 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين حبيبي إله العالمين بالرقاس من مصطفى محمد وعلى أهل بيته الطيبين الطاهرين الذين أذهب الله عنهم الرجسة وطهرهم تطهيرا قال الله تعالى في كتابه الكريم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم شهر رمضان الذي أنزل فيه القرآن هدى للناس وبيناتهم من الهدى والفرقان فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه ومن كان مريضا أو على سفر فعدة من أيام أخر يريد الله بكم اليسر ولا يريد بكم العفسر أردت أخبار أخبار أخبار أخبار أخبار أخبار أخبار أخبار أخبار أخبار أردت أن أبدأ بالنسبة to all of you on the beginning of the holy month of Ramadhan for some it will be beginning tomorrow and for others for the followers of Ayatollah Sistani it will be beginning on Saturday إن شاء الله now as we know the month of Ramadhan is the greatest month in the Islamic lunar calendar and it is the greatest time of the year it is a time of spirituality it is a time to seek nearness to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and it is also a time to build and strengthen our bonds with our families with our community members with our friends with our neighbors with our relatives this is indeed the month of mercy and رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله says شهر هو عند الله أفضل الشهور وإيامه أفضل الأيام ولياله أفضل الليالي وساعاته أفضل الساعات it is a month that its days are the best of days its nights are the best of nights and its hours are the best of hours it is a month that we are invited to be the guest of Allah سبحانه وتعالى however this month is only great for the ones who choose to make it great there are some people for them this month will be a time that they will regret later on and for others this is an opportunity that they will seize to become better individuals to get closer to Allah سبحانه وتعالى in a hadith where the Imam says كم من صائم ليس له من صيامه إلا الجوع والظمأ how many people fast but all that they get out of fasting is hunger and thirst وكم من قائم ليس من قيامه إلا السهر والعنى and how many people stand and pray in the middle of the night but all that they get out of it all that it produces is being tired and exhausted and not sleeping my dear brothers and sisters we have to take advantage of the month of Ramadan and we have to progress we have to become better individuals we have to strengthen our relationship with Allah سبحانه وتعالى and we have to strengthen our relationship with people around us this is the time to turn to Allah this is the time to strengthen our spirituality this is the time to ask Allah for forgiveness Imam صادق عليه السلام he says the one who is not forgiven during the month of Ramadan the next opportunity the next chance that they have to be forgiven is by attending Arafat by going to Hajj that's the next opportunity the next closest opportunity that you have to be forgiven after the month of Ramadan and if you are not forgiven during the month of Ramadan so we have to try to take advantage of the moments of this month this is an opportunity that will fly by on the day of judgment my dear brothers and sisters every single individual will feel regret Allah describes one of the names of the day of judgment is يوم الحسرة the day of regret وأنذرهم يوم الحسرة اثقضي الأمر and warn them of the day of regret when everything has been written narration say that the day of judgment is a day of regret for the مؤمنين and for the non-مؤمنين obviously for those who are non-believers it's a day of regret for them because they will say why did I not believe but even the believers it's going to be a day of regret for the majority why because they're going to say why didn't I do more I had this opportunity that came every year once a year it came in my lifetime an opportunity to erase all of my sins an opportunity to start a clean slate with Allah why didn't I do better why didn't I fix my life so my dear brothers and sisters let us not make this month of Ramadan be a time where we will regret not doing enough not having done enough for our lives and for our afterlives my dear brothers and sisters a lot of people when it comes to the month of Ramadan we tend to minimize the month of Ramadan to only fasting only fasting in hunger however that's not all only fasting from food and thirst that's not all what Ramadan is the hadith says إذا أصبحت صائما فليصم سمعك وبصرك وشعرك وجلدك وجميع جوارحك when you are fasting then make sure that your ears are fasting with you that your eyes are fasting with you that your whole body is fasting with you your organs are fasting with you that you don't do haram you don't say haram you don't listen to haram you don't look at haram we have to act and treat the month of Ramadan the day that we are fasting different from all other days different from all other times لا يكن يوم صومة كيوم إفطارك do not allow the day that you are fasting to be just as a normal day the day that you are breaking the fast this is a day that we have to be God conscious this is a day that we have to be very careful one day رسول الله صلى الله عليه وعاله توز his companion جابر بن عبدالله الأنصاري he tells him يا جابر هذا شهر رمضان من صاما نهاره وقاما وردا من ليلة وعف بطنه وفرجه وكف لسانه خرج من دنوبه كخروجه