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Ramadan Reflections: Day 19 Nafs Hack with Lisa Vogl
Nafs Hack: Being Consistent with Prayer and God My name is Lisa Vogl, and this is my Nafs Hack. Last year, I was in the most traumatic state of my life. It was the most difficult time I’ve ever had. I had changes going on. I became a single mother. I was newly divorced. I was moving, and I was trying to figure out so many changes in my life. At the start of Ramadan, I went to Allah (SWT) with so much dua’a, so much passion, so much dedication and devotion. I was in the masjid, and I was praying because I needed Allah (SWT). I needed his guidance.…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 18 Nafs Hack with Nurideen from Leftist
Nafs Hack: Being Thankful for Everything Salaam, Shalom, Peace. This is Nurideen from Leftist, and this is your Nafs Hack for today. Okay, so one of the things that I do is, when I pray, I make sure to thank Allah (SWT) for everything that I have and everything that He didn’t give me. I think we usually pray and thank Allah (SWT) for the things that we have, but we don’t thank Him for the things that He didn’t give us. Those things in particular might have been something that was negative for us. Since Allah (SWT) is almighty, and He has the power, He knows what we don’t…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 17 Nafs Hack with Ain’t Afraid
Nafs Hack: Give What You Have Assalam alaikum! It’s Ain’t Afraid here with your Nafs Hack for today. Growing up, our mother kept us around the masjid. She wanted to teach us our religion. She wanted to instill Islamic values within us, like charity, even though we were a poor family. I remember when we were younger and we used to go to Muslim gatherings in the masjid, and the imam or the organizers would ask the community for donations. It was a tradition for us to go to our mother so she’d give us something to give in the basket—whether it be .50 or $1. She later told us…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 16 Nafs Hack with Nourah Samarkandi
Nafs Hack: Timing with Zhikr Assalamu alaikum! My name is Nourah Samarkandi, and this is my Nafs Hack for today. I like to do stretches in the morning. Normally, people time themselves with a timer when they’re doing stretches, but I like to time myself by saying Azkar Al-Subah. For example, when I do one move I say Surah Al-Falaq, and for the next move I say Surah An-Nas. This way, I remember to do my stretches and my azkar. You can apply this to any exercise you normally do. I hope this helps you remember to say your azkar during this Ramadan.
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 15 Nafs Hack with Sharif Aly
Nafs Hack: Holding Your Tongue Assalamu alaikum! This is Sharif Aly, and this is your Nafs Hack for today. Alhamdulillah, it’s such a blessing that we’re able to to experience this month of Ramadan together. One of the things that I’m constantly reminded of in Ramadan amidst the amount of worship that we do is that we cannot forget that Ramadan goes beyond abstaining from food and drink, beyond these areas of worship, but also in how we conduct ourselves in our behaviors. I know it’s easier said than done, but protecting our tongue and what we say, like stopping ourselves from gossiping or backbiting, is also a key part…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 14 Nafs Hack with Amin Aaser
Nafs Hack: Intentionality I was 24 years old, I come home, and my mom looks at me, she says, ‘Amin, I need a grandchild.’ The problem was I wasn’t even married, so I was like, ‘Mom, c’mon.’ But what that meant for me was that I needed to find my wife. So, I took it with the same level of seriousness that I do everything else in life. I created a PowerPoint presentation, created an Excel spreadsheet, started thinking about all of the things I needed to find in my wife, and alhamdulillah I found her. When I did, I remember going to jummah and meeting one of my teachers,…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 13 Nafs Hack with Nancy Khalil
Nafs Hack: Mandatory Vs. Optional When I was in college, I worked with a team to organize logistics for a very large Muslim college students’ retreat that was taking place in Boston. It was the first of its kind. I spent months organizing with my team, and a few weeks before we were supposed to go on the retreat, the option for me to go to Hajj emerged. I struggled. I didn’t want to let the committee down. I didn’t want to let the retreat down. I wanted to go on it with my friends, but Hajj is a really big deal. So, I talked through it with a friend,…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 12 Nafs Hack with David Hawa
Nafs Hack: Increasing Your Giving Assalamu alaikum! This is your brother, David, with Islamic Relief USA with today’s Ramadan Reflection, Nafs Hack edition. This month, we have increased our worship and ibadath, we increased our salah, we increased praying, we increased our fasting, we increased our sadaqah, our charity that we’ve been giving. Now, some of us will ask, how do we, if we give throughout the year and we kind of live almost paycheck-to-paycheck, how do we give extra during the month of Ramadan? Well, this is a little hack that I’ve done for myself to increase my giving during the month of Ramadan. What I’ve done is calculate…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 11 Nafs Hack with Waleed Gabr
Nafs Hack: Smiling Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu. Ramadan Mubarak to you and your family. My name is Waleed Gabr. I work with Islamic Relief, and my Nafs Hack is smiling. A lot of times, we interact with people and don’t realize the power of a smile. Many times, I come across a lot of people in the work that we do, which is such a blessing and so uplifting, and we actually don’t realize how powerful a smile is. Some people always ask me, ‘Why are you smiling?’ And I just reply back to them and say, ‘What is there to worry about?’ Alhamdullilah, Allah (SWT) has blessed…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 10 Nafs Hack with Hamdy Radwan
Nafs Hack: Be Grateful for Your Food Assalamu alaikum. My name is Hamdy Radwan, and I am the vice chair of the board of trustees for Islamic Relief USA. This is my Nafs Hack. There are some people that are not as privileged as you are, and they may be short of food. I heard some stories coming from Africa recently. The mother and the father gave their kids the option to eat either in the morning or in the evening because they couldn’t afford two meals a day. I’m not saying that to feel bad about them because Allah (SWT) is the provider, and he provides everyone with his…
