Gëzuar Kurban Bajramin Eid Mubarak كل عام وانت الى الله اقرب

Most of us live in a fast-paced world, with tight deadlines and long to-do lists dictating our day-to-day affairs. We are constantly on the move, crossing items off checklists and determined to reach a station we call stability. Some people get there and some don’t while our relationship with stability looms over our heads and hearts. 

We are less than three months away from Ramadan. Now is the time to make up missed fasts, now and always is the time to get closer to Allah swt. Now starts our three month preparation for the one month of immense blessings. 

The most potent part of the recent discussion on the [failed] intersection of Islamic principles of modesty and the modeling industry started by our sister Halima is not about representation for Muslim women or the need for a support network as they navigate it. Rather, I think the telling part is her admission of the impact fellow Muslim women had on her feelings and actions. They cheered her on as she stepped further away from her faith, as she struggled more and more with outer hijab. Looser hijab, and not looser clothing, was celebrated. That’s the message we sent her and each other. This is about the support for the more “modern” visual hijab, as if that is the only way a woman can be beautiful and “slay.” This is what we see across social media platforms. We support our own downfall and we’re not taking our warnings. Through our “yes queen” and “this is fire” statements on content that goes against our religion, we are pushing one another to normalize what Allah swt has warned us about and informed us not to do. We are validating what contributes to our weakened ties with Allah swt as we worship modern idols decorated in glamour and fame. 

We’re nearing the end of the Islamic lunar month of Safar, the second in the calendar. Ramadan is the ninth month, which means we have a little over six months until we greet it again with the Permission of Allah swt. Winter is coming up in the Northern Hemisphere and with it comes ease; shorter days are great for making up fasts and offering voluntary ones. They also are great for sleeping earlier than our norm and waking up for tahajjud prayer in the last third of the night, even if it’s just fifteen or twenty minutes before fajr prayer. Also, let’s aim to read the Qur’an at least once in its entirety between Ramadans. The mushaf is slightly over 600 pages and if we were to read it over the period of 11 months, we’d cover about 55 pages per month, or 2 each day. May Allah swt facilitate for us making up our debts, understanding the Qur’an, and gaining proximity to the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth.