The Journey of the Soul + Concluding Remarks & Du'ā | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | No-Tech retreat 2025

Opening Du'ā

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. O Allah, send blessings and peace upon our Master Muhammad and upon the family of our Master Muhammad. And bless and send peace.

O Allah, open my heart and ease my affairs. And free my tongue from the bondage of my speech. O Allah, teach us what will benefit us. And benefit us with what You have taught us. And increase us in knowledge and action. O Allah, enlighten our hearts with Your knowledge. And use our bodies for Your obedience. And guide us to what You love and are pleased with — from speech, work, action, intention, and guidance. You are capable of everything.

The Purpose of This Retreat

What's next? That Allah allow this to become and remain a fuel for our future. Not only for the month of Sha'bān and Ramaḍān, but also inshāAllāh for the rest of our lives. And this is not difficult for Allah subhānahu wa ta'ālā.

Like we began last night — the session — saying: for Allah subhānahu wa ta'ālā to change someone's heart, it doesn't take long. Allah 'azza wa jall can, within seconds, just change the heart. And when a person is in the right place at the right time — and Allah knows best what is the right place and what is the right time — something happens, and then a person's heart turns towards Allah subhānahu wa ta'ālā. And once that happens, alhamdulillāh, the rest is history.

That's why I keep on asking Allah:

"O Turner of the Hearts, turn our hearts towards You — towards Your obedience."

My beloved brothers, everyone says we need the guidance.

We want to be in a good shape. If we were to ask the world anywhere: would you like to go to hell? No one will say yes. No one will say, "I want to burn in hell." No Muslim will say that — even a kāfir will not say that. But it is not sufficient that we say things, unless it's backed up with action. If we have a desire to go to paradise, then our actions must speak louder than our words. There needs to be some backing — where a person says that I am going to lead my life in a manner that will make me worthy of Allah subhānahu wa ta'ālā's mercy.

Living in an Age of Ghafla — Heedlessness

Beloved friends, we live in a time of absolute ghafla and heedlessness. And it's very difficult for a person to remain focused on the purpose that we're here for. There are so many distractions — and from amongst the very top of that, of course, are our digital devices, which do not allow us to focus even on our work for a few minutes. Our homework, our job, whatever it is you're doing — even if it means you're driving, even if it means you're cooking — all of these things are a huge, huge, huge distraction.

As Mufti Suhail mentioned — subhānAllāh, what a beautiful example — the example of the cow. He mentioned an authentic hadith where the cow is being beaten by a farmer, by someone, to become a conveyance for it. And the cow — Allah, as a miracle, made the cow speak up. And it said, "I haven't been created for this. I'm not supposed to be a conveyance. Stop forcing me to do things which I'm not supposed to do."

But subhānAllāh, the point I like — what he mentioned — was the fact that the cow knew what it had been created for. And so it told the man on top of him: "Hey, I'm not created for this. Stop forcing me to do things I'm not meant to do."

Does a modern human being know what he has been created for? The average modern human being — does he know why he's here? Does he know what his purpose is in life on this earth? It seems he is doing everything but the actual purpose, which is to worship Allah subhānahu wa ta'ālā.

Every single thing — the earth has been created to worship, to serve us. But instead, the human being today is serving the earth, and serving every creation of Allah, except for serving the One for whom he has been created. So when we live in this type of heedlessness, it becomes very challenging for a person to stay on track on the Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm.

The Need for a Daily Reset

That is why we must find opportunities every single day to do a master reset. Reset — just like the battery needs a charge, but then there are times when you simply need to shut your phone for it to work properly also. The computer needs to be charged, but there are times when the computer needs to be reset — or just shut it off, or pull the power plug for some time. All of us require this type of reset.

Coming for ṣalāh with jamā'ah is one amazing reset. One amazing charge — no matter how far a person goes away. When you come for ṣalāh with jamā'ah in the masjid, it is an amazing way to get charged up. Emotionally you're drained, spiritually you're drained, something happened in between — but perform one ṣalāh in the masjid, even if it is 'Asr or any other ṣalāh where you can't even hear the Qur'ān being recited out loud.

But I'm sure all of you are witness — that when you pray ṣalāh with jamā'ah in the masjid, you walk away different. It has to be — unless a person is performing wuḍū' or something of that sort. If a person comes in a normal state and performs ṣalāh, inshāAllāh you'll walk away different.

