 I seek salvation from Satan, the accursed, my dearest viewers, my brothers and sisters from across the world, may the peace, blessings and protection of Allah SWT be with you at all times. I would like to once again thank you for tuning in to the Ramadan show exclusively here on the channel. I hope and I pray we can be of service to you and insha'Allah 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 from wherever you are in the world so we can see how you celebrate or how you prepare yourself for this month. I hope and I pray we can be of service to you and insha'Allah be your one stop shop for this holy month. In non-Arab the only difference that Allah sees is piety. And by this we get to have an idea of exactly what sort of people we should be. We should not discriminate in the eyes of Allah there is no discrimination based on race, gender or background. The only thing that differentiates us in the eyes of Allah is our piety. Today in spiritual refinement insha'Allah I want to talk about a topic that is neglected by so many of us. Yet it is so important not only to our social beings but also for our religious and spiritual upliftment and that is keeping a good relationship with our near relatives. In Arabic this term is silathurrahm. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the holy Quran says and be careful of your duty to Allah by whom you demand one another your rights and the ties of relationship surely Allah ever watches over you. He also says surely Allah enjoys the doing of justice and the doing of good to others and the giving of kinsfolk relations i.e. relations. In these verses of the holy Quran Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala draws attention to our rights to one another and in particular our duty towards our family members especially our near relatives. We are commanded to be generous and to maintain good relationships with them. Keeping a good relationship with family members therefore requires us to be good and to show respect for them. Be helpful to them particularly in the times of need. You should always maintain a good relationship with them whenever you possibly can in times of good and joyous occasions and in times of sadness and grief. Helping relatives also means to help them overcome difficulties and hardships in their life specifically over things like earnings something to help them to make them independent, securing a job for them or initiating them into a business or a trade. It can also be found in the form of sound advice, spiritual guidance, religious teaching, even lifestyle advice. It can be something as simple as just sitting down and having a chat on a given day. It is very important not to discriminate. Generally it is observed that people tend to behave graciously towards their wealthy relatives and avoid the poor ones. The faith of Islam does not differentiate between rich and poor. And it is important that the closest of the relationship is maintained. The more closely a person is related to you, the more important it is to fulfill their rights. Keeping close relationships with family members does not only increase your spirituality, does not increase your ability to elevate closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and to follow the teachings of the Ahlul bayt alayhim as-salam. But on a general day to day basis, it forms a very fabric of morals and good principles. Don't forget you were brought up in that family. Those are the people that looked after you and brought you up, kept you fed, kept you cleaned. And yet when you grow up, do not break your ties with them. Keep close to them. Keep relationships with them. These are the people when it is your time of need who will come and help you if you help them. There are some benefits of keeping good relationships with your family members. Imam Muhammad al-Baqir alayhi salam says, Salat al-Rahm is the cause of purification of our actions. It removes calamities. It and abundance of good and increases risk such as and sustenance. Salat al-Rahm also ensures easy accounting of one's deeds on the day of judgment and it protects them from sudden death. On the other hand, someone who distances themselves from their relatives has many detrimental effects due to that. It is said that they have destruction of their faith, ruining of the hereafter, lessening of their life span, diminishing in sustenance and the worst of all, the termination of the bestowal of divine grace and mercy upon them. Allah has mentioned in Hadith al-Qudsi, I am the Rahman, one who severs his relations with his relatives. I never sever my relationship with him. There are some other points to consider. You see, in our culture, especially in the west, I've seen it quite frequently that once parents become older, the children tend to forget about them. They tend to let them live by themselves and not pay attention to them, not go and visit them. The importance of visiting parents is many fold. Here, we're talking about spiritual elevation. We're talking about ascension towards Allah SWT. But think about it on a day-to-day basis. These parents, they have raised you. And by visiting them, you are showing them thanks, you're showing them your gratitude. Not only that, they've gone through so many things during their life, they have so many years, so much wealth of experience. You can gain something from that. Other than that, remember that if you show good attitude towards your parents, your children will see that. And when your children will see that, it will rub off on them. They will understand that holding your parents in high regard, visiting them, showing kindness towards them, is something that a normal good person does. Because if you show contempt towards your parents and don't visit them, your children will learn from you. And when you grow older, your children do the same to you. There are some people in our society who sadly don't have any relatives. It is important to visit them and to show them love and affection as a family member would. It is very difficult for those of you who don't have or who have family members who haven't lost any family members to know what it feels like for someone who doesn't have any family