Latest
890 / 1967
56
Afterlife
"You Owe Me." Free Yourself from Riba and Debt | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 18
60
Afterlife
Was it that big of a deal? Your Wudu is Serious | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 17
128
Roman Emperor Who Almost Became Muslim & Conquest of Jerusalem | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise
133
General Psychology
Tested Like the Prophets | UK Tour Wembley Stadium Lecture by Dr. Omar Suleiman
151
The Blessed Land of Al-Sham: Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise
158
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tamim al-Dari (ra): The Palestinian Sahabi That Met Dajjal | The Firsts
165
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Adi ibn Hatim al-Tai (ra): From Christian King to Companion | The Firsts
176
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
181
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
235
Culture
Israel's Ceasefire Rejection, Nurse Fired for Gaza, and the Law of Sacrifice | Imam Tom Live
354
Culture
Biryani Diplomacy: The Illusion of Political Influence & the "Flour Massacre" | Imam Tom Live
368
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
374
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
515
Quran
Juz’ 26: Mufti Abdul Rahman Waheed and Dr. Zohair Abdul Rahman | Our Afterlife and Our Purpose
631
Allah
Finding Faith Through the Prophet's ﷺ Conviction: Dr. Omar Suleiman | My Moment of Conviction
745
Social Justice
A Conversation with Afreen Fatima on the Plight of Indian Muslims | Dr. Omar Suleiman
756
Prophets
Why Is Asking "Why Does God Asks Us to Worship Him?" Flawed? (Part 2) | Yaqeen Whiteboard
792
Angels
Ep. 13: The Hadith of Jibreel (as) | Angels in Their Presence | Season 2 | Dr. Omar Suleiman
826
Afterlife
Sincerity Shines and Hypocrisy Blinds | Judgment Day: Deeds that Light the Way Episode 25
983
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Anisa, Al-Numan, and Amir (ra): On A Boat From Abysinnia | The Firsts
990
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid Ibn Sa’id Ibn al-'As (ra): A Dream of the Prophet | The Firsts
1006
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zaynab Bint Khuzayma (ra): The Mother of the Poor | The Firsts Shorts
1016
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
1038
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
1091
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
1207
Islam in the West
Dr. Ahmed Osman: The Martyrdom, Funeral, and Burial of Malcolm X | Yaqeen Presents
1560
Acts of Worship
When the Prophet Sent People Home from the Masajid for Taraweeh | Daily Reminders
1675
Identity
Keeping Masculinity from Trending Toxic - Dr. Jonathan Brown | Reframing the Gender Question
1679
Social Justice
Overcoming Compassion Fatigue, Numbness, and Burnout - Sh. Omar Suleiman | Khutbah
1719
Acts of Worship
Day 24: When the Night Draws its Curtain —The Importance of Tahajjud | Ramadan Strong
1771
Social Justice
Conflict Resolution: The Line Between Justice and Peace - Sh. Omar Suleiman | Lecture
1772
General Psychology
Spiritual Personality - Zohair Abdul-Rahman | 2018 Yaqeen/MAS Academic Conference
1787
Contemporary Ideologies
Conversations at The Carter Center: Harmonizing Religion and Human Rights
1788
Education
How Yaqeen is a Resource for Our Community - Sh. Omar Suleiman | Making Principled Progress
1794
Islamophobia
How Yaqeen Heals Internalized Islamophobia - Dalia Mogahed | Making Principled Progress
1816
Jurisprudence (fiqh)
Appreciating Scholarship: Intro to Islamic Law - Tesneem Alkiek | Yaqeen in NY
1845
Acts of Worship
Episode 6: The Highest Companionship in the Highest Garden | Prayers of the Pious
Transcending the Grind in Ramadan | Webinar
March 25, 2022 • Yaqeen Institute
Trapped in to-dos and endless appointments, everything we do becomes a task to be checked off quickly—even our worship. So how can we be spiritual if we’re so busy?
Prepare for the sacred month with Dr. Omar Suleiman, Dr. Tahir Wyatt, Sh. Abdullah Oduro and Dr. Tesneem Alkiek as they present practical tips to connect with Allah and rise above the grind this Ramadan.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. We are in the end of this blessed month of Sha'ban, going into the most blessed month of Ramadan bi-idhnillahi ta'ala. And I'm getting my Qur'an 30 for 30 vibes already, alhamdulillah. Even though Shaykh Abdullah is not here. He's late as usual. I'll take that shout at him. He'll come later. He gave me a heads up that he would be late today inshallah. But we have alhamdulillah rabbil alameen, Fadhilatul shaykh, Dr. Tahir Wyatt, dear friend, Hafidhullah ta'ala, our Director of Systematic Theology, Dr. Tahir from Philly. Ahlul sahlah Dr. Tahir, how are you? Alhamdulillah, wa alaikum salam, wa barakallahu fikir. Wa alaikum salam, wa barakallahu fikir, Shaykh. And we have Dr. Tasneem Al-Qeek with us, wa ridhallahul hamd, who officially is now a doctor. So we don't have to do that whole future doctor thing. And alhamdulillah rabbil alameen, our Director of Content Strategy. How are you Dr. Tasneem? Alhamdulillah, doing well, sayyidullah inshallah. Barakallahu fikir. So it's going to be a good webinar inshallah ta'ala. We'll get into... Shaykh, I noticed you didn't tell Dr. Tasneem that she's also from Philly. We got to do this. She's from Philly. Yes, sorry. There's two Philly, two against one here. There are two people from Philly against one Texas. But Shaykh Abdullah comes. Doesn't matter, we'll take you guys down. No, you will not. Shaykh Abdullah will not be taken down by anybody. Trust me, I've tried. Allahu akbar. It doesn't work. So Shaykh Abdullah will come and we'll even out the Texas and Philly equation inshallah. But alhamdulillah, both of you are in Philly. It's great to have you both from Philly, alhamdulillah. Tasneem can claim Philly now too inshallah. Philly claims her, alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. And yeah, we'll get Shaykh Abdullah in here and then we'll do the whole Texas and Philly thing. But for now alhamdulillah.
