 من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين الحمد لله الذي هدان لها ذا وما كنا لنهدد يلولان هدان الله الحمد لله الذي أنزل الفرقان على عبده ليكون للعالمين نذيرا والصلاة والسلام على خير خلق ونور عرش أفضل الأمبياء والمرسلين حبيبنا وسيدنا وسندنا وشفيعنا ومولانا أب القاسم محمد الله سبحانه وتعالى وعلى آله التيبين الطاهرين المأسومين المظلمين أما بعد فقد قال الله سبحانه وتعالى في كتاب المجيد وقوله الحق وهو أستقص صادقين اسم الله رحمن الرحيم يا إيه الذين آمنوا كتب عليكم الصيام كما كتب على الذين من قبلكم لعلكم تتقوم صدق الله العالي لذين سلوات الله محمد وأهل محمد أنا أبدأ في الله's name the beneficent of the merciful and I welcome you all to this program and Ramadan Karim Ramadan Mubarak it's a month of blessing it's a month in which we increase our awareness and when Quran uses the word Taqwa which means God consciousness we need to understand what does that mean because it needs to be pray for us we need to understand what does that mean because it needs to be pragmatic in the way we understand the word Taqwa Taqwa is very much used in the Quran and this word is very deep very rich and it's a practical tool that the Quran establishes very clearly and in these nights that I'll be speaking Thursday Friday and Saturday nights Insha'Allah our goal is to enrich our souls with understanding so that when we do practice our religion in the month of Ramadan it's not only done with confidence but it's done with the kind of effect that enables us to impart that positive nature that comes out of these practices towards those around us because secondary behavior where our characteristics and how we perform in society is just as impactful as it is for us to apply it upon ourselves because at the end of the day we are the product of our surroundings so those around us are also impacting us either positively or negatively I welcome you all it's an honor and Insha'Allah we hope that these nights are fruitful and we will discuss briefly the effects of this blessed month of Ramadan and particularly the Quran being the book that it is and why Allah ﷻ emphasizes this book so much especially in this blessed month of Ramadan on that note my respected sisters and brothers in Islam السلام عليكم جميعا ورحمة الله وبركاته الله سبحانه وتعالى إن سوت البقرة verse number 183 starts with كتب عليكم الصيام so fasting as you know has been enjoined upon us as it was enjoined preceding to us meaning those before us were also commanded to fast كما كتب علي الذين من قبلكم so meaning that the injunction of fasting the injunction of prayer the injunction of those kinds of regulations that God has placed upon us is nothing new that has begun 1400 years ago with the Holy Prophet the conditions by which Allah has laid upon mankind to succeed in this world of trials and tribulations has been established those fundamental behaviors have been established since Adam's time that means that we know that Adam was prescribed prayer and we know that Adam was prescribed fasting the fundamental practices of human behavior that enables us to reach the high levels of maturity in our spirituality can only be possible by the command of Allah as Allah says وين كانوا من قبلوا لفي ظلال مبين meaning in سوت الجمعة الله says that هو الذي بعث في الأمين رسولا منهم يطلع عليهم آيات ويزكيهم ويعلمهم الكتابة والحكمة وين كانوا من قبلوا لفي ظلال مبين meaning Allah says that He sent prophets from among yourselves منكم from us from them same the combination of the Koran addresses on both sides يطلع عليهم آيات they came and they recited the signs of God آيات ويزكيهم they purified you ويعلمهم الكتاب and they taught you the law walla khikma and give you wisdom وقلت لك مزيد وقلت لك أنك في موضوع أسوء وكانوا من قبلوا لفي ظلال المبين يعني إذا الله لم يقوموا برسالة وموضوع فلن نكونوا في موضوع أسوء لذا نعرف أن هذه الموضوع يجب أن يقوموا برسالة وادم عليه السلام كانت أولى رسالة والأولى مجموعة في الأرض وذلك يجب أن يكونوا برسالة هذه عندما الله يقول كما كتب عليكم السيام كما كتب علي الذين من قبلكم يعني أن هذا يجب أن يكون يجب أن يكون أبدا before you أستطيع أن نقول أنه يجب أن يكون مبين أفصل على الأولى صلاة الله وحمد وآل محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم now we may ask the question This month of Ramadan Why is it instituted as a whole month 30 days Why is it that within this month ليس فقط كيف نحن نضع على فرصة ولكن الكثير من الأشياء الممتعين لديهم في هذه المنه ماذا عن هذه المنه؟ أنه جدًا جدًا لفرصة الأن 11 منه والله يدرس هذا في سرط البقرة ورس 183 ونحن فعلنا بعض الأشياء في سرط البقرة كما ترى ورس 183-184 و-185 يتكلم هذا المنه من أدان أريد أن أتكلم ذلك لكي نفهمه ونظر على الموضوعه يولدين آمن وكتب عليكم الصيام كما كتب على الذين من قبلكم لعلكم تتقوم لذلك الموضوع إلى why Allah has established for us is that we achieve once again the word تقوى meaning achieve God consciousness which we use the word piety when we ask people what is تقوى in the east they'll say fear of God having fear of God being fearful of God this term is used a lot in the eastern world because our understanding of fear of God is not negative but the western world tends to see that word as a negative word fear of God seems to be the antithesis to the love of God and somehow it has a negative connotation but fear of God here if we were to use that word we must qualify it immediately to say fear of God to lose his mercy fear of God to negate his love fear of God to be reckless to love him when he loves us already fear of God to deny ourselves the infinite mercy of God that fear is like a parent who fears a child you know from failing so there's a fear that my child should not fail there's a fear that my child should not get sick so due to that we promote our children to become more proactive and healthy and we institute them in educational facilities because we have a fear that our children should not go astray that's positive fear so the same term is used with تقوى and تقوى means it's it has that positive what we call standing now in the next verse 184 الله says so prescription is for a select number of days it's a select number of days meaning that Allah is saying to us I have not instituted fasting upon you all the time 365 days a year but rather we have chosen a select number of days which is sufficient for you and research shows and we'll talk about it in the end intermittent fasting for example the benefits of fasting why the pharmaceutical industries for example and certain businesses do not promote fasting and the reason is because the benefit of fasting outweighs the dangers of not fasting and that's very important for us to understand now I want us to put this also and plug it into the divine scheme of things if you can make it put your phones in silence Insha'Allah that would be really appreciated صلوات الله محمد و المحمد so Allah says if you're sick or you're traveling then postpone it for a later time meaning before the next Ramadan so look how Allah is merciful in saying I'm instituting this and you'll see that the verse continues that Allah does not want to make religion difficult upon us الله سبحانه وتعالى عليكم في الدين من حرج we don't want to make religion difficult for you there is this common understanding between us that religion is a burden upon us many a times I see youth asking me brother doesn't religion stop me inhibit me it prohibits me from expressing my freedom of choice this is a misstatement for if you remove laws the by-product the end product of no law is what we call a lawless society and a lawless society promotes anarchy and anarchistic societies are the most dangerous societies to live in so laws protect freedom of expression laws protect growth laws protect peace and harmony and what we call a progressive society so when we say that God has instituted laws upon us there are Haram and Halal and Makru and Mustahab and Mubah issues we should not say oh God why are you putting this on me flip it the other way and say imagine we remove that the danger is infinitely greater while you and I may have difficulty in appreciating the commandments of Allah in that he has instituted fasting upon us in Ramadan to such a degree that the kafara meaning the penalty should one break their fast willingly without any valid reason so in order to challenge the law of Allah is the kafara is you must fast for 60 days you're allowed to fast for 31 consecutive days then you can skip a few days but you must make up 60 days of fasting for each day of violation now you and I may say by the way you can also feed 60 poor people but the point is nonetheless that there is a penalty and we may ask why did Allah institute penalty upon us not because Allah is vindictive not because Allah is treacherous not because Allah is harsh Allah has done this upon us to show us the gravity that fasting is extremely important and to show us they don't think twice because if you say look God is so merciful he's so forgiving and he says if you break your fast it doesn't matter just make it up someday if you can and if you don't want to you don't have to what happens is when you violate what we call the core prescriptions of humanity humans will invalidate it it's just like it's like when you come to school and there are rules that are not enforced and the student does not feel that they are an important rule then they will violate it or they will follow it at will just to give a quick example look at prayer Muslims have been told to uphold prayers 3 periods a day 5 times a day Allah has أقم الصلاة أقم الصلاة و أمر بالمعروف this is فعل الأمر meaning God is commanded maintain prayer and Quran consistently emphasizes the importance of maintenance of prayer in fact that importance is so heavy if you and I understand it we as Muslims should sometimes wonder why has God made this prescription so heavy examine our Judeo-Christian brethren if we look at the Christian faith in the time of Isa according to the Bible when Jesus prayed and he fasted in fact they say Jesus fasted so much that his skin was pale because he loved