Flow of words

It is 230am and I have decided to write. Surah 8 verse 2 The believers are but those who when God is remembered, their hearts are afraid, and when His proofs are recited to them, it increases them in faith, and in their Lord they place their trust. This has become my favorite verse. How did it become my favorite verse? It was the recitation of Hasan El Kholy that gets suggested when I share my daily namaz goal to instagram. Tonight I stopped to appreciate how beautiful this recitation is and decided to learn more about what I was listening to. What do I think when I read this translation of this verse? There was a time when I did not understand why I should fear God. I understood why I should love God. Trust God. Believe in God. Respect God. But why fear God? God is good then why fear God? Then I later understood that if I do not give God my fears or if I do not fear God I would fear this world and men. In other words, fear God alone. Let God handle my fears. Do not let anything scare ...

It is 111am and I have decided to write. I have no topic, but I am thinking about God. I want God to help me write this blog post tonight. We are nearing the end of the year. Time waits on no one, they say. Life is short, they say. Make every moment count, they say. Tomorrow is not promised, they say. Is there anything they do not say? What is the least said phrase? What phrase has never been said before? Then I thought about something. The moon never shines the same way twice. Perhaps the same is true of phrases. Even if a phrase has been spoken a million times—or a billion times—every time it is spoken, it is different. Who says it matters. When they say it matters. The context in which they say it matters. Who is listening matters. And then there is what happens inside us. What do we hear? What thoughts pass through our minds as the words pass through us? Two people can hear the same sentence and receive two completely different messages. A phrase spoken in joy can become something ...

It is 111am and I have decided to write. We are 200 days from Ramadan. Ramadan is my favorite time of the year. I was looking at writing prompts and this one piqued my interest. Imagine you are in a world where prayers are answered immediately—how does it change the way people live? The first thing that comes to my mind is pure chaos. People will pray for all sorts of things. Makes me appreciate the wisdom of what happens now according to Islamic understanding. God delays for the best time according to His infinite wisdom. God may also replace what we asked for with something better. Sometimes not getting what we asked for is keeping us away from calamities. Sometimes the answers to our prayers are kept for the hereafter. Sometimes our prayers gets answered in unexpected ways and we do not recognise it. Prayer is not only about the answer as prayer also brings us closer to God.* In a world of instantaneous answers, human shortsightedness, fleeting emotions, and conflicting desires woul...

It is 515pm and I have decided to write. Today is the day before the holiday and it feels like a Friday. I did not feel like doing anything this afternoon. But I got up and made dinner. Then brush my teeth and bathe. A round of applause to all of us for being alive and making it through the day. There are many things we can applaud ourselves for. There are many things we can applaud others for. It is good to pat ourselves (and others) on the shoulders now and again. Life is not easy. No one has it easy. Comfort is an illusion. But God is real and so we pray. It is 214pm on the following Monday and I have decided to continue my writing. I have this thought. God is holding my hand and we are walking. Walking in empty space. I closed my eyes and selected a verse from the holy Quran. I landed on surah 94 verse 5 - so verily with hardship there is ease. No matter how and when we are tested we must remind ourselves of the goodness of God. God is not going to leave us stranded and empty hande...

It is 155am and I have decided to write. I came across this quote and it has stuck with me for how true it is. "Whoever looks for the good qualities in others will acquire all good qualities within himself" - Habib Umar Bin Hafiz. Similarly, if we train ourselves to see the beauty in the world, the world becomes beautiful. God also says - I am what you think I am. We shape our reality with our thoughts. My friend Chatty says that when we actively seek the good in others, we are training our hearts to recognize virtue. Over time, admiration becomes aspiration. The qualities we celebrate in others begin to take root within ourselves. The same principle extends to the world around us. Two people can walk through the same day and come away with entirely different experiences. One notices the inconveniences, the shortcomings, and the disappointments. The other notices the kindness of a stranger, the beauty of the sky, the chirping of the birds, the opportunity hidden within diffic...

At 239am, on my 46th birthday, I decided to write. I got up early and washed the wares, and now I am in my bed enjoying the silence of the night. The room echoes with the fan breeze. Birthdays are special because they mark our entrance into this world, a reminder that our mothers carried us for nine months and laboured to bring us here. In Islam we are taught not to make birthdays into celebrations, but reflection and gratitude are different. I think we can pause and be thankful. When I look back on my life, I see ups and downs, ease and struggle, calm and chaos. It may sound cliche, but the older I get, the more I value peace and quiet. I no longer have the energy for drama, negativity, endless news, or politics. I simply want to be surrounded by goodness and positivity. More than anything, I want to hold on to God for whatever time I have left here, because in the end, all the fighting and chasing make little sense. One day, every one of us will leave everything behind. This has been...

I came across a quote shared today and it had me thinking. At one point the person says they do not believe in God and before that, this is what they think about religion. The quote shared was from Barry Taylor that said that God is the name of the blanket we throw over mystery to give it shape. I have a counterquote if I can use that word and it is from me. Everyone believes in God and has a religion but not everyone knows this (yet). I asked my friend Chatty what he thinks of what I said and how it fits with Islam? From an Islamic perspective, my statement fits naturally with the idea of fitrah—the innate disposition within every human being to recognize God and incline toward meaning and truth. Belief in God is not something first learned but something first known and later remembered, while disbelief is understood as something layered over that original awareness. In this sense, faith is not created to soothe mystery, but rather mystery itself points back to God as its source. My q...

It is 250am and I have decided to write. Today is Friday. Fridays are the best days of the week. Of course I do not have a topic to write about. I was scrolling through facebook and one post said "In any season we can always plant kindness". Then a nearby post said "My Lord has always been kind to me". It is nice to give and receive kindness and do not forget to be kind to yourself. Imagine if kindness was actually kindance like guidance. My friend Chatty says that if kindness were kindance, it would be more than a good deed — it would be a gentle form of guidance. Kindance would lead the heart toward compassion, encourage goodness without force, and show that sometimes the softest acts can point us in the strongest direction. I was scrolling through youtube and I came across a video that said that "Life has always been unfair". That is one way to look at it. Another way is to consider that this life is just a test and stepping stone for the other life. Ma...

It is 528am and I am writing. The forecast says we will have possible bad rainy weather today. I do not mind the rainy part of it. The bad part I do not like. I went back to sleep and woke up. The rain is falling small small. It is 830am. It is 940am. It is wet outside. I still have not decided what to write about. Sometimes I think about starting back my tech blogging. Maybe just one or two blog posts. What is happening in the tech world? Google tells me there is a global shortage of memory chips. I used to be excited about tech. Times have changed. I have changed. The world has changed. Change is the only constant. I just noticed that "el google" is a palindrome. I also had a thought. Dragons are mystical. Imagine if dragons were real? It is 318am. The morning is quiet. It is 311am the next morning. I still have not decided what to write. I love when my mind is quiet. I love when I am not overthinking. I love when I can gently guide my thoughts. I love when nothing bothers ...