Suhaib Webb – Ramadn & Religious Education

Suhaib Webb
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The speakers discuss the importance of showing sympathy and grace when faced with difficult situations, individual agency and resilience in achieving taqwa, and the cultural views of the world. They stress the need to take responsibility and develop great qualities to see value in oneself. The speakers also touch on the concept of "med strict" and the importance of fasting, financial freedom, and the use of dysfunctional attempts at scholarship. They mention a new online institute called SWISS and emphasize the importance of reading the Quran properly and tailoring curriculum to the needs of students. They hope to continue running focus groups and listening to encourage discussion of the curriculum.

AI: Summary ©

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			Everybody. It's great to be here. Masha'Allah.
		
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			Before we start, I just want to say,
		
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			like, really humbled
		
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			by, you know, kind of the warmth
		
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			that we constantly receive
		
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			when I come. I feel like Irvine is
		
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			like my home, you know, in a weird
		
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			way. California, West Coast.
		
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			So it's always a pleasure
		
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			to, you know, be loved and be cared
		
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			for and be shown
		
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			sympathy
		
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			and and and grace. So
		
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			Then pray for my wife because, of course,
		
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			she's on the front lines, right? She's about
		
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			to deliver, hamdulillah,
		
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			few weeks.
		
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			Make du'a, insha'Allah,
		
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			baby girl.
		
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			And, you know,
		
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			the struggle that sometimes our families,
		
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			make for us really is what allows us
		
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			to, like, scaffold as people. Right?
		
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			So we pray for all of our families,
		
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			our spouses,
		
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			you know,
		
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			those on the front lines who helped us
		
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			when we were in residency, you know.
		
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			Yeah, you hear the sisters laughing and brothers
		
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			laughing. You know what it's like
		
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			as well as, you know, old friends
		
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			and great great people I've known for years.
		
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			The second thing is like Sister Sophia,
		
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			Brother Amir,
		
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			you know, the staff here at this institution
		
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			has been, like, really incredible.
		
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			The volunteers,
		
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			just, you know, the professionalism is, like, really
		
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			something, alhamdulillah.
		
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			You know, so I hope that you can
		
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			continue,
		
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			you know, that kind of like,
		
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			intensity
		
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			for being a professional. So barakalafiqum.
		
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			And of course, Imam Atif. He's not here
		
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			so we can say how awesome he is.
		
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			Masha'Allah.
		
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			My alumnus,
		
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			you know, someone with the same school
		
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			and how lucky you are to have him
		
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			and his family
		
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			amongst you. For Jazakamalahu Khayran.
		
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			Assalam Jazza.
		
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			Alhamdulillah. We're going to talk briefly about Ramadan
		
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			and then we're going to go through a
		
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			quick text
		
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			that was written by the teacher of 1
		
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			of my teachers
		
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			on reciting the Quran properly.
		
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			But of course Ramadan
		
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			is this special month, the Prophet Ataq, shahr
		
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			Ramadan.
		
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			You know, the month of Ramadan has come
		
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			to you. And then he mentions like numerous
		
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			narrations that every night an angel calls you
		
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			Abahi Al Khairi Aqbel
		
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			You know whoever is seeking good then like
		
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			accept the good find the good every night
		
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			of this month. And of course, then he
		
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			said the one who's doing evil like stop.
		
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			Then he mentions also that a naful is
		
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			equal to a fard
		
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			and that one fard is equal to 10
		
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			fard
		
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			And of course he said alsiamujunnakajunati
		
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			ahadikunfilkital
		
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			You know, Ramadan is like a shield that
		
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			protects you
		
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			Just like someone will use a shield in
		
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			battle. So it's an opportunity after a year
		
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			of struggling and trying to maintain our iman.
		
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			Alhamdulillah.
		
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			The month has come where we're able to
		
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			find like a safe and secure place
		
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			to scaffold, alhamdulillah,
		
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			our faith and our deen. Alhamdulillah
		
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			And in the Quran we find like 3
		
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			things that I'll just focus on and then
		
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			we'll segue into the text.
		
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			The first is that the goal of Ramadan
		
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			is very clear. Allah Subhanahu Wa
		
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			Ta'ala
		
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			says fasting has been prescribed for you so
		
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			that you can achieve taqwa.
		
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			And the la'ala here doesn't mean like maybe
		
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			maybe not from the point of God.
		
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			The means maybe you,
		
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			oh, believer, maybe you will take advantage of
		
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			this opportunity.
		