to fast and when Jesus peace be upon him Isa prayed he put his face on the ground it's clearly written in the Bible he put his face on the ground he bowed he did complete sujud as Quran said ركعا سجدا يبتغون فضلة من الله و ردوانا سيماهوا في وجوه من أثر السجود ذلك مثل في التورات و مثل في الإنجيل this has been mentioned in the Torah in Injil that they did ركعا سجدا they did ruku meaning genuflexion and they did sujud meaning they did bowing of their heads on the ground but examine our general Christian population today there's over 2 billion of them 99% plus does not do that there is no prescription of prayer in Christianity you pray when you want how you want even the Sunday Mass is not obligatory it's a choice and there's no penalty if you don't attend mass and Christmas Eve is a choice for them so notice the injunctions have been invalidated Paul said the laws of God are no longer essential for Jesus has died for our sins on the cross so he took the law and discarded it because the Judeo idea the Jews of the time were known to be very law abiding the Jews actually were making money with law and law was the symbol of Judaism at that time I'm just giving a simple example whereas you find when Christians gave up the institution of prayer by God upon its followers the entire Christian population didn't know what to do because I don't have to so why should I it's like a student in school I don't have to study so why should I I don't have to do my homework so why should I I don't have to pass the exam so why should I there will be a few that will do it but on a collective institution you will find it starts to degrade and when it starts to degrade the entire institution of education becomes anarchistic and it no longer has any value so when Allah has instituted fasting upon us just as He has instituted prayer it is to ensure that the human race remains vigilant and persistent in its ways in order to ensure that humanity has good behavioral patterns and as we say discipline is part and parcel of success and growth so when Allah says we have enjoined upon you and should you violate it here's the punishment now a person can say I don't have to follow God I don't believe in God or I don't have to do what he tells me I'll cherry pick the fitra the conscience is going to bite us I give you an example we have some students who come to school and say I don't want to pray it's interesting during prayer time I said I don't want to pray I said why not I don't want to pray I said are you Muslim I said yes and do you believe that God has made prayer a law he said yes but you don't want to pray he said no I said okay no problem give up your faith relinquish your Islam say I'm not Muslim right now give it up he says no I can't I said why don't you go ahead since you want to disobey God blatantly openly then relinquish your iman and become an agnostic right now in front of me I dare you he said no I can't I said why can't you are you loyal to your father and your mother are you loyal to your community he looks at me he says no I'm a Muslim I said by what standard you're cherry picking explain to me why do you call yourself a Muslim he's like saying I'm an American citizen but I'm not going to abide by the constitution of the United States does that make sense maybe it makes sense to some people but you know what when you do get caught for violating the basic laws of this country don't be surprised if you get punishment we all know that and we all have to admit that yes I did violate I mean I do agree that I'm an American I've borne allegiance to this flag because it is my dominion now this is what we call secular in idea but here's the divine so then that person starts to say oh I said give it up I said no I'm not waiting to give it up I said then there it is it's holding you that constriction that you have within your heart to say that I'm not going to give up my Islam then what is wrong if I'm a Muslim encouraging you to follow that rule am I wrong and the person says no I said thank God there is a law that we as Muslims can encourage each other and what we call remind each other to say brother this is important but of course the best is not to force religion down a person or to say if you don't pray I'm going to beat you up no لا اكره في الدين there is no compulsion in religion التبيان الرشة من الغي truth is clear from error so Allah says speak to them with Burhan show them the truth show them the value let them come because they love it but also make them acutely aware that if you're going to insist on swearing by a faith then start to practice it because if you give it up you will become like the Christians of today who are good people they love God they have a desire to achieve the high stations of paradise but the institution has failed them by not giving them any kind of injunction by which on a communal level to follow and hence people are making it up as they go so when Allah says كتب عليكم الصيام you and I