 Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, Alhamdulillahirrahmanirrahim, Wa-salaatu wa-salaam, ala-ashraf al-anbiya, Wa-al-mursaleen, Sayyidina Muhammad, Wa-ala-ali, Wa-sahbi-ajma'in. Allahumma, Allimna ma-ynfa'una wa-nfa'na bima'al-lamtana wa-zidna ilman nafya'in. So today we go over zikr and remembrance and mindfulness in the text. So then we go over, we'll end with a really important tool on how to manage behaviors, compulsive behaviors and break habits. So, but first what I want to talk about, keep it really simple, the benefits of zikr. Once we understand the benefits, if we're not getting the benefits of zikr, then maybe we need to redefine what is zikr. And then once we are clear what is zikr, then how do we weaponize it in order to treat our compulsive habits? How do we use it to help break our compulsive habits? So first, the benefits of zikr. So in Surah 13, Ayah 28, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, ala be dhikr illa tatma innu l-kulub. So unquestionably, verily, with the dhikr of Allah, the hearts find peace, tranquility, reassurance. So it's an equation. It's a one plus one equals two equation. With the dhikr of Allah comes peace and tranquility. Dhikr, peace. The second benefit I wanted to highlight is that dhikr also prevents unwanted behavior. It helps you break unwanted behavior. So in Surah 29, Ayah 45, Surah An-Kabbut, innu salata tanha anil fahshaa wal-munkar wal-adhikr Allah akbar. So verily, salah prevents fahshaa, so immoral acts, behavior. And al-munkar, so evil behavior, behavior we don't want. And the remembrance of Allah wal-adhikr Allah akbar and the remembrance of Allah is greater, is greater. And salah, we know salah is the type of dhikr. Salah is the dhikr. So we have these benefits. And if we start from the benefits, then it can help us to realize, are we achieving these benefits? Are we benefiting from these benefits or not? And if not, then we can start looking at, well, how do we change our dhikr of Allah in order to reap those benefits? So for example, if I told you chocolate had benefits, it was sweet, it tasted good. And let's say you had chocolate and you're like, no, this doesn't, I'm not tasting that. I don't get those benefits. Then you're probably not doing it right. You're probably not eating it right. And then I ask you, well, how are you eating the chocolate? And you say, well, I heard it's really strong. So what I do is, I take the M&M and I put it in my mouth to drink some water and just have it go directly down like a pill, but I don't taste any sweetness to it. And then you say, well, yeah, no, that line of reasoning is good, but in order to really appreciate and get the benefits of chocolate, you got to go slow, you got to chew it. So it and so forth. And that's when you really taste chocolate. So with the dhikr of Allah that provides peace, then the question is, are we doing it right? Are we chewing it right? So we know there's the benefits. There's a sweetness to it, there's a taste to it. That's been established for generations. You know, the Dean is not a new thing. So then the question is, what is dhikr? And what is the dhikr of Allah? Because both ayat, it's the dhikr of Allah that provides the benefit. So let's break down dhikr. Let's break down dhikr of Allah. So Imam Al-Sabouni writes in his famous Tafsir and the ayah of dhikr, specifically an ayah, Fadkuruni adhkur kum wa shkuru li walatak furun sutur baqarah. He says, of dhikr. He said, aslu dhikr attenabbu bil qalb lil madhkur. He said the foundation or the essence, the root of dhikr is attenabbu. It is a awareness, it's a consciousness, it's a focus. Attenabbu is to notice, perceive, realize, become aware. Bil qalb with the heart to the thing that you're trying to remember. So it's a focus on something. And he goes on to say, wa sumya dhikr bil lisan dhikran li annahu alama aladhikr al qalbi. So, and dhikr is named dhikr with the tongue. So dhikr with the tongue is called dhikr also because it's a sign of the dhikr of the heart. And so what the point here is, is the essence is there's a focus to it. So obviously the sunnah is we, the pasal sunnah would make all types of dhikr with this tongue. But the importance is, is that focus there? And so there's a focus to it, there's a mindfulness to it, there's awareness to it. So that's number one point I wanted to get across, of dhikr, there's a mindfulness to it. And then we know it from the hadith as well. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was reported to have said, this is collected by Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim, both in their collections, mannasya as-sala fal yusalliha idad dhikraha. So the one who forgets their salah should pray it when they remember it. So here it's not referring to the most apparent meaning is, it's not referring to when you say it with your tongue, when you remember it. So basically, I know this is common sense essentially, but I wanted to really drive home the point that if we're not appreciating the benefits, there might be a lack in our focus. We're just sort of swallowing the chocolate without really chewing on it and allowing ourselves to taste it. So then, and the important part is we do dhikr already, because it's a focus and a mindfulness, then the question is, what are we mindful of? Because what we're mindful of will affect our state. So if you focus on certain things, it will change your state. So for example, you have a speech. You know, one of the biggest fears is public speaking. So you have a speech, you have to give a speech. It's in front of your colleagues or in school or whatever, and then you have to prepare the speech and get ready for it. So now, if before the speech, you're focusing on all the bad outcomes, what if my voice cracks? What if I forget what I have to say? What if everybody laughs at me? So on and so forth. If you're constantly focusing on the bad outcomes, that's gonna create a state within you. And that's gonna essentially lead to a bad outcome, behaviorally. Similarly, if you do the opposite, if you focus on the good outcomes and you visualize good outcomes, and then that also changes the way you feel and also changes your outcomes, study show. So we do zikr. We know that what we focus on changes how we think, feel, and then also how we behave. So now, okay. So then how do we get the benefits? So either it's, because it's the zikr of a law which leads to this breaking the behavior and leads to this peace and tranquility. So we talked about zikr, but then there's another step of it which is the zikr of a law where the peace and tranquility comes from. So let's say you're chewing it right, the chocolate. And you're tasting it, but you say something like, you know, I know chocolate, I've eaten it, it's sour and lemony and maybe it's muddy. You say, well, hmm, okay, you're eating the chocolate, right? But are you really eating chocolate? Is that what you're eating? So you might be chewing it right, but are you getting what you're supposed to be getting? So in other words, the number one point is to make the zikr with focus, but then the second point is the zikr of a law. So is our understanding of a law correct? So it's important to recognize and grow constantly with our understanding of a law and understand a law on a law's terms. So through the recitation of the Quran, through the agreed upon understandings and so on and so forth. So when we say mindfulness, mindfulness is of the present moment. You're simply attaching the present moment to a law. When you're mindful and you're making the zikr of a law, you're attaching that present moment to a law. In other words, Allah had knowledge of the moment before it occurred. He willed that moment to occur. He's watching it aware of the moment and there's always a Hikmah associated to his creation, to the moment that he's created. There's always a Hikmah to it. And so when we're mindful of the present moment, when we use these tools to become mindful of the present moment, we're becoming mindful of Allah in that present moment. Okay, so then we talk about in the text, how do we use mindfulness? Because we're commanded to make the zikr and we're told to make zikr, abundantly in the Dean. And so there's the aspect of it where we do it and then there's the aspect of it where we recognize that there's benefits to it. Now, what the book goes into, and we'll just go over one quick exercise. It's a really important exercise. What the book goes into is taking this mindfulness and purposing it, repurposing it for a specific situation. And that's how do you attach a craving when it comes? So you can read this chapter on its own. We're gonna cherry pick parts of this chapter because we really can't go through all the chapters in depth and in detail. So we're gonna talk about some important features of it and the exercises of it. So I would absolutely encourage everybody to just read it like they're reading the other parts of the book and we can always ask questions about it at the end and so on and so forth. But this exercise is an important exercise. Exercise 7.4, it's called sober breathing. Page 144, sober breathing. Sober is an acronym, S-O-B-E-R. And it says when you develop some understanding and experience of mindfulness, because again, mindfulness is what it's called in the scientific literature and then you're able to understand what is mindfulness and what are the benefits of mindfulness? So we're not taking some philosophical concept that exists today and that's invoked today and superimposing that on our tradition. We don't do that. We take traditional interpretations of our tradition, classical interpretations of our tradition from the scholars and we understand that. And if it so happens that it's now being