Nadim Ali – Ramadan Resolution
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of avoiding fear and deeds as a natural evolution and healthy eating and avoiding drastic deeds. They emphasize the need for self-crafted eating and avoiding drastic deeds, as well as the importance of creating a reminded to meditate and physical benefits of meditation. The speakers also emphasize the benefits of deep breathing, exercise, and strong believers in the church, as well as the importance of valuing one's strong culture and bringing society back to its senses.
AI: Summary ©
All praise belongs to Allah, the most high.
We thank him, and we seek his aid,
and we seek his forgiveness, and we seek
refuge with him from the evil of ourselves
and from our bad actions.
Whoever Allah guides, then there's no one who
can mislead him. And whoever Allah calls to
go astray, then there's no one to guide
him. And I bear witness that there is
no deity except Allah who is unique and
without partners.
And I bear witness that Mohammed is his
worshiper and his messenger, and may the peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him and
his family and his companions and those who
followed them with good intentions until the day
of judgment.
All you who believe, fear Allah as he
should be feared and don't die except as
Muslims. Again, all you who believe,
fear Allah as he should be feared and
don't die except as Muslims.
And all mankind, be careful of your duty
to your who created you from a single
soul and from it created its mate. And
from the 2 of them, he spread forth
many men and women. Be careful of your
duty to Allah, whom you demand your mutual
rights, and be careful of your duty to
the wounds that bore you. Indeed, Allah, as
I will, I'll keep over you. All you
who believe fear Allah and always speak the
truth, he will cause your deeds to be
beneficial, and he will forgive for you your
sins. And whoever obeys Allah and his messenger,
then he has truly achieved a tremendous accomplishment.
For indeed, the best speech is the book
of Allah and the best guidance of the
guidance of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the
most evil of all affairs are newly invented
matters, which has no precedent in Islam. And
indeed, all innovations are straight, and each is
straight in the hellfire.
Oh, Allah, save us from it. Oh, Allah,
accept our
doer.
Oh, you who oh, you who have believed,
eat from the good things which we have
provided for you, and be grateful to Allah
if it is indeed him that you worship.
And when we look at this particular ayat,
you look in Allah
is encouraging us to eat properly and to
show gratitude for the sustenance that Allah has
given us.
And when we combine
this with the hadith of the prophet
that the Muslims should engage in balanced nutrition
by filling our stomachs
with 1 third food, 1 third water, and
1 third air.
We see the practical application of the deen
regarding healthy
and balanced eating.
And as as Muslims, many of us do
not heed this message.
We say if it's allowed, it's allowed.
We engage in gluttony
or it may be we may get the
thirds mixed up. Is it 1 third or
2 thirds food or a drop of water?
You know, and so
my point is we are at the end
of Ramadan.
We haven't been allowed to see another Ramadan,
and we don't want to use the ending
of Ramadan as a means of engaging and
overeating and and gluttony.
And there's a concept even talk about food
can be an intoxicant. If you look at
the program, Weight Watchers,
when they they're very successful because they have
a psychological
component
to their program because they teach people's people
their relationship with food.
And so and and and and, you know,
just like food like breads could be broken
down into something that's similar to alcohol. Once
it's broken down in your body, you you
you have basically a self soothing effect. You
can get intoxicated from food. And so we
have to basically be able to recognize that.
You know, in the field that I I
work in and I work in drug addiction,
in many instances,
we call those process addictions, which are non
chemical addictions. Because what happens is whether you're
you know, a lot of the young people
get involved with gaming. Gaming can be be
a process addiction. You'll see people who cannot
they'll have a anxiety attack if they lose
their phone.
You know, the the phone is in their
face all the time. Process addiction. You have,
pornographies,
process addictions, food, process addictions. And so what
happens is your brain becomes almost like a
steel or a a manufacturer of intoxicates because
Allah has put so many chemicals in the
endorphins. It puts all these chemicals in our
brain and body, and it's forced to allow
us to appreciate his presence. When we look
at the ocean, we get a certain we
if if we put a monitor, you know,
on on us, a spiritual monitor, we get
a certain type of rush when we see
the ocean or the grand the mountains or
when we make Hajj for the first time
and we see the Kaaba. We have a
biochemical reaction,
but a spiritual feeling. And so
when we are eating food, we have to
be careful with that. And, again, because the
big test for us was Ramadan. Allah says
this to teach us self restraint,
to teach us self restraint because we're supposed
to use the tie the the the energy,
the and the psychic energy that we get
from Ramadan. We supposed to use that the
rest of the 11 months.
We we get a month where we we
fill up our tank, you know, just like
when you fill your car up or you
charge your car up with electrical gas,
then you drive the rest of the year.
And so that's how we have to use
it, not just to use it as a
time just to lose weight, not just as
as a time. Okay. We we stopped smoking
during the day, but we're smoking at night.
I remember when, again, I was working in
Saudi Arabia. The man was, you know, he
was in the closet smoking, hiding. And I
said, well, who are you hiding from? You
know, we're fasting for a lot. Mhmm. You
know, so the thing is is that, you
know, we have to
recognize.