should say الحمد لله oh my lord thank you for enforcing this upon us so that we all become God conscious at a communal level thank you that we all have to obey it and thank you for making the punishment severe so that we all become aware of our obligations because at the end of the day it's good for us and thank you for us sitting together and breaking fast together and thank you for holding back and being abstinent in our drinking and eating so that we become more conscious of our obligations so that we have more empathy and more sympathy for society thank you but there's one thing for you and I individually to be fasting you know many a times in رجب and شابان we have people who fast for the entire month and sometimes we're serving breakfast or we're serving lunch and the couples come in or husband comes in or wife comes in or parent comes in or person anybody they say come on join us for lunch they say no no thank you I'm fasting today they say oh mashallah that's very nice the impact of an individual fasting when the rest do not have to is vastly different when we all have to do it and I swear examine the world nobody on earth today observes prayer and fasting and pilgrimage at the communal level at the highest level of society than we as Muslims isn't this a gift of God think about it you and I may think oh my God Ramadan is here I can't wait for the moon to show up before it ends now I mean I can't eat now for 30 days oh my God I was planning to go you know swimming every day now I can't I got to change my plans you know I was I'm a workaholic I love to work out in the gym in the afternoon now I can't do it because I'm going to be so thirsty so difficult well think about it so Allah continues in this verse beautifully and he says and I'll just read the English part for a certain number of days but whoever among you wants to go to the journey then you shall fast like a number of other days and those who are not able to do it may effect a redemption here Quran calls the word Fiddia Fiddia is a redemption so let's say you're sick terminally sick for the entire month you cannot fast or let's say you know for the rest of your life at least at your current state you cannot fast the rule the rule of Islam states if you're terminal and you cannot fast it will harm you and you must not fast it's forbidden let's not try to be more Muslim than the Prophet okay some people want to be you know like more English than English you know you want to be more American than the American let's not try to be more now brother Maghrib is 3 it's too short for me I'd like to do 4 now Maghrib is 3 keep it that way there's a reason for a prescription don't start changing things so if you're sick don't fast now if you're on the borderline you can but you're not sure until it gets bad then break it but Allah says let's say you're terminally incapable of let's say you're suffering and you're constantly on some kind of a medication system then Allah says give Fidia Fidia is 3 quarters of a kilogram which is roughly about 1.8 to 1.9 pounds of rice wheat of grain to the needy to a poor person feed one poor person for each day you miss your fast and the rule states and I'm just going to say this really quickly just as if we're interested to know let us say for 10 years God forbid this person was in that state of terminal illness in the 11th year they overcame it they no longer have this problem the rule states that if you overcame it on the 11th year you will only pay back the 10th year but the remaining past 9 years you will ignore it you don't have to pay back but the previous year that you missed because of the illness you will pay it back now your mind is probably thinking okay that makes sense but what if I cannot what if it's difficult look what Allah says Allah says then they shall in other words for a certain number of days whoever does good spontaneously now Allah says that if you cannot let's say you're a poor person you can barely feed yourself okay in Islam the beauty of the religion Islam is its flexibility Allah says we do not put a burden upon you except that which you can handle لا يقالف الله تقليف is upon us not because God is sitting there with a whip ready to whip us because we're going to violate no and Allah specifically tells us this He says it is good for you and I'm enjoying it for you look and I just give you an example you know I look at our Christian brethren and they have no system so when you and I have friends who are non-Muslims particularly Christians, Jews especially and you find at prayer time they're not going to pray don't say look at them they're having fun now me I got to leave this and I have to go and do my prayer you see Islam is so prohibitive don't say that say it the other way like wow God has a system for me I'm chosen I'm special you know I never understood the value of that until one day you know I had a very close Christian family I used to travel with a lot they were my friends