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Sincerely, Haifaa Younis

Featuring Dr. Haifaa Younis, hosted by Sh. Ibrahim Hindy and Sh. Abdullah Oduro, don't miss an exclusive opportunity to learn the unique experiences, challenges, and funny moments our scholars and teachers of Islam face in their personal lives and communities!

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Transcript

This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
Wa alaikum salam. This is your host Ibrahim Hindi with your co-host Sheikh Abdullah Oduroo for another episode of Sincerely Yours. Sheikh Abdullah, how are you doing? Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. We're blessed, you know, Alhamdulillah wa ala alameen. Happy to be here to remind each other about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in different ways. Alhamdulillah wa ala alameen. Alhamdulillah. And as always we want to hear from all of you. So in the chat let us know where you're coming to us from, which part of the world. Give us your salam inshallah. We'd love to respond to all of your salam. And as always as we go through today's episode, if you have any questions for our guest, put them in the chat inshallah. We'll do our best to get some of your questions at the end of our conversation inshallah. Sheikh Abdullah, you were away for a bit. I think you went on a little trip. Maybe tell us about that. Yes, sir. Alhamdulillah, you know, I had the opportunity to go to Turkey post earthquake. Well, I guess you could say in between with Islamic relief and Alhamdulillah was a blessing in a number of Ibar, a number of lessons that I can take with me inshallah, that we can all take with each other inshallah and share with all of you. Biidhnillah ta'ala. Biidhnillah inshallah. So our guest inshallah popped on the screen quickly, was also with you on that trip. Alhamdulillah. So we're going to be able to talk to both of you about what you saw in Turkey, about the condition of our brothers and sisters over there and with a lot of your insights and your feedbacks and your reflection biidhnillah on that. Alhamdulillah, I see a lot of people in the chat now. I see sister Hiba from India giving her salam. Assalamu alaikum. Alaikum another someone else from Australia. Alhamdulillah, a lot of people joining us. So as always get in the chat, give us your questions inshallah. Hopefully towards the end we'll be able to take all of your questions inshallah. And with that let me introduce our guest for tonight.
We have Dr. Sheikha Haifa Younis. She is an American board certified obstetrician and gynecologist with roots from Iraq. She is the founder and chairman of the Jannah Institute and a resident scholar at Jannah Institute and the Islamic Center of Irvine. Dr. Younis graduated from the Mecca Institute of Islamic Studies and Al-Huda Quran Memorization School in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where she completed the memorization of the Quran. Currently she resides in the and works in the United States and teaches a variety of Islamic Studies courses with a focus on the purification of the heart. And with that we welcome our guest. Assalamu alaikum Dr. Haifa. Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Jazakumullah khair for having me. Wa alaikum salam. We were talking backstage a little bit and we mentioned to you that you know these sessions a lot of them are about our audience getting to know some of our du'at and our mashayikh and people who are involved in da'wah. And you said that if you knew that that was the topic you wouldn't have joined us today. Exactly. But you know, alhamdulillah, but you know I have to tell you because she'll get me in trouble if I don't tell you. My wife is your biggest fan and she watches your videos all the time. And for months she's been telling me you have to get in contact with Dr. Haifa, you have to get her. So alhamdulillah I finally found your email address and I was able to reach out and alhamdulillah we're really happy to have you on. Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. And this was supposed to be on the week we went to Turkey, subhanAllah. Yes, subhanAllah. I was trying my best to get both of you live from Turkey but of course it was difficult with the Wi-Fi and all the situation that was happening there. And also the schedule was packed, subhanAllah, it was only two days packed. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah.
So Dr. Haifa maybe we can start off like how did you and like this is the whole question we're trying to answer with these sessions. Like how did you get to where you are today? Who were you as a young child and you know what sent you off on this journey to gain knowledge and eventually to teach people about Islam and how people connect their hearts with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So where were you as a young girl and what was your relationship with Islam at that stage of your life? Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu wa salam ala rasulillah. SubhanAllah I always ask myself the same question. In fact especially recently. I would start to say and I would end up by saying it's the grace of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And literally yahdi may yasha wa yudhlu may yasha. We always have to remember. As a young girl I'm actually a member of five siblings so we're totally six. I grew up in a house where I wouldn't say Islam was number one but morals and values and focus on education and who are you in life and what you want to be was the focus. And the biggest impact or influence on me was my mother actually. She was an educated woman and then she was a mother of six and she worked. And like what everybody or the woman goes through these days and her focus was always always always especially us the girls is that you need to get your education. You need to get your education subhanAllah. So I grew up with this. At age 13 actually I will say the first turnaround in my life towards Islam. Where I was actually in school this was in Baghdad. I was born in Iraq. And we had a teacher who taught us Islamic studies. And it was in general a very simple I mean 13, 12, 13 year old.
And it was a simple class and usually it's not something that in general leave an impact on us at that age. But subhanAllah and this is why I always say to myself you never know one word what can do to people. And this woman came in and to us as teenagers and she was absolutely simple did not impress us with the way she looked. But she changed us. And this is the first reason Allah sent to me that I start praying subhanAllah. He introduced and this is what I say to everyone. This is the first message for everybody. When you want to teach people about Islam don't teach them about do and don'ts. Teach them about Allah and that's what she did that woman. And I still remember this is years ago years ago. I still remember where we were in the class and she used to bring listen to lectures. And one of the lectures that is in my mind never went away is the hadith of Rasulallah which we know. It's that the seven people who Allah shaded them under his shade. And she kept focusing about I hear her now saying and imagine honestly. And I don't know what that words or those words and it's the way she was saying it did to us subhanAllah. And I remember it was the first step in my life where absolutely I was introduced to Islam. You know we all are born as Muslims but sometimes we are born as Muslims. But we really really don't know what is exact what does exactly Islam mean or what should it does or what should do to our hearts and to our life. And then subhanAllah at that age I love to read. So I start reading many books I love to read all the time that time specially.
Once you get to medical school things change time becomes very limited let's put it this way. So I start reading subhanAllah and then couple of events that happened whether it's in Iraq itself or on a personal level. Which is the sickness of my mother and kept something kept coming telling me. Why do you know Allah subhanAllah when you need him and you don't know when you don't need him. And this really really impacted me. I say this is the grace of Allah on me. Is when my mom sick I did do a lot of dua and I do my salah. When she becomes better you know life takes you. We went through the war and then it's not very pleasant experience. So this really impacted me a lot. But then you go to medical school and what you know sometimes life takes you education takes you. Then comes the death of my mother and everyone around me was telling me you are so religious or you're so strong and attached to Allah. And I was like really subhanAllah you know things this is what I want to share with everybody is don't belittle any incidents that happens in your life that changes you. Because that's what Allah brings these are asbab these are the means to bring us closer to him. Even sometimes we go away but then he bring us back by taking us away and bring us back. And then subhanAllah the invasion of Kuwait and the bombardment where we basically had to be in the house and suddenly you lose all the comfort that you are used to. No electricity no water I mean it was something I've never experienced. And then the daily feeling that you may die today.
