A Ramadan season miracle

 Last Ramadan started like no other Ramadan in my whole life…

Every Ramadan, I expect blessings, I expect Fethe (enlightment) at the end of the way. It’s something I long for and work on, that is why my Ramadans are generally made of strict schedules; especially my bedtime schedule, it’s the only way I can find time to read Quran extensively and do night prayer while still being fit to do my job.

This Ramadan Alhamdulillah there has been hardly any reading of Quran and the minimum of night prayer instead I had: a hundred phone calls, a hundred e-mails, late hours at the office and last but not least an overwhelming feeling of gratitude that made me tear up more than once…

Some of you might wonder? What happened? Had I suddenly turned into a crazy masochistic workaholic at the opening of Ramadan?

Allow me to go back in time:

A few months ago, my friends Ahmed & Zeinab came up with this incredible idea of feeding 20 families every day for the whole month of Ramadan, they prepared a list of the content of the daily food parcel, went to a shop, agreed on the prices and started preparing for the feeding.

When I was told the cost of feeding twenty families for 30 days of Ramadan, I was surprised by how low it was and felt that it was almost Fard (obligatory) on me to do so as it would be if accepted by Allah, an atonement for my sinful soul and the best investment for my afterlife...

“O son of Adam, I asked food from you but you did not feed Me”

“My Lord, how could I feed Thee whereas Thou are the Lord of the Worlds?”

“Didn’t you Know that such & such servant of Mine asked food from you but you did not feed him, and were you not aware that if you had fed him you would have found him by My side?.......

 YA ALLAH!

Getting back to the idea of the Iftar, the thing was that I was still in the midst of renovating my house so it clearly wasn’t possible for me to finance a whole iftar on my own money, I’m not a Rothschild heir but for some reason the idea would not leave me…I became gradually obsessed about the population of a certain sector of Nouakchott called Tarheel. This name just wouldn’t leave me, especially after a dear friend, Mariem told me something deep: "Tarheel is a typical case of what we call in Arabic “the weak leaning on the weak”, as it’s a neighbourhood for relocated families –who lived in the slums- unlike other neighborhoods, the poor of Tarheel cannot rely on solidarity to feed themselves because all their neighbors are poor…

Meeting Elizabeth after I had this conversation with Mariem, was the least I can say inspiring …Elizabeth is a researcher studying precarious habitat who’s so passionate that she takes 3 different taxis to go to Tarhil  in the worst heat peeks … What’s incredible is that she has overcome the barriers of language, extreme heat and nationality for the sake of doing something meaningful…  I told myself I should summon up the courage to do this; I don’t have half the obstacles Elizabeth has had to overcome but seriously where am I supposed to get the funding? How to handle the logistics of delivering the parcels & distributing them? (I work 9 hours a day)

The opening came, 4 days before Ramadan when I happened to speak to Mona about my wish of feeding the people of Tarheel, super Mona (Allah Yahfadha) said; “Don’t worry, I’ll do the fundraising and she gave me a large amount of her own money to start with…After Ahmed, Zeinab and Elizabeth had inspired me: Mona gave me the courage I needed. May Allah reward them all.

From that moment, things just accelerated : Ahmed called me to tell that incidentally he had found a reliable person in Tarheel to take care of the distribution. He was talking to someone about my project when this person told him : “Don’t you know that Elhajj the son of .... is an Imam in Tarheel?

I called Elhajj and he happened to be an incredible asset for the feeding with his dynamism and his acute sense of Amana.  This acute sense of Amana is what helped reach out to the poorest of the poor. He began by identifying 20 of the poorest families in his sector; he knew all the names of the women and men and their children’s names, their situation… mashallah! At only twenty five years old he was acting like some old parish priest mothering his flock! Lol

Fundraising too was another miracle; I sent an e-mail to one of my closest buddies, Mohamed Lemine, with pictures of me with some of the most vulnerable families met in Tarheel to send to our friends working in mining companies… Guess what? The crazy dude sent my picture and message to the whole mailing list of Mauritania’s biggest mining company and their contractors……When I saw what he had done, I must say I had mixed feelings : should I strangle him or should I thank him??????For God's sake, all my friends know that my motto in life is “Live hidden, Live happy!”- I finally chose to not physically harm him and instead to thank him profusely J

I did right. Thanks to that crazy e-mail and to a few other e-mails and phone calls we fundraised approximately 18 000 USD and helped 160 families.

