Ramadan Reset – #11 Commanding The Good – Yusuf Chambers

Welcome to Ramadan reset with me Your host Lauren booth. This podcast series is sponsored by what tan.org.uk delivering services to Syrians in need. Each individual needs to make that decision today that they're gonna make a change in their lives. And that's what Ramadan is all about. Ramadan is the forum for change. It's a forum for victory. It's a forum for receiving Rama is the forum for receiving blessings from Allah Subhana Baraka from Allah subhanho wa Taala Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah salam aleikum, wa Rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh. His use of chambers is one of the most profound die in the West and one

of the greatest fundraiser for the poor in the United Kingdom Mashallah. He fundraisers for around the world but he's from the United Kingdom. You'll know him he is he presents on peace TV, and he is the co founder of the Islamic education research Academy at salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah. He will better care to buy the use of while he comes. masoala he will Barakatuh Lauren, how are you today? I'm fine. Thank you very much. I was trying to be them. Because last because we we get our families get on well, okay. Yeah, that can make it seem a bit casual. And if you go halfway through a conversation with people, you know, brothers and sisters, and you're viewing us, you're like, what's

going on between us and Lauren? They're a bit casual. If that's somebody said, the other day, I know you're married, which made his face like, shudder with horror and laugh at the same time? Yeah, yeah. No, I'm sure that we all mean, well, it's just a question of, as you say, familiarity, and the sheer number of things that we've done together for the sake of Allah, Allah hamdulillah handling that So remember, as well, when you when you watch these gatherings are sisters and brothers that were in different places, both in our own households, and you're watching. And so there is nothing wrong with being joyous with with with sharing the love for the dean, and having good conversation.

So I just wanted to put that out there really, because I know you, I put that out there basically because I know at some point Yusef will make me laugh. Hillary, you know, walk asleep. And just know Benson's comes from a good place in Sharla

How are you today?

I

know Alhamdulillah everything is very good. Of course, we were struggling in this month to define the blessings all the time constantly. And it's, you know, what is it a day, day and a bit or left? You know, not really that much left of Ramadan. And so we strive for excellence in this month as well we strive to find that amazing deed that will just just turn it all for us and maybe it's today maybe it's tomorrow maybe that is your last Ramadan so there's no doubt that the companions used to spend all of their whole lives after receiving the verses from the Quran and understanding that Ramadan was the month where they were going to reconnect They spent their whole lives observing

Ramadan it's quite interesting because it six months before planning

and then six months after living off the spirit of Ramadan so planning living planning living so actually Ramadan became the the entire sort of basis where they founded their every everyday activity on even though of course Ramadan is only one month

so that is very significant. And we're Of course we're not like that but at least within the month of 30 days we should be absolutely exerting ourselves

I would like to know

I would like to share with with everybody here what is a day in the life of use of chambers during Ramadan in the interest of

you know what what what what what efforts do you make perhaps you can inspire us with with that and and the people that you meet along the way. And then I'll share some stories about people I've met and what they do. And so you know, I think

what it during the day, in the month of Ramadan is entirely different from outside Ramadan because of God but of course the lockdown had changed things, you know, drastically, as you know,

before we would have been traveling every day, from different refugee camps and different studios doing recordings for films to encourage people to give

and so on and so forth.

stains. But during lockdown, it's been,

you know, getting back to the ad. Right. So basically picking up on some of the lessons I should have done like 10 years ago,

really trying to understand words, and trying to be able to translate it myself to recite it, I translated myself.

And I was inspired by by one brother, who's a businessman. He's not really a day, but he loves the dour.

And he's been a very amazing supporter of the Dow over the last 10 years since I've known him since we started IRA.

And I heard the other day after he did the course that you and I are doing, and I just want this as an inspiration for both of us as well. He was able to translate, translate the Quran in its entirety twice. What he was able to translate the Quran in its entirety twice, by dedicating an hour and a half after fudger. You could praise fasher go for a walk in the park is the back of his house, he'd come back into his house and he studied the Quran for four and a half hours every day religiously. And he was using this TPI he was using the system we're using understand Quran, Quran made easy. And he's he's so proficient in it now, you can literally recognize the text, the context of the word,

the meaning of the word, the tense is it, you know, past or present or future? And basically, he is, so he was able to translate it with no one else there.

That's imagine that, yeah, yeah. So I think that's,

for me, that was such an inspiration. And that's why this month, we were doing some days, we're doing three courses.