Though I have to say that I have an aunt that lives in Philly and alhamdulillah, and Philly feels like home, alhamdulillah. Maybe it's because of the hospitality. Alhamdulillah, I've had the blessing to be there recently twice, alhamdulillah. Philly feels like home. So may Allah bless you all. An amazing, amazing community. And Shaykh Tahir and Islamic Center Philadelphia, mashallah, just everything that's going out there, United Muslim Masjid, Qari, all the great work, the institutes that you're directly a part of, and masajid as well as just in general, what's being done out there. So alhamdulillah, there's a lot in Philly. It's a beautiful place and beautiful community that's thriving there, tabarakar rahman. Now before we get started inshallah, with the Ramadan discussion, I wanted to invite everyone bi'ithnillah ta'ala to please inshallah ta'ala, go ahead and click on the link below and be a part of our Greet Ramadan with Sadaqah campaign. Alhamdulillah, as many non-prophets, we rely on you inshallah ta'ala in this month of Ramadan to support the work that we do. Everything that we do at Alhamdulillah Rahman is free and open. And this is going to be a theme particularly about your akhirah. And we're going to be focused on the hereafter with Quran 30 for 30, with the Judgment Day series focused on the hereafter. And so we're asking everyone to act for their akhirah bi'ithnillah ta'ala, and to support yaqeen amongst the other organizations that you're supporting bi'ithnillah ta'ala. So please click on the link inshallah, schedule it from now inshallah ta'ala, and support not just our work, but the work of other organizations that are out there bi'ithnillah ta'ala. So again, you can click it and share it inshallah ta'ala. And we'll count on your support throughout the month of Ramadan. I'm sure most of you inshallah, if not all of you will be with us for Quran 30 for 30, and the various Ramadan programming that we have, which bi'ithnillah will be even better this year than it has been in the past bi'ithnillah ta'ala.
With that being said, I want to start inshallah ta'ala with, and I'll start with you Dr. Tasneem only because you're right here inshallah ta'ala next to me. What's your, you know, we've had, and I'm going to ask both of you to do this inshallah ta'ala to just share a general reflection about how you're feeling about this Ramadan. I think it's important before we get into the content, you know, it's occurred to me, you know, with all the welcome Ramadan things that I've been a part of and that I know that both of you have been a part of, right, that there is a sense of finally getting back into the masajid. Obviously last year alhamdulillah, we were able to be in the masjid for the most part, you know, we have an international audience, some of them did not have that, but most people had a partial masjid experience last Ramadan, right. The year before we were home, we were quarantined. It was Ramadan at home and that was sort of the theme. So this year while the restrictions are probably not fully lifted and obviously, you know, people still have to be careful and deal with local regulations, you know, there is a feel, right, of resuming Ramadan for the most part in a normal way, but a lot of people have died, a lot of people have passed on and a lot, you know, a lot of things are not going to go back to normal. So to not make this my own reflection, I just want to start with both of you insha'Allah ta'ala to give me a reflection insha'Allah about how you're feeling about this Ramadan. So Dr. Tasneem, we can start with you insha'Allah. Jazakumullahu khairan. You know, I hate to start off on a grim note, but I think it's a reality that is just something that really helps me think, it has helped me think about this Ramadan. And in fact, just last night subhanAllah, we woke up at about 1 a.m. to a false fire alarm and it was just blaring.
But when you wake up to a siren or something that is jolting, you wake up in a state of panic, right? That something's wrong, something's not right. And my immediate thought was the same sense that I get every time that I wake up unexpectedly, which is, you know, someone passed away, did something happen? And I think this past few weeks have been particularly rough because there have been within the Michigan community, within the Philadelphia community, within just even the Yaqeen family, have been so many deaths subhanAllah, within just the past two weeks alone, let alone the past two years. A lot of scares of death in the family, a lot in the community, a lot of realities. And so, I mean subhanAllah, it took me about an hour to fall back asleep, but I just couldn't stop thinking that, you know what, I woke up this time and it was just sort of this false alarm, right? It's just a fire alarm. But I started to think about really everyone around me passing away and what that sensation is going to be like when I receive that news, whether it's from COVID related or in the future. And so I think that COVID was really just this reality check that there's really nothing in our control. And I think that moving forward now that as things sort of start to resume normalcy, it's so important that we don't lose sight of that and that we get comfortable again. And I think that that's something that I've been thinking about a lot, just constantly reminding myself of death, because if it's not someone getting the news that I'm passing away, it's I'm going to be receiving the news of someone else. And so I think for me that really is just this crushing reminder to prioritize, you know, how I spend my time and my goals and everything like that. And going to Ramadan, that's something that really just thinking about that last night was something that really is pushing me that I want to go all out
because I really don't know where I'm going to be next Ramadan. And I think that's just something that we should always have that mentality of and not lose sight of. So that I think would be my quick reflection. And if that sometimes, you know, it's hard to remind ourselves of death that we get so caught up. But taking that time, especially at night when you're alone and everything is quiet and it's supposed to be calm and peaceful. But just thinking about someone you love very, very deeply passing away and how those events are going to unfold, and to really imagine what it's going to be like to get that phone call or that text or to be there to witness it. And to have to pray janazah and all of that is just, that'll wake you up. It really will. And I think it's just a really good and healthy reminder before Ramadan to really be able to exert our full energy in the next few weeks, inshallah, because we don't know if this is going to be our last. Jazakumullah khairan. Powerful reminder, subhanAllah. And you're right, subhanAllah, if I just start to go back and think about some of the people that were distinguished in my mind for their ibadah in Ramadan, the front row people, the people that used to do umrah in Ramadan, and they're not here anymore. And not taking that for granted that we're going to be there. Allahumma ballighna Ramadan, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to reach it. Allahumma ameen. It is a reality. SubhanAllah, I can speak for myself and say I've been to more janazahs in the last two years than I've been in my entire life, just in these last two years. And the more you think about death, the more you think about the hereafter, the more purposeful life becomes. And that's actually what drove the inspiration for the Ramadan series on Yawm al-Qiyamah. You know, connecting every scene of the Day of Judgment to every day of your life in this dunya is absolutely crucial and essential because, you know, far from that being paralyzing, that should actually give a certain potency to your actions and to your deeds
that we exist for more than what this world has to offer. We don't exist for this world. We don't exist for Ramadan in the world. We exist for a connection to the Lord of Ramadan, the Lord of the world. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us a sincere connection to Him and cultivate truly that certainty, that yaqeen in our hearts, that certainty, certainty of our meeting with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that transforms everything that we do. And you mentioned the fire alarm. I'm just thinking about those people that died in New York, primarily Muslims, you know, which unfortunately, you know, did not last long in the new cycle. May Allah grant them all shahada, our brothers and sisters that died in their sleep at night during a fire. You know, you think about just the uncertainty of it all and the mean, the ways that this is happening. It doesn't even feel like it was all COVID, right? Just a lot of people dying of other things. But subhanAllah, it's been a stark reminder over the last couple of years. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala have mercy on our loved ones that have passed away and grant them the reward of what they had intended and more. Allahumma ameen. Jazakumullah khairan. Dr. Tahir, anything from your end inshallah? What's your sort of feel as we're going into it? Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa min walama ba'd. So I want to, wow, I was going to think I was going to go in a different direction and I will inshallah. But there are a few things that you just mentioned following up on what Dr. Tasneem mentioned that I think really deserves some attention. You know, here in Philadelphia, the New York fire where those Muslims died, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala have mercy on them, was national news. It wasn't a cycle, like you said, it wasn't a new cycle for that long, but it did make the cycle.
