 See and to view Ramadhan as a barometer for where you are, for where we are, and I say that individually. So it affords us an opportunity to individually assess where we are with regards to our own relationship with God, with his faith, and with ourselves, how in tune we are with our own spiritual development and progression. And so Ramadhan affords us that barometer, that opportunity that comes periodically once a year in this case, where we can really assess where we are. And the hope is that where you find yourself, this Ramadhan, whether it's your first or your tenth or your thirtieth or whatever, you hope that you are in a better place spiritually and along the spiritual continuum where you are in a better place than you were the previous Ramadhan. And so Ramadhan affords us that opportunity to kind of gauge ourselves where we are. And then because of the many opportunities, the various and sundry opportunities that we have in the month of Ramadhan to connect with God, to connect with his faith, then we can recalibrate. We can gauge and then recalibrate. We can adjust. We can say, well, you know, I've been sort of lacking when it comes to prayer on time. Or I've been derelict or negligent in terms of how often I engage the book of God, how often I engage scripture. So let me use this opportunity, Ramadhan, to increase my recitation and reading of the Quran, of scripture. Perhaps in previous years, I've sort of just gone through the fast on autopilot. Yeah, I get hungry. I get thirsty. But besides that, I haven't really been anything really special about Ramadhan. I haven't been coming to the mosque or going to the various places that have allowed me to come at night and pray or to do the spiritual retreat in the last 10 days where I can spend day and night at the mosque in Ibadah and worship of God. You know, maybe this year will be the year that I can do that. And in various other things, it allows us an opportunity to assess and then recalibrate to avail ourselves of the many blessings that we find in the month of Ramadhan. Furthermore, and finally by just way of introduction to the month of Ramadhan, is that in addition to being a barometer, a gauge and a way of an opportunity for us to recalibrate, Ramadhan is also a should-be and can represent a paradigm shift. It can represent a catalyst so that if we do find ourselves in a less than pleasant or less than ideal state, with regards to our relationship with God, our relationship with His book, His scripture, His religion, and so on, that we can utilize the, again, many opportunities that we have in the month of Ramadhan and many blessings that descend from the heavens quite literally in the month of Ramadhan to allow that month of 29 or 30 days to be a paradigm shift in where we are with regards to our spiritual growth and progression. Allow Ramadhan to be that catalyst that speeds up the process, that gives us a boost that we need in the month of Ramadhan. I think that having said all of that, I think one of the important things that we should know, and I think this is especially poignant for those of us who are relatively new into the faith is, and I say that not disparagingly for sure, but because I say the same advice to people who have been lifelong Muslims, people who are born into the faith, is that if Ramadhan is that intense crucible of 29 or 30 days where you give it your all, by way of a sports analogy or athletic analogy, I liken or I compare the month of Ramadhan to a sprint. If you're a runner, you know what a sprint is. A sprint is where you give it your all. You give it your all full power, full speed, you know, legs burn out, but usually you're doing that at full speed for a shorter duration of time or for a shorter length of time. It's you burn out, right? That's what Ramadhan is. Ramadhan is that opportunity to sort of give it your all. But life in this faith is not a sprint. Life in general, but certainly life as way as it, especially as it relates to our spiritual relationship with God, our spiritual progression and growth, is not a sprint. Life is a marathon. Life is a gradual, long-term phenomenon. You're in it for the long haul. And so the important thing to keep in mind is to pace yourself, right? If you're a marathon runner, you learn the importance of pace and of pacing yourself. Whereas if you're a sprint runner or a sprinter, you have a completely different methodology as it comes to your approach to the run. So we are marathon runners. We're not sprint runners. And as much as there is that tendency to view Ramadhan as a sprint where we just kind of give it all, there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. That's a great training mode. In fact, think of it as a boot camp, right? 29, 30 days of a boot camp. But boot camp is there to allow you to get into the shape that you want so that you can sustain that. It's not just meant for the purposes of the boot camp itself. You're not just in it for those 29 days. You're not just in it for those 30 days. Because even if you are successful in that boot camp and you see results, you see gains, if you don't continue that in some capacity, you're going to lose all those gains. You're going to lose all that momentum that you had during the boot camp. Right? And so even if Ramadhan is that sprint, we can take the lessons that we learn in the month of Ramadhan beyond the month of Ramadhan, in the other months. Continue. And this is why, for example, one of the great practices of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in the month that precedes Ramadhan, in the month of Shawwa is to fast six days. Now, depending on what school of law, and if you've been introduced, there's various schools of religious law within Sunni Islam, and including the Shi'i school, there's five schools of normative Islamic law. Depending on what school you follow, or even if you don't follow a particular school, just know that there are some differences of opinion with regards to whether or not those six days should come right after Eid. That is to say, starting the second of Shawwa, you start the six days. Or you can fast any six days during that month. Or there's also