Abdullah Hakim Quick – The New Muslim Corner – Understanding Fasting And Ramadan
AI: Summary ©
The importance of knowing one's faith and preparing for prayer plans is emphasized, as it is necessary for achieving spiritual goals and avoiding negative consequences. Fasting is necessary for achieving these goals, and avoiding alcohol and sexual waste is also important. Prayer and drink before drinking is also recommended, and regular prayer is encouraged. The holy month of AD stroke is highlighted, with emphasis on fasting and avoiding injuries. The importance of regular prayer and the use of the holy spirit is also emphasized, along with online programs for learning about them.
AI: Summary ©
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين
وأصلي وأصلم على سيد الأولين والآخرين نبينا محمد
وعلى آله وصحبه مبارك وسلم Our praise are
due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds and
peace and blessings be upon our beloved Prophet
Muhammad the Master of the First and the
Last his family, his companions and all those
who call to his way and establish his
sunnah to the Day of Judgement As to
what follows السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته الحمد
لله This is a continuation of our New
Muslim Corner and this year we find ourselves
still in the middle of the winter solstice
this is the winter season very difficult conditions
for many people but we wanted to continue
the class especially since we are at the
door of Ramadan and being a New Muslim
Corner being a place for people who are
interested in Islam those who have recently embraced
Islam those who are strengthened in their faith
it is important that we have a basic
discussion before the month and then inshallah we
will see what we can provide during the
month itself So, in dealing with our faith
again, we go back to the great North
African scholar Sidi Abdurrahman al-Akhdari and when
he spoke to New Muslims and he made
a special type of reference or a special
intervention and he said that the first thing
you should be very much involved in is
to correct and authenticate your faith make sure
that the faith that you have and this
of course is in belief that everybody has
a faith so make sure that whatever your
belief is that it is correct and try
to authenticate it as much as you possibly
can after that he said that you should
seek the knowledge of your personal obligations so
this is your farayet so that includes your
purification how you purify your mind, your body
your place of worship your life and your
prayers you should seek knowledge on how to
perform prayers in Islamic way and then fasting
and he said that try to stay within
the limits commanded by Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala because although these actions themselves like prayer,
like fasting, like purification are practiced by other
peoples there are special limits there is special
approach to these key issues within Islam itself
and this is important because with all the
politics in the world and all the things
happening the changes the individual themselves the individual
Muslim needs to we need to focus on
the individual Muslim and that really is a
challenge and it is important for all of
us because no matter what happens in the
world we have to face Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala by ourself when we die and
so it is critical that our understanding is
correct and that we have this good strong
foundations in our faith and we recognize great
five pillars of Islam that is the testimony
of the oneness of Allah and the prophethood
of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam to perform prayers
to pay zakat or the poor do fast
in Ramadan and to perform Hajj or the
pilgrimage if you are able so you can
see on the chart the number four that
fasting in Ramadan is one of the pillars
of faith so this is one of the
ways that we distinguish ourself from other communities
even people who believe in one God this
is the final message and so this formula
is set up so that it can be
used by people in different parts of the
world in different understandings so in going back
to the basic Arabic for our foundations the
word for fasting is SOM or SIYAM and
the linguistic meaning of SOM is to withdraw
it can also mean stagnancy or motionless and
they used to use that sometimes to refer
to still winds or still water or even
horses that refuse to eat and then generally
it was used for human beings abstaining from
food, drink and talking etc so it's a
type of Imsak it's a type of abstinence
so that's the essence the linguistic meaning of
the terms it's always important for us to
understand the linguistic meaning of the terms that
we are doing as well as what we
call the Islamic meaning meaning the limits that
are set by Allah and His Messenger so
Ramadan itself comes from Ramadan and this is
like the burning and scorching heat and it
was originally instituted in a very hot time
and you could say in a sense that
it burns out sins a lot of people
look into the meanings because in Arabic when
you say Ramadan you're thinking about heat although
that's going to be strange for us here
in the north because it's cold it's actually
in the minus temperatures now but the special
meanings to it this is where the Prophet
comes in giving special meanings to what Ramadan
is and fasting in Ramadan again this is
one of our foundations but the Prophet said
من صوم رمضان إيمانا واحتسابا غفر له ما
تقدم من ذنبي he said that whoever fasts
in Ramadan with faith they have belief they're
doing it out of their faith and they
seek a reward from Allah all of their
previous sins will be forgiven so this act
