 brothers and sisters in Islam. Asalaamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Welcome to hashtag LNT, a special Ramadan series we have for you guys episode 12. That means Ramadan is mubarak on us and on you guys insha'Allah. But episode 12, meaning we're through 12 episodes, 11 days of Ramadan. And let me just say this, I'm excited, super excited to be here with you guys live I'm in the city of Karbala, bringing to you various topics on various things to talk about. And it's wonderful, insha'Allah. You can benefit from those and wait and see what the upcoming topics are. But for tonight, it's not a debatable topic. Tonight, we're trying to find out how you guys and the people around the world, the Muslims around the world celebrate their Ramadan. But before we go and do that, let's go check out what's trending in today's world. So let's go and do that. Once again, we do welcome everyone for joining us tonight. And tonight, it's one interesting topic that brought the attention of the co-producer and the scriptwriter was the increase in the percentage of the American adults that identified themselves as being either lesbians, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Now, according to a new Gallup estimate, the percentage now is 4.5, which works out to more than 11 million American adults. It's 0.4% higher than 2016, which was 4.1, and 3.5 since 2012. So, you know, the rise of increase or the rise of the number or the percentage, we don't know yet, but for a future question, why is LGBT on the rise? Could be a question for the upcoming episodes or maybe after Ramadan, we never know. But, you know, we just ruined the surprise element. But anyways, that's for the first thing that was trending. But for another thing that's trending, you guys heard about the Hawaiian volcano explosion, and it's going crazy. It's not just affecting the homes and not, you know, a lot of people are, you know, running away from it, a lot of tourists. But the business in Hawaii went down, you know, from hotel managers to anyone that has souvenir shops, whoever has business in Hawaii, their business is going down the drain. And even in luxury hotels, no one's staying there. Even in the sleep and breakfast hotels, like the small hotels, no one is staying there. So, you know, hopefully they can come back, but not anytime soon, because really it did a lot of damage. But let's go and jump in and today's topic. Now, tonight marks the 11th day of Ramadan, episode 12 of hashtag LNT. And let me just say this, Ramadan Azeem, Ramadan Mubarak to everyone out there joining us tonight. You know, the new trend for IHTV, the whole media group from now on is Ramadan Azeem. And let's keep it that way, everyone. Let's make a new trend, you know what I mean? But Ramadan Azeem and Ramadan Mubarak to everyone joining us tonight. And you know, that just means 11 episodes, that just means we're already a third into Allah's best month, Allah's greatest month, Ramadan. So all we have to do is, you know, 19 more days. That's it. If you haven't fasted for 11 days, you know, try to fast until 19 days, but if you have 19 days left, that's it. We're almost done, you know? But, yeah, you know, one joke we'll get to talk about later on, because tonight's topic is very special. Tonight's topic we're talking about how are you spending Ramadan? So the phone calls are open from now. So you can call in, let us know what you guys think. And, you know, but we'll kick it off. I mean, people around the world, everyone, you know, even if you go within a city, you'll see different individuals, different families celebrating Ramadan or spending Ramadan in their unique way and in their unique culture. But tonight, my dear family of hashtag, and everyone, can I, we're trying to find out how are you spending Ramadan in your country? How are you celebrating Ramadan in your country? We did get a few videos from around the world of people telling us what they've done. We'll get to show you guys that after a while, but the number to call us at or send us a voice message or a text message is plus nine, six, four, seven, seven, four, zero, six, seven, 18, 36, and let us know what you guys think. How, or not what you guys think, share your information with us, share your Ramadanic experiences, your Ramadanic, if that's a word, your Ramadan, your specials, what you guys do, what kind of food you guys cook, and what you guys do after a thought. What kind of special traditions and cultures do you guys have? Cause for me, I sleep, I don't, you know, I wake up half hour before Maghrib time. I sleep during the day, wake up half hour before Maghrib time, go get some groceries for the family, some drinks, come back, iftar, then come to the channel, stay up till the morning, and I sleep at 11 a.m. host L and T for you guys, so there you guys have it. So for me, hashtag L and T in the channel has become half of my life. It's a good thing. It's my favorite part of the day. Hashtag L and T has changed a lot for me, and for the