عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ : “يَقُولُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى: أَنَا عِنْدَ ظَنِّ عَبْدِي بِي، وَأَنَا مَعَهُ إِذَا ذَكَرَنِي، فَإِنْ ذَكَرَنِي فِي نَفْسِهِ، ذَكَرْتُهُ فِي نَفْسِي، وَإِنْ ذَكَرَنِي فِي مَلَإٍ، ذَكَرْتُهُ فِي مَلَإٍ خَيْرٍ مِنْهُمْ، وَإِنْ تَقَرَّبَ إِلَيَّ بِشِبْرٍ، تَقَرَّبْتُ إِلَيْهِ ذِرَاعًا، وَإِنْ تَقَرَّبَ إِلَيَّ ذِرَاعًا، تَقَرَّبْتُ إِلَيْهِ بَاعًا وَإِنْ أَتَانِي يَمْشِي، أَتَيْتُهُ هَرْوَلَةً”

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Prophet ﷺ said: Allah the Almighty said: I am as My servant thinks I am. I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assembly better than it. And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a cubit, and if he draws near to Me a cubit, I draw near to him a fathom. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed. [Hadith 15, 40 Hadith Qudsi]

A servant approaches Allah with little, and Allah responds with abundance.

Yet despite this promise, some people still despair in the mercy of Allah. We see this happen when hardship occurs, as it can cause the heart to weaken, and Shaytan uses these moments to whisper doubts and negative thoughts into our minds. But this hadith calls back to a fundamental truth: our perception of Allah shapes our relationship with Him.

Allah the Most High says,

وَذَٰلِكُمْ ظَنُّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى ظَنَنتُم بِرَبِّكُمْ

And that was your assumption, which you assumed about your Lord. [41:23]

Thinking well of Allah is one of the greatest acts of worship that a Muslim should fill their heart with in all circumstances. The habit of maintaining a heart that expects goodness from Allah is one we must cultivate in our everyday lives.

This brings up two questions: What does it mean to expect goodness from Allah when life feels difficult? If Allah is as His servant thinks of Him, then what does pessimism reveal about the state of one’s faith as opposed to optimism?

Subscribe now

What is Optimism?

Optimism is defined as the quality of being full of hope and emphasizing the good parts of a situation, or a belief that something good will happen. It is having a positive, confident mindset that things will get better. Hope is part of the definition of optimism, and I previously wrote about how being hopeful is an act of worship, but they aren’t identical.

From a psychological and behavioral perspective, hope and optimism are closely related but distinct constructs. Hope is generally understood as a motivational state that involves both the belief that a desired outcome is possible and the perception that one can find pathways toward it. A hopeful person may fully acknowledge that their situation is difficult, uncertain, or painful, but they remain engaged because they believe improvement is possible and that their efforts matter.

With optimism, it refers more broadly to a general expectation that good things will happen in the future. This actually influences behavior significantly: optimistic people are more likely to persist, to reattempt tasks after failure, and to regulate stress more effectively. Conversely, chronic pessimism involves expecting negative outcomes and is linked to higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Over time, this pattern can reinforce feelings of helplessness.

Both hope and optimism tend to produce more adaptive behavioral patterns than pessimism because of how the engagement with it is sustained. From an Islamic perspective, when we think about Allah, this concept of husn al-dhunn billah (thinking well of Allah) comes to mind. When we maintain a heart that expects goodness from our Lord, we adopt behaviors that will aid us in times of uncertainty and hardship. This is reflected in a narration:

عَنْ خَيْثَمَةَ قَالَ قَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بن مسعود رضي الله عنه وَالَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ غَيْرُهُ مَا أُعْطِيَ عَبْدٌ مُؤْمِنٌ شَيْئًا خَيْرًا مِنْ حُسْنِ الظَّنِّ بِاللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ وَالَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ غَيْرُهُ لَا يُحْسِنُ عَبْدٌ بِاللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ الظَّنَّ إِلَّا أَعْطَاهُ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ ظَنُّهُ ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ الْخَيْرَ فِي يَدِهِ

Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “By the One besides whom there is no God, a believing servant is not given anything better than good thoughts about Allah Almighty. By the One besides whom there is no God, a servant does not improve his opinion of Allah Almighty except that Allah will give him what he assumes. That is because all good is in His hands.” [Husn al-Dhun Billah 83]

A Muslim trusts that Allah’s wisdom, mercy, and decree ultimately lead to good, even if that good is not immediately visible to us. We should always be full of hope and have certainty that Allah will ease our affairs.