من الشهر رسول الله صلى الله عليه وعاله تقول جابر هو شهر who fast and prays and the one who protects their stomach and protects their organs and does not do haram does not listen to haram does not say haram does not practice haram they will leave this month the day of Eid when the month ends they will leave from their sins just like they leave from the month so جابر ابن عبدالله الأنصاري he is a companion he tells رسول الله يا رسول الله ما أحسن هذا الحديث oh رسول الله this is the best حديث this is the best thing to hear about because it is easy every single one of us we are going to fast and therefore we are going to leave this month and we are going to be cleansed from our sins so رسول الله صلى الله عليه وعاله he tells him يا جابر وما أشد هذه الشروط yes the Hadith talking saying it is very easy however the conditions are very difficult how many of us can abide by the conditions how many of us can try to maintain ourselves and have our self control during this month now my dear brothers and sisters I wanted to talk about the etiquettes of fasting there are Adab etiquettes to the fasting etiquettes to the عبادات of course we have the laws the احكام of fasting this was covered and I spoke about them and you could see the links of the laws of fasting what invalidates the fast what is not allowed but there is something extra there is an etiquette maybe this is something that if you don't do it doesn't break your fast however it doesn't break your fast in order to reach the full potential in order to maximize the potential of fasting it is recommended to try to have these etiquettes be a part of our lives there are several points I want to discuss one of them my dear brothers and sisters is that the month of Ramadan is the season of the Quran شهر رمضان ربيع القرآن is the spring of the Quran so the month of Ramadan is a time that we have to keep the Quran next to us you have to carry the Quran make sure you know where the Quran is and you recite from the Quran and you read the Quran and you contemplate because it was during the month of Ramadan that the Quran was revealed شهر رمضان the month of Ramadan is the time where the Quran was revealed so this is the time that we have to care we have to pay attention to the Quran and we have to turn to the Quran and we should not neglect the Quran وقال الرسول يا رب إن قوم تخذوا هذا القرآن مهجورة رسول الله on the day of judgment one of the complaints that رسول الله will have to God is that he will say either neglecting it through lack of recitation or neglecting it through lack of understanding and lack of تفسير and learning and comprehending and trying to think about the Quran we have to reflect on the verses of Allah سبحانه وتعالى the Quran is God speaking to us it's the actual words of Allah سبحانه وتعالى so during the month of Ramadan the proper etiquette is to read the Quran try to recite the Quran as much as possible it will benefit you and it could benefit people around you it could benefit your relatives it could benefit the deceased from your family when you are reciting the Quran you could make it an intention to recite the Quran on behalf of your friends on behalf of your relatives on behalf of your parents your grandparents whoever has passed away from your family you could recite the Quran for yourself and for others it doesn't have to be just one person so the more Quran you recite and you send the reward to other people the more they will benefit and the more you will benefit so we have to recite the Quran and during the month of Ramadan the recitation of the Quran the reward of the recitation of the Quran is multiplied but when Allah says يساعد من القرآن كان له مثل أجر من ختم القرآن في غيره من الشهور whoever recites one verse الله سبحانه وتعالى will give this person the reward of reciting the full Quran in any other month so imagine if you read the Quran once and twice and recite as much as you can so this is one my dear brothers and sisters Ramadan the etiquette of Ramadan is to have the Quran be a part of our lives not only fasting and hunger and thirst we have to recite the Quran second my dear brothers and sisters the month of Ramadan is the time of dua the time of supplication the time of turning to Allah سبحانه وتعالى وتوبوا إلى الله من ذنوبكم ورفعوا إليه أي ديكم بالدعا Repent to Allah ask Allah to forgive you and raise your hands to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and dua ask Allah for whatever you want God is so merciful with us that he tells me ask me whatever you want ask me so ورفعوا إليه أي ديكم بالدعا في أوقات صلاةكم فإنها أفضل الساعة ينظر الله ينظر الله فيها إلى عبده بعين الرحمة إذا نا جو ويولبيهم إذا نا دو the best time to do dua is during the times of prayer after your prayer as soon as you finish your prayer try to sit a little bit longer ask Allah for whatever you want no one is telling you to ask do dua for anyone else you do dua for yourself ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى for something that is for you and ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى ask ask say these are all dua and of course we have some of the dua's that are recited after the month of Ramadan I will post them on social