crew, of course, for the crew, just makes them more money. I'm kidding, but tonight as I said earlier, we're trying to find out what you guys, what you guys are doing during Ramadan. What has Ramadan done for you? Is it a special month for you guys? All you guys have to do is pick up the phone, open WhatsApp, another number shown below, plus nine, six, four, seven, seven, four, zero, six, seven, 18, 36. All participants, their names will be placed in this bowl right here, in this fish bowl right here. For the final draw, at the end of Ramadan, insha'Allah, for a chance to win a Friz Yata along with many, many, many giveaways. You also live on Facebook, so you can go check us out on there as well. Leave a comment, like, share, do all that good stuff. But let's take a very short break. Let me pop open this Red Bull because I'm tired today, and we'll be back very short. Welcome back. Now we are receiving a few Facebook comments, which we'll get to read out. But tonight, one of the nicest things about Ramadan is that every single family spends it differently. We have families, especially in Karbala. In Karbala, if you're from a Middle Eastern family, you're having a fad and basically everyone's house. So you barely have a fad in your own house. Some people do. They like to keep it, you know, within their families alone. And others, no, they just like to go and eat somewhere else. But what's nice about Ramadan is that different cultures celebrate it differently. So even for Arabs, it's very easy for them and how they break their fads. Some, and I've seen this, which is amazing, some don't eat unless every single person is sitting on the table, on the ground, on the sofa, but or after they pray. But I've seen someone, you know, who he doesn't care if his mom is sitting, his dad is sitting, or if they're not there on, you know, as soon as they say Allahu Akbar, that liban, that yogurt drink, or that date is in his mouth, down his stomach, you know, ready. By the time that is done, the foods are digested. So I've seen this personally, you know, it's a kind of a funny joke. But a lot of people do celebrate it differently, as I mentioned early, you know, Ramadan, just like any other, it's not just like any other month where, you know, people might fast on regular days, but they might break their fast alone. But in Ramadan, everyone comes together to celebrate it. One of the things, the nicest things in Ramadan is the Ramadan greetings, where I greeted you guys earlier on in the episode. You know, it's very nice. In Ramadan, if you have a broadcast list, then you don't have to send it personally on WhatsApp, we just send one message that goes to like 300 people at the same time. So don't think that it's personal. Like if you get Ramadan Kareem, hopefully this month is a month of mercy and blessings upon you and your family, or Ramadan Azeem, Neutron, sorry, yeah, Neutron, Ramadan Azeem, don't think it's personal because that person might probably send it to another 200 people. But it's good, it's a good sign that everyone gets to greet each other on this very special month or in this very special month. I have a few friends that I haven't said Ramadan Azeem and Ramadan Mubarak to them. So from hashtag LNT to all my friends and everyone out there, Ramadan Mubarak and Ramadan Azeem once again. The second tradition that a lot of people love, especially myself, I love when it's 7-16 just to break my fast. You know, although I spend it sleeping during the day, which is, you know, sometimes it's a good thing because, you know, as Prophet Muhammad says, no mu'min ibadah, you know, the sleeping of a fasting mu'min, a.k.a. Ahmed Ali, is considered as worship. So I'm basically worshiping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala during my sleep. So that's a good thing. So, you know, it's easy worship, you know what I mean? You don't have to get up and, you know, pray. All you do, you're mandatory prayers. But at the same time, if you do sleep, that's counted for you as worship. But if you're from the Middle East, there's specific ways that you break your fast. If you're from a Pakistani tradition, when I was in Canada, I was invited a couple of times with my Pakistani friends and we get to see how they break their fast, especially at the community center. They break their fast with, we call it shorba, soup. The Araki's in the Middle Easterns, how they do it, dates, fresh dates or packaged dates, depending on which family you're from. So dates, not in a silver plate, but, you know, not as nice as that, because that's all silver, but, you know, that's probably some like a UAE family, you know, I'm kidding. But you do find some nice fancy stuff like that. But dates, yogurt drinks, and then after it, they get you the soup. And after that, you get to feast, you know what I mean? But in Ramadan, everyone suffers from this thing. In Ramadan, no matter how much you sleep during the day and how much you sleep during the night, right after you break that fast and after you're done