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Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

By: Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center
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 We came to give, not to take. Islam Spirituality
Episodes
  • FR… Three aspects of health

    FR… Three aspects of health
    Dec 27 2025
    https://youtu.be/HoSt3sN4jDM Auto-generated transcript:Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. Wa Salatu Wa Salamu Alai Sharafi Al-Anbiya Wa Al-Mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Alaihi Wa Sallam. Tasleeman Kaseeran Kaseera. Famaa Baadu. I'm in KBR Park, where I come every day to walk five miles. And this is a young peacock. He's just molted his tail. He's waiting to get his full feathers. Beautiful bird, as you can see. I want to remind myself and you that the reason I do this walk is because I'm concerned about my physical health. And when I'm concerned, it's not because I'm worried or something, but because... It is important to be concerned about your physical health. And as you grow older, you don't grow stronger. You... It's the opposite. You grow weaker. And if you don't take care of yourself, then the price to pay is very painful and severe. So I do my best to take care of myself. The best way to do that, hands down, is to walk... five miles a day. And that is what I try to do. Now, the point I want to make here, as far as Khatera is concerned, as far as Fathir Bantar is concerned, is that just as we are concerned about our physical health, which we should be, we should also be concerned about two other things. One is our mental health. And the third is our spiritual health. These two are equally, if not more important than physical health alone. Mental and spiritual health. So the question I want to ask myself and ask you to ask yourself is, what is our plan for that? For better mental health? And better spiritual health? So just as walking five miles a day is a great exercise and the best exercise for physical health, then reading one book a month is the best exercise for mental health. It doesn't matter which book you read. It doesn't matter whether you enjoy... book or you don't enjoy the book. It doesn't even matter whether you understand it or not. As a matter of fact, ironically, a book that you don't understand, a concept you don't understand, but which you struggle to understand. So, say, for example, if you are not a, or if your knowledge of mathematics is like mine, then reading a book on mathematics I would consider it to be, for example, a refined method of torture. But that is better for me, for my mental health, than reading something, you know, a children's, a book of stories for children or comics or something. Because the struggle, the mental struggle that you have to undergo to understand something you don't understand is what generates brain cells. It is what creates new neurons. So, even though it's painful, or rather maybe because it's painful, because the same thing applies for physical health. Any exercise we do, whether it's in a gym or whether it's this walking and so on, the first sensation is pain. Without exception, the first sensation is pain. And it's only when you go through that pain barrier, when you can break through the pain barrier, that you reach a stage where you get what I call a state of grace, where now you enjoy the exercise. Not that you enjoy the pain, because the pain goes away. Then there's no pain. Then you're just enjoying it for the sake of enjoying it, and it's wonderful. But to get to that state of grace, you have to go through a state of grace. You have to go through the barrier of pain. There's no other way to do that. Similarly, as far as spiritual health is concerned, once again the same thing, which is, we have to go through the barrier of pain. And the barrier of pain happens primarily because we don't understand the value of spiritual health. In the words of the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamoorthy, he said, it's not a sign of health to be profoundly adjusted to a sick society. It's not a sign of health to be profoundly adjusted to a sick society. And one thing for sure, we today, globally speaking, are a very sick society. We are not just sick, we are very, very sick. And the pressure on us, always from everywhere, is to get adjusted to that sick society. So, this is the problem. This is something that we have to come to terms with and say, that I will not adjust to the sick society. And the fact that I am not adjusted is not a bad thing. It is a sign that my heart is still alive. It is a sign that my spiritual health is still worth salvaging. It is a sign that I have not yet been corrupted to the point where I just accept whatever is happening in society. And may Allah forgive us, you know, maybe I fall into the group of people who not just accept it, but who contribute to it. They make the society sicker. Take, for example, the issue of ostentatious spending or luxuries. It's not just a matter of saying, I have the money so I can spend it. No. The question is, if you have the money, what are the choices that you are making? People like to blame God, blame Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for the misery that we find ourselves surrounded with in this world. And we ask this question and we say, if there is a God, why is this happening? If...
