Assalamu alaikum and good morning. Welcome to the morning barakah home. It's Friday morning, so much time and it's the first Ramadan edition of morning barakah. I'm super excited and really looking forward to the holy month and the blessings it bestows upon us. It's been a great start to the holy month of Ramadan and alhamdulillah so much to look forward to. So excited. Absolutely and mashallah the blessings multiplies in our saying TV are bringing barakah to your homes during the whole time where it has been narrated that there are so many blessings and it comes to the nights of Ramadan, alhamdulillah. Yeah that's right, Zahra the holy prophet peace and blessings be upon him and his family has said that Ramadan is Allah's month, alhamdulillah. This really is the month to gain blessings and rewards. Let's get on that barakah train and see what we have in store for you today. Mustafa Ali is in the studio with the holy Quran recitations from Surah al-Baq. We also have brother Ibrahim Ansari on the couch with the daily du'a's and this morning's du'a is to prepare us for the beginning of the blessing of Ramadan. We also have sister du'a with spiritual upliftment from the holy Quran and how to benefit from the holy Quran in our daily lives. It sounds like it'd be amazing. I'm sure it would inshallah and looking forward to that. Then today brother Dlah will also be finding out the nutritional benefits of food on our mental health from life coach and NLP practitioner Fahima Muhammad and we also have our very own chef Ben in the studio and something to make and it's going to have related on dates. Yes indeed Zahra, there's numerous adives about the wonders of dates so do stay true inshallah. We have sister Masooma Jaffa with Ramadan etiquette and today's topic is all about Ramadan preparations something we should all be concerned about and also to benefit from. Definitely and so much wisdom from sister Masooma looking forward to and even more than that just can't wait for Adityan Abbas, a little cutie. Bless him he's stayed up late so far and he's going to deliver the daily hoodies. He's going to deliver for us. MashaAllah. So cute. Bless him. It's a fantastic show for you this morning and just before we have our very own side Masin Shah with Aqam SOS. He'll be here on the couch. Your questions and queries will be addressed. I can't wait to see and the topic this morning is children and fasting. So parents keep an eye on that one. Right now it's time for our morning barakah competition details. You and a friend could win the chance to visit Imam Hussain and Abul Fadal Abbas. Peace and blessings be upon them for July 2018. For the competition details stay tuned for brother Ahmad. You want the chance to visit Imam Hussain and Abbas peace be upon them both while you've come to the right place. Morning barakah is giving away two free tickets to Karbala this July 2018. I am standing here with the holy shrine of Imam Hussain alaihi salam behind me to give you the chance to send your salutations to the Imam in person. The exclusive morning barakah competition is the chance for you and a friend to visit the holy shrine of Imam Hussain. For your chance to win answer the following question. Name two names given to the holy land of Karbala in Iraq. We need your emails with your answer and details which include a telephone number, phone name and address. Entries are free of charge and closed by the 30th of June 2018. All entries after may not be accepted so please put your entries in before the deadline. To enter you must be over the age of 18. Right now it's time for my favorite part of the show the part where we hear the holy Quran being recited by brother Mustafa Ali. I'm very much looking forward to this one. Absolutely it will be a real treat in these holy nights and to be hearing the Quran from brother Mustafa. How do you do sir? How do you do? Good. So inshallah you'll be reciting Surah Al-Bakr verses 183 to 186 today for us. Insha'Allah. Masha'Allah that's a very very very beautiful recitation of the holy Quran by brother Mustafa Ali. It's just so nice to hear the Quran being recited in the holy month. It's very soothing for the soul I think. Indeed indeed and we're looking forward to hearing from brother Ibrahim with these duas. As-salamu alaykum brother good to see you. How are you doing sir? Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Thank you and we're looking forward to this segment as well where you're going to be talking about the duas in the holy month. So today's one we're going to discuss is duas for the beginning of the holy month of Shah Ramadhan. Yes inshallah. So would you like to talk us through the duas and you know the timing? Of course definitely inshallah. One beautiful thing generally duas it's just that you calling upon God having conversation with God and beautiful way to start the month of God the month of Allah is through a du'a. So there's this du'a which is recommended to be reciting and to be recited sorry in the beginning of the month and in this du'a we have of course du'as mentioned in Mufati Hajjanan the book we have of du'as and it talks about the beginning of Ramadhan and what Ramadhan is so it's the month in which the Qur'an was revealed and at the end of it it's us seeking Allah to help us in observing the fast of this beautiful month. So if I may recite inshallah. You're welcome. Allahumma rabba shahrihi Ramadhan Alladhi yanzalti fihiil Qur'an Waj'alti hu bay'inat min al-Huda wal-Furqan Allahumma faba'arek lana fi shahri Ramadhan Wa anna ala siamihi wa salawatih Wa taqabbelhu minna wa sallallahu ala Muhammadin wa alihil taherin Allahumma sallallahu ala Muhammadin wa alihil Muhammad Mashallah it's so beautiful. Thank you so much. So inshallah it would be meaning for those who are not familiar with Arabic. What's the gist of the du'a? So it starts off with oh Allah the month of Ramadhan has ended. Oh Allah the load of the month of Ramadhan in which he have revealed the Qur'an of course that is based on the Qur'anic ayah shahri Ramadhan al-lidhi unzila fihiil Qur'an in which the Qur'an was revealed making it a guidance to the people and a clear proof. So oh Allah please bless us in this month and help us observe in fasting and offering prayers and accept from us. See this this this last this last part of the du'a I think is very beautiful accept from us accept these these amadah we're doing towards you so that's the general translation the gist of the du'a. I think you're right because I think that last bit is what really strikes that we can do amaz we could do lots of recitations but it's acceptance isn't it from Allah that is so crucial that we shouldn't just assume that we are doing all this abadah and and it's accepted wow wow look at me I'm doing all this yeah but actually it's it's the barakah of Allah's acceptance towards us isn't it. Definitely and you know what is it's with du'a in general and I believe the month of Ramadhan the month of du'a and that a promise that is given by Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and the Holy Qur'an. It's a promise that is given from from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala but of course this promise is to be is to be granted if it's done in the correct way so it's not it's not the thing of for example one thing we do know is many of our brothers and sisters right now are sitting exams inshallah Ramadhan and GCSE exams A levels even university exams tough time for the youngsters tough times yeah very very tough time now a lot of them they might be sitting back saying oh Allah I'm fasting do you know what let me let me get some good grades and they don't end up getting anything now there's a problem there because yes Allah has promised you to um to accept your da'a but he wants to see that the amal from me he wants you to see work towards it a very beautiful story for me mentioned uh and I love mentioning this always Mary the mother of Jesus three days no food no drinking she's pregnant with Issa alayhi wa ala nabina wa alayhi wa ala Rasulatihi wa salam now what does she