Clinging to negativity and viewing the decree of Allah through a pessimistic, defeatist mindset prevents you from fully trusting that Allah will deliver you from your hardship. Allah guides us in ways beyond our understanding, limited in our ability to see the full picture, until we realize how Allah led us to where we are today.

The Mother of Musa as a Model of Hope

Many stories in the Qur’an remind us of being optimistic, and one of these examples is found in the story of the mother of Musa السلام عليهما. Her story serves as a strong reminder of optimism through steadfastness.

At a time when Fir’awn was killing the newborns of Bani Isra’il, she was faced with a test that no mother could ever be prepared for. Reading Surah al-Qasas, we see how Allah inspired her with a command:

وَأَوْحَيْنَآ إِلَىٰٓ أُمِّ مُوسَىٰٓ أَنْ أَرْضِعِيهِ ۖ فَإِذَا خِفْتِ عَلَيْهِ فَأَلْقِيهِ فِى ٱلْيَمِّ وَلَا تَخَافِى وَلَا تَحْزَنِىٓ ۖ إِنَّا رَآدُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ

We inspired the mother of Moses: “Nurse him, but when you fear for him, put him then into the river, and do not fear or grieve. We will certainly return him to you and make him one of the messengers.” [28:7]

Allah gives specific commands here: nurse him and put him into the river. In His infinite mercy and wisdom, He counseled her, telling her not to be sad or scared and that Musa would be returned to her as a Messenger.

Imagine being told to place your infant child into a river, unsure of what may happen. There was no visible guarantee, no immediate reassurance beyond the premise of Allah. Yet, she obeyed. She didn’t pick and choose what to listen to and what to disregard; she complied, despite not knowing how things may turn out in the future.

From this verse alone, we see what true optimism is. It is not based on what we can see, calculate, or control, but rooted entirely in trusting Allah’s promise, even when the command itself feels overwhelming. And for a moment, the intensity of the trial almost overcame her:

وَأَصْبَحَ فُؤَادُ أُمِّ مُوسَىٰ فَـٰرِغًا ۖ إِن كَادَتْ لَتُبْدِى بِهِۦ لَوْلَآ أَن رَّبَطْنَا عَلَىٰ قَلْبِهَا لِتَكُونَ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

And the heart of Moses’ mother ached so much that she almost gave away his identity, had We not reassured her heart in order for her to have faith ˹in Allah’s promise,˺

وَقَالَتْ لِأُخْتِهِۦ قُصِّيهِ ۖ فَبَصُرَتْ بِهِۦ عَن جُنُبٍۢ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ

And she said to his sister, “Keep track of him!” So she watched him from a distance, while they were unaware,

وَحَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِ ٱلْمَرَاضِعَ مِن قَبْلُ فَقَالَتْ هَلْ أَدُلُّكُمْ عَلَىٰٓ أَهْلِ بَيْتٍۢ يَكْفُلُونَهُۥ لَكُمْ وَهُمْ لَهُۥ نَـٰصِحُونَ

And We had caused him to refuse all wet-nurses at first, so his sister suggested, “Shall I direct you to a family who will bring him up for you and take good care of him?” [28:10-12]

SubhanAllah, even in her obedience, she still felt cautious and heartbroken, almost to the point of revealing everything. But in her fear, Allah strengthened her. He reassured her, and this was a means for her to remember His promise. So, she instead chose to remain steadfast and be optimistic by sending her daughter to follow the basket.

This moment is so crucial because it shows that optimism does not equal the absence of fear. Being optimistic does not mean you become naive, unemotional, or deluded; it means that despite the feelings of fear, sadness, or grief, your heart remains anchored to Allah.

