Itikaf Options For Women

Hello

all Rasulullah sallallahu Rahmani Raheem musoma Humala, Satan Mattawan, early use of your self image remain a Santa Monica Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh it's all my hope to share with you a little bit about the concept of worship at home. At this time, where we are all under quarantine and shelter at home for the COVID-19 situation, the question of how to worship Allah subhanaw taala in the best manner at home is really one that requires some attention, mostly because we are trying to sort out how to do so with so many other responsibilities, and all members of the family at home at the same time. For others, the concern is that they their worship had always been attached to the masjid,

which of course, the masajid are now closed, for the time being may allow that to open them again very soon. And for others still, it's actually related to the fact that Ramadan is around the corner and we're dealing with Ramadan, potentially at home, fully and wanting to figure out how to best worship at home. So I'll start by saying that I'm going to talk about the concept of Halawa or spiritual seclusion that is applicable to both men and women. And I will go further into the topic of attic F. But for women because attic F or spiritual seclusion at home is allowed for women but not for men. But what is relevant to both men and women is the concept of kind of our spiritual

seclusion. Before I begin that, I'd like to first remind us that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was said about him that he was always he had the Mattia he that he was always in the care and concern and taking care of and serving his family members. And a reminder that anything we do with the right intention is considered to be a worship of towards the last panel to honor even if it means serving our family members. So all I just want to remind us that when we say worship, it's not just prayer and fasting, and DUA and pick it up put on, but rather, it's really any type of service that we're doing. And that we in which we intend serving Allah subhanaw taala. So hopefully a silver

lining to everybody who is at home kind of taking care of family members and cooking and cleaning and prepping and planning, and trying to juggle work and school and shopping online for the materials that are needed at home. All of this inshallah is considered to be worshipped at home as well. Now, mighty spiritual teachers often remind us that when a person wants to grow, they really need to take time away and be in a spiritual seclusion that focuses them on a loss of penalty to Allah and their existence here on Earth. They remind us, for example, that the people who want it the people of the cave and students of caf that went to

the cave, they are, they were secluded from everybody else around them. And this is in an era of what will be for the prophets. Nobody was selling them. And even he before his new Booyah, and during it, he went to lot head off, right. And so we are familiar with these concepts of going to seclude yourself from everybody around you in order to really reflect and to grow. Our spiritual spiritual teachers also remind us that this concept of attic F or seclusion, other words for it, like we mentioned, the word Halawa, some people might call it, Rosa, these concepts are a necessity. My teacher often says, how the Muslim who the person, the individual in the modern era is very much

someone who is has a lot of pressures on them lots of stresses, lots of responsibilities. And the only way to be spiritually sane, if you will, to be connected to Allah subhanaw taala in a consistent manner, is to make sure that you take time away, to be connected just with Allah subhanaw taala alone, basically take away anything that

puts you all your friends and fans and people who look up to you and people who give you direction, and people who give you an artificial sense of who you are, and inflate your ego. Right? And all the exhausting work of the dunya and of the dean, right, that exhaustion and of itself actually wears down the very fabric of our iman. And so what the scholars that oh Leah that people connected to last fall to Allah and the prophets all will did is that they would do this action called Hunua, or spiritual seclusion. And it's really important that we use this time to reflect to connect back with the last panel data. And I want to remind us also, that the Prophet sunnah SallAllahu wasallam, is

that he would do X decaf, consistently, not just in normal blood, I realized Ramadan is coming. But for many of the men, for example, they're very concerned about not being able to do attic f the way they had done for many, many years in the masjid. And while I very much empathize with that concept, I do

