Cryptocurrency is Deek’s last chance to succeed in life, and he will not stop, no matter what.

Previous Chapters: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

 

Anas bin Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If the son of Adam had a valley full of gold, he would want to have two valleys. Nothing fills his mouth but the dust of the grave, yet Allah will relent to whoever repents to Him.”

– Sahih al-Bukhari 6439, Sahih Muslim 1048

Pride

“Are you okay?” Deek asked.

Rania, still sitting on the cement of the driveway with legs splayed, waved a weak hand. “It’s a shock.”

“Okay. Well.” Deek stood. “I’m going.”

“You’re leaving me?”

“I’m leaving. Not leaving you necessarily. It’s not the money. You shouted at me in front of your co-workers. And just now, you called me an anchor around your neck. In front of our daughter. I’m not here to be treated like that. You can think what you like, that I’m a deadbeat, ugly, or whatever, I don’t care, but I have my pride. Plus, now you’ve got this guy at work.” He held up a hand, forestalling her objections. “I believe that you’re not cheating with him. But you are giving him the attention and respect you used to give me. That’s just as bad.”

“I never said you were ugly. Never.”

Deek let out a bitter laugh. She’d let the “deadbeat” remark slide.

There was another reason he didn’t want to admit. He was so ashamed about making a mess on himself and in the car that he just wanted to get away and hide. Even though no one knew, he knew, and it was mortifying.

Rania looked away. The muscles in her neck tensed. “I want half the money.”

“You can have it.” Though in reality, he had no intention of telling her just how much he had made. “And I will pay the university fees for the girls, wherever they wish to attend. And all the bills.” He went around her and opened the driver’s door.

“Wait!” She stood and followed him and tried to take one of his hands, but he pulled away.

“I haven’t been nice,” she pleaded. “I admit it. But that’s a tiny window in a twenty-year marriage. We have passed through storms and thunder. Don’t throw that away. And I never thought that you were ugly. You have always been handsome to me.”

“You’re saying this because I made money.”

“No! I’m saying it because I love you.”

“You humiliated me.”

“Deek!” Rania raised her hands as if in dua’. “I’m sorry! I was frustrated and worried about our financial situation. This pride of yours is a shaytan inside you. Everything’s always about your honor. What about love?”

Drown Myself

Deek tried to open the car door to get in, but Rania was standing too close.

“At least tell me where you’ll be.”

“Maybe I’ll go drown myself in the river.” As soon as these words escaped his mouth, he regretted it. He’d said it only to hurt and scare her. It was a rotten thing to do.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “That was stupid, I didn’t mean it. I do love you and the girls.”

“No, you don’t, because love and forgiveness are a married couple, they walk hand in hand. True love cannot exist without forgiveness.”

There were tears on her cheeks. Deek was embarrassed. He had not seen Rania cry in a long time. It hurt him to see her in pain.

“I can’t trust this sudden remorse and talk about love. It’s just because I made money. You rolled up here a half hour ago, putting me down and talking to me like a rotten child. It’s not me you suddenly respect. It’s the money.” He spat this last word like a curse, then waved his hand in dismissal. “I need to think.”

Also, he wanted to get away before Rania smelled the car and deduced the truth. She knew him well, and knew that he sometimes had trouble with his bowels. He felt desperate to get away. Cutting off the conversation, he managed to squeeze into the car and close the door. He started the car and backed out. The last thing he saw before driving away was Rania standing in the driveway, hands at her sides, looking defeated.

Nowhere To Go

“Lubna had her husband, five kids, two cats, and a turtle.”

He was hardly two blocks down the street before he realized that he had nowhere to go. His only relative in this city was his younger sister, Lubna. She had her husband, five kids, two cats, and a turtle in a small house, and wouldn’t appreciate Deek sleeping on the sofa. Anyway, he and she had never gotten along, and it had only gotten worse since Deek started working on the cryptos. Lubna had spoken to him with contempt, saying that he was destroying his life and dragging his family to the poorhouse.

He had no cash for a hotel. He didn’t want to spend any of the money he’d deposited in the joint account. That was for Rania. He took out his phone and checked his own personal bank account. Two hundred and twelve dollars. He could sell some crypto and initiate a transfer, but the money wouldn’t show up in his account until late tomorrow or the morning after.

He considered calling Zaid Karim, but Zaid wasn’t exactly a friend. More like an indirect relative that Deek admired and respected. Besides, the man had a wife and two daughters. They wouldn’t appreciate having Deek camped out in their living room.

That left Marco, his only real friend. Deek had sometimes wondered if the only reason he and Marco were friends was because Marco was even more hapless than himself, which allowed Deek to feel like a Zen master dispensing wise but mystifying advice. Marco, remember: man who butters bread on both sides will always have slippery hands.

They’d seen each other a lot less in the last five years, as Deek had been immersed in the crypto world, barely paying attention to his own family, let alone his friends.

A Hollow Statue

He bought a spray bottle of all-purpose cleaner and wiped down the car seat. Then he threw the dirty t-shirt and towel in the trash. At a liquor store he picked up a bag of wavy chips and a large diet soda, then sat in the car with the windows down, snacking. Halfway through the bag of chips, he realized that he wasn’t enjoying them, and stuffed the bag under the seat.

He didn’t know where to go or what to do. He wondered if Rania had recovered from the shock. She would be picking up Amira from school about now. Amira had a deadpan sense of humor, and Deek liked to joke with her. She would often reply with nothing more than, “Uh-huh,” but sometimes Deek could see the trace of a smile on her face. It was strange to think that he probably would not see her for a while.

Clouds were sweeping in from the west, bringing with them the smell of ozone. A seagull landed atop a nearby car. It would rain tonight. Deek sat in his car in a mini-mall parking lot, feeling like a hollow ceramic garden statue, inanimate, without purpose or will. He would sit here, and night would come, and the car would be rained on. All around him, people would talk, laugh, eat together, and love each other, but Deek would sit in this beautiful car and do nothing. He might be the richest man in Fresno, yet his inner life was as chaotic as the coming storm, while his outer reality was an empty parking lot.

At some point he fell asleep, and awoke when fat drops of cold water began to fall on the windshield. He looked up to see that the sun had set. The rain thickened, then became an assault, beating on the windshield as if wanting to break in and drown Deek, to punish him for his temerity in thinking that he could be rich and happy at the same time.

At least he had the car. It was small but exquisitely crafted and powerful. It could go over two hundred miles per hour, the boy had said. If only Deek had somewhere to go.

Marco

His phone rang. It was Marco. Surprised and happy, Deek answered with, “As-salamu alaykum my man Marco! I was just thinking about you.”

“Because you need a place to crash?” Marco had a voice as soft and calm as duck feathers, and a watered-down New York accent. He’d actually grown up in California, but his parents had both been Puerto Ricans from New York, and somehow he’d inherited the lilt. He was in his 40s but looked twenty-five, with lustrous black hair and classically Spanish features.

Marco had been an on-again, off-again university science student for two decades. He was an expert in physics, chemistry, and biology, but had never finished a degree. He played a mean soccer game, blew the trumpet, and played chess like a Russian. Yet his life seemed to be a series of collapsing opportunities, like a downhill skier crashing into the slalom markers at every turn, with an avalanche close behind him.

“How did you know that?”

“Your wife called. Worried about you.”

“Oh.” It made him feel good to know that Rania was concerned, partly because it meant she cared about him, and partly because he wanted her to feel bad.

Marco raised his voice: “I can barely hear you.”

“I’m in my car, and it’s raining.”

“So you really are homeless. Listen bro, you’re welcome to my sofa. Might catch problems, but I’ll deal with it.”

“Problems, why?”

“I’m in an SRO paid by the city. No overnight visitors. If they find out, they could evict me. Who cares, you’re my best friend. Come over, I’ll make quesadillas on the iron.”

Marco was in a single room occupancy hotel? Those places were death traps. Most of them had no kitchens in the rooms, so residents used hot plates or propane stoves, or apparently in Marcos’s case, an iron, and sometimes burned the place down. They were flea-ridden, rat-infested, and crumbling. Or at least that was the word. Deek had never actually been inside one.

The Moon Walk

“What happened to your studio?” Deek asked.

“Lost my job. Had to give it up.”

“I didn’t know.” Not that he was surprised. Marco had worked a huge variety of menial jobs, including fry cook, fruit picker, gardener, salesman, the occasional retail job, a stint in an orange packing plant, and rideshare driver.

Deek felt guilty now for not reaching out to his friend over the last few years. He’d been so deeply into the cryptos, he’d forgotten everything else.

“Yeah,” Marco said. “I was clerking at a psychology office. I’d type the psychiatrist’s notes, so I knew everything about the patients. There was this young man with a porn addiction. I stopped him one day and told him to punch a wall instead. He followed my advice. Broke his hands, which limited his porn activities, if you get me. But my boss didn’t appreciate it.”

Deek laughed. “So what are you doing for money?”

“I won the California State chess championship.”

“Wow! How much does that pay?”

“Three thousand.”

“That’s a decent amount.”

“I guess. So you coming over?”

“No… I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble. I’ll just… I don’t know.”

“Dude… Is it bad? You guys having a big fight?”

Deek shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“Why don’t you go to that cheap motel you stayed at last time?”

“What cheap motel?”

“Dude. You remember the names of a hundred cryptos, but you’d forget your heart if it wasn’t installed in your chest. Five years back, you guys had a blowout. You found that little motel on 99 and Ashlan. Cheap but clean. The Moon something…”

“Oh, right!” Deek slapped the car’s dashboard. “The Moon Walk Motel. I forgot all about that. I remember I took it as a sign that I’d succeed with the cryptos.”

It was a good suggestion. The Moon Walk only charged $50 per night. He only needed to stay there until the money transfer cleared. He thanked Marco, ended the call, and started toward the Moon Walk.

Marco was a multi-talented man with a 24-karat heart of gold, living in a society that valued these qualities less than the ability to generate revenue by any means necessary. If he fell any further, he’d be homeless. Yet Deek knew that his rudderless friend would have taken him in, fed him, and never asked him to leave, even at risk to himself. Marco was a friend in fair weather and foul. Deek would not forget it.

The Moon Walk Motel

The sky was the color of charcoal when Deek eased his Porsche off Highway 99 north of Fresno, and into the Moon Walk Motel’s gravel lot. The low, single-story block building sat squat against a backdrop of parched farmland. The pale green haven was a relic of the 1970s. Its neon sign, once proud, flickered heartedly as the word “MOON” sputtered in dusty white, while “WALK” lay dark and inert.

Though the building was weathered, the office windows were spotless, and a pair of wicker chairs hinted at modest hospitality. Along the foundation, the owners had coaxed life from the scrubland: a tidy patch of lavender and rosemary, a hardy rose bush, even a small citrus tree that dangled half-ripe fruit like memories of golden times.

Of the 20 rooms, only four or five appeared occupied. Deek checked into room 9 and found it to be as he remembered: small but clean, smelling of laundered sheets, fresh towels, and soap. He set his suitcases beside the tiny closet and collapsed into the bed, which sagged and creaked beneath his weight.

Here, in this unremarkable hideout, he could relax, collect his thoughts, and plan next steps. No one would ever find him here.

Speak of the Afreet

Bandar Tzan’ani, the Yemeni liquor and smoke king of Fresno, sat brooding at the large antique demilune desk in his home office, located in a mansion within a large family compound in west Fresno. He filled his pipe and lit it, then drew the sweet smoke into his lungs and eased it out, closing his eyes in pleasure. His business operations were coming under heavy pressure from the city council. The network of stores that Tzan’ani and his sons and brothers operated were, according to the city, magnets for drug use and crime. To make matters worse, three of his shops – all run by his youngest son, Shujaa – were losing money, which didn’t make sense.

He wondered if coming to this country had been a mistake. In Yemen, people feared American, Saudi, and Israeli bombs, as well as famine. Here, people feared life itself. Any stranger was a potential predator, and the internet poisoned children’s minds. In Yemen, he had walked the streets freely. Here he lived in a gated compound behind a high wall, and did not feel safe. He’d traded a life of poverty, in which he was surrounded by family and friends and a culture he loved and understood, for great wealth and a life of stress and alienation.

At the sound of a knock on the door, Bandar called in Arabic, “Come.” Shujaa walked in. Speak of the afreet, and he appears. His son wore boots, stonewashed jeans, a black t-shirt that hugged his torso, and a knee-length denim trench coat. His hair was styled into a huge pile of curls atop his head, while shaved on the sides. The boy was either a homosexual, or imagined himself a celebrity. Hopefully the latter.

“Sit,” Bandar snapped.

Shujaa dropped sullenly into one of the chairs facing the desk.

“I noticed that your car is not in the compound.”

“Ah, hadhi,” the boy replied, speaking in Arabic like his father. He sunk a hand into his curls, scratching his head. “I loaned it to my friend Saleh to collect his mother from the airport.”

“No, you didn’t.” In fact, Bandar already knew what had happened, as one of his son’s friends had told him. He saw the boy’s eyes dart one way and another before a look of resignation came over him.

An Admission

“I sold it,” the boy admitted.

“For how much?”

“Two and a half Bitcoins.”

Bandar set his pipe down. He was so angry he could have choked the boy. “You sold your car for fake money?”

“It’s real money,” Shujaa said hurriedly. “Or as good as. But…” He snapped his fingers as if he’d just had a brilliant idea, then leaned forward and struck the desk with the side of a fist. “The man tricked me! He said he would give me another two and a half Bitcoins after I signed the pink slip. That would have been two hundred and fifty thousand. But he grabbed the keys and drove away.”

Bandar sucked in a lungful of smoke, held it then belched it out like a fire breathing dragon. A murderous rage was growing inside him. His son might not be telling him the whole truth, but Bandar did believe that someone had taken advantage of the idiot boy. No one stole from his family and got away with it.

“I will ask you once, and do not lie. What are you doing with your money?”

Shujaa’s mouth worked soundlessly. His hands sank into his curls as if he wanted to pull his own head apart. Then he slumped in the chair and said, “I gamble.”

“That is haram!”

The boy laughed bitterly. “Everything we do is haram. I never wanted to be in this business.”

The father closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. “The fashion design thing again.”

“It’s what I love.”

GPS Tracker

Bandar sighed. “Listen to me carefully. Cut your hair and put on normal clothes. I have had enough. If you cannot behave, I will send you back to Yemen.” He waved a weary hand. “Get out.”

With the idiot gone, Bandar logged into the website of a subscription GPS tracking service called Safe Spot. He had installed an aftermarket GPS device in the Porsche, as he did with all his vehicles. A map came up showing the car’s exact location. Bandar typed the address into the browser. It was a motel called the Moon Walk.

He called Manny, his foreman at the warehouse. The man had been a violent criminal in the past, and Bandar occasionally relied on him for the rougher kinds of jobs. He gave Manny the address and told him to take a few guys with him. “The guy stole my son’s Porsche,” Bandar explained. “I want you to turn him into a bloody mess. And bring the car back.”

***

[Part 6 will be published next week inshaAllah]

 

Reader comments and constructive criticism are important to me, so please comment!

See the Story Index for Wael Abdelgawad’s other stories on this website.

Wael Abdelgawad’s novels – including Pieces of a Dream, The Repeaters and Zaid Karim Private Investigator – are available in ebook and print form on his author page at Amazon.com.

 

Related:

A Wish And A Cosmic Bird: A Play

What Is True, And What Matters: A Short Story

 

The post Moonshot [Part 5] – The Moon Walk Motel appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

In one of the most touching and instructive moments from the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, we are reminded not only of the humanity of the Companions , but also of the vast mercy of Allah ﷻ and the redemptive power of good deeds—especially salah.

ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd narrates: A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I engaged with a woman at the farthest end of Madinah, and I did with her everything short of intercourse. Here I am—judge me as you see fit.” ʿUmar said, “Allah concealed it for you; you should have concealed it yourself.” The Prophet ﷺ did not say anything to him. The man then got up and left. The Prophet ﷺ sent a man after him to call him back. When he returned, the Prophet ﷺ recited to him the verse: “Establish prayer at the two ends of the day and in some parts of the night. Indeed, good deeds erase bad deeds. That is a reminder for those who remember.” (Sūrah Hūd, 11:114) A man from the crowd asked, “O Prophet of Allah, is this specifically for him?” The Prophet ﷺ replied, “No, it is for all people generally.” [Muslim]

This beautiful narration is filled with powerful lessons: for the sinner, the seeker, the leader, and every believer striving to maintain their relationship with Allah ﷻ.

The Humanity of the Companions

The Prophet ﷺ described his generation as the best of all generations: “The best of generations is my generation, then the one that follows, then the one that follows…” [Bukhārī] This narration reminds us that even the best of people make mistakes. The Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, despite their elevated rank and status, were human beings just like us. They struggled with their desires, made poor choices, and sometimes fell into sin. What made them extraordinary wasn’t that they were sinless—it was that they were God-conscious and sincere. When they slipped, they didn’t justify or normalize the wrong. They felt the weight of it on their conscience, and they turned to Allah ﷻ with sincere remorse.

The man in this ḥadīth had come dangerously close to committing a major sin—one which Allah explicitly forbade:

“Do not even come near to zinā. It is truly a shameful deed and an evil way.” [Surah Al-‘Isra; 17:32]

And yet, in a moment of moral clarity, his heart overwhelmed by guilt, he came to the Prophet ﷺ, seeking accountability and redemption. “Here I am—judge me as you see fit,” he said. This was not arrogance or recklessness. It was humility and an intense desire to be cleansed.

The Wisdom of ʿUmar and the Mercy of the Prophet ﷺ

ʿUmar offered the man a valuable piece of advice: “Allah concealed it for you; you should have concealed it yourself.” In Islam, we are not encouraged to publicly expose our personal sins. When Allah ﷻ has veiled our mistakes, we honor that by turning to Him privately in repentance. Public confession is not a requirement of tawbah. The act of exposing oneself—unless harm to others is involved—can do more damage than good.

The Prophet ﷺ, in his characteristic gentleness and wisdom, didn’t rebuke the man or make an example out of him. He didn’t shame him in front of the community. In fact, he initially remained silent. His silence wasn’t rejection—it was reflection and wisdom. Perhaps he was waiting for divine instruction, or perhaps he was giving the man space to process his own remorse. But the Prophet ﷺ didn’t leave him in that silence. When the man left, the Prophet ﷺ sent someone to call him back, and then gave him hope in the most beautiful way: by reciting to him the verse from Sūrah Hūd:

“Establish prayer at the two ends of the day and in some parts of the night. Indeed, good deeds erase bad deeds. That is a reminder for those who remember.” [11:114]

Prayer: A Spiritual Cleanser

The verse reminds us of one of the most powerful and hopeful realities in Islam: our good deeds have the power to erase our sins—especially the five daily prayers. The Prophet ﷺ explained this beautifully in another ḥadīth:

“The five daily prayers, and from one Friday prayer to the next, and from one Ramadan to the next, are expiations for whatever occurs between them, so long as major sins are avoided.” [PC: Kheldoun Imad (unsplash)]

“The five daily prayers, and from one Friday prayer to the next, and from one Ramadan to the next, are expiations for whatever occurs between them, so long as major sins are avoided.” [Muslim]

He ﷺ once asked his Companions: “If there were a river at the door of one of you in which he bathed five times a day, would there remain any dirt on him?” They said, “There would not remain any dirt on him.” He replied, “That is the example of the five daily prayers. Through them, Allah wipes away sins.” [Bukhārī & Muslim]

Abū Dharr narrated that during the winter, the Prophet ﷺ held two branches of a tree, and the leaves began to fall. He said: “O Abū Dharr! When a Muslim performs ṣalāh sincerely seeking the Face of Allah, his sins fall from him just as these leaves fall from the tree.” [Ahmad]

Prayer is not just a ritual obligation—it is a form of divine purification. Every time we stand before our Lord in salah, we are offered a chance to start anew, to wipe the slate clean, and to return to Allah with a lighter soul and a purified heart.

A Universal Message of Hope

After the Prophet ﷺ recited the verse to the Companion, someone asked, “Is this (verse) specifically for him?” The Prophet ﷺ responded, “No, it is for all people generally.” That one line opens the doors of hope to every believer until the end of time. This message wasn’t just for the man who nearly fell into zinā—it is for anyone who has faltered, stumbled, or fallen into sin. It is for all of us.

We all carry moments we regret—words we shouldn’t have said, actions we shouldn’t have taken, desires we wish we had resisted. But through sincere repentance and consistent acts of worship—especially prayer—we can find our way back to Allah ﷻ.

Final Reflections

This story is more than just a lesson in tawbah. It’s a blueprint for how we should approach sin, how we should deal with others who err, and how we should see our daily prayers—not as a burden, but as a divine mercy. Let us strive to pray with khushūʿ (presence and humility), with meaning and understanding. Let us pray on time, with sincerity, and with hearts that long for Allah’s Pleasure. And let us never forget that in this world of flaws and failure, Allah’s Door remains wide open—so long as we’re willing to knock. “Indeed, good deeds erase bad deeds. That is a reminder for those who remember.” 

To the young hearts reading this—whether you’re in high school, navigating college life, or finding your way in the world as a young adult—this story is especially for you. The man who came to the Prophet ﷺ was overwhelmed by his mistake, but he didn’t let it paralyze him. He took ownership of his slip, felt regret, and turned toward the Prophet ﷺ seeking a way back to Allah ﷻ. And the Prophet ﷺ responded not with harshness, but with hope—with the Quran itself.

In today’s world, temptations are everywhere—online, on campus, in your pocket, and even in your private thoughts. It’s easy to feel ashamed or unworthy when you slip. But here’s what this ḥadīth teaches you:

1. Even the best of people, the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, made mistakes. Don’t let Shayṭān convince you that one mistake means you’re a hypocrite or beyond hope.
2. A sin doesn’t define you, but your response to it does. Let every fall push you to rise higher. Don’t justify the wrong—repent and reorient your heart.
3. Don’t delay. Even if you’re struggling with guilt or shame, open the door to forgiveness right away. Make wudhu, pray two rakʿahs, and ask Allah ﷻ sincerely for forgiveness.
4. You may feel like, “I’m sinning, so what’s the point of praying?” But that is the trap. Ṣalāh is the very thing that will bring you back. Even if you feel broken or impure—pray. Even if you just sinned—pray. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Good deeds erase bad deeds.”
5. Keep your mistakes between you and Allah . Don’t “vent” online about your wrongdoings. Confession is not a virtue in Islam—repentance is.

 

Related:

– Standing At The Divine Window: A Glimpse Of Eternity In The Serenity Of Salah

– Podcast: Prayer is a Work in Progress | Shaykh Abdullah Ayaaz Mullanee

The post Salah – A Spiritual Cleanser appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Introduction: Historical Roots and Ideological Aspirations

I was raised by a revolution that broke through the routine of ordinary life – a movement whose passion served as a steady guide, giving me faith, purpose, and conviction. It defined who I would become, or at least who I would strive to become. Its lessons were etched into the very marrow of my being, leaving indelible footprints across the landscape of my soul.

Islamism emerged as a twentieth-century response to a series of crises: the colonisation of Muslim nations, the military and scientific advances of the West, and the fall of the Caliphate. Its proponents sought to reintegrate Islamic values into public life and state structures, positing Islam as a complete worldview, a framework for governance, economics, and society.

Rooted in the intellectual traditions of figures like Hasan al-Banna (Egypt) and Abul A‘la Maududi (India), Islamism rejected both imperial domination and authoritarianism, offering a moral and political project for the people to reclaim agency through Islam. Islamists envisioned a return to authentic Islamic governance as the path to justice and renewal.

This vision was animated by a desire to transcend imposed national boundaries and reconstitute a sense of collective Islamic belonging. Within this ideological architecture, Palestine assumed a central place as a moral and spiritual imperative. The sanctity of al-Aqsa Mosque made its defence a religious obligation. The occupation of Palestinian land and the establishment of Israel symbolised not just territorial loss, but the violation of an entrusted responsibility.

The occupation resonated across Muslim societies as a continuation of the colonial era. Muslim nations had been recently colonised, and the mechanisms of control in Palestine, military rule, displacement, and settler encroachment, all mirrored the structures of colonial subjugation they had endured. The Palestinian struggle thus became a crystallisation of shared historical trauma. For Islamist movements, it offered both a moral lens and a strategic focal point: a test of authenticity, resilience, and the viability of their political vision.

It is in this context and amid the current devastation in Gaza that the limitations of this narrative are being exposed. If Palestine once symbolised the grounds for Islamic revival, it now reveals the consequences of ideological disconnect, demanding urgent critical reflection.

This article examines the logic of Islamist narratives, their assumptions, political utility, and limitations. These narratives are recurring across the political spectrum, including by non-Islamist figures. 

1. Reliance on Prophetic Parallels 

Islamist rhetoric frequently invokes Prophetic stories as a political blueprint. Stories such as the Battle of Badr, where a small, outnumbered Muslim force triumphed against a vastly superior enemy, or the campaigns of Salah al-Din, are cited as proof that moral conviction and perseverance alone will secure victory. These references are powerful symbols of Divine justice and historical vindication, and they continue to shape public expectations across the Arab world and beyond.

Yet, when such narratives are elevated from spiritual inspiration to political strategy, they become deeply problematic. The Prophet’s life and early Muslim victories are often framed not as historically contingent episodes, but as timeless templates for action. This neglects the radically different conditions of our time: the presence of nation-states, the role of imperial powers, the complexity of multilateral diplomacy, and the decisive weight of military, economic, and institutional power. The issue is not the possibility of miracles, but the expectation of them as part of a political calculus. Strategy, by definition, must operate within the realm of human agency, negotiation, and material conditions. To rely on the occurrence of the extraordinary is to bypass the necessary work of institution-building and long-term planning.

The effect is twofold. First, it creates unrealistic expectations. By invoking Muslim victories in Badr or Khandaq as inevitable historical patterns, these commentators imply that perseverance alone, no matter the reality, will produce similar outcomes. Yet these battles are often referenced at a basic level, overlooking the sophisticated defensive measures, political calculations, and strategic foresight they entailed. Second, this framing romanticises struggle while sidelining the harder, slower work of statecraft, such as institution building, knowledge accumulation, political representation, and the management of investment and funds to create leverage. History becomes a sanctified script, and politics a stage for re-enactment, rather than a domain for negotiation, recalibration, and compromise.

This mythologisation also opens the door to manipulation. Lessons derived from the life of the Prophet , like all moral derivations from scripture, are subject to interpretation. Political analysts often treat their reading as authoritative, deploying it to justify political decisions. Nearly any political stance can be cloaked in religious legitimacy, so long as it is linked to a comparable event. 

The Muslim vote on the re-lection of Trump [PC: The Now Time (unsplash)]

For example, the most recent U.S. presidential election. Faced with the Democratic Party’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza, many Muslim commentators and public figures, drawing from an Islamist moral lexicon, framed voting against the Democrats as an ethical imperative. Casting a vote for a third party or even for Donald Trump was presented by some as a rejection of moral hypocrisy, a stand against genocide, or even an act of faith. The narrative was not framed in terms of political leverage, institutional risk, or strategic calculation, but as a question of virtue.

This framing ignored the known consequences of a Trump presidency, not just for Gaza, but for Palestine activism within the United States. His administration openly targeted civil society organisations, deported student activists, criminalised protest, and dismantled the very channels through which advocacy had previously operated. These intentions were stated publicly well before the election. The argument that punishing the Democrats would “teach a lesson” doesn’t withstand scrutiny: pro-Israel lobbying spans both parties, and the Republican Party is not less Zionist but more openly aggressive in its commitments.

None of this is to dismiss the legitimate anger many Muslims felt toward the Biden administration. Nor is it to suggest that all Muslim voters were driven by the same logic. But the dominant framing in this discourse relied on historical analogy rather than strategic appraisal. The decision itself may have been defensible, but the process by which it was reached was not: there was no serious planning for what would follow a Trump victory, no roadmap for navigating the intensified repression his presidency would likely bring. The result was a politics more invested in righteousness than results.

2. Conflation of Moral Victories with Political Success

Closely tied to the problem of analogy is a second pattern: the tendency to equate moral steadfastness with political achievement. This dynamic emerges most clearly in the aftermath of failure, whether in the face of electoral defeat, repression, or military loss, when Islamist actors reinterpret setbacks as demonstrations of moral legitimacy. The persistence of the movement, or the loyalty of its base, is offered as proof of success, regardless of tangible outcomes.

This orientation transforms virtue into a political currency. It displaces issues of political competence with assertions of sincerity and sacrifice. This can often function as a substitute for policy. Movements are not judged by what they deliver, but by what they endure.

The experience of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt exemplifies this. Despite widespread mobilisation and its brief ascension to power after the Arab Spring, the Brotherhood failed to consolidate power or articulate a coherent programme for inclusive governance. Its leadership struggled to navigate the post-revolutionary moment. Their removal from power in 2013 was interpreted by many supporters not as a political failure but as a moral vindication, a sacrifice that confirmed the treachery of deep-state forces and foreign powers. 

What followed was not introspection but reaffirmation. Rather than treat the loss of power as a moment for institutional reckoning or strategic recalibration, it was upheld as evidence of the righteousness of their cause. Internal critics such as Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh and members of the Wasat Party called for rethinking the Brotherhood’s majoritarianism and its overreliance on moral symbolism. However, they were marginalised, and the dominant current focused on reinforcing a self-image rooted in moral purity and persecution rather than political pragmatism. 

