Khalid Latif – Getting Ready for Ramadan , Abdalla Idris & Imam Yasin Dwyer
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In the name of Allah, most gracious, most
merciful, all praise and all thanks belongs to
Allah. We praise him. We thank him. We
seek his help and we ask for his
forgiveness.
And we ask Allah most glorified and exalted
to shower his peace, his blessing, his benediction
upon
our beloved prophet,
Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam, his family, his companions,
and the righteous
everywhere.
My dear brothers, sisters, friends,
honored guests, I greet you all with the
greeting words of peace, the greeting words of
paradise, the greeting words of Islam.
Assalamu
alaykum.
May God's peace, mercy,
and blessings be with each and every one
of
you. I wish to welcome you all
to Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto's
pre Ramadan
event
and fundraiser.
We thank you so much for taking
your valuable time out of a Thursday
evening
to,
share the moment with us
and to celebrate
Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto
and to celebrate
the great moment that we are about to
embark upon
the moment that we call the month of
Ramadan.
Oh, you who believe fasting has been prescribed
for you as it was prescribed for those
before you so that you may cultivate
the mindfulness
of God. So we indeed
are embarking upon a very special moment
in the Muslim calendar, and we're so happy
that you could join Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto
on this blessed Thursday evening.
We have 2 very special
speakers with us today.
But before I introduce our speakers, I wanted
to mention that,
you know, one of the most important
objectives
of Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto is to provide
faith based counseling
and positive
mentorship.
And within the last year,
our 3 chaplains here at Muslim Chaplaincy
of of Toronto have held over
350
confidential
counseling sessions
ranging from questions of faith
to ways of dealing with school
stress.
And this is a critical service for students
looking for a safe space
to ask questions,
to seek spiritual guidance,
and to connect with experienced
spiritual
counselors.
And all of these sessions
are for free
without charge.
And indeed, we see this service
as an extension
of our
spiritual and religious
mission
as Muslims.
So we are in need of your support.
We are in need of your,
good wishes, and we are in need most
importantly of your dua.
So we are here to
celebrate
the work of Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto.
We're here to celebrate all of you, and
we are here to
encourage all of you
to be generous
and indeed
to remind you if the work of Muslim
Chaplaincy of Toronto
is important to you, is meaningful to you,
and you feel is a very important part
to the
forward momentum of our community, please
donate
generously.
As well, we have now expanded our counseling
services
to all
Ontario
universities.
Because our work has moved online
due to the COVID 19 pandemic,
our circle has
expanded.
Albeit
we most prefer
the visible presence
the visible presence,
of
community life. However,
Allah has
given us this situation.
So Alhamdulillah,
we are now online and we are able
to expand our circle. So Alhamdulillah, as I
mentioned before, we have
some very special guests with us today, both
supporters of Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto, and we're
gonna get straight into our program.
Our first, beloved guest is Imam Khalid
Latif, and he is a university chaplain
for New York University and the executive director
of the Islamic Center,
at New York University.
Under his leadership, the Islamic Center at New
York University became the first ever established
Muslim student center at a u at an
institution
of higher education in the United States.
Imam Latif's exceptional dedication and ability to cross
interfaith
and cultural lines on a daily basis
brought him recognition throughout the city. So much
so that in 2007, mayor Michael Bloomberg
nominated
Imam Latif to become the youngest
chaplain in history of the New York City
Police Department
at the age of 24.
What was I doing at the age of
24? I definitely was not a chaplain
for not only the New York City Police
Department, for any
police department. So
we're so happy to have Imam Khalid Latif
with us. He has been,
a strong supporter of Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto,
and we feel so blessed,
to have you present with us.
Imam Khalid Latif, please,
address us. Thank you.
All praise is due to Allah
We thank him. We praise him. We glorify
him.
We beseech him to send his choices salutations
upon his most beloved
and upon all those who choose to tread
in his path until the last day.
If I were to ask you all
whether you're having a good day today or
not,
And you are to answer that question within
yourself,
a simple yes or no that my day
is going well or my day is not
going well.
And then building upon that answer,
I was to ask you,
why?
Why is it good,
or why is it not good?
What is it making either of those experiences?
And after you reflect on that for a
little bit and try to think for yourself,
and ideally,
at a later time, do when you have
some more time allocated for that reflection.
I want you to think
whether you would want to have a good
day tomorrow.
And to not confine tomorrow just to the
day that is after today, but you could
place tomorrow in terms of a week from
now or 2 weeks from now.
And likely, most of us would say that,
yes, we want to have a good day
tomorrow.
May Allah make it so.
And within the prism of that conversation,
within yourself,
I would then ask you to reflect on
what is it that will make that day
good?
What will you need for it to make
it so?
Where we find ourselves in a place that
is most opportune, that many of us likely
have heard for some time over and over,
if not over the course of the last
days, but weeks years.
The blessing that is Ramadan, may Allah enable
us to reach it
and make us from amongst those who benefit
from it.
And the idea is we have maturation
to our physical self, our emotional self, our
mental self.
Our spiritual maturation is also something that needs
to take place.
At the same way as if when I
was 5 years age or 5 months old,
I didn't eat the same foods that I
eat now or didn't wear the same clothes
that I wear now. I have organic growth
to myself.
My spiritual maturation necessitates me also having evolution
in how I relate to my religion and
my faith and to take what it is
that's been given to me in terms of
spiritual vehicles and practices
and to now have them
be things that I still generate inward growth
from,
especially a month of Ramadan.
And to see it within the moment that
we find ourselves in
that goes back to these questions
of
what is it that's going to really bring
us contentment?
