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Quarantined: The Challenges and Opportunities of Isolation
While social distancing is key slowing down the spread of the coronavirus, losing everyday social connections comes with a cost. However, it also opens doors to many opportunities.
Listen as our panel of speakers as they discuss how to deal with loneliness, increase personal spirituality, and thrive during these times.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone. Ar-Ru'u al-A'la As-Sami'i wa al-Shaytani wa al-Jami'i. Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa al-Immana inna a'la al-Dhalimeen. Wa al-'aatiwatu lil-mutaqeem. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka al-abdi wa rasulika Muhammadin. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim. Tasliman kathira. I want to welcome you all to our third, well it's actually our fifth webinar. But we had a webinar two weeks ago, alhamdulillah, on Yaqeen and community, talking about institution and how community survives this time. And then we had a webinar last week where we talked about family. And this week it's about you. It's about the individual, inshallah ta'ala. And obviously you're only as good as a family person, as a community member, as you are taking care of yourself as an individual. So it's extremely important to make sure that you're spiritually nourished, that you are doing what you can, inshallah ta'ala, to cultivate the best of yourself bi'l-minahi ta'ala in this time that we have. And there are unique challenges and unique opportunities of this period, as we've spoken about. We have a great panel tonight, alhamdulillah, as we always do. And before I hand it off to them, I want to remind everyone that next Wednesday night, inshallah ta'ala, which will be the last Wednesday before Ramadan, we'll have a Ramadan prep webinar at this time, inshallah ta'ala. So you don't want to miss out on that as well. So I'm going to start off, inshallah ta'ala, right away with our wonderful speakers. And I'm going to start off with Ustada Noura Deen Knight, who is, alhamdulillah, on top of being a fellow at Yappin and someone who's studied traditionally, but at the same time has had an opportunity to study at Columbia University with a focus on child and family. And alhamdulillah, that balances a few of these disciplines. I've always found Ustada Noura Deen to be very in tune with what people are thinking
and very receptive to what she's hearing from people and listening to people and very much so about talking to people and hearing how they're feeling about a subject, how they're feeling about a situation, and then addressing it very thoughtfully. JazakAllah khair. She's the author of the book on the 40 hadith of our mother Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala Anha, which is a collection of 40 hadith narrated from Umm al-Mu'mineen Aisha radiAllahu anha, and of course an author of one of the papers in our Aisha collection. So she's going to start us off, inshallah ta'ala. And the question for her is, why is this a great time to cultivate the inner self? And what are some insights that you can offer to us to get us started tonight, inshallah? JazakAllah khair. Thank you, Sheikh, for that introduction, alhamdulillah. And I'm really grateful to be here with you all. You know, alhamdulillah, I'm grateful to be here with you, Hakeem, as well. So alhamdulillah, I'm trying to also further my psychology studies now as well, independently. And one of the things I'm focusing on is positive psychology. And the founder, Martin Seligman, one thing he spoke about that really struck me is that post traumatic stress disorder is just as common as post traumatic growth. So we have these moments where either it's personally stressful and traumatic, or something like a national crisis. And it's as much of an opportunity as it is a test. And so we do want to give our prayers, dua, for those who are dealing with difficulties in this time.
And this certainly isn't our intention to say that you must grow or you must be better in these difficult times, because sometimes the best you can do is hold on to the rope of Allah subhana wa ta'ala, and continue to turn to him, but you may not be able to exert yourself much further because you're dealing with trauma. But we do want to also be able to look at the possibility of growing in these times. So, when I was at the beginning of studying Islam, then I used to go to a place called the Mecca Center and our teacher there, Imam Amin Mohammed, he would always tell us to correct our intentions. And they were words that his own Sheikh would say to him. So, intentions are part of our inner state right it's something that's unseen by others, you can come to an Islamic lecture, every single week and outwardly, you appear to be this pious student of knowledge, but your intentions are something that's inward inwardly you can just be there to please your family or to be with friends or other external reasons. So, in this month of Ramadan, where it's going to be a little, it's going to be very different than it usually is where Ramadan is often the time for gathering with one another. So, it's going to be a time that we have to look a bit inward and again I draw eyes with those, especially who have to be alone if you live by yourself or if you're the only convert in your family, and that is going to be difficult to not have Muslims around. But I want to offer you the possibility that this is a time that we can work on our intentions and our inner state.