tend to she tend to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless her with some nutrition now in the narrations we have it mentions that by that palm tree that she was the dates never just came down straight away no she was asked to pitch the palm tree now I don't know I come from Iraq I'm not very sure about your backgrounds but a palm tree if you've seen it yeah and try to not easily push of all yeah yeah she's a pregnant lady in her last days or there you go it's she's she's weak try mr last try mr yeah not easy not easy so impossible for her to shake it definitely so the narrations that we have is that I say is she put her hand on this palm tree by just putting her hand on it the dates started falling down upon her so it just shows that Ahmed um working action action action the effort isn't it as well the effort and the you know you have to take that first step and then Allah will obviously reward you definitely 100% narration we have from Imam Ali if I can remember it correctly he says so the ones who the one who does uh dua without any action is like the one who tries to shoot without an arrow so of course uh with with a bow and arrow you can't shoot if you don't have an arrow is what you're shooting you're not really shooting anything so it's very beautiful narration and it just shows the importance of working towards what you're what you're truly asking for so with this dua obviously the night comes um 30th shaban 29th shaban and then the holy month of Ramadan is upon us um is that the best time to recite this um that's always it so who when is the best time to welcome this month this dua generally generally any dua is beautiful to be recited at any time there's there is is of course of reciting even let's take as an example I know this is not just mustahab in Ramadan but dua kumail as an example yeah yeah dua kumail we have in the narrations mustahab to recite every single day yeah and then he says if it is difficult upon you to recite every single day then recite it once a week yeah if it is difficult then recite it once a month if it is difficult and the narration goes on so generally du'as yes they have that specific istihbab that specific recommendation however they're beautiful at any time however since the general gist of this dua is asking Allah to grant you tawfiq in fasting I think this tawfiq that you're asking for isn't just in the start of Ramadan because we all know that as as we go through the month of Ramadan we say we're going to find difficulties we're going to find for sure we're going to need that tawfiq yeah during the month of Ramadan we're doing a amal every single day we want that that last part accept from us we want that during every single day so definitely to recite it during every single day it's proof and if you realize it's very short as well yes like even with me reciting it slowly it didn't take a minute yeah so I remember in I was in one year in Najaf and Imam al-Ishrine and we were approaching this holy month of Ramadan and they had started to have this on the loud speakers the dua playing it was so beautiful and you wish that you know that tawfiq actually spent the nights in Najaf to be you know to welcome the day 100% and bless all those people who are there and inshallah they remember us in their dua's but this is it just gives you that feeling even you know as you're reciting like that feeling of you know you're in such a blessed month that Allah is showering his mercy upon you and you know for us to take that opportunity so in as you'd say like in terms of is it we have Quran is obviously you know it's revealed in this holy month it has its blessings you know there's so many what about dua though what would you say is the importance of reciting dua's in this holy month dua's in general is seeking closeness to Allah for sure it's building that relationship with Allah it's their conversation the same way we're having conversation this is me having conversation with Allah oh Allah I ask you you're directly asking Allah not only that the month of Ramadhan has been made such a blessed month by Allah in which Allah has chosen it to be the best of days the best of nights and we see that in the khutbah of the prophet in welcoming the month of Ramadhan he says is the month of Ramadhan has has approached us with what as approached us with Massey as approached us with Massey now let's take this chance as a Massey Massey is coming upon it's coming towards us let's take it let's grab it let's let's talk to Allah Allah shower us with Mu Massey give me Mu of course us as as a servant um we'd always we're always lacking that something we can never say I have I have completely I'm I'm fine I'm no Islam is a religion of mercy Islam is a religion of mercy definitely we have no essential but as a Massey to mankind and the Qur'an that mentions beautifully but in this khutbah it mentions it mentions a few very beautiful parts if I may go through them very quickly um he says the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam a month by Allah it is the best of months and his days are the best of days and the nights are the best of nights not only days and nights no the hours are the best of hours this is very beautiful a month in which he has been invited to Allah to a banquet yeah spiritual banquet yeah Allah is telling you come this this is this is as as you mentioned the banquet hey welcome and then it says what you are looking for him in the caravan and fast you can feel it is this is the blessing of ramadan your breathing is to speak so us while we're fasting just by breathing in and out which is just a normal action we are gaining throw up from it when I'm looking for here about the sleeping in it is about it what I'm looking for him a bullet and your actions in it is accepted well of course like we mentioned earlier we have to work towards the acceptance what do I look for him to take up this is this is the part that we're talking about and you're doing it is must take up it is accepted it is onset so ask Allah you'll load with pure intentions again focusing on what we mentioned earlier we must approach Allah with pure intentions and clean huts purified huts and you offer to me to grant you two feet for fasting the month of Ramadhan because without it we can't without this so beautiful we see many times the month of Ramadhan approaches sometimes it's not in our hands we we fall ill we can't fast yeah it is it is a true to fear that Allah has blessed us definitely thank you so much sorry we have run out of time very nice to us thank you so much thank you so much you shared so much beautiful wisdom there and inshallah we have opportunity more Allah blesses us and we meet again inshallah another morning up next we have baraka pearls with dua makzumi assalamu alaikum i am daa makzumi and i'm here to show you the holy quran and how it can improve your life do you find it difficult preparing for the holy month of ramadhan do you wish that you could gain more from the holy month of ramadhan do you wish that you could gain more from the beginning of the holy month of ramadhan on spiritual level do you know that reading and reciting the holy quran can make a huge impact the preparation process for the holy month is very important because this month is full with blessings and mercy that showers upon a muslim from Allah therefore in order to increase your fair share in the feast of blessings and mercy try preparing for the month of ramadhan beforehand so that the transition remains easy for you and you make the most out of it so what should you be doing well in mafati hijna there are daily prayers and supplications and du'as that are recommended for us to read day by day in the holy month of ramadhan those du'as and prayers are specifically for this holy month that can help build your spiritual soul erase all your sins in a matter of fact each specific prayer and supplication has its own special benefits for example imam alayhi salam says he who prays the first night the first day the first night of the month of ramadhan four ruk'at in the