Centuries ago, Muslims from the heart of Africa walked nearly 7,000 kilometers for Hajj.
Not for days.
Not for weeks.
But for years.
They crossed deserts on foot, travelled with livestock for food and survival, and spent entire lifetimes saving for one sacred journey to Makkah.
Along the roads stood wells, inns, and shelters built by Muslim rulers and generous souls to serve the guests of Allah.
Some pilgrims returned home after two years.
Some stayed longer seeking knowledge in cities like Cairo and Damascus before finally returning with the honored title of “Hajji.”
A reminder that for many before us, Hajj was not a trip.
It was the journey of a lifetime.
It’s the blessed day of Friday during the most blessed days of the year. May Allah accept everyone’s prayers and grant them the best in this world and the hereafter!
The Prophet ﷺ said: “How wonderful is the affair of the believer, for his affairs are all good. If something good happens to him he is grateful and that is good for him. If something bad happens to him he bears it with patience and that is good for him.”
you think you are not being punished for your sins, yet you have been deprived of Qiyām Layl, your daily portion of the Qur’an, and the goodness of these blessed 10 days.
you have been deprived of nawaafil, sadaqah and it's difficult for you to even repeat the takbeer.
your heart has been sealed but you are unaware because you're not afflicted in your worldly affairs.
punishment, sometimes, is being deprived from worshipping Allāh.
Here’s an observation I made as a parent, and this is a heartfelt message to other parents: please, limit your children’s screen time.
For the past two to three years, I struggled deeply with my son’s attention span. Every single teacher, both his Islamic teachers and his school teachers, said the same thing:
“Your son is incredibly smart. One of the smartest children in class. But he has serious attention issues.”
And they were right.
I tried everything. I even created a full homeschooling routine at some point. I bought educational materials, structured activities, learning aids, I genuinely went the extra mile because I knew my son was intelligent. But the mistake I kept making was that once we were done learning, he went straight back to screens.
Honestly, there’s a serious lack of good partners out here and it’s one of the reasons marriages feel harder these days. The ones who are genuine, consistent, emotionally available, and actually put in effort aren’t as common as people think. You really can’t afford to be careless with the ones who actually show up right.
There are people who've built nonnegotiable habits by which they live by, such as:
1. Never missing fajr salāh
2. Regular memorisation of the Qur'ān
3. Resisting their phone effortlessly
They have 3 core skills in common that most people can rarely identify:
➖Delayed gratification. They choose long-term gain over immediate comfort.
➖Muraqabah (self-awareness). They're fully cognisant of what they do, why they do it and for whom.
➖Executive control. Their brain is wired to pause and carefully weigh things before acting with intent, never reactive.
Simply put, it's the ability to stay focused, even when our impulses nudge us to something else.
When I remember my sins, which are countless and beyond measure, and I recall what the Salaf were upon
how they could literally count their sins, how they knew their shortcomings, and the sheer magnitude of their fear of their Lord
despite their nights spent in prayer, their days spent fasting, and their scrupulousness and asceticism
and then I look at my own condition, I am left completely broken.
I honestly don't know how I will stand before my Lord.
What could I possibly say when my sins are displayed before me on a Day when every soul will find exactly what it has done laid bare?
How will I answer the One who showered me with endless blessings while I met Him with nothing but disobedience?
How wretched, how miserable, and how ungrateful I am.
Oh, the utter regret, the sorrow, and the ruin.
What a pitiful state it is for a soul to willingly drag itself toward its own destruction.
My Lord, I disavow before You any power or might of my own.
I completely acknowledge my weakness, I confess to my sins, and I bear witness to Your endless favors upon me.
Forgive me, my Lord, guide me, and direct my steps, for if You abandon me and leave me to my own device for even the blink of an eye, I will perish in total and absolute ruin.
The reasons more people are wearing wired headphones are not about "counter-signaling".
It's the Bluetooth.
Bluetooth earbuds contain a low-power transmitter in your ear canal for hours a day. The WHO classified RF radiation as a possible carcinogen back in 2011.
While the levels you get from earbuds are below current safety limits, those limits were built around heat, not long-term biological effects.
You also have a lithium-ion battery and a tiny magnet sitting millimeters from your brain. A 2022 study measured static magnetic fields from wireless earbuds and found wired options are the safer choice.
I'm not saying Bluetooth is dangerous, but celebs (and many others) are wearing wired earbuds less for status signaling and more for health protection.
Prepare yourself for the first 10 days of Dhul-Hijjah (next Monday/Tuesday), you won't wake up with the good habits so prepare before hand💕
The prophet SAW said:
"No good deeds done on other days are superior to those done on the first 10 days of Dhul-Hijjah" Sahih Bukhari 969
Marry a man who wants to make your life easy regardless of his income, don’t marry a man who romanticise or glorify poverty and struggles. Marry a man who’s generous and god fearing. Poverty brings humiliation, debt and misery. May Allah save us from poverty and grant abundance.