is not only just a type of abstinence
it's not a political action but it actually
has a tremendous reward from Allah and as
a legal term so again here's your limits
the limits set by Allah as to what
fasting is it means abstention from food drink
and sexual gratification from dawn to dusk or
to sunset and that abstention has to be
done with the intention of doing the worship
so it's a specific intention and some of
the Imams even said it's good that in
the night before or in the morning just
before you're starting that you say it I
intend to fast or you feel it in
yourself and obviously if you get up early
in the morning then this is showing your
intention because the place of intention is in
your heart and this was observed by the
Prophet peace be upon him there was fasting
in Mecca and fasting again is practiced by
all of the Prophets there was a form
of fasting but in terms of this obligatory
this compulsory form that was instituted in the
second year after the Hijrah or the migration
so the second year after the Prophet migrated
from Mecca to Medina after his first 13
years of Prophethood then you see the prayer
instituted and fasting is instituted zakat, almsgiving it's
coming in during this time itself and the
Quran itself has many explanations and guidance with
fasting and in the second chapter Al Baqarah
verse 183 Allah tells us O you who
believe O you who believe fasting
has been prescribed on you as it was
prescribed on those who came before you in
order that you may nurture or gain taqwa
the consciousness of Allah so the essence of
the fast is not a physical thing it's
not a hunger strike it is it's a
spiritual thing and that's important that we keep
it in our mind why we are doing
what we are doing we are not doing
this because we are angry at society or
because we want to do different no because
we are gaining that connection with the creator
of the heavens and the earth and the
fasting also gives us self-control and part
of taqwa is this hypersensitivity to wrong, to
evil and so this heightens our ability to
know what evil is and to stay out
of it and the prophet also said in
a hadith so the
intelligent person is the one who controls himself
and works toward life after death and the
fool the ahmak is the one who makes
himself follow his own desires and then puts
all of his hopes in Allah so fasting
develops this self-control it gives us patience
we identify with the poor that there's so
many blessings that come in this fasting within
the month of Ramadan itself which is the
9th month of the lunar calendar and the
Quran also says it was the month of
Ramadan in which the Quran was revealed as
guidance for humanity and self-evident proof of
the guidance and as a standard by which
to separate truth from falsehood and then in
this verse it says in Arabic so it
said whoever sees this month has to fast
that's a command so the Muslims were following
revelation at the time and the revelation is
saying now if this month comes in and
that is with the Hilal site that the
first of the month that crescent you have
to fast so this is an obligatory fast
so somebody would say well how can we
everybody fast I mean there's so many Muslims
doing so many different things what is the
essence of this it's important especially for new
Muslims to understand we don't have to do
everything immediately so if you've recently accepted Islam
you try your best to fast but you're
not required right after coming into Islam to
fast every single day immediately you try the
best that you can and you work into
it because fasting is not punishment we're not
punishing our bodies in Buddhism you find monks
that literally punish themselves they will sit on
the side of the road and eat nothing
but what comes in a cup so they
are training their nafs their lower self they're
punishing their lower self that's not what fasting
is so this is not supposed to be
a torture session and people who have the
wrong understanding of fasting might look at it
as a torture session because if you think
about this on a normal day if you
don't eat from dawn you don't drink anything
all the way until sunset on a normal
day you would feel your stomach going crazy,
you would feel like you're in the desert
because the mind has a lot of control
over the body so fasting is a discipline
okay, and those who are exempt, number one
the sick person is exempt, so if a
person is sick, meaning really sick, it's not
just a headache it's not just feeling queasy
because we will feel this but somebody who's
really sick, they're vomiting they're really in a
state of, they don't have to fast okay,
if a person is traveling outside of their
town you're on the road you don't have
to fast okay, and even some Muslims in
the time of the Prophet ﷺ they said,
I travel and I fast too like, they
thought they were getting special blessings and the
Prophet ﷺ said, you're not getting any special
blessing by fasting when you're traveling because this
is not punishment okay, this is a discipline
and the what is traveling there's a lot
of discussions which I won't go into the
details, but basically you make the intention and
you're on the road to travel now, in
the past, if you went 90 kilometers you
know, if you went 50 kilometers in some
places you're outside your walled city, you're on
the road so many of the scholars tried
to put numbers on this they say 50
kilometers, 90 kilometers you know, if you go
that distance, then you're really a traveler but
that's not necessarily true because some of the
urban cities that we're living in now you
can go from one end of the city
to another and you've gone like 50 kilometers
so are you traveling?
