38

until he breaks his fast, and in another

00:52:38 --> 00:52:38

narration,

00:52:39 --> 00:52:40

when he breaks his fast.

00:52:42 --> 00:52:44

The just ruler and the one who is

00:52:44 --> 00:52:45

oppressed.

00:52:46 --> 00:52:49

In another hadith, the prophet says, 3 duas

00:52:49 --> 00:52:50

are surely answered. The

00:52:57 --> 00:52:57

prophet

00:52:59 --> 00:53:02

Prophet said, there is no believing servant who

00:53:02 --> 00:53:03

supplicates

00:53:03 --> 00:53:06

for his brother or sister in their absence

00:53:06 --> 00:53:08

where the angels do not say the same

00:53:08 --> 00:53:09

be for you.

00:53:12 --> 00:53:14

So, good times to make dua,

00:53:14 --> 00:53:15

other hadith between

00:53:16 --> 00:53:17

the adhan and the akama.

00:53:18 --> 00:53:20

Like, this is a good time to make

00:53:20 --> 00:53:20

dua.

00:53:21 --> 00:53:22

An hour

00:53:22 --> 00:53:25

on Friday, they say, is a hidden hour

00:53:25 --> 00:53:27

on the day of Jomah that you make

00:53:27 --> 00:53:27

dua.

00:53:28 --> 00:53:30

When you're in Sajda, this is the closest

00:53:30 --> 00:53:33

you are to the divine, you make dua.

00:53:34 --> 00:53:35

Drinking zamzam,

00:53:35 --> 00:53:37

it's the time you make dua.

00:53:38 --> 00:53:40

May Allah enable us to seek it out,

00:53:40 --> 00:53:42

witness, and benefit from it. It's a night

00:53:42 --> 00:53:44

you wanna make du'a.

00:53:45 --> 00:53:47

Some of the etiquettes of du'a, you wanna

00:53:47 --> 00:53:49

try to be in a state of wudu.

00:53:49 --> 00:53:51

It doesn't mean you have to be, but

00:53:51 --> 00:53:53

if you're in a state of wudu, it's

00:53:53 --> 00:53:55

like a heightened state of being. And you

00:53:55 --> 00:53:58

wanna challenge yourself. Right? Try to be in

00:53:58 --> 00:54:01

wudu as much as you can, as often

00:54:01 --> 00:54:03

as you can. A lot of people think

00:54:03 --> 00:54:03

wudu

00:54:04 --> 00:54:06

is just the entry point to salah. It

00:54:06 --> 00:54:08

is. You gotta be in wudu to make

00:54:08 --> 00:54:08

your salah,

00:54:09 --> 00:54:11

But you can also just be in wudu

00:54:11 --> 00:54:12

to be in wudu.

00:54:17 --> 00:54:18

You face the giblah.

00:54:19 --> 00:54:21

This is a way that you can make

00:54:21 --> 00:54:21

dua.

00:54:22 --> 00:54:25

So the direction of the Kaaba, you're facing

00:54:25 --> 00:54:26

towards it.

00:54:27 --> 00:54:30

You raise your hands. The prophet would sometimes

00:54:30 --> 00:54:32

make du'a with his hands raised like this.

00:54:32 --> 00:54:34

Sometimes he raised his hands and you could

00:54:34 --> 00:54:36

see, like, kind of his underarms.

00:54:37 --> 00:54:39

Sometimes he would just raise one finger when

00:54:39 --> 00:54:41

he was making dua, and sometimes he didn't

00:54:41 --> 00:54:43

raise his hands at all. Do you know?

00:54:43 --> 00:54:44

But when you conceptualize,

00:54:44 --> 00:54:47

like, I'm raising my hands, right, who does

00:54:47 --> 00:54:49

this? Do you know? If you've ever been

00:54:49 --> 00:54:51

to a place where someone on the street

00:54:51 --> 00:54:52

is asking of you,

00:54:52 --> 00:54:55

they're giving you an insight that, like, I

00:54:55 --> 00:54:57

need something from you. Do you know what

00:54:57 --> 00:55:00

I mean? So I'm not just mechanically doing

00:55:00 --> 00:55:02

this, but I'm understanding.

00:55:03 --> 00:55:06

I'm asking the creator of everything for something.

00:55:07 --> 00:55:08

I am an Abd.

00:55:08 --> 00:55:12

Allah is Rab. Doesn't matter. Our prayer is

00:55:12 --> 00:55:13

beautiful because everybody

00:55:14 --> 00:55:16

is next to everybody.

00:55:17 --> 00:55:19

It's not the rich people stand here and

00:55:19 --> 00:55:21

the poor people stand here. Our prayer,

00:55:22 --> 00:55:23

everybody is with everybody.

00:55:26 --> 00:55:29

Etiquettes of dua, you can't ask for haram

00:55:29 --> 00:55:30

things.

00:55:31 --> 00:55:33

You'd have to know what's haram

00:55:33 --> 00:55:35

in order to do that. If you don't

00:55:35 --> 00:55:35

know,

00:55:36 --> 00:55:39

But if you know something's haram, you can't

00:55:39 --> 00:55:41

be asking for it in your dua. It's

00:55:41 --> 00:55:43

against, like, the etiquette of the dua.

00:55:44 --> 00:55:45

Don't ask for haram things.

00:55:46 --> 00:55:47

Some of the etiquettes

00:55:48 --> 00:55:50

why are you smiling like that?

00:55:51 --> 00:55:52

What are you praying for, Solo?

00:55:55 --> 00:55:57

Part of the etiquette of dua, you asked

00:55:57 --> 00:55:59

by a deed you have done. Right? There's

00:55:59 --> 00:56:00

a hadith

00:56:00 --> 00:56:03

where the prophet and this isn't like, overtly

00:56:03 --> 00:56:04

emphasized thing.