they used to teach me martial arts and I used to teach them tennis we used to do exchange of services and they were Christian family very very good people were Christian and I remember I was very they knew all my laws because when I was with them I said I don't need haram they said what is haram what is halal explained to us so I told them everything you know this is the kind of food I must eat I cannot I'm not afraid you want to be my friend then you come halfway to my standards as I come to yours but let's not give up our standards some of us growing up in this society we wish we could give up our names our Islam to appease the other side don't ever do that that family respected me a lot they said we respect you because you are not giving up your faith we are not like you but we admire you because you haven't given up your faith and I learnt that even in the university I would never bargain my faith with anybody with all due respect and my friends used to respect me more than their friends because they used to say you stand for your faith now it doesn't make me anything special don't get me wrong I'm not saying that for that reason I am saying you and I should never sell our religion for any price الله says رجال لاتلههم تجارة ولا بي عن ذكر الله ويقام الصلاة ويتاع الزكاة يخافون يوما تتقلب في القلوب ولا بصار من who don't bargain for any price men here is generic رجال doesn't mean men without women it means universally that's the language of the Quran لا تلههم تجارة ولا بي عن ذكر الله they don't bargain nor do they sell themselves nor do they submit in the way of Allah so I remember I was water skiing one day and I just learned to water ski I was just getting the hang of it and I was a teenager at that time and it was tough for me to get up and on my skis and I finally got it it was the most amazing feeling you know gliding on water it's the most incredible feeling the same water I was created from which can drown me which I must drink from those of you who are fasting are very thirsty right now I know there's nothing more precious to you than water one brother came to me his brother I'm starving I'm thirsty I just want water I said if I give you gold and I give you water which one will you take water of course and let's say you can't trade gold for water because I know some kids they'll say brother I'll take the gold and I'll go buy more water so I'm gliding and I'm feeling really good and suddenly you know this is an amazing experience suddenly the boat stops you know when it stops you sink when you go down and they're pulling me so I was visibly annoyed I said what did you do I didn't give you the thumbs down why did you stop I said well it's prayer time you got to go pray and you know it was embarrassing because I had forgotten but they didn't forget they said look it's prayer time and you know we made that deal we will do this and we were there since 10 o'clock in the morning it's prayer time it's past noon sorry we got to stop we're going to take the boat back they're all non-Muslims but they changed their structure just for me I never appreciated that until that moment I got on the boat and I realized wow that's incredible these are my friends who respect me but I haven't given up my faith look how Allah is honoring me that while I'm having the best time of my life a non-Muslim is reminding me of the importance of prayer time to keep me in check they respect me because of this law of God that God has set a rule at the time for me to follow which other religions don't have it I hope you and I understand this that the gravity of this gift of God in this month especially in this month of Ramadan let's not underestimate it but let me conclude you because my time is almost up Allah says that it is better for you to fast if you can and it brings you towards closeness the next verse شهر رمضان الذي أنزل فيه القرآن now notice as soon as Allah introduces Ramadan He introduces us as a month of the Quran meaning this is not a month of fasting Quran says كتب عليكم سيام is 183 but as soon as Allah addresses شهر رمضان verse 184 he says شهر رمضان الذي أنزل فيه القرآن then immediately Allah is talking about the Quran He completely keeps Ramadan as a subset of Quran and I'm going to conclude on this very quickly شهر رمضان الذي أنزل فيه القرآن هدا للناس وبينات من الهدا والفرقان so Allah is describing this book of Quran which is a guidance for all of mankind it is what it is what Disciple is wrong from right it is as Allah says in the Quran He says the month of Ramadan is that in which Quran was revealed a guidance to man clear proofs of the guidance and distinction therefore whoever if you is present in the month he shall fast notice Allah is talking about the Quran as the description of Ramadan to show you how important it is for you and I to indulge in maximum reflection in the Quran for Ramadan is inseparable from the Quran and the Quran was revealed in this blessed month in fact all major scriptures تورات زبور