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			Maybe you will use the month
		
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			to improve taqwa.
		
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			So the first lesson that we take from
		
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			these verses, there's 4 lessons, is the important
		
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			of individual agency and resilience.
		
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			And oftentimes, we need to be very careful,
		
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			of a world
		
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			that's framed human beings and it's interesting because
		
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			it's a great contradiction, right?
		
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			That through the
		
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			possession of worldly things you find value.
		
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			But then when it comes to real change
		
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			and agency
		
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			this world reinforces the notion that we have
		
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			no agency, like we're not responsible for how
		
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			we feel.
		
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			We should just give up in the face
		
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			of the tsunami of sorrow
		
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			and that of course makes people conspicuous consumers,
		
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			right? Sad people, what happens when we get
		
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			down? We eat a pizza,
		
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			right? When we find pain, we remedy, we
		
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			know the pain
		
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			with shopping sprees.
		
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			So there's this really dangerous
		
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			position that we find ourselves framed in the
		
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			modern world and that's why al Busti
		
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			al Afghani, the great scholar from Afghanistan who
		
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			was a student of Sayyidina Shefiri, he said,
		
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			Kamtashpa
		
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			bhitmatihi.
		
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			He said, Oh you who just serve your
		
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			body.
		
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			He said, How have you toiled
		
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			in the service of your body?
		
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			Are
		
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			you seeking a repayment of an investment
		
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			in something that by its nature
		
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			is like loss, like you're dying, like, you
		
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			know, he doesn't mean to neglect looking good
		
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			or the balance of beauty. He means opulence.
		
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			Then he says
		
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			You should turn to your soul
		
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			and you should learn how to utilize its
		
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			best qualities.
		
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			SubhanAllah.
		
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			He said it's by your soul,
		
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			not your body, that you truly reach
		
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			the opinion of humanity
		
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			to become truly human.
		
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			So the Islamic worldview is very different than
		
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			something that's anchored in simply owning things and
		
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			finding value in that ownership.
		
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			The Islamic world view is something that says
		
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			start
		
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			inwardly
		
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			and develop great qualities like
		
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			treating your spouse well,
		
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			being good to your kids,
		
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			being a good neighbor,
		
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			being nice to people.
		
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			We know that the Pope, the new Pope,
		
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			right, he wrote,
		
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			a few years ago on the danger of,
		
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			like, unbridled materialism,
		
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			the impact that it's having on the environment.
		
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			It's like a very brilliant document.
		
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			So as a Muslim community, as a faith
		
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			based community,
		
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			we are not one that derives its value
		
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			through what it has
		
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			in the sense of the material
		
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			to the degree that that becomes intrinsic, right?
		
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			Naturally and normally, yeah, we all like having
		
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			an, you know, m5. I get it.
		
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			But to the point that it becomes what
		
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			drives my value is a problem. And that's
		
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			why the prophet
		
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			The prophet said cursed
		
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			is the slave of money.
		
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			Cursed is the slave of clothing.
		
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			And we know the beautiful narration of Sayyidina
		
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			Abu Hurairah from Sayyidina Rasulillah
		
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			Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala doesn't care about your
		
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			possessions and how you look
		
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			but he cares about where your heart is.
		
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			So Ramadan
		
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			actually does something very powerful. It says, you
		
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			know, take responsibility of yourself.
		
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			And if you and I use this month
		
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			right
		
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			and we are resilient in the face of
		
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			this month, then we will achieve taqwa.
		
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			And that's why the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
		
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			sallam said, laysaluginaan
		
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			kathratilaaar
		
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			walakinaluginaaluginaaluginaal
		
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			nafs alaihi salatu salam. He said being rich
		
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			is not what you have. Being rich is
		
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			content in your soul.
		
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			That's why some of the Sufis, they used
		
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			to say, O Allah,
		
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			never allow me to be poor by feeling
		
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			autonomous of you.
		
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			And make me always rich
		
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			by feeling impoverished to you.
		
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			That's why one of the highest
		
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			Maqam is the Maqam wa Iftikar
		
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			It is the station of feeling impoverished to
		
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			Allah.
		
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			That's why I say the Muhammad said, Allah
		
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			oh Allah, resurrect me with who? With the
		
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			messaikim.
		
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			Resurrect me with the poor because their responsibility
		
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			will be left
		
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			less. Of course, no one should seek poverty.
		
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			That's a problem also, right?
		