opinions that say that you can fast for the remainder of the year. So any time between that Ramadhan and the following Ramadhan. So between that Ramadhan and the next Ramadhan, you can fast those six days. But fasting the six days of Shawwa is considered a very laudable and praiseworthy sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him. And so again, there it is, right there, right? To continue the practice. And this is why, among the other prophetic teachings, was to not only fast the six days of Shawwa, but to also fast, for example, Mondays and Thursdays. Or fast the three days that come right in the middle of the lunar year, which are considered the bright, or the white days, because that's where you have the full moon. And so the fasting the 13th, 14th and 15th of a lunar cycle. To fast every other day, which was considered the fast of Dawud, or the fast of David, peace be upon him. To fast every other day. As long as you don't fast every consecutive day, which is against the normative practice of the Prophet, that is to say, is contrary to the sunnah. You can fast. And in fact, think of all of the various opportunities that you have in Ramadan, whether it's the fasting, whether it's the night vigil that we pray at the mosque in congregation, or at home, whether it's the spiritual itikah, the spiritual retreat that often is performed in the last 10 days, whether it's the recital of the Qur'an, whether it's being charitable, whether it's being generous, so on and so forth. All of the various blessings and opportunities that we have, we can't avail ourselves of in Ramadan, we can do so throughout the year. In fact, there are times throughout the year where those particular actions are considered to be highly praiseworthy. We know that there are certain times of the year that it is highly encouraged to fast. It's not obligated like Ramadan is, but it's highly encouraged. There's a practice that the Prophet never gave up. He always fasted, for example, the 9th and 10th of Muharram, of the month of Muharram. He always fasted the day of Ashura, which is the day of Arafat, right? The 9th of Dhul-Hajj, and so on. These were practices of the Prophet that he kept, regardless of whether he was traveling, how old he was, throughout, you know, throughout his Prophet, Nabua. So again, those are opportunities that we have to continue to avail of the various and sundry blessings in the month of Ramadan. So a few more reflections, and then maybe we'll get into more specifics about Ramadan and then open the floor for questions and answers. I wanted to say something not specific to Ramadan itself, but to worship in general, because after all Ramadan is worship. Fasting is worship. The word for worship in Arabic, of course, is Ibadah, right? Ibadah. And one of the verses in the Qur'an that speaks specifically to Ibadah, or worship, is a verse found in the 51st chapter of the Qur'an, verse 56, sort of that yet, where Allah, God Almighty, He says in the Qur'an, وَمَا خَلَقْتُوا الْجِنْ وَالْإِنْسْ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونَ That I have created, this is God speaking, I have created jinn kind and mankind for the sole purpose, or for no other purpose, except Ibadah, except worship. Now worship, or this technical term Ibadah, right, is a very inclusive, a very broad and inclusive term. It includes moral acts or acts of morality. It also includes a ceremonial aspect to it. And what do I mean by that? I'll talk about that. I'm not going to focus so much on the moral teachings, because I think by and large we know them, we share them, we talk about them, being truthful, being honest, being courteous, having good comportment, being a gentleman, being a lady, right, those kinds of things, being honest in our dealings, in our transactions and so on, being courteous and generous with our neighbors. These are various things, dressing modestly, right, the hijab or dressing in some form, in some modest fashion for men and women. These are moral teachings, they also act or ways in which, if you want to get fancy, modalities of Ibadah. They're ways in which we can engage in Ibadah. But then there's the very critical and foremost ceremonial aspects of Ibadah. And by that I mean the rituals that we perform, quote-unquote rituals that we perform, the ceremonial rituals. And by that I'm including fasting, I'm including prayer, I'm including zakat, right, which is the obligatory charity that we give, the hajj, the pilgrimage to the House of God, to the Kaaba in Mecca. These are the ritual or the ceremonial forms or modalities of Ibadah. Now when it comes to Ibadah as a whole, but certainly when it comes to these specific ceremonial parts of Ibadah, we have to ask ourselves the question or we should know the answer to this question. Which is, or these following questions, first is why do we worship God? Why am I fasting right now? Why do I pray five times a day or attempt to do my best? Why do I give charity? Why do I give zakat? Why do I perform the hajj? Why do we engage in Ibadah in worship? I am sorry, it's not rhetorical, or I can keep it rhetorical and keep it going, but I'd love to hear, yeah, why do we worship God in these ways? Because that's what God wants. Thank you, that's the perfect answer. So, and again, I tend to, now you gotta understand, so when I lecture to like youth, like high school students, which as I'm getting older and older I find it more challenging, I mean I have a teenage daughter and so that's challenging enough, so I tend to use kind of 50 cent words basically call me Uncle SAT because you know, you attend a lecture you probably get some SAT words, but I think it's important to speak in language that other religious communities will also share with us, and that's why I do so, I don't do it to sound fans here or whatever. But what the brother just shared with us about why we worship God is because God tells us or instructs us. You know, that is the ontological reason for Ibadah, that 50 cent word, right? There's ontology, which is what connects us to the divine, what connects us with God. And so the ontological reason why we do worship, why we worship is because God