What is it that's going to help us
to find meaning in the course of our
day?
What is it that's going to help me
to assure
that the day that I experience tomorrow
is going to be a good day?
And that means that our approach to Ramadan
begins with the same things that it does
for so many people.
It's a month that's about Quran. It's a
month that is for fasting for those who
are able to if they have the means
to.
It's a month of generosity.
It's a month of so much.
But, fundamentally, all of it comes back to
what everything in our tradition comes back to,
a means of connecting to our creator
and through a formula that understands that our
understanding
and knowing of Allah
is by knowing of ourselves.
What our conversation tonight affords for us is
an opportunity to think about ourselves in a
more holistic
capacity
and to not just see us through the
physical self, but to also understand that just
as we have a body, a badin, a
jesid, a physical,
so too we have the qalb, the spiritual
heart. We have the aqr, the intellect. We
have the nafs, the ego. We have irada,
sheer will and determination.
And Ramadan affords us the opportunity to connect
to so much of what's happening within us
and to begin now to move forward in
a way that allows for us to have
a holistic approach to what it is that
we have going on.
And the physicality of it aside, because it's
never been about empty stomachs,
and it's always been about full hearts.
And not hearts that are full that they
feel like they're gonna burst and break,
but a fullness
that gives us empowerment and strength and energy.
That means that we have to, in our
own spiritual maturation,
pay attention to what comes up in the
course of Ramadan.
In the prism
of
the other spheres that make us a whole
self,
our mental,
emotional,
spiritual,
and physical.
I was in Canada pre COVID and was
invited to be in a conversation
at a large masjid
in the area that was having
discussions now
introductory
on mental wellness and health.
And after I'd given some remarks, we had
a panel. And on the panel, there was
a young woman who was speaking to this
audience of 500
that were individuals
of all backgrounds.
And as she saw her
personal narrative and made herself vulnerable,
She talked about what it was like for
her as a convert to Islam
who self identifies
as black,
has
been diagnosed with clinical depression,
and also is a survivor of abuse
stemming from an incestuous relationship.
May Allah make things easy for her and
all those who are survivors of abuse.
And she very vividly described what her life
was like in the prism of mental health.
That's what the conversation was about that day.
And when it concluded
and the audience started to get up and
have conversations,
3 women approached me
who, not stereotyping them in any way,
but wearing abayas and hijab and niqab so
that you can get a picture of them
in your mind.
And they said, can we talk to you
for a moment? And I said, sure.
And they said, we studied this religion
traditionally
in the Indian subcontinent
for 7 years.
We pursued Ferger graduate studies
in the UK.
We're even studying more now
here in Canada.
And they said nothing in the decade plus
of learning that we've engaged
has taught us how it is that we're
supposed to
respond
or answer
this person.
And I said to them with deep love
that maybe that's because
you're not the ones that are supposed to
be answering her,
and that's okay.
That your training is what it is,
and it's an important training.
But there are others who are deeply versed
in the fields
of counseling,
therapy, and so much more
that can help to add nuance
to what it is that she is going
through.
And so where you and I can understand
the conversation that we have today
and the critical role that a chaplaincy provides
as we go through Ramadan now and we
understand the legality of it. We understand the
fiqh aspects of it. We know what invalidates
our fast and what validates our fast. We
know what is prohibited and what is recommended.
We know the start times and the end
times.
What we want to know now is how
do we deal with the things that come
up for us?
The stresses, the exhaustion,
the anguish, the anxieties.
How do we start to approach the realities
that come to us day to day that
suddenly don't stop when the month starts?
And who is it that we go to
to now start to engage in conversations
that are not always just giving us direct
answers
because everything is not always so black and
white,
but to help to create within us the
sense of self esteem and self worth, empowerment
to our tradition, and give us a sense
of accountability
rooted in confidence that we can make choices
and decisions.
And even when we
have struggles,
that we don't have to go through it
alone
because there is an empathetic ear that is
listening
to affirm what it is that we feel
and to help us learn how to replenish
ourselves through what we go through.
Many of you likely have heard of the
attacks that took place in Dallas, Texas
earlier this week. And may Allah make things
easy
for all those whose lives were lost
and the ones that they have left behind
who yearned to be with them.
The young woman who was killed
in that violent attack
was a student of mine at New York
University.
May Allah grant her peace and entrance into
Jannah without any judgment,
a beautiful young woman by the name of
Farben Dohid.
And over the course of the last few
days
where
so many of her friends and classmates,
faculty, professors,
administrators who knew her as a student in
our school of the arts,
A young girl whose energy was so profound
that no one could say anything other than
when she walked into a room, she would
just illuminate the room
dedicated to her
art which spoke such volumes of who she
was and what her character was.
There's so many people
who are looking now for understanding,
looking for healing,
looking for hope,
and continue to
in these days
that are still so raw
after
that violent
tragic attack
that took her life and that of her
immediate family.
And for all of those young people, we
were able to create
healing spaces and spaces for processing.
My staff and I at our chaplaincy
last night
hosted a khatam and a service that had
100 from across our university,
whether they were of our faith or not,
listen to her friends reflect on her, hear
us recite Quran,
complete 5 khatms on behalf of her and
her family,
and make du'a for their magfirah.
And then we had a smaller space
where there was about 60 or 70 who
gathered
to now have more open discussion
on what it feels like.
I want you to think
because in that moment,
amongst the people who showed up
were also
members of her family,
who said that in the midst of all
of this,
this is the first base that we feel
like
we're actually starting to heal.
