 I start in the name of Allah, the Beneficent and the Merciful, and I seek salvation from Shaytan, the Akaasid. As-salamu alayka Ya'aba, ad-Dillah. As-salamu alayka Ya'aba, al-Fadr al-Abbas. Salutations upon Imam al-Hussain and Abu al-Fadr al-Abbas, alayhi salam. My dearest viewers, As-salamu alaykum jami'an wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. May the peace, blessings and protection of Allah SWT be with you at all times. Welcome to the first episode of our new show, the Ramadan show with me, your host, Dr Shabir Tijani. Over the next 30 nights and 30 days, we'll be talking about the month of Ramadan and how you can get the best out of this month. We'll be talking about things such as spiritual refinement, philosophy. We'll talk about medical and health tips. We'll also have some poetry there. We'll be looking at how people around the world prepare for this holy month of Ramadan. And we'll also be having a very short speech from Sheikh Fayyad in order to help you to try and get the most out of this month. In fact, I would consider this probably a one-stop shop for you and all of your Ramadan needs, insha'Allah. You can also join in the show by using Twitter. If you use the hashtag IHTVRamadan, and you can join in our online debate. You can also have a look at the references that we use on a day-to-day basis during our shows on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com forward slash Imam Hussein3TV. And finally, I would like to also inform you that, insha'Allah, these episodes will be going on to YouTube the night after the production of the show on the television station. I would like to kick off the show with an aya from the Holy Quran where Allah SWT says, only those who give from what they love can achieve righteousness. And after all, that is what we're here to try and achieve from the month of Ramadan by giving what we love, we're trying to reach closest to Allah SWT. During this segment of the show, insha'Allah, we'll be looking into specific traits that we can utilise in order not to only improve ourselves as human beings but also to gain closeness to Allah SWT. However, in this first episode, I want to just set the scene and provide an introduction into why we're specifically talking about these traits in this month. Shaykh Sudduq in Al-Amali narrates that the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, gave a sermon at the beginning of every month of Ramadan in which he speaks about the Holy Month and talks about how this month is so special. This month has the highest station in the eyes of Allah SWT. And the Holy Prophet says that even breathing in this month is ibadah, sleeping in this month is equivalent to doing Tasbih. So one can only imagine the height and the level of this Holy Month. The Prophet talks about a lot of things in this sermon. However, a couple of things he particularly talks about is silat al-Rahim, which is keeping closeness with one's family and visiting the family and also helping the needy and the poor. Now we have to ask ourselves, as human beings, we're brought up with intrinsic values of good and evil, of right and wrong, and we know that as human beings it's our duty to try and help the poor and also to keep closeness with our family. So why is it that as human beings we don't do that? And the answer is simple. Unfortunately, during our lives we sin and we acquire traits that are a disease to the soul. And as a result, they stop us from performing good acts. However, Imam Sajjad, alayhi salam, Indoa Makarim al-Akhlaq, talks about specific traits that we can employ, that we can use in order to purify ourselves and get rid of diseases of our souls such as ego and arrogance. The question is why do we get ego and arrogance? And the simple answer is that we forget Allah SWT. So before we do anything, the first and most important thing that Allah SWT looks at is once near, intention, sincerity. After all, shaitan was thrown out of heaven after approximately 6,000 years of good deeds because his near was not right, was impure. So how can we make sure that our near is constantly revitalized and refreshed? And the answer is simple, is that after performing every action you must reassess yourselves because as human beings you're not stagnant, therefore your intention should never be stagnant. You should be constantly evolving your intention with your own actions and your own surrounding environment as it evolves. Now, the intention should always be for the pleasure of Allah SWT and in order to gain closeness towards Allah and His Ahlul Bayt. So the question is why are we specifically focusing on traits in the month of Ramadhan? And why is it that we're looking at this holy month in order to help improve ourselves not only as human beings but also to gain the closeness to Allah SWT? And the answer is actually quite simple because this is a month in which Allah promises that we will have elevation of our spirituality and our souls. It is also a month in which we try and kick out the bad habits and employ new habits, good habits, in order to improve ourselves so that after the month passes we're better as human beings. Thirdly, Allah SWT has put specific emphasis on reassessing, contemplating, thinking about where you are in your life and where you want to get to, how you will get there. And He asks you to call upon Him to help you to get to that place. And