Ramadaan 2020 – A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

Muhammad West

Date:

Channel: Muhammad West

File Size: 19.79MB

Episode Notes

ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY

  • Golden opportunity
  • Fearing non acceptance of my good deeds
  • Missed Ramadhans
  • 7 focus areas
  • Niyyah
  • Systematic about ibadah
  • Awareness of sin
  • Abstinence and gratitude
  • Laylatul Qadr
  • Hacks and pitfalls
  • Post Ramadhan
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We live in Michigan with resumes from a lot of male or female community local anime ostinato, Samana shopping was an inside now Mohammed Ali he also created mine, my beloved brothers and sisters in Islam Somali Kumara la he obrigado opens into Allah Subhana Allah Masha Allah in Allah with the witness that none has the right of worship besides Allah subhanaw taala we received him in this the day of Juma for his mercy, his kindness, his prediction His forgiveness from Allah subhanaw taala healed his alma heal the world of this disease, the move from us this calamity and grant us goodness my last panel data bless us to reach the month of Ramadan and achieve all the benefits need to send

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our greetings and love and salutations. So beloved humans that allows them to spice up your family to his Sahaba and all those followers for now until the end of time. May Allah subhanaw taala grant us to be amongst them amin well hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah, it is the 17th of April. We are one day into the extended period of the lockdown yet in South Africa and it's another jumar another fifth point now where we are unable to be together in the masjid my last part of the grant is to be there. And this Ramadan now would be a very unique Ramadan. So Pamela was on the phone with my grandmother, Allah grant long life and she's seen many, many years mala Grantham anymore. And she said that she

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has never experienced Ramadan that would be like this with a mosasaur close as well. And while this is a once in a lifetime occurrence, and it's a very sad thing for all of us, none of us here are the world we call it imagine having a Ramadan with ease, no parolees in the masjid, we cannot socialize and how we started together, but at the same time, as we've seen during this period of lockdown, the awesome benefits in it and this is in some ways, once in a lifetime opportunity this Ramadan 2020 and we try inshallah to make the best out of it. And perhaps Allah subhanho wa Taala has brought us this Ramadan so that we can do something different and achieve something more from it. So this is a

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golden opportunity. And we know every single Ramadan is a very special moment. It is one of the pillars of Islam and therefore it carries more reward than any other deeds. The Pillars of Islam have the the most powerful and the most holiest of acts of worship, which makes you an intercessor intergender evening and there's so many benefits. We spoke about some of the benefits of Ramadan in last week's lecture. Just some of them that we really highlight you know in the results from them. You know, a few days before the Ramadan arrived he told the Sahaba and I mean this hobby really, really motivated to achieve agenda and he said to them that upon them is a month in which the doors

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of Jan now open and the doors of jahannam are closed and it is a night that is worth more than 1000 months. I just one thing is that as the move I seen was the scholars tried to explain. I mean the doors of agenda is open. For us in our modern times to think about if it was said to us the doors of the banks are open that anyone who wants to go in the vault and can take as much as they want of money gold, whatever it is, it is there for them to take whoever has a debt or a loan or anything that needs to be paid off. Everything will be scrapped. All you need to do is go and get it there is no limitations. There's no space no restrictions for these 30 days. It is a free for all and that is

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exactly what Ramadan is. It is a free for all everyone wants to enter Jannah This is the opportunity to achieve it who ever wants to be saved from Jana, whoever has a son to be removed. It is an open amnesty for all of us. There is no restrictions on it. There are so many opportunities The one who false this month the one who stands in sought out the one who stands on a little further, all his sins are forgiven. There is one night one night that is coming up in these 30 days, we only allow one of these that the evenings is the night that is worth 80 plus years of reward 80 plus years of a lifetime of good deeds. So it is an opportunity to for every single person to square the account

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with Allah subhanho wa Taala and really secure the place secure our place in Ghana. At the same time while all these benefits and all these opportunities are they it is also a scary prospect because the professor solemn also says whoever is then deprived of the goodness of this month is really someone that has is a loser someone that has lost out big time and someone really, really terrible is is a person who cannot achieve the benefits of this month. And we need to ask ourselves if this is our last Ramadan. Do we feel secure that we've done enough to get to Allah subhanaw taala. And we should always ask ourselves, we've been through 30 4060 Rama bonds how many Rama bonds have we been

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through? year in year out we fasted and we've made we've made our items. Has it really been has it been accepted? And that is what many of the highest people in the past. They would worry you know doing the act of worship there are many who do the act of Nevada there are many of us the month of Ramadan, but how many of them have actually been accepted by Allah subhanaw taala this is this is where Allah spawn says I will appreciate all of you while lilina tuna