This retreat into a virtue-centric narrative foreclosed the possibility of learning from failure. A more productive response might have involved revaluating their majoritarian approach, forging coalitions across ideological lines, conceding on moral stances, and developing institutions capable of mediating power. Yet such paths required diluting ideological certainty and engaging in a politics of compromise. These were steps many in the leadership were unwilling to take. Consequently, the Brotherhood’s core assumptions, internal structures, and tactical approaches have remained largely unaltered. Despite exile, repression, and regional isolation, the movement has clung to its foundational principles, showing little inclination to interrogate the choices that led to its collapse.

3. Romanticised Rhetoric of the Ummah and the Politics of Disappointment

One of the most persistent features of modern Islamist discourse is the invocation of an idealised ummah, a unified global Muslim community bound by shared faith. Yet this imagined unity bears little resemblance to the historical experience of Muslims. The vision of a coherent ummah, as advanced by contemporary Islamists, is not only aspirational, it is also historically inaccurate.

While early Islamic empires such as the Umayyad (661–750) and Abbasid (750–1258) dynasties did foster a sense of shared religious civilisation, this unity was fragile and authority was constantly contested. It was fractured by dynastic rivalries, ethnic hierarchies, and regional interests. For instance, the Abbasid revolution itself was a response to perceived Arab dominance under the Umayyads and drew heavily on non-Arab Persian support. Under Abbasid rule, the Turkish military class eventually overshadowed both Arab aristocrats and Persian administrators, leading to recurring instability at the heart of the empire.

The empire’s fragmentation accelerated with the emergence of regional dynasties: the Fatimids established a rival caliphate in North Africa (909–1171). Similarly, the Umayyads of al-Andalus declared their own caliphate in Cordoba (929). Loyalties were shaped as much by lineage and geography as by doctrine. 

The Ottoman Empire, which governed much of the Arab world from the sixteenth century onward, further complicates the narrative. It was a Turkish-speaking, bureaucratic system based in Istanbul. While Islam provided a shared religious frame, Arabs were governed as provincial subjects. Arab society itself remained deeply localised, structured around tribal, sectarian, and regional affiliations. The Ottomans were also not the sole imperial authority. The Safavid Empire in Persia (1501–1736) and the Mughal Empire in India (1526–1857), which ruled over a vast and culturally diverse population, rivalled the Ottomans in scope and influence. These empires maintained distinct administrative systems, religious traditions, and geopolitical ambitions. The notion of a unified Islamic political identity did not guide governance. It has emerged more forcefully in retrospect, shaped by postcolonial frustration and the aspirations of modern ideological projects.

Despite this complex history, Islamist movements have continued to frame their cause as part of a universal moral and political struggle. This framing often draws on ideological currents well outside the Islamic tradition, namely Enlightenment humanism, with its emphasis on rights and moral universality, as well as from anti-imperialist Marxist traditions that envisioned global revolutionary unity. The integration of these frameworks into Islamist discourse has been rhetorically powerful but strategically unstable. The vision of a global ummah functions less as a policy direction and more as a symbolic register of grievance, solidarity, and aspiration.

This symbolic register often falters in practice. As Gaza faces extermination today, calls for ummah-wide mobilisation fail. In such moments, the ummah becomes a site of disappointment, its imagined unity serving only to magnify the disunity of reality.

Toward a Pragmatic Turn?

“A critical element of this reorientation involves narrative change.” [PC: Vladyslav Kuznietsov (unsplash)]

The language of prophetic analogy, glorification of moral victories, and invocations of a transnational Ummah, while popular, has insulated its Arab and Muslim audiences from the hard truths of power and the reality of political change. Nowhere is this more visible than in Gaza, where the cost of failing rhetoric is measured in lives lost. The way forward demands strategic reorientation. The metrics of success must shift from symbolic defiance to structural transformation.

The primary audience for these solutions are Muslim political actors. These include organised groups, individual religious and political leaders, intellectuals, activists, artists, and creatives both in the Muslim world and in Western diaspora. These actors are strategically positioned to drive cultural and political change.

Narrative Change 

A critical element of this reorientation involves narrative change. Islamic unity must be reframed, not as something to be abandoned, but as a concept reimagined beyond the outdated Marxist-influenced model advocating for a single unified state or struggle. Instead, Islamic unity should be grounded in shared religious beliefs, cultural identities, and most importantly, mutual geopolitical interests. Moreover, incorporating inclusive frameworks alongside Islamic principles can enrich political discourse and broaden its appeal. Clearly distinguishing moral imperatives from strategic and tactical decisions, without compromising ethical foundations, is vital for a coherent and impactful narrative.

Another crucial narrative shift involves diversifying political tactics by analysing and strategically targeting the structures underpinning state policies that undermine Muslim interests. Take the example of Gaza again: state policies in the neoliberal world order are heavily influenced by private corporate interests, notably arms manufacturers and defence companies, which significantly drive international support for Israel. Muslim political strategies should directly challenge these economic interests at multiple levels. Grassroots activism should target factories and disrupt supply chains through direct action. Simultaneously, robust lobbying efforts should be mobilised at the state level to counterbalance the political influence of arms manufacturers. Recognising and actively opposing these economic and corporate drivers of policy must become an essential narrative and strategic shift within Muslim political discourse.

Lastly, realism must anchor this evolving political narrative. Goals should be firmly grounded in the existing political realities and practical possibilities within current frameworks. Some objectives may appear less aspirational or morally satisfying, but political discourse must move beyond articulating what merely feels good or morally righteous. For instance, the liberation of Palestine as an overarching political objective, while morally compelling, is not realistically attainable in the short term. Many acknowledge that liberation is not within reach without a shift in the global balance of power. Therefore, the immediate stated goals must prioritise building robust political infrastructure and institutional capacities. Articulating such incremental objectives is often challenging because it lacks the emotional resonance and moral clarity of broader liberation rhetoric.

Capacity Building

The narrative shift will only matter if accompanied by successful capacity building. Tactics such as forming strategic voting blocs, expanding media influence, establishing policy-focused think tanks, and investing in academia and scholarship are important action points. Continuous skill and career development for emerging leaders will strengthen overall capabilities. Further, creating leverage within state systems should be cultivated by supporting political organisations capable of influencing policy decisions, particularly in geopolitically influential regions, such as the US and the UK. Concrete investments in political and civic infrastructure will translate grassroots activism and protests into tangible policy outcomes. For example, UKIP’s ability to influence UK foreign policy by targeting key voter concerns demonstrates the significant impact achievable through strategic political organisation and targeted electoral pressure. Lastly, sustained support for independent academic institutions and knowledge production initiatives will support the development of creative solutions.

The Muslim community is known for its generosity, but the direction of community investment needs review. While sending aid addresses immediate humanitarian needs, it does not create lasting political solutions. Moreover, these needs could be more effectively met by wealthy Muslim-majority states, such as the Gulf countries. Internally, community investments often focus on mosque building and development; although this is undoubtedly important, capacity building in political and civic infrastructure should be considered of equal if not higher importance to achieve long-term strategic goals.

Conclusion

Reflecting on the limitations and consequences of Islamist rhetoric, particularly amid the ongoing genocide and devastation in Gaza, it is clear that spiritual and religious discourse offers comfort and a sense of moral clarity to many. However, reliance on spiritual rhetoric as the sole or primary strategy for political engagement risks perpetuating illusions and unrealistic expectations. It inadvertently sidelines pragmatic considerations of institutional strength, strategic alliances, and material realities.

The critical challenge, therefore, is not in deepening religious conviction but rather in translating these beliefs into effective political strategies that build resilient institutions. The proposed solutions presented here are not exhaustive, definitive, or necessarily correct; they are simply suggestions intended to guide the conversation towards more realistic strategies. Islamist narratives often rely heavily on the comforts of idealised visions without providing sufficient practical guidance. The imperative is not to discard ethical commitments but to marry them with an astute understanding of political leverage, economic influences, and institutional capacities. The viability of any politically engaged Islamic discourse hinges on this transformation: from symbolic defiance to substantive, structural engagement. It is the myths that must be shed, not the ethics.

 

Related:

– Politics In Islam: On Muslims Partaking In Political Engagement In Non-Muslim Countries

– Rising To The Moment: What Muslim American Activists Of Today Can Learn From Successful Community Movements During The Bosnian Genocide

 

The post Beyond Badr: Transforming Muslim Political Vision appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Cryptocurrency is Deek’s last chance to succeed in life, and he will not stop, no matter what.

Previous Chapters: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

 

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. … Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.”
– Martin Luther King Jr., from “Strength to Love,” 1963

“Have you considered: if your water were to become sunken [into the earth], then who could bring you flowing water?” – Quran, Surat Al-Mulk

Porsche 911

The masjid parking lot was almost empty, but at the west end, four young brothers in their twenties were shooting hoops around the freestanding basket on the edge of the lot. Their cars were parked nearby, and Deek paused to admire a gorgeous black Porsche 911. It was a classic model, with raised headlight housings, tinted windows, chrome rims, a large rear spoiler, and dual exhaust pipes. It was a work of art.

Why should he continue calling Ubers like a tourist? And he certainly wasn’t about to walk home or take the bus. Plus, he had to go to the bathroom, and he knew himself; if he ignored it much longer it would become urgent. This had happened more often as he grew older and gained weight. He’d had some close calls, where he wasn’t sure he’d make it to a bathroom in time. And there’d been one time when he didn’t make it in time. It was a shameful experience that he didn’t care to remember.

He looked back at the masjid, thinking he could use the facilities there, but it looked like everyone was gone. Zuhair’s car was just leaving the lot. The building was probably locked.

He waved to the basketball players. “Hey! Whose Porsche is this?”

They sauntered over. A short, dark-skinned youth with a massive mop of curls – probably Yemeni, Deek thought – spoke up.

“Is mine. I’m Shujaa. Thass my car. Why?” His voice was squeaky, as if he was still going through puberty, and he had a strong Arabic accent.

“How old are you?”

“Eh? What’s with the questions, uncle?”

“I want to buy the car.”

Negotiation

The boy laughed, and his friends followed suit. “You know what that is there? Thass a classic 1990 Carrera 911. Dual carburetors, Turbo wide body kit, four-wheel disc brakes, dual exhaust, Sunpro Super tachometer, three-spoke steering, hood pins, toggle switches, roll bar, Turbo-branded wheels… I built this baby myself. It could goes over two hundred miles an hour.”

As the boy described the car, Deek noted that his accent virtually disappeared, and his voice even deepened, as if his voice box was an extension of the car’s powerful motor.

“How much do you want for it?”

“Are you is serious?”

“Serious as a car crash. But how old are you? I need to know you’re a legal adult so you can make a deal.”

“I’m twenny, okay? Don’t worry about it. I’m a businessman. I own five smoke shops in this town. I sell you this car for two hundred fifty g’s.”

“Do you have a crypto wallet?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Be reasonable. I’ll give you two Bitcoins.”

“Two and a half.”

“Deal.” It was probably more than the car was worth, but Deek didn’t care. It was only money.

The boy, Shujaa, was excited but suspicious, afraid that Deek would cheat him. Eventually, they settled on an impromptu escrow arrangement by which Deek would set up the transfer, with everything done but hitting SEND. He would hand the phone to one of Shujaa’s friends. Shujaa would sign the pink slip over to Deek, then the friend would hit the SEND button.

This Was Power

Five minutes later, it was done. The boy pulled his belongings out of the trunk, piled them in the parking lot, and then handed Deek the key.

Deek climbed into the car and sat, luxuriating. The interior was amazing. Wide leather seats that were cool to the touch, spotless and in mint condition. Black dashboard with old-fashioned circular gauges. The car was well cared for. It smelled of leather, furniture polish, and also faintly of za’tar. He started the car and listened to its confident, tiger-like purr.

“Wait!” Shujaa said. “I feel like I shouldna done this. My Baba bought this car for me.”

Deek winked at him. “You’ll be okay. Hold onto the Bitcoin, it will make you rich.” He floored the accelerator and peeled out of the parking lot, narrowly missing the boys, who jumped out of the way. He tipped his head back and laughed as he hit the open road. He hadn’t succeeded in getting that jerk Ajeeb fired, but it was okay. Screw him. Zuhair was right, his offer had been petty. He was rich now. Time to put those silly grudges behind him. Time to put a lot of things behind him.

This was power now, finally. This was what money was for. You saw a car you wanted, you bought it on the spot, boom! Didn’t matter how much it cost. He’d forgotten about the sensation he’d had of tentacles rising from a dark sea inside him, trying to pull him down into selfishness and miserliness.

Instead, pushing the gas pedal down, feeling the car leap beneath him like a racehorse, he imagined himself a superhero with electricity running in his veins. Was this what it was like to be rich? The world lay at his feet, ripe and ready. He was a conqueror at the frontier of a new continent, and the only limit was his imagination.

An Urgent Need

As he sped through the streets on the way home, the feeling of needing to go to the bathroom became intensely urgent. He jiggled his knees and pressed his feet into the car floor. At a stoplight on Blackstone, he shouted at the light to turn green. He was only two miles from home, but he wasn’t going to make it. He turned the radio on, then, as loud rap music came blasting out, turned it off.

Without warning, he jerked the wheel and peeled into the tiny parking lot of the 7-11 at Blackstone and Bullard. Cars honked at him, and someone shouted. He walked quickly but stiff-legged into the store.

The bored young Indian man behind the counter was eating a pizza slice with one hand and holding his phone with the other as he jabbered away in his native language.

“Bathroom?” Deek asked.

The clerk shook his head. “Out of order.”

Deek didn’t believe that for a second. It was something they said to keep the riffraff out of their own private bathroom. He took out his wallet and put a five-dollar bill on the counter.

“Bathroom,” he said again.

The clerk scowled and shouted, waving Deek away with the pizza slice. “Out of order, out of order!”

Deek cursed, snatched the five-dollar bill, and lurched outside. The store’s dumpster was hidden inside a fenced enclosure. Deek thought maybe he could slip in there, squat, and do his business. But the enclosure was barely larger than the smelly and stained dumpster, and with his protruding belly, he couldn’t get in. He hurried back to the car, wiping his hands on his pants, and burned rubber tearing out of the parking lot, nearly hitting a fat lady smoking a vape and swigging a bottle of beer.

He was halfway home when he crapped his pants. The car filled with a terrible stink. Deek rolled down the windows and continued home with a wooden expression, his teeth clenched in shame. He prayed that no one was home, so he’d be spared the mortification of Rania or his daughters seeing him like this.

If Your Water Were to Become Sunken

This wasn’t fair. He was a multimillionaire, almost a 10% billionaire, yet he was not spared from the brutal exigencies of his aging and unhealthy body. What good was money when a simple bodily function could plunge him into a state of abject humiliation? This wasn’t how it was supposed to be!

A memory came to him of a day in his boyhood. His family had recently arrived from Iraq as refugees, and were quite poor. They were sitting at the bus stop on a hot summer day, shading their eyes against the glare, waiting for a bus to take them to the grocery store. An expensive sports car passed by and Deek pointed to it excitedly, saying in Arabic, “Look Baba, look how beautiful. This country has everything.”

In reply, his father had recited the last ayah of Surat Al-Mulk: “Have you considered: if your water were to become sunken [into the earth], then who could bring you flowing water?”

“All of this is an illusion,” his father said. “What power or wealth will they have if Allah takes away their sunlight, water, or air? Remember, Deek, we did not come here for fancy cars. We came for our freedom to worship Allah and practice our deen, and to work hard and provide for our family.”

Deek wondered now if this shame was a reminder from Allah that He, Subhanahu wa Ta’ala, could take away everything that mattered in an instant.

Shame

Rania would probably still be at work, and Amira, who was in 11th grade, would be at school. But Sanaya, whose college class schedule was irregular, might well be home. She didn’t have a car, so she either took the bus or rode her bicycle to school and work.

He let himself into the house and waddled quickly toward the bathroom in the master bedroom.

“Hi Baba!” Sanaya called from the kitchen. “Eww, what is that smell?”

Deek’s face grew hot with shame. He continued toward the bathroom. “It’s the car I bought,” he called over his shoulder. “The old owner had body odor. I’ll get it cleaned.”

“You bought a car? How? And why would you buy a smelly one?”

Deek shut the bathroom door and spent the next half hour cleaning himself and washing his clothing. He opened the bathroom window, sprayed the room with lemon air freshener, and lit one of Rania’s vanilla-scented candles. The bathroom would smell like a bakery, or so he hoped.

As he cleaned up, he found himself reciting the poem Dr. Zuhair had recited:

Forgiveness is among the traits of the noble,
And pardon is the mark of the great.
The truly gallant is he who forgives
Even when he has the power to retaliate.

It was a lovely little stanza, especially in Arabic. But who was Deek supposed to forgive? Rania, for being short-tempered with him? Fine, he forgave her, whatever. But Ajeeb? No way. The man had mocked him in public. It was an offense against his pride and honor. Deek would rather push the man’s head into a toilet and drown him than forgive him.

Zuhair was an interesting dude, widely admired in the community. Deek, who had not dealt with the man much, had always assumed it was because Zuhair had money. But now he realized it was more than that. Zuhair radiated a quiet, confident charisma. He’d stood there casually plucking and eating an orange as he turned down a million and a half dollar donation. On top of that, he was intelligent, and even though he was in his sixties, was built like a wrestler. Some people had it all, it seemed. The lucky ones. The chosen ones.

The Greatest Blessing

Deek was not one of those. He’d always struggled to earn money, lose weight, make friends, and be respected in the community. Nothing had ever come easily. The greatest blessing he had was his family. Rania, Sanaya, Amira. These were his treasures. How Rania had put up with him and loved him all these years, he did not know.

And now there was this. Money. Vast riches. It was incredible. He felt vindicated, as if Allah had anointed his forehead with olive oil and made him a king. As if he’d been walking in darkness for decades and Allah had suddenly plucked him out and brought him into shimmering light. And the best part was that it had happened through his own hard work and persistence. Years of studying, experimenting, losing money and trying again, working late into the night, never giving up.

When he emerged, cleaned and changed, Sanaya was nowhere in the house. He went outside and found her admiring the Porsche.

“It actually doesn’t smell all that bad,” Sanaya said. “Just needs a good detailing, inside and out. It’s a beautiful car. But I don’t get how you paid for it. Aren’t we, like, practically broke?”

Sanaya was a tall girl, taller than either of her parents, with mahogany skin, a prominent nose, and long black hair that she kept beneath a hijab when outside, like now. She wore thick glasses – a personal preference, as she didn’t like the feel of contact lenses. She always smelled of coffee, and Deek suspected that a disproportionate amount of her study time was spent at the university coffee shop. But she was an excellent student and should have attended a state university or UC, except that the family could not afford it, so she went to community college. She never even complained about it.

That was all over now. Sanaya could attend any university of her choosing, even an Ivy League school. And she didn’t have to work that night job at the convenience store anymore. Deek was suddenly choked with emotion, thinking about what a sweet girl his daughter was, and how patient she had always been. Amira too. They were both angels.

Work Husband

“Alhamdulillah,” he began to say, “I made some -”

“Mom’s home!’

Rania’s chocolate brown mini-SUV pulled into the driveway and parked behind the Porsche. She liked to park in the garage, and the Porsche was blocking the way. She wouldn’t be happy about that. But Deek had been in too much of a hurry when he’d arrived home to care about such things.

Rania emerged from the SUV with a cautious smile. There were circles beneath her eyes, and her shoulders sagged. Deek felt a pang of concern for her, and for an instant thought of going to her and embracing her. But her tone was tight and cold when she said, “What’s this? Do we have visitors?”

“Baba bought a car!”

“He did what?” Her smile was stiff now, as if she were wearing a mask.

“We really need to sit down and talk,” Deek said.

“That’s why I came home early. We need to talk about boundaries. Coming to my work like that was unacceptable. But is it true you bought this car?”

“Yes.”

Rania’s eyes went to the car, then to Deek. “I don’t even know what to say. It was one thing when you were nothing but a burden. A drain on our finances. But now you’re actively trying to sabotage this family. Your daughter -” Rania flung out a hand toward Sanaya – “goes to community college because that’s all we can afford! And here you are, an anchor around my neck -”

“Mom!’ Sanaya exclaimed.

“Are you having an affair?” These words came to Deek’s lips unbidden. He would never have suspected such a thing, but Rania had been so unkind and impatient with him lately, and the idea just popped into his head.

“I… What? No, of course not.”

Deek’s breath caught. “You don’t seem certain.”

“No, no, no. I mean, there’s a man at work, a doctor. He’s a friend, we talk. We eat lunch together. The other nurses call him my work husband.” Rania laughed nervously. “So silly.”

“I don’t want to hear this!” Sanaya covered her ears with her hands and walked quickly into the house.

“I guess I don’t either,” Deek said wearily. “I will remove the anchor from around your neck.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Overreacting

Deek walked into the garage, found two empty suitcases, took them into the master bedroom, locked the door, and began to pack. He didn’t pack carefully, but tossed items into one suitcase haphazardly. A handful of underwear, a pair of pants, and his pathetic little rock collection that he kept in a shoebox. Vanilla-scented smoke drifted from the bathroom, from the still-burning candle.

Rania began to knock, saying, “You’re overreacting. Let me in and let’s talk.”

Into the other suitcase he placed his computers, packing only the towers, keyboards and mice, and not bothering with the monitors. The whole job took only fifteen minutes.

When he opened the door, suitcases in hand, Rania said, “What the hell are you doing? I thought you wanted to talk?”

Deek thought he should be angry. If he was leaving his wife, didn’t it make sense to be angry? But he was only tired.

“I’ve been trying to talk to you for two days,” he said. “You smacked me in the chest and put your hand on my mouth to shut me up, then you shouted at me in front of your co-workers. And now you say that I’m an anchor around your neck. You’ve changed. You were never like this with me before. It’s how I guessed about your work lover, or whatever you call him. I suppose that’s why you didn’t want me showing up at your work.”

He began to walk toward the front door, pulling the rolling suitcases behind him.

“I changed because you changed!” Rania yelled. “You used to work, you used to be a responsible man who paid the bills and cared for his family. Now you’ve become a sloth that sits in front of a computer all day, losing money. I want my husband back, the man I married.”

Deek opened the front door. “Seems like you’re on your way to finding someone else.”

“That’s nothing. He’s a married man. He flirts with me, it makes me feel good. That’s all!”

Rania followed him out into the driveway. “If you leave,” she said in a threatening tone, “the house is mine. Forget about getting anything at all.”

Deek looked at her sadly. “You jumped to that awfully quickly. That’s fine, you can have the house and everything else.” He could only fit one of the suitcases in the Porsche’s little trunk.

What About This Car?

“And what about this car?” Rania kicked one of the tires. “What insanity is this?” She was getting angrier by the moment, and Deek feared she might get a fireplace poker and start smashing the car’s windows.

He sighed heavily. “I’ve been trying to tell you. I’ve had some good trades. I made money.”

“Then where is it? You spent it on a car when we have all these bills?”

“Check your bank account.” He went around to the passenger’s side and put the other suitcase in the seat. He realized at that moment that the car still smelled bad. He opened the suitcase, and the clothing he’d stuffed into it spilled out. He snatched up a t-shirt and leaned over to wipe the driver’s side seat, hoping Rania could not smell it. Then he put a towel on the seat. He closed the door and turned to find Rania standing right in front of him, holding up her phone.

“One hundred three thousand, five hundred ninety-two dollars? What on earth? There’s over a hundred thousand dollars in the account. Where did this come from?”

Deek shook his head. “You really don’t listen at all, do you?”

She stared. “Oh. The crypto? Your good trade that you were talking about?”

“Yes.”

“And you bought the car with that?”

“Yes.”

“How much did the car cost?”

“Two and a half Bitcoin.” Seeing her blank look, he translated. “About a hundred and twenty-five thousand.”

Rania clutched her throat as if she were choking. “A hundred and twenty-five thousand? Are you utterly mad? Don’t you think you should have discussed it with me first?”

“I tried, remember?”

Millions

“How much did you make on your trade?”

“It wasn’t one trade. It was a series of good trades over the last two days.”

“How much?”

Deek regarded her. Part of him counseled silence. What had Zuhair said? It’s clever to be discreet with your assets. If he and Rania were splitting up, it was not in his interest to tell her how much he’d earned. On the other hand, he wanted his vindication. He hungered for it. He wanted to see the look in her eyes when she realized just how badly she’d misjudged him. In the end, he only said, “Millions.”

Rania took a step back. “Millions?” She looked aghast. “For real?”

Deek nodded. Rania suddenly swayed on her feet. Deek leaped forward and grabbed her, then eased her down to the ground. She sat on the driveway with legs splayed and her face in her hands, breathing heavily as Deek kneeled beside her.

***

[Part 5 will be published next week inshaAllah]

 

Reader comments and constructive criticism are important to me, so please comment!

See the Story Index for Wael Abdelgawad’s other stories on this website.

Wael Abdelgawad’s novels – including Pieces of a Dream, The Repeaters and Zaid Karim Private Investigator – are available in ebook and print form on his author page at Amazon.com.

 

Related:

Death in a Valley Town, Part 1 – Moving Day

The Deal : Part #1 The Run

 

The post Moonshot: A Short Story [Part 4] – If Your Water Were To Become Sunken appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

The sound of his laughter still echoes in my heart, even now. Hanafi, my husband of 14 years, had a way of filling a room with warmth and light. His humour was subtle but sharp, a quiet wit that always found its mark. He would smile in that knowing way of his, delivering lines that would catch us off guard and leave us laughing long after. He was our joy, our anchor, the man who made our house a home.

It happened swiftly. Too swiftly for me to fully comprehend. One moment, we were celebrating the arrival of our second daughter, a miracle we had waited 11 long years for. The next moment, I was standing in a living room filled with a silence so heavy it was almost deafening. I had a newborn cradled in my arms, her soft coos oblivious to the storm that had descended on us, and an 11-year-old daughter whose laughter had been replaced by tears.

My eldest, Hanafi’s shadow, had always been close to her father. She adored him in the way only a daughter could. She had hung onto his every word and shared his love for subtle jokes. When I told her what had happened, her wail pierced the stillness of the house. She clung to me, her tears soaking my shoulder, her voice trembling as she asked, “Why, Mommy? Why did Allah take him away?”

How could I answer her when I was struggling with the same question? How could I console her shattered heart when mine was breaking into a thousand pieces? I held her tightly and whispered the only words that brought me comfort: “Allah will not abandon us, sweetheart.”

The Day Everything Changed

The day my husband returned to Allah began like any other. I spent the morning preparing for and conducting a mid-semester test for my students, completely unaware of the test that awaited me later that night. Hanafi and I had chatted briefly about our plans to travel back to our hometown for the long weekend. We were excited, as always, to spend time with family. The day unfolded as it always did, an orderly routine, with no sign of the storm about to come.

That night, the phone rang just before midnight, shattering the silence of the house. I picked up the phone and, on the other end, I could hear wailing and screaming in the background. The person on the other line was clearly struggling to speak, and it took several moments before they finally delivered the words that would change everything: “Hanafi collapsed on the badminton court. It was a heart attack… he didn’t make it.”

The news hit me with a force I couldn’t comprehend. My knees buckled, and I gasped for air as my mind struggled to process what I had just heard. It felt as though the ground beneath me had disappeared, but somehow, my heart kept beating, even as my world shattered around me.

Breaking the news to my eldest daughter was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I walked into her room, my hands trembling, and gently shook her awake. She blinked at me, her face still heavy with sleep, and asked, “What’s wrong, Mommy?”

I struggled to find the words, but there was no way to soften the blow. When I finally told her, she froze and stared at me in disbelief. Then the tears came, deep, wrenching sobs that filled the room. She clung to me, crying. Her anguish mirrored my own, and all I could do was hold her tightly and cry with her.

As I stood between my two daughters, one shattered by grief and the other blissfully unaware of the loss that had forever changed her world, I realized this was indeed a great test: a test of faith and trust in Allah’s Plan, even when everything felt unbearably heavy.

The Legacy of Hajar

Hajar [alayhis] held onto tawakkul in her darkest hour. [PC: Emma Van Sant (unsplash)]

“Allah will not abandon us” – these words aren’t mine. They come from the story of Sayyidatina Hajar , a woman whose faith continues to inspire countless believers. Imagine her, standing in the barren desert of Mecca with no food and water for sustenance, and no shade to protect them from the relentless sun. Her husband, Prophet Ibrahim had left her there with their infant son, Ismail , under Allah’s Command. She did not waver. Instead, she asked one simple question: “Has Allah ordered you to do so?” When he replied yes, her faith shone through her words: “Then He will not abandon us.”

I hold on to Hajar’s story of trust and resilience. If she could summon strength in such dire circumstances, then, إن شاء الله “If Allah wills”, I could find it too. Her story is not just a historical tidbit. It is a timeless reminder that Allah never abandons His servants.

The Final Goodbye

At the forensic unit, many of our family members had already gathered to bid him farewell. Friends and relatives remarked on my calm demeanor, surprised that I wasn’t hysterical or wailing, as they might have expected when faced with such devastating news. Outwardly, I appeared composed, but inside, my heart was breaking into a thousand pieces. Every step I took toward him felt heavier than the last.