No, you're still within your city so once
you've left the boundaries, you made the intention
and you're on the road then you are
you're a traveler.
Also the means of traveling you don't have
to be on a camel or a donkey
or a horse or suffering you could be
flying from one city to another and you
can break your fast even though you may
feel I don't have to and you don't,
you could possibly still fast, but the permission
is there also pregnant women, breastfeeding women also
exempted from the fast if a woman is
on her monthly courses from menstruation or in
the period after childbirth then she's also exempted
from the fasting and what we do, what
we're allowed to do is feed a poor
person for every day that we miss so
the Islamic fast itself, the pillars of the
fast the most important things, you've got to
keep these things in mind okay, it's like
the bare minimum, number one is the niyyah,
the intention so that intention is important and
it's in your heart but it's important to
make the intention, and second is the imsaq
so that's total abstinence from every activity that
would break the fast and we learned it
would be eating, drinking, sexual gratification okay, and
it's from dawn to sunset these are the
pillars okay, so the sunnah of fasting okay,
what are some of the other aspects of
fasting that makes it an Islamic fast number
one is that when you go through your
fasting day that when it comes time to
break your fast as soon as sunset comes
break it right away okay, and it is
sunnah, or the way of the prophet to
break the fast with a date and with
water but if you don't have either of
the two it's okay, you're mainly breaking you
know, the fast because the fast is it's
defined by what enters into the mouth area
to the jawf it's going down into your
stomach area the internal okay, so you can
break your fast using other liquids as well
and the prophet would say اللهم لك سمت
وعلى رزقك افطرت Oh Allah for your sake
I have fasted and with the food you
have provided me I break my fast okay,
so these are some of the sunnahs of
the fast I'm going to go straight through
it so we have a general understanding of
the fast itself and there are some things
that we need to avoid okay, if possible
and that is number one, goggling excessive goggling
you can rinse your mouth and especially if
you're in a desert climate your mouth gets
really dry, I fasted in a Bedouin house
in Medina and by the time the afternoon
came, your mouth feels like it's filled with
cotton literally swollen okay, because of the heat
so goggling you know, when you're making your
ablution, to goggle excessively, no, because the tendency
would be if you goggle down the bottom,
your body wants it so you just rinse
in the front of your mouth and rinse
lightly with your nostrils also kissing and hugging,
if this arouses desire in a person, avoid
these things during the fast also chewing gum
or chewing tobacco so most people know they
don't chew tobacco today but cigarette smoking I
guess could be like this in a sense,
because the nicotine is going all down in
all places and a person should not be
smoking cigarettes while they're fasting also it's undesirable
to taste food and especially for those who
are cooking food generally we want to taste
it to see if it's salty enough or
spicy enough so try to avoid that unless
you're an expert I'm not an expert if
you put that food near my mouth I'm
going to eat it but if you're an
expert and you can spit it out and
rinse your mouth, okay also cupping or bloodletting
bloodletting also is an undesirable act I want
to open up the floor for any questions
anybody has, something specifically on these issues itself
although we're going to go through some of
the basics ones that are there a question
brushing your teeth as well it's something that
we should it's undesirable it is sunnah to
use what is called a miswak and that
is a stick and they had a stick
that they would use so that's sunnah that
is a good thing to do and what
can be done you can have a toothbrush
and that can be used constantly during the
day especially when you're making your ablution now
the point that comes in is toothpaste because
toothpaste has got a taste and scent and
it is an undesirable act however if you
do use toothpaste and some scholars have allowed
you need to rinse out your mouth a
number of times until you don't taste it
in your mouth okay so you can use
it and some people who are working on
jobs and they have public relations you know
whatever so you want to clean it out
but to be honest your stomach is going
to release certain gases even if you brush
your teeth okay that is the reality and
that's called khuluf and that khuluf that comes
out of the mouth of a fasting person