About a week before that, there was a fire here in Philadelphia where a blended family of Muslims and non-Muslims passed in a fire. We were not able to get the bodies of the Muslims because the family members said, well, they weren't really Muslims because they had Christmas tree in the house. SubhanAllah. I mean, look at these. Anyway, subhanAllah, this is a this is a really deep issue, a deep topic. But the rights that we have as a community over one another, the etiquettes that we should embody at the Jannah is, you know, our masjid, we have Jannahs, I mean, this week alone so far, three, subhanAllah. And what happens, I think this is important before we get on the topic of Ramadan, inshallah, is that we have to remind the Muslims, remind our communities of the etiquettes of the Jannah. Abdullah bin Mas'ud, radiAllahu anhu, was one of the early, you know, companions of the Prophet ﷺ, one of the scholars of Islam. One time he saw a man laughing at a janazah. I cannot tell you how many times I see people laughing at a janazah. And it's not that they're, it's, you know, perhaps they've seen, you know, a friend and they're laughing about something or they're trying to make light of the situation or whatever. And he said, atathaku ma'al janazah, you're laughing at a janazah, la'ukallimuka abadan, I will never speak to you again. Yani, if your heart is such that the reminder right in front of you, that reminder that you have to stand in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and be held accountable, if that's not enough to keep you from laughing, then I'm not sure that that's the person I want to be around. That being said, I got a text today, subhanAllah, from one of my teachers. And he was talking about something that happened last Saturday. We had a family night, the Philadelphia Masjid, and because of the surge of the different variants of COVID and things like that, it was the first one that we had in over three months. And, you know, it was a beautiful night, alhamdulillah, and the children presented their, you know, hizb and their duas and so on and so forth. And we had some qurra come through. And so he texted me, he said, jazakallahu khayran, I really enjoyed the family night. It felt like Ramadan had already entered. What does that mean, it felt like Ramadan entered? SubhanAllah, I started thinking about it. We had, you know, I mean, the Masjid was packed, Dr. Tasneem was there, she could tell you. But as it was packed, the people were enjoying themselves. I hadn't seen that type of communal, you know, response, just the people coming out and joining each other, the camaraderie, and the numbers, right? I hadn't seen that since prior to COVID in Ramadan. So, I mean, obviously the Eids are, you know, that's a different story altogether. But the point is, it reminded me to say, hey, subhanAllah, like we're almost here, we're almost back as a community. I don't think we realize, you know, sometimes we may forget. I mean, we realized that as we were going through those COVID days and trying to compare, you know, the COVID Ramadan to pre-COVID Ramadan, praying in the house, you know, with your family. We take for granted that somebody can pick up the mushaf in your family.
They can pick up the mushaf, for example, if they haven't memorized the Qur'an, that they can pick up the mushaf and read the Qur'an. You know how many new converts we're dealing with here in the city? And in so many other, you know, inner-city masajid, you know, people can't, if they're in their homes and they're left to pray tarawih by themselves, they may not be able to get past, you know, qul hu allahu ahad, right? And so we take for granted, you know, how much the community really means to these Muslims who actually, you know, al-mar'u qawiyyum bi-akhwanihi, right? Like, you know, people are stronger with their brothers and sisters. So that concept of actually now being able to get back into the masjid and provide these services and bring the community together and strengthen those ties, I'm really looking forward to that this Ramadan. I also just want to throw this out there as a, you know, a public service announcement, if you will. I mean, the people who are organizing the functions at the masajid, have mercy on them, you know. See if you can lend them a helping hand. There's so much work. When you have 600 people in your masjid, 700 people in your masjid every single night, you know, you're trying to serve them and your volunteers are getting burnt out and so forth, and we need the extra hands. I'm saying this is every masjid, like every masjid in America, you know, that has any type of numbers, right? Like, have mercy on those people who are organizing these events. They're spending their time and their effort and so forth. And then also for the people on the other side, the people that are organizing the events, take some time for yourself to just back up and breathe, you know, and enjoy those divine breezes from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that come in the month of Ramadan. As you mentioned, you know, this idea of being focused on sort of yourself, right?
No matter what your responsibilities are, whether inside or the outside. One of the most beautiful etiquettes, and of course, it is a dua, it is worship. It's the essence of worship. And Alhamdulillah, I mean, people are now watching your series, Ramadan Duas on repeat. And the idea was to have greater depth to those duas. If you haven't watched it, I encourage everyone to go through every single one of them. I personally benefited quite a bit. Alhamdulillah, I didn't tell Shaykh Ta'ala I watched them, Alhamdulillah. I didn't even get to watch them yet, see? I got to watch them, Alhamdulillah. I found it extremely beneficial. You know, Alas Fansa, I reward you for teaching people how to call upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, not just like the Prophet's ayats and words, but also considering some of these deeper meanings. Dua is not just an ibadah that is done in a collective sense, in the witr of the imam. Dua is the ibadah of an individual sitting in their home, calling upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, in tears, in complete vulnerability, in lowering themselves. It is the essence of worship. And so, can you talk a little bit about that dua element? Like, what changes about the dua of a person when it's public behind an imam versus when it's alone at home? How does a person find sincerity and dua throughout both of those places? MashaAllah, that is an excellent question. I'm really glad that you posed it the way you did, because ultimately it is about sincerity and dua. When we are calling upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our homes, when we are whispering our duas to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
I don't think that there's an issue of sincerity that comes into play in that sense, or lack thereof, a lack of sincerity, because it's just you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But the fact that you humble yourself, that you break that barrier of pride that is in between so many people, in between Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, meaning, what I mean by that, sometimes it's a very subtle sense of kibr, or arrogance. That we believe that we've gotten where we've gotten in life because of our hard work, and because of our abilities, and because of our striving, and maybe fail sometimes to recognize that it is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who has given us that ability in the first place to strive, and has given us our faculties, and perhaps the environment that we're in that also has lended itself for us to achieve some of the things that we've achieved. Even in that sense, to humble yourself, ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for continued success, talk to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A lot of times, when you look at the expressions of dua in the Quran, what comes to mind immediately is, what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam referred to as, if you say this dua, whatever you ask for after it won't be rejected. la ilaha illa ant, subhanaka inni kuntu min al-dhalimeen. When you're talking to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and this is what Yunus alayhi wa sallam, he was talking to Allah, and he said that there is no true God except for you. la ilaha illa ant, subhanaka, and glory be to you, inni kuntu min al-dhalimeen. I am of those who have wronged myself. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam called this, you know, from the best of duas, and there's no ask, there's no request.