first verse he reads the alhamdu and 15 times surat al ikhlas Allah will give them thawab al shuhada which are the benefits of dying as a martyrdom and he will erase their sins and in the day of judgment you will be rescued what better can you ask more than that by all means try to remember to read those prayers and those supplications daily by day in the holy month of ramadhan since they are full with many benefits now what can we do that can better assist us with the preparation one have the right intention try to have the right intention preparing for the holy month of ramadhan everything you do and every good deed you complete make sure it's only for Allah subhanu wa ta'ala two get yourself in the habit of tasbih are you in the habit of using swearing words so get yourself in the habit of tasbih to avoid yourself from using bad languages when you start performing tasbih a month before the arrival of the holy month of ramadhan by the time the month comes you are in the habit of reciting tasbih three and lastly Quran reading Quran in the month of ramadhan is 70 times greater than reciting it in any other month so get out your Quran and start reading a chapter so that when ramadhan comes you're used to reading a chapter every day ta'abu lallahu wa amalakum wa-ramu mubarak now it's nutrition and health i have with me a nlp practitioner and live coach for him and Muhammad assalamu alaykum how you doing sisi okay very well thank you good good good and yourself brother ben the chef how you doing sir very well how are you i'm excellent i'm so excited i'm looking forward to today's recipe it's been a tough fast yes hungry days but alhamdulillah so what do you have in store for our beloved viewers right so today we have a fantastic recipe it's really simple full of nutrients really easy for people to do at home when they're feeling a bit tired you know so it's a date an almond ball so it's sort of like a power snack really like sugar boost natural sugar boost which is really great really simple so only a few ingredients almond cinnamon vanilla almond butter and some dates now dates are really important in our religion full of fantastic nutrients as well i'm just going to go ahead and begin the recipe it's really great that you mentioned that you know we have to have dates because it has so much nutrients and it sort of gives us everything that we require so having this sort of recipe with a difference because normally we have dates on its own a lot of the time yeah yeah yeah so this would be quite interesting to see how we can actually make it a little bit more different and i know it's not everybody would actually want to have dates even though it's got all the you know the sugars and the energy boost that's in there so hopefully this could be something that we could actually try with the difference are there's any particular vitamins or vitamins that uh the dates contain that would be i guess more helpful at this time of the year of course um you know we have all these nutrients that it provides with regards to sugars and fibers and it helps you with your energy and it's actually a healthier option to most sugars generally so that's what's really going to be beneficial for us today and i have a lot of clients that come to me you know complaining and wanting to know how are we going to cope go for it don't let us cut you just get this noisy bit out of the way just go for it then just go for it so what we want to do you want to blitz the almonds into a kind of coarse meal sort of thing like a sort of cereal meal not too much you don't want to find powder or anything that's fine and what i like about what you said is it's actually quick simple really simple really simple so something that we could actually do in the morning even if we're late not having to prepare before okay so there's no need for the cooker to go on no oil to be heated or nothing of that nature okay this is totally fresh no cooking needed i mean cooking often um takes away some of the essential vitamins and nutrients out of the the ingredients we use so okay recipes like this are fantastic for this is what we call a raw food a raw food yeah yeah absolutely yeah yeah this is it keeping on keeping keeping all the enzymes alive of course that's what i find i find a lot of people they want to eat healthily they want to actually you know benefit from Ramadan especially having the foods that's going to fill them up for longer and give them all the benefits but it's having the knowledge so as a life coach when people come to me it's not about actually giving them health and nutrition advice but for them to for me to guide them to get the knowledge as to where to go with and we usually have habits and we normally start Ramadan without having those habits in place so we need to sort of generate these habits beforehand so that we can actually you know find Ramadan easy because a lot of us will just start Ramadan on the first day just doing what we need to do only on the first day but we need to practice beforehand exactly exactly exactly so what we're doing is just sort of um blending up the dates just to break them down a little bit and then we're going to add this amazing almond butter so you're using raw almonds and you're using almond butter yes that's on that seems different yeah that's it is that to give it the consistency in order to make it into the ball that you need yes to give it the the texture that you want and to add richness and flavor at the end of the day yeah okay okay so so Fatima what about um say for example people have different i don't know dispositions where they you know like spiritual melodies in terms of not anxiety in terms of mental health but anxiety on the spiritual level do you ever come across people that might need some tips and pointers with their their food intake is that something that can help in terms of your coaching absolutely i mean like i said a lot of people are quite apprehensive and you know thinking that you know Ramadan's coming and as much as it's a spiritual month where we can benefit but the food aspect is really important exactly and at the end of the day it will help with your worship it will help with your daily sort of dealings with regards to you know working and concentration concentration everything so i help them with regards to gaining that extra knowledge you know go to the gp check yourself out because at the same time we don't know ourselves and our bodies the one who's there to help us to actually know ourselves better and gain better habits you know not just in worship but actually our health is so important yeah yeah yeah that will benefit us you know in our mind health is wealth health is wealth absolutely hey ben don't you gotta you gotta you gotta you gotta um this is actually thread on yes this is coming to the final it's not because i'm all over eager no i'm just infused yes it's infused so this is the final blitz now we want to bring it all together into that um tight consistency to form balls if it does need a little extra liquid we can just add a little bit of water but let's see see it all coming together now so would you say it's a fun like i'm saying mums would want to prepare something sweet for children a healthy option yeah this is some candy i want some chocolate it is a this is fantastic for kids it's sweet delicious um no added sugar um just natural sugars natural sugars the body processes is easier yeah especially for children and even just the lip consistency of it so having it in this way it's a fun way definitely and it can actually you know be good for you know children that are even fasting absolutely one who you know would normally have dates but they will actually have that in their diet absolutely do you work with a lot of mums do you have a food queries um i have a variety of clients and yes there is the concern of course you know with children especially starting to fast as to how they're gonna cope so having the knowledge as to your body for example yeah and then secondly you know what sort of foods out there that is going to benefit