Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. Dear brothers and sisters this is Justin for Yaqeen Institute and I want to talk to you today about a tip for Ramadan and talk a little bit about how mindfulness relates to our fasting.

So the point I’m gonna make here today is based off of what you know Al-Ghazali says in his book ‘Uloom Al-Deen. He says there are three levels of fasting.

First there’s Sawm Al-‘Umoom, that’s the fasting of the common people and that’s the basic minimum that we’re not eating and drinking or being intimate with spouses during the daytime.

And then the second level of fasting he says is Sawm Al-Khosoos, that’s the fasting of the spiritual elite and that is the fast from all kinds of sins, and in particular the sins of the tongue – so avoiding backbiting, avoiding gossip, avoiding using profane words, and things like that.

And then the third level of fasting he says is the Sawm Al-Khosoos Al-Khosoos, this is the “sawm” or the fasting the elite of the spiritual elite. And he says that that’s the fasting of the heart. Sawm Al-Qalb – from what? – from Afkar Al-Dunyawiyya, from worldly thoughts, meaning unnecessary worldly thoughts.

So this is the type of fasting at a level of fasting that I’m gonna try and practice this Ramadan and I suggest that you practice too because remember when we learned in our mindfulness practice: we know how thoughts are formed and how we can get better control over our thoughts and then we can utilize that during our fasting and that instead of reflecting on Al-Afkar Al-Dunyawiyya, just unworthy worldly thoughts that are unnecessary and they’re just distractions, we can focus it instead onto Dhikr and Muraqaba, and being mindful with Allah reciting the Quran, learning about Islam, reading books about Islam, listening to Islamic lectures, and so on.

So that’s what I’m going to focus on this Ramadan is being more mindful and having more control over my thoughts and not listening to the worldly thoughts as much as I would normally do. And that’s the tip that I have for you, as well so I ask Allah to accept our fasting and to make this Ramadan a lesson for us and our families. We’ll see you next time inshallah. Assalamu Alaikum.