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in the name of Allah the beneficent the
merciful I send praises to Allah the
creator of the heavens and the Earth and
I send peace and blessings to the our
beloved Prophet Muhammad Alat wasam we
also send peace and blessings to all of
the messengers who came from the
beginning of time to ibraim Alam mam
isaam to all those Messengers who came
to every nation and every tribe and we
begin with the greeting words of the
righteous asalam
alaykum the month of Ramadan is a
blessed occasion the month of Ramadan is
a time of reflection it is a time of
forgiveness it is a time where Believers
are able to gain the best of this world
and also success in the Hereafter and
the prophet Muhammad Alat
wasam was the last of the prophets he
was the one who was the seal or the
finality of all those who came before
him the prophets taught their people the
belief in one God the prophets taught
their people that they should uh Express
this belief in prayer they also taught
their people about charity that they
should give from themselves to those who
were needy and unfortunate but the
prophets also taught imsak they taught
fasting that their followers should stay
away from Earthly desires for a specific
period of time every
year the prophet Muhammad peace be upon
him was the last of Messengers and so
this message had to be not only good or
not only relevant for the Arab people
but relevant to Every Nation every tribe
every climate all people who would live
on this Earth until the day of
resurrection and so the prophet
sallallah alhi wasallam gave the
Believers and gave to the world a
complete package a way to fast and rules
for keeping this fast which would make a
person successful so that that person
could go through a period of purif ation
and be able to live in the heat of the
desert or the snow in the winter in high
altitudes in jungles in any part of the
world the prophet peace be upon him did
not speak from himself he spoke from
above seven heavens and if we are to
look into some of his traditions we can
develop a pattern for the month of
Ramadan through this pattern of fasting
through these H Divine instructions
we are able to get the best out of the
month of Ramadan and also to really
understand and to live those benefits
which are so necessary for the success
of the believer the prophet peace be
upon him in a Hadith which is reported
in sah Muslim has informed us that the
difference between our fast and the fast
of the people of the book is the morning
breakfast he also said in a Hadith which
is reported Inari and
Muslim he
said that you
should take this early morning breakfast
for there is there are blessings there
are great blessings in or that morning
meal which is taken by the Believers we
are also informed on the authority of
Zade IIT
he said that we took with the prophet
peace and blessings be upon him and then
we stood to pray FAA I asked how much
time Gap was there between them and he
replied the time required to Read 50
verses and
so 50 verses from the Quran when a
Believer normally reads that that time
is the gap in between finishing s and
beginning the F what is important for us
to to understand in looking at this day
that the Islamic fast is a balanced one
it is one that that that helps the
believer to be strong physically and
also to benefit from the day so when we
look at S as a meal we should recognize
the fact that it is not uh filling up
our stomach
it is not uh quenching our thirst for
the whole day because that is impossible
so sahor should be a meal which is Rich
that has vitamins in it that has the
necessary food the necessary strength
that we need to continue throughout the
day it does not necess necessarily have
to be a a huge meal that fills us up
because by putting too much food inside
of our stomach we expand ourself and
then uh there is gas there are problems
for the believer during the day and so
take a light wholesome
s after we take it remember that f is
beginning at the astronomical Twilight
it is at the Dawn and in the Quran Allah
subhana tala reveals to the Believers
inah Bak in verse 185 Allah reveals that
you should eat and drink until the white
thread is distinguished from the black
thread and it is reported that one of
the sahabah actually stood with a black
thread and a white thread trying to
distinguish between the two the prophet
peace be upon him then informed him no
it is not that but it is that line that
goes across the Horizon that is the
distinguishing line which gives us the
astronomical Twilight and that is when
the FAA begins so with that call to
prayer We Begin our fasting day and it
is crucial for us to begin already
having made intention so the Nia or the
intention is made before F so even if a
person H goes to sleep in the evening
and makes the intention and for some
reason over sleeps the time of then the
intention is made and when they get up
