 respected listeners, the Mantaf Rajab, Alhamdulillah, is upon us. Very soon Shaban will start and in a little over a month and a half, the Mantaf Ramadan will start. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala make us all reach the Mantaf Ramadan. Harat Ayesha Razi Allahu Ta'ala Anha says, before I go into my talk, respected listeners, I know fasting is hard. 30 days of fasting, if you ask any non-Muslim, he will shake his head. How can you guys do this? It's one of the miracles of Ramadan. Allah makes us do it, makes us do it without any complaints for the pleasure of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala, insha'Allah, to submit to the command of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala. But we all are human beings, we get nervous, we get anxious, how am I going to go to work? How am I going to go to Hungary? How am I going to be hungry for 30 days? It is a natural thought and we all get these. May Allah make the Ramadan easy for all of us. But when you hear the sayings of Rasul Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the life of Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the life of the companions of Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the tabi'een, and the tabi'een, and the discipline of Allahu Akbar, it should nothing but inspire us to look forward for the month of Ramadan. Hazrat Aisha, Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, told me, O Aisha, knock persistently on the doors of heaven. I said, O Prophet of Allah, how can I knock persistently, continuously on the doors of heaven? Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, through hunger and thirst. Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the most beloved people in the eyes of Allah are the ones who hunger the most, who thirst the most, and the most detestable people in the eyes of Allah are those who eat a lot, drink a lot, and sleep a lot. Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, that when a person goes to sleep with his full stomach, it makes his heart hard. When a person goes to sleep with a full stomach, it makes the person's heart hard. Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, that make your stomachs hunger and thirst, because your heart is like a farmland. When you put excess water in your farmland, the land dies. Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, the first bidat, the first innovation that came in the Ummah of Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, after he passed away, was that people started eating to their fill, and when they started doing that, their hearts bolted inclined towards the worldly material things, and the desires became strong, and they became uncontrollable for them not to obey their desires. Asha Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam announced, sea prophets Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, going hungry for days, and Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam respected listeners. He had a very beloved community of Ansar and the Muhajireen around him. They could have flooded him with food and drinks, but Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam never asked for food, and he would go hungry with choice. One time, Hazrat Ayesha Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, I saw the state of Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and I felt pity on Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. With tears in my eyes, I said, oh Prophet of Allah, why don't you eat? Why don't you gain some strength? And I started rubbing his stomach with my hands, encouraging him to eat. And then Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told me, oh Ayesha, my brothers who came before me, meaning the prophets who came before me, they went through much more severe hardships than I'm going through. But they were patient and persistent, and they have reached Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala with that patience and persistence. I would like to do the same thing, steadfastness for a few days, patience for a few days, and perseverance for a few days is not going to harm me, but it will make me, it will help me to join my brothers when I leave this world. By Allah, Hazrat Ayesha Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, By Allah, not even a week had passed, Rasul Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam departed from this world and joined to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala. Amazing Hadith of Rasul Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Imam Ghazali, Rahmatullah alayhi, coursed this in his Ahiaul Alum, related by Imam Ahmad bin Hambal, Rahmatullah alayhi in his Sahih. Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, about the day of judgment, saying, hunger your stomachs. He said, the people close to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala will be those who often go hungry and thirsty and are sad in this world. When they are, they're sad in this world, but they're very helpful to the other people and are God conscious. When they're present among the people, nobody notices them. When they're absent among the people, nobody misses them. But the angels of the heavens surround them. And Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam continued this Hadith. It's a long Hadith. Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam goes on to say that when they die, when they leave this world, the earth cries. And Allah's punishment descends upon the provinces, upon the earth, where these kind of people are not present. The people with the love of this world descend, take to this world as the dogs descend on the on the caracass. But these people only eat what suffices to retain their strength. They veer patched clothes. The hairs are disheveled. They're covered with dust. And the people think they're deranged. They're mentally something wrong with them, but yet they're mentally very sound. People think they're crazy, but by Allah they're a very sound mind. Make friends with them. Take them as your brothers. Because of your company with them, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will stop any chastisement, any punishment coming to the places they're staying on the face of the earth. And then, oh people, when you die, when you live in this world, when death comes to you, let your stomach hunger and let your liver thirst so that when you die in that condition, you will attain the most exalted ranks with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on the day of judgment. Allah will keep you in the company of the prophets and the angels will welcome your soul and Allah will give you his blessing. You know, eating to full, filling up your stomachs will cause you a lot of regrets in the life of the hereafter, and it is a corruption on the face of this earth. And that is what eating a lot of food does, respected listeners. Our bodies were not built to eat three times a day. Our bodies were not built to eat our stomachs full every day of our lives. Our bodies were built to live more than 120 years. There is a fact. But what do we do? We cannot live without meat any single day. Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was a semi-vegetarian. He welcomed a Sahabi who was a totally vegetarian. Rasulullah knew the harms of the meat. Sin Aumar bin al-Khattab, when he became the Khalifa, he stopped the people from buying meat every single day. He said, you cannot buy meat every single day. He himself would eat meat once every seven days. Today we have cholesterol, we have heart diseases, people die of cancer and heart attacks and all these things. Who is to blame no one but us with the kind of food and the diet we have? And Ramadan is coming to change all that, respected listeners. What a blessing of Allah Subhanahu ta'ala. We will not do it on our own. Allah brings it upon us as a mercy, as a blessing, which we do not realize what a great mercy and blessing is even from the physical perspective, health perspective. Umar bin al-Khattab, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam would not drink cold water when he was the Khalifa. Imagine living in a hot desert in extremely hot temperatures of Arabia. How beloved a glass of cold water must be to a person. He would not drink glass of cold water. He would refrain from it. People would ask why. He would say, what if Allah asked me, did you enjoy all your blessings in this world? His son, Abdullah bin Umar, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he had become sick and he recovered. He got his appetite back. He was very hungry. He wanted to eat fish. He told a young person, Nafe, to go find some fish in the markets of Medina and bring it and cook it for me with a loaf of bread. He looked around, round and round, couldn't find a fish at all in Medina. Then he finally found one at an expensive price at Dilham and a half at that time. He brought, roasted it, cooked it, put it on the loaf of bread, was about to give it to him. There was a knock on the door. A beggar comes and says, could you please give me something to eat? I'm very hungry. Abdullah bin Umar, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says, go give it to him. He says, but please, I spent a lot of time finding this fish and it's cost me at Dilham and half. Let me go give him a Dilham instead of the fish. Abdullah bin Umar, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says, wrap it up and give it to him. He takes the fish, loaf of bread, goes to the beggar and he says, look, here it is for you. He's telling me to give it to you, but can I give you a Dilham instead? A Dilham, one Dilham was a lot of money at that time. The beggar, of course, he said, yeah, absolutely give me the money. He takes the money. He comes back. He tells Abdullah bin Umar, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that I gave him the money. He was happy. He says, no, go give it to him and let him have the Dilham. They control the desires, respected listeners. The way they control the desires from halal, I mean fish, eating fish is halal, but they knew if they control the desires on halal, it becomes easy for them to control the desires on haram. And we are struggling today to control ourselves for things which displease Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, respected listeners. Malik bin Dina, rahmatullahi says, for 40 years, and I'm saying this not that we don't have to practice this respected listeners. It's impossible for us to practice these kind of exercises. I'm just saying this, they will motivate us for the month of Ramadan coming that fasting shouldn't be that hard for us. For what these people went through, their discipline, their piety, their righteousness, their steadfastness, their willpower. Malik bin Dina, rahmatullahi says, I had the urge to eat yogurt, but 40 years, 40 years I controlled my urge to eat yogurt. Not one day, four hours, four weeks, for 40 years I did not eat yogurt. Somebody got me as a gift, fresh dates. I told them eat. I haven't eaten fresh dates in 40 years. And he said, I have diverse this world. I have diverse this world 50 years ago, but for the last 40 years, for the last 40 years I have been getting this desire, this urge, this inkling to eat fine flour, but I haven't touched it. I would like to meet Allah in this condition. A person in Iraq in Basra, he said, for 20 years, for 20 years I had the desire, urge to eat fish, but I control my desire. And I died, and he dies in that condition. He comes into the dream of one of his friends who says, how did you fare in front of Allah