We all know that but it is different when every night at 8 o'clock when it gets dark then you start listening to all these planes and you don't know which the bomb is going to go on which head. And in that time I absolutely start reading a lot even more and reading the Quran and the book that really affected me is the book of Ar-Ruh li Imam Abdul-Qayyim. I still don't know how it ended up in my hand subhanAllah. And that book absolutely changed me internally the way I look at life the way I look at Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the way I look at what do I want to be in my life. And actually that's when I will say my mother death the war and the reading of that book were completely changed me. Changed my direction and of course you don't stay all the time the straight path that we all want to. You go right and left but the goal still comes back you're away you're away. And then fast forward you know I went to Europe and then I came to the United States still stayed in me that there is something more than just being a physician or being a get your career and then get successful. It's something more than that I kept saying this to myself. But because life is taking you you don't have really time to sit down and then I finished residency and alhamdulillah rabbil alamin and then I got my office you know get the things that everyone alhamdulillah want to get and it's all halal. And for me was even a blessing because it was farzu kifaya I was the only Muslim OBGYN in the town in the city so alhamdulillah rabbil alamin. But I kept saying there's something missing and I kept making dua to Allah there's something missing and Allah took me to my first hajj. And that was absolutely the hundred and the 360 even more change because of what he showed me in hajj.
And I always say this especially to the sisters the more difficulty the more challenges Allah in hajj is preparing something for you when you come back. It's amazing it was my second trip I first I went to Umrah but it's different than the hajj subhanallah even I came back from hajj extremely sick. I've never been sick that sick and nobody knew what was wrong with me. And at that point I decided I am gonna pursue learning about Allah and this deen as I pursued medicine. This is for him subhanallah. And then once you make you know man arada al akhira my motto in life is man arada al akhira wa sa'a laha sa'yaha wa huwa mu'min. Whomsoever wants this is a verse in surat al israa. Whomsoever wants al akhira want you really wanted. But then it doesn't come without work wa sa'a laha sa'yaha and worked very hard and Allah use sa'i and sa'i is one of the hardest rituals of hajj and Umrah. Sa'a laha meaning you're working very hard to it to achieve that goal which is al akhira. And wa huwa mu'min you believe and in this case for me I believe Allah will not let me down. I know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will make it easy as he is making it hard he is making it easy subhanallah. And I decided I'm gonna study and you're talking about September 11 immediately after September. And imagine September 11 for those some of maybe some of our audience don't didn't live in the states or they were not there at that time. It was a life-changing experience for us as Muslims in the United States. I had people reach out to me and says you need to take off your hijab right don't go to the hospital at 3 a.m. to do a delivery it is not safe. Allah keeps you strong and going and then I was introduced first my first teacher who came to the city. This is all that's what I would keep telling people you want something ask Allah.
Don't say how it's gonna happen how is not my ability. We are weak but ask him sincerely. And subhanallah Allah brought him to the to the city was Sheikh Mokhtar Maghrabi may Allah always reward him abundantly. He was the first to introduce me to even the science of tazkiyah. What is the purification of the heart? Once I learned start learning this now I know remember I kept telling you there's something missing there's something missing. I found the missing is when all the what all what Islam works on originally or intentionally or the first thing is the heart. The outside is the result of the inside. And subhanallah I started studying with him and may Allah reward him taught me a lot. And then as we are in this journey and of course at that time there was no internet it was phone and he also not only teaches you knowledge but he teach you and when I say this to everybody is the etiquette of seeking knowledge. How you interact with your teachers what does it mean what is the difficulty you have to go the struggle kept reminding me. Those who struggle for our sake we're gonna guide them to our way. And then at one point I decided I need to go and study as I studied medicine. I need to sit down in a classroom and with a teacher and subhanallah I pursued I was looking where do I go and I know Arabic so life is easier. And I always wanted to live close to my was my dream and Allah subhanallah opened it to subhanallah the three places I wanted to go Allah didn't open except this one. So I moved to Jeddah because I was able to work as an OBGYN and then he made it.
It was amazing I tell people if I made a dua if I wrote a letter to Allah subhanallah on the night of Quds and I know this is the night of Al-Qadr and I wrote what I want I would not have written it the way Allah did it subhanallah. It is my hospital across like my office you see behind me you see the books that was a window from the window you see the building where the school I studied. And it's the year I moved was the first year they opened it's a satellite branch from Ummul Qura University in Mecca. So this is in and it's the first they opened it for women only. And that was another change in my life where I now learned what does it mean to learn from women. The men are may Allah reward them but I've never been exposed to women shaykh to women knowledgeable in Islam. I've seen it in medicine many have taught us but in Islam I've always been taught by men may Allah reward them all. Then you see these women these are mothers some of them grandmothers some of them are not married and everybody so knowledgeable. And I remember I used to sit in the class and I was like wow ah actually that's where Jannah Institute the idea came in mind. I made a dua to Allah subhanallah and I said ya Allah I was in the class of Aqeedah I remember very well. And I said ya Allah how many people can do what I did what you made me do. Not a lot of women can do that. This is not easy for women you know that. And I said ya Allah help me to do something like this in the United States. So women don't have to leave. There was no internet there was none of that. So alhamdulillah I finished I finished the study in the class and in the institute actually. And then I said that's not enough and everybody was telling me you cannot be a da'ia to Allah subhanallah without knowing his book.
And they pushed me to also enroll in a Quran institute which this took a long time but at the same time with it and that's what I advise everyone. May Allah open it for everybody. You need to now start studying with shuyukh. You start with the shaykhat meaning as a student you sit under their feet and you listen from them. And alhamdulillah I can't be grateful enough. I always say Allah subhanallah there is nothing special about him. Allah knows and may Allah forgive but he chose it and alhamdulillah. Subhanallah. So go ahead Shaykh Ibrahim you have something you want to say? No no go ahead. So let's I kind of want to go a little kind of rewind but I want to just go from Subhanallah you said the kitab al ruh. Yeah. So how old were you at that time when you received this book? Early 20s. Early 20s. Yeah. It was amazing. I can't tell you what it did to me. Subhanallah and I don't even remember who gifted it to me. Honestly I don't remember. This is what I say to people. I say to myself first and I'm sure you know that Shaykh Abdullah. Allah you subibul asbab. Allah brings things without you knowing and it's like what is that? It's a book. What you don't know? But he brought it to you and take it and that's why you keep asking Allah to open the doors for you. Don't ask him exactly what you want because you don't know what is good for you. But ask him I want to serve you. Ya Allah I want to be close to you. And then he will open it according to what you can and what is best for you or best for me. And then I fell in love with all the books of Ibn al Qayyim. All the books.
