Yousef Wahb

Planting Seeds: Seeking Islamic Knowledge in North America

Bilkis Bharucha

<h3 style="text-align:center;">إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِٱلْعَدْلِ وَٱلْإِحْسَـٰنِ وَإِيتَآئِ ذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ ٱلْفَحْشَآءِ وَٱلْمُنكَرِ وَٱلْبَغْىِ ۚ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ</h3>“Indeed, God commands justice, excellence, and generosity toward relatives…” (<a href="https://quran.com/16/90?translations=">Qur’an 16:90</a>)At the turn of the 21st century, Muslim hot takes on the Harry Potter series included<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1816012.stm"> censorship</a> and<a href="https://www.troid.org/comprehensive/magic-and-evil-eye/691-the-evils-of-harry-potter-and-the-kufr-of-magic"> online fatwas</a> to preempt the corruption of young minds from what was then regarded as a suspiciously occult theme. Similar suspicions from <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/8/31/17607988/harry-potter-boycott-evangelical-dobson-focus-peretti-satanic-panic">Christian</a> groups were quickly laid to rest as they discovered layers of <a href="https://www.forbes5.pitt.edu/article/looking-god-harry-potter">Christian allegories</a> woven throughout the series.&nbsp; Although the series’ popularity is often attributed to its<a href="https://untappedcities.com/2012/06/19/harry-potter-and-the-magic-of-global-culture/"> universal themes</a> and the construction of a<a href="https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&amp;httpsredir=1&amp;article=1076&amp;context=honors_theses"> mythic hero</a>, its most remarkable achievement is not just its ability to integrate universal themes — of love, heroism, and epic battles between good and evil — seamlessly with the hallmarks of modern life. In fact, the series primarily appeals to a global, modern, and multi-generational audience by incorporating key metaphysical concepts that respond to the existential angst of generations caged in a secular, materialist world.Max Weber’s metaphor for modernity as an ‘<a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/weber/#IroCagValFra">iron cage</a>’ aptly describes the constraining demand of secular discourse that, in its attempt to delineate a boundary between public and private life, requires us to dismiss or futilely rationalize any nonmaterial, immeasurable, or unprovable aspect of our lives.1&nbsp;As a result, questions about deeper meaning have festered for several generations; just as philosophers of yore dedicated lifetimes to metaphysical inquiry, young minds today google: Do good and evil really exist? What is the meaning of life? How can free will and fate coexist? How do we understand death? In the Harry Potter series, responses to life’s ‘big questions’ are contextualized by a tangible and fantastical version of modern life that is embedded within a classic coming-of-age narrative, ultimately attracting a diverse modern audience.<h3>Reality, Good, and Evil</h3>An exploration of life’s big questions begins early in the series with an agent of evil, Professor Quirrell, explaining how his ideas on morality evolved: “A foolish young man I was… full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it.”2&nbsp;The prioritization of power dialectics in contemporary sociological theories similarly exchanges the attributes of ‘good/evil’ for the ‘oppressed/oppressor.’ Although deconstructing power dynamics can be a useful tool for exposing systemic injustices, Quirrell’s statement captures how a lack of objective norms leads to the materialist position in which you are either oppressed, or an oppressor.&nbsp;The erasure of a metaphysically grounded morality from the conception of justice provides justification for seeking/challenging power at any cost (in which case, both Grindelwald’s ‘for the greater good’ and Voldemort’s ‘magic equals might’ platforms become alarmingly reasonable). Remarkably, for Muslims, the worst injustice is to attribute one’s existence to anything other than a unified Creator because without an orientation of tawhid, no conception of justice, utilitarian or otherwise, is fully workable.As Muslims, not only do we acknowledge that the concepts of good and evil are imbued with meaning from a higher source, but we simultaneously recognize<a href="https://themaydan.com/2020/02/in-defense-of-critical-race-theory-islam-race-the-modern-public-intellectual/"> human limits</a> into understanding the unseen world. Ultimately, whether you pursue power, cooperate with it, or challenge it, you are evaluated by an objective moral code with large margins of error for intention and unseen elements (at the personal level); thus, power is relegated to its place.3&nbsp;The role of intention in actively shaping reality is also addressed in the series. For example, the Room of Requirement materializes only when presented with a particular intention or type of need; similarly, many advanced spells require strength of will and determination. For Muslims, intentions are paramount because we see actions are mere extensions of our inner resolve combined with inspiration from the Creator. Although naïve empiricism may dismiss the unseen or unobservable phenomenon as having no bearing on the ‘real world,’ as Muslims, our belief in the unseen should enable us to introspect, and interpret invisible, nonmaterial developments as being fully intertwined with, and shaping our reality.<h3>Fate, Life, and Death</h3>For centuries, humanity has struggled to understand the relationship between free will and fate. Although orientalist literature has often characterized Muslims as absolute fatalists due to our uncompromising belief that all is ordained by the Creator, Muslims have also<a href="https://yaqeeninstitute.org/justin-parrott/reconciling-the-divine-decree-and-free-will-in-islam/"> puzzled over</a> whether or not free will or, indeed, our duaa (prayers) can affect qadr (destiny). The question of free will emerges in the series when Harry reacts with anger and resentment toward a prophecy about his life. Eventually realizing the futility of raging at fate, he instead embraces it, noting the key difference between “…being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but … there was all the difference in the world.”4&nbsp;Harry’s reflection challenges us to consider how we can live actively with full knowledge that our fate is already written. As Muslims, our belief in destiny and gratitude for existence neither paralyzes us nor creates a sense of entitlement; rather, our religious values — should we choose to act upon them —can empower and guide us to a better destiny.Harry’s reflection echoes that of E.F. Schumacher, a German-Christian philosopher of the 20th century, who writes: “The difference between directed and captured attention is the same as the difference between doing things and letting things take their course, or between living and “being lived.”5&nbsp; This distinction reminds us that a person only exercises their free will by acting upon their beliefs or values. Furthermore, action can be limiting or liberating depending on whether it is motivated by conscious, rational thought, or whether it is thoughtless and/or inspired by unexamined passion. Unlike a person who is dragged around only by obligations and alarm clocks, ensnared by social expectations and other compulsions of the material world, the truly free person prioritizes their life based on their values or purpose in life and is, therefore, frequently positioned in challenging situations in which they must withhold or act despite themselves. As Harry reminds us, our spirit, as we face these challenges, must not be one of an unwilling or resentful surrender to destiny but a conscious embrace of it.In addition to exploring free will and fate, Rowling confronts the issue of death in a remarkably tangible and personal manner. In the Old World city of Edinburgh, centuries of human history — life, and death — are so integrated that a<a href="https://wanderingcrystal.com/explore-historic-edinburgh-cemeteries/"> short walk</a> around town takes you past stately churches and graveyards scattered with tombstones that inspired several<a href="https://www.ellecroft.com/blog/2016/04/finding-harry-potter-in-edinburgh/"> character names</a>. In contrast, cemeteries in modern New World cities are cordoned off in remote locations, distant in form and in mind, affirming our discomfort with death. For Muslims, visiting the dead is an important tradition that connects us to our personal or collective histories; the practice is wryly described by one author as a routine akin to “changing oil in your car: it ensures the smooth running of history.”6Death is made tangible through Harry’s resurrection scene, and with Harry learning to engage with the cloaked figure of Death throughout the final books. Dumbledore, as always, imparts great wisdom: “Death, to the well-organized mind, is but the next great adventure [or, perhaps, a less irreverent journey].”7&nbsp;These positive representations of life and death contrast with the evil character of literal Death Eaters, who are consumed by a fear of death and obsessed with longevity and immortality. The Death Eaters’ essential evil spawns other social evils, including racism, apartheid, genocide, and eugenics.&nbsp;<h3>Family, Sacrifice, and Tolerance</h3>The range of family relationships and friendships across races and breeds presented in the series highlights an inner reality that eludes Harry (and perhaps many readers) for much of his youth: the miraculous, irrational human capacity for love. From a semi-permanent falling out between two strongly-minded individuals (Percy and Mr. Weasley)&nbsp; that eventually meets with forgiveness, to Mrs. Weasley caring for the orphan Harry like her own sons, we enter a world in which relationships deepen as a result of shared risks, and in which family truly matters. Despite occasionally fatal conflict between family members (e.g. Bella and Sirius), family relationships contain a sacredness that is frequently recognized through traditions and spells that bind families together—perhaps most obviously through the illogical yet powerful requirement that Harry must return to stay at his aunt and uncle’s home each year for protection, despite their mutual dislike and insecurities. While it may be easier to walk away from difficult personalities, we are reminded to maintain relationships.Rowling uses family relationships to make a powerful statement against the allure of utilitarianism, or working for ‘<a href="https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/For_the_Greater_Good">the greater good</a>’ at any cost. In their youth, the high-minded Dumbledore and his friend Grindelwald concoct a utopian plan to create a new world order, in which a powerful magical community rightfully rules over Muggles. During a fascinating argument about the morality of such a plan, reality painfully crashes down on Dumbledore through his role in his little sister’s accidental death. In another example, Barty Crouch, Sr., an ambitious politician, takes a ruthless approach in upholding the law and eradicating evil; yet, his apathy and neglect toward his son (and toward those under his care) generate a vicious rebelliousness in his son, ultimately undermining his life’s work. These stories illustrate that the ‘greater good’ is a dangerous trap, often used to justify intolerance and neglect of personal and family responsibilities. Ultimately, societal justice cannot be upheld without a simultaneous generosity in spending or sacrificing -your time, pride, money, or life- for your family and community.The series also confronts the problem of identity, where people often fail to engage honestly with themselves and with others without labels: “The world isn’t split into good people and Death Eaters. We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on,”8&nbsp;points out Sirius. This lesson is an important one for Muslims. We often associate faith-based labels with categorizing people as good or bad, perhaps in our enthusiasm to acknowledge that any action without a clear purpose is futile. However, these labels or judgments may obscure our ability to perceive the spiritual journey of each individual and the capacity for good or evil found within each of us. While an attitude of unbridled entitlement to life that rejects a Creator and is undirected in its gratefulness is inherently harmful and unjust, we often fail to realize the complexity of faith found even within born Muslims, as well as the entitlement and prejudice created by a worldview in which only your group is redeemable. The realization that religion may be inherited while faith is not is perhaps difficult for many Muslims who prefer cleaner labels.<h3>Adequacy and Vigilance</h3>A person who is fully immersed in real-world survival and is occupied with the daily grind of work and social and family engagements may find the metaphysical interpretations drawn from a fictitious book series to be irrelevant or nonexistent. However, others may discover a somber and affirming narrative of how humanity can succeed: Harry Potter reminds us that the only life worth living is one dedicated to a worthy purpose beyond yourself and your material needs. While many of us struggle to find that worthy cause, eventually we realize it is the same as what we find heroes fighting for in the pages of our books: justice, goodness, and love.For a modern audience that has been forced to swallow the reductive pill of secular rationalism, this series allows us to envision how much more expansive and meaningful life can be when the nonmaterial and invisible comes to the fore. We experience it by cultivating bonds of friendship and actively struggling with the everlasting snarl of family ties, by cultivating an openness to the unseen realm (beyond the vocal declaration of faith), by recognizing that unseen events shape our material lives, by struggling with the good and evil forces within ourselves, and by working toward establishing justice. Therefore, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!<hr>1. Smith, Steven. The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse. Harvard University Press, 2010. (p. 23)2. Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic, 1999. (p. 211)3. For example, spectral evidence is inadmissible in the application of Islamic law, but can play an important role in the personal and anecdotal realm.4. Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. London: Bloomsbury, 2010.5. Schumacher, E. F. A guide for the perplexed. New York: Harper &amp; Row, 1978. (p. 67)6. Mackintosh-Smith, Tim. Travels with a Tangerine. London: John Murray, 2001. (p. 18)7. Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic, 1999.8. Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2003.

