 me okay? Is the audio clear? Okay. So this is my local masjid growing up, and so it's always that 180 feeling when you're back to where you began. And I'm very grateful to MCC for inviting me, as well as for Maristan for offering me the opportunity. And for Link Bay Area, it's really nice to see that middle group, as the brother was saying, being represented here today. So today, I know that there's always a lot to talk about with Ramadan, and I don't want to get into all of the fiqh and the Islamic background. I know that we have Ostaad Sadi Mahdi Amin who's going to talk about that. And I won't get into the physical health aspect either that much. A lot of it obviously overlaps with mental health. But I will get into more of how do we take care of our emotional and mental well-being during Ramadan? I don't know if that's okay. So, in the name of Allah, most beneficent, most merciful, all praises due to Allah, we thank Him, we seek His forgiveness, and we ask Him to make this Ramadan our best Ramadan ever, inshallah. And we send and ask Allah to send His peace and blessings on Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So, as we get started, I just wanted to check in, how are you all today? I'm hearing some, alhamdulillah, I'm hearing some good. You know, one of the things that I think helps us connect to any talk or any sort of presentation is understanding why am I here today, what's my intention? And it's always important to remember, our intention is what determines the outcome of any sort of action, right? And Allah's mercy is with us, and His Rahmah, it encompasses us. And with any good intention that we have, that can be a source of reward. So, you just sitting here today on a rainy Saturday afternoon, this can be a source of blessing and Rahmah for you, inshallah. So, you know, I just want to start off with the fact that there's something really beautiful and pure about waiting for Ramadan. There's something very sincere about all of us striving in any way we can to connect with Allah and Ramadan. We all are coming from diverse backgrounds. We may be a student, we may be a professional, we may be a parent, we may be struggling in different ways. And to be in this state of longing for Allah, it is one of the most beautiful times of the year to be waiting for that. So, I thank you for being here. And today, I want you to start off, and I will start too, with setting an intention for what do you want to get out of today? And what do you want to get out of Ramadan? A lot of us, we go into Ramadan thinking, okay, I need to check off all of these things in my checklist. I'm going to do all of these prayers and of the car. I'm going to, you know, donate this much, right? We have this list and come towards the month of Ramadan with a very structured approach, which I'm not saying is wrong by any means. I think today my hope is to instill like, what is the spirit of Ramadan as well and how can we each take it in terms of a very personalized approach for where we are at with our mental health, with our capabilities right now, with our schedules, because we all have different schedules and needs. So, ask yourself today, what is one thing you'd like to take away from this workshop? Maybe think about it. And I also invite discussion during this workshop, and I hope you'll share if you feel comfortable. So, can anyone raise their hand and share what's one thing you would like to take away today? Or why did you decide to come today? And I know I can share a little, that's a beautiful summary, soul searching. I think when you get to know more about your faith, you get to know more about yourself. And I think it's a bidirectional relationship. The more you learn about Islam, you also learn more about yourself and, you know, how am I doing? How are, you know, these habits going? How am I able to do more? And that sort of thing. And you're right, the nefs is a very, very big topic in Ramadan, right? How do we learn about our nefs and then control our nefs more in Ramadan? Yeah. Exactly. Yes. Jazak allah khair. And thank you so much for your honesty there. Like so many of us, we jump into Ramadan without the proper preparation. We don't, for example, know, hey, how am I going to adjust to waking up this early and then doing all of these things throughout the day? And there's a spiritual component of how am I doing with my connection with Allah? Sometimes you also have judgments about where we might be at. And some of us may feel that Ramadan, pre-Ramadan anxiety, like, Oh my gosh, I have all this stuff to do. Am I ready for it? Or we may come into Ramadan with a sense of guilt or shame. Maybe we're not exactly where we want to be spiritually. And then those emotional aspects of our psyche, right? Which we all have, they may interfere with our process of connecting with Allah and Ramadan. So I'm hoping today to just bring awareness to some of those topics so that we can maximize our Ramadan and our worship, inshallah. So thank you all for being here and hope we get some participation from brothers down the road to today. So the outline for today, it's a bit ambitious, but we'll try to get through it with quality, not going through it quickly. I'm hoping it'll be, you know, substantive. So the first is taking care of our mental health without burning out. A lot of us go into Ramadan a few days into it. We're already tired. So natural. It's a tiring experience. I think that's part of the Ibadah too. Waking up early, going to sleep late. We're really maximizing our potential every single day with the output we're doing. But then how do we sustain that with a sense of connection with Allah and not being too hard on ourselves either. So that's the first topic. The second is using psychological tools that we have through the science of psychology, through also what we know from Islam to maximize our Ramadan experience. And like I said, I want this to be a discussion. I want to hear your questions, inshallah. So please, you know, engage, ask questions, and I'll leave some time and some of the slides to pause and reflect. So if you have a notebook, you have paper, please feel free to jot down a few notes for yourself. For example, I'll ask you, hey, what's one of your intentions for Ramadan this year? Or what is a judgment you might have about yourself as you go into Ramadan so that you can be aware of it and kind of work on that, inshallah, so that when Ramadan arrives, we are a bit more ready to be a part of the beautiful experience of Ramadan. I want to give a disclaimer. This workshop cannot be a replacement for treatment, support that you may need for mental health challenges or for your specific circumstance. So I want to clarify that that would require more one on one, you know, with a medical professional or a psychologist, a therapist. And also, I'm not a religious scholar. So there may be questions you have that would be better suited to ask a religious scholar or any other person. So let's get started with how to take care of our mental health in Ramadan. First of all, mental health. We hear it, I think, all the time now a lot more than probably a decade ago. And let's just connect about what is mental health. So mental health is a state of well-being. We're really trying to maximize and optimize how we feel, how we are on a day to day basis in terms of our ability to cope with stressors in our daily life, our ability to be productive and fruitful and whatever we would like to do in our lives and make a contribution to our community. And in terms of Islam, we have a very rich legacy of mental health and wellness, which I'll get into. One of the things to know before we get into our legacy is that Muslims are not immune to mental health challenges. We currently are in a post COVID world where we've experienced global trauma, we've experienced isolation, children and teens have gotten out of their school environments and now they're reintegrating. A lot of you may be going to work and you're still figuring out how many days do I go into work? How do I connect with my coworkers? How do I build social connections? One of the reasons I'm so happy to see you all here is because face to face connection is something we were missing. So a lot of factors combined have really impacted our mental health as a community and individually. One in five adults in the U.S. will experience a mental health challenge in their life at some point. This could be anxiety, depression, trauma, adjustment challenges, relationship problems. So none of us are immune to that. And it's about how do we take a proactive approach so that we are ready when that will possibly come to us in our life? And stress is a part of the human experience. So how can we be ready for that with coping strategies, inshallah? One thing I also want to highlight, this is a very eye-opening research piece by Dr. Rania Awad. So she and her colleagues found that Muslims were twice as likely as people of other faith traditions to make a lifetime suicide attempt. So let's just