Taraweeh Reflections – Eating Iftar While Gaza Starves

Hello severe administrators in the smell of mammal human hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen whatever you want to learn about I mean without kiba to Matatini Allahumma salli wa salam Avada cannot decode Asuka Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salam to Seaman cathedra.

I wanted to actually address the panel, a sentiment that I think many of us are feeling this year. And I actually want to ask you, how many of you feel a sense of guilt when you're having a thought? When you see what happens to the people in Gaza this year?

Pretty much everyone, I'm sure those that didn't raise their hands feel the exact same way. Allah It's a strange year to be witnessing this genocide and real time and to see people died from hunger. And then Subhanallah we break our fest, and I know that it's a strange sentiment. And I actually wanted to address this from a perspective of the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam and the way that the Companions would act in such a situation. Now, I want to preface this by saying that if you feel guilty when you are having your Iftar because you know, the blessings that are available to you that you take for granted. And you see the hunger of the people of Azusa then that

is a sign of Eman. That's a sign of faith. You should feel guilty I should feel guilty we should feel a sense of loneliness that our brothers and sisters Subhanallah cannot find even a piece of bread while we have food that we can toss to the side. May Allah Subhana Allah to Allah nourish them. May Allah subhanaw taala sustain them may Allah subhanaw taala pour tranquillity upon them. May Allah subhanaw taala to make them steadfast May Allah subhana wa Tada open the doors of all of his sustenance to them. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant them victory over their vicious oppressor. Allahumma Amin.

So what do we do with the skills and I wanted to go to a few Hadith, or a few things that happened with the Companions, particularly when they thought of the hunger of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam because there's an impact that it then has on how you act with food, how you act with food, and what narration of the horror or the allowance or that he passed by a group of people, I don't know who model will be home. So he was passing by a group of people after the death of the Prophet sallallahu. It was Sunday, and they had a roasted lamb. And they invited him to join and he couldn't bring himself to join them forever, and yet couldn't. He refused to eat with them? We'll

call out of the allotted time and we'll have Roger Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam I mean at dunya when am Yeshua Minh and Jose Shane said the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam left this world and the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was not even able to eat barley bread.

And so that memory of the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stopped him from being able to enjoy a meal that he was invited to, of course, closer than abodo The Allah Tada I'm home to the prophets why Selim was his own family. And we read in the shaman, a very famous narration from a stroke, who says that I went to visit he settled the Allahu Taala on her. And she asked for food to be brought for me. And then as the food was brought, she said that not us BARROWMAN, Taran and Farah Shah, who with an ad ki INLA, the kids that I never have my fill from a meal, except that I want to cry and then I cry.

And I said to my mother, our Mother, why is it a Mother of the Believers that you cry? And she said, ethical hell Allah T Farakka la hora Sudha la he sallallahu alayhi wa salam at dunya I remember the state in which the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam left this world. And she said, Well Allah He mer shabby. I'm in Cabazon, when acmin model attorney fee Fiona Han Allah,

what a man it is. Salatu was Salam, the most powerful man in the world. And she says, I swear by Allah, that he never had his fill from bed or meat twice in a day. prophesize I've never had two full meals a day.

The most powerful man in the world attended Atomy. And so I start with this to say Dear brothers and sisters, that there is a sense of not being able to enjoy the food that's in front of you, because you know that someone better than you has been deprived and there is no one better than the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and even if he passed away without us having met him it his thoughts were set up. We still love

Have him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so that same sentiment I want to remind you before we even talked about the people of Reza, that same sentiment sometimes should strike you as well as a male head as someone who loves the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that the extravagance that we have and that we enjoy, we remember that the prophets lie, some didn't enjoy that extravagance in this life. And that should cause us some discomfort. And so there is an effect of knowing that someone better than you did not have what you feel like you don't deserve. And then there's something else. There's proximity, to where even if the person is not necessarily of a virtuous

state, the fact that you know of their state of hunger and that you've been exposed to it should disrupt your conscience, when food is presented to you. Hence the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam his famous Hadith, where he said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam lace and movement, Allah, the Yeshua Jarrah Hoja, he is not a believer who eats to his fill, while his neighbor is hungry, I realized that when we talk about neighbors, that's a very foreign concept to us today. But you got to think about how neighbors were back to them. Right, you knew what your neighbor was going through, you knew what your neighbor was afflicted with, you had an idea of whether or not they were

in a good financial circumstance. And they're in or not comment on that hadith in two ways. They say, number one, there is the idea of greed, right? That your neighbor would be effective, while you have that food in your house, and it doesn't take much for you to let something some water extends a little bit of extra sugar, a little bit of extra bread, something to go over to your neighbor, a little bit of extra meat Subhanallah, in the narration of our beloved Ramona, and also the love of Tyler and Homer, with a Jewish neighbor when the meat came to his house. And he immediately said, take some of that over. And he quotes the Hadith of the prophets lie Selim. So it's not even about

who the person is, it's about the fact that there is a human being that is next door to you. And you have extra. And so the profit slice of them said shall be on, right. When you eat to your film, meaning by necessity, there is an implication of excess you have extra, and your neighbor goes to sleep hungry. And so the first two narrations speak to the virtue of the person who is starving, the second set of narration speak to the proximity that you have to the starving person. And these days, subhanAllah we're in a two way dilemma, because we see the most blessed people on earth starving on our screens.