Bringing the Nonmaterial to the Fore: Reading Harry Potter as a Muslim

Thinkbites Team

Our team had the opportunity to interview Sr. Tesneem Alkiek, Director of Expanded Learning at <a href="http://yaqeeninstitute.org/">Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research</a>, about preparing ourselves for a sincere and transformative Ramadan that can remain with us throughout the year. This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.Tesneem Alkiek is completing her PhD in Islamic Studies at Georgetown University with a focus on the development of Islamic law, concentrating on harm in marriage and divorce. Her work at Yaqeen involves creating curricula and other resources to help communities engage with their research in a digestible and interactive manner.<hr>Question: What should our intention look like as we prepare to fast the month of Ramadan sincerely?Fasting is something that is very intimate between you and Allah (ﷻ). There’s no way anyone can know whether you are or you’re not fasting unless you openly admit to it. Fasting is an act of worship that has sincerity inherently embedded within the act itself. You’re doing it for Allah (ﷻ) and for Allah (ﷻ) alone. I think that’s something that we can really focus on when fasting in Ramadan, especially during quarantine. You’re put in the situation where it’s black and white; either you’re going to do it or you’re not. Making the decision to fast, especially when there’s zero opportunity for people to judge you, is an incredible step forward and it is really reflective of your sincerity.Ramadan is a really beautiful opportunity to build your relationship with Allah (ﷻ) because it is very straightforward; you do what you’re told, and you get the ajr (reward) for it. A large part of it is not complicating the process, and sincerely making that intention to Allah (ﷻ). Saying “Ya Allah (ﷻ), I’m here. Ramadan is about to start. I’m going to fast the entire month, despite the struggles that I’ve experienced this past year and despite the struggle that I’m going to face this upcoming month. I’m going to do it for your sake.” Allah (ﷻ) is providing us with opportunities to come closer to Him. If we have a simple and sincere intention, that will take us really far.&nbsp;Question: How can we do a better job assessing the changes we need to make on a personal level to make the most of our Ramadan?First, you need to identify if you’re someone who’s prone to self-doubt, or on the other side, someone who needs a little push to be able to get things done. Start with assessing where you are now in terms of your acts of worship, and see what sort of bubbles you want to be able to fill in during this upcoming Ramadan. Say, for example, you pray five times a day but you don’t pray any Sunnah (voluntary, recommended) prayers. Maybe you don’t pray Salat-ul Duha (voluntary prayer between the Fajr and Dhuhr prayers), or tahajjud (voluntary night prayers) frequently and you find them very challenging.&nbsp;Think about your day-to-day life prior to Ramadan. Then, see how you can take an extra step during Ramadan. If you want to be able to pray Salat-ul Duha1 before Dhuhr every single day in Ramadan, you should have a way to personally gauge your progress. You’re not comparing yourself to anyone else. You’re only comparing yourself to who you are now and how you can be a better person by the end of Ramadan. Focus on habit-building and not necessarily attaining absolute perfection. The point of Ramadan is not to perfect all of your acts, but to slowly develop ways to improve your relationship with Allah (ﷻ), and there’s no end point to that. Think of it as putting the focus on climbing up a ladder, rather than reaching the top.Question: How do we maintain consistency and sincerity throughout Ramadan? Some people start the month off strong but then begin to fall short during the middle and the end.Think about Ramadan as preparing you for a marathon. I’m very much about the consistency rule. You want to do something that’s manageable so you can carry out that goal after Ramadan. Think about what Ramadan has meant to you, what you’ve been able to achieve in past Ramadans, what your situation looks like now, and especially how that’s changed during quarantine.&nbsp;When you have your goals, tell yourself, “Whatever my ambitious goal is, I’m gonna do exactly half of that.” If you say you’re going to memorize a page of Qur’an a day, make your goal to memorize a half page a day. What’s going to happen is that you’re going to get to day one of Ramadan and you’ve got so much energy and so much excitement that you end up memorizing a whole page. The next day, you feel amazing because not only did you meet your goal, but you went above and beyond. That really helps feed your energy levels.&nbsp;By the fifteenth day, because you’ve set goals that are so manageable and you’re constantly exceeding them, you feel that pride. You have that minimal goal that’s going to brighten up your day, re-energize you for the coming days, and get you through Ramadan and the remainder of the year. There’s a hadith, that was applied by Prophet (ﷺ) as well, that says that the best of actions to Allah (ﷻ) are those that are consistent, even if they’re small.2 This is something you can live by, whether you’re talking about your spiritual goals, your professional goals, or your family goals.Small, consistent deeds are more valuable to Allah (ﷻ) than binge-worshipping, which is a beautiful reminder. Appreciating what something small can look like in the eyes of Allah (ﷻ) is really important and can help you build upon your habits to eventually achieve goals that you had never even intended.Question: How should we handle sinning or going back to old bad habits during Ramadan? How do we prevent them from demotivating us for the rest of the month?There can be a feeling of guilt, like, “Wow,&nbsp; this must really be who I am, because if shaytaan (the devil) is not here3, then maybe I’m just a terrible person.” It’s important to remember that this is never something that is purely unique to you as an individual. Taking that entire blame on yourself is extremely dangerous, and you don’t need to do it. As for just making regular mistakes, I think that our culture today is very ‘go big or go home.’ Let’s think about the concept of New Year’s resolutions.&nbsp; Are you only going to start changing on January 1st? If you miss that deadline, do you have to wait until next year? No. I made a mistake today, but tomorrow is going to be a new day.Allah (ﷻ) praises the people who immediately do istighfar (seeking God’s forgiveness) after recognizing they’ve committed a sin. He (ﷻ) refers to them as some of the most righteous believers.4 Having that mentality in mind, knowing that you’re in the month of Ramadan where you’re regularly begging for mercy and forgiveness, if you make that mistake and ask for forgiveness, it’s almost immediately going to be forgiven, bi idhnillah (God-willing).&nbsp;Also, keep the mentality in mind that if I make a mistake, it’s not going to define the rest of my month. It’s not going to define who I am, and it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m a terrible person. If there’s any month to make mistakes and expect forgiveness, it would be the month of Ramadan. Keeping Allah’s (ﷻ) mercy at the forefront is going to hopefully motivate you to continue asking Him for forgiveness and make it a habit to do so when you make a mistake, and then start afresh immediately after.Question: What are the things that we should try to take away from Ramadan and implement in our lives after it’s over? How can we do this given the COVID restrictions in some places?Similarly to what you do in preparation for Ramadan, think to yourself, “What are those actions that really make me to feel close to Allah (ﷻ)?” For some people, waking up in the middle of the night and praying is the most transformative experience. For others, it’s being able to listen or read and understand the tafseer (exegesis, or explanation) of the Qur’an. Think about those experiences as you’re going through the month. Identify what you really enjoy and set a consistent goal based on that. Make it something that you feel passionate about and set that yearly goal for that. And then, for everything else, set the ambitious goal so you’re always pushing yourself.&nbsp;&nbsp;A lot of us look forward to Ramadan for certain reasons, especially because it’s a very communal experience. I think the best way to keep that up throughout the year is replicating those experiences. Even with COVID, it’s still possible. Find that group of friends, even if it’s just your family, to create that experience outside of Ramadan. It’s really about replicating that experience, and having the opportunity to create new goals and follow-up with goals together. That way, when you have those lows, you have someone you can fall back on for that extra push to keep going.Question: Can you tell us a little about Yaqeen Institute and how the average person can benefit from the content you are putting out?&nbsp;What we’re trying to do at Yaqeen is break down tough topics and questions in a way that allows you, as an individual, as a Muslim, as someone who wants to practice Islam more, to have access to those answers to grow in different ways. A lot of times, when you feel like you don’t know how to prove God exists, or you don’t understand an act of worship, or many of the other topics we deal with, it’s really hard for you to move forward. You’re held back by constantly thinking about these questions, not being able to focus on being your best self. By having access to the answers, rather than having an internal fight, or an external one,&nbsp; like when someone asks you a question and you don’t know the answer, you’re able to focus on what’s more important.&nbsp;We have something called <a href="https://yaqeeninstitute.org/conviction-circles">Conviction Circles</a>, where you basically team up with a bunch of friends, colleagues, or classmates and read the publications together. We provide questions, training videos, and access to live instructors so you can make sense of the content, both in terms of answering questions and looking forward to the next step. &nbsp;<hr>1. A voluntary, recommended prayer. See: https://muslimmatters.org/2016/11/04/the-amazing-virtues-of-duha-prayer/2. Sahih al-Bukhari 6464: https://sunnah.com/bukhari/81/533. Sahih al-Bukhari 1899: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:18994. Qur’an 3:135-136: https://quran.com/3/135-136

