Pro-Palestine activism received a respite from longstanding official and unofficial repression in Britain this week with a legal order to overturn a government ban on Palestine Action, an activist organization that was banned in the summer of 2025. The High Court ruled that the ban was unlawful, giving some relief to thousands of people who had been imprisoned under the ban.

Aiming to challenge Britain’s armament of Israel through direct action, Palestine Action was founded in the early 2020s by Huda Ammori, a British researcher and activist of Palestinian-Iraqi stock, and Richard Barnard. Urgency was lent to their work by the subsequent genocide that began in Gaza from 2023, to which the British government and assorted weapons companies were linked. In a remarkable leap, the government cited the group’s raid on an arms manufacturer’s Bristol warehouse as evidence of its terrorist nature. The result was that thousands of people, including many pensioners, were imprisoned for public solidarity with the group, which the government presented as support for terrorism.

The legal proceedings launched by the British state, first under Yvette Cooper, who has since been given the foreign minister’s role, and then under Shabana Mahmood, have been notable for a reliance on rhetoric, with “terrorism” the most obvious example, in favour of legal rights and facts. Even in court, the Palestine Action legal team was at first deprived of key footage that showed armed guards bearing down on the activists who had supposedly “assaulted” them: footage with the potential to turn the claim of unprovoked assault by the “terrorist” activists on its head. Unsurprisingly, the court ruled against the ban.

Yet, the case of Palestine Action is simply part of a major campaign to crack down against Palestine support and criticism of Israel that the British state has pursued since the genocide ended. Owing to Britain’s relative familiarity with the Middle East, where its colonial conquest and misrule of the region during and immediately after the World Wars set in motion the foundation of Israel amid a mass expulsion of Palestinians, there has long been a relatively informed debate on the issue of the type that is rare across the Atlantic in the United States. In the period since, Britain has usually at least overtly avoided the tasteless partisanship with Israel characteristic of the United States.

However, this has changed enormously in the past twenty years. It changed first under Tony Blair (1997-2007), whose New Labour regime eagerly identified itself with pro-Israel neoconservatives in Washington, and who even after leaving office has personally been an unofficial eminence grise in Anglo-American policy toward the Muslim world, most recently as the prospective viceroy for Donald Trump’s grotesquely misnamed “Board of Peace” that aims to turn the wreckage of Gaza into a “pacified” colony.

Israeli Encroachment During the Tory Decade

The process intensified during the 2010s, a decade dominated by the right-wing Tory party, whose leaders were each closely identified with Israel, though some more than others. One particularly noxious mainstay was the rabidly anti-Muslim minister Michael Gove, who, as education minister, whipped up an entirely contrived Green Scare about Muslim schools acting as a societal fifth column, and also spearheaded the “Brexit” campaign to leave Europe that produced major economic repercussions for which Muslims, immigrants, and minorities more generally are repeatedly blamed. Unsurprisingly, Gove is also a major cheerleader of Israel, recently suggesting that the Israeli military be given a prize for its supposed clemency in genociding Gaza.

British Parliamentarian, Michael Gove [PC: The BBC]

Such ministers and other pro-Israel networksput constant pressure on British policy, as well as institutions such as the state-sponsored media outlet British Broadcasting Corporation, in a more pro-Israel direction. Less personally extreme figures also fell into line: cases in point were successive prime ministers David Cameron (2010-16) and Theresa May (2016-19).

May, who had been interior minister during Gove’s crusade against Muslim schools before succeeding Cameron, was nonetheless seen as insufficiently malleable: in November 2017, she had to dismiss her own interior minister, Gove’s frequent collaborator Priti Patel, for unauthorized secret meetings with Israeli leaders. In turn, the infamous American powerbroker, sex trafficker, and undisguised supporter of Israel, Jeffrey Epstein, conspired against her with her successor and then-foreign minister, Boris Johnson, and with far-right ideologue Steve Bannon.

Johnson’s own interior minister, Suella Braverman, was as ruthless a partisan of Israel as Patel: as soon as the genocide began in autumn 2023, she ordered a draconian crackdown, characterized by dogwhistling rhetoric and spurious targeting of even mild dissidence. Her cabinet colleague, defence minister Grant Shapps, arranged weapons transfers to Israel at the same time as his daughter was publicly denouncing pro-Palestine activism as a threat to Jews. This, despite the sizeable number of Jewish activists in such activism: their struggle, like that of pro-Palestine activists of other faiths, was discounted.