told us, is because God commends it, commanding of us, demands it of us. In particular, for example, the fasting, he says, Yeah, you are leading an animal, all people of faith. Kutiba aleikumusiyan. Fasting has been ordained for you, has been prescribed for you, has been commanded upon you. Period. End of story. So we worship God because God wants it of us, demands it of us. We get to stop right there. But out of the bounties and the grace and the love and the compassion and the mercy that God has for us as his Obed, as his servants, as those engaged in worship to him and of him, he gives us other reasons for why we also worship. Or he gives us other benefits that we can achieve in a crew in addition to simply following his commands that we get the added blessings of, or we get the added opportunity to avail certain blessings and we have other, if you will, purposes for why we engage in Ibadah. The first of those are so, first is the ontological reason for why we worship, right? Which has got commands about us. Second reason for why we worship is the eschatological reason. There's another fancy word. But that means that we can accrue benefit in the life you're after. In the akhira. After death. And so we may or may not see those benefits in this life. But we are, we should have a certitude and certainty in belief, in knowing that we will be rewarded for our good deeds in the life you're after. We must have certitude and certainty on that. Not in a sort of arrogant sense, but we worship with a certitude of knowing that if we worship God and we follow his commandments that God will reward us. That's actually a part of worship. Is to have expectation of it being accepted by God. And then that we will be rewarded by God. And so those are rewards that we will see only in the life you're after. Okay? And so this is why, for example in the hadith, one of the statements of the prophet, Hanim, he said that for every good deed that Ibn-u-Adim, the descendants of Adam do, they will get their reward. Whether it's 10 fold, whether it's 70 fold or 100 fold. And then there's fasting. And fasting, Allah says fasting is for me. And what the commentary, what our scholars tell us is what that means is God has assigned fasting and the reward for that fast to himself, exclusive to himself. That's to say, he's not detailing specifically what those rewards will be. But we know that those rewards will be exponential. And those rewards will be in the akhira, in the life you're after. Okay? But in addition to those ontological reasons for why we worship God. And those eschatological reasons for why we worship God. There is also utilitarian value and benefit in this life. And what I mean by that is that you will achieve certain blessings and we worship God because we can attain certain things right here in this life. When I just laid out this matrix of rewards and why we do the things we do relates to all forms of ibadah. Whether it's the moral ibadah or ibadah. And with regards to specifically because oftentimes the moral forms we understand, we see where the utility is. I dress modestly, people respect me. People engage with me in a certain way. I feel comfortable in not displaying my ornaments and my nakedness and so on. Or if I don't lie or if I don't cheat, those things are easy to see and identify. But oftentimes what we fail to see sometimes is the utility and the utilitarian value of our ceremonial modalities of worship. Specifically, for example in this context we're going to talk about Ramadan. And so Ramadan gives us certain utilitarian value and benefit right here in this life. For example, I think to talk about the lowest hanging fruit is part of the expression but in terms of the lowest hanging fruit there medical science now is now telling us about the many many health benefits of intermittent fasting. Medical science now study after study shows about the level or the value that fasting has when it comes to lowering triglycerides cholesterol levels in terms of removing toxins from the body so people talk about detox self-care detox fasting is the ultimate way of detoxing fasting has various health benefits. Now again remember we don't worship or we don't fast because we're going to lose weight or we're going to have better blood work next month we do it for the pleasure of Allah but these are added values that we get because Allah is all merciful and so the health benefits of fasting fasting gives us a sense of time consciousness we're aware of time we see how important and critical time is and not only that we see that oftentimes because the days feel pretty long nothing wrong with being honest and keeping it real, days feel long especially when you're fasting but we also realize wow that's a lot of time that outside of the month of Ramadan either I've been unaware of and I'm not conscious of all the time as I am minute by minute hour by hour when we're fasting that we can avail ourselves of that time that time still presents the same 24 hours in a day right the same productive hours in a day it's just that we are caught up in the dunya in the world we affairs and we're not as cognizant of time as we are in the month of Ramadan because our bellies are empty and we're thirsty and so again time consciousness the value of time is another utilitarian value and benefit that we can see and benefit from in this life right here, right now kind of thing another added value and benefit of Ramadan is that it brings communities together our community together and so I think it's so praiseworthy and encouraging to see MCC as a mosque right here in the bay area do a program like this because frankly to be really honest with you had other mosques been doing activities like this that is to say creating a space for those who are new to the faith or those that are newly reconnecting with the faith frankly to allow a space of where people who are new or disenfranchised from the community can feel welcomed, can feel that they can belong to this community it's okay, yeah I'm a new kid on the block, I'm Johnny come lately but guess what, I have a place on the table, I have a place in the community, my community is going to welcome