Deep Talks #1 An Outlook And Mindset For Ramadan

So so Ramadan is an opportunity of a lifetime. It's like no other time in the year, this is the height of

I would say, the opportunity to earn good and score credit with Allah subhanaw taala. And just considering Ramadan, you can see how Allah subhanaw taala as

Allah has maximized the potential for every human being, to advance spiritually, to do more good deeds and earn multiple rewards. And in a sense, as the Quran says that our relationship with Allah subhanaw taala could be likened to a business transaction, I would say a business relationship, rather than a single transaction. So it's a business relationship and with relationship, or with a business long term business relationship there is there's always the potential for continuous growth, strategic growth. And there are seasons, there are times when there's a wave, and you need to ride that wave to maximize your benefit and achieve,

I would say,

growth, optimal growth.

And the best actors in the market are the ones who know how to read the market, how to anticipate and how to seize the opportunities, these are the ones who ride these waves

in a timely way. The same thing applies to our relationship with Allah subhanaw taala. Ramadan is just

the

it's the it's the it's the golden opportunity to

improve our standing strategically with Allah subhanaw taala increasing and maximizing our chances for saving ourselves from the hellfire. And guaranteeing I'd say guaranteeing but again maximum maximizing your chances of entering paradise of earning more rewards with a lot of growing spiritually of advice and financing personally.

All of this

should be the focus of every Muslim of everyone who wants to save the who everyone who wants to save themselves from the Hellfire salvation.

And so, missing out on Ramadan is not an option for someone who takes their relationship with Allah seriously, someone who takes their life seriously. It's just not an option. And that's why the Prophet SAW Selim in the authentic hadith where the Companions mentioned that the Prophet SAW Salem

before claiming his minbar his pulpit to make the hook before Friday. He said three times Amin, Amin, amin, which means Oh ALLAH answer.

The Companions didn't know what the prophet ism was doing. So they asked him later on what you know, for the first time we noticed you said, I mean three times as you were mounting, you remember? And he said Jabril came to me and he made three pieces of Doha. And and he's he told me to say me

and I said, I mean one of those three dua Gibreel made was an Andhra Cara Madonna Willem Yorke for Lucha Libre than a person who lives to witness the month of Ramadan, and they don't get their sins forgiven me this person be distanced from the Mercy of Allah, I mean, you can't be more deprived than that. It like the bar is brought down so low that everyone can grab it, everyone can reach it, everyone can get their sins forgiven, it's so easy that if you miss out on this

opportunity, that means you're not motivated at all you don't know what you're doing.

It's just like having again someone who gets into the into the markets and kind of new business gets into the market and the bar is so low you can make a lot of profits you can

secure a I would say a portion or a segment of the market and it might be some kind of a guaranteed portion that if you get it now like the early you know, players in a market usually get a huge chunk of it and if they play the game, well they can actually guarantee you know their share in the market for a long period of time for a sustainable period of time. And this is what Ramadan really is for everyone. The the the bar is so low that you can get your share, get get your fair share of the market of the of the profit, and then you can sustain that and if you haven't

utilize this opportunity. You're not serious, you're not a good player at all. You're not here to do business, you're just wasting your time and someone else's time.

So Ramadan is something is an opportunity just like that. And if someone fails to appreciate it then they haven't done the homework in terms of taking their life seriously taking the relationship with Allah subhanaw taala seriously, and

trying to detect opportunities

and work for them.

So in a sense, Ramadan comes is one month in the year

where we have a lot of opportunities and the good thing about this

is that there are so many things we can do in Ramadan, there's a huge variety that there is something for everyone there is reading the Quran. And Ramadan is called the month of the Quran because it was revealed first in Ramadan.

So you have just reading the Quran as simple as that. You have the prayers, the obligatory prayers

and then you have more optional prayers, the 12 raka of sunnah that we are supposed to offer every day. And then on top of that we have the night prayer.

This is something that Allah subhanaw taala rewards immensely for Ramadan is characterized 4pm in Lille for praying at night.

And then we have random vicar open dhikr just remembering a lysing Subhan Allah hamdulillah La Ilaha illa Allah Allahu Akbar stuck for Allah how long ago what they love Allah

then we have sadaqa and Cebu Malik will be Allah who said the Prophet SAW Selim can also Allah has a lot to do with the nurse. or can anyone Edward and I Hakuna fie Ramadan, the prophet Hassan was the most generous of all people. And he was the most generous in Ramadan.