Braverman resigned after lambasting her own police for what she considered insufficient ruthlessness, and has since left the Tories to join the far-right party of Nigel Farage, the rabble-rouser whose views include vilification of foreigners and support of Israel, and to whom Bannon and Epstein were also linked. Farage forms part of a circle of far-right figures that pressure successive regimes to move further right and, among other things, to side with Israel. They include fascist-curious polemicist Douglas Murray and nativist thug “Tommy Robinson” Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, both of whom have since the 2000s whipped up hatred against Muslims and have gone out of their way to cheerlead Israel, frequently meeting with its officials and echoing its propaganda, since the genocide began in 2023.

Nativism with International Links

This propaganda, often relying on Artificial Intelligence-generated imagery and blatant invective, often overlaps with anti-Muslim state propaganda from India and the United Arab Emirates. India has been ruled since 2014 by the far-right Bharatiya Janata Party, which has often made violent anti-Muslim agitation a centrepiece of its policy and is, once more, particularly close with Israel. Patel and Braverman, the former British interior ministers who have so unabashedly pinned their flags to the Israeli mast, both support Modi.

The Emirates, whose Mohammad bin Zayed is infamous for an international antipathy against “political Islam”, which usually overlaps with any Muslim presence but the most obeisant to him, has likewise whipped up agitation against Muslims in the West: anti-Muslim circles frequently cite its foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed, the ruler’s brother, when he criticized the West for its supposed tolerance of Muslim extremists. These are all talking points meant to increase pressure on Muslims in the West, as Murray has advocated for at least twenty years, and in turn dampen opposition to Western support for Israeli policy.

The crackdown on Palestine Action, and similarly heavy-handed clampdowns in France and Germany, are thus the result of years of pressure by foreign governments and local nativists, invariably linked to support of Israel.

Along with a web of ostensibly private actors linked to Israel’s government, Israeli ambassadors have constantly pressured Britain to crack down more robustly: its ambassador Mark Regev’s push to censor the presentation she arranged of a pro-Palestine Jewish speaker helped push Ammori, the Palestine Action founder, to more direct activism. This blatant case of interference in a private campus was just part of the steady inroads into British institutions that Israel’s supporters made during the Tory years. These inroads threaten the party structure itself: this winter, Robert Jenrick, another particular Israel cheerleader seen as a rising star within the Tories, was forced out of the party by its leader, Kemi Badenoch, after another plot; like Braverman, he joined Farage.

None of this is to signify moderation on the part of the plotters’ targets: with a singular lack of self-respect, the Tory leaders targeted by pro-Israel competitors have themselves gone out of their way to kowtow to Tel Aviv. Badenoch has shrilly supported Israel’s “fight against Islamist terror”, while Cameron, who had been forced to resign by Gove’s Brexit misadventure, returned to serve as foreign minister in 2024 and took such a skewed pro-Israel stance that he is even reported to have threatened the International Criminal Court’s head Karim Khan. Ironically, and underlining the regularity with which Israel’s supporters turn on one another, Khan had himself been first supported by Israel’s supporters but outraged them by investigating South African accusations of genocide.

A Laborious Campaign of Persecution

Nor should corrosively slavish partisanship to Israel be considered an exclusively Tory malady: under Keir Starmer, whose Labour party has ruled since 2024, the state has only doubled down. Starmer took over the party after his leftist predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, had been viciously smeared with, among other things, spurious accusations of anti-Semitism for his outspoken sympathy with Palestine. At the outset of the genocide, Starmer infamously endorsed Israel’s right to block the Palestinians from water, and his regime has continued its predecessor’s policy of crackdowns and frivolous “lawfare” against pro-Palestine activism. These reached a state of farce in autumn 2025 when a police ban on a notoriously violent far-right Israeli club, which had already attacked Muslims abroad, prompted keening howls of grief and outrage about alleged anti-Semitism virtually across a British political elite – only for Israel itself to cancel a local match with the club from fears of violence. The fact that legitimate fears about a demonstrably violent set of anti-Muslim hooligans could be reimagined and portrayed across the British political spectrum as anti-Semitism underscored the state of obeisance to which the British elite has subjected itself.

This month, Starmer was forced to dismiss his ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, a longstanding intimate of both Blair and Epstein, already controversial before his close ties to the latter were unearthed. The revelations also prompted a gaffe from minister Wes Streeting, who had only very narrowly held onto his seat against Palestinian activist Leanne Mohamad in the 2024 election. By his own admission, no “shrinking violet” on Israel, Streeting released his 2025 texts to Mandelson, which showed his knowledge of Israel’s “rogue state behaviour” that “Israel is committing war crimes before our eyes”. These texts show that ministers were privately aware that the same critics they were persecuting at home were correct in their condemnation of Israel and the British links to it.