Ramadan: Refueling for the Marathon, with Tesneem Alkiek

Thinkbites Community

We asked our readers to share their reflections on Ramadan 2020 as we prepare to enter our second COVID Ramadan. This is a compilation of some of their submissions, lovingly stitched together by our team, and edited and condensed for readability.“I remember it quite well: January 1st of 2020. I was excited and happy for many reasons. Most of those reasons had seemed important then—it was like there was something in the air of the night as I screamed my lungs out on the rooftop of my hostel apartment. Watching fireworks and celebrating New Year’s, I knew it would be different this time…”1Truly, no one knew how different 2020 would be. Our lives came to a sudden halt when an unknown strain of the coronavirus was discovered. Shortly after it became a global emergency, Muslims were forced to confront the uncertainty of how they would experience a fulfilling Ramadan—a month in which an individual’s spirituality is often rejuvenated in the company of others.Muslims worldwide witnessed a Ramadan stripped of its familiar traditions. Gone were the visits to the mosque, adorned with intricate decor to welcome the month of the Qur’an. Families and friends were no longer gathering for homemade iftars2&nbsp;or driving late at night to Muslim-owned restaurants. We were not praying taraweeh3&nbsp;shoulder-to-shoulder in overcrowded halls, nor was the mosque filled with worshippers spending the last ten nights in i’tikaaf.4 We didn’t join the community for suhoor5 at the mosque in preparation for the day’s fast, nor did we gather to hear the intimate khatm duaa6 after the completion of the Qur’an, a blessed time in which all worshippers supplicate to Allah (ﷺ) together.Allah (ﷻ) says:وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ“We will certainly test you with a touch of fear and famine and loss of property, life, and crops. Give good news to those who patiently endure.”7This pandemic is a vivid reflection of the diverse means by which Allah (ﷺ) can test His servants. Many of us are grieving the loss of loved ones, enduring economic hardships, and grappling with the uncertainties of disease exposure as we continue to serve the public on the front lines. We are experiencing trials in our mental health, relationships, spirituality, and personal care. The hardships that accumulate from year to year normally increase our anticipation of Ramadan, but this time, our congregational worship, gatherings of remembrance, and social activities were cut from the picture.“The first thing I missed was taraweeh prayers, the feeling of unity, the recitation of Qur’an by the imam, the late night walks to the mosque, the feeling of calmness in the air. I’d have the windows open to let in the cool breeze in the summer nights. Taraweeh was also a social affair. I would see friends I didn’t usually see and catch up with old faces, share hugs and stories, and ask for a prayer or two. I would fast from social media during those days with the intention to fast from chatter, mindless scrolling, and a lot of noise.”8As we adjusted to the new normal, we had the opportunity to reevaluate what we considered to be a mosque.“The Messenger of God (ﷺ) said,‘The earth has been made for me a place of prostration and a means of purification, so wherever a man of my Ummah is when the time for prayer comes, let him pray.’9Mosques are not only buildings with four walls, a full-time imam, and shelves for our shoes. Mosques can be found everywhere. Look outside: the rolling expanses of grass and decaying leaves are carpets. The trees are fellow worshippers, raising their branches up in prayer. The clouds pass slowly, listening intently to our yearnings. The sun and moon are light fixtures magnificent behind our imagination and understanding.The doors of God’s acceptance and mercy were still open, but different paths to them were paved. In our isolation last year, we were being invited to the most original and natural places of worship. In solitude with God. One on one.”10“I’ve been praying taraweeh at home for many years now, and I’ve always loved it. While being surrounded by the Muslim community at the mosque has its benefits, I prefer to pray at home to minimize distractions; meaning, I don’t have the temptation to socialize with others or walk around the halls of the masjid aimlessly. When the peak of the pandemic hit last March, everything went on lockdown. I felt as if I had been running full speed ahead and was suddenly stopped by this brick wall, forcing me to stop moving forward with my life. Because my work and classes became virtual, I was forced to bring my professional life to my home. I normally associate my home with comfort and relaxation while anything on the contrary, I keep outside. Experiencing Ramadan at home impacted my worship because my stressors were now a part of the same space I sought tranquility in during my taraweeh prayers.”11A common theme of reflection during the pandemic was our relationship with time. Some felt that it was flying by with little achieved by the end of the day as our routines were forced to change.“During Ramadan in quarantine, there was nothing preventing me from devoting myself completely to worship with no distractions, so I took the opportunity to perform i’tikaaf. I likened myself to Maryam (‘alayha as-salam, peace be upon her) in this moment, who, as a young woman, was always found worshipping in seclusion within her own space as the Qur’an narrates about her. I created that space in my bedroom, my sanctuary. During the day, since we were in lockdown and could not go anywhere else, I went out for daily walks in the beautiful summer weather and found myself contemplating and appreciating the simple beauties of nature and Allah’s (ﷻ) creations. The hustle and bustle of the external world had come to a pause, bringing a newfound calmness to my home that I didn’t experience during Ramadan outside of these circumstances. Since I had no other urgent commitments or social obligations, all was calm on the outside, so I attempted to create this tranquility in my inner world too.”12Many of us became more introspective, understanding that although the world may have seemed to be on pause, our responsibility to worship Allah (ﷺ) remained. When Allah (ﷺ) challenges us, we adapt in order to spiritually survive. While we were doing our part by masking up and social distancing, we had to spiritually uplift ourselves when the hubs of our community were shut down. Sometimes that means creating new traditions.“I made a list of how I wanted my days to look, including my adhkar (remembrances of God), tahajjud13&nbsp;and reading the Qur’an every night before I slept. It was the recitation of Surah Al-Mulk in particular that I had wanted to make a habit…In order to keep myself from burning out, I incorporated a lot of my hobbies and things I wanted to learn like writing, poetry, and simple lazy times and just doing things I lost touch with… And on some days, it was as simple as taking a shower and lighting up that incense to motivate my transition into a better, smarter, stronger, healthier, and, hopefully, a more God-conscious me.”14And last Ramadan made some of the hidden blessings in our lives more apparent.&nbsp;“I’ve learned the blessing of freedom. I took it for granted. Something as simple as giving loved ones hugs; I didn’t know it was a blessing. To see their faces and so on. Alhamdulillah. Even then, alhamdulillah we are safe in our homes. Now I appreciate safety even more when I think of others who don’t have it.”15“It made me personally empathize with new Muslims because while I knew it was hard to connect to people who had a Muslim background, to hear how this was the norm for them in their lives every year made me recognize that there needs to be more of a reach out to them and not the other way around. We don’t take care of our new Muslims as well as we should or could.The men in my family were reminded that being able to pray in congregation is a blessing in itself. A lot of people didn’t empathize with their female family members and their desire to attend the mosque until now, when that blessing was no longer an option for them. They also realized how much work goes into Ramadan and their iftaar. They couldn’t just ignore all of the efforts that their wives and daughters made since they were constant witnesses of it at home.”16The obstacles we faced helped us find new meanings in our path toward Allah. We were given the opportunity to rediscover the core purpose of Ramadan.“Although breaking fast with other masjid-goers is certainly a special experience, it’s not the main goal of Ramadan. Gathering with fellow brothers and sisters for taraweeh is beautiful, but it’s not the main goal of Ramadan. Drinking from the chai afterward is definitely a great (and delicious) experience, but it’s still not the main goal of Ramadan.“17“Being in lockdown gave me the opportunity to reclaim my spiritual agency. While I did miss going to the mosque, my worship isn’t tied to going to the mosque, and I had time to reflect on that.”18We can spend our time lamenting the pains, difficulties, and restrictions 2020 brought upon us. However, the unexpected circumstances pushed us to reconsider what worship and spirituality meant.“Are we upset about the masjid being closed because of our fear of Allah (ﷻ) and desire to worship Him, or because our egoic nafs (self) is now being tested to connect to Him in ways that are inconvenient? Are we mad because we love Allah (ﷻ), or because we hate being tested? The answer to this will determine how we respond to the tests Allah (ﷻ) sends out of mercy to help us grow.”19For years, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. However, the pandemic helped reveal what was hidden underwater.“Taqwah (God-consciousness) is carrying out the commands of Allah (ﷻ) and turning away from that which He has forbidden. It does not mean carrying out the commands of God in exactly the ways we want all the time. The whole point of taqwah is staying on the straight path despite the obstacles (tests) Allah (ﷻ) places in the way. This means maneuvering around them, not trying to bulldoze through them with self-righteous fury and selfishness.We must not be fooled by our nufoos (inner selves) and confuse our being accustomed to a convenient lifestyle with taqwah. If we are truly upset for Allah’s (ﷻ) sake, we would be finding every way possible to worship Him when one of those ways is closed; we would be establishing congregational prayer in our homes and spending time with Qur’an and beneficial knowledge, not hours on social media. Similarly, if we’re not upset at all that one of the means of worshipping Allah (ﷻ) has been suspended from us, and we continue our lives with ‘business as usual,’ we need to be doing some soul searching too.Let us be reminded of the Prophetic duaa (supplication) the Prophet (ﷺ) used to make precisely because our egos and emotions many times can misguide us:‎اللهم لا تكلنا إلى أنفسنا طرفة عينOh Allah, do not leave us alone with our nufoos for even a blink of an eye20”21Ameen!<hr>1. HKafarati, 24, Khartoum2. The sunset meal with which one opens their fast.3. Ritual voluntary night prayers performed after Isha during Ramadan.4. Isolating oneself from worldly affairs for a period of time to worship, either done alone or with others.5. The meal eaten before dawn to start one’s fast.6. It is customary for an entire Quran to be completed in congregation during taraweeh prayer; on the night it is completed, a special supplication is made in Arabic out loud in the congregation.7. Qur’an, 2:1558. Salma Begum, 27, Manchester9. Sunan an-Nasa’i 736 – The Book of the Masjids. <a href="https://sunnah.com/nasai:736">https://sunnah.com/nasai:736</a>10. Ayah Chehade, Dearborn11. Rama Alhakim, Detroit12. Salma Begum13. Voluntary night prayers before fajr after one has awoken from sleep14. Hkarafati15. Danyah, LA16 FM17. AM18. Saffiyya Mohammed, Trinidad and Tobago19. Imam Ahmad Deeb20. Hisn al-Muslim 88 – Fortress of the Muslim. <a href="https://sunnah.com/hisn:88">https://sunnah.com/hisn:88</a>21. Imam Ahmad Deeb

Faith in the Time of Corona

Justin Parrott

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.We’ve all been there before. We want to focus on something, but our mind keeps racing. The thoughts keep gushing out like water from a broken fire hydrant and we just can’t seem to turn them off. We feel helpless and frustrated. What do we do?Some psychologists call this predicament the “wandering mind,” and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind1. Our brain is like a cage and there is a wild animal inside it, bouncing around, and it feels like there is nothing we can do to calm him down. The good news is that we can do something about it if we know the right techniques.We can control the wandering mind by applying mindfulness practices. Mindfulness is a relatively new field of psychology that studies how we can keep our minds aware and focused on the present moment instead of being governed by our own personal wild animal.The first thing to note is that we are not our thoughts. This is a realization that psychologists and therapists call cognitive defusion2. We have little control over the thoughts that arise in our mind, such as the whispers of the ego and of Shaytan. This is why we are not sinful or held accountable for the passing thoughts and feelings we experience. We can, however, learn to control how we react to our thoughts. This is where mindfulness can help.Mindfulness can be practiced in many ways, but perhaps the most popular form is meditation. In a basic mindfulness meditation session, we go somewhere quiet where we can be undisturbed for a few moments. We sit down or lay down, close our eyes, and just focus on how we feel in the present moment. What are we feeling, emotionally and physically? Just feel our breath enter and exit our lungs. When a thought comes up – as it surely will – we bring our focus back to what we are feeling. We don’t fight or suppress the thought. We just bring ourselves back to our center of awareness and presence.How does this help us control the way we react to our thoughts? According to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, our minds have two parts: an observing part and a thinking part. When we are observing the present moment – a feeling, a sensation – we’re not thinking about anything else because our mind is taking in the sensation. In other words, if our mind is focused on the now, it can’t also be focused on sadness with the past or anxiety with the future.When we’re meditating, an ordinary thought will come up such as an assignment due tomorrow, a project to finish, worrying about what others think of us, etc. When that happens, we use an anchor to bring ourselves back to the present moment. An anchor is a word or phrase that helps us come back to the present. As Muslims, it can be one of our regular forms of worship such as prayer, dhikr (remembrance) of the 99 names of Allah (ﷻ), a duaa (supplication), or even saying alhamdullilah (all praise is due to God) for our own breath.Every time we use our meditation-anchor to come back to the present moment, it is like our brain is doing a push-up or a bicep curl. Multiple studies using magnetic resonance imaging have shown that meditation can cause structural and functional modifications in the brain3. The more we train ourselves to meditate and refocus on the current moment, the easier it will be for us to redirect our thoughts in our daily life. Meditation teaches us to find that split-second between thought and reaction to create a little space of time that can help us control our response. The more we meditate, the bigger that space becomes and the easier it is to respond appropriately to mental stimuli.Muslim scholars have talked about this phenomenon in their writings. Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahu Allah, may Allah have mercy on him), for instance, likens mindfulness to dealing with an angry dog on a leash4. We wouldn’t start fighting the dog, would we? No, we’d appeal to the owner of the dog to rein him in. In the same way, when our thoughts start bothering us, we redirect our attention to Allah (ﷻ) in the present. The dog is like our troublesome thoughts. Instead of fighting the dog and getting him all worked up, we turn to the owner (in this case, Allah) to give us relief.Ibn al-Qayyim (RA) explains mindful thinking another way5. Let us consider our thoughts as if they were people on the road of life. If we stop to talk to them, they’ll talk back to us and keep us occupied. If we simply ignore them and go on our way, we’ll leave them behind. The same thing is true about our thoughts. If we start talking to ourselves about our thoughts, like telling ourselves, “I’m so bad for thinking that!”, the idea will linger in our mind. If we ignore the idea and move on, it may slink off into the background.I think of it like this: our thoughts are like waves that come and go every day. We can’t stop them from coming, but we can learn to let them go. If we start smacking the waves with our paddle, we’ll just make more waves. If we patiently let them come and go without engaging them, they’ll eventually move on. Of course, we can choose to engage them, and at times we should, but we should try do so on our own terms and not on those of the “wandering mind.”Let’s commit to a regular meditation practice within an Islamic context. Just ten minutes at first, or however long we want to do it. I do something similar to what was described by Imam al-Ghazali (rahimahu Allah)6. I go into my room, turn off the lights, sit quietly, close my eyes, and just focus on my breath, feeling grateful for the ease of breathing that Allah (ﷻ) has given me. Just focusing on the blessing of my own breath is a great way to increase my gratitude to Allah (ﷻ). Then, when those ordinary thoughts show up as they naturally do, I use my anchor to bring me back: Subhan Allahi wa bi hamdihi (glory to Allah and His praises). As a result, my mind wanders off and I bring myself back to the present moment, remembering Allah (ﷻ).If we commit to this practice once a day, we just might start enjoying the tranquility of a silent mind and its relief from stress. Within a few weeks or so, we’ll get a lot better at noticing that small space between thought and reaction, helping us get ahold of the wandering mind by not letting it control us.Success comes from Allah, and Allah knows best.<hr>1. Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert, “A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind,” Science, 12 Nov 2010: Vol. 330, Issue 6006, pp. 932.2. J. T. Blackledge, Cognitive Defusion in Practice: A Clinician’s Guide to Assessing, Observing, &amp; Supporting Change in Your Client (Oakland, CA: Context Press, 2015).3. “Meditation: In Depth,” National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Accessed October 13, 2020. www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-in-depth4. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzīyah, Asrār al-Ṣalāh (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2003), 76.5. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzīyah, Al-Jawāb al-Kāfī (al-Maghrib: Dār al-Ma’rifah, 1997), 1:157.6. Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, Iḥyā’ ’Ulūm al-Dīn (Beirut: Dār al-Maʻrifah, 1980), 3:19.