And of course, if you stay focused — you came early, you did wuḍū' properly, you came at the time of adhān, you made du'ā between adhān and iqāmah, you prayed your sunnah, you sat and raised your hands and made du'ā before the iqāmah started — and when you stood up, you focused on who you're standing in front of. You made sure you look where you're supposed to look throughout the entire duration of the ṣalāh. You keep on bringing back your focus in every posture of ṣalāh: "I'm in front of Allah. Allah is watching me. I should be praying as though I'm watching Allah. Allah can hear me. Allah can see what's in my heart." You're constantly reminding yourself of this. Then by the time a person says salām, he will be in a whole different situation.

Why will it not be that our body will shake and tremble when the Qur'ān is being recited? Why not? You don't even have to hear the Qur'ān recitation for the heart to tremble, for the body to tremble, for a person to get goosebumps — if only we knew we were in front of Allah.

Remaining in a State of Self-Awareness

So what are some of the things that we learned in the past few hours with Mufti Suhail, as well as the other amazing presentations — alhamdulillāh, hopefully we were all able to participate in? If not, you can listen and try to make it up online. One of the key aspects is remaining in a state of self-awareness. We have to remain aware of ourselves.

We now have cameras for our homes. There were days — times — when you'd come home and they used to have the little answering machine. People would leave a message and say, "I called, I'll call back." And people used to call back. And I remember when that came around, that was a big thing for us. Wow — an answering machine. That you can actually find out who called you. Otherwise, what used to happen? They'd call back again. It was as simple as that.

Then they had caller ID — and when it came out, I remember so vividly, it was a huge thing. Like, wow, we actually know who called us. But just think about the early 90s, and every time before that — you didn't know who was calling you, and more importantly, you didn't know which calls you missed. We have to, those of us who were born at that time, go back to that era, mentally at least. To tell ourselves: how was life at that time? Life was fine. We were not losing sleep thinking, "SubhānAllāh, I went to go grab milk at the store — I wonder if someone called me. What horrible thing is going to happen because I don't know who called me when I was outside of the house?"

Your mom, dad, wife, husband — whoever called — they'll call again if they really need you. This was amazing. At that time we never thought it was amazing. But now reflecting on it, it's like a whole different world we live in — as though we're living on Mars. Now we're thinking: there was a time when people did not worry about who called or whose call they missed. And you'd simply get around to it whenever you got around to it. That's it.

Whatever work was left at work, you'd take care of it tomorrow morning. Whatever you left in the locker at school, you'd take care of it tomorrow. And things moved on. Your mom did not have a way to communicate with you for the next eight hours because you were going out somewhere — you were going with friends or you were going to school. "Okay, inshāAllāh, we'll see you, son." Give you a hug, "we'll see you tonight." Husband and wife: "Okay, fine, inshāAllāh, we'll see you tonight." And no one was freaking out: "Oh my God, what will happen to my husband for eight hours if he doesn't reach out to me? What will happen to my son or daughter?" These are unnecessary, unbelievable things that we have done to ourselves.

If in the 80s someone were to tell you that a time will come when you will turn around and drive back — even if it means 45 minutes — because you left something called a phone at home, we wouldn't believe that. Like, why would you do that? What could be so important? But subhānAllāh, a mother reached out to me for help this week, and I share this story with so much pain — because I know this is the story of not one mother. This is the story of thousands of mothers all over the world.

She said her son — she called me and said, "I need to reach out to you for help." She said: "I have a habit of collecting the phones before my kids go to bed," — which is a very good habit. So she said that when she was going to collect her son's phone — who is in college, a practicing Muslim, not a drunkard, not an alcoholic, he goes to the masjid, he prays, he apparently attends some of my programs too — she said, "Can I have your phone?" — like normal. And he looked with cold eyes right into his mother's face and said, "I'm gonna kill you. If you take my phone, I'm gonna kill you."

And so the mother, subhānAllāh, was petrified — to say the least. And she said, "What am I supposed to do? What happened to my son?" This is exactly what happens to a drug addict. If you take away a drug from a drug addict, he will lose his wits, he will lose his mind. And we have collectively become phone addicts. Our daughters and sons and ourselves have become that. That is why a father can make his son or daughter do anything — but not turn in his phone.

One of the jamā'at brothers was telling me there was a student jamā'at that he was spending time with — for 40 or 30 days. And he said, towards the end, he said, "Okay boys, please — during ta'līm time, when you're doing ta'līm and reading from the Faḍā'il al-A'māl, please let's keep our phones away." And he said it felt like literally he was the angel of death pulling the soul out. He had to struggle — literally groan and fight. And this is while they're already in the path of Allah for however many days, in the masjid.

Every year this happens in i'tikāf and here as well — people have a very, very hard time turning in their phone. And we can address this problem and fix it if we acknowledge it. But it's beyond an epidemic now — I don't know what to call it. It's not even a pandemic. It's something worse than that. Because in every single home, every single city, every single masjid, every single institution — I was visiting South Africa, visiting my alma mater — and multiple times my teachers asked me, "So what is your cell phone policy at Dār al-Salām? Because we don't know what to do over here in Africa. We're asking you. We have policies but they don't work."