So, when it comes to our worship as Muslims, then we know what the five acts of worship that we have to do and, of course, beyond that, but those that are obligatory upon us so when it comes to hudge when it comes to the cat. When it comes to praying, you know, all of these things of course we do it for a list of panel to Allah, but they're also outward acts right so you can feel really good about giving someone money you can feel really good about going to Hajj and you can feel really good about taking pictures by the cover, you can feel really good about praying and people knowing you as a pious person you know especially in jamaat where we're encouraged to pray in jamaat, but it can also have other things that come into it. So, but unless you can add Allah he says about fasting. This is a hadith, every deed of the Son of Adam is multiplied a single deed as 10 times the like of it up to seven 700. But then he says, except for fasting, as it is for me and I will reward it. He leaves his desires and his food for my sake. So, Ramadan is this time where we are focused on this sort on this type of worship. That is almost like a secret between us and unless you find a $1. There is no show you can't show off that you're fasting right. So, under our circumstances that idea of this secret of being just between us and the list of plan went to Allah. It increases you know there won't be any congregational prayer they may. If tar or gathering of support and maybe not even a formal Eid prayer, but the opportunity lies and being able to correct our intention and refine ourselves, especially in this time where it was to kind of a dollar has forced us we have to stay
inside for our own safety for the safety of others. And so, in my head dad he says in his book Book of Assistance. And this, this is human right we're not bad people for this it's human and we want to work on it, that it can happen as we mentioned all of these outward acts we can find a piece of a of a reward from other human beings. But this act of fasting it's only for less your partner dollar. But the reality is that all of these acts are only for less your partner dollar right. And so when we, when it's taken away when you don't go to the master to pray totally. Are we going to pray it in our home are we going to make those same efforts. So our intentions can get mixed up all the time and in this time we have the opportunity to ask, was I really doing whatever you may have planned to do for Ramadan for a list of other ways upon a dollar was it for show or was it something in between. So, for instance, if you were that student of knowledge and going to the lectures every week. And now you can't well, how can you still do that right you can access courses online YouTube videos, the research on your key and then show a dollar, and
still have the ability to further your knowledge. And so we have to realize that when a lens to comment Allah, even when one path is cut off another is open there's always a way to a list of kind of a dollar. So beyond correcting our intentions we also want to talk about refining. So as Muslims, we can sometimes become very preoccupied with the outward form. The hijab the beard link and even salon, but the inward form sometimes is lacking sometimes it's neglected. As Imam haddad he also says in his book on the section on the inner and outer style. The one who exerts himself in their form of his outward aspect by caring about the way he dresses and appears speaks move sits and leaves the inward is full of, excuse me and leaves the inward full of repellent attributes and valid traits is one of the people of affectation and ostentation, who have turned away from their Lord. When we are alone forced to be alone by ourselves not having to worry about our outward state in front of others. What is the state of our hearts with far more time on our hands. Then there's no excuse to not fully explore this question in detail and step by step looking at specific characteristics that we can work on and improve. We should look at them in the same way that we wash and dry and iron our clothes before wearing them and even look in the mirror for good measure, we should scan our inner state and begin to refine our inward self.
Imam haddad continues, be aware of doing in secret, that which is seen by people would make you ashamed and worried religiosity is not merely an outward contest, but an inward reality. And then he goes on to say the least that you can do is to make them equal the inner and the outer state, so that you behave equally well in private and in public, obeying God's injunctions avoiding his prohibitions respecting what he has made sacred and hastening to please him. And lastly, I want to share the hadith from our prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam where he says, verily Allah does not look at your appearance or your wealth, but rather he looks at your heart and action. So inshallah to Allah, we can use this opportunity to focus on our inward self we have to stay inside, we cannot utilize the same means that we would to get close to let's say prayer, those are also means, but we can't use those means that we're used to so can we find alternative ways, can we focus more on ourself and our inward state. And inshallah to Allah, we can utilize this time of tragedy this time of difficulty as an opportunity to do so. JazakAllah khair. JazakAllah khair, I really appreciate it. May Allah bless you with all that is good. And I'm sure there will be several questions inshallah for you.
I would like to now turn it over to Sister Sara Sultan. And Sister Sara Sultan of course, being the co author of the trauma series. We talked about this last week as well with Sister Najwa. And, you know, I hate to say our most valuable series but one of our most valuable series for sure at Yapin and immediately as we started this we recognize that this was not just going to be a spiritual crisis for people but obviously involved many aspects of mental health and emotional health that aren't necessarily exclusive, you know, to the spiritual. So, we put out the infographic we did a webinar then about how to cope. And I'd like to turn it over to her inshallah to see if she could give us some tips as well from her perspective. JazakAllah khair, for your beautiful, beautiful reflections. I found myself just nodding just throughout hearing everything that you were sharing is such beautiful tips mashallah. May Allah reward you. Asalamu alaykum. So, one of the issues that I think has been coming up a lot, especially when our focus today is with regards to the individual is loneliness, you know, loneliness being one of the most difficult side effects that comes with the pandemic that we're all dealing with. Especially, I think you know these tips that I want to share are geared in particular to our brothers and sisters who are living alone. Because, you know, I think that there's one of the things that's really important to differentiate is there's a difference between being alone versus being lonely.
And so you can be surrounded by people in a crowded room you can be, you know, at a huge event but feel very lonely, and you can be alone and feel at peace right so for my brothers and sisters who are living alone right how can this time be of being alone, and be something beneficial where we allow ourselves to experience it without struggling deeply with loneliness, so being alone without loneliness. Right. And so I think one of the ways that as we're approaching the blessed month of Ramadan one of the things that I think is really important to focus on with this is to realize that this opportunity this struggle, the struggle of being alone the struggle of loneliness is in every single moment and every single hardship that comes with it, an opportunity to bank in on the Hasanat that we're that we're all trying to gain as much of, you know, as we can people who are struggling with living with family, you know, 24 7 and struggling in those dynamics have a very different way of banking in on Hasanat but living alone and feeling that that sense of loneliness, every single moment of that is an opportunity to struggle toward gaining those good deeds right and then also realizing that the sacrifice of being alone in this time is a sacrifice for the greater good, right that that your endurance right now is for the sake of so many beyond yourself to Pamela right you're staying at home is something that in China with the will of Allah and Allah is a means of keeping you healthy but also people around you healthy and that sense of social responsibility is also a way of banking in on those Hasanat.