sit with that statistic for a moment. I mean, to me, it really just highlights we need so much more in terms of awareness, access to services. We as a community are facing a lot. So we need to be humble and also kind to ourselves when we are seeking help, inshallah. One of the reasons, you know, the authors posited that maybe there were higher attempts of suicide as religious discrimination at that systematic level. But then also the stigma related to mental health, which is why I'm so happy you all are here and that we have programs now within Maristan, our organization. Please check out our table back there. And other organizations too here, such as Khalil Center, we just have a lot more access now and I hope it will be easier for everyone to seek those services. There are effective treatments for mental health, including therapy, medication, lifestyle and behavior changes. Like I said, we have a growing number of Muslim mental health professionals. As we sit here, there is a very large Muslim mental health conference happening in Michigan and a bunch of pioneers of this field are over there presenting on their research. They are remembering a long time ago when there are just a few mental health professionals who are Muslim and now we have so many more. So we are in a space of more resources and then how do we internalize those resources? How do we personally access those? That's kind of what I hope to shed light on today. To keep in mind about Islam and mental health, therapy can incorporate Islamic principles. Therapy can be what you would like for it to be. Can you guys hear me okay? Okay. Can you all hear me? I think the larger mic just shut off and I didn't have the small one on. Okay. So therapy can be what you would like for it to be. If you would like for it to incorporate Islamic principles, you can ask for that in your therapist. And if you would prefer to work with even a non-Muslim therapist, a lot of Muslims actually would prefer that and it's totally up to you. But just know that there are many resources out there for what you're seeking. Now how to understand Islamic mental health? One is to remember we'll all be tested in this life, no matter what. And that is one of the elements of being a human being in this dunya. Allah says in the Quran, he's created death and life so that he may test you which of you is best indeed. And he is the almighty, the offergiving. And then as Muslims we are encouraged to seek help and treatment. So we have a hadith from the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam where he says, Allah sent down the disease and the cure. And for every disease he made a cure. Similarly there's no disease that Allah has created except that he has also created its treatment. So whether that's medical, whether that's, you know, spiritual, whether that's psychological, it's all connected. So one thing I appreciated learning about was that Ayesha Adilallah Anha who was very knowledgeable in many fields, medicine, Islamic jurisprudence, a lot of other fields, she used to make a dish called Talbina which the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that would relieve some people of their sadness. So if you think about it, how revolutionary is that concept? 1400 years ago the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam acknowledged that we have psychological and medical conditions for which we can take medication or some sort of physical substance in order to help us. And in this case it was like an herbal remedy of sorts. So basically as Muslims we are expected by our faith to be proactive, to seek whatever treatment is helpful to us inshallah, whether it is talk therapy, whether it's group therapy, whether it's medication if we need that inshallah. There's no shame in that in fact it can be an act of abadah to take care of yourself. And raise your hand if you've heard about what was Amaristan for some of you who have learned about Dr. Rania's work in this mental health history field. Has anyone heard of what was Amaristan? Okay I'm seeing a couple of hands. For those of you who don't know, Muslims have a rich legacy of mental health. In fact Muslims were the first, believe it or not, in the world to develop comprehensive treatment centers which included psychiatric wards. This is as early as the eighth century in places such as Iraq. So in, I believe it's Farsi, the word, and also Urdu or Hindi like the word bimad means sick. So they used to call these comprehensive centers bimadistans. This would include hospitals which have a psychiatric ward. And then to shorten it, you know that's why the organization was called Maristan. And it's just a reminder of our legacy that mental health was integrated into physical health and into other health conditions. So not only do we have a history of institutions that had treatment centers essentially, but Muslims, physicians and scholars helped develop early treatments for mental illnesses such as obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD in the 13th century. And if you look at now the DSM, which is like the standard book of, you know, all of the different mental illnesses, the criterion for OCD looks so similar to what al-Balkhi in the 13th century said hey, these are the symptoms and criterion of OCD. And the treatment looks very similar too. So it's just mind-blowing and fascinating. So I hope in Ramadan, you know, we're able to remember some of these things and take pride in our legacy, inshallah. And remember, if you are seeking treatment and support now, keep it up in Ramadan. You know, Ramadan is a time of continuing to take care of our mental health and wellness. The common model is the biopsychosocial model in medicine and also psychology. So it's basically saying wellness includes our biological health, our social connections, and our psychological well-being. In Islam, we add in that spiritual side, because we are spiritual beings, first and foremost, and we know all of those aspects are connected. So today as I speak, I also want to weave in that Islamic reminder of, you know, why do we kind of seek out mindfulness as an intervention, and then how does Islam already weave in mindfulness? So I'm really going to try to weave both of those together. So Ramadan and the Quran. You know, I'm sure a lot of you already, you know, the month of Ramadan is that in which the which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for the people. And then, you know, it keeps going and Allah's Panaud Allah says, Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship. He wants for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that to which he has guided you and perhaps you will be grateful. So we have many beautiful ayats about Ramadan and the Quran and one thing that sticks out to me is Allah is always so gracious with his mercy and that is his quality, right? That really defines Allah and he always talks about there are exceptions. If you cannot fast, if you are ill, if you are traveling these are the ways you can still connect with Allah. You know, you can still be grateful. Allah does not intend for you hardship. So when we think about the messages about Ramadan, just remember Allah wants for us to complete this month and also to remember his ease on us. Going into Ramadan, it is not about pushing ourselves to the point of we are going to be burned out, rather how can I sustain this practice, inshallah, during Ramadan and after. So I want to leave you with a few practical tips today. There is so much we can talk about. This is a well of knowledge about mental health and Ramadan. But one of the things I have already said is you need to do what you are already doing for self-care outside of Ramadan. So if you are going to therapy, if you are taking medication, wonderful, continue to do those things. If you rely on social support such as your friend group, your halaqah, going to masjid events, continue to do that to make sure you have that support even in Ramadan. And consult with a doctor if you are not sure you can fast. This is a really important piece because there are a lot of reasons if you have for example a medical condition, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, if you have an eating disorder or have had a history of that in the past, there are a lot of reasons where you may not be required to fast. This takes a lot of consultation between you and your doctor as well as a religious scholar to determine your individual case about do I qualify, am I required to fast. And listen, if you can't fast that Allah has given us so many different options for what kind of ibadah to do, giving charity, being able to feed another fasting person and you get the same exact reward. Just remembering that Allah's mercy is so great that every one of us is welcome in Ramadan, every one of us is worthy of Allah's love in Ramadan. Okay, so one thing I'd like you to think about now as we pause is think about or write down one thing that you are already doing now for self-care that you'd like to