We went to the ḥifẓ class and sat with the ḥifẓ students and told them about the real issues with phones. And there was this amazing relief of energy within the student body — the ḥifẓ kids. They had never seen me and I had never seen them. This was in Africa. And the bell rang — 11:30 — class ended. They were supposed to go eat lunch. But no one moved. Can you imagine that — kids? They surrounded us, until I had to leave because I was invited to lunch with the teachers. But subhānAllāh, for half an hour they were just gathered around me, opening up about all the horrible issues they were dealing with. They didn't even know my name probably. But it didn't make a difference. They said, "You've touched a really delicate part of our life. You've really hit the spot. The spot is — we're memorizing Qur'ān, we're in ḥifẓ class, but we're phone addicts."

And when you're a phone addict, it's not just a phone addiction. If you're a cigarette addict, that's all it is. But when you're a phone addict, it can mean anything. I share these stories so that we realize: you're not alone. And also for us to realize where our society is.

The Destruction the Phone Has Caused in Our Homes

Imagine — a brother once reached out to me and said: "My dad came to visit me. He went to the bathroom and his phone was ringing, or something like that. I picked up his phone and I saw that his phone was being used to communicate with multiple Muslim and non-Muslim women simultaneously — with extremely inappropriate messages." I asked, "Is your dad still married?" He said, "Yes — apparently happily married." He said, "How do I deal with this? I caught my dad in this. I don't know what to do."

I said, "You know what — I'm not surprised, because this is the phone that destroys everyone's life. Even if they're married. Even if they're married for 30 or 40 years. You can never be safe." I told him: "Tell your dad that you're not here to out him. You're not here to expose him. You're not here to tell your mom. You're not here to do anything. You're here to help him. And you have to show sincerity — the fact that your father is a victim. Just like a credit card scam can get anyone. You're not gonna make fun of him. You're gonna help him."

He called me back afterwards and said, "Man, I don't know what to do. Because he's in complete denial." I said, "Unfortunately, the shame has overtaken him. The shame should have been there before — for 20 years, or 10 years, or 5 years, however long he's been involved. But now when he's been caught, by lying to his son — who he knows saw it with his own eyes — how does that help? It doesn't. But I understand where he's coming from. Maybe eventually he'll open up."

The idea is — this is just one snapshot, not even one full day of the type of situations I'm dealing with. And what percentage of the problems of the ummah am I dealing with? 0.0001%? And it goes back to the horrific type of lifestyle humanity is living. This is not good human existence. We're living a life of complete obliviousness from the Hereafter, obliviousness of death, obliviousness of the shortness of this life, and of preparation for the Hereafter. And when a person does not have fear of repercussions, when a person does not live as though it's his last day, then this will be the beginning of many horrific things.

I won't say everything — I've only said two stories. But there are other things I could share. I can promise you, you would lose a few hours of sleep if you heard them. Because that is how shocking it is. And these are not things happening in Africa or the Middle East or Southeast Asia. These are things happening in our neighborhoods. Right here. Maybe happening within our own homes. But we just don't know about it.

The Power of These Gatherings

This 24-hour retreat that we had — it was beautiful, it was powerful. But too short, and too few in number. Once a year is insufficient. And the number of people who participate and fully benefit is not as much as we would have hoped. The real benefit comes when a person locks himself up in the house of Allah for 24 hours or more — and most importantly, locks his phone out of his life.

Every year, as this short 24-hour retreat comes to an end, I have someone come up to me unsolicited and pour out their heart about how this short period has affected them. Something that was shared with me a while ago — which was very powerful — was from a brother who said: "What I'm amazed by is how much Allah loves us. That if you just show a little bit of desire to Allah, Allah subhānahu wa ta'ālā will send someone personally to your city, to your town, to your local masjid. And you'll get a flyer in your hand. You'll get a message on your phone. An individual will actually shake your hand and say, 'Hey, there's a program happening — why don't you come?' This is all Allah doing."

Allah subhānahu wa ta'ālā wants to see from us some genuine inclination. So for those who don't find themselves at the door of guidance, it's because they haven't shown Allah genuine desire. Allah is Karīm. Allah will never slam the door on our face. Allah wants us to fill up His paradise.

Didn't we just hear this hadith by Mufti Suhail? The hadith that the last person who will enter Jannah will have a Jannah that is ten times the size of this world — that hadith most of us know. So for all of us who are neglecting our dīn because we're a little bit busy at work — how much are you going to earn? That dream car, that dream home — what is it compared to the one who enters Jannah last and has ten times the size of this entire existence?