Subhanallah. That's the reason I'm so it's interesting because the book that changed my life was Risalah Tabukiyya. Oh. By Ibn al Qayyim. And I don't remember who gave it to me either. You know what? Imagine this man because we're now at Jannah Institute in the year of knowledge. We teach his book. Last year we taught Madaraj al-Salikeen. Allah. Yes and in the introduction we taught only the chapter of Tawbah. The whole one year. So in the introduction usually in the first class we introduce the students to the author. Because they need to know who they are reading. And I said imagine what did this man had with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And I said imagine what did this man had with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The physician of the heart. So the spiritual doctor of the heart is Imam Ibn al Qayyim. And when you read his books you say ya Allah. Many times I say ya Allah what you gave him give me. I'm like I don't know how to do that. I don't know. Just give it to me. Subhanallah. Allah Fataha alayhi. Subhanallah. Ya Allah. MashaAllah. Tabaraka Allah. There's times you just you put the book down. Particularly for me it was amongst it was him sometimes you read something you just have to put the book down and let it just sink through. And then you raise your hands and make dua for him. Like for me when I was a student Sheikh Murthameen and Ibn Rajab and Ibn Qayyim. It's just sometimes I have to stop because it's too much on me sometimes. It's very... And I will recommend his books because most of it is actually translated. For our audiences if you don't read Arabic. If you read Arabic you have to read in Arabic of course. But if you don't, don't despair. Most of it is actually very well translated. Al-Wabi Sayyib is extremely well translated actually.
Yes, yes I have it written. Ah exactly. I have it written in one of the books that your home has to pass. Very well translated. And the beauty of him is he doesn't focus on one. Like if he's talking let's say about the tawbah. He's not going to talk about tawbah only. He's going to talk about many things. And you wonder you've read the ayah so many times. And I was like I didn't look at it in this way. Subhanallah. Subhanallah. So Shaykh you mentioned as well you know you came to Jeddah and I want to ask two questions. But I guess the first one that I'll ask is when you went to stay with the Shaykhat. Can you mention one Shaykhah that really impacted you and why? Oh yes, Dr. Wafa' Al-Hamdan. May Allah preserve her. Ya Rabbi ya ami. What impacted her? You know the statement we use here in the States, walk the talk. Walk the talk. In all I knew her for more than seven years. I have not seen walk the talk not practiced. Al-ihsan al-mutanaqtah. This is what I learned from her. I'll give you this is the story I always share it with all the students. So she used to do this is for the public Wednesday and Thursday because that's usually the holiday there or the weekend. She used to do usually a course about something. Many things. It depends on the time. And then she has her own students usually. And she makes one of you know the usual one of the students read something. She was a young girl reading and she suddenly stopped her and you can see the change on her face. She didn't like it. What happened? I mean she was reading and she was reading right.
Was mahraj ur-raa ya Sheikh Abdullah. And I was like really? You know she pronounced ur-raa in the cloacal way not in the proper fusha way. And the way she taught her is not because you did wrong. It's all the things about the beauty and the value of the Arabic language. Lugha tul-jannah. It's what you're going to be speaking in jannah. Lugha tul-qur'an. And on and on in a way it makes you ah I can never write a word when I am with her. Because you can't. You're like you know Ibn al-Qayyim. You can't. You just need to read. You can't write notes. And this is number one. And number two she was a mother. She was a wife. Of course hafidha and all this. And I loved things that impacted me as a woman. And this is the beauty when you study with a woman. Her respect to her husband. Never call him by his name in front of her. She is extremely educated. She refers to him as doctor. He has a PhD also in Islamic studies. She's PhD in faqa and sunnah. She refers to him like this. Never refer to any of the students of the woman. Especially if they are adult, matured by their name. It's always the mother of. Because that's the sunnah. That's the kunyah. And all these small things you know on time is on time. Salah. I watched her one time. Salah. I was like Allah give me what is this? Honestly I saw her very recently in my last trip in Umrah. I make sure when I go for Umrah I go and visit my teachers. Because you still need to be a student. Wherever you are you need to stay as a student. Otherwise arrogance is going to come. And you need always people to remind you.
And I'll give you one example. She said we had a gathering and she said you're going to address the ladies. And I said ya shaykha ayuftahu malikum fil malina. Am I going to speak? And you're next to me. And when your teacher tells you do, you do. And she said no I want you to speak. And I was like ya Allah open my mouth. So a question came in about the hijab. You know the usual questions. And I always ask the woman. You probably heard me. Is hijab a choice or not a choice? That's a very common question. And my answer is it is a choice. It's your choice to obey Allah or not to obey Allah. She stopped me in front of everybody. Al-Diqqa. Please forgive me. And she calls me daktora. Never calls me by my name. Subhanallah. Much older. She's my teacher. I actually kiss her from the head when I see her. And she says, she speaks Fusha. Inna hu faradun min Allahi wa khiyaruki an tattabi'il farad aula. It is an obligation from Allah and your choice to obey the obligation or not. This is how it should be answered. You know, I say ya Allah alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Instead of starting with your choice, starting with the obligation from Allah. Exactly. And this is what we all need to learn. That we always need to be reminded. And it's okay if we are reminded. And it's okay if we are wrong. Because nobody is 100% right. We always, the norm, kullu ibn Adam khatta. All the children of Adam makes mistakes. So these are the women. And there is another woman actually. Probably she will not accept when we mention her name. And this one was completely the opposite. This one was actually an IT person.
So imagine me coming, you know, and then the woman comes with her computer. This is like in the 2008 where people, you know, barely having their laptops. And she actually was one of the students of Sheikh Ibn Athaymeen. One of the few students on the phone. And she taught me how to look at the hadith, how to look at the ayah, and how to analyze it. Always look at this, look at this, look at that. One, and the second thing which always impacted me, she used to do, they call it dawrah there. Whenever there is like a one week break, she makes it. And Allah brought her, see the sabab of Sheikh Abdullah. She brought her in the back of my hospital. There is a huge theater. Every time there is a break, she makes her dawrah or her program for a week in that theater. Five to eight. And I finish work at five. So I just walk out and sometimes in my scrubs, put my abaya on top of it. And just literally less than five minutes walk and I am in the, sitting in the theater. Subhanallah. Tadbirullah. And this woman always, always analyze. And what, every time she finished her program, I have seen her with my own eyes. She goes back inside the theater and does sajda shukr lillah. I can't tell you how long. And I was like, ya Allah, what does that teach you? You didn't do it. You didn't teach. It was not you. It was all from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is what we need to bring back. This is what I tell all people around me, the students. And I said, you know what? Connect them with Allah. Once I and you and everybody connected with Allah, whatever happens in life, and life never is smooth, you always go to the source and the source will make it easy.