media some of them some of them these are some of the short dua's that are recited after each prayer they take you a minute two minutes to recite them so make sure you recite these dua's and it is recommended every night in the month of Ramadan to recite دعاء الافتتاح دعاء الافتتاح for those who tomorrow is the beginning of Ramadan for them then you have to recite it tonight it's because it's ليلة الأول for those who Saturday is the first day of Ramadan then you recite it Friday night after مغرب this is a beautiful dua دعاء that connect us with Allah دعاء beginning with praise اللهم اني افتتحوا الثاناء أبي حمدك I begin by speaking to you by praising you such a beautiful dua of course this dua in it we mentioned the names of رسول الله and the imams of the Ahl al Bayt and in it we do a dua for the imam of our time for Imam al Mahdi عجل الله تعالى فرجم الشريف to save us from the difficulties that we're dealing with by the blessings of Imam al Mahdi and we ask Allah to change our circumstances by the blessings of the imam of our time of course there's also other du'as one of the most beautiful du'as is دعاء أبو حمزة ثمالي the dua that goes to Imam Zayn and عابدين he used to recite it during the time of Sahar during the night he would begin reciting that dua a very beautiful dua so this is another point we mentioned the Qur'an we mentioned the dua and the supplication and speaking to Allah another very important point my dear brothers and sisters is that it is highly highly recommended to give iftar to the Muslims they don't have to be poor because they're hungry رسل الله صلى الله عليه وعليه he says من فطرة فيه مؤمنا صائما كان له بذلك عند الله اتقرقبه ومخفرة لذنوبه في مامضا whoever feeds a person who's fasting you help that person break their fast you invite that person Allah سبحانه وتعالى and Allah will give you the reward of freeing a slave imagine you feed someone and Allah gives you the reward of freeing a slave in the way of Allah امام الباقر عليه السلام he says one of the companions of my father امام زين العبدين came to Imam Zain العبدين and he was by the name of this man used to exchange he had some money Imam Zain العبدين is telling him something he tells him او سدير do you know what day it is? do you know what time it is? سدير says yes this is the month of Ramadan سدير tells him امام زين العبدين he tells him او سدير can you free 10 slaves from the children of Prophet Ismail during this month are you able are you capable of freeing 10 slaves each day and each night سدير he says او سدير I have money but I don't have that much money so then the Imam tells him can you free 9 slaves he says no my money is not enough can you free 8 slaves no my money is not enough until he says can you free one slave he says no I don't have that much money so then the Imam عليه السلام he tells him he smiles and he tells him is this what you meant by feeding the fast of a person yes I can feed the fast of 10 people then the Imam عليه السلام he tells him yes if you feed if you break the fast of 10 people you will receive the reward of freeing 10 slaves from the children of Prophet Ismail عليه السلام so it's not difficult of course the Muslims الله سبحانه وتعالى can you feed the the people who are fasting break their fast some of the Muslims they said we are poor we can barely feed ourselves الله سبحانه وتعالى اتقن نار وانو بشربة من ما try to avoid the hellfire even by giving a cup of water to someone even a piece of date الله سبحانه وتعالى looks at the quality of your action and not the quantity of your action in a beautiful hadith Imam السلام عليه السلام he says my grandfather زين العبدين Imam عليه بن الحسين he says on a day that he used to fast he used to order for a sheep to be slaughtered and it would be cut up and they would cook the meat so once it comes close to the time he would go and he would see the boiling meat and the water in it and he would smell it and it has a good smell so the Imam عليه السلام he would tell the people with him he would tell them bring me dishes and trays and he would fill the tray with meat and food and he would say send it to this family send it to this family Imam زين العبدين he would feed the people and then he would go and break his fast with bread and water this is Imam زين العبدين عليه السلام this is an Imam who shows us to care for people because the philosophy one of the greatest lessons that we should learn during the month of Ramadan is that we have to care for people we have to think of those who do not have and this is the best time to do so so we mentioned feeding the needy and in a hadith from Imam موسف نجقفر الكاثم عليه السلام he says افطال الصائم افضل من الصيام he says feeding someone who is in need someone who is fasting the reward is greater than the fasting itself so let us keep that in mind my dear brothers and sisters another very important etiquette of the month of Ramadan is to have Suhoor to wake up at Sahartime and to have a bite to eat something Sahartime is before Fajr as long as you eat before Fajr that is the time of Sahar the last few moments the last half hour the last hour before Fajr that is the time of Sahar it is recommended to wake up and eat and this is the