When I saw him, lying there so peacefully, he looked as if he were merely asleep. I had the honour of washing his body, a task both painful and sacred. It was a final act of love, the last time I would hold him. My hands trembled as I completed the ritual, my tears falling silently. At that moment, I made dua’, asking Allah to have mercy on him and to reunite us in Jannah one day.

It was then that I truly understood the meaning of inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un—to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. As much as my heart ached, I knew this was part of Allah’s Plan, and I clung to the hope of meeting him again in the hereafter.

The Light of His Humour

Even in the darkest times, memories of my husband’s wit always bring us so much joy.

Once, the vet sent a message to Hanafi’s phone, which was registered with the clinic, so they contacted him whenever we sent a cat for treatment. My sister had recently sent her cat, Ani, to the vet, and the message simply stated it was time to pick Ani up.

Hanafi, ever the joker, announced that we needed to pick up Ani from the clinic, knowing full well that we also had an aunt named Ani who lived hours away. The confusion was immediate. Why would our aunt be at the clinic? And how had she ended up there? Hanafi let us stew in our bewilderment, quietly enjoying the chaos, until it finally dawned on us— the Ani he was referring to wasn’t our aunt but was the cat instead. The realization left us in fits of laughter at the absurdity of the situation and at Hanafi’s quiet delight in watching us unravel the mystery.

He also loved to tease. He knew my eldest daughter couldn’t stand seeing us display affection with one another. So, with his usual cheekiness, he’d purposely tease her by using pickup lines on me. “I need the tea sweet like you,” he’d say to me, with a mischievous smile, knowing it would earn him a dramatic eye-roll or an exaggerated groan.

Even now, in the midst of my grief, memories like these continue to bring a smile to my face, reminding me of the light he brought to our lives.

Faith as a Refuge

In the quiet moments, after the visitors had left and the house fell silent, I turned to Allah . Tears streamed down my face as I raised my hands in dua’, “Oh Allah, guide me through this. I cannot do this alone.”

It was in those moments of vulnerability that I felt the most strength. I thought of the Quranic verse:

“And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him. And He knows what is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but that He knows it. And no grain is there within the darknesses of the earth and no moist or dry [thing] but that it is [written] in a clear record.” [Surah Al-An’am; 6:59]

If Allah knew the falling of a single leaf, surely, He knew the state of my shattered heart. Surely, He had a plan.

The Path Forward

“The days are long, and the challenges are many, but they are interwoven with moments of joy.” [PC: Dila Ningrum (unsplash)]

Single parenthood was a path I had never envisioned for myself, yet here I am. The days are long, and the challenges are many, but they are interwoven with moments of joy; my daughters’ laughter, their milestones, and the deep love we hold for each other.

My eldest, despite her grief, has shown a resilience that astounds me. We talk about her father often, sharing his jokes and remembering his wisdom. It’s our way of keeping his beautiful memory alive in our home. My youngest, too young to understand the loss, is now almost three years old. She is growing up healthy, cheerful, and looking more and more like him each day.

Each day begins with a dua’ for strength and ends with gratitude. Gratitude not only for what I still have, but also for what I have finally come to understand. I have learned that tawakkul, reliance on Allah , is what steadies the heart. I have also realised that vulnerability is not a sign of weakness. It is a path toward resilience and unimaginable strength. 

A Traveler’s Perspective

Life is a journey, a temporary stop on our way to the Eternal. The loss of Hanafi has made this reality clearer than ever. I am a traveler, as are we all. And while the pain of separation remains, knowing that he is now under the care of our Merciful Rabb brings me calm, and the hope of reunion in Jannah continues to sustain me.

Hajar’s story ends with the miraculous spring of Zamzam, a manifestation of Allah’s Promise and Mercy. My story is still unfolding, but I know one thing for certain: My Rabb will never abandon us.

If you are reading this and carrying your own burden of loss, know that you are not alone. Your pain is seen, your tears are counted, and your struggle is known by the One who created you. Trust in Him, even when the path is unclear.

As the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said upon the loss of his son, Ibrahim :

“The eyes shed tears, and the heart grieves, but we will not say except that which pleases Allah. Indeed, we are grieved by your departure, O Ibrahim.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 1303]

May Allah grant us the strength to endure, the faith to persevere, and the hope to continue our journey toward Him.

 

اللهم أجرني في مصيبتي، واخلف لي خيراً منها

“O Allah, reward me in my affliction and replace it with something better.”

 

Related:

– My Dearest Fetus: Enduring Unimaginable Loss

– Sharing Grief: A 10-Point Primer On Condolence

 

The post My Rabb Will Never Abandon Us: A Personal Journey Through Love, Loss, And Tawakkul appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

“We know what happens when our youth enter these universities…” The speaker pauses, his tone shifting to one of grave concern. “There are… influences.” His meaningful glance sweeps across the room of parents. “Even in Muslim Student organizations, we must be vigilant about certain… activities.” 

He leaves the specifics unspoken, allowing parental imaginations to fill the gaps with their worst fears. In the back of the room, young Muslims exchange knowing glances. Once again, their campus efforts (the dawn fajr prayers coordinated during exam weeks, the comprehensive mentorship systems developed for incoming Muslim freshmen, the tireless negotiations that secured permanent prayer spaces and halal dining options) are reduced to vague insinuations of moral compromise. The concerned nods from parents -who have never even visited these spaces- speak volumes about the power of suggestion.

The Subtle Betrayal

There exists a betrayal more subtle than outright rejection of faith. It operates within our own communities, powered by those who claim to protect Islam while undermining its future. It is the systematic dismantling of Muslim youth organizations under the banner of “moral vigilance.” While external forces challenge our faith, we fracture from within, transforming principles into weapons against progress. Have we forgotten the divine warning?

“O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah ; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful.” [Surah Al-Hujurat; 49:12]

This betrayal is particularly devastating because it comes from those positioned as guardians of our tradition.

When young Muslims are already navigating hostile environments where their identity is questioned, their faith is misrepresented, and their very presence is sometimes unwelcome, they deserve safe harbors within their own community. Instead, they often face a second front of criticism from those who should be their strongest advocates.

Many critics speak as though our educational institutions and youth organizations represent existential threats to Islamic identity, despite evidence to the contrary. The reality? The overwhelming majority of Muslim students maintain their prayers, fast during Ramadan, avoid prohibited substances, and strive to live honorably despite immense pressures.

Terms like “haram” and “bidah” are deployed with devastating casualness, transforming spiritual concepts meant for careful scholarly application into blunt instruments for social control. This linguistic violence does not strengthen faith; it fractures it, creating unnecessary divisions where unity is desperately needed.

Celebrating Our Youth’s Achievements

What critics consistently overlook, whether through oversight or intention, is the extraordinary achievement these young Muslims represent. Beyond the noise of criticism stands remarkable evidence: vibrant MSA communities, transforming inhospitable campuses into sanctuaries of Islamic identity, Young Muslims nurturing high schoolers at their most formative age. These are not mere social gatherings but sophisticated institutions where Quran study deepens, dawah reaches seeking hearts, halal dining expands, and belonging flourishes in environments that often question their very presence.

“These organizations provide essential lifelines that transform campus life for Muslim students.” [PC: Kiko Camaclang (unsplash)]

These organizations provide essential lifelines that transform campus life for Muslim students. Many establish vibrant spiritual rhythms by organizing regular congregational prayers, with some even coordinating fajr prayers at dawn, creating sacred spaces where students can gather amid hectic academic schedules. In some MSAs, you’ll find daily Quran halaqahs for recitation, while others host weekly dhikr sessions that nourish spiritual hearts, or organize Quran memorization groups where students support each other in preserving divine words. These aren’t merely social groups but often serve as spiritual sanctuaries where faith practices that might otherwise be abandoned in college find enthusiastic revival.

During Ramadan, these organizations frequently become essential support networks, with some planning community iftars strategically scheduled around midterms to ensure no student breaks fast alone during stressful academic periods. What mainstream narratives miss is how certain student groups, despite crushing academic pressures, coordinate full eight-rakat taraweeh prayers, organize transportation for late-night qiyam prayers at local masjids, and maintain spiritual discipline while embodying the prophetic emphasis on community building, the very foundation upon which Islamic tradition thrives.

Beyond spiritual practices, many establish dedicated prayer rooms through persistent advocacy with university administrations, often after years of negotiations. Some organize interfaith dialogues that challenge Islamophobia, execute sophisticated charity and volunteering initiatives that benefit wider communities, and create comprehensive support systems for incoming Muslim freshmen navigating campus life. Some have established weekly “chai and chats” that build brotherhood and sisterhood, sustaining students through the isolation that often accompanies minority faith status.

Across campuses, these groups negotiate for halal food options in dining halls, establish collective funding systems for brothers and sisters experiencing financial strain, and create resources that benefit Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

The leadership pipelines, governance structures, and resource management in some of these organizations exceed the effectiveness of established Islamic centers operating with decades of donations and professional staff. These aren’t amateur efforts, but sophisticated institutions built by students who apply Islamic principles to create models of community that many masajid could learn from.

These Muslim organizations nurture spaces where Islamic identity is worn without apology. Hallways resound with confident “As-salamu alaykum” greetings, spoken not in hushed tones but with dignified assurance. Young men fulfill responsibilities requiring physical presence, Sisters lead with intellectual rigor and administrative precision while maintaining unwavering commitment to their values.

Beyond protecting identity, MSAs transform souls. Cultural Muslims, raised with little more than Eid celebrations and occasional prayers, discover in these spaces what their homes never provided: Islam as a living reality rather than inherited custom. Their peers demonstrate faith not as a burden, but liberation. For truth-seekers adrift in a sea of relativism, these organizations become islands of clarity where authentic Muslim youth, intellectually engaged yet spiritually grounded, embody an Islam that speaks directly to modern hearts.

This living dawah converts more souls than a lifetime of formal lectures ever could; More astonishing still is Allah’s transformation of these newcomers into Islam’s most passionate advocates. Those who embrace shahada in these environments frequently become, within just months, the very speakers whose fresh perspectives move lifelong Muslims to tears, and some become activists whose principled civic engagement commands respect across campus. Having known both spiritual emptiness and fulfillment, these new Muslims bring unmatched conviction to their work. While critics obsess over minor infractions, Allah guides souls to eternal salvation through these imperfect but sincere communities. The critics’ fleeting words will vanish; the reward of those who guided others to goodness will remain forever, as our Prophet ﷺ promised: “Whoever guides someone to goodness will have a reward similar to the one who does it.”

What critics consistently misunderstand, is the remarkable balance achieved in these spaces, where tradition finds harmony with contemporary realities without compromise. These students aren’t diluting their faith but revitalizing it through practical application, proving that Islamic principles thrive when embodied with sincerity rather than performative rigidity.

Civic Courage

Perhaps most remarkable has been their civic engagement during watershed American moments. While others posted on social media or complained in private, these young Muslims mobilized thousands, educated communities, and shaped national conversations. From standing against the genocide of Palestinians to other humanitarian crises, they’ve demonstrated that Islamic values demand collective action.

MSA-led civic engagement [PC: HasanMajed (unsplash)]

These young Muslims understand that the Islamic tradition has always been one of engagement, not isolation. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ did not retreat from society but transformed it through active participation. Despite facing potential academic penalties and career repercussions, these students risked their futures by organizing campus sit-ins, educating peers about humanitarian crises, and boldly challenging institutional silence. They embody the Quranic principle:

“And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression.” [Surah Al-Ma’idah; 5:2]

The Hypocrisy of Selective Standards

The hypocrisy is striking. The same speakers who condemn young Muslims for gathering in cafes after taraweeh move comfortably through mixed gatherings at conferences and fundraising events. They enforce rigid standards specifically where young people gather, while granting themselves contextual flexibility. Our Prophet ﷺ warned: “It is enough evil for a person to belittle his Muslim brother.” The Quran cautions:

“O you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do?

Great is hatred in the sight of Allah that you say what you do not do.” [Surah As-Saff; 61:2-3]

This rush to judgment stands in stark contrast to our scholarly tradition. The great Imam Malik ibn Anas demonstrated true wisdom through intellectual humility. When asked why he would answer some questions with ‘I don’t know’ despite his vast knowledge, he replied: “Nothing destroys knowledge more than when a scholar is too ashamed to say ‘I don’t know.'” Yet today, self-appointed guardians appear to know everything about everyone’s failures, proclaiming judgments where even the greatest scholars would hesitate.

Constructive Criticism vs. Destructive Condemnation

These organizations deserve scrutiny -all Islamic institutions do-, but criticism must come with dignity and wisdom. When concerns arise, let them be delivered with the adab of our tradition: privately where possible, with specific remedies rather than vague condemnation, and wrapped in recognition of the broader good being accomplished. The Prophet ﷺ corrected without humiliating, guided without destroying, and nurtured growth rather than cultivating shame.

True guardianship means standing beside these young Muslims as they navigate complex realities, offering wisdom when asked and support throughout. This approach honors both the critic and the criticized. As Imam al-Shafi’i wisely noted: “I have never debated anyone without praying that Allah would cause the truth to flow from his heart to mine, and from my heart to his.” This spirit of mutual respect preserves the dignity of our youth while allowing their organizations space for growth.

A Message to Parents

Parents, consider carefully. The vast majority of Muslim youth maintain their faith through college years and beyond. They pray. They fast. They avoid prohibited substances. They strive for halal relationships.

Your greater concern should be their mental well-being in environments often hostile to their identity. Fear the consequences of isolation far more than the phantom threat of moral corruption. By fueling suspicion against these organizations, you may sever them from the very support system they desperately need. Remember Allah’s Command:

“And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided.” [Surah Ali ‘Imran; 3:103]

A Call for Prophetic Wisdom

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, upon seeing a man being pursued for a sin, silenced those chasing him, saying: “You have not helped him with regards to Allah, nor have you helped him against his own self.” Where is this prophetic wisdom today?

What these youth represent is not merely the future of our community; they are its present. They are not Muslim leaders in training; they are Muslim leaders now, addressing challenges their elders often cannot see or understand.

Conclusion

Let those who rush to condemn our young people remember the words of Imam Ali: “Do not look at who speaks, but look at what is said.” The achievements of Muslim student organizations speak volumes, creating leaders, maintaining Islamic identity in challenging environments, and building sustainable structures for faith to flourish.

To those building these communities despite criticism: Your work stands as testimony. Every student who finds their way to Allah through your efforts is the true measure of success. “Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” [Surah Ar-Ra’d; 13:11]

The sustainable future of Islam in Western contexts depends not on perfect adherence to every detail, but on building robust communities where faith can grow. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Make things easy and do not make them difficult, give glad tidings and do not repel people.”

Perhaps it is time we followed his example in how we treat those building the future of our faith.

 

Related:

– From The Chaplain’s Desk: Valuing And Nurturing Faith On Campus

– Quranic Verses For Steadfastness For The Valiant Protesters On Campus

 

 

The post Guardians Of Faith, Not Gatekeepers: Honoring The Work Of Muslim Student Organizations appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Cryptocurrency is Deek’s last chance to succeed in life, and he will not stop, no matter what.

Previous Chapters: Part 1 | Part 2

 

“If you want to find out what a man is… give him power. Any man can stand adversity — only a great man can stand prosperity.” – Robert G. Ingersoll

“Anything I do to elevate myself in the eyes of others is hollow.” – Wael Abdelgawad

Tentacles Slithering Up

As he walked out of the hospital, the Jumu’ah prayer alarm sounded on his phone. Man, he’d forgotten it was Friday. The crypto world operated every moment of every day and night, so one day was no different from another. He’d often missed Jumu’ah when trading crypto, but he wanted to attend today. He felt like he’d been a prisoner in a tiny cell for five years, and had just been liberated. Plus, he owed it to Allah, to thank Him for this long-awaited success.

It was too late to go to Masjid Madeenah, where he usually attended. Instead, he caught an Uber to Masjid Umar, the mostly Arab masjid in north Clovis. He wasn’t fond of Masjid Umar. The community was insular and wealthy, and although Deek himself was Arab, he never felt like he fit there.

In the Uber, he checked his crypto wallet. Solana was up 15%, and New York Killa was up 29%. His net worth was now $80 million. If he’d kept the bulk of the New York Killa, rather than selling, he would have much more. But what did it matter? He would never be able to spend $80 million anyway.

On impulse, he cashed out some of the Solana and initiated another transfer to the joint bank account, sending $80,000 this time. His only regret was that these funds had not yet arrived in the account. He would have liked to go shopping before prayer, so he could show up wearing something snazzy. An Armani suit maybe, and Italian leather shoes. And perhaps some jewelry and a new haircut. As it was, he was wearing his same old jeans and Hawaiian shirt that he wore every day.

Deek was aware that all these thoughts – divorcing Rania, keeping the money secret, showing off for the people – were like tentacles slithering up out of a dark sea that swelled inside him. He was not a fool. He knew how Shaytan could whisper in a man’s ear. When he was a boy in Iraq, he’d learned the Quran at his father’s feet, as well as studying Hanafi fiqh with the local shaykh. He had a good understanding of Islam and had not forgotten it.

The Crusher

His family came to the USA when he was nine years old. He did well in school, but after high school, he rebelled and went to art college, and became a fine art painter, much to his father’s chagrin. He was talented, and put on a few gallery shows. But when he married Rania he gave that up and took a more respectable job teaching elementary school. Until, sick of laboring in the lower middle-class echelon, tired of being poor, he quit that in turn to risk everything on the crypto revolution.

His parents were both gone now, which was a blessing in a way, as they had not been around to see what a failure he had become.

He still remembered much of the Quran he’d learned as a youth. Obviously he still knew Juz ‘Amma, and could recite Surat Al-Humuzah:

Woe to every backbiter, slanderer,
who amasses wealth and counts it ˹repeatedly˺,
thinking that their wealth will make them immortal!

Not at all! Such a person will certainly be tossed into the Crusher.
And what will make you realize what the Crusher is?
˹It is˺ Allah’s kindled Fire,
which rages over the hearts.

It will be sealed over them,
˹tightly secured˺ with long braces.

The surah painted a stark portrait of an evil man hunched over his money, counting it obsessively. Someone who, perhaps, had accumulated wealth through the cheap labor and suffering of others, or a leader who stole the resources of his own people. Such people crushed the spirits of others in order to enrich themselves, and so Allah would crush them in turn.

That was justice. Deek did not consider himself such a person. He’d earned his money lawfully and through his own study, dedication, and sleepless nights. He hadn’t robbed anyone.

Yet still he was frightened. He had to find a way to avoid being eaten alive by this wealth.

The Blockade of Bani Hashim

Masjid Umar was encircled by tall palm trees, and as the Uber pulled up Deek saw that three of them had been torched. They still stood, but they’d been badly burnt. The whole area stank of charcoal and ash. He wondered what had happened, but there was no time to speculate, as he was late. He hurried into the masjid.

The prayer area was small and crowded. There was no room to sit, so Deek stood at the back. The Imam told the story of the mushrikeen’s boycott and blockade of Bani Hashim during the Makkan period, and the extreme hardship and even starvation it had caused. The Imam spoke about how this boycott ended. Namely, five of the disbelievers, who in spite of their rejection of Islam were fair men, agreed to speak against this injustice.

At the same time, the Prophet had a dream in which he saw that the agreement the mushrikeen had signed to impose the boycott had been destroyed. The document had been stored in the Ka’bah, and the Prophet saw that all of the paper had been eaten by ants, except for the words Bismillah.

It was a fascinating story, and was yet another example of how Allah never abandoned the believers. Though the Prophet and his family and followers had gone through a period of extreme hardship, Allah the Most High engineered events that brought them out of hardship, though not immediately, as the most terrible blows of all still awaited the Prophet . His wife, Khadijah, and his protector, Abu Talib, both died. With Makkah having become unsafe for him, he walked to Ta’if to preach to the leaders there, but they rejected him and ordered him stoned.

It was only after all of this that the people of Madinah began to embrace Islam, and the hijrah began – finally ending the oppression of the Makkan period.

To Be Sincere

Deek felt that it was destiny that he had come to this particular masjid today, as he needed to hear this message. Problems end, he thought, but not immediately. Sometimes you go from the frying pan to the fire, and only then, if you are patient, do you escape to the garden and the cool river running through it.

I must do better, he thought. I must not let the wolf eat me alive. I mustn’t lose myself. I have to do good with this money. I have to be sincere.

These thoughts were like an intellectual exercise, however, or like trying to solve a problem of color or texture with a painting. Wasn’t it all subjective? He had no idea what it meant to be sincere with money, since he’d never had money. All he could think of was that he should donate. Donate to the poor, orphans, the masjid, and so on.

The opportunity presented itself sooner than expected. The salat ended, and people began to file out of the masjid. Deek found a chair to sit in to put his shoes on. He’d gained a lot of weight during the crypto years, and it was difficult to bend over enough to put on socks and shoes. When he was finally ready to go, most of the crowd had dissipated.

A Detested Countryman

Outside, a group of five middle-aged brothers stood beside the burnt trees, gesturing and talking animatedly. Two of them he recognized immediately. One was Dr. Zuhair, a classically handsome Egyptian engineer with a thick mustache, who looked like he could play Gamal AbdelNasser in a movie. Zuhair sat on the boards of many local Islamic organizations and was said to be very wealthy.

The other man he recognized was Dr. Ajeeb, the former principal of the Islamic school Deek’s children had attended for many years. The tall, thin Iraqi wore a loose black suit with a white shirt and red tie, which made him look like a flagpole from which the Iraqi flag hung limply. His face was thin and brown, while his teeth were cigarette-stained.

Deek remembered now. Ajeeb had been fired from the principal job a few years ago and was now the program director for this masjid. He was not a medical doctor, but rather had a PhD in Islamic Sciences from the Islamic University of Najaf in Iraq.

In spite of being countrymen, Deek and Ajeeb had never gotten along. Back when his kids had attended the school, Deek had complained many times that the Islam, Quran, and Arabic programs were hidebound by Middle Eastern tradition. Everything was rote memorization, and the teachers were recent immigrants who could barely speak English. Some still thought they could discipline students by shouting or hitting their hands with rulers. It was disgusting.

Furthermore, the only organized sport at the school was soccer, rather than the baseball, basketball, or American football that were more popular in this country. It was as if they had used a thousand cranes to lift a school out of the Middle East and drop it into the USA. Deek would have pulled his children out, except the thought of sending them to public school terrified him. He himself had attended an American public school, and he knew what a moral cesspool it was.

Deek had actually gone to the board and complained about Ajeeb, but they hadn’t been interested. Deek was poor and could barely pay the monthly school fees. He certainly was not a financial supporter or donor. His opinion carried little weight.

He’d been happy when Ajeeb was fired, but disappointed that one of the local masjids hired him.

An Offer To Help

Deek walked up to Ajeeb and put a hand on his shoulder. “Doctor,” he said. “What happened here?”

Ajeeb turned and smiled thinly. “Brother Deek. Someone tried to burn the masjid.”

“Who?”

“We don’t know.”

“Doesn’t look like they tried very hard. These trees aren’t even close to the building. Someone wanted to make a statement, maybe. Or kids.”

Ajeeb made a tut-tut sound with his tongue. “This is very serious, brother. It’s not for joking.”

“Why,” demanded a portly Egyptian with curly hair and thick glasses, “aren’t there security cameras?”

“We have been meaning to do it,” Ajeeb replied. “We didn’t have the funds.”

“I could help with that,” Deek offered. “I’ll cover the whole thing, cameras and installation.” It felt incredibly strange to say these words. A voice inside him, representing a persona still stuck in the past – and in his case, the past meant yesterday – protested, What are you doing? You can’t afford that! Rania will kill you. Having money was a strange sensation, like being alone in a room for forty years, then suddenly finding a beautiful woman sitting on the bed with you. It would take him a while to believe it was true.

Ajeeb turned only partway to face him and held up a hand. “This will take more than your $100 donation, ya Deek. But thank you.”

The portly brother snickered. A few other men in the group smiled. Only Dr. Zubair did not share their amusement. He frowned disapprovingly at Ajeeb, but said nothing.

An Incident From The Past

Deek felt himself go cold with rage. Ajeeb’s mocking comment was a reference to an annual school fundraiser several years ago. It was a banquet, with almost 500 local Muslims in attendance. Ajeeb had the microphone and was asking for $5,000 donations, having worked his way down from $25,000. Teenage boys and girls walked the floor with pledge cards, ready to take pledges. Deek, who was there with Rania and the girls, waved a girl over to his table. Most donors filled out the pledge cards with promises of large donations. Deek couldn’t do that, but he always tried to give something, so he handed the girl a hundred dollars in cash.

Apparently the girl was confused, not knowing what to do with the cash. Dr. Ajeeb said, “I’m looking for one more $5,000 donation. Ask yourselves what you can spend for the future of your children and this community.” At that exact moment, the girl, still standing beside Deek, raised her hand and called out, “One hundred dollars?” A few people laughed, while Ajeeb waved an irritated hand toward a table beside the dais, where three college students were collecting the pledge cards.

It was humiliating. Later, as he drove the family home, Rania rubbed his shoulder and assured him that the girl had not intended to embarrass him. But as she said it, she smiled. Deek never forgot that smile. He could forgive people their trespasses against him, though not easily. But he was not the type to forget.

A Dark Fantasy

Deek stood beside the burnt trees, beside these men, but not among them. The men stood in a circle and did not move to admit him. The nonverbal message was clear: You are not our equal. Let the important people talk. A vision came to Deek’s mind. Ajeeb would be walking at night, perhaps out for an evening stroll after dinner. Deek would steal up behind him and sedate him with a chloroform-soaked cloth. He would drag Ajeeb into a van, drive him down to the San Joaquin River, and drown him. The river would carry his body away, and it would never be traced back to Deek.

It was only a dark fantasy. He’d had such thoughts many times, about various people, but would never do it. But what could he do in the real world to spoil things for Ajeeb and make his life harder? He was a man of resources now. Money talked, and BS walked.

The Dashing Dr. Zuhair

He approached Dr. Zuhair and took his arm. The man’s muscles were firm beneath Deek’s hand. MashaAllah, Zuhair was probably sixty-five years old, yet Deek could picture him in a camo vest and carrying an AK-47, pursuing bandits in the Sinai. Deek led the handsome man away from the group and toward the back wall of the parking lot, which butted up against a residential neighborhood on the other side. Orange and lemon trees stretched their branches over the wall.

Deek said, “Doctor, are you on the board of this masjid?”

“Yes,” Zuhair replied cheerily. “I’m the board president. Why?”

“I’m serious about paying for the cameras. Actually, I want to make a large donation to the masjid.”

“Pardon my frankness,” Zuhair said, “but how can you afford that? Don’t take me wrong, I respect everyone regardless of financial status, but you are not known to be wealthy.”

Deek pursed his lips, considering. If he wanted to be taken seriously, he would have to give something up.

“Are you familiar with cryptocurrency?”

“I own a little Bitcoin. I am far from an expert.”

“Well, I am an expert. And I have done very well with it, alhamdulillah.”

“Okay… How much would you like to donate?”

Deek licked his lips nervously. “One million dollars.” Even to his own ears it sounded like a jest, so he was not surprised when Zuhair laughed, punched Deek’s shoulder, and said, “Okay, you got me brother. That was a good joke.” Zuhair reached up to one of the overhanging branches, snagged an orange, and began to peel it.

Providing Proof

“How is your family these days?” Zuhair asked as he popped an orange wedge into his mouth. “You have two daughters, yes? They attended school with my daughter when they were young.”

“They’re good, alhamdulillah.”

A pigeon landed in the parking lot and strutted by, cooing.

“I’ll show you something,” Deek said. “Give me a minute. But I need your word that this stays between me and you.”

“Okay, no problem,” Zuhair said, eating more of the orange. “I give you my word. This orange is amazing, mashaAllah. You should have one.”

“Aren’t those the neighbor’s trees?”

“Yes, but the branches are on our side. They can’t pick them over here.”

Deek took out his phone and held it at an angle where Zuhair could not see the screen. Opening the Phantom app, he saw that Solana was holding steady, but Killa was up a bit more. His balance was 81 million and change. He quickly created a new wallet and transferred $3 million in Solana to it. There was no point in letting Zuhair see the full extent of his wealth. That was not for anyone to know – not the government, nor even his wife.

The whole process took only a minute. Then he turned the phone to show Zuhair the screen.

Zuhair gave a long, low whistle. “You made three million dollars in crypto. That is very impressive, brother. You should teach me how to do that!” A sly look crept across his face. “Tell the truth. Is this a prank? Am I on a hidden camera show?”

“It’s real. And I want to donate one million dollars.”

Two Conditions

“Allahu Akbar!” Zuhair tried to clap his hands but ended up clapping the orange. “This is wonderful. You are giving one-third of your wealth. That is so generous.”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

“Allah barik feek, may Allah bless you. There are many things we can do with this money. We have been wanting to build a proper basketball court for the youth, and an outside wudu’ area for when the main building is locked, and -”

“I have conditions, though.”

Zuhair lifted an eyebrow. “Most people do not impose conditions. They donate fee sabeel-illah.”

“Most people don’t donate a million dollars.”

“True.”

“I want a seat on the board, and I want Ajeeb fired.”

