Mohammed Faqih – Khutbah Lessons From Fasting
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Yeah, you're Latina mo la Baku Ponce de de la cama cama de la creme de novo come on up la hora Sula, who Chaka d'affaires of who was in Lima, my bad, my dear brothers and sisters, to conclude the series that my dear brother Mohammed and myself started at the beginning of this month. And with this being the fifth and last Friday of this month,
we were blessed to have five Fridays, this Ramadan, we're going to conclude talking about the five pillars of Islam.
And according to one of the narrations, one of the versions of the Hadees that talks about Islam being built on five foundations, five pillars,
right.
One of the heavy end with today's topic, which is the only one left out of the five, and that is a psalm fasting, and specifically the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam talks about the fasting of the month of Ramadan.
And one may say well, you're talking about fasting at the end of the month, we indeed talked about Ramadan when we talked about fasting and we talked about Ramadan before the beginning of the month in preparation for the month of Ramadan. And we have sessions about how to prepare ourselves for this month.
But this is beyond just talking to people about the month of Ramadan. In fact,
it may be even very appropriate and needed to talk about this concept. After we have done it for 29 days.
You know they say it takes 21 days
to
To
adapt to or adopt a quality or a habit, it takes 21 days, right? to
get used to.
And master
a particular habit that a person wants, wants to acquire.
Right? So meaning if you can maintain something for 21 days, then you can maintain it for the rest of your life.
So now, after 21 days and on top of that another complimentary seven days,
getting to know
and knowing firsthand what fasting is and what it feels like, and what it's meant to be,
after being reminded every day
with the very concept that Allah subhana wa Taala ordered us to fast for allowing the Quran says yeah, you know, or you believe quotevalet
fasting has been prescribed or it was written upon you. It was made mandatory. you're obligated quotevalet Muslim fasting, come out quickie Valentina. publikum You're not the only ones you're not the first people. You're not the first nation in the history of humanity.
Because it was prescribed and it was written upon those who were before you. It was decreed for those who are people before you as well.
It's your the continuation of that great legacy
of being obedient to Allah subhanho wa Taala and submitting to him and being mindful. Come equity Valentina. publikum la la casa taco what is the purpose of it
was fastly meant to deprive us from eating and drinking wasn't meant to, to starve us.
Unfortunately, in the Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says that there are people, there are some people who get nothing out of their fasting except the starvation and thrust.
Right. Please send me your own.
And there are some people who get up in the you know, and pray at night. And the only thing that they get out of it as sleeplessness and fatigue
in the turbos,
why because their heart is not in it. And that's why we have to understand that this was meant for us to attain taqwa. And as we said, taqwa is in the heart.
So we have to understand that there's another depth, there's another dimension,
we have to take fasting to this higher level. And that's why I haven't really said that there are different levels of fasting. Fasting, as we know, it, technically is to abstain.
And to keep oneself in avoid things that invalidate the fasting. So it could be eating, drinking, sexual *.
And there could be fasting from saying certain things. So there is the fasting of a tongue as well.
So this is the technical definition of fasting, you have to avoid eating and drinking.
Even Hello, things
become How long? You cannot, you can't consume them. Now, it's not how long in and of itself.
But it is how long during a specific period of time. So it's, there's a condition and once that condition is removed, when the sun sets, then not only should you eat, but you have to eat.
You have to eat something, you have to break your fast.
Right.
So
this is what fasting is. But that's not where it stops, because that's what everyone does. That's what everyone manages to do. I mean, we're all obligated every Muslim, every Muslim who's an adult is obligated to observe the fasting of the month of Ramadan as a last set in the following verse. He says, one does Sumo logic come
in come to tell about Ramadan and Lady Zilla for him for the month of Ramadan, during which the Quran was revealed. Everyone is obligated to pass that month. And we have had our journey in our time with this month in and of course, I'm sure that you feel the same way I feel right now. Right? We're all saying I can't believe the month is over.
I can't believe this is the last Friday of the month.
And I'm sure that most of you feel the same way. I feel like this was the fastest Ramadan ever. Right? Doesn't it get faster every year? I mean, last year I was saying oh, this is this is like just the quickest Ramadan What happened?
Now this year, we feel like it's an
By the way, as we progress and as we grow older, it's just going to get faster and faster and life is going to seem and feel shorter and shorter, which is an indication that we are actually what?
This isn't a one way journey. We're getting closer and closer
to that day.
So brothers and sisters, Allah subhanaw taala prescribed fasting for us so that we are better prepared for that day because one of the definition of taqwa is
as ali ali Allahu Allahu Allah who said, may Allah Subhana Allah be pleased with him. He said, one of the meanings of duck Well, one of the concepts of duck what is Alistair dead, really O'Meara Hale to prepare oneself
to the day of departure,
the day life seizes comes to an end, another journey begins. So fasting
is one of those things that were prescribed to help us prepare for that day by attaining taqwa by mastering taqwa
by engaging in taqwa by living taqwa,
remembering taqwa
fasting, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said is Juna, a somos. Una is protection. taqwa is protecting oneself and shielding oneself from hellfire.
And from that which brings the Wrath of Allah subhana wa Stan. So this is one thing that fasting brings us. But that's not where it stops, because there is another meaning for fasting. And that is what abstinence right? restraining oneself. And SubhanAllah. The scholars said
that the reason a loss of health or the process of refer to the month of Ramadan as the month of fasting, the month of suburb
is because suburb, even the terminology itself, the term suburb and the term sown in Arabic, both of them share a very common meaning. And that is what helps to restrain one's self
and perhaps means to pin down to restrain to hold back
one's self. And that's what happens.