So, as we're talking about the concept of of loneliness, and how to how to deal with it. I think there are two points or two approaches that are helpful. One is through shifting our mindset surrounding it. And then the other one is through practical coping right coping in practical ways using practical tools. So I wanted to start first with a little bit of mindset shifting. So number one is realizing that what we're dealing with right now is hard across the board. Right. And so if you're feeling that struggle if you're feeling loneliness if you're feeling sadness or anxiety that's coming with that. Don't push away those difficult feelings, but don't allow yourself to wallow in them either. Right, allow that when that feeling arises, name it, you know, like I'm feeling lonely, I'm feeling really sad that I can't be with people that I enjoy being with right now, and things like that. So naming it. It's in psychologists called name it to tame it right like as if feelings are like tigers right where you're naming it to tame the feeling. And then after you've named it, then do something actively, that's going to make you feel better. Right. So the other mindset shifts that I think is is important for all of us who are dealing with with this pandemic is to realize that this situation is a test in submission, right that accepting our reality accepting our circumstances is a test in submitting that Islam, the meaning of Islam means submission to a salam, the one who's going to give us peace and safety the one who's going to provide for us the one who's going to take us out of this right. That's what the meaning of Islam is a submission right where Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala He tells us in Surat Al Baqarah that, Oh you who believe enter hold wholeheartedly into submission.
That's, that's, and that's what we're doing in every single moment here in every single hardship that we face. We are constantly needing to accept things that we don't understand, except things that we can't change right and this is a really big opportunity to to submit to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala in every moment. The other mindset shift I think is helpful is the idea of making a choice. I was talking to one of my clients in, in, in a session that we had. And we were talking about the struggles that are coming up really naturally with living alone and and dealing with quarantine. And, you know, I asked her you know how, how are you going to look back on this, you know, for years, people are going to be this is going to be a huge event that children and grandchildren and like neighborhood children are going to come and interview you for their class projects and things like that and say, you know, what were you doing during coronavirus and during quarantine? And so I asked her, you know, what, how are you, how do you want to look back on this? And she really took a step back. And she, and she was like, you know what, I don't want to look back on this and say I was miserable and I cried all the time. I want to look back on this and think that I gained something. And, and I thought it was so powerful for her to to think about that, that way. And I think for all of us too is, you know, what do you hope to gain when you look back on this? And then how can you work toward gaining those things? So I think another mindset shift is, I think one of the weird, the weird side effects and I think you know, Estela Noredin really touched on this when she was, you know, talking about personal inner self reflection.
One of the really strange side effects of, of being alone during quarantine is you get to know who you are without the pressures of other people, right? Like when we're in relationships with people, when we're constantly going to work, when we're interacting with people, a lot of times we lose who we fully are because we're surrounded by pressures of everybody around us, right? And so thinking about what can you learn about yourself through this time of solitude without the pressures of people pushing you in one direction or another. And I think it can be a very, you know, profound thing. I used to work at a residential treatment center for teens in crisis, and they would come in with really severe issues and really big struggles, and they would live there for 45 days. And so I was one of the therapists on staff there, and the transformations that they used to experience because they were outside of their typical environment and they were in this like therapeutic space were really profound. And so something to think about is, you know, how do you create this therapeutic space for yourself, you know, how, how, what was a part of your daily life in the past, you know, when you were interacting with people that wasn't healthy. And then what wasn't a part of your life that you would like to be included in your life. Now, in your for your personal development right so these are things to to ask ourselves. So what's the mindset shift side of things. And then when we're talking about other ways like practical ways of coping with feelings of loneliness. You know the, the reality is that it is really really difficult to be alone during this time for such an extended period of time. Right. And then it's also especially difficult that such a wonderful month is coming where things are going to be really
really difficult. So, you know, when we talk about self care, you know, so it's a term that's really thrown around a lot. But it's not about like the, the idea of, you know, bubble baths and chocolate and things like that you know for me self care. I really define it as creating a life that you don't feel the need to escape from. So quarantine is naturally going to feel like that life that you want to escape from right, but the key is well how do I create a day to day schedule in life that I don't feel, you know, is choking me right that I don't feel the need to escape from all the time. So creating a schedule can really normalize things, but ways to do that that I think are helpful are, you know, deciding on three small goals that you want to accomplish each day goals that bring you some joy, right, but then also goals that make your day to day life more livable right so like if you see a pile of laundry really building in the corner of your room, you know, doing a lot of laundry to make your space more like breathable for you. Right. But then also doing little things that bring you joy each day and making sure that at least one of your goals is that, you know, so like, you know, deciding on a project you'd like to complete you know my clients have come up with wonderful ideas you know, one of them is going to be starting a video series like a blog, but just for herself she wasn't going to be publishing it but she just wanted to do it. And then, you know, reflecting on certain spiritual concepts, and then another one was going to be working through a cookbook, you know, little bit by little bit the recipes that were appealing. Another one was going to reread a book series that she loved right so there's there are a lot of little projects that we can engage in that can be really helpful in creating that sense of normalcy.
