Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. This is a brief reminder of what do we do when Ramadan has begun to wear us out. When the long days of fasting and the long nights of standing in prayer have begun to just make our bodies tired and weak. There are a couple of things. The first thing is we recognize the month of fasting has two beautiful acts of worship. One of them is worship of action and one of them is worship of non-action. Fasting literally means to abstain. And so while our stomachs are fasting and our private parts are also fasting for marital activity, we make sure that we also refrain our eyes from looking at anything that would displease Allah or from wasting our time. That we limit our amount of screen time, our amount of social media, that we limit the amount of what we indulge in, television, we watch our ears, we limit the amount of music that we may be listening to or certain conversations or anything that's ultimately distracting us from Allah. How do we do that? We replace it with listening to Qur'an. We replace it. That's something that's passive. I'm passively listening. We also reflect upon its ayat as we're listening.
This is something that doesn't necessarily require as much energy as standing in prayer or doing a lot of serving others at this particular time when our bodies are tired. The other aspect is that subhanAllah, there are places that we may be staying away from going or a company of people that we may be staying away from being in their company. And so what we do is we elevate these non-actions by our intention. Say Ya Allah, I'm staying away from this place or these people in order to protect my heart, in order to rein in my nafs, in order to train my ego. Ya Allah, I'm doing these non-acts in order to connect my heart to you. So that's one aspect that will actually help us. The other thing is it's a great opportunity for us to reflect upon our true state, that when we're tired and we're irritable, we're able to really reflect on what are our deficiencies in our character, in our spirituality, and in our worship. We're able then to recognize our irritability, our anger, our impatience, the struggles we're having with our nafs, being lazy. And so we're able to really speak to Allah honestly, from an honest place about where we are in our spiritual development, where we are in our relationship with Him. And so this is a great time to cry out to Allah to help you. The other thing is you recognize now is the time to really search for the wisdom and the meaning of things.
Because it's important that we don't just start to do things like zombies or just rituals that don't have meaning. But now, instead of just reading page after page after page, we can reflect deeply on the small amount that we are reading, asking Allah to give us the wisdom and the light from the meaning of the ayat of Quran that are on those pages. Now is the time that maybe we sit and listen to certain lectures of sheikhs and teachers that we enjoy. The other thing about this time is to make sure that we're using it as an opportunity to really fall in love with Allah. Contemplate His creation. Contemplate the grandeur of His creation, the beauty that He has made. And this is the opportunity for our hearts to become grateful. We go back to those ayat that Allah reminded us in the days leading up to Ramadan. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Ya ayyuhaladhina aamanu, kutubu alaykum siyamun kama kutiba ala alladhina min qabilikum la'allakum tattaqun. That fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you perchance you may gain taqwa. In the beginning of this verse, Allah says, Ya ayyuhaladhina aamanu, O you who believe. So the first thing is you say, Ya Allah, make me a true believer. Make me amongst those who have those qualities of a true believer, who truly trust in You. Then you ask Allah to remove your fear and your anxiety. The fear that I might not make it.
The fear of how am I going to get through these long days. The fear of am I gaining any benefit from it. Put that behind your back and ask Allah. This is when you really trust Allah to say, Ya Allah, You have taken care of me in so many ways in my life, in so many states and conditions. You have brought me through. Bring me through this. Then you ask Allah to say, allow you to recognize you're not alone. You stand in a community of believers who are also going through some similar struggles. Not just present day, but you stand with a long line of ancestors who are also believers, even if they're your spiritual ancestors, the Salaf. They also had these struggles. Everything was prescribed for me as a prescription for my sicknesses, my diseases and for my weaknesses. And it was also prescribed for them. So Allah knows exactly what we need at this moment. The other thing is you look at the goals. Imam al-Shatibi reminded us that actions without objectives are like bodies without souls. Make sure our actions have the highest level of intention. Elevate those intentions. Ya Rabbi, I'm fasting to worship you, to obey you. I'm fasting to implement the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad alayhi salatu wasalam, to live as he lived. I'm fasting to remove my ego. I'm fasting for spiritual tarbiyah. I'm fasting to obey your commandments. I'm fasting in order to expose my heart to your mercy. I'm fasting in order to expose my soul to your transformation. I'm fasting so that I may become more mindful.
I'm fasting so that I may have taqwa. You recognize the goal is to have consciousness of Allah subhana wa ta'ala. And so gaining that consciousness, yes, it happens by the fasting as is mentioned. It also happens by the things that are connected to the fasting. How am I remembering Allah? With dhikr and with fikr. How am I reflecting on him? How is my heart grateful? How am I serving him internally? How am I honoring him internally? How am I falling in love with Allah, with the Creator by recognizing his mercy, his greatness, his magnificence? That's the point. So even in the moments of being tired and being weak, we reevaluate our intentions. Have I reached the goal of taqwa? Because that is an internal state. That is a matter of the heart. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala rectify our hearts during this month of Ramadan. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make us people of taqwa. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make us amongst those who have an accepted fast and who fast all the days of Ramadan in righteousness. That it may be accepted from him and that he would allow us to be happy on the days of Eid and happy on Yawm al Qiyamah by him being pleased with us. Jazakum Allah khayran. Assalamu alaikum.
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