 We praise Allah as well for bringing the hearts together on this day of Jumu'ah, this day of gathering. Just as he brought our hearts together when we were brought out on the day of the Covenant, on that day when we were brought out from the loins of our father Adam, alaihi salam, Allah asked us, Allāhi stu bi rabbikum. How may not your Lord? And we testified, we all witnessed and testified. We said, balā, indeed you are. And so this gathering, this Jumu'ah is a reminder of that first gathering. And a warning of the upcoming gathering on the day of judgment, Yawm al-Qiyāmah, when we will be questioned whether we remain faithful to that original Covenant. We know then that this life is just a journey between that day of the Covenant and the day of resurrection. And in this life there are moments and opportunities when the dunya, this life that we're in starts to fade away when paradise becomes more apparent. There are opportunities that Allah gives us in this life when the dunya fades into the background and when Allah's nearness comes into the foreground. And we know that Ramadan is one of these moments. Most people are able to recognize the blessings of Ramadan. This is something that most of us experience. The expansion in one's capacity to stand for Ta'rawi and for Tahajjud, the expansion in one's ability to recite Quran, suddenly we're brdu khatims of Quran left and right. And this expansion, these blessings are so momentous that it's said that to set off the early generations of this religion, in the six months leading up to Ramadan, they would make dua that they would be able to reach Ramadan. And in the six months after Ramadan, they would make dua that their Ramadan was accepted, their fasting and their standing during that time. Yet, what is often not appreciated or overlooked about Ramadan is that this expansion in one's risk, one's spiritual risk is accompanied by a restriction, is accompanied by a fasting. Slam or somim in Arabic literally means al-qaf, it's to restrain yourself, it's restraint. And so think about this dichotomy. Allah places expansion in matters of the Akhira exactly where he places restrictions in matters of the dunya. In other words, an increase in the spiritual and metaphysical can only come when the material and the physical is lessened. This wisdom in Allah's creation is not only something theoretical and nice to know, but it has practical implications for our fasting as well. Because those who don't keep this dichotomy in mind between the material and the spiritual may inadvertently lose the benefits of Ramadan. In a famous hadith, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi sallam says, Many are those who fast yet gain nothing from it except hunger and thirst. Many are those who fast yet gain nothing from it but hunger and thirst. Now why would this be the case? This is because when Allah tells us to fast, he's not just telling us to delay our meal times until after Maghrib. Nor is he telling us that the purpose of fasting is just to get hungry or thirsty like we would do if we skip breakfast or lunch any other time during the year. No, the purpose of fasting rather is to weaken the nafs, to weaken the physical appetites, to weaken our physical capacities. In other words, to diminish our reliance on the material world. That is, it's to wean the lower self off of its halal appetites. And that is so that the body may be freed and the soul may be freed, the Ruh may be freed to engage upwards, engage with Allah, the Sublime, the Almighty. And it's in accordance with this that the masters of the heart, the scholars of the heart outline four conditions, four restrictions if you will. For a fast to be acceptable, not acceptable in the sense of gaining reward, but acceptable in the sense of achieving the very purpose of the fast in the first place. The first of these conditions is to lower the gaze from what is unlawful. The Prophet, peace be upon him, says, a single glance, just a single glance, is a poisoned arrow from the bow of shaitan. And so whoever foregoes a glance that he wishes, a glance towards something he wishes to gaze at. If someone foregoes that, Allah grants him a faith, the sweetness of which he tastes in his heart. And today this is especially applicable to screens and to social media and to mainstream media. Because how often do you find yourself watching something or scrolling past something? And what you're scrolling past or what you're watching is something that depicts gluttony or something that depicts lust. These very things, seeing these things excites the very appetites that the fast is meant to diminish. Fasting is meant to a customer person to be satisfied with less, with needing less. The screens, as we all know, are designed to get us hooked, to want more and more. And so they are opposites, this is a dichotomy. And so this is the first condition that the scholars mention to restrict the eyes. The second condition is to restrict the tongue from its endless talking and blabber, to restrict it from lying, from backbiting, from gossip, and from arguing. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said, fasting is but a shield. Fasting is but a shield. If one of you fasts, be not foul, be not hot-headed. If a person fights with him or insults him, let him say, Inni saw him. I am fasting, I am fasting. And in another hadith, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, also says, whoever does not leave qoluzur, this false testimony, and does not leave false testimony and does not leave acting in accordance with false testimony, Allah has no need for him to leave his food and his drink. So what then is the purpose of leaving our food and drink if we are still engaged with these sins of the tongue? What fasting demands is silence. What fasting demands is a tongue to restrain itself, to be fasting itself. And even the physical fasting from food encourages this because a lack of nutrition throughout the day means that a person doesn't have energy to carry a conversation with people. What it does mean though is that this lack of conversation with people frees the tongue to have a conversation with Allah, that is, through doing dhikr of Allah, through reciting the Quran. And this is the purpose for which the tongue was created. The third condition that scholars mention is to restrict the ear from listening to anything that the tongue is forbidden to speak. We know that remaining silent in the presence of backbiting if someone is backbiting in front of us, that this is forbidden. Allah says in the Quran, Sit not with them with these people who are backbiting until they delve into another conversation. If you would do so, then you would have been like them, meaning you have been sinful like them just as they are sinning by backbiting themselves. You are sinning by just sitting in their presence and not leaving their presence. Additionally, listen to how the hypocrites, meaning those who pretend to believe but don't actually believe, listen to how Allah describes them. They are always listening to lies. They are always devouring the unlawful. And so fasting includes this as well, it's the fasting of the ears. Just as the tongue is meant to recite Quran, just as it is created for the purpose of reciting Quran and for dhikr, the ear is meant to listen to these things as well. But if the ear is clogged up, if the ear can't actually hear, because it's listening to so much gossip, to so much arguing, to oftentimes to music which contains these depictions and descriptions of the unlawful, then how will there be any room remaining to listen to the Quran with heart when we read it ourselves or when we listen to it in Taraweeh? And so this is the third condition, to restrict the ears. And the fourth condition is to restrict the stomach. That is not only from eating during the fast, but also when breaking the fast. In short, we are asked not to feast or indulge ourselves during Iftar and during Suhur. In another hadith, or as we mentioned earlier, the hadith, Many are those who fast yet gain nothing except hunger and thirst. Just think about how foolish this thing is. If you were to, this is like someone who works night and day for a month to receive their paycheck. And as they're exiting the office, they throw their paycheck into the dumpster. What was the point of that work? What was the point of that month? And if you realize that that month, that work was pointless, then what about this month, this month of work, this month of fasting? What is the point if you end up gorging yourself on a 10-course meal during Iftar, filling yourself to the point that you're going to pass out? The stomach is an inroad to evil, just as the ear can be an inroad to evil and the tongue and the eyes can be too. The Prophet, peace be upon him, says, and he says this about eating halal food. He says, There is no vessel worse than the stomach that the child of Adam fills. And so we are asked to restrict the stomach, restrict the stomach even during Iftar, to the point that you should feel more hunger and thirst during the fast. Then you normally would. Because this is the exact medicine that is prescribed for us to gain spiritual strength.