therefore we can use this month in order to contemplate and improve ourselves and employ these good habits after contemplating and reassessing our lives. I guess the most important quality of this month of Ramadhan is that Allah SWT promises that He will rain His mercy down upon you. And if we supplicate to Allah SWT to try and improve us, to help us improve and to allow us to use these traits in our everyday life to become better human beings, then surely we can achieve that station. So this is the platform that we will use for the coming nights in order to try and really improve ourselves as human beings in order to refine ourselves spiritually and to enrich ourselves in order to gain that closer to Allah SWT. In this segment of the show we'll talk a little bit about how people from all around the world prepare for the month of Ramadhan. People from east to west all prepare in a specific way or a special way that is accustomed to the way that they live and the place that they live in. And I thought I would be brilliant to start off with the United Kingdom which is the country that I'm from. In the United Kingdom, as many of you are aware, it's not a Muslim country. So our day-to-day lives don't change that much in terms of work. We still have work as a routine and the working hours are still the same. Children don't get time off from school. So it is really up to us to try and get the most out of the month even though we still have to work and do our day-to-day activities as we normally do. The parents usually try to encourage the kids to attend school but also after school when the evening program starts in the mosque usually people get together and they have a majlis, there's dua and usually there's an iftar as well after Maghrib Salah. And other than that the parents really try to encourage the children to become part of all of the spiritual upliftment. They try to get them involved with the majlis, try to get them to come to the A'amal as well on the nights of Laylatul Qadr. And even though the fasts in the United Kingdom are long so we usually have iftar between 9 and 10 o'clock at night there are still a lot of children do get involved with the participation in the mosques and the A'amal as well. The parents also try to get the children excited for the event of A'id because for us in the United Kingdom unlike in many of the eastern countries where Islam is the primary religion in the United Kingdom we don't have that environment where many, many people around us are Muslim. So for us the event of A'id is actually a very special occasion as I'm sure it is around many parts of the world but the children really have to try and get enthusiastic about this so the parents make a big deal about it they usually get the children nice clothes prepare good food for the event of A'id and get them into that mindset of something that is something to look forward to. Now obviously because of the long fasting hours those who work usually tend to try and adopt their day-to-day lives in order to fulfil their fasts as well as attend work and usually what happens is that the time of sahur is maybe around 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning so they try to eat before going to sleep and then they wake up early in the morning for work and as a result by the time they get back from work they are usually quite tired so usually they try to get some rest in the afternoon after they return from work maybe have some sleep for a couple of hours and then they get prepared for the mosque or the Islamic centre after they wake up and when it's time for Maghrib Finally, in the United Kingdom we don't have the environment like you guys do here in Karbala or in some of the Islamic countries around the world so we really try to come together as a community because that is almost like our social network in our homes and in our cities that we live in and using that we try to get as many people to the mosque as possible in order to join in the activities and usually as a result there's a lot of brotherhood and we come together for iftar as well quite often if that's not possible usually families get together around the dinner table for iftar and they break bread together, they eat food together and the children usually go to bed by then but then most of the elders they tend to stay up until the time of Sahur because the hours of Maghrib to Fajr are very short so they try to have Sahur before reciting Salat al Fajr and then going to bed so that's really in a nutshell how we try to prepare for the month of Ramadan and for the days in Ramadan in order to make the most out of them not only physically but also spiritually to allow us to ascend and get close to Allah SWT and also to get our children involved because that is something that we really try and focus upon being in a country where Islam isn't the primary religion we really try and get the children attached to the religion and as adults we try to lead by example so that is essentially how we go about preparing our days in the month of Ramadan we really would like all of you at home to get involved and really be a part of this show so please wherever you're from please send us your videos so that we can air it on our TV show and it will be aired during this show so we can see how people from all over the world from east to west get involved in the month of Ramadan and how they