Right? So another concept that fasting is teaching us a subject and one of the meanings of Sabra, by the way, is to hold oneself and be under control.
If
you contemplate if you analyze, if you sit and ponder upon what may be the cause of your own misery, if I sit and think about the cause of my own misery, I honestly would tell you, that it is lack of control. Life is getting out of control.
If you look at the problems of any family, any community, any society, the world in which we live, the chaos that we are all suffering from, somehow we are causing it, things are getting out of control. How many times do we hear this? How many how many of us feel like our lives are out of control, things are just out of control.
That is true.
our our our misery comes from being out of control. So fasting comes this month of Ramadan comes to remind us that you can gain regain control. That is all in your hands. Rama bond does not come and force us or compel us we choose to fast. And we choose to change our mindset and we choose to keep ourselves away from certain things that we otherwise other than other than you know, in any other month, we say, Oh, I can't help it. No, you can. And that's what one of the meanings of Sublime is and that's what fasting is, is for, to help us self control. One of the greatest lessons and I hope that by now we have realized that we are capable of things that we think sometimes that we're not
capable of the month of Ramadan should by now we should be we should the month of Ramadan should have increased our self esteem and our self confidence
and brought back our faith
in the guidance that Allah subhanaw taala has provided for us.
So engaging in sobra, another
dimension passing when you keep away from the things that are loss of how to Allah bless you with you choose to stay away from them.
You become more aware of their value.
You become more aware of their value right?
What is the one thing that everybody's thinking about right now? If I was to say, okay, what's the one common thing that we all have? Right now? One thing that we're all thinking is on our mind, you know,
I'm sure that some of us are thinking, Oh, when is it gonna? When am I gonna be able to drink my coffee?
Where am I going to be able to do this or eat that? Or you know, or some of us are thinking Is this okay? When is this what was going to be over? So I can leave? Right? Some people may be thinking,
you know, eight different things. But the one thing that we all have in common the one thing that we all crave the one thing that we all jumped to get a sip of his water for instance. Yet it is one of the most, if not the most wasted resources
and the most abused resources. Somehow you become grateful and you realize that without water, we can't function. This is just a reminder simple never met from Allah subhanaw taala How many times do we when we drink water, how many of us remember to say Bismillah and at the end, when we finish that glass of water, that cold glass of water, we remember to say Alhamdulillah and not waste any of it. How many times when we open our refrigerators and find cold water or when we turn our faucets on and we have running water which is something that by the way, the majority of the world doesn't have the luxuries that we have.
How many times do we remember to see hamdulillah
look up the images, look up the images, right, you can go online and look them up.
Water nirma a basic nirma there are parts of of the world you know East Africa.
The other day I collected bottles of water, some of them are half full, some of them are full. They're not even to some of them have plenty of water in them. bunch of them here in the masala left.
That's a luxury there are some people by the way in the world that have never tasted that that are born.
They live
an average lifespan of a human being they die without tasting bottled water.
Without getting a sip of that bottled water. They only see them on TV
or at hotels.
We have that Nam of Allah subhanaw taala it reminds you so Allah says at the end of the ayah that talks about fasting, looking to Quran that at the end of the month today and tomorrow and on the day of eating inshallah to Allah, we should be sitting in thanking Allah subhanaw taala for his blessings and thanking is not only just uttering, you know, words, it's not only saying I'm hamdulillah and we thank Allah subhanho wa Taala that's just one of it. There's another thing that you can do. To Ana de una shukran says Allah subhanaw taala you have to act upon being thankful. I felt an akuna absentia Cora The reason the prophet SAW Selim went above and beyond. He was
worshiping he was praying at night, his feet started getting started swelling. I actually looked at the progress of Solomon's feet and she said oh my god, you have a lot Why do you have to do this to yourself? What are Allahu Allah meta meta, meta, meta, meta,
meta meta meta, meta brothers, please move forward and fill in the gaps. Please accommodate your brothers who are standing and do not block the interest continue to push it in Charlotte, Allah, there is still more room in the multipurpose room, brothers who are standing there, there is still plenty of room in the multipurpose room.
So when I looked at the Prophet sallallahu, Alayhi, wasallam, because some of us stood up at night, and some of us you know, the other night, the Salah was prolonged a little bit and you get tired and you get fatigued and like, Oh, my God is long, right? But remember, the day of judgment is gonna be a very long day and we're going to be standing, there are no chairs, you know that on the Day of Judgment, unless, you know, those who are lost pounds are provided with the shade or special accommodation. But everybody is going to be standing. There is not that there isn't even room for people to actually even sit. You can't even sit you will be standing. Everybody. It's going to be
very crowded on that day. And that's going to be a long day.
Two, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said to him, Allah has forgiven your sins, they're almost the devil you're taking care of you're done.
He said, I should have done shakoora Shouldn't I be a thankful servant? Shouldn't I be grateful to Allah subhanaw taala. Right.
So fasting teaches us to be grateful. And by the end of this month, if we're not more grateful to Allah subhanaw taala if we're not grateful, and if we're not counting the blessings of Allah subhanaw taala if we're not grateful for the blessings, for the wealth, for the health, for the family that we have, if we're not more appreciative about children and our wives and our spouses and our parents, then we have not learned one of the greatest lessons of fasting to be thankful
Be thankful. And usually when we're talking about thankful we're thinking Oh, people should be thankful I'm around. People, my family should be so thankful that they have me. No should be the other way around. You should be thankful that you have a family.