Priming the Wandering Mind for Mindfulness

Ahmed Elbenni

The Islamic Uncertainty Principle

Amal Abdifatah

Balancing Act: Life and the Afterlife

Omar Usman

“It doesn’t really matter how good they are at their job if no one wants to work with them.”That’s what my dad told me when I posed a question to him a couple of months into my job as a hospital pharmacy technician. I was confused about the turnover rate of pharmacists. These were people who had most likely been at the top of their class throughout high school and college, gained admission into pharmacy school, and then beat out a number of other candidates to land this job. They were required to have a high level of proficiency, clinical knowledge, and the ability to make quick decisions in stressful situations that often involved patient care. This was the baseline level of skill. Table stakes. As long as they had the minimum, they were qualified for the job.So what was it that set some people apart from others? Why did some move up and get promoted, even though their coworkers seemed “just as qualified?”At a certain point, technical proficiency levels out. When a company needs an accountant, for example, there is a specific skill set they need. It’s difficult to show that one person is ten times better at accounting than another. The same goes for many other fields.So what sets you apart?It’s all the other stuff.Professionally, it’s called soft skills. Cynically, it’s called touchy-feely mumbo jumbo. Practically, it’s what makes people want to work with you and opens up doors to more opportunities. Most soft skills boil down to the cliche things everyone already knows: treat others how you want to be treated, communicate well, be respectful, have empathy, don’t lose your temper, and so on.Soft skills could also be termed leadership qualities. They are tough to quantify, but you know them when you see them – initiative, resilience, persistence, dependability, responsibility, emotional intelligence, humility, adaptability, and so on. When looked at from this lens, it becomes obvious that these are not just professional skills, but life skills.These are the skills you need to succeed in all facets of life – personal, professional, family, and community.These skills seem intuitive and easy and have a huge payoff.So why aren’t more people focusing on developing them?<h2>Discomfort</h2>Developing yourself requires dealing with a certain amount of pain and discomfort – and not a lot of people are willing to put up with that.Take a rubber band for example. It has utility. It’s useful for a number of jobs. People look at it and know exactly what to expect. However, the rubber band is only useful when it’s stretched. When the rubber band is at rest, it cannot do any of the jobs that it’s capable of. This is analogous to how many of us use, or don’t use, our “stretch”. We know our capabilities, but to actualize them requires possibly uncomfortable stretch and tension – exercises that will work muscles that we aren’t accustomed to using. This is the gap we must overcome to reach our potential. To progress past where you are by definition means breaking the bounds of familiarity.The Prophet (ﷺ) once said about Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar, “Abdullah is a good man, I wish he offered the tahajjud (night prayer)1.” Growth requires far more than simply being good, it requires you to stretch.Identifying our opportunities for growth means grappling with our shortcomings. It’s not comfortable to hear someone tell you that you have an abrasive communication style or are too impatient, difficult to deal with, or even too nice to get anything done.Overcoming discomfort is critical to leadership development. A person may be proficient in hard skills such as accounting or software engineering. Those skills get them in the door. The moment a person is elevated from that work to a leadership role, the demands change. Instead of doing the accounting work, you have to learn how to direct someone else to do that work. For someone comfortable with spending all day in an Excel spreadsheet, shifting gears to asking someone else to do that work on your behalf can be extremely uncomfortable. How do you ask? What if they don’t know how to do it? What if you’ve asked them multiple times and they’re still not doing it?When a software engineer encounters a problem while writing code, they fall back on hard skills to solve the problem. Looking for a solution to this is within their comfort zone, and their knowledge of programming will help them find it.What about when you encounter issues like your manager telling you that your tone is abrasive even though you feel you are speaking normally? Or people do not want to work with you on projects because you have a reputation of being stubborn and difficult to work with? What if you get feedback that you are too slow at making decisions and are holding up the team, even though you feel you are doing your due diligence to be thorough? What if you are giving a presentation you prepared months for, only to get feedback that no one was able to follow what you were talking about?The solution to these questions is outside of our comfort zone. It is uncomfortable to admit we have a problem with these areas, it can be embarrassing to ask others for help, and oftentimes we do not know how to quickly find a solution.This is the discomfort that holds many people back.<h2>Value</h2>We have a mental barrier that we sometimes fail to recognize when it comes to personal development.Society values the hard sciences – that is, fields of study that determine an objective truth. Mastery of engineering, chemistry, medicine, math, programming, and other similar fields are easy to measure and prioritized due to capitalistic gains. Progressing in such fields is deemed as possessing a high level of intellectual ability.The converse is often true of the fields that relate to soft skills. Storytelling, communication, teaching, people skills, and so on are much harder to gauge. These aren’t the skills that traditionally get your foot in the door for a job, so we deprioritize them. The irony, of course, is that once your foot is in the door, these are the skills you need to excel.Many people, unfortunately, do not see it that way. When it comes to advancement or growth, their inclination is to double down on their hard skills. If they have a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, get a master’s in electrical engineering. If they have one certification, go out and seek another one in the same field. These are no doubt valuable, but they do not develop the soft skills needed.Think of how many sports teams move on from a talented player (who may have a physically irreplaceable skillset) because of a negative attitude or a toxic effect on teammates. On the flip side, people who may not be as technically talented are able to achieve more by virtue of people wanting to be around them or have them involved.It’s easy to understand why hard skills are so valued. They are quantifiable and often have the most logical and direct correlation to a successful career. This is why every Muslim child of immigrants jokes that they can be anything they want as long as it’s a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Culturally, it is part of our identity and we introduce each other based on occupation. For example, “Meet so-and so, a physician.” We never hear, “Meet so-and-so, he’s really good at taking critical feedback and changing his behavior.”Those hard skills will help create opportunities and get your foot in the door. The soft skills you develop will take you where you where you want to go. The title of a Marshall Goldsmith book conveys this message well – “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.”<h2>Self-Investment</h2>Personal development obviously requires investment. The challenge is, we assume that we naturally develop soft skills as we progress through our lives. Accumulated experiences it not the same as growth. A person can do a job for 20 years, but if they have never put effort into their own growth, all they’ve done is repeat the same year of work 20 times.“Maturity does not always come with age, sometimes age comes alone.2” – John C. MaxwellAny type of personal growth requires intentionality. You must actively make it a priority and seek out ways to invest in yourself with the purpose of growth.Investing in your personal growth means intentionally focusing on three key areas: education, experience, and relationships. No one else on earth shares the exact same intersection of those three elements as you. This is where you have the most potential to develop what makes you uniquely valuable.Investing in your education is a lifelong process. The mistake most people make is they stop actively learning once they attain a certain degree or certification. As the saying goes, readers lead and leaders read. The videos you watch, the podcasts you listen to, the people you follow on social media – all of that content consumption is a form of education that informs your world view. Your daily educational intake should contain some type of religious development as well as something else. That something else is unrestricted – it could be reading about leadership and marketing, listening to a political podcast, or even taking a cooking class. As long as you intentionally make learning a daily habit, the investment will compound exponentially.Investing in your experiences may not be as familiar a concept as education. College is a great example of a time when you can invest heavily in experiences. Those are usually the years where you can work multiple types of jobs or volunteer for different types of organizations. Even in a professional environment, you can look to try working on projects or serving in committees outside of your actual job role. In short – find a way to keep trying new things. You can try teaching at Sunday school, go parasailing, attend a comedy show, see a live sporting event, volunteer for humanitarian causes, travel to new places, and so on – the list is absolutely endless.Investing in relationships is what you need to stay grounded. Put intentionality into strengthening family ties and cultivating stronger friendships. The more you progress, the more important it becomes to have a strong inner circle of people to rely on. People close to you are experts on you. They recognize when you’re making mistakes without realizing it. They are the ones who can call you out when you are doing something wrong. Unfortunately, for many people, as they progress and move upwards, they tend to surround themselves with yes-men instead of people empowered to give them critical and honest feedback.Take the pharmacist example from the beginning. When someone is tough to work with, they may not recognize it. By the time they receive that feedback in a professional setting, it is often too late. People in your inner circle should be empowered by you to give you that type of candid feedback while you still have the ability to fix it. Chances are if your co-workers have noticed a negative characteristic, your friends have too. Rely on the people around you to identify those things and proactively work on them.Investing in relationships is also a cheat-code for education and experience. Find people you want to connect with, like community leaders, or others you look up to, and reach out to them. Take them out to coffee, exchange emails, and find ways to learn from their experiences. We usually have a mental barrier when it comes to this. We assume people are too busy or would not want to spend time sharing their experiences. The reality is people are more than happy to share what they’ve learned and help people on the same path. When you make a genuine effort to reach out and connect, you will find that even busy people will make time to help.<h2>Conclusion</h2>The ideas of self-investment, valuing soft skills, and embracing discomfort are not mind-blowing concepts. The default behavior of most people is avoiding discomfort, prioritizing hard skills, and being passive about self-investment. This not only answers the question of why people don’t focus on developing soft skills, despite the immense benefit in doing so – it also makes the path forward clear.A mindset of intentionality is required. We must willingly embrace discomfort, reprioritize our personal development goals, and find ways to actively invest in ourselves on a daily basis to grow and fulfill our potential.<hr>1. Chapter: Excellence of Standing in Prayer at Night (212). Retrieved September 1, 2020 from <a href="https://sunnah.com/riyadussaliheen/9/172">https://sunnah.com/riyadussaliheen/9/172</a>2. Maxwell, C. John, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently (Thomas Nelson Inc, 2010), 31.