That's what a chaplaincy does,
and that's how you have to use yours
and cultivate it
and engage it as a resource through your
Ramadan
after a year in a pandemic
where there's so much stress and so much
difficulty, and it's okay to acknowledge that. That's
not a sign of anything problematic.
And I want you to think where would
those hundreds of people be? Where would those
dozens of students be who are her close
friends in a short amount of time as
a 1st year student that she built a
relationship with?
Where would they be
if our office, our center, our chaplaincy was
not there to provide support
to them?
That's the unfortunate reality that many Muslim students
experience.
In Canada, the United States, the UK, and
much of the world.
A space that is so critical within one's
formative period of
with a complimentary
understanding of the ethical and moral framework
that equips them now with the opportunity
to move forward, to find strength through our
tradition, to find meaning in failure, and to
know that you don't have to just go
through things alone or that your expression of
emotions is not a problem.
In this coming Ramadan,
try to understand that there are so many
who would long for someone to just call
them and check-in on them. So be the
ones who check-in on them.
There are so many who are going through
difficulty and strife. May Allah make things easy
for them. Be the reason they have hope
in this world.
Live your faith in such a way that
it is not simply one that is nefsy
or egocentric,
but serves the common good.
And then make sure that you become the
biggest advocates
of stabilizing
in people's minds
why the chaplaincy
at the University of Toronto is so important
for the students there,
the entire community there,
but also for the city of Toronto
and people who
live
all around it and in other parts of
the world.
Because the success and support of that vibrant
institution
will then yield individuals such as yourself to
go out with a different sense of self,
then you now become the catalyst
of real change
for so many.
A source of light and illumination.
A source of healing and a source of
benefit.
That's why we have to do our part
to ensure that no one feels alone.
No one feels they have to struggle by
themselves.
The Quran, it prohibits alcohol, and the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam demonstrates to us pastoral care
and how he shows compassion to the companion
of his that in hadith he is laughing
with.
And in other narrations,
he is standing with
as he struggles with his drinking and comes
to take the Hyde punishment for it.
And when other people mock him and say,
oh, so and so, he's coming again in
a way that looks down at him,
Our prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says to
those people that do not assist shaitan in
victory over your brother,
then indeed
he loves Allah and his messenger.
If those people heard it and we know
it, then assuredly, the prophet's companion
heard it and find strength to it. That's
what a chaplain does. That's what pastoral
care is. It works with a person in
their given reality.
It allows for Ramadan to not just be
about the absence
absence of water, but it's about embracing now
a nourishment of the whole vessel. And I
don't know about you, but I could say
for myself that after the last year and
a half, I'm ready for replenishment.
I'm ready for rejuvenation,
and I'm ready to turn to people who
make sense
to help me get to where it is
that I want to be and my soul
is in need of me returning to.
And so support your chaplaincy
and encourage others to as well,
and make sure you avail yourself of the
resources that you have.
Just think and reflect
as our teacher,
Ma'am Yassin, is telling us.
350
cases.
Can you imagine that?
Anxiety,
depression,
grief,
suicidal ideation,
physical abuse, mental abuse, financial abuse,
spiritual abuse,
relationship issues, family issues.
Worry
about the future, bad grades,
marital problems, things across the gamut, These are
entire people with names and narratives.
Where would they have gone
if not to the 3 chaplains that are
there at your chaplaincy?
And would the alternatives
actually have yielded for them
what it is that they needed?
Or would it be like the young woman
who I spoke to you before about?
When these 3 scholars,
who are scholars in their own right,
said we don't know how it is that
we can engage someone like this.
Would they have met somebody who did not
have the training,
but still nonetheless
pretended like they did?
And so with that, I wanted to ask
you all to join me in a short
dua
that is about our
coming Ramadan
as a way for us to be centered
together in the space
and to benefit from each other's presence that
even where buildings are closed, that hearts remain
open,
and our physical separation does not necessitate that
we have to be spiritually disconnected.
And so I would ask you all to
recenter yourself and join me in making a
dua
to remove yourselves from any distractions,
to let us be in a place where
we understand that before anything
came into existence,
Allah wrote that all of us would be
sharing this moment together.
And so your heart is the most precious
heart in the elevation of our dua.
May Allah accept it from us
and grant us better than what it is
that we are asking of him.
We begin this supplication in your name, You
Allah, and beseech you to send your choices
salutations upon your most beloved
We ask that you shower your infinite mercy
upon this gathering,
granting each and everyone who is present here
in and our loved ones, only the best
in this world and the best in the
next.
We ask you, Allah, that if all of
us are meant to be together only at
this time, at this place,
whether we are young or old, male or
female, regardless of our race, our ethnicity, our
social class, our country of origin, our cultural
heritage,
whether we are Muslim or come from a
different walk of life,
If our individual hearts are meant to be
in the presence of all of our hearts
that are gathered here only at this time
at this place,
and gather us all together again in the
best of places in the world beyond this
one.
You Allah, You 'alim,
knower of all things,
you who has known each of us before
we even knew ourselves,
help us through this coming month of Ramadan
to know ourselves better.
Help us through this blessed month to know
our strengths and to live by them, to
know our character and how to increase it,
to know our pains and how to heal
them, to know our value and how to
share it, to know our blessings and how
to be grateful for them, to know our
wants and to see where they conflict with
our needs, to know our shortcomings and to
how to confront and defeat them, to know
how to really forgive all those who have
wronged us and to actually forgive them, to
know how to seek forgiveness from those that
we have wronged and to then go out
and seek it, to know what charity is
by being generous with our wealth and our
time, to know what
goodness is by extending our hands without qualification
to all those who are in need.