subhanahu ta'ala? He says, I found Allah subhanahu ta'ala very generous. The first thing Allah gave me was a fish and loaf of bread which he desired in this world. Eat and drink, Allah says, for all the good things he used to do in this world. A doctor opens up a clinic in Medina hearing that there are no clinics in Medina. I'm going to make some money. It's written in the books of Seerah. He comes, opens up the clinic. No patients show up. Hardly any patients come to his clinic except for the people killed in the battles and the skirmishes. He goes to Rasulullah, said, oh Prophet of Allah, what is this? I came to make some money, but very few people show up. Rasulullah said something amazing, we need to follow respected listeners. And this is doable for all of us. Rasulullah was a mercy to the entire mankind. Rasulullah told the doctor, our people, meaning my Sahaba, they eat only when they're hungry. They eat only when they're hungry and they stop eating just two, three bites before they become full. They stop eating just before they become full, and we can do this, respected listeners. It's a little bit of a willpower. The doctor said, if that is the case, oh Prophet of Allah, people will not become sick. Ramadan is coming, respected listeners. Ramadan is coming. Like Rasulullah, said, a person who goes to sleep with his stomach full, his heart becomes hard. Sufyan Thori, he would say, when you would eat, he would say, you have eaten, now worship Allah. He would worship Allah all day long. If you'd eat full in the night time, you'd worship in the night time to make up for the food he had eaten. And he would say, if the kings of our time, if the kings of our time would find out what pleasure we get in praying Turaqat Salat in the wee hours of the night or the morning, they will come with the naked swords to cut our flesh piece by piece to take the pleasure out of our bodies of what we get. Today the world, respected listeners, Allah forgive us. Forgive me for saying these respected listeners. We have the treasures. We have the treasures of good health to be in good shape, good condition, live a long life, healthy life through the teachings of the Qur'an, teachings of the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. كلوا واشربوا ولا تصرفوا إن الله لا يحب المصرفين. Allah says, eat and drink but don't overdo it. Don't be extravagant. Do not overeat. Eating a few bites of apple and throwing it away. Eating to our fill, desiring to eat all those biryani's and whatever you may want, you be like. We need to curb those desires, respected listeners. When we do curb our desires for the halal things, Allah will make it easy for us to prevent ourselves from haram. Sufyan, sorry Imam Ghazali, says, if you have eaten to your fill, just pray four rakat nafil salat that will compensate for the food you have eaten. Or say a hundred times sit down and say Subhanallah, Subhanallah, Subhanallah, a hundred times or read one juice of the para to make up for it. month of Ramadan, respected listeners. Each one of us, I'm going to conclude with this, each one of us knows our deficiencies, our faults, the sins we commit. Some of them we have been, they are like a shackle. We are not able to release ourselves from addictions. And we think liquor is an addiction. Gambling is an addiction, but overeating is also addiction, respected listeners. This month of Ramadan is coming to take us out of those shackles to discipline ourselves, to get closer to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Suleiman al-Darami, says a person who eats to his full has six defects in him. He loses his sweet communion with Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. He loses the sweetness of worship. And we notice that no khushu and khuzu in our salat, he loses the sweet communion with Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. His desires become strong. His worship becomes burdensome. He loses the compassion for others who are hungry because he does not know how hunger feels. He cannot memorize divine wisdom. He cannot wake up for fudger because his stomach is so full or spends a lot of time in the bathroom in the morning. These are the defects Suleiman al-Darami, says. So this month of Ramadan, respected listeners, let's make intention. Insha'Allah, I'm going to fast this month of Ramadan to please Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala with faith. I'm going to fast this month of Ramadan with faith, to have my sins forgiven, to attain the closeness to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. I'm going to fast this month of Ramadan so that the sins I have been involved, I'm not going to, I'm not getting out of it. They're like heavy shackles that have tied me up. My addictions, whatever they are, Allah knows that Allah takes me out of those addictions with these 30 days of fasting. I'm going to change my life with this coming month of Ramadan, insha'Allah. I'm going to, I'm going to change my schedules in this coming month of Ramadan. I'm going to get closer to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, each Ramadan, respected listeners. It should make us better human beings, better Muslims. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala make us among those. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala make us change our lives. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala make us get out of all those sins only which we know Allah knows. May Allah make us get out of those shackles, of those chains. May Allah make us get us, get us out of addictions. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala make us control our diet. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala give us discipline to eat food. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala save us from overeating.