me, my community isn't going to judge me if I show up dressed a certain way or if I show up with tattoos or whatever that my community is going to afford me a space is going to give me an opportunity to be, to live a life of dignity and fulfillment in the midst of that community frankly if other mosques, if all of our Islamic centers were as open as MCC is there wouldn't be the need for an organization like Tali that focuses specifically on convert prayer and creating communities where people feel welcomed and so I think it's highly laudable and encouraging that a community like MCC allows this space like this and again it's something that I wish and I hope that other mosques learn from if they haven't been doing already and I can tell you just as someone who's been around the block a few times the vast majority of mosques aren't unfortunately and that goes not only for those who are new to the faith, newcomers to the faith but also those who are reconnecting to the faith or those who are as I said there's a tendency in our community to disenfranchise and I mean specifically our sisters I mean specifically our youth people who don't feel a sense of belonging feeling a sense of comfort and the fact that the mosque is going to give me that space that I need to grow and to come into my own and to allow and afford me a non-judgment zone where I can come as you know one of the sort of you know modos of Talif that we've adopted that comes from Imam Sayed actually is come as you are to Islam as it is come as you are come as you are unquestioned un open welcome there's no you know where the word escapes me but open welcome regardless right so that's the kind of community space that we hope to create but again at least what Ramadan affords us is it allows our communities to come together we come together to break fast whether it's at the masjid or in someone's house but it allows us an opportunity to come together if nothing else it allows our families to come together we cook together we prepare we break the fast together we prepare meals together I know just in my own household as busy as we are on a day to day basis Ramadan just by the virtue of what it is you know we come together we cook we break bread together regardless of how busy we are because again that's something very special about Ramadan so Ramadan again one of the utilities and benefits that we see in this month is that it allows us that opportunity to connect with the community certainly the night vision the night tarawih prayers every night right you see the masjid filled row after row with people who are coming and performing the tarawih prayer you see people that you haven't seen in a while you see people frequently enough to create a relationship start a relationship if you don't know someone and so again those are all benefits and values that we can attain and I can keep going on and on and on right and I don't want to take too much more of your time but to talk about these you know of this utility and benefit that we see in this month Ramadan but the important thing with these lessons going back to what I said at the very very outset right which is if we see Ramadan as that boot camp if we see Ramadan as that sprint for the marathon that is life then it is critical for us to continue with the blessings that we learn and that we attain in this month in this month of Ramadan beyond the month of Ramadan right we have to sustain this and this is why the Prophet peace be upon him he said that the best actions in the eyes of God are those actions that are small right so they're not a performance right again we talked about Ramadan earlier about how we see Ramadan as a sprint we also see Ramadan as kind of a performance right you give it your all it's this big opportunity to kind of showcase where we are and I don't mean to others I just mean we just give it that's the attitude that we have for ourselves this is that moment that I've been kind of training for all year and I'm going to give it my all but that performance right um I lost training my train of thought here what I was saying um but is that it's not just a performance piece right and that and that and that the best actions are those that may not be those performance level actions they may be small but we do them frequently right those are the actions that are best or that are most uh that he specifically says of them or most rewarded or most beloved to God are those actions that are small right but that are done frequently and so those are the lessons that we and that is certainly true not just of outside of the month of Ramadan but even of those things that we those habits that we develop in the month of Ramadan and finally to sort of wrap up you know 29 to 30 days is the almost perfect amount of time that a person needs to pick up a good habit or to or to drop off a bad habit 29 to 30 days and you can talk to behavioralist and psychologist who will tell you the same thing therapist 29 to 30 days that's like almost the sweet spot right where if you do something frequently or you do something for 29 or 30 days it becomes a habit and if you give off something and you deprive yourself of something for 29 30 days more likely than not you're not going to go back to that bad habit and so again this is a blessing from God is that we have this month this time period where we can develop good habits and we can refrain from from those habits that are less than desirable those that we've been trying to kick for a while but haven't been successful in doing so right we can do so in the month of Ramadan some of us have a sweet tooth and we can't give up those desserts our doctors are screaming at us because not only our waistline is expanding our blood work is terrible triglycerides, high sugar diabetes, heart disease this is that month where you can kick the habit on junk food, on those sweets fried foods, fatty foods it allows us that opportunity to train our bodies and train ourselves and taking care of the mind and the body and the soul are equally important brothers and sisters the human being is a composite of the mind, body and soul one of the beauties of Islam is that it's never viewed