[Music]
in the name of Allah the beneficent the
merciful I send praises to Allah subhah
wa ta'ala and I send peace and blessings
to all of the prophets who came from the
beginning of time from the time of Adam
alisam
the time of
no Noah to ibraim Abraham peace be upon
him to M or Moses peace be upon him to
ISA or Jesus peace be upon him and to
the last prophet Muhammad peace and
blessings be upon him we ask Allah to
bless them and to give them the best for
their striving and what they have left
and we begin in the greeting words of
paradise
alayum alhamdulillah all praises to
Allah this month of Ramadan is a great
blessing for the
Believers the prophet Muhammad peace be
upon Him came to teach what was taught
by those who came before him he came as
a seal as a finality of all of the
prophets who lived on this Earth from
the beginning of time we know that
prophets have come to every nation and
every tribe prophets came to the Chinese
people to the Indian people to African
people to the Middle Eastern people to
European people to Every Nation every
grouping at one point in time had a
messenger who taught them that they
should submit to the creator of the
heavens and the
Earth there is nothing worthy of worship
but Allah asael Almighty and
Majestic the prophets also had a type of
sh a type of law that was developed
during their time according to their
tribe according to their environment
this Sharia was developed but the
prophet Muhammad peace be upon Him came
not only to the Arabs but to the
non-arabs he came to all of humanity and
to the
Jin and he taught a message that was
good not only 1,400 years ago but it was
also is also good and shall always be
good to the day of Resurrection he
taught a message that all people could
benefit from that the young and the old
male and female black and white all
languages can benefit from this message
and one of the great teachings in it is
fasting imak as we would say in the
Arabic language abstinence that the
person controls themsel that they
abstain from eating from drinking from
sexual activities during this blessed
month of
Ramadan and this m sack is an activity
that people throughout the planet are
involved in many young people who are
growing up within Islam many middle-aged
people who are finding their Islam and
many new Muslims are asking the
question what is the purpose of imak
what is the purpose of fasting even
non-muslims who are looking into the
Muslim world and recognizing now that
Islam is not just a religion of The
Middle least that there are people
fasting all over this planet even the
non-muslim people are asking today what
is
iMac why are you doing this especially
in this month in order to understand
this we need to look at the very concept
of abstinence itself because it is an
activity that human beings are involved
in all over the planet we could say it
is even become part of the global
culture of the world and when we say
this we look at imsak in a number of
ways number one there is a form of
abstinence that is done for health
reasons if a person uh is struck with a
heart attack and goes to the doctor and
is complaining about their heart and
maybe their arteries have been clogged
up the doctor will say you should watch
out for eating fatty foods you should
stay away from cholesterol and so
therefore you should do a type of
iMac and so that person would then look
at his menu and would shop in a certain
way and cook the food in order to
avoid fatty foods cholesterol based
foods if a person is struck with
diabetes then the doctor would say stay
away from sugar you should not take in
sugar in your tea or in candy or
anything you have to avoid it so the
person then begins a life of iMac
where they literally dedicate themselves
to stay away from sugar because through
that dedication they are actually
gaining life and so the iMac for the
person who is struck with diabetes
preserves his
life imsak also comes for people who are
struck with allergies the allergy or the
hasia when this strikes the person they
have to do a test and they find out am I
allergic to peanuts am I allergic to uh
uh to Sweet Things whatever the person
is allergic to they will stay away from
and the doctor will say You must do imak
so you have to now structure your life
around staying away from certain foods
you may have to stay away from the fur
of dogs and cats you may have to stay
away from grass when it is newly cut but
you have to control yourself
and so the purpose now or part of the
purpose of this person's life is is to
preserve themsel through
imsak and so imsak is very crucial for
people all over the planet for health
reasons imsak also especially within the
20th century is an expression of
political H life we find that people are
involved in a special form of imsak that
they call hunger strikes so therefore
you find find in many prisons of the
world when the prisoners are complaining
about uh poor conditions there are too
many prisoners in one cell they are not
being fed properly they are being
tortured by their the prison Warden then