Brothers and sisters
we
learned in this month.
Great lessons.
I just mentioned three of those lessons.
Now we have the
opportunity to continue on learning those lessons reinforcing them.
If the month of Ramadan is going to end tomorrow,
if the month of Ramadan is going to end tomorrow, fasting is not going to end tomorrow.
The mandatory obligatory fast is indeed most likely is going to end tomorrow. There's a very slim chance that today may be the last day for us. For many people in the world. Tomorrow is the last day. Right? But fasting will not end right there. Glad tidings to those of us who now are so used to fasting glad tidings for those of us who cannot imagine a world without Ramadan or without fasting. Fasting does not stop here. In fact, your opportunity to earn the reward for the whole year. Allah subhanho wa Taala it's a gift from Allah azza wa jal, it's a gift from Allah the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says that whosoever fast the month of Ramadan sama ramadan
ramadan Apollo, it is as if you have fasted the whole year.
If you fast finished the fasting of the month of Ramadan, and you follow it with six days from the month of Shadwell, which is going to start on Sunday, except that we can't fast on Sunday, if it's the first day of aid, you cannot fast on that day, you have to, you know, that's one of those cases where fasting becomes hot, um, you're not allowed to fast on the day of faith. And that's why one of the Sooners, one of the Sooners of the day of eight is before you go to salicylate before you go out to eat prayer, break your fast or something, eat something after done after fudger eat, you know date, that's what the process of selling used to do, or eat breakfast or you know, take a sip of
water, right and come to eat prayer after you have eaten something or after you had a drink. Right? So eight day,
we can't fast but after that immediately after that you can start fasting you can fight fast six consecutive days if you want to. Or if you want to fast six different days within the month of chawan do it as soon as possible, though, right? Or if you want to fast Mondays and Thursdays. You know three sets of Mondays and Thursdays last six days, right they the right there as if you have fasted the whole year.
And fasting should not stop there. Right?
Try to fast Mondays and Thursdays or at least one of those two days
and maintain that, or three days in the middle of the month, the 13th, the 14th and the 15th of every lunar month, someone might say well, how am I supposed to keep track of that? Well, now Alhamdulillah there are some amazing brothers and sisters who have started this service of reminding the Ummah, of those three days called aim will be the three whites or the three bright days of the month, where you have a full moon, the 13th 14th and 15th. Right you are reminded all you have to do is just follow, right the three white days, white days on Twitter, or Facebook, and you will receive a reminder a few days before that these are the days remember three days, every month, right?
Or take advantage of those special days like Ashura or out of right and fast those days are the first
10 days or the first nine days of the month of fasting. For those people who who connected with fasting, they are not going to stop right here. And there are some very few people who fast every other day like that would only select one of the prophets of Allah and that is the best of fasting. So let us let this not be let today or tomorrow not be our our last connection.
And our last experience, Let it not be the end of our experience with fasting. Let us carry on with this legacy of fasting throughout the year and see fasting transform your life and change you for the better and make you a better Muslim, a better individual a better citizen a better father. So what I want from you brothers and sisters is to commit now
to commit to these lessons that we learned from the month of Ramadan. Choose one of three things
right, or all of those three things I want you to one
look at these three lessons that I talked about taqwa
self control, and thankfulness.
rightfulness and assess yourself see where you're at. In terms of each one of those where are you at in terms of your taqwa. And we all nobody can claim to be like the most pious. So we all need to increase our tempo and find ways find yourself one way to increase your tempo. The one thing that in the month of Ramadan helped you become a little more aware of a law and be more mindful of him and maintain that he called those heartless those short talks that we were delivering every night during the month of Ramadan, right. Pick on one thing that that maybe it's reading one page from the Quran, maybe it's attending salon, the machine, we talked about salon, maybe painting federal as a machine
every day, maybe that's what it is. It makes you more mindful of a lot. I've seen that in the lives of so many people, people who come from frigid prayer every day I have seen myself and those individuals become better connect with each other become even more mindful of Allah subhanaw taala the idea to add effects at a different level to panela just committing to that one thing to increase our taqwa whatever that thing is for you, it could be fasting it could be giving charity whatever it was, that gave you that moment that gave you that, that Eman that deep rush.
That moment, whatever it is, could be too hot. So commit to one thing that will increase your taqwa self control, we all need self control inshallah, there will be a hot word about self control. Right and patience. So the one thing what what can you do to increase your threshold and become a little more tolerant, a little more patient. Allah Subhana Allah promises endless amount of reward to, to those who fast the By the way, the reward of fasting is only with a loss of habitat, nobody knows what it is.
Right.
And now we know that Allah Subhana, Allah will forgive the sins of those who fasts the month of Ramadan, the whole month, right. But the actual reward in terms of hassanal, because it varies.
Different people who struggle struggle at different level with the same thing. Likewise, the reward of those people who have self control or have patient suffer is unlimited unknown in my office saburo una casa. So whatever it is that you can do to increase your, your your sub thankfulness, being grateful, take advantage of this day, take advantage of tomorrow be grateful, he who does not thank people does not tank Allah. And on this member, I would like to thank all the volunteers that helped us this year, the individuals that may not come here on stage and you don't see them, you don't know their names, maybe you don't even know what they look like people who took time, you
know, helped us with a parking lot or in the kitchen, or organizing the, you know, the salon, some of whom did not were not able to enjoy things as much as we enjoyed because they were making sure that they facilitate, and they they keep the place clean and comfortable for us to please be thankful to them.
