welcome to the dean show I'm at your
host and it's Ramadan is that time of
the year and I bet you if you sit tight
there are in this episode several
questions that's probably been on your
mind that we're going to answer on this
week's show especially for Ramadan and
those fasting in Ramadan and those who
want to know about Ramadan we'll be
right
[Music]
back
the this is the
this is the de
show this is the this is the show this
is
the this is
the this is the the
dealam alikum greetings of
Peace how are you sh I'm doing excellent
how Ramadan special episode we want to
go ahead and first start off with what
is Ramadan what's the whole purpose of
Ramadan right so Ramadan is the month in
which the Quran was revealed to the
prophet Muhammad peace be upon him so
it's special so Allah chose that month
to be special where we get extra rewards
for doing things and we're going to be
fasting in this month of Ramadan why
fast why what what's the whole I got to
starve myself now everybody's eating I
got to go hungry yeah that's a very good
question so the thing is when you're
fasting you're keeping away from three
things you're avoiding food you're
avoiding drink you're avoiding
intercourse during the day from from
dawn until sunset now if you think about
the three things that God asked us to
stay away from these are like the three
human like the strongest human desires
that we have everyone's got to eat
everyone you know everyone gets hungry
everyone needs to eat something everyone
needs to drink something and there's a
very strong urge for you know
intercourse that you know human beings
have that intimacy and wanting to be
with someone and all of that so when you
can train yourself to resist these three
desires for a period of time you can
resist all the other things which are
prohibited for you you know you can
you're lying uh you know you're going
and drinking alcohol you're doing drugs
you can stay away from all those things
because you someone gives you some weed
someone gives you some beer or some like
that and you're like man I I stayed away
from water you know in the summer months
you know so it's like a training program
basically you train yourself so that you
can get self-discipline and that
self-discipline will lead you to get
closer to Allah and become a better a
servant of God beautiful I am going to
uh we have some questions compiled that
I bet most people out there they've
wanted to ask these maybe they it's
still on their minds we're going to try
to go through many of these questions
and hopefully you can answer them God
willing inshallah children when should
children start fasting yeah that's a
common question uh children the same
time when they start praying so the
prophet peace be upon him he said that
when children reach the age of seven
they should start praying and when they
reach the age of 10 you should parents
should discipline them meaning like
enforce that they're actually going to
be praying and the same thing applies
for fasting so they should start fasting
when they're seven years old try to you
know learn what fasting is fast three
days a month seven days whatever they
can handle they got age seven age8 age
nine where they're just testing it out
they try whenever they can if they get
hungry they can break it it's okay once
they hit the age of 10 they need to be
fasting every single day in the month of
Ramadan how sick does someone have to be
to skip fasting yeah so that's the thing
so if someone is sick they don't have to
fast so if you have a major illness you
have the flu uh you have some type of
chronic illness or whatever you don't
need to fast so if your if your body is
being harmed by fasting harmed to like
an actual extent right like a serious
extent if you had the flu uh you need
liquids you know to be able to get
through this uh this time you don't need
to fast but if you got like a little
cough you know just felt you know little
nose running or something like that or
you know at school they're like oh
you're going to have to run half a mile
today I can't do that you know it's too
difficult most people can get through it
you know so you're not allowed to break
your fast or skip fasting if it's
something very small like it's not going
to harm your body the moment is going to
be harming your body and it's going to
cause like major repercussions you know
for the following days or or longer
period of time that's when you want
that's that's when when the where the
where the limit basically is how about
pregnant women should they fast that's a
good question you know pregnant women
they should ask their and consult with
their physician they should ask their
doctor to see if it's safe for them to
fast because I've actually heard of
cases where women were fasting depends
on how long the day is if they became
dehydrated or whatever it can
potentially affect their baby and affect
them as well uh so they should really
consult with their doctor if they give
them the okay then they can fast if they
don't give them the okay they should not
go out of their way that would
potentially harm their body or their
baby and go ahead and fast anyways what
about breastfeeding women that's a
common question as well yeah so if they
breastfeeding and that's going to
somehow fasting is going to stop the
milk supply or something like that
they're allowed to skip that as well so
