 I start in the name of Allah, the Beneficent and the Merciful, and I seek salvation from Shaytan, the accursed. My dearest viewers, brothers and sisters from all over the world, As-Salaamu Alaikum Jami'an wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh, may the peace, blessings and protection of Allah SWT be with you at all times. Welcome to another episode of the Ramadan Show on Imam Hussein TV with me, your host, Dr. Shabiat Ejani. Once again today will be your one-stop shop for your Ramadan needs. Please join us on social media, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram and on YouTube, insha'Allah. Before commencing with the show, I would like to quote a saying from Amir al-Mu'mineen where he says, A fool's mind is at the mercy of his tongue and a wise man's tongue is under the control of his mind. So during this month, we must try to endeavor to think and to process things before talking because the sins of the tongue can be one of the causes that our soul cannot reach ascension and closeness to Allah SWT. I'll remain patient until patience tires of me. This is a quote by Amir al-Mu'mineen, alayhi salam. In today's spiritual refinement, I want to talk about patience and how we've learned from the Ahlul Bayt what patience truly is and how we can implement that in our day-to-day lives as well. Before we talk about patience, we must understand that there is many levels of being patient as well. And what sort of things do we need to be patient on? The first type of patience is the sabr or the patience on being obedient to Allah SWT to be persistent upon what he is asked from you. Secondly, it is important to be patient when afflicted with tests. Sometimes there are people in this world who are afflicted with natural disasters, poverty, problems with their health, deaths in families. But it is really important to remain patient when being faced with these challenges. After all, when we look to the life of Imam al-Hassan, alayhi salam, we see that when he was facing problems with Mu'awiya, ala'anatullahi, alayhi, he played a protective role and a proactive role in keeping the Muslim Ummah together. Despite being isolated, he still remained patient, and despite facing all the trials that he faced, he still remained patient and tried to complete his mission. Thirdly, in a world that we live in where sin is all around us, it is really important to stay patient in the face of this world and the sins that we are exposed to, essentially. We have a world in which we live in the internet age where everything is available at the tips of our fingers. It is very important to keep your iman when faced with this particular challenge. When we look at the examples of the Ahlul Bayt, we see that in the life of Imam al-Hassan, alayhi salam, when he was travelling to Hajj on foot, he was being mocked in the streets, even though he was the representative of Allah on this planet. He was still facing those trials, but yet he took it with grace and with patience. We look at the life of Lady Khadija, and we see that she faced trials and tests, even though she had such a high station in this world, she left it all for the religion of Islam. She faced political sanctions, economic sanctions, until she died of fatigue. We see that Allah SWT loves those who are patient, and surely patience brings us closeness to Allah SWT. Patience is also an important quality to have in our day-to-day lives. It allows us to be calm. It allows us to think and rationalize things before we act upon them. Patience is one of the fundamentals, one of the fundamental qualities to achieving purification of your soul in order to improve yourself as a human being, and also in order to get closeness to Allah SWT. When we look to the life of Imam Hassan, we see how patience plays such a significant role in his makeup, in how he was as a personality, because you see his iman was at such a high quality that despite facing all these tribulations, even though he was the representative of Allah SWT on this planet, he still remained steadfast on his mission, on his goal, and he remained close to Allah SWT. And likewise, you look at the life of Lady Khadija, and we see similar qualities that she remained patient, even though she had experienced a life of wealth. She still gave it all up for the religion of Islam. We also see from the lives of these great personalities that patience is not actually a stagnant thing. It is actually a proactive process. It is a process in which we must reassess, contemplate, and think about our life and the issues that we face on a day-to-day basis. I've mentioned this before, and I'll continue to mention it again. We have to remember the mercy of Allah SWT, what beauty he has graced us with, all the things he's given to us in our lives. And when we face very, very few tests and tribulations in comparison to those great blessings that we have, we must remember that we must thank Allah SWT during those times. We must remain patient. And it's only then do you actually get closest to Allah SWT. Finally, I just want to remind the viewers at home about the event of Karbala. We see patience in its ultimate form when Imam al-Hussain faced an army of 30,000 insubnarrations. He gave up his family, he sacrificed his own life, but remained patient just to save the mission of Allah, to save the name of Allah SWT, and to save the religion of Islam. In fact, I would go as far as saying he saved humanity and humankind by his sacrifice. Remember the sacrifice of Lady Zainab after the trip or the long journey towards Khufa and Sham, how she remained steadfast in her beliefs, how she stood up against falsehood and tyranny. And remember the patience of Umul Benin, a lady who knew that she had the strongest son in all of Arabia, a warrior, yet when the caravan returned to Medina, they told her what happened to Abbas and the only thing she was thinking of is Hussain. And she asked people, how could Hussain be martyred if my Abbas was there by his side? We think about patience and we remember the story of Karbala because Karbala is the epitome of patience. And today we make a promise to ourselves and to our Lord that we'll remain patient in the face of any tribulation, we'll remain patient in