But after having given him that — and everyone has already gotten their spots in Jannah — Jannah will still have empty seats. And Allah doesn't want this. He is so merciful. He doesn't want to run an empty flight. Every seat must be taken — all of them, business and first class also. So Allah will create a new creation so that they can enjoy Jannah. A new creation that Allah will bring into being so that they become worthy and go fill up Jannah — because Allah does not want Jannah to run empty.

Those who are destined for Hell — we're not going to change the rules for that. But Jannah is here, and Allah does not want it to run empty. Allah subhānahu wa ta'ālā says, "I am going to create a new creation." That is the mercy.

Ghafla Comes Gradually — Even to the Learned

A brother was just mentioning how close he was to senior 'ulamā in the past — very close to elders and scholars. But over time — and I don't even say this country anymore, I say the world now — wherever you are, ghafla comes in. With work, with spouse, with kids, with job. And then the phone makes a person slowly start drifting away from the dīn. You won't realize how quickly this midlife crisis is now starting at a much younger age — people at the early 20s, mid-20s, completely lost. Saying, "I don't know what the purpose of life is. I'm just confused." And that's why they're resorting to all these different things.

Why is there a massive suicide rate? One of the brothers was mentioning to me yesterday — when they checked the suicide rates amongst adolescents, there was a 70% increase. I think he mentioned from 2012 onwards. And they found a correlation with social media. When social media came around, that drug — a 70% increase in suicidal ideation or suicide within the youth. We say these statistics — you can search them yourself. But if it doesn't bring a change within ourselves, what is it worth?

This brother was saying: "SubhānAllāh, I was so close to scholars. But then I feel like I've fallen so far away — now I'm falling asleep at 1 AM, 2 AM, just being on the phone." These are not kids. These are adults — dads and moms. SubhānAllāh.

Shaytān on the Road to Guidance

He mentioned: "Somehow I heard about this event. And as I was coming towards it — because it's a struggle — you are in the midst of a boxing ring. Understand that, my dear brothers and sisters." He said, "As I got into my car, constantly my heart was telling me: 'No, turn around. Turn around. No, this is not for you.'" And then what does Shaytān tell him? "What's the point? Look at it. What's the point? You already know what you're supposed to do. You're just gonna go listen to a bunch of talks, come back, and you're not gonna change. You already know what you're supposed to do."

Which is true — who doesn't know what to do? Even the kids here — you all know what to do. It's the fact that we're not doing it — that's another thing entirely. So when you listen to talks, Shaytān — look at how evil this is — even when you intend to go listen to a talk, he says: "What's the point? You already know what to do. What's the point of listening to a talk? What's the point of going to the masjid? You never change. What's the point of going for 'Umrah? You always go back to your old ways."

That is Shaytān speaking. Instead of saying: "I know I went back to my old ways, but guess what — I want to change. You think I'm happy going back to my old ways?" No. And the way to change is you constantly have to keep putting yourself in good environments. It might not happen today — it'll happen tomorrow. If it doesn't happen tomorrow, it'll happen the day after. What kind of attitude is it to say: "I didn't change in the past, so I'm not going to go now"? By not going — are you going to change? Of course not.

The importance of attending gatherings of dhikr and 'ilm is immense. And you're not going to attend them unless you're connected with people who are connected. You have to be connected with people who go — who message you and come pick you up. Those are the people you have to stay connected with. So our friend circle has to change. Our friend circle has to be those who are constantly engaged in some beneficial pursuit of knowledge, dhikr, good gatherings, humanitarian work — something beneficial. And by staying in that loop, it will help.

These WhatsApp groups that seem to never end — they're always proliferating, one leading to another, non-stop. There's no end to how many WhatsApp groups there are. And people are actually scrolling through, people are actually updating them every few minutes. The first thing we need to do is get off of unnecessary groups. We should only be on an announcement group — full stop. If you learned a good hadith, brother — go downstairs. You'll find the best hadith in the bookstore. Get a book and read it. We don't need to be bombarded by forwarded videos, messages, jokes, and all sorts of stuff.

If there's an announcement group where you learn about something beneficial happening — fine. A useful discussion group — okay. There are some good homeschooling discussion groups, some investment discussions — yes. But then you have to use it as a proper resource. Meaning: once a day — say, between 8:00 and 8:15 AM, or 7:00 to 7:30 PM — you spend 15 minutes to update yourself on whether there's anything beneficial in those groups. And then after that, you don't look at them. They remain muted. You look at them once a day, once every two days. Then it can be something beneficial. But if a person in the middle of every single bite is reading something random on some group — this is not human existence. We have become transhuman before transhumanism has arrived. We've become a zombie before robots have fully taken over the world — which is around the corner.