Some days, we're doing four, and we were doing tafsir, and the tafsir will caught on with a chef in Bangladesh, then it's good, you know, and that's another thing that we need to start or stop doing this, this idea that only the chef's only sit in certain parts of the world, they sit in every part of the world, the mosaic from every single part, every single blue part of the globe, we need to recognize that we need to reach out to them and gain knowledge from them. Now we're sitting with a shack, and it's such a lovely, beautiful shack online. And he was asking me to give the Tafseer of it. And, you know, this is their, this is their,

their they have no, you know, ego, you know, they have no ego, they've been studying for 2025 years, with some of the greatest Allah Ma and to them your opinions just as valid. You know, obviously, it's not right, our opinions and our rights, but they might be, you know, adding something to that, you know, so during the day, I've been focusing on some tafsir I've been learning myself with one particular brother test suite.

And then I've been doing these courses for understand caught on to three times a day Alhamdulillah so that my, my life has been revolved around, caught on and the understanding of the Quran in June this month, because the focus should be entirely on the Quran. And the self development really, that's what it looks like, then, towards the end of the first we go out and we try to give some food out. But that's, you know, an obligation upon every limb in the body, every sinew of the body that Muslims should enact an act of charity, do an act of charity, and my own small kindnesses to feed the orphan to feed the poor to look after the sick. So we we've got a number of sick there now they

come to us. There's a number of people that know who we are and what we do. So we go out and we visit them we visit their families give this is it from this via the city retreat in Leicester. Right? Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So so everything is the base. That's the basis of how we do it. But we don't do it in a way which is like advertising it, because I've actually realized one of the checks are very, very lovely. She told us use if I know your work is amazing and and I said well, I don't think it's amazing. But he said, Look, you need to do some of the work in a hidden way. Don't do it in a way. So people attribute it to an organization or a group of people that will be massive

Baraka in that work that you do, you know, so again, you know all the time we're focusing on

branding and appeals and T shirts and hats and, you know, soon soon we'll we'll have tattooed on our head with which charity we're working for, is getting that bad. But sometimes the Bartok is not in that the Baraka is in doing it purely for the sake of Allah with no branding. And you know, so we got in the hospitals, we, I mean, again, this is just to purely show that it works. We go to the hospitals and people that nurses and the doctors are asking us, where are you from? Which organization now? Come on, we need to write it down. I said, No, you don't need to write it down. It's already written up. It's written down by the Creator. And that's why we do it. And we don't say

too much. We don't say that when we even Muslims, because they know, we're Muslims anyway.

And Alhamdulillah, you know, it is just such a blessing, that sort of comments that come out the sort of the sort of interactions, a little bit about about about what you've been seeing in the hospitals, then what's what's, what's the work going on there? Is it is it to help the, the care workers themselves or is it? Yeah. So we go into the ICU units, we go into the, the units where the intensive care units are housed. And we just look after the staff. So we go to the staff room, and we just play them with hot food, hot meals, because actually, they get doggie bags given to them, you know, the old term doggy bags, which is like a bag of crisps and a little sandwich in a piece of

fruit, right? And that's what they're supposed to be living off to save human lives. Well, so then we go with the big guns with this very army and hot hot food and really nice food. And we always try and various as well.

And, you know, honestly, they've actually, they actually love us now. And Alhamdulillah. The Baraka is in this, the Baraka is in this.

When you think about organizations you can trust, it's based on making a real difference to the people that they're meant to serve. I support what and UK because their programs lift Syrians out of misery, they've just constructed two new villages for internally displaced people in Kapha jealous, which is an ad lib sub district, these new camps, they have schools, clinics, decent accommodation, real sanitation, and educational opportunities for internally displaced children and adults, you can support the continued running of these services right now by going to [email protected]. May Allah bless you.

For us, to be able to offer some

Lifeline supports in this most difficult of times, brothers and sisters is is you don't know the blessing for they you know, they will be feeling the blessing you will be feeling the blessing when you meet Allah subhanho wa Taala and you stopped at villum you stopped an oppression, you stopped a major you know sin going on buying a person, person who was in fighting for their lives and you came in and you offered them a gift of chance or Lifeline give us your positive feedback or what have you learned from this condition change the other to Allah has given us because, you know, we are the ones Youssef that we feel so, so strong, in some ways, because look, we're in the west or we're in a

big city, and we feel so strong. And yet in the other ways, small things make us quake.

You mean I'm not traveling on my holiday this summer? What? You mean I called go to the cinema regularly. What? Huh? Huh? No, we're not. We're not strong. And it shows that this is a test case for what what is going to inevitably happen.

Because every great nation, as its day the Romans had their day, the Persians had theirs. The great Muslims had their days in Andalusia, in Baghdad in in and we had a civilization that flourished for, you know, that has flourished, continued to flourish for 1400 years. But, you know, ultimately, all of the civilizations that came out of the glory of Islam, one by one have fallen, because why? Because people stop commanding the good and forbidding the evil.

people stop doing things for the right reason. So all of us need to be aware of that we need to establish Zakah establish this aka pay to the poor pay for the needy. The wayfarer, particularly the Quran is always going on about your team, the orphans. There are hundreds of orphans in these camps 1000s 1000s of orphans hundreds of 1000s worldwide

Millions and millions actually worldwide.