prepare and how they go about their day to day lives during the month of Ramadan the details where you can send the videos at the bottom of your screen and inshallah we look forward to those videos the most precious, the most merciful dearest viewers of Ramadan Hussain TV welcome may all your prayers be accepted in this holy month today we are in one of the stores in Karbala that produces and sells sweets, cookies and cakes so let's go inside and see the atmosphere of the holy month of Ramadan in this specific store of Karbala in the holy month of Ramadan we have all the guests of Allah and one of the blessings of this month is the close relationship between the adorers the believers, the family members and friends in this holy month the hearts are very close to one another therefore after Eftar we go and sit together remember Allah and all the blessings that he gave us through the guidance of Ahlul Bayt, a.s these gatherings are so sweet yet to add sweetness to these gatherings you might serve your guests with sweets and today we are in one of the stores in Karbala that sells and produces the best sweets in Karbala this is a very well-known reason for my father and grandfather this is the reason that I met Imam Al-Hussain Salam after that I took good care of their products their quality, their cleanliness their cleanliness, their purity this is very important in the history since 1884 my grandfather founded the sweets in Karbala he came from Iran and came to visit Karbala and the important thing is the history when we stayed there and he founded the sweets in the area and since then it has been a month it is the month of Ramadan for the people who are fasting after the Halloween the increase of human strength and the time for fasting they need sweets and therefore the good vibes have changed and the bad vibes have changed and the things that are more expensive during the month of Ramadan it is a little more expensive because fasting affects people more and then they get used to fasting and the cost is a little less Ramadan is a good month and then it is a little more expensive after the Ramadan people who are fasting come to buy and then it is a little more expensive during the holy month of Ramadan and stay tuned for more to come In this segment of the show Insha'Allah I will be talking about medically related health tips in order to allow you to get the most out of this month in a physical way and also Insha'Allah I hope I will give you tips that will also benefit you every day for the rest of your lives In this episode which is the first episode of this month about the benefits of fasting on the human body and also specific health tips or specific things you can do in this month in order to allow you to get the most out of this month in a physical sense Many years ago scientists thought that fasting was actually bad for the human body I mean after all how can a human body that is deprived of food and water be a good thing but recently studies in the United States of America and the Great Britain have shown that actually fasting can actually be of benefit to the human body and you may ask how Studies have shown recently that fasting actually can help you to lower your blood sugar levels and also allow you to lower your cholesterol levels Insha'Allah in future episodes I will be talking more about diabetes and cholesterol and also about heart disease and strokes but these are specific risk factors Diabetes and cholesterol or high cholesterol for heart disease and for strokes So Insha'Allah if you fast and you make the most of this month and fast in the correct way you can actually lower your blood sugar levels and your cholesterol and therefore help you to maintain a healthy lifestyle The other thing that scientists have found that is beneficial from fasting is that a specific hormone that is released in the body IGF-1 the proper name for it is insulin-like growth factor 1 is actually produced less in the body during the month or during periods of fasting and IGF-1 is actually shown to age people so this hormone in low quantities actually helps it to stay younger and finally the other benefit that I've found of fasting on the human body is addiction we often see people around who have specific addiction some are addicted to cigarettes for example and they smoke other people have more subtle addiction so addictions to things like coffee and caffeine or addictions to sugar and sweet things all of these in moderation can be a good thing for the human body or can help the human body but in excess and when you're actually dependent on those things physically and psychologically that can actually be a bad thing for the human body so fasting actually prevents you from getting into that day-to-day routine where you need those things where you're craving those things and going into a cyclical day-to-day motion and a routine in which you're deprived of these specific things can actually benefit you and will actually allow you inshallah to kick the habit whatever your addiction is whatever the bad habit is next I just want to talk a little bit about specific things you can do during the month of Ramadan in order to make the most out of the month from a physical point of view so that you're not remaining exhausted the whole day so that you're not tired all the time and that is a couple of things firstly it's your routine and secondly