 I seek salvation from shaitan the accursed, my dearest viewers, my children, my brothers and sisters and my elders from across the world, may peace, blessings and protection of Allah be with you. I would like to thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Ramadan Show exclusively here on Imam Hussain TV with me, your host Dr Shabir Tajani. Insha'Allah today we will go through more topics to be your one-stop shop for this holy month. I would like to humbly request you to please send in your videos and your pictures from wherever you are in the world so we can see how you're preparing your day-to-day lives for this holy month. Also please don't forget to join us on Twitter using the hashtag IHTVRamadan. Don't forget to join us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube insha'Allah this program will be uploaded on to there tomorrow. Before proceeding on to the show I just wanted to impart a quote, a hadith from Amir al-Mu'minina, where he says do not drive away your blessings through your own ungratefulness. Insha'Allah in this show we shall elaborate further but this is a very true saying where if we don't be thankful for Allah and for His mercies that is bestowed upon us we can drive away the bounties that are heading our way. In today's episode of spiritual refinement I want to talk about something, an emotion, a gift from Allah SWT which is very basic yet so important and that is the gift of gratefulness. Being able to feel and express gratitude is one of the most profound yet simplistic gifts that Allah SWT has given us. The reason why it's so beneficial is because it allows us to make connections. The reason why it's so simple is that it doesn't require any special knowledge, any special skills, any special equipment or preparation, anyone at any time can access this gift of thankfulness. However we find that most of us fall short of this especially when it comes to expressing our thankfulness and gratitude to Allah SWT. However we can make a start on this, improvement has to start from somewhere. Just practice and notice a blessing and thank Allah SWT for it. You see it doesn't take a lot to sit down and contemplate but yet we don't find the time to do it and when we reflect and contemplate we can pick up on these very very small blessings that we have in our lives and put them together. Thank Allah SWT for each and every one of those. If you can't thank Allah SWT for all of them thank you for one one that you normally don't think about or thank for. One of the reasons why gratitude is so beneficial is because it improves into relationships whether interpersonal or with our Creator. When we're able to feel and express gratitude for Allah's blessings affection grows between us and Allah SWT and also vice versa because Allah SWT has said the closer you come to me the closer I'll come to you. But the personal benefits are also great. You see a thankful heart remains a content heart. Even in times and circumstances of hardship we always have much to appreciate. When we acknowledge this our burdens become more easier to bear. Imam Saad I alaihi salam has said with every breath you take a thanksgiving is incumbent upon you indeed a thousand thanks more. The lowest level of gratitude is to see that the blessing comes from Allah SWT irrespective of the cause for it and without the heart being attached to that cause. It consists of being satisfied with what is given. It means not disobeying him with regard to his blessings or opposing him in any of his commandments and prohibitions because of his blessing. Our breathing comes without thought and yet each breath is a blessing. Our heart continues to beat without any voluntary control. It's a blessing. You see the struggle for breath is an agony which we're usually spared thousands upon thousands of times without thinking. It is the gift of breath that is taken from us and then we die. Breath is the ultimate beginning of life. When a newborn or a baby is born the first thing to do is to cry to take a gasp of air and that is when Allah SWT starts the breathing and we continue this process until we die without even thinking about it and we never think about thanking Allah SWT with every breath we have with every breath we take. Allah SWT in the Holy Qur'an says very few of my servants are grateful. You see expressing gratitude towards Allah SWT is in itself a great form of worship. At the minimum gratitude should be a basic part of our daily prayers. Allah SWT has taught us that if we're grateful our blessings will increase and not only is this true about Allah SWT but life in general. When you're thankful towards people around you their affection towards you grows. It is important to note that Allah SWT is not in need of our gratitude nor does it feel hurt by our ingratitude. You see our gratitude enriches us as individuals. Lady Zaynab peace and blessings be upon her has said a very valuable lesson or has set a very valuable lesson for us in patience, in gratitude when she says I have not seen anything but the beauty of God. Ahlul Bayt alaymu Salam have always expressed thankfulness and gratitude despite so many hardships and difficulties. So finally I want to leave you with these few thoughts and something for you to ponder over and reflect over because after all this is why we're here to be the servants of Allah SWT. So next time you are in a situation where you feel ungrateful think about these things. Be thankful that you already don't have something that you desire if you did what there be to look forward to. Be thankful when you don't know something for it gives you the opportunity to learn. Be thankful for the difficult times during those times you grow as a person. Be thankful for your limitations because they give you the opportunity for improvement. Be thankful for every new challenge because that challenge will allow you to build your strength and character. Be thankful for your mistakes for those mistakes will teach you a lesson. Be thankful for when you're tired and weary because it means you've made a difference. Gratitude can turn negativity into a positive. Find a way to be thankful and especially when you're in trouble find a way to be thankful and have gratitude because you will see those negatives and those bad experiences will actually become something positive. The Holy Prophet Muhammad may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his progeny has said. O people surely the month of God has approached you. The month which in the