An undated photograph released by the U.S. Justice Department showing Jeffrey Epstein, right, and Peter Mandelson. [PC: The NYT]

The regime has been far more sensitive to far-right agitation by Farage and Robinson, which relied heavily on the same anti-Muslim propaganda promoted by Israel: the 2020s have seen a series of protests and riots aimed at foreigners in general and Muslims most specifically, gleefully supported by far-right oligarch Elon Musk who has regularly promoted, even with the most childish attempts, the claim that Muslim immigration is destroying Britain. Rather than confront these head-on, the British government has tried to prove their patriotism with more and more draconian crackdowns that, in their haste to classify political opponents as terrorists, intersect with the crackdown on such groups as Palestine Action. That any number of corrosive, destructive precedents that bode ill for British institutions and public life are being set seems to be of no concern.

Conclusion

Palestine was impacted by Britain during the colonial period, but today the genocide in Palestine has reverberated right back into British politics, into its streets, and its public discourse. The tumultuous events of mid-2020s Britain have not only shown a moral rot at the heart of British politics, but also the fact that steadfastness of the sort that Palestine Action so sturdily displayed under so much maliciously constructed pressure, ultimately pays off.

As Allah tells us in the Quran:

“And say, ‘Truth has come, and falsehood has departed. Indeed is falsehood, [by nature], ever bound to depart.” [Surah Al’Isra: 17;81]

 

Related:

– Damning Report On PREVENT Program In The UK

– Quranic Verses For Steadfastness For The Valiant Protesters On Campus

The post Bipartisan Rot Uncovered As British Crackdown On Pro-Palestine Activists Falters appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Around the world, Muslims rejoice with anticipation and excitement for the blessed month. They get to wake up before dawn with lights on for suhoor, set “Ramadan goals,” deepen their relationship with the Qur’an, stand shoulder-to-shoulder in taraweeh prayers, retreat into the masjid for i‘tikaf, and ultimately celebrate Eid with their families in lit-up mosques. 

But for other Uyghurs and myself in the diaspora, this experience summons a different reality — one where our hearts turn to our people in Chinese-occupied East Turkistan (Xinjiang), a land whose occupation and suffering still remain largely forgotten by the ummah.

I describe the Ramadan most Muslims know, because it feels increasingly necessary to name what Uyghur Muslims have been denied, in a land where Islam has been woven into the fabric of life since the 10th century. And it still feels like the community has so much more to do and learn to understand the gravity of our genocide. 

How many years has it been since Uyghurs in East Turkistan last heard the adhan echo through their neighborhoods? How many years have they been forced to eat suhoor in darkness, fearing that a lit kitchen might be flagged as “extremism,” a suspicion that can lead to a decade or more behind torture and death-ridden prison walls? 

How many Uyghur students have been compelled to eat in daylight under the watchful eyes of teachers, forced to prove they are not fasting? How many have been publicly humiliated, coerced into drinking alcohol or eating pork during the holiest month, performing loyalty to a state that criminalizes Islam in its entirety?

What does Eid even look like when often at least one family member is in prison, parents are separated from their children because they are forcibly sent to state-run orphanages, and thousands of mosques are either closed, or demolished and repurposed into propaganda centers? What does Eid look like when the Chinese government criminalizes gatherings, despite the centrality of family visits and communal celebration in Uyghur culture?

What depths of trauma have the more than one million detainees and prisoners endured inside a system that not only stripped them of religious freedom, but twisted Islam itself into an instrument of suffering and death? What depths of trauma must someone endure to be sent to these prisons for praying, naming a child Muhammad, or owning a Qur’an — only then to be locked up, tortured, indoctrinated, and forced to renounce one’s faith?

I will never forget the stories and testimonies of Uyghur prisoners, like that of Adil Abdulghufur, an Uyghur man who told me the unfathomable horrors he experienced for 18 years behind Chinese prison walls. I interviewed him in 2016, one year before the Chinese government started rounding up over a million Uyghurs and other Turkic people into concentration camps and prisons.

“Adil Abdulghufur during an interview with the author in Istanbul, Türkiye, 2016.

 

Below are two excerpts from Adil’s interview highlighting China’s crackdown on religion in prison:

Adil: “I will tell you about one disaster that happened to me. In 2002 or 2003, they said I called the adhan in my sleep. Even saying bismillah is forbidden. We are not allowed to pray. If we sit still, they accuse us of praying. We are expected to constantly read and memorize Chinese laws.

That night, they dragged me from my bunk by my feet. I was naked. As they pulled me across the floor, the skin on my back and head tore. There was blood.

It was January. The snow outside had frozen like ice.

In the prison office, soldiers demanded to know what I had done. I told them I must have been talking in my sleep.

They said, ‘You screamed “Allahu Akbar.”’