Help us through the coming month of Ramadan
to know who it is that we are
and not let the people we are today
be afraid any longer to meet the people
we can be tomorrow.
And through it, you
Rabbi, help us to know you and your
mercy, to know you and your love.
Make us from amongst those who live with
true contentment every day of our lives and
grant us an abode in the place of
ultimate contentment in the world beyond this one.
Allow for our beings to be filled with
self love that we can go out and
share with others
rather than a love of ourselves that keeps
us from being everything that we are able
to be. When our hearts are heavy and
we are filled with darkness,
bring people to us who illuminate us through
kindness, compassion, and love.
Make us always the reason that people have
hope in this world
and never the reason that people might dread
it.
Help us to know the realities of those
that are around us by overcoming whatever it
is that exists within us that keeps us
away from one another.
Through the coming month of Ramadan,
perfect us inwardly so that we are victorious
in the battle that is taking place every
day for control of our hearts.
Give us victory over selfishness and remove from
within us any feeling of arrogance or racism.
Increase us in brotherhood and sisterhood so that
we might together take on every challenge that
we individually face,
and together celebrate every success and achievement.
Give us hearts that feel anger whenever one
of our sisters are abused
and the confidence and compassion needed to build
for her the services and shelters that she
is in need of.
Give us hearts that feel sadness when any
one of us loses a loved one
and the gentleness and mercy needed to be
there for them fully.
Give us hearts that feel joy whenever any
one of us succeeds
and the love and hope needed to celebrate
that achievement.
Give us hearts that are not lost in
the pursuit of this world,
but hearts that are bold enough to be
drawn to the world beyond this one.
Let our rage be only at the injustice,
oppression, and exploitation
of people
so that we will work for justice, equality,
and peace.
Let our tears shed only for those who
suffer from pain, rejection,
starvation, and conflict
so that we will reach out our hands
to comfort them and change their pain into
joy.
And let our successes be many as we
make a difference in this world by doing
the things which others say cannot be done.
Help us to see this world always through
hearts that have benefited from Ramadan,
to see the goodness in all those who
are around us,
and to never be those who elevate ourselves
by denigrating others,
to see the benefit in any challenge that
comes our way,
and to not pass on a gift that
can only be acquired through patience
and perseverance.
Help us to silence fear and abolish anxiety,
to overpower indifference and break away from greed,
to eliminate arrogance and defeat racism,
to be bold enough to ask of you
to make us those who only do that
which is good.
Make us those who find real peace and
real love
and not just the semblance of it.
Those who give real peace and real love
and not just the facade of it.
Make our motivation
always selflessness,
not selfishness,
sincerity, and never self centeredness.
For any pain and torment that we might
have faced
through it, give us ease, understanding, and facility.
For any suffering that we have sustained, bring
to us understanding and strength of healing.
Grant us always a life that is filled
with the wellness of our minds, our bodies,
our spirits, and our hearts.
Make this month of Ramadan
a month of rejuvenation
for us, a month of renewal for us,
a month of replenishment.
That it is not our stomachs that will
be hungry,
nor that our thirst will come from our
throats,
but it is our hearts, You Rabbi, that
are parched and long to be revitalized.
Grant us both in and through the coming
weeks a much needed peace that we long
for
even if we don't realize it.
And throughout that blessed month,
help us to make decisions through our hearts
and not ever at their expenses.
Put into our hearts a desire for nothing
less but to take from the coming Ramadan
all that it is that we can
and remove from our hearts anything that distracts
us from it.
Make us those who seek out witness and
benefit from Leilat al Qadr.
And in our standing in the nights, help
us to remember all those who are forgotten,
whether by us alone or the world around
us.
Give us the energy to stand into the
night and the sincerity to make du'a for
all who are special to us.
Through the coming Ramadan,
increase us in our Islam.
Through the coming Ramadan,
increase us in our iman. Through the coming
Ramadan,
increase us in our ihsan.
Make the Quran our guide and grant us
a deep understanding of it.
Make the sunnah our goal both inward and
outward aspects of it.
Make our prayer our anchor,
granting us the true sweetness
that salah and dua only can.
Make the best of our deeds the last
of our deeds,
and let not any one of us leave
this world other than in a state that
is most pleasing to you.
Thank you for the good work that is
coming
from the chaplaincy
at the University
of Toronto.
Bless all those who have established it, all
those who continue to work for it,
and make it a continued source of benefit,
illumination,
and light for all of your creation.
Make us
from the best of supporters
of the good work that is being done
there,
and increase
all those who are there
in all that is good
so that they might be a continued source
of benefit for your creation.
You Allah
bless us through the coming month of Ramadan
and help us to gain from it.
Protect us always from hearts that are not
humble, tongues that are not wise, and eyes
that have forgotten how to cry.
Forgive us for our shortcomings and guide and
bless us all.
Thank you all so much for the opportunity
to be with you, and thank you for
the great work that you all are doing.
May Allah make you a continued source of
blessing for his creation
and give to you only the best in
this world and the best in the next.
Thank you so much,
Imam Khaled Latif,
for
your support,
for your prayers, your supplications,
and for your presence.
We we are thankful for,
your presence, for your work,
and we look forward
to the time where we can,
be physically and visibly present with you once
again here in Toronto.
May
Allah bless you. May he guide you and
keep you
and your blessed family always
in his care.