Zuhair shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. “The position on the board is not impossible for a donation of this magnitude, but as far as Doctor Ajeeb, this request is beneath you. It is inappropriate. Even if I already wanted to fire him, I would not do it for money.”

“I’m giving you a million dollars.”

“You could give a hundred million, I would still say no. It’s a matter of integrity. We simply don’t do things that way. Please. Just donate the money with a pure heart, with no conditions. It will bring you great rewards from Allah.”

Deek glared. He was pretty sure that if he gave a hundred million, Ajeeb would be out on his skinny behind in a hot minute. Everyone had a price. It sounded like Zuhair already wanted to fire the man anyway. So what was this talk of integrity? As if Deek was trying to corrupt him somehow.

The Traits of the Noble

“What if I make it a million and a half?”

“Wonderful, ma-sha-Allah.” He pocketed the orange peels and reached up to pick another. “SubhanAllah. These oranges are so juicy.”

“But,” Deek said pointedly, “with the same conditions.”

“Then no.”

Deek’s voice rose. “What if I buy the whole masjid then? I could do whatever I want after that.”

Zuhair laughed softly. “You’d need a lot more than three million for that.”

“I have a lot more than three million.” As soon as he said this, he chastised himself for letting his ego get the better of him.

“Ah.” Zuhair wagged a finger at Deek. “It’s clever to be discreet with your assets. But still no. The masjid belongs to a non-profit organization. You cannot buy a non-profit org, there’s no provision for it under the law. It’s an interesting intellectual problem, though. You could try to buy the organization’s assets if they were willing to sell. As I said, you could perhaps negotiate for a seat on the board if you donated enough. Or you could always start your own masjid.”

“That’s not the point. Ajeeb is not a good person. He’s not good for the community.”

Zuhair sighed as if Deek were a recalcitrant pupil, then ate another orange wedge. “There is a poem,” he said between bites, “by Mufti ʿAbd al-Latif bin ʿAli Fathallah. He was a Lebanese poet from the eighteenth century. He wrote:

العَفوُ مِن شِيَمِ الكِرامْ

وَالصّفْحُ مِن شَأْنِ العِظامْ

وَأَخُو الشَّهامَةِ مَن عَفا

عَن قُدْرَةٍ عَلَى الانْتِقامْ

“That means -”

“I understand it,” Deek broke in. He recited:

“Forgiveness is among the traits of the noble,
And pardon is the mark of the great.
The truly gallant is he who forgives
Even when he has the power to retaliate.”

Zuhair nodded, impressed. “Very good.” He reached up and plucked another orange from the tree, and held it out to Deek.

Forgiveness did not come easily to Deek. His homeland was a nation of ancient feuds and brutal dictators. Even though he’d come to America quite young, the scorching blood of his people blew through his veins like the desert winds. Or maybe that was a cop-out. Maybe he was fully capable of being a better man. But did he want to? He wasn’t sure. Money was what he had always craved, and he had it now.

Without a word, and without taking the proffered fruit, Deek turned and walked away. He’d tried to do the right thing. He’d tried to give away a million and a half dollars, and they didn’t want it. How was he supposed to use his money for good when the people on the other end wouldn’t cooperate? He was done with that. It was time to think of himself and his own needs. Everyone else could get out of the way, or get run over.

***

[Part 4 will be published next week inshaAllah]

 

Reader comments and constructive criticism are important to me, so please comment!

See the Story Index for Wael Abdelgawad’s other stories on this website.

Wael Abdelgawad’s novels – including Pieces of a Dream, The Repeaters and Zaid Karim Private Investigator – are available in ebook and print form on his author page at Amazon.com.

 

Related:

Asha and the Washerwoman’s Baby: A Short Story

Pieces of a Dream | Part 1: The Cabbie and the Muslim Woman

 

The post Moonshot: A Short Story [Part 3] – The Traits Of The Noble appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Mom, Anne, Mutti, Daye – I have said “mother” in all of the four languages I grew up with. 

Yet, it was only after I became a mother myself that I truly understood the depth and the meaning of what motherhood entails. It continues to be the most transformative experience of my life. Becoming a mother has been the most physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually challenging transformation of my human existence. It seems as mothers are growing, guiding, and nurturing a human being, they equally evolve and change forever through their children. For those who are not parents, the capacity to nurture and guide the next generation remains within every human’s nature.

Motherhood, with all of its joys, can also be a terribly lonely and sad experience: the pain and exhaustion of your body, the postpartum blues and mental strain, the sleepless nights, the tears, the constant worries and the never-ending questioning and guilt to make sure that you give your best to this new human being. As a society, we acknowledge and honor the hard and selfless sacrifices of mothers, especially on Mother’s Day. Yet, we still fall short in offering holistic support and care in many areas of life. 

In those moments in which I feel alone and overwhelmed by the endless demands of motherhood, I turn to the spiritual resources of my Muslim faith that continue to sustain my heart and strengthen my soul. Our Prophet Muhammad’s teachings on maternal care and his own expression of love towards his mother even after her death offer me comfort in times of distress. A few of them are particularly close to my heart:

Every motherly hardship is rewarded as highlighted in many Qur’an passages that were delivered by Prophet Muhammad to his community:

“We [God] have commanded the human being to be good to his parents: his mother struggled to carry him and struggled to give birth to him – his bearing and weaning took a full thirty months. In time, when the child reaches their prime at the age of forty, they pray, ‘Lord, help me to be truly grateful for Your favours to me and to my parents; help me to do good work that pleases You; make my offspring good. I turn to You; I am one of those who devote themselves to You,’” [Surah Al-Ahkaf; 46;15]

“And We have commanded people to ˹honour˺ their parents. Their mothers bore them through hardship upon hardship, and their weaning takes two years. So be grateful to Me and your parents. To Me is the final return.” [Surah Luqman; 31;14]

“Paradise is beneath her feet.” [PC: M T Elgassier (unsplash)]

These verses make clear that devotion to God entails love and care for parents, particularly for mothers who experience so much hardship. Such honorable statements felt uplifting to me in moments in which I felt unheard, and my struggles were invisible to others. They reminded me that raising a child is a profoundly spiritual act. A Prophetic narration that speaks also to motherhood as an act of worship states, if a pregnant woman dies during childbirth, she attains the highest state of martyrdom.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “In that case the martyrs of my nation would be few. Being killed in the cause of Allah is martyrdom; dying of the plague is martyrdom; when a pregnant woman dies in childbirth, that is martyrdom; and dying of drowning, or burning, or of pleurisy, is martyrdom.”

The mother is most deserving of good treatment, as expressed also in this song, which I often sang with my daughters.

According to this narration, a man came to Prophet Muhammad and asked, “O Messenger of God, who among the people is most deserving of my good companionship?” He said, “Your mother.” The man asked, “Then who?” He said, “Your mother.” The man further asked, “Then who?” He said, “Your mother.” The man asked again, “Then who?” He said, “Then your father.” 

Paradise lies under the feet of mothers. Probably the most well-known narration within the Muslim community, this statement by our Prophet Muhammad highlights the utmost importance of motherly care, respect, and attention.

It was narrated from Mu’awiyah bin Jahimah As-Sulami, that Jahimah came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: “O Messenger of Allah! I want to go out and fight (in Jihad) and I have come to ask your advice.” He said: “Do you have a mother?” He said: “Yes.” He said: “Then stay with her, for Paradise is beneath her feet.”

What greater encouragement can be mentioned than the kind treatment of mothers being a gateway to personal eternal bliss and happiness?

In seventh-century Arabian society, marked by misogyny in which women were degraded, these sacred narrations were revolutionary. They still ring true today and present a call for action on an individual and collective level. Many mothers – and by extension fathers – long for quality connection and regular time with their adult children, who can be caught up in the business of life. Widespread neglect and social isolation of the elderly, particularly among women, is now well-documented. Needless to say that abusive and harmful parent-child relationships are outside of this discussion and deserve an entirely separate treatment. 

In times of migration and mobility, biological parents may live far away. However, we can still spend time with motherly and fatherly figures around us who yearn for company. Prophet Muhammad’s teachings call us to implement positive life changes and policies in which mothers, parents, and by extension, all those who are the most vulnerable, feel more fully seen and supported by love and care.  

 

Related:

– Mothers: Honoring The Longing, The Losses, And The Love

– Difficulties Are Our Biggest Blessings: Notes From A Bereaved Mother With Three Calls From Jannah

The post On Motherhood: Finding Fortitude In The Prophet Muhammad’s Teachings appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

We hold the sacred treasures of the dunya within ourselves. The grand wonders, rare gems, and precious natural resources that we see as the riches of the world do not compare to what has been bestowed upon us. Amanah is an invisible yet powerful gift — something we hold, use, and share every day. It’s reflected in how we speak, what we listen to, how we see the world, what we do with our hands, and where we choose to go. Even our breath exists by Allah’s Will. This sacred trust, given only to humans, is often forgotten and taken for granted, left unused like a treasure gathering dust.

The word “Amanah”, like many words in Arabic, holds multiple profound meanings, among which are trust, loyalty, and responsibility. These qualities are intrinsic to every believer—woven into their very being, breathed into their soul.

 

“Truly, We did offer the Amanah (trust) to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and were afraid of it; but man bore it. Verily, he was unjust and ignorant.” [Surah Al-Ahzab; 33:72]

Ibn `Abbas explains in Tafsir al-Qurtubi that this Amanah refers to the responsibilities and obligations that Allah has entrusted to humanity, including acts of worship, obedience, and moral duties. The heavens, earth, and mountains, despite their vastness and strength, refused this burden out of reverence for Allah’s Command. Yet, mankind, often heedless and reckless, accepted it. This highlights both the great potential of human beings to fulfill divine commands and their tendency to neglect responsibilities.

As time moves forward, kingdoms are built, conquered, and fall. Though the meaning of Amanah has shifted slightly with each era, its core remains unchanged. History has recorded eras built on collective responsibility; wars fought to protect dignity, societies created to nurture community, and ideas brought forth for the benefit of all. These moments form the tapestry of inherited connection and shared duty, illustrating how individual acts of trust and responsibility woven together can strengthen society.

The Decline of Amanah in Our Communities

In the modern world, however, the gradual but rampant rise of individualism has led many to neglect this divine trust.  As Islam continues to grow in the West, uniting hearts and forming new communities, we witness a shift in how faith is practiced compared to traditional societies. Many Muslims have migrated seeking opportunity and freedom, and while some have found both, the challenge of maintaining Islamic values within highly individualistic cultures remains. Traditional societies emphasize collectivism, familial duty, and shared responsibility—values that naturally reinforce Amanah. What may be perceived as intrusive in the West is often seen elsewhere as communal care and commitment.

Yet, after migrating, many face cultural shock not only from the broader society but from within the Muslim community. The realization that fellow Muslims may view you as a burden rather than a source of barakah is deeply painful. Navigating a new culture is already difficult, but without the safety net of communal responsibility, it becomes even harder.

The influence of Western autonomy and self-focus has slowly crept into Muslim communities. Masjids often form social cliques, making newcomers feel alienated. Marriages are restricted to narrow circles. Muslim consumers may bypass Muslim-owned businesses, and some business owners exploit their community, assuming loyalty will justify price hikes. More troubling is the growing disconnect in immigrant communities themselves; by the second generation, the collective spirit their parents knew begins to dwindle. Children raised in the West may not inherit the same bonds of mutual duty, leading to fragmented communities and a decline in the practice of Amanah. In trying to adapt, we risk building communities shaped by cultural convenience rather than Islamic principles.
“The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Those—Allah will have mercy upon them. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.” [Surah Tawbah, 9:71]

The Prophet [saw] established mu’akhah (brotherhood). [PC: Masjid MABA (unsplash)]

This verse reminds us of the mu’akhah (brotherhood) the Prophet established between the Muhajirun and the Ansar. When the Prophet and his companions migrated to Madinah, the Muhajirun left behind everything. To ensure their well-being, the Prophet established this bond of brotherhood between them and the Ansar, pairing individuals together. The Ansar embraced the Muhajirun with unparalleled generosity, sharing their homes, wealth, and resources without hesitation, embodying the principle of believers as allies. This brotherhood reflected true Amanah. As seen in Al-Sirah Al-Nabawiyyah, pairings like Bilal and Abu Ruwayhah -a former African slave and a renowned Arab poet- shattered societal barriers, proving that Islam is founded on taqwa, not race or status. Such examples are timeless lessons on how to build communities grounded in trust and responsibility.

The Rise of “Self”-Culture

“Self-made,” “Self-owned,” “Self-sufficient” — Western ideals often idolize self-reliance, but in doing so, they risk idolizing the self above all else.  The concept of the self has pandered to the innate greed we all have; one of our fatal flaws. In individualistic societies, the sense of Amanah can sometimes weaken, making it essential for believers to consciously uphold it.  In such societies, Amanah becomes optional, not instinctive. Being a resource to others is a burden; hands are rarely extended in fear of responsibility being pressed into them, and contacts are spoken to only when in need of a favor. Clinical networking has replaced friendships, connections made superficially, quickly dropped when their usefulness has expired. In this climate, Amanah is commodified, leading to emotional disconnection not only from community, but from our very purpose.

Amanah also extends beyond human relationships. Our duty to Allah’s Creation is often forgotten. Western industrialism, in its relentless pursuit of progress, clears forests, pollutes skies, and destroys ecosystems. Consider trees: Allah has created them to serve as carbon sinks, converting harmful carbon dioxide into oxygen, but also to act as natural protectors or barriers, shielding the land from erosion, floods, and extreme temperatures. Yet, in the race for industrial expansion and urban development, many societies have prioritized human invention over nature’s wisdom, clearing forests to make way for highways, commercial centers, and corporate infrastructure.

When we fail to honor our responsibility to the natural world, we risk losing a fundamental part of our humanity: our ability to care, to protect, and to recognize that true progress is measured not by what we build, but by what we preserve. This pattern goes beyond environmental damage; it reflects a deeper moral and spiritual crisis—the gradual erosion of Amanah in our hearts.

The Loss of Amanah

The Prophet Muhammad warned:

“A man may sleep and Amanah will be taken from his heart, leaving nothing but a trace like a blister left by a coal… Then people will buy and sell, and hardly anyone will be paying attention to Amanah, until it will be said that among such-and-such a tribe there is a trustworthy man.” [Sahih al-Bukhari and  Sahih Muslim]

“When we fail to honor our responsibility to the natural world, we risk losing a fundamental part of our humanity.” [PC: Hasan Almasi (unsplash)]

This hadith of the Prophet Muhammad about the gradual erosion of Amanah warns that trust, honesty, and moral responsibility will slowly fade from society, so much so that finding a truly trustworthy person who upholds all the qualities of a believer with Amanah becomes rare. The hadith further describes how Amanah will be taken from people’s hearts step by step, much like a person sleeping and waking up to find it gone. The Prophet illustrates this process using the metaphor of a blister left by a burning coal—a painful incident that then leaves a mark that eventually disappears altogether. This warning is deeply connected to the ayah from Surah At-Tawbah and the mu’akhah, reflecting a time when Amanah was central to the early Muslim community, where believers were bound by mutual support, honesty, and moral duty. However, the Prophet warns that over time, Amanah will no longer be a defining trait of society. In commerce, governance, and daily interactions, honesty will gradually erode until trust becomes so rare that a truly trustworthy person is seen as an exception rather than the standard. This warning is for more than just financial dealings—it speaks to a broader decline in moral responsibility, ethical leadership, and the sincerity of human relationships. When trust diminishes, communities weaken, and the very fabric of society is compromised. The Prophet’s words serve as a timeless reminder to uphold Amanah in all aspects of life, ensuring that integrity remains the foundation of both personal and collective well-being.

The Qur’an further warns:

 “So that Allah will punish the hypocrites, men and women, and the idolaters, men and women, while Allah will pardon the believers, men and women. And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [Surah Al-Ahzab 33:73]

Here, neglecting trust is linked to hypocrisy. Upholding it earns Allah’s Mercy. Amanah is not just moral—it is spiritual, essential to our standing with Allah .

How to Strengthen Amanah

To strengthen Amanah within ourselves, we must commit to living with integrity, accountability, and care in all aspects of life. This includes how we treat others, how we manage our responsibilities, and how we connect with Allah and the world around us. To get started, below are a few practical ways to uphold and nurture Amanah within ourselves and our communities:

• Embrace honesty and integrity.
  
• Keep promises and speak truthfully.
• Fulfill responsibilities with sincerity.
• Engage in ethical financial conduct.
• Deepen spiritual connection with Allah .
• Foster inclusive, collaborative communities.
• Support Muslim businesses ethically.
• Protect the environment.
• Teach the next generation about Amanah.

Conclusion

Amanah is a sacred trust that extends beyond our individual relationships to all of Allah’s Creation. Upholding it requires us to live with integrity, responsibility, and care. By nurturing trust in our actions and relationships, we can rebuild stronger communities grounded in Islamic values. This return to Amanah will help us build a society that reflects the mercy, justice, and unity that Islam commands.

 

Related:

– Rethinking Work-Life Balance Through The Lens Of Amanah

– Make your Deen Green: Muslims and their Responsibility to the Environment

 

 

The post Reviving Amanah: Trust And Responsibility In An Age Of Western Individualism appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Cryptocurrency is Deek’s last chance to succeed in life, and he will not stop, no matter what.

[Read Part 1 here]

 

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Beware of greed, for it was only greed that destroyed those before you. It commanded them to be miserly and they did so. It commanded them to sever their family ties and they did so. It commanded them to behave wickedly, and they did so.” – Abu Dāwūd

A Rich Man

The trade went through! Deek Saghir stared at the phone in his hand. The trade had finalized. This was not a scam or a mistake. He now had $176,000 worth of USDC in his account. He could not hold actual dollars in this wallet, as software wallets like this could only hold cryptocurrency, not fiat currency. But USDC was a type of crypto called a stablecoin. Its value was pegged to that of the U.S. dollar, and it was backed by Coinbase, its creator, with actual dollars and securities. So it was essentially the same as cash.

He really had 1.7 million dollars. He…he was rich. “I’m rich,” he whispered, and the words felt strange in his mouth, like chewing gum made out of wet cement. That word, rich, with its heavy r sound – he hardly knew how to enunciate it. He feared he might choke on it if he tried to say it more loudly.

Again, he pushed his chair back and hit the wall. Then he leaped up, like a volcano that has been dormant for fifty thousand years suddenly spewing lava and ash. He pumped his fists into the air and shouted, “I did it! I did it! I did it! I did it!” He dropped his arms and tilted his face to the ceiling, mouth open and eyes closed, and lowered his voice to a speaking tone. “I did it,” he said. “I did it I did it I did it I did it…” He might have continued like this for many minutes, like a bullfrog calling in the night, if Rania had not stopped him.

Rizq Comes From Allah

“What is going on?” His wife was at his side, gripping his arm. Her face was white. A smidge of cheesy potato clung to the corner of her mouth. “Baby, are you okay?”

Deek. “I had a really good trade, honey. A really good one.” He shook his head in happy disbelief. “This is what I’ve been working and waiting -”

His petite wife smacked him in the chest, interrupting his dialogue. “A trade? That’s what you were screaming about? You scared me! I thought you were having a heart attack or something. What on earth?”

He laughed. “Sorry. It’s just that it’s a really good one, you won’t believe – ”

She put a finger on his lips, silencing him. Her face had gone from white to flushed red with anger. “I’m happy that you had a good trade. But I’ve heard that before, and we haven’t seen a red cent of real money. So please.” She removed her finger and took a step back. “Our electricity bill hit $500 this month, because of all this.” She waved a hand at Deek’s computers and fans. “I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m not telling you to stop. I know this is important to you. But I don’t know what to do. I can’t keep funding this. I can’t afford it. Our family can’t afford it.”

Deek could not remember the last time he’d seen his wife so angry. She was getting angrier by the second, to the point that she was almost shaking.

“But Rania -”

She held up a hand. “And if you had a good trade, then how about saying alhamduillah, rather than this mindless shouting and muttering like a crazy person? You didn’t do anything. Whatever rizq we are granted comes from Allah. Everything that we have, everything that we are, we owe to Allah. A Muslim always acknowledges that.” With that, she turned and stalked away.

Liquidity Bot

Deek stood, still feeling the sting on his chest where Rania had smacked him. He was frustrated that she had not let him speak. But he understood. It was one of his great shames that he’d made money before and lost it all, not even keeping a little to benefit his family. And every time he lost it all, he had to draw from the joint account to get started again. Since he had no income, that money came right from Rania’s paycheck. From her perspective, this was folly. She would not believe it was real until she had cash in hand.

She was right. He should thank Allah. He went down on hands and knees in the closet and made sajdah. He was not overwhelmed with emotion, but he felt this was what he should do as a Muslim, to show his gratitude. One of those grand gestures that a person should do at such a moment.

Rising and sitting in his computer chair, he considered his next steps. Meme coins were unpredictable. There was no way he would leave all those New York Killa tokens untouched. On the other hand, if he dumped it all, it would crash the price.

He would use a liquidity bot. He’d read about these. He set up a Telegram crypto wallet using a service called Trojan, then downloaded a bot that offered a number of services, including controlled token liquidation. He followed the steps to begin the process, then sat back. Every time someone bought New York Killa, the bot would sell 25% of that amount. So if someone out there bought $60K worth, the bot would sell $15K worth of Deek’s tokens. And it would continue to do so until it had sold everything in the wallet. This would allow him to liquidate without trashing the chart.

Of course, if the token price crashed in the next few days, Deek would lose a lot of money. But if it held steady or continued to rise, this would work out well.

Conductor Eric

That still left $176K in USDC. Theoretically, he could transfer it to a centralized exchange, such as his Coinbase account, swap it for U.S. dollars, and transfer that to his bank account. Within a day, his family’s financial problems would be solved. Then Rania would understand what he had accomplished. He could buy gifts for the kids too, as well as fix the broken side gate, the leaking bathroom faucet, the dry rot in the roof overhang, the cracks in the driveway, and many other things.

But…$176K was not a fortune. It would only go so far. On the other hand, if he invested it in another crypto, he could double or triple it.

Conductor Eric

There was a brother in the community who had created his own token, called Conductor Eric, based on the concept of a good-hearted monkey who traveled the world on a magical train, helping the poor and standing up to injustice. At one point, Conductor Eric had gone as high as a $1 million market cap, but had subsequently fallen all the way to $20K. If Deek began making regular, controlled buys, the activity might catch people’s attention and could stimulate buying. In other words, he could manipulate the market on this token to drive the price up and make a profit. He’d always known that crypto whales did this, but had never had enough money to do it himself.

The opposite could happen as well. As he drove up the price, long-term holders might take the opportunity to dump their tokens. It was a risk.

Ah well. No guts, no glory. He set it up using another bot. It would make periodic buys, varying the amount and frequency. $50 here, $200 there, and so on, until it had spent $150K, at which point it would alert him via text message.

He was hungry, but more than that, he was exhausted. He hadn’t had a proper sleep in weeks. His eyelids felt raspy, as if there were beach sand trapped behind them, and his mouth tasted like a trash can. Rania often complained about his physical state, and she was right. Shutting down the computers, he brushed his teeth, showered, put on pajamas, and tumbled into bed, where he slept the sleep of a man shot down in the street, unaware and uncaring of all that he had left behind in the world of the living.

Higher and Lower

Something woke him at 4 am. He wasn’t sure what. There was pressure on his ribs, and his skull felt like someone had taken out his brain and replaced it with tapioca pudding. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his thoughts.

He was in his bed. The pressure on his ribs was Rania’s arm draped over him as she slept. His phone buzzed and lit up. Squinting against the glare of the screen, he saw that it was an alert from the buy bot. That was what had awakened him.

He removed Rania’s arm, grabbed the phone, and stumbled sleepily into the closet. Closing the door, he turned on the light and fired up the computers.

He discovered that two things had happened. One, his plan for Conductor Eric had worked. The token had soared to a $4.5 million market cap. His $150K was now worth $1.9 million.

Two, the Fatality bot had sold 50% of his New York Killa tokens, but New York Killa was still rising in price. In fact, it was going parabolic. The tokens he’d sold had netted $2 million, but the ones he still held were worth $4,116,822. Over four million dollars!

His net worth was now eight million dollars. Quickly, not letting himself think about it or second-guess, he sold all the Conductor Eric. He was aware that this would crash the price of the token, at least temporarily, but he didn’t care. With the extreme slippage his $1.9 million netted $1.2 million. Then he deactivated the Fatality bot and sold 80% of his remaining New York Killa tokens.

High on his win, his blood thrilling like jet fuel in his veins, he had to make another trade. He went to a crypto monitoring website called Birdeye and checked the bubble map to see what was hot. An AI token called Alpha101 was up 132% today alone. It represented a company that had invented some kind of swarming AI agent technology. Deek studied the chart. After so many years of trading crypto day and night, he could read a chart the way a kid could read a comic book. Alpha101 was at a $15 million market cap, which was a crucial level. If it continued higher it would begin to attract whales and institutional buyers. Feeling lightheaded, as if he’d inhaled helium and might burst into high-pitched laughter, he bought $2 million worth.

Hitting the BUY button, he did indeed let out a bark of muted laughter. He’d just spent two million dollars on a new and unverified crypto token. It was insanity, but it was also a heady feeling, like taking a selfie on a ledge over a sheer drop.

Money Management

He shut all the devices off, turned off the light, and sat on the living room sofa in the dark. What was happening? How was this possible? But he knew the answer: he had worked for it. He’d done the research, put in the time, tried scores of different strategies, and he was beginning to figure it out.

And Allah, of course. Allah had blessed him. Still, it bothered him what Rania had said. What had been her words? You didn’t do anything. She was saying that Allah had done it all. Taking all the credit away from Deek, who had worked like an indentured servant to make this happen.

Now he faced the problem of how to manage all this money. If he simply transferred it to his bank account, he’d face a massive tax bill. No, he needed to be smart, like corporations and rich people. He would create an offshore corporation, with a corporate account in the Caymans or the Turks and Caicos. He’d transfer all the USDC to the corporation, which would then sell it, and pay him a monthly salary. The corporation could also buy a house, a new car, and so on. Deek himself would be immune from taxes and liability, except for the salary the corporation paid him.

He didn’t know if he had to go to the islands in person to set it up. His passport had expired, so he’d have to renew it. That would take time. The bottom line was that for now, he would lay low. He would permit himself to transfer only $20K in cash to his bank account, to pay the bills that were burdening Rania. He went ahead and initiated it, moving $20K in USDC to Coinbase, swapping it for USD, and transferring it to the joint bank account.

With these plans spinning in his mind like a dozen tops on a table, he went back to bed. He could not sleep, however, and ended up tossing and turning until morning.

Numb

He must have fallen asleep at some point, because he awoke to find the room full of light and the house empty. It was 11 am. Rania had gone to her job at the hospital, where she worked as a nurse. Sanaya and Amira would both be at school now.

For a moment, he stood in the living room scratching his head, then he remembered the AI token. The two-million-dollar gamble. What was it called? Alpha101. Not wanting to wait for his computer to start, he thumbed the phone and checked the wallet.

Two things had happened. One, Alpha101 had tripled since he bought it. His share was worth $6 million and change. Two, New York Killa had become a monster. It was up massively. Like Pengu and Fartcoin before it, it had hit a $1.5 billion market cap. The tokens he’d kept, which had been worth $800K, were now worth $88 million.

Numbly, he sold 90% of both the Alpha101 and New York Killa, swapping them for Solana, and letting the rest ride. With the slippage, his net worth was now $68 million dollars. He could have retained more of the value if he’d spaced out his sales, but he didn’t care.

He felt nothing. No, “I did it,” escaped his lips, nor “alhamdulilah.” He was empty, not like a cup waiting to be filled, but like one that had fallen and shattered, and now could hold nothing. Perhaps he was in shock. He needed Rania. He needed to share this with her. She would help him make sense of it.

He checked his bank account. The 20K transfer was pending, and would clear by tomorrow, inshaAllah.

A New Idea

They only had one car, and Rania had taken it, so Deek got dressed and ordered an Uber. A half hour later, he strode into Kaiser Permanente Medical Center and took the elevator to the fourth floor.

Rania was seated in front of one of the computers at the nurse’s station, updating records no doubt. She saw him and gave him a quizzical look.

“Hey, baby,” she said. “Are you okay? How did you get here?”

Deek smiled, feeling happy and relieved to see her. “Honey, something has happened. I need to talk to you about it.”

Rania’s face fell. “What? Something with the kids?”

Deek shook his head. “No, nothing like that. It’s about the crypto.”

Rania’s face went white with rage. Deek had never seen her like this and had to take a step back. “You come to my workplace,” she seethed, “to bother me with this? I told you I don’t want to hear any more about it. I don’t believe in it, I don’t care about it. It’s not real. When will you understand that? It’s all play money. But the money you lose is real money.” She threw her hands up. “I can’t talk about this now. Just…” She exhaled loudly. “We’ll talk when I get home.”

Without a word, Deek turned and walked out. He felt like he’d been slapped.

It was at that moment that a new idea began to germinate in his mind. It was one he’d never allowed himself to contemplate, even when he and Rania had argued and fought. It was this: maybe it was time for him and Rania to separate. Not because he had money now, though perhaps that was part of it. One of the things that had kept him bound to her was that he couldn’t afford to live on his own.