And then also incorporating into those goals something that brings you a sense of meaning or purpose, you know, especially with Ramadan coming around, you know, reminding ourselves that the purpose of our existence is to worship Allah as he told us. So incorporating something in there like a small habit that you can incorporate to find that sense of meaning and purpose when you wake up each day. And then there's going to be like online volunteering, you know, the United Nations, the UN offers that signing up for a free online course. So noted being mentioned, she's studying positive psychology their free online courses about that as well. You know, so things like that are really helpful. And then socially, I think this one is obviously the one when we're feeling lonely. This is the biggest struggle. Right, so concrete things socially, that, that are that can be really helpful. You know, in this time, it's, we really do need to actively pursue social connection, but also what's weird about this time and and very unique and and kind of beautiful about it is that reaching out to people you haven't spoken to in years isn't like this is if there's somebody you haven't spoken to in so long and it's been, and you kind of tell yourself well it's just been too long I can't reach out. Now is the perfect time because everybody's reaching out to everybody else to see how everyone's doing to check in because everybody's experiencing this together. So reaching out to somebody each day. But also realizing that people often connect and meet up on and and and hone in friendships when they're doing something other than just seeking that friendship. And so what I mean by that is like, you know, you can play a multiplayer game online, or you can.
One of the fun things that people that people do is, you know, having somebody that you're that you have on zoom or FaceTime, and taking them with you throughout your day like if you're doing your work they're doing their work right and you don't have to talk. It's just having that comforting presence of feeling like somebody is there in the room with you. And that person also experiences that comforting presence. So I think that that's really helpful as well. And then just as a final note, some concrete tips about Ramadan. To avoid loneliness when it comes to special occasions, one of the best things we can do is plan for it. So I think you know something that can be helpful is creating a unique space of sanctuary in your home to prep for Ramadan. You know you decorate it in a particular way, whatever it is like this is your space that is going to replace the message that you're missing it's not going to be the same, and 100% none of this is going to feel exactly the same, but it can be a little bit helpful. And then creating a creating a list of things that we miss, you know that we anticipate that we're going to miss from Ramadan, you know I've done this like with, you know, with my kids, you know what are the things you're going to miss most about Ramadan, and, and I've done this with myself. And then you list it out and you see well what, what is feasible to still do, to a certain extent, and then also what are ways that I can replicate the feelings associated with this particular things that I'm going to miss. You know, creating a virtual iftar, you know for for your friends or people that you care about listening to past that are we live streams, I think, could could feel good as well.
Having a goal, Ramadan goal buddy so that you hold yourself account you hold one another accountable but communicate each day, or having like a lecture watch party, you know with with a friend or multiple friends, and then reflect on it together. So in doing these types of things, you're also creating the opportunity for other people to do them, which is a way to get so many has an ad and such tremendous reward from all this as well. And so even though it's not going to be the same, you know, we pray that in trauma their hidden blessings that we're going to be able to discover throughout this month and that it's going to be a source of growth and tremendous reward for us and trauma to second left later. Can you repeat that one line that you had about. Yeah, self care is creating a life that you don't want to escape from what did you say, yeah, yeah. So, so, yeah, exactly that that self care entails creating a life that you don't feel the need to run away from or escape from. Yeah, very powerful. That could be like a quote, you should, should copyright that. I actually got it from an article once upon a time so I don't know if I could copyright it but but I definitely think that it's, it's a powerful way to live by it and handle that. Yeah, just like what they thought along with you so that will occur so sister Noreen night and sister Sarah really, I think gave us a lot to think about from a spiritual perspective on a mental health perspective, how we sort of deal with being alone in this time in a way that's most beneficial. Our next speaker is Dr. Osman emerging and Dr. Osman emerges been so he's our director of survey research and evaluation, hum to the law.
You know, we say we study doubt, yet pain. You know, he studies a full time. So this is his, his domain, have the man he's done a lot of research into how these feelings of uncertainty are playing out in our community right now, and then offered a lot of prescriptions so really grateful to him for the papers that he's written the survey research he's conducted, and he holds a PhD in educational psychology from UC Irvine, also as an amount of study and as a university for some time. So my question to Dr. If not the entire coven 19 situation is fluid and rapidly changing, considering the constant changes what content is available to provide answers to our questions and comfort to our hearts, hence, your pain but anyway, go ahead. Okay, so I'm okay. This man now a lot of us alone on our sort of like one what up that hold up what up with the law, the whole level of the law, the whole level of the law, there is no power. There is no change in the condition there's no strength, except with a loss of Hannah with the other. So, yes, this entire coven 19 situation is can be considered a black swan event. And what I mean by that it's an event that's completely unpredictable. Nobody had really predicted the extent of what would happen. The consequences. And when such things like this occur, there's really, it causes massive panic with some people, some worry with others, and questions pop into our minds constantly on a weekly basis new questions are popping into our mind. Maybe in the beginning it was like, well, what does all this mean is this is like a test from a law and then it was as it got more intense and more punishment from a law. Well, what does our religion say about it, the companions of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam ever speak about this, that it became personal man my family it's tough at home.
