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 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 MoreLeaving Mecca
This was the hardest talk I’ve ever had to give… Leaving Mecca By: Yasmin Mogahed When I was 17 years old, I had a dream. I dreamt that I was sitting inside a masjid and a little girl walked up to ask me a question. She asked me: “Why do people have to leave each other?” Ultimately, the question was about the nature of the dunya as a place of fleeting moments and temporary attachments…as a place where people are with you today, and leave or die tomorrow. But this reality hurts our very being because it goes against our nature. We, as humans, are made to seek, love, and...
Read MoreLooking For God
This is a piece I wrote while in the airplane… Looking for God By: Yasmin Mogahed I’ve been looking for God my whole life. I just didn’t know it. When we study those things that we all seek—in life, in a companion, in everything—we’ll find that both the believer and the atheist are actually just seeking God. See, God is the designer. Whether you’re an atheist or a believer, God is the designer of your needs, your affinities, your inclinations. And He has designed these inner drives to fit the natural order: tawheed (to seek, recognize and submit to one single...
Read MoreAdvice for Ramadan
As we enter this blessed month of mercy, I give this advice to myself first, and to you all: Don’t let this Ramadan be just a holiday of rituals. Don’t finish reading the Quran without it transforming you. Don’t feed your body at suhoor, but starve your heart of Qiyam. Don’t reduce this downpour of mercy to just a month of sweets and lavish iftars. Seek Him, you will find. Take a sincere step towards change, transformation, redemption. If you do, you will find Him in front of you. Find Him this month. He’s been there all along. Closer than your jugular vein. Look...
Read MoreRemoving the Intruder: On Treating Love Addictions
Removing the Intruder: On Treating Love Addictions By: Yasmin Mogahed Every created thing yearns to fulfill its’ purpose. The eyes yearn to see. The ears yearn to hear. The stomach yearns to eat. The heart yearns to love. And inside every one of us is a created thing. It is a gigantic mass. It is a mass of affection, loyalty, and devotion. And it was created with a purpose. It was created to be given. But it was made to be given in a very specific way, to a very specific place. What we chose to do—or not do—with this heavy mass, determines our state in this life and the next. The drive...
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