I said I had not prayed. They accused me of lying and beat me — like wool rolled and kicked to make kighiz (a rug)  — until they were exhausted.

After nearly half an hour, I could no longer feel the blows. My body was drenched in sweat, dirt, and mud.

They threw clothes at me. Then they chained my hands and feet.

Finally, they hung a 25-kilogram cement board around my neck. Carved into it were the words: ‘For stubborn prisoners who refuse to bow to Chinese rule.’”

———

There is something else the Chinese authorities do, something the international community must hear.

Every year in March, they would administer a questionnaire to prisoners like us. Hundreds of questions are placed before those considered “patriotic” or “faithful” Turkistanis, or prisoners accused of opposing the Chinese government.

The first question is always the same:

“Is there a God or not?”

We are not allowed to explain. Only “yes” or “no.”

Then the following questions would come up:

“Were the heavens and the earth created by God or by nature?”
“Can the Holy Qur’an save mankind?”
“Is East Turkistan part of China, or is it a separate country?”
“Are you praying in prison?”
“Will you pray in the future?”
“What will you do once released?”
“What kind of person is Osama Bin Laden?”
“If Chinese and Uyghurs live together, will society flourish?”

Each answer must be reduced to a single word. Yes or no. No context. No explanation.

Based on those answers, we are sorted into four groups, each marked by a colored card.

Those assigned a red card are permitted to walk upright. They are the ones deemed compliant: prisoners who deny God, who affirm that East Turkistan is China, who give the “correct” answers.

Those given a yellow card must walk with their hands locked behind their heads. Those with brown cards are forced to move bent over, hands behind their heads. And those given green cards, my group, are not allowed to walk at all. We must crawl.

In 2002, my mother was allowed to visit for the first time. I had not seen her in four or five years. When the guards asked whether I wanted to see her, how could I refuse?

The distance from my cell to the visitors’ center was nearly a mile. They told me I could see my mother, but only if I crawled. I told them I would roll if I had to.

So I crawled.”

———

According to Gene Bunin, founder of the Xinjiang Victims Database, an online archive documenting known individuals detained in East Turkistan, more than 500,000 individuals are estimated to have been imprisoned, with roughly half believed to have been released after completing their sentences. Many of the charges stem from ordinary religious practices, prosecuted under vague accusations such as ‘extremism,’ ‘inciting religious hatred,’ and similar offenses.

The Uyghurs do not have the means to freely broadcast their suffering. Their cries are muffled by walls of fear, propaganda, and relentless censorship imposed by the Chinese government.

Ramadan is not meant to be only a personal, spiritual retreat. To isolate ourselves from the world and grow numb to suffering runs contrary to its very purpose. Rather, Ramadan should sharpen our awareness, soften our hearts, and move us toward action.

The least we can do this month is keep the Uyghurs in our conversations and our du‘a, learn their history and their stories, and strive to stand more consciously for the betterment of the ummah.

May Allah uplift and ease the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Chinese-occupied East Turkistan, Indian-occupied Kashmir, Burma, Palestine, and for Muslims oppressed in all corners of the earth.

May He grant us the strength to do more for our brethren, and never allow us to grow weary of doing even the bare minimum.

 

Related:

– Ramadan At The Uyghur Mosque: Community, Prayers, And Grief

– Is Your Temu Package Made With Uyghur Forced Labour?

The post An Unending Grief: Uyghurs And Ramadan Under Chinese Occupation appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Everyday rhythms in Gaza are dictated by water trucks, market sales and fear of famine, making rest impossible.

PenLink embraced by diplomats despite Meta ban.

“Socio-economic death sentence” makes it illegal to receive even food or medicine from a third party.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, featuring celebrations, prayers, pre-dawn breakfasts and post-sundown meals, began at sunrise in the Middle East and a day later in much of Asia. In the Muslim lunar calendar, months begin only when the new moon is sighted, which can lead to variations of a day or two

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This series is a collaboration between Dr. Ali and Muslim Matters, bringing Quranic wisdom to the questions Muslim youth are actually asking.

What is Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter Syndrome is the persistent belief that you don’t deserve your achievements, that you’re a fraud who’s just gotten lucky, and that eventually everyone will discover you’re not as capable as they think.

For Muslim teens, this takes on an additional spiritual dimension. It’s not just “Am I smart enough for this college?” It’s “Am I Muslim enough to represent Islam? Am I pious enough to talk about faith? Am I good enough for Allah to even hear my du’a?”

