Ramadan is here! What have you prepared for it?
We extend our thoughts to those who may find the month challenging, such as new Muslims and individuals without Muslim family members, emphasizing the importance of inclusion and support within our community. As we highlight the value of charitable acts and community integration during the last ten days, we also ponder the exceptional nature of this time for spiritual and communal connection.
Wrapping up, we delve into the trove of Islamic resources that can enrich our Ramadan experience. From utilizing calendars and revisiting the Seerah to engaging with scholars and Islamic streaming apps, we cover a spectrum of educational tools that can help you get the most out of your Ramadan!
As we express our gratitude and excitement for the month ahead, we welcome you to join the dialogue, share your insights, and grow with us in Eman. Our discourse is laced with the hope that Allah SWT accepts our deeds and prayers, and that this Ramadan leaves an indelible mark on our hearts and communities.
Please do not forget to donate and give as much as you can to people suffering around the world. Remember our brothers and sisters in Gaza, Sudan, Congo and many other places.
Visit our IG page at https://www.instagram.com/dc_overcoffee/ to join the conversation!
Ramadan is here! What have you prepared for it?
We extend our thoughts to those who may find the month challenging, such as new Muslims and individuals without Muslim family members, emphasizing the importance of inclusion and support within our community. As we highlight the value of charitable acts and community integration during the last ten days, we also ponder the exceptional nature of this time for spiritual and communal connection.
Wrapping up, we delve into the trove of Islamic resources that can enrich our Ramadan experience. From utilizing calendars and revisiting the Seerah to engaging with scholars and Islamic streaming apps, we cover a spectrum of educational tools that can help you get the most out of your Ramadan!
As we express our gratitude and excitement for the month ahead, we welcome you to join the dialogue, share your insights, and grow with us in Eman. Our discourse is laced with the hope that Allah SWT accepts our deeds and prayers, and that this Ramadan leaves an indelible mark on our hearts and communities.
Please do not forget to donate and give as much as you can to people suffering around the world. Remember our brothers and sisters in Gaza, Sudan, Congo and many other places.
Visit our IG page at https://www.instagram.com/dc_overcoffee/ to join the conversation!
Assalamu alaikum, welcome to difficult conversations where we tackle taboo topics in a safe space through empowerment and education. The information on this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional mental health advice.
Speaker 2:Assalamu alaikum everyone, welcome back, and today we are recording episode on Ramadan and what's the month of Ramadan is going to bring for us, and we're going to share our own personal experiences and what we are looking forward to it. So I want to go ahead and get started by asking my two co-hosts and about the things that they are looking forward to in this month of Ramadan. So what are some things that you guys looking forward to in this month?
Speaker 1:For me, honestly, like I know, it's not the beginning of the year in the Islamic calendar or otherwise, but I always look forward to Ramadan being like a spiritual reset for me. And you know this is a time where it's the month of the Quran and it's a time where you really try to get, at least for me, as close as you can to the Quran, trying to get rid of at least one bad habit and develop a new habit that you can hopefully continue, whether it's, you know, if you are not praying, starting to pray if you are praying, you know, doing like a sunnah if you are already doing a sunnah, trying to maybe do a couple more sunnahs, or incorporating, you know, night prayers and stuff like that. So for me, it's more of like trying to cleanse myself spiritually and physically as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that's the same thing for me as well, except I feel like every Ramadan I try it's almost like a New Year's resolution. I kind of over, I take on a lot of things, and then I'm like okay. And then during the month of Ramadan, I'm like okay, you know, I just focus in this one area. So this year too, I feel like that's what I'm doing. I think, like Abshurah said, for me it's a spiritual cleansing and it's a reset. At the same time, it's also some. It's like Ramadan is like the month that I am the prime, like the example you know, like, and I I try to keep that same energy throughout the year. So I tried to set myself off like it's almost like a New Year for me, ramadan when it comes to spiritually.
Speaker 2:I tried.
Speaker 3:you know, I have this energy and this optimism about like, how curious I am about my Dean, how in depth I try to look into things and how I involve my Dean and everything in my thought process and so on and so forth, and then normally after Ramadan, to be honest, it kind of like it's down a little bit.