continue in Ramadan. So maybe just take a few seconds to think about this. And does someone on the brother side have something they would like to share? The sisters have already shared a bit. Something you're already doing for self-care that you would like to continue in Ramadan. Yes? Okay. Yeah. Wonderful. So the brother said journaling to go back and reflect on his day and that can be a really great practice for mental health, just kind of being aware of our thoughts and feelings and reflecting on those. And in Ramadan, I think this is a way to reflect on what our goals are and also where we add with those goals. There are Ramadan journals available now if you search online on Amazon, bullet journals that are focused on Ramadan. So I hope you'll look into those. Now this slide for me is one of my favorite slides actually that I was working on. Anticipate stress and prevent it early on. As you may have heard, prevention is better than cure. So with Ramadan, a lot of us have other things going on and that's just part of being human, whether you have children, whether you have a high workload, whether you are a student and have a lot going on. Try to reduce your workload as early on as you can, whether that means getting your projects done early, doing meal prep so you don't have as much time to do during Ramadan with like cooking at a far time and kind of getting stressed like, oh my gosh, I don't have enough time to do my Quran or my Bada. Get that done early and then try to simplify what you have going on in Ramadan. And everyone's different with that. Everyone needs to do different types of preparation. Let your family, friends, your boss, your teachers know that you will be fasting and observing Ramadan. What that can do is create a sense of ease when you are in Ramadan. Hopefully as anxious when you're telling them, hey, I can't get this deadline done or hey, like, I'm fasting, I'm really tired. You will already prepare for that and reduce your anxiety beforehand, inshallah. Or they may give you some accommodations or push forward some sort of deadline if that can help you. Another part of coping ahead or preparing ahead is setting boundaries if you feel you will be overwhelmed or triggered during Ramadan. In my certain situations, this can be being around certain people. You may feel, like, triggered for some reason. And just make sure you're already thinking about what are the boundaries I need to set around that. So Ramadan is a time of healing for me, a time of connection with Allah. So an example I can give you is lots of social events in Ramadan. And some people can get really overwhelmed when they have an iftar to go to, like, multiple times a week. Raise your hand if you've been in that position. You got invited to so many iftars and you're like, do I say yes? Do I say no? I don't want to look bad. And just really think about what is it that I need? If I have a lot going on this week, just thinking about being able to say no if that's good for me. Or maybe choosing a few iftars to go to or a few events to go to. And I know I can do a better job with that too because I love engaging in Ramadan with the community. But I also need to think about my work done as well as getting some of the Ibaza done. With setting boundaries, it might also be, hey, I am going to be eating certain things in Ramadan telling your family if you have a certain meal plan that you like to abide by and just kind of letting them know beforehand. So it doesn't turn into like, you should eat this or why are you not eating this or that kind of thing. So is anyone able to relate to that? I mean there are so many opinions in Ramadan and so being able to share what you need to get the maximum out of it, inshallah. And then as I said, taking time off, taking time off delegating responsibilities and saying no to certain commitments. So as we reflect on this, I'd like you to write down one thing that you can do to reduce your stress in Ramadan. Does that mean planning to take some time off? Does that mean saying no to certain social events? So maybe just write down one thing or think about it in your mind, inshallah. I know for me, I like to tell my colleagues like, I'm fasting, I'm going to be low energy. Can we plan not to do a 9am meeting? I'd really prefer 10am or onwards if possible. And I'll personally try to schedule myself a bit differently, Ramadan. So other parts of taking care of our mental health. Identifying a schedule that works for you, sleep is one of the most disrupted aspects of our daily routine in Ramadan. And that's natural, right? With waking up early for Suhoor, staying up late for prayer. Doing what works for you with getting the most sleep that you can. And knowing, okay, I'm not going to be at the same level of pre-Ramadan, right? I'm not going to be getting like my 8 or 9 hours. And that's normal in Ramadan. But can I squeeze in a short nap in the middle of the day? Can I make sure I sleep right after Isha and not stay up late watching my screens and scrolling? Because we know that light exposure from bright lights is going to affect our sleep even more. And discuss your routine with your family, friends, and community so you can prepare ahead of time and cope with what you need to get done, inshallah. Moderation is something I've already talked a bit about. I'd really like to recommend support in Ramadan. And that's one of the beauties of our Ummah, is we all lean on each other, we are all connected and when one part of the Ummah hurts, another part of the Ummah is hurting. So there are some really nice support groups I was able to find online from an organization called Amali and they have a support group for spending Ramadan alone if you're experiencing loneliness or new to the community. If you're a convert and don't have family participating in Ramadan, there's another one called Coping with Addiction Support Group, Ramadan Edition and there's an online eating disorder recovery support group. So know that there are people in your corner who may be going through similar things and you don't have to experience that alone in Ramadan. I remember myself, when I went away to study in Atlanta, I was doing my PhD, I didn't know a lot of people in Ramadan and I would go to the Masjid in Ramadan and go to their Iftars and that's really how I made some friends. I'd go to MSA dinners, I had like maybe one or two roommates and we made sure we'd stick in on each other, as a Ramadan buddy. So do what you need to do to get that support in Ramadan, inshallah. Like I said, there's a lot of information, we don't have too much time but I'm going to prioritize some aspects of psychological tools to maximize Ramadan. Mindfulness, right? One of the hugest benefits of Ramadan in fasting is developing that tahwa and awareness of Allah. You're constantly remembering oh, I'm fasting, therefore I'm going to control my temper or I'm fasting. Let me control what I'm watching, what I'm listening to to make sure I get the spiritual, the kind of maximum benefit out of Ramadan. And the benefits of mindfulness are many as listed here, stress reduction, focus, less emotional reactivity, relationship satisfaction. And how can we do that? I'd like to give you two simple tools. One is building awareness of Allah tahwa. So when you remember Allah is near you at all times, which is one of the goals of Ramadan, as the ayah mentioned in the previous slide, you will be mindful and that will also lead to positive mental health, inshallah. So you're thinking Allah is near me, Allah is watching me, Allah loves me, right? You're always thinking of how close he is to you. That builds a sense of awareness as much as possible. And we know scientifically mindfulness works because our brain is focused on the present moment. Our brain is not thinking about the past, which, you know, can lead to depressing our depressive thoughts or constantly thinking of the future which can induce anxiety. We're really just bringing ourselves to this moment right now. So it really does rewire the brain in that way scientifically. And then mindfulness of remembering our intentions. That can help us be in a constant state of Ibada, no matter what we're doing. If we're commuting to work, if we're feeding our child or our pet, you know, if we are even, you know, making Iftar, you know, that can be an active Ibada worship. So don't undermine whatever you're doing. If you feel, you know, I'm not able to read as much Quran as my mom is or as my friend is, that's okay. You are doing the best you can, inshallah. And we can always do better of other slides such as acknowledge your emotions, notice the link between your feelings and your thoughts. So for example, noticing thoughts such as, I'm not good enough or I'm a bad Muslim. I'm not worthy of Allah's love. Notice those judgments and negative thoughts. That's another thing I want to leave you with as we wrap up today is notice the judgment and then try to rephrase or reframe that judgment such as, I am doing the best that I can and I know