Soft Skills: The Importance of Personal Development

Tareq Tamr

Albus Dumbledore’s <a href="https://youtu.be/VmVWuswEBSk">final words</a> in the Harry Potter novels didn’t make much sense to me when I read them for the first time as a kid in elementary school. After coming face-to-face with death and being knocked into an unconscious state of limbo, Harry saw a vision of Dumbledore for the first time since his teacher’s passing. He was told he had the choice to regain consciousness and return to fighting Voldemort, or he could board a train and go “on.”<blockquote>“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry’s ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”1 (Rowling 723)</blockquote>I felt like this exchange undermined the conversation they had beforehand. If that wasn’t really Dumbledore and the meeting was simply a concoction of Harry’s imagination, why would his teacher’s answers matter? I wanted concrete answers, but I realize now that this exchange was perfect. It was not only significant to Harry’s character development, but it alluded to something far more universal: Things that happen “inside your head” may not seem materially “real” to you, but they directly affect your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Doesn’t that make them “real” to some degree?<h2>What is Your Story?</h2>I recall reflecting on this question deeply when I was applying to universities and writing personal statements. For a lot of us, that’s the first time we’re asked to detail who we are, what we want, and who we hope to become. It can be a difficult question to answer, in part because there is an emotional toll we pay when we look back on our traumas and embarrassments. Further complicating matters, we often conflate the concept of personal history with the concept of one’s story, or their personal narrative.Personal history, as I am conceiving it, can be boiled down to a collection of facts: people you’ve met, places you’ve been, things you’ve done, and so on. Personal narrative, on the other hand, is the story that links these facts together. It is the collection of thoughts, emotions, and biases that color your experiences. It is the meaning and significance you attribute to the events you live through. It is the filter through which the objective is subjectively experienced. Your personal narrative shapes how you think about yourself, the world, and your Creator, as well as how you interact with them. Gaining an awareness of your narrative can be a powerful first step in controlling your direction in this life and the Next.When you lose a loved one (may Allah [ﷻ] protect your loved ones and have mercy on all who have passed), there is the objective event of losing a person who was close to you, and there is the subjective way we experience it. The way we think about it and process it will directly affect our actions in the future. Maybe you feel like you lost the one person who ever understood you, and this belief contributes to you having a difficult time opening up to other people. Maybe you feel like you have a duty to honor their memory, so you find yourself striving to achieve something that would make them proud.<h2>Revisiting Your Past</h2>Look back at your life and try to identify moments when you experienced intense feelings of happiness, sadness, excitement, anger, nervousness, pride, embarrassment, and other emotions. This is one way to start identifying significant checkpoints in your personal narrative, and it can help you understand why you may have been moved to do certain things afterward. Reflect on the moments when you had to make decisions, be they related to career pursuits, romantic partners, or something else that caused you to question who you are or what you “should” be doing.Consider writing these reflections down. Why do you think certain moments were particularly emotionally impactful? Where do you feel like your assumptions and expectations were coming from? How did you feel in the moment, and how do you feel now? You may have thoughts that seem to make sense in your head until you untangle them from your mental filters and reproduce them with pen and paper. Reviewing the internal and external factors that affected how you arrived at some conclusions can shed light on patterns of thought that you may want to adjust. This can help you take ownership of your narrative moving forward and make measured decisions based on the knowledge and wisdom you’ve accumulated over time.<h2>The Demands of Narrativity</h2>The purpose of your reflections isn’t necessarily to come to concrete answers. Reflecting on your personal narrative is a way to become more aware of and intentional with your reactions to the world around you. It can give you a better sense of who you are, what you care about, and where you should go, but you should be cautious of trying to search for specific meanings in past events. In Peter Goldie’s The Mess Inside: Narrative, Emotion, and the Mind, there is a chapter on what he calls “the narrative sense of self.” In a section titled, “Making Up our Minds and Breakdowns in Narrativity,” he writes:<blockquote>The demands of narrativity on us as external narrators looking back on our past, seem to drag us towards thinking of our past thoughts, feelings, and deliberations as more determinate than they in fact were, and as reflective of an agency of which at the time we seemed quite bereft. In our reconstructions, we find ourselves saying things like ‘I decided that, all things considered, the best thing to do was to leave him’; and ‘Although it was terrible at the time, right through the process I just knew that it would turn out alright in the end’… It is as though we cannot bear the thought that there is no narrative explanation available of what happened in a way that provides internal meaningfulness.2</blockquote>Our minds are constantly and unconsciously revising and editing our memories, but we can choose to play a more active role in this process. When you revisit your memories and past self, you are looking through a lens that has changed over time. Rather than trying to appease your current emotions, rationalize your decisions, or comfort your ego, consider treating your reflection as an exercise in understanding how events happened, how they affected you, and what you can learn from them moving forward. We may feel compelled to attribute meaning to things to increase or decrease our current feelings of responsibility, but we can rarely be certain that our understanding is complete or correct.As Muslims, we are guided by the words of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), who said,<blockquote>Wondrous is the affair of the believer for there is good for him in every matter, and this is not the case with anyone except the believer. If he is happy, then he thanks Allah and thus there is good for him, and if he is harmed, then he shows patience and thus there is good for him.3</blockquote>This is probably my favorite hadith. It teaches us that no matter what our story is, no matter where it begins, having imaan (faith) will ultimately shape it positively because of the actions that will be inspired. The goal of reflecting on your personal narrative should be to inspire gratitude toward things that make you feel happy and to increase patience toward things that make you feel harmed. However, it should go without saying, of course, that this hadith is not implying that acts of injustice with a social component should be simply resolved with patience.In Surat al-Baqara, Allah (ﷻ) says,<h3 style="text-align:center;">وَعَسَىٰ أَن تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ ۖ وَعَسَىٰ أَن تُحِبُّوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَّكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ</h3>“But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not.” (Quran <a href="https://quran.com/2/216">2:216</a>)A friend of mine once told me, “You don’t stop halfway through a book and say, ‘That’s the whole story.’” Your perspective as a human being is incredibly limited. Remembering this when we reflect on our stories is an exercise of humility. We can become so immersed in our thoughts that we forget there are other variables at play. We don’t have to reach conclusive answers about who we “really” are, but we should strive to become aware of the story we tell ourselves if we wish to control our direction moving forward.<h2>Conclusion</h2>When Professor Dumbledore found an 11-year-old Harry Potter gazing into the Mirror of Erised, a mirror that shows the viewer their deepest desire, he knew the orphaned boy was visiting it to see an image of his late mother and father. Dumbledore told him he’d be moving the mirror so Harry would no longer seek it out. He said, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”4Despite the potential feelings of pain and discomfort that can come from revisiting your history, gaining an increased awareness of your personal narrative can become a powerful tool to steer your future in the direction you want to head. Our goal should be to reflect on our memories to see how they can serve us in coming closer to our Creator. We know the destination we are seeking, and we can utilize our past experiences to better understand ourselves and the strengths and weaknesses we hope will ultimately move us toward humility and prostration.<hr>1. Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Scholastic Press, 2012.2. Goldie, Peter. The Mess Inside: Narrative, Emotion, and the Mind. Oxford University Press, 2012.3. Chapter: The Believer’s Affair Is All Good (13). (n.d.). Retrieved July 14, 2020, from <a href="https://sunnah.com/muslim/55/82">https://sunnah.com/muslim/55/82</a>4. Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Scholastic Press, 1998.

The Power of Personal Narrative

Heraa Hashmi

Between high school and university, something shifted in the way I consumed information. Whenever I sat at my laptop to get work done, I inadvertently ended up with dozens of tabs open, down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, or watching a completely unrelated YouTube video. Why was it so hard to sit through a class without checking my phone? Why couldn’t I focus during prayer? Was it because I was busy? Was it a natural change in adulthood? Was there some other reason for all of this? Ultimately, how could I rebuild my focus? For some, this could be a health-related issue, but in my case, I knew acutely it was a matter of distractions. Building focus means building resilience to distractions and subduing the harmful habits we’ve developed over time. Once we understand the mechanics of these habits, we can start to pull at the harmful roots.<h2>The External</h2>A friend of mine recommended Cal Newport’s Deep Work, which ended up being quite literally an exercise in focus. Almost immediately, I felt the need to put down the 300+ page book, as it felt like a personal attack on the productivity hacks I duped myself into. It points out the difference between shallow work and deep work. Newport draws a distinction between non-cognitively demanding tasks, like completing a laundry list of people to email, and cognitively demanding tasks, like the consistent disciplined practice at a skill that enables us to work smarter, not harder. We fall into a false sense of satisfaction of having accomplished yet another task. However, our list of minute logistical responsibilities never ends. Checking items off a list may feel productive, but handling them immediately as they come up ends up consuming more time and energy than they would have taken if they had been given their own dedicated time. This inevitably makes it more difficult to make discernible progress towards our larger goals. How often do work or project-related texts pop up on our phones and give us an itch to reply instantly even though they could have waited? Social pressure makes us feel like they need to be attended to immediately. Newport argues this can actually be harmful to us in the long run:<blockquote>Even if these work dashes consume only a small amount of time, they prevent you from reaching the levels of deeper relaxation in which attention restoration can occur. Put another way, trying to squeeze a little more work out of your evenings might reduce your effectiveness the next day enough that you end up getting less done than if you had instead respected a shutdown1.</blockquote>Being able to allocate a time and place for cognitively demanding tasks is a valued but underdeveloped skill with both worldly and spiritual benefits. The intentionality in allotting time and being in control of what needs to be done is an ability that can permeate all facets of our lives. We often look to our smartphones to help us with this, but without the appropriate understanding and discipline, they will actually hinder us more than they’ll aid us.The smartphone is a major culprit in transforming the way we communicate, socialize, work, and learn, but the habits we build around it can hinder our ability to focus, to put it mildly. It’s easy to blame Millennials and Gen Z for lacking the willpower to cap their phone usage or for falling prey to marketing tactics that exchange their attention for profit. But this is a unique time where we are accosted by unforeseen ways of intrusion and manipulation. An article by Tristan Harris titled How Technology is Hijacking Your Mind — from a Magician and Google Design Ethicist discusses the ways in which modern technology manipulates natural human tendencies to serve its own goals2. It amplifies our worst impulses. Tech companies, whether unwittingly or not, turn human psychology into a tool to keep users addicted to their apps in a sort of “slot machine” effect: fortifying your desire to stay online with the tantalizing prospect of reward (in this case, notifications, follower engagement with social media posts, etc.), almost like gambling. The fear of missing something important, instant gratification, social obligations, and the bottomless pit of satisfaction, all work in tandem to keep the user hooked. Whether these tactics are ethical or intentional are a separate discussion. What this means in practical terms is that we’re not only fighting against bad habits; we’re fighting against the mechanisms that have cemented them.A helpful suggestion that was shared with me was to declutter tools by task. The multifunctionality of laptops and phones can be venomous because of their constant stream of notifications and the endless opportunities for distraction. Consider how much simpler it would be to focus on reading if you were using a printed book or an e-reader, or how much time could be saved by using a notebook in class instead of a laptop. In fact, a 2014 study found that writing longhand is advantageous in retention compared to using a laptop when taking notes3. The iPhone offers settings like Screen Time to regulate notifications at certain times of days, and other apps like Moment and Social Fever can be used to turn off notifications at certain times of the day or set a limit to endless scrolling. Additionally, planners and calendars for busy weeks can help by clearly blocking off time for work time and downtime. Some people might not like scheduling everything, and that’s okay, but the idea, as Newport mentions, is to separate menial tasks from deep work in order to maximize energy and attention towards cognitively demanding tasks.<h2>The Internal</h2>Outside of this, much of the work in building focus is internal. There are multiple reasons we can become vulnerable to distractions, many of which require a deep exploration of our emotional and spiritual states, but it would be valuable to reflect on how present we feel in our day-to-day lives. Presence is the ability to focus on what is most important in a given moment. We can contrast this with ghaflah (heedlessness), being so immersed in distractions that we forget our purpose in life. Heedlessness can render us ignorant to our limited time in this world and cause us to miss out on the vast blessings promised for presence in our worship. When it comes to ibadah (worship), minimizing distractions is essential. The crux of salah is khushu’ (the presence of heart in remembrance of Allah), and building focus can only help our relationship with Him (ﷻ). There are many examples from the Prophet’s (ﷺ) life emphasizing the care with which we should conduct our spiritual and religious affairs. In one hadith, Uqbah bin Amir (radi Allahu `anhu, may Allah be pleased with him) said:<blockquote>We served ourselves in the company of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). We tended our camels by turn. One day I had my turn to tend the camels, and I drove them in the afternoon. I found the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) addressing the people. I heard him say: Anyone amongst you who performs ablution, and does it well, then he stands and offers two rak’ahs of prayer, concentrating on it with his heart and body, Paradise will be his lot by all means4.</blockquote>Imam Muhammad Mawlud (rahimahu Allah, may Allah have mercy on him) mentions the cure for heedlessness in his poem, Purification of the Heart:<blockquote>Its cure is to be found in four deeds, all of which possess rectifying qualities: seek forgiveness from God; visit the righteous; invoke benedictions upon the Prophet and recite [God’s] Book5.</blockquote>Building presence begins with asking Allah (ﷻ) for forgiveness for our shortcomings and asking Him to help us attain our goal. We should seek out good company who can advise us, limit idle talk, and encourage our growth directly and indirectly. Visiting the righteous also includes visiting their graves and reflecting on death, since it reminds us of life’s finite nature and our ultimate purpose. Abu Hurairah (radi Allahu ‘anhu, may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:<h3 style="text-align:center;">أكثروا ذكر هاذم اللذات (يعنى الموت)‏</h3>“Remember more often the destroyer of pleasures – death6.”Imam Mawlud’s (RA) final advice is to send salawaat (salutations, or benedictions as translated in the poem) upon the Prophet (ﷺ) and recite Quran, both acts of worship that require immense focus. Reciting with deep reflection and increasing the amount of dhikr (remembrance) we do each day can help grow our capacity for presence. It won’t be an overnight change; few things in life come to fruition without small steps and consistency. The goal is to acknowledge when we are being heedless with our time, eliminate the distracting culprits, and work sincerely to build focus, whatever the results may be. Presence is a quality that will stay with us long-term and will reorient us to our priorities in life. Time is the most precious commodity—it’s what companies spend millions of dollars obtaining—and because our time is so limited, it makes it all the more valuable.<hr>1. Newport, Cal. Deep Work. Piatkus, 2016.2. Harris, Triston. How Technology is Hijacking Your Mind – from a Magician and Google Design Ethicist. Thrive Global, 2018. <a href="https://medium.com/thrive-global/how-technology-hijacks-peoples-minds-from-a-magician-and-google-s-design-ethicist-56d62ef5edf3">https://medium.com/thrive-global/how-technology-hijacks-peoples-minds-from-a-magician-and-google-s-design-ethicist-56d62ef5edf3</a>3. Mueller, Pam A. and Oppenheimer, Daniel M. The Pen is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Association for Psychological Science, 2014. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797614524581">https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797614524581</a>4. Chapter: What should one say after finishing wudu’ (66). Sahih: Al-Albani. <a href="https://sunnah.com/abudawud/1/169">https://sunnah.com/abudawud/1/169</a>5. Yusuf, Hamza. Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart, Sandala, 2012. p. 75.6. Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2307, Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Albani <a href="https://abuaminaelias.com/dailyhadithonline/2012/09/13/mawt-destroyer-of-pleasures/">https://abuaminaelias.com/dailyhadithonline/2012/09/13/mawt-destroyer-of-pleasures/</a>