Speaker 3:So I just have to. My goal every year is like make sure this time it lasts longer, and then every year there has been some elements of that Ramadan that has stayed with me throughout my life, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Do you guys plan in advance on how to get ready for Ramadan or do you guys do it simultaneously as the month comes along? Because right now we're in Shaban and a lot of people are fasting and getting ready for Ramadan and getting mental, spiritual operations and what fasting might be like for them. How do you guys kind of navigate that?
Speaker 1:I think ideally, you know I try to plan it out, whether it's the cooking, the meals or, you know, breaking down the Quran and being like, okay, this week I want to really get to this milestone and then the following week I want to get to this milestone, but I don't think it. I have a hard time having it stick, you know, having it having me like really going through what I actually plan to do, because things come up and you know you're invited here, you're invited there, and it comes so fast and by the time you know it, I'm like I find myself in the middle, like 15th day of Ramadan, and I'm just like, oh my gosh, what did I do? I didn't. You know I didn't finish as much Quran as I wanted to. I didn't.
Speaker 1:So it's like the first you start off super motivated you know, and then by the second week you kind of in the groove of things and kind of like the third week, I'm like, okay, like it's scrambling time, right, what can I finish, what could I do, and stuff like that. So that's what I want to change this year. I feel like I want to really put less things on my plan, you know, on goals, so that at least I am able to hit at least one of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the thing is that sorry.
Speaker 2:I was going to say how I do it, how I prepare for my month of Ramadan. I honestly make those to-do lists that I have, but the thing is that I even though I'm mindful of the whole 30 days. So I kind of break it down three ways. The first 10 days of Ramadan is basically a preparation right, how I can mentally, physically, spiritually be present with that process. So it's going to be up and down, so I'm not like 100% going into that one. And then the middle is like okay, I'm kind of dipping again. I'm noticing my like the level of motivation is a little bit lower.
Speaker 2:The actual 10 days is what I work for. That's my ultimate goal. That's where everything goes to. That last 10 days, like sleep is like not like something on my mind, because I'm like going hard on the last 10 days, with even spirituality. I go really hard in the last 10 days because I feel like, if this is my last Ramadan, this because there are people that you fast with or might not be there If this is my last Ramadan, what did I do in the last 10 days of it so that I feel like Allah has forgiven me for the things that I have not really well done for the first two 10 days that I have not been really well done of it, and a lot does not expect perfection from us, and the thing is that that's part of it, and so the thing that I do is like I really go hard on that. But, like you said, I don't have so many things on my list this year. It's like kind of.
Speaker 2:I was talking to a friend the other day and we all was talking about like she said maybe we should figure out a lot of specific things that we wanted to do, and then I said I've been really struggling for really a while with Qashuah and prayer. I feel like I am hasty in my prayer. I feel like I'm running through it. I feel like I don't even do the thick hair, the little like two minute thick hair that it takes for us to do, because I just pray and then I run and sometimes I don't even remember which Rakha that I'm on and then so I have to do the last, you know, sujood, in order for me to recover, because my mind is like going 3000 miles while I'm praying, and I think I'm praying to be mindful is the one thing, because I feel like if my prayer is not in order. I don't think everything else matters, and so that's what I'm hoping, that I can kind of like hold on to it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I relate so much to everything that you were saying. For me, too, the idea of like being mindful, being present, being making sure that you have a realistic goal. For me, for a very long time growing up, I think Ramadan was the prep, like a physical preparation, like that's what got us like ready to Ramadan, so like you would like clean your house, and then there's like a whole cooking session that happens right Like you do, like 20, not 20, like 200, 300, you know, wrap some booze and like the scooters and everything.
Speaker 3:So, like your house is clean and you have this smell of the aroma of the scoot and, you know, like the aroma of some mousa that's just been like prepared and frozen and all of these things, that's what, like when I associate Ramadan is coming, it's more of like there's a physical reaction to Ramadan. To me there's a spiritual one too, but then the physical one is that's more like there. I'm trying to. So therefore I've carried that to my house as well, with my family too. Like we're clean the house and we prepare Ramadan, like the physical aspects of it. But then now I'm trying to include, like the spiritual aspect where we're like basically create your own tradition.
