Sheikh Uthman Hadi - Avoid spiritual burnout and manage your Ibadah | A Journey to the Divine - Ep. 12

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

Introduction: As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. All praise is due to Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Today, we gather to discuss an important topic that affects many of us in our spiritual journeys: avoiding spiritual burnout. In our fast-paced lives, it is easy to become overwhelmed and lose sight of our spiritual goals. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sheikh-uthman-hadi--6689369/support.https://sheikhuthmanhadi.beam.lyhttps://open.spotify.com/user/315hadqmwxllibu6ubi5us2cbn2y?si=572b4d8898284e9ehttps://open.spotify.com/show/3MQHfrpjj3XXcqoPbN5Dl8?si=v6YQ42kpSx-VONBFhT3CzA

Bismillah byehmane, alhameh. Alhameh, and al-Ahemnih, and al-Arhusra'u'll Allah, and al-Alihah, and ashabi all righte. My rebels and sisters, assalamu-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-chumatu-a.

I pray that everyone is doing well. I ask Allah, Sufanao, Christa, to give us for our sins, our shortcomings, and embarrasses and special mercy not only in this life and the next, and I ask Allah, to accept our fast and our efforts from us today. My debels and sisters,

there are two main topics I want to talk about tonight as we enter into the the 13th night. Insha'allah, probably tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the 13th night, but tonight is the 12th still. But their brothers and sisters. Two things.

The first thing is avoiding spiritual burnout, which we'll actually get to that in the second point, but that's the first thing. And the second thing is your accountability for your deeds that you've done. And have you done enough. It might seem like I have a lot of topics I want to cover, but in Shalah, it's only two things,

and it's probably going to be the same time as all of our other talks that we've done. have had. So don't brace yourselves for anything longer. It's going to be the same time, inshallah, but brothers and sisters, first of all, I want to put us in the mindset of imagine you had to go to Allah supanah how it, every 10 days in the month of Ramadan, because inshhhāhāsaulah there are 29 or 30 days in the month of Ramadan, and if there are 30, it would be three sets of these 10. And if it weren't, then it would be two sets of 10 and one set of nine, right? So I imagine you had to go to Allah supaniahuata after every set of 10 days

and you had to present your deeds to him. For the first 10 days as we have exited out of that, do you think that you could go, and I'm asking myself this question before I ask all of you, but do you think you can go to Allah supanohoita ala feeling proud about what you've done these first 10 days? Do you think that if you went to Allah suhpana hoataa ta'a, he would be happy, you would be happy, he would be proud of you for the things that you've done. Do you think that right now, if every single time the 10-day period was up, you had to go to Allah, Sufana, Hei-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-do. Do you think Allah, Sufana-ho-a-a-a-a-a-a would be pleased with what you have done so far these first 10 days?

And it's a question for all of us, because even me, maybe I've been too busy doing work, or maybe I've been too busy doing and working on certain little things here and there. Maybe I need to worship Allah more, worry about my Ibad, that more than everything else. Well, there are two sides to it. And this is where avoiding spiritual burnout comes in as well. Because sometimes we get to the fact of the idea I just gave you that you had to go to Allah, Sufanohoiata, every 10 days.

And, al-h-h-a-l-la, we have been granted the first 10 days. And, inshallah, a portion of the most of today. Now, inshallah, we have to, you know, inshallah, complete the next set of days. And then after that, we'll head over to the last. set, which, inshallah, we ask Allah, to God, to grant us the ability to see. My brothers and sisters,

when it comes to doing acts of iBada, don't forget, balance is key, right? And we've talked about this as well. We've spoken about balance, because when you do too much of one thing, it becomes difficult for you to actually do anything else, which is why if someone just worked a job all the time and did do anything else, right?

They would be so burnt out and tired from that job that they're working. And if you're working multiple jobs all day long and you're going so hard on them, it would be difficult for you to do anything, right? You would be exhausted. And by the time that the real job that you want to do comes up, you would have no more energy for it. Think of this the same way with our iBada.

Right now, my dear brothers and sisters, we have entered into the 12th day. Al-Hamda'u'u'a after Salat al-Magrib. Now that we are in the 12th day, remember that you were granted 12 days don't push yourself over. After you hit the 15-day period, day 16, day 17, day 18,

at that point, that's when you start to pick up the ball and start to get it rolling a little faster. Right now, it's rolling very slow. And sometimes we want to do so much in the first 10 days because we're so excited for the month of Ramadan, but the fact is, my dear brothers and sisters, that when it comes to spiritual burnout, sometimes it can cause prolonged stress

or over-commitment to our duties that we have, right? And it could also go to self-lack. Self-lack of what? Self-lack of other things, of our other responsibilities of the dunya. And also our spiritual responsibilities as well. If you're praying so much throughout the night, you say, you know what, I only know.