The parcels distributed everyday

 

Mohamed Lemine & one of the cute kids in Tarheel

 

 

Believe me, it was a miracle... until now, the ease of how the money was obtained still leaves me speechless. Apparently the Ramadan season miracle is experienced every year by people active in charity works. This Ramadan,  I had the pleasure to have ftour with sisters who do charity work all year long. Beautiful women, heart and soul, radiant women, who only want God.

Not only did they tell me that they experience this Baraka every year but actually it seems like most great social initiatives start up in Ramadan!

Finally, as usual Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, my Shaykh, my mentor emphasized in one of his lectures, what was for me one of the greatest teachings of this whole Iftar project: “The group with it flaws is better than sectarianism with its purity”(NB “flaws” might not be the exact word he used)

Indeed, it's the Baraka of having a group working solely for the sake of God that has made this project possible. These past months & for the first time in my life (remember guys, my motto was "live hidden, live happy"), I have felt embraced and supported by a sisterhood and brotherhood  who accept to disagree & be different but at the same time are bonded by the Love of Allah & Muhammad (SAW) the Chosen One.

I LOVE THE UMMAH

This project wouldn’t have been possible without : Ahmed, Zeinab, ElHajj (the two El Hajjs :-), Mohamed Lemine, Olga, Mona, Elizabeth, Hafsa, Mariem,  Nathalie, Gueye, Junior, Mohamed Cheikh and the wonderful private donators may Allah reward them.

                             Some of the volunteers : Med Lemine, El Hajj (n°1); El Hajj (n°2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Craving security

Have you ever had moments in your life where you felt agitated, insecure, worried about something whether the state of your finances, your career, your health or something even bigger like your community, your country, the world?

I’m so sorry for those who thought I was super woman in disguise: I’ve definitely felt that way J

The message in a bottle in my last post –never completed- what actually a cry expressing a deep feeling of insecurity.  It manifested itself by a sudden urge to be active; to get involved into a peace related activity and the upsetting feeling that there were forces working hard to disrupt the peace.  

I did not realize at the moment that I was misguided although I was surprised by the strength of the feeling: why was I suddenly so upset about the state of our world, after all it’s God’s will, where was my Ridha (serene acceptance of Allah’s will)? Deep inside, I knew something must be wrong. ..

I found out what it was after listening to Shaykh Hamza Yusuf talking about the tricks of shaytan and the Nafs (the Self/the ego) in his lecture "Poor Man's book of assistance". Four days later, I had to admit to myself that I had been misled by the voice of the Nafs or Shaytan and because I’m a peaceful person, my insecurity was magnified through peaceful involvement.

Please don’t get me wrong; activism is great but it shouldn’t be a symptom of one’s insecurity. I remember a few years ago, a French psychologist saying that parents who push their kids and have them go to tons of private classes were just expressing their insecurity about their own jobs and they should be careful that their anxiety doesn’t transmit to their children. It’s a clear example of how something in appearance so banal and even positive; parents pushing their kids to do well in school, can actually be the outward expression of a deep anxiety.

Someone might wonder how an old trouper on the road of self-improvement like myself ;-) didn’t see that my unease about certain social issues was being manipulated; the answer is that I was taken by surprise. ..Shaykh Hamza Yusuf says that Shaytan is creative; when he can’t get at you through something, he tries something else. I guess that now that he has trouble (Alhamdulillah!) getting to me through the classical triggers of worry in the modern psyche like “Career “or “Money”, he has turned to something else ; the love I have for this place, its people and more generally for the Ummah.