Speaker 3:Exactly. Yeah, so listening to like we, instead of waking up in the morning and you know we play Quran and the stereo system in the house and everybody's just kind of trying to make it part of our day today I'm kind of getting our mind to like, okay, you know, this is another day with Quran and like, okay, we listen to another you know Jews, whatever the case might be and then we kind of also have these conversations about like me and my husband, we send each other lectures because you know your algorithm. Also during Ramadan, time changes because you're focused on you know the related stuff. So we send each other videos and we talk a lot more about like you know the lectures that we listen to. That's like the our dinner conversations.
Speaker 3:So, it's kind of gets integrated a little bit so that's what we're trying to do a little bit more focus on, too, but more consciously.
Speaker 2:I'm kind of curious now that Bonnie brought it up, what are some new tradition that are you guys are implementing in your household that is not similar to what your family are used to like? Bonnie saying that she wants to implement more spirituality to the process of, like, the month of fasting. What are other traditions that your tradition that your kids, like you, wanted to expose your kids to?
Speaker 1:I think for me, I really, really want to get my kids excited about Ramadan, you know, get them really like excited about the spirit and teach them in the process. You know, my daughter, she she's like, oh, you know, we should, you know, decorate Ramadan. Ramadan's coming, let's do, let's put lights up and you know, and all that stuff. So I have a couple days planned to just do some crafts and make the house like warm and maybe put up like like a little. Have you guys seen those videos where they like carve out like a whole minaret and a musted thing for the kids? Yeah, and maybe like just put it in a corner and just just get them really excited about it? Because I think, growing up like I, the things that I really loved about Ramadan was like the throw it outside. I remember like I feel like my favorite memory is do you remember like North Masjid when it used to be so packed in Ramadan?
Speaker 1:Yes, no, yes, and then we used to like play outside with like the 10th and stuff, and it was it was in the summertime and so like that's one of my favorite, favorite memories and just my goal this Ramadan is getting my kids involved and just getting them excited about going to the Masjid, why we pray, why we do trauma and what the purpose of Ramadan is. Because now they're at that age where they're like why, why, why so and I can.
Speaker 3:I can say that you know, for me I had to always say like I had two separate childhoods, right, and I feel like my relations with my Dean and like the where the seeds of my Dean was like planted in my life was in my earlier childhood and it's because of this chaos that would erupt in our household because of Ramadan and it's, like I said, the physical aspect of like my mom cleaning the house and like putting new curtains and new you know she does and like new decor is, and my dad going and getting like new stereos, like whatever you know like, and you just feel the excitement in the air and then I think also making sure like you're getting your kids, like I'm sure I said where it's like Ramadan's coming.
Speaker 3:Oh my god, Ramadan's two days away, three days away, and then when it is there, kind of making sure, like my favorite time was either iftar or going to Tarawee sorry, going to Tarawee, because back home the, the Mosque was in Mercato and the one we went to anyway was in Mercato and the Mercato is like the biggest market in America and in Africa. And the biggest open market in Africa.
Speaker 3:And imagine that big open market having some musa's cooking and like all the smell and everybody looks like you, because all the Muslims look like they descended in that space when you're a little everybody covers doing. Yeah, and so I like the unison aspect of it. Ramadan tastes so good and feels so good when you're back home or when you're like in a Muslim country.
Speaker 3:So I think getting that, that aspect that made me love like, have love for the Dean, and I think I can honestly say, like the second part of my childhood where my little sister grew up in, she didn't have that because Ramadan and our family was the fasting aspect, there wasn't a lot of excitement. We did Musa's, we fasted, we washed dishes, we went to Masjid, came back Kalaas, so she didn't have that like early childhood experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, early childhood experience. So for it more like ritualistic versus like exactly spiritual, exactly.
Speaker 3:So something kind of like a to-do list. Yeah, you know what I mean. And for her it was mostly about starving, like you know what. I mean Literally like so she didn't have and I honestly like feel like the reason why she feels she might not have the same like beautiful, like excitement about Ramadan as I do, you know about it is because of that difference, like I got to experience, like what got me through the second half was the first half of that makes sense, and the first was that was the only thing.
