Wellness in Ramadan Ummah Talk - Sabaahath Latifi

Event Notes:

  • Objective of Ramadan 

    • Taqwa - feeling that presence of Allah, having an awareness of his presence and connectedness in our lives

      • Helps us make protective and healthy choices in this world and the hereafter

      • Repels us from sin and making unhealthy choices 

    • Fast from food and water, essentially we are fasting from our nafs, bad habits, 

      • Spending more time with Allah instead of satisfying our nafs, our desires

    • Opportunity for self-reflection 

      • Maintaining our taqwa 

      • Reevaluating the changes we want to make in our lives during this month and after

      • Opportunity for a spiritual cleanse and spiritual change 

    • Delayed vs immediate gratification (see Stanford marshmallow experiment)

      • Many things that can give us peace and happiness in this world

      • When our purpose starts to become just seeking gratification of this world, we have to remember we have been promised something better  in the next world

        • Keeping this in mind will allow us to maintain our taqwa

  • How different people feel about Ramadan 

    • “I don’t get excited about Ramadan the way everyone else does. Am I a bad Muslim”

      • This is a very normal human thought 

      • People have this thought and it is valid because Ramadan really affects our daily lives

      • It’s important to acknowledge this thought and figure out how to address it 

        • It is important to show oneself compassion

    • “Shaytaan is gone and I still can’t focus on my prayers”

      • Very human to struggle with this 

        • Scary thought but we need to realize that we unintentionally have created long-term habits that are still there once Ramadan starts 

        • That being said, show compassion and figure out how you can make small changes (baby steps)

  • Mental Health Conditions 

    • Eating disorders

      • Binge and purge behavior 

      • Restrict food intake 

        • Scholars and Muslim doctors are discussing rulings that can be made around this and fasting 

        • In Islam, there is room for leniency and acknowledging mental illness and how that impacts fasting and prayer. 

    • Anxiety 

      • Heightened anxiety 

      • OCD

        • Creates and overwhelming dread and intrusive thoughts 

          • Scholar and doctors that can get involved to figure out how to help this person

      • Someone who struggles with anxiety during Ramadan may struggle with it even more 

        • If fasting is causing the person harm, there may be leniency as to if they have to fast or not

    • Depression 

      • People who have low energy and the isolation people have been feeling doesnt mean youre a bad Muslim or you’re a bad person 

        • Your brain has the right to be ill, whether its Ramadan or not 

  • Doing good deeds in Ramadan that are constant 

    • Aisha (PBUH) narrated that the prophet said “do good deeds moderately and know that the most beloved deed to Allah is the most regular and constant even if little”

    • Start with regular, baby step 

    • Pick one goal and start with that

      • “Small” goals look different for everyone 

        • Goal setting will look different for a college student vs. a full time working person

    • Aim for consistency, not perfection 

      • We have to work towards being better but we have to acknowledge that if we only choose to be perfect, it can lead to lack of motivation

    • Building habits rather than short term fixes 

      • Building habits show their impact even in this dunya 

    • Don’t take on too much or don’t take on too little 

  • Mindfulness 

    • Look to create opportunities to be focused and present

    • Being mindful even during iftar

    • Practicing mindfulness is important because it brings a lot of gratitude and it helps us to slow down 

    • Pick one Salah to slow down

      • Practice that mindfulness in one sujood, overtime see how it helps in Salah

  • What are the audience’s personal goals?

    • If you make intention before doing things, they can be considered ibaadah

    • It’s important for us to take a step back and say “what is my balance going to look like in Ramadan?”

      • We have to be realistic and not set unhealthy expectations.

      • For example, during finals week going to the gym might be unrealistic 

    • What do we do when we set small goals for ourselves but then get hit by midterms and exams and feel ourselves being weighed down by guilt and the need to give up on even our small goals

      • It’s totally natural to feel guilt, it’s healthy in some ways; but when it begins to make us feel debilitated then it becomes dangerous.

      • Sabaahath recommends self-reflection daily because it’ll help us keep moving forward; moments of self-reflection allow us to catch when we miss our goals and then we can work on catching those slips.

      • It’s going to be uncomfortable but change only comes from forcing ourselves into uncomfortable situations

    • How do I hold myself accountable in a way that doesn’t make me feel like I'm being unkind to myself?

      • There’s a difference between holding ourselves accountable and punishing ourselves

      • If we self-evaluate, we’ll find that most of the time our motivation is depleted as a result of how we treat ourselves (we’re too unkind to ourselves or we don’t hold ourselves accountable)

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Ummah Talk 5/26/2021: Coping with Trauma: Palestine and Beyond