I can do better. Or even though the first few days were really hard, that doesn't mean the whole of Ramadan is going to be you know, terrible for me. In fact, Allah promises that He forgives all sins if I just do my best in Ramadan. So those can hopefully help us challenge those negative thoughts which can lead to guilt and feelings of depression, inshallah. Build a personal connection with the Quran, du'a as in the vikr. I really encourage a personal du'a list so that you are talking to Allah throughout your day and this will help you be more mindful as you are worshiping Allah. Connection, we already talked about. Build mastery through small good deeds rather than trying to do this much and like I'm going to read the Quran like three times. I'm going to read one page in the morning and one page at night because that's what I know I'm capable of and if I do more, great. But when you set a small goal, a specific goal as you may have heard of smart goals are likely to feel good when you complete it and you may even exceed it rather than setting it too high and then feeling like a failure if you don't achieve it. So set some smart goals for Ramadan is what I'd say. Last but not least, don't forget to cultivate joy and celebrate this beautiful month with others around you. This could even be with non-Muslim friends and colleagues by sharing about Ramadan with them. There's so much misinformation out there. So this is a time to really fill joy in your faith, inshallah. I just want to say hello to everybody and I wish you all a beautiful Ramadan and a time where you can cultivate your wellness and get closer to Allah. If you have more questions, reach out to me. I don't know if we have time for Q&A at all. We don't. Okay, but reach out to me, come talk to me and we have the Maristan table on the back, inshallah. Thank you so much, Dr. Zahra. That was very informative and I know time is always our biggest enemy. But thank you for packing in all of that. And as Dr. Zahra mentioned, if you have any questions or would like to know more, she is available. You will be available at the table? Yes, I will be inshallah. Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you. So now for our next speaker who will now be basically the part of Ramadan. Her name is Sister Zuleja Nieto. Excuse me, Sister Zuleja Nieto was born or raised in Spain but influenced by a multicultural environment. She considers herself to be a curious human. A curious human being with a special interest for holistic health and particular passion about women's hormonal balance. She strongly believes in the importance of the fact of a good meal in the body and the heart. Sister Zuleja got her degree in dietetics and nutrition science at the Pablo de Olvide University in Spain and currently specializes as a wellness coach here in the Bay Area. So I would like to please introduce Sister Zuleja Nieto. I would just like to say one thing is whatever I say just have in mind what Dr. Zahra said don't be anxious about it. I need to tell these things because as a dietitian and nutritionist it's my job but please have this in consideration and don't be anxious about it. Don't think this is the only way to go but use it as a tool to improve your health and therefore worship better. As they introduced me I'm a dietitian nutritionist and I studied in Spain and I've been in the Bay Area for three years now so we all know that fasting is a pillar of Islam and for some of us it's a test and we can deny the fact that one of the joys when we break a fast and it is narrated by Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah said there are two joys for the fasting person the joy when he breaks his fast and the joy when he meets his Lord so we're not alone we do experience joy we all know that Allah is the provider he's the one that's going to suffice our hunger and our thirst and as Abu Huraira may Allah be pleased with him reported the Messenger of Allah blessed him and gave him peace used to supplicate I seek refuge in you from hunger surely it is the worst companion I seek refuge in you from treachery surely it's about inner trade in another hadith Abu Sayyid al-Qudri said Allah's Messenger when we had finished his meal prays be to Allah who has fed us and quenched our thirst and he has made us Muslims so we can't deny that Allah is the ultimate provider however if we take care of our bodily human needs we're going to be able to forget about it forget about our bodies and worship better and I asked around and because I was curious what would like people to know about nutrition and I decided to structure the the talk in three main points hydration, society and energy I asked around and I was thinking like what do I say what do I speak we don't eat during Ramadan don't we the most important thing that we need to know we need to know about hydration and this is what we're going to start with hydration we all know it's essential for a body to work properly one of its function is regulating body temperature transporting nutrients and eliminating waste amongst others but why do we get dehydrated during Ramadan right the first thing that most people is going to think about is of course we're not drinking water I would like to know how many of you here do get headaches during Ramadan okay me included and yes of course the insufficient water intake is going to contribute to that and the withdrawal of caffeine it's also contributed to this however I'd like to introduce a new concept to this matter and is the excess of high sodium foods and as you see what I wrote in the board sodium is one of the components of salt so I don't want you to be afraid of salt salt is good but in moderation however when we're talking about the excess of sodium foods we're thinking about this we're thinking about burgers, we're thinking about snacks we're thinking about cane foods we're thinking about even like sugar drinks we're thinking about juices dairies, pizzas and we all during Ramadan we go out for iftar we we have been fasting all day so yes we deserve that burger so we do have an excess of sodium in our diets what does really sodium do and how it contributes to the headaches during our fasting sodium is a molecule part of salt that helps in the transmission of it's a neurotransmitter so it helps with the muscles and the neurons to work properly what the body does is when there's too much sodium in our bodies it retains water this way we are feeling dehydrated but bloated so the excess of sodium is contributing to hydration plus water and other causes and it's contributing to the headaches how can we support hydration we can break our fast with water we can include how watery fruits like fruits and vegetables coconut drink it's a very good fluid, a very good drink to have in general because it contains the right amount of minerals and nutrients that we need to support that balance of sodium and electrolytes don't overdo caffeine and obviously please avoid junk food as much as you can I want to address the caffeine issue and usually what happens and why this is contributing to dehydrated bodies it's not because of the caffeine itself it's because we are substituting the intake of water for these caffeine beverages so it's okay if you want to include these caffeinated beverages they're not going to dehydrate they're not going to dehydrate you unless obviously you're doing it in excess but remember to include with them some water next point is society and before you tell me okay we're fasting we can't be satisfied during the day we're going to feel hungry yes yes yes, we are going to feel hungry during the day I can't give you a magic pill to tell you at 3pm you can do this, no that's not going to happen however what I can tell you is what to do is to get hungry two hours after having your sohoor or having your eftar so why do we get hungry so fast probably it's because you're having your meals are high in simple carbohydrates probably this meal is lacking sufficient protein or fat probably you don't have enough fiber you might be dehydrated or you're not eating enough so with the simple carbohydrates I'm going to show you next slide and as you can see in this slide different macronutrients which are the main components of food when we're talking about carbs we're talking about potatoes, we're talking about rice we're talking about bread we're talking about rice there's more about the more familiar ones when we eat these simple carbohydrates our glucose levels go up up up up up and the higher these levels go the bigger the drop it's going to be so the bigger the drop is the faster you're going to feel hungry as you can see proteins so if we think about okay why am I feeling so hungry did I just have a croissant for so hold or maybe I just did have a croissant for so hold did I just have three days for so hold oh yes I just had three days for so hold so I'm not telling you you can't have these things I'm telling you okay think wisely use combine your combine your carbs if you're eating a croissant