My wife was saying to me one one
time, and I had to put it in
a meme for her. She said, well, people
say they believe,
you know, they believe in Allah, but do
they believe Allah?
And and I said, oh, that's pretty profound.
I like that. You almost steal that. You
know? So the thing is is that do
we believe Allah? Do we believe we get
the fasting for self restraint? Do we believe
in the hereafter? You have people who believe,
well, we believe that there's a creator, but
they don't believe that there's a hereafter.
You know, I had to fire a couple,
recently because the man was trying to marry
a woman who didn't believe in the hereafter.
After I said, she's not lawful to you,
brother. You know, you are committing a great
sin and, you know, I had to I
had to stop counseling, you know, stop them
from counseling because I couldn't do premarital accounts.
I couldn't honestly do that. So the thing
is, do we believe Allah? Allah? Do we
believe in the Quran? Do we believe in
the Hadith? He did the prophet, peace be
upon him, has left for us. And so
we have to ask ourselves constantly.
Was it Ibn Khutobi, the, the great scholar?
He said that our desires, again, are like
a big mountain in front of us that
we have to climb over to get to
Allah. We have to climb over that mountain
to be able to get to Allah. And
so we can't
allow the the the attractings of the society
to cause us to to forget Allah.
You know, especially post Ramadan, you know, we
have to use this time to basically develop
healthier lifestyles.
Healthier lifestyles, you know, getting back and exercising,
you know, using self care techniques that are
readily available, you know, whatever
you do, walking, whether you're running, you know,
some people into martial arts, you know. So
those are some of the things that we
have to use this time. Just like in
in the Christian community, they have the concept
of a New Year's resolution.
You know, we have to be able to
and then usually, the week after the resolution,
it's it's a wrap. You know, so but
we have to basically put a Ramadan resolution
together.
So that okay. What I learned about myself,
I need to do more of this and
less of that.
I need to basically be away from these
type of people, and I need to bring
these these these other type of people around
me. So we have to create a Ramadan
resolution, brothers and sisters. You know,
even, you know, we look at the whole
benefit of meditation,
and you have people say, well, no. That's
from the Hindus and the Buddhist.
But the prophet
said that knowledge is the lost property of
a Muslim. Here's to claim wherever he finds
it or whether he find it. So if
there's some benefit in it and there's been
research on meditation,
that there's great benefit
when you're meditating is you have physical benefits
from the meditation.
You know, I'm a practitioner of Tai Chi
and Qigong.
And when I was, studying
it, the the teacher would try to make
me do the it's called the I Ching
and and some other things, and I'm like,
no. I remember reading about divination in the
Quran. I said, look. I'm here just for
the Tai Chi and the chi kong. I
don't want the religion. Because what happened in
China and other places
that in order to gain their form of
Dawa was in order for you,
you know, to, to to get the martial
art, you have to go to the Buddhist
monastery. Or if you go, you go to
the the other the temples, you know, to
be able to to get the meditation and
the yoga and all of that. But you
can take the religiosity out of it and
get the the benefits of it just like
there's a book, that was written by a
a Muslim scholar called the utility of prayer.
And in that book, it was written years
ago. In that book, he talks about the
physical benefits of prayer. Just like, you know,
when I'm making salat, I every movement, I
give it a breath
from the chi gong. You know? So you're
getting the physical benefits, but also he talked
about the lubrication of the joints and the
settling and how that that minimizes the arthritis.
He just talked about all of the physical
benefits of prayer, not discounting the the spiritual
benefits you get from the here after. Because,
again,
each a lot that you make is like
you making a deposit in your 401 k.
You're here after 401 k.
And then if you're making soon as you
get the you get that that's extra blessings
as well. So we have to be of
those to recognize
that our deen is not just something just
of this about rituals.
Our deen is practical. It is a holistic
deen. You know, research shows that deep breathing,
again,
exercises help have a healing impact on the
brain. And,
again, you know, the prophet
he talked about breathing. Even when you're drinking
water, he he said,
breathe 3 times outside the vessel
in the course of a drink and said,
it is more thirst quenching,
healthier, and more wholesome.
Anas said,
so I also breathe 3 times in the
course of a drink. He talked about the
benefits of breathing.
You know, Allah,
you know, can he use the term eating
in a symbolic fashion in the area in
many areas of the Quran.
And so we have to understand that eating
is, again, is not just meant for food.
We don't want to involve ourselves eating any
type of negative energy,
you know, and and being around a person,
places, or things that can disturb our peace.
These are some of the things I want
to bring to you in post Ramadan.
You know, as Muslims, we have to strive
to attain and maintain our peace of mind
and body and spirit.
And, again, these are some of the things
that we have to do so that we
can be healthy. You know, it's not you
know, why get advanced age, but you're you're
not you're not able to basically
function because of of what you didn't do,
do, in your earlier years when the dementia
starts to set in. You know, dementia is
traced with again, they they found it, you
know, based on how you your activity as
well as diet, and there's also a genetic
component.