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  • Ihsan – The Standard of Excellence

    Ihsan – The Standard of Excellence
    Dec 26 2025
    Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wasalatu wasalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahibu sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. Fama baadu. My brothers and sisters, to continue and expand on the theme of what we have been talking about for the last couple of days, which is the standard of excellence, al-ihsan. See the beauty of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's explanations and his answers. He was called Jamil Galim. The person who was in his speech and in whatever he said, he was so perfect and so complete. He did not say, he didn't speak for a long period of time. What he had to say? He said it in a short, you know, short speech or maybe sometimes a sentence, which was a wealth of meaning. So when in Hadith Jibreel, when Jibreel alayhi salam asked him, what is al-ihsan? What is excellence? His reply was so beautiful. He said, ! To worship Allah as if you can see him. And if you cannot see him, know that he sees you. Now think about this, that yesterday as I was saying, the thing to do is when you stand on the Musallah, is to specifically say, O Allah, this salah is for you. This salah is for you. I am praying for you. Because Allah says, Allah says, Personal. Establish the salah for my dhikr. So when we stand on the Musallah, we say, O Allah, this salah is for you. This dhikr is for you. And therefore, Prophet Muhammad is saying, that pray as if you can see Allah. So when you are standing there and saying, O Allah, this salah is for you, it is as if you are seeing Allah. And then obviously when you do that with concentration, you will find that all thoughts and distractions disappear. And you get concentration and you are able to focus on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now that is the whole issue of Ihsan. Now, ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! This is to be extended and should be extended into every aspect of our lives. So we pray as if we can see Allah. We do business as if we can see Allah. We are with our families as if we can see Allah. We drive our car as if we can see Allah. Everything in life, right? Our transactions as if we can see Allah. Now if we do this as if we are seeing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and knowing that even though we don't see Allah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will make us see Allah. is seeing us if we work with this awareness in every aspect of our life believe me our life will become very beautiful because every action will be an action of ahsan no matter how small or big that action is it will be an action of ahsan if i am cleaning my room then i'm and if i'm doing it with this consciousness that allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is seeing me as i am working real time allah is seeing me then imagine how beautifully that room will be cleaned right this thing has there are two major benefits that come from this awareness the awareness that i am in the presence of allah and again this is we not only have the dalil of rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam hadith we also have the dalil of the quran where allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said he said he is with you wherever you might be right he is with you wherever you might be so now having this awareness there are two major benefits the first benefit is that it gives you uh it's a shield against all sin if i am for example if somebody is you know i i obviously i don't smoke but if somebody who's smoking uh once he has this awareness that my rabbi is watching me how will he even ever light a cigarette right think about that he's going to light a cigarette he says subhanallah allah is watching me what do you do throw away the packet because this is something we do not do we do not do this we do not do this we do not do this we do not do this which is which is prohibited so why would i do that same thing i'm about to for example i'm about to uh you know bad talk somebody backbite somebody do some ghibah uh carry some tail namima cast aspersions on people uh you know insinuate people cast insinuations on people and so on any of this kind of stuff the before you even begin if you have this awareness subhanallah allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is watching me allah is allah is here allah is with me he listens to me he hears me then any chance of doing that evil action completely disappears so this is a shield and a protection from everything which is evil and the other big benefit is that it's a sense it it's it's a source of enormous confidence uh that you get because you say alhamdulillah i am with allah allah is with me so how can anything harm me how can anything how can any anything uh you know cause me any pain any suffering anything negative nothing whatever i'm doing i'm doing it for the sake of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and i'm doing it knowing that allah is with me so therefore i will be supported therefore i will be protected uh therefore i have this enormous confidence in in what ...