May God protect me and the believers from Shaytan for there are yet many more gates to anxiety that make us vulnerable, like dwelling on past choices: why did I ever apply to study Law  instead of English literature, I must have been on crack that day?%!!!!????

Having now admitted that I’m not immune to waswas ;-) what exactly is this security we crave for so much and how can one achieve it?

Let us begin by speaking about the contrary of Ridha which is to be in a state of worry/anxiety. Some might say it's not a big deal, after all, we all worry sometimes and feel insecure. Well guys, it’s not banal, worry has to be subdued for in some pathologic cases, it manifests in the most atrocious of manners: an unemployed, mother taking her life and the life of her children after having been abandoned by her partner,youth vandalizing public buildings and streets during demonstrations...It all stems from a feeling of worry that turned into despair...

It’s great how some old North American series can teach kids some good believers’ wisdom. Who remembers Anne of Green Gables? There is an episode where freckled red headed Anne is horrified because she tries dyeing her hair black but instead it becomes green…. Hahahaha

When Anne cries emphatically: “I’m in the depth of despair”, her foster mother tells her: “Child, to despair is to turn your back on the Lord!”  ...  Profound isn’t it?

It’s exactly in line with what a devout believer should do : refuse to despair, put his faith in Allah and believe it will all be for the best for Allah Almighty the Exalted said : “Ana 3nda Thani 3bdi bi. “ "I am as my servant thinks of Me".
I once watched a TV program where a preacher explained this concept in a very simple way:

Two men are speaking about the meeting they will have the next day with a King.

One is worried and expresses doubts about the King's welcome and the response he will give to his plea.

The other one is confident, trusts the magnanimity of the ruler and is certain his request will be answered favorably.  

What the two men do not know, is that the King had been listening to all their conversation…

The preacher concluded the story by asking : who do you think is more likely to have a positive answer?

In this world, Allah Subhanahu Wata3la is omniscient and He is the most compassionate, we should submit to him for His rule is the best of rules and we should come to Him with a heart full of confidence. My cousin told me the other day a Hadith Qudsi that moved me deeply:

“My slave, you want and I want. But nothing will occur except what I want. So if you obey Me in what I want, I will give you what you want. But if you disobey Me in what I want, I will tire you seeking what you want. Then nothing will occur except what I want.”

It’s incredible that thanks to Allah Subhanhu Wata3la’s Infinite Mercy for his creation, there actually is a moment where what the Lord of the Universe wants, and what his poor slave wants, meet : “If you obey Me in what I want, I will give you what you want…” Subhanallah...

There is another a Hadith from the Prophet Muhammad (Pbu) that helped me finally get out of  my “I’m afraid of fitna" mood ;-):

“My Ummah is one to which mercy is shown. It will have no punishment in the next world but its punishment in this world will be trials, earthquakes and being killed”.

Honestly if I had to choose, I’d gladly suffer in this life than be deprived from seeing my Lord in the next life ;-) O Allah, do not deprive us from your Sight & resurrect us in the company of your Beloved Prophet Muhammad (Saw).

For a Muslim, security is not something related to one's actual circumstances, it’s something related to a deep sense in one's heart. I heard a woman saying that she had become Muslim after having spent some time with the people living in old graveyards in Cairo for they were always smiling, serene and caring albeit their poverty. In Mauritania, you see the same thing, a donkey cart driver will flash you an incredible smile (before Marlboro unfortunately took over the country and ruined people’s teethL) and when asked “how are you?” will answer: “Alhamdulillah, Na3em 3laya Mulana!” ("Alhamdulullah, Allah has given me his blessings!")