service to Allah SWT and we'll remain patient when we are exposed to sin around us. InshaAllah we will continue our trip through the many traits that we can employ in order to achieve closest to Allah SWT and to get on that spiral towards perfection ourselves and inshaAllah in future episodes. The Holy Prophet Muhammad may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his progeny was asked, O Prophet of Allah, which of the two months possesses a greater reward, Rajab or the month of Ramadan? The Holy Prophet may the peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny replied, nothing can be compared to the month of Ramadan in terms of reward. In this segment of the show we talk about how people from around the world prepare the day-to-day lives for the month of Ramadan. So today I thought it would be worth talking about the home of Imam Reza, our 8th Imam alayhi salam, and talk a little bit about how the mashadi people prepare for this month what they do in their day-to-day lives as well as talking a little bit about what happens within the shrine itself for those of you who haven't visited. The mashadi people obviously in the city of Mashad it is quite hot during the month so they try to alter their day-to-day lives in order to make the most of this month. So what they would do very similar to other countries around the world where it is very hot is that they would try and alter their working hours in order to try and keep away from the heat of the day. The way they do this is start very early in the morning and then shut their shops maybe around midday or early afternoon and then take a few hours off to rest and recuperate and then start working again during the evening hours because that's when the heat dies down. Of course the mashadi people also like to host their community members their family and friends at their homes for iftar and one specific thing that a lot of mashadi say is that during the month of Ramadan they try and visit the shrine more than any month during the year because they say that the rest of the year is for the Zawar of Imam Reza alayhi salam but they try and make use of the month of Ramadan and they say that is the month that they would go and they try and go as much as possible to the shrine of Imam Reza alayhi salam. The shrine itself for those of you who haven't been is magnanimous it's massive it's one of the biggest shrines in the Shi'a world today. It consists of dozens of courtyards and obviously it hosts millions and millions of people throughout the course of the year. In fact it is said that the tourism industry in Mashhad is the most booming out of any city in the country of Iran. In fact 10 times more people visit Mashhad than any other country in Iran. In the shrine 24 hours a day there are various recitations of the holy Quran. You can find Majlis, you can find Amal, you can find Monajat. Throughout the course of the day and night people never stop and you will find this in different sahans and being recited all over the shrine of Imam Reza alayhi salam. Also what happens is that the shrine itself serves the Zawar and the people who are there during the times of Iftar and Sahur and there is approximately 20,000 people come during the time of Iftar and during the time of Sahur to try and benefit from this. So if for those of you who haven't been to Mashhad I suggest that you go and really try and experience the essence of this great city and this great shrine and inshallah we will show you more pictures of this of this great shrine. Once again I would like to remind all of you at home to send in your videos so we can observe and see and enter into your homes to see how you prepare for the month of Ramadan, how you alter your days, how you change your working habits in order to try and then and adopt your lives for this holy month. Inshallah we look forward to receiving your videos and we will also try and endeavor to air these videos so the rest of the world from people from east to west can see how you live your life and inshallah it will help to bring our community closer together in the love of Imam al-Hussain and the Ahlul Bayt alayhi salam. Dearest viewers, As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him has said that the prayer is the pillar of the religion and it has been recommended that when a believer wants to say he's a prayer we are the best of his clothes and choose the best location. Today we are in one of the stores that sells prayer mats. Prayer mat is one of the souvenirs that is so common in the holy city of Karbala. Every visitor who comes to the holy city of Karbala definitely take prayer mats as a souvenir with him. Dearest viewers, another place in the holy city of Karbala and brother Zuhair. Peace be upon you. Brother Zuhair is saying that the life in the holy city of Karbala is so normal and because of the blessings of Imam al-Hussain and his brother Abel Fadl al-Abbas all the visitors are in safe place in the holy city of Karbala. Okay, Zuhair, can you tell us more about this place? We have visited this place for the first time in the name of the people of the holy city of Karbala, peace be upon them, and we were inspired from Iraq, from the holy city of Karbala, and from Iran, and we had the light of Sijad, we came from Turkey, and we had the Sijad and the Chinese memorization. I asked brother Zuhair about what do they sell here. He said that we mainly sell here the prayer mats and flags. The prayer mats mainly come from Iran, Turkey, and there are some production that has been produced here in the holy city of Karbala. About the flags, he said that we sell different types of flags with the holy names of Ahlul-Bayt and Prophet Muhammad on them. On some of them, for example, it has been written Ya Hussain or Abel Fadl al-Abbas and so on. Today in our medical health tips, we'll be talking about a topic that is actually really, really common in the society that we live in, and a lot of people suffer from this sort of problem. However, in our communities, we seem to shy away from it, and it's considered a taboo, and what I want to talk about is mental health. As a doctor and as a general practitioner, a lot of my patients who come to me suffer from mental health, and they have a multitude