then they have they have already begun
the fast because of the intention after
this we begin our day in the month of
Ramadan fasting is not an escape from
the life of this world a saw him a
fasting person is not a monk in a
monastery we live in the world but we
are not of the world and so our iMac
should be done in normal activities that
we carry out during the day and so we
stay away from food we stay away from
drink we stay away from sexual activity
the key to all of the detailed rules of
F that we will get from the great
Scholars concerning this month is that
the food and the drink should not enter
any of the openings of the body and
descend to Al it shouldn't go down into
the stomach area so this would include
not only the normal food and drink but
if a person is chewing gum or they have
uh tobacco or chewing tobacco
and the flavor goes down into the
stomach they are breaking their fast if
a person is goggling water during the
day they should not goggle heavily just
in the front of the mouth it is
permissible to use the miswak but we
should try to avoid uh those uh elements
those type of substances that would put
sweetness down into our stomach we
should also avoid smoking cigarettes
because the the nicotine can also
descend and so therefore the fasting is
a complete activity and there are
certain rules that we should follow one
interesting point especially now that we
are into the fast is that many people uh
in the beginning especially new Muslims
or young Muslims who may not be
accustomed to fasting may have a a
fountain or a certain you know glass of
water or something to drink so in the
first day or so they may even make a
mistake
so a person may uh be in the first or
second or the first week of fasting and
then pick up a glass of water just out
of a reflex and drink it they may even
eat some food and drink it it is
reported that one of the the the the
brothers Muslims in North America sat
down and ate a whole meal and when he
finished the meal he said oh Allah I'm
fasting but the prophet Sall wasallam
gave us a prescription that could
protect us and take us out of any
difficulty and he said whoever eats or
drinks by mistake forgetfully should
continue to
fast that Allah subhana tala was the one
who gave him the food and gave him the
drink and so if we make a mistake then
we should continue on in the month of
Ramadan we should recognize however that
not only are we avoiding the physical
food we also avoid uh uh words come that
come out of our mouth we also avoid uh
thinking bad thoughts we also avoid
being involved in Haram actions and
Haram Deeds one uh issue which is very
important is that the eyes are involved
too so we should look out for television
programs which would take us off the
path of Islam but we live a normal life
and we continue until the time
of when this time comes as soon as the
aan is given as soon as the sun sets
then the prophet Sall wasallam has
informed us the people will continue to
be in a righteous State as long as they
hurry up
for so we come to the
table oh Allah for you I have fasted and
with your Provisions I am breaking my
fast and we begin with the if
it is the Sunnah of the Prophet peace
and blessings be upon him to begin with
water and dates in either way the water
purifies and cleans our inside It
prepares us the dates give us a natural
form of sugar and so the engine in a
sense uh begins to roll and so it is a
natural way to come out of the fast we
should avoid eating too much at once
some people are thinking well I've lost
12 hours in some countries you lost 17
hours without eating so he wants to make
up for all of the food within the first
five minutes this is a mistake take the
way of the Prophet peace be upon him the
easy middle balanced Road and start with
a very light uh ifar and then after
making prayer then we come back and we
are able to take a nice size meal the
important issue is that we should
recognize the fact that this fast is not
like the people of the book this fast is
not like somebody who is fasting for
beauty sake but this fast is the way of
the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings
be upon him who was the Seal of the
prophets he was the final messenger who
came to every nation and every tribe so
therefore we thank Allah subhana wa
taala for this complete message we thank
Allah subhana wa ta'ala for a fast
that not only will protect our bodies
but will enrich us it cleans our system
cleans our mind cleans our way of life
and helps us to be successful in this
life and in the Hereafter this is the
balanced fast of the Prophet Muhammad
peace and blessings be upon him and
people are fasting alhamdulillah in
China in Russia in Africa in the Middle
East in Europe in the americ
all of the all over the world there are
people who are controlling themselves
and submitting to Allah subhanahu I
leave you with these thoughts I ask
Allah to have mercy on me and
you