And you know, what sounds Pamela. They see us in our normal bond festivities will lie It's a strange world. When you think about it,

can you imagine? And I was actually speaking to one of the brothers kind of love, it's one of the journalists there. And he was talking about Subhanallah their extreme food habits. He's on Instagram.

I mean, he's in Rafah on Instagram, and he has nothing to eat.

And he's watching other Muslims, celebrating their thoughts and talking about what they're doing and all types of stuff. So it's a two way thing we're exposed to them. And they're exposed to us may Allah subhana wa Tada, forgive us for our incapacity. Allah hum me. If that makes you a little sick in your stomach. It should. It should make all of us a little sick in our stomach. Now, we spoke about before Ramadan, the crime of starvation. May Allah Subhana Allah punish those who are starving our brothers and sisters, the outward enemies and the hypocrites from within this ummah as well, because the responsibility for their Starvation is not just on one party. It's from multiple

directions, unfortunately. May Allah subhanaw taala hold them accountable for what they're doing to our brothers and sisters. And may Allah forgive us for not being able to do more for them. Allah Allah I mean, what do we do with these feelings? And this is what I want to come to in sha Allah to Allah and give you a little bit number one, should it have some sort of a consequence on how we carry ourselves this Ramadan? Yes, make your fonts a little less extravagant. Don't do the big parties this year. Try to limit a little bit more and actually, especially when you're having a fun with your family. Talk about why you're doing that. Right, let's, let's bring it down a notch this

year when it comes to the festivities of food, the festivities of Iftar let's bring it down on knots in sha Allah to Allah. And let's remind ourselves of what's there. That's number one. Number two,

make your at the time of Iftar with your family for those that are starving.

Remind them of the blessing that's in front of them and the profit slice that I mentioned and accepted your app didn't move many Haney often. For the believer at the time that they break their fast and this is a time of accepted

You're out make your act collectively as a family before your breaking of the fast and specifically mentioned hunger you know when you make you're out you mentioned the favors that Allah has given to you. And then you ask ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada for specific things so specifically mentioned, the blessing of food that you have, and make sure that Allah subhanaw taala provides for our brothers and sisters over there. Bring it front and center to your conscience. Number four

if you can donate to your brothers and sisters, trustworthy organizations, and I'm not going to get started as to which organizations are trustworthy. Yes, by the way, anyone that's fundraising for Gaza right now ask questions. Right? Do your homework look at the reputation of the organization ask questions about how they're getting food into Gaza right now. There are some that are getting food into the zone hamdulillah there are some that will be very transparent and say that they're storing Rafa for the moment. And this is the intention, this is the future plan and hamdulillah hire, but donate to trustworthy organizations in sha Allah Tada and do your homework, do your homework. And by

the way, if you do your homework and you give money to this effort, and it turns out that they completely, you know, misappropriate that money, you're not sure what your intention is, sounds may Allah subhanaw taala accepted from you. Do your homework in sha Allah Tada and definitely give number six.

Remember the people that are hungry, that are not invisible, and you can reach them from your own muddier brothers and sisters. There are people in the Horn of Africa, there are people in Yemen, there are people in different parts of the world that are starving from your ummah, and you can reach them with your charity. Let this also be a time that you give to them in the lucky time. And then even in your own neighborhoods, even here in Dallas, wherever you are, there are people hungry Muslims or non Muslims. Reach out to them in sha Allah to participate. Let this truly be a month of appreciating the blessing of food and exerting ourselves in regards to the blessing of food in the

nighttime. And the last thing, dear brothers and sisters, commit yourself still to the cause in sha Allah to Allah whatever you were doing before Ramadan, keep on doing it, but in the know how to how to undo it even more in Charlottetown May Allah subhanaw taala use us for our brothers and sisters in the Gaza and all over the world, in Palestine and Syria and Somalia in Yemen, the Rohingya wherever they are in Sudan, Ya Allah allow us to benefit them, allow us to do that which is going to be beneficial for them. May Allah subhana wa Tada use us and not replace us may Allah Subhana Allah never let us be from the heatless May Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, forgive us for our shortcomings

May Allah subhanaw taala overcome the oppressors wherever they are and whoever they are alone, I mean, brought up a lot of weakness and I'm like wondering until it gets