5 Signs Your Teen Might Be Experiencing Imposter Syndrome

1. Downplaying Achievements They get an A+ but say “the test was easy.” They earn an award, but attribute it to “luck.” They can’t accept compliments without deflecting. They often feel like they are “boasting” if they share any victory, even with close family.
2. Overpreparation and Perfectionism They spend hours on assignments that should take minutes, convinced anything less than perfect will expose them as inadequate.
3. Avoiding Leadership or Visibility They don’t raise their hand even when they know the answer. They refuse to lead prayer or give presentations, saying “someone else would do it better” or “someone else is more qualified.”
4. Spiritual Self-Doubt “Who am I to teach someone about Islam when I have so many faults?” “My du’as probably don’t even count anyway.” “I’m not one of those ‘good Muslims.’”
5. Constant Comparison They measure their behind-the-scenes struggles against everyone else’s highlight reels and, as a result, always feel like they come up short.

The Prophet Who Said “I’m Not Qualified”

In the video above, Dr. Ali unpacks one of the most surprising moments in the Quran: When Allah chose Musa for prophethood and commanded him to confront Pharaoh, Musa’s immediate response was essentially, “Can you please send someone else.”

From Surah Ash-Shu’ara [26:12-13]:

“He said, ‘But my Lord, I am afraid that they will deny me. And that my chest will get tight from anxiety, and my tongue will be tied up, so—maybe—send Harun.’”

Here’s one of the greatest Messengers ever—chosen directly by Allah, speaking directly to Allah (kalimullah)—and he’s basically saying: “I have a speech impediment. I’m not eloquent enough. My brother would be better. I’m afraid I’ll just mess this up.”

Sound familiar?

Allah’s Response: The Lesson for Our Teens

Allah doesn’t say, “You’re right, Musa, you’re not good enough. Let me find someone else.”

Instead, from Surah Ash-Shu’ara [26:15]:

“Absolutely not! So go, both of you, with Our signs. And We will be with you, listening.”

Allah didn’t choose Musa despite his speech impediment. Allah chose Musa with his speech impediment.

The mission was never about Musa being perfect. It was about Musa showing up and trusting in Allah.

The Deeper Wisdom: Your Weakness as Allah’s Canvas for Greatness

Here’s what most of us miss: Musa’s speech impediment wasn’t a bug—it was a feature.

When Musa finally confronted Pharaoh (with his stutter, with his anxiety, with his obvious humanity), it became undeniable that the miracles weren’t coming from Musa’s eloquence. They were coming from Allah’s power working through Musa’s weakness.

If Musa had been perfectly eloquent and confident, people might have attributed his success to his natural talent. But because Musa was visibly imperfect, everyone knew: This is Allah’s work, not Musa’s.

Your teen’s weakness might be exactly where Allah’s strength shows up most clearly.

The student who’s nervous about leading prayer? When they finally do it, people see courage, not perfection.

The new Muslim who fumbles through explaining Islam? When someone accepts Islam through that conversation, it’s clearly Allah’s guidance, not their eloquence.

How to Support a Teen Struggling with Imposter Syndrome

1. Validate the Feeling, Challenge the Thought

• Don’t say: “You’re being ridiculous, of course you’re good enough.”
• Instead, maybe say: “I understand feeling that way. But let’s look at the evidence. Let’s look at what you have actually accomplished.”

2. Share Your Own Imposter Moments

• Teens need to know that even adults—even prophets—feel inadequate sometimes
• Your vulnerability gives them permission to be human

3. Reframe “Qualification”

• Allah doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called
• The question isn’t “Are you perfect?” It’s “Are you willing to show up with sincerity and put your trust in Allah?” Remember that Allah asks of us only this—the effort is on us, the result is in His Hands.

4. Focus on Process, Not Just Outcome

• Celebrate effort and growth, not just achievements
• “I’m proud of how hard you worked” vs. “I’m proud you got an A”

5. Teach the Islamic Perspective on Tawakkul

• You do your best, then trust Allah with the results
• Your job is to make the sincere effort; Allah is the One who grants success

Discussion Questions for Families

For Teens:

1. What’s your “speech impediment”—the thing you believe disqualifies you from serving Allah or helping others?
2. If you knew Allah was with you (as He promised Musa), what’s one thing you’d do that you’ve been avoiding?
3. Can you think of a time when your weakness actually made you more relatable or effective?

For Parents:

1. Have you ever shared your own experiences with Imposter Syndrome with your children?
2. How might your praise style (focusing on outcomes vs. effort) be contributing to their fear of failure?
3. What would it look like to create a home environment where “not being good enough YET” is celebrated as part of growth?

For Discussion Together:

1. Who in our family tends to downplay their achievements? Why do you think that is?
2. How can we remind each other that Allah uses imperfect people for perfect purposes?
3. What’s one area where each of us could “show up” despite feeling unqualified?

The Invitation

Imposter Syndrome thrives in silence. When teens believe they’re the only ones feeling inadequate, the lie grows stronger.

