Ramadhan for the Youth

Ramadan for the Youth

A Talk by Sheikh Abu Taubah

Opening

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - Bismillahi ar-Rahman ar-Rahim)

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ - Al-ḥamdu lillāhi rabbi al-ʿālamīn, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalá rasūli-llāh)

(السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ - As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-raḥmatu-llāhi wa-barakātuh)

We do apologize for the delay because I had to go and pick the brother up from Birmingham, so there was a lot of traffic on a Friday. But Alhamdulillah we are here safely.

Sheikh Abu Taubah Alhamdulillah, who is from America, New York, embraced Islam at the age of 12.

And so far Alhamdulillah he has been doing Dawa work all over the world and he does travel a lot.

Alhamdulillah he was here at the Greenland Masjid Conference last Sunday, Saturday. And we all love him because he took some time off for the brothers in Nelson.

Insha'Allah I will pass the microphone to Sheikh and insha'Allah the rest of the interviews will be himself.

The Shahada

(أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ - Ash-hadu an la ilaha illallah wahdahu la shareeka lah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasooluh)

"I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, there is no partner but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger."

Khutbah Al-Hajah (Opening Sermon)

All praise belongs to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His forgiveness and His guidance. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own egos and the evil results of our deeds.

Anyone whom Allah guides, then no one can lead him astray. And anyone whom Allah leads to stray, then there is none that can guide him.

And I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship and no gods in reality except Allah, the one and only.

And I bear witness that Muhammad, the son of Abdullahi (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) is His slave and His final Messenger.

Opening Quranic Verses

Allah says what could mean in the Quran:

"O you who believe, fear Allah, have respect for Allah, remember Allah, as it is His right to be feared, remembered, and respected, and don't you dare die except that you die as Muslims."

Reference: Surah Aal-Imran 3:102

He also says what could mean:

"O mankind, again, fear your Lord, have respect for your Lord, have taqwa for your Lord, remember your Lord. And if you don't know who your Lord is, He explains it. The one who created you all from one soul, Adam, and created from that soul its mate, Eve, and raised up and spread from the two of them, many men and women. And fear Allah, again, if you don't know who Allah is, the one whom you are asked things for, and don't cut ties with the wombs that bore you. Indeed, Allah above us all is laying in watch."

Reference: Surah An-Nisa 4:1

Allah also says what could mean:

"O you who believe, fear Allah, again, and in light of your fear of Allah, say a word that goes straight to the point."

Reference: Surah Al-Ahzab 33:70

If you do this, He says:

"He will rectify our situations, He will correct something that we did wrong, and forgive us our sins."

Reference: Surah Al-Ahzab 33:71

And whomsoever is already obeying Allah, and obeying His Messenger, has already achieved the highest aspirations anyone could ever hope to achieve.

The Best Speech and Guidance

As for what follows, then we should all know that the best speech is the Qur'an, the best speech is the speech of Allah. And the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)

And the most evil of affairs are those things that we introduce ourselves into the religion of Islam, and it's not really there.

Each one of these things are called innovations, and each one of these innovations eventually lead us to the hellfire.

Introduction: Teaching Ramadan to the Youth

They say, I'm your brother, Abu Taubah, from New York, come here today to just spend a little time with your brothers, alhamdulillah. I notice we have a lot of young men in the room, and that Ramadan is close by.

There's a poem that's specifically geared, I heard the Imam talking about the Ramadan before we came in. It's called Children's Fiqh, and the chapter that's specific for the young people, that helps garnish the young people's attention.

Because what's upon us as adults nowadays is to find engaging ways to pass down this legacy of Islam.

And some of the things that we used to do in different parts of the world may not be as engaging for the children. So I particularly enjoy this poem, Children's Fiqh. It goes with regards to Ramadan.

The Children's Fiqh Poem About Ramadan

The Opening of Ramadan

It says:

When doors in heaven open wide, and hell is locked, devil's inside.

When Shaban month strikes 29, the Muslims search the sky to find.

The Ramadan new moon approach, with taqwa blessings and new hopes.

So if they sight the moon, we fast. And when it's cloudy, 30 pass.

From Shaban before Ramadan, the month of fasting and Quran.

The Acts of Ramadan

The month we pray the taraweeh, and wake up early when we sleep.

The sunnah is to eat and drink a light suhoor before Fajr's break.

And then from sunrise till it's set, we fast and leave all nourishment.

It's what strong Muslims have to do, obligating me and you to intend the night before a day of fasting for our Lord.

Exemptions from Fasting

Before the traveler of the weak, this obligation doesn't stick.

And girls, romances come your way. You must stop fasting right away.

Allah don't need us not, and those who, what is it? I forget the word. It says that those who sneak and eat, they break a fast, they have to fix.

I forget the last part of it right there. Let me go back and hopefully I'll remember. So it goes again.

Explanation of the Poem: When Heaven's Doors Open

When doors in heaven open wide. So Allah is teaching us that right before Ramadan, on the 29th of Shaban.

So then the doors in heaven, all of the gates open wide, and hell is locked.

The gates in hell get locked. The devils are inside. So there's no devils running around during the daytime.