the prophet said it is sweeter to Allah
than the sweetest perfume okay so it will
come but it is permissible you know to
use toothpaste however try to avoid it or
you'd have to rinse your mouth out so
you're not tasting the toothpaste any other questions
anybody has floor is open yes
so the fast of lent and some of
the other religions it's not similar to Ramadan
so in some cases they fast from eating
meat and they will fast maybe from hard
food solid food but this is complete fast
so you don't find in the other religions
complete fast with no liquids and no sexual
gratifications at all along with the food so
this is special and you're going to find
that there are other things that are there
in the higher level of the fasting as
well so it's not the same although fasting
is done by many different people now a
lot of people are into this intermittent fasting
so this is a way to lose weight
okay to intermittent fasting and for some it's
like a religion right they study it like
a religion intermittent fasting and that's okay that's
a discipline but it's not necessarily Islamic fast
what breaks your fast so any liquids or
food reaching the inside that's the joff right
through the mouth, the nose, the eyes anything
reaching on the inside then that will break
your fast self-induced vomiting now that might
sound strange right but some people do that
there are some societies I don't know if
Muslims have reached this level yet but there
may be some societies the Romans used to
eat so much food and they wanted to
enjoy their food so when they got filled
they would put their finger in their mouth
vomit out and then eat some more so
self-induced fasting is wrong however self-induced
vomiting however you may vomit, something may come
up especially in the first few days and
that's okay if something comes up you just
rinse it out sometimes it's stomach acids or
whatever but if a lot comes up, full
vomit if that comes out you're sick so
now you fall into the category of marid
or a sick person and the onset of
menses or postnatal bleeding if it comes, if
you see markings are there then it's in
and you have to you have to break
your fast and deliberate inhaling tobacco or drugs
that's also all these things are going to
break the fast okay so this is part
of our Islamic so there are some things
that are permissible and we have Muslims that
are extremists we have extremists okay so even
to brush your teeth, it's permissible to brush
your teeth and especially if you use something
heavy brushing, slight toothpaste but during the day
use the miswak or a toothbrush with nothing
on it you can clean your mouth so
it is permissible to do it is permissible
to take a shower or to bathe however
don't put your head up obviously because you
don't want liquid coming in the jowl in
the stomach area also you know traveling you
know it is you can travel, some would
say well I'm not going to travel because
it's the month of Ramadan no, if you
have to travel for whatever your reasons are
you can travel in Ramadan this is a
discipline but what some corrupted people do even
unfortunately in the Muslim world they will schedule
their vacation in Ramadan so now they are
going to fly to Paris you know or
they will go to their Bali they are
going on vacation but you travel and you
can break your fast that's wrong that's the
wrong intention although traveling is permitted it's also
permitted to use oils or perfumes on your
body, ointments these are also permissible to use
in Ramadan okay so if you swallow your
own saliva this might sound extreme right but
there are some people who teach you can't
swallow your own saliva your mouth makes saliva
right so now this liquid is in your
mouth right so what are you going to
do with it some extremists say spit it
out but that's your body right your body
is mostly made up of liquids so there
is nothing wrong with swallowing it okay and
again the vomiting if it's just light it's
okay and if you are in the street
and there is dust or smoke that is
around in the street and you inhale it
that's not breaking your fast okay and if
you make a mistake while you are fasting
then it's okay and that might sound strange
but on the first day first couple days
we have a lifestyle we live so you
get up and you are used to getting
something to drink and you drink and say
oh it's okay or you might even go
and eat I know one brother he got
up and he made his eggs and everything
and he ate the whole meal and then
realized he is fasting but as long as
he didn't recognize it then the prophet peace
be upon him said whoever eats and drinks
by mistake then you can continue the fast
because Allah was the one that gave you
that so Allah gave even that brother his