fill it with salmon fill it with cream cheese and have eggs on the side something like that how can we maintain this society and avoiding those glucose spikes that is the answer to your hunger it's including complex carbohydrates these means mainly whole foods like whole carbohydrates you can think of brown rice you can think of you can think of carrots you can think of beetroots all these complex carbohydrates that are going to contribute to the slower release of the glucose in your body and therefore that big spike that we just saw in this slide is going to be slower it's going to be lower and the hunger is going to be less consider this is a little bit difficult but if you live alone or you have the option to do this it's a very good technique imagine you're having pasta for dinner or for iftar why don't you instead of eating first the pasta and then salad you first include the salad and then you eat the pasta you're going to make a decrease on the spike of glucose and therefore the glucose is going to be released in your body slower and your spike is going to be lower and you're going to feel less hungry after eating this you have to stay hydrated sometimes we confuse hunger with the need of water so just make sure you're drinking your water your body is going to understand that it's full and it's not dehydrating and pay attention to your hunger and fullness cues this is very important because during Ramadan we're out we're talking, we're engaging we forget about our stomachs and then we go home I can't even pray that our way I need to sleep so please be aware and pay attention to your hunger and fullness cues or even in the morning for Sahur some people are just so tired they can't even wake up for Sahur and this is going to lead after into overcompensating for that lack of energy that we didn't take during Sahur okay, last energy some people came to me and told me I feel so so so so tired at the end of Ramadan I can barely keep up with all the stuff that I have to do why do we feel so tired during fasting? first of all, our blood sugar goes low and this is a process that's going to happen our body has to adjust to it we can't do too much about it but if we are remembering what I said before this is going to be easier for your body to do in order to adjust better so this low blood sugar because our bodies we're not feeding our bodies with food our bodies have to take from what it stored in the muscles and in the liver and then it's going to be using the fats and this process takes longer than if you just eat so adjusting to this to get energy it's a little bit slower and therefore our sugar levels are going to be lower just keep that in mind that it's a transition and if you support this it's going to be easier to adjust to Ramadan dehydration it's also why we're not having all that energy and we're feeling DC a little bit sluggish so this is why I put it the first because it plays a big role in energy and in society changes in hormonal levels this one is very interesting when we fast naturally our bodies release more cortisol cortisol is the hormone that we call the stress hormone this stress hormone is going to make us a little bit anxious and a little bit overwhelmed and also adrenaline we also release more adrenaline and adrenaline is still in our bodies we have to be alert there's something happening there's something changing in our bodies these for our bodies to be in this mode it requires a lot of energy but as we said we have low blood sugar levels so our body is already consuming a lot of our storage energy plus the adrenaline coming in to play a role we're going to feel depleted we're going to feel like we have no energy just staying calm resting I'll tell you what to do in the next slide and this one is very important the lack of nutrients as I said we go out we're invited for iftar we tend to eat what we call the empty calories empty calories, no nutrients if we are not feeding ourselves well by the end of Ramadan we have no energy there's nothing stored in our bodies to give us more energy we have empty calories to fill our muscles and to fill ourselves no nutrients, no energy how can we increase our energy levels during Ramadan this is I like this one to time your carbohydrates I'll give two examples if you're a morning person a person has a very long day ahead and you're probably trying to get in more sleep at night eat your carbohydrates in the morning this is going to help you release all to use all that energy during the day so you eat it in the morning and during the day you're not using the stored energy that you have in your body but you are using the energy that you are getting from the food that you just ate if you're a person who has the luxury to take nubs during the day who likes to stay up all night or who likes to be more a night person eat your carbs at night because this is going to give you more energy to perform worship better for example eat nutrient dense food as I said please avoid empty calories it's not going to help you with your energy avoid fast food again we already learned that it's not good for dehydration eat whole rather than processed these as an example could be instead of doing a smoothie I prefer you to eat the whole apple and the nuts because your body is going to release some hormones that is going to tell the body okay I'm full energy if we eat processed foods or mixed foods or juices or smoothies the glucose pie is going to go up and then we're going to crash so if you eat whole rather than processed it's going to help with your energy taken up if you have the luxury included this is also going to help with energy do some light to moderate exercise if you can go for a walk it's going to restore your energy levels it's going to help with your hunger cues if you can do it before you start that's great because then you can replenish all that that you've lost if not just do it when you can and don't overeat because you're going to be you're going to be feeling very sluggish with this said what are the takeaways for this talk remember to decrease sodium don't overdo rich foods and don't overdo the don'ts don't over drink caffeine even don't overdo water I didn't mention that but don't overdo water when you drink too much water your sodium levels are too low so your body in order to restore the normal levels of sodium it's going to excrete all the water that it can to maintain that concentration in the body dehydrating you as well so don't overdo either it's drinking or not drinking careful with the glucose spikes and eat your proteins I need to say that eat nutrient dense food and use carbohydrates wisely and with this please eat seasonal because seasonal foods generally contain all the nutrients and minerals that your body needs in this time of the year if you can't go to the farmers market you can look up in this page what are the seasonal foods and then you can buy it in the supermarket ideas I told you all of these but this is what you really want what should I eat for so who what should I for if not please tell me so I don't have to think this is just suggestions every person has different needs so this is not a one size fits all eggs with avocado and toast for so who chickpea patties whole food yogurts scrambled eggs bean and eggs there's a lot of eggs here but you can eat meat you can eat even lentil soup if you want in the morning whatever you can even eat the leftovers from iftar if you want in the morning just having in consideration eggs and whole rather than anything that is processed for iftar roasts the chicken lentil soup so it's a shrimp we tend to forget about fish in general so please include a little bit fish because it has a lot of calcium miso soup fish chowder seasonal salad rice and lentil you name it but low in sodium and usually when we go out restaurants and supermarkets and takes away they tend to have very very high concentration of sodium in their foods so if you have any questions I have a little bit of time left and thank you for being here thank you for choosing to stay here doing this time and it was a pleasure sharing this space in community thank you do we have time for Kine? we have about 8 minutes so please if you have questions for sister yes go ahead I'll let you pick okay sure go ahead brothers slow release caffeine pills hmm so you take it okay you it's okay it's fine as long as the concentration of caffeine is not too high it wouldn't pass it wouldn't be more than four cups because four cups is the maximum it's taking throughout the day and just if you time it accordingly to your needs then I would say it's fine don't overdo it just do it when you need it thank you okay good question usually the fried foods that you consume are high in sodium so sorry if you have to choose choose whatever you're going to enjoy the most yeah yeah yeah um regular water doesn't contain certain electrolytes that coconut water does and certain minerals that water does and especially because we have a very limited time to consume water and to eat