He's just talking to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so many times, you know, when you look throughout the Quran, and you look at, you know, these duas, what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam called dua, there's actually no request. But it's ibadah, and it's you talking to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You look at Maryam alayhi salam, you look at her relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it's amazing. I mean, you just look at how she talked to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Zakariya alayhi salam, how he talked to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, idnada rabbahu nida'in khafiyyan, right? And he's calling upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this soft, you know, hidden voice almost. But Allah azawajal as-Samir heard him. And I think it's so important that, you know, we begin this exercise of just talking to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You know, inshallah, maybe the viewers will have the opportunity inshallah to read the article that was co-authored by myself and Dr. Junaid Yusuf on Allah's name as-Samir. But it deals with some of this. You know, a lot of times we think of as-Samir, we think of the one who hears. And that may be the message that may come from that is that, you know, watch what you say because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala hears you. And that is true. And we should keep that in mind. The message that may get lost sometimes is that Allah azawajal is listening. And if you're going through something, you know, whatever it may be, even if you don't know how to articulate it properly, if you went, you know, you're trying to figure out how to say it, just talk to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And Allah azawajal will listen to you and Allah azawajal will respond to that. And so calling upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is something that we want to do as much as possible. There's there's no wrong time to call upon Allah, to ask him, to talk to him subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That that's as it relates to in private. And I think that, you know, it's it's very important for a person to dedicate a portion of the day. You know, if that could be right before Salat al-Fajr, then that's good. And in the last third of the night, they just call upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and make that a part of their routine. You know, increasing dua and sujood and between then and eqama and other times when dua is most likely to be accepted. When praying behind the imam, here also, I mean, it's it's very important that we are focused, that, you know, we're able to we understand what the imam is saying. You know, hopefully at least at the very least the qunoot, so that when we are saying ameen, we know what we're asking Allah to answer to. But but just having your heart in the dua is very important, being focused, blocking out any of the outside noise and really asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for his guidance and his acceptance. JazakAllah khair, shaykh. For those of you that are just joining, inshallah ta'ala to remind you all, please do inshallah see the link. Greet Ramadan with sadaqah. Alhamdulillah, rabbil alameen. We're talking about Ramadan, getting ready for Ramadan, and one of the ways we want to encourage you all to continue to support the work that we'll be doing and a lot more programs and great programs that have already, alhamdulillah, been recorded and are currently out there for your benefit. Like the series on duas on repeat by shaykh Tahir, hafizahullah ta'ala. Shaykh, I'm going to ask you something that's a little more difficult now within this realm. You know, when you converted to Islam, right, you know, and you started going, you had your first taraweeh, right? And you didn't understand what the imam was saying, you know, I'm assuming, I don't know, man, you're a quick learner. I don't know if you learned Arabic in a year, but you probably didn't understand what the imam was saying.
You not not I mean, forget about the dua, not even the Quran being recited. And I get this question all the time, all the time, especially from people who converted to Islam or people that just don't understand Arabic. Right. How am I supposed to benefit from the long recitation of taraweeh? And, you know, alhamdulillah, you've covered qunoot in this series. But beyond that, like the imam is getting emotional. I hear people crying. I can't connect to that because I don't know Arabic. What do you say to a person like that? Yeah, mashallah. See, these I love these type of questions, man. I'm really glad you're asking them. So so I definitely can relate to to this particular issue because that was my life. I lived that life. I will tell you, there was a stark difference between, let's just say, 1995, praying behind the imam taraweeh. We are in 1996. Once I got to Medina and I started learning Arabic, I was three months studying Arabic at the time. And though I'm not going to you know, I don't think anybody can claim that they understand the Quran, you know, in its totality in three months. But I understood a lot more than I did, you know, the year before. There was a very big difference in the the effect that the taraweeh had. That being said, subhanallah, even without understanding the majority of what you hear, most people, even new even new Muslims who take some time to learn their religion. And I think that that's a very important point that we don't use our newness as an excuse to not learn. You know, we we we strive and everything else that we want in life. If you want to become a doctor, a medical doctor, you want to become an engineer, you want to become anything. We strive. You know, we put the time in because we want to be successful in whatever realm that is. If we want to be successful in being, we also have to put some time in.
So, OK, you come in and you don't know much, but you start learning some words like jannah, nahr, you know, some other things like this, tajidi min taqti ilan har, whatever. So when you hear these ayat, then that will have an effect. Yeah, you're not going to understand everything. That's that's almost impossible for, you know, somebody that's brand new. But there is something about listening to the Quran, even if you don't understand it all and standing in salat. There is something about that that touches the soul, whether it touches the you know, I don't want to get too philosophical. But if it's such as your aql and your intellect and maybe not, but something about it touches the heart. SubhanAllah. And so, yeah, you're not going to benefit the same way that the person who understands it benefits. But there is still a benefit for the soul. Let me, if I can say, you know, one of the examples is, you know, like when we get to Medina, you got this big sheikh, you know, the big muhaddith of Medina. And he's sitting there and he's teaching. And some of the people that are sitting with the sheikh, you know, are old enough to be, you know, my grandfather. They've been studying their entire lives. They're professors in the university. Right. And then I'm coming and I want to sit with the sheikh. Right. And I even now I've got a little bit Arabic. Am I going to benefit the same way that that person benefits? No. But does it mean I shouldn't sit in that, you know, in that gathering just because I'm not benefiting as much as someone else? You know, it doesn't mean that. So I think that a person who is brand new to Islam, accepted Islam yesterday, that they can stand in taraweeh and that Quran, the speech of Allah will speak to their hearts. And they may even be, you know, may even be overcome with emotion, even though they don't understand the majority of it. And Allah knows best.