you for longer for example it's going to be you know really long days in London in Ramadan so you need to have something that's going to give you that extra boost and energy and keep you fuller for longer yeah yeah so there are a lot of you know foods out there that you know provide all of this if we have the knowledge to actually go out there and seek it and actually make you know recipes and ingredients that will help us in our sort of food and daily lives and it's nothing about the motivation because as you said the information we're in the information age but are we motivated or are we actually being strategic in where we obtain what is out there it's not even about being motivated i find the way in which i help people it's just opening up a lens and an opening up a perspective that they've never had before and never seen before so that's what it's about and looking at things differently and when you look at things differently instead of it being a negative you there is an you know an alternative positive just with the knowledge that you can gain so the glass is half full always absolutely absolutely so hey don't pause for too long then no no keep it keep it moving keep it moving i've just had a check of the uh the consistency right it was a little bit dry so i did add a little bit of water okay hopefully that will bring it together really simple recipe so easy how simple that is that looks that does look good and there we go so now it's just a case of forming the balls and this is pretty much ready to go i figure this is a bit where the the children would come in yes exactly we ideal for them the noise of it get the kids to do the the messy bit we've done a bit with the blade i'd also done a bit with the blade so as they say don't try this at home children without your parents supervision of course that's it that's it now this this mixture can be a little sticky so i would suggest just rubbing a little bit of water on your hands that will stop the mixture from sticking and allow you to oh that when they usually when you should make stuff in in nursery and they would say you know a little bit of flour and put a little bit of flour in your hand so you don't want to eat that putty you want to eat you want to eat this okay okay so final this is this is looking good yeah yeah touch my water yeah that's the thing about dates they have that versatility exactly one of my favorite favorite dishes is sticky date pudding not not so healthy but when you're feeling a bit naughty fantastic dates are dates are an amazing ingredient yeah then i know they're a famous food and as i mentioned in the holy Quran and the story um mother of isa jesus peace be best and be upon him you know uh shake the the date tree and and you will dates will fall down upon you so it's yeah well i show love yes it's good for good for expectant mothers yeah it has so many benefits it's actually you know um not being marketed or advertised or you know promoted for what sort of benefits what sort of benefits the benefits are huge with regards to like i said you know when people have um sort of they feel like they need intake of sugar if they feel like they need energy if they also want to benefit with regards to just having you know um a healthy way of living you know so that you know these sort of ingredients are just you know the basis of what you need to sort of worry about and i think that the the thing that you can use with dates is so versatile like you said you can use with cakes you can make it with you know these these balls you can have it on its own it could be even as a spread i know a lot of especially the middle eastern one for breakfast they have date syrup okay with bread yes and um that's actually quite a good breakfast to have it's very sweet uh it tastes very sweet and you even put um uh it's called uh sort of like the tunnel hint which is with the date syrup yeah and then you mix it with bread and that could be breakfast so is it you know talking about these benefits again is there a difference between the benefits for male and female like i said expectant models we say okay see there's a child inside of a but is there some benefits want to encourage your brothers also so they need to feel that there's something you know with health it's obviously for both you know for humans i don't ever differentiate between gender when it comes down obviously with you know pregnancy and things like that there are you know like there's differences yeah there's differences that's needed there's extra nutrients and health you know that's required but again um it's again you know knowing where you are and what stage you are and knowing your body as to what it is because a lot of times we have people i have clients come to me i don't know why i'm you know dieting it doesn't work for me because we don't know ourselves we don't you know what do you think about that word dieting i think it's um i think it's it's loaded is it a bit of a loaded word people think of diet so you think oh this is regimental it's going to take away the fun no it is because it's the way in which you have it because every diet everyone you know it's not going to work for you what it's going to work for me yeah so you have to know your body i encourage people to go and check to you know themselves the gp especially you know when it comes to time of Ramadan because they it will encourage them to understand themselves their health and then it will understand what is it that you know their body requires in particular and that's what it is and it's same for dieting the uniqueness the unit is not going to work for everybody it's consistency so wait a bit Ben Ben Ben Ben this looks marvelous this looks excellent yeah um it's uh can it be decorated anything or is this is this to finish that more very well let's expand let's expand a little bit very versatile i mean you can customize it your own way add different fruit more fruit more dried fruit cranberries dried apricots would be amazing also you can you can coat it in different things like why not coat it in more almonds add some chocolate nibs or something you know have you got like a bit of a sticky consistency so that it'll be easy to coat yeah i mean you could add water to it no no that's you could add nut straight on to that and okay and they will hold okay fahima ladies before gentlemen okay thank you hope you enjoy it guys go away go away go away it's dates like i've never had before it's different but it's something familiar and that's that's the key i like the crunch the sweetness because i do like dates i'll be honest with you i do like dates sweet tooth yeah and it helps me to avoid the sugars the actual uh simple sugars which are not that good for you exactly and even though it's sweet it's not too sweet yeah not overpowering like it's really nice in that sense yeah yeah full of nutrients full of uh just fantastic ingredients that um really going to sustain you over the the ramadan period in almonds high in calcium all those sort of great stuff good for bones you know it's going to really do a good job on your body excellent excellent female take away message before we finish up well i would say um generally definitely use dates as an ingredient for whatever it is that you want to use because it is very versatile you can actually use it for a lot of ingredients and this is one great recipe which is easy quick and it will definitely be perfect for you know fasting during ramadan so hopefully we can actually use this and you know you can obviously add to it like you said and it will be brilliant for you excellent excellent it's been great guys it's been great thank you thank you both thank you both and next up we have ramadan etiquette with system asouma jaffa ramadan preparations well brother blah that's quite amazing this date nut rounds and inshallah definitely trying them and i hope the viewers will be too and thank you to your guests sister fahima and brother ben and now we're going to be discussing our ramadan etiquette and we're very privileged and honored to have our guest system