Moutasem al-Hameedy – 40 Hadiths of Imam Nawawi 2
AI: Summary ©
The collection of hadiths from Al Arba volumes provides guidance on Islam, including the origin of the words " bid'ah," and the source of guidance for Islam. The Sunitz's advice to ask the prophet sallam about the source of guidance is also discussed. The importance of understanding the text and the title of the book of fired up learning is emphasized, along with the need for differentiation between the Prophet's statement and other hadiths. The use of "baal" in Islam is emphasized, and caution is given against bringing things new to the discussion and bringing things that are different from what is taught in guidance.
AI: Summary ©
We continue with some of the hadith from
Al Arba'in in Nawawiya. And today, we take
the hadith of Aisha,
and it's hadith number 5 in the collection.
So this is the 5th hadith from the
collection of Al Imam in Nawawi.
And,
if you recall last week or last Sunday,
we mentioned that these scholars like an imam
Ahmad, imam Shafi'il, imam Ahmad, and others,
they mentioned that
the gist of Islam is found in 3
hadith
in 3 hadith.
One of them was last week's hadith which
was about intentions.
Hadith
And the second hadith
is this one.
He who introduces
the prophet
says, he who introduces
to our affair,
which is Islam,
something that is not from it.
Someone who introduces into Islam
something that is not from it.
Fahuwa Radun.
Fahuwa
Radun.
This can be translated in 2 ways.
Meaning
it will be rejected.
It will be rejected.
Arabic in the Arabic.
He will have it rejected. Rejected by who?
By Allah.
By Allah.
The other meaning, the other possible interpretation of
this
is
It is an act of opposition
to Allah and his messenger.
It's an act of opposition
to Allah and his messenger. Only Arabic language
more like
meaning that assuming that what Allah
and the prophet salawasalam, the guidance of Allah
and his messenger alaihi salawasalam,
is not enough and it needs to be
completed so you are trying to complete it.
Both meanings are very grave and serious.
This hadith is the foundation
with regards to.
The the understanding of the concept of bidah
in Islam.
So let's take Bida'a. What does what does
it mean, Bida'a, in the Arabic language?
In the Arabic language, Bida'a comes from the
root
and And what does this
root or jeddr, what does it
denote?
What is the meaning or the, let's say,
the semantic field of this root? What is
it?
Badah.
I'll give you a clue.
One of the names of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala is Al Badi'ah.
Badi'us Samawati wal ard.
Right? Allah says Badi'us Samawati wal ard. Badi'ah.
Allah describes himself as Badi'ah.
Badiyya. It comes from the same rule.
Badiyya.
What does it mean?
What does it mean?
Abda.
No. This is more of a modern meaning.
Originate
originate
create
from nothing
create from nothing
It
It mean it means to bring something new,
to create something new, to originate
originate,
to create.
This is why today,
they translate creativity in English. When they translate
it into the Arabic language, they call what?
Ibda. From the same root.
Al Ibda.
Al Ibda. And from this, more of a
more common meaning, it was there. It's a
correct meaning, by the way.
Badiyyah means, like, perfect.
Like, it has nothing like it. It's like
the only
original copy of something, Badia.
So it came to be
to describe something that is very something of
high quality,
superior quality, they say Badiyeh
Badiyeh. Okay? But the original meaning is to
originate, to bring something new, to bring something
out of nothing.
The originator of the heavens and the earth,
the creator of the heavens and the earth.
The scholars say
Allah originated them
upon no
older copy. They're not a copy of anything.
Completely new design.
Completely fresh design, Badia.
So bid'ah, this is where the word bid'ah
comes about.
Bid'ah
means to start something new, to originate
something
new.
And this tells you why in Islam, bid'ah
is very serious.
Bida'ah is very serious because
what is the source of guidance in Islam?
How do we know what's halal, what's haram?
How do we know what's true and what's
false?
How do we know? Where do what's the
source of all of this?
