UNLAWYERLY. - Midway Ramadan Reflections

In this UNLAWYERLY. special, Ramin provides some reflections on the halfway mark of Ramadan 2022.

Transcript

00:01
You know today marks the halfway point for the Blessed month of Ramadan and it's a good time to just stop and reflect. I think that's what the vast majority of this month is about is reflecting changing and transforming When I was growing up and I would ask my parents.

00:24
You know, Why are we fasting? What is the whole point of it and often the the answer that I would get and it's no fault of their own because this is in a vast majority of the way that they were taught and they didn't have access to information that we do at least in this day and age and especially those of us in the West.

00:47
But the answer that I would often get was to feel how poor people feel. And Yes, There is that empathetic nature for Ramadan where when you are fasting you're not eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset, you do get a realization for how fortunate you are and whatever circumstance in life you are.

01:11
I think we are all fortunate with whatever we have, which is why it is often said when you're comparing yourselves, look at those who have less than you than more than you. And I think it helps to put things in perspective and be grateful for where you are at.

01:28
But that's not what Ramadan is about Ramadan is it's much much greater. And more than that. Obviously this month commemorates, the the month in which the revelation was given to our Prophet, Muhammad Sallallahuasallam. And it embarks a transformation and in the history of human beings also. Yes, previous messages were were given and and received by various profits and various people.

02:00
But Prof, momentsalm, brought the message that basically sealed everything. Hence why he is the seal of the prophets, nobody is coming after him. The messages is complete, This is the final message or religion has been perfected in our faith and our practice And so Ramadan is much more than that.

02:21
It's not necessarily empathizing with how people who have less poor people etc. Ramadan is is transformational And I'll say this to you this month, this year has been completely different. This is the first year in my own journey where I am in a completely different state. For those of you who have been following me know that almost a year ago, a year, is going to come up very soon.

02:48
I decided to complete the changes in my life and that was retiring from from big law retiring from that lifestyle, moving away from it and taking really a much more bal approach to things. And, and yes, it did mean exchanging some things over another, but it's been alhamdul law.

03:09
A remarkable year. I will say this when you try and you make your intentions to be in the path of a lost voluntala and you give some things you never get short changed. Human beings will shortchange you. God never does. And I will tell you this, in the time period that this change has happened for me, with whatever I have given up where I've traded in.

03:36
He has given me something and so many things that are much better and if not the equivalent Alhamdulillah, I will forever be grateful and that's always been the case. But this year for Ramadan has been very transformational for me because it has been different, you know. I'm not saying that when I was working, I wasn't able to take part and Ramadan, but I think it just the culmination of of things that have happened has let this Ramadan to be different and we're at the halfway mark and the two weeks that have passed by has just been beautiful.

04:09
Has just really been beautiful. I was talking with my son just to kind of get put this to illustrate this. And yeah, I do talk to him about a lot of things but not about this and he told me it's like dad, you know, in the the time that we've had Ramadan, it's it's so easy.

04:27
It's been less stressful. It's been calm In my son. He's nine years old, we don't require him to fast. Obviously, he's not up the aged where he would be required to fast. And of course for those of you who may not know, there are exceptions to Ramadan, you know, if you're sick, if you're elderly taking medication, if you're pregnant, you know, if you have a baby or you're you're nursing women on their their menstrual cycle, if you're traveling, if you're young etc, There are a lot of exceptions because Islam does not meant to make anything difficult by.

05:02
Any means, that's supposed to be an easy way of life. Now, of course, there are requirements of things that needs to be done, but Islam has never meant to be difficult And so we don't require my our son to faster any of our children. He's tried it, but I've never really spoken to him about the ease that comes with the month and there is an ease that comes with it.

05:24
For those of you who are not Muslim and and/or, don't fast for whatever reason, you may think that it's extremely difficult, especially in the summer months, where it's hot or different climates. And, of course, it's not easy, but every single time that Ramadan has come. It's come with a sense of ease.

05:45
It really has. God has always made it easy. I lost my daughter's. Always made it easy. So I just found a very interesting that my son who have not not spoken to about the ease that comes with it. He tells me papa, It's been easy, It's been less stress, It's been very calm and I told them Sonia, right?

06:03
It has been, and it is and that's just the, the beauty that comes with the month because Ramadan, to bring me back to my very earlier point. It is a very transformational month, and it's broken up into different levels of fasting. The first level is where you don't eat and you don't drink and look at the end of the day, nobody else is gonna know if you're fasting or not.

06:31
That really is between you and God. You can say that you're fasting but you may not be who knows. And who cares at the end of it because it's not supposed to be a month where you're doing something for other people in the sense that you're showing fast. And yes, you do things for other people.

06:48
A lot of charity a lot of Zakat Sadakha you know whatever good you can do it is multiplied more so in this month but really this month is is very is very much in tune with with you and your Creator. If you really want to get the full aspect of the month of Ramadan.

07:10
Yes, the first level is no eating and no drinking and there will be pains of hunger and thirst depending on what you do and look a lot of us in the West, it's not such that you know, compared to other Muslim countries and look some of you may get upset because you may say well I don't do this and you may not but for my experience in other Muslim countries vast majority of people they will sleep most of the day you know and then wake up and then start the break right there fast, not everybody.

07:42
But that is a trend and the west life goes on you. You work the same, you know, you go to school, you do what you need to do. And so you will feel the sense of pain and from the hunger and the thirst, but then your body gets used to it.