You know, share a word of nobody gets paid except by loss of handling time, right of those individuals, may Allah bless him. So on the day of read when you see them, thank them, or pray for them, and assist them and if they sometimes,
you know, they get frustrated, we're human beings.
Right? pardon them, and see how you can ease the stress on them. And cooperate with them, pray for them. May Allah subhanaw taala bless them, for their reward is with Allah and pray for their families. May Allah subhanaw taala reward them as well. Right. And I'm thankful to those people who gave and donated and shared May Allah subhanaw taala, bless them and bless their wealth. All these brothers and sisters amazing group of people may Allah Subhana Allah reward, all of them notice be a little more thankful to our wives and our children, right. So whatever it is that one group of people or that one individual that you have not been able to thank all along, be thankful and offer
them a word of you know that that some kind of word of affirmation, that expresses how you feel about the word of gratitude. Another thing that you may be able to commit to is one of those fasting,
right? Today before you leave, I want you to make up your mind. I'm going to pass the six days of show well for the first time in my life, do it this year. Do it this year. And one of the easiest tips By the way, one of the one of the things, here's a tip, if you want to do it, and if you want it to be the easiest thing ever is start from Monday and take it all the way to Saturday. nonstop. Done, you're done.
Right, it's a lot easier to jump back right back into it. Now if you are used to fasting if you did fast, the six days of chawan commit to something else, maybe one one once a week on Monday or on Thursday, or Mondays and Thursdays or maybe you want to start with you want to take it easy and start with the free days in the middle of the month of every month. Right commit to one of those things. Finally brothers and sisters
The month of Ramadan brought us closer to the masjid. So one thing that I want you to commit to is to have a
stronger connection with the masjid. Increase your connection to the masjid Let it not be just Friday July that's it. There are some people that we don't see except on Juma and there are some community members may Allah Subhana Allah bring them back to the machines that do not come to the machine except
right on the last day, except when they are brought in as Genesis.
So let us increase our connection with the machine. If you're if you're one person that comes that one individual that comes here every Friday, I want you to come a little more often we would like to see you. We feed off each other in the shower towel focus on that and they're a total barakallahu li walakum from Karina and I want to find a way he can be my female he was dictating that I came up hello hello cola sakala Tara Lee welcome for Sofia
hamdu lillahi wa salatu salam ala Yvette De La Nina stop her well doc
Eden Sharla tada is most likely we anticipate most likely that he is going to be on Sunday inshallah Tada. However, tonight, the program is going to go as usual vilella we're going to have a shot and taraweeh unless we can verify a sighting of the moon somewhere here. You know, as you know, that we go with global sighting so somebody could see it, what else? If it's not seeing someone else in the world, could it be seen here, but there's a very, very slim chance for that to happen. So a prayer inshallah tada is going to be at the Honda center on Sunday, inshallah tada for sure. 730 is the first shift, the second shift will be at 830 Give yourself plenty of time, because take into
consideration, parking, there will be security screening, and you know, you will have to go through metal detectors. So the less items we have, the better it is, everyone is encouraged to come everyone, even the sisters who may not be praying, right, they're encouraged to come and sit in sha Allah to Allah on the side and join us. By the way, attending an eighth prayer there, you know, there is a variation in terms of the opinion of the scholars, those who say it's highly recommended, and those who say it's obligatory. So eight is not attending an eighth prayer is not to be taken lightly. The policies are encouraged even children, right servants, slaves, you know, women who may
not be praying, right to come, even those people will not be able to pray, everyone should come, inshallah. And that's why we have two shifts to accommodate the large turnout that we anticipate or we hope for, if you have not paid the $10 per person in your households, a capital filter, right? That we recommend, and we remind everyone every year to do that, now is the best time to do it from now until the eighth prayer. Once the Imam says Allahu Akbar, it's over. If you paid afterwards, it's just going to be sold out, but you still have to pay it but it won't count as a capital filler, or what people know as Futura. So make sure that you take care that Bella caleffi come before us a
lot to the brothers and sisters, those who did not were not able to fulfill the obligation of fasting and did not fast because they have terminal illness or they have they will have to basically pay video for every day. And the cost of that is anywhere from $10 to $15 depending on your financial you know, capacity. So for every day that the person has sisters who are nursing, and did not make up that or forgot or were pregnant or had some kind of excuse and did not make up the days that they were supposed to make up from last year and this year came upon them for every further delay. They will have to pay video for every day as well as charlatan those who were ill and Mr. Day
or were traveling. You have to make up the day. Only if you fail to make up the day until next time around you have to pay video and still make of the day so bear that in mind because sometimes people think that oh I had some kind of you know I had a headache or so you have to make up the days if you're capable of doing so. barakallahu li
zacchara man for those people who have not paid the cattle man pay that ASAP. Let me just tell you one thing we handled with special handles a cattle man I feel comfortable giving the cattle mount to the masjid In fact I think the most should we should institutionalize the cattle man the collection of the cattle now the machine does not take although the machines can
take technically in my opinion can take up to 25% of the cattle amount that is conducted for its own expenses. But the mustard our mustard here I iocs Islamic Institute of Orange County Michigan does not take a penny out of it. Last year we collected 70,000 I believe and we spent 80,000 before this Ramadan Kim so you're as a cattle man is well taken care of. Right? And we make sure that we distributed we don't keep it here. So deliver your car and give it to the machine. Make sure that you indicate that it's the car
To the man,
right. And if you want to help the machine really give Beyonds a cattleman, because the machine is not going to use a cattle man. There are plenty of people here that needs that need help. And we do not turn anyone down. Anyone that deserves help we do give them last year, we helped 84 applicants, individuals. And we gave from this a cat fund to 27 organizations, local organizations, national organization, and at the international level as well. 175 $175,000 were given out of our federal Remember, the calculation was only 80. Right? So donations that we collected for special causes, like any crisis that happens overseas, right? So we are channeling whatever you want to give, in
fact, I rather give to one entity measure another photo, and the machine is going to help the various organizations on the ground and share with that. So when you're giving here, you're investing, you're actually divert, it's like investing in a mutual fund. Because we give to every cause, Baraka Luffy. So please fulfill your pledges.