members. For whatever reason, whether it's because family members have passed away, because they live very, very far away, or because of some other specific reasons, you should always try and pay them the love and affection that a family member would. Make them your brother, make them your sister. Show them the same level of respect that you would. And finally, probably most importantly, in this holy month of Ramadan, we have all made a vow at the beginning of the month to change ourselves, to become better people, to improve our humanity, to ascend towards Allah SWT. We have promised ourselves to turn over a new slate. And in this holy month, let's try and reconnect with our family. Let's try and let the bygones be bygones. Let the water be under the bridge. And whatever ties are severed, no matter how badly they're severed, everything in life is repairable. Opportunity never ceases until we die. So let's use this month as a month where we reconnect with our family. Make this month a month where we make those ties one again and make those bonds one again and get close to our kin, get close to our brothers and sisters. And after the event of Eid, let's make this the beginning of our new life. Make this the beginning where we'll be close to our family members. So not only will we benefit from that, not only will they benefit from that, but we'll get close to Allah SWT and our children, most importantly, will see the importance of maintaining good relationships with their family. So tomorrow they can form the fabric of our society, form the fabric of our communities. The Holy Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in 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. As we travel around the world to see how people from all across the globe, different walks of life, different races and backgrounds prepare themselves for this holy month of Ramadan, today's travels have taken me to the country of Netherlands. The Netherlands lies within Central Europe. It is a country that is predominantly below sea level and it has a quite small population in comparison to many other countries in Europe. The people of the Netherlands and the Netherlands countries, a non-Muslim country. However, there are no changes to the day-to-day routines of the people there. The Netherlands and the government is predominantly non-Muslim and as a result, the day-to-day life doesn't change in terms of work and school. So people tend to go to work from 9 in the morning to 5 in the evening as per normal. The interesting thing in the Netherlands is that all shops close at about 5 or 6pm and after that nothing is open which is quite different to many other countries around the world. The Muslim population in the Netherlands exists in little pockets despite its small population and majority of the Muslims in the Netherlands are Moroccan. For iftar in the Netherlands just as goes with the Moroccan tradition the fast is open with dates and some soup and then the people of the family go to the mosque where they have majlis and dua and then after that they come home and have their big meals after which the people in the family who work tend to go to sleep and the rest of the family stay awake until Sahur time. At Sahur the people tend to have something very light like honey and bread or yoghurt after which they pray their Salah and then they go to bed. The climate of the Netherlands is quite mild in comparison to most of Europe and that is because as I've mentioned before most of the countries below sea level. Now because of the hours of the fast they usually start in the very early hours of the day and complete at about 9pm the people of the Netherlands after work they try to get some rest and because of the mild weather they tend to be able to complete their fasts. I would like to once again ask you to send in your videos send in your pictures, send in your blogs tell us how you prepare for this holy month and inshallah we can air it for the rest of the world to see. As I've mentioned before in the previous episodes it always fascinates me to get an insight into how people do their day to day lives or run their day to day lives and the daily routines and despite coming from so many different walks of life so many different backgrounds and the day to day life being so different they all come together to serve one Lord to serve Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala Dearest viewers Peace be upon you Peace and blessings of Allah be upon each and every one of you and may all your prayers and supplications be accepted by Allah Every visitor to the holy city of Karbala after leaving his family, his friends all alone and away and after visiting the holy shrine of Imam Al-Hussain A.S he comes to these stores that sell souvenirs they take different types of souvenirs with them back home as a blessing from the holy city of Karbala of course Karbala has so many different types of souvenirs one of the shops that we are going to see today is a shop that sells traditional souvenirs these souvenirs are specified for decorating home stores and so on Dearest Imam Al-Hussain TV viewers I have with me brother Mansour Peace be upon you How are you? Can you tell us about the sales that you sold here in this place? First of all, congratulations to Islam and the return of the great and the Muslims who gather in the Islamic world in the holy month of Ramadan and we hope that Allah will accept their prayers and prayers and will return to them in the holy month of Ramadan as for the things that exist in this place we have Indian works Turkish works Iranian works we have shops that demand Zahar that demand let's say shops shops Zahar we will bring Zahar and Allah will accept brother is congratulating the Islamic Ummah or our scholars for the holy month of Ramadan and he asks God for the blessings of this month he is saying that we have almost everything that a visitor needs a souvenir to take with him back home they have different types of souvenirs from different countries and they bring it here and sell it to the visitors because of the blessings of the holy city of Karbala brother is congratulating brother is congratulating brother is congratulating brother is congratulating