Building Focus in an Age of Distractions

Sara Alattar

Note: This is a summary and reflection based on the article “Islamic Spirituality and Mental Well-Being” by Dr. Zohair Abdul-Rahman for Yaqeen Institute of Islamic Research. The original article can be read <a href="https://yaqeeninstitute.org/zohair/islamic-spirituality-and-mental-well-being/">here</a>.<h3>The Role of Spirituality in Emotional and Mental Well-Being</h3>Ibn Hazm, the famous Andalusian scholar of Islam (d. 1064), said, “I searched for a common goal amongst humankind, to which all would agree to strive for with excellence. I have not found anything other than the vanquishing of anxiety (hamm)1.”As Ibn Hazm explains, the pursuit of emotional stability and removal of anxiety is a universal principle found across all societies. It knows no social status, class, or financial state. While it is often believed, even subconsciously, that wealth and material gain can lead to emotional fulfillment and happiness, the disparity we see between the developed and developing world in emotional stability doesn’t necessarily correlate with wealth and technological advancement. A research study published in 2014 has shown suicide rates to be much higher in wealthier nations, in addition to lower rates of that population’s perceived value of life2. Regardless of education, fertility, and sense of individualism, religion was found to have a substantial role in this disparity. As a nation gets wealthier, religion becomes less central to life, allowing for less sense of meaning in life3. Religion gives individuals a system that allows them to connect their day-to-day experiences with a bigger picture, and supports them in finding meanings from their hardships and adversities4.One might initially feel puzzled given that wealth and luxury are supposed attainments that should lead to “happiness,” which is a message constantly pushed on us as consumers. While one may attempt to find emotional stability through material gain, the ephemeral nature of these material gains will not satisfy the&nbsp;intuitive need for balance in the way spiritual development does. In fact, Ibn Hazm points out that without spiritual grounding, the fleeting nature of this world leads one into a state of deep distress. The dreams and aspirations one works hard for are guaranteed to come to an end. Finding purpose in life through seeking Allah (ﷻ), the everlasting, relieves the anxiety of this world. “And as for their eternity, then it is paradise.”<h3>Spiritual Intelligence and the Ability to Process Life Events</h3>Although mental and emotional states have conventionally been defined by pure physiological terms, it is finally being recognized that spiritual intelligence is a key component of the human mind5.&nbsp;Spiritual intelligence is defined as “the ability of a person to process the world around them and discover meaning and significance6.”&nbsp;Islamically, this involves experiencing life while constantly recognizing the signs of Allah (ﷻ) and extracting lessons from them. Failing to see these signs or extracting false meanings out of them are signs of low levels of spiritual intelligence. An example of this is the story of the owner of the two gardens in Surat al Kahf.7 The man was indulged in his blessings while failing to recognize Allah (ﷻ)’s signs within them until they were eventually destroyed as a punishment for his disbelief and lack of gratitude. There were many signs for him to have considered, such as Allah (ﷻ)’s power that was evident by His ability to create such beautiful nature.It is important to recognize the role of spirituality in mental healthcare, and it is recommended that the medical model incorporates spirituality as a part of the prevention and treatment framework8.&nbsp;The Islamic spiritual tradition has many practices that can potentially be incorporated into that model. The rest of this article analyzes the benefits of a specific&nbsp;duaa&nbsp;(supplication) of the Prophet (ﷺ) that can help with managing anxiety and depression.”<h3>A Psycho-Spiritual Analysis of a Prophetically Prescribed Prayer for Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms</h3><h3 style="text-align:center;">“اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي عَبْدُكَ، ابْنُ عَبْدِكَ، ابْنُ أَمَتِكَ، نَاصِيَتِي بِيَدِكَ، مَاضٍ فِيَّ حُكْمُكَ، عَدْلٌ فِيَّ قَضَاؤُكَ، أَسْأَلُكَ بِكُلِّ اسْمٍ هُوَ لَكَ سَمَّيْتَ بِهِ نَفْسَكَ، أَوْ أَنْزَلْتَهُ فِي كِتَابِكَ، أَوْ عَلَّمْتَهُ أَحَدًا مِنْ خَلْقِكَ، أَوِ اسْتَأْثَرْتَ بِهِ فِي عِلْمِ الْغَيْبِ عِنْدَكَ، أَنْ تَجْعَلَ الْقُرْآنَ رَبِيعَ قَلْبِي، وَنُورَ صَدْرِي، وَجَلَاءَ حُزْنِي، وَذَهَابَ هَمِّي”</h3>“Oh Allah, certainly I am your slave, the son of your male slave and the son of your female slave. My forehead is in Your Hand. Your Judgment upon me is assured and Your Decree concerning me is just. I ask You by every Name that you have named Yourself with, revealed in Your Book, taught any one of Your creation or kept unto Yourself in the knowledge of the unseen that is with You, to make the Qurān the spring of my heart, and the light of my chest, the banisher of my sadness and the reliever of my distress.”9The concept of duaa in the Islamic tradition is not merely the act of a worshipper requesting their desires from Allah (ﷻ). This act of worship in itself helps the worshipper navigate through chaos and tribulation. Duaa provides respite by strengthening the underlying core beliefs in Islam–complete submission through the certainty of Allah (ﷻ)’s wisdom and despite the seeming uncertainties of the difficulties that lay ahead. This duaa can be broken down into four components.1. “Oh Allāh, certainly I am your slave, the son of your male slave and the son of your female slave.”<ul><li>Creates a sense of self-awareness of one’s role in relation to Allah (ﷻ)</li><li>Empowers through the escape from the shackles of dependency on this world in exchange for the attachment to the Eternal One, the only One worthy of worship and attachment</li><li>Relieves through the freedom of submission and surrendering one’s will to Allah (ﷻ)</li></ul>Therapeutic benefits: Researchers investigated the neurophysiological effects of salah and dhikr, acts of worship that involve surrender to and dependence on Allah (ﷻ). They demonstrated their association with increased activity in our brain’s reward system and decreased activity in our frontal lobe, which can provide symptom relief for anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder10.2. “My forehead is in Your hand. Your Judgement upon me is assured and Your Decree concerning me is just.”<ul><li>Assures that everything occurring in one’s life is only by the decree of Allah (ﷻ)</li><li>Allows one to move forward from mistakes and calamities through trust in Divine Destiny</li><li>Grows the ability to find meaning in adversity and indulge in Allah (ﷻ)’s perfect plan while in a vulnerable state</li></ul>Therapeutic benefits: Recognizing and trusting the justice and wisdom in what Allah (ﷻ) has written for us can shift our thought process away from questioning His decree. Confidence in Allah (ﷻ)’s wisdom assures us that there is meaning behind what is occurring. We cognitively shift from confusion to curiosity and now want to discover the lessons to learn and the opportunities to grow.113. “I ask You by every Name that you have named Yourself with, revealed in Your book, taught any one of Your creation or kept unto Yourself in the knowledge of the unseen that is with You.”<ul><li>Declares the solution to our anxieties and problems by seeking strength and finding solace in the One who created all, and His every name and attribute</li><li>Represents hope and trust in what is ahead</li><li>Inspires awe and ponderance on the Majesty of one’s Lord</li></ul>Therapeutic benefits: Positive psychologists define hope as possessing two things: agency and pathways. “Agency refers to the belief that a person can affect the future, and pathways refer to the belief that one has the resources to obtain one’s objectives12.”&nbsp;Here, our sense of agency comes from our confidence in Allah (ﷻ)’s power to change our future, and the pathways available to us are represented by Allah (ﷻ)’s names and attributes, each of them is uniquely fulfilling our needs. From this duaa, we derive a strong sense of hope. Additionally, the sense of awe we experience in acknowledging Allah (ﷻ)’s majesty allows us to experience rebirth and enlightenment.4. “To make the Quran the spring of my heart, the light of my chest, the banisher of my sadness and the reliever of my distress.”<ul><li>Calls for replacing sadness and distress that is filling one’s heart instead with the light of the book of Allah (ﷻ)</li><li>Extends the positive thought patterns and seeking of Allah (ﷻ) to a continuous relationship with the Quran: a source of hope, mercy, and guidance</li></ul>Therapeutic benefits: The Quran is filled with powerful expressions and motivations, reminders of our ultimate purpose, and many stories that relate tales of difficult tragedies, forbearance, triumph, and recovery. The Qur’an features stories of prophets that once experienced abandonment, betrayal, isolation, and loneliness —tribulations that we sometimes experience — and then narrates the light at the end of the tunnel that Allah (ﷻ) placed for them, strengthening our own sense of hope in the recovery from our difficulties. That recovery may come from Allah (ﷻ)’s answer to our duaa in this life, or the ultimate respite of the Afterlife when Allah (ﷻ) rewards one for the patience through their struggles. The Qur’an is a book of ultimate certainty — the speech of the One who created the entire universe and possesses ultimate knowledge of its beginning and end. We have no doubt, therefore, that every promise of recompense, of reward for patience, of ease after difficulty, is guaranteed to ultimately be fulfilled, in this life or the next.<h2>Reflection on the Article</h2>In the study of Tibb al-Nabawi, Prophetic Medicine, it is said that the prophetic prescriptions work the best depending on one’s tawakkul, or reliance and trust in the wisdom of the Prophet (ﷺ) that they will cure. Purely with trust in the Prophet (ﷺ)’s wisdom comes the benefits. A scientific understanding of prescriptions of prophetic duaa is worth an appreciation and continued reflection in the wisdom of the Prophet (ﷺ) and his profound ability in encompassing the most wisdom within the fewest of words. These benefits can be appreciated and discussed, particularly in academic or clinical settings, while asserting that this is not from which the confidence in the prescriptions is derived–that confidence is reserved purely by the fact that the Prophet (ﷺ) is the one who bestowed them. It is important that a purely benefit-based analysis of Islamic prescriptions is avoided. A benefit-based analysis can imply that supplication is transactional in nature, that the fulfillment of duaa is found only when the answer is granted in the worldly life, or that scientifically proven benefits are their most crucial validator. Our opportunities for duaa, and for the prophetic prescription of duaa, are first and foremost an act of devotion. We don’t require a psychological analysis or the scientific method to prove that. Upon making duaa, the purpose of that duaa is already fulfilled, and it is that you have actualized your neediness in front of the One Who needs no one. You have actualized your dependence to Him as your Master.It is also important to appreciate that the duaa goes beyond asking for God to remediate one’s difficulties: it seeks a change in priority in what fills the heart of the believer. The believer not only wants relief from sadness, but for the humum, the worries, to be replaced by a love of Allah (ﷻ) and His Divine Words. One shifts from a self-centric to a God-centric state of mind.The Beloved (ﷺ) said, “A strong believer is better and dearer to Allah than a weak one, and both are good. Adhere to that which is beneficial for you. Keep asking Allah for help and do not refrain from it. If you are afflicted in any way, do not say: ‘If I had taken this or that step, it would have resulted into such and such,’ but say only: ‘Allah so determined and did as He willed.’ The word ‘if’ opens the gates of satanic thoughts13.”The Prophet (ﷺ) here advises us to adhere to what is beneficial for us, and that is in spite of whatever difficulties we are experiencing. The believer’s seeking of help from Allah (ﷻ), while being in a state of acceptance of His decree and continued worship of His commands, allows them to uphold a God-centric attitude in the resolution of their worries. Their asking for His help are in acceptance of their dependence on Him and in appreciation of His wisdom in His decree on them. This is what the prophetic duaa discussed above seeks to do: the believer declares their state of ultimate need for their Lord, they are in acceptance of His Decree over their fate, and they seek to adhere to that which benefits them by filling their heart with His book.Our difficulties and tribulations within themselves serve as means to finding Allah (ﷻ). The devotional acts we are prescribed help us to establish an intimate relationship with Him, allowing us to seek Him and for His light to enter through the wounds of our broken or bruised hearts. Heartbreak and difficulty can be His means of reminding us of Him, connecting us back if our ties had begun to weaken. We seek Him to guide us through our difficulties and returning to Him becomes the healing we needed all along: the source of healing that we perhaps would not have sought out had the difficulty not led us to His door.<hr>1. Ibn Ḥazm.&nbsp;Al-Akhlaq Wa Siyar Fi Mudawat Al-Nufus: Etiquettes and Approaches to Treating the Ego. p. 76.2. Oishi, Shigehiro, and Ed Diener. “Residents of Poor Nations Have a Greater Sense of Meaning in Life Than Residents of Wealthy Nations.” Psychological Science, vol. 25, no. 2, 2013, pp. 422–430.3. Baumesiter, Roy. “Meanings of Life.” American Journal of Sociology, vol. 98, no. 1, 1992, pp. 186–187.4. Diener, Ed, et al. “Purpose, Mood, and Pleasure in Predicting Satisfaction Judgments.” Social Indicators Research, vol. 105, no. 3, 2011, pp. 333–341.5. Abdul-Rahman, Zohair. “Islamic Spirituality and Mental Well Being.” Yaqeen Institute, 2007.6. Abdul-Rahman, Zohair. “Islamic Spirituality and Mental Well Being.” Yaqeen Institute, 2007.7. Quran (18:32-44)8. Chiesa, A., and A. Serretti. “A Systematic Review of Neurobiological and Clinical Features of Mindfulness Meditations.” Psychological Medicine, vol. 40, no. 8, 2009, pp. 1239–1252.9. Hisn al-Muslim 12010. Newberg, Andrew B., et al. “A Case Series Study of the Neurophysiological Effects of Altered States of Mind during Intense Islamic Prayer.” Journal of Physiology-Paris, vol. 109, no. 4-6, 2015, pp. 214–220.11. Abdul-Rahman, Zohair. “Islamic Spirituality and Mental Well Being.” Yaqeen Institute, 2007.12. Abdul-Rahman, Zohair. “Islamic Spirituality and Mental Well Being.” Yaqeen Institute, 2007.13.&nbsp;Riyad as-Salihin 100