And the source will help you to move and gives you patience as we all say, or take it as it should be. We have a motto in Jannah Institute. All the staff knows this, right? The motto says, lan yudhaya'an Allah. Allah will never let us down. As long as we work for Him and Him only. We work for any other reason, but you work for Him. Of course, I'm not talking about you don't get employed and get paid, but your real niyyah, your real intention, why you are in this path is to please Him and He will never let you down. And I can absolutely attest to this. He never let you down. Even in the lowest point or the toughest points, He's always there for you. Subhanallah. Subhanallah. There's nothing like those impactful people in your life that leave the athar. And then you just kind of, it's kind of like a wiratha, you know, from the al-diyaa thumma nathina yaloonuhum. Subhanallah. Jazakallah khair. The other question I wanted to ask you was, you know, you mentioned it more than once. I think you mentioned it, li sabab, how you started to tatlub al-'in, you started to seek knowledge athnaa ad-dirasa, athnaa ad-dirasa, during your studying as a doctor. How was that journey? Were there any hard times? And if there were, how did you deal with them to get to where you are now? I mean, subhanallah, as you mentioned the verse, alladheena jaahadoo feena lanaahdeeun sooblana Was there a level of, we can say struggle, but right now we say, the yusra is always there with the usr, right? So if you don't mind sharing, you know, when you were on that journey, you're at the hospital, but then as you mentioned, you go see the sheikh, this is not for one year, this is for how long, you know?
Yeah, I had a famous statement in my institute first, when I was studying. Many times I looked at my sheikhateen teacher, I was like, wallahi studying medicine is easier, delivering a baby is easier. This is a secret, but it's going to be public, especially when you are studying almul mirath, you know? And I am by, this is why I became a physician, because I am not a bad person. And she keeps explaining and putting in all these charts, and one day, it was not a joke, but it became a joke in the class, and I said, and she was a PhD, so I was like, Victoria, you know what, I don't know this, anybody is going to ask me about mirath, I'm calling you. I'm referring it to you. This is, it's interesting, Sheikh Abdullah, when I was leaving, I remember this very well, when I was leaving, I'm putting my luggage in the garage, my brother was taking me to the airport, I'm putting my luggage, right, and there was the TV, I was in my brother's house, and the TV was on, it was Sunday, and it was a program, and the sheikh was, they were interviewing a sheikh. And the last thing I heard, as I was putting my luggage in the car,... Subhanallah, the last verse in Surah Al-Ankabut, those who struggle for our sake, we will guide them, and Allah is with those who practice excellence, or they are, have excellent conduct. Allah will test you, absolutely, test you in every step. And what he tests is, he tests the sincerity, because we easily can fall away from this, and especially sometimes, and I have went through this many times, being a physician, and now studying Islamic studies is not something very known, now, Alhamdulillah, it's becoming very known.
You see a lot of people have two, they have, let's say, secular studies, and degrees, and now, Alhamdulillah, also pursuing, but in the 2008, and 9, and 10, very few, let alone in Saudi, as a woman. I can't tell you how many people looked at me, in labor and delivery, bringing my books, I'm having a delivery, and sometimes delivery takes time, so I keep my books to study, and people look at me and say, why are you doing this? Honestly, honestly, these are Muslims, subhanallah, I mean, how much are they going to pay you? More. And you want more than that. Who's going to hire you? You are a woman. Subhanallah. But then, what Allah is reminding you, or me, and I always say, this is one of the things I learned from Sheikh Mokhtar, actually, is always you say, why did Allah allow this statement to reach you? Why did Allah allow this person to say this, so you hear it? That's the message, that's the sebab, that's the meaning. And what I kept telling myself, He's testing you, are you doing this for me, Allah, or are you doing it for XYZ person, or XYZ dunya reason? And He keeps, and He keeps, and He keeps. It requires a lot of hard work, Sheikh Abdullah, because I was full-time OBGYN, and I was a full-time student, and it was least, now if you tell me, I said the only one who helped me was Allah, subhanallah. The day was at least 16, and sometimes 18 hours. You know, you studied overseas, and to study overseas, you have to memorize. You have to memorize, and there is no questions of right or wrong. It's an exercise, it's usually they give you and analyze, and summarize, and put your opinion, and why, and this, which is good, because ilm, knowledge, you have to memorize.
Subhanallah. But it was, it was very challenging, subhanallah. But this is what the blessing Allah gave me, and this is what I will say to everybody listening to me. Keep your connection with Him, and keep telling Him, you are doing this for Him. Tell Allah He knows. But it is a good, a good way for you to stay strong. I was like, ya Allah, I came for you. Ya Allah, I'm doing this for you. Ya Allah, and then acknowledge your weaknesses. How many times I said, ya Rabbi, this is very difficult on me. This, especially with the memorization of the Quran, and studying, and working. And you know memorization of the Quran. As one of my teachers used always to say, هذا كلام الله يعلو و لا يعلى عليه. This is the words of Allah. The highest, nothing is above it. You think He will give it to you without showing Him some efforts? This is how she used to look at it, subhanallah. But keep the connection with Allah, subhanallah. Where do you start? Ask Him, show me. And once He show you, take it, grasp it. Don't despair, don't let go, don't quit, keep going. And the more you walk, the hadith I lived with it, one of them is, you know, whoever comes to me walking, I'll come to him running. That's what He wants. He wants you to, He wants you and me to see us walking first, toward Him. And then He starts running, subhanallah. But running meaning things becomes, either you start seeing it is very much easier, things become easy, you like it, people start helping. You don't know how things happen. It all falls in place. But definitely, what helped me also, Sheikh Abdullah, because when I did the residency of OBGYN, was the hardest one. It was 120 to 130 hours a week. A week? A week. There is days I leave 4am in the morning, go to the hospital,
and then I come back next day at 8pm. That's if I was on call. And I said, you did it for dunya, you loved it, and then why not for Allah? And why not for your relationship with Allah? One thing, when I wanted to study, I had no plans of anything. I didn't have plans for Jannah, I didn't have plans for anything. Just wanted to study. This discipline, I wanted to know Allah. I wanted to know what He wants me to know, and I wanted His book. And Alhamdulillah Rabbul Ameen, the rest becomes Allah opens it and opens it. That's interesting, Sheikh, that you mentioned that, how you mentioned how your motive for going to study wasn't to start an institute. No. Your motive for going to study was just to learn more about Allah and establish the connection. And it ties into how you mentioned the how, don't worry about it. Just focus on your connection and your status with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and then things will come quote unquote organically, as they say. Yes, exactly. Exactly. This is why planning is beautiful, but one of the issues I see these days, we depend a lot on planning. And we forgot the planner. The planner. And this is where we need to change. It's absolutely, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, planned. And of course the story of Hijra we all know. He planned, he took all the means, but his heart was always with Allah and the famous la tahzan. That's it. This verse in Surah At-Tawbah, this tells you all. He took his friend, he took, he planned it, he went south versus he was supposed to go north, he took the non-Muslim guide, he took all of it.