Sunnah of Rasul Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم this is what Rasul Allah used to do so we do it because it's the Sunnah and Rasul Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم he says السحور بركة eating Suhoor getting up for Suhoor this is a blessing in another in another Hadith he says لا تدع أمتي السحور ولو على حشفة let my ummah my nation not leave the Suhoor even to get up and have a piece of date one piece of date having a piece of date drinking a cup of water this is enough this is the Sunnah of Rasul Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم and when you get up for Suhoor there's a benefit in it some people they say I'm too tired I'm exhausted there's a benefit in it my dear brothers and sisters one is that you get up and you're going to eat you're going to eat something and that will give you the strength to be able to endure the fasting this is one and second which is perhaps more important and that is that when you get up this is an opportunity to pray a few like us this is an opportunity to recite some of the Qur'an this is an opportunity to recite some of the dua when you're when you're up and you're eating don't just feed your body make sure that during those last moments of the night before Fajr first of all you stay up till Fajr time so that you could pray the Fajr and then pray صلى الله عليه وسلم pray the midnight prayer pray نافلة in Fajr recite the dua recite the Qur'an recite dua البهاء dua أبو حمزة these are something that we could do and of course if you can't recite the whole dua recite one page of it if you can't recite listen to it and read the translation we shouldn't do if it's not all or nothing we shouldn't have that all or nothing mentality if you can't do all do a little bit الله سبحانه وتعالى will accept it this is the month of blessings where الله سبحانه وتعالى will reward you while you're sleeping imagine if you're actually praying and reciting the Qur'an and supplicating one question that people have is what is in Fajr and what is Fajr in Fajr is precautionary time to stop eating because we can't really it's really difficult to tell the exact time of Fajr so we stop at the time of In Fajr as a precautionary measure so that we're not eating and we're not and doing anything which may invalidate the fast into Fajr time so this is why Imsaq is about 10 minutes 15 minutes before Fajr time during that time from Imsaq until Fajr stay awake do Da'a do Staqfar do whatever you can to strengthen your spirituality finally the etiquettes of the month of Ramadan is too of course it's obligatory to break our fast we break our fast once it is مغرب time that's the time that we break our fast now of course while breaking the fast there are several things that we should do some of us we forget that we're fasting and we just jump on the food no those last moments this is the time right before you eat right before you put that bite in your mouth do a Da'a the etiquette is to do Da'a and ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to accept your fast so you say بسم الله اللهم لك صمنا وعلى رزقك أفطرنا فتقبل مننا إنك أنت سميع العلي بسم الله you say بسم الله before starting any time you're eating not only during the month of Ramadan بسم الله اللهم لك صمنا or Allah we fast it for you وعلى رزقك أفطرنا and because of your sustenance through your sustenance we are breaking our fast فتقبل مننا إنك أنت السميع العلي so accept from us you are the all hearing the all knowing and it is recommended at the first bite to say بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم يا واسع المخفرة اخفر لي in the name of Allah the mercy giving the merciful oh one who his mercy his forgiveness encompasses everything forgive me oh Allah of course some people a lot of people ask this question can we break our fast first or do we have to pray first or what is more important scholars say and this is the hadith from the Imam he says it is more recommended to pray before breaking the fast unless there are people waiting for you and you praying is going to delay them from eating so in that case you're allowed to break your fast or praying or the second exception is if your hunger is so much that you will not be able to concentrate on prayer so therefore at that time go and eat something and come back and pray as soon as you can don't delay the prayers because many people when they break their fast they get heavy and it becomes hard to move around so then the prayer is delayed so my dear brothers and sisters these are the etiquettes of fasting I ask Allah SWT to bless you all to accept your أعمال to accept your fasting and your prayers during this holy month and to bless you all during this time we are quarantined but let us make this a time where we focus on our relationship with Allah where we improve ourselves and we become better individuals نسألك الله هما و ندعوك إسمك العظيم الأعظم العزل أجل الأكرم يا الله يا الله يا رحمن يا رحيم يا مقلب القلوب ثبت قلوبنا على دينك اللهم اغفر للمؤمنين والمؤمنات الأحياء منهم والأموات تابع اللهم بيننا وبينهم بالخيرات إنك مجيب الدعوات إنك غافر إنك على كل شيء قدير وإلى أرواح المؤمنين والمؤمنات نهدي ثواب الفاتح مع الصلوات ضعم صلى الله عليه وسلم