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or kulu was unknown in Arabi Mirage Oh

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Almost finances, and they are those who give what they give they give of the charity, while their hearts are fearful because they will be returning to the Lord. So when they give the charity, they doing so out of fear. So I shut up the alarm how often I'm so sorry about this is you asked for the Tafseer. She says these people that are giving the charity, are they? Are they scared because they drink alcohol and they steal? Is that why they escaped? And that's why they're giving charity. And the problem was who said no, our daughter was the daughter of a worker. Rather, they are the ones who forced and they pray and they give charity, but they fear that they will not be exempted from

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them that the deeds will not be accepted from them. And so they are the ones so they do extra goodies trying to get Allah subhanaw taala acceptance to Subhan Allah, a scary prospect that we've done all the fasting for so many years from the Ramadan have come and gone, how many of them have actually been accepted. And there are a few litmus tests we don't want to know what is accepted only on the deaf camel we come to realize with our deeds were accepted by Allah, we presented to him and it is up to him to accept or to reject mama forgive us and have mercy upon us. The scholars mentioned of the things we find in the sooner an indication of our needs, and he accepted or not

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being accepted is that after Ramadan has left us have we changed have we kept some of the good deeds and persisted so if Ramadan came and we all increased in doing fasting, doing more in our field, giving more charity as some some not all of it if some of the good deeds have stayed with us, it's a good indication that Ramadan has brushed off any changed us. Or if we left a bad habit, some sinful thing that we stopped doing in Ramadan, we were not dressing appropriately. And so now we dress correctly after Ramadan if we continue, you know, to dress appropriately that Alhamdulillah neglection that Ramadan has had an effect. But if we go directly backwards in the same way that we

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were pre Ramadan, this is a bad, you know, sign that perhaps we have not achieved the full benefits of normal. And that's a scary thought that we have gone 3040 years of Ramadan, and none of them has really brushed off. And so it is maybe perhaps this year, you know, we sit down and we think Yeah, a lot. What am I doing wrong? I've been through this many many times before. I have given up my sinful ways during the month of Ramadan. I have fasted sincerely, I have made an effort to perform my borrowing as much as I could. I wish to recite my heart terms I've given my charity, but stole at the end of Ramadan, I tend to go back to the way I used to be, what am I doing wrong? How can I

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change the output of this Ramadan, Ramadan 2020 is the one that you accept the one that will give me all those rewards the one in which I can get later the other and we should believe we can get these things. But perhaps our approach towards Ramadan has not been perhapses have been corrected Allah subhanho wa Taala has given us this very unique was very strange kind of Ramadan, this one, we were not going to be able to be in the massage part of it or maybe all of it, we were going to have to spend a lot of time individually, perhaps this is the opportunity Allah subhanaw taala has given us to perform our Ramadan in a different way so that we can get that full benefit. Remember, you know,

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something for us to think about as sad as it is that you know we only have congregational authority is that this is the way it was in the time of the Beatles and the Sahaba only started performing a Jama are kind of far away in the time of say normally became formalized. We all know this, but before that, in the time going to be so solemn It was very much a personal thing. Some you know people that would come of course the Sahaba were in the masjid for a shy time and they performed the show within a resource or lump sum nights the props on them lead them in taraweeh. And other nights he he went to his house that we saw and he made his own individual per week, and also how they would

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make their own individual Tara was either at home or in two or three jobs in the masjid. But that's how it was you were benchmarking yourself against yourself. It was between you and Allah subhanaw taala how you how much Salah you made how much eight connections you made you you do as your upcard was just between you and Allah subhanaw taala. And even if you look at this harder, you know, for us, our mindset tells us that if I'm going to be successful in a snowball, maybe I need to make that extra Hotham. Maybe I need to give a little bit more in charity, maybe I need to make a few more Docker eyes, and that's what's missing. There's a harbor by and large, most of them were not half of

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the Quran. And they did not even have a moose half, Musharraf only came after the abyssal Salah. So they weren't even sitting at home making meaningful items. This is something which only happens later on, that you find many items are being made. So however, we're not very wealthy people, so they didn't give, you know, large amounts in charity, but yet they are mobile, of course counted much more than our mobile. So perhaps these are ways in which we are not fully appreciating or not fully approaching Ramadan correctly. And that's why I speak to myself first and foremost, that we are not getting the full benefits. So during shala this talk last week we spoke about the thick

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aspects of preparing for mamani, we need to know what the rules and regulations how to force what to