The the, also the widows, there are so many you just cannot count them anymore Iraq, it was said that the two wars created 5 million orphans.

5 million orphans and that came from a friend that you and I know very well from help the needy.

And he he's very very he knows what's going on in Iraq. So brothers and sisters, the reason why this is going on, because we have stopped commanding the good of the building the evil we stopped the tower.

The moment we stopped the dour, and we considered this life as being our objective, the dunya as being an objective reality for us. It's not an objective reality is something we pass by and we utilize when Allah subhanaw taala gives us Zakah it gives us the ability to pay soccer, it's a Zakah comes from the term to purify.

We all need to purify our wealth. They use a car today, why not pay it now. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, if you think of doing a good deed, in the evening, don't wait for the morning to fulfill it. And he also said that the sadaqa sadaqa will become your, your shield on the Day of Judgment, your shield, your protection, and the one who gives without fearing poverty. In such a way he gives it secretly, okay, that his right hand gives his left hand doesn't know he's given, you will be accorded the shade on the day of judgment when there's no shade, but the shade of Allah, you see, these are the indications of what we can do to get back Come on the good and the

evil means to call the people to Islam, and to protect the people who are living as Muslims right now, particularly around the world that the you know, the orphans, the the widows, the displaced people all around the world. And there are literally 10s of millions of them. I don't know the exact figure, according to the UN, but it's getting worse and worse. Brothers and sisters, you know, what fascinates me is that the time of the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him when they were forced when he and the only fathers were forced into the desert by an oppressive regime. And how the people used to risk their lives to drop food off for them. Yeah, that was secret deliveries people running

out of Mecca in the night under cloaks to take bread and rice and bits and pieces of survival, cooking things, you know, warm clothes, underpaying up certain torture and death. And you know, for most of us now, just to cure and orphans need is a click of a button. And so therefore, we are blessed. But we've also digressed. Yes, we've lost, you know, and Allah is even taking the ability from us to visit the team this year, which really disturbs me. We're not being allowed to visit the people. Yes. No, that's right. It's actually a it's kind of like a punishment from Allah subhanaw taala because you can't even visit the people that you are going to be supporting his jeep. We just

got one brother from Hochstein who's just given 100 pounds for a food pack. I know that

that's down here, hon. lodhi. He, he knows me very well. He's in his in Pakistan a lot of the time I don't know if he's there still right now. Yeah, last panatela put it on his mazon and allow him to

have excuses in front of Allah subhanho wa Taala that he supported the orphan he supported the wayfarer, that the person in need, with his sadaqa with his hard earned provision that Allah subhanaw taala had given him an allowance panatela he said in Haddad could see to the Messenger of Allah sallallahu al Islam, who said, Oh son of Adam spend on me and I will spend on you. So there's a there's a play off here to give a good liloan You know, there's other things give a good liloan meaning that you will loan this money for a time you have to give it back, you know, so I my dear is that the way that we can, we can feel better about our situation in the world which is quite poor at

the moment as a as an oma is for us to at least the minimum trust to give sadaqa give us a carnal sadaqa and seek the face of Allah subhanho wa Taala who will correct our affairs when we change the condition of ourselves. See Allah says in the in one of the sources in the Quran, I will not change the condition of the people until they change what is inside themselves. In also in foster home, in the in the in the

Understanding is internally the change needs to occur, and externally, the actions will have happen. And then Allah subhanaw taala will open the floodgates for this oma to get back. That's what it is. Each individual needs to make that decision today that they're gonna make a change in their lives. And that's what Ramadan is all about. Ramadan is the forum for change. It's a forum for victory. It's a forum for receiving Rama is the forum for receiving blessings from Allah Subhana Baraka from Allah subhanho. wa Taala. You know that that decision, isn't it? That Hold on, Tanya, we know it's rubbish. Yeah, it's just rubbish. Yeah, it really is. It's, it's, you know, we treat it as if it's

stardust. And it's just the crumbs of creation. And that Allah tala has made glittery that has made glitter and sparkle, like, excite exciting for us. Yeah, so that we dive at it. But But then we should realize when we get there, oh, you know, that that that gold nugget, we thought is actually just a pebble on the beach and throw it in the sea? of good deeds. gonna throw it away? Yeah, that doesn't mean not being engaged. It means being very engaged. It means living an intentional life for the sake of Allah to Allah. That's it. And the intention needs to change that is it? So it's the intention, and the modus operandi? How do we, what do we, what do we

base our life around? That usually, before the lockdown, it's get to work, do five hours, 10 hours, whatever it is, for most of us.

work out what we're gonna do later on for food. Okay, and call the family What do you need for food, go home, eat. And then it's an anticlimax from there, because it's just like, oh, I've got to do it all again tomorrow. We don't want to have a life like that. Internally, we need to make that decision. We're going to change the modus operandi to being more right What time is Salah?