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			But it's not about what I have that
		
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			makes me rich and poor. It's about where
		
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			I am with what I have. I've seen
		
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			people that have nothing that are super arrogant
		
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			and I've seen people that are very wealthy,
		
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			who are very content and very service oriented.
		
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			And that's why when someone came to say,
		
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			named Imam Ahmed,
		
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			they asked him, can a millionaire
		
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			be a wali?
		
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			He said, of course, if the million is
		
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			not in their heart but it's in their
		
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			hand. Sayna
		
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			Abdurrahmad ibn A'ouf is a venture capitalist in
		
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			Medina.
		
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			The first place he goes when he arrives
		
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			in Medina is not the masjid of the
		
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			prophet, alayhis salatu salam. The first place he
		
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			goes is the market. Sayyidna
		
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			Imam
		
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			Shafi'i.
		
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			Sayyidna Shafi'i used to say, if I'm busy
		
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			thinking about
		
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			I can't think about fiqh
		
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			meaning,
		
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			you know, I I have to take care
		
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			of my myself financially but not opulence.
		
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			That's why Imam Ahmed, when he was asked
		
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			what's the condition of the Mufti, Sur Al
		
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			Kaffa, you know, that they have sufficient
		
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			financial means.
		
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			So the month of Ramadan
		
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			reminds us to
		
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			reformat
		
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			how we look at life in the world
		
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			and to understand
		
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			that by being hungry of the world,
		
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			by starving ourselves from the world,
		
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			we become hungry for Allah.
		
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			So we go into the month of Ramadan
		
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			hungry for gulab jamun,
		
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			missing coffee,
		
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			right?
		
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			Missing food.
		
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			But if we practice Ramadan properly,
		
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			we leave hungry for Allah.
		
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			The material becomes less important.
		
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			So the idea of agency and responsibility,
		
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			everybody's responsible for themselves.
		
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			We all have to carry our own burdens.
		
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			And then a taqwa.
		
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			The word taqwa is from a shield, al
		
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			wiqaya,
		
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			to protect.
		
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			So we say in the Quran
		
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			that they were protected from * by Allah
		
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			So the word Taqwa means that I achieve
		
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			this protection
		
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			between myself
		
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			and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala's punishment in the
		
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			hereafter
		
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			by faith and struggling to do good. That's
		
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			taqwa.
		
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			So the outcome of of Ramadan is that.
		
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			The second two lessons that we'll take insha'Allah
		
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			is how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
		
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			how the Quran
		
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			builds people slowly.
		
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			So the verses of fasting found in the
		
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			second chapter, verse 184 to like 187,
		
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			you know, in the second chapter of the
		
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			Quran.
		
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			There is a lot to unpack in the
		
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			method of
		
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			ministry and pastoral care and education
		
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			because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said,
		
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			fasting
		
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			has been prescribed for you.
		
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			And the companions of the Prophet when they
		
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			heard of siyam,
		
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			they were kind of scared like what is
		
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			a siyam?
		
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			They'd already been fasting before the days of
		
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			Ashura.
		
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			So they were kind of like, oh snap.
		
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			What's next?
		
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			Then a few
		
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			words later, the next verse
		
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			Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala introduces what fasting will
		
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			be
		
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			And he does so in a way that
		
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			builds hope and resilience
		
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			It doesn't destroy people. It roots itself in
		
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			grace
		
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			and the law. It marries
		
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			religious commitment
		
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			with the idea of hope and mercy.
		
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			It says
		
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			It's called
		
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			a form in Arabic
		
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			which means 3 to 9.
		
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			Aya means like 3 to 9 days.
		
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			So they're like, oh snap. What's fast and
		
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			what do we gotta do?
		
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			Don't worry.
		
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			So the Quran builds an idea of hope.
		
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			Just a few days, you got this. Don't
		
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			worry about it. You can do it.
		
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			Then later it says,
		
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			Then it defines
		
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			what those few days are
		
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			after giving people hope
		
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			and the promise of the ability to fast,
		
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			it says shahurul Ramadan,
		
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			the month of Ramadan.
		
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			So we learn a lot from these verses.
		
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			Number 1, each and every one of us
		
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			should not allow ourselves to be controlled by
		
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			the material.
		
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			The material should not be pushing how we
		
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			see our relationship with God.
		
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			Secondly,
		
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			what is taqwa?
		