More importantly, though, she didn’t believe in him and respect him anymore. You didn’t do anything, she’d said to him. Deek didn’t like that at all. And she’d hit him. He would probably have a mark on his chest from where she’d slapped him.

Another idea crept like a wolf into his mind and sat on its haunches, looking at him: maybe he should not tell Rania the full extent of his crypto windfall. She didn’t believe in it anyway. Maybe he would keep it to himself for now.

***

[Part 3 will be published next week inshaAllah]

 

Reader comments and constructive criticism are important to me, so please comment!

See the Story Index for Wael Abdelgawad’s other stories on this website.

Wael Abdelgawad’s novels – including Pieces of a Dream, The Repeaters and Zaid Karim Private Investigator – are available in ebook and print form on his author page at Amazon.com.

Related:

The Things He Would Say – [Part 1] – The Call to Hajj

A Hassan’s Tale Story: No Strings On Me

The post Moonshot: A Short Story [Part 2] – A Rich Man appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

When He loosens your tongue with a supplication, know that He wants to give you [something].

متى أطلق لسانك بالدعاء فاعلم أنه يريد أن يعطيك

– Ibn Ataillah Iskanderi1

A Reflection on Ibn Ataillah’s Wisdom

As we traverse a world ensnared by the allure of tangible comforts and transient distractions, many souls find themselves adrift, distanced from the profound act of prayer. The cacophony of modern life, with its relentless demands and superficial pursuits, often silences the sacred whispers of our hearts, drawing us away from the divine communion that lies within our reach.

Our reliance on material means erects barriers to spiritual fulfillment, blinding us to the transformative power of turning to Allah in our moments of need. Yet, it is in these very moments of yearning that the door to the Divine swings wide open, inviting us to engage in a dialogue that transcends the mundane. To forget this invitation is to overlook the essence of our existence—to neglect the profound relationship that awaits us in the stillness of our supplications.

When the whispers of supplication rise from your lips, recognize that they are not mere expressions of longing, nor are they echoes cast futilely into the void. Instead, they are the gentle summons of the Divine—a profound indication that He, who holds the treasures of the heavens and the earth, has already turned toward you in mercy and compassion.

Have you ever pondered whether your hands would rise in prayer had He not already willed to fill them with blessings? Would your heart yearn for His presence if He had not already decreed its solace? This yearning is not an accident; it is a deliberate act of Divine Love, a sign that your soul is attuned to the call of its Creator.

Du’a is not a plea cast into uncertainty; it is an answered call in its very utterance. Every invocation you make carries the weight of Divine acknowledgment, a promise that your words are heard and cherished. In this sacred act of supplication, you engage in a dialogue that transcends mere requests; you enter into a relationship, a communion with the One Who knows your innermost thoughts and desires.

The act of praying is a testament to the interconnectedness of the seeker and the Divine. It reflects a deep understanding that your needs and aspirations have already been woven into the tapestry of existence, designed by a loving Creator Who anticipates your every call. Each prayer is a thread in this intricate fabric, binding you closer to the source of all mercy and grace.

As the Prophet Muhammad [ﷺ] said:

“إن الله تعالى حيٌ كريم، يستحيي إذا رفع الرجل إليهم يديه أن يردهما صفراً خائبتين.”

“Indeed, Allah is modest and generous. He is ashamed that when a servant raises his hands to Him, He would return them empty and disappointed.” [Abu Dawood, Al-Tirmidhi]

Thus, when you find yourself in the moment of supplication, do so with the knowledge that your voice is not lost. It is a beacon, a radiant light that pierces the darkness, beckoning the Divine to respond. In this sacred exchange, trust that you are enveloped in mercy, and that every whisper of your heart has the potential to transform your reality.

As Ibn Ata’ Allah said:

“دعاء العبد سلاحه، وبه يفتح له من أبواب الرحمة.”

“The supplication of the servant is his weapon, and through it, the doors of mercy are opened for him.”

In this understanding, embrace the act of supplication with unwavering faith, knowing that your prayers are not just words—they are the keys to the treasures of Divine grace.

The Divine Invitation to Seek

Allah does not inspire your heart to call upon Him only to turn you away. Rather, the very breath of supplication is a profound indication that the gates of Divine generosity have already been unlocked, inviting you into a realm of endless possibility and grace. It is a Divine invitation, a whisper from the Creator, assuring you that your desires and hopes are not in vain.

He Himself proclaims:

“And your Lord says, ‘Call upon Me; I will respond to you. Indeed, those who disdain My worship will enter Hell [rendered] contemptible.” [Surah Ghafir; 40:60]

This verse encapsulates the essence of Allah’s Promise—that the act of calling upon Him is met with a guarantee of response.

O seeker, understand that your prayer was heard before it ever graced your lips. Your yearning was answered long before it took form in your heart.

This is not a mere coincidence; it is the manifestation of Divine wisdom.

“Thus, when you find yourself in the throes of supplication, remember that your prayers are not lost; they are held close to the heart of the One who knows you better than you know yourself.” [PC: Imad Alassiry (unsplash)]

For it is He who plants the seed of du’a in your soul, nurturing it with His Mercy and Compassion. Just as a gardener tends to the delicate shoots of a new plant, so too does Allah cultivate your supplications, ensuring they receive the nourishment they need to flourish. Each prayer is a testament to the connection between you and the Divine; a sacred dialogue that transcends the limitations of time and space.

In this Divine exchange, your heart’s yearning is a reflection of His Will. He instills in you the desire to seek, to ask, and to knock upon the door of His mercy, knowing that every sincere plea is met with an equally sincere response. This is not a transaction but a relationship—a sacred bond that deepens with every invocation.

Thus, when you find yourself in the throes of supplication, remember that your prayers are not lost; they are held close to the heart of the One who knows you better than you know yourself. In this sacred space of connection, trust that your voice is echoed in the heavens and that every tear shed in earnestness is counted and cherished. For it is He who plants the seed of du’a in your soul, only so that He may water it with His Mercy.

A Prophetic Promise of Response

The Messenger of Allah [ﷺ] assured the broken-hearted and the weary:

مَا مِنْ مُسْلِمٍ يَدْعُو اللَّهَ بِدَعْوَةٍ لَيْسَ فِيهَا إِثْمٌ، وَلَا قَطِيعَةُ رَحِمٍ، إِلَّا أَعْطَاهُ اللَّهُ بِهَا إِحْدَى ثَلَاثٍ: إِمَّا أَنْ تُعَجَّلَ لَهُ دَعْوَتُهُ، وَإِمَّا أَنْ يَدَّخِرَهَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ، وَإِمَّا أَنْ يَصْرِفَ عَنْهُ مِنَ السُّوءِ مِثْلَهَا.

“There is no Muslim who supplicates to Allah with a supplication that contains no sin nor severing of family ties, except that Allah grants him one of three things: either He will quickly answer his supplication, or He will store it for him in the Hereafter, or He will turn away from him an equivalent harm.” [Ahmad, Al-Tirmidhi]

This profound hadith encapsulates the infinite Mercy and Wisdom of Allah , serving as a cornerstone of faith for believers. It reassures us that our prayers are never cast into the abyss of silence; rather, they are met with Divine attention and care. Each sincere supplication, untainted by sin or malice, is enveloped in a promise of response, manifesting in ways that reflect Allah’s intricate Understanding of our deepest needs.

1. Immediate Response: The first possibility reveals the immediacy of Divine Grace. When our hearts cry out, Allah may swiftly fulfill our desires, showcasing His readiness to provide for His Creation. This encourages a profound trust in His willingness to respond, reminding us that our pleas are not mere words; they are heartfelt invitations for His Mercy to descend upon us.
2. Storing in the Hereafter: The second possibility underscores the eternal nature of Divine Justice. If our supplication remains unanswered in this life, it is preserved for us in the Hereafter—a testament to Allah’s Foresight and Compassion. This notion transforms our understanding of time and reward, affirming that our struggles and prayers in this ephemeral world lay the groundwork for everlasting blessings in the next.
3. Diverting Harm: The third promise embodies a profound aspect of Divine Wisdom: Allah may choose to avert an equivalent harm from us. This reflects a deeper understanding that our desires may not always align with our best interests. Through this divine intervention, Allah safeguards us from trials we may not recognize, illustrating His protective Embrace and omniscient Care.

Therefore, when you feel the stirrings of du’a, do not doubt. Do not hesitate. For if He has placed it upon your tongue, He has already inscribed its reply in the fabric of the unseen. Your prayer is a testament to your connection with the Divine, a bridge that draws you closer to His infinite Mercy and Compassion. Each utterance is not merely a request but an act of faith, a declaration of your trust in His Divine Plan.

In this sacred relationship, remember that your voice is heard, your pleas are cherished, and your heart’s yearnings are met with Divine Grace. Embrace the act of supplication with confidence, knowing that Allah’s Response is always perfectly timed and exquisitely tailored to your ultimate good. In doing so, you engage in a cosmic dialogue, a sacred communion that transcends the limitations of our understanding, illuminating the path toward spiritual fulfillment and Divine Intimacy.

Prayer as a Sign of Divine Nearness

O heart that trembles in the night, know this: you would not have knocked had the door not been meant to open.

You would not have wept had the response not been decreed.

For the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has said:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ حَيِيٌّ كَرِيمٌ، يَسْتَحِي إِذَا رَفَعَ الرَّجُلُ إِلَيْهِ يَدَيْهِ أَنْ يَرُدَّهُمَا صِفْرًا خَائِبَتَيْنِ

“Indeed, Allah is modest and generous. He is ashamed that when a servant raises his hands to Him, He would return them empty and disappointed.” [Abu Dawood, Al-Tirmidhi]

So call upon Him with certainty, with the unshakable faith that your voice is heard, your plea is recorded, and your answer is already on its way—perhaps not in the form you expect, but always in the way that is best for you.

The Echo of His Mercy

When Allah , ignites your tongue with the fire of supplication, perceive this not merely as your own initiative, but as a sacred invitation from the Divine to partake in the bounty of His Mercy. Each supplication is akin to a seed, delicately sown in the fertile soil of your heart; some may bloom in this ephemeral world, while others will blossom in the eternal gardens of the Hereafter, yet none are ever lost to the winds of time.

Pray, O seeker, with unwavering conviction, for you are not unheard. Lift your hands in earnest entreaty, for He is too generous to return them empty. Each cry of your heart, each whisper of your soul, resonates in the boundless expanse of the Divine, met with a promise—a promise that transcends our understanding and expectations.

When your heart quivers with longing, recognize this tremor as the gentle summons of the Divine:

 “Come to Me, and I shall bestow upon you more than you ever dared to imagine.”2

Your yearning is not an echo cast into the void; it is a manifestation of the love and mercy that Allah   has intricately woven into the fabric of your existence. In the profound words of Rumi:

“Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again, come, come.”

This is a clarion call to return, a reminder that regardless of your trials and tribulations, the gates of mercy remain perpetually ajar. Embrace this invitation to commune with the Divine, for every moment spent in supplication is a step toward the realization of your heart’s most profound desires.

In this sacred journey, trust that your prayers are not mere utterances; they are bridges to the Infinite, pathways to tranquility, and channels of divine grace. Allah is awaiting your return—so come, and let your heart speak its truth with unrestrained fervor. In doing so, you shall unveil the treasures that await those who dare to seek.

 

Related:

–From The Chaplain’s Desk: The Power Of Dua

– Before You Seek Answers, Seek Him First: A Muslim Chaplain’s Ramadan Reflection

1    Ibn ʿAtāʾ Allāh al-Iskandarī (d. 709 AH / 1309 CE) was a master of the Shādhilī Sufi path, a jurist of the Mālikī school, and a spiritual heir to Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Mursī. Rooted in Alexandria, he authored the al-Ḥikam al-ʿAṭāʾiyya, a timeless treasury of Sufi wisdom.2    Khalid Hameed Shaida, Amir Khusro: The Nightingale of India – Selected Persian Odes Kindle Edition, CreateSpace, 2012, p. 56

The post Beyond Longing – Dua: A Deliberate Act Of Divine Love appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Cryptocurrency is Deek’s last chance to succeed in life, and he will not stop, no matter what.

“Desire for status and prominence is one of the diseases of the heart.” – Al-Ghazali

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” – Seneca (Roman Stoic)

Moonshots and Degen Trades

Deek had two computers and three monitors running at once as he checked his cryptocurrency investments, tracking a different trade on each monitor. His office, if you could call it that, was crammed into the walk-in closet of the master bedroom of his home, which made for a isolating and stifling work experience. He had two fans going, which still barely managed to keep him and the two computers from overheating.

He wiped his face with his t-shirt sleeve, and snagged a potato chip out of a family-sized bag. He owned over sixty different cryptocurrencies, most with a total value less than $100, but only actively tracked two or three at a time. Some were moonshots, which were extreme longshot trades that could potentially make him rich, or could decline to zero. A hundred bucks here, two hundred there. Others were long-term positions, meaning he would hold them until this bull run hit its peak, at which point he would convert them to stable coins and hold for the next cycle.

Still others were major short-term trades into which he dropped between one thousand and three thousand dollars. These were meant to be held for less than an hour, or even just fifteen minutes. They were degen trades, for that was what traders like him were called – degenerates. Extreme risk takers. And that was fine with him, he could live with the label.

In fact he loved it, he was proud of it. He went where other traders were afraid to go, took the risks they would not take, and that’s why he would be rich one day when others were crawling in the dust praying for airdrops, like dogs waiting for digital scraps to fall into their mouths.

Not him. He would make his own future, inshaAllah. He always remembered to ask Allah, and trust in Allah, for though Allah had denied him success thus far, he knew he could never achieve it without the will and permission of his Creator.

Prove Them All Wrong

He’d been doing this for five years and he knew full well that no one believed in him. Most people couldn’t tell a crypto from a corncob, but even so, in the beginning, a few people had found what he was doing interesting, and had encouraged him. His wife, for one. His friend Marco. Zaid Karim, that dynamic young private detective who was his wife’s cousin’s husband. And… Well, that was about it.

As for everyone else – the mosque community, his wife’s friends, and his own two sisters – he knew how they spoke about him, what they thought of him. He was a deadbeat husband, staying at home pursuing a fool’s errand while his wife supported the family. His two children had to attend community college because he couldn’t pay for a state university. He was a slob and a wreck, and had let himself go. He was running the family into the ground, and would bankrupt the household in the end. He was almost sixty years old, and had accomplished nothing of note in this life.

All those superior doctors and engineers at the masjid, with their hundred thousand dollar donations to the Islamic center, their Mercedes SUVs and big houses in north Clovis. One brother even came to Jum’ah in a white Lamborghini, which Deek found disgusting considering all the Muslims around the world who were starving and suffering.

These people all looked down on him, they thought he was a nobody. They discounted him. He could attend an event at the center, walk in and out, without anyone talking to him. As if he were invisible. He was a joke to them. But he would show them who Deek Saghir really was, and what he was capable of.

For the last five years he’d poured everything he had into crypto. He ate crypto for breakfast, he sweated it through his pores, he breathed it in at night when he slept. He studied and traded every day, and every day he learned something new.

He could break down for any listener the difference between proof-of-work and proof-of-stake, he could explain DeFi, layer 1’s, layer 2’s, Solana meme coins vs Ethereum meme coins, why XRP was doomed to fail, why Solana would succeed while Cardano and Avalanche would not, which was the best software or hardware wallet, tokenization of real-world assets using NFTs, and even lesser known crypto technologies like ZK rollups and oracles.

In five years he’d made small fortunes three times, and three times had lost them all. The biggest of these fortunes had been two hundred thousand dollars. The first time it happened, the first time he lost it all, as he saw it crashing in real time, he’d been on his knees, begging Allah, sobbing and saying, “Why are you doing this to me, Allah? Why? What have I done?”

Go The Distance

But Zaid Karim, whose wife Safaa was Deek’s wife’s cousin, and who Deek admired tremendously, had told him, “Allah does not hate you, Deek. He wants good for you. He gave you that sharp intellect and steel-trap memory. Life is waves, it’s peaks and troughs. Prove you can persist, show that you can go the distance, and you will succeed, inshaAllah.”

So Deek had dusted himself off, telling himself, “Go the distance… Go the distance.” And the second fortune had come more easily, and the third – the big one – more easily still, though he’d lost them as well. But he had not despaired. He knew now that he could do it, and do it again, and so he would.

Crypto was his life, and if he did not succeed it would be his death, emotionally at least. But he would succeed. He would prove them all wrong! And it would happen soon, he could sense it. He was a hungry dog who can smell food nearby. His day was coming. He only had to keep going.

His wife Rania peeked around the corner. “Dinner’s ready, baby.”

She was a gorgeous Iraqi-American woman, petite and darker skinned than most Iraqis, which Deek found exotic and lovely. Her hair was cut into a pixie bob and dyed red. Deek preferred the natural black color, but she was lovely nonetheless. She’d put on weight in the twenty years they’d been married, but Deek didn’t mind. It made her more of a real woman.

And of course Deek himself had put on weight too. Quite a lot of it, actually, to the point where it was embarrassing to take his shirt off. He felt uncomfortable in his own body. His torso felt heavy and unwieldy, and his knees rickety. He could barely tie his own shoes. He felt like a stranger in his body. He no longer exercised, or painted, or even read books. He rarely prayed. All he did anymore was obsess over crypto. He used to play racquetball but hadn’t done it in years. And he ate too much junk food, sitting here in front of the monitors.

Lonely

“I made roasted chicken,” Rania added. “With gorgonzola potatoes and green beans. Your favorite.”

Deek’s mouth began watering, but… “I can’t,” he said regretfully. He glanced from the computer screen to his wife’s face, then back at the screen. “I’m waiting on a token that’s about to bond. I have $2.5K riding on it, I literally can’t take my eyes off it.”

Rania remained looking at him, only her head in the closet. “Baby…”

Deek gritted his teeth, steeling himself for the inevitable criticism disguised as loving advice: You’ve taken this crypto thing as far as it can go, I’m the only one bringing in money, we’re behind on the bills, the kids never see you, you’re not taking care of yourself, why don’t you register as a substitute teacher, you could try graphic design, or even apply for a state job. It’s time to live in the real world – and on and on.

But Rania didn’t say any of those things. She only said, “I’m lonely.”

Deek felt like he’d been stabbed in the chest. He wanted to cry for shame for letting his wife down, not only tonight but for the last twenty years. But he could not abandon this trade, it was critical.

“What about the kids?” he asked.

“Amira is studying at her friend’s house, and Sanaya is working a late shift at the store.”

It embarrassed Deek that Sanaya, who was 19 and a sophomore at city college, had to work full time to have enough money to pay for her own expenses, like car insurance, gas, clothing and even textbooks. He loved his two girls like the trees loved the sun. But he had never been financially successful, even before he started trading crypto. When the girls had been young they had wanted to go to Disneyland and Great America, but he hadn’t had the money to take them. One year they’d wanted to go to ISNA to see their Islamic studies teacher speak. Another year they’d wanted to take ice skating classes. And so on. And every time the answer had been no, he couldn’t afford it.

Now they rarely asked for anything anymore. In fact they hardly spoke to him at all.

“I’m sorry honey,” he said. “I have to watch this trade.”

Rania sighed, and it was a heavy sound, like an anchor tumbling down into the deepest ocean trench in the world. She left to eat alone.

Rug Pull

Deek turned back to the monitor just in time to see that the biggest trade he’d been monitoring, a $2,500 purchase of a meme coin called Hippo Fairy Dust, had just been rug pulled. The chart showed a steady green climb to about $75K market cap, then a vertical red plunge to nothing. The owner of the token, or one of the primary investors, had pulled the liquidity, panicking the remaining buyers and causing an instantaneous crash.

Instantly Deek hit the sell button, hoping to salvage whatever he could. A notice came up: SLIPPAGE EXCEEDED. Dammit! The trade had failed because the price was falling too fast. He increased the slippage to 25%, ignoring the warning that popped up, and hit SELL again. The trade went through… He received $90 He’d just lost $2,410, which was over 50% of his entire crypto net worth.

His hands balled into fists as he suppressed a scream. It wasn’t fair. He’d checked this token for any vulnerability. No one owned more than 3.5% of the token, and a portion of the liquidity was locked. It was supposed to be rug-proof. But he knew full well that experienced scammers could find ways around these things.

He pushed his chair back from the computer and ran into the wall behind him. His heart felt like a jagged chunk of dry ice. If someone struck him with a hammer his body would shatter and fall into pieces. He felt a pressure in his chest, and thought he might be having a heart attack. The pressure and pain increased, rising toward his throat, and he realized it was an acid attack.

He rushed to the bathroom, making sure to close the door so Rania wouldn’t hear, and vomited half-digested potato chips into the sink. The pressure in his chest abated but did not disappear, so he stuck two fingers down his throat and vomited again, then again once more. At that, the pain was gone.

Patience Is At The First Blow

He returned to his computer station and sat. There was a part of him that wanted to curse and demand answers from Allah, but a bigger part of him knew that there was still a chance for success, and for that he needed Allah. He had to stay on Allah’s good side.

Imam Saleh had said something during a khutbah that had always stuck with him. He’d said, “Patience is at the first blow. That first moment when you’re hit with terrible and even devastating news, that is the moment of the test. That is the moment when you say, ‘Qaddar Allahu ma-sha’ fa’al. This is Allah’s decree and He does what He wills.’ Or, ‘Laa hawla wa laa quwwata illa billah. There is no striving and no strength except in Allah.’”

So that was what Deek did. He dropped his head into his hands and ran his fingers through his curly hair, and said, “Qaddar Allahu ma-sha’ fa’al. Laa hawla wa laa quwwata illa billah. Alhamdulillah for everything.”

He lifted his head and for a long time sat like a lizard watching for an insect to eat. His eyes moved blankly from one monitor to the next, his mind empty. Something would come to him. Some idea would bubble up out of his brain like a subterranean creature rising to the surface. He reached into the potato chip bag and popped a few chips into his mouth. There was no thought of giving up. That concept did not exist in his world. Crypto was his last gasp, his life’s moonshot.

A Mistake or A Scam?

A thought occurred. He had not checked his SolFlare wallet lately. His primary wallet was Phantom, but he’d also created a few others, not wanting to keep all his funds in one place. He’d downloaded and tried the SolFlare wallet for the first time recently, but found it unwieldy, and had stopped using it. Nevertheless there was some money in it, including a few moonshots he’d put money into a few weeks ago.

Unlike the Phantom wallet, which he used on his computer as a Chrome extension, the SolFlare wallet was on his phone. He dug the phone out of his pocket, and used his thumbprint to open the wallet.

The total dollar value balance of the wallet showed at the top.

$1,769,251.02

One point seven million dollars.

Deek stared, uncomprehending. He gaped at the number with wide eyes, then glanced around the closet at the hanging clothes and white stucco ceiling, as if confirming that he was awake and not dreaming. He looked back at the wallet. His chest felt heavy, and he realized that he had stopped breathing. He took a deep breath, and let it out. His lower lip began to tremble and his eyes grew wet.

Was it possible that this was a mistake? Or a joke? Or a scam? Yes, it must be a scam, that was the answer. He’d seen scams like this before.

Nearly the entire $1.7 million was due to a meme token called New York Zilla. He’d purchased $300 worth of it two weeks ago on a crypto launchpad called Pump fun. The token had just launched, and he’d been one of the first buyers. Because of this, his $300 had gotten him a full 10% of the supply. Now, according to SolFlare, the token had risen to a total market cap of over $17 million.

He must try to sell the token. That would be the proof, one way or another. But how much should he sell? If he tried to sell it all, it would crash the price of the token and he would receive considerably less than the listed value.

He would sell 10% of his holdings, which would be only 1% of the total supply. Not enough to start a panic. He laughed softly at his own foolishness. This was a scam. The token would turn out to be frozen, or there would be no liquidity, so he would be unable to sell. Something incredible like this could not happen to him. Good things did not gravitate to him. He was a failure and would always be so. This was definitely a scam.

With a mouth as dry as Mojave desert dust, licking his cracked lips, he set up a trade of 10% of his holdings, and hit the sell button.

Part 2 will be published next week inshaAllah

Reader comments and constructive criticism are important to me, so please comment!

See the Story Index for Wael Abdelgawad’s other stories on this website.

Wael Abdelgawad’s novels – including Pieces of a Dream, The Repeaters and Zaid Karim Private Investigator – are available in ebook and print form on his author page at Amazon.com.

Related:

Cover Queen: A Ramadan Short Story

As Light As Birdsong: A Ramadan Story

 

The post Moonshot: A Short Story [Part 1] appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Critics of Islam often recycle tired allegations about the supposed incoherent structure of the Qur’an. For those who have not fallen prey to their seething prejudice, this mind map of Surah al-Baqarah demonstrates how the chapters of the Qur’an are not only thematically seamless but also miraculously sophisticated.

It being the longest, most comprehensive surah of the Qur’an should render its diverse topics most difficult to harmonize, and yet an aerial view of this chapter quickly reveals a staggering degree of symmetry and synchrony therein. In a word, Surah al-Baqarah is the summary of Islam (submission to God), or call it the story of servitude. Nothing about it falls beyond the scope of that overarching theme. Consider the following, and judge for yourself:

1. The surah begins by capturing the believers’ unwavering “faith in the unseen” (3) and the disbelievers’ defiant rejection “irrespective of what warning signs” are seen (6-7). It ends celebrating a true believer’s “faith in Allah , His Books, Angels, and Messengers—never differentiating between” those they have and have not seen (285), and seeking help against the oppositional disbelievers (286).
2. It then proceeds to unpack the psyche of the hypocrites (8-20); those lost between the faith they profess and the faithlessness they conceal. Returns full circle with reminder that Allah is capable of punishing those secretly harboring ill hearts (284).
3. The surah openly declares its central underlying theme: servitude to Allah (Islam); “O humanity, serve your Lord who created you,” (21) and uniquely honored you by “creating everything on earth for you” (22, 28).
4. Next, we find Adam representing humanity being honored and capable of serving God in ways the angels could not fathom (30-34), despite human limitations such as susceptibility to forgetfulness and the devil (35-37).
5. What follows is a detailed account of the Israelites (40-123); an entire nation honored by God to lead the world in faith, but who ultimately became a people whose hallmarks were ingratitude, pride, cruelty, and disdain for servitude. The very name of the surah, “The Cow,” alludes to a moment when their stubbornness and defiance of God’s Prophets was epitomized.
6. Enter Abraham , whose honorable legacy the Israelites claimed with their tongues and trampled with their actions. The location of these verses seems to declare: You could not even get yourselves to sacrifice a cow after Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, forgetting that it was his “unconditional submission that deemed him a leader for humanity” (124).
7. The honoring has shifted, and the once-chosen Israelites are now taunting the next nation (that of Muhammad ﷺ) because they, unlike them, obeyed God in reverting the qiblah (prayer direction) from Jerusalem to the Sacred House (142) once built by Abraham .
8. With inimitable precision, especially that the Qur’an was spoken and not penned, we find God now declaring, “And thus We have made you a middle (balanced) nation,” in the exact midpoint (143) of the surah. This center point of the symmetry also serves as a conceptual boundary between a nation that submitted genuinely and another satisfied with genealogy.
9. The second half of the surah is replete (153-283) with diverse domains of servitude enjoined upon the nation of Muhammad ﷺ; patience with trials, wholesome eating, social justice, devotional fasting, ethical warfare, Hajj, family law, resisting tyranny, calling to God, charity, fair lending, and more.
10. Finally, God showcases their “wholehearted submission” (208) by prompting them to even regulate their thoughts (284). But upon accepting the impossible mission without reluctance, saying “We hear and We obey” (285), they discovered as Abraham (as) did, that it was only his willingness for servitude being tried, and that “God holds no soul accountable except within its capacity.” (286).

Befittingly, when the Prophet’s Companions came forward and fell on their knees, admitting their inability to guard their passing thoughts (284), the Prophet said,

“The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from His Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His Angels and His Books and His Messengers, [saying], ‘We make no distinction between any of His Messengers.’ And they say, ‘We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final destination.” [Surah Al-Baqarah; 2;285]

They in fact said this, and once it started flowing comfortably off their tongues, Allah abrogated this verse and declared, “God burdens no soul beyond its capacity.” [Sahih Muslim 125]

And Allah knows best, and may His finest Peace and Blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad .

 

Related:

– Structural Cohesion In The Quran: Heavenly Order

– Think Like Ibrahim | The Essence of Surah Baqarah | Shaykh Akram Nadwi

The post Stringing The Pearls Of Surah Al-Baqarah | Sh Mohammad Elshinawy appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

[Content Warning: This article makes mention of sexual assault. Please read with care and caution.]

As Muslims further their careers, personal relationships, and education of a secular or sacred nature, khalwa (seclusion) is front of mind for both brothers and sisters. While many may not be aware of the exact ḥadīth, we know that our beloved Prophet ﷺ advised us to avoid khalwa.

And what did he say?

In a narration related to us by Ibn ʿAbbas (may Allah ﷻ be pleased with them both), the Messenger ﷺ stated: “No man should remain with a woman in khalwa except in the presence of a maḥram (nonmarriageable person).”1

But what counts as seclusion? Is a text message between a male and female student khalwa? Should a man and a woman getting to know one another for the purpose of marriage have their entire extended families present at their conversations? Are two colleagues of opposite genders forbidden from sitting next to one another, sending emails, or having meetings without the whole team brought in?