it's your eating habits obviously we have very few hours during the day in which we can eat obviously it depends from country to country and where you are in the world but during those short few hours in which you can eat it's very important to eat the right things and to eat them at the right times now as we know the human body was not designed to be starved all day and all night however scientists have found that actually the human body can be starved of food for prolonged periods of time so we're talking days and weeks before the human body actually gives up so we know from science that actually the human body can survive prolonged periods of time without food the main thing that the human body needs is actually water and hydration so it's very very important that when you break your fast that you actually drink plenty of water and from the hadith we find that the holy prophet used to eat dates when he opened his fast and have water now as I've said before the human body but dates are a very high source of nutrients they provide you with sugars because after a long day fasting your sugar levels drop and also we're told to have salt when we break our fast and the reason why salt is so beneficial for the human body after a prolonged period of fasting is that as you sweat you lose salt through your sweat and if you haven't had anything to eat for prolonged periods of time you don't replace that salt to open your fast with some salt now what's the right things to eat when you're actually having your iftar and that depends from person to person what your body makeup is like so if you're someone who is very very thin the right thing for you to eat will be different to someone who is actually fairly overweight but in order to make sure that you have a good energy source throughout the day it is important to try and eat something that we call complex carbohydrates so this can be things like rice it can be things like pasta and all of these things will allow you to have access to energy stores throughout the duration of the day and even the next day and it will allow you to not feel so tired and exhausted all the time and as I mentioned if you drink plenty of water during the iftar it will allow your body to rehydrate itself because deprivation of water for prolonged periods of time isn't good for the body because it lowers the circulating blood volume and lowers the circulation to very very important organs such as the heart, the kidneys, the brain and as a result it can lower your blood pressure so it's very very important that you do drink plenty of water through the day and finally very very important to stay away from very oily foods and fried foods because for two reasons firstly at iftar time when you're opening your fast it tends to be quite late at night so you tend to sleep quite soon afterwards and having oily food before sleep is not a good idea because it just sits in your stomach and sits in your gut for prolonged periods of time and actually isn't very healthy for you and secondly obviously when that happens you feel very bloated specific enzymes are released in your body and they're designed to break down the fats and the oils if you have too much oils it can actually make you feel very very bloated and unwell so it's very important to try and stay away from oily foods and finally try not to over eat I know it's a difficult thing to say because you've been fasting and starving the whole day but at iftar time try to eat in moderation drink plenty of water and insha'Allah eat regularly but smaller amounts and finally it's very very important to make the use of the sahur because at that time your body is just about to go into the fasting period so load your body up with nutrients to allow you to go through the next day and to allow you to make the most of that day so that you're not exhausted and tired all the time and insha'Allah as a result you will be able to do good acts and good deeds in order to also help you spiritually in a very well known sermon delivered by Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him in the last Friday sermon of Shaban he emphasized O people the month of Allah has come towards you bringing divine blessings mercy and forgiveness the subtle point in this phrase is the fact that these three divine offerings are not granted to the people at the month at the beginning of the month but rather there are special gifts of the month of Ramadan from the very first day it begins the holy prophet continued in this month they have been invited to the banquet of Allah the Almighty according to the wording of the above phrase people are invited into this banquet therefore in order for one to enter such a blessed banquet he or she must accept the infidation and act upon it generally speaking some may understand the word banquet as a requirement of eating, drinking or some sort of entertainment however the banquet the banquet of Allah is essentially different fasting is a condition for one in order to receive the special gifts granted by Allah the Almighty in this blessed banquet for grasping the character of divine banquet we should first note that every banquet consists of four elements, four essential elements number one when you are invited you cannot be rejected thus the host is expected to welcome the guests otherwise an invitation is meaningless and inviting is denied of reception accordingly