the human being as either a spiritual creature alone that is void of any physical or mental needs or doesn't view the human being as an animal, as a beast who only has his or her physical needs or appetites but rather it views the human being in totality and not only does it view the human being in totality it recognizes that they are all interrelated if we feel better about ourselves physically then we have the energy, we have the ability we have the capability to engage and stand in those long prayers if you're not physically able you're not physically able so one's physical state is related to one's mental state is related to one's spiritual state so we are a composite we are a holistic human being of a mind, body and soul so it's important to talk about all these issues and then I'm going to close out with this and wrap with this is that I'm not going to wrap but I'm going to wrap up with this is that believe me you don't want to hear me wrap is that one of the things that we learned in the month of Ramadhan is that the Prophet s.a.w tells us that in the month of Ramadhan the Shayatin those evil spirits or demonic forces are chained and locked up the Shayatin are locked up and that the doors of heaven are open and the doors of Jahandam or Hellfire are closed so it speaks to the many blessings that as I said earlier literally descend from the heavens with regards to us availing ourselves of those blessings and at the same time more people are saved from the Hellfire in the month of Ramadhan the Prophet s.a.w said that more people of my Ummah will be saved from the Hellfire on two occasions which is the ninth of the Hidj or when the pilgrims stand on the mount of Arafat and the other is the month of Ramadhan that more people are saved from damnation in the life year after at those two times of the year and so Ramadhan presents us that opportunity so one of the explanations of the fact that the Shayatin those demonic forces are locked up is that that whisper that you hear to do something bad or to not get up in the morning for Fajr or to not fast or to not do something good and engage in something that's prohibited or haram that whispering that we hear with the Quran calls that whispering that we hear that's what we're hearing is our own ego and our own nefs because the Shayatin are locked up so you can't blame the demons anymore or you can't blame the demonic forces anymore because demonic forces and demonic forces whisperings are real let's not downplay that we can talk about that during the discussion portion because oftentimes we get so assured of our rational and being able to rationalize everything that well demonic forces that seems a little medieval no demonic forces are real angelic forces are real we believe in that we have a sense of yaqeen in that belief in that in fact we have to believe in that in order to be considered muslim you have to believe in these miraculous things so yes angelic forces are real demonic forces are real but having said that in the month of Ramadan we know that the Shayatin are locked up and so all we're left with is our ultimate enemy and our mortal enemy and that's the enemy that we are born with our nefs, our ego our lower base ourselves and so what this month of Ramadan teaches us is to cut off the supply that that ego needs because what that ego needs think about it honestly this is how I used to tell my kids so I'm not don't take this the wrong way I mean this doesn't mean speaking down to you I just think that the analogy makes sense although the nefs is like cookie monster right? just wants to eat, wants to consume wants to consume and all it does is it feeds that's what the ego wants it wants to feed whether it's food, whether it's something to drink or whether it's lust after the opposite gender sexual appetites those are things that it wants, that's what it thrives off of and what Ramadan says or what Ramadan allows us is to put that ego on fast put that ego on a diet and we don't get to feed that ego all the time and feed that insatiable appetite of that ego and so we are slowly depriving our ego of the things it needs not with the hope that we're ever going to defeat it or kill the ego ego is a part of the human experience like it or not, it's here to stay but what we can do is we can weaken the appetite we can weaken the nefs the ego you can't eradicate it but you can weaken it so that outside of the month of Ramadan its appetite is now shrunk its desire to consume be that cookie monster is been tamed by the beast a little you're no longer a slave to the appetites but rather you have enslaved your appetites and so that's what Ramadan affords us and what Ramadan also does is it teaches us a very very important life lesson this is something I imagine we all share with our children and we all share with those younger than us because just life experience teaches you this thing or this experience this very important life lesson and that is that no matter how much you want something and how much you desire something guess what you may not get it that's just the reality of life you may not always get what you want and that's what Ramadan teaches us every day, every minute I want that, I want food right now, I wanted food two hours ago just real talk I wanted to break my fast with some cold water I went on a bike ride with my daughter who isn't fasting and I was just parched I would love to have a nice tall cold drink of water sorry, it's like the low hand food we're really close though 21 minutes you want that but guess what life isn't always fair you're always going to get what you want and if you get what you want even if you get what you want you might not get what you want how you wanted it I may want to break my fast but guess what they only cook biryani guess what, I don't like biryani real talking brother my ears aren't going to believe this because he's like what parents are from the subcontinent you don't like biryani real talk, I don't like biryani so MCC did me a disservice by offering me only biryani for iftar I'm not saying that's what they did I'm going to break my fast now but guess what I might get what I want but it's not how I want