00:56:05 --> 00:56:07

But for example, there's a hadith where 3

00:56:07 --> 00:56:10

men get trapped in a cave. A boulder

00:56:10 --> 00:56:11

comes to the mouth of the cave,

00:56:12 --> 00:56:15

and they say, let's make dua to Allah

00:56:15 --> 00:56:17

by an action that we undertook for saying

00:56:17 --> 00:56:19

if we did this for your sake, then

00:56:19 --> 00:56:20

move the rock out of the way. Right?

00:56:20 --> 00:56:22

And the rock moves after each one. You

00:56:22 --> 00:56:25

can look up the hadith. That's, like, another

00:56:25 --> 00:56:26

way to make du'a.

00:56:29 --> 00:56:31

Use language you are comfortable with.

00:56:31 --> 00:56:34

Right? Our prayers are done in Arabic,

00:56:35 --> 00:56:36

like our salah,

00:56:36 --> 00:56:39

but your dua should be done in whatever

00:56:39 --> 00:56:41

language you're most, like, fluent in

00:56:41 --> 00:56:44

so that there's sincerity in your words. You

00:56:44 --> 00:56:44

know?

00:56:45 --> 00:56:47

People ask me, how did you learn how

00:56:47 --> 00:56:48

to speak like this? I said, I don't

00:56:48 --> 00:56:50

know. And I tried to think about it.

00:56:50 --> 00:56:53

I studied Latin for, like, 6 or 8

00:56:53 --> 00:56:54

years in other languages.

00:56:55 --> 00:56:57

My father is a doctor, but he loved

00:56:57 --> 00:56:59

to read. He wrote a lot of poetry,

00:56:59 --> 00:57:01

you know, when we were growing up. I'm

00:57:01 --> 00:57:03

sure I was, like, impacted by some of

00:57:03 --> 00:57:04

these different things.

00:57:06 --> 00:57:07

But, like,

00:57:08 --> 00:57:08

I've

00:57:08 --> 00:57:11

been asked to give talks in other languages,

00:57:11 --> 00:57:13

and it's atrocious. Like, it's terrible.

00:57:14 --> 00:57:15

You know?

00:57:15 --> 00:57:16

I cannot speak

00:57:17 --> 00:57:18

in Urdu or Punjabi

00:57:19 --> 00:57:19

or

00:57:20 --> 00:57:22

Spanish or Latin or Arabic or any of

00:57:22 --> 00:57:24

these languages the way I talk in English.

00:57:26 --> 00:57:28

So I'm making most of my duas in

00:57:28 --> 00:57:29

English

00:57:30 --> 00:57:33

because that's just the language that I feel

00:57:33 --> 00:57:36

most comfortable in. You know? So make these

00:57:36 --> 00:57:38

DAWs in the language that you're comfortable in.

00:57:39 --> 00:57:41

And if it works for you, like, write

00:57:41 --> 00:57:42

them out before so it helps you to

00:57:42 --> 00:57:43

be focused.

00:57:44 --> 00:57:46

I can't tell you the number of people

00:57:46 --> 00:57:47

that we fly

00:57:47 --> 00:57:49

to Mecca. They're standing in front of the

00:57:49 --> 00:57:49

Kaaba

00:57:50 --> 00:57:51

and they're moved,

00:57:51 --> 00:57:53

but there's always people who look at me

00:57:53 --> 00:57:54

and they're like, what am I supposed to

00:57:54 --> 00:57:55

pray for?

00:57:57 --> 00:57:58

Like, what do you mean, man?

00:57:58 --> 00:58:00

You came all the way here

00:58:01 --> 00:58:03

and you didn't think about this?

00:58:05 --> 00:58:06

You know?

00:58:07 --> 00:58:08

Life is about moments

00:58:09 --> 00:58:10

in our tradition.

00:58:11 --> 00:58:11

Allah forgives

00:58:12 --> 00:58:13

the woman who's a prostitute

00:58:15 --> 00:58:17

for giving water to a thirsty animal. She's

00:58:17 --> 00:58:19

given Jannah its moments.

00:58:21 --> 00:58:22

What distracted

00:58:22 --> 00:58:25

the mind and the heart from being prepared?

00:58:25 --> 00:58:28

Ramadan is coming. Why we're talking about this?

00:58:28 --> 00:58:30

Like, make du'a

00:58:30 --> 00:58:32

to god this Ramadan.

00:58:34 --> 00:58:37

Don't get stuck in the mechanics of it.

00:58:37 --> 00:58:40

Get to a place where you're actually praying

00:58:40 --> 00:58:41

to your creator.

00:58:42 --> 00:58:44

And what are you gonna ask of him?

00:58:44 --> 00:58:47

You wanna mention the Ishmael Husna, like the

00:58:47 --> 00:58:49

divine names of the god of god that

00:58:49 --> 00:58:51

we've been taught? So

00:58:51 --> 00:58:53

call upon Allah. You Rahman,

00:58:54 --> 00:58:56

increase me in my mercy and compassion.

00:58:56 --> 00:58:57

You Rahim,

00:58:57 --> 00:59:00

bestow your mercy upon me. Do you know?

00:59:00 --> 00:59:03

Yeah Latif, be gentle with me, be kind.

00:59:05 --> 00:59:07

Part of the etiquettes of duas is to

00:59:07 --> 00:59:10

repeat, like, the du'a a few different times.

00:59:10 --> 00:59:12

Like, the prophet sometimes would repeat things 3

00:59:12 --> 00:59:13

times.

00:59:14 --> 00:59:16

A big part of the etiquette of du'a

00:59:17 --> 00:59:19

is you're not impatient with the acceptance of

00:59:19 --> 00:59:20

dua,

00:59:20 --> 00:59:22

and this gets really hard for a lot

00:59:22 --> 00:59:23

of us.

00:59:24 --> 00:59:26

Your god is not a birthday cake that

00:59:26 --> 00:59:28

you are making a wish upon,

00:59:29 --> 00:59:31

nor is he a genie in a lamp

00:59:31 --> 00:59:32

that is there to do your bidding.