Allah decreeing that Musa not accept any other woman to nurse him is from His incredible wisdom and kindness. And by Allah’s decree, the very place Musa’s mother feared most became the means of her relief. After Musa عليه السلام was taken into the household of Fir’awn, through several events where Allah protected him, he was returned to her:

فَرَدَدْنَـٰهُ إِلَىٰٓ أُمِّهِۦ كَىْ تَقَرَّ عَيْنُهَا وَلَا تَحْزَنَ وَلِتَعْلَمَ أَنَّ وَعْدَ ٱللَّهِ حَقٌّۭ وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

This is how We returned him to his mother so that her heart would be put at ease, and not grieve, and that she would know that Allah’s promise is ˹always˺ true. But most people do not know. [28:13]

Here, Allah, exalted is He, reminds us that His promise is always true. Out of His mercy and benevolence, He reunited her with Musa, bringing her relief and easing her heart.

In his tafsir, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Rahman as-Saʿdi رحمه الله said,

“If, when calamity befalls a person, they remain steadfast, their faith increases thereby. This indicates that continuing to panic is a sign of weakness of faith.” [Tafsir as-Sa’di, vol 7, juz 19-21]

Obeying Allah, even if it feels difficult, is the path of the believer. With this in mind, we understand that optimism is not necessarily passive, but rather an active surrender to Allah’s command, coupled with certainty that His promise will unfold exactly as He intends.

Trust When It Feels Too Hard

The story of Musa’s mother, السلام عليهما, shows us what it means to have optimism in the face of hardship. Sometimes it’s not only about the trial itself or how long it may last, but about making a single, painful decision with complete trust in Allah. When she cast Musa into the river, it required immediate and absolute trust. No space to hesitate or think too deeply–just complete reliance.

Musa’s mother was optimistic in the face of hardship because falling into despair would’ve had the opposite effect. What sustained her was remembering that Allah does not waste trials, but that His decree is layered, and that absence is not abandonment. This type of faith doesn’t come from anyone else except Allah.

This goes back to the hadith I shared at the beginning, “I am as My servant thinks of Me.” What did the righteous people whom Allah tells us about in the Qur’an think of His commands or trials He put them through? They did not think that He would abandon them, or that His command was cruel or unjust. Rather, they are a testimony for us to know that Allah’s wisdom and mercy are a means of protection.

In our own moments of uncertainty, we have to ask ourselves: What do we truly expect from Allah in situations that feel overwhelming or too hard? Do we expect loss, or do we expect Him to carry us through it? What we as Muslims have to remember is that thinking well of Allah is a decision that shapes how you respond when you are tested.

To expect good from Him means that even when the path is unclear to you, you still move forward in obedience. You trust that what awaits you is goodness, regardless of whether it comes through a path you would never have chosen for yourself.

What Pessimism Implies About Allah’s Mercy

Because pessimism is linked to expecting negative outcomes, it is easy to begin expecting collapse. When you allow this to shape your circumstance, hardship begins to feel permanent, and relief begins to feel impossible. But in this state, how can the believer maintain good thoughts of Allah when they are in a constant state of cynicism, looking at life so bleakly?

If you assume that the worst outcome is inevitable, you will subconsciously think that there is nothing that can be done to help your situation, ultimately limiting Allah and what He can do (we seek refuge from this mindset). At what point does hopelessness creep into despair, which then turns into having bad thoughts about Allah and His mercy?

I want to emphasize the danger of despair. When negative thoughts dominate the heart and mind, they can subtly lead a person to assume that Allah is unjust, unforgiving, or unfair. It can make you think that Allah has abandoned you or that your sins are too high to be forgiven. Left unchecked, this mindset is a downward spiral that will make you forget how merciful Allah is.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

ادْعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَنْتُمْ مُوقِنُونَ بِالْإِجَابَةِ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَسْتَجِيبُ دُعَاءً مِنْ قَلْبٍ غَافِلٍ لَاهٍ

Call upon Allah with certainty that He will answer you. Know that Allah will not answer the supplication of an unmindful and distracted heart. [Sunan al-Tirmidhi 3479]

For the one who is stuck in this mindset, ask yourself: if I assume things will collapse, what am I assuming about Allah? If I expect relief, why am I allowing despair to take root in my heart? A Muslim must be certain of the vast mercy of Allah, that He accepts repentance from His servants, and answers when we call on Him.