But his heart is connected with Allah. And when the test comes in, what comes out of my mouth right away is what reality in my heart. And this is what I tell people, study for him. Live for him. And he will put where he wants you to be. Walla la dee allah, this may be not very easy for some to understand, but you just take it as it is, and then ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to make you understand what is this. And see how he will do it, SubhanAllah. That's the beauty of it because you trust in the one that you are certain about, but you're uncertain of how it's going to manifest. It's important to be uncertain because that is where the tawakkul comes in, the trust in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la comes in. And you always trust the result is good, even if it is not the way I want. But it is the best for me. The best for me. Everything comes from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is good. This is one of the mottos everybody has to live with. Everything comes from Allah. In amruhu kullu khair. Everything Allah brings or take is good. You know the famous line of Ibn Ata'a al-Sakandari? ma manaaka illa liyataika or ma haramaka illa liyataika He never deprived you but to give you. And we focus on that abbreviation, what is taken from it. But if you take a step back and you say I'm sure there's something else coming with it. But let me just wait. He's going to show you what else comes with it. SubhanAllah. Alhamdulillah. Wow. Wow. So many things I wrote down as benefits. Alhamdulillah. And I love that. Me and Sheikh Abdullah spoke about a long time ago when we wanted to go study and sometimes our families would be like how are you going to feed your family if you go study Islam?
But like you said, you know, you just put Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala first and Allah will work things out. And it's actually scary when we think about it today where people might think, oh, this might be a way for me to get followers or fame or something like that. Because now that this is a possibility and it takes away from our ikhlas. And so like you said, just put Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala first and Allah will make things easy. And when we don't put Allah first, then we find problems in our lives. And I love that. I love that part. Alhamdulillah. We're going to do a little small amount of rapid fire questions inshallah. And then we'll take some questions inshallah from the audience. So everyone in the audience. Do I have the right not to answer? I'm just kidding. Of course. I'll make it easy. I'll make it easy. Okay. Bismillah. For those in the audience, if you want to ask any questions, you know, this is your last chance. Put them in the chat inshallah. After we do the rapid fire, we'll take a handful of questions inshallah for Dr. Haifa. So easy questions inshallah. Do you prefer spring or fall? Spring, of course. Okay. Would you choose chocolate or vanilla? Oh, chocolate. Easy question. Okay. If you could choose someone to have dinner with, but it's not any of the prophets or the sahaba, for anyone throughout history, who would you choose? Omar ibn Abdulaziz. Very good choice. Why? Because when I read his, especially he has a khutbah. When you read about his life and the short four years, what did he do to himself or what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made him?
And what impact he had on Islamic history. I want to spend time with this man for sure. I want to learn from him. You know, that was when Sheikh Muhammad Sharif passed away and he was like an older brother to many of us. And I was speaking to some of the brothers who knew him and I said, I remembered Omar ibn Abdulaziz because in a short period of time, he did a lot. Exactly. And this seems to be a sign of subhanAllah, blessed people that even if Allah gives a short period of time, they're able to do a lot and because of their ikhlas and their sincerity, Allah opens doors for them. And in a few years they could do what we might spend a lifetime trying to do and more. May Allah give him jannah for Dawud subhanAllah. What is your favorite sport? Soccer. Watching, not playing. I don't have a lot of time to do that. But especially when I grew up in a house where everybody loved it. So we used to sit down and watch it. These days, subhanAllah, we have a lot of time. May Allah put barakah in the time. Ameen. Okay, so you mentioned already people in the chat were asking the book Kitab al-Ruh by Ibn Qayyim. But I do like to ask people what book they would recommend. So is there another book as well you would recommend? As I said, Al-Waabil al-Sayeb for Tazkiyah actually, it is not the book of Imam Ibn al-Qayyim. It's actually one of the first book of Tazkiyah I wrote when I started the journey of learning is Mukhtasar Minhaj al-Qasidin. Which we are actually now teaching in our year of knowledge at Jannah Institute. Which is the summary of the summary of Ihyaa uloom al-din Imam al-Ghazali. So Imam al-Ghazali, which is they call him the psychiatrist, psychologist of Islam, wrote the famous book, Resuscitation, I call it.
I love this word because we use this in medicine to bring life back. So it's called the Resuscitation of the Deen, of Islam. And this is a man who reached Allah gave him everything in dunya and then he found out that this is not what, again, something is missing. So he went in seclusion, khalwa, and he wrote this book. The book is three volumes, beautiful, a lot of details, a lot. And then Imam al-Iraqi came in and he actually summarized it and removed some of the hadith and things. Then Imam Ibn Qadama came in and even summarized that. So basically it's an easy book to read, not too long, it's only one volume. And it is translated also, a good translation actually, and a PDF is. But he looks at everything from the lens of Tazkiyah, including salah and fasting. Starts of course by ilm, and then you go on the adab, the etiquette, what is dunya, what is akhira. And then he goes in every disease of the heart and every opposite or every cure for the disease of the heart. Very nice book for somebody who wants to start the Tazkiyah process, purification of the heart. Focus on the akhira, get close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And again it's translated in the Arabic, it's a beautiful book to read. What is your favorite city? Mecca, of course. I'm sorry, I usually ask this when I say you can't choose Mecca, Medina or else. I forgot the condition. Of course Mecca. May Allah give me life. Well I want to die in Medina, but I want to live a little bit longer in Mecca. If you had to choose another city, what would it be then? Outside of those three. Actually Cape Town in South Africa. Oh sheikh, you didn't tell us about your Cape Town experience with the sheikh. Remember you were telling me about the sheikh you met over there. Your experience with the people of knowledge over there.
Yeah, yeah. Cape Town. The reason I said Cape Town is because Allah, subhanallah, the creation of Allah in Cape Town. The color of the ocean. And then you have the mountains and you have of course one of the wonders of the world, which is stable mountain. You have the mountain, right away is the ocean. And also the people of Cape Town, originally they are all, originally they are from, they are Malay they call them. Originally from Malaysia. You're talking about like 100 years ago. But also which is unique in South Africa, that Cape Town, South Africa a lot of strong Muslims, mashallah. A lot of strong institutes. They graduate a lot of ulama. It's one of the places I seriously thought of studying there actually. And Cape Town what they have that is unique is they have a lot of tazkiyya. And there's a lot of adab. Adab, the people in general, in general, between each other and definitely the students with the sheikh. Like the sheikh when they meet me, I am so, I'm honored to meet them. But they make you so much, they have the honor to meet you, subhanallah. If you ask someone can we invite you as a guest teacher in Jannah Institute for the year of knowledge, the answer is me. Subhanallah, look at the, not only the adab but also the humbleness. For me, subhanallah, may Allah reward you, I don't know, it's very beautiful manners, gestures, the way they speak. I really loved it. It's beautiful, beautiful city. And South Africa in general is very beautiful, subhanallah. And a lot of people I will say don't know the beauty of it. And I'm not talking about only safaris and the creation of Allah, but also the beauty for Muslims. You go anywhere and you find a place to pray easily. Every mall has a place to pray. A lot of people practice, mashallah, hijab and everything.