I'll say that one of the key forms of feedback we've gotten about Quran 30 for 30 is people watch it before they listen to the imam and getting just that overview of the juz and the themes like has been life changing for them, which is why we decided to do this annually, you know, cover different themes. And inshallah, you know, Allah gives us the ability to do this year in, year out, you know, five, six years. You know, you would have gotten quite a bit inshallah of the overview. Yeah, I was I was actually going to say that I forgot, which is that I do think that that's also very helpful. Right. To to go in kind of with some level of expectation of what's going to be recited so that you have an overview. So when you read about the story of Musa and the sorcerers and so on and so forth, you already kind of know what's being said. So you've either, you know, like you said, listen to 30 for 30 or you've read a translation of the Quran and so on and so forth. That really does actually I think it does help a lot. Sheikh, is there is there such thing as you mentioned being struck by something? And I'm just I'm just picking away now I'm trying to get as much from you as I can. Right. You find this in the Hadith literature sometimes we cried for his crying like Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq radi Allahu ta'ala anhu. When the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam announced that Allah Azawajal had chosen a servant of his or given a choice, khuyr alayhi salatu wasalam, he was given the choice between this dunya and this akhira. And that servant of Allah chose the akhira. Abu Bakr radi Allahu ta'ala anhu was the only one that cried and other people cried just because of his crying. Is that a concept like sometimes is that one of the benefits of the jama'a? No doubt. No, no doubt. Sheikh, subhanAllah. So true story. We have a brother. He's kind of known for breaking down. Right.
If he's around, if you didn't know he was in the masjid after about the second raqqa, you'll know. Right. SubhanAllah. And he's not playing. I know this brother. I've known him for a very long time. SubhanAllah. And Allah Azawajal knows best what's in his heart. But he's a very soft person. SubhanAllah. Once he does that, there's another brother that kind of like can't control himself once he hears him. Right. And then there's like this just chain reactions. SubhanAllah. You know, where we're because it's not fake, man. You know, what's what's happening is even if so. So let's just say you started you lost Khushoor a little bit. The fact that somebody else is crying. Right. It actually or maybe they're not sobbing, but you can hear some sniffles or whatever like that. It brings you back. Like, wait a minute. Did I just did the man just say something? I didn't pay attention. Right. It brings you back. It brings you back on track. And then now once you start thinking about what's being read or even if you can't think about it because you don't know, but you're realizing that, wait a minute, you know, this is a very spiritual moment. You're standing in front of Allah. Like Imam Ibn Qayyim, Rahim Allah Ta'ala said, you know, he said, little Abdi, Bayna Yaday Rabbihi Mokifan. Right. That the the Abd will stand. Every person will stand in front of their Lord. Let's just say two times. Right. Mokif in this dunya. There's a standing in this dunya and there's a standing in the hereafter. The standing Bayna Yadayhi in front of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in this life is in Salat. Right. So if you get that standing right, then the next standing will be easier. So when we think about it like these are not concepts that take years to learn. Yes, they may take years to perfect. They, you know, they get better over time. But this is something that you can teach somebody right away. Right. Like, look, you're standing in front of Allah. So now somebody is crying because of that. So it does have an effect.
And it definitely is one of the benefits of the Jami'ah with law. I want to share a story, actually, something that was very beautiful and touching. But just the sincerity of people in this regard where you don't know what part of the hadith is going to touch someone. I remember actually a brother being very emotional when he just he came across the hadith where the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam mentioned that there is not one of you, except that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la will speak to him on the Day of Judgment. Nisa bayna hu bayna Allahi tarjuman. No translator between the two of you. And he said, I always thought I'd have to learn Arabic. Like he actually thought that like he's like, is Allah going to talk to me in Arabic on the Day of Judgment? And SubhanAllah, that actually that actually gave him a sense of like, like, you know, I can talk to my Lord and dua doesn't have to be in Arabic. I mean, obviously learning some of the sunnah dua of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, learning the sequence. And correct me if I'm wrong, Sheikh. I mean, you know, but going through the things we take from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the sunnah dua are obviously blessed and preferable. But there is this benefit to just dua in your own language too, you know, and taking that time. And yeah. No, no, no. I was I was going to say for sure, you know, the best person to have ever called upon Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la was our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And his duas are no doubt the best duas. At the same time, when you look at the way of the companions, RadhiAllahu Ta'ala A'nhum, and their teachers and so forth, it's clear. It's Afwan, not their teachers. I'm sorry, their students, their teacher was the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. You look at the way of the companions and their students, you find that many of them had duas that were not prophetic in nature, meaning they were not directly the words of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And that comes from talking to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, right? That comes from that dua from the heart. And if you don't know Arabic, then the dua from the heart is the dua that's in your language. I mean, at the end of the day. And we could go on and on about that. SubhanAllah, I stand up with the kanaan and the duktuk tasneem and I'm waiting.
She's benefiting too, Shaykh. I'm enjoying this. Keep talking, please. So I got one last question for you, Shaykh. This is like a quick technical question. People asked about making dua in their own language, in tarawih, you know, in their sujood or in general, behind an imam. Are there any issues with them making dua in their own language? So believe it or not, subhanAllah, this was one of the questions back in, I don't know, 1998, I think, subhanAllah. Shaykh Uthaymeen, Allah yurhamahu, was in Medina. And I asked Shaykh Uthaymeen about making dua in English, in sujood, in the salah. And he said, well, a little bit senior. He was like, even in Chinese, you can call upon Allah subhanAllah in any language, inshallah, in your sujood. Obviously, at that point, I wasn't like capable of going into the books and things like that. Since, alhamdulillah, I've been able to research this issue, I'm confident. You know, though there are some scholars that do not, you know, prefer that a person call upon Allah subhanAllah in other than the Arabic language in the salah. I mean, the majority of them have no problem with that, with the condition that a person cannot articulate what they're trying to say in the Arabic language. Obviously, you can articulate it in Arabic, then that's what you should do inside of your salah. But if you don't have the ability to do that, falayukallifu Allah wa nafsan illa wusaha, Allah subhanAllah does not make us accountable for more than what we can handle. So you call upon Allah subhanAllah in your language and there's no harm in that, alhamdulillah. JazakumAllah khair, Shaykh, hafidhakallah. I think, look, it's interesting. I wasn't planning to go down this track, but I think it's a very... It is, when I'm thinking about most common questions that we receive, it often has to do with,
it's not fair because I can't understand the Qur'an the way that you can, I can't make du'a like you, I don't get it. It's beautiful how you're emotional about this, and is the Qur'an really that inaccessible to me? To where it's only that, so I think it's really important to go down this line. Actually, Dr. Tasneem, I'm going to actually ask you a similar question. Your friend asks you, and you can't just say everything Shaykh Tahir said, because I know you've had your own flavor of advice, right? But your friend asks you, look, I'm not understanding the Qur'an, I'm not understanding du'a, I'm not getting the Arabic language, the richness of this. How do I benefit from the month? What's your quick tidbit to that person beyond what Shaykh Tahir just shared? This is something I wanted to add, and I know it's not necessarily a tidbit in one sense, but the way that I learned the Qur'an, it's interesting. People assume that, oh, because you have family members who speak Arabic, that you must have grown up and just opened the Qur'an one day and were able to understand it. But that's so far from the case, and I would argue that most Arabic speakers or most people who have even background in Arabic knowledge can't actually understand the Qur'an. But something that I did, and it goes back to my always my same habits talk, so I know that gets redundant. But when I was memorizing the Qur'an, what I would do was I would read the ayah that I was going to memorize, and then I would read two translations with it. Just two translations that I had access to, literally found in my parents' office, one I found online, and I would just compare the two. And so when I'd memorize the ayah, I didn't really know what word was saying what. I didn't really know what the context, I didn't know any of the grammar rules. I just knew that, you know what, there's this connection that I've made, that this is the translation of this verse, and that this is the ayah that I'm memorizing.