In my favorite hadith, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gives us a powerful reminder, relaying what Allah سبحانه وتعالى said,

يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ إِنَّكَ مَا دَعَوْتَنِي وَرَجَوْتَنِي غَفَرْتُ لَكَ عَلَى مَا كَانَ فِيكَ وَلَا أُبَالِي يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ لَوْ بَلَغَتْ ذُنُوبُكَ عَنَانَ السَّمَاءِ ثُمَّ اسْتَغْفَرْتَنِي غَفَرْتُ لَكَ وَلَا أُبَالِي يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ إِنَّكَ لَوْ أَتَيْتَنِي بِقُرَابِ الْأَرْضِ خَطَايَا ثُمَّ لَقِيتَنِي لَا تُشْرِكُ بِي شَيْئًا لَأَتَيْتُكَ بِقُرَابِهَا مَغْفِرَةً

“O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and place your hope in Me, I will forgive you for whatever you have done, and I do not mind. O son of Adam, if your sins were to reach the clouds of the sky and then you sought My forgiveness, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, if you were to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth, but meet Me without associating anything with Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.” [Hadith 34, 40 Hadith Qudsi]

This is our Lord.

If you make du’a, then think well of Allah that He will answer you. If you spend in the path of Allah, think well of Allah that He will replace what you spent. If you leave something for the sake of Allah, think well of Allah that He will compensate you with something better. If you seek forgiveness, think well of Allah that He will forgive you.

The One Who Expects Good from Allah

I am not oblivious to the very real life circumstances that cause feelings of grief, sadness, and moments of weakness. However, these emotions should never lead the believer to think poorly of Allah, because that route will cause a deficiency in iman that must be rectified.

Musa’s mother depended solely on Allah, knowing that keeping optimistic in His promise was the only way she would be saved from her sorrow. This is the way of the believer. Waiting for Allah to deliver you from what you are going through, because He is ar-Razzaq, al-’Adl, al-Qayyum.

How great is thinking well of Allah, when the believer is certain that after brokenness comes restoration, after hardship comes ease, after fatigue comes rest, after tears comes a smile, after illness comes healing, and after this world comes Paradise whose width is the heavens and the earth, prepared for the righteous.

True optimism for a Muslim comes from their understanding of Allah’s nature, not from circumstances. The best way you can sustain optimism is by remembering the favors Allah has bestowed upon you. Every time you catch yourself falling down this path, remind yourself of what goodness Allah has granted you, so much so that you will build up your relationship and love for Him, and it will become the norm for you.

The one who has this mindset has set themselves up not expecting life to be easy, but expecting Allah to be Merciful, because that’s exactly how He describes Himself. Whoever expects goodness from Allah will have His abundant blessings poured upon them. Whoever deals with Allah with certainty will be astonished by Allah’s generosity beyond what they could imagine. Allah treats His servants according to their expectations of Him, and He grants them what they expect (and even more).

Optimism is not denial of pain, but defiance against despair. The mother of Musa didn’t know when her relief would come, but she knew who her Lord was, and that was enough.