certain foods we might want to include that in our fluid consumptions instead of water or not instead of water sorry as a part of our water consumption okay as our sister said um you're just adding minerals to your water so I would that's a little bit of a hard question because this is a very personal recommendation so I wouldn't say everyone needs this probably not everyone and the general population we don't need it in general we don't need it this is specifically I would say people who do a lot of sports who tend to sweat a lot those are the people who are going to need this replenish of minerals because the concentration in this beverage are quite high so it depends on your diet I would say yes or no so yeah it depends this is a question that I have to say it depends protein or caffeine so it's going to depend more on your schedule if you need that caffeine during the day drink it in the morning if you need that caffeine during the night include it at night because it's going to depend on how you're going to use that caffeine and how you're going to use that protein protein I would say included you can't include it because it's going to help you stay keep the satiety satiety during the day and at night it's going to make you replenish all that that you were consuming during the day eggs is good and this is a controversial questions and unless you have a genetic problem with cholesterol it doesn't contribute to your inner cholesterol external cholesterol does not influence your inner cholesterol production it is a controversial topic but eat your eggs and you can eat as much as 2-3 eggs a day it is a controversial question and if there are doctors here maybe they don't agree with me if you have good or bad cholesterol you can eat eggs it's only if you have a modification in your genes it's a very specific thing that you have to have not to eat your eggs if you tell me what is your opinion I would say eat your eggs every day no matter if you have high cholesterol or low cholesterol oh yes there's going to be a huge difference bodies when we're fasting they go into a survival mode they do, they go into survival mode and what they do is that they're going to take whatever you give them when you eat so it's like ok I'm waiting for you to eat, to store whatever you give me so if you drink and you eat healthy on your thought you're going to store that goodness to your body instead if you're eating empty calories or you're choosing less healthy food you're going to be storing those fats and those sugars more than if you eat healthy I don't know if this answered your question so we're almost at time we'll take one last question and then just FY mugger is at 6.15 after mugger we will continue with our third part with brother Mahathie so please don't leave after mugger please come back right here and complete our third part so one last question is there one last question yes brother you're already limited on time if you're eating three meals throughout the day you're most likely going to push those calories into Suhur and Iftar or you're probably going to do Suhur, Iftar and after like after dinner you can have like a small Iftar and then a big dinner and that way you're just no I would just say no I would recommend you at least take something for Suhur because it's going to help you not overeat during Iftar because your body is going to tell you you were giving me this amount of energy and now you're taking it from me I want it so you're going to eat it at once and then you're going to feel so tired you're not going to be able to move so I would suggest space it and eat at least two meals so you don't encounter yourself with that slagginess of overeating all right jizakalakalayan everyone it is 6.07 right now we are going to for those of you that need to make wadoo please make wadoo there is going to be muggerab at 6.15 please remember there is a food truck outside you know go outside get some food be prepared for Ramadan and then I mean Ramadan we are all getting prepared for Ramadan today but be prepared for muggerab at 6.30 Siddhi Mahdi will be speaking about the soul which is the last so please do stay for that and jizakalakalayan we'll see you guys back in 15 minutes also just a reminder if any of you had questions for Dr. Zahra please please reach out to her and she is able to answer your questions start using it I am going to walk so ok bismillah Allahumma salli alayhi wa sallim the breezes of Ramadan I am so excited to see my brothers Mashallah my sisters they are already here like look at this we are so lucky to be Muslim seriously we are so lucky to be Muslim it is the only truth remaining and you have been invited and you have grabbed onto it and that is why you are here right now and it is amazing right? and so Islam is submission not to yourself not the American way submission to yourself by the way shaitan every generation tricks people and every generation he has different tricks this is very important so you know usually he tricks people and he said hey bury your daughter alive or your son and that is a good thing he tricks people and the Quran says he makes their ugly acts beautiful to them and every generation there is different tricks that shaitan does so the tricks the way he told other generations in the past is not the same trick he is telling us today the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he does not exist right so he told people he told people bury your child alive and people would do that and they would be proud of it I did something noble and people were like wow I need to respect that person he put his daughter under the ground wow what a noble person like shaitan did that that is nasty that is disgusting that is crazy what is he tricking us today that we think is beautiful but it is actually ugly isn't that wild isn't that frightening that we think is beautiful it is accepted by the culture it is normalized that it is beautiful and honorable but it is actually disgusting putrid demonizing ugly what is it and for our for our time I propose that it is individualism it is actually individualism right serve yourself, worship yourself submit to yourself, surrender to yourself surrender you are entitled to being comfortable in every moment you are entitled to look perfect and eat perfect and perfect vacations and perfect this you have been tricked that you are in paradise it is not you are still in dunya dunya I will keep it he tells you that you have your freedom you are free you are not you are a slave to God obey God so he takes this wonderful concept of freedom distorts it and takes it to an extreme and then he tells you your feelings define for you right and wrong this is all based on individualism our feelings are important but they don't define right and wrong and then this is all related to individualism and then he comes and he tricks us and he says that ah, yeah that you need so much personal space that you just doomed yourself you alienated yourself and made yourself lonely and anyone who breaches your feelings or who breaches your personal space or who breaches your feelings you are always the victim, victim mindset these are the tricks of satan today right so in other words, submit to myself right and religion is an alarm clock it wakes us up from our slumber and madan is one of those beautiful amazing moments with this divinely designed religion where we are invited we came from God we are returning to God and in this small temporary period you know there is like not a page in the Quran that doesn't talk about the temporary nature of this world we weren't even made do you guys know we weren't even made for this world we're not made for this world, we're just here visitors we're just at best we're strangers or visitors at best we came from God, we're returning to God and we're here for a few years be with God so Allah sent us this amazing messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam sallallahu alhabib and he sent us this amazing message called Islam we came our beginning and our end hey, connect with God and it's called Islam and don't surrender to yourself in this satanic demonic way where shaitan is tricking us and instead submit and surrender to God and madan is one of those ways now I didn't come to talk about that but I was passionate and wanted to share that anyways because I'm excited about that we came to talk about right we came to talk about preparing for Ramadan which is inshallah may we reach Ramadan safely and may it be beautiful I need some help can we distribute these papers I need everyone to have a paper thank you I need everyone to have a paper and here are pens as well there are more pens there and there's more papers there I need everyone to have a paper everyone to have a pen we're going to do something beautiful I have about 15 minutes remaining and it's going to be amazing you're making you're making a beautiful thing you know why? because scientific studies have shown if you write down if you write down your dreams if you write down