Specific, during the daytime, during Ramadan. But we do know that they're out about at nighttime.

The Hadith of Abu Huraira and the Shaytaan

How do we know? There's a famous hadith, where Abu Huraira (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ - raḍiya-llāhu ʿanhu)

He's guarding the foodstuffs for 'Eid al-Fitr. And then the shaytan comes and he tries to steal some of the foodstuffs. Abu Huraira stops him.

Then he says, look, let me go. Gave him some excuse. Abu Huraira lets him go.

In the morning time, he tells the prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). The prophet said, oh, he'll be back. So then the next night he comes, and Abu Huraira snatches him again.

Because he knows that he's going to come, as the prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) told him. But then he gives him some excuse. So Abu Huraira lets him go.

In the morning, the prophet says, what happened to your night visitor? He says, well, he gave me some excuse, and so I let him go. We say, well, he'll be back. He's a liar.

So the next night, again, night visitor comes, tries to steal the foodstuffs. Abu Huraira snatches him. This time, I'm not going to let you go.

He says, listen, please let me go. If you let me go, I will teach you an ayah that will prevent any devil from coming to the foodstuffs. And so he teaches Abu Huraira Ayatul Kursi.

He tells him Ayatul Kursi. And so Abu Huraira lets him go. In the morning time, Abu Huraira goes to the prophet, the prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)

He tells him, what happened with your night visitor, Ya Aba Hiram, or father of the cats? He says, well, Ya Rasulallah, he told me if I recite this surah, this Ayatul Kursi, it will prevent. He said, he told you the truth, but he is a liar. And he explained to him that this was one of the devils that had come to him.

The Lesson: Devils Are Active at Night

From this, we can recognize that this happened during the nights of Ramadan. So we can see that during the daytime, the devils are locked down. But during the nighttime, they still have that ability to travel around.

So we should be aware of that and take our precaution from the shaytan because he's still our enemy. And this is why sometimes people wonder if shaytan is locked up, why do we still see some of the things happening?

Well, we see the effects sometimes of the shaytan outside of Ramadan, still affecting the people inside of Ramadan. And at nighttime, we see the shaytan still affecting and tormenting and tickling the different people that they tickle.

Some people are just evil themselves.

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Sighting the New Moon

So when doors in heaven open wide and hell is locked, devils inside. When Shaban month starts 29, so then when Shaban becomes the 29th of Shaban, you'll see the men.

Those who know how to spot in the sky. Well, in England, you have to be especially skilled because you have this overcast that you guys have all the time. But you have beautiful mountains, Barakah La Fikoum, that you can go up and look and try to find the moon.

So if they spot the moon, then we fast because we know that a month is either 29 or 30 days.

How We Know a Month is 29 or 30 Days

How do we know this? We learned this from our mother, Aisha. The Kufar, they make 31 days.

You know why they make 31 days? Does any of the young people know where the Kufar get 31 days out of their months? I'll tell you.

First of all, they made all their months naming them after gods. What month is this? August, okay.

It's a perfect example. You have Julius Caesar and he had a son called Augustus Caesar. These two fools thought that they were gods.

The Story of Julius and Augustus Caesar

So Julius Caesar, he said, you know what, I'm a god. That's what he said to himself. And he said, and I want everybody, I want to be just like the rest of the gods.

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I want to be like Mars. Mars has a month for himself. He's the god of war, according to them.

So he called him March. You know, that was his month. Not too hot, not too cold, suitable to wear armor.

So he has his month. I want to be like the rest of the gods and I want to have a month. But I don't want everyone to like my month.

So he commanded there should be no school during his month. So all the children and all the kids would love July and August. Because his son followed after him.

And he said, then I want my month to be in the summertime. So that everybody likes the good weather. And so he made his month in the summertime.

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His silly son followed him in that. And he said, I want my month to be long. So everybody enjoyed it.

So they beat up poor February. And they took a day, both of them, took a day from February. How many days does February have nowadays? Twenty-eight.

Come on, big guys. I'm asking the little guys. Twenty-eight.

Twenty-eight days. They stole the days from February. Right? And so they put it in there.

February was the month where they started magic. The magic season starts. If you want to know about that.

Because they saw that the birds, the lovebirds, mate in February. So they said, this is magic. So their magic season starts in February.

It goes all the way until they have Easter. This whole period like that. And that's how they got 31 days in their month.

Because they start to add, make these additions here. So never think that they're witty or smart. They're very foolish in the things that they do.

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The Islamic Moon Cycle

We learn from our prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ that a month is 29 or 30 days. A real month. You know what the word month comes from? It comes from the word moon.

It means moon cycle. So the month is an actual moon cycle. And we're the only ones that follow that moon cycle.

Our months come when we sight the moon. And that's how it goes around that way.

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The Hadith from Aisha About a Month

So one time the prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ he got angry at his wives.

And he said, I'm not going to, for the rest of the next month, I'm going to stay away from you ladies for one whole month. Then after 29 days, he came back to Aisha's house. So Aisha, she said, well, she didn't want her husband to break his oath.

So she said, ya Rasulullah, you said you were going to stay away for a month, and it's only 29 days. He said, ya Aisha, a month can be 29 or 30 days.