عن احمد بن حنبل قَالَ أَبُو مُسْلِمٍ الْخَوْلَانِيُّ رحمه الله لَيْسَ الزَّهَادَةُ فِي الدُّنْيَا بِتَحْرِيمِ الْحَلَالِ وَلَا إِضَاعَةِ الْمَالِ إِنَّمَا الزَّهَادَةُ فِي الدُّنْيَا أَنْ تَكُونَ بِمَا فِي يَدَيِ اللَّهِ أَوْثَقَ مِمَّا فِي يَدَيْكَ وَإِذَا أُصِبْتَ بِمُصِيبَةٍ كُنْتَ أَشَدَّ رَجَاءً لِأَجْرِهَا وَذُخْرِهَا مِنْ أَنَّهَا لَوْ بَقِيَتْ لَكَ

Ahmad ibn Hanbal reported: Abu Muslim al-Khawlani, may Allah have mercy on him, said, “To renounce the world does not mean to forbid what is allowed, nor to squander wealth. Verily, to renounce the world means to be more reliant on what is in the hand of Allah than your own hand. If you are afflicted with a calamity, you have a stronger hope for the reward in store for you if you continue to endure it.” [al-Zuhd li-Ahmad ibn Hanbal 96]

May Allah make us among those who always think well of Him in all circumstances and place in our hearts a certainty in His promise that is not shaken by what we see or feel. May He grant us hearts that remain hopeful in Him, tongues that remember Him often, and limbs that remain firm in obedience to Him. May He prevent us from falling into despair, for He is more merciful to us than we are to ourselves. Make us among those who respond with patience and trust and allow us to rely upon You completely. Indeed, You are the Most Merciful, the Most Kind, and the Most Generous.

When Ramadan leaves us, I will remember…

The du’as made for me as I held the door for Muslims coming and leaving the masjid after spending their nights in prayer,

The rows overflowing, stretching outside the masjid, no matter the weather,

The imam leading us every night, completing the Qur’an over the month, standing for taraweeh, then for qiyam al-layl, reciting beautifully no matter how tired,

The woman praying next to me, crying to her Lord in sujud,

The auntie who usually sits throughout the prayer, but stands every night at the end when the imam makes duʿa, raising her hands as high as she can, begging Allah for forgiveness and mercy,

The 6-year-old girl I saw who went from playing with her brother to raising her hands in duʿa, imitating the women around her, wanting to be just like them,

The volunteers stealing moments: praying two rakʿahs, making duʿa, taking whatever chance they can before returning to serve,

The imam’s voice trembling during witr in the last ten nights, on the verge of tears, asking Allah to accept our fasting, our prayers, and our deeds,

The people who sometimes came in frustrated with the volunteers, only to come back later and apologize once they settled down (realizing they might’ve slightly overreacted <3),

The older aunties who were so happy to see the number of volunteers who adhered to the niqab and made duʿa for us, saying, اللهم يثبتكنَّ على لبس النقاب (as it’s quite rare to see that many in the U.S.),

The friendships I found among the volunteers, and the conversations we had, especially after staying up from 2 to 5 a.m., when exhaustion made everything a little softer, a little funnier,

The little girls walking around with chai their mothers made, offering it to everyone they saw,

The tight hugs on the last night, coupled with the du’as whispered as people left, thanking us, praying for us,

The meals and gifts the aunties prepared for the masjid, given thankfully and sincerely,

The smiles on people’s faces as they walked in and out, grateful to stand in congregation, surrounded by other Muslims, worshipping their Lord,

And the quiet example I witnessed in those who served tirelessly, teaching me that even in weariness, there is sincerity, when what you give is for something greater than yourself.

Oh, how I love being a Muslim. How I love being reminded of how communal Islam is.

I will miss this month deeply.

It showed me my shortcomings and pushed me to work on them. It made me slower to impatience and quicker to kindness. It reminded me that the good deeds we may struggle with outside of Ramadan are not impossible; they only require intention and effort.

And more than anything, it made me grateful, again and again, for the mercy of Allah.

Ramadan has been completed, but the masajids will not close, the Qur’ans will not be put away, and prayer will not stop. The Lord of Ramadan is the Lord of all months, and whoever fell short in Ramadan should not despair, because the door of repentance is always open.

So, hasten back to Allah so that He may be pleased. Remain consistent in worship and do not let the masjids that were comforted by your presence in Ramadan long for you after it. Be someone who is devoted to Allah, not just a person of Ramadan.