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Do what not to do, what breaks your fast we've done that last week and he spoke about some of the rewards and Hadeeth and the virtues of Ramadan. And you can you know, get those lectures in sha Allah. If you want a refresher today inshallah we want to talk about a plan of action, how am I going to get to achieve this Ramadan? What do the scholars say? What do you know we have 1400 years of Muslims, what can we do to ensure we don't make mistakes in this Ramadan hopefully, so that we can attain it? There are seven points inshallah we want to make note of in this in this talk in sha Allah. So point number one, and this is a point that we know what it is going to be so salamina will

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be near the first building block or the first step. If you want to make your your Ebola successful. It begins with that near and we have, we saved this we've mentioned this many, many times, we have ritualized a Nia which was not meant to be ritualized. The Nia was not something to be sit behind an Imam the night before you fast that's not the purpose of the NEA. The purpose of the NEA is to have an objective it's to have a clear understanding what am I doing? What is my purpose? What is the purpose? And there's many of us if we were to ask one another, why if you're if you're a non Muslim thing we're to ask you, why are you fasting meaning what is the ultimate goal at the end of Ramadan?

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So some of us most of us will just say, well we force because Allah told us to fast is the fasting the end objective? No, the fasting is a means to achieve something higher than that and what is the purpose? We know Allah subhanaw taala speaks about in Surah Baqarah from verse 183. To 187 is about five six is that speaks about Ramadan and fasting and at the end of those ayat Allah mentions that Allah competitor con la Comtesse Quran that so that you may achieve taqwa number one, and as you may be grateful and appreciative at the end of the month. So Allah subhanho wa Taala is putting us through 30 days of abstinence. And at the end of the abstinence, we should achieve taqwa and we

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should be grateful. And these two things we can have a whole lecture on each and every one of them. taqwa is of course, a relationship with Allah, we need to be closer to Allah at the end of the month, we need to wherever we are now before Ramadan, when we get to the end of Ramadan, every single person should have one at least one step closer to Allah. It doesn't mean you have to have maximum taqwa. You can never have maximum taqwa. It's a lifelong, objective. But so long as we've taken one step closer to Allah, then Ramadan has been successful. At the same time, Allah says, that we may be appreciative of what Allah has given us. And so if we come out of Ramadan, more grateful

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individuals, then we have achieved Ramadan. So the beginning point of of the first step into making an Amazon 2020 success is for us to understand very clearly our objective, I need to get back home at the end of the day, I need to get a you know, gratitude thankfulness to Allah either at the end of the month, how do I achieve the core, there are many, many ways you can achieve quality you it's a relationship backwards, the relationship between you and Allah subhanaw taala. So how do we build a relationship with Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, we don't give Allah analogies to the loving to the people on earth. But similarly, the way you want to build the relationship, you know, with with

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someone in the dunya, you do so by doing the things which that person loves. And you do by spending time with that person, and putting effort in that. And it's not about the quantity, it's about the quality of the time. And so many of us we've spent many years of Ramadan in lots of acts of worship, fasting, and Ivana and tarawih, for example, or reciting Quran, but it was mechanical, our bodies were fasting, our bodies were performing the thoroughly, you know, we would just say citing IR to the Quran, which we weren't understanding, and there was no spiritual connection to Allah subhanaw taala perhaps now in this isolation, we don't have an Imam that we get to follow, we don't have an

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email mix to it, we just say I mean, now we are forced to sit in spin that quiet time and speak to Allah subhanho wa Taala. This might be that ingredient we were missing, to get the duck walk, where we can contemplate and reflect and meditate with Allah subhanaw taala. So, at the end of Ramadan, we need to achieve this level of taqwa and for different people to achieve that closest to Allah, it might be through spending more time on the masala it might be spending more time on reciting Quran it might be that you need to be a better person with your family, whatever it might be, each of us we need to do different ways to get closer to Allah and there are many ways many acts of worship

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that we could do. And it might be the one that we are not you know, being mindful of that is the one that gets us closer to Allah subhanho wa Taala it might not be that you need to make a second and further hartham perhaps it's something very different, that is needed for you to get that for me and you to be closer to Allah. But definitely, one of the clearest ways that Allah has prescribed in this month is to read the Quran with understanding, so to maybe to read the Tafseer and reflect on that and to have a dialogue and a discussion with Allah to have a sincere

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Have to our daily where we speak to Allah subhanho wa Taala in our own language and our own words, this might be that month when we get to do that.