eyes of Allah is the most virtuous of the months. Its days are the best of days and its nights are the best of nights and its moments the best of moments. Today as we look around the world and we look at different places to see how they prepare themselves for the month of Ramadan I want to take us to a city which is called Karachi in the country of Pakistan. Karachi is infamous for so many reasons. Firstly in the Shi'a world for the targeted killings of Shi'as within the city we hear stories of Professor Sip de Jaffa who was killed was a very famous Shi'a poet. The other reason why it's so famous is because it's one of the biggest if not the biggest city within Pakistan itself and number three it's very famous because it has such a diverse population the very rich the very poor different religions such as Christianity Islam and other religions as well within the city. The Shi'as within the city are found in very small pockets however the Shi'as do form quite a large part of the population. There's specific areas such as Malia Khurasan and other areas such as Ancholi around Karachi which are populated by Shi'a people and therefore the Shi'a people have very specific ways in which they prepare for this holy month and there's a very strong sense of kinship and brotherhood because obviously they're isolated and targeted and therefore they galvanize and come together as a community. In Karachi the people tend to get up and they work through the day. The hours of fasting are a lot smaller compared to places like Quetta which is found in the north of Pakistan. Karachi at this time of the year is very very hot and therefore the people if they're working in stalls they tend to close them during the hottest parts of the afternoon and reopen them a bit later on in the evening when it's a bit cooler. When people come home from work they tend to rest for a while and then they have Iftar usually in gatherings usually in the mosques and in the mosques they have things like recitation of the Quran they have dua they have Majalis every single night and people come together in their large communities in order to celebrate or to remember this holy month en masse as a congregation. Children are encouraged to fast and if they're fast one or two days they're rewarded with gifts and the elders praise them for doing this in preparation for older age. The people of Karachi get together for Iftar and their largest meal is usually after the time of Maghrib they have very very light food at Maghrib and then after that maybe an hour or two later they get together in communities or in families and they eat together they don't like eating in isolation and they feed the poor as well so they give the poor arms they give the poor food and drink during this month so that they can also enjoy in the Iftar. The government of Pakistan subsidizes things like oil rice flour during this month so that everyone can have the ability to cook even the most basic foods during this holy month. InshaAllah I pray or I hope rather that you send in your videos your pictures your blogs about your month so we can also see what you go through and how you prepare. InshaAllah until the next episode where we'll be looking at more places around the world I hope that this can be of inspiration to you people around the world are so varied and as she asked we're so varied in our practices but we shared the most distinctive connection and that is the love of Allah SWT and the love of the Ahlul Bayt alaykum as-salam. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem dearest brothers and sisters Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh peace and blessings of Allah be upon each and every one of you yesterday we took you to a one restaurant this restaurant had different parts so we decided to show you today different parts of this restaurant so stay tuned as we go inside this restaurant okay brother is saying that this furnace is brought from Syria it's a Syrian way of cooking different types of pizza including meat and other other things they do it here in front of the those people who come to the to this restaurant to show that how they prepare and make this type of pizzas also they have the ability to spread these pizzas outside if someone wants to order for example 100 pizza they can do it for them easily I asked the brother about this salon that we are here in now he's saying that we have opened this part of the restaurant recently because the previous part that they had could include only 125 percent now they have this part ready here with new decorations and with new services also they have an upper part which is specified for BIP it can include about 100 percent too in this episode we're going to talk about health tips and medical advice over the past few episodes we've talked about risk factors for heart disease for cardiovascular problems we've talked about potential symptoms of heart attacks and inshallah today we'll talk about strokes stroke to me one of the most deadliest illnesses or diseases or problems that one person can have if it doesn't kill you it can cause severe problems with the equality of life it can make you not able to walk not able to talk not able to swallow or eat so something that we must try and avoid by keeping a good and healthy lifestyle and try and avoid risk factors that could cause it inshallah today i'll be talking about potential risk factors for stroke and we've already talked about these in the previous episodes but i'll talk about how they can cause strokes and the pathophysiology behind it number two i'll talk about what strokes are number three i'll talk about treatment for stroke number four i'll talk about long-term prognosis after someone's had a stroke the pathophysiology for stroke is pretty much similar to that of a heart attack except it happens in a different part of the body the plaque that builds up when you have a heart attack in the coronary artery is the same thing that happens in the carotid artery which supplies the brain it's a large vessel in the neck and because of high blood pressure cholesterol high diabetes smoking all these can cause the build-up of a plaque in the artery that supplies the brain and as a result over time this can get bigger and bigger as the blood is supplied and is pumped out of the heart to go towards the brain parts of this plaque can break off and head towards the brain and get lodged there this can either manifest itself in the form of a transient ischemic attack or a tia which lasts