of different problems, different issues that arise from this condition. InshaAllah, I'll be going a little bit into each one, but I think it's really important, firstly, to talk a little bit about the proportion of the population that actually suffer from this problem, and as a community how we can do more to help them. And also, I want to talk a little bit about why it's become such a taboo in our communities to talk about such an issue. Firstly, it's very important to stress on the fact that mental health isn't a problem that is caused only by the persons, the environment or medication that they're taking, or other things that could be affecting that person. Sometimes mental health problems come because of genetic makeup, because there are certain neurotransmitters in the brain that work in a different way to the rest of ours. It is not their fault that they suffer from these conditions. There's a lot of people in our communities that have things like depression, and they take medication for it, and often because of that they feel ashamed, but really it's important to realize that it is like any other medical condition. It is like having diabetes, or having heart problems, having high cholesterol or asthma. If you suffer from this problem, it is because a certain neurotransmitter in your brain, which conducts the sympathetic, the neuro-adrenaline and serotonin in the brain, isn't firing the neurotransmission as quickly as other people who don't have the condition. So people who do have depression, they suffer a lot from it, and it can really affect their self-confidence, it can affect their self-esteem, and some people get so down because of it, they can't break out of the shackles of the condition, and often they find it very difficult to seek help. And that's why I feel as a community it's very important for us to address this, because those people who cannot seek help from family members or friends because they feel ashamed, they should have someone who they can go to in confidence, someone who can help them so that they can address this issue, because the first and most important part of realising or in fact treating this condition is realising that you've got it in the first place, acknowledging it and also seeking support for it, because if you just try and face these conditions by yourself, they become burdensome, they start overwhelming you, and they just become worse and worse until you can't do anything about it. Obviously depression is one of the most common mental health problems that we do have in society and in the population, but there are other mental health conditions that we must also think about and be aware of, certain conditions such as schizophrenia in which people lose insight into their day-to-day lives, and often people who get into this cycle and they have schizophrenia within our communities receive no help whatsoever. In fact, the communities are quick to sweep it under the carpet, and they come out with things like this that a person has possessed, they request the help of spiritual healers to try and exorcise those demons, but in fact, this is a significant medical condition that these people have and they require help from it for it. When they suffer from psychotic episodes due to schizophrenia, they don't have insight into what they're doing, and at those times it is essential that as family members you pick up that there is an underlying problem, an underlying issue that needs to be addressed and seek help from not a spiritual healer, but from a medical professional, because there are medications that we can give and medications that we can prescribe, people that we can refer these patients onto who can actually help them to overcome these problems. Other mental health conditions, there are a multitude of different conditions such as bipolar disorder where instead of having depression, people tend to have fluctuation, so they have very elevated moods and they can become psychotic during these episodes. It is very important again to seek help from the right people, and if you can, try and get your family members involved, try and get them to help you to get through those hard times, because to face these times alone is very, very difficult as an individual, as a community and as a society. I think that there is a lot we can do to try and help people who suffer from mental health conditions. In many communities, in my own community, I know we have health clinics where we measure people's blood sugar levels, where we measure their blood pressure, where we do other tests in order to see if people are healthy, but I've never, ever seen within our communities a counselor being employed or someone who can help with mental health issues, someone who can see beyond just the physical side of someone's health, because essentially this condition does play a huge impact, not only on your own life, not only on your family's life, but on society as a whole. People who can contribute so positively to society, find themselves shackled down by mental health problems. Finally, I just want to remind you at home that if there are people around you, people in your community who suffer from these conditions, it is very important that you are there for support, you are there to help them, because as a community, we have to grow together and help one another out. And these are people who can really have a positive contribution to society, to your community. It is really important to identify as a family, people who could be suffering from mental health problems, people who could be self-harming, because these are the first signs that there is a profound underlying condition and something that someone needs help for. In Sha Allah, I pray that may Allah SWT grant us elevation, not only spiritually, but also in our health. And in Sha Allah, I hope that you've learned something from this very short talk about mental health, because surely these people do need our help and they genuinely do have a medical problem. So please be supportive towards them. Do not ignore what they're saying. Do not sweep it under the carpet or start making excuses like possession or someone who needs exorcism. Please consider this to be a medical problem and as a community try