May he,
help us
and facilitate goodness for us, and may he
plant
the seed of
righteousness
within the hearts
of you, your family,
and your children and may Allah
bless your children
and make them pleasing
to their Lord and pleasing
to their parents. May
Allah bless you and we look forward to
seeing you again very soon inshallah.
Thank you so much, imam Khaled.
Khaira. Alhamdulillah.
Imam Khaled has mentioned a lot of very
important
and
unfortunately
very
difficult
matters that
we as chaplaincy organizations
are dealing with.
And one of the main
features of a chaplaincy organization
is to provide
a spiritual home
for those who may feel
alienated
from those traditional spaces that we call religious
spaces.
And home
is not necessarily
where you were born, but home is where
all attempts
to escape
cease,
where you don't have to run anymore.
That in fact is where home is found,
And we at Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto are
looking to create
a space
that
all of us can call a spiritual home,
especially for
the students whom we serve.
And it has been
over a year
since the COVID 19 pandemic has started, and
the Muslim chaplaincy
has seen a significant
rise in demand
for our mental health counseling services.
We have hired additional chaplains and staff to
handle the increased demand while also
expanding, as I mentioned earlier, services across all
Ontario universities.
And since our foundation,
the Muslim Chaplaincy has always kept our counseling
sessions
free
for students
to make it easily
accessible.
And while demand for our services are growing,
we have seen a huge drop in donations
for the past year,
putting
the financial sustainability of our organization at great
risk.
And we ask that you find it in
your heart to contribute whatever amounts you can
and share a word about our services with
others.
And we ask
Allah
to grant us all success. And, again, if
you believe in the work
of Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto, we ask that
you give
generously.
We have with us as well
our
teacher,
our sheikh,
our
mentor.
One of the primary rules
of any religious organization,
any spiritual organization is to provide
mentorship because the tradition of Islam is not
necessarily
inherited through books,
rather it's inherited
through people.
And among those people is our beloved sheikh,
Abdullah Idris Ali,
and he has served as imam and director
and founded the 1st full time Islamic school
in Toronto.
He has served as the principal of ISNA
Islamic Community School for 17
years.
He also served on ISNA's executive council, the
Majlis Ashura
Youth and Education Committee and as the president
of ISNA
for two terms.
He is the chair of the Islamic Media
Foundation,
and he is
an all around
magnificent
and perhaps one of the most important
sources of guidance for the Muslim community, not
only in Canada,
but throughout
North
America.
And he is currently working as the executive
director of ISNA
Canada.
I can't tell you how pleased I am,
to introduce
my teacher
and
my mentor
and
perhaps
a teacher and mentor of all of you
who are present today. I'd like to invite
our beloved Sheikh Abdallah Idris
to address us and
to encourage us
to give generously to Muslim chaplaincy of Toronto.
Sheikh Abdallah,
I believe you're on mute.
I'm unmuted?
We got you now, Sheikh.
Okay.
It's for the
stay muted. Stay unmute. Doesn't want to disappear.
Okay.
Now I wanna, let me say this.
That's in the name, by the name, with
the name of Allah that declares Allah
We send our peace and blessings upon prophet
Muhammad
and may the peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him.
Let me begin by saying 2 things. 1,
All of this together
for me,
for giving me at least this opportunity
again to talk to the chaplaincy.
I did actually talk a couple of times.
I don't know 2, 3 times before.
And may Allah give you all the reward.
Number 2, I always keep the this now
to collect some information that's not proper because,
I'm no longer the executive director now. Our
brother Fuzan
Khan is the one who's going to be
is now the executive
director.
There are organizations that were before, but are
not not there. So you just add past
this, past that, past that, and you keep
it.
Again and again. Now,
talking to you actually and talking about Toronto
brings me back my
young age memories when I was about 44
years ago. Came to U of T, and
I was in the campus
where the students are very small number. I
remember the first experience I had is on
Jummah. The first Jummah I prayed,
I counted the number of the people there.
There are only 17 people in half house.
And in those days, my was very low.
I come from a Maliki background where we
were being taught, we don't know from where,
that you have to have minimum forty people
for a prayer. So I was in doubt
with it.
And I asked people around me.
So, ultimately, I mean, I said, okay. I'll
pray with them, but I'm going to pray
my as well just beyond the comfort zone.
Later on, that changes,
Allah
opened all doors of, mercy for us, to
know about Islam. And this is what I
advise all people to do,
especially when we come from any country overseas
and so on. We come with a lot
of, I call it, culture of religion rather
than religion as such. And this is why
people get here to be amazed when so
many fools are there. Now,
for Ramadan. 1st, the Zakkul Maqir, I said
to imam
Khalid Al Latif,
and I'm telling you this. I I was
saying I mean, after every word he said,
and I think if this is answered, we
are all in paradise. I can assure you
the joy he made, if Allah accepted,
we are in paradise even pre Ramadan. However,
Ramadan is an opportunity for us,
to reset our relationship with Allah
says,
Quran is the rest of the Quran. I
will tell brothers and sisters, especially younger people,
if you never read the Quran in your
life once,
please take this at least Ramadan
to make sure that you make an intention
that you finish the Quran by the end
of the month. One user of the Quran
takes between half an hour, maximum 45 minutes.
An hour, we will have difficult reading. So
we are talking 1 hour a day, and
on average, they call it, 45 minutes. I
personally read it in 5 minutes
every single day. So at least this Ramadan
make it a case because
assured us that Ramadan
and the Quran,
like the 2 months I mean, the 2,
twins that Allah
will bring them for us on the day
of judgment that they become like our lawyers.
