 I seek salvation from shaitan the accursed, my dearest viewers, my brothers and sisters from all across the world, may peace, the blessings and the protection of Allah be with you at all times. I would like to thank you once again for tuning into the Ramadan show exclusively here on Imam Hussain TV with me, your host Dr Shabir Tijani. Insha'Allah we hope and we pray we can be of service to you to be your one-stop shop for this holy month. I would like to once again ask you to send in your pictures, your videos, your blogs about where you are from and about how you prepare for this holy month. I would also like to ask you to join us on Twitter, on Facebook, on YouTube and on Instagram. Before commencing on to the show I would like to start off with a hadith saying from Amir al-Mu'mineen alaihi salam where he says the blindness of the eye is better than the blindness of the mind. In this Amir al-Mu'mineen is saying physical blindness is better than ignorance. Ignorance is the root of one's downfall. Ignorance is the root of one's distance from Allah SWT. So in this holy month let's try and achieve some elevation not only spiritually but we should try and increase our knowledge during this holy month as well. In this episode as we talk about spiritual refinement I want to talk about that one trait that is encouraged by all of the tahereen and by Allah SWT himself. It is said in the Qur'an and if you pardon and forbear and forgive then surely Allah is forgiving and merciful. This trait is forgiveness. There are three main stages of forgiveness and inshallah we'll go through each of these in turn which are mentioned in this verse to really forgive a person you must go through all three of these stages. The first of the stages is pardoning which means overlooking the wronged or the wronged person or the person who's wronged in any way whatsoever. According to Amir al-Mu'mineen alaihi salam pardon is the crown of all noble qualities. Pardoning could include making excuses for the person giving them another chance, understanding their weaknesses, not taking it too seriously and not focusing on it continuously. Going through the stage speeds up the process of genuine forgiveness. The second stage is forbearance. By this I mean to refrain from reproaching through words and actions sometimes we forgive but cannot resist the temptation to speak about it and remind the other person of the hurt they inflicted. Words gestures even feelings are a constant reminder of the hurt that we have forgiven but cannot get over. True forgiveness entails complete forbearance. If we went through the first stage conscientiously the second would be easy. The Holy Quran says so overlook with a gracious forbearance. Imam Ridha alaihi salam in explaining the word saff in this verse says it means to pardon and forgive someone without punishment, harshness or reproach. The third and final part is actually forgiveness. Forgiveness means erasing the deed that has been done and removing any negative consequences from the deed or from what it warrants. When Allah forgives a deed he will not punish the doer for it. It is removed from the book of deeds forgiving someone means that no thought of retaliation or revenge remains. It means that the slate is clean and that we're starting over again it's as though the crime was never committed in the first place. There are some points to ponder over at this stage something for us to think about especially this holy month when we come across people who we think have wronged us whether rightly or wrongly. We sometimes hold a grudge. We sometimes think about it constantly sometimes even want revenge. These are all things that are discouraged amongst the aimat al-tahereen. If someone is genuinely sorry for what they've done forgive them give them another chance and inshallah the way you're forgiven that person Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will surely forgive you. Forgiveness is very powerful. If we don't forgive the past wounds can ruin they can also infect the future the holy prophet says pardon each other hatred between yourselves will be eliminated. Love includes being able to forgive mistakes. Allah loves his creatures and has kept the doors of repentance and forgiveness open at all times. Without that human beings would be doomed in the same way love for family and friends means that we should be ready and we should forgive easily only then can we leave in harmony and peace with them. Learn to forgive genuinely the process described in this verse is a cleansing process that will leave you happier and better adjusted. Taking that step will also open the doors of elevation towards God and towards other people. The holy prophet peace and blessings be upon him has said whoever pardons are wrong Allah will replace it for him with honor in this world and in the hereafter. On these holy nights let's pray that our hearts become softer soft enough so that we can forgive each other through continuous sinning our hearts may be hard and it may be difficult for us to forgive other people for whatever they've done to us this is a cleansing process this month is a cleansing month where our spirits elevate our souls appreciate towards Allah SWT in this month let's try and soften our hearts through repentance to Allah SWT and once our hearts