These people say Alhamdulillah, smile and sleep well at night because kana3a is not a vain word; you can see it in yourself. There have been moments in your life where you’ve felt secure even though you didn’t have any money in the bank and that you were in between jobs because your trust in Allah was strong and other times where your savings' account was full to the brim but you were still worried you wouldn’t have enough money to make that extension to your already huge villa and pay your kids’ private tutors!!!!

In one case you’re broke, unemployed but happy and in the other you seemingly have it all but you’re unsettled and fidgety… It's obvious that the feeling of security doesn't come from how much bucks or dow you have (ask Britney Spears  for that matter;-)

Last but not least, I recommend that you watch the following mesmerizing and soothing lecture of Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad that not only helped me understand the primordiality and the importance of  Ridha for a sound 3aqida but showed me that albeit the sorrows of the ummah there are truly reasons to rejoice.

Guys, I would like to thank you for being such good followers of my blog, I'm always so surprised at the stats, Jazakumullah.

 

 

 

 

“Ask your heart, righteousness is what the heart feels tranquil with {…} “ Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him

I have never been as concerned about the state of my heart as since I’ve been listening to Shaykh Hamza Yusuf’s lectures.

Sometimes I joke about it, saying that now I try to go through life with a stethoscope on my chest to follow all the moves of my heart ;-) Indeed, Hamza Yusuf has highlighted the importance of putting oneself to work on one’s heart before comes the Day:

“In which neither wealth nor children shall be of any benefit [to anyone], except one who comes to God with a sound heart “(Quran, 26:88-89)

But before that day comes, purification of the heart is really the way to make the world a better place, for every act of cruelty, hate, racism, violence, pollution, stems from a disease in the heart and will disappear when it is cured. The disease can be either envy, cruelty, arrogance, rancor, ostentation, fear of poverty ...

The million dollar question is therefore, how to cure these diseases?

Fortunately, there exists a self-purification book (poem) known as Matharat al-Qulub (literally, Purification of the Hearts), which offers a means by which purification can be achieved. It is a treatise on the alchemy of the hearts, a manual on how to transform the heart. It was written by a great scholar, Shaykh Muhammad Mawlud al-Yaqubi al-Musawi al-Mauritani (Yuppie! He’s a compatriot of mine) and commented on by Hamza Yusuf.

By the way guys, if you ever have the chance of having this book in your hands, you must absolutely read the dedication written by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf. He says something like: “I dedicate this book to my wife, who has a heart so pure she doesn’t need it”. WOW!

Mashallah, what a beautiful thing to say about one’s spouse… it really makes you want to meet the woman! And it also taught me to try look at my own “better half ;-) with as much indulgence as Shaykh Hamza views his wife! Lol, Thank God my hubby is still learning English and can’t read my blog!

The book helped me identify some of my own diseases (of the heart) I wasn’t even aware of! Honestly, when I read the book I felt discouraged (I had a heart ache throughout it) but now that I know a tiny winy bit more than I used to at the time, I am super happy because now I know that :

-          Diseases can be cured (I have experienced it!)

-          Aching when you read about a disease is actually a good sign, it means that contrary to some hearts, your heart is still alive. For instance, if you read about miserliness and that your heart aches it certainly means you’re stingy ;-) but the good news is that your disease can be treated and eventually cured!

Once you’ve identified most of your diseases of the heart  this is how I have nearly cured some of mine:

1. Treat the heart with the things you KNOW deep down inside of you, are good for you.

For me, two simples changes were : reading Quran regularly and quitting listening to that depressing band that invariably made me want to throw myself from the top of a cliff! (pessimism is a disease of the heart).

2.Purify your life with Takwa, get away from those acts and people that drag you down.

As derived from the teachings of the Prophet (SAW), an act can take the appearance of good, or be banalized by society but if, even a tiny voice in your heart expresses unease because of it, quit it.  Don't shun that voice and silence it like Dorian Gray did, until you're so deep down into corruption, that you can no longer be guided by your heart.