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Number two. So getting on to that to both taqwa you need to make more Ebola Ebola is the are the steps we do to get closer to Allah, the more Ebola you do, the closer you get to Allah in terms of luck, we should have a strategic plan in how we're going to do Ebola. It's not just about doing as much Salah as you can or to recite 10 items, and that's what's going to do you throw as much time in Ebola and you're going to achieve the duck walk, there has to be strategic plan in the way you're going to approach this because we only have 30 days. And we only have a limited amount of time to achieve this. So when it comes to eba, remember the opera Islam has priorities, there are things

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some acts of worship are more important than other acts of worship, some acts of worship are priorities. And for example, we might focus a lot on an act of worship, that is not a compulsory act of worship, it might not be the most important act of worship. So we might neglect a an important aspect and focus on something which is not as important. So for example, when we are now during this lockdown period, to prioritize our compulsory saunas more than our now I feel a lot of Ramadan, the focus is on thoroughly and it's unclear malayo of course, that's wonderful. That's amazing. That's what we should be doing. But before that even happens, we have to perfect our five they Salas we

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cannot achieve that closest to Allah, if we are missing our normal oakheart alpha jirisan oversleeping Vijay, for example, or you know, submit performing any follow that discover or even you know, sleep better than that, if we are performing our works on time, to perfect it meaning to make it as the earliest possible time there's a hadith with the Sahaba asked me so salam, what is the best thing I can do

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to perform the salah and its earliest possible time. So maybe the focus should not be to perform an extra, an extra 10 Raka as whatever it might be, maybe the focus should be now especially that we are at home, and we can you know manage our own schedules is about we're going to perform that work immediately when it comes in. In fact, before the work comes in, I will do is really we are on the muscle now we are waiting for the walk to come in, that might be the thing that we need that gets us over the line. It might also be that there are other obligations that we are neglecting, for example, obligations towards our family, towards our neighbors towards our work. Remember that we

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are also in during the month of Ramadan. Many of us are not taking if you're not taking leave, then you have an obligation to do your job. And to neglect your job, which is a compulsory thing which is an Amana you have a contract with your company, especially in these difficult times. And that is a sinful action. So you might be sitting, but it's I think many many hot items are not focusing on your work. We as we are being paid for that work and at Hotham is no appeal. So remember, it is in Islam, we do not neglect a priority for something which is nephal. So these are the priority eBuy that also when we talk about doing divided, we have to make sure we are fasting and we're praying

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correctly, a number of people actually messaged me and said, Can we do a quick refresher on the laws of fasting for example, and even the laws of Uppsala What do I say in you know, in the sujood? What do I say that the here what is the correct postures, sometimes we take for granted that what we learned, you know, as kids, we slowly remember it or it was taught correctly. It's an opportunity for us to perfect those basics. You don't want to know that you've been forming your Salah incorrectly for the last 50 years, and something so basic and elementary, but it happens. And so it is about getting the fic aspects before we can even get into the month we need to make sure we know

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all the rules and regulations about forcing and Salah get that in order and if is a need for it. And feel free to request it to ask anyone is what you know will be available to assist. There's another beautiful Hadith to remind us that in Ramadan we become so focused on the ritual I want to do as much of ritualistic worship in me and Allah subhanaw taala and we forget that this other side of of evader which is to the the creation and this hadith which we've mentioned so many times, then abyssal Solomon says Should I not tell you what is something better in status then extra fasting sooner fasting now and sooner pray and sooner charity mean what is better than chemo light and

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better than scaricato Giardia and better in a you know sooner fasting and the opposite of what is within the net? And he's wholesome said it is about reconciling in the case of discord between people. So when two groups of people are not happy this with her and that auntie and this one are not, you know, speaking What about each other and you mediate between them and you bring families together. This is greater in terms of a reward, the extra fasting external waffle. So perhaps the focus is not about spending more time on the muscle lap. Perhaps the focus we will meet where we are lacking is our focus in terms of community in terms of our family. That is

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He's not that we should be spending more time reciting no hot items, we're neglecting a more important priority in terms of relationship building and very something for us to for us to think about when we speak just about the ritualistic era as well. People ask how much rockers must I do or how long must how much is enough Should I spend an hour on the masala two hours in the masala what is it that Allah subhanaw taala wants from us remember when the promises are limited whoever stands the month of Ramadan with Iman. And with hopefully he would he did not give a number He did not say who stands 100 Raka as who stands 10 hours on the masala it is who stands a moment with sincerity,

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it's just one moment that is done beautifully that will get us there and that is what Allah subhanaw taala and the problem teaches us it is about doing our ibadah properly quickly meaning the way we do it the rules must be fulfilled it must be consistently insincerely done so to do a little but it's about quality over quantity that is really the formula and in Ramadan in particular whatever you do at the beginning we should be increasing so towards the end we end off on a high so even if you start off slow but every single day you are increasing increasing, that's the formula in which we we get paid and we don't leave a single evening without improving on the night before. So that is that