are soft we'll be able to forgive the people around us who will develop connections, affections and insha'Allah by forgiving other people Allah SWT will in turn also forgive us. Imam al-Sadiq may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him has said if the month of Ramadan remains safe and sound with respect to sins then the entire year shall also remain so the month of Ramadan is the beginning of the year. In today's episode as we travel around the world and we look at people from different walks of life I want to look at the country of Tunisia and insha'Allah I'll go through and tell you about how they spend this month of Ramadan because Tunisia is predominantly a Muslim country with the Muslim government the working hours are altered the people in Tunisia they work either early mornings and to early afternoon or they work until 3 p.m depending on where they are so usually it's 9 a.m until 1 p.m or 10 a.m until 3 p.m after which they go home for rest and they get ready for the evening the ifbar itself consists of some healthy food initially very light food such as olives, soups, dates and then after that the people tend to go to the parks to the funfairs and enjoy the night after a few hours they come home and they have the main meal and because the Tunisian diet is the Mediterranean diet it's usually very healthy so they have things like roast chicken fresh fish and then the people stay up until the time of sahur and at the time of sahur they have something very light such as yogurt cheese olives after which people go to sleep as I've mentioned during the main night or during most of the nights of the month of Ramadan people go to the park however in the last 10 nights when it's the time for Amal they go to the mosques and they recite the Amal, the dua, the prayers and they fulfill the obligations as is the norm with the Shia community inshallah I would like to ask you to send in your videos your clips your pictures your blogs about where you are from to show us how you prepare for this holy month as I've said before and I'll say it again it is very interesting to see and get an insight into your lives and to see how you prepare yourselves and how it is different from other people from around the world it is amazing to see how everyone despite the different cultural traditions come together and they come together to serve one lord Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem dearest Imam Hussain TV viewers assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh welcome to Imam Hussain TV 3 today we came to one of the stores in the holy city of Karbala to report to you the atmosphere of the holy month of Ramadan in the holy city of Karbala dearest viewers let's have a word with one of the brothers here the holy month of Ramadan the month of Ramadan is the month of mercy subhanallah this month is something amazing it differs from the rest of the month subhanallah and the month of Allah the month of Ramadan especially around Imam Hussain peace be upon him and his brother it is very beautiful which is the communication between the neighbors and the members of this holy city the month of Ramadan is the month of mercy especially in the holy city of Ramadan because most of the people in this period consider it as an opportunity for them to work or something in the month of Ramadan and in addition to the Quranic episodes and the lectures that continue to be in Imam Hussain peace be upon him it is the first spiritual period of Imam Hussain peace be upon him so this city is very special it differs from the rest of the months I asked the brother about the holy month of Ramadan here in the holy city of Karbala and he is saying that the holy month of Ramadan is so special due to the spirituality that this month has the holy city of Karbala of course is different in the holy month of Ramadan and the visitors feel like more connected with this city and with the holy shrine of Imam Hussain and Abul-Fadal Abbas peace be upon him the brother is saying that the visitors usually have holidays during the holy month of Ramadan from their work so they come to the holy city of Karbala more and more and they participate in the Majalis and the Quranic recitation in the holy city of Karbala inside the holy shrine of Imam Hussain and he is the brother of Abul-Fadal Abbas peace be upon him can you tell us about the system of your work during the month of Ramadan that differs from the rest of the months to your routine as well as the routine regarding the system of the month of Ramadan it does not differ from the rest of the month because it is our duty to take care of the places that are present not on the graves of the people of the mosque so it is our duty to communicate with them the places that are important for them to work to open up the morning or something else most of the people do not have enough time to take photos before taking photos they do not have enough time to take photos I asked the brother about their working hours during the holy month of Ramadan and he is saying that usually their hours are not much different from other months of the year due to their specific job that they are doing here as they supply the other stores with cell phones therefore they usually work the normal day hour and beside that they try to be here after