A Psycho-Spiritual Analysis of a Prayer for Times of Difficulty

Mohammed Hassan

As the brutal murder of George Floyd motivated weeks of unrest and protest amongst those seeking justice and reform, the actions of non-black Muslim communities to support the voices of Black Americans have not gone without notice. The transformation of a community that supported politicians whose policies were harmful to the Black community1 to one that has stood united in their stance against systemic racism is commendable. On a personal level, the messages of support and care I received from peers and the social media posts from Muslim-Americans in support of Black lives showed me the growth of the community. However, these acts are woefully inadequate to ensure real change within our community. Many of these statements of support ring hollow when posted by institutions that have a track record of overlooking or perpetuating racism against Black Muslims in their communities.<h3 style="text-align:center;">وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ</h3>“And We have certainly honored the children of Adam…” (Qur’an <a href="http://quran.com/17/70">17:70</a>)While honor, salvation, and blessings are found through Islam, Allah (ﷻ) has also bestowed dignity on us through our humanity, and any attempts to erase that reality speak to a misunderstanding of the words of our Lord. The inconsistency from the non-Black Muslim community stems from a broader issue, a “colorblindness” that seeks to erase the Blackness of the members of Masjid congregations. In my experiences with discussing race in Islam, many Muslims revealed their erroneous belief that Islam’s call for equality amongst races must be achieved by the erasure of the Black Muslim identity. This echoes the often-caricatured masjid Imam that states, “Look past the color of their skin, and look at their heart.” This attempted “sanitization” of their fellow Muslims’ race prevents them from understanding the racism in their own community.<h3 style="text-align:center;">لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُّمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُم بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ</h3>“There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer; [he is] concerned over you and to the believers is kind and merciful.” (Qur’an <a href="http://quran.com/9/128">9:128</a>)Complaints of racism from community members necessitate an earnest attempt from the community and its leaders to listen — truly listen; not just to respond, but to understand and to empathize.&nbsp; Our community’s inability to empathize with Black Muslims is evident in many forms, from silencing the voices of Black Muslims, to the seemingly innocent, but just as damaging, need for non-Black Muslims to tie their people’s struggle to that of Black Americans. While the injustices caused by oppressors around the world are often linked and require us to speak up and act together, there is a fine line between solidarity and co-opting a movement.I ask: Is your emotional capacity to feel for the struggle of Black Americans limited by your ability to center yourself in that struggle? Do Black lives only matter to the extent that “All Oppression Matters”?This “colorblindness” permeates the talking points of masjid community members and is indicative of an inability to see the internal problems within Muslim spaces. Recycled platitudes that outwardly speak of community support for Black people have the opposite effect. Citing the status of Bilal (radi Allahu ‘anhu, may Allah be pleased with him) and Khutbat ul-Wada’ 2 (the Prophet’s [ﷺ] Last Sermon) as a sign of Islam’s stance against racism silences the real grievances of Black Muslims, and results in placing their grievances at odds with Islam. Comments such as, “Islam abolished racism 1400 years ago” frame the actions of the community as religious. These statements, at best, alienate Black Muslims from their community, and at worst, push Black Muslims away from the masjid, and even away from the religion entirely.By hosting events with the police, CIA, and FBI, in addition to making congregants feel unsafe given law enforcement’s treatment of Black people, they undo much of the work that members of their own community do to fight systemic racism. Specifically, these events turn sacred spaces into platforms for the State to broadcast its propaganda. Using this platform, these State institutions can further propagate the false narrative that systemic issues, like racism, can be resolved on a case by case basis. Masājid claim to host these events to “hear both sides”; they are being impartial by effectively choosing to support those outside groups instead of their fellow Muslim brothers and sisters – many of whom are well-versed and more educated on these matters than Masjid boards and Imams.The racism within our sacred spaces requires direct action. However, action must be taken in a way that centers the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) and the Qur’an. For those non-Black Muslims cognizant of the racism within our community and willing to change this reality, know that your role is one of extreme importance. But it is one that must follow a Prophetic model of administering change. We must avoid using the moral compass of the spiritually broken to guide our calls for justice.<h2>The Prophetic Model for Administering Change</h2><h3 style="text-align:center;">لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا</h3>“There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often.” (Qur’an <a href="http://quran.com/33/21">33:21)</a><h3>Step 1: Learn</h3>It is essential that anyone striving to fix the issues within their community learn as much as they can about the reality of racism, its history, and its manifestations. There are many great organizations and people whose work should frequent the bookshelves and computers of those willing to learn. Educating others requires us to be able to properly articulate the positions for which we are advocating.Racial slurs and hate crimes are easily recognizable, but much of the racism in our sacred spaces is nuanced and often only noticed by those who experience it. Learn about systemic racism, internalized racism, white privilege, and colorism3 while also focusing on the theological responses to oppression. Let us not allow our good intentions to be the only thing guiding us. Well-intentioned, but ignorant people can often cause more harm than good. The fight for equality in our community necessitates that we seek knowledge indefinitely.<h3>Step 2: Working Within Our Network</h3>The advent of Islam brought with it a fundamental shift from the norms of Jahiliyya4. Islam brought radical social elements of racial and social equality. These aspects of the religion would, at times, pose more of a problem than the theological message5.Islam began at the home of Prophet (ﷺ). The first Muslims were Khadija, Zaid, Ali and Abu Bakr (R), all of whom were either his (ﷺ) family members or, in the case of Abu Bakr (R), his closest friend. It continued to spread through private gatherings until Muslims in Makkah reached a critical mass, after which they became public with their calls to Islam. We should take from this effective example and begin with our parents, siblings, uncles, and aunts. Allyship requires work behind the scenes. These conversations might be difficult to have, but real change is uncomfortable.<h3 style="text-align:center;">إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ يَا أَبَتِ لِمَ تَعْبُدُ مَا لَا يَسْمَعُ وَلَا يُبْصِرُ وَلَا يُغْنِي عَنكَ شَيْئًا</h3>“[Mention] when he said to his father, “O my father, why do you worship that which does not hear and does not see and will not benefit you at all?” (Qur’an <a href="http://quran.com/19/42">19:42</a>)However, our conversations must be grounded in kindness and humility. We must strive to embody the humility shown by the Prophet Ibrahim (‘alayhi as-salam, peace be upon him) in his conversations with his father. Ibrahim’s (AS) father would make and sell idols for worship, the greatest transgression against Allah (ﷻ); yet Ibrahim (AS) spoke kindly and gently to his father.<h3 style="text-align:center;">لا يَبْلُغُ عَبْدٌ حَقِيقَةَ الإِيمَانِ حَتَّى يُحِبَّ لِلنَّاسِ مَا يُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِهِ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ</h3>“The servant does not attain the truth of faith until he loves for people what he loves for himself of goodness.” (Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān 238)6We should, in all our righteous anger and frustration, want goodness for our family and community. Wokeness should not be accompanied with feelings of self-grandeur. We hurt the cause we claim to champion through our arrogance.Advising family members, especially those who are our elders, requires sensitivity. We must be firm in our stance for justice while at the same time making sure we do not damage our relationships with our family and friends. There lies a tendency in those who have recently become “woke” to racism to be impatient with those who are not. The impatience we have with others speaks to our short-term memory. Why are we so willing to forgive our past ignorance but unable to grant others the same license?The Prophetic model for change requires us to teach our brothers and sisters until we reach the critical mass necessary to enact large-scale change. So, let us be patient, be kind, and be mindful of our intentions constantly.<h3>Step 3: Demand Change</h3><h3 style="text-align:center;">وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ ۚ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ</h3>“And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful.” (Qur’an <a href="http://quran.com/3/104">3:104</a>)The final step of this model of change requires that a critical mass be reached – enough to call for reform within our religious spaces. Individual calls for reform often leave congregants feeling alone and powerless, but just as racism is an institutional evil, its eradication must be done through institutional change.For some sacred spaces, the change might be training and education of members and leaders; for other spaces, more radical work might be required. For many masājid, the standard board structure should be altered to allow for direct consequences for community leaders who perpetuate a culture of racism. Events on race should be planned with the approval and input of community members, and there must be efforts made to diversify leadership to avoid an echo chamber of ideas. These are just some of the changes that should be enacted to rid our sacred spaces of racism.<h2>Final Thoughts</h2>The death of George Floyd and the weeks of civil unrest that followed should serve as a catalyst for a much-needed change in the way that our sacred spaces function. The example left to us by our Prophet (ﷺ) teaches us to work within our small social group and grow until our demands for change cannot be ignored. We must listen to and amplify the voices of our marginalized community members, and finally, we must center Allah (ﷻ) in all our efforts and ensure that we hold firm to our community.Photo credit: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ahmadelkhatibs/">Ahmad El Khatib</a><hr>1. Point of note: The reason for this departure from the Republican party has more to do with 9/11 and foreign policy than an increased desire to support the Black community. See:<a href="https://thinkbites.org/2020/10/13/difficult-conversations-an-introduction-to-addressing-racism/%20https:/www.washingtonpost.com/local/essay-how-the-republican-party-alienated-the-once-reliable-muslim-voting-bloc/2012/11/15/23e2af70-2da5-11e2-9ac2-1c61452669c3_story.html"> https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/essay-how-the-republican-party-alienated-the-once-reliable-muslim-voting-bloc/2012/11/15/23e2af70-2da5-11e2-9ac2-1c61452669c3_story.html</a>2. Jabir ibn Abdullah reported: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) addressed us during the middle of the day at the end of the pilgrimage in the farewell sermon. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “O people, your Lord is one and your father Adam is one. There is no virtue of an Arab over a foreigner, nor a foreigner over an Arab, and neither white over black nor black over white, except by righteousness. Have I not delivered the message?” They said, “Of course, O Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Let the witness inform those who are absent.” (Imam Al-Bayhaqi, Shu’ab al-Imān 4706)3. For a good set of articles regarding this topic, see the American Learning Institutes for Muslims blog post entitled “<a href="https://www.alimprogram.org/blog/george-floyd-theological-response">George Floyd – Theological Response</a>” by Chaplain Abdul-Malik Merchant, as well as the article entitled “<a href="https://lamppostedu.org/discussing-controversy-hamza-yusuf-at-ris-convention-ustadh-ubaydullah-evans">Discussing Controversy</a>” by Shaykh Ubaydullah Evans.4. Jahiliyyah refers to the state of ignorance that the people of Arabia were in before the revelation of Islam.5. “And keep yourself patiently with those who call on their Lord morning and afternoon.” (Qur’an 18:28) This verse was revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ) in response to an ultimatum given to the Prophet by the Quraysh. They stated they would accept Islam as long as the Prophet (ﷺ) banned the likes of Bilal, Ammar ibn Yassir and Ibn Masu’d (R) from sitting with them. This incident was relayed from Ibn Saads, Kitāb aṭ-Tabaqāt al-Kabīr.6. Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān 238, Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Albani: <a href="https://abuaminaelias.com/dailyhadithonline/2012/10/29/reality-faith-love-others/">https://abuaminaelias.com/dailyhadithonline/2012/10/29/reality-faith-love-others/</a>