But what we do in our foundational years
determines how we will spend our advanced years.
I don't wanna be 80 90 sitting around
advanced years. I don't wanna be 80 90
sitting around drooling in a in a in
a nursing home. You know, I wanna be
I don't know if you know the the
minister,
it was, reverend Durley.
You you know, he
I think he is almost 90. He's been
very active. You know? And I've I've been
I remember interviewing CT Vivian,
and he was in advanced years, very active.
You know? Then there's scholars around the world.
They end the Quran all day. You know?
Some of them are close to a100. Very
active. You know? So we have to basically
be active and not passive. You know? So
these are some of the things that we
have to look at in order to if
we want to get advanced years and see
our grandchildren and our great grandchildren,
but to be able to remember them. You
know? But we we have to do that
today. We have to stop the the cigarettes,
and we have to stop the and specifically,
young people there. They're Muslims trying to legitimize
marijuana smoking, you know. And then there was
a Sheikh Youssef Krona. He has a a
saying. He said the only weed that people
should be involved in is Tajweed.
Mhmm. You know? And so that's, you know,
one of the things that we have to
look at, and the scholars say that
THC is haram. That's from marijuana. But CBD
oils are good for the anxiety. That's that's
not the intoxicate. And so what people will
they'll conflate it because they'll smoke and they'll
get, oh, their anxiety is relieved. But, no,
the CBD is doing that. The THC is
getting high. You know? And so as Muslims,
we have to, you know, basically fight against
that because there are many Muslims saying this
stuff is allowed. You know? And so so
we have to there's a lot of work
that we all have to do specifically in
this post Ramadan.
And may Allah, you know, allow us to
continue to grow and, you know, and and
and strengthen ourselves
by exercise and and also spiritual exercises by
increasing our prayers, increasing our charity. You know,
the prophet
said that the strong believer is better and
and more beloved to Allah than the weak
believer while there's good in both of them.
In closing, the prophet, peace be upon him.
I mean, he just did so many things
for us and if you look,
at his contemporaries,
it's unparalleled.
And he left lessons like, for instance,
eat in moderation,
eat slowly,
participate in sports, you know, getting proper sleep,
but also pray,
share food.
He encouraged about fostering strong communities. What did
he say about neighbors? He said, your neighbor
is anybody, 40 houses, in any direction. That's
your neighbor. So the Muslims' neighbors are everybody.
If we 1.5 people on the planet, all
of the earth are our neighbors. And then
even you how when the the the the
woman who used to basically harass him and
then one day she didn't harass him, he
said, go check on my neighbor. Check on
my neighbor. You know? And so that's how
he was fostering a strong community.
Fasting. And then you see the the latest
vogue in in in nutrition is intermittent fasting.
I wonder where they got that from.
Dental hygiene. When you look at the tooth
brushing only became,
very, prevalent in in the west in this
in 20th century,
you know, around the turn of 20th century.
You know, but we were using mishwack in
the over over 1, you know, 1500
1400 years ago,
drinking water slowly.
And then he also talked about mental health.
You know, he recognized mental health. And then
if you look at Al Andalus, there was
some of the first psychiatric facilities were there
in Al Andalus in in Muslim Spain. And
so and again, I challenge anybody, you know,
to speak against how Islam does not did
not bring
for instance, you're about as the dark ages
or bring so many values to the planet,
you know. And again, the prophets contemporary did
not promote all of this, you know. They
people were still not bathing and not and
dying themselves in in different parts of the
world. So we have to recognize that we
have a a holistic deen, a complete way
of life, and we have to value it.
We have to value it.
And again, if I've said anything that's inconsistent
with what Allah has given to us and
what the prophet teaches
us, you know, again, all praise is due
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. But we have
to
do the work because we see in the
society
that,
you know, the society is just having so
many different problems in regards to dealing with
political issues, dealing with economic issues.
Even in my own neighborhood,
rents were going,
in some apartments for $600 1 month, and
people just slap a little paint on a
a facility or or or apartment building, and
they raise them up to $1500,
1 bedroom apartment. You know? And so so
you have to understand that people who live
work in Atlanta can't now can't afford to
live in Atlanta. And so as Muslims,
we have to bring the society back to
this to their senses. You know, the prophet,
peace be upon him, said, we should not
touch a thing unless we seek to improve
it. We should not touch a thing unless
we seek to improve it. So if we're
touching the society, you know, we need to
start to help,
you know, not only develop people spiritually, we
have to develop them mentally and economically and
socially. You know? And that's what as Muslims,
you know, we have to do the work
and not just, you know, stay in the
Masjid. You know? If we're just staying in
the Masjid, what's the point? The Masjid is
is your fueling station.
You you fill up and then you go
out and make an infection way to change
on the planet.
Our lord, take us not to task if
we forget or fall into error.
Our lord, lay not on us a burden
such as you did lay on those who
have gone before us. Our lord, lay not
on us a burden which we do not
have the power to bear and overlook our
faults and forgive us and have mercy on
us. You are our protector and grant us
the victory over those who disbelieve.