Speaker 3:So I know that, what it feels like to and what the outcome could be if you don't have that with your children. So that's what I'm trying to do. My kids are a little too small, they won't understand, so I won't be doing the whole like decoration thing, but like I'll be like here's new clothes. They, like you know, not music to me.
Speaker 1:But I think kids, you know there's, so even though you know there might be young, they're so attuned to like your attitudes and energy and stuff like that. And so I think for the Ramadan, even though you're tired, even though you're hungry, just kind of like holding yourself back and kind of being as excited as you were, as bubbly as you were, because then they don't, you don't want them to associate that mom is tired, mom is, you know, not as excited to play with me because of Ramadan. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's actually a good point.
Speaker 2:And I think the biggest aspect of it for me. I would say that Ramadan was similar like for all of us. In many aspects of it too, I think it changes over time. As the older you get the those attachment that you have kind of minimize, because everything in the US just feels so maintained and doesn't have similar excitement, unless you are one of those individuals who are very excited, very like looking forward to planning, and I know some people who actually does that for their kids, that go all out for it, um, but it's kind of noticing that and hearing you guys talk about changing those tradition and kind of implementing that into your family. It's something that I feel like it's always good for all the families to have. But my other question for you guys to also is to kind of like what is the difficult aspect of Ramadan when you are kind of, if you can think about it, like what was the difficult thing about Ramadan, that you're like this is just getting too long for me to kind of deal with it.
Speaker 3:Is it the food? Is it the?
Speaker 2:multiple things that you're running after. Is it the coffee? What is it the difficult? Is it like the interactions?
Speaker 1:I think for me, like my biggest hurdle I would say to um, my spiritual development and kind of I feel like getting the best of Ramadan is the whole cooking aspect of it. Like if I could like outsource all that, I feel like I would have the best Ramadan Um, because you know you, you are probably cooking for from like two hours a day, right, and if you haven't prepared your sambusa or whatever, that's a whole ordeal in itself and by the time you're done cooking um, you can't even like stand in Teraweeh and fully be present and pray because you're just so tired and exhausted from the cooking and um and all that stuff. And a lot of times I feel like it, it falls on our shoulders. Yeah, um, and my biggest thing, the Ramadan, is trying to find ways to, you know, get help or, you know, trying to put that through a system somehow so it can make Ramadan less about cooking and more about um, the superiority and and Quran and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, that's the same thing for me too, but I'm a Kipirah buck, I think for me the food part is very hard. Uh, the first five to 10 days I I have, or you know, high metabolism. So I'm consistently snacking all the time, and my coffee, my God, I I get like migraines of I don't drink coffee, so my body you work from home right?
Speaker 3:Well, now I do, and that's also the other hard part is that, um, before, actually like as as soon as like three years ago, I used to work very physically demanding jobs where I had to, like in hospitals I had to go to, like you know, like three, eight floors a day, walking up and down, right, and it's not just me, there's a lot of people that work in different professions, that are they're physically exerting themselves, and that's very hard, especially when you are physically exerting yourself, you're fasting, and if you're someone like me, that's, you know, that's addicted to coffee and you can't drink your coffee and you're fighting migraines and you can't take medication because you know, like, it's like it's just a recipe, so like, until my body starts like getting, uh, getting caught up with the system, uh, then it's the first 10 days is like normally a dread.
Speaker 1:Have you thought of like trying to take coffee out now while you're ahead of the game, Like two weeks in?
Speaker 3:I do that, I do that and that's why after 10 days normally like cause it takes, like for my body kind of switches really fast. It takes about 20 to 30 days to like forget about it, cause I'm really programmed into coffee. That's why I don't touch nothing in my life Like no, no, who got nothing.
Speaker 2:Cause I'm like if I touch it I'll have it, you'll have the juice of my life.
Speaker 3:So, um, I I try to cut off. Like you know, I only drink a specific amount of coffee, you know, throughout, maybe like a month before.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then by that 10 day mark I normally am good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think for me, I would say the first week is insane. It's the hardest. It's the hardest, yeah, it's the hardest, and it's like especially the headaches and stuff, cause I don't I don't usually get headaches unless I'm hungry or I don't have coffee, yeah, so.