Want to remind us that you can still do Hunnewell it won't be an attic app, but it will be a Honeywell. Right? So basically consider it like an attic F but at home without the intention of attic F for the men because they will be doing the spiritual seclusion, whereas women can actually intend an actual attic F which we'll get to a little bit later in this talk. But this concept of HUD Well, my teachers would say, it is like the safety valve that's on a pressure cooker, that we have so many stresses all throughout our life, and so many responsibilities and so much pulling us in every single direction day in and day out that we're like a pressure cooker, it just builds and

builds and builds that stress and that pressure inside. And if you do not have that safety valve that allows the steam to exit and escape, it will explode and thereby we spiritually will as well. And for that reason, they remind us that the Hello Antarctica is something that the Prophet sallallaahu Selim did, and one of his strongest sunders so strong that it is said that he did not actually have a year that passed in his time after Nugu in which he did not actually do attic fn. And it wasn't just in Ramadan, that is a yearly attic F but you sunnah was also due to the to do attic F

between relative inertia, for example, or sometimes between fidget and Doha, and other times in to hedge your time during the piano lane. And so to remind us that these are all possibilities that we can do on a weekly basis, and potentially nowadays, even on a daily basis, considering that we are at home, and have the ability to take a need, not just the ability but have the need to take time away to really regroup ourselves. So whichever what I'm going to go through is the steps in which we do so. So the first thing I wanted to cover now it's related to specifically the woman that I'm speaking to right now on how to do attic calf at home as a woman. Now while I'm covering those rules

for women, the men who are listening to Inshallah, that they are benefiting also from the same concept for the concept of Halawa, right of being able to spiritually seclude without intending attic absence, they do require a masjid to do so. But according to the Hanafi school, women are able to do attic F at home. And it's actually quite a simple process. So let me try to break this down and make it as simple as possible in sha Allah. First, I will cover the prerequisite steps, then I'll cover the actual steps of attic F for a woman at home. Then I'll cover the things that break out together and the things that don't. And from there, we'll talk about what you do inside of your

attic. If so, prerequisites number one, before you begin to do attic calf at home,

to be in a state of major ritual purity. This is a question that comes up with a woman with quite a bit can I do attic calf while I'm on my period? The answer is no. You require a major ritual purity, the way you require in order to pray or read or put on and so that major ritual purity is required. However, even when you're on your period, you're able to do Hunua right able to just sort of seclude and remember Allah subhanaw taala but to intend to add to calf requires the Hatha and the Federative which is the major ritual purity. And, and the Sunnah of which is to also be in a state of will do. Now you don't have to be in will do all the entire time your Anantha gaff, but it is recommended to

be so before you begin, so that you're able to engage in prayers and and put on reading and such number two in the prerequisites is to choose a space in your home. And what I mean by that is it has to be one fixed consistent place. So it can't jump from place to place or room to room, you would have to choose one room in your home or a portion of a room. And they say the minimum amount that you need is only as big as a prayer rug, and inshallah at the end of this video, if you stick with us, I'll be able to show you the a demo of how to actually do this and demonstrate the the rules here of attic F and how it's performed. But you would choose a portion of a room or a one room one

room. And if it's an entire room, then you would have the whole room from the door inward the entire room counts or a portion of your room for example, where you typically pray. So if you typically pray in your bedroom, maybe you put your prayer rug next to your bed. So that area would be your after gift space and it can be only as small as the prayer of rug area or bigger as in a portion of the room. Number three, take everything you need with you before you start your attic app and the prerequisites number three is to take everything with you before you start your attic Catherine by that I mean take your water, take your snacks, take your Vicki beads, take your books, take your

massage, take everything that you might need so that you don't need to exit out and thereby break the attic. If so, if you have your Mahato and you've chosen the place where you're going to have your fixed place where you'll have your attic and you took all your essentials with you then the actual steps of attic calf at home for a woman are very simple. It's just two steps. That's it. Number one is the intention

But the intention also is very simple because you just merely say and you don't have to say it out loud, that is sunnah. But in the heart is sufficient. And you merely say, no way to erotica, which translates into I intend RT calf, spiritual seclusion. And then then you say what have MSG, and this is my mustard, no way to add a calf will have MSG. So what it means is, I intend add to calf, and the place that you're about to enter into becomes your mustard, it transforms into your mustard for the time that you're in it. So and that's it, they're just two steps, making the intention and number two is stepping into that space. And now your place is transformed into your masjid. And it