00:59:34 --> 00:59:36

You don't have to believe it for it

00:59:36 --> 00:59:38

to be true, but a law is in

00:59:38 --> 00:59:39

control of everything.

00:59:40 --> 00:59:43

So where trust comes in is that you

00:59:43 --> 00:59:43

make the Dua

00:59:44 --> 00:59:46

and you know that god wants what's best

00:59:46 --> 00:59:47

for you.

00:59:48 --> 00:59:50

So you're gonna either get what you're asking

00:59:50 --> 00:59:53

for. You're gonna get something better than it.

00:59:53 --> 00:59:56

You're gonna get something in the hereafter

00:59:56 --> 00:59:58

rather than the here and now.

00:59:59 --> 01:00:00

Allah knows best.

01:00:01 --> 01:00:03

So it's not based off of,

01:00:04 --> 01:00:06

like and you can keep asking. Right? My

01:00:06 --> 01:00:09

son, every 10, 20 minutes. Baba, can I

01:00:09 --> 01:00:11

watch this now? Baba, can I do this

01:00:11 --> 01:00:12

now? Can I do this now? He's a

01:00:12 --> 01:00:14

kid. What am I gonna do? Get annoyed

01:00:14 --> 01:00:17

with him? So you too can keep asking

01:00:17 --> 01:00:18

and keep asking,

01:00:19 --> 01:00:21

but you want to be able to understand

01:00:21 --> 01:00:22

divine timing

01:00:23 --> 01:00:25

is in the hands of the divine.

01:00:27 --> 01:00:29

And sometimes things don't work out, and we

01:00:29 --> 01:00:30

don't get it.

01:00:30 --> 01:00:32

I got married when I was about to

01:00:32 --> 01:00:33

turn 29.

01:00:33 --> 01:00:34

My wife was 32.

01:00:35 --> 01:00:37

I'm now 41 years old.

01:00:37 --> 01:00:39

I don't know if I'm the oldest person

01:00:39 --> 01:00:41

in the room or not, but I'm probably

01:00:41 --> 01:00:43

one of the elders in the room, which

01:00:43 --> 01:00:45

is crazy because I always used to be

01:00:45 --> 01:00:46

the youngest person in the room.

01:00:50 --> 01:00:52

And I would be foolish to assume at

01:00:52 --> 01:00:53

32

01:00:53 --> 01:00:55

that I was the first person my wife

01:00:55 --> 01:00:57

ever thought of getting married to.

01:00:57 --> 01:00:59

And I know for a fact she didn't

01:00:59 --> 01:01:00

think that she was the first person I

01:01:00 --> 01:01:02

thought I was gonna get married to.

01:01:02 --> 01:01:04

When those things didn't work out, it really

01:01:04 --> 01:01:07

did not feel good, and it's okay to

01:01:07 --> 01:01:08

say that.

01:01:09 --> 01:01:11

But I also can't imagine being married to

01:01:11 --> 01:01:13

anybody other than the woman I'm married to.

01:01:15 --> 01:01:16

Do you get what I mean?

01:01:17 --> 01:01:18

I made those duas, but

01:01:21 --> 01:01:21

Allah,

01:01:21 --> 01:01:23

like, knows best.

01:01:23 --> 01:01:24

You get what I'm saying?

01:01:25 --> 01:01:27

And so we just have to be in

01:01:27 --> 01:01:28

a place where we recognize who it is

01:01:28 --> 01:01:29

that we're praise,

01:01:29 --> 01:01:32

praying to. And then you wanna say, I

01:01:32 --> 01:01:32

mean,

01:01:33 --> 01:01:35

like, to your duas. Right? You know? So

01:01:35 --> 01:01:36

they're

01:01:36 --> 01:01:39

say I mean. Right? The brother said, like,

01:01:39 --> 01:01:39

free Palestine.

01:01:40 --> 01:01:41

Say, I mean.

01:01:41 --> 01:01:43

You know what I mean? Right? So you're

01:01:43 --> 01:01:44

in a place where

01:01:44 --> 01:01:47

you have that kind of interaction and engagement

01:01:47 --> 01:01:47

with it.

01:01:48 --> 01:01:50

Okay. That took a lot longer than I

01:01:50 --> 01:01:52

thought it was going to. So the other

01:01:52 --> 01:01:54

things I wanna get to, we're not gonna

01:01:54 --> 01:01:55

get to tonight.

01:01:56 --> 01:01:58

But what I like for you to do

01:01:58 --> 01:01:59

is 2 things.

01:01:59 --> 01:02:01

Spend some time, like, regularly

01:02:02 --> 01:02:05

reflecting on who you think god is through

01:02:05 --> 01:02:07

the duas that you're making to god.

01:02:07 --> 01:02:09

Do you know what I mean?

01:02:09 --> 01:02:11

And really, like, sit down. And if you

01:02:11 --> 01:02:12

need, like, this

01:02:13 --> 01:02:15

moment of being like, why am I praying

01:02:15 --> 01:02:16

for this?

01:02:17 --> 01:02:17

You know?

01:02:18 --> 01:02:20

What is it that I'm really asking for?

01:02:21 --> 01:02:23

Something that's gonna distract me from my family

01:02:23 --> 01:02:24

even more,

01:02:25 --> 01:02:27

something that's gonna have me stuck in an

01:02:27 --> 01:02:29

office for even more time,

01:02:29 --> 01:02:31

something that's gonna create more stress,

01:02:32 --> 01:02:34

more kinda confusion.

01:02:35 --> 01:02:37

Like, what am I really asking for in

01:02:37 --> 01:02:37

this?

01:02:39 --> 01:02:41

And then think about what's absent from the

01:02:41 --> 01:02:43

duas that you're making.

01:02:43 --> 01:02:45

You can make dua for dunya y things.

01:02:45 --> 01:02:45

Right?