asouma salaam aleikum and welcome aleikum salaam rahmatullah thank you how are you alhamdulillah thank you good good so this beautiful month is um has fast approached and there's so many hadith and ghoran references to this holy month of instructing us and al-asfandala has given us this opportunity so for people that are preparing now we're in the beginning of this beautiful month how best is it to sort of think ahead of the month and how best to sort of be able to make the most of this this holy month what would your suggestions be and i think first and foremost i would suggest that we change our mindset i think a lot of people stress a lot about the month especially at the beginning of the month they worry whether they'll be able to keep the whole fast you know the the whole months fast um they worry whether they're going to get thirsty how it's going to be is it going to be really hot um and again al-asfandala in the holy Quran in surah bakr a verse 185 he tells us that he does not he wants ease for us he does not want difficulty for us so by repeating it um he's showing us that it is actually easy it's like me telling you um you know i want the food to taste good i don't want the food to taste bad so i don't need to repeat it if i've said i want it to taste good that's it so he could have just said i want ease for you but the fact that he says he does not want difficulty for us um showing that it is something that he's going to make it make easy for us and there's lots of different ways that this ease can come in so the fact that the fast is much easier in in the month of ramadan than in in in any other months the fact that we're told that shaytan is locked up so it's much easier than to get on that spiritual high and try to connect to al-asfandala um and the blessings and the barqa that are coming down on this month on this holy month makes it easier as well okay so i think the first and foremost advice i would give is let's change our mindset and not worry about the fast um let's do the best we can and just leave it up to Allah Allah he will take care of us yeah and i think you're absolutely right it's such a critical point is that if we start any task and you know and this is such a um a blessed month that we are positive and thinking that we will be okay because Allah has blessed us exactly as you said in his references that he's made it easy for us he will make it easy that trust in him and think everything will be okay and inshallah we will hopefully sell through this holy month um and then i think it once we've got that mindset then it's much easier to think about okay what is it that i want out of this month right and again when we're thinking about what we want we should be looking at what the month is there for what should the outcome be yeah so it's not about me losing weight it's not about me getting healthier it's all of these are benefits but that's not the purpose the purpose is like Allah says in again surah abukrah verse 183 he says so that you may get again it's not that i'm gonna fast and i'm gonna get it it's not a certainty it's not that right it's you know if i do it correctly with the right mindset um not just staying hungry and thirsty but actually fasting with my whole body then inshallah i will get that effort that you put here then Allah will reward that so it's like reaching out with your hand and Allah will yes and we only have to reach out a little bit and Allah will do the rest of you know so it's just making that effort but ensuring that i'm not just concentrating on the body where i'm just thinking about the hunger and the thirst but i'm concentrating on the spirituality so how would you split that so you're obviously thinking about sahur you're thinking about eating and you need to be healthy you need the longer hours and then combining that with the spiritual needs how would you sort of split the two and or would you combine them and say yeah i'd combine them because it's it's when i refrain from sin with my whole body then i can actually spiritually elevate in this month so when i'm thinking of fasting i'm not just thinking about fasting from food and water but i'm thinking about fasting from all kinds of sins so ensuring that i'm not saying anything that could be considered a sin like lying or gibe or anything like that i'm not hearing anything that's a sin i'm not going towards any sins i'm not hurting anyone with my hands so it's fasting with my whole body in order that my soul then can elevate towards Allah swt okay so physically obviously we're restraining from food what's the impact on your soul when you're not eating and you know how is the balance sort of like the elevation so we're restraining from the sin but how will that benefit our sort of well if you think of us as being um made up of two aspects so we've got the physical body and the spiritual soul okay now because we live in the physical world we're constantly thinking of our physical body because that's the one that we connect to desires the need exactly um so we can't you know our physical body is constantly telling i'm hungry i'm thirsty i'm tired and we're you know fulfilling the needs of the physical body whereas the soul is the thing that is who i am the soul is the is who is going to continue to the next realm the physical body will be left behind um so god out of his love and mercy has given us the month of ramadan in order for me to now connect to my soul because i can't take care of the needs of the body if my body's screaming i'm hungry i have to ignore it it's screaming i'm thirsty i have to ignore it so i can actually then focus on the soul it's like if i can give you an example it's like if you have twins okay and you have one loud child and one quiet child and generally you know when it comes to food time the loud child's screaming i'm hungry i'm hungry i'm hungry i'm hungry and it gets louder and louder and louder although you want to feed the quiet child because all you can hear is the loud child you're going to feed the loud child and the loud child will play up and you know it'll take you a long time by the time you've got the loud child fed you haven't got any time or energy for the quiet child yeah so you'll do the bare minimum yeah now imagine if i came along and i said to you okay let me take the loud child away for a day and just leave you with a quiet child so you get time to actually spend with a quiet child you feed it you talk to him and you you know and you realize and you realize the potential this quiet child has so when i bring the loud child back now you are driven to actually spend time with the quiet child because you've seen the potential same sort of principle god makes us forget our loud body that's constantly screaming so that we can actually concentrate on the soul and see the potential of our own souls so that after the month is over and the body comes back where we now are taking care of the body the whole day as well we will still concentrate on the soul because we've seen the potential of our soul absolutely and it's really beautiful how he does it you know it's it's it's it's such a subtle way but it really helps me connect to my soul and the more i connect to my soul the more i stronger my soul gets and the body may be getting weaker but the soul is getting stronger and stronger that light is it's shining on that soul isn't it celebrating so in terms of that bodily function so when we like you said we're in our day today we're just so busy you know fulfilling our desires and saying you know i need to eat i can just pick up the food and and then it's so beautiful how you've said that it's the soul that needs to elevate and come out and and shine through this month so inshallah that's something we feel towards the end of the month and we've inshallah done a good yeah we've got to that sort of what you're saying we outcome and and that's where one of the measurements is i guess then right yeah exactly so the dakwa is your god consciousness you being aware of allah in every aspect of your life so again you know i think as mothers we