the Eftar for the other stores that cannot open during the day to come here and do their shopping Insha'Allah in today's medical tips and health advice we'll be continuing our theme of exploring the beauty of the human body we've talked about the ailments, the diseases and the illnesses and now we talk about Allah's beauty, His mercy His infinite blessings and His miracles in that we as the human beings are the perfect animals and in the human body there is no system which is more perfect than the nervous system, the brain scientists have explored the whole planet they've tried to make their own things and no creation is greater than the human brain and one thing in the human brain which surpasses all of the creatures is the ability of the human to rationalize things to think things through and to act based on rational thinking Insha'Allah today we will talk about the spinal cord the spinal column and the peripheral nervous system yesterday we talked about the brain and the special senses and we talked about why the brain and the special senses are so specialized at what they do and they make the human being complete the spinal column consists of a few things there is the spinal column itself and the spinal cord and it's surrounded by cerebral spinal fluid this fluid allows it to be intact and allows everything to happen the way it does the CSF is actually a rehydrator and the fluid circulates through the brain or through the spinal column and around the brain as well the spinal column itself consists of grey matter and white matter it consists of many nerve fibers that run up towards the brain and many nerve fibers that run down from the brain towards the peripheral nervous system the spinal column also is made in such a way that different parts of the spinal column supply different parts of the body and it's related and it's linked based on whereabouts it is and embryological development such as the thoracic nervous system thoracic nerves which are formed in the chest area are actually supplying things like the arm and the chest wall whereas the lumbar and sacral regions lower down in the spinal column supply the legs and the thighs and the lower abdomen and therefore we find that the nerves have developed as the human being has developed in the womb embryologically the peripheral nervous system is specialized in that it contains many fibers, fibers that leave the spinal column and head out to the rest of the body and nerves that head in from the rest of the body into the spinal column the nerves that head out tend to be motor nerves nerves that control muscle contraction for example and the nerves that come in tend to be sensory nerves different types of sensory nerves taking different types of sensations so for example the sensory nerves for heat and for vibration taking that information to the spine the senses for pain pain exists in two types there's a sharp pain and there's the dull pain so there's C fibers and A delta fibers and they take in the information towards the spinal column there's many other types of nerves as well such as proprioceptive nerves these are designed to look at where the joints are in terms of position in space and therefore the human being when it's got its eyes closed if I hold my hands out I know that my hands are in front of me without actually feeling them and I know when my fingers are being moved because these specialized nerves in the tips of the joints or on the joints themselves allow the sensation to travel up towards my brain and for my brain to realize that the finger and the joints have actually moved and which position they're in similarly there are other nerves which supply or come from the peripheral nervous system and head centrally up towards the brain where they get processed in the primary somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobe as we explained yesterday and then that gets fed into the frontal lobe where we get to plan our next action based on the sensation of everything around us there's some more nerve fibers found in the peripheral nervous system the motor fibers which come from the nerves or from the spinal column head out towards the muscles and then they supply individual muscle areas and when the brain is thinking or when the brain wants to contract the muscles these nerves are initiated or engaged and they cause muscle contraction similarly there are other nerves which act upon the other parts of the body I'm going to go into the autonomic nervous system in a bit but I just want to talk something about reflexes I'm sure that when you go to see your general practitioner sometimes if you have certain problems they test your nerves for example the knee, the patella reflex they put a tendon hammer and they tap the knee and then the foot somehow just extends and then goes back some of you might be wondering how that happens the reason is that there's actually a reflex arc that's formed by the way that the nervous system works so apart from the system where you feel a sensation it travels all the way up to the brain, you process it and the brain sends information to the motor cortex and then you act based on that information that you have there is also a reflex arc where the peripheral nerve goes straight to the spinal column and a reflex comes straight out from the spinal column