We'll appeal to Allah
on behalf.
So the first thing you keep in mind,
you read the Quran.
As I said to you, at least once,
if you cannot read it more than that.
On average, you can do that if you
read 1 user a day. By the end
of the Ramadan, you'll finish the Ramadan. And,
also, coupled with this, I want you all,
Sam, to pick up maybe 5, 10 verses
a day. Go through any translation of the
Quran so that you understand exactly what you
are reading, and gradually you build your net
knowledge and then make it a habit so
that every single day, you come in contact
and you talk to the Quran. Because Allah
told us that the prophet
actually will file a complaint to Allah by
people who desest the Quran.
And he will say to Allah
Like my people and some of my unfortunate
did that they deserved the Quran, and that's
not what the Quran is for. The second
thing, of course, is the fasting itself.
Make sure that Ramadan should be the time
because
told us, and I think this is what
should understand.
That no matter how much you sinned, how
much you're wrong, how much you fell short
of fulfilling the of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala,
Ramadan will be your chance, actually, to cleanse
all of that and allow it right for
your sins. The prophet also won.
In a very famous hadith, they said the
prophet,
said
the is
a a phrase that's being used to humiliate
people.
It literally means let them wipe their nose
with the floor of the dead. For those
and he mentioned 3 people. Among them was
the person who actually had the chance to
be in the mosque of Ramadan, and he
did not have the privilege of Allah for
giving it.
The hadith is famous, the 3 things he
said.
First, the person,
and other Quran is said to ever
Allah
even the opportunity in the Muslim Ramadan and
didn't didn't take that as a chance for
him to cleanse himself from his sins.
Second person, of course, is the one who
does not. He says that he has parents,
and he did not do good to them.
And blessed
him with these parents, and they were
not, like, he was not able to make
sure that with helping their parents, being kind
to them, that would be his message to
paradise. The third, of course, the prophet said
that whoever hears my name, like Muhammad and
didn't say
or in a format, Allah
mentioned these reasons.
The prophet mentioned them specifically,
to remind us that Ramadan would be that
opportunity.
Now the the first thing that we do
in the mosque of Ramadan, of course, of
the,
the, the, I mean, the cycle of the
Quran is actually charity.
Now
we are being told by the prophet
that any
even form, any deed you do in the
month of Ramadan
will earn you multiples of rewards. This is
why many of the people keep their zakat
until the month of Ramadan so that they
can multiply the reward just by being paying
it during the month of Ramadan. And the
measure of that is the charity, of course.
Now as,
Imam Al Hussein said, now the chaplaincy is
very much affected by,
the way you provide funds for it. We
need more. By the way, I just I
don't know because, Imam Khalid,
talked about this tragic incident that happened in
in Texas,
but he didn't he might not have I
don't know whether everyone knew about it or
not. But according to the report of El
Gezira, it's a very sad film, and it
reflects not only the need for the temple
and see. As much as the need for
the community to be together because this this
is a family. There are 2 young boys.
They have a daughter. They're mother. Actually, their
grandmother was visiting them also. They are from
Bangladesh, and their father was there. And the
thing that was really, really, really disturbing to
me is that these kids,
suffered from loneliness,
suffered from all these mental problems,
but it seems nobody looked after them. And
then both of them decided to commit suicide,
the 2 brothers.
And the strange thing in this specific case,
which is really
something that's amazing. They said that when they
decided they went and brought a gun, they
want to shoot themselves when they commit suicide.
But before they do this, one of them,
they didn't mention exactly who said it, but
said to his brother, you know what? If
we kill ourselves and commit suicide, we are
going to keep our parents, our sisters, our
father,
like, in a miserable situation
all the rest of their life. So the
best thing to do is to get rid
of them before us, and this is what
they did. Can you imagine this is why
I'm kind of thinking? People can be dragged
into this. These boys went, killed every one
of them thinking that this is a mess
for them so that they don't suffer behind.
And this is a very strange way of
looking at what people and then they shot
themselves. So all of them were founded,
in in in it's really disappointing by the
support
that the report.
It's very sad. It's very disturbing.
It actually received urgency
of doing as much as we can to
keep the chaplaincy, to keep it going inshallah
for that. Now Ramadan actually is the most
of the Quran. Right? And when strictly tell
you about the Quran,
about this giving, but and and when it
speaks strictly, because even the thing that the
prophet
explained about Ramadan,
actually is, about anything is actually what he
understood from the Quran and what he actually
knew about the Quran, what Allah meant for
us. Now, I'll give you these 2 invitations
I give, and 2 invitations from Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. One invitation, actually, invitation
of Ramadan. Yes. Invitation from Allah. Allah says
in the Quran, quote,
Allah invites you people
to Darul Salaam. Darul Salaam is paradise.
And he guides whoever wants to stay past
that these people to paradise.
Why Allah is inviting us? Because Ramadan is
our opportunity actually to make it for paradise.
And the prophet said it that if you
fast Ramadan, then you are in the place
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala assigned for you
in paradise. Now this is the first invitation
just to be and make it to paradise
to Shaba. The second invitation
is the invitation that Allah
says
and actually addresses us directly. I'm going to
say it to you as it is. And
Allah
says, here you are.
Here you are. Literally says, you are. The
word in Arabic
is. Where you are. You are being invited
to what? Allah says, here you are. You
are being invited.
To do what?