But when they learn that even someone as great as the Prophet Musa—one of the five greatest messengers (Ulul-‘Azm)—felt exactly what they’re feeling? And that Allah used him anyway?

That changes everything.

This Ramadan, perhaps the most important conversation you can have with your teen isn’t about their GPA or their college plans. It’s about reminding them: You don’t have to be perfect to be valuable. You just have to be sincere.

Continue the Journey

This is Night 2 of Dr. Ali’s 30-part Ramadan series, “30 Nights with the Quran: Stories for the Seeking Soul.”

Tomorrow, insha Allah: Night 3 tackles one of the hardest questions Muslim teens face: “When Your Parents Don’t Understand”—navigating the tension between honoring parents and maintaining your own integrity through the wisdom of Surat Luqman.

For daily extended reflections with journaling prompts, personal stories, and deeper resources, join Dr. Ali’s email community: https://30nightswithquran.beehiiv.com/

Related:

Who Am I Really? What Surat Al-‘Asr Teaches Muslim Teens About Identity | Night 1 with the Qur’an

30 Nights with the Qur’an: A Ramadan Series for Muslim Teens

The post 5 Signs Your Teen is Struggling with Imposter Syndrome | Night 2 with the Qur’an appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

You could die before it arrives.

This is not morbid. This is the mathematics of existence that every Muslim knows but rarely speaks aloud. Last Ramadan, people prayed beside you who are now beneath the earth. They had grocery lists for this year. They had plans. They assumed, as you are assuming now, that another Ramadan was guaranteed.

It was not.

And so, before we discuss iftars and taraweeh schedules and Quran khatm goals, before we debate moon sightings and prayer times and which masjid has the best qari, we must begin with the only truth that matters: you are not promised this Ramadan. If you reach it, you reach it because Allah extended your breath that far. Every fast you complete is a gift you did not earn. Every prayer you stand for is borrowed time being spent on its only worthy purchase.

This is not meant to frighten you. It is meant to wake you up.

Because here is what follows from this truth: Allah has already written your Ramadan. The rizq you will receive, the worship you will be granted the ability to perform, the sins you will be protected from or fall into, the tears you will cry, and the prayers that will be answered. All of it inscribed by a Hand far wiser than yours. Your task is not to engineer a perfect Ramadan. Your task is to show up for the one you were written for.

The Great Surfacing

Ramadan has a way of drawing Muslims out from everywhere. It is perhaps the only month where the ummah becomes geographically visible to itself.

Parking lots at masajid overflow. Shoes pile up at entrances in quantities that would alarm a fire marshal. The younger sisters appear in abayas and dresses that spark whispered debates among the elders. The younger brothers walk in wearing crisp thobs, smelling of oud and cologne, looking halfway between piety and a fashion shoot. People who haven’t prayed in congregation for eleven months suddenly materialize in the front rows.

And before you let judgment creep into your heart, before you think “Ramadan Muslims,” remember: Allah brought them. Whatever thread pulled them back to the masjid, that thread was woven by Ar-Rahman. You do not know what battles they fought to be there. You do not know what your presence looks like from the outside either.

This surfacing is one of Ramadan’s quiet miracles. The ummah, scattered and fragmented for most of the year, suddenly remembers it is one body. For thirty days, we eat together, fast together, pray together, and break together. The isolation of modern Muslim life temporarily lifts.

The Interior Architecture

There is something outsiders cannot see: the interior architecture of a fasting day.

There is the body shock of the first few days. The headaches. The fog that descends around 2pm and refuses to lift. Your body, accustomed to its constant inputs, protests. And then, for most, adaptation. The hunger becomes background noise. You discover reserves you forgot you had. You realize how much of your eating was never really about need.

Suhoor is not simply a meal. What you consume before dawn will either carry you or collapse under you. This is not unspiritual. The Prophet ﷺ told us there is blessing in suhoor. He ﷺ did not romanticize unnecessary suffering.

The Two Ledgers

Here is where we must be honest with ourselves.

Ramadan amplifies. Whatever you were doing before, you will likely do more of it now. If you were someone who prayed, read Quran, and gave charity, Ramadan will pour fuel on that fire. If you were someone who gossiped, slandered, and wasted time, Ramadan does not automatically interrupt those patterns.

The same ummah that comes together for taraweeh also comes together to discuss who is marrying whom, whose children are failing, whose faith seems performative. The post-iftar gathering can be a garden of remembrance or a swamp of backbiting. Often, tragically, it is both.