that is okay if uh breastfeeding women
they they're not able to pump and keep
the milk and feed the baby later or
something like that they can also skip
fasting what about women who
continuously get pregnant at the same
time now Ramadan comes around and they
keep breastfeeding how do they feel into
fit into this yeah so what can happen is
you know if you if you're pregnant and
then you're breastfeeding for a year or
two years and then you're pregnant again
in that period of time several Ramadan
can go by and you haven't fasted in
several years and you didn't get a
chance to make it up either because you
were continuously in that state so in
that case you're considered to be a
person who's like in a chronic you know
inability to be able to fast so you
don't need to go ahead and make those up
instead you can do what people who have
a chronic illness can do and that is
feed one poor person every day that you
missed a fasting feed a poor person feed
a poor person what if someone has a
chronic illness now right so anyone who
has any type of chronic illness uh
diabetes or they're just someone who's
very elderly in age it's very very
difficult for them to be able to get
through because of their health issues
their health conditions that they have
they don't need to fast because you know
Allah has made it easy for people he
doesn't want to overburden people and
make sure that're he doesn't want their
health to get messed up or something
like that so what they do instead for
every single day of fasting that they
miss they just feed one poor person for
uh one poor person for every single fast
that they're missing so if it's 30 days
in Ramadan you miss all 30 days you're
going to be feeding 30 poor people I
travel a lot for a person traveling how
do they incorporate the fasting yeah so
when you're traveling you have an
exception to the rule you have the
option to not fast so because fast you
traveling is usually a difficult thing
it takes a toll on people they're in an
airplane or something like that so you
can skip fasting while you're in a state
of travel but the thing to keep in mind
is that you don't have to skip fasting
some people have a Mis misconception
that if you're traveling I'm going from
you know I'm flying from here uh 1 hour
distance away in Airplane I'm traveling
technically do I have to break my fast
if it's easy for you to fast it's better
to fast but if you feel that there's
actually going to be some level of
difficulty or hardship involved then you
have the option to not fast and make it
up later we got one more before we go to
a break Ramadan starting and ending at
different times in different mids what
should a person do yeah uh this is an
issue because there are some different
opinions in terms of how Ramadan or when
Ramadan should be starting and when it
should be ending and it has to do with
uh Global cting of the Moon versus a
local sighting of the Moon versus as
using astronomical calculations my
advice is go with the mjid which you
feel is like your home Masjid you you
feel comfortable there you feel
comfortable with the Islam scholarship
there and what's really really important
is if that Masjid is not following the
opinion that you hold go ahead and set
the opinion that you hold aside and go
with that Masid anyways and make sure
that your family is not divided keep the
family together some families they split
and they go I'm going with that Masjid
and I'm going to start Ramadan on one
day I'm going to start Ramadan on
another day the family should be kept
together and that's very very important
because there are different opinions on
this issue and there are legitimate
differen of opinion so we shouldn't
cause to become a division for even
especially a locality that's 10 down of
the questions that most commonly are
asked during Ramadan we'll be back with
more God willing don't go anywhere
fasting makes you feel hunger which
every poor person suffers from in the
world this is how you would sympathize
with the poor and try to help them more
this is why every Muslim is required to
give food to the poor immediately by the
end of Ramadan the basic rules of
fasting are avoiding food drink and
sexual intercourse between Dawn and
sunset in the month of
Ramadan other levels must be added to
have real impact on the fasting person
the basic level of fasting will not
benefit one spiritually except from the
perspective of submission to Divine
instructions thus the ritual level alone
will not Purify one of sin the deeper
meaning of fasting is training the
spirit to control desires restraining
the spirit from the lawful human desires
for a while during fasting makes a
person more capable of preventing
himself from committing anything
unlawful at all times not only fasting
time it helps him control the negative
human emotions like anger it also helps
the person to overcome greed stinginess
and hatred this is what the prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him said Allah
has no need for the hunger and The
Thirst of the person who does not
restrain himself from telling lies and
acting on them even while observing the
fast welcome back to the dean show
questions during Ramadan fifth pillar of
Islam one is to agree that there's
nothing worthy of worship except the
creator of the heavens and earth Jesus
Moses Abraham Muhammad is the last and
final messenger including not excluding
