Hamza Yusuf – Ramadan Advice

Hamza YusufAugust 21, 20070 comments

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Ramadan Spiritual Purification Compassion Islamic History Self-Discipline Quran Taqwa Fasting

About this lecture

In this Ramadan lecture, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf explores fasting as far more than an act of physical abstention — unpacking it as a profound spiritual practice of wakefulness, self-discipline, and protection. Drawing on Quranic verses, hadith, and the pre-Islamic concept of *jahiliyyah*, he argues that the essence of Ramadan is breaking free from reactionary, unconscious patterns of behavior and awakening to a higher state of God-consciousness (*taqwa*). The lecture culminates in a powerful call for Muslims to cultivate inner *sakinah* (tranquility), compassion toward all of humanity, and a return to the Quran as the foundation of personal and collective revival.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf is one of the most influential Islamic scholars in the Western world. Born Mark Hanson in Washington State in 1958, he embraced Islam in 1977 and spent over a decade studying the traditional Islamic sciences in the UAE, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania, most notably under the Mauritanian sage Murabit al-Hajj. He is the co-founder and president of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California — the first accredited Muslim liberal arts college in the United States — and has translated numerous classical texts, including "The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi" and "Purification of the Heart." His lectures on spirituality, classical scholarship, and the crisis of modernity have shaped a generation of Western Muslims.

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