May Allah protect that country, ya Rabbi, ameen. Ameen, ameen. Maybe this is a good segue, inshallah. Both yourself and Sheikh Abdullah were recently in Turkey and you were able to see the condition of our brothers and sisters over there. And I was hoping we can get some of your reflections within this. Dr. Haifaz, is there something that really stood out to you on that visit that really just sticks in your memory and that you'd love to share with our audience? Yeah, Brother Ibrahim, there is a lot of things stuck in my memory. I was very uncomfortable going. I was scared to be honest with you because I've never been in an earthquake place. I didn't know what I'm going to expect. And I mean, what you hear, what you see, disaster, destructions, people. And then I kept telling to myself the day I was leaving and I remembered I lived with this verse. Allah chose you. I didn't, I did not even think in a minute I'm going to be going. SubhanAllah. But Allah made it happen so easy and in the week that the only week I can travel with my work schedule. SubhanAllah. So I kept remembering Allah chose you. 24 hours, more than 24 hours by the time we landed in Ghazi Anteb. It's when next day, it was a very long day. Start like 6 or 7 a.m. and we ended up like usually 9 or 10 p.m. Is when you start meeting people. Not only the destruction, the destruction remind you, at least for me, reminded me of two things. Especially when we were in Antakya, the epicenter of the second one. That the Qudr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, how Allah is capable in a second, in a split of a second to change the life of people completely. And how much we don't live this in reality in a daily base.
That every time I look and I see this building is tilted, this building completely destroyed, this one is absolutely fine. Subhanak, I keep saying subhanAllah, ya Allah. One, and then when you start talking to people, many of them did not accept to be neither recorded or interviewed. But I spoke with them, and especially they took us to the place where there was a lot of Syrian refugees. Thank you for those. I think she drops, maybe she's in the background. So they took us to a place where there was also Turks, but I don't speak Turkish. So I was able to speak with the, because we speak Arabic. And these people literally living in a small tent. And the woman was talking to me and I said, tell me what happened. And she was saying, you know what, we're sleeping. And there was a sound like, ooh, very loud, she was saying. And then the only thing, and everything starts shaking. And my daughter run to get her father and the father is disabled, a good size man. And she said, I grabbed the children and we all went out and her son is living with her with three children. And he said, my son went out with two of his young children. Then went back to get his 10 year old. And before he get to her, the wall collapsed on her. And the woman was saying this, and I said, what do you think will happen? She said, we don't know. This is exactly how she was saying it.
Allah knows how long we will be here. You know, we have been refugees for nine years. And then we finally settled and then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed this to happen. Alhamdulillah. The reflection I got, you know the common words we all say here, why me? I looked at Allah and said, Ya Rabbi, it is your grace, why not me? There is no objection to your decree. But I said to myself, I could easily be this woman. Any of us could be any of these people, but he chose not to. What is the message to me? And this stood out to me all the time. I was like, life can change in a minute. Remember the blessings of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on you. Especially when we come back, you know, alhamdulillah, we live in the states, we live in so much comfort. May Allah make us grateful. And this keeps coming back and coming back and coming back. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala use us even more to serve the people, even with a word or whatever we can do. Because one of the visits, alhamdulillah I travel a lot, but this one really had a lot of impact on me, subhanAllah. SubhanAllah. SubhanAllah. I understand. Abdullah, what did you see? What sticks with you since your visit as well? Primarily, I mean, what she said in the beginning is, you know, how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can take you in a second. Also, you know, I was thinking of, you know, in Surah Ibrahim where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, يوم تبدل الأرض غير الأرض والسماوات وبرز بالله واحد القهار The day that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will تبدل, that will just change the earth, you know, والسماوات, and then everything will come forth in him, in Bariz, in front of him, الواحد القهار
The one being الواحد and then also the one that has total authority and control, القهار يعني there's nothing that يغلب عليه He has the forcible control that nothing can even withstand him. So when looking at the ruins and looking at the buildings and, you know, people pointing and saying this is my house, and they're pointing at the atmosphere, but you find that they're pointing at the rubble. They're still saying this is my house. You realize that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala بغتة, as he says in the Quran, He can immediately change the state of anything صغيرا وكبيرا, the small or the large, whether it be something that we, you know, we encounter from a small thing in our house or our house or a village or the world itself. And this is nothing for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala وما ذلك على الله بعزيزه This is nothing that is great for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you know. So it just really just reminded me of the magnificence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then I stopped and I asked myself, you know, when the Prophet ﷺ was asked about the hour, because there was one thing that one of the brothers that, you know, Dr. Haifa mentioned, one of the brothers that did not want to, he was a doctor, Wallahi, he gave on the bus, Yes. Oh my, subhanAllah. On the bus, and he, mashallah, he really affected me. Like he was one of the people that really affected me on this journey. Quiet, humble, you can barely hear him. So they asked him to give a word and he was like, no, no. He got up and he started to speak, Wallahi, it was one of the best khutbas I've ever heard in my life. Like he just started to talk about what was going on and he said what was happening in Syria. And from the things he said is, he said, Wallahi, they thought it was Yawm al Qiyamah. And they said, they asked if it was a nuclear bomb. Because everything else has struck in them. That's why they said the only thing left is a nuclear bomb. SubhanAllah, I was just thinking about, you know, when the Prophet ﷺ was asked,
matas sa'ah? What is a sa'ah? And then he asked, hala adatta lah? Have you prepared for it? So when you see this greatness of Allah and you realize, you know, one plus one equals two. Allah is in control of everything. You have no control over yourself, actually. So what are you doing to prepare? What are you doing in accordance to that knowledge that will save you from anything like this? And I mean particularly, you know, I told my community, and I'll leave it with this, is that we always view death as a bad thing. Death is just a demarcation between life and moving on to the next life. And that's why we say in janazah, Allahumma tawafaytu minna fatawafu alal iman. The most important thing is iman. That's the most important thing. How did we die? You know, so that was what I took. The greatness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then asking myself, what are you doing about that knowledge that you have? You know, so that was really the message. I mean I could go on from meeting the, you know, we met the children in the tent that she mentioned, and also the orphans, and you just hear the words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala coming from when they're speaking. And you would, yes, subhanAllah. May Allah forgive us for any of our shortcomings. Ameen. Ameen. Jazakumullahu khair. It was beautiful. Maybe we should have spent the whole time speaking about that. But I think, you know, a lot of people are going to benefit inshAllah, just reflecting over our own blessings and what our brothers and sisters are going through. And hopefully people can inshAllah donate and do what they can to help our brothers and sisters in Turkey and Syria and around the world. And a lot of dua for them also, you know, they need the dua. They need, because you never know, dua al Muslim li al Muslim bi dhahir al ghaib mustajab. When you make a dua for someone that you don't know and you haven't seen, bi dhahir al ghaib as al Rasul alayhi salatu wasalam, is it granted?