Speaker 2:I think for me, I would say that I'm even I'm trying to make up like my passing and.
Speaker 2:I still have a couple of weeks I haven't done it. And everybody, when everybody talks about they're doing it, I feel so guilty because I'm like, but I have to drink coffee on Monday and I have to work and see how my lung, my schedules are. And I look at my calendar and then I like justify it. I was like, but look how many meetings that I have. Yeah, I need the coffee. That patient, I need two coffee, I need two coffee for all of this. So I'm like maybe I should start on Sunday and then kind of going into it so, and then Sundays, like I have a breakfast that I go with friends. I can't do it on Sunday. So that's what's happening, and you know.
Speaker 1:And it's so much harder to make up or fast by yourself it is.
Speaker 2:It is something about Ramadan Like that's why Ramadan, like after the first week, is easy, because then it gets like your body get used to the routines and I think well, I would say this, and I think everybody would agree with this Allah gives you some mercy that you did not even know existed in Ramadan.
Speaker 2:That makes even that coffee addition that I also have a lot more easier, because then, even though I have a headache the first couple of days, somehow I'm okay after that and the energy comes from a place that I do not expect it from. And I think when I say it is hard, I'm not saying it's not. And I do go through all the stuff that you guys are mentioning the food, the cooking part, I don't, but you know the aspect of like coffee and food. I'm like, I love my food. I love I don't have to eat a meal but I should have snacks. Yeah, so it's, it's a lot to navigate, but I would say inshallah, allah makes it easy. But the best part about it I would say that is the fact is that we are collectively going through it together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think you know, the biggest thing about Ramadan is this is the time, like if you think about it as like, like a business person, right, this is the time where you can get the most out of your abada. So, true, right, like, especially the last 10 days, if you time it right or, if you like, if you're giving, if you set up like a giving thing and you're giving every day one of those days, you're going to land on laylatul qadr.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:So I feel like we have to at least for me, I think about it that way and going into it and saying you just have to catch one day, one day Exactly Do it the whole 30 days.
Speaker 3:The whole 30 days. The water, the day, what is the day?
Speaker 1:You're good, yeah, you know, and it's a reset, like for the rest of the year, and just exerting yourself and holding yourself back a little bit. You know, mudir, at the tying your waist, and just you know going all in yeah.
Speaker 2:I remember I took this class, called visionary, with Muhammad al-Sharif.
Speaker 3:May Allah give him jannah al-Fardaus.
Speaker 2:Muhammad al-Sharif always emphasized. He said the last 10 days is what you have, so use it as like the last marathon that you are working your every energy for. So he will like talk to us about how to take, make your, to do us, get your, do us ready, which is like, you know, spirituality, physical, financial, family, personal. Do us, or you know, umma, do us like the old, the doors that you're making for the people of umma, and so it's kind of like you go at it, like you don't talk to people, you don't like you become that secluded spiritual person and use that, the benefit of that.
Speaker 2:That last 10 days and I think a lot of time that, because a lot of the last 10 days in the masjid we spend so much time on like doing um fundraising, which kind of is important to do so, but the fundraising kind of limb, the excitement of the musjid going to it and and I love that how there are some messages that have one night of fundraising, not every single night, so people can enjoy the experience of it, like okay, I know I'm going to be donating the 27 ninth, so I'll bring my money then Right, and versus like every single night and kind of you know, getting like those negative experience away from it, because I think it's part of it.
Speaker 2:Donating and taking care of our our you know, our omas is something about our religion that we have to do in the month of Ramadan. So I would say that kind of leaning into those level of like the last 10 days. What do I do? How do I kind of use those time? I think that was something that I intend to kind of focus on, even though the hard days are existing. So that's how I usually kind of go with it, yeah.
Speaker 3:I think I also wanted to just um because I maybe have been in this position a little too many times than I would like to count being either, like, physically ill or, if you're pregnant during that time, um, just making sure that, like because you're not physically able to fast, it doesn't mean you can't utilize your Ramadan.
