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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…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 9 Nafs Hack with Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
Nafs Hack: Contemplating Death Assalamu alaikum. My name is Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and this is my Nafs Hack. When I was in Sacramento (prior to a game), I was taking my pre-game nap, and I had a dream. To this day this dream bothers me. I had a dream I was walking over a bridge, and right underneath the bridge there a was a fire—hellfire. As I was walking, the bridge collapsed; when it collapsed, I went with it. But there was something that stopped me. And I didn’t want to shift and move my head. I’m looking up to see what prevented my fall, and it was a string of…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 8 Nafs Hack with Mariama Badjie
Nafs Hack: Do it with Ihsan Assalamu alaikum! My name is Mariama Badjie, and I’m here with today’s Nafs Hack. When I was a freshman in high school, in my AP world history class, my teacher called on me and he asked me, do you think the Roman empire would have been what it was if Julius Caesar never existed? And I said no, Julius Caesar was amazing or infamous—however you want to look at it. But what he did wasn’t irreplaceable. I stopped and I said, well, maybe, maybe if he didn’t do what he did, someone else would’ve. And he said exactly. This is a concept in history.…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 6 Nafs Hack with Farhaan Razi
Nafs Hack: Stay Fit While Fasting Assalamu alaikum, everyone! My name is Farhaan Razi, co-founder and president of Fasting 5K, a non-profit that runs a 5k while fasting to raise money for charities during this blessed month. We’re excited this year to be partnering with Islamic Relief to raise money for their various causes in the Virginia area. I want to share with you some Nafs Hacks that I do to help stay in shape during this blessed month. One. Hydration is key. It’s important to drink 8 glasses of water from iftar time to suhoor time, and don’t try to squeeze in all those glasses of water during suhoor…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 5 Nafs Hack with Isra Chaker
Nafs Hack: Daily Gratitude Journal I’m a civil rights activist, and I’m here today with Islamic Relief to give you your next Nafs Hack. Now, we all live in a life where we are constantly busy and being pulled in many directions and are facing tribulations while also overcoming them. And sometimes we realize that we don’t ever stop and breathe for a second and think about all the things we are actually grateful for and the things that we are blessed with. And so my nafs hack I do on daily basis personally is I wake up every morning and I write down five things that I’m grateful for…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 4 Nafs Hack with Amani Abdel-Dayem
Nafs Hack: Live with Intention Assalamu alaikum, everyone! My name is Amani Abdel-Dayem, and I’m here for your Nafs Hack. So, my Nafs Hack for you today is for productivity in intention and niyyah. Whenever you have anything to do, from the menial to the major—whether it’s wuduh, salah, cooking dinner, starting a project, or visiting a friend—make sure that you have an intention. Make sure that you’re focused on the outcome that you’re looking for and the why that you’re doing what you’re doing. And, all of a sudden, the quality of your work, your visit, whatever it is that you’re doing, your salah will change dramatically for the…
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RAMADAN REFLECTIONS: DAY 3 NAFS HACK WITH SAID DURRAH
Nafs Hack: Sustainable Fasting Assalamu alaikum. I’m comedian Said Durrah, and this is your Nafs Hack. Today, I want to talk to you about the difference between what I call sustainable fasting and silly fasting. Sustainable fasting, if you’re able to fast, is what you’re supposed to do—you know, no food, no water and so forth—but silly fasting is the people that want to go to extremes. Don’t be that person. That’s the person who tells you, “Oh, I just got an internship at this bakery. It’s going to be great for Ramadan. It’s really going to test me. It’s really going to push me to my extremes.” Why would…