a few seconds or it can be a full-blown stroke the cause for a stroke is simply not enough oxygen to specific brain cells or if it's a large stroke depending on which artery is affected it can affect more than one part of the brain now strokes essentially the symptoms you get with strokes can be from subtle things such as unable to find the right words to the more profound things such as inability to walk or losing the movement on one side of the body completely strokes can affect different parts of the brain so depending on what part of the brain they affect it will affect obviously the symptoms that you have the most common symptoms though are a facial droop on one side inability to talk or when you're slurring your speech other symptoms are the inability to move one side of your body or to feel one side of your body the more subtle symptoms are things like lack of coordination if you find that you've got any of these symptoms i will suggest you go and see a doctor as an emergency if you have access to a phone dial whatever emergency number there is in your country and get seen in a hospital the reason being is that if it's a stroke that's happened very recently as long as it's not a hemorrhagic stroke which i'll inshallah talk about in a in a few minutes then you should get to the hospital because within four hours in the uk we can give something called thrombolysis which dissolves the clot which causes the stroke if it's within four hours of picking it up hemorrhagic strokes are caused not because there's a blockage of an artery or a blood vessel but they're caused because a blood vessel has popped and exploded and as a result instead of the blood supply going to the brain cells it just oozes out of the artery or the blood vessel not making it all the way to the cell that it's intended to go to as a result people can have number one stroke like symptoms and number two if there's enough bleeding it can cause pressure on the brain and cause someone to get drowsy and even more or worse the symptoms than that like i said if you get any of these symptoms it's important that you seek urgent medical attention hemorrhagic strokes consist or make up about 10 of all strokes the rest of them are all caused due to ischemia due to a lack of the blood getting to the brain due to the blockages that i've mentioned before the treatment for stroke depends on person to person depends on how extensive the stroke is and thirdly depends on how quickly it's picked up if you're at home and you found someone or you think someone's had a stroke it's very very important that you get them sent to hospital as soon as possible in the hospital they usually have a CT scan number one to see if there is a profound stroke that's obvious on the scan number two to exclude any bleeds on the brain and after that they usually give the patient something called either they give them thrombolysis if it's caught within a few hours and if the symptoms are extensive enough or they give them medication such as antiplatelet therapy and sometimes even warfarin now it's very important to realize that the antiplatelet therapy differs from country to country so inshallah i won't go too much into that but it's just to say that if you're given advice by a doctor it's very important that you stick to that advice once someone's been treated for stroke the prognosis obviously depends upon the treatment they've received it depends upon how quickly the stroke was picked up and that will obviously affect the treatment they received it depends on the extensiveness of the stroke itself and number four it depends on the rehabilitation process inshallah i'll talk through some of these things in a bit more detail and also the long-term prognosis after many many years and how your life will be affected number one the medications is very important to stick to your medications that the gp has given you your doctor has given you and if you find that for whatever reason you can't tolerate it go and see a doctor as soon as possible don't stop taking your medication whatever you do secondly the extent of the stroke obviously is not under your control but it will determine the medication the treatment that you get and also the rehabilitation is a very very important part of stroke recovery the reason being that the brain has something called plasticity it's got the ability to compensate for a compromised system essentially it means that if there isn't one part of the brain working another part can substitute or be plastic enough to do a role which can compensate for that part of the brain that's not working now this depends a lot on the rehabilitation process so if you are very very intensive and work very very hard in the rehabilitation phase you can see a lot of improvement very quickly however this depends on person to person like i've said it depends on the rehabilitation process and also on your willpower as an individual sometimes you can try your best and still not get good results and if that's the case then don't be upset it's just sometimes there's not much you can do about it when you're in that state or in that stage but if you don't try hard enough you'll never know then the long-term prognosis depends on person to person and the symptoms that you had to begin with so for example if it's something as simple as lack of coordination then these symptoms can last or can stay with you for a while but they will or they can get better however people that find that they can't swallow and eat they will need an assessment from the sole team which is a speech and language therapist that will help them to firstly coordinate their swallowing and secondly they will allow them to develop the muscles and the ability to swallow if they can't do so and obviously the speech and language therapist also help with you or help you if you're suffering from inability or slurring of your speech the reason why it's important to assess someone who has problems swallowing is that if the muscles that allow you to swallow not working properly then sometimes it can mean that instead of the food going down your food pipe it goes down your windpipe and if that happens it can be catastrophic because it can cause a severe pneumonia which can make you very very ill other avenues one can explore when suffering a stroke are things like physiotherapy someone who's had a stroke on one side may find that they're not very mobile they may find that they're unable to walk very far and as a result the physiotherapists are