So you, ya Allah make it easy for them, ya Allah saburhum, and you really mean it. Ya Allah use me to help them. You never know. That's the least we can do at least, you know, it doesn't cost us anything. Just a few words, a few breaths, subhanAllah. And I want to make this plug, but this plug is actually, it's very, very important because, you know, say someone, one of the sisters right now is saying, well, like, you know, they're motivated and they want to go and learn their religion. Dr. Haifa, if you can just give us, you know, a background of the institute, where it is, how they can sign up. And you mentioned one thing when we were there, you mentioned one thing. Your goal, like what you want to see from a graduate student. What are the kinds of, do you want sheikhas, sheikhats? You mentioned something that you want from the students. Okay, so we have Jannah Institute. The idea, as I said, came as I was studying in the class. So I said to myself, what does the ummah need now from the women as Muslims? Right. Do we need a few scholars, women scholars? The answer, absolutely. But do we need, and I can do both. I have to choose, or do I need mothers, sisters, daughters, and specifically mothers or to be, or future mothers to know their deen well? Not in depth, but to know what Allah wants me to know. Which one will, which one the ummah need right now and which one will be more beneficial and easier to achieve? And I prayed a lot of istikhara to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And finally, Jannah Institute has been there for 10 years, alhamdulillah. But with the COVID and with the online, Allah opened much more doors.
So this is 2020. This is exactly, this March will be two years. And subhanAllah, I decided, I mean, I had my private practice, you know, and I decided, you know what, I'm gonna pursue this dream. And to pursue this dream, I cannot work full-time as an OBGYN because either this or this, you can't do that, to teach. And I said, tawakkaltu ala Allah. I am gonna not do this anymore. I am gonna do just a little bit part-time here and there, and I'm gonna pursue this. But when you do something for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and I'm not praising myself, audhubillah, it's all Allah's blessings. But because of the time, we don't have a time for this. I can't tell you how Allah put, I'll give you just one word. I said it to you, Sheikh Abdullah, remember? I said, when I was with the team, I told them, this is March, I told them we are starting in September. And the team told me, September of 2023, this was 2021. And I said, no, September of 2021. We need to work quickly. This is something needed. We don't know if we're gonna live. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put it all. The puzzle had no pieces. In two months, the whole puzzle is in, you can read what is in the puzzle. So basically what we offer, and since you asked, please go to jannahinstitute.org, our website, and you will see two main departments, if you wanna use the word. One is all about Quran, reading, alphabet, memorization, tajweed, everything that you need to read. You learn about Quran, except there is no tafseer or tadabbur in that. And then we have the Islamic studies. And the Islamic studies is two parts. We offer courses, like short-term courses. We just finished prophetic medicine. In March, we are doing menstruation made easy, what every woman should learn. I always do this before Ramadan. And then we have the year of knowledge. This is, what is this? Is what every Muslim woman should know about Islam.
Not in depth, but who are you? So we, alhamdulillah, Allah made me choose five topics, which this is what we need to learn. Our aqeedah, who are we? How do we practice? Fiqh, who's the Rasul, alayhi salatu was salam? And we chose his hadith, Jamil al-Ulum al-Hikm. It's a commentary on the 14th of Awal. And then, tasbih. Again, the missing part in me that I never knew what it is till Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave it to me. And then, so we have five topics, tasbih, aqeedah, fiqh, rum al-Quran. And then, of course, we have the fiqh. These five, year one. La ilaha illallah, ya Sheikh Abdullah. Within two weeks, we wanted only 25 students. We had 150 students apply. And I was with this, with the team, because you know what? How can I say no to people? They want to learn. And the team says, we can't, because technicality into the quality and everything. And then finally, finally, I pulled, pulled, pulled. And they allowed me only 50 students. Year two, we took them second level. Tafsir, now fiqh of marriage and divorce. Usul al-fiqh, the principle of tasbih also, of course. It's Shama'il al-Muhammadiyya. I want them to know who is he. Who is he, alaihi salatu was salam? Just look at him, subhanallah, all this. And we did Asma'il allah al-husna. And this year, Sheikh Abdullah, we had even more. So the first year went. And if you have already studied some background Islamic studies, you can go. And also, we closed it, because it's 55 students, 55 students. Alhamdulilahi rabbil alameen. One thing I will say to everybody, whether they are brothers or not, you study Islam. You study Islam to get closer to Allah. Don't study Islam to teach as a main goal. But if he wants to use you to teach, he will. And don't study Islam to take a degree. Study Islam to know Allah.
And without studying, without knowledge, la yu'abadil allahu bil zahil. As this famous saying says, you cannot worship Allah with ignorance. Innama yakhsallaha min ibadihi al'ulamau. Only the knowledgeable people of knowledge have the true love and fear from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So please go and check the Institute. And jazakumullahu khayran. Ya rabbi amin, ya Allah. And the goal, as we shared it, remember, Sheikh Abdullah, we were discussing this without disclosing many things. Inshallah, it's in the plan, is to have now, inshallah, bi-idhnillah. And I know this for sure. Allah will never let us down, is to have a physical. So it's not only online. Now, it's bi-idhnillah, becomes hybrid, online, on-site. But the women also, like I said, on-site, we can offer this, inshallah. And we need your dua. Ya rabbi amin. Insha'Allah. Jazakumullahu khayran. Wa-iyyakum. Here. Tadna. A few more questions, inshallah. So this is, do you have any advice for women students of knowledge? Women students of knowledge, I will say students of knowledge in general, you need to be humble. You need to be always connected with Allah. Keep the focus. Keep the hard work. And never give up. And always respect your teachers, even if you disagree with them, even if you see mistakes. We all are human. But this is very important. So I call it the robe of knowledge keep coming. For the women, it is more challenging for us. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put us in another role. So you're a mother, future mother. You are a daughter. You're a wife. And these are all acts of ibadah. I always say this to the women. The action of ibadah is not only teaching or salah or siyam. Taking care of your parents, a huge ibadah, act of worship. Get me close to Allah.