it it's not what I want it specifically but that's life that's life Ramadan teaches us that we think this is esoteric but it's a very real life lesson that we learn in the month of Ramadan and I know I keep saying it's the last point last point or by way of conclusion but I promise this is the last point and that is that another thing that we learn in this month is that or one of the other things that we can reflect on in this month is that the day of our fasting the experiences that we have while we're fasting and then the breaking of the fast day in and day out in those 29-30 days that's God teaching us and telling us and giving us a little glimpse of what life really is like is that life is a life or life is or I should say this life of this world is a life of struggle it's a life that you're going to be challenged and that's what fasting is it challenges us we're hungry, we're thirsty we have voluntarily deprived ourselves of food and drink and sexual relationships with our mates for this purpose or in this month of Ramadan we voluntarily did that and that's analogous to life because life is rough life is difficult life is challenging and we may not always get all the things that we want in life and life may not always give us what we want but that's just the reality of the life of this world and that the only time that we will be rewarded truly and holy and truly satiated and fulfilled is in the life you're after and that the the life you're after is predicated upon the belief that this life is going to be limited this life is going to have its challenges is not always going to be fair is not always going to be equitable and just but that the life you're after is that moment where we break our fast where we get rewarded where we get what we want where we get what we seek hopefully and that's what we endeavor for in this life is that yeah I'm going to fast through the day so I can get that moment of the breaking of the fast and that's what life is all about is yes we struggle and we toil and we have challenges in life and we may not always get answers to those challenges those challenges may not always leave us but guess what we will be rewarded and we will be satisfied and we will attain happiness and satiation in the life you're after so the fasting that you're doing right now is analogous to life itself that's all about life's a struggle and you hope for the reward afterwards you hope that they're going to serve and you just bring it out of you for it alright does that come a lot clear thank you I'm going to open up the the floor for questions comments so you know it's going to be again if you would not be on it so so before we open it up I do one message to housekeeping things next week we have at the same time we have a new interfaith which means that we're having people from all the churches sitting around the Tri Valley mostly coming down here which means that for you this is an opportunity maybe to invite any friends family members who might want to learn about your faith learn about the fast which is going to be the topic it's going to be about the topic itself will be about why faith still matters why faith still matters but it's also going to rub it on and fasten it so that's your opportunity and in the following Saturday we have a special needs iftar which means that if there's any families that have children or anybody with disabilities in their family we want to make a special need for that so you can see more details on the bulletin board and it will exist or I share I will send an email out about that as well so who's the first prayer soul we just have people talk about themselves I'd really like to learn about our group here so maybe I could just have the mic go around and that's okay but you know spot just a little bit about yourself I think we're at minus what 20 minutes away from iftar so I think 24, I'll start with this sister right here that's my man, okay this is my wife she was born into the faith she likes Mariani she's got parents on my name is Steve I'm also an attorney I'm an attorney here we just moved here about two months ago I'm not a new convert I've converted a long time about 20 years ago in Philadelphia during law school we just figured this would be a good event just to just to come to meet some other members that can meet this year especially new people from a similar background about 5 years next Friday while you're seeing another wife that's great and you got three-year-old daughter that's my second daughter I don't want to listen fast I don't want to drag you on that bike right now let's see my name is Mike I converted about 3 years ago at MCA and the cold day is 3 years at 9.9 so I still have a lot of diversity so I still remember that so that was a lot of people kind of asking the question are you sure you want to do it right before a couple of days before round you can wait and then you know but I actually did it in question so obviously being new to everything and kind of staying up on the prayers and everything like that there's always that little voice in the back of my head saying hey are you doing it right are you are you going to judge me for that and stuff like that so for me I guess maybe for some other people what type of resources can we look into obviously it's kind of hard at times to ask for help but what type of things do you recommend for us to maybe to be better at our prayers to be better at our Eman better about praying regularly or on time and just knowing if you're doing it correctly and how has that looked a lot like this so I mean the short answer to your question and one that is short on the surface but I think it speaks to something much larger and deeper and that is is to equip yourself with knowledge right knowledge is the ultimate weapon not only in terms of that voice that you were talking about which is you know the struggle to pray on time if you're better equipped with knowledge not only of the importance and reasons for why we pray and why and the importance of the prayer and the centrality of the prayer in our lives and in our faith all of that can be gained only through knowledge right you only come to know about the