In that regards, something happened to me that was pretty eloquent…

Living in the west, I have never had a problem with people who drink, if you don’t believe me just ask my friends down at the pub ;-)

Jokes aside, my reasoning was the following : I shouldn't have an issue about entering in non-alcohol free places (in the West) because I know who I am, a practicing muslim who would order a coke with her my meal.

After embarking on the purification of the heart journey, I no longer could enter places selling alcohol; the mere idea of entering a restaurant/café selling alcohol made me physically sick (I wanted to throw up).

In French the expression for having nausea “avoir mal au coeur” means literally “to have a heart ache”! It's clearly what happened to me : my heart ached so badly I was sick.

No matter what people told me, no matter how my brain tried to dismiss it with rational arguments, I decided to follow my heart.

3. Salawats on the prophet Muhammad (SAW)

I have not doubt  this is the practice that has helped me the most.

“Prayers on me are light in the heart, light in the grave and light on the Sirat " (sirat is the bridge every soul will have to cross to enter the heavens) 

While I am saying Salawats on the prophet SAW I always try to remember how much he loved us; the women, the children, the poor and all of God’s creation.  Until his last breath, he prayed that God have mercy on his Ummah. He died saying : Ummati… Ummati… Ummati… (my followers).

When I think of how he much he loved us, I can’t but strive harder to follow his way.

I noticed that as my love for the greatest of creation increased, I started to change, my heart softened, I couldn’t curse as much as I used to, even jokingly.  I have also never been a cry baby; each time I used to cry it was mostly out of anger and frustration! Gosh,I’ve changed so much; the hard headed woman has slowly given place to a meek person who weeps at spiritual stories... Lol

If some cleansing of the heart hasn’t taken place there, God only knows what happened!

Even my better half ;-) has noticed the changes in me, I have become nicer with him, actually when I laze about doing Dhikr after Maghrib, he urges me to do it even though he seldom does! lol

As a friend says, lectures are great, they serve as a reminder but “it is in Dhikr that our real growth lies”. I cannot but totally agree J

4. Remembering death

Reading about death, helps you have more detachment towards material things and accept that this life is imperfect and that the true success lies in being a good person. For it is that sound heart of yours, that will get (with God’s Mercy) you through the gates of Heaven and not your career as CEO of some big corporation.

5. Hang out with good people who try to better themselves and not the people who have given up the fight

Shaykh Hamza says that a sick heart needs good company in order to "inhale the fragrances of sincerity".

Finally,

 

By trying to cure your own diseases of the heart, you’re embodying the change you want to see in the world! You might not think that you're doing anything grand, because you’re not a world renown peace activist and you’re far from having Mother Teresa’s dedication but you never know…

One day after working hard on your heart you might wake up to find that you have become a clone of Mother Theresa without your knowledge!

Or, you might never become the next  Mother Teresa, but you will certainly bring up your children to be non racist, open-minded loving, compassionate people (sound hearts!) who will greatly contribute to making the world a better and safer place to be! And that my friend, will undoubtedly be a major achievement.

Please pray for me so I can have both blessings!

Mauritania: beyond the dirt and the takhaluf Heaven- Haven

When I was young, I dreamed of being a student of mahdara and my dear friend Roisin admitted to me that she had once dreams of becoming a nun.

These fantasies, these dreams are very common in young people around the world and leave as they grow older (even though seldom entirely). I think it’s because the younger we are, the closer we are to the original state of Fitra so we tend to long for something pure and perfect and what can be purer than wayfaring to God?

In my opinion, Mauritania is a good place to embark on such a journey.

“Withdraw the heart into the arena of reflection

Nothing helps the heart more than that!”

From Hikam Ibn Ata Illah

A french brother, some of you might know, called Ian Mansour, told me that when he was seventeen he decided to leave Britany for good for he had come to the conclusion that Europe because of rampant materialism was no longer a  favorable  context  for soul-searching, introspection. His exact words were that it no longer allowed “retour sur soi” which literally means “to return on oneself”.