How do I do to cope with my family and my kids. So there's so many questions that are out there, and I'm glad you've seen, we really try to act to quote you should already know like first responders and idea of providing a rapid spiritual response. While we typically are in the business of providing you know these, these deep research solutions that take often months to produce. We've gone to this mode of trying to quickly get a pulse on what's happening when the hearts and the minds of people. And in order to do this we've gone beyond using, you know, kind of the anecdotal ways that often we do like hey you know my uncle asked this question maybe that should be on the research agenda, and more we said let's quickly get a pulse rapidly on what's happening so we've got a survey. Some states initiated their social isolation policies, and I've never seen a survey and that much response usually have to pull teeth to get people to complete surveys, but within 24 hours we had over 1000 people, and within a short period of time at about 2000 people who told us Muslims across the world, mainly the US, what they were thinking what were they believing what were they doing, how are they coping. So I'm gonna we were able to use that data to really quickly answer all the things that were the most pertinent challenges people were facing. And so I'm gonna buy or read by the blessing of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with consultation and the expertise of religious scholars of academics and professors mental health experts and physicians. We were able to address topics including theological questions medical considerations, family and parenting concerns, positive psychology and mental health and coping. And so I wanted to highlight some of those things that people could utilize as their as the situation continues to evolve. So I'm gonna we have a task force that was focused on just providing specific research solutions so we have academics who wrote research papers and short reflections. So we don't have the time to read maybe 20 30 page papers during this time, many people are working from home they have their kids to juggle.
So the papers are usually shorter they're more digestible. There's a lot of short reflections that are just meant to be much more personal and kind of speaking to the heart, rather than just the academic side of things. We had a team of scholars, giving beautiful daily reminders, again, relevant to the week that you know that people were going through, you know, there was like the phase of hoarding, then there was a phase of you know doing different everyone's going to know the society was changing week to week. And so I'm gonna we were blessed to have these scholars provide us with these daily reminders, specifically how to process what was in the hearts of the audience of the national community. And then the third thing that's really really powerful is that, of course, research takes time to read articles might be difficult we have a lot of infographics numerous animations that condense and simplify all this material that can quickly reach people's hearts even if you have just a few moments a day, you know you can look at those catch a few minute videos a 30 second animation, you know, an infographic. So I want to quickly cover that we have addressed. And again, all of these were the top things that the national community had requested things like how to get out of being pessimistic, how to be optimistic during these times, how to stay calm and kind of control your thoughts and to be mindful as a Muslim, how to be patient during adversity, specific ways of practicing the local with a loss of Hannah with Allah. And then there was a more pragmatic side of things like I'm working at home like what do I do with the kids all over the place, you know, it's just weird to sit in front of a computer for 10 hours a day. So we have articles on how to be productive and in and work from home in a way that's that's adaptive for you. Family dynamics you know dealing with the challenges of a family being around opportunities that provides. And then even like big theological questions like is the coronavirus, a punishment from Allah, is it a mercy from Allah is it a test. So those are just some of the things that we have done on the more practical side of even have a beautiful booklet on specific da that one could recite daily for relief and for protection.
So again, it's tough for someone to open up like a big book of Hadith and find what what really hits my heart now. So just you can find that resource. And the other thing that we shifted our energy into which I want to really highlight is a new product called the opinion classroom. And so you know I have no for amount kids at home and they're all doing their online classes and it seems like I'm juggling zoom like half the day. But what was missing from all of their online classes was there was math, there was science, there's English. There was no Islamic studies for them. And Alhamdulillah, Yaqeen had produced a wonderful curriculum that had been available to teachers nationwide and all over the world, but it was just for the schools. And now we've actually taken that product and put it online. So for anybody who has high school students in particular, we have a full program over the next few months I think it starts tomorrow. So please register for that you know for for children who are in high school to supplement everything else they're doing at home. So I just wanted to conclude with a few ideas about what came out of the data I think people always wonder what were Muslims thinking and a couple things that came out were really really encouraging I'd like to share with the audience and that, you know, we speak a lot about mental health and we're often concerned and it's real that people do have stress and anxiety. But another side that came out that I thought was beautiful, was that despite the challenges that Muslims are facing. Muslims are incredibly optimistic and reported their relationship with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala improving over the last month or since pretty much the coronavirus began to spread. And I think that we should take comfort in knowing that our deen gives us the principles that allow us when the going gets tough that we were able to respond in a prophetic fashion. Another thing that came out that you mentioned was this idea of uncertainty and and sorry beautifully spoke about these things of control that one of the key things that really, we found to be adaptive to encourage everyone is try and practice, becoming becoming comfortable with embracing uncertainty in your life.
There's so many things that we can control, and there's so many things that are out of our control, and those who are able to relinquish that control to things out of their domain and put it in the hands of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Those individuals find the most comfort in their daily lives their most peace, they're more calm, they're less anxious, and they're also more optimistic. And so there's many things that you can do and we can all do I think to improve in relinquishing control that we seek and embracing uncertainty. One of the things that Allah says in the Quran that strikes me in verse Allah says, Inna Allaha aindahu ilmus saati wa yunazil ghaytha wa ya'anoo maa fil arham wa maa tadari nafsum maada takseedu ghadaa wa maa tadari nafsum bi ayi ardan tamoot inna Allaha aalimun khabeer. That you know when we think about the things that matter to us in life, like Allah gives us this verse, it's with Luqman that says all the things that matter to you, they're uncertain to you. When this world is going to end, you don't know. When it's going to rain, you don't know. You can have a probability, but you're not going to know. How much money you're going to earn tomorrow, you're not going to know. What is your child going to look like? What even gender is it going to be? Their personality, you don't know. Where are you going to die? None of this is in our realm. And so Allah by His mercy has not tasked us with knowing these things. He's only tasked us with putting in our effort, like the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said when he advised the companions with the famous hadith that if you had the true trust in Allah, you would have that, you would be like the birds. The birds, they go out in the morning, they're hungry, and they come back full. And what I find beautiful about this hadith is that we're in the same situation as the birds for once. Typically, we know my paycheck is coming at this time. My kids are coming home at this time. My schedule, I got it down to a T. The birds get up in the morning, they have no idea what time lunch is, where lunch is, what it's going to taste like. And this is what Allah wants us to taste in these moments. So embracing that is one of the most powerful things to really thriving during this time to whatever extent that we can do.