So he said: constantly Shaytān kept telling him to turn around. And I want you to understand that that's real. That happens. When you're taking one step towards Allah, Shaytān will get very upset and will come up with so many reasons for you to change direction. He said, "I saw an exit, and something came over me to take it and turn around." But he forced himself to continue.

I say this because Shaytān is not a figment of your imagination. It is not some fleeting thought. It is an actual genuine force you are fighting with. And when he is able to get allies — when he makes your nafs his friend and they both gang up — now it's two against one. As long as you know that you're in a fight, you can prepare. If you don't know you're in a fight, you will never win. And you have to know — this struggle is going to be there till the last breath.

And subhānAllāh — he came in. He said he had his bedding with him. But he didn't bring it inside. He said, "I'm just gonna sit for one talk and leave." But then at night, he decided to go back to the car to pick up the bedding — and he was smart. He said, "I didn't turn on my data. Because I know what would happen — I'd be overtaken by WhatsApp messages and social media and whatnot." He said, "I just sent a text to my wife — that I'm actually going to come back tomorrow." And subhānAllāh — what did he feel? What all of us who stayed here felt: SubhānAllāh — as if I was knee-deep in filth, and someone took me out and gave me a deep bath. Washed me and poured clean water over me. That something has genuinely lifted away from me, and some nūr has come in.

And now — the fear that he had before of going without his phone — transformed. To the extent that he was shedding tears saying: "How will I leave from here? How will I survive when I go from here?" My beloved friends — this transformation takes place within 24 hours, or less. But you have to do a few things. One is, you have to be sincere. And number two, you have to recognize that there are some things that are not allowing you to grow — that are instead stunting our growth and pushing us back.

When Old Age No Longer Brings People Back to the Dīn

As our beards are getting whiter and our knees are getting more painful, we are getting further from Allah instead of getting closer. This is a very unique thing. In previous days, the older you got, naturally your heart would get more connected to Allah — you'd start coming to the masjid earlier, and people would start becoming more pious. But ever since the advent of WhatsApp, YouTube, shows, and dramas, we're seeing that even old age is not bringing people back to the dīn. Instead, in old age now, they're spending more time watching things on their phones — laughing to themselves or making other people laugh.

Where are our old people going? Where are our seniors going? What will happen when you and I become senior citizens? Think about this. If today's seniors — a big chunk of them — are not coming to the masjid three hours before Jumu'ah, reading Qur'ān, doing their tasbīḥāt — we saw our elders and grandparents doing that growing up. But this phone is something that it's not even allowing a senior to realize where he's reached.

Making Commitments — Starting with Self-Awareness

So I want us to make a commitment as we end our program today. A commitment to our own self-awareness — that I have to be aware of who I am. In between wings and YouTube reels, we have forgotten who we are. And no one can help you but yourself.

As I was sitting here thinking, I'm telling you about my own emotional feeling. There are thousands of people who were invited — 20,000 plus flyers that were passed out for this event. Tens of khuṭbas were given all over Chicago and beyond. All the students of this seminary were invited multiple times by myself personally. And I looked and I said — who's here? As much as sadness overtook me to see so many not present, I then realized: subhānAllāh — actually I don't deserve to be present here either. Whatever is holding them back could have held me back as well. And the fact that I'm here today does not mean I'll be here tomorrow. Instead of lamenting over who's not here, I have to show gratitude to Allah that I'm here. And if I don't show enough gratitude — if I take it for granted that I'm here — then Allah may dislike that and banish me from His mercy.

Dear friends, we all need to show humility to Allah. And we need to constantly be saying: "Yā Allāh, please do not banish me from Your doorstep." The masjid is the doorstep of Allah. If you're not at the doorstep of Allah's house, there's no other place you're going to get that mercy. This is where it's happening. It's not happening outside. It's not happening in restaurants. It's not happening in wedding halls. It's happening in the masjid. We have to have our hearts attached to the masjid. And the best way to do that is to become regular with Ṣalāt al-Jamā'ah.

Don't Rush Away After Ṣalāh

Ṣalāt al-Jamā'ah should be such that even if we miss the jamā'ah, we go pray in the masjid. Just pray in the masjid as often as possible.

Second thing — once we finish our ṣalāh, let us make a habit of not standing up immediately. Force ourselves to sit down. Look at how Shaytān is deceiving us — every day you see how people run from masājid. And then they're not even going anywhere important. But subhānAllāh, a person will just stand up and go stand and talk to people, drink tea, or whatever. Where are we running to? The time after ṣalāh is a time for du'ā to be accepted. Why did we lose out on this opportunity?