when Allah the Almighty invites his guests and his servants to the banquet of Ramadan the gates of his mercy will be open to those who accept the invitation and of course act upon it the second essential element is that when you enter the venue of the banquet you will be treated with honor and respect although every person who has not been let in is not competent of being respected, the same is not true one may understand this fact that the following statement means in this month you are made of those people who Allah highly honors and respects the third essential element is that when you go into a banquet you will be given or shown something without payment in other words you expect to gain something without any return the banquet of Ramadan the banquet of Ramadan Allah the Almighty not only rewards our actions generously but he entertains his guests with various bounties without them doing something so much so that he counts the sleep of the fasting individuals as worship and their breath as an act of glorification of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam states in the same sermon that your breaths in the month of Ramadan are glorification of Allah and your sleep in it is worship we move on to the fourth essential element is that when you are invited to a party you naturally expect to meet the host and consider his absence as humiliation accordingly when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala invites his servants to his banquet he is already there because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is in every time and is everywhere however what is different about the month of Ramadan is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala adds to this banquet his mercy his forgiveness and blessings this is the month in which you have been invited to the banquet of Allah the Almighty this part of the sermon inspires the fact that this blessings has been dedicated to the month of Ramadan the holy prophet adds in the sight of Allah this month is the best month its days are the best days its nights are the best nights its hours are the holiest hours we can conclude that although this month's prominence over the other months across the year we see that its days nights and hours are the holiest hours and the best hours by mentioning these three phrases independently the prophet emphasized that every portion of this month is better and more holier than any month across the year for this first episode the poem that I want to recite is one that's extremely close to my heart it's a poem that was written by well it's originally in three languages it's in Arabic English and Urdu but I'll be reciting the Urdu and the English components of it and it is a nashid which is a supplication an intimate supplication from a servant to his master from a servant to his lord to the Almighty and this poem has been written the Urdu and the English parts have been written by myself and my brother Abbas and it is a poem that is extremely close to our hearts to sit and complain because of my wrongs my soul has been burnt the chances you gave but I never learned I find solitude to you I return Ya Rahim Ya Kareem Ya Muqeem Ya Azeem Ya Aleem O Ya Aleem O Ya Hakim Ya Rab Nahi Ha Misa Le Maula Teri Teri Rahmatu Se Hamko Mili Ye Dono Jahan Si Taare Sabhi Ye Shamso Kamar Ke Sab Roshini Tujhe Dundit Me De Taar Hu Gahardang Sada Rahim O Ya Kareem Ya Rahim O Ya Kareem Ya Muqeem O Ya Azeem Ya Aleem O Ya Aleem O Ya Hakim Ya Enjoying our lives whilst we are at rest we are not aware they are crying out in a voice so suppressed they are vulnerable writes us suppressed with all of my heart will smile a world in which Rahim O Ya Kareem Muqeem O Ya Azeem Ya Aleem O Ya Aleem O Ya Hakim Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua Mehri Har Dua I want to leave you with these final thoughts, these final words in order to get you to think about your philosophy and about how you'll approach this month of Ramadan. I want you to think about the opportunities that you will get during this month and about how you will utilise these opportunities because by God every opportunity you get is a mercy from Allah SWT. I want you to think of opportunity like water and time like your hands. If you don't utilise your hands wisely, if you don't utilise time wisely and your hands are too stretched, then the water runs through your hands and the opportunity slips through your fingers. And therefore whenever you get the opportunity to do something good in this month whether it's giving charity or helping someone make use of that opportunity because who knows, you may never get that opportunity again. You can discuss about this topic and your philosophy behind this thought on our Twitter page and using our Twitter handle hashtag IHTVRamadan. Please join us on our other social networking sites as well on Facebook and on YouTube as well where this episode will be uploaded tomorrow. Please also join us tomorrow for the next episode. And finally, I ask you to remember us in your du'az and also to remember the most important of all du'az and that is to hasten the appearance, rather the reappearance of the awaited Imam, Imam al-Mahdi, Aja l-Allahu ta'ala, Farja. And insha'Allah I will see you again tomorrow and hopefully will be able to inspire you and prepare you for the month ahead. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.