And Allah knows our abilities. The other thing that we found that I think was really powerful is that we're not just in the same situation as the birds. What I found really powerful was that people who turn to the Quran repeatedly, more so than the news, were doing much better overall. And I know this is tough because we're all on social media and just whether we like it or not, we get news thrown in our face. But one of the practical suggestions might be is try and limit your exposure to news during these times. When I say news, I mean more sensational stories. The news that is out there is not typically meant to comfort our souls. Whereas the verses of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, the religious content that is out there, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the purpose of that is to bring serenity and tranquility to our souls. So be mindful of your intake of news relative to your intake of religious sources and try to balance them out at the very minimum. The last thing I'm going to mention is as we've done all this in light of the coronavirus, everything is fluid. So Ramadan is fast approaching. So Yaqeen wants to be responsive to the needs of everybody. And so we have a survey that's going to go out today to get a pulse on what has happened over the last month, and specifically our attitudes towards Ramadan in order that we can be, again, those quick responders and quickly provide the type of guidance, answers, solutions, and comfort that everyone is requesting. So I request that everyone fill that out if you have a chance. My closing note goes back to this issue of ibadah and worship. SubhanAllah, Ibn Qayyim writes so beautifully about this in Madaraj Saliqeen. It was a chapter that really blew my mind when I read it as a student years ago about what it means to worship Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And usually when we think about worship, especially as Ramadan comes, we all have this laundry list of things like Ramadan, worship means fasting, lots of 20 rakahs or eight rakahs, khatm of Quran, and we have this laundry list of things.
But one of the things that Ibn Qayyim mentions in Ibn Thaymiya that worship is not some specific action that is done. Anything in one's life can be worshipped as long as that is the act that Allah wants you to be doing at that moment in time. So what he means by that is everybody's ibadah will look different. If you have children, your ibadah is different than if you don't have children. If you're married, it's different than if you're not married. If you're whatever situation you're in, there's a specific ibadah, there's a specific worship that you or me should be doing. And so what Ibn Thaymiya mentions beautifully, he says that, you know, worship is complete love and humble submission to the beloved. And so what this means is that worship for the Muslim is that we don't choose the... No, we don't get to pick what worship looks like all the time. It's what Allah wants us to do. So if my child is crying in Ramadan and I want to read my Juz of Quran, perhaps my child is a greater act of worship and closing the door and worship and worshipping Allah in solitude. Maybe instead of praying 20 rakahs, if that's not doable because I have a lot of children or other responsibilities, maybe praying less rakahs with my children could be a better act of worship. So Allah knows our situation. So be compassionate with yourself. If you don't meet your standards of excellence, don't beat yourself up. You know, speak to yourself like you would speak to your best friend if they came to you for advice. I think we struggle with this. Typically, when one of our best friends comes to us, you know, we're going to be compassionate and say, you know, it's okay. And I have that love. But when we speak to ourselves, we're often very harsh and say, you know, why are you being so bad and why are you so weak? So just have that compassion. And the last thing I want to mention is that SubhanAllah, Ramadan is a month of Quran. One of the things that strikes me is that some of the best tafasir that's ever been written in Islamic history was written when these scholars were in prison. When they were not in the ideal circumstance. So, of course, you know, we're not in prison, but we are in social isolation at home.
Perhaps it is a chance to live in the shade of the Quran, to live, you know, under that, the gardens of the verses of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And let this Ramadan maybe be that month where you rekindle a special relationship with the Quran that you may not have gotten, you know, if it was a typical Ramadan. I ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow us all to reach Ramadan and to please a minute. SubhanAllah, rabbil-izzati ya'ma yusifoon, wa salamun ala al-mursaleen, walhamdulillahi rabbil-alamin. JazakAllah khair, Ahsan. Really appreciate that, Sheikh Uthman. Very beneficial advice. And you mentioned this idea of, you know, I think the idea that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala sometimes gives us these opportunities and taking the opportunities that Allah gives you, rather than the ones that you imagine that sometimes they are iqada. And Alhamdulillah, we have a lot that we're trying to do at Yaqeen to really be there for the community and to listen. We're not just putting out what we think is best for you. We're listening, first and foremost, to what you need and trying to accommodate as much as we can, using Alhamdulillah the broad team that we have. One of our spectacular teams at Yaqeen is our engineering team. It is one of the larger teams that we have at Yaqeen that are constantly developing our app technology, coming up with new products, and integrating all this content in a way that you can benefit. And if you did not see the ad for Yaqeen Academy, do check it out. And if you have not downloaded the app for Yaqeen, then first and foremost, it's taqidlah. Be mindful of your Lord. I don't want to say fear your Lord right now for that. But I hope you all inshallah download the app and benefit from Yaqeen Academy. And I want to bring on our director of our engineering team, Brother Junaid Qaqadia, to talk a little bit about Yaqeen Academy and some other ways that you can use what we have inshallah to keep yourself busy.