But why is introspection, soul-searching, “retour sur soi” or whatever one calls it so necessary?

Introspection is the prerequisite for any conscious decision, spiritual improvement and great achievement.

Hamza Yusuf had to live in the Tagant desert to become Shaykh Hamza Yusuf.

                                                                                Hamza, the student of knowledge in Tagant, Mauritania (Peter Sanders)



And most of you know better than me the story of the withdrawal of the great Ghazali from the world.  El Ghazali recommended that seekers of knowledge travel to a place where they know no one.

Is it the proximity of the desert? Is it the feet of so many God-fearing, God-loving Ulama and Awliyas that tread upon its ground that makes Mauritania a blessed place for introspection and reflection?

Or is it the frugality one finds in Mauritanian villages, the heat, the mosquitoes for they are a school in themselves...They teach Sabr (patience) and we well know the special place that's reserved for the patient.

But give good tidings to the patient who, when disaster strikes them, say, “Indeed we belong to Allaah, and indeed to Him we will return.” [Quran 2:155-156]

To give you an idea of the place (at least its capital city), here is a description i found on a blog, it’s pretty eloquent:

“It was almost mid-night but it looked like morning to me. I was feeling like being home again […] I prayed and had a good sleep with wonderful, sweet mosquito bites. In the morning, I looked at the mosquitoes in my net, singing their irritating music in their pregnant state, moving around with my sucked blood.

I took to the city to use the internet and pray in the saudi masjid. How nice it feels like to be back! Looking the streets, you see men and women urinating openly by the sides of cars, walls, etc, dirty streets, and in the mosques, hearing the Mauritanian style of loud Shouting of TAKBIR at the opening of Solah(not Maalilki style to shout too loud). From all of these, I said to myself, welcome back to Mauritania!” 

 So if you can go beyond the dirt, the pissing on the streets, the spitting, the burping arghhh  -I am voluntarily crude- you will find a hidden gem. If you open your heart to people, you will notice the imperceptible things that make them special ; some are always doing dhikr, some do incredible sadakats (charity), some spend their nights in prayer, some just have incredible smiles in weather beaten, sunburnt faces.

Mauritania is a country where foreigners weep twice: First from dismay that they are sent to such a forsaken land and when they leave, because it has become a place they love.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf encourages the love of poetry so here is just for you, my friends, one the English poems I love the most :

Heaven-Haven 

A nun takes the veil

I have desired to go

Where springs not fail,

To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail

And a few lilies blow.

And I asked to be

Where no storms come,

Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,

And out of the swing of the sea.

Gerald Manley Hopkins

"The way out is in the book of God"

I remember precisely the day I heard these words pronounced by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf… I felt like I had been struck by lightning. In my life I have 3 or 4 of these defining moments, these epiphanies, when just by hearing or reading something I come to an incredible realization, that if implemented will impact my whole life….

At the time, I was going through a whole life change. I left a life of constant movement, of tight schedules for a life where the job was intense but where the evenings just stretched out… The speed of the hamster’s wheel, conjuring my fellow mates and my own existential anguish was no longer, I had just stepped off. I came to a life where in the evening you are alone and there is silence… you are faced with yourself… No one to call you to go out for a drink, dinner or just for some random girl talk.

I remember that one of my brothers told me at my wedding party (by the way, I must say it was the greatest batch of the decade! ;-) that my biggest success in life were my friends, I do have very special, loving endearing friends and a special bond unites me to with each one of them.

One evening, I felt so nostalgic of my buddies that I recall sitting on the top of the garage and repeating their names like I was counting the beads of a rosary ; Huiyi… Roisin…Rime…Alex…Selma…Andrew…Miriam…Lucia… Bonnie…Stephane…Christophe…They were always a family, when no one of the family was around… 11 years… It was a long time to leave behind. ..