studied or aspects of it are being studied, great. Let's benefit from that as well. So this aspect of mindfulness, just being able to be present of the moment has been studied significantly in the literature. We talked about that and it's been shown to have a lot of benefits like lowering blood pressure, improving mood. And one of the other things they study is that it's studied is its effect on cravings. So cravings to engage in your compulsive habit and your addictive behavior, whatever that is. And really you just have to try it. You really just have to experience it. All of this is on the basis of trust and then you kind of read studies or read from it like the book experts in the field. And then, okay, maybe it's plausible that this works, but then when you actually try it and taste it, then you can really get an understanding of how powerful these things are. So now that you have some experience with what mindfulness is, the technique in exercise 7.4, which is a technique for connecting with the present moment will be easy to learn. It takes just a minute or two to practice, making it an ideal go-to skill when you're an attempting, stressful or otherwise upsetting situation. You can use the acronym SOBER to help you remember the steps. So first step, the S and SOBER. The first step is STOP. When you find yourself in a tempting situation, the first thing you need to do to connect with the present moment, become mindfulness, become mindful is to stop and step out of automatic pilot modes. Everything we've been talking about addiction, how addiction works subconsciously from the perspective of neuroscience, so on and so forth to step out of the automatic pilot mode and decouple your craving from an automatic behavior. So you stop, you step outside of it. When you stop, you interrupt that automatic sequence of behaviors that can follow a craving or a strong emotion. And it's that very sequence that you are working on changing when you are in addiction recovery. So stop, number one. Number two, observe, the O is observe. Once you've stopped and stepped out of automatic pilot, the next step is to observe your experience. What's going on? Observe what is happening right in that moment. Ask yourself, what are you feeling right now? Using the example of a craving, observing what you feel in your body and thoughts you have about drinking or using and any emotions you might be experiencing, thoughts you have about drinking, using or whatever your addictive behavior is. Nope, drinking and using is oftentimes now really just a greed upon addictive behavior. It's the most manifest addictive behavior. In reality, there's many addictive behaviors outside of drinking and using. So whatever your addictive behavior, notice yourself allowing the presence of these uncomfortable aspects of your experience, letting them be just as they are rather than pushing them away. Number three, breathe. You've taken yourself out of automatic pilot and observed your present experience. The next step is to connect it with your breath. Take a moment to do this, guiding your attention to the movement of your breath. The fourth is expand your awareness. So the E is for expand your awareness, broadening your focus from the movement of your breath because the breath is like a tool that's easy to focus on and constantly going. You can now expand your awareness to include your entire body as a whole, connecting with all the sensations you're experiencing in the present moment. And then five is respond mindfully. So now you stopped, you have put some distance between the trigger, the feeling and the act and now you respond mindfully. We've been talking about responding with mindful awareness rather than reacting in automatic pilot. This is the final step in the sober breathing exercise. Now that you have connected with your experience and your breath, you can consider the range of choices that you have in this situation. Recognize that you can accept the discomfort that you're feeling. And while you are allowing it to be there just as it is, you can still respond by choosing with mindful awareness of Allah, of the situation, of what's going on, what action to take. You're in a better place to consider the consequences of the different choices you can make and choose to respond to the discomfort you're experiencing in a way that is nurturing, self-protective and consistent with recovery goals. So SOBER stands for sober. So I would encourage reading it, practicing it and then having it be ready as a tool when the next craving comes. When the next craving comes. And if you have some practice of dhikr, then just purpose it for this. Purpose it for this, double down on it because dhikr, salat, and dhikr prevent unwanted behaviors. But we have to do it right with focus and with the important prerequisites. And this is a tool amongst all the tools that we've been talking