The book of Allah and the sunnah of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, which are
called in Islam
Where do we take? Where do we derive
our Islamic guidance from? From Allah
and His Messenger.
Allah communicated
His guidance
through His book,
the Quran,
and through His Messenger, sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
who communicated it in speech,
in action,
and in approval.
That's the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. Speech, words,
actions, things the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
did and approval, iqrar. The prophet, sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, saw certain practices
and
he
consented to them.
He did not
challenge them. He saw some things from the
companions.
They did. The prophet salallam acknowledged them.
That becomes a sunnah.
It becomes a sunnah. Like for example, the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said a number
of the companions on a military expedition.
The amir, the leader of that group,
he would lead them in salah.
So every time they prayed,
he would recite in the salah,
the Jahari, you know, the loud salah. He
would recite Surat Al Fatiha
and another, maybe short surah,
then he would recite
every rakah.
The companions, they didn't see this before. Like,
what is this? Like, the prophet doesn't do
this. So they questioned it.
They questioned it. So when they returned, they
came back to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam and they told him about this issue.
And they were inquiring, is that okay?
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, saloo huli
may f aloo dhalik. The prophet sallallam
said, ask them. Ask him why does he
do this?
Why does he recite at
the end of every rakah? At the end
of recitation, in every rakah?
They asked him, he said,
It has the description of Allah the Most
Merciful, and I love Allah. So I love
to recite it.
They told the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
They conveyed the answer. The prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam said,
Tell them and tell him and inform him
that Allah loves him. So the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, what did he do? This
is a new action. The companions didn't see
this.
Yes. They saw recitation of the Quran, but
at the end of every recitation,
you
recite.
They didn't see this. This was new. This
was.
Linguistically,
meaning a new thing.
Right?
So they told the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, the prophet, sallam, acknowledged it. Now it
became part of the sunnah. So the sunnah
of the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, is
speech,
actions, and approval.
These are the sources of Islam. This is
why we learn Islam. Any other source?
No. No sources. These are the sources.
So what about the scholars?
What about the companions radiAllahu anhu?
These are bridges
that help us
take from the Quran and take from the
sunnah. They are not original sources. They are
bridges.
They are bridges.
Why? Because in order for you to someone
says, oh, I speak Arabic so I can
just pick up the Quran.
I have the books of sunnah. Right? And
I have the,
whatever these programs on,
you know,
all of the books are all in PDF
format and database, and I can search them.
Right? So I can make my own rulings.
I go to the sources.
Well, it's not like this.
It's not like this because
you are a product of our modern time.
So the way your mind is shaped today
has been
mainly influenced by culture,
by today's mindset,
by today's thought.
There is a lot of corruption in this.
There's a lot of corruption in this.
So you would be taking the sources, interpreting
them in your confused mind, you would definitely
arrive at wrong conclusions.
This is why in Islam,
there is a system that keeps you consistent
when that helps you understand the Quran and
the Sunnah and stay consistent. You'll find sometimes
people would take a ruling from here and
a ruling from there, but they are contradictory.
How come? Yes. Because you don't know what
you're dealing with.
So there is a system. To understand the
Quran and the sunnah, the scholars
have codified
together sciences
that will help bridge the gap between us
and the companions of the prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam the time of revelation.
That's the correct understanding.
That's the correct mindset with which
you can approach the Quran and understand it.
Approach the sunnah and understand it.
You see?
So these sciences
are Usul Al Fakk,
Usul Al Fakk,
Ulum Al Quran,
and the science of hadith
and Mustalih.
Study
of the chains of narration
and study of the texts of the hadith.
These has these
these sciences have been thoroughly studied,
deeply studied,
critically,
you know,
thought through until they became consistent.
There's no contradiction among them. No contradiction. So
you know when you arrive at a conclusion,
it's consistent.
You're not contradicting something.
So these are the sources, the Quran and
the sunnah. How do we understand them? You
need people who are qualified, who have
acquired
the basic tools
to be able to understand the Quran correctly,
understand the sunnah correctly. Not only understand the
text, understand the text, and understand how this
particular text fits in the whole body of
texts.