08:00
And that's that's another beauty of it is that our bodies are are very much in tune to change, what circumstances to change with the environment as well. But that's level one and Ramadan is much greater than that Ramadan with level two and level three and so on. It's the greater fast, the greater jihad because jihad at the end of the day, means struggle.

08:26
And it is, can you fast your eyes? Can you faster ears? Can you fast your tongue? Can you fast your legs, your body, your behavior. And that is the greater aspect of it. Because in this day and age, where our focus on physical well-being, mental well-being, those things come with Ramadan, it comes with the idea that are you able to watch your temper?

08:59
Are you able to watch your tongue? Ie not talk about other people. Not back bite, which is huge. And you could be backbiting and not even knowing. Are you watching certain things that you shouldn't be? That's not necessarily helping your fast? I could even break your fast and those are the greater aspects of the month of Ramadan and I'm a firm believer that a lost volatile law.

09:26
God is not looking for you to do big things. Small incremental consistent things. The other night during Tarawee prayer. One of the things that he had mentioned was exactly this, you know, Are you coming to pray or are you praying on a regular basis? And not necessarily just saying, look on one day, I'm going to pray the entire night in the entire day and then the rest of the month the rest of the year, I'm just kind of lay back sit you know just kind of hang out and that's it.

09:55
You know, that that act by itself, may God accept it. Um, is different on the scales. When you do small incremental changes you know making sure that lease if you're not praying all five prayers or you're getting to one to two prayers a day, If you're not reading, you know, the Quran or you maybe just reading one to two eye, odds, or translations Small things, over a period of time that creates change.

10:21
And now speaking from my own experience, that's exactly what I do. I take one or two things I say, I'm really going to focus on this and just let it just become a habit, Let it just become a natural part of my day-to-day being and then at the end of it, it's just something that I can't miss, And I do this with other aspects of my life, too.

10:40
Jim is a big example of it. I started to go a little by little and now it's such an ingrained part of my life that I go. Now, for those of you wondering during the month of Ramadan, do I go to the gym? I don't, I used to. I just realized that during this month.

10:54
There are the other physical aspects that I'm benefiting from ie the intermittent fasting and so I take a month of Ramadan off from the gym. I focus on other things and then when Ramadan's done, I incorporate Jim back into my routine and trust me, I get back into the swing of things, There are people who will go to the gym at nighttime or in the early in the mornings.

11:15
I've done it in the past but right now where I'm at in life, it's not where it's at. And that's okay. I'll get back into it, but I do focus on the other aspects, which really does help with the mental well-being. And it does help me become what I look at as being a better person, you know, in my following the dean, and the way that it's in the line, with the son of Prophet Muhammad's also solem.

11:41
And it's not perfect, I'm not meant to be perfect. It's just meant to be a transformative change that allows you to to get to that point where you look back and you reflect. And you say, you know what, I've gotten better, I've gotten better at X, Y and Z, Perhaps.

11:59
I'm back biting less or not at all Perhaps watching what I look at. I'm lowering my my gaze for both men and for women. You know, I'm purifying my thoughts and God is not looking for you to be perfect. He has angels for that, He has created human beings to be ones with mistakes to be fallible.

12:27
And that's why his mercy so grand that when we do make mistakes and we are sincere about wanting to rectify those and we ask for forgiveness and then we try to change our way so we don't make those mistakes a law spontal law. God is there to to forgive and he will continue to forgive until your last breath.

12:52
That is how grand his mercy is. And this month of Ramadan is an example of His mercy. From that point that my son Zion made about this month, feels at ease. It feels calm to making it such that the days don't feel long, you know, to being able to to break your fast, whatever food you have and realizing that it's still something.

13:18
You know, when we eat, we're not supposed to gorge, we're not supposed to have these vast meals, It's just supposed to be enough because if you're able to control your appetite, that's huge in terms of what else you can control. Because a lot of people can't control that they'll have these these huge meals and then they'll be tired.

13:37
And if you're like, well over brother, you're not supposed to be judging during the month of Ramadan, I think you're judging. I'm not I'm just staying in fact that during the month of Ramadan we're not meant to eat such large meals and our stomachs even shrink that when we do eat after a few morsels of food, We do feel full alhamdulillah, we do feel full.

13:59
That's what it's meant to be. And even with Tarawee prayer, you know, Prophet Muhammad Salam during the month of Ramadan would go to pray, you know, at the mosque or the mustard, congregational prayer, so nice and some nights. He would pray at home. Why, you know, my son asked why?

14:14
Why is that the case? And I said, think about it, if there was an obligation that we had to go to the mustard to go to the mosque, to pray every single night, it would create a hardship for people who can't to whether you're doing Ebada at home, you're doing your worship at home, or you're doing at the masjid.

14:32
May Allah accept all of those? It's okay. During this month, it's okay. And you will get the benefit of it, the reward of it. But anyway, I was waiting for my kids there. That's Sunday school right now. I had some moments now just reflecting myself because we are at the halfway point.

14:50
And you know, I think it's a good period for us to just stop reflect and and change what we can and pray a lost model. Makes it easy for us and and allows us to be able to take the good that we're creating, in our, in our lives, and our habits throughout the rest of the year.

15:09
And the things that have not been helpful. The things that are toxic, the things that just don't do us and you're good. Maybe we shut those things. My week at red of them and not reverbrook to doing it. And for those of you who are listening and you are fasting, you are taking part in the month of Ramadan.

15:29
They also want I'll make it easy for you. All may the rest of the time that we have in this month, be be used wisely because we may not be able to see next year. So, let's take advantage of it and Pray that all of our fasting and our prayers accepted.