The fasting of the stomach is the easy part. The fasting of the tongue, the eyes, the ears: this is where most of us fail. I include myself in that “us.” I am not writing from above the struggle. I am writing from within it. And yet the Prophet ﷺ told us clearly:

“Whoever does not give up false speech and acting upon it, Allah has no need of his giving up food and drink.”1

Your Ramadan is not measured in calories avoided. It is measured in what you choose to consume and produce in other ways.

Where Do You Stand?

Ramadan, if you let it, will show you exactly where you are. Not where you think you are. Not where you tell others you are. Where you actually are.

When you stand in the masjid for taraweeh, what is your experience? Some people pray all twenty rakats and feel their souls lifted. Others leave after four, or eight, and carry guilt about it.

But let us be careful here. Some people get overwhelmed easily in crowded spaces. Some have ADHD and find it nearly impossible to stay still for extended periods, their bodies screaming to move while their hearts want to remain. Some are hunted by intrusive thoughts that ambush them the moment they try to focus, turning every rakat into a battle they did not choose. Some listen to the Quran being recited and feel nothing, no connection, no khushu, just words washing over them while they wonder what is wrong with them.

These struggles are real. They are not excuses. They are the specific tests Allah has written for specific people. The person who stays for four rakats while fighting their own mind may be exerting more effort than the one who breezes through twenty. Only Allah knows what each prayer costs the one praying it.

And Ramadan does not pause the dunya. Exams still happen. Work deadlines still loom. The Western calendar does not bend for the Islamic one. This is hard. Do not let anyone tell you it is not hard. And yet this too was written for you. What is asked of you is not perfection. What is asked is presence.

So the question is: are you honest with yourself about where you are? Are you showing up with whatever capacity you have, even when that capacity feels pathetically small? There is no condemnation in these questions. There is only clarity. And clarity, however uncomfortable, is a mercy.

The Loneliness No One Mentions

We must talk about this.

Ramadan, for all its communal beauty, can be devastatingly lonely.

Not everyone experiences the communal beauty that comes with Ramadan.

If you have a spouse, children, a household that fasts together and prays together and breaks bread together, Ramadan feels like coming home. The table is full. Suhoor is someone gently waking you. Iftar is noise and laughter and small hands reaching for samosas before the adhan finishes.

But not everyone has this.

There are students far from home, breaking fast alone in dorms and studio apartments, the adhan playing from their phones because there is no one to say “Allahu Akbar” with. There are singles who watch families pour into the masjid while they sit alone on the edges, wondering if anyone sees them. There are converts whose biological families do not understand, who hide their fasting at work because explaining feels exhausting.

There are the poor. And we must speak of the poor specifically.

There are people who come to the masjid iftar not for community, but because it is the most reliable meal they will have. And some of them take extra food to go. They fill containers. They wrap things in napkins. And they feel eyes on them. They sense the judgment of those who have never known what it is to be uncertain about tomorrow’s food.

Let this be very clear: if someone takes extra food from a community iftar, that is between them and Allah . Your job is to make sure there is enough to take. Your job is to make taking it feel dignified, not shameful. The Prophet ﷺ fed people. He did not audit them.

If you are not one of these people, you have been given something. Do not mistake comfort for virtue.

The Assignment

Whatever else you plan for this Ramadan, the Quran khatm, the taraweeh attendance, the dua lists, the charity goals, add one thing that requires nothing but intention:

Help at least one person.

Not an organization. Not a cause. A person. A specific human being whose Ramadan becomes easier because you existed in it.

Maybe it is the brother who always sits alone. You sit with him. Maybe it is the single mother struggling to manage children during taraweeh. You watch them for one night. Maybe it is the student who cannot afford iftar groceries. You fill their fridge quietly, without announcement, without expecting thanks. Maybe it is someone at your own table who is drowning, and you never noticed.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

“Whoever provides iftar for a fasting person will have a reward like his, without anything being diminished from the reward of the fasting person.”2

But I think the deeper wisdom is this: Ramadan is not a solo endeavor. It was never meant to be. We are an ummah. We fast together, not merely at the same time but for one another.

The Ramadan You Were Written For

You do not know what this Ramadan holds. You do not know if you will reach its end. You do not know which night will be Laylat al-Qadr, which dua will be answered, which prostration will change everything.

You do not know. And this is the point.

So, enter this month not as an architect but as a guest. Accept what is given. Show up for what is asked. Forgive yourself when you fall short. Return, again and again, to the One who invited you here.

I will be trying to do the same. I do not know where I stand. I fluctuate. I falter. But I want good for you the way I want it for myself, and I ask Allah to help us both.

May Allah make it your best Ramadan yet. Not by your definition of best, but by His.