So we benefited even when the prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ got angry at his wife, we make a benefit.

So we learned that the month can be 29 or 30 days.

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The Purpose of Ramadan

But our purpose here is very important. Because when Shaban month strikes 29, we have to go out and look for the moon.

So if they sight the moon, we fast. But when it's cloudy, then we have to wait till 30 pass, before Shaban ends, from Shaban, before Ramadan. Now, nowadays, because of computers and telephones and satellites, we can tell when it is or whenever someone else sights it, they call us and tell us, and we can fast when that comes also.

We can do that. I don't know what the condition of the brothers, how they do it that way, or they just wait till they see it themselves. Either one is allowed based on the people that you're with.

But whenever the Jama'at decides to fast, the month of fasting is Ramadan. Fasting and Qur'an. And this is very important.

Physical and Spiritual Fasting

For us to understand what is the purpose of Ramadan. Because it's one thing just to say, okay, Ramadan comes and we're going to do this. But what's the purpose? The purpose of Ramadan is for us to fast physically and spiritually.

We eat 24 hours a day almost nowadays. Snacks and eating. It used to be you have to be hungry before dinner came.

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And you were hungry when lunch came. And so you ate. Nowadays we don't even, I don't think we even taste hunger at all.

Except out in Ramadan. We get a glimpse of hunger. But if you don't ever feel hunger, it makes you impatient.

It doesn't allow you to learn how to pace yourself. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has made it that we fast during Ramadan. From sunrise till it's set.

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The Benefits of Reading Qur'an

We fast and leave all nourishment. And during that time also we read Qur'an. Now what's the benefit of reading the Qur'an? Can you tell me? Can any of the young boys tell me what's the benefit of reading Qur'an? You there hugging the chair.

What's the benefit of reading Qur'an? Excuse me? That's a good reason. We're getting the reward. But there's a reward within the reward.

Does anyone know? Yes? Yes, but there is a reward. What does that mean? It's more than just saying there's a reward. There's a reason, there's a purpose for reading the Qur'an.

The Reward is Taqwa

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala told us:

(لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ - la'allakum tattaqun)

"So that you may attain taqwa."

The reward is to gain taqwa. To increase in your consciousness of the Qur'an. I'm sorry, of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

The reward for reading Qur'an is that in actuality as you read Qur'an it reads you. As you're reading the Qur'an, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is speaking to you. You're reading the words of Allah Himself.

And so He is telling you things about your own consciousness. About your own heart. That's just, that's two rewards already.

To get taqwa. That you hear about what yourself is. He's telling you what you're going to do.

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And what's going to happen if this happens. What's going to happen if you do this. Not only that, there's another blessing inside that.

The Qur'an is a Cure for the Heart

And that it is a (شِفَاء - shifa). It is a purification. It is a cure for the sicknesses of the heart.

Don't you know, what happens when you go outside and play in a month? What happens to your clothes? I can't hear you. It gets dirty, right? If you're walking in the street, especially in Nelson and it's raining. The dirt, the water splatters on your clothes, right?

Are you going to wear dirty clothing? I'm sorry.

Huh? No. What's that? No. Okay.

You're not going to wear dirty clothes. What are you going to do before you put the clothes on? You're going to wash them. You're going to clean them.

No one wants to go outside with dirty clothing. But sometimes we have our priorities mixed up. We'll make sure that our clothes are clean but not our hearts.

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We don't pay much attention to cleaning our hearts. And even eating. When we eat too much rich food, just ask the doctors, what happens? You get a hard heart, right? That's one of the sicknesses, the physical sicknesses of eating real good rich food.

You get hard heart. You get sclerosis of the liver and those types of things. Arteries become hard.

Is there any doctors here that tell us what the terminology for the hard heart? I think it's sclerosis, right? It's very hard and brittle. So Allah wants to make sure this heart of ours doesn't stay hard. So by reading the Quran, it tenderizes the heart.

The Power of Stories in the Qur'an

You read the story of the prophets that have gone by and how the people responded to them. And this breaks your heart, as we said. You see people crying as they can relate to the stories.

Half the Quran is stories. Half the Quran. Why are there stories? Because children remember stories.

Old people remember. Everybody remembers the stories. Because we live vicariously through them.

We go through the whole trip of everybody involved in the story. And we replay them in our minds. And these examples are good for us.

Another blessing is that by listening to these stories and reading these stories, we get examples of how we're supposed to behave. Because the opposite is true when you watch television and these other media. You learn those stories too.

And then you see the child playing with the toy saying, Yes, I'm Batman. And, you know, I'm Superman. And he's doing the things that he saw on the television.

But is that real? Are those viable solutions? No. They're not anything that he can really put in applying his life. So when he comes into a problem, the last thing that he heard is the first thing that's going to come into his mind.

And sometimes you ask the children, you say, well, what's going to happen if you do this? Well, I'll just, Batman will come, or Superman, or whatever. The Transformers will come, and this, that, and the other thing. And that's not really beneficial.

But if he's been reading the stories in the Quran, instead of thinking about what Batman will do, he remembers what the Prophet Yusuf did when he read that story. And how Yusuf responded to the sibling rivalry of his brothers. So there's some real examples of how to behave in that same vein.