all those that preceded him and giving
the pooru the zakat the Ramadan which
we're now right and Hajj pilgrimage
pilgrimage but the one we're focusing on
right now and Salah praying five times
minimum a day Islam is very simple and
easy to understand we cover why we fast
real briefly but now these are questions
that are on the mind of of of many
people now the next question that I have
is the different Tim taes that people
have at mids and this can create some
confusion what do you have to uh answer
that so uh the thing is when we're
determining the fuder time and we're
determining the ISA time there's a
different there's different ways to
calculate that whether you use 18° or
15° in terms of how low the sun is below
the Horizon so these are these are
calculations which are very they're not
absolute so what has happened actually
is people tried to estimate they say if
we want to find out exactly what the
prayer time is in a particular region
what is a good estimate to use that will
apply across the board unfortunately it
changes wherever you are depending on
where you are on the earth which country
you're in which state you're in even uh
so the thing is most people they're not
able to go outside and see the Horizon
to determine for themselves so there's
going to be a little bit difference in
timing when it comes to the calendar
that you're getting so what you really
should do is I would recommend for the
average person who can't investigate in
detail go with their local Scholars
counsel that's actually determining what
this calendar is and whatever you know
degrees that they fixed after doing
proper research don't worry about there
there being some discrepancy in timing
mhm vomiting Does vomiting someone will
ask does that break my my fast yeah so
vomit a common question yeah it's a
common question if you vomit
intentionally it will break your fast
but if you vomit unintentionally it just
you're just overcome by it then that's
not going to break your fast so you
don't induce vom if you induce vomiting
for yourself someone has an issue or
whatever it is that will break your fast
so only thing I could think of and it's
crazy but uh you know you used to be a
model you came to Islam and you know I
was thinking the same thing you're
forcing yourself you want to keep your
peti you can't be doing that right you
can't be doing that
okay next one um is it okay to take
these drops uh eye drops um different uh
medication eye drops ear drops nose
drops all these things as long as you're
not swallowing them they're not you know
ear canal no eyes they're not going to
be going into your mouth your nose drops
you just want to make sure if it gets
down into your throat you don't swallow
even if you have to take enemma as a
medicine or something like that all of
these things are fine they don't break
your fast because they don't really
nourish you and they don't make it down
into your stomach medical injections
medical injections also break fast so it
depends on what you're injecting so if
you're injecting something that is non
nourishing it doesn't resemble food like
if you're getting uh let's say a vaccine
you know uh you're getting a um uh
you're getting uh insulin or something
like that this is not considered to be
nourishing so it does not break your
fast just the needle going in does not
break your fast it depends what's in
there but if you are hospitalized and
they're putting glucose in your body
body glucose nourishes you that's what
it does right so it's like you're
basically drinking so in that sense it
will break your Fest so it depends
what's going in if it's nourishing if
it's going to the stomach it's going to
break your fast if it's non- nourishing
it just goes into your bloodstream and
it's not really changing anything like
it doesn't resemble food in any way
shape or form then in that case it's not
going to break your fast beautiful
continuing on answering your question I
told you you going to sit tight and
there's probably many of these that are
on your mind you didn't get a chance to
ask we got someone who can go ahead and
give us the answers mouthwash yeah so
mouthwash um is something that I would
recommend people avoid I would say that
it's disliked because the thing is it's
it's usually not necessary you usually
can brush your teeth brushing your teeth
would be okay but when it comes to using
mouthwash you're kind of gargling uh
many people will gargle try to get in
the back there I would stay avoid it but
it wouldn't break your fast if you're
using it mhm okay I've I've had the you
know the the morning before Dawn meal
right Zur before and now um the day goes
by and maybe I'm flossing and oh I got
that little piece it went down a little
bit of food that I swallowed uh what
what happens here yeah so again this is
uh unintentional so what happens is you
have the pre-dawn meal some you're
eating some poppy seed whatever it may
be kind of stuck in your teeth and all
of a sudden you're like kind of picking
at it and it all of a sudden just comes
in your mouth you swallow it it's
perfectly fine because you did it
accidentally if you eat or drink
accidentally even if you eat I mean
totally forgetfully you eat a quarter of
a burger or something like that and then
you remember all of a sudden you got to
stop immediately if you got food in your
mouth you spit the rest out and you
resume your fasting it did not break