Yeah, right, I've got two hours until the until the whole Salah. Right so I can do an hour of work. I can do an hour of reading called Anna Nicole, and then do my Salah. And then I've got three hours after that. And then I can pray. So Salah, plan your day around your Salah, and your Islam, your deen and you'll see the changes. This is what I started to do. I've started to do this, especially in the lockdown. I've started to plan my whole days around the deen of Islam, not plan my days around, right, I need to get as much money as I possibly can today, my potential for earning is 200. But if I really push myself, I can get 300 by making that call and that call and that call. No. You

know what the companions upon them VPS. Many of them were super rich before they became Muslims. And then they became poor because they were oppressed for years and years and years. They couldn't even move out of their houses. And they were being oppressed and they were being chased and so on and so forth. And then some of them recounted that we used to struggle to get a small amount of money in the morning so that we could go out and give our call the world to the Dean of Islam in the afternoon. And then they recounted and this Hadeeth I read recounted that, they remembered that that time, because now they had 1000s 1000s of Durham or 1000s of whatever it was at the time. So Truly

speaking is when we do make that turn and that change. Allah subhanho wa Taala is going to make our lives incredible. We will the dawn you will chase us right now that jr is running away from us because we're running towards it. We're running towards it, wanting it and desiring it. If you don't desire the dunya the people will love you. And then Allah subhanho wa Taala will love you. Really. And you know, I didn't I didn't choose to be in this role. Did you ever choose to be Lauren booth

version to you know,

traveling the world, you know, giving the see how to people, even we are miskeen when it comes to Arabic and with and really our knowledge is very, very low level. So Allah anatella chose it because we chose it.

Do you see that?

I will not change the condition of a people and tell the changes what inside themselves, then 100 pounds for a food pack is just gonna be nothing. It's just gonna you know what, it's going to be so insignificant. You're going to cry that you couldn't give more. You will want to come back

And this is one of the things that we want to come back to this world, you know that all of the things when when, you know, judgment is cast upon us, we're going to say, Oh Allah send me back. So I can give sadaqa. So I can give my wealth in your way, you will be asking that, we will be asking that brothers and sisters, you know, psychologically, what does giving do to us, it does change our condition inside, it literally changes the brain, and you are not getting rewarded for it is really, really important. And that is something that's spoken again over and over again in the Holy Quran. And it's don't ever bring up what you've done. Yeah, because then the hair will go. Now there was a

study done about 10 years ago by social scientists, and they looked at the behavior of children who were either rewarded or not rewarded for a good deed. And the way they did this was they got a five year old or a four year old in a room being filmed. And they put an adult there who was pretending to cry and have a glass of water. And the child when the person was going,

the child would just automatically bring the water, no salt for themselves. They didn't have to explain it. These are very young children. All right, and they just reached and they went, and what would happen is one of the groups would get a suite for doing that. So the person would say, Oh, thank you, here's the suite, and then they'd stop crying again. And they found that the kids who are given sweets, after the first two sweets stopped responding to the tears because they didn't want the sweet. The children, the ones who didn't get any dunya reward kept giving and giving and giving. Oh, wow.

They never stopped no matter how many times the person cried, they've always come to you want water. So what does that tell us? You know, it's not about hoarding the wealth of this world, or looking for something out of it. It is literally give and the reward is with Allah. And I believe that that is with every cell in our bodies, is replenished and touched by charity. When Allah to Allah tells us about having sins removed. What does sins cause they cause heart issues, they cause lung issues, they cause a clogging they cause this this anger and anger that kills us. So literally statica gives health Yeah, we does and it removes the sins as we know, the prophet SAW Some said that and the sins

are what causes the illnesses and the sicknesses and the stress.

When we're doing evil actions and this month of Ramadan, we we've lessened all of those sins of course we haven't got the main perpetrator behind the whispering in the hearts the was was Sufi suit or in us the the the this type of whispering, malign maligning the human being and their nature. We don't have that. So we don't have that excuse as well. This dunya is rotten and maggoty. Really, so the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said he was with the companions, and he passed by a dead goat. And he said to the companions, he said, You see this goats? He said, in the eyes of Allah subhanho wa Taala.

This is the dunya would you put that dead goat in your house, brothers and sisters? Would you give it two minutes you you'd struggle to get it out of the door, and to cleanse yourself and cleanse your house of it is dunya is just nothing is nothing at all. But we have given it a status beyond the status beyond it station. Thanks you so much for joining us. May Allah to Allah bless you, and your family and all the brothers and sisters listening to this around the world. Salaam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please take a moment to visit what ten.org.uk to support Syrians in need.