Finding Jennah
I have spent a lot of my life trying to reconcile between hardship and ease. On the one hand, we are told again and again that the straight path is not easy and requires struggle and sacrifice. But on the other hand, as humans we always desire ease. What I have come to realize is that the path will always have challenges, tests and trials. There will be hardships and there will be storms. But, if Allah wills, you can be given ease *within* the hardship. The one who finds refuge in Allah, remains dry—even during the most powerful storm. Outside, it may be raining, but inside the refuge of...
Read MoreThe Lifetime of a Hardship
Allah tell us in the Quran that for all things He has created an “appointed term’. This includes our hardships and struggles. They all have a birth and a death. They all have an appointed term. Every situation in our life has an appointed term, after which they come to an end and/or change. There have been a few periods of my life when this particular ayah has comforted me so much. It is ‘simple’, but so profound: “And be patient for the decision of your Lord, for indeed you are in Our eyes.” (52:48) So many powerful lessons: 1. Allah has your situation...
Read MoreRIS Lecture: The Storm is Coming
Today, I’m going to talk about poverty. Yet, the poverty I speak about today isn’t the apparent kind. You see, before we can begin to speak about a concept, we need a criterion. We need definitions. In speaking about poverty, we need to understand that there is external poverty and there is internal poverty. And one is far more dangerous than the other, because while one form of poverty determines how we live temporarily, the other form, determines how we live eternally. Today, I will speak on the latter form. Internal poverty is the poverty of the soul. It describes the unmoved soul....
Read MoreI Grieve
I Grieve By: Yasmin Mogahed I lifted my head Once more Only to see The sun had set, The trees had slept, And they’d all gone home I grieve. The sky that was clear is now covered with fog. My path, I no longer see. Why try…when it’s all so gray? I grieve. Today I grieve For what’s been lost. My forgotten people, still on their knees before a snow god in spring I grieve. They’ve forgotten that prayer And to whom they should call. The Essence replaced by mundane ritual, empty symbols. Their hearts… so tired, jaded and...
Read MoreOne Jewish Woman’s Fight for Palestine
One Jewish Woman’s Fight for Palestine By: Yasmin Mogahed For Jennifer Loewenstein, April 19, 2002 was a “waking nightmare”. She stood silent at the edge of the camp, in disbelief–and horror. Listening to the sound of wailing, she watched as medical workers lay out the bodies of the dead. The corpses, wrapped in white, were loaded onto the back of a pick-up truck. “I will never forget this time,” Loewenstein recalls. “I stayed in the camp for two days, picking through the ruins and debris of people’s former lives–watching children and families look for their...
Read MoreAll Were Delivered
All the voices have hushed to a whisper now. The sounds have slept. I rest here in the cocoon of my heart, Waiting for its’ deliverance. They made you think your pain was small. Small to Him… Because it was small to them. Your pain is not small to Him. Your insignificance is in front of Him—but not to Him. You are insignificant before Him. But you are not insignificant to Him. My deliverance will come. He never left any of them in this state. Not Musa, Muhammad, umm Musa, Maryam, Ayoub, Yunus, Yusuf, Yaqoob, Ibrahim, Ismael, Hajar, Aasiya, Nuh. All were delivered. My...
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