eating, which sometimes you can't even eat because your stomach is so empty that, you know, you put a few legumes in, a few bites in your mouth that set you're full and you feel sleepy, you feel dizzy. So, in that, feeling dizzy, hopefully no one's feeling dizzy right now because we know some people are breaking their fast or have already broken their fast, but switch cameras. So, in that case, we want to remind everyone to call in and let us know what you guys and how you guys are spending Ramadan in your cities, in your country, in wherever you are, work, you know, how are you working in Ramadan? I know a couple of friends in the UK, they reduce the hour work time because this is funny, this is funny. I don't want to pull the message out because they might get exposed. But one of my friends, I was talking, it was like, how are you spending Ramadan a few nights ago? And he said, bro, I have to reduce my work hours and the work hours of everyone working with me so we don't have to see each other a lot so we don't become savages. Because in Ramadan, I don't know, for some reason people get pissed off, I don't know why, they get angry. So, Ramadan is a month to cool out and chill out, but a lot of people do get angry in this month. But what else, what kind of traditions are there also out there? For Ramadan, when you turn on TV channels, whether religious, Arabic, or any channel that celebrates Ramadan, we get the Fanous, the lantern. This is a symbol of Ramadan. What else is a symbol of Ramadan is the crescent, but this is very nice. On the night of Ramadan, the lanterns fly or they hang them out in their streets. You'll see that in old villages as well or new ones as well. But these lanterns go all the way back to 969 A.D. to Afero, where they hung lanterns as soon as Ramadan came. They lighted the path of where people go and come. I don't know why they only did it in Ramadan, why didn't they do it in any other month, but I know they probably just wanted to ease the way and make everyone see the street, but it goes back all the way to Cairo, Egypt. But another tradition of Ramadan, especially Araqi, as you all know this, and they're probably playing it right now, Araqi Games, they're not sorry, Ramadan Games, it's called Mhabis. So basically, this ring right here, give me that camera right here. So this ring right here, not this specific one. So the game is called Mhabis, coming from the word Mhabis. So this is a ring, meaning the ring. So two sides, two opposite teams, two teams. A guy hides the ring in his, it's like, I can't remember that game, we used to play it as well. Where you hide it in your hand and the other team, they choose a person to try and guess what hand you have the ring in. And if they get it right, your team loses and they do points and stuff. But that game is famously known in Iraq and the Middle East as well. But switch cameras. Tonight, we would like to remind everyone that tonight is about you guys. It's not about a topic that we wanna debate. It's not about a topic that we're trying to get two parties to debate over or talk about over. No, no, no. Tonight, share your Ramadan experience. How are you spending Ramadan? Let's take a very short break and we'll be back very short. Once again, we do welcome everybody. I was trying to get Facebook so we can check out the comments. We're getting a few comments on there. But let's go check the public opinion and what they've, what people have said in regards to have sent LNT, what they've sent LNT to share their experiences and how they're sharing and how they're spending Ramadan in their own countries. Salam, my name is Ali Najati. I hope everyone's having a great Ramadan. To celebrate Ramadan, what I do is I cook food with my family. I also go out with my friends at night to different places, cafes and eat with them. I also watch various movies with my family and just spend time with others and helping others. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wabarakatuh. My name is Hossein from Washington, D.C., United States. I celebrate Ramadan by spending time with family, making a flag for people, reading some Quran and listening to religious lectures. Live, Rahman O Rahim. Ramadan is a month of Allah and it's a month we keep offering. The moon is saying Ramadan, people start preparation for Sayyidi. When the time is right, my mother will work up and give all arrangements. In our area, people are starting mass movement from the mass in different styles, like read poetry and preset mass. When the time is right, my mother gave up. After they eat the food, we offer Salat and we said Quran. Then I go to bed because I have to go to office. When the time is right, Qatari or preparation of Qatari. There is a special dish which makes from fruits or fruits that is really tasty and delicious. And then after we perform Namaz, Salat, and then we distribute the food to poor people. Hello, my name is Muhammad from Canada, Toronto. Ramadan Mubarak for you all. I do help homeless in Ramadan. I give them