importance and the centrality of the prayer through knowledge it's not necessarily although it can happen it's not necessarily something that just comes it's by knowing and just knowing the importance and the centrality as I said of the prayer in terms of I think you know other resources behind equipping ourselves with knowledge and again before we leave the topic of knowledge itself it's important to note that I mean when we talk about knowledge or the pursuit of knowledge you know it's a lifelong endeavor right it's something that you are going to be embarking on a journey that is never going to reach this conclusion you are embarking on a journey that's never going to end it is going to continue to have to be revisited continue to have to be developed and built upon no matter how long you've been into the faith no matter if you were born into the religion or not doesn't matter and that pursuit of knowledge and of gaining knowledge of acquiring knowledge is something that is going to last with you until you die it's a lifelong journey and so you know continuing to grow in one's knowledge and awareness about the religion and about the aspects of the faith whether it's prayer or fasting or anything else for that matter you know there are those areas of knowledge that are what the scholars consider to be fardain or individually obligatory upon us that is to say that we are individually responsible for a certain amount of knowledge and typically when we talk about fardain knowledge we are talking about that knowledge which deals with again the ibadat the worship so how do we pray how are we praying correctly what are the timings for the prayer what are the prerequisites for the prayer what are the required components to the prayer and so on and so forth in order for that prayer to be accepted or acceptable same thing with the fast same thing with charity calculating it same thing with the hajj those are examples of required knowledge what we consider to be fardain and that's not an exhaustive list that's just some examples we also have to know God we have to know about God the essence of God who God is and how we conceptualize God all those things come again by way of knowledge now how do we gain knowledge by finding resources within our community where we can individually study because there is still a great amount of blessing in being able to individually find or perhaps a group of us find a scholar or a teacher that we can learn from so oftentimes we think that that's difficult or challenging or I don't know people there are resources and I think frankly the Bay Area in particular we are singularly blessed I've lived in a lot of different places and I've been here for 8-9 years we are blessed with the amount of scholars that we have in our midst in our communities that we can tap into resources that we can tap into to gain that knowledge that we need the other thing about prayer that I want to also mention that isn't specific to knowledge or related to that is that and this may not be just true for prayer maybe you can extrapolate for other whether it's fasting or what have you is that oftentimes people approach prayer or any particular what I call the modality of worship earlier these various forms of Evada earlier as being the end all be all that is to say that the prayer if I just that this prayer is I'm going to have this life changing event that's going to take place if I pray properly or if I pray on time that I'm going to instantly see some dividends and some gain instantly and that's just not how prayer works that's just not how fasting works not every prayer is going to allow you to achieve that aha moment of epiphany or spiritual greatness but rather it's the process it's the continuing to pray day after day year after year and through continuing to do those forms of prayer or fasting or giving the charity it goes for all the various categories we talked about that that's when you'll begin to see change not that change is going to come instantly or it's going to come rapidly it comes after a process or it comes through I should say it comes through the process of doing something regularly continuously for the rest of your life so that's something important that we also have to keep in mind when we try to reflect on and engage in a kind of introspection where we say well something's lacking in my prayer but we're often times too hard on ourselves because is that because our expectations are too high or our expectations are misplaced that we think that any one prayer or if I, hey I'd be praying now for a year and still I'm in the same place I was a year ago but guess what you just have to keep at it and that's the virtue and the blessing of the prayer and the journey itself it's not the destination there is no destination the rewards will be with God but it's the journey it's the continuing to do something so hopefully that shed some light on your question which way are we going yes sir my name's I converted two years ago just decided to come out here share this beautiful month growing on this community and lead some fellow newcomers to this site wonderful that's the brother right there Aslam alaykum my name is Brandon and I found Islam on November 12th last year right here and I think I my fiance definitely is an excellent, excellent teacher and really kind of guided me to this I'm just so happy to be a part of it because I was never I never had a religion before so I'm still learning and I'm just kind of humbled by all the information and just the stories of the prophet Muhammad in peace be upon him and really just kind of falling in love with everything so happy to be here for your love affair continue to grow hi my name is Heather Aslam alaykum my name is Heather Aslam alaykum and I started to look at Islam immediately after 9-11 and it's taken me many, many years to get Islam because I was raised a Christian and I'm very happy to find a community here I moved here in December and I'm really happy to find a lot of nice muslims to talk with and to get support from and I'm glad I'm here you know just a quick reflection or a point of reflection is that you know you listen to stories