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is the objective we try to we try to do now in particular Tara we will be as we said we will not be able to attend the budget for Tara. So what do we do? How do we now perform salata Tara with Tara we of course doesn't have to be done in the masjid In fact, it is the proposal number for most of these chiamo ladies nights alone in his house with his family and this is a soon enough for us to revive to to bring the house make it a Masjid on its own. So the fathers can now be the Imams of the household you know or the or an eldest son whoever it might be and for them to leave the family inshallah so you'd make a shy as as normal and then off the shower you would now and and perform or

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we sorta for those of us who are were able to decide fluently you may pick up the masafumi pick up the Quran and you may recite the Quran, you know as you would do to eat from the Quran and you'd be the Imam that that is fine. If you can, of course you would try to do your use, you know, you make the 20 Records and you recite one Jews and second Jews if you're unable to do that. So you're not fluent in reciting the Quran. Then recite those sutras that you know maybe you know some long Surah Surah Yaseen for example, so that the Barak every means you need to decide every night that same is what I asked him to rock and choose ama Alhamdulillah. You keep doing that every single evening.

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Again, Allah subhanaw taala is not looking at, you know, you have to finish your heart and you have to decide everything. It's about how are you know your consistency, and how much mileage you do on that. musala how much time you spend. What about the person that is final? I can't even read from the Quran. I don't even I haven't I don't know. Should I ask you all I know is a few surahs Yeah, and they could have been the coolest that's all I know cool, lower head cool all the way Robin that's all I know. No problems panel. At site, make you make your Torah we recite that surah and then prolong your request to Judas Subhan Allah Alhamdulillah Allah Allah Allah Allah, spend more

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time on the masala then making Vicar more time making dua, Allah subhana wa Taala has allowed, you know, any format for us to get to to him in any way we can connect to your data, whether it is through recitation, whether it is through to whether it is through Vicar, whatever it might be, just spin that time designate a specific time. You know, an hour of the ishai of this time is he by the time if it means I'm sitting you know saying Subhan Allah of 1000 times, then that might be it. So basically the time and be consistent insha Allah and don't worry the prophets of Allah

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tells us again, it is not the quantity of our deeds that will get it it has to Jenna it is the consistency and the sincerity in those deeds that will get us Gemma it might be the person who struggles the most and you know struggles to to even make the work as properly to Allah Spanner, but they do it and they consistent on it, it might be more beautiful and more loving to Allah and the personality sites available fluently or from the lab. Now the third area that we spoke about the first area is the need to understand your objective is a goal is a priority. Number two is be strategic with your ibadah number three is about sin. Now the other side of the coin to the one side

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is if the vida right, the other side is sin and ivsa. Some tells us we're ever fasts but he doesn't give up evil speech or bad actions, when it's no benefit that he gave up his food and his drink. Meaning that if you sense of our sinful habits continue, then this will nullify our our good deeds. So this is something which we know we all know that everybody knows when you enter a mobile, we need to give up certain sinful habits. You see Alhamdulillah people receiving more modestly, people becoming more punctual on a missile as people stop going to certain places Alhamdulillah this Ramadan in a way it is a blessing that Allah has closed many of those places. And there are many

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things so many places which would have distracted us, we people we

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Through and we're not ideal and there was sinful things happening in the month of Ramadan, those places are all closed down now. So you stuck in your house and Alhamdulillah if there is goodness, there are still certain sins that we neglect, and they are sensitive or major sins that we are doing without even consciously understanding it. And that could be the thing with making our You better not being accepted. So if we ask Allah, why after 3040 years, have I not seen any change in me through Ramadan? When I've done that, when I've done the fasting, I've done the hard times, why don't I see the change? Sometimes it could be a sin that is blocking our way. For example, the

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prophets of Salaam says that on every Monday and Thursday, the gates of Jannah open, and everyone who does not come a cheek with Allah will get forgiveness for every believer, every Muslim, they will receive the forgiveness of Allah, except a person, we had animosity with his brother, the two people that are talking to each other, to you know, siblings to relatives, friends, they are awkward cut each other off. And then if you said that Allah says, Wait with these two until they reconcile, wait for these two until we reconcile wait for this to reconcile many, the forgiveness and the acceptance of the deeds is put on hold until they fix the quarrels between them. So as you enter the