Speaker 3:So I think, um any energy and any any um amount of effort that you could give you Ramadan, I think you should have mercy on yourself about it and then don't get discouraged that you're not going to be able to give, you know, the Ramadan the most, the same amount of energy that you've given in the past or that you're able to give normally Um, so, just having mercy on yourself, being patient with yourself and then being able to just, you know, having that Nia of like this is what I can do right now, because either I'm really physically ill and, you know, whatever, whatever, even though I can't fast because of A, b and C reasons, because of maybe I can't, you know, I'm physically unable to, you know, go to Tarawee every single day. This is what I can do.
Speaker 3:And then just making sure you know you let's not human being. Allah understands, allah knows what you're going through more than you. Yeah, so just making sure you have a lot on yourself, having mercy on yourself, having more, and then also understanding other people to have mercy on those people Stop judging. You don't see. You see a person not fasting. You don't know what's going on with their health. Yeah, you see a person not in Tarawee. It's okay to ask grade. Hey, I didn't see you. I didn't see you, but don't judge, yeah and yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think that I think that brings up a good point where, like a lot of times, you hear people that say like oh, ramadan, muslims or whatever, you don't know that you know this person's Ramadan could be the Ramadan that changes their life.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, that brings them around, and if you see somebody that you know it's different or whatever that you haven't seen in a long time, encourage them.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like take them in. And then the other thing I'd really like to say is that you know all of the things that we love about Ramadan the family, the family time, you know getting excited about it. There are people, there are people in our community that don't have that right, that they don't have. You know, their family might not be Muslim and you know this could be the their first Ramadan that they're experiencing.
Speaker 1:So, you know, try to extend a handout, try to extend a hand to, you know, those in your community that might need that support, you know might need that. Um, it could be just one thing, you know, could be one evening of you providing if thought for them, but it could mean the world to them as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and also like this. For some people, this is the first Ramadan they're celebrating without their family members.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So the idea of celebrating Ramadan, the idea of participating in Ramadan, might be a traumatic situation for them because, hey, my mom used to be the one that got that holds it down, but she's gone now. My dad used to be the one that you know, now he's not here. So you know that making sure you know Ramadan is about your Dean and about your, your Akra and everything else, but also take a look to your right and to your left and see what's going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember like one of my hardest Ramadan. I would say it would be 2019. Um, and it was like right after COVID hit and I was in Saudi and like it was complete lockdown. Um, and I spent literally 30 days making if thought by myself in my little dorm room at work and it's just, you know it. It was probably one of like the hardest, hardest Ramadan that I've ever experienced.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there are people like that in it, and I wanted to add to that is that this Ramadan we are, as far as our trauma concern, that we're dealing with a lot of people in the world that's suffering, um, please remember Gaza and members to then remember Congo, remember um people of Ethiopia and remember all of us in this aspect of it and use your DIN donation to those spaces Um, because I think, at the end of the day, even though our masjids are can have their own bills to take care of, but I think those are the people who are in the most suffering at this moment and your donation will be much more benefited in those spaces as well, if you're able to.
Speaker 2:Um.
Speaker 2:I think when we talk about this experiences, I wanted to kind of highlight stat Sometimes we may sound like it was speaking from a place of like knowledgeable and privileged space, but we are just sharing a thought that we're with you in aspect of you going through these experiences and being also kind of reminding one another on the things that are around us as happening, as we are kind of embarking on this incredible month as Iran corner and being able to kind of benefit from all aspect of it and maybe using a lot of our time to speak to a love for this incredible people who are constantly suffering in this space and so that they are still using that moment, those time where the shaitan is locked out and it's just you and a lot and your own nuffs.
Speaker 2:So using that space as a benefit to kind of stalking to Allah saying you know, you know you have to, you know, open all the gate and give us victory in this spaces for our nafs and and also for our brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering in this moment of time. That is tremendously harmful.
Speaker 1:So, to wrap up, I think it would be good to just maybe give a few recommendations. You know some programs that you have experienced with and stuff like that. So what do you guys listen to, what do you guys follow in the month of Ramadan? That kind of helps you, you know, get the spirit and stuff like that. I buy our calendar.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, we use our calendar. Yeah, buy the calendar and use it to your benefit. I also use a lot of Yaqeen Institute's work. I use Sheikh Yasir Qadi's previous work that he has done when he come to you to Seerah, I do 30 for 30. Yeah, I do 30 for 30, but I do Seerah.