your fast Good Deeds are multipli during
the month of Ramadan absolutely so I
want to get blood what happens is that
acceptable absolutely so what happened
with with with blood it it could
potentially weaken you so if you're
giving blood if it can weaken you to the
point where it's making your fasting
very difficult for you it's better not
to give blood but if you're okay when
you give blood you don't really get weak
per you're perfectly fine you could walk
around everything's going to be fine
there's nothing wrong with giving blood
it's not going to break your fast asthma
inhalers asthma inhalers as well so
there is a difference of opinion among
Scholars on this but I believe it's okay
because it's going into the lungs and
it's not really nourishing your body in
any way so that's considered to not
break your fast as well someone might
ask is it okay to wear perfume or any of
uh cologn during Ramadan right have you
been asked that yeah I've been asked
that so some people think that because
you're going to be inhaling it and
you're smelling it it's like incense and
it's like smoke you know going into your
mouth or something just simply smelling
perfume is not going to break your fast
there's nothing wrong with it at all
okay so it's encouraged to smell good
all the time absolutely okay but but
what about the distinction now with the
man and the woman the woman yes of
course there's there's the issue of a
woman wearing very strong perfume that's
going to be luring and enticing men so
they should be careful about that right
so that that's something that is not
allowed in Islam moving along we're
flying through many of these important
questions um someone it gets hot right
very hot sometimes you're working
outside or just being outside and now
you want to cool off you know taking
some nose and some some water and um
gargling splashing it on you in your
nose yeah so that's perfectly fine I
mean you can you can go and you know
rinse your mouth with water kind of just
moistens it you know and and some people
will say well but some water goes in
your water is absorbed by your tongue it
goes into your body yes it does uh but
you're not intentionally going and and
swallowing it so it's allowed you do
that in wo when you're performing woodo
you're making ablution you're going to
be putting water in your mouth while
you're fasting as well so the prophet
peace be upon him did it it's allowed
you want to take a bath you want to take
a shower or something like that cool
down it's getting a little bit tough
last few hours of fasting it's
summertime you can go ahead go ahead
jump in a tub or something like that
it's perfectly fine to cool down
beautiful we just got through 21
Questions we got another nine left I
want to get through and I'm sure you do
also so don't go anywhere we'll be right
back here on the dean show don't go
anywhere the essence of the Sciences of
self-development and management of time
and resources in the world call for One
important principle control your desires
and do not let them control
you in this age of gratification many
things are used to fulfill human desires
as soon as they have them the ability to
delay gratification is an important
skill and fasting helps in devel
veloping such skill fasting is primarily
between the person and Allah and because
of this intimate aspect of fasting Allah
was quoted by the prophet as saying
Every Act of Adam's descendants is for
themselves except fasting it is meant
for me alone and I alone will give the
reward for it
back here on the dean show we're talking
about Ramadan people are fasting as
their connection to their creator as it
was prescribed to those before you is
prescribed upon you that you may
increase in
tawa what is tawa someone saying what is
that real quick what what does that mean
tawa tawa means you become you're
conscious of God you think about God all
the time and whenever you're doing
something you remember that God is
watching you that's what it means to
have tawa someone says okay I missed the
fast how quickly should I make up the
fast yeah so ideally you should try to
make it up as soon as you can uh some
people want to take a little bit break
or whatever it is you have to make it up
by the next Ramadan that's like if you
if you delay for an entire year until
the next Ramadan comes and you haven't
made up the fast that you were supposed
to make up then you can be sinful for
that but prior to that that you should
try to make it up you know in in a
reasonably sufficient time after a few
weeks if you need to maybe a month or so
you shouldn't delay too long but you
should never ever exceed until the next
Ramadan comes and you're like I don't
have time to make it up now if someone
broke their fast they they were just too
hungry right they just ended up breaking
their fast that cheeseburger whatever
that looked looked too good they and
they ate their friend had it and they
just kept you know pushing them pushing
them you know teasing them maybe you
shouldn't be around watch who you're
also hanging out with but they they
ended up breaking the fast do they just
pray to God Almighty Allah to forgive
them and and just move on what what do
they do in this case continue to fast or
or no it's it's gone for that day right
so I mean uh they should they should
first they should refrain from fasting
the rest of the day um even though their