Tarawih Prayer

So the month of fasting and Quran, the month we pray the Tarawih and wake up early when we sleep. So the Tarawih Salat, again, has been a special Salat that we only pray during Ramadan. There's so many blessings.

And the purpose, again, one of the things that we speak about when we talk about the Tarawih Salat, there are two problems that usually happen in the different Masajid.

One is that they can never agree upon how many Raka'at to pray the Tarawih. And so they separate, oh, I'm not going to pray with these guys, or I'm not going to pray with that.

But if that's not a problem, and it shouldn't be, the next problem comes with the Dua.

Don't Make the Dua Too Long

The Imam makes the Dua so long that the people in the line are just saying, oh, I pray that he puts his hand down. And that's what they're praying.

They're no longer praying to Allah, but they're praying, oh Allah, make him put his hands down, I'm not coming here tomorrow night, you know. This is what happens, and this is a bad thing.

Because what has happened is, we remind the Qur'an, the reciters, don't think that your Dua is going to have more of an effect on the people's hearts, and make them cry more than the speech of Allah that you were just reciting in the Salat.

The Qur'an has the greatest effect on the people's intellect, the people's conscious, subconscious, and on their spiritual hearts, on their hearts. Then anything we can come up with, with our Duas. So don't compete with the Book of Allah.

When the Qari comes in, tell him, make your Dua, and end, so people can go home. Because people have different situations, especially in this northern, western Europe country, where the Isha comes in close to 11 o'clock or something like that, and by the time the Taraweeh goes, it's almost time for Suhoor. Okay, right?

So you want to go home, at least see the bed, look at it. Nice blanket. And then get up and go about your business, or it becomes detrimental, and a hardship. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala doesn't make, there's no hardship in Deen.

There's no hardship in this Deen. It's always the better, the best of any situation that will possibly be there. Okay?

The Sunnah of Suhoor

So, the Sunnah is to eat and drink. A light Suhoor for Fajr's break. So it is the Sunnah for us to get up early, and eat a light Suhoor. I didn't say have a big three-course meal.

One of the problems that we make, is we eat so much. Some guys say, what happened in Ramadan? You look like, you know, you look like you gained weight. I did gain weight.

How do you gain weight in Ramadan? Some people do, actually, because the body starts to store it. But that means that they really get big. Why? They're not fasting.

They're making up for everything. It's like they put the meals up, and then after the time for fasting is over, they eat everything that you normally eat during the day. This is not the purpose of Ramadan, to catch up on the

food.

Understanding Hunger and Poverty

The purpose here is to become, to see what it's like not to have. Some people, I'm from New York, I don't know here, but in New York we have a lot of paupers. We have a lot of poor people.

People come to New York with all their money, and they try to make it, and sometimes they don't make it. We only hear about the success stories. We don't see the thousands of people, literally, that live in Central Park, or live on the subway, or under the subway, because there's certain places on the subway, that they were making a subway, and they stopped, they ran out of money, and people live down there, whole little villages, of people that live under the subway.

They live there because it's warm. They have the electricity, and everything coming off the train tracks, and so they live down there, and they go out to Coney Island, or LA, Los Angeles, because of the hot weather. They go live out there, and they can live on the beaches, and stuff like that.

All these people, it's as if they fast every day of the year. Almost every day, because they don't ever find enough to eat. They only eat maybe a little bit of sandwich.

What we may drop on the floor, and say, well, you know what, I'm not going to eat the rest of my sandwich. The three-second rule, you know, you drop something, and you don't pick it up quick enough, or you dropped it in a dirty place, you wrap it, you put it in the garbage can.

Most times, in New York, you'll see New Yorkers eat their food, and then wrap it back up, and put it in the trash.

We do that, because we want the bum to come and get it out, so he can, it's still wrapped up, and doesn't mix with the dirty, the filth, that's in the trash also. Or you put it back inside the bag there, and put it in the trash, because they come afterwards to eat that, and they do eat that food.

And so Ramadan, part of the lessons that we would feel in Ramadan, is to become, you know, to relate to our fellow man.

So we can understand what he's going through all the time. And this relating to him, makes us like brothers.

Makes us like brothers.

The Heart and the Ego

You know, the conscience is amazing. It's the ego, I was really going to say. When we see a poor person, if we're not going to give them any money, we don't dare look at them.

We don't look them in the face. We try not to catch eyes. We try to, you know, look away from them, because we cannot allow ourselves, our hearts, because you know, your heart has an intellect.

The Heart is the First Organ

The first thing that starts to work in your body is your heart. You see the signs on the road that say, 8 days after a woman is pregnant, the baby has a heartbeat. You go now to the, what is the thing, the sonogram, right? Sonogram, and you hear, right? The baby, you hear the heartbeat of the baby, very early in the term of the pregnancy.

The heart is the first organ that's working. And you hear it beating. But it also has its own intellect.

Proof the Heart Has Intellect

I'll prove it to you. First of all, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says:

"They have hearts and they're not using them to think with."

Reference: Surah Al-A'raf 7:179

أَفَلَا يَعْقِلُونَ بِهَا لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ لَّا يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا

"They're not using them to listen with."

