 Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu I'm the delight I've been asked to share a few thoughts On Ramadan and and this idea that You know kind of a preparation but preparation in a way that that perhaps excites us and I Think and starting off for this Ramadan This is special Every Ramadan is special no doubt But I would say for me That this is something special in particular Because this Ramadan for me now marks Two two lives if you will So I became Muslim when I was 26 And now this year becomes my 26th Ramadan So I have half of my life as a non-Muslim and half of my life now as a Muslim And I say that because I want to Share with you that in In this month You know we perhaps she upon Tries this kind of like one last assault To create doubt Right if you can't get us not to fast he's going to get us to have he's going to try and work on us to have doubt That's his game And I think about you know What life was like, you know kind of right up to that first time that you fast and Whatever delts that a person may have You can say with absolute sincerity, I'm sorry with absolute yakin that Whatever you think you can't do With the intention a love will see you through it Like whatever you think you can't do That a love will see you through that and As I think about this month I Want to share with you just some thoughts Of some notes that I wrote Some time ago, but I think that they are appropriate and I think about this month It's as if we are hosting a most unique most honored and most generous guest And it's a guest that we are blessed to host once a year for the duration of a month The guest arrives at a port and at a point in time and Departs at an appointed time and the beauty of this guest is that it brings the most sought-after gifts for the spiritual aspirant right if we are aspiring in Our relationship with us behind Allah then this guest brings the most sought-after gifts It brings God's mercy and generosity and disperses it to those who avail themselves to it like no other time of the year It brings us deeds that draw us nearer to our Lord and his pleasure in his garden like no other time in the year It distances us from the hellfire and protects us from Shekwan and his was to us Like no other time in the year It brings with the fragrance of the garden It brings life to our hearts with the eternal speech of the ever-living Creator creator of the Quran obviously we're talking about here and that fills our home with family's friends and loved ones and I think about this one one aspect here in terms of in terms of Protects us from Shekwan and his misgivings because what we find in this game is that Shekwan will tell us something or whisper something to us and Either we're going to listen to it or we're not And that's the game And normally what we have learned From our scholars and from what we understand from our tradition is that Shekwan will normally just kind of Put something forward to you once and if you don't Respond to it. He'll move on to something else But the nafs the nafs will continue to kind of pull push you towards that thing or pull you towards that thing and so we think about Ramadan as I said in this kind of protection from Shekwan that beautiful hadith, right? Futah al-abwab jannah We'll look at the abwab jahannam was susilal shayatin like what a gift that is from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that Allah says That the that at Ramadan that the that the doors of jannah are flung open and The doors of jahannam are locked and The shayatin are chained and so our teachers taught taught us that All that is good Will be pouring out from heaven And that's a gift of this month and all Energy if you will this is a term that we will use in this way just for the description of this of Negativity or any type of What's just called a negative aspect which the doors of jahannam that they are closed and The those types of whisperings from Shekwan are closed off and it says that all of this is To aid one to not be distracted in the month and I just thought that is just so incredible Right like everything is multiplied in this month of the actions that we're doing and then I'm gonna make it easier for you to even do it in this month and So I think about this in terms of of a gift, right? So this guest is Ramadan the month of Quran the month of layatu qadr the month of Mercy the month of forgiveness the month of liberation from the hellfire Right the month of patience the month of reflection the month of reflection and renewed spiritual commitment The month of charity for the under resourced and solidarity with the underserved the month of when the deeds are multiplied the month of the pre-dawned meals of of Suhoor and the month of qiyam and Tarawih and I just think to myself like You know when when we are Having a relationship with his guest I'm reminded of the tradition the one who believes in Allah mankana you may be like William and Akhir mankana you Be like William and Akhir for you Krim Jaruhu But the one who believes in Allah and is last in the last day last day to let him honor his neighbor Well, I can I you and be like William and Akhir for you Krim Yeah, no for you Krim Jaruhu and so and then also in another Meaning as well too then let him honor his guest right mankana you will know if you're a wife of who right let him honor his guest so here the question is How are we upholding our obligation to honoring our guests of Ramadan? That's the question that I want us to ask Right like if we know that a guest is coming what preparations do we make? Make sure everything is in order We might even hire somebody to clean the house and take care of all of these things and all these affairs now We have this month coming and we have this house right here How do we clean this house and how do we prepare this house for this guest that is coming? So Hamdullah as we think about this month To think about it, you know in that way and as mashallah our sister Husay mentioned here that There is emotional intelligence That is required You know, I think that there are some practical things as well too and just in terms of our spiritual Intelligence that we want to Think about one of the things that I was just reading with our students We've been reading for the past couple of weeks on campus after war each day We've been reading the etiquettes are fasting by Imam Ghazali and his book Ella bidat al-hidayat the beginning of guidance and one of the things that he said was Like he said do not approach the eating in the meal as If you want to make up for the food that was lost and not eaten throughout the day He said because that is the absolute opposite of what the goal and the intention of the month is because the whole idea of the month is to Lesson one's desires and now Maybe this is going to anger some people Maybe it won't however. I see that because I Give this advice that perhaps we look to simplify our meals during this month Look to simplify our meals during this why? Because meals take time meal take meal prep takes time Shopping takes time and all of that time. Yes. We are we want to have a good