No, you cannot walk 10,000 steps daily, get 8 hours of sleep, cook every night, clean every day, take care of a family, make time for your own hobbies, and still be productive at work every day. This is not just propaganda, it is nonsense. Free yourself from it.
there is something deeply unsettling about a society that keeps telling people to be more resilient while making the conditions of ordinary life progressively harder to withstand.
A quiet test of Tawheed is what we think our obedience has earned us.
We endure, give, pray, then feel wronged when life does not improve, as though worship had become an agreement whose terms Allah failed to honour. The disappointment is human, but the assumption deserves scrutiny.
Allah’s promises are true, while the outcome and timing we added to them may be entirely our own. Sometimes submission requires surrendering a condition we never realised we had placed on it.
I cannot stress this enough, but learn to do nothing. Literally. Learn to sit with yourself. Be bored on purpose. Throw that phone away and stare at a wall. A window. Whatever. Just you and your thoughts. At first, your brain will hate it. It'll get all twitchy and anxious. Hand reaching for the phone and all. Sit with that discomfort. You will be blown away by what could happen in just 30 minutes. When you stop consuming other people’s ideas, your mind can finally think about its own ideas. A.k.a creativity. But if you never turn off that noise, you'll live and die an echo.
- Smoking increases the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and premature death.
Allah says: “Do not kill yourselves. Surely Allah is Most Merciful to you.”
Qurʾān 4:29
- Smoking damages the lungs, blood vessels and heart, and exposes the body to toxic chemicals.
Allah says: “Do not throw yourselves into destruction with your own hands.”
Qurʾān 2:195
- Smoking wastes money on something harmful and addictive, while also harming others through second-hand smoke.
Allah says: “Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils.” - Qurʾān 17:27
A subtle blind spot in tawakkul is that we make du’a while imagining exactly how the answer must/should arrive.
We are instructed to take the means, but Allah is not bound by the means available to us, or even those we can imagine. Sometimes what we call impossible is merely something for which we cannot see a mechanism. Our responsibility to act does not make our understanding of what is possible complete.
Ya Allah, before this year comes to an end, bless me with such beautiful news that my heart forgets every hardship, and every painful day this year brought. Replace my sadness with peace, my worries with ease, and my tears with reasons to smile. Ameen.
Please don’t become comfortable with knowing so little about your religion.
Please learn about Allah.
Learn about your religion.
Learn about the life of your Prophet ﷺ.
Learn about the Book that you recite.
Learn about the One who created you, sustains you, protects you, forgives you, and continues to shower you with mercy despite how often you fall short.
UPDATE: Alhamdulillah, my phone has been found and returned to me.
A huge thank you to @KSAembassyNG team for being so responsive and staying on top of this from the moment I reached out. They kept me updated throughout and, even when I honestly didn’t think it was possible anymore, they kept assuring me that they would retrieve it.
They also went a step further and offered me a complimentary ticket to Saudi as a gesture for the inconvenience I experienced, which I really appreciate.
I also want to say a massive thank you to everyone who reached out, retweeted my earlier post, made calls etc May Allah reward everyone who played a part in helping me, and bless you all abundantly for being a source of ease during such a stressful experience.
Jazakumullahu khayran. 🤍
Alhamdulillah.