And every single time I came back to review that verse, I would go back again, read that translation. And it didn't occur to me until, I kid you not, years later, I would open the Qur'an and I'd be reading the Qur'an and I'd understand. And it never occurred to me, like, I never took a course, I never formally studied meanings of the Qur'an. Yeah, sure, I did Arabic once in a while, I had to take grammar classes, but they're all just beginner classes, nothing that would actually get me through the Qur'an. And one morning I was just like, when did this happen? When was I able to do this? And subhanAllah, when I thought about just that simple habit of reading the translation, just always going back to reading the translation, I didn't realize it, but indirectly I was making connections to, oh, that word came up again. My brain was implicitly remembering another verse that had that word, and I started to realize what words meant. And this was no active effort on my own. And so I say this because I'm a Muslim. I think sometimes it's just like, you're confronted with this idea that I have to learn Arabic and I have to learn this whole new language, and Arabic is not an easy language. And it's sort of like this overwhelming feeling. But starting small, I'm still dumbfounded as to how far that has brought me. And that was something that happened with the Qur'an until this day. Continuously, when I reflect on the Qur'an, when I'm reading a tafsir of the Qur'an and I pick up on a new meaning of a word or a different way to understand it, I'm constantly growing. And I just look back and I think year after year that I know so much more this year, not because I actively sat down and I was sweating tears or anything like that, but simply because I made a small effort every single time I read the Qur'an to read the translation or to read some type of tafsir. So that would be my advice, is that don't look at this task as something that is, you got to drop everything and just start studying the Qur'an and studying the Arabic,
but take it day by day, take it easy on yourself, and I promise you're going to look back and you're going to think to yourself, how in the world did I manage to do this? Wonderful, wonderful advice. Alhamdulillah. And just for the benefit of everyone, inshallah, the Qur'an 30 for 30 books, you can download them. They're very short, alhamdulillah, from season one, season two. Season one was about 100 pages, the whole thing. So a couple of pages per juz, two and a half pages just give you an overview of the juz. And then we also have season two, which gives the seerah theme. And that that workbook can also be downloaded inshallah without any charge or inshallah any firewall. Just go ahead and download those inshallah, as well as the du'a book that Sheikh Tahir has done, alhamdulillah. And we also had the Habits series. So as one of our most popular series, actually, people found it extremely beneficial. Dr. Tasneem did a series on habits that we can develop. What was the inspiration behind that series for you to do that and find it necessary for people to dig into their day to day and find the right habits? Oh, so much inspiration. I could talk about this forever, but I mean, so many people have asked me, like, how do you do this? Like, how do you get so much done in a certain day? And I'm thinking to myself, it's not a superpower. It's really about discipline of your time. And I see the way that some people, the way that they use their time. And I think to myself that subhanallah, imagine if everyone in the Muslim community use their time very intentionally. We would like the world would change overnight. And so and I think that when it comes to, you know, it's so empowering. Like, I feel so much more incredible as a human being, as a Muslim, as as a professional in my field, because I can control my time.
I have that discipline to instill habits in myself for the better, you know, spiritually, professionally, religiously, all of that stuff. And so I really wanted to just pass along that strength. It's not some inherent superpower, but it's really just it boils down to using your time right. And on top of it, it also boils down to the fact that this isn't something that, you know, I I woke up one day and thought, OK, here are some good tips. But this is something that the Prophet ﷺ instilled in us from day one, that almost every single tip that I I adopted, my own lifestyle is was inspired by either a prophetic lifestyle or the discipline that comes with, you know, your salah, your fasting, what you're expected of as a Muslim. And so just knowing that. Because I was you know, I was raised with certain, you know, responsibilities and priorities in life and that I can look to the Prophet ﷺ as an example, that alone was able to shape my life in a way that set me up for success. I just I felt like the need to just share that message with the world that, hey, you guys, we have all the tools we need. It's inherent to our religion and it's going to set you up for success, inshallah, in both this world and in the next. Have have either of you ever heard someone say something to the effect that, you know, if you study the Prophet ﷺ, even from a non-religious perspective, like his the habits, the genius, the the family life, the leadership qualities, all of that, subhanAllah, will just completely transform you. I've actually had that said to me by a non-Muslim who said that, like, you know, studying Muhammad ﷺ, may Allah give him hidayah, he didn't see him as a prophet, but he said just studying his life as a leader and his day to day and his genius has been transformative to me in that regard. Any of you ever had someone similar think that way?