These are all valid concerns. In matrimonial affairs, some parents hesitate to allow their children to partake in private phone or video calls between their children and unfamiliar bachelors or bachelorettes. Many talented Muslims feel uncomfortable applying to mixed workplaces where they must communicate with the opposite gender, often wondering if it is ḥalāl. Others restrain their activities in educational institutions to classes, citing organizations with male and female involvement as a slippery slope.

This article will aim to dispel discomfort around these three areas using the Qur’an, Sunnah, and fatāwā of learned scholars, and provide suggestions for each.

Establishing Khalwa

In a purely linguistic sense, khalwa (خلوة) is a word that means “seclusion.” But it also has a spiritual meaning—one can practice khalwa with Allah ﷻ. When the Prophet ﷺ retreated to Cave Ḥiraʾ, this could be understood as a form of khalwa. Musa practiced khalwa away from his community in prayer and fasting, and even Mary, the mother of Jesus (peace be upon them both), secluded herself in worship.2 And all of us aspire to practice iʿtikāf in Ramadan; to totally isolate ourselves from the dunya to focus on our dīn. Naturally, this would be a beneficial kind of khalwa that a Muslim engages in.

[PC: Hasan Almasi (unsplash)]

However, in a world that increasingly leaves the boundaries between men and women open to personal discretion, there is a range of opinions as to what constitutes khalwa. Furthermore, some take a hardened understanding of yet another ḥadīth: “Whenever a man is alone with a woman, the devil is the third of them (ie, also joins them).”3 This concurs with Shaytan’s promise to mislead and delude humanity with false hopes,4 to ambush all on the Straight Path,5 and to approach us from every corner.6 The Prophet ﷺ also warned us that the Devil “reaches everywhere in the human body as blood reaches in it, (ie, everywhere in a person’s body).”7

There is no disagreement that complete isolation between two people can cause temptation in one or both parties, and also leads to a threat in their physical safeties and inner spiritualities. Even Yusuf faced this horrifying trial when the wife of the governor sought to seduce him. She had locked the doors and separated the two of them from her husband and household. The altercation even ended with his shirt being torn away as she rushed to prevent him from the door.

 

And she, in whose house he was, sought to seduce him. She closed the doors and said, “Come, you.” He said, “[I seek] the refuge of Allah . Indeed, he is my master, who has made good my residence. Indeed, wrongdoers will not succeed.” [Surah Yusuf: 12;23]

This terrifying incident of sexual assault is, unfortunately, all too common in today’s climate. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center reported unsettling statistics in 2025. A few are:

• Over 53% of women and over 29% of men reported experiencing contact sexual violence
• More than 1 and 4 non-Hispanic Black women (29%) in the United States were raped in their lifetime
• 1 in 3 Hispanic women (34.8%) reported unwanted sexual contact in their lifetime
• More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women (84.3%) have experienced violence in their lifetime
• 32.9% of adults with intellectual disabilities have experienced sexual violence

This is not to suggest that the prevention of khalwa is a complete solution to abhorrent crimes like sexual assault. Rape culture provides an avenue for the perpetrator to be excused for being “tempted,” and the victim/survivor to be blamed for not “taking every precaution.” As a society, we cannot use the prohibition of khalwa as a band-aid to these egregious incidents; rather, it is one way that we can limit them from happening. As in all things, we turn to the sunnah for an understanding of how we are to conduct ourselves—even when it comes to a sexual assault in our community. We center the survivor and punish the perpetrator.

“When a woman went out in the time of the Prophet for prayer, a man attacked her and assaulted her. She shouted and he went off, and when a man came by, she said, ‘That man did such and such to me.’ And when a company of the Muḥājirīn (emigrants) came by, she said, ‘That man did such and such to me.’ They went and seized the man whom they thought had assaulted her and brought him to her. She (mistakenly) said, ‘Yes, this is him.’ Then they brought him to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When he ﷺ was about to pass a sentence, the man who had actually assaulted her stood up and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I am the man who did it to her.’ The Prophet ﷺ said to her, ‘Go, for Allah ﷻ has forgiven you (due to the mistaken confession).’ But he told the (mistakenly accused) man some good words, and of the man who had assaulted her, he said, ‘Stone him to death.’ He ﷺ also said, ‘He has repented to such an extent that if the people of Medina had repented similarly, it would have been accepted from them.’”8

[Note: when a rape occurred in the life of the Prophet ﷺ, he did not even ask the survivor whether she had been in isolation with him, but simply who he was. Then, he commanded the punishment be towards the perpetrator, and no blame be set on the survivor.]

Similarly, the male muḥājirīn acted swiftly on the accusation from the assaulted lady to seize whom they believed was the rapist, and brought him for swift judgement in front of the Prophet ﷺ. Madinah al-Munawwarah, the truly prophetic community, took a stand against rape culture. The Prophet ﷺ had also enforced the ḥadd punishment on the man who committed the crime, publicly—and what a comfort it must have been for someone who suffered something so severe. Furthermore, there was no victim-blaming, as well as no advice for her to abstain from khalwa—it was irrelevant in this case, as the man forced himself upon her in a public pathway.

So what constitutes khalwa? We see from the Prophet ﷺ’s original admonition that for khalwa to be established, the following conditions must be met:

• only one man and only one woman
• are bāligh (have reached physical maturity)
• are non-maḥram to one another
• are in a physical space totally isolated from others
• are completely unable to be seen, heard, or entered upon by others

It is important to note that the aforementioned conditions are relatively the same for a married couple (except, of course, that they would be maḥram). The other differences are:

• the mahr (marriage gift) has been paid (in full according to some madhāhib)
• the nikkaḥ contract is valid with no contradictions
• there are no physical ailments or illnesses preventing intercourse
• there are no sharʿi restrictions; such as iḥram, ḥayḍ, or nifās9

Thus, khalwa does not constitute actual intercourse, it is the potential for intercourse. Some scholars, however, even consider khalwa and consummation of a marriage to have the same legal implications for a couple, even if no intercourse happened. A widow who did not consummate her marriage, but lived in a separate house with her husband, would still observe an ‘idda (waiting period).

Exceptions and Suggestions

We must be careful not to categorize every interaction between a man and a woman as khalwa based on our limited perception. Some argue that khalwa is a type of ikhtilāṭ, or “intermixing.” While both are forbidden, ikhtilāṭ has ranges of acceptability. Consider the following ḥadīth: “Let no man from now on visit a woman whose husband is absent, except when he has with him one or two (other) men.”10

Here, the Prophet ﷺ has placed an exception to the original rule of a man and woman being alone together. If another party is present or privy to the interaction between a man and a woman, it cannot be legally considered khalwa.

In the West, most men and women must study in mixed classrooms and work alongside both genders. The advent of the Internet has also brought a plethora of mobile applications to seek companionship. But the lines aren’t necessarily blurred—we can still apply those same principles from before.

In any of these situations, keep renewing your intention if necessary to speak with someone of the opposite gender. Ensure that your conversations are purposeful. Lower your gaze and dress modestly.

In Educational Settings

In an educational setting, reach out only if there is an absolute need (ḍarūrah). If you can communicate with a TA or classmate who is of the same gender (or all of you are in a group chat), it is best to do so. If an in-person meeting is necessary for group work, then offer to study in a public space, like a library, to lower the risk of harm to either party. Many Islamic schools, seminaries, and conferences will also place a partition between the two sides, just as mosques build separate entrances. Some also choose to further their studies in an online-only or a gender-segregated setting, and if the programs are suitably comparable, this can be best.

In Professional Settings

In a professional workplace, keep communication direct, straightforward, and respectful. Meetings can be held in conference rooms with glass windows, where all colleagues can view the interaction behind the doors. A Māliki opinion even states that if there is no fear of fitna, a lady may eat with a non-maḥram. We might use this opinion to allow for a company lunch or a work meeting at a coffee shop, where others are present. Generally speaking, it is wise not to communicate after work hours unless there is ḍarūrah.

In Matrimonial Settings

If the two decide to meet (for the purpose of marriage), they can do so in a busy restaurant, an occupied museum, or on any other public avenue where they can be seen by others.v[PC: Yasara Hansani (unsplash)]

In a matrimonial message, call, or video chat, the two parties understand that the only goal is a marriage for the sake of Allah ﷻ. A lady could, for example, have a wali be CC’d to your online exchanges. Each person should be mindful of how much they share, especially in the early stages, and try not to converse in the late hours. Family should be involved as soon as possible. If anyone has any concerns about what the other person has told them, they can share their messages with trusted friends and family. If the two decide to meet, they can do so in a busy restaurant, an occupied museum, or on any other public avenue where they can be seen by others. It is, of course, advisable to have the lady’s family member or friend to chaperone from a safe distance.

In the Digital Space

Interacting with scholars, fellow colleagues, classmates, professionals, activists, and others is now easier than ever. At the click of a button, one may get access to someone’s digital diary, their family, and even their appearances.

Again, think of the ultimatum: a hājjah, or a need. Is it necessary to follow this person, especially if they only post photos of themselves? Is it necessary to comment and like on those posts? When privately messaging them, is it with a concern that is beneficial to you and them? Are you engaging in purposeful or idle chatter?

 

We ask Allah ﷻ to make us people of upstanding character and righteous behavior, who follow His divine words and His Messenger’s words ﷺ without question, and all those who strive to interpret them for His sake.

 

Related:

– Blurred Lines: Women, “Celebrity” Shaykhs, and Spiritual Abuse

– Podcast: Sex, Marriage, and Mutual Obligations in Islam | Ustadh Mukhtar Ba

1    Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 52332    Qur’an 19:16-17.3     Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ, 31184    Qur’an 4:1195    Qur’an 7:166    Qur’an 7:177    Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 20358    Sunan Abi Dawud, 43799    Ibn Abidin, Al-Durr al-Mukhtar, Vol.3/P.114, and Al-Mawsuli’s Al-Ikhtiyar li Ta’lil al-Mukhtar, Vol.3/P.10310    Ṣaḥīḥ Muslīm 2173

The post The Perspective of Khalwa from the Quran and Sunnah: Advice For Modern Day Interactions appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

When Hamid takes a balloon ride at the Eid picnic, an accident throws all his beliefs into doubt.

[This is part 1 of a two-part story. Part 1 is here]

Do Not Desert One Another

Turning his back on Ali, Hamid gripped the top of the basket wall and looked out over the park. A smile crept over his face as they rose, and as the park began to shrink beneath them.

“The kids miss you,” Ali said. “They ask about you.”

These words tugged at Hamid’s heart. He missed them too. But there was nothing to be done. Ignore him, he told himself. He could see up and down the river now. Beyond it were miles of rice fields, and orange groves beyond that. It was stunning. His stomach was still grumbling, and he pressed into it with the heel of his palm, willing it to behave.

“We’re all the family we have,” Ali persisted. “It’s just you and me.” Blessedly, Ali left the rest unsaid. That their parents had died when they were both nineteen, and they had no other siblings. And most of their uncles and aunts were still in Afghanistan, except for a few who had migrated to Iran. Hamid avoided thinking about all that.

Hamid turned to face Ali. His nostrils flared. “No, you have a wife and kids. I have no one. You saw to that.”

“All the more reason to stay close to us. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, ‘Do not desert one another, do not nurse hatred towards one another, do not be jealous of one another, and become as fellow brothers and servants of Allah. It is not lawful for a Muslim to stop talking to his brother for more than three days.’”

“Doesn’t apply. You’re not my brother. You betrayed me. Brothers don’t do that.”

A Volcano Awakens

Ali exhaled loudly. “I didn’t betray you. You weren’t involved with Hala. You weren’t engaged; you weren’t even talking to her. Am I right?”

“You knew I was in love with her.” Hamid heard his own voice rising even as the balloon continued to climb higher in the sky. He couldn’t seem to stop it. He was a shy, quiet man who buried himself in books and research. He didn’t shout or fight. But he knew himself. Deep down, he had a terrible, fiery anger. It was a dormant volcano, and it woke rarely and slowly. But when it did, it could tear his life apart like Krakatoa. Now it was awake, and he felt the lava rising.

“You stole her,” Hamid said.

“This is ridiculous.” Ali waved his hand dismissively, as if shooing away a street urchin. “There’s no talking to you.”

“Guys,” Jean cut in. “This stops now. This is NOT the place. You’re closer to God up here, so act like it. Be quiet, face away from each other and enjoy the view.”

Hamid heard her the same way he heard the wind that rushed past the balloon at this altitude. It was mere noise. “Tell me why you did it,” he insisted. “That’s all. Tell me why you took the life I should have had. Why you robbed me of my happiness. Were you jealous because I had better grades in school? Is that why you took Hala from me?”

Ali’s face flushed deep red. “How dare you! That’s my wife you’re talking about. Have some shame! La hawla wa la quwwata illah billah.” He stepped forward and jabbed a finger into Hamid’s chest. “I don’t want to hear her name come out of your stupid mouth.”

The volcano erupted. Hamid felt his face grow hot, even as his vision narrowed. He seized Ali’s shirt in both hands and began screaming curse words. He didn’t even know what he was saying. He was operating on a level of pure rage, with no rational thought whatsoever.

Over the Edge

“Stop this!” Jean shouted. “Think about where you are!” She took a step forward to separate the brothers physically, but it was too late. Still gripping Ali’s shirt, Hamid pressed forward with all his weight, driving Ali backward. He had no objective in mind. The volcano was in pure lava eruption mode, and Hamid was a puppet of his own fury as surely as if he were a jinn dancing to the commands of Iblis.

Stumbling backward, Ali seized a handful of Hamid’s curly hair in one hand, while his other hand shot out, seeking something – anything – to hold himself up. His face registered sheer terror, no doubt at the prospect of being pushed out of the balloon basket, and plummeting to his death.

What Ali’s hand found was the burner cord. He seized it as he fell, all his bodyweight pulling it down. There was a loud roar as the burner released a large amount of fuel, sending a huge tongue of flame into the envelope. The balloon leaped upward. Ali lost his grip on the burner cord and fell flat on his back in the basket, throwing his hands out to break his fall.

Hamid had been pressing forward into Ali. When Ali suddenly fell, Hamid stumbled forward into the basket wall. It was only as high as his sternum, and with his forward momentum, he tumbled right over the edge.

He saw the world spread out before him like heaven’s forecourt, all green and blue. His hands flew out, but there was nothing to hold. For an instant, time seemed to freeze. Hamid had read about this, how the brain sped up at the moment of death, so that subjectively, time came to a standstill. He was about to die. He saw the crowd of Eid-goers below, their faces tiny ovals peering up, and he heard their collective scream as they saw him go over the edge. He only prayed he did not fall on someone. That would compound his sin to the Nth degree.

What a fool he was. His native country, Afghanistan, was suffering under the weight of so many problems. But his people were, mostly, farmers, and he was an agricultural specialist. He could have done some good for them, he could have helped, even if only in a small way. Besides that, he could have had a relationship with his brother, or at least with his niece and nephew. Instead his life would be wasted for nothing. Would Allah have mercy on him, even though he was the biggest fool in the world?

Time un-froze, and Hamid began to fall.

Struggle

A hand like iron seized his ankle, arresting his fall. Hanging upside down, he looked up. It was Jean. Her face was as white as if she had seen a jinn, but her hand locked onto his ankle like a vice. She must be incredibly strong, but there was no way she would be able to pull Hamid up. His body was lean, but he was tall and moderately muscular, and weighed over 180 pounds. He heard her screaming something but couldn’t understand a word. The wind rushed past his ears as he swayed back and forth. It was a miracle she was able to hold onto him, but soon her grip would fail.

La ilaha il-Allah, he breathed. Muhammadun Rasul-ullah. O Allah forgive my sins, have mercy on me, and admit me into Your Jannah. Forgive my temper and my hard heart. Forgive my hatred of my brother and my envy. I know I’m neither a good Muslim nor a good man, Ya Allah, but forgive me.

A second pair of hands grabbed his other leg. His brother. A moment later he felt himself being pulled up, incrementally, inch by inch. He tried to help by pushing against the basket with his hands, but it was probably no help at all. A critical moment came when his waist crossed over the edge of the basket wall. Jean and his brother gave a tremendous pull, and he tumbled back into the basket.

He lay there, gasping for breath, unable to believe that he was alive. Jean did not give him a moment, however. Her powerful hands hauled him up to a sitting position, with his back against the basket wall.

Just Sit There

“Are you okay?” the pilot demanded. Her hands probed up and down her legs, then at his sides. “Are you injured?”

“No,” Hamid gasped. “Just winded. Thank you so much, thank you.”

Jean slapped his face, hard. “You knucklehead! Lord have mercy.” She stood and glared back and forth between Hamid and Ali, who – Hamid realized then – was seated right beside him, also gasping for air. Her blue eyes blazed with anger.

“This balloon is governed by FAA regulations,” she went on. “You understand? What y’all just did up here? That’s a federal offense. Not some slap-on-the-wrist county fair nonsense. I’ve flown through thunderheads and dust storms. But I ain’t never seen anything as shameful as what y’all just pulled. I oughta have both of you arrested the second we hit the ground.”

She ran a hand through her silver hair. “Now stay there, hush up, and let me get this damn balloon back to earth. We are way too high.” She turned away, unclipped a radio from her belt and began talking to the ground crew while she worked the balloon controls.

Vindication

“You almost killed us both,” Ali said quietly.

Hamid glanced at his brother. Ali’s shirt was torn, and his cap was gone. Hamid opened his mouth to apologize, but what came out instead was,

“Just admit that you stole her. That’s all I want. I just want to hear the truth.”

Ali’s eyes flashed and his hands balled into fists, but only for an instant. The anger drained from his face, and he looked at the floor. “Yes,” he said. “I knew that you wanted her. You asked me what I thought of her. I had never really noticed her. I knew how shy you were, and that you would never talk to her on your own. So I went to talk to her on your behalf, to tell her of your interest.”

Hamid let out a deep, shaky breath. He felt he might cry. Just to hear the truth from his brother’s lips was such a vindication.

“I didn’t expect her to be so captivating,” Ali went on. “I found out she could speak three languages, could tell a good joke, and had been volunteering at the hospital, reading books to sick kids, since she was fifteen. I fell in love. Look, you had never even spoken to her. I… I justified it to myself. I told myself you wouldn’t care that much, that there were plenty of other women.”

“There are no other women,” Hamid said. “No one else is remotely interested in me. Women avoid me like smallpox, and you know why? Because Hala was the one meant for me. She was my qadar. You stole my life.”

Toxic

“Oh, stop it,” Jean said harshly. Hamid hadn’t realized she was following the conversation. “Do you have any idea how idiotic that is? What’s your name?”

Hamid pointed to himself. “Me? Hamid.”

“Hamid,” Jean repeated. “Let me tell you something. You might be the most visually striking man I’ve ever seen in my life. I seriously don’t know that I’ve ever seen a more handsome man. Even more than your brother. I mean, I can see that y’all are identical, but he’s a little too straight laced, while you got this whole Marlboro man thing going on, which is cute. You know why women avoid you? It’s not because your brother married your one true love, or any such treacly nonsense. Do you know why?”

“Uhh…” Hamid was still trying to process Jean’s comment about his appearance. “No. Why?”

“Because you’re a jerk. You got a chip on your shoulder the size of Texas. You’re bitter, angry, self-pitying and generally pathetic. I don’t care how handsome you are. Even if I was your age, and I met you, I wouldn’t touch you with a bee pole. You’re toxic.”

“And you,” she went on, pointing at Ali. “What’s your name?”

“Ali.”

“Ali. Tell him the whole truth about your wife. Go on.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your wife – Hala was it? Hamid here thinks she’s an angel. Flawless, like the Hope Diamond. That’s because he doesn’t know her the way you do. You need to disabuse him of that idiocy. Tell him the sordid details. I get that she’s your wife, but he needs to hear it.”

The Sordid Truth

Ali nodded slowly. “She, uhh… You won’t repeat this, right?”

“What?” Hamid said.

“She picks her nose. Right in front of me. It’s really disgusting.”

Hamid stared at his brother. “No way.”

“Yes. She doesn’t like to pray, I have to cajole her to do any salat whatsoever. We fight about it all the time. She’s a terrible cook.”

“What about the home cooked dishes you always send me on our birthday?”

“That you’ve never acknowledged or thanked me for? Catered. She leaves her dirty clothes on the bedroom floor, uses too much makeup, doesn’t throw out old food until it molds, her father is the biggest jerk you’ve ever met in your life, he calls me Tinker Bell because I don’t do any sports. Hala doesn’t always brush her teeth, so her breath stinks in the morning, she -”

“I think he gets the point,” Jean interrupted.

Hamid was shocked. “But…” he stammered. “Why do you love her then?”

“Some days I don’t know if I do. But then she tells me about someone she helped at the hospital. Or I come home from a hard day and she puts an arm around me and kisses my cheek. Or I see her down on the floor, playing with the kids, all of them happy. And I remember that this is the reality of love. It’s difficult, messy, and imperfect. But it’s also sweet. Ultimately it’s a choice.”

“Do you get it now, Hamid?” Jean said. She angled the burner slightly and pulled gently on the vent line. “You never loved the real Hala at all. You fell in love with a fiction you created. Real women are problematic. You have to be patient and kind. You have to let go of ego. And you know what? The world is full of real women, waiting for a good man to love them.”

Ali put a hand on Hamid’s shoulder. “Bakhana ghwaram warwara. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone after Hala. I did you wrong.”

“No…” Hamid breathed deeply, then let it out. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I’ve been so stupid. I’m starting to understand. So, so stupid.”

“Just never mention any of the things I told you,” Ali said. “Not a word. Or I’m a dead man.”

The Bargain

“Listen boys,” Jean said. “We’re almost down. The ground crew says the police are waiting to question you.”

“Oh my God,” Ali said. “I could lose my job.”

Hamid shrugged. “I understand, Miss Jean. I want you to know how grateful I am to you. You saved me, and I’ll never forget it. Not only that. You’re so patient and wise. You’ve changed my life. I’m so sorry for the trouble I caused.”

Jean’s eyes softened, and she sighed. “Listen. Maybe there’s a way I could avoid pressing charges.”

“How?” Ali said. “Anything.”

“I won’t be able to continue giving rides today. You’ve damaged my business and reputation. You cost me a lot of money.”

“Name your price.”

“Five thousand dollars.”

“Done.” Ali stood and extended his hand, and Jean shook it. “I can transfer it to you right now.”

“You know I can’t help, right?” Hamid said. “I could chip in two hundred dollars maybe.”

Ali waved. “Don’t worry about it.”

Hamid stood and saw that they had arrived at the ground, or several feet above it. A huge crowd was gathered all around, with several police officers at the front. Hala was there as well, with the kids. She looked stricken and pale.

Hamid descended the ladder on shaky legs. A man he did not know stepped forward and supported him. Ali went to his family, who embraced him. The strange thing was that Hamid wasn’t jealous. He didn’t look at Hala and see the most beautiful woman in the world, as he had for most of his life. Instead he saw an ordinary woman. He realized, incredibly, that he was happy for Ali. All his envy and anger were gone.

SubhanAllah.

Jean explained to the cops that they weren’t needed. It had been a simple case of vertigo. The passenger lost his balance and fell over the edge. The cops looked unconvinced, but they took a report and departed.

Judge People or Love Them

“Hamid,” Hala demanded. “Is that true? You lost your balance? It wasn’t… something else?”

Ali answered quickly. “That’s what it was. You know he can’t handle heights.”

Hala threw her hands out. “Then why did he go up in a balloon?”

“It was stupid of me,” Hamid admitted.

People pressed in around them, asking questions, or clapping Hamid on the back. He didn’t want to talk. He recovered his messenger bag, which had been heavily trampled. As he turned to leave, a strong hand gripped his shoulder. It was Jean. Hamid faced her, meeting her intense, still slightly angry gaze.

“One,” said the pilot with the iron hands. She held up a finger. “You can judge people, or you can love them. It’s hard to do both.” This statement hit Hamid like a bullet, and he rocked back on his heels. Suddenly his entire life, his opinions about people, his attitude toward his brother – everything – was cast into sharp relief.

“Two.” Jean held up a second finger. “When we judge others, we’re usually just judging ourselves.” A second bullet, fired into the heart of his insecurities about his own self-worth. “I gave you back your life today,” the pilot concluded. “Go and live it with love.”

Hamid nodded silently, and turned away. Together with Ali’s family he pushed his way through the crowd, and exited the park.

Generalizations

In the parking lot, Hamid and Ali embraced, then Hamid went down on one knee and hugged the kids.

Hala beamed. “This is wonderful to see. And all it took was you almost dying.”

Hamid stood. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Say alhamdulillah,” Ali suggested.

“Alhamdulillah for everything.”

“By the way,” Hala said. “There’s something I’m not supposed to tell you, but I think you might like to know. Do you know Esin, my old friend from school?”

Hamid nodded. “Mm-hm.”

“She always asks about you. Are you still single, what’s your work, what are your hobbies, that kind of thing. I think if you were to talk to her father, it would not be unwelcome.”

Hamid frowned. “She asks about me?”

“Yes, why not?”

“I… I mean. That’s surprising. But I don’t want an Afghan girl. I want a convert.”

Hala raised an eyebrow. “Okay. But why?”

“Well… It’s just that the converts are sincere. Afghan girls are materialis -” He froze, realizing that he was doing it again. Judging people. SubhanAllah, Jean was right. His entire worldview was tainted from top to bottom.

“La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah,” Ali muttered. “Here we go again with the crazy assumptions and generalizations.”

Hamid waved his hands. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

Hala was visibly annoyed. “You know what? Esin has a law degree but she gave up corporate law to work as a public defender, because she cares about people. And I’ll tell you something about convert sisters. Many of them are amazing, but most of them are carrying baggage. And not just one suitcase. Whole steamer trunks.”

“What do you mean?”

“She means,” Ali broke in, “that people are people. This whole narrative you have going of, I can only love this person, I can’t love that person, these people are shallow, those people are angels – it’s all nonsense. Human beings don’t come in bunches like grapes. We’re all individuals.”

Hamid rubbed his forehead. “I have a lot to learn.”

Blueberries

“Where’s your car?” Ali asked.

“Out of commission. I took the bus.”

“We’ll take you home. Come on.”

Hamid took a step, and a wave of vertigo rocked him. It was just hitting him that if Jean’s reflexes had been a split second slower, he would be a pile of broken bones and splattered brain matter right now. Or he could just as easily have sent Ali over the edge, widowing Hala and leaving the children without a father. His vision grew gray, and he swayed on his feet. Ali leaped forward and caught him.

“You’re in shock,” Ali said. He helped Hamid to a green SUV and sat him on the bumper. “Let me get you some water.”

“It’s alright. I have something in my bag.” Opening it, Hamid took out the box of blueberries. They were half crushed and dripping juice, and had made a mess in the bag. He popped a few into his mouth, not caring. They were as sweet as a Mexican sunrise. The flavor burst on his tongue, confirming that he was indeed still alive. He ate more, his hands shaking.

“Those look disgusting,” Ali commented. “They’re smashed.”

“Good things are sometimes difficult, messy and imperfect,” Hamid said between bites. “But they’re still sweet. Your words, remember? Glorious and sweet and beautiful. I never thought I would eat anything again. I thought I was dead.” His lower lip trembled and he pressed a shaking, blueberry-stained hand to his eyes.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Ali put an arm around Hamid’s shoulders. “Allah decrees and does what He wills. It wasn’t your time yet.”

Hamid nodded and held the blueberries out. “Eat some.”

“No, they’re gross.”

“Jean said I’m more handsome than you.”

Ali laughed. “Get in the car, bro. I think you’re going to be fine.”

THE END

Reader comments and constructive criticism are important to me, so please comment!

See the Story Index for Wael Abdelgawad’s other stories on this website.

Wael Abdelgawad’s novels – including Pieces of a Dream, The Repeaters and Zaid Karim Private Investigator – are available in ebook and print form on his author page at Amazon.com.

Related:

Uber Tales: A Driver’s Journal

River Delta: A Love Story

The post Hot Air: An Eid Story [Part 2] appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Reading Time

• Summary Transcript: ~4 minutes
• Full Transcript: ~20 minutes

Learning Objectives

• Understand the significance of time in Islam and its connection to worship and reflection.
• Identify the seven virtuous times for worship during the day and their associated practices.
• Recognize the importance of structuring daily routines around acts of dhikr, prayer, and good deeds.
• Explore the spiritual significance of specific periods, such as the time between zawal and Dhuhr or after Asr.
• Learn how to engage in nighttime worship effectively and the six portions of the night recommended for ibadah.
• Reflect on the advice of Imam Hasan Al-Basri about the fleeting nature of time and its impact on self-accountability.
• Apply the principle of consistency in worship, as emphasized by the Prophet ﷺ, to achieve spiritual growth.
• Incorporate acts of charity, supplication, and reflection into daily practices as a way to enhance devotion.
• Understand the holistic nature of Islam, which integrates spiritual worship with social and ethical practices.
• Develop strategies to seize moments of virtue throughout the day and night for closeness to Allah.