So that certain around the stars, I'm just going to keep sending them over. Someone who were of praise 20 rikaz or sometimes 30 rikaz a night. Imagine doing that every single night in the month of Ramadan. Do you think you're going to be able to make it to the last 10 nights and pray more? Do you think you're going to be ready for that? And do you think that on the day of Eid, you're going to still feel so motivated to do that, Ibadah? No, because you've burnt yourself out so much that now your body needs to rest.

And that little bit of resting time is what gives the shatana bit of time after the month of Ramadan to creep in and say, no, you don't need to worship anymore. It's okay. You did good enough during the month of Ramadan. You'll see the next one. Don't worry. And that's exactly why, my dear brothers and sisters, throughout this month of Ramadan, don't burn yourself out. And I'm saying this to myself first because sometimes we have these unrealistic goals of I'm going to pray these many prayers.

I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. And then when that time actually comes, we don't do those things. And now we feel upset. And then now it's kind of like, okay, well, I mean, why am I even doing this in the first place? Do not forget, my dear brothers and sisters that in the authentic hadith of Prophet Allah, Allah, Alexa, emphasized moderation in all of our acts of iBada and all aspects of life, including our imbada, right? in which he said, the most beloved of these to Allah Sufana Hu'u'u'a

are those that are done consistently, even if they're small. So this record, this is trying, this emphasizes my brothers and sisters and teaches us the importance of consistency over intensity, right? I want you to remember that. Consistency over intensity, which is why I also want to think over quality, over quantity. Because when it comes to the month of Ramadan, we have the quality to pray. I want to pray 20 rikas at night. and then I want to pray all my sonnas during the day.

I want to read the whole Quran in the amount of Ramadan and then I want to perform such an amount of vicar. I want to make this amount of dua. And when it comes to this point, my dear brothers and sisters, now we're over-exerting ourselves. The quantity is a lot, but what's the quality? Because even just praying our five prayers a day, if we do it for the sake of Allah,

if we do it with the right intention and we align our intentions with sincerity, then Allah, Suu, Suu, Tao, it will reward it, which is exactly why my dear brothers and sisters. Do not forget the quality over quantity, right? Do not forget that. Quality is better than quantity.

If you're going to do something better quality than quantity. Yes, praying your sunnas every single day is good. But try to slowly build yourself up. If you've never prayed 12 sunnas a day or 14 sunnas a day or you pray every single rakaa of sunnas a day, then don't try it. Don't push yourself the first day of Ramadan to do it. Instead, I'm going to pray two the first day.

Then the next day, I'm going to pray the two before Padjr. And then after that, I may pray the four before Dohor. And then keep going throughout the month of Ramadan. And it's the same for Tarawi. Don't just start off the month of Ramadan that first night praying 20 rakas, because by the time you get to the 10th night, you will be completely exhausted and you don't even know what to do anymore. Which is why, my dear brothers and sisters, if you truly want to gain closeness,

you have to remember that like I mentioned before, set realistic goals. Don't just say, oh, I'm going to pray such and such amount of racaz and don't think, oh, this is going to just blow all the circumstances, all the other circumstances I have, or I need to pray this much or I want to make this much dua or this much dik, or I want to read this much Quran. Think about your current circumstances that you have.

And instead of overwhelming yourself with lofty aspirations, focus on small, consistent acts of i bada. Like I mentioned before in the hadith. For example, aiming to read just a few verses of the Quran daily and perform extra prayers a few times a week. Inshallah, there are three weeks in the month of Ramadan, or four weeks, sorry, four weeks in the month of Ramadan. Don't overdo it, right?