your aspirations if you write down your plans and goals you are about 300% more likely to actually achieve them it's amazing that's all you have to do is write it down and you're about 300% or something like that more likely to achieve them now this paper I need a board nice and prepared the umma is rising this is a sign this is a sign seriously the umma is doing good there's a beautiful verse in the Quran that says 218 I think the people they had they had difficulty they had tribulation and they had earthquakes or they were shaken until they said when is the help of Allah coming indeed the help of Allah is near so the umma just had difficulty, had tribulation and just had earthquakes so the help of Allah is near okay so alright I have 14 minutes so we want to benefit from this notion this concept I can't see the board if you write down your goals, your dreams, your aspirations you're about 300% more likely to achieve them do you know your goals, your dreams, your aspirations? can you list them off 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 do you know them? because if not, then what are you doing? eating, sleeping good, I mean yeah, that's enjoyable and it's beautiful and you can get rewarded for that we want to dream, we want to be dreamers I'm not afraid to dream may Allah bless them, say I'm in I'm not afraid to dream and neither are we, we want to dream your potential your ability your pricelessness with God what can you do, who can you be seriously seriously every human being has amazing potential if they actually know that they have that potential and if they don't know it then they don't have it and you have it, every human being has it and so we want to dream on this page, this is my page we're going to put it landscape landscape so we put it landscape we put it sideways like that and we are going to break it into 8 into 8 cubes, 8 sections ok now this is you this is you, you're defining yourself and I'm going to ask you 8 questions and you're going to fill in 8 sections ok Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad alright, Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim now sallallahu alaihi wa sallim sallallahu alaihi wa sallim sallallahu alaihi I love how this was actually set up, body, mind, soul amazing masha Allah ok, write these write these down I want to make sure I don't mess up Bismillah write these down and interestingly this roadmap actually encompasses the previous 2 sessions that you guys did here it is boom ok, number 1 I am taking license to tell you your first dream and it is to be a wali I am taking advantage of my teacher role and telling you your first dream right, and it is to be a wali it is to be a wali it is to be a wali, it is to be a saint it is to be a friend of God ooh what else is there, what else do you need how amazing would that be what else forget a billion dollar lottery forget being gorgeous and pretty and handsome, forget being a VP at a big company you're a wali ah, how amazing there was this father and he actually took his son out one day his son was like 15 years old and he took him out and they were walking in the streets and he said son, you see the garbage on the floor there he said yes father he said if I knew the pleasure of God was found in picking up garbage son I would raise you to be a garbage man he said so we all want to be a wali, that's our first goal yes ah, okay yeah, thank you so be specific that's a good point so we want to be a wali of God be a wali of God be a wali of God right Allah says in the Quran the wali the wali right and the wali or the wali, the wali they have no fear and no sadness and what does that mean that means they don't fear the future and they're not sad about the past they're in their moment and in their moment they're with God that's the wali they're in their moment so I'm taking the liberty to, I know your first dream it's all to be a wali and I'm serious now if this wasn't your dream consider it and explore it because what else is there, why are we here what else is going to make us happy Islam is the recipe to be happy individualism is the recipe to misery it's kind of ironic there's actually the correlation of happiness and thinking about yourself is inversely correlated so the more you think about yourself the unhappier you are the less you think about yourself the happier you are and so if you empty your heart from yourself and you fill it with others and service of others and God you're actually a happier person it's wild you know anyways I'm not going to get into that right now okay so Bismillah let's jump into it, I have 10 minutes left All right now this one this first box I want you to think deeply for a moment what is what are this box 3 what are the 3 most desperate the key word is desperate things that you want from God there is a woman she's been married for 16 years unable to get pregnant tried every single medical every single medical procedure to get pregnant with her husband they were married 16 years didn't get pregnant she got pregnant in her 17th year of marriage my wife asked her what did you do she said she said I gripped dua in Ramadan that was her answer there was a man he was 380 pounds his whole life he was 380 pounds when I saw him he was this beautiful muscle man and I was like this is me 10 months ago and he showed me his picture 380 pounds I was like what happened he's like I'll tell you what happened he's like he's like last Ramadan in the last 10 days I desperately asked God for 3 things I asked him to lose weight I asked him to for me and my wife to get pregnant they weren't able to get pregnant for like 5 years and I asked for some third thing and he's like all 3 of them came true Allahu Akbar right so dua the key to dua is being desperate why the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was promised victory at bedir but what did he do the night before bedir he stood up and he raised his hand so high his cloak would fall off and said what's a Ya Rasulullah that's enough that's enough you bring it up and he put his jacket by his cloak back he carried it enough get some rest the Zahabah slept and he stood up why? Siddqat T'abbud T'abbud is Siddqat is showing the truthfulness in his neediness his neediness so desperation is the key and the hikm if you want gifts from God to come your way then perfect your spiritual poverty my desperation and the opposite is man, humans went out of bounds when they saw themselves independent I don't need God independent that's the opposite and so I want you now in the next 60 seconds to think deeply when you call God with these three things your heart just chatters and trembles and feels the closeness of God what is it? and the reason I want you to do this is not necessarily to get those three things but I want you to use your want of those three things to get God you see the difference? does that make sense? I want you to use your desperation in those three things to get God because you call on him so I want you to write the three things that you want and put them here and it's confidential if you want to put a key word so no one, you know, a symbol so no one knows what it is that you're thinking about you can do that and go ahead, take the next 45 seconds and write it down now these three duads you are going to make a prayer a free prostration in Terawih you're going to make these three prayers more than any other prayer and therefore your Ramadan will be a Ramadan of connection because du'a is the core of connecting to God du'a is the core of connection so you're going to use this desperation this neediness to connect with God okay? so it's important to identify these and listen, remember if you write these down you're more likely to fulfill this and do this Shaitan's whispering right now Shaitan's whispering oh my God, this guy has seven and a half minutes left oh my God this carpet is green oh my God I want to go eat dinner Shaitan's whispering you know? so make this a meaningful moment make this a meaningful moment not a forgettable moment write these down okay? now we're going to proceed now I want you, okay in the top half of this box in the Quran I want you to dream, remember we're dreaming I'm not afraid to dream I want you to write down your high aspiration and goal of how many pages of Quran you're going to read every day in Ramadan don't be afraid to dream okay? Quran is the greatest form of dhikr the greatest form of dhikr is reading Quran in prayer and after that it's reading Quran outside of prayer it's the greatest form of dhikr and dhikr is remembering God keeping your tongue moist nice, mashallah what's your name darling? mashallah, what's your name? yes iman, how old are you iman? 8 Allah bless you iman look at her, studiously writing you're going to be a waliya you're going to be a friend of Allah you're going to be a friend of Allah isn't that amazing? take me with you to jannah that's right, made a deal iman, mashallah so I want you to write it down so your high goal this year I'm going to do 10 khatim