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month of Ramadan, now, it might be that it doesn't matter how much more thoroughly you're doing, what is blocking you is that the some bad blood you have with a relative that you have not fixed. And so it requires of you to pick up that phone and to ask for math. It requires for you even if you are the right one to say let us into the month of Ramadan without these issues on our backs. And that might be the thing that is will take you forward and other scary how do you feel which speaks about Ebola not being accepted? Is the man who comes the Hadith is the is a man who has journeyed for me perhaps is even a person who comes all the way on Alma or hedge, disheveled and dusty. He's

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traveled long and far and he comes in off the long journey and he spreads his hands to the sky. You know he's easy, sincere, he's in a desperate situation and he puts his hands to the sky and he says, My Lord My lord is begging Allah is pleading to licencia but unless he is his food is haram his drink is haram his clothing is haram. He has been nourished with Haram. So how can he is to be answered his money is haram. So yeah, one of the things we need to fix before we enter the month of Ramadan, make sure our financial affairs are sorted out people that we owe money.

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Interest goes without saying we shouldn't be involved in any interest kind of transactions paying or receiving. Fix as much as we can of our financial mistakes. We owe people money, squeeze those dates up, if it's something that is old enough to do people that we have wrong in terms of money, these things prevent us from getting closer to Allah subhanaw taala. So if we want to achieve the benefits of Ramadan, these kind of stuff need to we need to be sorted out. And while you know Alhamdulillah Allah has caused that many of the, of the places of evil are closed down on hamdulillah. We see the sheer means being closed that as we said in our last lecture, the only country in the world, which

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has stopped the sale of alcohol during this lockdown period. And we pray in the case, we see our numbers in this Coronavirus is a lot lower than expected. Perhaps it is through the grace of Allah that we stopped, you know, the spirit of alcohol and Allah subhanaw taala has caused us not to be so badly affected Allah knows best. But as certain sons of has stopped, other sons I've taken off and one of the areas which we see is really getting out of control is our online sins, the sins that we do online. And during Ramadan. It's not just about fasting, of course, as we know, fasting from food we need to fast in the way we speak. And now we speak more online and we actually do face to face.

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So perhaps it's important for us to take a parser or CRM from from actually on our phones and our social media and the things of course watching things we don't have time even to watch things many other times the things that are on TV or Netflix is not appropriate is haram. Ramadan is a time which we don't have, we don't have time to indulge in these things. So looking at haram listening to Haram, you know Subhan Allah, people are wasting the time bashing one another name calling even in the name of Islam. This is not the time and place to do that. It's a crisis and more so in the month of Ramadan, these things should be avoided. So perhaps way the pitfall is, is in that social media

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The phone is your dangerous thing. And so you should know we should all know where our weakness our weak spots lie so that we can be inserted and avoided number four, so we move on to the first one we said was the Nia number two was approaching our ibadah more systematically being smart about the Vita number three was being aware of certain sins which we were not conscious of those sins. Number four, we see that one of the objectives of Ramadan is about gratitude. Almost pantallas is that I'll accomplish Quran the end of Ramadan, we should be to come there Allah we should make that be of Allah Allahu Akbar. thank Allah for

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He has given us and then we become appreciative at the end of Ramadan, we should feel a sense of appreciation. Now how does this work? How do I get appreciation by fasting, and there's a lot of psychology around gratitude. There are some excellent videos on happiness and gratitude, we live in a time where we have the most in terms of comfort and worldly pleasures than any other generation before us. But we are also the most medicated the most miserable generation in the history of time. Why is it like that, because we live in a time where if we don't have a certain standard of living, if we don't live our dream lives, we don't travel, you know, annually, we don't drive a certain

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vehicle, we don't look a certain way we don't we don't, we don't have that beauty as is put on TV on the adverts. We don't have a lot of friends on Facebook and likes and we don't have, we don't have the perfect marriage, the Facebook marriage that we see, you know, on social media, when our life is not loved to its full potential. And we constantly searching for that thing. You know, we're always on a journey trying to get to chasing after the goal, you know, if we just couldn't get this promotion, if we can just get this raise, then everything is gonna be alright, so we're always chasing. Whereas on the other side, Allah subhanaw taala wants us to appreciate what we have met,

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what we have, is what should bring us happiness, the job that we have the money that we have the house that we live in, it should be good enough to give us that happiness. And people that display you know, the psychology now, it is known that people that have the sense of internal gratitude, they tend to be happier, they tend to be less depressed, they are able to deal with trauma, they are healthier, they have better relationships, they are generally in a much better space. So Allah subhanaw taala is actually giving us a gift through Ramadan at the end of Ramadan. If you're able to achieve some form of gratitude, you will actually be happier. It will make everything in your life