please, by all means, celebrate eight and take your family out. There are different organizations that have different events on the day of aid. For those who decide to do that. I would just urge you to remember those who are less fortunate. Those who are suffering in the world, the children of Syria are not going to be able to enjoy it this year. Right. Our you know, our brothers and sisters in Syria are mourning their debt, the aid I mean, they can't even have eight. So please remember that I don't mean to ruin their aid experience for you. But this is the reality of this world that we live in. So remember them, remember them with a gift with a contribution with something at least
with a broader Colombo vehicle. May Allah subhanaw taala ease their pain and their suffering and may somehow bring shower their dead with mercy. May Allah subhana wa tada give their wounded speedy recovery and May Allah subhanho wa Taala give victory to those who are fighting for their freedom. And may Allah subhanaw taala bring his wrath and May Allah subhanaw taala bring destruction upon the perpetrators those who kill innocent people and commit atrocities all over the world may Allah subhanaw taala rid the world of them. I asked Allah azza wa jal to bring this aid upon us and upon our oma and readers of those tyrants or Allah bring an end to their to their tyranny or law bring an
end to their oppression robina Athena for dunya hasenhuttl philanthropy hustler joaquina Governor robina Taco Bell Mina Anika semirara to Ballina to Abraham about the law in the law he
went on
to the rule of law.
I'm sure that you feel the same way I feel right now. Right? We're all saying I can't believe the month is over.
I can't believe this is the last Friday of the month.
And I'm sure that most of you feel the same way. I feel like this was the fastest Ramadan ever. Right? Isn't it gets faster every year. I mean, last year, I was saying, Oh, this is this is like just the quickest robot what happened.
Now this year, we feel like it's and by the way, as we progress, and as we grow older, it's just going to get faster and faster. And life is going to seem and feel shorter and shorter, which is an indication that we are actually what
this is a one way journey. We're getting closer and closer
to that day.
So brothers and sisters last month, Allah prescribed fasting for us so that we are better prepared for that day because one of the definition of taqwa is
as ali ali Allahu Allahu Allah who said, may Allah Subhana Allah be pleased with him. He said, one of the meanings of dukkha one of the concepts of taqwa is Alistair deadly O'Meara Hale to prepare oneself
to the day of departure,
the day life seizes comes to an end, another journey begins. So fasting
is one of those things that were prescribed to help us prepare for that day by attaining taqwa by mastering taqwa
by engaging in taqwa by living taqwa,
remembering taqwa
fasting, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said is Juna, a somos. Una is protection. taqwa is protecting oneself and shielding oneself from hellfire.
And from that which brings the wrath of the last panels down. So this is one thing that fasting brings us. But that's not where it stops because there is another meaning
Fasting, and that is what abstinence, right? restraining oneself. And SubhanAllah. The scholars said
that the reason a lot of what are the promises referred to the month of Ramadan as the month of fasting the month of suburb
is because suburb, even the terminology. So the term sober and the term song in Arabic, both of them share a very common meaning. And that is what helps to restrain one's self
and perhaps means to pin down to restrain to hold back
one's self. And that's what happens. Right? So another concept that fasting is teaching us is suburb, and one of the meanings of suburb by the way, is to hold oneself and be under control.
If
you contemplate if you analyze, if you sit and ponder upon what may be the cause of your own misery, if I sit and think about the cause of my own misery, I honestly would tell you, that it is lack of control. Life is getting out of control.
If you look at the problems of any family, any community, any society, the world in which we live, the chaos that we are all suffering from, somehow
we are causing it, things are getting out of control. How many times do we hear this, how many how many of us feel like our lives are out of control, things are just out of control.
That is true.
our our our misery comes from being out of control. So fasting comes this month of Ramadan comes to remind us that you can gain regain control that it is all in your hands. But Ramadan does not come in force us or compel us we choose to fast. And we choose to change our mindset. And we choose to keep ourselves away from certain things that we otherwise other than other than, you know, in any other month, we say, Oh, I can't help it. No, you can. And that's what one of the meanings of sobotta is. And that's what fasting is, is for, to help us self control. One of the greatest lessons. And I hope that by now we have realized that we are capable of things that we think
sometimes that we're not capable of the month of Ramadan should by now we should be we should the month of Ramadan should have increased our self esteem and our self confidence
and brought back our faith
in the guidance that Allah subhanaw taala has provided for us
to engage engaging in sobre. Another
dimension passing, when you keep away from the things that are loss of how to Allah bless you with you choose to stay away from them,
you become more aware of their value,
you'll be become more aware of their value. Right?
What is the one thing that everybody's thinking about right now? If I was to say, okay, what's the one common thing that we all have? Right now? One thing that we're all thinking is on our mind, you know,
I'm sure that some of us are thinking, Oh, when is it gonna? When am I gonna be able to drink my coffee?