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			And the third is a method in dawah
		
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			that takes in
		
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			consideration that people a method in teaching people
		
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			and ministering to people that builds them slowly
		
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			and gives them hope,
		
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			helps them find confidence in themselves.
		
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			The last is that this is the month
		
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			of the Quran.
		
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			Quran That this is the month that the
		
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			entire Quran
		
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			was revealed to what's called Baytul Izzah
		
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			and the heavens from
		
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			from Lohin Mahfou,
		
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			and then it was sent to the Prophet
		
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			Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
		
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			over time for 23 years.
		
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			That's why Allah says
		
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			in Suratul Qadr in and zalnaahu
		
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			fee Laylatul Qadr. Laylatul Qadr is talking about
		
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			when the Quran was sent to Baytul Izzah.
		
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			But then and the word
		
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			means it all came at once.
		
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			Like as I made him sit down.
		
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			Like, understanding the mystery of why the words
		
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			are formed the way they are gives us
		
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			the doors to the opening of the language.
		
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			So the form in
		
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			is
		
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			which means at once the Quran was sent.
		
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			Because some people, they read Surat Al Qadr
		
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			like so the whole Quran was sent to
		
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			the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, then how
		
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			come later on it was sent to the
		
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			prophet? No. Later the Qadr is talking about
		
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			the night it was sent to Baytul 'Izzah
		
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			in its whole form from
		
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			and then was sent
		
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			piece by piece to say So
		
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			that's why when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala talks
		
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			to the prophet, he says, nazalaa
		
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			araikal Quran. Nazalaa doesn't mean it all came
		
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			at once. Nazala means step by step.
		
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			So the whole Quran is revealed to Baytul
		
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			Izzah on that night, and then Iqra comes
		
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			to say, Narasulillah,
		
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			sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, and then from there
		
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			on, the Quran is revealed to him, sallallahu
		
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			alaihi wa sallam,
		
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			step by step.
		
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			It's very important that we understand
		
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			the importance of the Quran.
		
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			And our first step in Qur'anic literacy is
		
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			to read the Quran properly.
		
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			And I've started
		
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			an online institute that will start this July
		
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			inshallah called SWISS.
		
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			Suheib Web Institute of Sacred Sciences, not the
		
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			cheese.
		
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			And
		
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			we started pre enrollment now because,
		
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			unfortunately, even Muslims that we asked to invest
		
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			were like, okay, give me equity. Like, subhanAllah,
		
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			man.
		
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			Like, I'm an imam. How much equity do
		
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			you think I have, dude?
		
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			You know, you're the one that has a
		
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			Bitcoin mind. Give me some equity.
		
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			And we believe that one of the conditions
		
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			of being an educator is financial freedom
		
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			because too often
		
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			our religious leadership has been so underpaid
		
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			that they're not allowed to speak freely
		
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			or to teach freely.
		
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			So alhamdulillah,
		
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			one of the books that we teach
		
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			in this 5 year
		
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			2 semester
		
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			program, which is an entire Islamic Studies curriculum
		
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			rooted in foundational text that I learned in
		
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			Esar and in West
		
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			African system and synagogue
		
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			and then married with my background in professional
		
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			education.
		
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			For the first time, we hope in English
		
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			language, you'll have a complete curriculum from A
		
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			to Z. Like what are the as we
		
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			said today earlier, like starting Islamic Studies in
		
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			America is like going to the gym first
		
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			time.
		
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			You know, when you go to the gym
		
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			first time, you don't know what to do,
		
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			you just want abs.
		
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			You just want abs or other things that
		
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			we can't mention here.
		
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			Right? So what you do is you look
		
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			for those machines that you've seen on TV
		
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			or you see someone else who you wish
		
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			you could look like.
		
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			I've been there. And then we go and
		
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			do what they do.
		
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			But we don't really know what we're doing.
		
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			And the proof is as soon as we
		
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			leave the gym, we smash like, you know,
		
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			an entire bucket of fried chicken
		
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			because we don't really know what we're doing.
		
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			Islamic studies in the English language, why is
		
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			it that we don't have a curriculum from
		
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			a to z for homeschoolers who are teaching
		
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			their kids at home? For our Islamic studies
		
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			teachers that are struggling to find resources?
		
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			For parents who are looking for after school
		
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			options, right? We don't have where do I
		
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			start? Where do I finish?
		
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			But not only that, how do we tailor
		
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			the curriculum to the needs of students? So
		
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			we talked about this this morning. We may
		
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			translate text and render classical text into the
		
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			English language that are normative text, but the
		
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			questions we translate the questions too. But those
		
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			questions were old.
		