Difficult Conversations: An Introduction to Addressing Racism

Tarek Younis

In the rising tide of the COVID-19 pandemic, an existential threat to life has captured the minds of many; a threat superseding the manufactured moral panics of crime, immigration, and terrorism. We live in uncertain times — an age of anxiety1. Our ability to navigate anxiety has become a central feature of everyday life. Is there any meaning to the widespread experience of anxiety, however?The purpose of this paper is not to analyse anxiety as a clinical condition, but to reframe it as a natural extension of our humanity. In doing so, I will explicitly dismiss the line by which anxiety crosses from our human condition facing uncertainty, into a debilitating state which some might label a ‘disorder’. Dismissing the clinical significance of anxiety is not to ignore anyone’s experiences or diagnosis.Rather, the purpose of this paper is to simply reflect on the possibility that anxiety is intrinsic to everyone, the experiences of which differs between individuals. Please note this paper does not serve as an overview of any given psychological theory, nor does it really exemplify my full opinion on anxiety. Much has been simplified for brevity’s sake.The modern world has set certain benchmarks of ‘the good life.’ Reverence for productivity, beauty, and perfection within capitalist structures produces a perpetual disdain for suffering, inadequacy, and displeasure. It comes as no surprise many view distress as a deviation of our supposed ‘natural state’ — happiness. As everyone is subject to suffering, so too has our human condition become ‘pathologised’. This has reached the point where even the editor-in-chief of the DSM-IV (the psychiatric clinical manual) calls for the need to ‘save normal’2.“I shouldn’t feel this way,” we mutter as we desperately hold ourselves together. Unable to work, enjoy food or company—anguish may engulf all. Furthermore, as much as we speak of mental health awareness in sympathetic terms, the Global North sees ‘un-wellness’ as a hurdle in productivity3. Happiness, material success, and social status coalesce into an unintelligible jumble. Predictably, a large segment of my Muslim clients seek therapy when unable to perform at, succeed in, or find their ‘ideal’ occupation reflecting their ‘true self’.Let’s draw on the example of a university student who complains they have difficulties focusing on their studies. Whenever they sit to study, their skin begins to crawl and they feel restless. On cue, they find themselves immediately drawn towards social media, Netflix, video games, or friends for distraction and relief. They accomplish little until the pressure of the impending exam becomes too overwhelming. Sometimes this occurs a few days before the exam—sometimes only hours.“I’m anxious,” they tell me. “I don’t want to feel this way anymore.”There is no denying their anxiety. Indeed, procrastination, their chief complaint, is often just the outward appearance of this anxiety.But is anxiety the prime culprit, the destroyer of worlds we make it out to be? Is there a better life somewhere ‘beyond anxiety’, where we feel endlessly confident in our ambitions and relationships?Conjuring a fictional intervention, the following is an overview of how our discussion might proceed.<h3>Example Case: The Student Who Couldn’t Study</h3>The student and I discuss their experience studying. They admit feeling a great discomfort, an intense tension in their chest and back. Exploring this further, we discover the student is petrified of failure. Here, we might broach the subject of expectations, and in many cases, societal pressures and family relations. We discover their parents have always raised scholastic performance as a condition for love and validation. But that’s only half the story.The father was always travelling for work, and when he returned, he ‘checked in’ to see how the child was doing in school. The student, as a child, was desperately afraid of failure for fear their father may never return. Here, the student may come to appreciate how, though living alone with no one to check on their performance, they still relate to their studies as if it exists beneath their parents’ gaze. On the surface, this observation proves useful for the student, who realises they have to rethink why they’re seeking further education beyond their parents’ invisible gaze.Going a little further, however, we then also discuss the underlying angst hinted at earlier: the reason why parental approval was so consequential. We realise that the student has had a deep-rooted fear of loneliness since childhood — in relation to their father’s intermittent presence — but of which they were unaware. We see how this desire for ‘perfection’ underlines every aspect of their lives; without it, they’ll feel all alone. This can be a powerful experience where the student would have to face a basic existential question: the looming presence of profound loneliness, the possibility that anyone in their lives can potentially disappear. If the student learns to confront this feeling of dread, then there is a strong possibility their relation to their studies (and indeed everything else) might change accordingly, for the embodied fear is no longer this terrible agitation taking various shapes in times of performance. While this might qualify as a monumental moment in therapy (as a modern, secular practice), its significance in relation to God can be elaborated even further.While existential thinkers argue that one must live life in spite of the impending dread, Islamic framework finds meaning within it. One of the things I might discuss with a Muslim student, if they wish, is God’s wisdom in the anxiety. We might discover how their anguish, which serves an existential purpose, reveals their relationship to God. The uncertainty of our lives and the reality of our greatest fears (our death and the death of others around us, for example) is the foundation by which one connects with God. Humans are created weak to face the uncertainties of life on purpose. The goal, then, would not only be revealing why we feel anxious, but also entering a relationship with that revelation as it is the best means of connecting to God. As God created us weak, the closest we can reach God is through our very personal dreads. In the case of the student described above, we might discuss the significance of their anxiety in layers; the fear of failure; how the fear of rejection, and therefore the fear of being unseen, underlies a fear of failure; and how this very real, profound fear of loneliness is a reminder that one’s relation to God has been severed.This process might prompt the student to give a different meaning to their anxiety. Now, instead of something to be ‘remedied’, it serves as a transcendental reminder to reconnect with God. When anxiety ‘strikes’ at the point of studying, the student may now experience it from a different vantage point. Now, the student might readily follow the anxiety down the rabbit hole of loneliness. Sitting there in front of their open book, they remember: in God’s omnipresence, everything shall disappear, and the test of worldly life is to act and remember God in the looming presence of death. The fear of loneliness then serves as a built-in reminder – like a thermostat – when the relation with God becomes too distant and one is left with the eyes of everyone else on Earth.Existentialists might disagree with some of the conclusions (some, like Albert Camus, will find that turning to God while lonely is a cop out to dismiss the fear), but there are two points which must be made. First, there is an insidious ideology underlying the student’s problems (in relation to their university, their parents, etc.): neoliberalism as capitalism’s modern project. This goes beyond the scope of this article, but the Global North increasingly hinges on competition (and the associated ability to perform) as foundational to social relations and self-worth. This applies to university settings, where student success is viewed as being ahead on the bell curve of their peers (as it’s said, it’s not enough to win, it’s important for others to lose), and university success depends on students being happy to pay money to get there. The second point is directed at those who might see the example through a racialised lens pertaining to myself (assuming, for example, I’m relating to Arab students and their parents). But what I’ve discussed is a product of the modern age, and while the ‘model immigrant’ is surely at play, everything I mentioned is just as significant for the racialised white majority. Given the neoliberalisation of the Global North, this should not be surprising.Anxiety can be likened to a hard knock on the door. We curl and wait for the knocking to end, but it doesn’t — it gets harder, louder. We use Netflix, social media, or whatever we favor, as a distraction. For a while, it works insofar as the knocking hasn’t stopped, but we’ve numbed it out. Taking from our discussion above, however, we see that the knocking may serve a purpose. Perhaps, radically, anxiety should be welcomed in.Many promote wellbeing and non-suffering as a product of faith, but this ideology must be approached with caution. The reason for this is simple: the purpose of our creation, as stipulates in the Qur’an, is not ‘wellbeing’ but to worship God. This is not to say that those who sincerely devote themselves to God are destined to suffer on earth. For example, Allah says in the Quran:<h3 style="text-align:center;">مَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَىٰ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُ حَيَاةً طَيِّبَةً ۖ وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُم بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ</h3>Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer – We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do. (Quran <a href="https://quran.com/16/97">16:97</a>)There is clearly a transcendental link between righteousness and the ‘good life’, but this goodness is neither predicated on Western liberal-capitalist formulations of wellbeing, nor does it mean ‘wellbeing’ is life’s ultimate objective. There are many reasons for this (and a more holistic discussion on an Islamic conceptualisation of the ‘good life’ is warranted), the most obvious, however, is the other side of the coin: illness and suffering.If wellbeing were the marker of faith, then suffering and despair would signal the opposite. This is not only false, but runs contrary to a basic theological imperative: to recognise God through our suffering. Indeed, we recognise God’s Majesty through suffering, as we find in the great example of Yaqub (‘alayhi as-salam, peace be upon him) who suffered greatly at the loss of his son, Yusuf (AS), but nonetheless content with Allah’s decree. The purpose of life then is to live meaningfully, not to seek a state of non-suffering as an end unto itself. I recommend the writings of Viktor Frankl who so wisely notes, quoting Dostoevsky, “there is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings”4.A third wave of cognitive-behavioural therapies now focus on acceptance — a welcome change to the dominant drive towards overcoming or fixing anxiety. What sets apart the metaphysical/spiritual idea (within an Islamic submission framework) is not simply acceptance of our suffering, but rather the purpose may in fact be to suffer through our humanity fully, without escape, and recognize God through our despair. Undoubtedly, suffering also serves the purpose of questioning what the structures of our suffering may be, and alleviate them for ourselves and others, but this goes beyond the scope of this paper.When we see anxiety as a reminder of our vulnerability towards God and a means of attaining wisdom, it may become a welcomed guest and not an admonished enemy.<hr>1. Bauman, Zygmunt. Liquid Times: Living in an Age of Uncertainty. John Wiley &amp; Sons, 2013.2. Frances, Allen. Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt Against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life. Reprint edition. William Morrow, 2013.3. Davies, William. The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-Being. Reprint edition. Verso Books, 2016.4. Frankl, Viktor. Man’s Search For Meaning: The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust. Export e. edition. London: Rider, 2008.

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