That's very unique and engaging beyond just the lectures and the other ways that we're trying to deliver our content to you. So Junaid, go ahead. Jazakumullahu khairan, Sheikh. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh to everyone watching. I hope and pray that you all are staying safe during these very trying times. Sheikh, before I talk about Yaqeen Academy, I guess I'll talk in general about the utilization of technology. And there's something that we probably need to accept here, which is that technology doesn't have to be as stigmatizing and negative as we sometimes make it out to be. At the same time, given most of us are isolated for long periods of times in our homes, we may try to excessively find our escape in, say, our smartphones, tablets, laptops and similar devices. But when we begin to spend too much time binge watching something on Netflix or simply scrolling through our social media feeds, we're not eliminating our physical loneliness and we definitely are not improving ourselves spiritually. So instead of just asking, how can we use technology to help us? Let's take it a step further and ask more specifically, how can we leverage technology so that it actually helps us, say, reduce the loneliness that we find ourselves in today and improve our personal spirituality? And to keep it brief, Sheikh, I'll provide two tips to our viewers so they can focus on that they can focus on. Number one, on reducing loneliness, it's actually a very simple one. Leverage video conferencing apps. You know, we're all isolated in our homes and we lack physical interaction with the rest of the world, which is so core to us as human beings. So instead of talking to friends and family over text messages or even a phone call, talk to them over a video conference call. It's not going to replace the human interaction of speaking to someone in your living room at the mosque, at the coffee shop. But it's going to be something that helps mitigate that loneliness.
And honestly, you'd be surprised how much more fruitful those conversations will become simply because you can see the facial expressions of the person you're with. Number two, on technology and increasing our personal spirituality, there are plenty of productivity apps out there that help us do this in a digital form. But my personal favorite, and you've already alluded to this, and obviously this is a biased opinion, is Yaqeen Academy. Sheikh, you know about Yaqeen Academy, but some of our viewers might not be aware of it. So what is Yaqeen Academy? Yaqeen Academy is basically taking our really, really, really long research papers at Yaqeen and breaking them down into a series of short two-minute videos. So you can download the Yaqeen app for iOS or Android, open Academy, and watch the video. That will then be followed up by a simple yes or no or true or false question. Now, each time you watch a video and you answer that simple question, you're actually also earning points. So the way it's designed, you can actually leverage Academy in a variety of ways depending on the type of person you are. If you're someone who is only seeking an answer to, say, a faith question, or even someone who just wants to gain general knowledge, watch the two-minute videos, answer the questions, and be on your way. Meanwhile, if you're someone who is competitive or you enjoy learning with your friends or family, then you can actually challenge your friends and family to see who can earn the most points in Academy by watching those videos and answering those questions. And actually, since we're on the topic, I'm just going to go off on a slight tangent here, Sheikh Omar. Right before this webinar, I was taking a look at the leaderboard on Yaqeen Academy, and apparently, you're not even in the top 100. Now, I'm not trying to put you on the spot, and I obviously wouldn't outright challenge you with so many people watching. But Ali Fiaz, and you know who Ali Fiaz is, and to our viewers, Ali Fiaz is the director of partner development at Yaqeen.
He thinks that he will earn more points in Academy than you will have by next Wednesday. So I'm not personally challenging you, but let's be clear, there is a challenge on the table. With that being said, you know, taking this back to Academy and what makes Academy unique, the most unique aspect about Academy for me personally is the fact that it only requires two minutes of your time. And at the end of the video, you've either dismantled a doubt, learned something new, and as a result, nurtured personal conviction. And if you take this to the larger scheme of things of utilizing technology, the key to using tech is being mindful of the amount of time we spend on our devices. Because if you overdo it, it's no longer beneficial. Well, if you're using Yaqeen Academy, you're giving two minutes of your day, and so therefore you're not spending too much time on your device, and you're uplifting yourself spiritually. So bringing it full circle, how can we use technology to reduce loneliness and increase our personal spirituality? Number one, use video conferencing to speak to friends and family rather than social media, text messages, or even that phone call, because it helps reduce that physical and social distancing gap that we're all experiencing today. And when it comes to improving ourselves and increasing our personal spirituality, use productivity apps that actually don't take up too much of your time, such as Yaqeen Academy. Because even if you only spend two minutes of your day on Yaqeen Academy, you'll be improving your personal spirituality, even if it's one faith-related video at a time. So those are the two tips I have in terms of technology. I hope these are very beneficial to our viewers. Jazakumullahu khayran for tuning in, and Sheikh Omar, back over to you. Jazakumullahu khayran.