It shouldn't come as a surprise — because it comes in hadith that there is a Shaytān dedicated to put thoughts in our minds while we're praying to destroy our concentration. And no sooner do we finish our ṣalāh, there's a Shaytān dedicated to make us stand up and leave before we engage in dhikr and du'ā. This is what I mean when I say we are in a battle. And then there's another Shaytān dedicated to make us fall asleep before reading our adhkār. So Shaytān is throughout our every step and every move — constantly reminding us to do something, anything, but that which will benefit us in this world or the next. The only way we're going to protect ourselves from that is to fight back through the abundance of dhikr.

A Man Doing One Khatm al-Qur'ān a Week for Ghazza

MāshāAllāh — a story I shared here, or I shared yesterday in one place. A brother was doing one khatm al-Qur'ān a week for Ghazza. One khatm a week — for the past 16 months. Not a ḥāfiẓ of Qur'ān — a working professional. And then, subhānAllāh, recently — coinciding with me speaking about it publicly — he found it very difficult that particular week to complete his Qur'ān. So I asked him, "How are things going?" He said, "Alhamdulillāh, I didn't let it go. I stayed awake for many hours into the night, but I completed my Qur'ān. But I felt a hardness and difficulty, a harshness, that I had never felt before." Shaytān doesn't like this — especially when you're encouraging other people.

But this is what you call a man. Look what he did — which made me so happy that we have people like this in the ummah. And this reminds me of the likes of 'Umar al-Khaṭṭāb. Why did the Prophet ﷺ say that if 'Umar goes through one valley or one street, Shaytān sees him coming and goes to the other? You've heard this hadith. When Shaytān sees 'Umar coming down the street, he says, "I want to go another street." How? One of the main reasons for that — amongst many blessings — was his absolute unwavering determination. It's called قُوَّةُ الْإِرَادَةِ — 'azm. That if he said he was going to do something, the sun could rise from the west — he would do it. He would make sure he was committed to it. That is something Shaytān is afraid of. Determination. And of course we are not proud — we say: I am determined with the will of Allah.

So this brother — what do you think he did? He felt the pushback. He finished his khatm — but what else? He started doing extra. He said, "Ever since that happened, I made a commitment: I'm gonna do two khatms a week." He said, "You pushed me — all right, I'm going to push back. What happens in a fight? You push me, I push you back." Two khatms a week. I said, "How are you doing that?" He said, "I wake up for tahajjud, alhamdulillāh, and after tahajjud I read five juz until Fajr. And after that, after every ṣalāh, one juz — ten juz a day. Three days — one khatm done. Six days — another khatm, māshāAllāh."

My dear brothers — he's not a ḥāfiẓ of Qur'ān. He's working full time, 60 or 70 hours a week. SubhānAllāh. That tells us: where there is a will, there is a way.

Making Goals for Sha'bān and Ramaḍān

I want all of us to make this strong will now — that we are going to push ourselves in the month of Sha'bān and Ramaḍān beyond whatever we have ever pushed before. We're going to read Qur'ān until our tongues get tired and Shaytān gets tired of us. He'll say, "Forget this guy — let me go work on someone easier. The return on investment here is not high enough for me." InshāAllāh. When you read Qur'ān, that level of spirituality — rūḥāniyyat — the physical and spiritual strength you'll get means you won't have time to be on your phone. You won't have time for social media if you're reading ten juz a day.

Right now we say this sounds crazy and ridiculous. But when you look at the screen time people have — nine hours, eleven hours, twelve hours — people tell me thirteen hours of screen time. When you put that screen time down, you'll have lots of time for Qur'ān. There is no better time to start than right now, in this blessed month of Sha'bān. Almost half of it is coming to an end. I encourage all of us to make goals right now — in your mind. Between Sha'bān and Ramaḍān: how many khatms are you going to make? Five? Ten? Fifteen? Three? Four? The women who are listening — please, you as well. Ideally, share with your husband, share with your spouse. Say, "Together we're going to make this." Share it at home, put it on your fridge — how many khatms each member of the household is going to make. So it's a common goal and everyone knows: we are collectively going to push ourselves.

"You wonder why I'm not answering my phone? You wonder why I don't have time for this random online game?" Yes — adults. Adults in their 30s and 40s playing online video games. That's the 'ajīb thing we're living in. That's why we don't have time for Qur'ān.

Now you're going to say: "How do I control my phone? I'm motivated — but sheikh, my willpower is too weak. If my willpower was strong, I wouldn't be in this situation." And that's why I'm here to share a solution. Alhamdulillāh, Dār al-Salām tries its best to provide solutions — bumper to bumper, A to Z — as many solutions as possible.