When Allah says that someone is astray, He tells us they're astray because there's something in their heart:

خَتَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ

"Allah sealed their hearts, they have disease in their heart."

Reference: Surah Al-Baqarah 2:7, 2:10

You know? Al-Qasawa, He has a heart. So the hearts are the home of our spiritual intellect. And it's very honest. It's a share. So much so that the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said:

اسْتَفْتِ قَلْبَكَ

"If you need a fatwa, get your fatwa from your heart."

The Hadith About Judging

Allah's Messenger صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said, when he told that Sahaba, when you go judge, what are you going to use to make as a judge? The companion said, I'm going to use the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ

And the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said well, what if you don't find it in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger?

He said, Allah and His Messenger know best. He said (اسْتَفْتِ قَلْبَكَ - get your fatwa from your heart).

Whatever makes the heart feel at ease, then you go with that. And whatever makes the heart feel haraj and go back and forth in your chest, then leave that thing. Even if everyone else gives you their opinion that it can be done.

So we see here that the heart has its own intellect.

When We Argue With Ourselves

And what happens when we're arguing with ourselves, you know, you ever argue with yourself? You ever talk to yourself? Who are you talking to? You're talking to your heart. Your ego, which is in your head, your intellect, is arguing with your heart.

And they're going back and forth. Because the heart is honest. We use this example sometimes.

Again, New York, you know, we have a lot of crowding. There's a lot of people pushed together on the subway. So a guy tells himself, you know, I'm the toughest guy in the world.

If anybody steps on my feet, I'm going to knock them down, okay? Can't be stepping on my foot. The heart says, okay, that's what we are. We're the toughest guy in the world.

Somebody step on our foot, we're going to knock them down. Then some big skinhead white guy with tattoos and everything steps on your foot, pushes your kid out of our way. Muslim.

And he says, you say to yourself, whoa, he's lucky this train is shaking. He fell down on me. He didn't do it on purpose.

Strengthening the Heart, Disciplining the Body

My point here is that during Ramadan, the events that are happening during Ramadan are all to strengthen the heart and weaken the body. Okay? To put the body in check. Now, I shouldn't say weaken the body.

Discipline the body is a better word. It's a disciplining for the body, but a strengthening for the heart.

Because the thing that should be the strongest in the person is his heart, not his body.

The body should not be such an overwhelming thing and the heart is weak because then we have a coward. Do you understand how that can be? The person has to eat. He's so afraid of physical fear of some harm coming to him.

Then he has a his heart is soft. He can't do anything. Yes, this is not a man.

He's not a human. He's a coward. He can't do anything.

But when his heart is strong, even though the body may not physically be as strong as the heart, he's got a big heart. He's ferocious, even though he has a little bit of body or something like that.

So, the Quran, and the fasting, and the taraweeh, all these things are geared towards strengthening the heart of the individual, disciplining the body, and these are amongst the blessings of Ramadan.

These are the things that we should be doing.

Who Must Fast?

So, as I was saying in the poem, the sunnah is to eat and drink a light suhoor for Fajr's break, and then from sunrise till it's set, we fast and leave all nourishment. It's what strong Muslims have to do,

obligating me and you to intend the night before a day of fasting for the Lord.

So here, when it says it's what strong Muslims have to do, what it means is that there are people that are excused from fasting.

Sometimes when you get older, sometimes Allah tells us that as we get older, we get weaker. As we used to know a lot, we start forgetting.

The Natural Process of Aging

And these things is just a course of nature. As we get older, we get weaker. Some of us don't recognize it, but it happens.

I used to walk very fast, you know, and then when I was in New York, no one would walk, you know, no one would come from behind me and walk past me. That would never happen because I'd be walking so fast. Now, I'm walking down the street in New York, and I think I'm walking very fast, and a little lady walks in front of me.

And I'm walking, and she's just walking in front of me, and she doesn't look like she's moving fast at all, but she's burning out. She's moving. I'm like, looking at myself, saying, man, I'm walking real fast.

How is this little lady walking so much faster in front of me? Because I've gotten old, man. I'm not even that old yet. You know, I'm only in my 40s.

You know? But this lady now, this young lady, is still walking way faster than me. And I still feel that I'm walking as fast as I possibly can. It's just a part of nature, and we don't recognize.

And that's when I started to recognize that people are passing me up.

When Someone Cannot Fast

There comes a time, though, if we get so old, that we can't fast anymore. Because physically, we can't take it.

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and his supreme justice doesn't demand that we have to fast when we can't fast anymore. So, we have to make those days up through feeding the poor. So, we say, it's what strong Muslims have to do.

Obligating me and you, young people, strong people, and young people have to fast.

Teaching Children to Fast

I don't know how it is in the Desi culture, or the Asian culture. I know that some... In America, we call all the people that come from the Indo-Pakistan area Desi.

But, when I came to England, someone said, well, we know you say Desi in America, but here in England, we're Asian. They're Desi back home. I said, okay.

So, I don't want to offend anyone, you know, by saying that. In the Asian culture, you know... Okay. Alhamdulillah.