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			Those questions have passed.
		
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			Like, those days are gone. People aren't like
		
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			bartering donkeys and goats.
		
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			That's a different time. There's some important things
		
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			that come out of that for the scholar.
		
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			But where is the curriculum
		
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			that focuses on functional
		
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			literacy?
		
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			We have dysfunctional attempts at scholarship.
		
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			Right? But where is functional literacy like functional
		
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			fitness?
		
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			So the the ethos of that curriculum when
		
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			I started it 3 or 4 years ago
		
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			and putting it together
		
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			was how do we take these texts that
		
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			are important normative texts,
		
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			but then allow them to work as a
		
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			public
		
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			theology,
		
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			a public
		
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			Fiqh,
		
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			a public study of Hadith,
		
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			a public study of Tafsir. We have private
		
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			Theology. We have private Fiqh.
		
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			But the public's questions remain unanswered.
		
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			So the goal initially was to translate the
		
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			text, to render them into English, but then
		
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			my educational antenna started kicking in.
		
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			And then when I was on Snapchat with
		
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			your kids, who I know all about
		
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			and most of them, I'm gonna be honest,
		
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			they ask amazing questions, like,
		
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			Very beautiful questions. The most common question I
		
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			get on Snapchat is how can I be
		
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			closer to Allah?
		
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			The most common the second most common question
		
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			is it allowed to shape my eyebrows?
		
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			That would lie. I never knew that that
		
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			was a thing, man.
		
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			So,
		
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			what we did is took the questions
		
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			of the object of that curriculum,
		
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			like, for example, teens,
		
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			and we plug their questions
		
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			into those texts.
		
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			So now the text is there, the foundation
		
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			is there,
		
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			But the questions that are driving the curriculum
		
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			are the questions
		
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			of the public
		
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			now.
		
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			So we have, hamdulillah, working with us,
		
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			a great brother who's gonna help us on
		
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			furthering,
		
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			you know, unpacking that curriculum. We have Haneen
		
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			who's here. She doesn't want to be shown.
		
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			Therapist dealing with family issues. So we go
		
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			through the language,
		
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			make sure the language of the curriculum is
		
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			not triggering for people.
		
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			But then what we hope to happen is
		
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			that we continue to run focus groups, not
		
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			only with teenagers. We have a curriculum for
		
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			teenagers.
		
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			But what about converts? Like where's the book
		
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			on fiqh for the convert? Like if you're
		
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			a convert, you know this.
		
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			The first day or the second day of
		
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			practicing Islam in your in your home with
		
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			your non Muslim family, you literally will run
		
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			into 50 fiqh issues.
		
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			Literally.
		
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			And you won't find
		
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			the fiqh of the convert. Where's the fiqh
		
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			of the young professionals who are thinking about
		
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			investments,
		
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			right? Thinking about financial longevity, thinking about generational
		
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			wealth.
		
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			So we created this curriculum in a way
		
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			that over time, not tomorrow,
		
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			through focus groups and listening, we plug your
		
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			questions
		
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			back into that curriculum. So that book that
		
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			I wrote, some of you may have it,
		
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			Essentials of Islamic Faith. If you look at
		
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			the questions, these are the questions I was
		
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			trying to ask you in Azhar.
		
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			These are the questions that came from kids
		
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			on Snapchat and Instagram and parents.
		
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			So we force also people to have conversations
		
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			about religion.
		
00:22:05 --> 00:22:06
			So, for example, the question
		
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09
			under visiting the graves, it's like go with
		
00:22:09 --> 00:22:12
			your father to the graveyard and ask him
		
00:22:12 --> 00:22:13
			what have you prepared to die?
		
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			That's a conversation with fathers we should have
		
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			with our kids.
		
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			Ask your mother, you know, when has Allah
		
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			helped her through a difficult time? That's a
		
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			conversation that we want to have with our
		
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			parents
		
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			instead of highly curated
		
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			successfully
		
00:22:30 --> 00:22:31
			uncontextualized
		
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			stuff.
		
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			So the goal of Swiss is to create
		
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			that curriculum that's founded
		
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			in theology,
		
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			founded in Quran studies, reciting the Quran properly,
		
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			founded in the study of
		
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			worship like fiqh and Essen,
		
00:22:50 --> 00:22:52
			those 4 foundational things at this moment.