fast is technically broken now when you
break your fast in Ramadan intentionally
like this you're like you know I just I
just want to eat man I just I'm just
hungry I don't want to fast anymore
there's no medical condition there's no
like legitimate excuse this is a very
very serious thing and there's a penalty
for it as well and the penalty for doing
that is well we can't free a slave
anymore so the other penalty is that you
have to actually make up 60 days of
continuous consecutive fasts because you
broke your fast in the month of Ramadan
it's not a joke at all this is a penalty
that's been prescribed by the prophet
Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him
so many people don't know that they're
like oh well it's just one I'll just
make it up no you're not just making up
one now you're being penalized you have
to make up 60 consecutively in a row
without breaking it and that's the
penalty for for for for breaking for
basically what you're doing you're
violating the sanctity of the month of
Ramadan and that's a very serious thing
if you ask so we talked about if you
accidentally let's say you unconsciously
you drink some water and you oh man it's
so that's that's different so you
unconsciously did it you forgetfully did
it that's understandable your fast is
not broken it's overlooked but you are
Del saying you know what I'm I just
don't want to fast anymore that's that's
when you get penalized for it that's you
like rebelling against Allah and just
saying you know what I just I can't take
this any I just want to eat a burger man
I'm hungry yeah you just gone against
you know a major major command of Allah
you g against one of the pillars of
Islam and most of us don't know what
starving is starving actually occurs man
after several days of of not eating so
this technically absolutely yeah
absolutely okay so that's that's not
excuse well tell us um people ask okay I
to the twi prayer some places is eight
some places is 20 yeah so you know what
there are different opinions on this
there's different ways the prophet peace
be upon him did not specify the number
in 100% clear detail in terms of so if
some mid is praying eight your another
one's praying 20 some people make it a
big deal I don't go to that 20 Masjid or
the other one I don't go to that mjid
where they pray eight it's okay both of
these are acceptable opinions and there
are other opinions as well Im Malik and
other scholar said you could pray 36 you
could pray another number so it's not
the number that you're praying it's the
that you're actually praying the fact
that you're breaking them up in twos and
you're taking breaks in between that's
what is all about so don't make it into
a a huge deal or something to debate
about it's okay if you pray either
one when people ask when when does this
need to be paid what is this so this
sometimes is called but it's not the
normal zaka this F that you pay is
basically something you give before the
day ofid before Ramadan ends so that
you're giving it to those people who who
are are in need and they don't have to
work on the day of Eid some people they
live literally as they say hand to mouth
you know they they need to make their
living for that day everyone deserves to
enjoy and celebrate the Day ofid right
so what you're doing is when every
Muslim gives a certain amount of money
to those people who who really are
deserving who really need it so that
they don't need to work on the day of e
they can enjoy the day themselves as
well so you should be giving this every
mjid usually solicits it and they ask
okay well you know what it's time to pay
now we have a box going around they set
what the amount is the amount is a
certain amount of food stuffs depending
on what it's calculated sometimes it's
like $8 sometimes it's like $15 it's
really not that much but so you need to
give that you need to give it on behalf
of your family members as well and it's
very important you don't wait till the
last minute and the reason why I want to
emphasize that is when you wait till the
last minute most organizations Islamic
organiz gations they don't have the
means to distribute it to the right
people in time so I would say try to
give it at least one week before Ramadan
ends or two weeks before Ramadan ends
and don't wait till the last minute
don't wait till the last minute a few
more questions uh dentist can I go to
the dentist so the thing is when you're
going to the dentist usually they got a
lot of water going into your mouth and
you know it's it's so you're kind of uh
you know unintentionally going to be
getting a lot of water being swallowed
unintentionally so you should try to
schedule your Dentistry work and your
your appointments and all of that around
the month of Ramadan as much as much as
possible uh swimming some people want to
know can I go swimming during Ramadan
yeah so if you generally are not going
to be swallowing water uh you know how
to swim and you know it's not going to
be going into your mouth then you're
allowed to go ahead go go swimming
especially if you need to do it as a
career or something like that it's
permissible but just make sure you're
not swallowing any water yeah and and
make sure you're swimming in a nice
environment right and make sure you're
swimming in a good clean and uh mod
environment yeah uh do I have to renew
my intention every night for fasting