I do not plan on being in the top 100 of Yaqeen Academy. I will happily forfeit that challenge, because we have like 100 webinars right now that we need to attend to, so that's my priority. That being said, all of our speakers, alhamdulillah, brought a great element to this for us to really consider these different things and what it is about this time that we should be thinking about. I want to throw one question to the team and remind everyone that's viewing that next week, inshallah, we'll have the Ramadan Prep webinar at the same time, inshallah, and we'll continue all of our activities. And our YouTube channel is almost at 100,000 subscribers, so if you're not subscribed yet, please press subscribe, inshallah, to make sure that you've downloaded the app, the Yaqeen app. You can download Yaqeen Academy on the Yaqeen app, it's free, alhamdulillah, everything we produce is free, and we ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to accept that. And please do just follow all of our social media outlets, inshallah, so wherever you are, except for TikTok, we're not on TikTok, but you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, inshallah ta'ala, and stay up to date, of course, through our website and our app as well. A group question, I'm going to throw it to the group, inshallah. There are things in this Ramadan in particular, so there's the fiqh element of taraweeh, right? How is taraweeh going to be prayed? And of course, the answer to that, in a nutshell, is you just pray at home, inshallah ta'ala, by yourself, or if you have family, your family with you, not following advice, but instead, inshallah, reviving the spirit of that qiyam at home, inshallah ta'ala.
But how do we deal with the element of not feeling a sense of congregation and taraweeh, right? So is there a way to make taraweeh, in particular, feel more like Ramadan when we're praying at home right now? So I don't know if someone wants to bring in the mental health aspect to that, the spiritual aspect to that. How do we really make the most of our taraweeh, other than following Yaqeen and our daily reminders, inshallah, our nightly summary of the juz that we're going to be doing, inshallah? What are some ways to make the most of taraweeh, in particular? In the name of Allah, I'll give it a shot. So I think one of the things we might try to do is, one of the beautiful parts about the masjid is that it's a separate space that we consider to be kind of sacred, and we look forward to going there. And in Ramadan, it's often beautifully lit, you know, different cultural things people do, they put lanterns, but it has a specific flavor. So if possible, and within your capacity, to maybe dedicate a part of your house, even if it's a small area, that kind of is like your masjid for the month. And you can put nice sajadah on the ground, you can put some beautiful posters on the wall, some lights, fawanis, you know, if you like those. I lived in Egypt for years, so that's just embedded in my mind now as Ramadan-specific, these lanterns. But, and this way, at least you feel like, okay, after we have iftar, we're going to go to our masjid, right? And then of course, what you can also do is, like Junaid mentioned, use technology wisely. After you do your salat with your family, maybe do a few raka'as of taraweeh, you can of course log in to your favorite sheikh at Iyapin, listen to the tafsir reminder that you're going to get, so you still feel like you're getting all of that. So maybe that's just one suggestion that we can try to do. Great, marakallah fiqh. Would anyone like to add, Sister Sara, Sister Nouradeen?
I wanted to, you know, I think that suggestion is wonderful, Mashallah, like to create that space for it. I also think that creating, like going into it with the intentionality that I'm not going to try to replicate what I'm missing exactly, but I'm going to try and gain something that I normally wouldn't have been able to gain when I go to the masjid for taraweeh. So it would be something like, you know, you pray two raka'as, or you would recite in that prayer, or before you recite those particular ayat, you're going to recite in those two raka'as, read the translation before, right? Which you can't do at the masjid because the imam goes up right away, right? But then it can make that, those two raka'as, like the quality is going to be a lot more for you personally. So it's also thinking about things, well, when I'm at the masjid, what are the, you know, what are some of the struggles that I might face that I don't need to face at home, right? And how to really embed that into your salah in taraweeh at home, I think could also be a way to shift that as well, inshallah. Barak Allahu l-Fatiha. So, Sister Nooruddin, a question for you, and of course, it's open to the panel as well. Families right now, in the sense that I know this is about yaqeen and you, but now there's a question here. Should I prioritize taraweeh alone? Should I split it up with family? If I have family in the house, should we pray some together, some separate? How do I draw that line between what's the best course of action for my spirituality?
Sorry, my apologies. So that's a good question. And I don't know if there's an absolute answer from a fiqhi perspective. But just in terms of spirituality, it is something that is essentially tailored to the individual, right? Some activities are going to bring us closer to a less upon a tala that's going to work for some people or other people. It's not some people, even this is if we go to the psychology bit, a bit the introvert, extrovert spectrum, right? Some people get their energy from being around people. Some people get it more when they're by themselves. So I think it really is a matter of what do you feel is best. Now, I do think that even if, let's say, someone does feel closer to a less upon a tala when they worship alone, I think just for the sake of the family, especially in Ramadan, you should make an effort to make some of your prayers with your family. But if you feel more of that spirituality when you're alone, then Allah Allah. But I would think that you would want to lean more towards that to be able to benefit the most. JazakumAllah khayran. Well, we're at the top of the hour, inshallah. Well, we're at the bottom of the hour, going to the top of the next. So I want to thank all of you for being a part of this. Alhamdulillah for your wonderful advice to the audience. Once again, inshallah, please check out Yafin classroom, check out Yafin conversations, check out our curriculum and how to make the most of it. And of course, Yafin Academy and all of the resources that we have on the collection page. Please make sure you hit subscribe on YouTube, inshallah, and follow us on all of our social media outlets. And we will see you inshallah next week, inshallah, for our final webinar going into Ramadan, which will be our Ramadan prep webinar at the same time. So barakallahu fikum to our esteemed panelists who joined us today. JazakumAllah khayran, subhanAllah wa mihamdika ash-shadu an la ila allah wa at-taqshiruka wa atubu ilayka.
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Wa alaikum salam. Wa alaikum salam. Wa alaikum salam. Wa alaikum salam. Wa alaikum salam. And this is where we stare until we're sure that it's no longer live.
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