brother is congratulating brother is congratulating we are following the station and we are not forgiving we are the seller the share of the blessings that happen inside this place goes to build this holy station let's say let's say every year according to our accounts let's say let's say to build Imam Ja'far Al-Sadr because any thing that happen with it with the people of the house it's a blessing and thank God we don't have to do anything with it let's make the first level with Allah and the people of the house and we are doing a blessing brother Mansoor is saying that I asked him about the location of their store he is saying that we are close to the Maqam of Imam Ja'far Al-Sadr he is saying that due to the blessings of Imam Ja'far Al-Sadr they have a very good selling and as a result or as a thank as a saying thank you for all the blessings that comes from Allah and Ahlul Bayt he has assigned a part of the benefits that he gains from the money that he collects here from his selling for the construction of this holy Maqam in today's section for medical tips and health advice I wanted to talk about a particular condition or rather a group of conditions we all is fear and dread hearing the word cancer but I wanted to explain just very briefly what cancer is different types of cancer and how you can spot and pick up red flag signs for them in Sha Allah a more generalised set of symptoms for which you must keep an eye out for obviously covering the whole of all the cancers will take me a long long time in Sha Allah I'll just spend a few minutes on each one just tell you the main symptoms to look out for and then move on in Sha Allah cancer essentially in the human body is an overproduction an uncontrolled overproduction of a particular type of cell so for example if this type of cell is a lung cell it's called lung cancer if this cell that's in the colon is called colon cancer and so forth in Sha Allah what I want to do is tell you about very very simple symptoms the symptoms that all types of cancers have which would be the red flags to get you to think and to sort of make you alert to the fact that something's not quite right on top of that I'll also talk about the different array of cancers the most commonest cancers and the cancers that you should keep an eye out for obviously there are specific symptoms to the different types of cancers which I'll briefly gloss over and just go over very quickly but without spending too much time on each one with the majority of cancers the first symptom or the most earliest sign that something's not quite right is the fact that the person tends to lose a lot of weight very very quickly without intending to lose the weight and as a result they lose a lot of their muscle mass and a lot of their bulk the reason being is number one they tend to have less of an appetite so this is another symptom that you have to look out for if you potentially could have a cancer and secondly the cancer itself because it's spreading so fast increases your metabolic rate and requires a lot of energy and thus you use that energy and you lose the muscle bulk and the bulk of your body as well other than just losing weight there are other symptoms like I've mentioned loss of appetite all the time and you feel completely washed out and exhausted and tired if you feel any of these symptoms it is worth going to see a doctor maybe because of it something much more simpler and less sinister but the first and most important thing about cancer is picking it up as early as possible and if that can be done either you can be monitored and it can be kept an eye on if it's a slow growing cancer or if it's something that's aggressive it can be treated very quickly and removed from the body if possible so now I just want to talk about the different types of cancers that one should be aware of and how one can spot if there is a potential cancer there and obviously what the treatment would be in the long term the first type of cancer I want to talk about is brain cancers there are many different types of brain cancer so I don't want to go into the different types and what they are and what they do and how they work but what I want to do is just give you a few symptoms to look out for if you're concerned about it the first symptom obviously would be constant headaches and recurrent headaches headaches that change with position and also problems with specific things like vision ringing in the ears loss of hearing in one ear usually if it's a cancer you'd be concerned about the loss of function on one side in particular obviously with the eyes sometimes what happens is you lose the temporal parts of your vision so the sides but the central part of the vision stays the same and that could be another sign that there's something not quite right and you should seek medical attention as soon as possible if that's the case after that I just want to talk about oropharyngeal cancers which are found in the nose and the mouth these types of cancers are found mainly in people who smoke or chew tobacco and if you do that you're introducing carcinogens to your system and especially if you chew tobacco you're introducing directly these carcinogens into the surface of your mouth people with nose cancers for example will find that one nose is constantly blocked and is discharging and bleeding constantly and usually it's just to one side and sometimes you can also find that if it's in a specific position it can also block your hearing on that side if you're seeing these symptoms regularly and it's over a prolonged period of time I'll go and see a doctor sometimes what they can do is start you on treatment because not all people with blocked noses have cancer but at least if they try the other things and if it's something like sinusitis and it can be treated they can start you on medication if it continues for a prolonged period of time it may require further investigation thereafter we move on to lung cancers lung cancers are one of the most commonest type of cancer depending on where you live in countries where there's quite a high mining population for example it's quite prevalent in populations where there's a large number of smokers it's quite prevalent and