انجيل and Quran all four of them were revealed in this month of Ramadan صلى الله عليه وسلم and Allah says if you experience it you must practice it very important but look what Allah says after just to appease us He says if you are sick and on a journey again Allah repeats if you are sick and on a journey don't do it fast afterwards no problem listen to the next verse Allah says يُرِيدُ الله بِكُمُلْ يُصْرَ Allah desires to make it easy for you okay He does not desire for your difficulty and that you should complete the number so any one of us thinking Ramadan is difficult I'm so addicted to coffee I'm so addicted to my morning tea you know I'm addicted to whatever that I take during the day it's become part of my habit Allah is saying I do not I do not want to put difficulty on you I want to make it easy for you so in conclusion to this the benefits of fasting and I'll briefly conclude on this that you will notice that the benefit of fasting is that research shows intimate and fasting the benefits okay you find that your mind becomes sharper your health becomes better your digestive system becomes more efficient although I haven't written that up there but you find that it lowers your insulin levels as you know when you got high insulin levels you crave more sugars you will find that it's great for weight loss now intimate and fasting even the rest of the year researchers show that when your body is under control with its ratio of weight you find that you suffer less diseases because when your body is at an optimal weight the stress on our organs is minimal you find that there's lower oxidative stress and inflammation this is all research shown improved heart health we've got cardiologists physicians here who can raise their hand and say brother I concur he concurs increased growth of neuronal activity brain activity it actually causes expansion of the brain glial cells that are formed in our brain when we have any kind of what we call critical thinking and we create neuronal connections you find that when you do critical processing and thinking it's increased when you are in a state of fasting and it prevents Alzheimer's diseases as one of the byproducts of fasting now what we find is let's look at the reverse now what is fasting about to make us more God conscious what is God consciousness let me define it very briefly God is the ultimate good let's be practical God is the absolute good He creates only for good what is his modus of good mercy الله says كتب على نفسي الرحمة I have been joined upon myself mercy ask any human being on earth mercy is it good or bad they will tell you mercy is good it brings good results mercy what is the components what are the components of mercy creation with goodness الذي أحسن كل شيء خلق create everything good give everything good potential you know what's another high level of mercy free will the power to dictate your own destiny but under that power you must have the power to destroy because free will is impossible if you don't have the ability to do the opposite so under that condition you and I as the best creation among creations is you and I we've been given the power to choose our own destiny this is huge while we have this enormous mercy and we've been positioned and designed and our body has been designed to be optimal in operation when we are stress free when we are in a healthy environment when we are in an environment full of grace and gratitude and the body starts to react positively you will find that we start to give off positive energy we live longer our disease factors are less our burdens are less and if you want to understand that go to hospitals and see those people who are bedridden ask them what is one thing you wish they will tell you we wish you can get out of this place when people get heart replacements and they're asked what's the first thing you're going to do once you get your new heart they say we're going to go outside when it's raining we want to feel the rain on our faces true documented real questions and answers that were given you would think that no don't you want to go out there and raise a million dollars and buy yourself a palace and a nice fancy car no I just want to feel the rain fall on my face why because that mercy I have ignored all my life there's too much mercy around us these lights going off humans sitting around us the air that you and I are breathing everything is a mercy ألم تروا أن الله سخرة لكم ماء في السماوات والماء في الوقت مع كل this mercy for you and Allah says وَإِتَّالْدَنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَاِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ وَلَاِنْ كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِلَ شَدِيدْ we have made a calling to you if you are grateful we'll give you more if you are ungrateful we'll punish you what is gratefulness when you and I fast we become grateful when you and I abstain we become grateful when we pray we become grateful we become