engaged and they come and they help you out and they also help in the rehabilitation process they'll help you to learn how to use your muscles once again to make sure your muscles don't shrink by under use of them they'll also try and get you to learn tips on how you can move from for example your bed onto a chair how you can move and stand up from a sitting position and they'll also help you to walk using walking aids to sticks and frames and inshallah if the rehabilitation process is successful they will also try and follow you up after you have been through that to see if everything's going well the other professional organization that we usually explore is the occupational therapists some people have had strokes find that specific parts of their brain are affected for example if your frontal lobe is affected and you can't do executive functioning such as cooking for yourself then they can get to you meals something called meals on wheels or they can get meals provided for you number two if it's something like a profound stroke which has affected your ability to use your hands or your feet and you're unable to wash yourself or dress yourself they can get carers in to try and help you to do that obviously once all of this is done it is important that you keep up to date or keep regular checkups with your doctor because if there's any worsening of your symptoms the doctor can refer you to another agency or the physiotherapists or the occupational therapists if needed inshallah i hope that these last few episodes have been useful where we've talked about cardiovascular risks strokes and so forth inshallah i hope that this allows you to lead a more healthier lifestyle to look after your heart to look after your brains so that you can be of benefit to the community in the long run inshallah tomorrow we'll be going on to another topic and diverting away from this short series that we've had but inshallah i hope that you've learned enough from it and as a result you're physically more able to continue and have a good quality of life and through that you may be able to serve Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the ahlul bayt alaykum as-salam government corruption is a big problem in today's world if you wanted to look anywhere in any country we cannot find a government free of corruption politicians operate on bribes and their and their positions are determined by the by the person who pays the most government resources the wealth of the nation's people are squandered left and right however there was one government in history where this was not the case the government of ali ibn abi talib peace be upon him the father of haslan hassein such was the nobility of ali ibn abi talib that he was in corruptible he never wasted the resources in which where they were entrusted upon him this was because he knew that to that to occupy a position of public leadership meant to serve the people and not rule over them one day talha and zubair are very well known two figures in the time of ma'am ali came to visit him to make a deal they were hoping that if they pledged their support to the government of the imam he would he would in return random positions and he would he would grant them high social and political positions it was evening time when they arrived at the government buildings and greeted imam ali while he was working to record the funds of the treasury he extinguished one candle and lit another the two men's were curious of this action telling the imam that they had come to discuss some some important matters they asked him although they asked him that why this weird action from him imam ali ibn abi talib pointed to the extinguished candle and said the candle that i extinguished was purchased from the public treasury so i only use it when i when i'm working on the public treasury and the candle that i lit is purchased from my own pocket and since you have come to me for personal matters i lit that candle when talha and zubay realized such a man realized that such a man cannot be incorrupted they would never have done the deal that they had in mind they excused themselves and left without saying any word respected viewers brothers and sisters i would like to leave you with this quote by ali ibn abi talib who says be sincere for with sincerity you will reach success and become successful insha'Allah today i hope to recite a nashid which is about equality about making sure the poor are fed making sure the needy get what they need it's a nashid which i've heard recently which has a very deep and profound meaning although it's so simple the title is assalamu alaikum i dream for a day when there'll be no more misery there's no more hunger no need for shelter isn't there enough to share or is it that we just don't care we're here for a day or two let me show my way justice and unity when we put aside our differences fighting makes no sense just a little faith to make it a better place we're here for a day or two let me show my way salam salam salam salam salam the holy prophet Muhammad may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his progeny has said oh people surely the month of god has approached you the month which in the eyes of Allah is the most virtuous of the months its days are the best of days and its nights are the best of nights and its moments the best of moments as we conclude another episode of the Ramadan show i want you to leave you with a few final words something to ponder over and think over during this nights of Ramadan and that is from a very famous swahili proverb and that proverb is when you do something good don't wait for the thank you in other languages it is when you do something good forget about it either way what it means is when you do something good walk away from it so fast that you don't even get to hear the word thank you because surely you're doing it out of the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and your reward lies with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala these worldly acknowledgements will not get you very far inshaAllah i hope that you can join us again for another episode tomorrow don't forget to send in your videos your picture your blogs so that we can air them on this tv channel also don't forget to join us on social media using the hashtag ihtv ramadan on twitter on facebook on youtube and also on instagram inshaAllah i hope to see you tomorrow and i'll leave you with these final words wassalaamu alaikum jami'an warahmatullahi wabarakatuh