straight to the muscle therefore we find that the response is very quick what are we looking for when we tap the reflex when we tap the kneecap it's actually the patella tendon that we're tapping and what we're looking for is to see what the reflex is if it's too much of a reflex we're worried that there could be a problem with the brain if it's too little of a reflex we're worried that it could be a problem with one of the peripheral nerves now the way that this reflex arc works is that we tap the tendon and the nerves from the tendon travel up to the spinal column and the way that we tap it is so specific it's a fast tap and therefore what happens is you get a reflex straight away to the muscle group that is connected to that tendon and in this case it happens to be the quadriceps which are found in the thighs and as a result they contract and then they cause the knee as a result to extend upwards if the brain is damaged for whatever reason this reflex arc as well as having a positive mechanism it has a negative reinforcement from the brain so even though we have the reflex the brain actually modifies this to be moderate without this modification from the brain we have hyperreflexion over exaggeration of the reflex so instead of a very smooth movement you get a very fast movement and therefore we call that hyperreflexion it's concerning because it means there could be a problem with the higher part of the brain likewise if we're not getting enough of a reflex it means that when the peripheral nerve goes into the spinal column there's actually a reflex that comes out it's a normal reflex however on route to the muscle there's actually a breakage and therefore either you don't get a response or you get a diminished response and again that is of concern now we've talked about the peripheral nervous system and the nerves that are actually supplying the muscles as well as the nerves that take information back in towards the spinal column there's one other type of nervous system and that is the autonomic nervous system the autonomic nervous system is controlled by sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves and they're controlled by different factors so the sympathetic is based on the adrenaline or the adrenergic nerves that are based in the body adrenaline a sudden surge of adrenaline as I'm sure many of you know is based on the fight-or-flight response so for example if you're in a situation for example in an exam or if you're in a situation where you have a fight-or-flight response there's specific things that happen to your body you sometimes feel your heart pounding away you feel sweaty, you feel flushed and the reason for that is that the sympathetic nervous system takes over and as a result with the sympathetic nervous system you get a specific response and the reason why you get that response is because all the blood supply is rushing to your muscles and ready for that fight-or-flight response that's why sometimes you feel butterflies in the tummy there's actual butterflies in your stomach but because the blood supply to the stomach is decreased so that the blood supply to other parts of the body such as your major organs such as your muscles is increased therefore you can have a fight-or-flight response similarly someone who is having a sympathetic overdrive will feel palpitations may feel the blood pressure going up or feeling flushed this is all part of this nervous system this is actually moderated by adrenaline or noradrenaline actually which is the nerve, the neurotransmitter that increases the production or increases the effect of the sympathetic nervous system the parasympathetic nervous system counter-reacts the sympathetic nervous system so it's like two types of nervous systems in sort of battle with each other when the parasympathetic nervous system takes over then you get the opposite response the heart rate can drop you can decrease your sweat to output and obviously this can be a benefit to the human being or this can be not beneficial depending on the situation that the human being is in normally human beings have a problem with overproduction of adrenaline or they have a problem with the overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system often you get people who suffer from ongoing anxiety and that is because their sympathetic nervous system is overstimulated like I said this can be due to many reasons but if you find in that situation the best way to modify what's happening is by doing simplistic things on a day to day basis such as cutting down caffeine such as trying not to be too stressed and modifying the stress factors in your life so that you're not stressed all the time and thirdly, meditating, reflecting contemplating regularly will allow your heart rate to drop and your blood pressure to drop will allow your breathing rate to settle down and that is all to calm you down to reduce the sympathetic drive as a result you won't get things like overproduction of sweat your palpitations and other such symptoms that you get associated with the sympathetic nervous system as I've said before the human body is the perfect model for all of the animals in the world and the human nervous system is the best system within this human body so one can argue the human nervous system is probably the most superior