SalamGuard — A Practical Solution

Alhamdulillāh, a Dār al-Salām initiative started some time ago — a website that māshāAllāh some of our students worked together to create. It is known as SalamGuard — SalamGuard.com — S-A-L-A-M-G-U-A-R-D. I would like all of you, whether you were in i'tikāf from the beginning or just joined us now, to go to the lobby before you leave, inshāAllāh — there'll be a setup there for brothers who would like to install it and have someone help configure it on their phone.

The basic thing — which we all should use — is that our phone should no longer be a source of accessing any level of ḥarām. We should 100% ensure this — for ourselves, our sons, our daughters, our grandchildren, our nephews, our nieces. No one should have access to ḥarām on their phone. I encourage all of you before you leave to do this. The sisters can ask one of the volunteers or female students or teachers. SalamGuard.com is available for both Apple and Android. With a click of a button, māshāAllāh, 60,000 websites are blocked off — the worst ones. Just with one click. And then you can put screen time limits on WhatsApp and anything else.

MāshāAllāh, there are students here I messaged — they messaged me the next morning saying, "Sheikh, I have my WhatsApp set to 20 minutes. It works for 20 minutes. So I sent you a message, but when you responded back, I had already exceeded the 20 minutes, so I didn't get your message." Okay — it's not the end of the world. Alhamdulillāh. I'm happy that you're not misusing or overusing your time. So then you have time to study, time to do other things. This is a really important feature I want all of you to utilize now, so that the rest of Sha'bān and the beginning of Ramaḍān — māshāAllāh, tabāraka wa ta'ālā — gets spent properly.

The Ramaḍān Daily Checklist

There is also a Ramaḍān checklist that will be handed out. It includes all different a'māl — daily adhkār, sunnah mu'akkadah, ṣalāh with jamā'ah in the masjid, recitation of Sūrah al-Mulk, Sūrah al-Sajdah, and more. It is essentially a checklist. "I want to change my life — how do I change?" Well, there's a Ramaḍān checklist. Pick it up. It's not specific to Ramaḍān besides Tarāwīḥ — the rest of the a'māl you can do at any time of year. Take it home and start practicing on it from today. Because we all need a timetable. That is the most important thing — to have a schedule of how we are spending our time. And that Ramaḍān checklist will force you to have a timetable: "I have to make sure I do all of these things. And in order to do all of these things, I have to cut out all these wasteful things."

The checklist includes: Tahajjud, Suḥūr (if fasting), Fajr, Tasbīḥ Fāṭimah — which is 33 times SubḥānAllāh, 33 times Alhamdulillāh, 34 times Allāhu Akbar — then recitation of Sūrah Yāsīn, then the morning du'ā after Fajr (you can pick up a bookmark card outside if you don't have one), daily ṣadaqah, daily istighfār, daily ṣalawāt upon the Prophet ﷺ, Ishrāq, Ḍuḥā, Kalimah Ṭayyibah — لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ — dhikr of that, Ẓuhr with Tasbīḥ Fāṭimah, 'Asr with Tasbīḥ Fāṭimah, listening to or reading a portion of tafsīr, the evening du'ās, and before you go to sleep — between Maghrib and 'Ishā' — Sūrah al-Sajdah and Sūrah al-Mulk. These are for protection from the punishment of the grave. Then 'Ishā', followed by Witr ṣalāh, and for Ramaḍān — Tarāwīḥ, 20 rak'āt.

And right now — what Mufti Suhail mentioned — 4 rak'āt of nafl after 'Ishā'. What an incredible quick hack. Four rak'āt after 'Ishā' and you'll get the reward of worshipping on Laylat al-Qadr. SubhānAllāh — with such a few minutes, Allah 'azza wa jall is giving us the reward of Laylat al-Qadr.

The Barakah of Time

Beloved brothers and sisters — inshāAllāh, when we cut out the toxicity of overuse and misuse of the phone, and we bring in the beautiful rūḥāniyyah of dhikr and recitation of the Qur'ān, our lives will change. Imām Sha'rāwī, raḥimahullāh, if I remember correctly, said: just like the more ṣadaqah you give, we believe our wealth does not decrease — similarly, the more time you spend reading Qur'ān and serving the dīn, your time will not decrease. Do you hear what I'm saying? We believe that if you give a hundred dollars in ṣadaqah, your money does not decrease — because the Prophet ﷺ said:

"By the One in whose hand is the soul of Muḥammad, wealth does not decrease from ṣadaqah." (Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2325)

And similarly — just like that — when you give time to read Qur'ān and to serve the dīn, you will see that your time will not decrease. That brother who is a working professional — he has not cut down his hours. He is still reading this much Qur'ān without cutting down his hours. What does that tell you? That his time has barakah. So I ask you to please make du'ā for me, and I will make du'ā for you, that we all become from amongst those who have barakah in our time — and that we cut out all the wasteful things from our lives. Not only wasteful spending and eating, but also isrāf in using our time in things which are of no benefit to us in the dunyā or the ākhirah.