But, children should fast. It was the Sunnah of the Prophet, that they ordered the children to fast. And we see, well, sometimes nowadays, we want to baby the children up.

They say, well, they're too young. They're not strong enough yet. But, we don't use that same mentality when it comes to getting them into some good educational secular program.

They're never too young for that, you know. If we have to get them up early to get to a particular school or a particular program, we say, well, this program is good, because in the future, the people become great from this program. Well, the program that Allah has written out for us, prescribed for us, is great too.

And the people that follow that program usually become great also, you know. So, I advise you to follow the Sunnah and do the age appropriate thing for your children. And order them to fast, as soon as they're strong enough to do so.

The Hadith About Children Fasting

They're strong enough to do so. Usually, you see around 5 years old, these children are fasting. Now, of course, some of them cry.

Did they cry in the time of the Prophet? Yes. And they have in the same hadith that when they cried, they distracted them with toys.

So, now it is for the children to get some toys. They let them go play. So, this would distract them from the fact that they weren't eating.

So, here's an encouragement for us to do some age appropriateness with our children. What we usually suggest for the people, for the small children, is get up and give them a breakfast. And then don't give them any lunch.

You know? And by these ways, they go through the day. And sometimes, if you're busy, they don't eat lunch anyway. They're about playing.

Here in England, it's a little bit more time, I think. Because, what time does Maghrib come around? Yeah, you guys have long days, man. SubhanAllah.

What time does Fajr come in for you? I don't know, before something. Yeah. MashaAllah.

The Long Fasting Days in England

You should be the strongest men in the world. MashaAllah. Is it like that every year? Yes.

Oh, my. It's like in the summer. Right.

So, you have 10 years of summer. Which is Salah, because the fasting, because it takes 30 years to go around the whole calendar. Every day of 10 years, it goes, it changes.

I remember the last time it was summer Ramadan. It was literally, probably, it was in the 90s. It was early 90s.

Late 70s. No, I remember the summer Ramadan. The hot summer Ramadan.

MashaAllah. May Allah bless the brothers.

The Intention for Fasting

The sunnah is to eat and drink. And then from sunrise till it's set, we fast and leave all nourishment. It's

what strong Muslims have to do. Obligating me and you to intend the night before, a day of fasting for the Lord.

So, here, what does it mean to intend the day before, the night before? It doesn't mean that you sit there and say, Ramadan. You don't have to say anything. You don't have to say anything.

As long as you have it in your heart that you're going to fast when Ramadan comes, that's it. That's what's intended there. It's not that you have to say anything.

Remember, the heart has its own intellect. So, as long as you recognize that when you hear that it's Ramadan, that you're going to fast, that's your intention. Sometimes we go a little bit further than we have to.

The sunnah is simple and the sunnah is better.

Exemptions From Fasting

So, to intend the night before, a day of fasting for the Lord. For the traveler or the sick, this obligation doesn't stick. And girls, when menses come your way, you must stop fasting right away.

So, for the person who's traveling, and for the sick person, and for the girls that are having their menses, there is no fasting.

The Misguided Concept of "Equal Rights" in Fasting

In America now, we have this new thing. We have this equal rights for Muslim women and men. And there are some women, may Allah guide us and them, who say well, this is not fair. Some women can't fast when they're on their menses.

We can. And they misinterpret the objective of the shariah. There is no fasting for someone who's on their menses.

And if you ladies think that, remind them that the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ his way is best. There is no better way. If there was any good in it, the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ and his companions would have beat us to it.

Because they were the best generation. And when we say best, we mean best in every way. Most knowledgeable, hardest working, most understanding.

Rules for the Traveler

So, when you're traveling, you can fast or you don't have to fast. They didn't look down on each other if you did either one.

Sometimes, not sometimes the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said that fasting is a piece of torture.

It's difficult. Because a person is away from his bed, his home, his normal surroundings. So it's difficult on him.

And whenever there's a difficulty, there is a remedy for that difficulty. So you see, if you're out and about, I just prayed Asr. I only prayed Asr with two rakaat.

I didn't change Asr. But for the traveler, there is a rukhsah, enlightened. It's lightened up so they can make it easier for me to fulfill my obligation of offering the Salah.

Okay? So then you know if you're traveling. If you're traveling and you don't feel like fasting today, that's your prerogative. You can do that.

Or if you feel, you know what, I'm going to fast today, I can do that. Then you can do that also. It's up to you.

And we shouldn't look down on anyone who does it any other way. It's quite alright.

Rules for the Sick Person

The sick person likewise, he has an example in the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). If he's sick, he doesn't have to fast.

He doesn't have to fast. If he thinks he can fast, sometimes if someone has a fever, they can fast. Sometimes.

Sometimes they cannot. It depends on the individual, how severe the sickness is. Sometimes if you're fasting, I mean if you're sick, you have to eat.

So, or you need water or something like that. So these things, Allah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) has made it easy on us, the traveler and the sick. They don't have to fast.

Okay?

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What Breaks the Fast

And those who make themselves throw up or sneak and eat, they should grow up because those are two dumb, dirty tricks that break a fast you'll have to fix.

---

Now some people think that throwing up breaks your fast. Throwing up does not break your fast. But, making yourself throw up breaks your fast. There's a subtle difference there.