type of system in the animal kingdom altogether it's one of the miracles of Allah SWT arguably one of the greatest miracles of Allah SWT because no matter how much scientists try to replicate, to copy what this great system does they're unable to do so they've been trying for centuries and nothing comes even close to doing or to making what Allah SWT has created therefore it is so important to look after our bodies to keep them healthy and to make sure that as a result we have a long quality of life so we can serve our communities serve our societies and also ultimately serve the awaited Imam alayhi salam during the time of Imam Hussain peace be upon him a man came to him and said I frequently disobey Allah SWT and cannot prevent myself from sin for this reason can you please give me some advice so I can keep myself away from committing sins Imam Hussain peace be upon him said to him do five things and then commit as much sin as you want the sinner said please inform me of those five things Imam Hussain said number one do not eat from the provisions of Allah SWT and then do whatever you like the sinner said what will I be able to eat because whatever in this universe is from Allah SWT Imam Hussain then said then leave the earth of Allah SWT then do whatever you like the sinner said o Imam this is more difficult than the first one if I leave earth then where will I go every place belongs to Allah SWT Imam Hussain then said then find a place where Allah cannot see you and then do whatever you like the sinner said but o Imam nothing is hidden from Allah SWT Imam then said then do only one thing when the angel of death comes to you keep him away from yourself and do whatever you like and if you cannot do that lastly when Allah SWT sends you into hell do not go into hell and if you cannot do that then commit whatever sin you want the sinner said that's it O son of Prophet Muhammad from today Allah SWT will never find me in a situation which he dislikes Wa Salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh Insha'Allah in tonight's show the Nashi that I want to recite is actually one that's been written by myself and my brother Abbas it is actually for the occasion of the birth of Imam Hussain but it's something that I wanted to share because after all it's the month of Ramadan and the month of Shaaban was only a month ago and the other thing is that Imam Hussain forms the heartbeat for all the lovers of the Ahlul Bayt and all the Shia around the world so insha'Allah I hope you can listen to this and take yourself back to the birth of Imam Hussain The angels have come down on this very night to pay their respects to the brightest of light a holder of truth and protector of right who prove righteousness is the meaning of mind He taught us the meaning of love and of peace remember your values in what you believe and always be grateful for what you receive the closeness to Allah is what you'll achieve above humans angels and jinn is his word tonight is the night of the saint's holy birth his parents are Zahra and Imam Ali his grandfather is the Rasul of Adi along with Hassan they are entirely the greatest examples of how we should be his household is ever so holy and pure they are the selected who Allah adores and they are the one whom the heavens are full for the galaxies all of them are the core of our pure Imam Hussain is the third tonight is the night of Hussain's holy birth tonight is the night when a star came to earth tonight is the night of Hussain's holy birth he has dedicated his life in love of Allah and for humanity personification of nobility of righteousness of love and of purity his name with everything goes hand in hand to love those who love him is Allah's command his praises are sung out across every land his character and status are very grand his name will be called out by the whole universe tonight is the night of Hussain's holy birth tonight is the night when a star came to earth tonight is the night of Hussain's holy birth tonight is the night of Hussain's holy birth Imam Al-Sadik made the peace and blessings of Allah upon him has said, if the month of Ramadan remains safe and sound with respect to sins then the entire year shall also remain so the month of Ramadan is the beginning of the year as we conclude on the episode of the Ramadan show exclusively here on Imam Hussain TV I would like to leave you with a final thought something to get you to think something to reflect over and that is that expectation expectation is the root of all disappointment if we have high expectations in life high expectations that people will give us something high expectations that everything will be ours it will only end in disappointment because we cannot attain everything in life we strive we have ambition and that's good but hoping and wanting everything having the greed of expectation for everything will only lead to disappointment thank you for tuning in and watching and inshallah we hope we've been of some service to you I would like to once again ask you to please send in your videos your pictures, your blogs about how you've spent this holy month and please join the debate on Twitter using the hashtag IHTVRamadan before going I would like to bid you farewell with these following words Wassalamu Alaikum Jami'an warahmatullahi wabarakatuh