So then you have the primary act of worship and Ramadan, that's fasting. And it's an obligation. No one has an option as to skip fasting or the fasting of Ramadan unless they have a valid excuse. So all of this variety of the acts of worship are available, And to your liking. Because some people are more motivated, naturally motivated to pray, they find their heart and they find this sweetness. Some people just enjoyed reciting the Quran more than the prayer more than dhikr. Some people find fasting, very rewarding.

Some people like the concept of focusing and harsher and the prayer. So everyone has, you know, their share, Ramadan has something to offer for everyone. And

it's actually an advisable thing for for people to recognize where is their sweet spot when it comes to worship, and to channel their attention and their energy there primarily. Because let's say and this is an advice that immediately Me or him Allah gave to someone because he was asked, someone asked him and he said, I have a lot of time on my hand,

especially at night,

which is better for me to engage in the amillennial praying at night, or reciting Quran or just do the open. Even Taymiyah said, there's an ideal answer because comparing these three acts of worship in an, in a in an abstract sense,

praying at night has the highest reward because it includes vicar remembering Allah and reciting Quran. And it's an act of direct engagement with Allah subhanaw taala you're conversing with Allah.

Then second comes reciting the Quran, because these are the words of ALLAH and it's also a form of liquor, and third, comes liquor.

But all of them, you know, have their own, each one of them has its own merit. But he said, then you have to look at yourself, if you're someone who enjoys

reciting Quran and thus you find it very sweet and rewarding. And this means you're going to do more of it.

Then in your case, it will be your priority. This this is what you should be, you know, channeling your attention in.

But if you are someone who enjoys more and finds

remembering Allah a very sweet experience, then that shouldn't be your, the your your go to option. Engage in open remembrance of Allah because that's going to draw you into the action and it's going to mean that you aren't going to sustain it, do more of it. And strategically thinking

you're gonna get you're going to maximize your opportunity for rewards but if you engage in something and it's more like a chore for you, you can only do so much then you will feel bored then you

You will give up on it.

So we have to be wise as to what we engage in. So And Ramadan offers this variety. And it's important for us, again to recognize our sweet spots, and to maximize them. And there is something very interesting that emerges out of this strategy. And that, that is, let's say you enjoy random liquor more, you just enjoy seeing stuff that somehow it resonates with you, draws you and you're saying stuff or law stuff, the more you engage in it, it takes you deeper, and it takes you into an area

that starts feeding into Quran itself. So all of a sudden, they will take you to the Quran through the backdoor, then you will use, you start to, you start to grow spiritually where you will enjoy the Quran more now.

And then if you do that more, then it will open a new door for you, where you will start enjoying the vicar more. Some people struggle with fasting. And I would say keep doing it because it's an obligation on Ramadan. But

utilize your sweet spots, whether it's reciting Quran or maybe sadaqa, you do sadaqa, the more you do the Masada or you do with the right intention, you'll be surprised how as you spiritually grow,

your spiritual presence starts to reach closer to the door of fasting to a point where you will actually start enjoying it.

So your relationship with the acts of worship is never static. It's a very dynamic organic one. And any kind of growth is going to bleed into I would say the other areas. And it's once you start building more momentum, it's just there's no limit to how how, how much growth you can achieve. And every spiritual growth comes with a lot of sweetness, a lot of grounding in reality, a lot of meaning,

you know, in your life, and a lot of personal maturity.

And I say Ramadan, there's no better time than Ramadan. So no one should miss out on the opportunity of Ramadan.

One advice that I think is very important for Ramadan is to focus on quality rather than quantity. Many people it seems like they have like

a checklist of things they want to do on a pre 20 rocker half dollar, we're on our fast every day on the read the juice every day. And it becomes these these markers become an end in themselves. And that's not a wise thing. Because these are just indicators and indicators are just indicators. They're not the real thing. But they might be a helpful marker. The reality is when you engage with a Quran, even if you read one page as Abdullah Muhammad Ali Allahu Anhu said if you read or even

dialogue, no aminomethyl Don't be Allah.

He said, if you read one page or one verse of the Quran, with so much contemplation and understanding, it's way better than reading the whole Quran, just going through it.