01:02:49 --> 01:02:51

That, oh Allah, give to me in the

01:02:51 --> 01:02:54

dunya hasana, things of goodness, things of beauty.

01:02:54 --> 01:02:55

But you also have

01:02:58 --> 01:03:00

in the hereafter, I want things of beauty.

01:03:02 --> 01:03:04

And protect me from, like, the pits of

01:03:04 --> 01:03:05

chastisement.

01:03:06 --> 01:03:08

Embedded in these duas

01:03:08 --> 01:03:10

are expansive understandings

01:03:10 --> 01:03:12

of potential scenarios.

01:03:12 --> 01:03:13

That dua in the Quran

01:03:14 --> 01:03:15

is juxtaposed

01:03:15 --> 01:03:19

to people making a dua that is Rabbanahat

01:03:19 --> 01:03:21

in a fitunyah, and that's it.

01:03:22 --> 01:03:24

And both of these groupings of people are

01:03:24 --> 01:03:26

people who are on pilgrimage.

01:03:29 --> 01:03:31

I've gone to Mecca

01:03:31 --> 01:03:33

numerous times. I've literally

01:03:33 --> 01:03:34

stood with people

01:03:35 --> 01:03:35

as they're

01:03:36 --> 01:03:39

holding on to the cloak of the Kaaba,

01:03:39 --> 01:03:41

and all they're asking for is dunya.

01:03:47 --> 01:03:49

If you seek out in

01:03:50 --> 01:03:51

Ramadan,

01:03:52 --> 01:03:55

don't let it be something that all you're

01:03:55 --> 01:03:57

asking for is a portion of some part

01:03:57 --> 01:03:58

of this world

01:03:59 --> 01:04:01

or relief from the fear

01:04:01 --> 01:04:03

of maybe you might lose some part of

01:04:03 --> 01:04:06

it for doing something moral or just,

01:04:08 --> 01:04:10

but be in a place where you really,

01:04:10 --> 01:04:11

like, think,

01:04:11 --> 01:04:13

what is it that I need, man?

01:04:14 --> 01:04:16

What is it that I'm really trying to

01:04:16 --> 01:04:18

pursue and chase after?

01:04:19 --> 01:04:21

And then how am I ready to accept

01:04:21 --> 01:04:23

what it is that comes along with it?

01:04:23 --> 01:04:24

If you made dua,

01:04:24 --> 01:04:27

you allah, make me someone who memorizes the

01:04:27 --> 01:04:29

whole Quran, you're probably not gonna wake up

01:04:29 --> 01:04:32

tomorrow morning and suddenly you're like, I know

01:04:32 --> 01:04:34

the whole Quran. That's not how it works.

01:04:36 --> 01:04:38

The steps that are needed to get to

01:04:38 --> 01:04:40

the place where you memorize it will be

01:04:40 --> 01:04:41

open and facilitated.

01:04:42 --> 01:04:44

You have to choose to take the openings.

01:04:44 --> 01:04:47

So if you ask for a spouse that's

01:04:47 --> 01:04:50

of a certain type of categorization,

01:04:50 --> 01:04:52

then you gotta be ready to be the

01:04:52 --> 01:04:55

person who God is gonna put that person

01:04:55 --> 01:04:57

in their in your life. You want a

01:04:57 --> 01:04:59

job and you're asking simultaneously

01:04:59 --> 01:05:01

for protection from hellfire.

01:05:01 --> 01:05:03

The 2 things have to go hand in

01:05:03 --> 01:05:05

hand. Do you get what I mean?

01:05:06 --> 01:05:07

They can't have

01:05:07 --> 01:05:07

contradictory

01:05:08 --> 01:05:09

coexistence.

01:05:09 --> 01:05:12

It's not possible that you want jannah and

01:05:12 --> 01:05:15

protection from jahannam, but then you also want

01:05:15 --> 01:05:17

the job that's gonna give you the pathway

01:05:17 --> 01:05:18

to Jahannam.

01:05:19 --> 01:05:21

Do you get you get what I'm saying?

01:05:21 --> 01:05:22

Does that make sense?

01:05:23 --> 01:05:24

So you spend some time with the duas

01:05:24 --> 01:05:27

and reflect upon them, and you think, how

01:05:27 --> 01:05:29

are they answered? Do you know? Because the

01:05:29 --> 01:05:31

number of people that sit in my office

01:05:31 --> 01:05:32

and they're like, I've been praying for this

01:05:32 --> 01:05:35

thing, and I don't know what's going on,

01:05:35 --> 01:05:37

and maybe God hates me, which is Shaitan's

01:05:37 --> 01:05:40

biggest tool. At the end of every single

01:05:40 --> 01:05:41

thing,

01:05:41 --> 01:05:44

I think God doesn't like me. What? Why

01:05:44 --> 01:05:45

would God make you

01:05:45 --> 01:05:47

if he didn't like you?

01:05:47 --> 01:05:48

Do you know?

01:05:48 --> 01:05:50

Do you think god made a mistake in

01:05:50 --> 01:05:52

making you? Is that, like, who do you

01:05:52 --> 01:05:53

think your god is?

01:05:54 --> 01:05:55

Do you know what I mean?

01:05:58 --> 01:06:00

But this is what Shaitan wants.

01:06:00 --> 01:06:03

Every single juncture, I made a mistake. Allah

01:06:03 --> 01:06:05

must hate me. I'm the worst Muslim. I

01:06:05 --> 01:06:07

did haram. I'm the worst thing. I'm going

01:06:07 --> 01:06:10

to *. Like, I made this dua. It's

01:06:10 --> 01:06:11

probably I'm not getting it because I'm a

01:06:11 --> 01:06:12

bad person.

01:06:13 --> 01:06:15

No. Like, what what do you mean?

01:06:16 --> 01:06:19

Where does the notion come from? You gotta

01:06:19 --> 01:06:22

break it down because it's now

01:06:22 --> 01:06:23

creating misconstrued

01:06:24 --> 01:06:25

ideas

01:06:25 --> 01:06:26

twofold.