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better, it will shift your focus on what the things that you have rather things that you don't have. So how can you achieve gratitude? How is Allah subhanho wa Taala gonna give you the attitude. So scientifically, we know as I said, there's a lot of studies done, what makes people happy. A big component of that is having the sense of internal gratitude. Some people are born with it, they are naturally predisposed. It's called trait in gratitude. Some people they acquire it unique to condition yourself to me to being thankful and appreciative. For example, they will say you keep a gratitude journal, you have to make a note every you know, every day for 10 minutes, what am I

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thankful for, and you write it down. And with time, your mind will become trained to appreciating the things that you have, you have to practice being thankful to achieve it. Allah gives us something even better than that. We know that we only appreciate something when we don't have it. Subhan Allah, the person that has gone through a life threatening disease, a person that went through a really, really difficult time in their lives. And now Subhanallah in this period of time, we are going through an isolation, we appreciate all of us, if we were to go to the masjid now, we'll be so appreciative of the masjid like we've never been before. If we get to just go spend some

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time on the beach, we'd be so appreciative for something which we never even, you know, we drove pause every day and never took note of it now we'll be so appreciative, even going to the shops, Pamela, our health. So Allah subhanaw taala it is just the psychology of insight that when something is taken from us, we appreciate it more. And it couldn't be then that in this in this moment that we're in, when Allah has taken so much in Ramadan, Allah has put our food, our drink on pause our relationship with our wives, we have to hold it back on that, on top of it, we have this lockdown, we can maybe achieve a level of gratitude at the end of Ramadan when things go back to normal that

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Alhamdulillah while we were chasing of the of the things that we don't have, we never ever took a moment stop and think about the things that we do have to think of the relationships that we do have just been able to visit each other What a great niyama and a blessing it is. And so abstinence is a secret in which we can achieve gratitude which will lead to happiness. So let us use this opportunity to really make the most of the episodes that if you are hot, you know in the month of Ramadan is one way we avoid eating and drinking but we've cheated the system and that we stuffed ourselves for us the whole time and stuff ourselves if our time that we don't even feel hungry

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during the day, perhaps an opportunity for us to to not to feel to force ourselves to feel hungry in our objective is not to punish the body. But it is also to live well within our means to limit ourselves. So maybe this Ramadan is the month where we say we're not getting to overindulge in the Ramadan treats. Perhaps you should tell our wives and our moms and our system and husbands because their husbands also in the kitchen, Lila. Let's try not to overindulge not just from a health perspective, but rather from a perspective of I don't want to give into my desires. Maybe this month of Ramadan 30 days I'm not going to enjoy myself to the to the fullest. I'm going to make it easier.

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I'm going to try and learn from the loss that when I go a bit hungry so I can feel what it feels to be hungry that I

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Don't have to give in to every desire that I want. And this Subhan Allah is one of the big reminders of Ramadan, one of the important lessons and the messages of Ramadan. And at the end of it, it could be something that makes us more appreciative of our girls to be more appreciative. That's number four, number five, then abyssal Salam already began speaking about later the other before the month began and he said of the Easter special might that's going to come up in it is better than 1000 months, this night that you just need to get one little corner of all the days that we love, if we have 70 years times 365 just one of those evenings. If we can keep level quality in one of them. It

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be even the law is the thing that we need to get our skills into Jenna is going to be such a major bonus, we know that of level. No other nation before got this opportunity a level other only this nation, it is this maximum bonus that is very big, no deed that we know of that is equal to little color. And so it is about searching it out. It's about preparing ourselves now. Why we speak one little column now we noticed in the last 10 nights, it's going to be in the last third matter the last thing nights. But to get the the profits from seek it out through eat decaf, and through chiamo. The only time in his life where he would spend the entire night in solar, or the last 10

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nights of Ramadan, trying to achieve little other not wasting a single moment. But it's going to be very, very difficult for someone to spend from a shy to failure insular or in Nevada or invigor if we did not prepare ourselves for that. And so the near full April quarter was to begin now. And the preparation that look, I should be able to spend 234 hours on the masala when I get to the last 10 nights that preparation begins now. And SubhanAllah. If this lockdown continues, or if we're still working from home, it is really the first time in my life for the first time in your life, that you can actually perhaps spend the whole night up in ibadah and sleep a little later. And then start

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your day, maybe 10 o'clock 11 o'clock while hamdulillah and you know then spend the entire evening when we were living. You know, last year, we had to be in work, we had to be at work eight o'clock, which means that after Pfizer, we don't go back to bed. And so you couldn't spend the whole evening in Iraq, now's an opportunity to do that. And so it's important for us to really begin thinking about level quarter because as I said, if we just get one little corner, it's enough with the law to really get our skills in order to put us in Jannah with the law. Number six, there are certain hacks and pitfalls, certain things, shortcuts that can get us make our mobile very easy, and certain