we find it very difficult in this holy month because we feel like we should be you know reciting the holy quran we feel like we should be doing this dua and that dua and and praying this the line and and because we have children and we have the housework to do and you know the cooking and all of that we feel like we're being torn apart yeah and i think and i a lot of young mothers i've got friends with young children they say sorry we just don't feel that we're actually benefiting and and you have you know you try to give them that encouragement that you know your children are the ibadah it's not exactly one or the other is it exactly i think that that's important to remember so i think it's really really important to remember that as long as whatever i'm doing in this month if i can do it with the correct neah yeah then it is ibadah yeah and the correct neah means that i'm doing it for the pleasure of Allah and in the way he tells me to do it yeah so both have to go hand in hand it's not just doing it for his pleasure but doing it in the way he tells me to do it absolutely so you know even when i'm taking care of my children if i'm bringing if i'm doing taking care of my children for the pleasure of Allah and i'm doing it in the way he wants me to do it then that is ibadah as well yeah so in terms when i mean even when you're with um so it's you're like could be saying that the fasting is the whole body isn't it and it's the senses with it so when you're fasting and you have children or you have parents to take care of or other commitments jobs and etc you can maintain our silence as well can't we and even in that even though we're taking care of others or you know responsibilities then we can still do the vikr of Allah can't we and also while we're taking care of our relatives and perhaps refraining from the talking and just thinking about unlike it it would still count to the same yeah so i mean there's there's lots of things you can do like you're saying zikr um again fasting helps you be more god conscious because as you feel the hunger you remind yourself why are you hungry and then that reminds you the fact that you are doing awajibat you know you're fulfilling awajibat you're fulfilling an obligation that god has put on you so it reminds you of god in wherever you are whatever you're doing yeah and that reminder in itself is zikr so you know it's it's beautiful again that we don't necessarily have to be on them on the you know the musallah you don't have to be on the prayer mat you can be doing ibadah in all aspects of your life because okay we've talked we're talking about mothers but there are then again the the fathers have to go out to work and they're working the whole day so again how do they then you know make sure that they're getting the most of mayram's aunt it's just being aware um of Allah being that you know having that god consciousness whether it is from you know saying zikr all the time or just thinking about Allah thinking about um what i want out of this month thinking about i think a lot of self reflection should happen in this month you know i should be thinking about where i am where i should be and how do i get from where i am to where i should be okay so in terms of so somebody who started this month what tips would you give because i'm coming towards the end of the um of this morning how would you say they what would they start key points that you think okay so maybe i can bring in the hadith of of um imam rizala islam where he says um where he talks about the month and he says first and foremost forgiveness okay so ensure that you you gain the forgiveness that is available here and again there's no point asking for a general forgiveness you need to be very specific so self reflection is really really important where i'm actually thinking about what i'm asking for forgiveness for ensuring that i'm not going to go down that road again make sure that i don't commit those sins again so that's a sincere forgiveness so you say for a bit of forgiveness from Allah and then how about each other yeah so it's writing the wrong so even when i've hurt someone else yeah the first and foremost i asked i need to ask god's forgiveness because it's his creation that i've heard it's his laws that i've gone against and then ensuring that i go and ask the forgiveness of the person who i've heard if there is a qaza on me like if i haven't been praying fudger or if i haven't done something then again writing that wrong um if there is a wajibat that i'm not doing for example if i'm not wearing hijab um this is the month where i can change yeah you know this is the fact that god has given me this month to self reflect it's a beautiful opportunity to better myself to ensure that i'm you know not only am i asking for forgiveness but i'm moving past that that wrong that i've done um the other thing Imam al-aslam says is that um do not enter this month um with um hatred towards another motmin so ensuring that i've sorted out my relationships you know that that sularam that concept of family my community there should not be another motmin that i hate um i may dislike actions of another motmin but i cannot hate another motmin that's really really important so there's a lot of um concept of the umma concept of you know like um togetherness togetherness exactly yeah so you know breaking the fast together um inviting people to your homes going to the mosque together i mean we're lucky we're fortunate most of us where we live in community the most people who don't have a community would you say even inviting a neighbor who's not unmistakable that'd be a good way for them to share that of course yeah again not only would you be because we're all god's creation so you know not only are you sort of um sharing um you know your food with someone else though you've been fasting the whole day but that would be amazing the bleak amazing that while you know where you're actually showing the other person the achlak of another of a muslim this is how we're meant to behave yeah so yeah it would be beautiful and so for forgiveness um writing a self reflection um building a community unity what else would you say preparing for the big nights i think you know before we know it the you know leilat al-qad comes along and we're not prepared so actually thinking about what i want from leilat al-qad looking at the amals from beforehand so the three surahs that were recommended to recite surah um rooms surah ankabut surah duqan actually looking at them surah qad again looking at the whole of surah qad looking at the surah qad to actually understand leilat al-qad a little bit deeper um looking at the the duwaz you know we have like amazing duwaz which are recommended throughout the whole month but specifically on leilat al-qad as well so it's really really important that i understand duwaz again there's no point reciting a duwaz in arabic when i don't understand what i'm saying yeah so it's really important that i understand what i'm because duwaz when you're asking a la for something it's not like quran quran should be recited in arabic whereas a duwaz should be understood so even yeah and if you're asking god for something and he gives it to you and you don't know what you've asked him for you won't even know you've got it yeah which makes you know so it makes no sense to actually recite a duwaz like a tick box exercise where you're just reciting it but you have no idea what you're saying so either you know ensure that i know the translation of it so when i'm reciting the arabic i know the obviously the words are from the ahima so the beautiful words so it's better to recite it in arabic but i need to know what i'm asking for so actually looking at the translations from beforehand um you know the duwai makharum lachlak which actually is i think the roadway in how to become a muslim ashiyah you know it just it explains it so beautifully duwaitauba again how you know there are so many you know duwai joshina kabeer again you know invoking god through all his different names it's it there are so many