is now your space to do out to Katherine. Now, the nice thing is, you can stay as long or as short as you want, according to this Hanafi opinion, for attic F, which is excellent. So we've had a few scholars would say that even a moment would count for the attic F at home for a woman and or you can stay hours if you wish. The reason I say that is because it makes it very flexible and very easy. It's in your own home, there is very few requirements to enter in and do attic F. And there are so many things that you can do within this warship attic F space, which we're going to talk about shortly. Now, I do have to say before we get there, what are the things that break or normal five

attic F also very few things, but it's essentially leaving that space without excuse. So as long as you're in that space, you're inadequate, but if you step out of it, now the attic F is broken. And you would have to re intend attic F if you wanted to enter back in and resume your attic if later. Also, any sorts of marital relations would also break the Arctic calf. Now when I say without excuse, if you know stepping out of the calf without excuse an example of an excuse to be like needing to use the restroom. So you go quickly to use the restroom. And maybe you renew your will do and you come right back in. If it's an excuse like that, since you don't have a bathroom in your

attic. If of course, then it's an excuse. So therefore you're able to come right back in as long as you don't interrupt and get distracted with anything else. So if you go straight to the bathroom, make will do come back right in, then you don't need to re intend to cap however, if you didn't need to attend to something else, you got distracted with something else than simply when you're ready to resume your attic. If you stand at that area before you enter again, and you redo your intention and come back in.

Now, what does not nullify or break the attic F is often a question that's asked. And it's important to understand that other people don't coming into your space don't break the attic out for you. So people worry because they're in their homes, and say they chose their bedroom or portion of their bedroom. And their kids wandered in or their spouse wandered in or they're, you know, somebody came in? And there's always the question of is my attic F not broken? Because these other people came in? And the answer is no, it is your attic F space. So for them, it's just an ordinary room. But for you it has transformed into the masjid, right with your intention. So that's something to know as well.

A little bit of eating, a little bit of sleeping, a little bit of drinking, a little bit of worldly talk and business. None of this will break your attic calf. So it's quite flexible as in to say, this is why I said earlier, take your snacks and your water and so on with you. And also. And also you're able to have like your phone with you and answer it very quickly. It's your parent and you needed to apparently needed to answer the phone or work called and you need to answer No problem. Because a little bit of as long as these items that are worldly things, eating, drinking, sleeping, even taking a nap would be okay. And worldly business or talk all would be okay as long as they

don't overwhelm the amount of time that you're doing within this attic F or HUD was space. So this is important to know, which makes it quite flexible to be in there and still do some of your work or some of your studies or business and then also spend the majority of the time doing Dean related worship.

Now that brings us to the question of

what types of worship can we do in a state of Attica?

Here, you find that it's very fast and very broad. So let me outline some of these steps of worship. And one of the first and probably most obvious is prayer, prayer. Your foot is prayer. And I actually recommend that women who are doing out together at home center their attic calf around their five daily prayers. Now that I outlined the rules, you probably can understand why I say that. Because if it's just in your home, and it's just on your prayer rug that you normally pray on, and there's no minimum amount of time even a moment can count as out to calf.

Then it makes sense to say go ahead

and make out to calf every intended to get every single time you pray. Why not? In fact, being in a state of attic F doubles and triples and quadruples your reward? So why not do so? Do you see what I'm saying? You're going to your prayer rug anyway you're going to prayer prayers you're flooded your as soon as you're an effing. That entire time could be counted as that to get for a woman. Isn't that a wonderful and amazing Subhanallah it's something that you do already the worship of prayer you already in sha Allah do already and here we are doubling and tripling your rewards. How do we just study that religion more deeply to know about this poem and knowing that it's a confirmed

strong signal the prophets of Allah he was sending them so number one on the worship list is your prayer your flooded your sunnah as you're an effing all of which would count as part of your attic calf number to put it on. And by put on, I mean with a reading of Quran or reading a recitation of Quran I also mean the listening of Quran, the memorizing of put it on the teaching of Quran

the reading the translation to understand what it means reading the toughest theater listening to them, all of this counts as part of what you can do for Quran in the state of add to calf. Number three is any form of Islamic knowledge. Now this is very vast and very broad. So you have a particular scholar that you like to listen to and benefit from to get make your intention for attic F enter into your space and listen to that podcast YouTube video. So that you were planning on learning from listening to anyway but now you have double and triple the reward because you're in a state of air to get Masha Allah. Now, Islamic knowledge can be reading Islamic knowledge so taking