Speaker 2:I kind of go back to Seerah all over again from the beginning. There's something about Seerah kind of shakes my heart, and so I go back to Seerah and then I just do 30 for 30 with Yaqeen Institute and use that as a benefit as well. How about you?
Speaker 3:Yaqeen, definitely. Also, I love Numer Ali Khan. I think there's the way he talks and the way his diction just kind of makes it a little bit more like I'm going into school like for a lecture than, like you know, like something that's big and huge for me to understand. It makes it, he brings it down to my level. So I just I spend a lot of time in those two YouTube pages and YouTube spaces and also I think one thing that helps is like making sure that that you are either reading something, watching a movie helps me, like when I was a kid I used to watch Arisala. All the time I associate Ramadan with Arisala, like it just it's like the message, it's the message.
Speaker 3:And it's, I think, till this, to the state, the best Do you do?
Speaker 1:the Arabic dubbed or dubbed, or the English dubbed, when I was back home.
Speaker 3:I used to do it in Amharic. There's an Amharic dub, but I very recently found the English dubbed. So every Ramadan, like that's, like you know how, like I don't know if I'm supposed to make this equivalent, but like you know how, like Adi people, they watch Homo Lone during Christmas.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But for me this is like this is it's relatable yeah it makes me think about the Oman, it makes me think about how far we came and makes me think about the sacrifices that were made so that we're able to. So Arisala, and like the, the story of Yusuf, and like. I watched these movies that are very rooted in Dean and that are about, like you know, our Oman, the sad kind stuff like that yeah, I think that was like in, so that was like my highlight.
Speaker 1:I would get my like little food, you know, and it's really hard to cook for one person.
Speaker 2:I don't know I don't know how I do it. I go to my sister's house. Yeah, so I have a people roster that I go to their house, people who sympathize with the single people they're like come here.
Speaker 1:So I would like get my little one, tempusa, in like the fool or whatever, and then I would watch one episode of the Yusuf series Like one episode a day. That was like my highlight, oh that is so cool.
Speaker 3:So now there's a lot more. Actually, there's this Islamic movies app or something like that. It's like Netflix and stuff, and they have this movie called Belal and they have Ibnu Ibnu Ibnu Ata Biyudu. Yeah, so all the Ibnus, they have a story about them, sorry.
Speaker 1:I can't All of them, but I want to. I do want to say one thing about Ba'ina is that you know that's probably one of my favorite like Tafsir programs that are out there and you can get the Ba'ina app and you can follow whether you want, like Quran or Arabic. And because this month is the month of Quran, you know that's one thing that you can tap into. And just do one ayah, one Tafsir a day and you would really change your life.
Speaker 3:And also, just speaking of Quran, there are now, I'm noticing, a lot of online classes that you can take If you're trying to perfect your tahu'id and, like you know, learn a little bit more, even just even the diction of Quran, the understanding of Quran, like the translate. You know, sometimes, yes, there is YouTube videos that like translate the Quran word by word.
Speaker 3:But you need a teacher and there are people that are in Islamic studies and stuff like that and they're very, very inexpensive. So think about that. Maybe you know if you're someone that likes something that's more structured.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we just we just started that from Athea and she, she's getting used to it. Now it's like one on one classes and she's really benefiting. Is that in a group setting? No, just one on one. Oh yeah, she's the teachers overseas they do like weekly zoom twice a week. She, you know, she goes in and they do the lesson. That's good and you can start with like the very basic we started with Alif and you know you'll get all your tajrid and then after that you can go into Quran and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it is the month of the Quran. Yeah, so well. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences, ladies, and we're very excited about this month of Ramadan, and I hope everyone who's listening to this benefit from this experience, and may Allah reward and accept your Duaas and prayers in this process. May Allah even expand your heart and your mind in this journey that you're going to be taking on and remember the umma in your process of worshiping. So, thank you. This is difficult, any other difficult conversation.
Speaker 1:Assalamu alaykum, join the conversation in the comment section or on our social media pages. We do not have all the answers and our biggest goal is to kick off the started. May Allah SWT accept our efforts and use this for catalysts of change.