cognizant of our submission we become humbled and I tell you on a communal level on a global scale of 8 billion people nobody's got this chemistry nobody has this mechanism except Islam with all due respect to thousands of other religions nobody's got it that's why they say by the year 2050 statisticians have noted by the year 2050 the number one religion on earth will be Islam صلوات الله محمد والمحمد so gratitude let's look at those who complain you find people who complain and I see that even at our school see kids complaining about every little thing why are they complaining with all due respect they're probably getting it from someone else someone is feeding into the ears when you see people complaining the most likelihood is that somebody said something which got twisted which became Chinese whisper it became something completely different which became so negative it started catching momentum like a snowball and the next thing you know everybody starting to complain about it and wants to break apart complaining research shows that complaining actually actually if you look at it right there it shrinks the brain and it creates connections that leads to greater complaining and second hand complaining means that if you hang around people who complain you will feel negative the aura will be negative you will have that uneasiness in your heart you will not feel happy you will feel dissatisfied and you know the worst feeling of dissatisfaction is when you eat you drink no matter what you do you just don't feel right that's the sign of ingratitude okay and it increases your cholesterol level it causes diabetes as we know because it also leads to obesity by the way and strokes and it releases cortisol it releases blood pressure and by the way the minute you are grateful cortisol levels drop by 23% researchers have shown that the minute you indulge in gratitude meaning you start thinking and feeling positive about life your cortisol levels drop by 23% that's huge if you understand chemistry and biochemistry okay and it enlarges the brain increases neuronal activity and then you start to become solution oriented so we know problems are here to stay and we know that we will always be facing problems that's life that's beautiful if there are no problems it will be a dull boring world problems are good it's like you go to the gym and you are super muscular and now you're raising a 20 pound dumbbell you said no problem you go to 30 pounds no problem you go to 40 pounds no problem you're looking in the mirror you said no problem then you go to 70 pounds problem and the brain says good that's the one I want why problems? because you don't grow without problems but the difference is you approach the problem as a solution solution based problem solving is in and of itself the thicker of Allah and we'll talk about it insha'Allah tomorrow night may Allah give us to enjoy this blessed month of Ramadan and while you especially you my young brothers in the front and sisters when you're fasting anytime you feel hungry say no alhamdulillah what a zikr Imam Ali alaihi salam says my greatest desire is to be in armor defending Islam while I'm fasting that's state of fasting on a battlefield when you're thirsty in a desert you know you and I are living in very comfortable environments concrete base you're going to dusty environments that are very hot okay and very arid as they say you know where there's a lot of heat and you dry up within minutes in the desert it's not easy to fast but Imam says my mind is so conditioned that a little food is sufficient when I break my fast we should pray to Allah to give us the strength to become like him and the prophets because they were of that character that love to be abstinent because fasting was a positive move a positive social move and it brings positive realities it makes us become more appreciative more grateful and to increase our empathy for the poor and as you know Muslims become most generous in the month of Ramadan and there's a reason for that because when we start to feel a little pain with our fasting we start to consider those who really don't have food بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ربنا خفر لنا والإخواننا الذين سبقون بالإيمان ولا تجعل في قلوبنا غلة للذين آمنوا ربنا إنك رأوف الرحيم وآخر الدعون الحمد لله رب العالمين والسلام عليكم جميعا ورحمة الله وبركاته as you know we will have salah for those of you who want to join with Salat Al-Jama'a we are testing out a restaurant called Baiti which is close by that we will be going there but you know it's with donations although there are sponsors for that but seats are limited so those of you will be joining us we ask you to sign up Insha'Allah depending on how things go if the audience increases then we will do iftar here at wise in the near future but we are honored that you have participated and may Allah bless you all and we are we are honored if you will join us also for iftar and by the way tonight