Where am I going to be able to do this or eat that? Or you know, or some of us are thinking just okay, when is this what was going to be over? So I can leave? Right? Some people may be thinking,
you know, eight different things. But the one thing that we all have in common the one thing that we all crave the one thing that we all jump to get a sip of his water, for instance. Yet it is one of the most, if not the most wasted resources
and the most abused resources. Somehow you become grateful and you realize that without water, we can't function. This is just a reminder, simple never met from Allah subhanaw taala. How many times do we when we drink water? How many of us remember to say Bismillah. And at the end, when we finish that glass of water, that cold glass of water, we remember to say Alhamdulillah and not waste any of it. How many times when we open our refrigerators and find cold water or when we turn our faucets on and we have running water, which is something that by the way, the majority of the world doesn't have the luxuries that we have.
How many times do we remember to see and have dinner?
Look up the images. Look up the images, right you can go on
online and look them up.
Water nirma a basic NEMA. There are parts of the world in East Africa.
In
the other day I collected bottles of water, some of them are half full, some of them are full. They're not even though some of them have plenty of water and a bunch of them here in the masala left.
That's a luxury there are some people by the way in the world that have never tasted that that are born.
They live
an average lifespan of a human being they die without tasting bottled water.
Without getting a sip of that bottled water. They only see them on TV
or at hotels.
We have that name of Allah subhanaw taala it reminds you so Allah says at the end of the ayah that talks about fasting Quran that at the end of the month, today and tomorrow and on the day of eating inshallah, to Allah, we should be sitting in thanking Allah subhanho wa Taala for his blessings and thanking is not only just uttering, you know, words, it's not only saying I'm hamdulillah and we thank Allah subhanho wa Taala. That's just one of it. There's another thing that you can do it Armando Anadolu. The shokran says a loss of habitat that you have to act upon being thankful. I felt an akuna absentia Cora The reason the prophet SAW Selim went above and beyond. He was worshiping he
was praying at night, his feet started getting started swelling, I should look to the process and his feet and she said, Oh, why do you have to do this to yourself? What
do I mean then become an
academic and become a two brothers, please move forward and fill in the gaps. Please accommodate your brothers who are standing and do not block the interest continue to push and inshallah to Allah, there is still more room in the multipurpose room, brothers who are standing there, there is still plenty of room in the multipurpose room.
So when I looked at the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, because some of us stood up at night, and some of us you know, the other night, the Salah was prolonged a little bit and you get tired and you get fatigued and like, Oh, my God is long, right? Remember, the day of judgment is gonna be a very long day, and we're going to be standing, there are no chairs, you know that on the Day of Judgment, unless, you know, those who are lost pounds are provided with the shade or special accommodation. But everybody is going to be standing. There is not that there isn't even room for people to actually even sit. You can't even sit you will be standing. Everybody. It's going to be
very crowded on that day. And that's going to be a long day.
So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said to him, Allah has forgiven your sins, they're almost the devil you're taking care of you're done.
He said, I should have done shakoora Shouldn't I be a thankful servant? Shouldn't I be grateful to Allah subhanaw taala. Right.
So fasting teaches us to be grateful. And by the end of this month, if we're not more grateful to Allah subhanaw taala if we're not grateful, and if we're not counting the blessings of Allah subhanaw taala if we're not grateful for the blessings, for the wealth, for the health, for the family that we have, if we're not more appreciative of our children, and our wives and our spouses and our parents, then we have not learned one of the greatest lessons of fasting, to be thankful
to be thankful. And usually when we're talking about thankful we're thinking Oh, people should be thankful I'm around. People, my family should be so thankful that they have me no should be the other way around. You should be thankful that you have a family.
Brothers and sisters
we
learned in this month.
Great lessons.
I just mentioned three of those lessons.
Now we have the
opportunity to continue on learning those lessons reinforcing them.
If the month of Ramadan is going to end tomorrow,
if the month of Ramadan is going to end tomorrow, fasting is not going to end tomorrow.
The mandatory obligatory fast is indeed most likely is going to end tomorrow. There is a very slim chance that today may be the last day for us. For many people in the world. Tomorrow is the last day. Right? But fasting will not end right there. Glad tidings to those of us who now are so used to fasting glad tidings for those of us who cannot imagine a world without Ramadan or without fasting. Fasting does not stop here. In fact, your opportunity to earn the reward for the whole year. Allah subhanho wa Taala it's a gift from Allah azza wa jal. It's a gift from Allah. The Prophet Sall Allahu alayhi wa sallam says that whosoever fasts the month of Ramadan, sama Ramadan will be city
Misha kendama sama de pollo
It is as if you have faster the whole year.
If you fast finished the fasting of the month of Ramadan and you follow it with six days from the month of Shadwell, which is going to start on Sunday, except that we can't fast on Sunday, if it's the first day of aid, you cannot fast on that day, you have to, you know, that's one of those cases where fasting becomes Haram. You're not allowed to fast on the day of faith. And that's why one of the Sooners, one of the Sooners of the day of eat is before you go to eat before you go out to eat prayer, break your fast with something, eat something after done after eat, you know date, that's what the process of them used to do, or eat breakfast or you know, take a sip of water, right and
come to a prayer after you have eaten something or after you had a drink. Right? So eight day,
we can't fast but after that immediately after that you can start fasting it can fast six consecutive days if you want to. Or if you want to fast six different days within the month of chawan do it as soon as possible, though, right? Or if you want to fast Mondays and Thursdays, you know three sets of Mondays and Thursdays that's six days right day, the right there as if you have fasted the whole year.
And fasting should not stop there. Right?
