Yesterday we sat with an uncomfortable truth: that leaving the soul’s drift unaddressed has a cost, and that cost accumulates. Reflecting on the verse from yesterday can stir something within and awaken awareness. 

Here’s the thing: when we gain awareness of His Majesty and our own shortcomings, it can make the task of returning feel overwhelming. Imam Zainul Abedin [as] paints a picture of this distress in Dua Tauba: “So he saw the enormity of his disobedience as immense, and the greatness of his opposition as great”.

Today’s reflection helps cope with the despair that might emerge as a result of awareness. 

Verse 53 of Chapter 39, Surah Az-Zumar is widely regarded by scholars as one of the most hope-bearing verses in the entire Quran. It says:

قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ 

[39:53] Say: O my servants! who have acted extravagantly against...

Over these past weeks, we have explored the inner landscape of the human soul [the fitrah upon which we were created], the states of the nafs, the pull of desire, and the gradual silencing of the conscience. Over the last few days, we have been talking about our mutual role of guardianship where we try to keep each other’s consciences alive. 

Today, as we enter the final third of this blessed month, we turn to the question of what happens to the soul when it drifts and does not return?

Let us reflect on verse 14 from Chapter 83, Sura Al-Mutaffafin:

كَلَّا بَلْ رَانَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِم مَّا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ 

[83:14] Nay! rather, what they used to do has become like rust upon their hearts.

The verse is addressed to those who reject Allah [swt]’s communications and call the Message of the Quran: “stories of old or myths of the ancients”.

The verse is telling us that rejecting guidance and continuing with unworthy actions has become like rust upon their hearts. 

The word the Quran ...

Our reflection for today is from Sura Munafiqoon:

وَأَنفِقُوا مِن مَّا رَزَقْنَاكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ فَيَقُولَ رَبِّ لَوْلَا أَخَّرْتَنِي إِلَى أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ فَأَصَّدَّقَ وَأَكُن مِّنَ الصَّالِحِينَ

[63:10] And spend out of what We have given you before death comes to one of you, so that he should say: My Lord! why didst Thou not respite me to a near term, so that I should have given alms and been of the doers of good deeds?

وَلَن يُؤَخِّرَ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِذَا جَاء أَجَلُهَا وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ

[63:11] And Allah does not respite a soul when its appointed term has come, and Allah is Aware of what you do.

In these verses the Quran paints a serious picture: Imagine standing at the threshold of death and suddenly and clearly seeing everything you had, everything you were given, everything you could have done, all at once. Not as abstract possibility anymore, but as solid, undeniable reality. The time you had. The health you took for gran...

As we continue reflecting on feedback and correction, we often focus on the courage required to give advice. We talk about speaking truth gently, correcting with wisdom, and intervening with love. But there is the other side to this equation and one that may be tougher for many of us and that is receiving correction.

It is relatively easy to say we value growth. It is much harder to demonstrate it when someone points out where we are falling short. That is when the ego really kicks in and boy does it sting. 

Do we remember the hadith that says: “The believer is the mirror of the believer?” Have we considered what a mirror does? A mirror does not flatter [though we really wish it did!!]. It does not soften angles. It does not adjust lighting. It reflects what is there. We may not always like what we see, but the mirror is a gift because it helps us correct course. 

As we grow older, more accomplished, or more established in our families and communities, something subtle happens: we b...

We have been exploring the Quranic injunction to encourage good and stop evil in society. Coming back to the metaphor of the village, we could say that if encouraging good builds the village and forbidding wrong protects it, then correcting with wisdom is what keeps it from fracturing.

Because let’s be honest, this is where things often go wrong. It is how we give feedback or offer correction that drives people away. So the problem is often the delivery of the message.

In verse 125 of Sura Nahl, Allah says: 

ادْعُ إِلِى سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِظَةِ الْحَسَنَةِ وَجَادِلْهُم بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ 

[16:125] Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation and have disputations with them in the best manner; surely your Lord best knows those who go astray from His path, and He knows best those who follow the right way.

Here the Quran spelling out the principle of how...

When Allah describes the believing community in Surah al-Tawbah, he begins not with rules or rituals or punishment. He talks about the relationship between believers.  

وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاء بَعْضٍ يَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلاَةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَيُطِيعُونَ اللّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ أُوْلَـئِكَ سَيَرْحَمُهُمُ اللّهُ إِنَّ اللّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ 

[9:71] And (as for) the believing men and the believing women, they are guardians of each other; they enjoin good and forbid evil and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allah and His Messenger; (as for) these, Allah will show mercy to them; surely Allah is Mighty, Wise.

The word used is awliyā’, a term far richer than “friends.” It signifies loyal protectors, committed allies, those bound together in care, defense, and shared responsibility for the sake of Allah. It implies mutual upliftment. It implies standing beside one another. It implies moral...

In verse 79 of Sura Maida, the Quran criticizes a group of people:

كَانُواْ لاَ يَتَنَاهَوْنَ عَن مُّنكَرٍ فَعَلُوهُ لَبِئْسَ مَا كَانُواْ يَفْعَلُونَ 

[5:79] They used not to forbid each other the hateful things (which) they did; certainly evil was that which they did.

We discussed yesterday about how amr bil ma‘rūf wa nahy ‘anil munkar is one of the defining characteristic of believers (9:71). This verse we are discussing today does not condemn these people only for committing wrong but for failing to stop each other. We often imagine sin as a private matter between an individual and Allah. But the Quran repeatedly reminds us that wrongdoing has a social dimension. What we tolerate shapes who we become collectively.

Yesterday we spoke about the Quranic injunction about inviting and encouraging to righteousness. Today let us explore the other half of the injunction: forbid the wrong. 

We discussed how it is the moral responsibility for all believers to create an a spiritually hea...

Over the past reflections, we have spoken about the nafs — how it is vulnerable, how it drifts, how it is shaped by environment. We are not as strong as we imagine ourselves to be. We forget. We normalize what surrounds us. We absorb the tone, habits, and moral temperature of the spaces we inhabit. If everyone around us gossips, gossip begins to feel harmless. If no one prioritizes prayer, prayer begins to feel inconvenient. If littering is everywhere, littering no longer registers as wrong.

I sometimes think of this as the “Roman nafs”, as in when in Rome, do as the Romans do. In a supportive environment, we thrive. In a corrupt environment, we can be easily misled. Here’s the thing: Allah [swt], in His mercy, does not expect us to battle our weaknesses alone. Instead, He builds into our faith a protective system: Amr bil Ma‘rūf , enjoining what is good. It is a way of stacking the odds in our favor.

In verse 104 of Sura Ale Imran, the Quran says:

وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُو...

Today’s reflection is on one of my most favourite verses from a favourite Sura. Towards the end of Sura Ala, the Quran says: 

بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا 

[87:16] Nay! you prefer the life of this world,

وَالْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى 

[87:17] While the hereafter is better and more lasting.

Yesterday we reflected on 2:216 which reminds us that we may dislike what is good for us and love what is harmful for us. That verse reminded us that our judgment is limited. Today’s verse widens the lens and shows us why: we are making judgments from within a temporary world while being created for something everlasting.

This earthly existence is called “dunya” in the Quran. The word dunyā refers to the temporal world and its earthly concerns and possessions, as opposed to the hereafter (ʾākhirah). In the Qur'an, dunyā and ākhira are sometimes used dichotomously, other times complementarily.

Quran refers to this eartly existence as al-Dunya (the nearer, lowly or ordinary life), and ...

In our last reflection, we spoke about rebellion against the self, how sometimes our own impulses work against our flourishing. Today’s verse from Sura Baqara takes us one step deeper.

وَهُوَ كُرْهٌ لَّكُمْ وَعَسَى أَن تَكْرَهُواْ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ وَعَسَى أَن تُحِبُّواْ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَّكُمْ وَاللّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ

and it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it may be that you love a thing while it is evil for you, and Allah knows, while you do not know.

In this verse, Allah [swt] reminds us of a profound truth: human perception is limited and our internal preferences are not always trustworthy. We may detest something that holds hidden benefits or long for something that harms us. This verse from Surah Al-Baqarah is an invitation: to trust, to surrender, and to cultivate a mindset of growth by embracing discomfort.

This realization, deeply embedded in Islamic teachings, is also supported by psychological research and...