01:06:26 --> 01:06:27

1,

01:06:27 --> 01:06:30

you don't understand who god is then, and

01:06:30 --> 01:06:32

2, you don't understand who you are also.

01:06:34 --> 01:06:37

And the combination of those things is gonna

01:06:37 --> 01:06:39

be just a lot of inward chaos.

01:06:40 --> 01:06:43

So bring your mind into your dua.

01:06:43 --> 01:06:45

Why are you asking for what you're asking?

01:06:45 --> 01:06:46

And the number of people who sit with

01:06:46 --> 01:06:48

me in my office, they're like, I made

01:06:48 --> 01:06:49

Dua offer these things.

01:06:51 --> 01:06:52

And then we get to the end of

01:06:52 --> 01:06:54

the conversation as they've let it all out,

01:06:54 --> 01:06:55

and I'm like,

01:06:56 --> 01:06:58

do you see how what's happening is actually

01:06:58 --> 01:07:00

the answer to your duas?

01:07:02 --> 01:07:05

Like, you asked for God to bring this

01:07:05 --> 01:07:06

person to you

01:07:07 --> 01:07:09

and to give you clarity.

01:07:10 --> 01:07:13

So now you have to confront the idea

01:07:13 --> 01:07:16

that the elders in your life, they're not

01:07:16 --> 01:07:16

god.

01:07:18 --> 01:07:20

They don't know what they're talking about.

01:07:21 --> 01:07:23

What other ways do you want it to

01:07:23 --> 01:07:24

be evident?

01:07:26 --> 01:07:28

When you're in a place where you're seeking,

01:07:28 --> 01:07:30

like, certain things. Y'all,

01:07:30 --> 01:07:32

if he's not good for me, then, like,

01:07:32 --> 01:07:34

take him away from me. And then the

01:07:34 --> 01:07:36

next day, you know, he told me he

01:07:36 --> 01:07:39

doesn't wanna talk to me anymore. Like, I

01:07:39 --> 01:07:41

don't get what got well, you made the

01:07:41 --> 01:07:43

Dua, man. That if he's not good for

01:07:43 --> 01:07:45

you, then take him away, and he got

01:07:45 --> 01:07:47

taken away. So what what's the, like, hard

01:07:47 --> 01:07:49

thing to understand? I don't say it to

01:07:49 --> 01:07:51

people like that because it's not it's not

01:07:51 --> 01:07:53

gonna be nice to them in that kind

01:07:53 --> 01:07:54

of moment. Right?

01:07:54 --> 01:07:56

But it's like, that's what you asked for.

01:07:56 --> 01:07:58

You you see what I mean?

01:07:59 --> 01:08:00

And if you ask for certain things to

01:08:00 --> 01:08:03

come and they came, like, what is it

01:08:03 --> 01:08:06

then that's, like, the missing piece to this?

01:08:06 --> 01:08:09

What's helpful sometimes is when you have somebody

01:08:09 --> 01:08:10

to talk to about it. So you're not

01:08:10 --> 01:08:12

in your own head

01:08:12 --> 01:08:14

kinda thinking out. Right? So as obnoxious as

01:08:14 --> 01:08:16

I sound right now, that's not how we

01:08:16 --> 01:08:17

would talk in my office.

01:08:18 --> 01:08:19

You can let it out.

01:08:20 --> 01:08:23

We can decipher some of it, say back

01:08:23 --> 01:08:24

to you a lot of what you said

01:08:24 --> 01:08:26

to me so you could hear it differently.

01:08:26 --> 01:08:27

So you're not

01:08:28 --> 01:08:29

with, like, your

01:08:29 --> 01:08:29

and

01:08:30 --> 01:08:31

all this other stuff.

01:08:31 --> 01:08:33

And then it's not getting you to a

01:08:33 --> 01:08:35

concluding point that says, I'm not right for

01:08:35 --> 01:08:37

this religion or this religion is not right

01:08:37 --> 01:08:39

for me. Do you get what I mean?

01:08:41 --> 01:08:42

Ramadan is a time you want to make

01:08:42 --> 01:08:43

du'a.

01:08:44 --> 01:08:46

So make, like, specific

01:08:47 --> 01:08:49

times. If you gotta be in an office,

01:08:49 --> 01:08:52

just 5 minutes of your day, just sit

01:08:52 --> 01:08:54

and raise your hands. The etiquettes of what

01:08:54 --> 01:08:57

we talked about, they're not farad. They're not

01:08:57 --> 01:08:57

obligations.

01:08:58 --> 01:09:00

You can make dua without udu. You can

01:09:00 --> 01:09:02

make dua without facing the Qibla.

01:09:03 --> 01:09:04

You don't have to raise your hands so

01:09:04 --> 01:09:07

you're not sitting in your office like this,

01:09:07 --> 01:09:09

and people are like, what are you doing

01:09:09 --> 01:09:12

in there? Right? You just make your dua.

01:09:12 --> 01:09:13

That's it.

01:09:13 --> 01:09:16

Any reason you have not to do it

01:09:16 --> 01:09:18

doesn't make any sense.

01:09:19 --> 01:09:20

You can do it literally

01:09:21 --> 01:09:23

anywhere that you are. Just don't do it

01:09:23 --> 01:09:26

in the bathroom and everywhere else you're good.

01:09:26 --> 01:09:28

Do do you get what I mean? Right?

01:09:28 --> 01:09:29

So

01:09:29 --> 01:09:31

30 days 30 nights

01:09:31 --> 01:09:34

in this month, and you have time. Like,

01:09:34 --> 01:09:37

go through it. The times that we mentioned,

01:09:37 --> 01:09:38

there's a lot more.