different duwaz and the duwai fatah that we're reciting every single night and all the small duwaz it's it's important to know the translation of these so even if you've got time just for that one duwa and it's small but understanding and asking from your heart that's it's a place to start for those very busy lives exactly it's just literally ensuring that you know i take ten minutes out of my day and knowing what i want to do in that ten minutes i think it's about organizing myself definitely a lot of the times it's like you know we come home and we're tired and then we you know we go to mosque every night maybe or you know we're busy sort of waiting for iftar time and then you know so whole time and it just goes past exactly so i think it's just organizing myself and i'm not you know it doesn't have to be hours and hours even ten minutes of just okay today i'm going to look at this duwa well but it's just so brilliant and beautiful advice and inshallah we will all benefit and please do keep passing your duwaz and thank you so much inshallah we'll benefit more in future programs um and right now we have um qt abbas and he's going to give us daily hadiths and then after we have um fake questions answered assalamu alaikum my name is abbas and i'm here to bring you the daily hadith from ahle bayt peace be upon them today's hadith is all about ramadan why is it called ramadan what does ramadan mean the holy prophet peace be upon the man his family says surely the month of ramadan has been named ramadan because the scorcher is away the sins so ramadan is a month in which our sins can be forgiven so we should use the time wisely to do good stuff not bad stuff because if we do no one knows what will happen see you next time inshallah morning but it has fick your questions answered assalamu alaikum say it good to see you today alaikum salam thank you for having me good morning always a pleasure here we are at this time this time period we have some interesting questions isn't that right zahra we have a few interesting theories i'm just wondering where your energy is from you must have had a good if start healthy mashallah alhamdulillah always a blessing of Allah swt fruit and yogurt that's what i see in the evening really indeed so do you have a proper meal at sahur i try to my mom makes pratas and stuff a bit heavy for me we can't miss your mom's brother exactly well you've been spoiled well welcome to this um thank you for having me the ramadan season indeed indeed the blessing month inshallah so we have um questions from our viewers um and today's um discussion is um from a mother the concerned mother from the uk says salam alaikum i have a child who is balad and has aspergers he has difficulty concentrating at the best of times currently he is preparing for his exams which are very important um i was wondering due to his disabilities can we postpone his fast during the exam period and can he make the fast up after the month let's let's uh tackle this issue first with the exam side then with the uh the mental condition for the for the youth out there that wants to actually um you have got exams coming up and think that they may be excused from fasting this month because of exams i'm afraid you're not and you have to fulfill your duty and your and the fastest obligatory upon them so yes exam time is not an excuse and we cannot be excused from fasting now moving on to the mental condition because the neurology there's a specific neurological condition as per the type of autism indeed indeed depending on the severity and depending on because the main thing is this there are people who do have um you know um mental conditions whether it's ADHD or global delay or um you know behavioral issues if they can distinguish between right and wrong then the akam rules apply if they can't then they are excused and the akam rules don't apply to them because they can't make um decisions based on clear conscience if you know what i'm saying can we use that term like uh what they use when they're talking about people who for example have mental health problems or or older people who have um for example Alzheimer's they say they lack capacity indeed to make decisions on their own behalf because the mental problems are associated indeed indeed so they are excused but um someone has like ADHD which is you know just being hyperactive and it's like an attention disorder they they can still um they still have the mental capacity and you know to function as a normal person it's just that they just want more attention or you know they they have so much energy in them that doesn't you know qualify yourself to be excused from fasting uh what if um um a student is very you know not i mean a lot of children right now are taking GCSEs A levels and perhaps not at the peak of their sort of growth and they perhaps on the weaker side of growth um and they get weak because of fasting they feel get unwell um although we know that fasting has its spiritual benefits physical benefits but perhaps they need to have regular meals to keep their concentration would they be excused at any point okay if it's if we're talking about concentration then no uh performance based performance based no because we we all know that doing Ramadan our performance does dip our concentration does dip because of the lack of vitamins and dehydration and so forth but this is part of fasting this is what it's about it's to make you feel the hunger and thirst of those you know who go without and those who cannot afford that those who are in what worse a status than yourself yeah yeah so it's that that's the whole purpose of Ramadan um it's just to feel that now with with with the youth if they are getting ill then this is an excuse right because depending on the illness some people they need food it's this blood sugar levels are so low that they collapse unconsciousness is one of the um you could say one of the terms that um prohibit you say again so losing consciousness yeah if someone's eating i mean with the lack of sugar and losing consciousness yeah well so okay so if we have an individual who because of lack of food and nutrition in the body collapses due to low sugar and goes unconscious okay their fast is void losing unconsciousness losing consciousness is breaks fast it does losing consciousness breaks fast according to the grand maraja uh the grand ayatollah say salik shalazi it is it is void uh you know you are allowed to eat and drink something to get your health back but it is it's clear that the the fastest uh is taking its turn on you yeah so in those situations in those cases yes for the young for the youth for young people who maybe their body is not as developed to do such long fast um if it does take a turn on their health then there is an option uh for them to break their fast eat a little not to to fill themselves up and carry like a normal day you know just eat a little and and just to carry on throughout the day and you can make that a fast up later on for the and then would you suggest um perhaps the next day to take a break or something that they could monitor that depends on the doctor um you should i would say go see your doctor and ask your doctor i mean if you if they say oh it's the one off or do you know what start introducing more sugar into your diet uh and more nutrition uh when you are allowed to eat then maybe uh you know it will happen again if you can get an iftar meal plan yeah that could facilitate a better slow carbohydrate release or blood sugar release or something like this that might still make the fast possible so you're talking about being quite informed by medical decisions yes depending on how the rulings would then apply based on on secular medical conditions and i think i think this is where also um meal planning you talk about meal plans that it's important to ensure that the children have the nutrients that they need and drink plenty and plenty of water at that time because i think your body your body will end up um suffering won't it definitely as the long fasts are settling in maybe we'll get a