about. So this is like a fight. That's exactly what this is. And I know I say this a lot. I know I say this a lot. I know I say this a lot. I know I say this a lot. I know I say this a lot. I know I say this a lot. And I know I say this a lot. But that's important to remember to coach yourself through this. Like you can't just go into a fight with a jab because the enemy is gonna figure that out and counteract that. So if all you do is jab and you only have one thing, it's not gonna work. You wanna jab, you wanna cross, you wanna hook and you wanna do whatever you need to do in combination of that in order to overcome your enemy. Sometimes you'll lose, sometimes you'll win. But every time you get put down you wanna keep practicing it. It's just the sign that you haven't mastered the skills yet. So you wanna keep practicing it, keep practicing it and keep going. So we have the mindfulness exercises, strengthening your dhikar. If you have a practice of dhikar, having good company, attending gatherings that are strengthening you mentally, you have a pros and cons list that we've talked about. And then writing that pros and cons list on something meaningful to you. Maybe it's a goal that you have or let's say it's a picture of a child or somebody you're doing it for or just on an index card and you put it in your wallet and you pull it out of it or your cell phone. And then you pull it out every time you have a craving. You can look at that pros and cons list. Why am I doing this again? What are the cons? Because this is one of the tools that have been suggested and tested for decades. It's called a pros and cons list. It's called a Decisional Balance, Decades of Research on it. And then you do, and then all the other tools that we've talked about. So you do all of those and you try to break the craving whatever is available to you. And then you work through it one step at a time and you get there. And then once you come out the other end, you come out stronger, you come out more connected to Allah, you come out a better person. And then you recognize that this was a task that brought you to, that will bring you inshallah, things that you wouldn't have been able to get to had you not had that training ground. So inshallah, let's start with questions. We can talk about questions that are from this chapter or previous chapters. And then we'll open it up for check inshallah. Okay, great, okay. Okay, yeah, so mindfulness is really, if you look at it, it's not, it can be many things. Mindfulness can bring a lot of peace. It can lower blood pressure. It has a lot of different benefits. And there's an important reason to that is because of the way our culture has become, we're constantly bombarded with digital stimuli. And that has a whole host of downstream side effects. So if we're able to kind of ground ourselves and just take a break from that internally, then we have a whole downstream fact, host of benefits from it. What I'm trying to do inshallah in today's talk is really highlight the overlap of dhikr and mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of the present moment. Dhikr is simply being aware of the present moment and Allah's presence in that moment. Dhikr is being present of Allah's presence. So dhikr is being aware of Allah. And we don't know the essence of Allah. We can't grasp the essence of Allah. We can't grasp the sifat of Allah, his characteristics. They're like Abdul Ghani al Ghunaymi al-Maidani, an important scholar and Ahlu Sunnah al-Jama'ah and he writes a commentary on al-Aqida al-Tahawiyah. He says, the sifat, the characteristics, la tutrak wa la tutrak. You can't leave them and you can't fully grasp them either. And so there's the sifat and then there's his af'al, his actions. And his actions is this creation around us, like the mahluk and being present of his actions and then being present of the fact that everything around us is a creation of Allah. And that's how we interact with Allah. That's how we become present with Allah. That's how we remember Allah. And so that's the bottom line of it. And when we do that, it has a whole host of benefits to it. And that's, inshallah, what we're gonna talk about today. So I'll go into the formal talk, but I just wanted to sort of bottom line it. Like, why is this important to us? Why are we talking about it in addiction treatment? And it has an incredible importance. It has an incredible importance because not only does it have these benefits, it's not something that we have to do religiously and dogmatically, but it also has incredible benefits to us. And that's what I really wanna get across. And then we can sort of go into the text, which then basically functionalizes mindfulness. Like, how do you use it in the moment? It weaponizes it, you know? It weaponizes it. And it tells us how do you use mindfulness basically in terms of treating your addiction?