That's something that is usually overlooked.
People think, oh, I can read Arabic. I
understand it. Or I learned some Usul al
Thiqh, and I can understand, you know, what
this particular hadith means.
But you know what?
Oftentimes,
this hadith is framed
by other hadith.
It's framed by other hadith and you won't
be able to understand it. I'll give you
an example to help us because this is
too abstract.
The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says
When one of you comes to the masjid,
do not sit
do not sit until you pray toraka.
Until you pray 2 rakah, tahiyet al masjid.
Scholars majority of the scholars say it's an
obligation.
Some scholars say it's a high highly recommended,
but it's actually an obligation because it's a
command from the prophet
salaiahjulis.
Let him not sit
until he prays to hurrahah. The prophet salaiahjulis
was giving khutba.
Whenever the companions
walks in,
in the middle of the khutba, comes into
the masjid and he sits to listen to
the khutba. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
said
in the middle of the khutba. The Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says to him, did
you pray 2 rakah?
He says no.
The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said
Stand up, pray 2 rakah, and make them
quick.
In the middle of the Khutba'ah, you know,
listening to the Khutba'ah is an obligation.
So
okay.
But the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam prohibited in
many hadith
to pray
at the time
of the sun rising
and the sun setting.
So he prohibited praying
when
the
when the sun turns, you know, this kind
of orangey color, it's about to set,
The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam prohibited prayer.
So now you walk into the Masjid,
and it's just 5 minutes before Adhan Al
Maghrib.
You are prohibited to pray.
You wanna sit in the masjid.
The prophet
said, don't sit until you pray 2 rakah.
You wanna pray, but the prophet said, don't
pray at this time. What do you do?
So someone who heard the first hadith
only the first hadith. And he said he
understands Arabic, maybe understands us also. Right? He
says this is clear. The prophet said,
don't sit until you pray 2 rakah. I'm
gonna pray 2 rakah, regardless.
But what about the other hadith?
You see, so it's not only how you
understand one text, but how the text fits
into the total body of other texts.
That's very important, and this is where people
go wrong.
This is why people who listen to 1
lecture, 2 lectures, a 100 lectures.
You read 2 books or, you know, 50
books,
and you think you feel that you know
so much. You know what? Yeah.
This scholar is wrong. This fatwa is not
right. This man is off.
And make fatwa here, make fatwa there.
You know, you are you you still, you
know, you're still taking your first baby steps.
You're not qualified to do this.
You're not qualified to do this. And these
people when they give fatwa, they don't realize
that they are contradicting fatwa of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in other areas because
they don't know about it. Why? Because they
did not
qualify. They did not learn. This is why
this is why we say the scholars are
the bridge.
They're not the sources. They are the bridge.
So someone says let's say
and this is a common thing and it's
important to address.
So you're following this thing and someone says,
why do you do this? You say, well,
you you know, Imam Al Shafi'i, he said
this, and Imam Ahmed said this. It's very
well established.
But the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam said
something else. Who do you follow? The prophet
Ora Shafi'i.
Who do you follow?
The question is wrong.
The question is wrong. Do you think Shafi'i
would
do something that prophet said
something against?
Come on.
But that's the poor understanding.
That's the poor understanding.
Okay?
So how do we solve these problems?
No. Now we have to differentiate between what
the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam says,
not only in one hadith and how it
fits with other things the prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam said and did,
and your understanding of what he said and
did. These are two different things. Many people
think, oh, I can just read the hadith
and know what the prophet said.
You know what?
Oftentimes, no. Your understanding is wrong.
Even if I speak the Arabic language, yes.
Because if you just learn the Arabic language,
you know,
most likely, you know, you still have a
lot to learn. And if you are an
Arab, your mother tongue is Arabic, most likely,
you know, your language is not identical to
the language of the prophet. It's Arabic, still
Arabic. And I would say, just throwing a
random number, maybe 60, 70 percent pretty much
accurate.
