Tahir Anwar – Ramadan Reflection Welcoming Ramadan 2021
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The speaker discusses the upcomingiva mass for the upcoming month and emphasizes the importance of protecting everyone's health and community. They encourage people to pray together and be gentle with themselves. The speaker also mentions the possibility of a separate arrangement for people vaccinated and hopes for a blessed month with blessings and blessings for everyone.
AI: Summary ©
My beloved
MCC
East Bay community,
I want to begin by saying,
an advanced
Ramadan Mubarak to all of you, your families,
your children, your parents
Once again, this is
going to be a slightly
different Ramadan for all of us
but Ramadan is Ramadan and it's always a
beautiful time of the year regardless of our
circumstances
and so, you know, I pray to Allah
that may this month be one filled with
blessings for us and our families
wherever we are and, however we are, and
may Allah
continue to keep us all safe and in
his
protection at all times. Amin yarabalaalamin.
With that said, I just want to take
a moment,
to share a few reminders.
This Ramadan is definitely going to be different,
although we've made, some amazing progress in the
last year,
but the reality is that, this disease is
still with us, it has not gone gone
away,
and, in fact, it's actually coming back harder
than ever
in some other parts of the world, and
we ask for Allah's
shifa and protection
for all of humanity in this difficult time.
So, with that said,
you know, the masajid
are still only allowing
a limited number of people at the masjid,
of course.
We must abide by the law. We must
abide
by the regulations
that the County has set forth for us,
whether we agree or even disagree with them.
And so, basically, this means that for those
of us and many of us for whom,
you know, we are,
diligent in going to the masjid every single
day or diligent in,
praying salatul Isha and, you know, the entire,
tarawee,
listening to the entire Quran,
may not be possible once again for us
this year. But look at the bright side.
It's still better than last year. Last year,
we were not able to go at all.
And this year, we, inshallah,
will be able to go, maybe not on
all days,
but on some days.
And while we may not be able to
listen to the entire Quran in salatul taraweeh,
we will be able to listen to as
much Quran as we can. As it is,
you know, taraweeh, the the prayer of taraweeh
in and of itself,
while it's highly recommended, it's a sunnah, it's
not a requirement,
and listening to the entire Quran in taraweeh
while, again, once again, highly recommended, a sunnah,
of the Nabi alayhis salatu wasalam, but yet
at the same time, it's not a requirement.
What is required
is that we keep ourselves safe. What is
required is that we keep our community safe.
So, insha'allah,
you know, if we are unable to be
there every day or for some reason, you
know, we are there every day, but we
will be missing out
on, you know, portions of the Quran, our
intention is with Allah, and our reward
is
also with Allah
Now, this doesn't mean
that we cannot recite the Quran. We still
have the ability to recite the Quran. If
we have a little bit of extra time
because we're spending a half an hour or
45 minutes less at the masjid, let us
utilize that time to come back home,
to recite the Quran. If for some reason
we haven't been able to register
on that given day, then spend the time
at home with your family and, you know,
pray salat in congregation. You can even pray
salat to taweeh in congregation with whatever amount
of Quran,
we have. And just imagine the barakah
of the salah, the congregation,
the family in our homes.
Right? So there's always a bright side
to everything. And if you haven't registered, I'm
going to remind myself first and everyone else,
don't simply show up just because you show
up every day.
Do the right thing with Allah,
and Allah knows our intentions, Insha'Allah.
You know, some people have said that there
should be a separate
arrangement for people who are vaccinated.
You know, logistically, honestly, I can tell you
that it could be,
you know, a nightmare.
So, you know, please please do respect,
you know, the ability on behalf of the
Masjid volunteers to do as much as they
can.
Prayer still will be outdoors in in in
many cases.
If that happens to be the case, then
let us be grateful that we are still
able to gather for prayer. I wanna be
inside the masjid. We all wanna be indoors.
You know, we don't wanna be standing this
far away from each other. We want to
pray all 20 rak'ahs. We want to listen
to the entire Quran,
but, you know, with all that's going on
around us, we're trying to do, all of
us, individually and collectively, must try to do
the right thing and also go above and
beyond. A lot of times people will say
that, oh, these these people are gathering or
they're gathering. We wanna go above and beyond
in order to make sure
that we protect
life.
Right? We protect life. That's all we're trying
to do here. We're trying to protect people's
lives because the moment an individual
may be affected by this, you know, the
greatest fear is not that they will, you
know, get very sick or this while that
is the case, the greatest fear is that
they may actually end up dying. And so
we're trying to protect,
life, which is one of the maqasid of
sharia. So please let us be gentle with
ourselves.
Let us be gentle with everyone,
around us. And, of course, I'm being,
you know, I'm thinking a little far ahead
and I'm thinking that maybe salatulirid
will be something similar,
to this as well. I know many elders,
very pious elders,
ulama, in fact, scholars,
who are older,
who have never missed praying at the masjid,
who for decades, not one decade or 2
decade, who for the last 4, 5 decades
have prayed 20 rakas of taraweeh in Ramadan,
listened to an entire khatam, during the month
of Ramadan.
They
because of the pandemic and because of the
their own situation and the situation of those
around them have, chosen to not be at
the masjid, not go to the masjid, and
wanting to do the right thing. So let
us be conscious. Let us be aware. Allah
is aware of our intentions. You know, we
don't have to be harsh on ourselves or
onto others.
Allah
is kareem, and we ask for Allah's
karam, his generosity,
his barakah, his blessings, his reward,
for all of us and our families, and
we hope and pray, insha'Allah, that all of
us continue to have,
a beautiful Ramadan. So once again,
I take this moment to say Ramadan Mubarak
to all of you, your families, your children,
and, you know, we
keep me in your duas. I will keep
all of you in mind, and we pray
to Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, for,
a blessed month,
one filled with lots and lots of blessings,
for us and our families. We pray that
Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, forgive us our shortcomings
and grant us,
the blessing.