01:09:39 --> 01:09:42

It'll be something that you feel, like, kind

01:09:42 --> 01:09:44

of the the experience of. Okay. So I

01:09:44 --> 01:09:46

wanna take a pause. If everyone can just

01:09:46 --> 01:09:48

turn to the persons next to them really

01:09:48 --> 01:09:49

quick, what are some of the things we're

01:09:49 --> 01:09:51

taking away from tonight,

01:09:51 --> 01:09:53

and then we'll wrap up, but go ahead.

01:10:08 --> 01:10:10

Yeah. We can close it off. That's it.

01:10:13 --> 01:10:15

Yeah. They're just, like, talking about takeaways, and

01:10:15 --> 01:10:17

then we're gonna wrap up in 2 minutes.

01:10:22 --> 01:10:23

You have what?

01:10:25 --> 01:10:25

Do you have bags?

01:10:26 --> 01:10:27

Oh,

01:10:28 --> 01:10:28

Do you have bags? Yeah. Oh, do you

01:10:28 --> 01:10:30

have them here? Yeah. I have them.

01:10:32 --> 01:10:33

Okay. I'll tell them.

01:11:56 --> 01:11:57

What?

01:12:00 --> 01:12:02

Okay. She can do that. Is she here?

01:12:04 --> 01:12:04

Okay.

01:13:38 --> 01:13:40

Okay. What are some of the things we're

01:13:40 --> 01:13:42

taking away from today?

01:13:48 --> 01:13:48

Any takeaways?

01:13:57 --> 01:13:58

Why is this person?

01:14:07 --> 01:14:07

Yeah. Go ahead.

01:14:09 --> 01:14:11

Okay. I guess.

01:14:31 --> 01:14:33

You, like, remind me what part in the

01:14:33 --> 01:14:35

Quran it says, like, Allah will provide for

01:14:35 --> 01:14:37

you where you do not expect or, like,

01:14:37 --> 01:14:38

from sources where you do not

01:14:39 --> 01:14:41

It sounds like you're doing pretty good.

01:14:42 --> 01:14:43

Okay. Well,

01:14:44 --> 01:14:46

I I have to, like, remind myself. Sorry.

01:14:46 --> 01:14:46

I

01:14:47 --> 01:14:50

No. Go ahead, please. Sorry. Not to interrupt

01:14:50 --> 01:14:50

you.

01:14:51 --> 01:14:54

I need to remind myself sometimes when I

01:14:54 --> 01:14:56

don't get something that I want or, like,

01:14:56 --> 01:14:58

I'm working really hard hard for, like, in

01:14:58 --> 01:15:00

my dua, I, like, remind myself of that

01:15:00 --> 01:15:01

passage in the Quran,

01:15:02 --> 01:15:04

and not even, like, a couple, like,

01:15:05 --> 01:15:07

don't even know if I'm gonna get a

01:15:07 --> 01:15:09

little bit more of a

01:15:14 --> 01:15:16

for it or, like, I've asked somebody who

01:15:16 --> 01:15:18

I thought would be, like, the best choice

01:15:18 --> 01:15:20

for, like, getting the opportunity, and then it

01:15:20 --> 01:15:22

got shut down. And then, like, a little

01:15:22 --> 01:15:24

while later, I would get that same opportunity

01:15:24 --> 01:15:26

that I wanted, but, like, from a different

01:15:26 --> 01:15:29

way. And so, like, intertwining that passage of

01:15:29 --> 01:15:31

the Quran with, like, the saying where it's,

01:15:31 --> 01:15:31

like,

01:15:33 --> 01:15:35

what's what's for you is for you even

01:15:35 --> 01:15:37

if it's, like, beneath 2 mountains, and then

01:15:37 --> 01:15:39

what's not for you is not gonna reach

01:15:39 --> 01:15:41

you even if it's between your lips. And

01:15:41 --> 01:15:44

so I have to, like, tell myself that,

01:15:44 --> 01:15:46

like, even if I don't get what I

01:15:46 --> 01:15:48

want, like, it's not for me. And then

01:15:48 --> 01:15:50

in my door, I'm like, Allah, wow me.

01:15:50 --> 01:15:52

Me. Like you know? And then, like, even

01:15:52 --> 01:15:55

sometimes later, like, there have been moments where

01:15:55 --> 01:15:56

I'll just, like, open my email. It's like,

01:15:56 --> 01:15:58

you have been accepted into it. I just,

01:15:58 --> 01:15:59

like, burst out into

01:16:00 --> 01:16:01

tears, in public. But,

01:16:02 --> 01:16:04

it has happened where I'm like, I did

01:16:04 --> 01:16:06

not even think that this was gonna happen

01:16:06 --> 01:16:06

to

01:16:08 --> 01:16:10

me. So you always gotta ask Allah to

01:16:10 --> 01:16:12

wow you because he delivers.

01:16:14 --> 01:16:15

That's amazing.

01:16:19 --> 01:16:21

Any other thoughts before we wrap up?

01:16:24 --> 01:16:26

Yeah. I think that's a good place for

01:16:26 --> 01:16:27

us to take a pause.

01:16:28 --> 01:16:30

Someone wanted to make an announcement, I was

01:16:30 --> 01:16:31

told.

01:16:32 --> 01:16:33

Do you wanna come?

01:16:33 --> 01:16:36

You say, oh, no? He's a Cool.

01:16:37 --> 01:16:38

From everyone. My name is Simon.

01:16:39 --> 01:16:41

I'm just making a request. There is a

01:16:41 --> 01:16:42

24 hour vigil

01:16:43 --> 01:16:45

starting Wednesday at 10 AM in front of

01:16:45 --> 01:16:47

city hall until 10 AM Thursday.

01:16:48 --> 01:16:50

It's to urge our city council members to

01:16:50 --> 01:16:52

support a ceasefire resolution in New York City.