So for those who make themselves throw up or sneak and eat, some children sometimes and even some adults, will sneak and eat.

The Beautiful Ruling About Forgetting

Now let's say you forgot. Your habit is to come in a house, get a glass of water and drink it. So you came in a house and you weren't really paying much attention and as you're going through, you got your water and you took a drink.

As you're drinking, you say, As-salamu alaykum. You put the water away. Now Allah just fed you.

The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) he told us if you forget, if you honestly forget and you eat and drink, Allah has fed you. That's a beautiful situation.

See how Allah made something that we did by accident into a blessing.

Into a beautiful thing. Now we all want to forget so that Allah can feed us. You know, because it's a blessing to have Allah feed you.

We just can't fake it. It has to be honest. Has to be honest.

And that is a beautiful thing. May Allah feed us all.

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Making Up Broken Fasts

And that said, they should grow up. Because those are two dumb, dirty tricks that break a fast. You all have to fix.

Eventually, as if Allah blesses you with taqwa, if you grow up, you'll realize that when you snuck and eat, when we were small, I mean, I was small before.

You can't tell because of these muscles. I see. Now, we used to sometimes sneak and eat.

We thought, oh man, see dogs, man, they don't know nothing. And we'd go sneak and eat. But then what happened? When we got older, we remembered that.

And we had to make those days up. We ourselves, as adults, went back and made up days that we broke 10 years ago. Okay? So, we're telling you, save your time now.

Okay? Do it better now, so that when you're 10 years and when you get older and you remember that you broke your fast when you were 12 or 15, you know, then you don't have to make up those fasts. Because those are two dumb, dirty tricks that break a fast you'll have to fix.

The True Purpose of Fasting

Allah don't need us not to eat if we still lie and act like creeps.

So here, Allah is teaching us that Allah does not benefit from our fasting. If we're still telling lies and acting like veterans in the street, this is not the purpose of fasting to just go without our food and drink. That's not the purpose, just to be hungry all day.

But rather, when you're fasting, play it cool and don't respond to every fool.

The Proper Response When Someone Bothers You

So when we're fasting, it's teaching us balance. And if someone disturbs your vibe, I'm fasting twice, is our reply.

So now, what happens if someone comes to you and they're annoying you. Hey, what's this? Why'd you do that the other day? What's he supposed to say? What's he supposed to say?

(إِنِّي صَائِمٌ - Inni sa'im - I am fasting)

That's what we're supposed to say. We don't get into arguments when we're fasting.

If someone picks at you, you don't start yelling at them. You don't start pushing back. (إِنِّي صَائِمٌ - I'm fasting).

No, but you understand, guys? We don't start fighting and fussing. If someone starts to bother you while you're fasting, play it cool and don't respond to every fool. Because we live in a non-Muslim society.

And they say, what's wrong with you? Man, your breath stinks, man. You know? Because when you're fasting, your breath has a different odor. And this odor is beloved to Allah.

Allah loves that smell. So you tell them, yeah, Allah loves this smell. Your breath stinks.

Okay? Or that swine you're eating. You know? But you don't have to say that. Don't say that, actually.

You take that back. Don't say that. What you want to say is, (إِنِّي صَائِمٌ - I'm fasting).

(إِنِّي صَائِمٌ - I'm fasting). That's what we say. You don't respond to every fool.

But if someone disturbs your vibe, I'm fasting twice is our reply.

---

Don't Sleep All Day

Okay? Remember not to sleep all day or talk too much with too much play. Then soon as you can't see the sun from way up high, your fast is done.

Some people, when they're fasting, they sleep from Fajr to Maghrib. They get up, say, man, that was tough.

Yeah, I'm starved. What about you? Yeah, you know. This is not correct.

Albeit that when you're fasting, you might want to take advantage of the القَيْلُولة (Qaylullah). Okay? Take the nighttime, the daytime nap. But for an hour, 45 minutes, take a nap.

A nap is from the sunnah. But try to do it before Asr, if you can, but if your situation doesn't allow it, you're still allowed to take a nap. Especially in this country, when the Isha comes in, I mean the Fajr, Astaghfirullah.

The Maghrib comes in so, so late. So, allow the children and allow yourselves to take a small nap.

---

Don't Talk Too Much

So, remember not to sleep all day or talk too much with too much play.

Remember, the Jews, the people who preceded us, when they fasted, they did not talk at all. Did you know that? Yes, you knew that.

You found that in the Quran, didn't you? Who told us that? Maryam, that's right.

Maryam told us that. When the angel came to her and he told her that if anybody talks to you, what do you tell them? I'm fasting, so I'm taking an oath not to speak to anyone. I'm not going to talk to any human while I'm fasting.

But Islam came to clarify how the laws are supposed to be. The Jews went to an extreme with that. So, when we're fasting, one of the things we've forgotten is that when you're fasting, we don't talk if there's no need to talk.

But we do the minimum when there's a necessity.

So, we come in, we say, Assalamu Alaikum. At least we have to say it in a day anyway.

Assalamu Alaikum to somebody else. And if there's a necessity to speak, then we speak. If there's no necessity to speak, then we don't speak.