eggs but he shouldn't have known that he
was doing it so you can make a
mistake again this is not torture and these
things will happen especially we find in the
beginning so our fasting day to look at
our fasting day okay I want to open
up the floor for any questions that anybody
may have as we go along because these
are all areas where there is a lot
of discussions so the floor is open for
any questions anybody has concerning those yeah go
ahead right
so what if a person overthinks and they
may think that if they made a mistake
they have done something wrong this is where
it's important for us to read not only
the Quran but read the sayings of prophet
Muhammad because he is guided by Allah and
it's comforting to read this and it's very
comforting when you read the person reads that
he said that if you eat or drink
by mistake then you can continue your fast
because Allah gave you that food so that's
a very comforting thing to know that I
made this mistake but actually it was a
blessing Allah blessed me with this maybe the
person really did need that and Allah knew
that that person needed it and so that's
a comforting thing and once we know again
know your limits once you know the limits
as long as you are safe within it
it's important and again I cannot stress it
enough fasting is not punishment it is not
torturing ourselves so we are allowed to make
mistakes to live a normal life you can
go to work you can study you can
even exercise now that may sound difficult but
you can exercise and there are people who
exercise I was with some people who lived
in the Caribbean they would do their martial
arts exercising after Asa in the afternoon that's
when they would do martial arts ok and
that's permissible it's a little bit heavy but
if you're disciplined enough to do it you
can do it don't give up your normal
life ok especially those responsibilities that you have
any other questions before we go on yeah
right, so you know as far as lying,
backbiting because we are not supposed to be
swearing things like this it doesn't break the
fast but it will take away from the
benefits of the fast it will lower that
fast in the eyes of Allah subhana wa
ta'ala because we're not supposed to be
doing this, the tongue actually is in a
sense fasting ok, so we're not supposed to
be doing these different things however it does
not break the fast so the fast is
still in but it is an undesirable act
and the fact that we are fasting should
enable that person to recognize when they are
backbiting easier or if they just told a
lie that's one of the beautiful things about
Ramadan you go around Muslims Muslims change in
Ramadan which is good, it's not necessarily hypocritical
if you travel to a Muslim country, that's
the best time when people are fasting it's
not necessarily wrong however if the person immediately
changes when the fast breaks they become a
devil you know like if they're jumping back
and forth that's hypocrisy but in the state
of fasting we're like angels in a sense
ok, so we can recognize wrong easier our
consciousness is different see, that's a special state
that you're in so the fasting day in
Ramadan it begins in the morning and it's
important for everybody to get a prayer chart
now we're Alhamdulillah we have it on our
watches and our devices however it's still a
good habit to have a prayer chart on
the wall in case you're not with your
cell phone or whatever and have your times
that are there ok, and so Suhoor is
your early morning meal and so if Fajr
the dawn prayer comes in at 5.30
just for instance then Suhoor is eaten before
that time so based upon how you discipline
yourself you should get up say maybe 4
.30 what some people do is they will
make certain foods even the night before so
things are set or things are already chopped
up and cut whatever and then you cook
right away so it doesn't take a lot
of time in food preparation in the morning
ok so that Suhoor will go say from
in this case 4.30 to 5.30
all the way until 5.30 although it's
better to really stop before that time and
you're going to get a lot of different
opinions relative to prayer charts, timings ok some
people even used to have this one chart
that would say dawn comes in or Fajr
comes in at 5.30 but you should
stop at 5.10 or 5.15 it
would even say that but that didn't mean
that you know you went past the time
that you broke your fast no what it
means is what they were doing was protecting
you from going in the fast so that's
the reason why they were putting that there
but if it's 5.30 for instance and
for some reason you had a difficult night
your alarm clock didn't work it went off
and you just pushed it aside and Fajr
is at 5.30 and you wake up
at 5.25 what are you going to
do?