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mistakes that people overlook. One of them, for example is as we say, this is a unique Ramadan. And this is an opportunity to set your own timetable up. So because you are at home now, and you dictate your timetable, and especially the fathers and the mothers, you dictate the timetable for your kids as well. It's important now to structure your day briefly around the art and to designate certain times for certain types of ubaidah. So it might be time for call on leaving, there might be time for a car, it might be time for your morning do as your evening to us time for learning the Quran. The prophets, Allah says that, you know, and even the kids, they should also recite, and even if they

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don't recite correctly remember the levee system says the one who decides beautifully, they get the reward equal to that only angels were close and obedient to Allah made the site beautifully. And the one who recites with difficulty, he gets a double reward. So you shouldn't feel shy that you stay in taraweeh you maybe eat the sons, they take turns and they struggle they need to me, you know, the the stemmer that is fine, you actually get rewarded for trying and struggling through it. So plan with the family that evisa sunlamp in the last 10 nights in particular, he woke his family up and so he made it a family thing. So keep the trauma alive in your house through your family. It's

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something that we've neglected, taking control of our own ibadah we've deferred to the mom, the mom leaves us, the mama decides to do and we just say I mean, now's your opportunity for everyone to have a personal relationship with a lot. So schedule your time and do different types of Obeida. You know work out to ensure that you don't have unproductive time. It's when we are unproductive that we miss that opportunity every moment and second and I'm upon is a chance for forgiveness is a chance that we don't know which one is with a bonus comes in and so we should maximize our our opportunities. Remember that many of us we come to the masjid and part of coming to the masjid is to

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learn and I'm Oman is a month where we continue to learn in particular about the Quran. So make perhaps, you know our kids are smarter than we think we should tell them each one maybe thinks we saw and reads up on the translation that he listens to a lecture on that I've seen and we discuss it as a family. That's the opportunity for us for the younger kids maybe to opportunity to introduce them to the stories of the Gambia. It's about everyone becoming closer to the Quran. In this month. Also even though we're not at the masjid. Remember, we can still be charitable, this is a month of giving and so continue to do the good deeds that

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You would have done outside of Ramadan and then of course you're certain mistakes that we do have the mistakes that we see we actually spend more time in the kitchen especially our sisters so much of time is done in the kitchen preparing preparing, now is the month inshallah we don't have big if third parties Alhamdulillah we don't have to entertain so much, it's not in our hands anymore Alhamdulillah it's a good thing. So now we can use that time for for Ebola many a time, we find that the middle part of Ramadan gets gets neglected. And so so this is an opportunity to ensure that you know, it starts off with a bang and it ends or for the bank, make sure that that middle part remains

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good. So we tend to miss the middle parts of the Ramadan, which that could be that that special time that we get our since we went. And of course, we tend to miss that the last few days of Ramadan, between segments we sort of go on on our kind of a holiday. And remember the on the 28th, the 29th sit here feels a whole unites those could be the nights of laser color. And so we should be consistent from the beginning to the end. And that is really the crucial difference of how we should focus on a mobile not to binge at you know, the beginning of the end. It's about being consistent throughout. And to avoid those things that have the weight of the things that keep us from not

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getting the full benefits of our mobile, social media, fatwa fighting moon fighting, these things just take away from our times of really benefiting from it over over indulging during a thought and support those kinds of things tend to tend to take away the full benefit of the man so be be aware of those kind of kind of pitfalls. And the last thing number seven yes even though this is far we haven't even gotten to Ramadan. It's important to keep posts Ramadan into in our minds that the real test is when the day of eat comes in sha Allah if we've lived through the month of Ramadan, you know all we different people and that is the knee of it we do and we can make that Nia now we don't have

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to make that near the night before I'm about to make that knee analogy Allah let this be the best Ramadan and if this Ramadan be the one that you love, and that you accept, and that you make us you know perfect and our worship, it will never be that we worship enough that will get you forgiveness, but there always is your mercy that gets us be so let this be a lifelong change that this these days will do. And that when we the people that we all get into that are mobile is different people that comes out of India Ramadan, and we always put our faith and our hope in Allah and His mercy. Allah Subhana Allah says that you will never live the good deeds of those who do the Allah will never

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allow to be lost the reward of those people who do good deeds are every single person who does good. Allah subhana wa tada will never show changes and that's the hope that we have that Allah subhanaw taala Will you will Allah bless us Allah grant this Ramadan to be the best Mr. Robot and Allah subhanaw taala except from all of us in the inner circle of hydrocephalus and I'm humbled while you're sitting in front of me