about our elders especially those and I mean specifically elders who came into Islam let's say in the 60s or 70s or maybe even in the 80s but you know more often than not you'll hear the autobiography of Malcolm X being mentioned as kind of a turning point or a moment where they read the autobiography of Malcolm X and they were influenced and they were forever changed and that began that plant in the sea of Islam in their lives you often hear that and at least in the many people that I've been able to engage with of that generation what I'm finding among people who converted more recently and certainly that speaks to a certain age of people as well is that 9-11 this catastrophic day an event in American history would really serve as that event where people began to be curious about Islam to learn and to study Islam because your story and again your experience are unique to you but you share that with a lot of other people at least in my experience that I've come across who you know 9-11 or the events of 9-11 and all that talk about Islam in recent weeks and months that followed you know really kind of served as an impetus for them to study the faith and you know their hearts were open to it so I think we're seeing kind of a turning point there as well that's right so thank you everyone my name is Raquel and I converted in San Diego about 13 years ago I actually still live in Pleasanton before I was Muslim so it's really beautiful to see such a community here in Pleasanton so I just wanted to touch on what the brother was asking about prayer and I converted and made my own like little prayer cards and then I just saw it leave and we had a meeting where there are some actual prayer cards that you put on the ground and I thought that's really practical so maybe as part of that exactly I'm impractical to a fault where I forget those little practical things so thank you I have an DIY prayer cards but these are pretty cool, they're laminated and also part of this is right about knowledge you're always going to never stop learning from the cradle to the grave and you can take classes here in the bay there's also Seekers Hub online taking a class there it's really, really, masha'Allah so then about the prayer like he's writing you know the most important thing is to have really good intention listen right now and like focus on the heart of the prayer about this is the time where your Lord asks you where you can ask your Lord of anything that you want and then make the intention to correct your prayer for the sake of Allah and it'll come Raquel mentioned specifically Seekers Hub and I think it's important just to point out that and I wholeheartedly endorse and agree that Seekers Hub is a wonderful resource but since we're talking about online resources I think that it's also important to mention that it's one of those things that they call them paradox of choice right where you have a lot of options out there you have a lot of resources and where you can get knowledge from but I think equally important as the fact that we've seen that growth in terms of materials available we also have to be informed consumers out there and so much like if you are making an automobile purchase you want to be an informed purchaser you want to be an informed consumer I think it's important that to know that yes while there is a plethora of information and resources out there some of that information and some of those resources are a little spotty and I'm not going to name names but you know there are resources available online readily available as Seekers Hub for example that are not as reliable and you have to be careful in terms of where you get your knowledge because much like misinformation in any other field can be disastrous when it comes to misinformation as far as our dean or matters of our faith are concerned it's catastrophic this is life we're talking about this is our our life you're after and this is why many of the early predecessors in the earliest community would say we should be very very cautious of where we get knowledge and this is why throughout the majority of Muslim history over a thousand years there was a very clear delineated methodology that one followed in terms of how one became a scholar or studied with scholars and so that was the case for over a thousand years but unfortunately you know after colonialism and some of those experiences in the last two or three hundred years in the Muslim world a lot of those institutions have been fractured and a lot of those institutions have really waned and so we have to be careful at the same time of where we're getting our knowledge from and I don't have any you know sort of magic guideline or roadmap that you can follow in terms of what's good out there I can certainly point you to some really great resources but if when in doubt talk to someone who you consider to be trustworthy and knowledgeable in your own community about where to go for the right knowledge because that's equally as critical and as important as acquiring knowledge is the kind of knowledge that we're getting and the sources of that knowledge okay sorry I want to make sure I know that's right three minutes we'll keep it voluntary whoever wants to really say please but you have to because you're an open point I'm sorry my name is Michelle and I converted in October when I decided that I was going to marry my husband who it's been who's like born into it's form I'm sorry I mean I converted in October and I married my husband it's alright it's fine whoa I'm pretty new so I'm not faster now I'm writing about the religion still I'm hybrid of and his family I think we're in a way to best start I think going on here you said your name is Michelle welcome Michelle hopefully and wish you the best with the pregnancy inshallah may Allah give you a righteous offspring and may Allah facilitate and make it easy for you in pregnancy and so may Allah make it easy for you and inshallah welcome to the faith and welcome to the community and we're here for you so let's make our way thank you so much may Allah bless you and make Ramadan special and may Allah accept all of our fasts I'll be back after this month