01:16:52 --> 01:16:55

You've probably seen there's been ceasefire resolutions passed

01:16:55 --> 01:16:58

in big cities like San Francisco, Chicago, but

01:16:58 --> 01:17:00

they've passed because there's been a ton of

01:17:00 --> 01:17:01

community pressure

01:17:01 --> 01:17:03

and we've sort of not done that really

01:17:03 --> 01:17:06

well here because our our city council members,

01:17:06 --> 01:17:08

folks that we would normally think would say

01:17:08 --> 01:17:11

something, have said either nothing or they've taken

01:17:11 --> 01:17:12

neutral stances. So we're doing need to put

01:17:12 --> 01:17:15

pressure on our city council members. So there's

01:17:15 --> 01:17:17

going to be a press conference at 10

01:17:17 --> 01:17:20

AM until about 11:30 at city hall. We're

01:17:20 --> 01:17:22

gonna walk over to the plaza. We're gonna

01:17:22 --> 01:17:23

pray,

01:17:24 --> 01:17:26

and then we are going to have various

01:17:26 --> 01:17:28

organizations start reading names of the 30,000

01:17:29 --> 01:17:31

Palestinians that have been murdered. We won't have

01:17:31 --> 01:17:32

the entire list because, unfortunately, we don't have

01:17:32 --> 01:17:34

all the names, but we're gonna try.

01:17:34 --> 01:17:37

We'll be praying all 5 salah in Jannah.

01:17:37 --> 01:17:38

So please, even if you're working in the

01:17:38 --> 01:17:40

area, you can just stop by to pray

01:17:40 --> 01:17:42

salah. Salah. Please do that. We'll also be

01:17:42 --> 01:17:45

praying salah to the most likely after

01:17:45 --> 01:17:48

and then we will be doing qiyam. So

01:17:48 --> 01:17:50

about 2 or 3 hours before Fajr salah

01:17:50 --> 01:17:52

out in the park, we're gonna do qiyam.

01:17:52 --> 01:17:54

We're gonna do dua of the oppressed. For

01:17:54 --> 01:17:56

folks that want to fast on Thursday, we'll

01:17:56 --> 01:17:57

have

01:17:58 --> 01:17:59

We'll pray fajr, and then we'll end around

01:17:59 --> 01:18:01

10 AM. We're just really asking folks to

01:18:01 --> 01:18:04

share this on their social media. Come up

01:18:04 --> 01:18:06

for whatever portion you can, please. It's n

01:18:06 --> 01:18:09

y c, the number 4, c spire on

01:18:09 --> 01:18:09

Instagram.

01:18:10 --> 01:18:11

This is an interfaith,

01:18:13 --> 01:18:14

ensure everything

01:18:14 --> 01:18:15

effort,

01:18:15 --> 01:18:18

it's a grassroots movement and there will be

01:18:18 --> 01:18:19

faith leaders from various

01:18:30 --> 01:18:32

I think we have 40 or more orgs

01:18:32 --> 01:18:35

that are endorsing this action, so please come

01:18:35 --> 01:18:37

out, please tell your friends, Try to come

01:18:37 --> 01:18:39

out, show support, and please make dua that

01:18:39 --> 01:18:40

it doesn't ring at night.

01:18:42 --> 01:18:42

Exactly.

01:18:45 --> 01:18:46

Tomorrow

01:18:47 --> 01:18:48

is when is Tuesday.

01:18:51 --> 01:18:53

So we're having, like, all of our regular

01:18:53 --> 01:18:54

halakas

01:18:55 --> 01:18:56

on Wednesday

01:18:56 --> 01:18:59

for the Sierra Halakah that I normally do.

01:18:59 --> 01:19:01

We're gonna also have because it's the last

01:19:01 --> 01:19:02

one we're gonna do for a while because

01:19:02 --> 01:19:04

Ramadan is gonna come, and I'm gonna be

01:19:04 --> 01:19:07

away in Turkey next week, so we won't

01:19:07 --> 01:19:08

have it that Wednesday.

01:19:10 --> 01:19:13

We're gonna get, like, tea and, like, other

01:19:13 --> 01:19:14

stuff. So if anybody wants to bring anything

01:19:14 --> 01:19:17

or bake anything, if you come on Wednesday,

01:19:17 --> 01:19:18

we get

01:19:18 --> 01:19:21

more people than this on Wednesday nights usually.

01:19:21 --> 01:19:23

So just try to come out for that.

01:19:23 --> 01:19:25

It'd be nice. And I think post Ramadan,

01:19:26 --> 01:19:27

what we're gonna try to do on Wednesdays

01:19:28 --> 01:19:30

or even for this is add, like, more

01:19:30 --> 01:19:32

of an element of just, Suhba

01:19:33 --> 01:19:35

where people can kinda be in community with

01:19:35 --> 01:19:37

each other, really build, like, some connections with

01:19:37 --> 01:19:38

one another

01:19:38 --> 01:19:39

as well.

01:19:40 --> 01:19:41

I really enjoyed the Iftar we did in

01:19:41 --> 01:19:44

my place last Monday. I think that was

01:19:44 --> 01:19:45

something that people could really

01:19:46 --> 01:19:48

get a lot out of also. And we

01:19:48 --> 01:19:49

used to do a lot more of that

01:19:49 --> 01:19:51

before COVID, so I'm hoping we can get

01:19:51 --> 01:19:51

back

01:19:52 --> 01:19:53

into that as well.

01:19:55 --> 01:19:55

On

01:19:58 --> 01:20:00

Saturday, we have a women's summit that's taking

01:20:00 --> 01:20:03

place here that's almost sold out.

01:20:03 --> 01:20:04

It's for women only.

01:20:05 --> 01:20:07

We're doing it in conjunction with Madhika,

01:20:08 --> 01:20:11

and they have a great lineup of speakers

01:20:11 --> 01:20:12

that'll be there

01:20:12 --> 01:20:13

on Sunday.