Fasting in Sha'bān

The Prophet ﷺ would fast in the month of Sha'bān more than any other month — to the point that it seemed as though he was not missing a single day. And he said: Sha'bān is such a month that the majority of people are ghāfil — oblivious of it — because they are focused on what? Ramaḍān. They're not focusing on Sha'bān. And this is the time when you get noticed. If one brother stands up right now, we can all see who stood up — because everyone else is sitting. But when we stand up for Maghrib, you can't tell, because everyone is standing.

Similarly, in the month of Ramaḍān everyone is fasting. If you really want to get noticed by Allah — go the extra mile. And that is by fasting in Sha'bān. Go the extra mile, and Allah subhānahu wa ta'ālā will see you — that this man and this woman want to be recognized by Him. Ramaḍān — everyone fasts, everyone is in the masjid, that's normal. But look — two or three weeks in advance, he's already begun fasting.

So we can fast the entire Sha'bān — or, if you feel that you'll become weak, if you're elderly or unwell, then don't. But for many of us who would benefit tremendously — and in many ways — from fasting, you can fast every day. If you don't want to fast every day, fast Mondays and Thursdays. And if you don't want to do that, then at the very least fast the 13th, 14th, and 15th of Sha'bān — the Ayyām al-Bīḍ.

That coincides with next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And next Thursday night, inshāAllāh, we'll be having a Laylat al-Niṣf min Sha'bān program, speaking about the great virtue of the 15th night of Sha'bān. So don't just fast on Friday — fast Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. You'll hear people saying it's a very weak hadith to fast only on the 15th specifically — let's get out of that entire discussion by fasting three days. Because we know this is an agreed-upon sunnah — that the Prophet ﷺ would fast regularly on the three days of the month known as Ayyām al-Bīḍ — the 13th, 14th, and 15th.

Concluding Du'ā

We have about six minutes until Maghrib. So we will inshāAllāh engage in collective du'ā for a few minutes, and then individually. For those who are joining us — many brothers are fasting because it coincided with the no-tech retreat. So alhamdulillāh, we should join them as well in our du'ā, through the barakah of all those who are present here — online and on-site. We ask Allah 'azza wa jall to accept everyone's du'ās.

O Allah, we ask You to accept our fast, accept our dhikr, accept our du'ā, accept the efforts of all the volunteers, the teachers, the guest lecturers. O Allah, and the efforts of those who traveled from different parts of the country by flight, yā Allah, and made huge sacrifices to come here. O Allah, all those who are listening attentively online, all the sisters and mothers and children who participated in all the youth programs, those youth who taught the youth programs, our sisters who taught the female side of the programs — O Allah, we ask You: O Allah, all those brothers and sisters who were not able to make it but intended to, and all those who financially supported any of the cost of this event, O Allah — whoever simply forwarded a message, passed a text, or became a means of passing a flyer — yā Allah, whatever small or large effort anyone made for this program, we ask You O Allah to grant qubūl and acceptance to it.

O Allah, allow their effort — small or large — to become a means of their salvation, yā Allah. Allow it to become a means of their complete forgiveness. Allow it to become a means of them being saved from the onslaught and attacks of Shaytān and the nafs. O Allah, fortify us and strengthen us against our battle against the nafs and Shaytān.

Yā Allah, we all know what we need to do and we know what we are not supposed to do. Yā Allah, give us the willpower and the tawfīq to begin to act upon our knowledge. O Allah, grant us the tawfīq and the willpower to act upon our knowledge. O Allah, whatever we have heard so far in this weekend — O Allah — allow us to put it into practice. Allow us to share it with others as well, yā Allah.

O Allah, we ask You — through the barakah of the 'ibādah that took place here and is taking place here — protect this madrasah and this masjid, and this property, and all the staff members, and all the students, and all the parents, and all the families of the parents and the students, and all of our muṣallīs, and all of our volunteers, and our patrons and well-wishers wherever they may be across the globe. O Allah, protect this entire institution from all evil effects of Shaytān, from all evil effects of ḥasad, from the evil eye, from the evil effects of siḥr, from the evil effects of our own sins, from the evil effects of ill intentions and bad niyyah, and from the evil effects of our nafs.

O Allah, we ask You to grant us all the khayr and good that the Prophet ﷺ asked You of. And we seek refuge in You from all the evil that the Prophet ﷺ sought refuge in You from.