So that you can give in charity for
Allah
say. Now Allah poses us by saying, He
says,
He said,
from among you,
Some of you will, like, hold. They hold
because they don't want to give. He said,
that if you hold, you'll be holding against
yourself, not against the project. I mean, all
these projects, Allah will provide people for them,
It's
is Allah is
abundant village.
And you are the one who disrespect me
with Allah. Me and you need Allah
We need a lot to live. We need
a lot to breathe. We have a lot
to earn. We have a lot to do.
All what we do. He
says,
and if you turn your back, Allah may
keep you.
Says this. He says,
So the invitation here for you is to
respond to Allah for
what he says. As I said in the
beginning, Ramadan
And Allah did not, as we said, assign
us to everything in the Quran. Actually, Allah
is so merciful.
He says that you can read on the
Quran, but at least read as much as
you can from the Quran.
There is one verse in the Quran in
Surat al Muzammil where Allah
says,
Allah measures the days and the nights. Our
life is a day to come and a
day to go. Yeah. And the life is
this. You measure your life by days, a
day and night. He said
Allah knows no one can measure up to
what Allah speaks of. Now what do you
mean by that? He said
Allah is so forgiving
that he let go.
Then he said why? He said
Some of people might be, like, not well,
like, health sick, well, with all kinds of
things that you go through. Now
there are some people who are struggling, and
they say to make the ends meet. They're
struggling with everything. They're days to bring this.
And there are so many people now. If
you are in Iraq or Syria or Palestine
for for years years years for this place,
and you see the bomb falling on people.
Just name it. It's Kashmir, Bahrain. Name it.
Every place. If you are on those war
zone, you could understand exactly why we're locked
down by. Now having said that Allah
says,
then Allah made this a sign for me.
You. He said, Just read as much as
you can from the Quran.
And keep your prayers.
Keep your prayers. Keep your prayers. Allah
answers.
Of course, if you have the amount of
money that's supposed to be paid for zakah,
a year term money to have to pay.
Then he says,
Then Allah added,
And then advance
a soft loan to Allah. Soft loan. I
mean to advance loan to Allah. Yes, Allah
says, when I want something done, I want
you to advance loan for me. Me.
Rest assured, whatever you advance, Allah said not
for Allah for your son, because anything you
do is actually for yourself. He says,
We'll definitely find it with Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. Not as is Allah said
It will be much more better than that,
and it's greater in the world. And we
know all these verses we read in the
Quran where Allah
give us these parables and similitudes.
Like,
the famous verse that most of us know
that Allah says, when you're spending challenges, like
putting a seed, and the seed will have,
like, years years have every hand a hundred
plus,
what you call grains, and the grains multiply
and so on. And Allah will keep multiplying.
So anything you do and by the way,
sometimes, I'm telling you, anyone of us can
do something. Anyone else. You, me, everyone.
And don't underestimate
what you do because in giving check, the
smaller things will build to be big. Even
students.
I know people here are struggling that even
if you can spare,
for restaurants,
a price you want to pay for a
cup of coffee or tea or whatever it
is and so and donate it because that
would be the thing that you have, then
it builds up insha'allah for you. So we
pray Allah
thanking everyone of you insha'allah,
give it to you and so on. Let
me conclude by putting this shuri for you.
You. 1, Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam
rarely used to swear by Allah, real.
But when He does it, He means to
really bring our attention to something that's much
more greater than what you think. In this
particular instance,
the prophet
says, salaf.
Three things.
I swear by Allah.
What are these? He says, maanaqasamalu
al salakah. No matter how much you give
in charity, it will not decrease or diminish
your wealth. Allah will always compensate you for
it.
And then he added
And the more you give, Allah will the
more honor you follow. And the third is
warning. He said,
which means that if you act as if
you don't have and you have, act as
if you cannot do zinda. And then Allah
will actually say this to you that Allah
might open a door that will take everything
from you. So keep in mind that giving
to Allah is actually,
giving to Allah you get for yourself more
than actually what you do for Allah
So we want you to support the charity,
support your chaplaincy
as much as you can. And those of
us who are with us on this line,
whom Allah
bless you as well. Please don't hesitate
to extend yourself to do it insha'allah.
You can do it as individuals. You can
do it as families. You can even talk
to your family because this is what the
students do.
One of the things that I can't forget
at all, if you watch European Urban Institute
University, how domestic you are built. I remember
it to this day, and this is a
long time ago. I mean, the students got,
a commitment from the university with them, a
piece of land that they can build,
a mascot in it. And there's growth of
students, small university. So I went hitting every
parent of children. Ask all the children. One
of the boys, I cannot forget him. I
asked him, what does your father do? He's
he's a physician. I said, okay. This would
be our catch. Go to your father and
talk to him that you need this x
number of money. Students. So he went
to him and said, okay. I'll give you
$10,000.
I said to him, okay. Don't give it
to us. We'll invite all the rest of
the doctor. You know?
Pay for them and bring me
We raised
$190,000 in that that night. And the reward
you go for this man will take I
mean, it's 10,000 paid that. So talk to
your parents. Talk to the people you know.
Don't hesitate to ask people. And actually asking
for charity for Allah
is among the best deeds that Allah mentioned
in the Quran.
Quran. For the sisters in particular, I always
mention Surah Al Nisa.
I always say in Surah Al Nisa, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned something. I'm going to
conclude this. Surah Nissah is chapter 4 in
the Quran. The verse I'm talking about is
very simple to remember. It's verse 114.
That's the number of the chapters in the
Quran. You know, we have 100 and 13,
sorry,
chap sorry.
100 and
14 Surahs in
the Quran. I mean, the the number is
this. What Allah says, he says
We know we are very talkative. We chat.