Or is there anything you'd want to share, Sheikh Tarek in particular, you know, about the Prophet ﷺ's just just lifestyle being so transformative to us? Yeah, I think that subhanAllah, the study of the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ really opens that door to see how he lived ﷺ. There are even books written, I'm sure you're aware of this, you know, books written about the day of the Prophet ﷺ, like how he would spend the day, what's a typical 24 hours look like for the Prophet ﷺ. Sure. I mean, there are actually people who have written about that topic, Sheikh. You know, non-Muslims, you know, the Prophet ﷺ as a leader, obviously, their paradigm is a bit skewed, right? Because they don't look at him as a as a messenger of Allah. And subhanAllah, it's actually somewhat surprising because when you see what the Prophet ﷺ accomplished, that doesn't that's not like you can't do that without the support of of the creator of the heavens and earth, subhanAllah. So it's it's almost interesting that people would praise him so much for what he was able to accomplish and then turn around and not believe that he was, in fact, sent by Allah. So not only have I heard it, but I've actually seen it written down. I think what we can take away as Muslims from that, we don't need, alhamdulillah, we don't need other people to validate our Prophet ﷺ. But it doesn't hurt, right? It doesn't hurt when you find that there are people who are outside of your faith. So they don't even have that, you know, the type of samana wa ta'ana that we have, the listen and obey and and the wanting to accept what we hear is the truth. They don't even have that.
But when when they come now and they can look at it from a totally different lens and see that this is even though they won't say it like this, but this is divinely inspired, clearly it it should, you know, help us. It should serve as a catalyst for us to learn more about the life of the Prophet ﷺ and want to emulate him more. JazakAllah khair, Shaykh. Dr. Tasneem, on the on the notion of habits, you know, and inshallah we'll end with this one. You know, as people go into Ramadan, how do they enact change that bi'idhn Allah ta'ala will outlast Ramadan? How do they plan for that from now to have change realized in their lives that will actually inshallah ta'ala move beyond Ramadan? So I think that a lot of times when we think about, OK, what are our goals for this Ramadan? What are the habits that we're going to be implementing? A lot of times you've got to play it two ways. You've got to go hard, right, where you want to really make the most of your Ramadan. It could be your last. You want to take advantage of it. It's a time filled with barakah, opportunity. But at the same time, you want to play smart, because a lot of times when we set our goals, it's just like these lofty goals, these massive goals. So on the one hand, I could talk about how, you know, you want to be thinking of your stretch goals, your backup goals, all that stuff. But inshallah, you can check out the series for more on that. One thing I wanted to focus on today was the is the fact that when you think about Ramadan, this Ramadan coming up, what, next week, subhanAllah, don't think about it as just this Ramadan, but you want to be thinking long term. I want you to think about the next 10 Ramadans, 20, 30, 40, inshallah, may Allah give us the life to see decades more worth of Ramadan. But when you have this this long term picture in mind, what happens is that you start to think about what do I want to take away from this Ramadan?
And what is that going to look like in this this big term picture? And I'll share just my personal example to really explain how profound it can be. You can have all the goals in the world, right? Whether that's reading a certain amount of Quran, whether it's praying a certain amount of salah at night, whether it's eating healthy, those are all great. And be excited and smart and everything about those goals. But in that entire list of goals that you have, pick just one, just even if it's the most simple one of all those goals and tell yourself, you know what, this is what I'm going to do after Ramadan, just this one. You know what? I might have been reading 20 pages of Quran every single day. I might have been praying every single night. But the one thing I'm going to take away is just making dua after salah, right? Just pick one simple dua, one simple goal from that list and think to yourself, this is what I'm going to take away and this is what it's going to last me throughout Ramadan. And you know what? You know, you can be as simple as simple as you want. In fact, the more simple, the better. And I'll tell you what's going to happen. What I did last year, for example, in Ramadan, my goal, I had a long list of goals, but I told myself, you know what, if there's one thing I really want to be able to do after Ramadan, it's to be able to start praying salatul duha consistently, right? Just two raka'as. They don't have to be long. They can be short surahs. It can take me all of 30 seconds. But before, you know, salatul duha advance and sort of in my morning, all I want to do is to be able to do that consistently, not just something that is sporadic. And that was something that I was able to carry away because I started that goal in Ramadan. I started praying every single day salatul duha, and I told myself, that's the one thing I'm going to carry over inshallah. And I was able to maintain that. I was able to take the energy I had in Ramadan and carry that over as a habit.
So now I'm looking back and I'm thinking to myself, you know what, now in 2022, here I am praying my salatul duha. But you know what I did the year before that? I told myself what I want to do is I want to be more intentional about the adhkar, the dua that I make in the morning and the evenings that I started sort of slacking and I would recite them as I was doing other things. I was totally unfocused. And so my goal in 2020 was to carry away from Ramadan is just to be focused when I'm doing that dua. So now here I am in 2022. Now that's something I do every morning is my adhkar every evening. I was able to maintain that after Ramadan. And now I'm praying salatul duha every single day. And this Ramadan, all I want to do is start instill the habit of reciting la ilaha illallah, wahdahu la sharika lah, lahul mulk, walahu alhamd, wahu adha qulisha alqadir that a hundred times a day. There's a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ that says, whoever recites this, that there's no God but God, there's no partners ascribed to him, that to him is all the dominion. If you recite this form of dhikr every single day, just a hundred times, that there's so much reward, right? It's as if you free ten slaves. A hundred sins are wiped away. You get a hundred reward. The shaitan is locked up from you for that day, etc. etc. Just immense rewards. You know what? This is incredible. All I have to do is repeat this. It could be on my commute to work. It could be as I'm preparing iftar, whatever it is. A hundred times a day, that's the one thing I told myself, you know, that's why I'm carrying away from Ramadan. Now, imagine myself, if I do this every single year for the next ten years, who am I going to be in my, you know, late 30s and 40s and 50s? I'm going to, if you can just take one simple act every single Ramadan and really envision yourself,
who do you want to be at the age of 60? Who do you want to be at the age of 70? And think about just one little act, and I'm trying to emphasize the fact that it really just needs to be a simple act. It doesn't need to be all out. You're going to be an incredible person. And I mean, that's really the beauty of the religion because at the end of the day, even if you don't ever live to see a next Ramadan, you've set yourself up with that intention that, Ya Allah, I'm taking away this one little good deed. I'm going to do it consistently, and I'm going to build on it because this is what I see myself at the end of my life before I come to meet you. And you don't have to live till 70, that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala inshallah will accept your intention, and you'll show up on the Day of Judgment with exactly that. And so a lot of times when we think about our goals for Ramadan, we think, All right, you know, how can I go big this Ramadan? And I just really want to get it all out. That's great. But also think smart. What's one thing I want to carry on after Ramadan? And really think about it in that long term vision and just use that as a motivation that just needs to do this one little thing. And year after year after year, you'll transform before your eyes. And that's something that I particularly found extremely beneficial. And inshallah, it's something that just you witnessing that change is enough to really drive you to do this year in and year out inshallah. Insha'Allah. BarakAllahu fi'khim, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala reward you. I think that's profound advice and indeed a beneficial dhikr inshallah that we can implement in our lifetime. And I think, you know, as we're coming to the end of this with the night time, just a reminder to everyone to please inshallah sign up at the link and stay with us this Ramadan. We have a lot of programming. Alhamdulillah. The Judgment Day series is inshallah going to be next little bit in the night time and hopefully connect people to the afterlife in a different way. The Quran 30 for 30 in the night. I'm looking forward to that. Last 10 nights program, the Ramadan reminders, Sheikh Suleiman Hani.