ok you got 5 minutes left ok so
what would everybody do at that time?
you'd eat a date ok what else would
other people do?
water using water too because water is important
with the date this is why a date
and water is good because dates got sugars
and things in it too like that somebody
would grab their burger or whatever it is
and bite their samosas have things ready do
some preparation before ok so you're ready for
it at the time but it is permissible
right up until the time of 5.30
in Muslim countries it's a beautiful thing they
would call the Adhan you hear it outside
and in some countries they would even shoot
a cannon not because they like to bomb
people like suicide bombers no it is because
it's like an announcement because everybody didn't have
alarm clocks so they would announce the beginning
of the fast and the end of the
fast in the Muslim countries so you go
through the day fasting and you try to
be as good as possible the prophet peace
be upon him he said there are people
who fast and get nothing from their fast
except hunger this is one of his traditions
they fast but the only thing they're getting
is hunger this is where that concept comes
in so what do you think he means
on this what meaning would you get on
this right so the only thing they got
was just they were just hungry they didn't
really get the higher level fast they didn't
get the true benefits of the fast you
see and he said there's some people who
stand up in the middle of the night
in prayers and they only get sleeplessness right
so they're not really benefiting from it so
we have to now try to go as
high as we possibly can and but then
we break our fast that's called iftar and
you try to break it right away and
that is your fasting day okay now in
the evening there are some special prayers that
go on during Ramadan this is called taraweeh
prayers and it comes from rahah this word
here comes from rahah which means to relax
to relax okay and you'll see Muslims making
the group prayer taraweeh in the masjids in
their homes and you know whatever when I
first became Muslim this is many years ago
of course but when I first became Muslim
it was about 2 or 3 days before
Ramadan so I went right I was serious
though and I fasted and the brothers took
me to the masjid which is now called
the Jami mosque it's in the west end
of Toronto and then they were doing this
taraweeh prayers going up and down up and
down I looked at the brother and I
said if this is Islam I don't know
if I can make this man like because
I used to play basketball my knees were
killing me how to go up and down
up and down up and down nobody said
you don't have to do this this is
a special prayer you're supposed to relax in
salat and that's the original spirit of taraweeh
although many masjids you'll see it's very hyper
disciplined okay but it's supposed to be relaxation
you're listening to the Quran being recited in
a relaxed evening setting and if you look
at the life of the prophet peace be
upon him it is reported that he came
out his house was connected to the mosque
so he came out made the taraweeh prayers
with his companions and then another time he
came out and then the third night he
didn't come out and they said where is
he and he didn't come out so he
let them know that I didn't want you
to think that you had to do this
but the way some Muslims think is that
you have to do this you have to
be in the mosque every single night or
something's wrong with you that's the wrong understanding
it's preferable to do that but there's nothing
wrong with you if you prayed at home
or you know for some reason you weren't
able to make it it's okay because it's
all about relaxation okay again that's an important
spirit that we need to have when we
are entering into the month of Ramadan now
how many times do we pray at the
time of the prophet peace be upon him
he was recorded to have prayed 8 rakats
these are units he prayed 8 units of
prayers of course his prayer was a long
one but 8 units of prayers and then
he would do the extra prayers or the
extra prayer after that and that's all he
was recorded to have done after his passing
the companions were doing what they understood some
did 8 some did 10 some did 20
they were doing all types so one of
the great leaders the Khalifa Umar al-Khattab
he gathered the Muslims together and he said
we're going to make 20 rakats the extra
Taraweeh so after Isha prayer your evening prayer
you do your two sunnahs for Isha and
then we'll do 20 it's in sets of
twos okay and he set that you know