of course one way you can stop yourself from getting lung cancer or reduce the risk of it is to not smoke is to avoid dust and places where there's a lot of soot and the other thing to do with regards to lung cancers to keep an eye out for the symptoms so the main symptoms again are the ones that I've told you before like weight loss and feeling tired all the time but the specific ones for lung cancers are shortness of breath and shortness of breath which is progressing over a period of time the other symptoms to look out for is coughing up blood and if you cough up blood I would suggest you go and see a doctor straight away sometimes it can be something as simple as a pneumonia or just a burst blood vessel which can cause the blood but at other times it can be something more sinister and if you do notice blood in your in your cough then it may be worth getting a chest x-ray done but obviously this is at the discretion of your doctor then as we move further down there is people around the world who have colon cancer gastric cancer which is the cancer of the stomach is not very prevalent in the developed world and not very prevalent in most cultures however in the Japanese for some reason gastric cancers are very common however we won't talk about that I just want to talk about further down the cancer of the gut gut cancers or colon cancers are probably one of the most common cancers especially in the elderly statistics show us that the older you get the more likely to develop colon cancer and it's very important to keep an eye out for and be alert to the potential symptoms that can be red flags so these symptoms are things like once again loss of weight loss of appetite other symptoms can include things like when you're passing stool finding blood when you're passing stool or if you're finding it difficult to pass stool or you find that there is something that is remaining within your system after you've voided these can all be red flag signs other symptoms which are more concerning or signs that can be more concerning is you feel a lump in your tummy and if you press on that lump sometimes the cancers don't hurt but if you can feel a lump when you press on the tummy it's very important to identify it and to seek medical attention if it's possible then I'll talk about particular cancers which are specific for men and particular cancers which are specific for women the one for men is prostate cancer prostate cancer is fairly common but it's one of the slowest growing cancers which is there in medical literature prostate cancer the most common is symptom that you get with prostate cancer is difficulty in passing urine and men will sometimes find that when they do pass they feel there's something left behind or they haven't voided completely these symptoms are very similar with that of BPH, benign, prostate hyperplasia or hypertrophy and for those people it's important to get investigated sometimes a doctor will do an examination where they can feel the prostate and feel if it's smooth or if it's irregular there's concerns about cancer if you do suffer from these symptoms go and see the doctor give you simple medication to see if it works and to see if it can shrink down your prostate in order for the symptoms to be alleviated other symptoms to look out for are things like passing blood in your urine or things like loss of weight with other cancers for example then symptoms of cancer specifically to women are ovarian cancers and breast cancers breast cancer is one of the commonest causes of cancer in the United Kingdom especially where I'm from the first type of symptoms you'll feel is probably not much very simple things like loss of weight or feeling lethargic all the time but in most women the way that they find out that they've got this cancer or they find out something's wrong is if they find a lump and if they find a lump or if you find a lump go and see the doctor as soon as possible it could be the very first sign that something is sinister and normally women with cancer find that there is no pain there find that there's no other symptoms however a simple lump should be enough to get you thinking and get you concerned and it's very important for women especially to self-check regularly so that they can avoid having cancer which is untreatable ovarian cancer once again is not that common in women but it's something that you have to be aware of most women will find that with ovarian cancer there's a lump in the abdomen but it can be something as simple as loss of weight again or feeling tired all the time and especially with the ovaries because they produce hormones or they utilise hormones you'll find that your mood is swinging quite a lot you'll find that your hormones are all over the place and a lot of women find that the first manifestation of ovarian cancer is a clot in the leg because obviously the blood supply coming up from the leg doesn't get through all the way to the ovary which is enlarged and as a result they get a clot in the leg so if you do have a clot in the leg it is worth thinking about if a doctor doesn't already know the possible cause it's worth thinking about having an abdominal examination done so that you can rule out any masses there this is just a very brief overview of the types of cancers now I just want to talk a bit about the treatments like I've said before some cancers are very very slow growing like prostate cancer for example and for those who monitor them keep an eye on the enzymes that can potentially show up if the cancer is worsening or getting better but for other cancers the first and mainstay of treatment is resection so surgical removal of that particular cancer after which we treat with chemotherapy or radiotherapy and these depend upon the type of cancer how aggressive it is how progressive it is the country where you come from because different countries have access to different types of chemotherapy or radiotherapeutic agents one type of cancer I haven't mentioned yet is skin cancer and obviously like with other cancers having a healthy lifestyle is very important to avoiding those particular cancers it is the same with skin cancers be sensible when you're out in the sun make sure you