But what about the 30%?
Language changes over time.
Language changes over just today we have a
word. Right? Badir.
Badir. The Arabs use it today. It's a
correct meaning, but it's a secondary meaning.
It's a secondary meaning. Badir means
marvelous,
exceptional,
superior.
Right? That's how Arabs use it.
The Arabs of the of the past, they
would understand this meaning, but the main meaning
for them was to originate
something original.
This is where bida comes from. Okay? So
it's important to understand this. It's part of
the context.
So when someone says, oh, do you follow
these scholars or do you follow the prophet
salallahu alaihi wa sallam?
No. I follow the prophet but I don't
follow your understanding of the prophet. I follow
the scholars understanding of the prophet because they're
more qualified.
See the difference? People don't differentiate.
And that's a big problem.
Big problem.
Now if you have been studying Islam with
scholars
properly and you have developed the tools, you
understand mustallal hadith properly, you understand
Ulum Al Quran. You understand Usul Al Fiqh,
and you have very excellent and thorough exposure
to at least one of the 4 maddahib.
And you've read extensively,
and you have good knowledge about comparative fiqh,
now I can probably start
trusting
your understanding
of the hadith of the prophet salaam
and how and how one text fits in
the rest. That's very important. People sometimes create
a clash when there is no clash.
Or you're going against the prophet because you
are, you know, you're following this and that
scholar.
No. No. Scholars
seek to follow the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, but they know a hadith
and they know they have understanding about verses
you have never heard of before.
And you are functioning without that knowledge.
But they have this knowledge in the background
and it's important to stay consistent because what
Allah says and what the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam does say does not,
does not contradict. It's consistent.
Sometimes you emphasize something not realizing that you
are contradicting
3 other hadith from the prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam,
but you don't know them.
You are clueless about them.
Okay? So
back to bidah. That's actually connected. Bidah.
So bidah is to create something new, originate
something new that was not there before.
So when someone now
how did the term come into bid'ah? The
prophet says, man ahadatha.
Okay. So two words that are used in
the sunnah. Bid'ah.
The prophet says,
He who gives shelter to a mubtada. Someone
who
innovates,
creates a heresy in Islam.
Okay?
And Ijdath,
The prophet says,
Be careful.
Beware of
the newly invented matters
in religion. Be careful. So bidra
Okay?
So what does bida mean? You originate something,
meaning you legislate
in Islam. So what is the problem of
a muqtada or of bidah?
You are competing with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
You're placing self at an equal footing with
the prophet with Allah subhanahu wa'ala and the
prophet
to originate and to legislate.
You see the huge violation? See why bid'ah
is is is really serious in Islam? This
is why, you know, sometimes people
follow a bid'ah, which because it's part of
their culture.
It's part of their tradition. They just taught
they were taught something like this. They follow
it. And you know what? When you start
talking to them about it, they say, oh,
what's wrong with it?
What's wrong with it?
Saeed bin al Musayib, Imam of Medina,
one of the greatest of At Tabihin, Saeed
bin al Musayib.
He
saw someone.
He saw someone
who was praying after fajr,
2 sunnah,
then 2 sunnah,
then 2 sunnah. He's offering prayer.
He's offering some voluntary prayers. Right? He's volunteering
to do more optional prayers.
So, Sayyid Musayib, again, was a person of
authority,
person of knowledge. He says.
He says don't do it. Stop. Stop it.
So he looks at Sayid ibn al Musaib.
Again, he probably learned something. Right? But he
doesn't know a lot of other stuff.
So he says,
are you adhibunillahu
alas salah?
Is Allah going to punish me because I'm
praying?
You see how asking the wrong question can
misguide you. Does the does Allah punish me
for praying extra? For doing more prayers? Allah
punishes me for praying?
He said Allah rather Allah punishes you because
you contradict the sunnah.
You left the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
The religion of Islam is complete.
Allah says
Today I have completed your religion for you.