your books that you benefit from and read articles so on listening, it could also be teaching so if any of you are teachers this would intend that to gap and then teach Mashallah. And also, you know, anything that's considered to be beneficial knowledge of any sort, even if it has some dunya li element to it, but make sure you balance it out with Dean as well all counts as Islamic knowledge that can benefit you in a state of Attica. Number four on our list is Dora and we are so in need of dua at this moment. So certainly I will elaborate more than to say you can just freestyle draw out from your heart, masha Allah in the state of attic F, and certainly to read the panic and prophetic

Diaz as well. Number five, six and seven. And those are the ones I'll end on seven are the concepts of

the foot good, to that good, and to the Buddha. So let me explain what each of these mean.

So that code

breaks down into the word wicked thicket is remembrance of Allah subhanaw taala and Vic it is basically what we do when we say Subhan Allah hamdulillah Allah Allah, Allah Allah Allahu Akbar, La hawla wala Quwata illa biLlah or Salawat Allahumma Salli, wa salam, ala Sayidina, Muhammad, all of this is forms of wicked. So in a state of attic, Catherine, your HUD will also make sure that you're doing that good as well. Number six, and seven are connected. And I'll say I'll talk about them together and they are to duckboard into effect good. Now for me, I really consider this an instrumental part of our Islam in our deen and people have a really hard time figuring out well, how

do you because they translate into to the Buddha is to ponder, and to FUCKLOAD is to contemplate. And people say, Well, how do you exactly do that? Well, I just go into my prayer rug and then contemplate and ponder and that counts is worship? And the answer is yes. Any psychologist psychiatrists I mean, I know I'm in the field that that wants to give you you know, a practices to help you and kind of bring you to your best total self will prescribe to you meditation. Well, we have our own indigenous Islamic forms of this in the concept of the book and its effect good. But there's ways in which the spiritual teachers have taught this. It's flexible. There's so many

different ways I'll teach you the one that I will go through the one that I have learned from benefited from from my own teachers. And it's really, really beneficial because they in terms of reflecting I'll talk about reflecting and pondering together.

My own teachers would say, there are four categories that we should really think about when we're on our prayer rugs and doing this contemplative meditative exercises. Mashallah, and it does count as part of our OSLA. Our hello to gaffes. Number one is we should always reflect and ponder upon Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, and what they mean what they mean by that is to ponder upon how Allah subhanaw taala is the Creator of all things, again, in this COVID-19 era that we're in this tiny little microscopic virus came from Allah subhanaw taala and brought all of humanity across the globe to their knees, and to reflect on the greatness of Allah subhanaw taala and how

We are so in need of Him. And something so tiny can make the world come to a stand still, right? And everybody rushed around trying to figure out what exactly to do. So contemplate on this and know our teacher say, No, in your very core in your inner bone marrow, where Allah subhanaw taala reminds us that you can live long enough and it allows that Allah subhanaw taala will not burden a soul more than it can bear. Which means for the believer that if he sent this tribulation to us, it means that we can and we will bear it, even though some of us will get ill. And some of us will not recover from that illness. May Allah insha Allah Tada greci fat for all who are ill, and protection for

everybody in sha Allah, and may He allow those of us who pass away, to have to forgive us and to rest in sha Allah in the best and highest levels of Jannah. I mean, but to think about the greatness of Allah subhanaw taala, to think about the blessings that we have. And I often remind myself and others to think about the silver linings. There are so many people that had asked for more time with their family, and suddenly they got a whole bunch of it, and others who said, I just need some a break. And now they're taking a bit of a break. And others who have really the world has come into more of a perspective for them, seeing all of this is coming around. And there are others still who

are dealing with really significant hardships, both financial, spiritual death. And when you think about the whole spectrum of experiences that people are having right now, it really is worth reflecting upon. And wherever you are blessed, whether it's with your health, or with your wealth still, right, or with your connectedness to your family. These are blessings to think about and ponder about. And this is what this time would be very helpful when and our teachers remind us that

when he will contemplate about last panel to Allah make sure that you think about the blessings and all the forms that they come in.