food, I give them money. I go message, pray, and read some of Quran, some pages every day. And Ramadan Mubarak for you all. Thank you. Thank you very much for those who have sent us the videos and especially those who are the last person and the cutie at the last who sent us that video from Toronto Canada. Thank you very much for everyone. But tonight, are we changing? Yeah, we're changing tonight. As I mentioned before the public opinion tonight is about you guys. So what you guys have to do is open the phone, go to WhatsApp, dial the number shown right now and tell us what you guys think. So I'm tired of saying that but I'm gonna say it again so you guys can tune in. Plus nine, six, four, seven, seven, four, zero, six, seven, 18, 36. If I was too quick, just dial it at the bottom. Look at it at the bottom and come on. Anyways, this cam, yeah. To the other cam. Oh, this one. Oh, all right, so okay. All right, so no, today I was confused. When you fast, you get confused. But other traditions that are out there and especially if you're from the Middle East because majority of the Muslims are from the Middle East. In the Middle East, there's a tradition that firing the cannon. Back then, this is an old tradition, but if you're from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, sometimes in Iraq, you will find a cannon, old cannon that won't be fired today because we don't really need that noise. We have a lot of wars going on so we don't need to read those noises anymore. But the cannon was a sign that time for Eftar. So when Eftar came, they didn't have electricity for large speakers. So what they did, they fired the cannon to let everyone know that it's Eftar time, which is actually a very nice tradition. But I don't know where the cannon ball would fall. Like, would it just fall somewhere else? Personally, I've seen it in Lebanon. It's a very nice tradition, very a while ago. But another thing that is very nice, especially in the Middle East, is the drumming for Sakhour. Those in the West, they're deprived of the noise of the drumming. In the Middle East, children sometimes old, not very old, but adults or young kids, teenagers, 18, 17, unless they walk around the streets. Each neighborhood has two or three of them. They walk around the streets and they hit the drums. And some of them sound like they're dancing. In Iraq, we'll get to know what I'm talking about. But I've just received a voice message from, Farhad from Canada. Here in Canada, my Ramadan is a little bit different from others. I live by myself. I have no family here. And I live far away from the mosques. So I mostly spend my Ramadan time, Ramadan days and nights, along by myself. And the good thing is that I have non-Muslim friends and I get the chance to answer a lot of questions about fasting, Ramadan, and if tari, the food dude, we start, break our Ramadan. So it's a good time here in Canada. This is Farhad Zizi from Tornhill, Canada. Thank you very much Farhad for joining us tonight. Once again, for everyone joining us. We are getting a few Facebook comments. We'll get to read them out later on in the show, inshallah. But spending Ramadan alone is sometimes a good thing and sometimes a bad thing. But inshallah, in your case, it's a good thing because you're spreading the message of Ramadan, which is very beautiful. And not a lot of people, you're one of a kind because not a lot of people get to do that. Everyone gets to spend it in groups, but you're doing a bigger job by telling everyone how Ramadan is, what Ramadan is, and how people actually get to spend it, which is a very unique thing to do. But Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala, in the third segment, if we were to go to the third segment of tonight's episode, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala made Ramadan as one of the holiest month, if not the holiest month throughout the year. When Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was asked, what are the holy months? He says, Rajab is the month of Imam Ali. Shaaban is the month of Prophet Muhammad. And Ramadan is the month of Allah. Now when he was asked why Ramadan was the month of Allah, he gave a very long speech. I'm not gonna read that speech out, but if we were just to focus on a few points from that speech, we would find that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala made this month, as in the dua, Shahrun Azzamtahu Wa Karamta, a month where you have elevated its status and made it filled with bounties and mercies. And you made it a generous month, a month where honestly, if a person gets to spend it properly, then he or she will receive a lot of mercies. And trust me when I say that, because Ramadan, when you're fasting, even for the poor ones, when you're fasting, and it's very nice, especially in the Arab and in the Middle East, they exchange foods. I have witnessed that for a couple of nights where the neighbors get to knock on your door, give you food. Even the poor in that neighborhood, people gather