Class Summary

Islam emphasizes the value of time, urging believers to dedicate their days and nights to purposeful worship and reflection. This guide, inspired by Imam Ibn Qudamah’s Mukhtasar Minhaj al-Qasidin, highlights seven key periods during the day and transitions into the spiritual opportunities of the night. By focusing on these times, we can enhance our connection with Allah and maximize our rewards in both this life and the Hereafter.

The Seven Virtuous Times of the Day 1. Dawn to Sunrise

Begin your day with Fajr prayer and morning adhkar. This is a blessed time when the angels witness our devotion, and acts of worship bring immense rewards.

2. Sunrise to Mid-Morning (Dhuha Time)

Perform Dhuha prayer, reflect, and engage in dhikr. This time symbolizes gratitude for the day’s blessings and sustains spiritual momentum.

3. Mid-Morning to Noon

This quieter period is an opportunity for personal reflection, preparation for Dhuhr, or catching up on missed dhikr or supplication.

4. Noon to Early Afternoon (Dhuhr)

Between the zawal (sun’s decline) and Dhuhr prayer, focus on responding to the adhan, performing nafl prayers, and reciting Qur’an. This is a short but highly virtuous time.

5. Early Afternoon to Late Afternoon (Asr)

Use the time after Dhuhr to engage in charity, remembrance, and other good deeds. Waiting for Asr in a state of worship ensures a continuous connection with Allah.

6. Late Afternoon to Sunset

After Asr, supererogatory prayers are prohibited, but this is an ideal time for dhikr, Qur’an recitation, and reflection. Allah frequently highlights this time in the Qur’an.

7. Sunset to Evening (Maghrib)

As the day concludes, engage in evening adhkar and reflect on your deeds. This is the time to assess your day, seek forgiveness, and prepare for a spiritually fulfilling night.

Reflection and Self-Accountability

Imam Hasan Al-Basri reminds us: “O son of Adam, you are but a collection of days. When a day passes, a part of you is gone.” By ending each day with charity, acts of kindness, or worship, we ensure our time is spent meaningfully. Daily self-reckoning helps maintain focus and allows for repentance and renewal of intention.

Transitioning into Night Worship

The nighttime hours provide another opportunity for worship. Divided into six portions, these hours emphasize prayers, Qur’an recitation, supplication, and reflection. The night is a time for solitude with Allah, offering rewards for those who rise for Tahajjud or spend their time in remembrance.

Lessons for Consistency and Growth

The Prophet ﷺ emphasized that the best deeds are those done consistently, even if small. Whether it’s adhering to daily adhkar, engaging in charity, or reflecting on Allah’s creation, consistency leads to spiritual growth.

Conclusion: Time as a Precious Gift

Time is fleeting, and every day and night is a chance to draw closer to Allah. By structuring our worship around these virtuous times, we align ourselves with the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah. Let us use these moments wisely, reflect on our actions, and strive for consistency in good deeds.

May Allah guide us to maximize our time and accept our efforts. Ameen.

Full Transcript

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa mubarak a’nabiyyin wa muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam tasliman kathira. Thumma amma ba’d.

I want to welcome you all back to our Ta’aseel class, in which we discuss the Book of Imam Ibn Qudamah, rahimahullah wa ta’ala, Mukhtasar Minhaj al-Qasidin, a book about spirituality. In this session, we are talking about the first rubu’, the rubu’ of ibadat (the quarter of devotional acts of worship). The second book we study in this class is the work of Imam Ibn Rajab, rahimahullah wa ta’ala, where he explains the hadith of Imam An-Nawawi, rahimahullah wa ta’ala.

Awareness of Current Events

Before we get started, I want to bring two important points to your attention, inshallah.

The Plight of Gaza

First, as we move on with our lives and go back to our schedules, I do not want us to forget about our brothers and sisters in Gaza and the ongoing situation in Palestine. Unfortunately, as people return to their routines, the atrocities and genocide against our brothers and sisters in Gaza might fade into the background. I want you to keep this alive in your memories, your posts, your comments, and your conversations to ensure that people remain aware of what is happening. This awareness is essential in seeking justice for the people of Gaza. May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala make it easy for them, Ya Rabb al-alameen.

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to restore peace and tranquility in their lives, better than it was before, Ya Rabb al-alameen.

The Tragic Death of Imam Hassan Sharif

The second point I want to bring up is the incident in Newark, New Jersey, involving Imam Hassan Sharif. Tragically, he was shot and killed outside the masjid at Fajr time. May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala have mercy on him, count this as a shahada for him, and grant him forgiveness, Ya Rabb al-alameen.

I never met him personally, but after hearing about him, I listened to one of his khutbas. Subhanallah, it truly felt like he spoke from his heart, and it resonated with my heart as well. As an imam, I felt a connection with him, and his loss is significant. We do not yet know the circumstances of his death, as the investigation is ongoing. Regardless of the motive, we must recognize and mention the loss. May Allah grant his family and community patience and strength.

Introduction to Virtuous Times for Worship

With these thoughts in mind, let us turn back to our study. We continue with Imam Ibn Qudamah’s book. If you remember, we have been discussing the different virtuous times for dhikr. Imam Ibn Qudamah summarizes Imam Ghazali’s work in Ihya Ulum al-Din, which itself draws from Qut al-Qulub by Imam Abu Talib al-Makki.

The virtuous times of dhikr during the day are seven. We have already covered three of these:

1. From the break of dawn until sunrise, which includes Fajr prayer, its sunnah, and morning adhkar.
2. From sunrise until Dhuha time, the mid-morning period.
3. From Dhuha time until right before Dhuhr.

The Fourth Virtuous Time: Zawal to Dhuhr

Today, we discuss the fourth virtuous time for dhikr: from the zawal (when the sun begins to decline from its zenith) until the end of the Dhuhr prayer. This is a very short yet highly virtuous time. When the mu’adhin makes the call to prayer, one should respond by repeating the words of the adhan. Then, they should offer four units of prayer (raka’at), making them lengthy if possible, as the doors of heaven are said to be open at this time. After this, they perform the obligatory Dhuhr prayer and any recommended or supererogatory units (nafl).

Imam Ibn Qudamah explains that the fourth portion of the day, between the zawal and Dhuhr, is significant because of its brevity and virtue. Unfortunately, many people miss its rewards by neglecting the sunnah, rushing to join the jama’ah, or skipping dhikr and du’a. It is an excellent time to maximize benefit in a few short moments.

The Prophet ﷺ said, “The best deed is to pray at the beginning of its time.” He also emphasized the dhikr of Allah during Dhuhr, as mentioned in Surah Ar-Rum:

“So glorify Allah when you reach the evening and when you reach the morning. To Him belongs all praise in the heavens and the earth, and [glorify Him] in the late afternoon and when you enter noon.”

This time for dhikr should not be overlooked. Spend the 10-15 minutes between the adhan and the iqamah wisely, making dhikr, responding to the adhan, or offering prayers. Regarding the four raka’at mentioned before Dhuhr, they are not part of the sunnah but are based on weak narrations. Some scholars suggest these prayers because of their collective merit, even though the narrations are not strongly authenticated. Imam Ghazali even recommended reciting long surahs like Surah Al-Baqarah during these raka’at, reflecting the assumption that many people in earlier times were hufadh(memorizers of the Qur’an).

The Fifth Virtuous Time: Between Dhuhr and Asr

After the Dhuhr prayer, we move to the fifth portion of the day: the time between Dhuhr and Asr. This is another excellent opportunity for dhikr, charity, or any act of goodness. One of the most virtuous actions during this time is waiting for the next prayer. This principle reflects the concept of remaining in a state of ibadah by being conscious of the upcoming prayer.

The Sixth Virtuous Time: Between Asr and Sunset

Next is the sixth portion of the day: the time between Asr and the yellowing of the sun. During this time, there is a prohibition against performing supererogatory prayers (nafl) after the Asr prayer until sunset. However, the time between the adhan and the performance of Asr offers an opportunity for extra nafl prayers. This is based on a weak narration that states, “Whoever prays four raka’at before Asr, Allah will make Hellfire prohibited for him.” Despite its weakness, the narration emphasizes the value of utilizing this brief period for ibadah.

The Seventh Virtuous Time: Sunset to Maghrib

The seventh and final portion of the day is from the yellowing of the sun until sunset. This time is highly emphasized in the Qur’an and is an ideal time for evening adhkar. It is the most virtuous period for performing evening adhkar, as mentioned in the verse:

“And glorify Allah before the rising of the sun and before its setting.”

Concluding the day at sunset provides a moment for reflection and accountability. Life is but a series of days, and each day is a part of our journey. At sunset, evaluate whether your day was fruitful and seek repentance for any shortcomings. Night provides an opportunity to erase bad deeds through good ones.

Reflection and Self-Accountability

Finally, we look to the advice of Imam Hasan Al-Basri, who said: “O son of Adam, you are but a collection of days. When a day passes, a part of you is gone.” Reflect daily: Was today better than yesterday? If so, thank Allah for His blessings. If not, it is a call for repentance and renewal of resolve.

It is also narrated that the predecessors held the view that no day should pass without giving in charity. Whether it was through monetary means, acts of service, or kindness, they saw every good deed as a way to fill the record of the day with virtue. Their approach exemplifies how to conclude each day on a positive note.

Introduction to Nighttime Worship

Imam Ibn Qudamah then points out that the virtues of the night will be discussed in detail in the following chapters. He prepares the reader to transition into the acts of devotion that can be performed during the nighttime hours. These include prayers, supplications, reflection, and recitation of the Qur’an. The framework for nighttime ibadah aligns with the overarching theme of vigilance in worship and seizing every opportunity for closeness to Allah.

Looking Ahead to the Next Volume

Before diving deeper into the nighttime litanies, Imam Ibn Qudamah also introduces the next book to be studied in the class: the second volume of the series. This volume, titled Rubu’ al-Adat, covers the quarter related to traditions, customs, and etiquettes. Unlike the current focus on devotional acts, this upcoming volume will delve into the practical application of Islamic manners and cultural practices. This transition underscores the holistic nature of Islam, which encompasses both spiritual and social dimensions.

Continuity in Good Deeds

The conclusion of this session reminds us of the importance of continuity in good deeds. The best deeds, as emphasized by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, are those done consistently, even if they are small. Whether it is maintaining the daily adhkar, observing the prescribed prayers with sincerity, or engaging in acts of charity, the key is perseverance.

Closing Reflection

As we end this chapter of the study, the overarching lesson is clear: the journey of life is a collection of days and nights, each presenting unique opportunities for worship. By structuring our time around the virtuous periods highlighted in the Qur’an and Sunnah, we align ourselves with the path of righteousness and draw closer to our Creator. May Allah grant us the ability to utilize our time effectively and accept our efforts in His worship. Ameen.

With that, we conclude this portion and prepare for the next discussion on the nighttime acts of worship, as well as the teachings from Imam Ibn Rajab’s commentary on the Hadith of Imam An-Nawawi. Until then, may Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala keep us steadfast on the straight path. Wa billahi at-tawfiq.

Q&A Virtuous Times for Worship

1. What are the seven virtuous times for worship during the day?
   • Dawn to sunrise
   • Sunrise to mid-morning (Dhuha time)
   • Mid-morning to noon
   • Noon to early afternoon (Dhuhr)
   • Early afternoon to late afternoon (Asr)
   • Late afternoon to sunset
   • Sunset to evening (Maghrib)
2. Why is the time between zawal and Dhuhr highly recommended for worship?
   • It is short but virtuous.
   • The doors of heaven are said to be open.
   • It allows for dhikr, response to the adhan, and supererogatory prayers.
3. What is the recommended action during the time after Dhuhr and before Asr?
   • Engage in acts of charity.
   • Perform dhikr and good deeds.
   • Wait for the next prayer in a state of remembrance.
4. What are believers encouraged to do after Asr?
   • Engage in dhikr and Qur’an recitation.
   • Avoid supererogatory prayers (nafl) as they are prohibited.
   • Reflect on Allah’s creation and blessings.
5. What is the best time for evening adhkar (dhikr)?
   • Right before sunset.
6. What did the Prophet ﷺ say about the best deeds?
   • The best deeds are those done consistently, even if small.

7. What did Imam Hasan Al-Basri say about time?
   • “O son of Adam, you are but a collection of days. When a day passes, a part of you is gone.”
8. What are believers encouraged to do at the end of each day?
   • Reflect on their actions.
   • Repent for shortcomings.
   • Conclude the day with charity or acts of worship.

9. How many portions is the night divided into for worship?
   • Six portions.
10. What are some recommended acts of worship during the night?
    • Night prayers (Tahajjud).
    • Qur’an recitation.
    • Supplication and reflection.

11. What does consistency in good deeds lead to?
    • Spiritual growth and closeness to Allah.
12. What did the Prophet ﷺ emphasize about praying at the beginning of its time?
    • It is among the best deeds a believer can do.
13. What is a highly recommended practice every day according to the predecessors?
    • Giving in charity, even if small.
14. What should you prioritize in your daily routine to align with Islamic teachings?
    • Structuring your day around virtuous times for worship.
15. What is the ultimate purpose of managing our time wisely in Islam?
    • To draw closer to Allah and secure success in the Hereafter.

The post Study Classical Texts the Traditional Way | Session 31 appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Esteemed Pakistani writer and politician Khurshid Ahmad passed away this week after a long career in Islamic thought and politics. Once deputy leader of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party in Pakistan as well as a senator and government advisor, Khurshid was best known for his contributions to Muslim political and economic thought and his mobilization among Muslim communities and thinkers around the world.

Born in Delhi in 1932, Khurshid was a teenager when his family moved to Pakistan in what is known as a hijrah to a new Muslim land: the millions of Indian Muslims who made the dangerous westward trip would be known as muhajirs in a reference to the longstanding Muslim practice. He was already influenced by a family friend, the political thinker and activist Abulala Maududi, whose Jamaat party he joined. More fundamentally, from his first article written as a teenager right into his old age, Khurshid engaged in and promoted activism and intellectualism in pursuit of an Islamic revival.

Having studied in Pakistan, Malaysia, and Britain, Khurshid wrote prolifically, published journals, founded institutions (for one of which this writer wrote in 2015), and built international bridges: by the late twentieth century his range of contacts ranged from Tunisia to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia to Britain, and Turkiye to Sudan. Prominent foreign public figures with whom he shared a connection included Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, former Turkish prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, and the former parliamentary speakers of Sudan and Tunisia respectively: Hassan Turabi and Rached Ghannouchi.

Anwar Ibrahim, one of many figures to publicly give condolences to Khurshid, had cut his teeth as an influential finance minister for Malaysia in the 1980s, when internationally public enthusiasm for and official links with such Islamic revivalists spread wide. Though Khurshid had also studied law and philosophy, his primary interest was economics: much of his life was spent urging an Islamic alternative to contemporary capitalism. He interacted with a large number of international writers including Nejatullah Siddiqui, Kamal Helbawy, Haitham Haddad, Khurram Murad, and Ismail Faruqi whose interests ranged from economics to activism to Islamic outreach.

Khurshid also attempted to realize Pakistan’s role as a forerunning Muslim state, an idea that has long had a mixed currency among different strands of its elite. In 1978 he was promoted to lead Pakistan’s planning commission by military dictator Mohammad Ziaul-Haq, an admirer of Maududi whose military regime professed a top-down Islamization. Like other Jamaat leaders, Khurshid’s relationship with the military was equivocal: he supported Ziaul-Haq’s promotion of jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan, but increasingly criticized his attempts to prolong military rule in Pakistan. Though Khurshid was elected to the senate in 2002, it was as a member of the opposition leader to another military dictator, Pervez Musharraf. Khurshid criticized Musharraf’s cooperation with the American war in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as his promotion of “enlightened moderation”, a hodgepodge intellectual exercise that many Pakistani Islamists suspected as a local version of autocratic Kemalism.

In addition to his political activities, Khurshid was active in Islamic outreach and politics, particularly in Britain where he and Murad founded a pioneering institution, the Muslim Foundation, in the late 1970s. This was based at Leicester, where Khurshid passed away, leaving a considerable legacy, in April 2025.

Innalillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’oun.

 – by Ibrahim Moiz

 

Related:

– Belgian Muslim Historian Yahya Michot Passes Away

– Renowned Scholar Abu-Ishaq Hegazy Passes Away

The post Khurshid Ahmad, Pakistani Jamaat Leader And Scholar, Dies Aged 93 appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

The Muslim world lost a major polyglot this month with the death of Belgian thinker and historian, Yahya Michot. A prolific authority on medieval Islamic thought and Muslim relations with non-Muslims, Michot passed away in the American city of Hartford, at whose University for Religion and Peace he taught. He was particularly renowned for his historical analyses of social and political issues in Islamic history as well as his expertise on the medieval thinkers Taqiuddin Ahmad bin Taymiyya and Husain bin Sina.

Doctor Yahya Michot was born in 1952 and converted from Belgium’s predominant Catholicism to Islam, taking up the widest-used Muslim translation of his birth name Jean. A prodigious multilinguist, he taught Islamic thought, philosophy, and literature at Leuven from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, before moving to Britain where he taught at Oxford for a decade, before teaching for another decade at Hartford.

By all accounts erudite yet approachable, Michot was especially renowned as an authority on two major historical thinkers of contemporary significance: Husain bin Sina, known internationally as Avicenna as an important influence on medicine and philosophy; and the renowned medieval scholar Taqiuddin bin Taymiyya, whose works have attracted considerable attention amid sociopolitical scrutiny on Islam. His works on these figures had a profound impact on the wider field.

Michot also studied sociopolitical dynamics in Muslim history and wrote on other issues of continued relevance, ranging from Muslim minorities in non-Muslim populations to Muslim attitudes towards smoking. Ovamir Anjum, another expert on medieval Islamic thought, described him as epitomizing “the best of the old European tradition of deep learning and wide interest in a bewildering variety of fields.” Anjum noted his “belligerently independent spirit,” for despite his reputation, he avoided large university presses in favor of upcoming Muslim presses because he saw scholarship as speaking for itself.

Innalillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’oun.

 – by Ibrahim Moiz

 

Related:

– Renowned Scholar Abu-Ishaq Hegazy Passes Away

– Shaykha Munira bint Hamdi Qubaisi [1933-2022]: Pioneering Mujaddida, Learned Scholar, And Beloved Mentor – An Obituary

The post Belgian Muslim Historian Yahya Michot Passes Away appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Reading Time

• Summary Transcript: ~7 minutes
• Full Transcript: ~36 minutes

Learning Objectives

• Understand the significance of starting the day with the Sunnah of Fajr and its role in spiritual growth.
• Learn the appropriate duas for entering and exiting the masjid and their spiritual benefits.
• Explore the rewards of staying in dhikr after Fajr until sunrise and performing two rak’ahs of prayer.
• Recognize the importance of diversifying acts of dhikr, including dua, Qur’an recitation, praise, and reflection.
• Comprehend the virtues and timing of the Duha prayer as a valuable mid-morning act of worship.
• Identify the steps to erase sins through good deeds and the role of consistent repentance in spiritual refinement.
• Discover the types of good deeds, such as salah, fasting, and dhikr, that help purify the soul and bring one closer to Allah.
• Learn how to transform daily responsibilities into acts of worship through sincerity, honesty, and compassion.
• Understand the purpose and benefits of a midday nap (qaylula) in supporting physical and spiritual productivity.
• Appreciate the balance between worldly duties and spiritual practices as a framework for a fulfilling and meaningful life.
• Reinforce trust in Allah’s mercy and forgiveness, emphasizing the value of sincere repentance.
• Develop a practical, structured approach to daily worship and reflection, inspired by prophetic teachings.

Class Summary

In our fast-paced world, maintaining a meaningful spiritual practice can be challenging. Yet, the teachings of Islam provide us with a clear roadmap to balance worship, repentance, and daily responsibilities. Below, we explore timeless guidance inspired by the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and classical scholars on organizing your day for spiritual growth and connection with Allah.

Begin Your Day with Purpose: Fajr and Early Morning Practices

The day starts with the Sunnah of Fajr. The Prophet, peace be upon him, taught that praying the Sunnah of Fajr at home before heading to the masjid is a highly rewarding act. Following this, one should engage in dhikr (remembrance of Allah) while walking to the masjid and make duas asking for Allah’s mercy and blessings.

Upon entering the masjid, say, “O Allah, open for me the doors of Your mercy,” and as you leave, ask Allah for His bounty. These simple acts align your heart with the purpose of the day ahead. Additionally, after the Fajr Salah, remaining in dhikr until sunrise and praying two rak’ahs can bring rewards equivalent to Hajj and Umrah.

The Power of Reflection and Dhikr

Morning dhikr is a cornerstone of spiritual focus. Spend this time alternating between supplication, Qur’an recitation, and reflecting on Allah’s blessings. Diversifying your worship helps maintain engagement and keeps the heart attentive. Allocating even a few moments for gratitude and contemplation can set a positive tone for the day.

Embrace the Virtue of Duha Prayer

The time between sunrise and midday is an opportunity for further spiritual enrichment. The Duha prayer, often referred to as the “forenoon prayer,” carries immense rewards. It serves as a substitute for charity on behalf of every joint in the body and symbolizes taking a pause from worldly distractions to remember Allah.

The Gift of Repentance: Erase Your Sins with Good Deeds

No one is perfect, and Islam acknowledges our human frailty. The Prophet, peace be upon him, taught that when we commit a sin, we should follow it with a good deed, which erases the sin. This can be as simple as praying, fasting, engaging in dhikr, or even shedding tears out of fear of Allah. Repentance is not just about seeking forgiveness; it is a continuous return to Allah, a sign of sincere faith.

Practical Tips for Balancing Worship and Work

Daily responsibilities are also acts of worship when approached with sincerity. Whether working, learning, or caring for others, performing these duties with honesty, trust, and kindness transforms them into acts of ibadah (worship). Adding a midday nap (qaylula) can help recharge energy for nighttime prayers, but balance is key—moderation in sleep and work leads to productivity in worship.

Conclusion: A Roadmap for Spiritual Connection

By structuring your day around acts of worship, reflection, and good deeds, you create a routine that brings you closer to Allah. The Prophet’s example reminds us to remain steadfast in prayer, consistent in repentance, and mindful of Allah’s blessings in every moment. This balance between spiritual and worldly commitments ensures a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Incorporate these practices into your daily routine to nurture a deeper spiritual connection, stay grounded in gratitude, and continuously draw closer to Allah. May He guide us all on the path of righteousness. Ameen.

Full Transcript

In the English translation, at least the first part of it is the inner secret of worship. Insha’Allah, we have been discussing the last portion of this segment, which is the adhkar—making dhikr and making dua. Last week, if you remember, we went through the different segments of the day, which Imam al-Ghazali, rahimahullah, divided into multiple segments, about seven of them.

Early Morning Worship and the Sunnah of Fajr

We covered the first one, which is the early time of the day, before even Fajr Salah. We discussed what dua and what adhkar need to be mentioned. Now, we will continue, insha’Allah, with that portion, bi’idhnillahi azza wa jal, starting from what he said to remind ourselves about what was covered—these supplications and words of remembrance.

Bismillah, let’s proceed. Bismillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasulullah, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. The author, Imam Ibn Qudama, rahimahullah, says: Before he sets out for the morning prayer, Salatul Fajr, he should pray the Sunnah prayer at home. After that, he heads towards the masjid and says this dua:

Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen wa salallahu wa sallam wa baraka nabiyyina Muhammadin wa baraka. Imam Ibn Qudama, rahimahullah ta’ala, says that before setting out for the morning Salah, Salatul Fajr, one should pray the Sunnah prayer at home. Where is this derived from? It is taken from the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, who would typically perform tahajjud. When he was done with tahajjud, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he would wait until he heard the adhan. When Bilal, radiallahu anhu, would call the adhan, the Messenger of Allah would pray two light rak’ahs—rak’atani khafifatan—because he had spent the night praying tahajjud.

Resting Before the Iqamah

When it came to the Sunnah of Fajr, he made them light. He would then go to the masjid, rest on his right side, and wait until Bilal came to call him for the iqamah. That resting position, after the Sunnah of Fajr and before the iqamah, is noted by Imam Ibn Hazm, rahimahullah ta’ala, as being mandatory, though others differ on this.

The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, had Bilal call him, and he would go out to pray Fajr directly. It was also reported that there should be no prayer between the Sunnah of Fajr and Fajr Salah unless one arrives at the masjid and prays Tahiyyat al-Masjid. If someone decides to pray extra rak’ahs at this time, it is not recommended.

The Virtue of Sunnah and Fajr Salah

The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, said that the two rak’ahs of Fajr are better than this world and all it contains. Moreover, when the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, traveled, he would not pray Sunnah except for the Sunnah of Fajr and Witr. Besides that, he would forgo other prayers until returning home.

The Supplications for Walking to and Entering the Masjid

So, after praying Sunnah at home, one should head to the masjid. On the way, one can say the following dua: “O Allah, I ask You for the blessings of this walk and that You do not allow me to walk in arrogance, hypocrisy, or vanity. I seek Your pleasure and refuge from Hell.”

However, scholars note that this hadith is considered weak due to certain statements. For example, the phrase “I ask You by those who ask You” has been critiqued as lacking proper adab with Allah. No one imposes upon Allah any obligation. Rather, He, subhanahu wa ta’ala, places obligations upon Himself out of His mercy. Despite the weak chain of narration, the general meaning of the dua is beautiful and worth reflecting upon.

When entering the masjid, one should follow the Prophet’s guidance: “When any of you enters the masjid, he should send blessings upon the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and say, ‘O Allah, open for me the doors of Your mercy.'” And when exiting the masjid, one should say, “O Allah, I ask You for Your bounty.” These duas are appropriate for the moments they are recited. Upon entering, one seeks Allah’s mercy, and upon leaving, one asks for provision and blessing in their daily affairs.

Securing a Place in the First Row and Performing Adhkar

After entering the masjid, strive to secure a place in the first row and recite dhikr and supplications while waiting for the congregation. This assumes one arrives early, as recommended, to gain the khayr available between the adhan and the iqamah. Additionally, after Fajr Salah, it is encouraged to remain in the masjid in dhikr until sunrise. Anas, radiallahu anhu, narrates that the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, said: “Whoever prays Fajr in congregation, then sits in remembrance of Allah until the sun rises and prays two rak’ahs, will have a reward like that of Hajj and Umrah.”

The condition for this reward is praying Fajr in congregation. However, for women praying at home, it is hoped that Allah will grant them a similar reward if they remain in their prayer area and engage in dhikr. The essence of this practice is consistency and presence of heart. Remaining in one’s place fosters focus and a deeper connection to the act of worship.

The Four Types of Dhikr After Salah

The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, emphasized that dhikr can take many forms: dua, recitation of Qur’an, reflection, and praising Allah. It is essential to diversify acts of worship to maintain engagement. If one has an hour until sunrise, divide the time between morning adhkar, Qur’an recitation, dua, and reflection. Organizing one’s time ensures a balance between spiritual and practical responsibilities.

The Time Between Sunrise and Mid-Morning (Duha)

The duties of the day continue with the time between sunrise and midday. During this time, one should strive to combine both spiritual and practical responsibilities. First, engage in making a living if required. Whether you are a merchant, laborer, or professional, ensure that your work is marked by honesty, trust, and care. Work with sincerity and compassion, remembering that your profession is also a form of ibadah when done with the right intention and conduct.

The Importance of Consistent Repentance

Now, turning to the importance of consistent repentance (tawbah): The hadith of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, teaches us to follow a bad deed with a good one, as this will erase it. This is emphasized in the verse, “Establish Salah at each end of the day and in the first part of the night. Good deeds erase bad deeds.”

This hadith teaches us that righteousness is not defined by being free from sin but by returning to Allah with sincerity after committing a mistake. Continuous repentance is a sign of faith. The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, assured that Allah forgives those who genuinely seek His forgiveness, even if they repeatedly fall into the same sin. This is demonstrated in another hadith where Allah says about a person who sins and seeks forgiveness repeatedly, “My servant knows he has a Lord who forgives sins and punishes for them. I have forgiven him.”

Acts of Worship That Remove Sins

For example, a companion who struggled with alcohol repeatedly faced punishment for public drunkenness. When another companion cursed him for his repeated offenses, the Prophet intervened, saying, “Do not curse him, for he loves Allah and His Messenger.” This demonstrates that while we may struggle with certain sins, our love for Allah and sincerity in repentance keep us within His mercy.

Additionally, consider that good deeds themselves can erase sins. Acts like Salah, dhikr, fasting, and crying out of fear of Allah are all means to purify oneself. The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, described that praying between the prescribed Salahs erases the sins committed in between. Fasting out of faith and seeking Allah’s reward also cleanses sins. Hajj, performed sincerely, removes all prior sins. Similarly, dhikr such as saying “Subhanallah wa bihamdihi” a hundred times a day can erase sins as numerous as the foam on the sea.

Concluding Reflections on Worship

In conclusion, the teachings of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the practices of the righteous predecessors provide a structured way to balance worship, repentance, and daily responsibilities. Organizing one’s day around acts of ibadah, combined with a focus on sincerity and consistent repentance, ensures spiritual growth and proximity to Allah. As we navigate our daily lives, we should strive to remain conscious of Allah, seek forgiveness for our shortcomings, and engage in good deeds that bring us closer to Him.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala make us among those who listen to the speech and follow the best of it. Ameen.