But we don't say, we're just chatting it up all day, talking about the football game, and talking about Michael Jackson. Did you know he died? You know, and all this other stuff like that while we're fasting? No. That takes away from the haybah, from the attitude that we're supposed to have when we're fasting.

The Hadith About Speech

When we're fasting, we play it cool. We do what we say. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said:

Sahih Al-Bukhari, Hadith 6018; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 47

Let him usmut. Which is a strong language for shut your mouth. It's not like uskut or hudu.

It's usmut. Be quiet. Very strong.

So we see that here in Imam Shafi, he said so the person can put it on the scale. If there's some benefit, then he talks. If it's equal, then he talks.

If he don't talk, then he don't talk. And of course if it's wrong, then he definitely doesn't talk. So we don't talk.

So we don't speak all day or play too much, or with too much play.

---

Breaking the Fast

Then soon as you can't see the sun from way up high, your fast is done. So now, we're good here in this valley here.

I guess you're in the hills, you're up high. So you can look up and see when the sun comes in or when the sun goes. So as soon as the sun has disappeared from the horizon, it doesn't mean the light is gone.

But the sun has now broken past here and you don't see it. Your fast is done. The devil loses.

Because the devil has been hoping that we break our fast and do something. And we win. Oh Allah, forgive our sins.

The Dua When Breaking Fast

And this du'a is the du'a we're supposed to make. Oh Allah, forgive our sins. The thirst is gone, the veins are wet, and we hope that the reward is set.

This is the du'a that the Prophet ﷺ taught us to make. Like this, we pray. Before we eat then with Bismillah, we start to eat.

Break With Dates First

First with dates or water if there are no dates to break it with. The first thing that we're supposed to do is break our fast with dates. Why dates? Allah knows best the barakah that He put in dates.

Scientists tell us yes, if you eat the date, the sweetness of it goes straight to your bloodstream. But even if we didn't know that, it doesn't make a difference. The Prophet ﷺ told us to break our fast with dates.

That's why we break our fast with dates. Now some hikmah comes afterwards to let us know that dates are beneficial. That's extra beneficial.

Or water if there is no dates to break it with. You know? So if we can't find dates, then we, not that we can't find them, but let's say the dates are here but you don't have any with you right now. And it's time to break your fast.

No, you grab the water. When no water, eat a sweet but do not wait to start to eat. That's the rule.

Rush to Break the Fast

When you don't have water, when no water, eat a sweet but do not wait to start to eat. That's the rule. The Prophet ﷺ said they'll always be good.

They'll always be good in this ummah. They'll always be good as long as we delay the suhoor. We eat until it's almost right before fajr.

We eat. If we're going to eat something right before fajr, the suhoor, and we rush to break our fast as soon as maghrib comes out.

He's teaching us here that there is no extra blessing in delaying holding way back and going past that.

No, there's no better than that. You don't torture yourself. We're not Catholics.

We're Muslims. So we're not trying to beat ourselves or anything like that. We're not Shia.

They beat themselves, right? And they should. Making shirk and stuff like that. But we're Muslims.

We're following the religion of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So we stop where he said to stop and we start where he said to start.

Making Up Missed Fasts

And if you're fasting, took a break from sickness or for travel's sake, then make it up some other day.

And if you can't, you gotta pay.

So if the person was traveling or he got sick, then he just has to make up those days whenever he gets a chance.

And if he doesn't get a chance, if he can't do it because he's physically unable to, then he has to pay.

He has to pay the fidya or the ransom and that's feeding poor people for the everyday.

How to Feed the Poor

And the way you can do that is not feeding the masjid. Sometimes what we do is that we'll come and bring the food to the masjid and feed us.

No. We're not poor people. This is not what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala intended.

You have to find real poor people and they don't have to be Muslim. He didn't say Muslim poor people. He said poor people.

And there's a benefit for that because when you feed a person, they appreciate you. They come back. They want more food.

And actually they want it. We want them to come back because when they come back, they learn more about Islam. So let's find and don't expect them to come here.

How do they know that there's food here? So that means we have to go to the poor area where the real poor people is and we have to be involved in our community to know where they are and provide meals for them.

How? Maybe you make a big pot of food and you figure out how much it's going to be or I don't know here in your town but in New York again we have soup kitchen. You guys have that? MashaAllah.

Because of the amount of indigenous people that we have and the people that don't have places to live, indigenous people, we have soup kitchens and you can go to the soup kitchen and say how much does it cost to feed lunch for the people here or dinner for these people here and they'll tell you it costs maybe two or three hundred dollars to feed them.

You say well look I'm going to make a meal for the next three dinners. For how many people do you feed? Oh we feed a hundred people here and this is how much it costs.

I want to make sure they don't eat any pork and everything. You can go and pay for the food whichever type fare that you want and then you feed them. Since you don't have that here you have to find out a way.

I don't know how you will do it here. Maybe there are poor people here that you know about. You can go and deliver the food to them.

But that's what has to happen when it comes to fasting.

Closing

And that ends the poem. I hope it was fun for you guys.

Any questions? I heard about you guys. You guys don't ask questions.

End of Talk

Sheikh Abu Taubah

Topic: Ramadan for the Youth