around, they call it the basket of Ramadan. They gather food, some people gather money, they either give it on aid or they give it before Ramadan begins, so the poor family has food to cook. And trust me when I say, and I'm 100% sure that everyone has witnessed this. The food that you get for Ramadan has a lot of barakah. Barakah meaning it has a lot of blessings. Wow, I am really tired today. It has a lot of blessings within it. Where even how much you cook, it will last you longer than the usual because Allah SWT has placed that, not only in your food, but in the entire month of Ramadan. So it's a very beautiful thing that Allah SWT has bestowed upon his believers. But we did just get a text message from Zaynab from Pakistan. He says, I'm celebrating Ramadan here by listening to many Islamic lectures. I've also started learning Arabic to understand the Quran and to make video presentations on various Islamic topics. Thank you very much Zaynab for joining and a very nice way of spending Ramadan. It's actually nice because Ramadan within it, it's one month across the year. You know, the entire year you get to celebrate, you get to have fun, you get to do whatever. But in Ramadan, it's a month of self-discipline where a person has to reflect on his personality, has to reflect on himself to see what wrongs he has done and tries to make them right in this holy month. I was like a New Year's resolution. But I just remembered what I had to say before. Another Ramadan tradition that a lot of people do, I don't know if you, a lot of people do this. It's called the Masafah Sharia. If you know, there's also a Fiqh SOS program on Imam Hussain TV. You guys go and check it out. They're probably talking about it within these few days where a person when he or she is fasting, he's able to break his fast on different ways. But individuals, if they can't really bear the fast or if they're sick and they don't want to break their Siam, they're fasting and fast for another 60 days as a punishment, what they do is they go 22 kilometers, break their fast and come back. I'm not encouraging anyone to do that, but this has become a tradition as well for some to actually go and break their fast. But we just have received another text message from. Razia from Norway. We've been spending Ramadan preparing for the final, for the finals during the days and if tar time we usually break it with a date and a glass of smoothie and then pray Maghrib, we eat after the prayers. Okay, nice, nice, very much. Thank you very much from Razia from Norway. She has participated as well. Your name has already been placed in here. But we do, we did receive text message, but it's, we did just get received message from, my name is Mariam Rana. We do apologize, we're not showing it on the camera or on TV because it's, there's technical difficulty, but she says, my name is Mariam Rana and in my country, Pakistan and Ramadan is celebrated like a festival. In this month people strive to be close to their lords, to their loved ones, their families. This strengthens the family bond a lot. Work hours are reduced, children get holidays from school so the family spends a lot of quality time together and when you turn on the TV everywhere they're all Ramadan transmissions, well okay. Very beautiful, thank you very much. Mariam Rana for joining us tonight. I didn't get the chance to take out the pen, but Mariam Rana. Mariam, okay, thank you very much Mariam. Your name? Oh, this one, all right. All right, your name will be placed in the bowl. Now, the holy month of Ramadan can be celebrated in many ways, you know, a lot of people think that you only have to spend Ramadan in worship, spend Ramadan, you know, praying to the Lord, although it's very beneficial during this month, but alongside your prayers, it's very important to observe that this month is a month where you get to help the poor, you get to reflect on the food that you're putting in front of you for some, and I've been to a few invitations where when it's time for a fattah, a feast goes on. Like I'm not even getting a feast, you don't know what to eat, you don't know how much to eat because the food is just a lot. If we reflect on that food and how much it can help the poor, we're not saying, you know, don't invite people and don't cook good food, no, no, no, absolutely, do it, but at the same time, we need to reflect because if that food goes into garbage, then you're in big trouble because there are needy people in need of that food. So this month is the month of giving back, actually not taking in. That's why we fast from dawn to dusk. Once again, thank you very much, that's it for tonight. There you have it. This is how people in the world spend their Ramadan. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. This is Ahmad Ali, coming to you live from the holy city of Karbalaq. Do stay tuned for the upcoming episodes at 2 a.m. Karbalaq time, 12 a.m. London time, 7 p.m. D.C. time. Thank you very much. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.