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  • Khushoo is the soul of Salah

    Khushoo is the soul of Salah
    Dec 25 2025
    Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wasalatu wasalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahibus salam. Tasleeman kathiran kathira. My brothers and sisters, somebody much wiser than I am said this, and I'm only repeating. And he said, what if I told you the ummah's downfall didn't begin with politics or culture or society. It began on the prayer mat. It began on the prayer mat. What is the first thing lost from the ummah? It is not hijab. It is not honesty. It is not charity. It is something far more subtle and almost gone. Rasulullah, he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam warned us. And he said, the first thing to be lifted from my ummah is khusho. Not prayer itself, not fasting, not rituals. Khusho. The heart inside the prayer. The body stays Muslim. The soul slips away. Now think about that again. The prayer remains. The movements remain. The words remain. The masjid, the prayers remain. The presence, the huzur of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala disappears. The humility disappears. The trembling disappears. The softness disappears. We keep the shell. We lose the soul. Why is this terrifying? Because when khusho is lost, you still pray. But your prayer doesn't lift you. Doesn't soften you. Doesn't restrain you. Doesn't change you. You pray with your limbs, but not with your heart. This is how an ummah decays from within. The ummah lost khusho when we started rushing. We started multitasking. We started treating prayer like a chore. Something to be done and finished with. We started thinking about everything except sallam. We started thinking about everything except Allah. Think about what happens in the sallam. Our bodies enter sallam. Our minds stay in the dunya. This is how khusho dies. The painful reality. Today we know the motions of sallam better than their meaning. We perfect our tajweed, but not our attention. We memorize surahs, but not salanda. We inherited the ritual, not the reverence. Khusho is not crying. Khusho is not crying. Khusho is not crying. Khusho is not crying. It's not emotion. It's not drama. It's not fear. Khusho is being present. Being humble. Being aware. Being small before Allah. Being sincere. Being still. It is the heart kneeling in sajda before the body does. Khusho was the secret of the sahaba. They didn't pray long. They prayed deep. When they stood, their hearts trembled. When they bowed, their egos bent. When they prostrated, the dunya disappeared. They prayed like people who knew they would die tomorrow. How to revive khusho? How to revive khusho? In one sentence. Before you say Allahu Akbar, whisper in your heart, Ya Allah, this prayer is for you. Ya Allah, this prayer is for you. Ya Allah, this prayer is for you. Not for him. Not for habit. Not for routine. Not for people. Not for discipline. For him. For Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That intention alone changes the entire prayer. The truth no one tells you. The ummah won't be revived by more lectures, more institutes, more seminars. It will be revived the moment hearts bow the way bodies bow. Revive khusho and you revive your civilization. So ask yourself. When I pray, does Allah have my body or my heart? Because the first thing the ummah lost was khusho. And the ummah will rise again only when we find it. Inside ourselves, inside our prayer, inside our hearts. In the words of the great grammarian and great scholar of the Abbasi period, in the court of Harun Rashid, he said, I heard the Arab. The tribal Arabs, the Badu, praying to Allah. With words that opened the eyes of eloquence and opened the jewels of wisdom. And opened the jewels of wisdom. I heard him say, It is enough for me to be your slave. It is enough for me to be proud that you are my Rabb. You are as I love. So make me as you like. It is enough for me to be your slave. It is enough for me to be proud that you are my Rabb. You are as I love. So make me as you love. See how beautiful this is. It is enough for me to be your slave. It is enough for me to be proud. It is enough for me to be your slave. You are as I love. So make me as you love. SubhanAllah. It shows us that the actual thing which is important is this connection with Allah. The connection with Allah in our Salah. When we can do that, when we get that connection, Inshallah, that is where the secret of success is. The connection of with Allah SubhanAllah. I remind myself and you that SubhanAllah, we, we are not in the same place. Inshallah, we pray. At least those of us who pray, pray. But how many of us pray in a way where that prayer is beneficial for us? Where that prayer really does something for us? That is the issue. The issue is what is my Salah doing for me? And I remind myself and you that Allah SubhanAllah told us that the Salah is the tool to deal with this world. Right? To deal with this world. Because Allah SubhanAllah told us, Ya yuwa allazeena aamana usta'eenoo bisabri wa salah. O you who...
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