Ish al-Lahza: Live the Moment (Ramadan television programme)

'Ish al-Lahza' ('Live the Moment') is a Ramadan television programme presented by Mustafa Hosny, dated by the Arabic Wikipedia to Ramadan 2014, of which the Assabile archive keeps twenty-nine video episodes of about twenty-five to thirty minutes each. ^{1 2} In the first episode he greets viewers with Ramadan wishes, says they have come to them 'with Live the Moment' to talk about investing every moment, and that the moments he will treat will run 'all through the month of Ramadan'. ^{3 4 5} Each episode opens with a song about the moments of life between joy and sorrow, parting and meeting, then a text read in formal Arabic in the form of a letter or reflection that ends in a supplication; then the speaker talks alone in Egyptian colloquial, with short testimonies from unnamed young men and women about their own experience of the episode's moment cut in. ^{6 7 8 9}

The speaker says the moment is 'one of God's soldiers', through which God sends a person a message to change, and that stormy moments either give a person vision and experience or rob him of the best in him. ^{10 4} He builds every episode on a fixed plan: a definition of the moment, its examples in the Qur'an and the Sunna, God's wisdom in it, its wrong and right paths, and then one of the names of God for the viewer to hold on to so as to live the moment 'as God wills', what he calls the 'rabbani moment'. ^{11 12 13 14} The detail is in the most beautiful names of God. Neither the archive nor the episodes give a broadcast date. ²

Episode 1: changing moments. He cites a saying he attributes to Sufyan al-Thawri, that people are heedless like sleepers and wake only at death, and says most people live repetitive lives until an unusual moment overwhelms them, what foreigners call 'turning points'. ^{3 10} He tells of the death of a friend in his youth; the detail is in his biography. ¹⁵ He then explains that God 'manifests' Himself to His servants through His names: as the Enricher to the rich, the Constrictor in sorrow, the Expander in joy and the Wise when a person does not understand what is happening, and cites the hadith of the ninety-nine names, explaining 'enumerating' them as understanding them and living with them. ^{16 17 18 19}

Episode 2: the will to change. He says every behaviour springs from three things: innate temper, the nature a person acquires from his surroundings, and the will to change; and that what is constant is God, while all else changes. ^{20 21} He counts three obstacles to change: the comfort zone, denial and despair. ²²

Episode 3: the moment of hurt. He defines it as the moment when one's basic expectations of a dear person collapse, and gives the example of Abraham, whose deepest wound came from his father, so that he withdrew from his people and God compensated him. ^{8 23 24} He urges holding on to God's name the Tender (al-Hannan), and tells the story of a woman of thirty-four whose engagement was broken off, who went on the lesser pilgrimage, wept at the Ka'ba and later married a man she had met on that journey; he attributes the story to a book by Dr Abd al-Wahhab Mutawi'. ^{13 25 26 27}

Episode 4: the moment of anxiety. He distinguishes fear of a thing that has its causes from anxiety, which magnifies fears without logic, and says anxiety, well handled, kills randomness and pushes a person to plan. ^{28 29 30} He asks for three things: establishing the facts, taking the means, and seeking the help of the Guardian (al-Muhaymin), and recalls the travel supplication in which the traveller entrusts himself and his family to his Lord, since God is with him and with them at once. ^{31 32} He tells of his own anxiety for his children; the detail is in his biography. ³³

Episode 5: the moment of longing for sin. He cites the hadith of trials being offered to hearts: the heart that takes them in receives a black spot and the heart that rejects them a white one; and says that the forbidden, for the scholars of legal theory, is what one is rewarded for leaving. ^{34 35} He calls the viewer to be 'the one who seeks refuge' with the Preserver (al-Hafiz), to flee and keep busy, and relates that Malik told al-Shafi'i he saw that God had cast a light into his heart and that he should not put it out with the darkness of sin. ^{36 37}

Episode 6: love between spouses. He rejects the idea that love ends after marriage and sets out 'the five languages of love': words of praise and encouragement, quality time, gifts, acts of service and tender touch. ^{38 9} He cites the Prophet racing Aisha on the way back from a campaign, Umar asking his daughter Hafsa how long a woman can bear her husband's absence, and the Prophet halting the army, which he puts at fourteen hundred fighters, to search for Aisha's necklace. ^{39 40 41}

Episode 7: the moment of intimacy with God. He makes it the moment when the veils between the heart and its Lord are lifted, says scholars call it 'the greatest wealth', and relates from Ibn Qudama's 'Book of the Penitents' the story of a sinner of the Children of Israel who died alone in a ruin and whom God counted among His friends. ^{42 43 44} The detail is in intimacy with God.