01:20:14 --> 01:20:17

We're having our monthly convert brunch. It's gonna

01:20:17 --> 01:20:19

be at Solo's Place. So if you have

01:20:19 --> 01:20:21

questions, you could ask him. It's for people

01:20:21 --> 01:20:23

who are exploring Islam,

01:20:23 --> 01:20:26

people who converted to Islam after being not

01:20:26 --> 01:20:27

Muslim,

01:20:27 --> 01:20:28

in a non Muslim family,

01:20:30 --> 01:20:32

as well as people who are family members

01:20:32 --> 01:20:34

of people in those categories. So we limit

01:20:34 --> 01:20:36

it just to those groupings of people

01:20:37 --> 01:20:39

as we do with certain other spaces that

01:20:39 --> 01:20:41

we have. Next Wednesday,

01:20:42 --> 01:20:44

night, we're gonna do a joint event

01:20:44 --> 01:20:47

between our Latino Muslim group and our converts

01:20:47 --> 01:20:48

group,

01:20:48 --> 01:20:49

that everyone's,

01:20:50 --> 01:20:51

like, welcome to attend also.

01:20:53 --> 01:20:54

And on Friday,

01:20:55 --> 01:20:57

on on Thursday next week, I don't know

01:20:57 --> 01:20:59

if it's open to everybody

01:20:59 --> 01:21:02

because we're not hosting it, but, or if

01:21:02 --> 01:21:03

it's NYU only.

01:21:03 --> 01:21:04

But the

01:21:07 --> 01:21:09

wait. Actually, I don't know if I can

01:21:09 --> 01:21:11

say this yet because then it'll be public.

01:21:11 --> 01:21:12

And then I'm not sure if I'm allowed

01:21:12 --> 01:21:13

to say it. Yeah. We'll keep it secret.

01:21:14 --> 01:21:16

You're gonna keep it secret?

01:21:16 --> 01:21:18

Yeah? Yeah. Maybe after I turn the camera

01:21:18 --> 01:21:19

off, we can tell.

01:21:20 --> 01:21:22

And then on on Friday,

01:21:23 --> 01:21:25

we're gonna do, like, a welcome Ramadan event,

01:21:25 --> 01:21:27

myself, Sheikh Fawaz, mothers. We'll have a dinner.

01:21:27 --> 01:21:30

It's like a community dinner. So March 8th,

01:21:30 --> 01:21:31

we'll be doing that.

01:21:32 --> 01:21:35

And I'll probably share either Jummah on Friday

01:21:35 --> 01:21:36

next week

01:21:36 --> 01:21:38

or at that event, like, some of the

01:21:38 --> 01:21:38

images

01:21:39 --> 01:21:41

of the children we're gonna be visiting in

01:21:41 --> 01:21:41

Gaza,

01:21:42 --> 01:21:44

from Gaza in Turkey,

01:21:44 --> 01:21:46

and their families that we're gonna be trying

01:21:46 --> 01:21:48

to raise funds for in in Ramadan.

01:21:49 --> 01:21:51

So it'd be really great. People just make

01:21:51 --> 01:21:54

dua that these projects are successful also.

01:21:54 --> 01:21:56

Because a lot of these people literally have

01:21:56 --> 01:21:58

nothing. We've been trying as best as we

01:21:58 --> 01:22:00

can, helping to get people,

01:22:00 --> 01:22:02

like, who are stuck in Sudan, out of

01:22:02 --> 01:22:03

Sudan

01:22:03 --> 01:22:06

to places of safety, helping with people who

01:22:06 --> 01:22:07

are in Gaza to get out.

01:22:08 --> 01:22:10

But then they also need to exist, like,

01:22:10 --> 01:22:13

where they live. Right? And so that's where

01:22:13 --> 01:22:13

we come in.

01:22:15 --> 01:22:18

Your risk isn't like what you possess.

01:22:18 --> 01:22:21

Your risk, your livelihood is what you end

01:22:21 --> 01:22:22

up utilizing.

01:22:22 --> 01:22:24

You know? So just because you have a

01:22:24 --> 01:22:26

bunch of stuff sitting in a bank account,

01:22:26 --> 01:22:28

that's not actually your livelihood.

01:22:29 --> 01:22:31

You could be the means through which somebody

01:22:31 --> 01:22:33

else gets their sustenance and livelihood.

01:22:33 --> 01:22:37

And this Ramadan is probably one where you'd

01:22:37 --> 01:22:38

wanna try to, like, continue

01:22:39 --> 01:22:41

to keep consumption in check after Ramadan

01:22:42 --> 01:22:44

because the less you're spending on your stomach

01:22:45 --> 01:22:47

or anything else, the more you'll have to

01:22:47 --> 01:22:49

give to other people. Right? And it seems

01:22:49 --> 01:22:51

like it's just gonna be a lot more

01:22:51 --> 01:22:52

people,

01:22:52 --> 01:22:54

for quite some time that are gonna need

01:22:54 --> 01:22:56

our help, Inshallah. So make sure as you

01:22:56 --> 01:22:59

think of your duas that you're thinking also

01:23:00 --> 01:23:03

about those that the world has forgotten. But

01:23:03 --> 01:23:05

come to these different programs and events. And

01:23:05 --> 01:23:07

if you could help volunteer during Ramadan, we'd

01:23:07 --> 01:23:09

appreciate it as well,

01:23:10 --> 01:23:11

because we just need a lot of people

01:23:11 --> 01:23:13

to help out with everything.

01:23:13 --> 01:23:15

We'll send out more info on that,

01:23:16 --> 01:23:17

in the coming

01:23:17 --> 01:23:18

days.

01:23:19 --> 01:23:19

Okay.

01:23:20 --> 01:23:22

So, hopefully, we'll see everybody

01:23:23 --> 01:23:24

at different things this week and next week.

01:23:26 --> 01:23:29

And, otherwise, see you guys in Ramadan. If

01:23:29 --> 01:23:30

I don't see you,

01:23:30 --> 01:23:32

other than tonight till then.

01:23:44 --> 01:23:45

Yeah.

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