Anyways, the whole week I had been feeling low and I was wondering when will this cycle of unhappiness or more accurately of dissatisfaction end? When I was in Paris, I dreamt of sand dunes and when I came home to the sand dunes here I was, dreaming of my former life in Paris! Seriously, was I dysfunctional? When would constant and sustainable happiness be? Don’t get me wrong I was and still am a pretty cheerful person, I love joking and laughing and at that time of my life I had already had deep profound moments of gratitude and happiness but it always seemed like; I was waiting for a cycle to lead to the other in order to allow myself to be happier and I must admit that ends of cycles were always painful because of the uncertainty that followed the departure from something I had grown accustomed to and deeply fond of.

It was while in that mood (a MEGA funk..) that I distractedly turned on one of Hamza Yusuf’s lectures (I think it was "The poor man’s book of assistance") and I heard this incredibly simple yet life changing answer: “THE WAY OUT IS IN THE BOOK OF GOD.”

The shock was so strong it awoke from my daydream and I stood up with the resolve to explore this solution that was offered to me. I did wudu and read a few chapters of the Quran, and decided I would read Kuran everyday for as long as I could (I am not a very disciplined person J )

I read the Quran this way for 2 whole months, during my lunch break, after work, between Duhr prayer and Asr on Fridays). The effects were immediate; I regained my laughter, my joie de vivre and acquired a whole new deep new sense of confidence.

Yes dear friend, you got me right: an increased level of confidence (Wow!). I believe it was the Baraka of reading the Quran for those 2 months that made me come to another important realization:

Life is a play where those who decide aren’t those that seemingly decide… God sole and only decides.

It became super clear to me that I shouldn't expect anything from people, even the ones who want me good), I must pray God for it.

It does seem obvious but it’s very liberating when you’re sitting in a meeting with very important people (some humble but some very full of themselves I must say…) or being interviewed or negotiating a raise ;-) and that you remind yourself: “these people have no power on the outcome, it’s God who decides”.

This realization helps you stay grounded and breaks your ego, There is no risk of you falling into hubris for you know that you are nothing without God’s mercy, you can only count on His Mercy (and your Asbabs) to make things happen. The great thing is that with time you will see that God willing, the things you pray for always happen when the intention you put in them is good!

To all my sisters and brothers who lately have shared with me some of their doubts and worries, befriend your Kuran, make it your daily life buoy. When you are in a funk, read Quran everyday, it will elevate you and purify your heart.

The other thing : don’t take life too seriously, believe in leaving things in the hands of the Lord, it helps you stay detached while putting in your best effort.

Why this blog?

I decided to start writing this blog after my sister told me that she had suddenly realized that our encounter with the lectures and writings of Shaykh Hamza Yusuf was in fact the answer to the silent prayer, a teenager made a few years ago after meeting Shaykh Abdullah Binbayyah...She was so struck by the light coming from him and felt so drawn to his words but despaired that she could never have the opportunity to learn from him and sit with him for Shaykhs of his stature are inaccessible (always surrounded by hordes of people or other knowledgeable scholars)...But Allah Almighty heard this silent prayer ; the words and teachings of Shaykh Binbayyah and more generally a condense of classical Islamic traditional knowledge such as it was taught by Mauritanian scholars became suddenly accessible to us the day we discovered Shaykh Hamza Yusuf.

In this blog I will introduce you to Mauritania (my home land) and speak to you about people who share inspirational verses of the Kuran, Hadiths and stories of the Sunnah and swap Hamza Yusuf lectures in order to keep trying to better themselves and be closer to Allah Almighty. I will also speak about the encounters I have had with many muslims, muslims to be and non muslims who have changed my life, if my journey carries any interest for you please feel welcome to join and to share with me your thoughts.

"Can we change by listening?Can we be so touched and inspired by words that we are moved to renew and remake ourselves as better, nobler, and more merciful human beings?The impact that good words have had on humanity throughout history resoundingly declares we can." Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, introduction to The content of Character.