Try to fast Mondays and Thursdays or at least one of those two days
and maintain that, or three days in the middle of the month, the 13th, the 14th and the 15th of every lunar month, someone might say well, how am I supposed to keep track of that? Well, now on hamdulillah there are some amazing brothers and sisters who have started this service of reminding the Ummah, of those three days called a yam will be the three whites or the three bright days of the month, where you have a full moon, the 13th 14th and 15th. Right you are reminded all you have to do is just follow, right the three White Day, white days on Twitter, or Facebook, and you will receive a reminder a few days before that these are the days remember three days, every month, right?
Or take advantage of those special days like Ashura are out of right and fast those days or the first
10 days or the first nine days of the month of fasting. For those people who connected with fasting, they are not going to stop right here. And there are some very few people who fast every other day like that would only select one of the prophets of Allah and that is the best of fasting. So let us let this not be let today or tomorrow not be our our last connection.
And our last experience, Let it not be the end of old experience with fasting. Let us carry on with this legacy of fasting throughout the year. And see fasting transform your life and change you for the better and make you a better Muslim, a better individual a better citizen, a better father. So what I want from you brothers and sisters is to commit now
to commit to these lessons that we learned from the month of Ramadan. Choose one of three things
right, or all of those three things, I want you to one.
Look at these three lessons that I talked about taqwa
self control, and thankfulness, gratefulness, and assess yourself see where you're at. In terms of each one of those where are you at in terms of your taqwa. And we all nobody can claim to be like the most pious. So we all need to increase our tempo and find ways find yourself one way to increase your tempo. The one thing that in the month of Ramadan helped you become a little more aware of a law and be more mindful of him and maintain that recall those hotdeals those short talks that we were delivering every night during the month of Ramadan, right? Pick on one thing that that maybe it's reading one page from the Quran, maybe it's attending Salah in the masjid, we talked about
Salah, maybe pray in the frigerator machine every day, maybe that's what it is. It makes you more mindful of Allah. I've seen that in the lives of so many people, people who come from frigid prayer every day I have seen myself and those individuals become better connect with each other, become even more mindful of Allah subhanaw taala, the ayat of the Quran affect us at a different level. So Pamela just committing to that one thing to increase our taqwa. whatever that thing is for you. It could be fasting, it could be giving charity, whatever it was, that gave you that moment that gave you that, that Eman, that deep rush.
That moment, whatever it is, could be too hot. So commit to one thing that will increase your taqwa self control. We all need self control and shallow there will be a hotbed about self control. Right and patience. So the one thing what what can you do to increase your threshold and become a little more tolerant, a little more patient
Allah subhanaw taala promises endless amount of reward to, to those who fasts, that by the way, the reward of fasting is only with a loss of habitat, nobody knows what it is.
Right.
And now we know that Allah Subhana, Allah will forgive the sins of those who fasts the month of Ramadan the whole month, right. But the actual reward in terms of hassanal, because it varies.
Different people who struggle struggle at different level with the same thing. Likewise, the reward of those people who have self control or have Patient Support is unlimited unknown in my office aviana.
So whatever it is that you can do to increase your, your your sub thankfulness, being grateful, take advantage of this day, take advantage of tomorrow, be grateful, he who does not thank people does not thank Allah. And on this member, I would like to thank all the volunteers that helped us this year, the individuals that may not come here on stage and you don't see them, you don't know their names, maybe you don't even know what they look like people who took time, you know, helped us with a parking lot or in the kitchen, or organizing the, you know, the salon, some of whom did not, were not able to enjoy things as much as we enjoyed because they were making sure that they facilitate,
and they they keep the place clean and comfortable for us to please be thankful to them.
You know, share word of nobody gets paid except by loss of handling time, right of those individuals, may Allah bless them. So on the day of when you see them, thank them, or pray for them, and assist them and if they sometimes,
you know, if they get frustrated, we're human beings.
Right? pardon them, and see how you can ease the stress on them. And cooperate with them, pray for them. May Allah Subhana Allah bless them, for the reward is with Allah and pray for their families, may Allah subhanaw taala reward them as well. Right. And I'm thankful to those people who gave and donated and shared May Allah subhanaw taala, bless them and bless their wealth. All these brothers and sisters, amazing group of people may Allah Subhana Allah reward all of them, let us be a little more thankful to our wives and our children. Right. So whatever it is that one group of people or that one individual that you have not been able to thank all along, be thankful and offer them a
word of you know that some kind of word of affirmation, that expresses how you feel about the word of gratitude. Another thing that you may be able to commit to is one of those fasting,
right? Today, before you leave, I want you to make up your mind. I'm going to pass the six days of Shabbat for the first time in my life, do it this year, do it this year. And one of the easiest tips By the way, one of the one of the things, here's a tip, if you want to do it, and if you want it to be the easiest thing ever is start from Monday and take it all the way to Saturday, nonstop. Done, you're done.
Right, it's a lot easier to jump back right back into it. Now if you are used to fasting if you did fast, the six days of Sha one, commit to something else, maybe one one once a week on Monday or on Thursday, or Mondays and Thursdays or maybe you want to start with you want to take it easy and start with the three days in the middle of the month of every month. Right commit to one of those things. Finally brothers and sisters. The month of Ramadan brought us closer to the masjid. So one thing that I want you to commit to is to have a
stronger connection with the masjid increase your connection to the masjid Let it not be just Friday July and that's it. There are some people that we don't see except on Juma and there are some community members may Allah subhanaw taala bring them back to the machine that do not come to the machine except
right on the last day except when they are brought in as Genesis well I have the villa.
So let us increase our connection with the machine if you're if you're one person that comes that one individual that comes here every Friday I want you to come a little more often we would like to see you we feed off each other inshallah Talal focus on that and there are a total barakallahu li we're looking for and I want to find out what can be my female actress Declan Hakeem aku Hello coders software Allah tala come for Sofia
and hamdu lillahi wa Salatu was salam wa ala Nina stop her we're back
at inshallah tada is most likely we anticipate most likely that it is going to be on Sunday inshallah Tada. However tonight, the program is going to go as usual vilella we're going to have Asia and tarawih unless we can verify a sighting of the moon somewhere here. You know, as you know that we go with global sighting so somebody could see it. What else if it's not seeing someone else in the world which could be seen here, but there's a very, very slim chance for that to happen. So a prayer inshallah tada is going to be at the Honda center on Sunday inshallah tada for sure. 730 is the first show
The second shift will be at 830. Give yourself plenty of time, because take into consideration, parking, there will be security screening, and you know, you will have to go through metal detectors. So the less items we have, the better it is, everyone is encouraged to come everyone, even the sisters who may not be praying, right, they're encouraged to come and sit in sha Allah to Allah on the side and join us. By the way, attending an eighth prayer there, you know, there is a variation in terms of the opinion of the scholars, those who say it's highly recommended, and those who say it's obligatory. So eight is not attending an eighth prayer is not to be taken lightly. The
process is encouraged even children, right servants, slaves, you know, women who may not be praying, right to come, even those people will not be able to pray, everyone should come, inshallah, and that's why we have two shifts to accommodate the large turnout that we anticipate or we hope for, if you have not paid the $10 per person in your households, a capital filter, right? That we recommend, and we remind everyone every year to do that, now is the best time to do it from now until the eighth prayer. Once the Imam says Allahu Akbar, it's over. If you paid afterwards, it's just going to be sold off and you still have to pay it but it won't count as a counterfeiter, or what people
know as filter. So make sure that you take care of that Belka. Luffy come before us a lot of the brothers and sisters, those who did not were not able to fulfill the obligation of fasting and did not fast because they have terminal illness or they have they will have to basically pay video for every day. And the cost of that is anywhere from $10 to $15 depending on your financial you know, capacity. So for every day that the person who has sisters who are nursing and did not make up that or forgot or were pregnant or had some kind of excuse and did not make up the days that they were supposed to make up from last year and this year came upon them for every further delay. They will
have to pay video for every day as well insha Allah tala those who were ill and miss a day or were traveling, you have to make up the day only if you fail to make up the day until next Ramadan, you have to pay video and still make up the day. So bear that in mind because sometimes people think that oh, I had some kind of you know, I had a headache or so you have to make up the days if you're capable of doing so. barakallahu feeco
the cartoon man for those people who have not paid the cattle man pay that ASAP. Let me just tell you one thing we handle with special handles a cattle man, I feel comfortable giving the cattle amount to the machine. In fact, I think the most should, we should institutionalize the curriculum and the collection of the cattle not the machine does not take although the machines can
take technically in my opinion can take up to 25% of the cattle man that is collected for its own expenses. But the mustard our mustard here I iocs Islamic Institute of Orange County Michigan want to follow up does not take a penny out of it. Last year, we collected 70,000 I believe, and we spent 80,000 before this Ramadan came. So you as a cattle man is well taken care of. Right. And we make sure that we distributed we don't keep it here. So deliver your as a car and give it to the machine make sure that you indicate that it's the carton man.
Right. And if you want to help the machine really give beyond the cattlemen man, because the machine is not going to use a cattle man. There are plenty of people here that needs that need help. And we do not turn anyone down. Anyone that deserves help we do give them last year we helped 84 applicants, individuals. And we gave from the Zakat fund to 27 organizations, local organizations, national organization and at the international level as well. 175 $175,000 were given out of our federal remember the catalog was only 80. Right? So donations that we collected for special causes, like any crisis that happens overseas, right? So we are channeling whatever you want to give, in
fact, I rather give to one entity versus another photo. And the machine is going to help the various organizations on the ground and share with that. So when you're giving here, you're investing, you're actually divert, it's like investing in a mutual fund. Because we give to every cause. barakallahu li so please fulfill your pledges.
please, by all means, celebrate it and take your family out. There are different organizations that have different events on the day of aid. For those who decide to do that. I would just urge you to remember those who are less fortunate. Those who are suffering in the world. The children of Syria are not going to be able to enjoy this year.
Right, are in our brothers and sisters in Syria are mourning their debt, the aid I mean, they can't even have eight. So please remember that I don't mean to ruin the experience for you but this is the reality of this world that we live in. So remember them, remember them with a gift with a contribution with something at least with a rock along vehicle. May Allah subhanaw taala ease their pain and their suffering and may somehow bring shower their dead with mercy. May Allah subhanho wa Taala give their wounded speedy recovery and May Allah subhanho wa Taala give victory to those who are fighting for their freedom. May Allah subhanaw taala bring his wrath and May Allah subhanaw
taala bring destruction upon the perpetrators, those who kill innocent people and commit atrocities all over the world may Allah subhanaw taala rid the world of them. I asked Allah azza wa jal to bring this aid upon us and upon our oma and rid us of those tyrants or law bring an end to their to their tyranny or law bring an end to their oppression. Robin attina cydonia Hassan, Hassan Burkina Gabbana robina Taco Bell Mina Anika Senora de to Ballina Rahim Eva de la in a little bit I sent him a photograph when he
looked into the Quran. Allah