meal We want to have that but just for these 30 days Just for these 30 days the best 30 days throughout the year Look and see if we can approach this from a bond with a different type of approach to our food One that is just some simple now. I'll share this with you again, I don't say in any way to To to to say anything other than I just wanted to test to see what this was like So my first 10 days of last Ramadan only on dates in water 21 seven at Suhoor seven iftar and seven after Tarawih And I drank water, and I'm still here Hamdillah from the foot love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and Tabarak Allah not to boast but to show you what Allah can do. I wanted to go the 30 days But I felt bad for my family Because I wasn't joining them in meals, but just because I wanted to say two things I wanted to see What was the meaning of Aswadain as we hear in the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ lived on dates in water? for three months in Hadith of Aisha radi allahu ala Right, so if he can do for three months, can we do 30 days now? I'm not saying everyone should have dates in water for the entire month. We could try and roast them We can put them in a curry. We can do different things. I'm just teasing What I'm saying is that it showed me What the possible and my schedule didn't change it's doing all of the things that I had to do why because then you also understand that with This is like a this is a means But the real the reality of all thing is a lot of Taufi in this because we can eat a Kings meal and not be satiated Or we can have dates in water and get up have our day Be with our family be in tarawih and do all of the other things that we need to do So in this preparation maybe in this month spiritually We look to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone of what we've been our Ramadan does that no doubt We have to get up at times that we normally don't get up. We have to you know Be without food and water for times that we normally don't and so within it Within itself right Ramadan has the the the ability to do that But let's think about perhaps other things that we're doing that we can begin to eliminate because as I said Before and I'll share this again is that is that as we look at Ramadan And we look at other aspects of the Dean and Ramadan falls into this category that Ramadan is Proximity to God. It's gaining nearness to Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala through subtraction Right through subtraction So if we look for multiple places within our lives of where we can subtract Let's see what this Ramadan will look like And that we pray Masha Allah that this is you know one of the the if not the greatest Ramadan that we've had Well, ma bi dhalika ala wa bi aziz that's not difficult for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to filter that Right and then one of the things that I'll just end with here and and and I I kind of I feel like I always like to share this is that we we really become people when Allah says we really look at this I it and we really look to to to to What can I say that we really look to live with this verse of Quran Allah says, you know what Allah says in Quran Yeah, but you Adam Ah Kudu zina to come and a cool image it will cool. What's for the walla to srifu in a hula? Yes, I love most of you That old children of Adam adorn yourselves adorn yourselves When you enter into the places of worship and eat and drink and do not waste where he does not love those who waste and so think about Food or other things in this month think about this That maybe I take a few sips of this and if I set it down I walk away Where is it? What's left inside of the bottle doesn't matter to me? There's another bottle right there on the count I'll just grab another one Right, so think about this now that would be considered waste and I just spent my entire day Got up for Tahajjud prayed Had sohoor made dua fasted Made my intention fasted real Quran gave charity made thicker visited the sick attended a janaza and all of these things that could be possible in one day in Ramadan broke my fast made do I do I as musta job that The prayer is accepted, but then at the time of my meal I will load my plate up not eat all of the food and then throw food away, and Allah just says in Quran That he does not love so I go through the entire day in the state in which he is Pouring out his love because of all of the actions that we did only to flip it into that side and be in a category that he describes With his own words of saying that he doesn't love those who waste so maybe let's try to make a Promise to ourselves to Allah to our community to our Akhira to whatever it is That we look with intentionality that any type of any morsel of food Will not will be consumed by us Okay. Now. There's one dispensation that I allow Which is if someone else makes you a plate of food and that is because people I feel They misappropriate the sunnah and they say the prophet salam was generous So they'll load food and food and food and food and one more scoop and one more scoop and one more scoop Onto your play and you're looking at you're like I couldn't eat that between now and Tuesday And then I'm supposed to go pray tarawih and have presence with that Right and so if that is the case, maybe we can eat a portion of it If we eat a portion of it after tarawih, I don't know but I'm just saying that we really look you get my point We're trying not to you know We're trying to to remove this Cognitive dissonance to say Alhamdulillah that the up I'm in a was a corner would you on them in a muslim mean make Dua and then throw food into the garbage Right So this is a challenge that I put out to myself and I put out to all of us here who are present and shut Other we can pass it on to those who are absent as well, too that this is part of our spiritual preparation Right that we will that we will commit ourselves to not be people who waste In this month inshata Allah it becomes habituated and we move forward with that be it in less behind what to Allah So those are just a few brief thoughts Alhamdulillah as we prepare for this month, and I think that you know, Alhamdulillah sister Husay she read the dua at the end Allahumma barakana fi baqta ila Al-waliya Sha'ban wabaligna Ramadan O Allah bless us in the remaining days and nights of Sha'ban and allow us to experience I like that personally. I like that translation allow us to experience Ramadan with all of its gifts with all of its gifts that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that we know of and that We don't know of all of the gifts that we know and that we don't know Facilitated by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Who is the most generous and and and in this month You know puts out a generosity and deals with us in a way that is just unimaginable and may Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala continue to bless this community and And its organizers of this community and the members of this community to facilitate What it does in aiding people to have a beautiful month of Ramadan