Q&A

1. What is the first act of worship recommended at the start of the day?
   • The Sunnah of Fajr, prayed at home before heading to the masjid.
2. What dua should be recited when entering the masjid?
   • “O Allah, open for me the doors of Your mercy.”
3. What dua should be recited when exiting the masjid?
   • “O Allah, I ask You for Your bounty.”
4. What reward is associated with staying in the masjid after Fajr until sunrise and praying two rak’ahs?
   • A reward equivalent to Hajj and Umrah.

5. Name the four types of dhikr that can be practiced in the morning.
   • Dua (supplication), Qur’an recitation, praising Allah, and reflection (tafakkur).
6. Why is diversifying acts of worship important?
   • It keeps engagement high and ensures attentiveness in worship.

7. What is the significance of the Duha prayer?
   • It acts as charity for every joint in the body and is highly virtuous.
8. When is the best time to perform the Duha prayer?
   • Mid-morning, during the busiest part of the day.

9. What should one do immediately after committing a sin?
   • Follow it with a good deed to erase it.
10. What are some examples of good deeds that erase sins?
    • Salah, fasting, dhikr, repentance, and crying out of fear of Allah.
11. What did the Prophet, peace be upon him, say about those who repeatedly seek forgiveness?
    • Allah forgives those who genuinely repent, even if they fall into the same sin multiple times.

12. How can daily responsibilities be transformed into acts of worship?
    • By performing them with sincerity, honesty, trust, and kindness.
13. What is the purpose of taking a midday nap (qaylula)?
    • To recharge energy and make nighttime prayers easier.

14. How does the Prophet’s guidance help structure daily life?
    • It provides a balance between spiritual duties and worldly responsibilities, ensuring spiritual growth.
15. What should one always remember about Allah’s mercy?
    • It is far greater than our sins, and sincere repentance is always accepted.

The post Study Classical Texts the Traditional Way | Session 30 appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Her smile was visible even behind her niqab as she weighed my bags at the check-in counter, the souvenirs from Makkah making them slightly heavier than allowed. “Han’adeeha,” she said, meaning “I’ll make an exception for you,” her young voice warm and friendly, eyes crinkling above the black fabric that concealed the rest of her face.

This small mercy from someone who perhaps understood the significance of the journey I had just completed felt like a final blessing, an umrah that, in an attempt to cleanse my soul, had now, apparently, earned me a reprieve from excess baggage fees. Allah’s Blessing, I reflected, manifests in unexpected ways, sometimes through the kindness of strangers.

As she processed my check-in, I noticed her discreetly reach for her personal phone below the counter after tagging my bags. With practiced subtlety, a movement likely invisible to less observant travelers, she angled her device toward my passport, then toward her screen, capturing images without comment or explanation. I caught a glimpse of her sliding the phone lower, likely taking my photo as well. Nothing in her demeanor acknowledged this surveillance; it was simply part of an invisible protocol, an unspoken routine.

I’ve come to recognize these moments. Many travelers remain unaware that airline staff often use unofficial WhatsApp groups on personal devices for rapid intelligence sharing, creating shadow systems of surveillance that operate alongside official channels. These digital breadcrumbs follow you from checkpoint to checkpoint, discussed in messaging groups beyond any oversight.

Then, as if confirming my suspicions about what was happening beneath the surface of our interaction, the boarding pass slid from the printer with four innocuous letters that made everything clear: SSSS.

Secondary Security Screening Selection.

She hadn’t flagged me herself; these systems operate beyond individual control, algorithmic machinery grinding beneath the surface of human interaction. Her kindness regarding my luggage was genuine; the system’s suspicion equally so. I deliberately ignored the SSSS designation, maintaining the same cheerful appreciation for her help with my overweight luggage. I smiled, thanked her again, and walked away with my heart already accelerating, though a calm voice inside reminded me: the One who had protected me through my journey to the holy lands would surely protect me through whatever indignities awaited. Still, the duality of this moment crystallized a fundamental contradiction in our security apparatus: the human face of bureaucratized suspicion, the velvet glove on an iron fist.

The Algorithmic Architecture of Discrimination

To truly understand the SSSS designation is to comprehend not merely a security protocol, but an intricate system of social control disguised as protection. This is not hyperbole; it is structural analysis. The enhanced screening selection process operates through multiple vectors of surveillance:

PC: Timeo Buehrer (unsplash)

Government watchlists constructed through often questionable intelligence merge with travel patterns deemed suspicious (one-way tickets, cash purchases) without contextual understanding. National origin and travel history become proxies for threat assessment, while algorithmic flags built on biased training data reproduce and amplify existing prejudices. This system represents not random selection but targeted surveillance masquerading as objective security. Its genius—and its danger—lies in its opacity. There exists no meaningful oversight, no pre-travel appeals process (Pre-TSA and Global Entry may not always work), and no transparency regarding selection criteria. The burden of proof is inverted: you must prove your innocence rather than the system proving your guilt.

When administrations change, particularly when one with explicit nationalist or racially biased tendencies takes power, these systems become weaponized with frightening efficiency. Historical data bears this out: during the Trump administration, CBP detentions of travelers from majority-Muslim countries increased dramatically following the implementation of Executive Order 13769, commonly called the “Muslim Ban,” which barred entry for nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries and suspended refugee admissions. This order, which sparked national protests and legal challenges over religious and national origin discrimination, was later superseded by Executive Order 13780, which maintained many of the same discriminatory provisions while adding more waiver guidelines.

The institutionalization of bias continued with Executive Order 13815, which restarted the refugee program with new, stricter “extreme vetting” procedures. While the Biden administration formally revoked these policies on January 20, 2021 (Proclamation Ending the Muslim Ban, 2021), the underlying infrastructure remained largely intact.

This represents a critical insight: the infrastructure of surveillance doesn’t require rebuilding; it merely needs recalibration. The architecture remains, only the targeting parameters shift. This explains the rapid implementation of discriminatory practices following administration changes; the foundation was already laid, waiting only for new operators to turn theoretical racism into practiced policy.

The Empirical Failure of Profiling as Security

The evidence is not merely suggestive but conclusive: profiling based on race, religion, or national origin fails as security methodology. This statement is not ideological but empirical. Behavior detection programs typically show “limited basis in science” and cannot be proven effective. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), which has been the government’s official watchdog since 1921 (yes, long before DOGE and today’s tech billionaires discovered government waste), has repeatedly criticized the TSA’s behavior detection program (SPOT) for lacking scientific validation. A 2013 GAO report recommended limiting funding until TSA could prove the program works, and a 2017 follow-up testimony noted that while TSA had revised and reduced funding for SPOT, it still lacked scientific evidence for its effectiveness.

TSA’s behavior detection techniques are no better than random chance, with less than 0.01% of flagged travelers posing actual security threats. The “hit rate” for finding genuine threats through racial or religious profiling is statistically negligible, while resources concentrated on demographic profiling create dangerous blind spots in security systems.

The security apparatus has constructed what experts term a “classification error” at a massive scale: false positives (innocent people flagged) overwhelm the system while potential false negatives (actual threats missed) slip through precisely because attention is misdirected toward demographic categories rather than evidence-based risk factors. What these systems actually produce is not security but security theater; performative rituals that create the illusion of safety while potentially undermining actual safety. This theater serves political rather than security objectives, a distinction critical to understanding why ineffective practices persist despite evidence of their failure.

The operational inefficiencies of these security procedures are further exacerbated by mismanagement within agencies like Customs and Border Protection (CBP). A 2022 DHS Office of Inspector General audit found significant evidence of poor operational controls and mismanagement within CBP. Additionally, the technologies supposedly supporting these security efforts often fail to function properly. Reports from 2024 found that nearly one-third of surveillance cameras on the U.S.-Mexico border were not working, highlighting the gap between the perception and reality of border security.

Does any of this actually help with security? The clear answer is no; it’s not reasonable, and it doesn’t truly help with security. Targeting people based on race, religion, or ethnicity creates a false sense of security while distracting from real threats. It wastes resources on innocent people while allowing actual risks to go unnoticed because they don’t “fit the profile.”

Data consistently shows that racial profiling leads to more false positives without improving the success rate of detecting genuine security threats. Beyond its ineffectiveness, it damages trust and cooperation with communities that could otherwise be allies in crime prevention efforts. People become less likely to report concerns or cooperate when they feel unfairly targeted.

The Multidimensional Trauma of Targeted Communities

For those bearing the weight of these policies, the impact transcends mere inconvenience, constituting a form of state-sanctioned traumatization that operates across multiple dimensions. The uncertainty principle becomes weaponized; never knowing if you’ll be detained, for how long, or why, creating a persistent state of anticipatory anxiety. This manifests as clinically significant symptoms: hypervigilance, sleep disturbances, concentration difficulties, and intrusive thoughts. Many develop what psychologists identify as “secondary traumatic adaptation”,  modifying behavior, dress, speech patterns, and even names to avoid triggering the system. It creates a profound spiritual contradiction that weighs on the soul.

My faith teaches tawakkul, complete reliance on Allah’s Protection and wisdom, yet the system forces me into a state of perpetual hypervigilance. I find myself caught between two realities. In one, I surrender to divine protection with absolute trust. In the other, I must constantly scan for threats, monitor my speech, curate my appearance, and anticipate others’ suspicions. This duality fragments the spiritual cohesion that the pilgrimage had just restored. It requires me to simultaneously inhabit contradictory states of being: trusting in God’s plan while strategizing against man’s prejudice.

The public humiliation functions as a disciplinary mechanism, reinforcing outsider status. Being singled out for scrutiny communicates a powerful subtext: “You do not belong here. Your presence is provisional.” Travelers describe the emotional impact in devastating terms: humiliation and shame from being searched, interrogated, or treated like criminals in front of others strips away dignity. Anger and resentment simmer, not just toward the officers, but toward the country or system they believed in. Many stop talking about these experiences out of embarrassment or fear, which leads to emotional suppression and disconnection from community support.

The body bears witness to this trauma as well. Long detentions, jet lag, missed flights, and sometimes lack of restrooms, all take a physical toll. Those with chronic conditions may be denied access to medication or medical support during lengthy questioning periods. The physical discomfort or violation of patdowns, bag searches, and digital strip-searches (phone and laptop scrutiny) can feel invasive, violating both bodily and digital autonomy. Stress hormones flood the system during these encounters, cortisol and adrenaline spiking with each additional security layer. Over time, this stress response becomes chronic, contributing to documented health disparities.

The material consequences cascade beyond the immediate encounter. Detentions and missed flights affect job opportunities, school admissions, and professional reputations. Some are denied visas or re-entry unjustly. Families watching their loved ones being mistreated suffer too, with children sometimes growing up fearing travel or resenting their parents’ countries of origin. Legal fees, rescheduled flights, or dealing with lost work days can lead to real financial strain. Most profound is the existential impact; what philosopher Frantz Fanon identified as the “ontological insecurity” of being perpetually suspect. The question becomes not merely “Will I be detained?” but “Am I ever truly a citizen? Will any amount of compliance ever be sufficient?”

The Coerced Complicity of Community Members

The most sophisticated aspect of this system is how it transforms potential resistance into reluctant participation. The young woman in niqab who printed my boarding pass embodies this contradiction, simultaneously part of a targeted community yet participating, however unwillingly, in the machinery targeting her own. This represents not personal failure but structural coercion operating through multiple mechanisms.

This dynamic raises a painful question: why would Muslim employees, themselves part of a targeted demographic, participate in the security apparatus targeting their own community? The answer lies not in individual moral failure but in structural coercion. At the individual level, employees face job pressure and fear of retaliation if they fail to comply with security protocols. Many feel trapped: “If I don’t report this person, I might be next.” Over time, even Muslim employees can internalize the biased security narrative they’ve been trained in, unconsciously beginning to see their own community through the lens of suspicion.

“The most insidious aspect of structural oppression: fracturing solidarity within targeted communities by forcing members to participate in systems that harm their own.” [PC: Charles de Luvio (unsplash)]

The mindset becomes particularly complex for employees from Arab or Muslim backgrounds working in airlines like Qatar Airways or Turkish Airlines. These companies, despite being based in Muslim-majority countries, frequently flag passengers who share their employees’ faith and cultural background. The question becomes even more pointed: why would airlines from Muslim and Arab-majority countries flag their own people?

The answer reveals multiple layers of power dynamics. Airlines from Muslim-majority countries flag their own people not out of loyalty to them, but out of political pressure, business interests, and fear of being targeted themselves. To comply with U.S. and Western security demands, airlines like Qatar Airways, Emirates, and Turkish Airlines must follow U.S. rules, even outside U.S. soil, sharing passenger data, implementing “enhanced screening” protocols, and sometimes adopting U.S.-style watchlists. They face a stark choice: protect passengers’ dignity or protect profits and partnerships. Business almost always wins.

Some governments in the region (especially those with authoritarian or Western-aligned leadership) want to appear cooperative with the West, even at their citizens’ expense, fearing being labeled as “harboring extremism” or losing favor in international intelligence-sharing networks. Major airlines, often state-owned or state-backed, view international approval as strategic currency affecting not just tourism but foreign investment, diplomatic relations, and trade deals. Flagging a few “suspect” passengers becomes a sacrifice to maintain broader global access.

Perhaps most revealing is that just because a passenger is Arab or Muslim doesn’t mean the system sees them as worthy of protection. Class, citizenship, and politics often matter more: a Qatari citizen may be treated better than a Syrian or Palestinian refugee; a Turkish diplomat’s child may fly through security while a Turkish activist is flagged. It’s not about shared faith or identity; it’s about power, image, and alliances.

At the personal level, some employees feel they must overcompensate to prove they’re not biased or are “loyal” to the institution, going harder on their own community to avoid suspicion themselves. Power dynamics and ego sometimes play a role, where individuals with limited power use their authority to feel important, especially if they’ve felt marginalized. Not all frontline workers realize that the system they’re upholding is flawed or discriminatory. They see themselves as doing their job, following instructions, and checking boxes, without understanding the impact.

This represents the most insidious aspect of structural oppression: fracturing solidarity within targeted communities by forcing members to participate in systems that harm their own. The young woman in niqab who processed my check-in was not my opponent, but my fellow captive in a system designed to divide us.

The Strategic Political Utility of Discriminatory Security

If empirical evidence consistently demonstrates that these practices fail to enhance security, why do administrations, particularly those with explicit bias, embrace them? The answer reveals the actual function of these systems: not protection but political utility. This utility operates through distinct mechanisms that serve specific political objectives beyond the stated purpose of security.

Security theater provides tangible evidence that the administration is “protecting” supporters from exaggerated threats, creating what political scientists call “performative governance”, policies designed not for effectiveness but for visibility and emotional resonance with core supporters. Economic anxiety, healthcare concerns, and social instability get redirected toward visible “others,” employing what rhetoricians identify as “transfer” technique, attaching negative emotions from complex systemic problems to simplified human targets. Creating an atmosphere where certain communities feel perpetually observed modifies behavior beyond direct encounters with authority. This produces what philosopher Michel Foucault termed the “panopticon effect”: self-regulation due to the possibility of surveillance, even when no actual surveillance is occurring.

Administrations empower such policies not because they are effective, but because they serve political, ideological, or strategic purposes. Harsh immigration or security stances often play well with certain voter groups driven by fear, nationalism, or misinformation, a way to show they’re being “tough” and “protecting the homeland,” even when the policies are misguided. Blaming immigrants or minority groups for economic issues, crime, or cultural shifts diverts attention from policy failures or deeper systemic problems by giving people a target. A stricter security apparatus creates an atmosphere of fear and obedience, sending a message, especially to marginalized communities, that dissent or deviation from the norm will be punished. This becomes a tool of authoritarianism.

Some administrations have staff or advisors with strong nativist, anti-immigrant, or even white supremacist views. They see immigration and diversity as threats to their idea of national identity and use policy to shape the country in their image. Once these policies are in place, they can be hard to undo. Empowering DHS, CBP, and TSA with unchecked authority weakens civil liberties, which can be used later to suppress a broader range of dissent or opposition.

Historical data reveals the pattern clearly. During the Obama administration, DHS focused resources on specific threat profiles rather than broad demographic categories, resulting in a reduction in secondary screenings while maintaining security protocols. The Trump administration reversed this approach with a 2017 executive order explicitly targeting seven Muslim-majority countries and internal CBP memos expanding “discretionary screening” protocols. The Biden administration partially rolled back these policies with Executive Order 140121, which called for the review and removal of barriers in the legal immigration process, but maintained much of the infrastructure. The administration also emphasized more humanitarian approaches through Executive Order 140102, which directed DHS and the State Department to examine the root causes of migration from Central America and improve asylum access.

Now, with security policies shifting again under new leadership, we see the pendulum swinging back toward demographic profiling. An executive order issued on January 20, 2025, required intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the U.S. in order to detect national security threats. This order led to considerations of expanding travel bans to dozens of countries with “deficient vetting and screening information.” Although these orders did not explicitly instruct other countries to tighten their security measures, the implication was clear: to maintain their citizens’ access to the U.S., these nations needed to comply with enhanced security and information-sharing requirements. The resulting increase in SSSS designations for travelers from specific regions in just the first quarter of 2025 demonstrates how quickly these policy shifts translate to real-world impacts on targeted communities.

Perhaps most concerning is how temporary political movements embed their worldview into permanent structures through policy changes, personnel appointments, and procedural modifications that outlast administrations. This transforms fleeting political power into enduring institutional bias. The suffering of targeted communities becomes not an unfortunate byproduct but a central feature of the system, demonstrating the administration’s commitment to exclusionary governance. This suffering is the point; visible evidence that the machinery of the state has been turned against those defined as outsiders.

Control Through Fear and the Politics of Division

The political utility of discriminatory security extends beyond mere performance for supporters. It serves as a sophisticated mechanism of social control. By creating an atmosphere of fear and suspicion, it discourages dissent and political participation from targeted communities. Those constantly worried about their status or safety are less likely to engage in civic activities, organize politically, or challenge existing power structures. This suppression of political engagement serves to maintain existing hierarchies and prevent challenges to authority.

Discriminatory security also functions as a wedge issue, deliberately dividing the population along racial, religious, and ideological lines. By framing certain communities as inherently suspicious, it creates an artificial binary: those who belong and those who don’t. This division makes coalition-building between different demographic groups more difficult, preventing unified opposition to policies that might otherwise face broader resistance. The polarization serves political interests by ensuring that base supporters remain loyal through fear while potential opposition remains fragmented.

The Human Enforcers: TSA and CBP Officers as Players in the System

At the frontlines of this security apparatus stand the individual officers: the human faces of an inhuman system. Their participation in this “game” of security theater is neither uniform nor simple. To understand why CBP and TSA officers participate in practices that harm innocent travelers requires examining the spectrum of mindsets that exist within these agencies.

Some officers genuinely believe in the mission. They’ve internalized the post-9/11 security narrative so completely that they see their role as the crucial barrier between America and potential threats. Their training has convinced them that certain demographic profiles legitimately correlate with risk, and they view their scrutiny not as discrimination but as necessary vigilance. They take pride in their thoroughness and view travelers’ discomfort as an acceptable price for national security. “Better safe than sorry” becomes the mantra that justifies any level of intrusion.

Others participate with clear awareness of the system’s flaws but feel powerless to change it. These officers often experience significant cognitive dissonance, recognizing the ineffectiveness and injustice of profiling while following protocols that require it. They are officers who whisper apologies while conducting searches, who roll their eyes at having to confiscate innocuous items, who try to make the process less humiliating through small kindnesses. Officers who know that this isn’t what they signed up for, but they need this job. Many in this category develop coping mechanisms; focusing on procedural correctness rather than outcomes, mentally separating their personal values from their professional actions.

“For policymakers with explicit bias, the calculations are coldly political, they view certain communities as acceptable collateral damage in service to larger political goals.” [PC: Claudio Schwarz (unsplash)]

A third category includes those who find personal satisfaction in exercising authority over others. For these officers, the security checkpoint becomes a realm where they wield near-absolute power, if only temporarily. Psychological studies have repeatedly demonstrated how quickly humans can become corrupted by authority, particularly when that authority is exercised over “othered” groups. These officers may linger over searches, ask unnecessarily intrusive questions, or deliberately delay travelers they find “suspicious” or simply annoying. Their behavior often escalates when they sense resistance or when they believe their authority is being questioned. The lack of meaningful oversight or accountability structures within these agencies enables this abuse of power.

Perhaps most troubling are officers who openly harbor racist or xenophobic views and find in TSA or CBP a legitimate outlet for these prejudices. Internal investigations and whistle-blower accounts have exposed text messages, social media posts, and workplace conversations revealing deeply concerning attitudes within segments of these agencies. Under biased administrations, these officers often feel emboldened, sensing tacit approval from leadership for more aggressive enforcement targeting certain groups. One former CBP agent described a culture where “certain accents or names would trigger extra scrutiny” and where “making jokes about travelers from specific countries was normalized.”

The different perceptions among officers sometimes manifest in how they interact with travelers. There are situations in secondary screening where two officers conducted the same process with markedly different approaches: the first was mechanical and cold, avoiding eye contact, treating the traveler as an object to be processed; the second maintained a professional but human demeanor, explaining each step, acknowledging the inconvenience, preserving dignity within an undignified process.

The system creates perverse incentives that reward certain officer behaviors. Performance metrics often prioritize processing speed and “compliance” rather than actual security effectiveness or respect for travelers’ rights. Officers who flag more travelers or find more prohibited items (however harmless) may receive recognition, while those who focus on treating travelers humanely risk being seen as “soft” or inefficient. The culture within these agencies often discourages questioning protocols or raising ethical concerns, creating an environment where “going along” becomes the path of least resistance.

When administrations change, particularly when one with xenophobic tendencies takes power, subtle shifts occur within these agencies. Memos circulate emphasizing “heightened vigilance” toward certain groups. Training materials are revised to expand “suspicious indicators.” Officers who might have exercised discretion in favor of travelers suddenly find themselves under pressure to demonstrate stricter enforcement. Those with predispositions toward bias feel validated and emboldened, while those with more moderate views face the choice between compliance and career consequences.

The mindsets behind these systems vary dramatically based on one’s position. For policymakers with explicit bias, the calculations are coldly political, they view certain communities as acceptable collateral damage in service to larger political goals. For career security officials, the mindset often involves professional detachment, viewing travelers as risk categories rather than individuals, and procedures as merely protocols rather than experiences with human impact. For officers on the ground, perspectives range from those who embrace discriminatory policies to those who implement them reluctantly, believing they have no choice.

For travelers from targeted communities, perceptions of these systems vary based on personal experience, religious outlook, and resources. Some adopt a fatalistic view: accepting discrimination as inevitable and focusing on survival strategies. Others maintain righteous anger, documenting abuses and challenging the system at every opportunity. Many, like myself, find ourselves navigating between faith in divine protection and practical strategies for minimizing harassment.

What unites all targeted communities is the recognition that these systems operate not from evidence but from prejudice, not from security necessity but from political expediency. This understanding forms the foundation for resistance, for refusing to accept discriminatory treatment as normal or necessary.

The Moral Imperative of Resistance

As I walked away from that check-in counter, boarding pass in hand, I recognized that the young woman in niqab and I were both caught in this machinery, her as reluctant enforcer, me as perpetual suspect. This realization demands not resignation but resistance. The system thrives on normalization, the acceptance that certain communities must endure degradation for collective “security.” This premise must be rejected categorically. The question is not how to make discriminatory security more palatable but how to dismantle it entirely in favor of evidence-based approaches that enhance actual safety without sacrificing fundamental rights.

For those not directly targeted, moral clarity demands action: bearing witness to these realities rather than averting your gaze, using privilege to document and challenge discriminatory practices, and refusing the comfortable fiction that these systems protect rather than harm. For those within targeted communities, the path requires strategic resistance: documenting encounters through formal complaints, building community support systems to mitigate trauma, engaging legal and advocacy organizations to challenge systemic abuses, and preserving dignity through refusing the role of compliant subject.

When my name was called for special screening before boarding, I stood, conscious of the public spectacle being created. The process unfolded with mechanical predictability: the enhanced pat-down, the explosive residue testing. I felt a profound calm, the certainty that Allah’s Protection surrounded me regardless of what this system demanded.

Toward Justice and Human Dignity

The journey home from sacred spaces should not lead through the machinery of suspicion. Yet, for many of us, it does. Perhaps there’s wisdom even in this; a reminder that the peace of sacred spaces exists alongside the struggles of everyday life, that our faith must withstand not just the ease of worship but the trial of worldly systems. In recognizing this reality, and in refusing its legitimacy while maintaining trust in a higher protection, lies the first step toward a security paradigm that protects all by degrading none.

True security comes not from performative screening or algorithmic suspicion but from justice, dignity, and the recognition of our shared humanity. It comes from systems built on evidence rather than fear, on targeting genuine threats rather than entire communities. For those not targeted, the call is clear: Witness this reality. Speak against it. Recognize that a system that violates the dignity of some ultimately diminishes the humanity of all.

Resistance as Survival: The Way Forward

For those of us from targeted communities, navigating these systems is not merely a question of convenience. It is a matter of survival, dignity, and collective liberation. Our path forward demands both intimate, personal resistance and bold, collective action.

“True security comes not from performative screening or algorithmic suspicion but from justice, dignity, and the recognition of our shared humanity.” [PC: Mike Von (unsplash)]

Individually, we must perfect the art of dignity preservation. This means refusing with unwavering resolve to internalize the system’s judgment of our worth. When the SSSS appears on our boarding passes, when our bodies are searched, when our loyalty is questioned, we must recognize these actions for what they are: reflections of a flawed system, not reflections of our value. This internal fortification is not passive acceptance but active resistance. It is a refusal to surrender the sanctuary of our self-perception to the machinery of suspicion.

Yet individual resilience alone cannot dismantle structural oppression. Collective resistance becomes our oxygen, our sustenance. We must meticulously document every discriminatory encounter, building an irrefutable record that transforms isolated incidents into recognizable patterns. We must organize across ethnic, racial, and religious lines, recognizing that though the targets shift, the machinery remains constant. We must engage strategically with legal systems designed neither by nor for us, yet which contain tools we can repurpose for justice. Community healing circles, know-your-rights workshops, rapid response networks; these become our infrastructure of resistance.

The human elements within this system reveal critical pressure points for change. The TSA officer who refuses to make eye contact while conducting a “random” search knows what they’re participating in. The CBP agent who apologizes in a whisper while confiscating your phone recognizes the moral compromise they’ve made. These moments of human recognition, these fleeting acknowledgments of the system’s cruelty, reveal the fractures where resistance can take root.

Most telling are the encounters with officers from our own communities. The Black TSA agent who overcompensates with harshness toward fellow Black travelers, desperate to prove his allegiance to the system. The South Asian officer who slips into subtle solidarity through an extra moment of explanation, a discreet nod of understanding, recognizing the parallel between your experience and her family’s. The Latina agent mechanically following protocol while avoiding eye contact, the weight of her community’s similar scrutiny hanging between you. These interactions expose the system’s most insidious success: forcing the oppressed to participate in their own oppression.

These officers face impossible choices daily: between feeding their families and maintaining moral clarity, between professional advancement and community solidarity, between the safety of conformity and the risk of resistance. Understanding this complexity doesn’t excuse harmful behavior but illuminates the sophisticated machinery that transforms potential allies into reluctant enforcers.

In this recognition lies a profound opportunity. When we see these officers not as natural enemies but as potential collaborators trapped in impossible positions, we expand our vision of resistance. The most powerful challenge to unjust systems often comes from those working within them who choose, in critical moments, to bend rules, look away, warn, or whisper truths they’re not supposed to share.

Our resistance must therefore be as sophisticated as the oppression we face. It must operate simultaneously at the level of personal dignity, community solidarity, institutional challenge, and alliance-building with those inside the system whose humanity remains intact despite enormous pressure to surrender it.

This is not merely a strategy for survival but a reclamation of what these systems seek to destroy: our belief in the possibility of justice, our capacity for solidarity across difference, and our fundamental recognition of each other’s humanity.

The young woman in niqab at the check-in counter and I exist in the same system, both navigating its contradictions. Her kindness and the system’s cruelty coexist not as paradox but as evidence of the fundamental truth: human dignity persists even within structures designed to deny it. And above all, divine protection remains constant—whether manifested through the kindness of a stranger, the strength to maintain dignity under scrutiny, or the clarity to see these systems for what they truly are. This persistence is not merely resistance—it is the foundation upon which more just systems will eventually be built.

 

Related:

– Surveillance, Detentions And Politics of Fear: Managing Kashmir The Palestinian Way

– WATCH: Bloomberg Claims Mass Surveillance Of American Muslims Was “The Right Thing To Do”

1    Executive Order 14012, Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Inclusion for New Americans. (2021, February 2). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/02/05/2021-02563/restoring-faith-in-our-legal-immigration-systems-and-strengthening-integration-and-inclusion-efforts2    Executive Order 14010, Creating a Comprehensive Regional Framework to Address the Causes of Migration. (2021, February 2). https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-14010-creating-comprehensive-regional-framework-address-the-causes

The post The Theater Of Security: How Kindness And Cruelty Coexist At Our Borders appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.