اللهم تقبل منا صيامنا وقيامنا، واغفر لنا تقصيرنا، واكتبنا من عتقائك من النار. اللهم لا تجعل هذا آخر عهدنا برمضان، وبلغنا إياه أعوامًا عديدة ونحن في طاعتك. اللهم ارزقنا الثبات بعده، ولا تجعلنا ممن عرفك في رمضان ثم نسيك بعده. اللهم اجعل ما زرعته في قلوبنا في هذا الشهر باقيًا لا يزول، وزدنا قربًا منك ومحبةً لك. اللهم تقبل منا إنك أنت السميع العليم، وتب علينا إنك أنت التواب الرحيم

As someone who wears it, I’ve revisited the challenges, what I learned, and all the experiences that come with wearing it. After reflecting, I’ve realized that the very trials that come with the niqab have become some of the greatest mercies in my life.

Before anything else, Allah has given me responsibilities, and my role is to fulfill them. I do not wear the niqab for validation or approval. I believe it to be obligatory, and I wear it for Him alone. Because of that, the reactions of people have taken on a meaning I never expected.

Thinking back to the reasons as to why I wanted to wear it, it derived from my studies with my teacher. The more I went over each ruling with her, the more certain I became. Shortly after, I put it on. I didn’t necessarily have any hopes or goals I wanted to achieve, but I think that’s what made the unexpected change it brought me even sweeter. Especially when I read about the women who came before us, such as the Ummahat al-Mu’mineen and the righteous women of the Salaf رضي الله عنهن, the more I realized that obedience has always required immediacy and trust.

عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رضى الله عنها قَالَتْ يَرْحَمُ اللَّهُ نِسَاءَ الْمُهَاجِرَاتِ الْأُوَلَ لَمَّا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَى جُيُوبِهِنَّ شَقَّقْنَ مُرُوطَهُنَّ فَاخْتَمَرْنَ بِهَا

Aisha رضي الله عنها said, “May Allah have mercy on the foremost women of the Muhajirun. When Allah revealed the verse, ‘Let them draw their cloaks over their bodies,’ (24:31) they cut their sheets and veiled themselves with them.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 4758]

عَنْ أُمِّ سَلَمَةَ، قَالَتْ لَمَّا نَزَلَتْ ‏{‏ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلاَبِيبِهِنَّ ‏}‏ خَرَجَ نِسَاءُ الأَنْصَارِ كَأَنَّ عَلَى رُءُوسِهِنَّ الْغِرْبَانُ مِنَ الأَكْسِيَةِ ‏.‏

Narrated by Umm Salamah رضي الله عنها: When the verse “That they should cast their outer garments over their persons” was revealed, the women of Ansar came out as if they had crows over their heads by wearing outer garments. [Sunan Abi Dawud 4101]

Reading these narrations reminds me of the best examples before me. The ones I want to emulate and strive to be like immediately covered when they heard the verses, and this motivated me not only to wear the niqab but to do so with certainty.

Subscribe now

On Visibility and Perception

When I think about what comes with being visibly Muslim, it places me in a position where I am constantly interpreted before I am known. For a long time, I struggled with constantly overthinking and internalizing assumptions. I would wonder how many conclusions were drawn about me before I even spoke. And sure enough, there are several psychological realities about this and how humans move through the world socially.

One of them is the concept of metaperception, which is your belief about how others perceive you. This awareness becomes sharper when there are visible identity markers involved. People naturally categorize based on visible cues, and clothing itself is an identifier that acts as a social signal. It’s human nature for us to mentally categorize and make assumptions based on first impressions. Basically, we are always being “read” before we are known.

Because the niqab is outwardly visible, it carries identity salience, meaning it is socially prominent before you even speak. I struggled with understanding this for a while because I would often think, “How many assumptions are being made about me just because I wear this? Do they think a man forced me to wear this? That I feel oppressed?” And I allowed this mindset to keep me stuck mentally.

It is human to want to be understood, to fit in, and not feel like the odd one out. This inclination is natural. But at some point, I had to ask myself: why should I feel embarrassed or ashamed for wearing something that pleases my Lord? If I truly believe that Allah’s pleasure is my ultimate goal, then the opinions of creation cannot outweigh the command of the Creator.