We do this. Said there is no good
in most of what you talk about except
in 3.
Take them 3. He said 1, he says
except the one who actually commands and urge
these people to do charity. So take it
to your home, take it to your parents,
take it to your friends, take it to
anyone, and don't hesitate to ask people. Give
it to the chaplaincy, and tell them that
you have offered any purpose for that. He
said 1,
to do it in general.
Like, you volunteer, you do this and so.
And the 3rd, he says,
between people. So if you do these three
things, you got what the reward comes. Allah
says,
And if you do this for the sake
of Allah, Allah will say to give you
a great reward.
So I pray Allah
as you are approaching Ramadan and make your
intentions from now to the most of Ramadan.
Make your intention, then to read the Quran,
to keep the prayers, to keep yourself in
Ramadan, to restrict your things to Ramadan
You say because
you are less than a week from Ramadan,
but you never know who's going to be
here in the past months of Ramadan. And
it's an opportunity that we don't want to
waste, inshallah.
So ban your efforts and increase your rewards
by actually coming closer to
Allah Again,
I
say
Sheikh Abdullah, thank you so much for being
with us this evening.
Thank you so much for your presence,
and we ask
Allah to grant you the best of this
life, the best of the hereafter.
And we ask Allah
to
guide you and keep you and your loved
ones always in his care. And we look
forward to,
having you join us,
once again. Wazhazakman al Khayran. Thank you. Sheikh
Abdullah. Barakallahu Akkum.
And alhamdulillah,
my dear brothers and sisters,
who have joined us.
Again, this is a pre Ramadan program
sponsored by Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto.
We thank you all for joining us. And
as I've
mentioned earlier,
if you believe in the work of Muslim
Chaplaincy of Toronto,
we ask that you give
generously.
And whenever
I'm directly involved in fundraisers,
I have a go to story,
and I'm gonna go back to it today.
You know, I have some good news,
and I have some not so good news.
The good news is Muslim chaplaincy of Toronto
has a lot of money.
Did you hear me? Muslim chaplaincy of Toronto
has a lot of money,
but perhaps the not so good news is
that money is in your pocket.
So alhamdulillah,
by Allah's permission,
we have the funds. We have the money.
However,
it is
filtered through all of you.
So we ask all of you to be
generous.
We ask our community members to be generous,
And if you are interested in donating to
Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto, please visit mcuoft.com.
Mcuoft.com.
And as well, during the month of Ramadan,
we at Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto will be
sponsoring programming throughout the month.
On
Mondays, we will be having
a community iftar.
On Tuesdays, we'll be having our evening
Ramadan reminder just before we break fast,
And the good life study circle, the good
life halakha
that I have been hosting over
the past 2 semesters will continue. However, the
timing may
be changed so that we can make sure
that we are all
prepared
to break our fast.
And as well, we will be having other
programming.
Last year, we had a very exciting cooking
show.
We're hoping to reproduce that, this year once
again.
Please keep in touch,
with us through our social media, our Facebook,
our Instagram,
and as well
as we are
still in a very awkward situation regarding the
COVID 19 situation,
we ask that if you are in need
of anyone to speak to, anyone to connect
with, you're looking for a safe space to,
express yourself
and to speak about your fears, your hopes,
your aspirations,
and to unpack the uncertainty of the future
that we're all experiencing,
please,
again, visit
mcuoft.com
to book
a confidential
appointment. Again, our appointments are for free and
we hope that will continue.
Indeed, if you want to summarize the religion
of Islam, keep your heart busy with Allah,
and keep your hands busy
with the people.
Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto is here
to facilitate
the remembrance of Allah
but also to serve you,
to serve you and to be present for
all
of you.
So we ask
Allah to guide us all on the straight
path, the path of those whom he has
blessed and not the path of those who
earn his displeasure nor those who go astray.
We ask Allah
to forgive us for all of our shortcomings,
our
mistakes, our deficiencies, and to transform those shortcomings,
those mistakes, those deficiencies,
those sins
into opportunities
for us to return to him in Tawbah.
And we ask Allah
to bless
all of us
and to guide all of us
and to increase us in knowledge, knowledge that
will benefit us in this life
and the hereafter,
and to bless our teachers, to bless our
mentors
like Imam Khalid Latif, like Sheikh Abdallah Idris,
and all of those who have helped us
to understand
Islam and to help us to connect with
our religion, especially
during very difficult and trying times. And we
ask Allah
to plant
our hearts and our feet deep in the
soil of Islam,
deep in the soil of iman, and deep
in the soil of ihsan.
And we ask Allah
ultimately
to shower his peace and his blessings upon
our beloved Prophet Muhammad
his family, his companions, and the righteous everywhere,
and help us to follow his way of
Rahma as he is called Rahma 10 lilaalameen.
A mercy to all of the worlds. Oh,
Allah, we ask you to plant our feet
and our hearts firm
in the soil of mercy
until we visit the grave. And, again, my
dear brothers and sisters, thank you so much
for joining us. Again, please visit www.mcuoft.com
to make a donation,
to book a confidential
appointment,
and we look forward
to you joining us during the blessed month
of Ramadan
where we are
doing our best to cultivate
taqwa. May Allah
help us
to visit Ramadan once again. May he accept
our prayers, our fasting,
and allow us to exit the month of
Ramadan better from which we entered.
Allahumma Ameen. Subhanakallahuma.
May Allah
bless you all. I leave you
with peace.
May God's peace, mercy, and blessings be with
each and every one of you.