Ameen

 

Related:

– Expect Trials This Ramadan…As There Should Be I Ust. Justin Parrott

– The Architecture of Withholding: When Charity Becomes Control

1    https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:16892    https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:807

The post The Ramadan You Were Written For : Show Up In Every Way Possible appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

This series is a collaboration between Dr. Ali and MuslimMatters, bringing Quranic wisdom to the questions Muslim youth are actually asking.

The Crisis No One Talks About

If you’re a Muslim teen in 2026, you’re living in multiple realities at once. At home, you’re expected to be the “good Muslim kid.” At school, you navigate being visibly different. Online, you curate a version of yourself that gets likes. At the masjid, you try to look pious enough that the aunties and uncles at the masjid don’t gossip.

Underneath all of it is a terrifying question: “Who am I when nobody’s watching?”

This isn’t just teenage angst. It’s literally an existential crisis unique to young Muslims in the West—the exhausting work of code-switching between worlds, wearing different masks for different audiences, and wondering if there’s anything authentic underneath.

The Quranic Answer: Surat Al-‘Asr

In the video above, Dr. Ali unpacks how Surat Al-‘Asr—just three ayaat, just over fifty Arabic words—contains a complete roadmap for identity formation. In fact, Imam al-Shafi’i famously said that if Allah had revealed only this surah, it would have been sufficient for all of humanity.

Here’s the framework:

The Diagnosis:

“By time, indeed all people are in a state of loss…”

We’re not lost because we’re bad people. We’re lost because we’re performing, wandering, chasing things that don’t last. Every second spent pretending to be someone you’re not is time you can never recover.

The Prescription—Four Components of Real Identity:

1. Iman (Belief) – Not just “I believe that Allah exists,” but having a relationship with truth. Knowing what you stand for. This requires knowledge—you can’t build faith without learning about Allah, His Messenger, and His revelation.
2. Righteous Action – Your identity isn’t just internal. It’s what you DO. You become who you are through your choices. Knowledge without action is incomplete; it’s hypocrisy.
3. Encourage Truth – You can’t build identity alone. You need people who will be real with you and vice versa. Your family, your community, your friends, your tribe—these relationships shape you.
4. Encourage Patience – Becoming who you’re meant to be takes time. Expect resistance, challenges, setbacks. All of that requires sabr (patience).

From Theory to Practice

The revolutionary message here is simple but profound: Your real identity is built in time, not found in a moment.

You’re not discovering yourself like some Hollywood movie. You’re constructing yourself through small, consistent choices. Every prayer you choose to pray. Every truth you choose to speak. Every moment you choose patience over reactivity. Every moment you choose good over comfort or compromise.

This relieves the pressure. You don’t have to wake up one day suddenly knowing who you are. You become who you are through the daily work of showing up—even when nobody’s watching.

Discussion Questions for Families

These questions can help parents and teens have meaningful conversations about identity:

For Teens:

1. Which of the four components (belief, action, community, patience) feels hardest for you right now? Why?
2. If you took off all your “masks”—the version you show your parents, friends, school, online—what would be left?
3. What’s one small action you can take this Ramadan to build your identity deliberately rather than let others define it for you?

For Parents:

1. How do you model the balance between honoring your cultural identity and allowing your children to develop their own authentic Muslim identity?
2. In what ways might your expectations for your teen create pressure to perform rather than space to become?
3. How can you create an environment where your teen feels safe to explore who they are without fear of judgment?

For Discussion Together:

1. What does “being Muslim AND yourself at the same time” look like in our family?
2. How can we support each other in building authentic identity rather than just performing for different audiences?

Why This Matters Now

The rate of Muslim youth disengagement is rising—not primarily because of lack of faith, but because of identity exhaustion. When being Muslim feels like one more performance to maintain, many young people simply… stop.

Surat Al-‘Asr offers a way out: authenticity through action, community through truth-telling, growth through patience, and identity rooted in Allah, rather than approval.

This Ramadan, as we focus on the Quran, perhaps the most important question isn’t “How much can I read this month?” but “Who am I becoming through this process?”

Continue the Journey

This is Night 1 of Dr. Ali’s 30-part Ramadan series, “30 Nights with the Quran: Stories for the Seeking Soul.” Each night explores a different struggle Muslim teens face through the lens of Quranic stories and wisdom.

Tomorrow, insha Allah: Night 2 tackles Imposter Syndrome through the story of the Prophet Musa’s self-doubt when Allah chose him for the greatest mission of his life.

For daily extended reflections with journaling, personal stories, and deeper resources, join Dr. Ali’s email community: https://30nightswithquran.beehiiv.com/

Related:

30 Nights with the Qur’an: A Ramadan Series for Muslim Teens

The post Who Am I Really? What Surat Al-‘Asr Teaches Muslim Teens About Identity | Night 1 with the Qur’an appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.