Navigating Life as a Muslimah in 2022
Life is for sure a journey. As Muslims our life journey should really be a love story between us and our creator, and striving to gain closeness in this relationship. However, we are bombarded with so many things in this day and age. From feeling socially obliged to keep up with trends, social media and news, it's hard to know where to start. Hard to always remember our purpose when we have so many factors distracting us from our true reality.
Having been blessed with becoming a revert, I've had the opportunity to see things with totally new eyes. I've had to re-learn all the things most people don't think twice to question.
I've come to discover a few tips that have helped guide me to the right path. Through difficult and uncertain times it has helped anchor me with the best reminders.
Intentions - we all know the famous saying that our actions are according to intentions. Yet we live most of our lives in autopilot, not knowing if we did our last prayer as we weren't paying attention. I've found that renewing my intention when I approach prayer, when I leave the house with hijab, when I attempt to do a good deed , makes me give full attention and reap more benefits to my tasks. We need to continuously renew our purpose and re-familiarize ourselves with the real reality. We live surrounded by all these silly distractions on who's wearing what, people always looking at others for inspiration that we don't inspire ourselves to do better and to turn to God for our real guidance.
Salah - A responsibility, but an immense blessing that has been ordained for us. Not many people realize how special of a gift prayer is in our lives. It's a time for us to remember our creator and to turn wholeheartedly to him for our needs, to put our daily worries aside and remember our original calling. A direct communication with God is not given to everyone, not even the Angels - yet we take it for granted and sometimes feel like it's a chore in our daily routines.
Friendships - Social media has allowed anyone and anything to come into our lives. We don't realize the harm that these things can do, when we allow them to permeate into our lives and into our minds. The people and the things we surround ourselves with will affect how we view life, the things we prioritize, the goals we set in our lives, the inspiration we take on. I found that less is more, surrounding myself with people that have similar outlooks and similar goals In regards to Deen, helps me from deviating to unnecessary and unimportant things.
Having people who are there to give you words of positivity and guidance in difficult times, people who inspire you to be better and do more in regards to practice. There are so many people that will come and go in our lives, but asking God to keep you with those He is pleased with goes a long way. Taking a moment to really reflect on someone's impact in your life and making changes when we see the harm some people can bring into our spiritual journey.
Reflection - Truly, only with the remembrance of God do hearts find rest. I found that taking a moment before bed to talk to God and reflect on my daily thoughts allows me to always be thankful and always be mindful of the bigger plan. You realize how small the things we stress about are in the day, how fleeting moments or anger and disappointment can be. Allowing everything to come together to leave it all in the hands of Allah and pray for a better day ahead.
I wish you all the best in your journey towards gaining closeness to your creator, All my love - D