And like the last pods on it says to us and reminds us that if we tried to count all the blessings, we just simply couldn't. Number two on that list of four things for pondering and reflecting, is to think about yourself. And what they mean by that is the self, the neffs, to think about our weaknesses, our strength, are diseases of the heart, to think about what makes us in dire need of Allah subhanaw dadas forgiveness, his care, his support, and his all loving mercy. And to think about if the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was here with us, and we were with him, What would he think of us? And how would we be? And how would he react to what we're doing, what we're posting

what we're saying what we're talking about. These are all things that are very important to contemplate on the weaknesses of the self. And our teachers remind us and say that if we figure out what the problem or the diseases of our heart

is, or are, then we're about 80% of the way there.

Knowing they say is half the battle lar teacher say it's more like 80%, and then the work on the rest of getting ourselves rectified. But sometimes you can't reach that conclusion until you've taken the time to really reflect and worship and your worship of Allah subhanaw taala. And to connect with him in that way. Number three in the list of four categories, is to reflect on people, the people around you and your life, the ones you love, and the ones you detest, the ones who make life really happy and joyful for you in the ones who make it difficult. And to think about their shortcomings and their faults, just like you thought about your shortcomings and your faults as

well. And their inability to help or to harm you except by Allah's command. Because like the Hadith of the prophets on the Lord, he was sending reminds us, he says that if all the nations and all the people were together to help us with something they could not, except by the will of Allah. And if all the people were together to harm us with something they could not, except by the will of Allah, the pens have been lifted, and the ink has dried. And that hadith at the very beginning of it starts by reminding us that if we seek help, or assistance to seek it from Allah subhanaw taala. So this is the kind of place where to remember that even though sometimes and whoever this might be in our

interpersonal relationship, there's always somebody that's causing us grief, maybe it's a child, maybe it's a parent, maybe it's a spouse, maybe it's a boss, there's always somebody that's causing us grief, and when we allow them to become like a fiddle around in our minds, right? This article or Halloween exercise that I'm talking about this pondering to factor into that could account at exercise allows that pert those people or that person to shrink back to their actual size, right? And you remember that over every frown is

So last panel and Donna, right, that is has the ability to take them down, or to prevent the harm that they're causing. So this is a very helpful exercise and really does help a lot of people kind of shrink the, the issues that they're having in their life back to real size. Number four, and that list is to reflect and ponder upon our blessings. And to never our teachers remind us to never compare ourselves to anyone else. And by that they mean

if you think about it, to remind yourself that you can only see what the outside the law had of a person or a situation, but you don't know what the inner workings are, as in to say that if you all you can really see is the here and now. So you don't know where person might be in 1020 30 years from now. And you don't know where you might be 1020 30 years from now, maybe you are thinking you're so great and mighty, but 2030 years from now you're in a really bad shape. And likewise, the person who thought was so far and so, and 2030 years from now they're your teacher Subhan Allah, and this is the way of the dunya. So to remind us that we really don't know.

We don't know the realities of things only almost content a truly knows the real, the realities of everything. And so with that, to make sure that we are asking Allah subhanaw taala for the best of endings, and asking Allah subhanaw taala for personal hidden, right, the best of endings, and that were protected until that time, and so was all of our progeny until the end of time. And our teachers remind us don't neglect thinking, don't neglect pondering and contemplating. Like it's very easy to sit in attic calf or to worship at home and to pray and to read put on and maybe not super easy, but is your pee that comes to mind more clearly to people praying and fasting and the end and

doing you know draw and doing because rather than contemplating and pondering, yet they request of us to remember to do these things because it really brings everything back into focus and how the Athleta is weathers reality. And what is here is what's fleeting and finite. And with that, they say that if we were to do this, that we would definitely be protected from going astray. And it cultivates a connection and love for Allah subhanaw taala that's unshakable. So when you meet some people, they're so deeply connected and their Eman is so unshakable that no matter what happens to them, storms come their way. Right? They are on the dean and you think how do you build that, that