yeah that's another common question the
thing is you actually don't so you can
make an intention to fast the whole
month of Ramadan and as long as you're
fasting every single day you wake up in
the morning you already know that you're
going to be fasting even if it wasn't
conscious you made the intention for the
whole month but if you get sick in the
middle of the month and then you don't
fast you need to renew your intention in
terms of now I'm going to be restarting
My fasting again so you can make the
intention for the entire block of time
and that will suffice as well someone's
asking can I pray witer behind an IM who
prays it a different way yeah so there
are some people who make the the the
supplication the Dua out loud there are
some people who do three straight some
people who pray two units and then they
do one unit and some people feel like I
can't pray behind that IM he doesn't
pray the way that I pray my Witter the
way that I was taught I mean there are
differences of opinion on this it's okay
to pray behind an IM as long as he's
following a legitimate opinion within
Islam scholarship so the way that it
works is when you're praying behind an
IM you will be following the opinions of
the Imam that you're following and they
become your own opinion so it's okay so
if even if you know the Imam is praying
a little bit different than you you can
follow what you're doing but it's not
going to break your prayer it's not
going to be any problem so this is
perfectly fine now you're staying
staying in in Twi prayer and you're
listening to the Imam and some people
hold the mus or maybe an iPad with an
app Quran app is this allowed so the
thing is um it shouldn't be done the
reason why it shouldn't be done is one
it's very distracting for people next to
you obviously um people are trying to
concentrate you have a light emitting
device you know your cell phone up there
or something like that you're making a
lot of movements too if you're holding a
mus a copy of the Quran when you go down
into your prostration you got to hold it
up somehow and you're not able to do the
correct things I mean the thing is we
don't do this during our five daily
prayers right we pray and we we read
whatever suras we're we're reading and
we read whatever Quran we know and if
we're praying behind an IM whatever the
Imam decides to read we just we stay
there and we kind of listen along I know
people try to do it because they they
like to follow along and I understand
that mentality but that's not the
ultimate purpose of prayer you could do
that read your Quran outside of prayer
so it's not something that should be
standard practice um so some Scholars
may have permitted it but there's a lot
of excessive movement and motion I
recommend is better not to do these type
of things we did it 30 questions
alhamdulillah some of the most common
questions asked during Ramadan
absolutely um that's it any advice for
people now this Ramadan before we come
to a to an end that's it I just I I you
know Ramadan people have a lot of
questions and sometimes they're too shy
to ask the questions and you should you
should not shy away it's better to have
knowledge than to remain in ignorance so
ask the people of knowledge some people
just grab their phone number uh your
local IM if he's willing to share your
number his number with you you can text
message him questions text people back I
do it every single Ramadan uh go and
take a class on Ramadan go read up a
little bit try to understand so you can
prepare yourself really well and you
have a good you will have the best
Ramadan aim to have the best Ramadan
you've ever had you want to make sure
you end that Ramadan being closer to
Allah than you were the previous Ramadan
Abraham said Peace Moses said Peace
Jesus said Peace Muhammad the last and
final messenger he also greeted with
this greeting we started with and ending
with peace be with you Asam peace be
with youum
Asam and just as they greeted with peace
and they submitted to the owner of Peace
because you cannot get piece in a
sixpack of Budweiser or smoking that do
or that gonja all day and night and just
partying and kicking it now is the time
to reflect really You' tuned in to the
dean show you've been LED here for a
reason if you're not yet Muslim this is
the way of life that we're living that
Jesus lived Moses lived Abraham lived
all the preceding Messengers that came
before Muhammad Muhammad is just the
last they all came with the same message
worship the Creator not the creation and
do good deeds prepare for the day of
judgment because life is short it's
going to end at any time and they fasted
and that's what we're doing this month
of Ramadan I hope you had a chance to
enjoy and benefit from these questions
subscribe if you haven't already and
we'll see you next time until then peace
be with you asalam thank God
alhamdulillah we've been doing this over
10 years 500 plus episodes and we bring
on some of the most amazing guests so
we're going to have a lot of fun cover a
lot of ground a lot of exciting topics
you don't want to miss out you want to
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willing inshallah subscribe right now
and enjoy all of the content that we're
going to be putting out for you thank
you peace be with you asalam Alum and
don't forget as as I asked you to do
already if you haven't subscribe right
now
[Laughter]