I'm going to do 5 khatim 100 pages a day 50 pages a day 20 pages a day, I want you to dream whatever it is whatever you write I'm going to do 40 pages a day I'm going to do 420 pages a day now, bismillah we're proceeding I know you guys are looking at your clock it's like 6 minutes left now, terawih you're going to pray every night dream, dream big think big how many are you going to do? 20, 12, 8 how many and this includes night prayer by yourself I'm going to pray 40 I'm going to pray 100 every night you're going to pray 100 you're going to pray 50 how much are you going to pray? sit down, 10 seconds we're moving forward come on, come on, come on, come on next box is dhikr down here now remember dhikr is the only thing this is actually pretty remarkable the only thing in the Qur'an that Allah says to do a lot of it's so amazing whenever dhikr is mentioned Allah says remember Allah abundantly so you may have victory so I want you to dream how much dhikr are you going to do and this man once he came to the prophet peace be upon him and he said, ya Rasulullah Islam has become the rules of Islam have become too much for me telling one thing to do and he said let your tongue never stop being moist in dhikr keep your tongue moist in dhikr and by the way this is important because when you get tired in Ramadan and you know it's day 10 day 15, you get tired in Ramadan this is your fallback plan just hold those prayer beads it's your fallback plan my prayer beads it's your fallback plan and in tension I want to regain my energy I need to eat some ice cream you know don't go to salt and straw 13 dollars a pint you know this line this is your fallback your fallback dhikr when you get tired in Ramadan just keep this this is a tool to remind your tongue your tongue is a tool to remind your heart and then your intention I need to regain my energy okay so write it down here think high dream dream dream dream 500 10000 10000 okay dream next now this box relates to your body taking care of your body things about exercise things about staying healthy what goals you need to do to stay healthy with your body right are you going to do are you going to walk 20 minutes a day are you going to do 100 push ups a day are you going to do what are you going to do write it down here and dream dream be that noble, elegant human being this person once said this person once said you know when that person they're just like amazing and looks like what they did is a miracle it looks like a miracle from the outside he's like from the inside he did the same little thing every day for many days Allah loves most of all the consistent even if small that's a hadith Allah loves most of all the consistent even if small it looks like a miracle from outside he just did the same little thing every day for many days okay so physical do the exercise okay I'm going to do 100 push ups I'm going to walk 30 minutes next intellectual what do you need to do to stay healthy mentally what do you need to do do you need your zen time you want to go do your meditation you want to go do your yoga you want to go read a book you want to go contemplate you want to talk to your buddies you want to talk to your mom you want to do whatever write it down intellectual something to stimulate you intellectually relax you but mentally to be intellectually stimulated I want to read this book this text I want to listen to this lecture I want to listen to sheikh Hamza may Allah bless him or any other teachers okay so I want to read this XYZ okay Bismillah now here is I want you to put here is something very important now we're taking these boxes and perforating them in half no not this one perforating them in half and now my brothers and sisters ladies and gentlemen we are writing the bare minimum and when I mean the bare minimum I'm going to floss one tooth and this you're going to hang this up and you're not going to go to sleep before doing the bare minimum I don't care if it's one push up I'm serious I am very serious and I want you to write such a low number you think you can't write anything lower I'm serious don't be like well my bare minimum I want to make it high no you're free of the devil I want you to write a low minimum number so Quran my bare minimum number okay I'm going to read okay two pages you know I am going to do two rakahs I am going to do ten push ups I am going to do ten la ilaha illallah ten salawat ten astaghfirullah I am going to I'm going to read I'm going to call my mom that's my intellectual exercise and and dad we forget dads alright my time is up guys okay so I have to call my mom and we forget dads because it's your mom your mom your mom and then your dad right so we forget dads now write the bare minimum go ahead fill that out please write that down okay now our last box and remember I didn't fill out these dreams because if you don't know your own dreams take a moment and figure them out but this last box it says contract and this comes from the Islamic tradition of our civilization and this is how we build habits and grow and and the steps are mousharata muraqabah moushahada muaqabah four steps number one you are going to choose one habit that you want to make or break and this is going to be your contract with yourself okay and we are going to make a contract and we are going to think about the consequence if the contract is breached now I am going to give you advice on how to choose the consequence because it's very important the remedies and how to cure the contract the breach of contract so first of all the contract step one we said moushahada okay moushahada you make a contract what is it I commit to calling my mom because you know what I have an unhealthy relationship with her I am going to call my mom every day think of a habit you need to make or break I am going to you know pray fajr on time welcome I am going to XYZ think of a habit you need to make or break my time is up I have 60 seconds commit to this contract I am going to X number two is muraqabah so number one I will X number two is monitor yourself that is step number two number three is moushahada witness God witness God because that is what everything is about moushahada I am going to write that in Arabic letters transliteration witness God he is observing you and number four this is the important part muraqabah the punishment for breaches now you have to choose what that is right now no coffee for the day the punishment is very important because it can't be too severe and it can't be too easy it has to just sting a little bit because if it is too severe you are not going to do it and if it is too easy then it has no impact no effect no consequence so you have to choose something that is going to sting a little bit I am going to donate $100 to Zaituna college I am serious this is just for it on the bond you can continue it after but you are going to do this just for it on the bond so maximum you miss your goal every day you donate it $3,000 or maybe it is donated $20 to Zaituna college maybe you are really rich it is donated $1,000 whatever but you have to think that it stings a little bit no coffee for one hour when I wake up because it is too severe no coffee for the first hour or something like that so think of the punishment and do this and train yourself because the greatest enemy is in between your own two sides it is called our ego according to our prophet and this is our Ramadan road map on how to be a Wali may Allah make all of us Awliyat and our soul is going to continue on after we die when we leave our money behind us when we leave our looks we leave the mirrors when we leave our friends and we leave our family we are going to take our soul with us and so we are here to beautify our heart and we ask Allah for victory and we ask Allah for openings and we ask Allah to accept this gathering and we ask Allah to bless the organizers and to give them openings and victories and we ask Allah to we ask Allah to we ask Allah to answer all of our duha Ya Allah we witness and acknowledge you are near and you hear and you answer the one who calls you, the caller who calls you and we are calling you with this desperation and we know you are the only one who can fulfill our needs and all we offer you a bunch of neediness a bunch of brokenness a bunch of aches a bunch of sins a bunch of arrogance a bunch of vanity a bunch of envy a bunch of ugliness a bunch of backbiting and we ask you to exchange it for us with a bunch of generosity and a bunch of mercy and a bunch of love Allah, how amazing are you Ya Allah thank you for inviting us to Islam thank you for sending us Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him to the Ummah this Ramadan Ameen and send breezes that carry us forward and give us victory over our own egos give us victory over shaitan and the whispering devil and give us the ability to see to see clarity in this time of confusion Ameen and to see truth as truth and follow and see falsehood as falsehood and protect us from it and we ask you for everything good Ya Allah