Episode 8: the moment of regret. He says God created in man the self-reproaching soul to correct his course, and tells the story of the owners of the orchard, which he places in the twenty-ninth part of the Qur'an. ^{45 46 47} He explains the difference between al-Ghafur, who forgives everything, and al-Ghaffar, who forgives every time. ⁴⁸

Episode 9: the moment of parting. He describes the scenes of the washing, the shroud, the prayer and the burial, recalls the prohibition of slapping cheeks and tearing garments, explains the takbirs of the funeral prayer, and calls for seeking the help of the Everlasting (al-Baqi). ^{49 50 51 52 53} He ends with Ibn al-Mubarak laughing at his death and reciting a verse that urges those who work to work for what he saw. ⁵⁴

Episode 10: the moment of joy. He notes that Ibn al-Qayyim called Paradise 'the land of joys' in one of his books, and gives godly joy four sides: praising the Expander (al-Basit), rejoicing without suppressing it, humility before God at a blessing, and turning the energy of joy into a good deed. ^{55 56} He relates that Ja'far found the Negus sitting on the ground in joy at the Prophet's victory at Badr, in humility before God at a blessing, then the joy of Ka'b ibn Malik when God accepted his repentance. ^{57 58}

Episode 11: the moment of illness. He builds the episode on a hadith he attributes to Abu Dawud, that a believer's illness expiates what is past and admonishes for what remains, and distinguishes 'the objecting patient' from 'the returning patient'. ^{59 60} He calls for contentment and for seeking treatment while relying on the Healer (al-Shafi), and cites the hadith that commands seeking treatment. ^{61 62} The detail is in visiting the sick.

Episode 12: the moment of weak self-confidence. He lists five causes he attributes to psychologists, physical, social, financial, moral and lack of achievement, and explains God's name al-Samad from Surat al-Ikhlas (112:2). ^{63 64 65} He tells how the wounded went out after Uhud on the expedition of Hamra' al-Asad. ^{66 67}

Episode 13: the moment of guidance. He says the first who calls to guidance is God, counts three responses to it, turning away, projecting it onto others and turning towards it, and urges holding on to the Guide (al-Hadi). ^{68 69 70} He tells the story of the conversion of Khalid ibn al-Walid after a dream, his journey to Medina and his meeting with Amr ibn al-As on the road. ^{71 72}

Episode 14: the moment of despair. He defines despair as the heart's grief at losing what it hoped for, and cites the counsel of Jacob to his sons to search for Joseph and his brother and not to lose hope of God's mercy. ^{73 74} He urges holding on to the Opener (al-Fattah) and quotes a supplication of Dhu al-Nun al-Misri. ^{75 76}

Episode 15: love among friends and relatives. He relates that Abu Idris, one of the Successors in Syria, told Mu'adh ibn Jabal that he loved him for God's sake, and Mu'adh gave him glad tidings with a hadith qudsi that God's love is due to those who love one another for His sake. ^{77 78} He mentions that Ibrahim ibn Adham stood all of a cold night at the opening of a doorless mosque to keep the wind off his companions, and cites the hadith of the handshake, which he attributes to the Sunan of Abu Dawud. ^{79 80 81}

Episode 16: the moment of giving way. He recalls the steadfastness of Bilal under the rock, and Quraysh's offer that the Prophet worship their gods for a year and they his God for a year. ^{82 83} He counts three paths, abandoning principles, flexibility by knowingly yielding a lawful right, and holding fast, and gives as an example of flexibility the truce of Hudaybiyya, when the Prophet set out, with fourteen hundred Companions as he says, for the lesser pilgrimage and not for war; he urges holding on to the Rich (al-Ghani). ^{84 85 86 87}

Episode 17: the moment of attraction. He tells the story of Moses and the two young women of Midian whose flocks he watered, and counts three paths: forbidden enjoyment, moving towards marriage, and abstaining. ^{88 89} He sets out two views on a woman who is drawn to a man, one allowing a discreet go-between, citing Nafisa's mediation between Khadija and the Prophet, the other limiting her to prayer, and prefers the second because times have changed; he then urges holding on to the Appreciative (al-Shakur). ^{90 91}

Episode 18: the moment of outburst. He says an outburst is anger reacting with a person's values, destructive when the values are bad and constructive when they are good, and gives the example of Moses' anger when he returned to find his people worshipping the calf. ^{92 93} He recalls the Prophet's ruling on al-Zubayr's irrigation, urges holding on to the Forbearing (al-Halim), and relates that the Prophet entered Mecca on the day of the conquest, with ten thousand fighters as he says, and when Sa'd ibn Ubada said the day was a day of fighting, the Prophet said it was a day of mercy. ^{94 95 96 97}