There's so much that we have coming up this Ramadan. Sheikh Abdullah Oduro couldn't be here. He actually apologized. He's probably in the gym, you know, picking something up. I mean, that's my assumption. But on a serious note, he apologizes. And, you know, I wanted to remind everyone, obviously, beyond Quran 30 for 30, he's been heading convert resources. And Alhamdulillah, we have content specific for converts this Ramadan inshallah that I hope they can benefit from as well. With the last few minutes inshallah, Sheikh Tahir, anything you want to share based on what Dr. Tasneem just shared, sort of a long lasting habit, and then we'll go ahead and close it out inshallah. Barakallahu feekum. And I just want to say that that advice from Dr. Tasneem is spot on. SubhanAllah, you know, we definitely need to go big in Ramadan. We need to take advantage of the month of Ramadan when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala opens up those doors of Jannah and closes the doors of the hellfire. And when the Shayateen are chained and restrained, we need to take advantage of that time. We need to push ourselves hard. The reality, though, is that we don't want to stop at Ramadan. We don't want Ramadan to be the end of our relationship with those extra forms of Ibad. But if we take on too much psychologically, we may feel like it's too much. And then we leave everything. That's kind of how we are as human beings. So, you know, that idea of just taking one thing that you can stick to and how that builds up over time to help you be a better slave of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is profound advice. If there's anything that I would say, you know, in conclusion to tonight's webinar,
it would be a reminder of the statement attributed to Anas, who mentioned by Ibn Rajab and Lataif al-Ma'arif, even though there may be some weakness in the chain, but this practice was well known amongst the Salaf of this Ummah. Anas radi Allahu ta'ala was reported to have said, when the month of Sha'ban would enter, the Muslimun would turn their full attention to the Masahif, their copies of the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Sha'ban, that's not Ramadan. I think it's so important, you know, that we as people who are advising other people about what to do in preparation for Ramadan. I don't know of any preparation that that's going to be better than really shifting our focus as much as we can to the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The ulema have mentioned that, you know, Sha'ban, and it was also called Shahrul Qurra, right? The month of the reciters, some of them would close their shops down in the month of Sha'ban so they can give the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that much attention. Some of the ulema mentioned that the greater objective in Sha'ban is itqan al-qira'ah, right? Is that you are reading well, you know, whether that is with tadabbur and, you know, really understanding what you're reading or also as it relates to your tajweed and like, you know,
really giving that, you know, extra sharp laser focus to the reading of the Qur'an. And the objective in Ramadan is the kathira, is that you're doing it a lot, right? You're reading a lot. And when you look back at the biographies of the early scholars of Islam, you found that they read the Qur'an a lot in Ramadan. Imam al-Shafi'i rahmatullah, you know, is reading the entirety of the Qur'an once a day, last ten nights twice. For people who think that's impossible, it's not. There are still people who do it. Subhanallah. It's amazing to witness. That being said, most people are not going to be able to do that in Ramadan unless they've already started something in Sha'ban. Right. They've reconnected with the Qur'an in Sha'ban in a way that, you know, wasn't it wasn't the same as it was in Rajab or the months before. And so Sha'ban, that rekindling, that fervor for the book of Allah, and so when Ramadan comes in, they're ready. Similar to how the Prophet, alaihi salatu wasalam, would fast the majority of Sha'ban according to Aisha, alaihi salam. And when Ramadan started, there's no, you know, adjustment time. I got to wean myself off of caffeine, you know, whatever it might be. There's no adjustment in Ramadan, you know, physical or in this case with the Qur'an. You start Ramadan, Ramadan ready. And I think that is so important for us because what we have to realize is from the first night of Ramadan. Right. I mean, I'm sorry, but this is just this be my last point, inshallah. From the first. Night of Ramadan, Allah Azza wa Jal, Lahu utaqa'u min al-nar. The people's freeing from the fire. From the first night. Subhanallah. Like, you know, the Prophet, alaihi salatu wasalam, said, walillahi utaqa'u min al-nar. Wadhalika kulla layla.
Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala has people that he frees from the fire. And that is every single night in the month of Ramadan. What our question is, obviously, we don't know are we amongst them or not. But our question is, what can we do to make ourselves, you know, be more in the running, you know, for, you know, being worthy or, you know, being of those people who receive Allah's parents out of His grace from that very first night. Right. So not starting off slow. Sure. You want to pace yourself. You want to make sure you don't run out of gas by the last ten nights and so forth. You want to pace yourself. But you still need to be like even there. You need to be high octane, you know, and that's something that we have to prepare for in Shaban. We ask Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala to allow us to reach the month of Ramadan in good health and Iman. And to guide us to beneficial and accepted acts in the month of Ramadan. Ameen. JazakAllah khair, Sheikh Muhammad. Mashallah, lots of gems there. I hope you didn't rush it. Both of you shared so much valuable advice for us. Alhamdulillah. May Allah accept it from you both. And I'm looking forward to having both of you on InshaAllah ta'ala Quran 30 for 30 again. Everyone, please do InshaAllah as we're the link below is to register to be a part of the great Ramadan al-Sadaqah. But also benefit from the link to Sheikh Tahir's series on Ramadan du'as, on repeat, Dr. Tasneem's series on habits, and all the other stuff that's out there. We hope that it will be a part of your Ramadan experience. But more than that, of making this faith, you know, or greeting this faith with certainty and living this faith with great certainty and nurturing it in your heart and nurturing your habits, nurturing your life and connecting to Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala. And connecting this journey that we have in life to that ultimate meeting with Him.
May Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala allow us to be amongst the people of Al-Firdaws Al-A'na. Allahumma ameen. JazakumAllahu khayran, Dr. Tahir, Dr. Tasneem. Appreciate you both. And JazakumAllahu khayran to everyone who tuned in. And InshaAllah ta'ala we'll see you all soon. SubhanaAllahu wa barakatuhu. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. Warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu.
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