as a method and that's the sunnah of
Umar which is good for us to follow
because the prophet peace be upon him said
follow the sunnah of the Khulafa Rashti okay
but it's not cut in stone like making
3 rakats you know for Maghrib prayer in
the evening so really you'll see different masjids
different people believe in different ways so some
places they are strictly 20 and if you
left before 20 they look at you like
a deserter from the battlefield other masjids are
strictly 8 and if you did more than
8 they would look at you as a
hypocrite you're adding on to the religion that's
the wrong understanding people should be free to
do whatever they possibly can that is the
safest position and you'll notice in some masjids
now like here in the Islamic institute after
8 you know a lot of people leave
and people stay however the people who leave
should not make a lot of noise but
it is permissible and should be relaxed that
is the taraweeh prayers I want to open
the floor for any questions anybody has about
this such
as wrongdoing yeah so as we said you
know if a person you know does something
wrong their actions then this doesn't necessarily break
the fast unless your wrongdoing is eating and
drinking or involved in sexuality if it's outside
of that and the person had the intention
although it's a strange intention to be fasting
and pickpocketing or something like that that would
be a strange kind of fast but technically
speaking it doesn't break the fast but the
blessings are gone if the person is involved
in things that are wrong so we need
to try to avoid that but technically speaking
the person is still fasting questions yeah
so while fasting in terms of making ablution
and then there's the goggling and there's the
blowing of the nose you still do that
but you goggle in the front of your
mouth so it should not be a complete
goggling where it goes to the back of
your mouth or your throat no you rinse
in the front of your mouth and lightly
you know with the nostrils so that no
liquids are actually going down any other general
questions anybody has yes so
one of the beautiful things about Ramadan is
the Prophet said that the evil jinns the
demons that whisper at us because we hear
voices right everybody does there's a qareen around
every person so those are locked up in
Ramadan so if you do hear voices that's
you talking to yourself right it is you
but the outside forces are cut off in
Ramadan and so the spiritual air is clear
and I remember I was living in Medina
and you know people fight over is Ramadan
you know did they cite the moon did
they not cite the moon you know and
they had these people who they used to
go to this it wasn't right but they
would go to this person who communicates with
the jinn he's like a magician right he
lived in Jiddah so and even the royal
family everybody was sending their people to this
one he's a famous magician and so now
they're fighting over it so some people said
no go to him go to the sahih
because he knows when Ramadan is in right
all the evil jinns they're gone so he
can tell you I don't hear anything it's
in that's not a valid you know way
of determining Ramadan but it's interesting reality is
the spiritual air is clear it's clear floor
is open for any other general questions now
so we will be in the different masjids
you have some slight differences maybe in you
know calculations or in the citing of the
moon because the Muslim world is large there's
so many different parts of the world whatever
but basically from Friday evening coming so that
would be the time of this class so
therefore there'd be no class on Friday evening
that the prayers will actually begin because they're
evening prayers and Ramadan evening comes before the
day right so they would begin on Friday
evening and then it will continue you know
after that we're straight in Ramadan itself and
in this institute on Saturday night we have
a gathering it's about an hour before the
breaking of the fast so people will gather
here alhamdulillah in this center we have sometimes
over a thousand people will come and we
will have a person give a lecture and
it's a group if ta you're breaking together
with other people which is an excellent idea
especially for the new Muslims and so we
encourage you to go out to these programs
in the evenings and try to enjoy Ramadan
you know as much as possible and you
know keep in touch you know with us
online we will try to announce any other
special programs that we especially have so have
a safe journey home and have a blessed
Ramadan wasalamu alaikum