Episode 19: the moment of oppression and humiliation. He reads the story of David, the two litigants and the man with ninety-nine ewes as a picture of the big trader who crushes the small, and counts three responses: revenge, flattering the stronger, and repelling the wrong with every effort. ^{98 99} He explains God's name al-Jabbar as the One who mends what is broken, and tells of Umm Salama's separation from her husband and son at the emigration. ^{100 101}

Episode 20: the moment of doing good. He cites a hadith he attributes to al-Bayhaqi's 'Shu'ab al-Iman', that when God wants good for a servant He employs him in meeting people's needs, and notes that doing good deeds comes in Surat al-Anbiya' (21:73) before establishing prayer. ^{102 103} He tells the story of Thabit al-Bunani and al-Hasan al-Basri on walking in a brother's need, and the story of Ibn al-Mubarak and the hungry girl. ^{104 105 106}

Episode 21: the moment of sorrow. He explains the roots of the words for sorrow and distress, says sorrow is no weakness since it can befall prophets, and recalls the Prophet's words at the death of his son on the eye's tears and the heart's grief. ^{107 108 109} The detail is in sorrow.

Episode 22: the moment of confrontation. He recalls Hud confronting his people of 'Ad, of whom he says each man was sixty cubits tall, Mary facing her people after the birth of Jesus, his own facing of a bad mark as a boy, and the army of Saul (Talut). ^{110 111 112 113 114} He explains God's name al-Qadir and tells of the steadfastness of Hagar in the valley. ^{115 116}

Episode 23: a loved one's illness. He cites Uthman ibn Affan's saying that the Prophet visited their sick and followed their funerals, the hadiths on the merit of visiting the sick, and explains God's name al-Barr. ^{117 118 119 120} The detail is in visiting the sick.

Episode 24: the moment of separation. He speaks of divorce and gives a figure without naming its source: that four of every ten marriages in the last ten years end in divorce (needs_source). ¹²¹ He says the Qur'an makes marriage a firm covenant and that it has a whole sura called al-Talaq in its twenty-eighth part, and distinguishes two levels of parting: parting in fairness, which is justice, and parting with excellence, which is above it. ^{122 123 124} He tells the story of the wife of Thabit ibn Qays, who returned his garden to him and was separated from him, and closes with a verse of Surat al-Talaq on God making a way out for whoever fears Him. ^{125 126}

Episode 25: the moment of fear. He defines fear as the heart's agitation at expecting something hateful, recalls Moses' fear of his staff when it became a snake, and cites a hadith he attributes to al-Tirmidhi from Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him), that whoever fears sets out at nightfall and so reaches his goal, and that God's merchandise is Paradise; he explains idlaj as travelling by night. ^{127 128 129} He tells of the forty years' wandering of the Children of Israel when they feared to enter the Holy Land, and urges holding on to the Reckoner (al-Hasib). ^{130 131}

Episode 26: the moment of realisation. He tells of Qarun going out in his finery and the earth swallowing him, and of the Negus believing when Ja'far recited Surat Maryam to him and saying that what Muhammad and Jesus brought came from one source. ^{132 133} He urges holding on to the Protecting Friend (al-Wali) and relates from Dr Mustafa Mahmoud's book 'My Journey from Doubt to Certainty' how his search began. ^{134 135}

Episode 27: the moment of perplexity. He recalls the perplexity of the queen of Sheba when the letter of Solomon reached her and she consulted her council, and says consultation comes in the Qur'an between prayer and spending. ^{136 137} He gives the right decision a three-sided pyramid: the prayer for guidance, consulting a loving and sincere person, and thinking. ¹³⁸ The detail is in istikhara.

Episode 28: the moment of jealousy. He distinguishes the jealousy of love from the jealousy of rancour, says jealousy is to love as water is to crops, and cites hadiths on God's jealousy and on the jealousy God loves and the jealousy He hates. ^{139 140 141 142} He tells of Umar's jealousy over his wife Atika bint Zayd and of his leaving her to pray in the mosque, of the dish Aisha broke and the Prophet telling those present that their mother had been jealous, and urges holding on to the Right-Guiding (al-Rashid). ^{143 144 145 146}

Episode 29: the moment of triumph. He closes the programme with the stages of the hereafter: the soul's departure, the grave and its questioning, the resurrection, the reckoning, the flying of the records, the scales, and then Paradise. ^{147 148} He cites a report he attributes to al-Asbahani's 'Kitab al-'Azama', from Muhammad ibn Ka'b (whose nisba the transcript gives as «الكردي»), on the angel of death greeting the believer as his soul leaves. ^{149 150}