wear skin lotion to protect your skin if you can avoid sunbeds avoid sunbeds I'm sure many of you have heard of a mole and if you have a mole or a lesion on the skin or a specific mark that you don't know where it's come from keep an eye on it if it's growing if it's becoming more irregular if it's itching or bleeding you should go and see a doctor as soon as possible for example melanomas which are the ones that develop from moles they can be very very aggressive so as soon as you notice something's not quite right go and see a doctor they can do a simple biopsy and see whether there's a problem there these types of cancers are the slower growing cancers they're known as squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinomas usually they're found on the face and normally they're found in people who work outdoors like farmers or sailors for example people in the navy who spend long hours at sea and they're exposed to the sun and these types of cancers are difficult to explain but if you find anything abnormal or an abnormal mark on your skin or an abnormal lesion on your skin I would advise to go and see a doctor insha'Allah I hope that this segment's been useful especially for those of you who are not from a medical background I'm sure the words cancer can be very very worrying now this segment isn't there to frighten you or to scare you because most of the time when people come to us who are scared or afraid or worried that they've got cancer usually for those people there's actually no cancer underlying it's usually a benign problem something that's not sinister something that's easily treated however we don't want to let anyone slip through the net and that's why it is important that if you have any of these symptoms that you go and see a doctor normally for people who have got cancers and they've picked it up early the treatment can be much more straightforward and as doctor we prefer it if you have got these symptoms and it turns out not to be cancer then for you to ignore it it turns out to be an aggressive form of cancer and then we cannot do anything about it insha'Allah I hope that you pay heed to this advice and if you need to see a doctor you go and see a doctor insha'Allah I pray that you have a long and healthy life with a good quality of life so that insha'Allah as a community we can contribute to society and await the return of our 12th Imam alayhi salam it was narrated in the time of Prophet Musa peace be upon him he was wandering with Bani Israel in the desert and intense drought befell them together they raised their hand toward the heavens praying for the blessed rain to come then to the astonishment of Prophet Musa all of them were watching and they seen the clouds in the sky vanish and the heat intensified upon them it was revealed to Prophet Musa peace be upon him that there was a sinner amongst them who has disobeyed Allah SWT for over 40 years Allah told Prophet Musa let him separate himself from the congregation only then I shall shower you with my rain Prophet Musa then called upon the tribe of Bani Israel and told them there is a person amongst us who has disobeyed Allah SWT for 40 years let him separate himself from us so Allah SWT shall rescue us looking left and right hoping that someone else would step forward but no one did SWT began to pour from his face and he knew that he was the one to step forward the man knew that if he stayed amongst the congregation everyone would die of thirst and if he had stepped forward he would be humiliated for all eternity he raised his hand with a sincerity he had never known before with humility he had never tasted his tears and as tears poured down both of his cheeks he said please forgive me Allah have mercy on me and hide my sins as Prophet Musa and the people of Bani Israel waited for the sinner to step forward the clouds came together and started to rain Bani Israel and Prophet Musa were shocked to see this and Prophet Musa even though the sinner did not step forward Allah SWT replied it was for the repentance of that very person I blessed you with water Prophet Musa requested from Allah that he wanted to see that person that blessed person Allah said I hid his sins for 40 years do you really think that I'm going to uncover him for you after he repented to me this is very significant to no respected brothers and sisters because Allah SWT says oh my servants remember me in your ease I will remember you in your hardship peace be upon you insha'Allah tonight I hope to dedicate this poem to the message of Imam al-Hussain the universality of that message and to talk about Haimam Hussain's messages to the world known to every country known to every language in every corner of this earth for generations his name has been called out and his message will never die until the day of judgment this poem was written by myself from my brother Abbas and I'll recite just two of the seven languages to you insha'Allah tonight you showed us all how to make a stand against oppression and evil plans you are the guidance to all of man this promise was made when times began throughout the whole world your name will span in every race and in every clan Hussain will live on Hussain Hussain 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 as we conclude another episode of the Ramadan show I want to leave you with a few words of wisdom to think about my final thought and that is that we don't learn by doing we learn by reflecting on what we have done and that is so true with so many things in life when we act upon something when we experience something the experience itself doesn't teach us anything it's only when you reflect on that experience do we learn the pearls that we are given from Allah I would like to thank you once again for watching the show we've been of some service to you and inshallah we hope you tune in tomorrow I would like to once again ask you to send in your pictures your videos and join us on social media and finally please don't forget to pray for us and most importantly please don't forget to pray for the reappearance of the awaited Imam, alayhi salam I would like to bid you farewell with the following words wa salamu alaykum jami'an warahmatullahi wabarakatu