they will do a type of iMac that is a
hunger strike and so they will not eat
food they will stay away from food and
they will move as a group involved in
this hunger strike in order to get their
mess message
across and a hunger strike has rules it
has Ka where you actually have to learn
and the people who have done hunger
strikes before they will tell you if you
are involved in this strike then you
should lessen your physical
activities you should stay out of the
sun they will give you lessons so that
you're able to carry out your hunger
strike for a long period of time and so
when the group within the prison does
the hunger strike then the word gets out
to the world the newspapers report it
and the prison authorities are usually
forced to change the conditions of the
prisoners so therefore this iMac this
abstinence was done for political
reasons and people are involved in this
they look forward to it and they even
consider it to be one of their strong
activities to gain Justice within
Society young people today especially
are involved in a new form of iMac and
that is abstinence for beauty
sake Beauty now in many parts of the
world is connected with being thin and
so therefore people will try to stay
away from uh uh carbohydrates and stay
away from sugar and they will eat less
in order to be able to wear the special
designer uh jeans or to put on certain
clothing they feel that having a thin
body is a sign of being a modern person
so they will do him sack they will stay
away from Foods they will stay away from
sweets in order to be beautiful in the
extreme case anorexia there are even
people who will literally throw up their
food because they are afraid of breaking
the rules of imak for beautyy sake so
therefore in the global culture today
which is being spread in the media of
the world h a slim look is is is is
pushing in young people to iMac Islam
which is the religion of all the
prophets and All Nations is special
because the reason for fasting has been
given to us by the creator of the
heavens and the Earth Allah subhana wa
ta'ala has given us in the final
Revelation in chap Bak the second
chapter verse
183
oh you who believe fasting has been
prescribed on you as it was prescribed
on those who came before you in order
that you would have tawa in order that
you would have God
Consciousness now people in many
religions look at fasting as a type of
experation a punishment for the body a
type of physical purification but in
Islam the final Revelation divine wisdom
has been given to us from above seven
Heavens so that you would have TAA what
is tawa the great Scholars of Islam have
told us it is a combination
of fear and hope it is AA it is a shield
a spiritual Shield surrounding the
believer and so the fasting is not for
beauty sake it is not a punishment
it is not for political reasons it is
not for health reasons although in many
cases we can gain good health our our
our bodies will beautify but that's not
the purpose it is to gain the
consciousness of Allah it is to gain
that H H feeling of the presence of the
creator of the heavens and the Earth
that drives us towards right action it
helps us to be Pious because we
recognize the presence of the cre
Creator and we give up food for Allah
subhah wa ta'ala we give up drinking for
Allah subhana wa ta'ala imagine people
living in the desert who need water in
order to survive but they give up the
water for the creator of the heavens and
the Earth imagine people who don't have
that much food but they will still give
up their food for the creator of the
heavens and the Earth so fasting when it
is done for Allah gives the believer a
type of of Consciousness that they are
able to come out of the month renewed
with Vigor they recognize the presence
of the creator of the heavens and the
Earth they have a shield around them so
when evil things have been given to them
when the drugs are coming in the urban
cities when people are offering them to
eat Haram Foods when gambling comes and
it appears that gambling will gain them
something in this world when the tests
and trials and temptations of this world
are placed before the believer after the
month of Ramadan it is The Shield it is
the W it is the fasting that comes to
the assistance of that person it is the
consciousness of the presence of Allah
subhana wa ta'ala creator of the heavens
and the Earth that stops that individual
so that they are able to say no I will
not take those drugs I will do it for
Allah no I will not gamble I will do it
for Allah no I will not eat Haram food I
will do it for Allah yes I will pray on
time I will do it for Allah yes I will
go to pilgrimage if I have the the
ability I will do it for Allah so the
lessons of Ramadan the fasting becomes a
shield it becomes a stimulant for that
person for the rest of the Year this is
Divine wisdom and we are blessed as
Muslims to be the followers of the last
and greatest Prophet Muhammad iban abdah
peace and blessings be upon Him may
Allah bless him forever and give the
Muslim success in this life and the next
was