On Arafah,
when the prophet made his Hajj pilgrimage.
And I perfected
my favor, my guidance upon you. And
I'm pleased
with Islam as your religion and your way
of life.
So that's how we that's what we do.
Abdullah Masood
he would say
You know, follow the guidance,
obviously, of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
and his companions and do not originate,
do not create, do not introduce
things in the religion.
That's how Islam is perfect and complete. You
don't need to add anything to it.
You don't need to add anything to it
because once you add anything to it, this
is why
Al Imam Malik
the imam of Madinah again later on,
he says,
Whoever introduces something new into Islam thinking it
is pleasant, it is good,
then he is
claiming he is claiming
that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam did
not convey the message.
Or the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam betrayed
Allah
He was not faithful to his message.
Because you are suggesting
by your action, not by your speech, but
by your action, that the prophet Muhammad salaam
did not convey Islam in its entirety.
Because Allah said Islam is complete.
So if there is something still from what
the prophet said wasalam told us that still
we need to introduce it and bring it
in,
then you are just claiming by your action,
by your state,
that the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam did
not
complete the message. And that's very serious. So
bid'a is not a joke.
And, one of the greatest books on this,
was written by
Al Imam Shatabi Abu Ishaq al Shatabi, from
Al Andalus.
He has a book called Alai Al Islam.
It's quite a voluminous book. It's about
it's 4 volumes.
The original copy is 4 volumes.
He defines bidah.
He define he says
He says it's an action
or a practice or an engagement
that is invented,
that looks similar
to what we have in Islam.
Salah,
fast,
dhikr,
acts of worship.
It looks similar to it. You can confuse
both.
It is meant
and it is practiced and it's invented
as a means
of seeking closeness to Allah as an act
of worship.
A very interesting story happened at the time
of Abdullah ibn Masood radiAllahu anhu.
Most likely at the time
of either Umar or, Uthman or Ali ibn
Abi Talib. During the Khalifa of Uthman or
Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Abdullah bin Mas'ud settled in Al Kufa,
South Iraq in Al Kufa.
And one of his closest friends was the
other companion, Abu Musal Ash'ari. But Abdullah ibn
Mas'ud was at a higher rank
of knowledge.
Right? A higher rank of knowledge.
One second.
So after Fajr, Abdullah Mas'ud leaves, goes to
his praised Fajr, do their adkar. They go
to,
today. Okay.
They go to he goes to his house.
Abu Musa al-'Shaari stays at the Masjid, Masjid
al Kufa, the big Masjid in Kufa.
Then Abu Musa Al-'Aş Abu Musa Al-'Aş sees
something he had never seen before.
He sees
groups of people,
circles, making circles,
and there is a supervisor.
Each one in these circles, let's say 5
each 5 together,
and they have small,
gravel, like small stones in their hands, pebbles,
whatever.
And the person, the supervisor,
he's saying say subhanallah
100 times.
So they would engage all the circles engaged.
SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah, they would count.
They're done. Say
100 times.
How dhikr was done at the time of
the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam.
So he goes to Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. He
goes to the house because Abdullah Mas'ud
after sunrise he would come back and teach
at the masjid. So he was waiting for
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud to come out.
He finds the students at the door of
Abdul Abin Masood waiting for him to leave
so they could walk with walk him to
the Masjid.
So
he waits with them, Abdul Abin Masood comes
out. So Abu Musalash Ali
says, I saw something that
I couldn't recognize. I don't know. I'm not
familiar with this. First time I see it.
But I saw something good. Like, again, confusing,
you see? Because it looks like Islam.
Looks like what we have in Islam, tasbir.
He
says what did you see? He described the
situation.
He said you should you should have told
them to count their sins and not count
their good deeds.
They go to the Mas'id, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud
looks at them.
Obviously,
he covered his face.
He wanted to see them.
Then he uncovered his face, and they were
surprised to see him.
Then he says to him, count your
evil deeds,
meaning so that you can repent from them
and don't count your good deeds.