You don't have to finish the whole Quran throughout the month of Ramadan. Because the Quran, like we spoke about yesterday, is meant to be read with transformation, meant to be read with understanding so that you can transform yourself. It's not meant to be read a book that you finish in a month and then after the month of Ramadan it gains dust to get on your shelf and then inshallah for all thanks the next Ramadan we come back and we say why is the quran so dusty right did i clean this off yet so don't forget my dear brothers and sisters don't try to

overdo yourself and that's another thing i want to mention my dear brothers and sisters is when it comes to balancing your worship your ibada and your daily life as we've been taught and encouraged in Islam to balance the approach to life, which is why the Prophet of Allah, Allah, Allah, He waslam engaged in various acts and activities, including spending time with his family, working and resting when he had the time to, ensuring that your iBada does not come at the expense of your well-being and your responsibilities. I'm not saying that, oh, throughout the month of Ramadan, I'm not going to earn a penny because I just want to worship Allah, suhanna-ho, it a throughout the month of Ramadan.

because everything that I do and everything that you do should be for the sake of Allah, subhanna hua Tala, even school, even work. It should only be for the sake of Allah. I'm doing this for the sake of Allah to please Allah. No one else, not to please my family, not to please my friends, not so I can gain this much money, only for the sake of Allah suhpana hua Tala. And ensuring, my dear brothers and sisters, that every single act of Ibadah is done with the right intention.

And that's only for Allah. engaging in zikr, contemplating, reflecting, and reconnecting with Allah suhpanihu ta'a'a'a are very important things. Do not forget that through al-a-mata of Ramadan, it is a time of reflection like we spoke about in the first episode and many others, I believe, after that as well. I think we did another one after that. Ensure my brothers and sisters to al-Tamata Ramadan, you are reflecting and you're reconnecting back to Allah suhaphanahua-ta-a-da.

Because sometimes we get so caught up in our ibada, so much worship, and we're just trying to get a certain number that we don't look at the actual quality. Like I said, and this is a point I want to mention here for the last minute that we have is quality over that quantity, right? Yes, the quality of reflection over quantity. What do I mean by this? I mean time wise, right? I'm not saying you need to, you know, reflect for two hours, three hours, four hours out of your day. And I'm not saying you need to work for the whole day. And I'm not saying you need to just just do other things for the whole day. I'm saying that you need to still have balance,

but I'm also saying the quality of your reflection over quantity. Look at the way it goes here, my brother and sisters. Look at the quality of your reflection. Are you truly reflecting upon what needs to be reflected on? Are you truly gaining closeness to a law through that reflection? Are you actually putting yourself in uncomfortable positions that we have to put ourselves in sometimes?

And whether that be you're a parent, whether that be your child, whether that be you're just a person, period, an individual without a family, or you're trying to reflect upon yourself when it comes to you and your family. Putting yourself in this position is difficult. We all know it's difficult,

which is why we don't want to do it. We don't want to reflect, but this is how you get good quality, my dear brothers and sisters. And like Allah, Sufanao, what aada, says in the Quran, he says, invoke me, and I will respond to your invocation. So do not, my dear brothers and sisters,

use that time to reflect just to think, and then after that, go back and do the same things again. Or just to think, and then after that, it was like you did, Nothing. But the brothers and sisters, ensure that this month of Ramadan as we continue on, my brothers and sisters, do not forget that quality is more important than quantity. And remember, if you had to stand before Allah, think of this on every day, day to day basis. If you had to stand before Allah, suhphanahua-ta-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a, every single day or every 10 days,

and you had to stand before him, what do you think your deeds will look like now? Do you think Allah, Sufana, He would be so pleased with you that he would reward you with some type of high rank? He would heighten your rank throughout the month of Ramadan? Do you think that? Do you think that Allah, Sufana, Heiata would be so pleased with the acts of iBada that we've done right now and that the fact that we haven't procrastinated it and the fact that we haven't been glued to our devices and glued to work? And we've also been trying to memorize his book. We've also been trying to learn his book.

We've also been trying to gain closeness to him throughout the month of Ramadan. and our acts of worship? Do you think that Allah supanahua would say you are among the inhabitants of paradise because of what you've done? Because the gates of heaven are open and the gates of the hellfire are closed. But your brothers and sisters do not forget

quality over quantity. Like I see some people probably like mouth living equality over quantity. Yes, you keep saying this. Yes, it's very important. Do not forget, my dear brothers and sisters that trying to have better quality in your days, in your Ibadah and all your acts of worship is better than quality. We ask Allah, to grant us the strength to remain steadfast in our Ibadam and protect us from

spiritual burnout. We ask Allah, Supanah, Hewata to allow for us to strive to keep our hearts connected to him and find joy in our acts of Ibadah. Amin, wakul of Rewan, al-hah, al-hambhali, amen. Thank you for joining us again tonight, my dear brothers and sisters. Sorry, my tongue got stuck. Let's go stuck together. So, inshawata-I'll see you again tomorrow.

And, Salam and alaqmata and allahs and all right.