is built by connection levels funnel to honor and this concept of worship of home and take worship at home and taking time to spiritually seclude yourself, even for moments of the day allows you to maintain that spiritual sanity in sha Allah to Allah. And this in my last final thoughts with this before I show you the demo, and show of how to do the attic F Exactly. At home. I want to remind all of us that this quarantine that we're in reminds me of a cocoon. It reminds me of the concept of cocooning we're all kind of you know little bitty caterpillar is stuck on the leaf little tiny leaf we can't see the whole world we're we're really stuck on our reality and our jobs and our family and

our finances in our Subhan Allah that tiny little caterpillar. And then it's like a lost power to put us into the seclusion and the seclusion. With an all of our spiritual teachers are reminding us to put us in a not just a seclusion in which we still do all the dunya we things but to actually do a spiritual seclusion within that forced seclusion that we're in, like a cocoon and the cocoon. After some time what emerges is a butterfly. And that butterfly is so much better off than the caterpillar who was stuck on their little bitty leaf and couldn't see the whole world around them. The butterfly is able to soar and see things in a way much much more different and is much more

majestic and beautiful and so on. And to think about how that could be us spiritually if we were to do this worship at home, and to do our Roessler or Hello, our attic AF basically our spiritual seclusion in connection with Allah subhanaw taala and I pray that that's what each and every one of us are a butterfly at the end of all of this. Welcome to our demo for attic at home. And shallow This is a hopefully a cute representation that helps us kind of visualize what an attic F at home would be. This is an example of a house where our Muslim hudl Medea is sitting there in her prayer corner but you see here that she is also here in her kitchen. You see her kitchen and you also see

her bedroom and you see her little community cafe garden in the background. And so this is an example of kind of all put into one space of what it would be like for your home. And as we mentioned, you would not be doing an anti Caf in the kitchen area. Nor would you be doing an anti Catherine outside you would

How to Pick an attic calf corner or place or room that is similar to a masjid space. So for her she picks the area where she normally prays and set out her prayer rug.

So here is Marian she's ready to enter into her attic F space she has chosen the area of a core portion of her room to be her attic F space, you can choose your entire bedroom if you wish. However for her she chose a part of it, we want to be sure that you don't do have to get in your bed, you would do have to get in a place that's similar to a masjid so usually you would pick the place you normally pray. So for her she spoke, she picked a portion of her room a corner of her room right here. And before she enters in, she stands right before that area. And she says her intention in a way to an attic F will hurt i Miss Judy, I intend them to cough and this is my msgid Once she makes

that ad to get that intention, now she's simply enters into the attic ad space. And she's able to now engage in all the forms of worship. We talked about everything from prayer to the kid to her reading of her Islamic materials and her put on to doing to fetco into that good and all of this inshallah the entire time she's in the space counts for her. And everything that she's doing in attic F is doubled and tripled and quadrupled in a state of backtick F and certainly later in Ramadan if she's fasting even more so 10 times as much and Ramadan or more depending on a las Posadas

graciousness, and so you're able to really benefit and really exponentially grow your house and and your good deeds by using this concept of an autograph at home.

So in conclusion, Inshallah, I hope that was a beneficial demonstration of how you do attic F at home. And a reminder that any woman can use the rules of attic F at home, even if she is not a Hanafy so the Maliki woman shop and women are able to also use the borrow the rule of attic F at home from the Hanafi school and maintain their own prayer and rebalance ohada according to their own method, and that is a real flexibility and blessing for all of us that has it in law. And so with that inshallah I hope we emerge at the end of this COVID-19 situation and Ramadan and use our time for Hunua and attic calf and eurosla and really emerge out of it from caterpillars to butterflies at

the end of this shallowing out of banana mean. And finally I asked you to keep us in your doulas and myself and my daughters to me and help me put this demo together in sha Allah. And to please I ask you to forgive me for any shortcomings and to remember me and your daughters and your attic at Santa Monica Muhammad Sallallahu better Gadigal but hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salam modestly the number Hamadan earlier.

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