and do more to help them. In Sha Allah, if we do that, we can all be more successful as a community and ascend and achieve closest to Allah SWT. It's normal in today's world that leaders misuse the wealth of their nations and live in luxury while the rest of the citizens live in poverty. It's actually so normal that no one even bats an eyelash at such mismanagement. However, Imam Ali bin Abi Talib and the Ahlul Bayt piece upon them show us that they are an exception. Once a man named Haroon visited Imam Ali bin Abi Talib and found him wearing an old rough garment and shivering from cold. He asked himself, how could a man and how could this man, the leader of the Muslim world, be lacking warm, decent clothing, despite the enormous amount of wealth at his disposal? Haroon asked all the commander of the believers, you and the Ahlul Bayt are just like any other citizen and have a share of the public treasury. Why don't you use your share to purchase more comfortable and warm clothing? Imam Ali bin Abi Talib smiled and said, by God, I do not take anything from the public treasury and the clothes that I am wearing are the same ones I bought from Medina and are the only ones I own. Even as a young man, Imam Ali bin Abi Talib exemplified the qualities of charity and restrained himself from worldly luxuries. One day, Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam noticed that Imam Ali was wearing a worn out garment. So the messenger of Allah asked, what happened to the good garment I gave you? Imam Ali bin Abi Talib said, Ya Rasulallah, I saw one of your companions complaining that he and his wife had no clothes to wear. So I gave it away to him, remembering that Allah s.w.t. will not only reward me in this world but in the hereafter as well. Examples like these from the Prophet and the Ahl al-Bayt teach us to rely only on Allah s.w.t. and to never worry and become cheap when giving to others, especially the poor ones. I would like to leave you with this quote by the Ahl al-Bayt where they say, Whoever fulfills a favor for his brother or sister for his mu'min or brother or sister mu'mina, Allah s.w.t. will fulfill 70 of his favors. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. In today's episode, I want to dedicate the poetry or the nasheed that I'm going to be reciting to the most valuable asset and resource that we have as human beings. And that isn't money, it's in fact time. Time is so limited we're gifted with a very short span of time on this earth and we have to make sure that we make the most of it. This nasheed is called Time Waits for No One. It's written by myself and my brother Abbas. And it highlights the importance of making use of your time and also asking for forgiveness because if you have wronged someone and you don't ask for forgiveness before your time runs out, then surely on the day of judgment you're answerable for that. The world keeps on turning, people are moving, the seconds are ticking away. As I lay in my bed, I think to myself, have I just lost another day? I'm embarrassed by shame, with no one to blame for the errors I've made to date. To correct my mistakes, gotta do what it takes before it becomes too late. Have I righted the wrongs? Is my ego too strong to say that I'm sorry? Can I go on like this, my soul full of sin? It is ever my worry. Have I asked for forgiveness for all that I've done? Cause time, time waits for no one who knows tomorrow may never come. Cause time, time waits for no love life is. As a new life begins, another comes to an end. Every breath is a gift. You must cherish it. Never come back again. Never change who you are and follow your heart. The truth is within yourself. Put your faith in Allah. He will show you the path. If you face troubles, He will help. When you fall out of love and you have had enough, your heart has stopped feeling. When your soul cries aloud let you know a clue about this life and it's meaning. Have I asked for forgiveness for all that I've done? Cause time, time waits for no one. Cause time, time time waits for no one. I've wronged myself in you every day. As for your existence, along this world that I see and yet my lust and greed defends and blinds me. Drives me away, drags me away from the truth. Please show me the way. The way back to you. The Holy Prophet Muhammad made the peace and blessings of Allah upon him and his progeny. He was asked, which of the two months possesses a greater reward? Rajab or the month of Ramadan? The Holy Prophet may the peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny replied. Nothing can be compared to the month of Ramadan in terms of reward. As I am in this episode, I just want to leave you with a final thought, a final reminder and a philosophy that you can carry on in this month in order to try and help you to gain closest to Allah. The thought that I want to leave you with is a very interesting philosophy, something that I've had in my mind for a while, is that there is no such thing as a bad experience. After all Allah SWT knows the capabilities that you have and the limits of your capability and he has promised never to test you beyond the boundaries of those capabilities. So remember whenever you're faced with trials and challenges and tests in life that this is a blessing from Allah SWT will make you into a stronger person. Always look at these tests and look at how they're improving you as an individual because essentially we are all on a spiral towards perfection and nearness towards Allah SWT. Use these trials, these challenges, these experiences to improve as a person and to have a positive impact on other people's lives and inshallah you will see yourself ascending not only spiritually but physically as well. Finally I would like to remind you once again to send your pictures, to send your videos of your month of Ramadan into us so we can air it. And finally please do not forget us in your du'az and especially do not forget the reappearance of Imam al-Mahdi A.S. in your du'az. I hope to be seeing you again very soon with another episode of the Ramadan Show. Until then please continue to do the good work and continue to get closest to Allah SWT. Wassalamu Alaikum Jami'an warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.