What do I want? So for the woman, number one, the balance will be very much needed. You may end up doing it much slower. But that's OK. Start the path. If it takes 10 years, let it be, number one. Number two, don't give up. Don't let people put you down. There was a lot of women who were leaders. They are. But at the same time, especially for the women, but it also applies to the brothers, the more you learn, the more you have to be humble. The more you will know how much you don't know. The more you know, please forgive me, the insignificance of me as a human being, the more I know about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that's what it is. And pursue it. We need scholars, women. And also we need people know their deen. And may Allah make it easy for everybody. SubhanAllah, a lot of good questions. I know we're tight on time. But here's a very good one. It's our last episode until Ramadan, biidh min Allah. So this is a question. What advice do you have for us to prepare for Ramadan? OK. And succeed. So what is the advice to succeed in Ramadan? You can't succeed unless you have a goal. What is your goal? I will say the following. Say to yourself and say to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala before, ya Allah, make it the best Ramadan ever. Talk to him. Learn hadhi almunajat ma'Allah. We miss this. This is intimate conversation with Allah. I don't want anything, alhamdulillah. But I need. So to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make it the best Ramadan. Number one, to make it the best Ramadan and to be successful, you need to give up a lot of things. Cannot be the same thing you do now in Shaban or you have done in Rajab. And you think Ramadan comes in, you turn on the switch,
and everything becomes perfect. It doesn't work this way. Some of the practical advices. I said this yesterday in our weekly Tuesday night program. Move away from social media. Very limited time. Limited time. Again, we live in the West. A lot of the things continue. We can't change it. You work, you study, everything stays. Cut down on your social media. Pay attention more to the Quran and not how many times I'm going to finish the Quran. What did I learn? Make it every day, even if it's one verse. One verse that you're going to understand what Allah is saying to me. What does he want from me? A lot of dua. And dua not only for dunya. Alhamdulillah, dunya, we need that. But dua for Akhirah and dua for your relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Fourth, which was he, alayhi salatu was salam. Be generous. Not money. Alhamdulillah, everybody is very generous in money. That's why all the fundraisings are in Ramadan. People are very generous. Alhamdulillah. But be generous in your relationship with Allah, in your relationship with people. Forgive and pardon people. Whoever hurted you, whoever did something to you. Forgive them. Fa'fu wasfahu, la tuhibbuna yaghfirallahu lakum. Forgive and pardon. Don't you want Allah to forgive you? Allah said this to Sayyidina Abu Bakr in Surat al-Nur. Pardon, forgive, serve. And especially if you go to taraweeh, be with this spirit. Don't go to taraweeh and you're entitled, I have to get a place in the masjid, whether it's the brothers or the sisters. Go to the masjid and say, ya Allah, wherever you will put me, it's your house. Whoever is going to come next to me, he's my brother or sister. And with this spirit, the giver, the forgiving, the focus, see what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give you. If you can do it takaf, and I said if, because sometimes for the sisters, this is not something easy. At least try one day, the last 10 days, one day.
And really takaf, real. There's no takaf with phone or talking to people. Khalwa, khalwa, alone. And see what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give you. He will never let you down, subhanah. A lot of comments that are saying, this is our favorite episode. It's just like three, four comments. I just wanted to mention that. Alhamdulillah, it's my favorite episode as well. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. So there's a few questions about hijab. And I think every time we have a sister guest, we have a bunch of questions. It has to come, it has to come. It's a must. Let's take this one. It says, please advise me about the statement below made by a father who is opposing his 10 year old daughter from wearing hijab. So this is the statement. This is very common, unfortunately. Allah has given a gift to young girl. They don't need to wear a hijab and nobody is entitled to request them to do that. Make dua for this father, number one. Don't take it in your hand, number one. If the mother is saying this, I don't know, is it the 10 year old is saying this? Number one, make dua. The dua you wanna make to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Ya Allah, and talk to him. Ya Allah, change my father. Open his heart to see truth as truth and falsehood as falsehood. Keep making the dua sincerely. You're 10 years old. I don't know if you are yet at the age of obligation. I don't know. Okay, and again, this is public, but and keep asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make it easy for you. This is a very difficult situation. I see this a lot. Father say no, mother say no, husband say no. It is so painful, but it's reality. We have, I can't answer one answer fits all, because I don't know the situation. I don't know if you insist what will happen. You have always to think about what is the result, as we call maqasud al-shariah.
Why did, if I'm gonna say, I'm gonna put it here and I'm gonna go against my father, well, what will happen, right? And you're gonna tell me, well, I can't obey anyone if I am disobeying Allah. That's absolutely true, but also you have to see the sequences. So what I will say to the father, if the father is listening to me, absolutely you're right. The girl is a gift and Allah has given them a gift. And when you have a gift precious, you always wrap it. We always wrapped gifts. And we, the better we wrap it, the more interesting the gift is. Number one, number two, this is a young, beautiful heart that she wants to live protected. I'll tell you as a woman, when Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la gave me the gift of hijab, how it protected me as a woman. You want to protect your, you love your daughter. I can, I have no doubt. You wouldn't say she's a gift and may Allah reward you. You care about her. You care about her dunya. And I'm sure you care about her akhirah. And the dunya, the hijab is a protection for the girl and for the woman. I'm a working woman. I studied here. I interacted with so many Muslims and non-Muslims. The hijab saved me from a lot of things. A lot of things. They say, I just, when I was in residency, when we come in the morning to do the morning rounds, usually we come early and we discuss. And the moment they see me, they said, oh, don't say this thing, Haifa is here. Why? Because I wear the hijab. It's a protection for your girl. It will give her dignity. Wallah al ladhi al lahu. Wallah, and I don't know who you are. I don't know who the girl is. Would give her dignity. Would give her honor. Would give her good life. Let alone fil akhirah. You want to be with your daughter in al akhirah, in jannah, let her do it. Go against your nafs, but let her do it. Let her do it. This is a gift.
You have a 10 year old begging to be grateful to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. I know a lot of parents, they're dying for their children to obey Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And may Allah open your hearts, ya Rabbi. And I'll make dua for this 10 year old. Shal, this will be the last question, but I think a good one, inshallah. What is your next goal to achieve? I have only one goal for the last 20 years, to go to jannah. That's it. So what else? Whatever gets to jannah, it's the goal. May Allah, all of us, ya Rabbi, ameen. Oh, by the way, jannah to fardaws. We're not going to settle for just the entrance. Ya Rabbi, ya Rabbi. Ameen, ameen. JazakAllah khair, Dr. Haifa. This is an awesome session. And people were very active in the chat, alhamdulillah. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la increase all of the good that you do and bless you and your institute, jannah institute, inshallah, for anyone who didn't catch that before. And we love to support all of our guests and all the projects that they're doing. Even if it's not related to us, we just like to spread the khair, inshallah. So everybody else would like to. We're going to be working together. I have a feeling, right? InshaAllah. Shall we say alhamdulillah? InshaAllah. InshaAllah. InshaAllah. Yeah, because we all, all the institutes, actually. I'm glad you brought this up, brother. And we all, as institutes, we have the same goal. We're serving Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. We all need to come together, right? We may do it in this way, yaqeen, ta'udu billahi min al jannah. Do it this way, yaqeen, do it this platform, that. But we all have the same goal. It's very important that we all get together. It will be much more forceful. And may Allah make it happen. Ya Rabbi, ameen. Ameen, ameen, ya Rabbi. JazakAllah khair. JazakAllah khair. InshaAllah, we'll have you on again in the future, bi-ibn-illah. Ya, bi-ibn-illah.
It's a pleasure. JazakAllah khair, brother Ibrahim, Sheikh Abdullah. It's always a pleasure to be with people of Allah, I call them. May Allah make you better than what even people think of you. And may Allah protect everyone working in yaqeen. And make it also one of the tools to spread the knowledge, bring people close to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And may Allah forgive all our shortcomings. Ya Rabbi, ameen. Ameen, ameen, ameen. JazakAllah khair. Ameen, JazakAllah khair. InshaAllah. JazakAllah khair. InshaAllah. May Allah make it happen. JazakAllah khair, Sheikh. JazakAllah khair.
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