Then he says,
follow the guidance and do not come up
with something new.
You have been sufficed. That's enough. What you
have is enough. They
said, oh,
Abu Abdul Rahman. They said,
our intention was good. We wanted to do
something good. Remember Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he
said
and how often
a person
seeks
or intends to do good, but they they
miss it.
They miss it.
Then he says to them something that might
be surprising.
He says,
He says, either you are more guided than
the companions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam
or you are opening a new door of
misguidance.
Poor people sitting in the masjid counting dhikr,
what's the big deal? Right? That's what people
would say. The issue is
Islam is complete.
Islam is complete and this is how we
protect it.
The interesting thing one of the friends of
'Abdulla, the students of 'Abdulla ibn Mas'ud who
are narrating this story, he says,
He says wallahi we saw most of these
poor people.
Most of these people we saw most of
them
fighting against the companions
in the battle of An Nahrawan. They were
with Al Khawarij.
They were with Al Khawarij.
So bid'ah?
No. Follow the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
Don't bring something new. The other day someone
sent sent me a question and I thought
why do people do this? Someone says, you
know, there are people now who are promoting
that when you do your dua, you know,
there are they have these tools in personal
planning and organizational planning, something like vision boards.
So they say now when you do your
dua, you can create a vision board in
your dua
and start writing down.
Now you want a plan for your life,
you want a plan for anything, fine. Use
use vision boards. Just don't bring it into
du'a.
Don't bring it du'a is about your heart
attaching to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, begging Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, knowing that things are in
the hands of Allah.
Don't but people say, oh, it's technology
because you use sound system in the masjid.
Isn't that like why don't you just speak
like the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam? This is not worship.
This is a means to convey the voice,
the sound. That's it.
But dua is your heart attaching to Allah.
Now when you bring vision boards, your heart
is attached to what? What you want.
You're creating an image, you you you're printing
out an image of the car that you
want, right? Or the success that you want,
or the business or the house you want
to buy, right?
And then figure out the ways this is
planning. This is not dua.
So leave dua alone.
Leave the acts of worship alone. They are
perfect.
They are perfected. You can't make them better.
The only thing you can make them better
with is your performance.
Your heart puts your heart
in them in terms of intention,
in terms of complete you know, being completely
consumed in them, and and in terms of
trust in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, and then
in terms of quantity. You do them more
often.
You do them in more abundance.
Okay. So this is some commentary on the
hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Those who introduce something new to Islam, to
this affair of Islam, then they will have
it rejected.
Or the other meaning, it means that you
are rejecting
or you are
in in a sense trying to complete
what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his messenger
sent. That's your claim,
that they are incomplete
and you are here to complete them. So
don't take these things lightly. Whether somebody says,
oh, you're not making dua after this or
after that,
Something that we don't have authentically
from the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam and
the companions of the Allahu Anhu. Not that
they originate,
but they convey what they learned from the
prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam and also at
tabi'een as well.
Anything that anything anything that's new, anything that
is different that is different from that, stay
away from it. Whether you are introducing or
you are subtracting from
Islam. Because this is this is knowledge of
Al Ghayb. Legislation is knowledge of Al Ghayb.
No one knows the path that leads to
Allah but him. He told us that. Follow
that. You don't have access to that knowledge
except through the Quran, the sunnah,
and whoever qualified scholars
that bridge the gap between you and the
Quran and the sunnah. That's it. Period. We
don't worship scholars. We don't just take them
as the source of guidance or the source
of legislation. They are the conveyors. This is
why you'd find the scholars, generally speaking, they
would say, you know, take from us what
we take from the Quran and the Sunnah,
and what we say, our own conclusions could
be correct and could be incorrect.
Make dua in these last these last few
minutes and
Ramadan we're almost half of Ramadan. Tomorrow is
15th. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
accept from us
and to guide
us.
In the quiet moments before Iftar,
as the sun dips below the horizon,
we reflect on the past 17 years.