And that's what Allah rewards for people think a lot rewards for although Allah rewards for the letters that you read, but Allah rewards more for the quality. So the the reward the Prophet Salam promised for reciting the Quran, for example, is conditional on the quality of your experience. So if you're just going through the words, without any kind of reflection, you are beating the very purpose of the revelation of the Quran, Allah says in surah Syed Kitab Allahu La que Mobarak only at the bow at that a book, a blessing book that we sent down unto you, O Muhammad, so that they contemplated verses, that's why the Quran was revealed. That's how the Quran does its work

on the human on human nature, this is how we, it brings it brings the seed of human nature into growth and fruition ultimately. So if you're just limiting or reducing the experience with the Quran to the mere verbalization of the words, to the detriment of its meanings and to the spiritual experience,

you're not getting the reward the prophets Islam promised because that's not what the prophets of salaam said when you read the Quran, you get this and that because you're not reading the Quran as the prophets of salaam meant to be. So quality is important the same thing with a number of records. The same thing with the

the discomfort that comes with abstaining from food and drink for all for a long day. It's it's not the hunger and the thirst per se that gets you the reward. But it's your ability to handle them for the sake of Allah and your ability to

achieve and experience spiritual growth that come

With

taking attention from your physical being, and allowing it to flow more into your spiritual being.

So this kind of focus on quality rather than quantity is extremely important. Because if you look at the hypocrites, they ticked all the boxes when it came to external actions, but the quality in the heart was not there. And that's the difference. That's the essential difference between believers and hypocrites. And hypocrisy is worse than disbelief because it is not only disbelief, but also a big lie where they pretend to be believers.

So quality with Allah subhanaw taala Trump's quantity big time we have one of the greatest of a tabby in abou playlab Rahim Allah. He said to some of the companions that he witnessed in his life, he said Wallahi mas Ibaka coma boba boba couldn't be Kathy See, I mean, when our Salah were lacking Bishi in wakad raffia Colby, he said, Abu Bakr did not come first head of all of you are companions of the Prophet SAW Salem, because he prayed more than others, because he fasted more than others. But because of something that was in his heart, that's the quality of the act of worship. So when we deal with a las Panatela, we should give precedence to quality, that when you secure quality, then

quantity starts to count. But before you lock in quality, you cannot depend on quantity, a becomes meaningless.

So that's a very important point to keep in mind as we are dealing with,

with Ramadan.

Another important,

another.

Another important point when it comes to Ramadan, is

paying attention to the heart.

The heart is where Allah looks.

And Allah judges humans, primarily based on their heart.

Somebody might think, but what about actions?

Well, if you get your heart right, then the actions will follow.

But if you focus on the actions, and you neglect the heart, you're just performing, you're not doing the real thing.

So when we talk about the heart, or when we invite people to focus on the heart,

automatically and organically, the work of the heart is going to express itself through the external actions. So we're talking about the whole context.

But that separation between actions of the heart and actions of the limbs

is not a natural one. It's just in the mind.

So

as we engage in fasting,

and reciting the Quran, remembering Allah, giving sadaqa.

When we engage in any act of nearness, even if it's kindness to people, even if it's forgiveness towards the mistakes of others, even if it's a piece of advice we offer others or maybe just an act of teaching,

any act that is pleasing to Allah subhanaw taala.

When we engage in it, we should be focusing on where it's coming from what is our inner experience? That's what it means to focus on the heart. What is our inner experience?

Are we doing that for the sake of Allah? Is our heart do we feel motivated that we are doing this out of us experiencing the love of Allah? gratitude to Allah? And are we feeling drawn to Allah? And do we see this act as a channel to express that love that we have of Allah in our hearts? That's what sincerity really boils down to. Many people think about sincerity. As a thought.

Yeah, I'm doing this for the sake of Allah. This is a thought.

Muslim scholars spoke about this.

I remember his early specifically, he warned against this and he said, This is heavy for neffs. It is when you say, Well, I'm going to pray for Raka for Allah you say to yourself, he says this is a thought Hadith on apps. This is just an inner dialogue you having intention comes from a deeper dimension. And what intention means is that you're doing things for Allah. What does this mean? It's not a thought you entertain.

The reality of intention is that because intention and motivation in a sense of synonymous, so what is your motivation? What is driving you to perform this action?

What is the value in this action? That

prompts you to engage to do and the primary motivation in human behavior is love.

So sincerity boils down to you living in a state of love of Allah.

And then this love naturally seeks expression

through human nature, and a lost Peninsula offered us the channels the engagements through which we can express this love. And when we express this love, through charity, through prayer, through recitation of the words of Allah subhanaw taala,

then

this is the type of actions that Allah wants from us, then we are focusing on our hearts, we're coming from our depth, we're not giving a loss of Hannah with Allah, the lowest quality of actions, we're going, we're giving a loss panel to Allah, our totality, our essence, who we really are we offering ourselves to Allah subhanaw taala in this sense, and I think this is what helps people really benefit in Ramadan. With most of us, this happens unconsciously and accidentally. So it's not the constant experience in Ramadan, but just being aware of this, I think can make, you know, a whole difference in our experience of Ramadan.

Yeah, so

these are the pieces of advice I can think of when it comes to utilizing Ramadan