heat wave as we do in the UK yes it's very important to say to keep hydrated i think hydration that's the most important key yeah especially with with uh long fast and the heat we don't we sweat at least two three liters of of water out of our body during the day so we need to make sure things like watermelon cucumbers i mean i don't know what else for the well i'll use yeah yeah yeah um but you're right things that things that cucumbers are some of the best because drinking water is good but you also need to eat foods which are high in water content you know um bolognese garden what they call garden eggs and cucumbers and things like that yeah melons melons are super food as well we're joking at the beginning you know bratas and you know all these lovely samosas but at the end we have such a you know critical time as a short time to eat that the children need their sort of energy and anybody actually working exactly goes a day so a long day is a long day for everyone yes indeed um but as we're talking about health um concerns um i know in the uk we've published through medical experts saying about you know not fasting if you've got um certain chronic diseases like you know diabetes you could be prone to certain infections like urine infections and things um and to monitor your health but what about those people and i know gp friends of mine general practitioner friends of mine that have said they have Muslims coming and saying yes but you know what i want to fast because it's what i want it's my obedience to Allah that um doesn't matter if i've got um you know kidney disease it doesn't matter i've got um diabetes i'm going to fast as as a fig would you please explain fig wise the person with the illness who knows that fasting will cause a detrimental effect they're fully aware that worsening the condition should opt out of fasting because islam is a religion of peace and east we're not here to medically make you worse we're here to medically benefit you fasting will not benefit you're talking someone with a kidney issue that a very common issue is gastritis or stomach ulcers where a long fast will cause it to worsen due to the acidity levels increasing and and they're also getting worse so we're meant to put a time another time a year when the days are much shorter for example we'll be we'll be a lot easier but i'm sure someone who's got a stomach ulcer with a 19 hour fast if those are fasting 19 hours up to 19 and a half hours i'm sure a doctor would say to them this will not help it would actually worse the condition yeah you can't do this now if that person insists that no i'm going to do it i'm going to do it because there will be some that feel that way god help them but i'm not here to say that oh your fast will be accepted i'm not here to say your fast won't be accepted i'm here to tell you that from an achkahn point of view the doctor has told you that this will worsen your condition opt out you supposed to adhere to the advice the medical advice of the experts yes you are allowed to make up for that because people will struggle i mean i've known a brother that has been ill in ramadan because he had a operation and you know he was very upset as as as the month was approaching and i said to him what's the fuss because islam is as you said you know it wishes us ease so the doctors are saying you need certain injections you need to take certain medication it's not going to work out for you fast it's a bad idea and he said but who wants to fast alone so the idea of having to make up the people feel like they're missing out because what they know ramadan is a gift and fasting with the believers is different from making you don't need to you don't need to disassociate yourself and and and you know remove yourself from the community you can still enjoy in the festivities we could say yeah you can still go down to the mosque still do the abad at a mile exactly spirituality if you're not fasting why not help serve the iftar why not sponsor the iftar if you've got more energy why not you know maybe there's some people who find it fast difficult when you ask them is there anything i can do for you i'm not fasting because of my medical condition so i have energy you know maybe you need to pick up kids from school or something i think you still have a chance to reap some extra rewards exactly exactly i think i think the critical point that people miss um in that attitude and i know you know if there's years that you can't fast absolutely you feel like you're not maybe you're not blessed that you're not getting the blessing that Allah has given on this month but the critical point is that if Allah is saying it's against your health if you are healthy fast and if you're not healthy surely the reward is in the obedience to what Allah is saying if he's saying to us fast because you're healthy that's the obedience and the reward we get yeah the fast dictates you you don't dictate the fast but the the emotional connection but that's it if you give your sort of your belief and trust in Allah that he's saying my health isn't okay and i can't fast then he will reward you equally to a person who's fasting because the critical point is the obedience so whether we're not fasting because Arik we're using exams as an excuse or something else an excuse the point is it's Allah's command upon us fast so if we're not able to fast it's not due to our you know choice we're saying i'm submitting to Allah's will i'm not fasting because he has said no indeed indeed the believers are those who say they head and they obey right yeah Allah's command and i think we change our thinking we'd actually not feel as bad that we're missing the fast because again it's an obedience to Allah's command that we're not fasting so in it is really further i wanted to say that you know when we go traveling do you know Ramadan you're not allowed to fast and some people might say oh i'm just going to keep the fast while i try i can do i kind of let you have to make that fast back what is the rule is accepted what is the ruling you have to make that one back say what is the ruling if you're traveling for a certain period of time does it change the dynamics like if i'm going to travel abroad for over 10 days it's the same it's the same as when we have a custom prayer okay you have the nine ten day gap depending on the margin it's normally 10 days yeah so if you're going to be in a situation in a place for less than 10 days you don't fast you have to make them up yes before the next Ramadan if you're there for longer than 10 days then you have to fast but the day you travel you don't fast on that day yeah so the first you know so while you're traveling you won't fast on that day but when you arrive then you you know you'll stop it doesn't matter if you leave after Zohar the day you're traveling it does indeed depending on the time if you leave after if you leave before Zohar and you arrive at your destination before Zohar as well then you have to continue your fast but if you leave before Zohar and you arrive after Zohar then you have to open your fast if you leave after Zohar then you have to continue your fast can i quickly ask you we don't have much time literally under a minute but about people who deliberately fast and go on holidays yes quickly is that a good idea it is makroo to run away from fasting it is makroo to to run away from fasting however it is not haram so in the summertime for those of you who've got you know 30 days of work or something in australia sounds pretty nice because it's their winter time uh go for 30 days and you can do your whole Ramadan over there okay and come back obviously the days you're traveling you'd have to make that up depending on what time you left as you mentioned yes thank you so much thank you really interesting yeah food for food for thought inshallah another morning we'll see you thank you save and inshallah you have a blessed fast inshallah you too inshallah thank you and that's all we have time for this morning enjoy the rest of your Zohar and may you have a blessed and fast Zahar