Mirza Yawar Baig – New England Law MSA Event Fasting
AI: Summary ©
The importance of being aware of Islam and its benefits, including the church's values, is emphasized. It is important to be aware of the church's values to avoid negative consequences and to increase confidence in one's behavior. The benefits of fasting include reinforcing healthy behavior, building a resume, and being a valued person. The importance of being aware of Islam and its benefits is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
May peace and blessings be upon all of
you. We ask Allah
to bless
this day. As Riza said, it is a,
it is a historic day.
It's and historic days are not marked by
how many people
were there in numbers, but who had the
dedication to come and,
be there. So it's the individuals
that matter.
And,
I'm very happy to see all of you
here.
Very quick one, which is
since it is Ramadan and today is the
15 days have passed, so half of Ramadan
is over.
Ramadan is the essence of Islam.
Because Islam, as you know, means to submit,
and we believe that all
prophets of all religions
came with the same religion which is to
submit to the creator,
God Almighty,
and that submission is called Islam.
Fasting, Ramadan,
is the essence of that because Allah,
the glorious and magnificent
in the Quran about Ramadan, Allah said,
Allah said, O you who believe fasting has
been prescribed upon you
as it was prescribed for those before you,
so that you might become mutakoon, you might
become conscious of Allah in your lives.
As you know, of course, fasting is common
to Judaism, to Christianity,
to practically every religion. In one form or
the other, people fast
And they all fast for the same reason,
which is to get close to God, to
get close to the Creator,
have a sense of the Creator in our
lives.
The Creator, Allah, is part of the equation
anyway.
The key is to
be aware of that and to be conscious
of that. The benefit of being conscious of
Allah
in our lives is twofold. 1,
is keeps it keeps us on the straight
path, on the on the path of steadfastness.
It keeps us away from all forms of
evil, all forms of negativity,
keeps us safe from all forms of sins
because I'm aware that Allah is with me.
Right? So if Allah is with me, then
obviously I don't do anything which is displeasing
to him.
I don't do anything which I
would feel ashamed to do,
before
him. I mean, anyone
with any sense of decency,
even for example, a simple thing of, you
know, many of us have get we get
used to using all kinds of language. So
when we are
with our peers, we might use that language.
But if if our parents come,
right,
anyone with any decency will not use foul
language before their parents as a matter as
a mark of respect. Right? I'm not saying
it's good to use it anyway, but the
point I'm making is that out of respect.
So now the point is if we if
I am going to behave in a certain
way
in front of my parents, how can I
behave in a way different from that in
front of God himself?
So if it's if it is
bad enough that I do not speak that
language in polite company, I don't speak that
if I'm in a board if I'm in
a board meeting, both
Mohammad and myself, we come from corporate backgrounds.
No matter what language you speak outside, in
a board meeting, you do not use certain
words. As simple as that. Right? Now and
so then how would you use that in
front of God? In front of Allah
He is with me. So it keeps us
on the straight path. The second big benefit
of a sense of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
sense of God almighty in my life
is it gives me enormous confidence. It takes
me it takes away all the fear, takes
away all depression and despair and hopelessness and
anxiety and all forms of tension from the
heart and illuminates it with the glow and
the glory and the magnificence of Allah Subhanahu
wa Ta'ala, which we call.
Right? Because Allah is God is with me.
Is there a problem? No problem. God is
with me.
I even take it to the extent of,
like, I do this all the time.
I can't find parking. I say, God is
with me. Allah is with me, and parking
happens.
Try it to seriously.
And why not? And my point is very
simple. You know, if if God is with
me, why I I don't have to wait
for some great calamity to be,
to face it. Everywhere,
constantly,
my decision in life, any fears I have,
if I'm feeling sad, if I'm feeling, you
know, angry about something, if I'm feeling helpless
about something, I'm feeling hopeless about something, Alhamdulillah,
Allah is with me.
Allah is with me. And you will find
that the enormous amount of comfort you get
from that.
That is the that is the the big,
benefit of that. Now Ramadan reinforces
and reiterates that, Because in fasting during the
period of the of the fast, which is
from about an hour before
sunrise to sunset as you saw here,
during this period,
we do not do things which are normally
permissible.
Right? To eat and to drink and to
have to have intimate relationships with our spouses
are normally permissible. They are good actions. If
you do that, Allah will reward you, but
during this period, you don't do that. Why
not? Because God said so, because Allah said
so. There is another reason.
We fast because Allah told us to fast.
That is it.
It's not doing that to to decrease my
glycemic index or to, you know, to,
do some good to my cholesterol or something.
No. This is for because Allah said so.
This is to reinforce the fact that my
whole life
must operate on that same principle
which is
because Allah said so.
So everything I do
must be in that framework.
I do this because it pleases Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
Now the beauty is that everything that pleases
Allah
is intrinsically good by itself.
It's something that any
normal, decent, moral,
you know, human being, responsible person would do
anyway. For example, not lying, not cheating,
being faithful
to your,
to your spouses, to your relationships,
right,
not slandering, not backbiting.
All of these things are good anyway.
I mean, who who who says that? You
know what? This guy, Oh, fantastic fantastic guy.
You know the way he lies. Oh my
god. I mean, you need to learn from
him. How to tell life? Nobody does that,
right? No one does that.
Even the people who
may say, alright, so someone
nobody praises
things which are intrinsically bad. Nobody.
Even people who are doing that.
Somebody who might might might have a very
very foul tongue will not teach his little
children.
He won't have a class to say, okay.
I will teach you how to curse. Right?
So these are the curse words. Learn them.
Now repeat after me. No.
Even people who do bad stuff, they know
it is bad. Intrinsically, inside, we know it
is bad. So when we have Allah
with us
and we live our lives to please him,
then automatically our lives become good because these
things are good in themselves.
And the worldly benefit of that is you
really become the most beloved, the most respected,
the most influential person
in your own circle in any case.
And then, guess what? You are also pleasing
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So fasting reminds us
that one day we will meet Allah.
And that day must be the best day
of my life.
And that's why fasting Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
said,
wa anaajibeh.
He said, the fast is for me, and
I will reward it.
In Islam Allah
gave, told us different kinds of,
you know, we say hasarat, which is good
deeds, different kinds of rewards for different things.
For example, reciting Quran,
the prophet
told us, peace be upon him, he said
for every letter of the Quran to be
which is recited, not word, letter,
Allah will give you ten good deeds, 10
hasanat. Right? And he said alif, lam, mim
is not 1 letter, alif is 1 letter,
lam is 1 letter, mim is 1 letter.
So if you say alif, lam, mim, you
got 30 hasanat.
But for the fast, Allah did not say
how many. Allah said, I will give.
Right? So it's beyond count because if Allah
is giving, then Allah gives in keeping with
his majesty and grace.
It's not it's not 1 or 2. Right?
So this is the thing to understand which
is
that is why fasting is so important. That
is why as Muslims we look forward to
fasting.
And InshaAllah Hamdulillah,
the fact that the MSA here is being
set up in the middle of Ramadan, may
Allah make this
means of great khayr and balaka, means of
great beauty, means of great
blessing
for this college, for this city, for the
country, for all of us, for the world,
and make all of you because of guidance
for all those who are in the world,
who need guidance, which is every all of
us, Insha'Allah.