When you become preoccupied with how others perceive you, you internalize their assumptions, and it will eventually harm you in several ways. It is your responsibility to separate their projections from your reality. And the more I remind myself that their approval does not elevate me and their criticism does not diminish me, the lighter it feels to wear the niqab.

In this visibility, I understand that while being categorized is inevitable, being defined by it is not. Obedience becomes heavy when you carry the weight of everyone else’s expectations with it. But when you leave that weight behind, it becomes what it was meant to be: between you and Allah alone.

The Trials That Come With the Niqab

One of the realities of striving on the path of Allah is that when Shaytan cannot reach you directly, he attempts to do so by other means. Whether it be the stares, comments about your appearance, or societal pressure, he aims to discourage you from wearing it. Striving against the one who said that he will misguide us from the path of Allah so that we do not worship Him alone adds another layer of sweetness when I let go of what doesn’t benefit me and instead choose what pleases Allah.

I sometimes see these questions:

“How will you get married?”

“What if you can’t find a job?”

“How will you find opportunities?”

“Won’t you feel isolated?”

“Isn’t it weird that no one can see your face?”

And I’ll be honest, they used to bother me. But now I let the odd stares and comments roll like water off a duck’s back. When I can feel the glares and assumptions, when I think about all of the opportunities that will pass me by, or when I forget about the ways the niqab protects me, I remember this ayah:

وَمَا تُقَدِّمُوا لِأَنفُسِكُم مِّنْ خَيْرٍ تَجِدُوهُ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ

“Whatever good you send forward for yourselves, you will find it with Allah. Indeed, Allah is Seeing of what you do.” [2:110]

What I’ve gained is sweeter than what I’ve lost. If something passes me because of my niqab, then it wasn’t for me. When people stare, I genuinely think they are looking out of curiosity because it is so foreign to the West (generally). I’m not naive enough to think that every glance is in good faith, but I try to assume the best of everyone, even if it may feel strange at first.

When I feel low, I think to myself: how can I be lonely when I have Allah—al-Muhaymin, al-Alim, as-Sami’—on my side? The One Who knows me best? Who said,

هُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ فِى سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍۢ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى ٱلْعَرْشِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا وَمَا يَنزِلُ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا ۖ وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌۭ

He is the One Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days, then established Himself on the Throne. He knows whatever goes into the earth and whatever comes out of it, and whatever descends from the sky and whatever ascends into it. And He is with you wherever you are. For Allah is All-Seeing of what you do. [57:4]

The greatest shift was not in how others saw me, but in how conscious I became of being seen by Allah. When you willingly step into something that makes you visible to creation, you become more aware of the One Who has always seen you.

Everything is recorded. Knowing that my Lord is watching fills me with reverence and gratitude. Whatever Allah decrees for me is good because it comes from Him, and as His servant, I hear and obey.

What the Niqab Taught Me

There are so many lessons that I learned while wearing the niqab, but the biggest one is that it makes me more conscious of how I act before Allah and before others. It has redefined how I look at the term modesty (حياء). The sweetness of modesty makes you reflect more on the Greatness of Allah and His perfect dominion, reminding you before you sin that He is always watching. It doesn’t mean you become sinless or perfect, but rather it fosters this trait in you to think twice.

Understanding modesty will make you more shy before the Angels, because we do not want them to record a word or action that was displeasing. It makes you shy of yourself. It gives you better insight to not allow yourself to watch, listen to, or read things that are immodest because you know better.

عَنْ سَالِمٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم مَرَّ بِرَجُلٍ يَعِظُ أَخَاهُ فِي الْحَيَاءِ، فَقَالَ‏:‏ دَعْهُ، فَإِنَّ الْحَيَاءَ مِنَ الإيمَانِ‏.‏- حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللهِ قَالَ‏:‏ حَدَّثَنِي عَبْدُ الْعَزِيزِ بْنُ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، عَنْ سَالِمٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ قَالَ‏:‏ مَرَّ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَلَى رَجُلٍ يُعَاتِبُ أَخَاهُ فِي الْحَيَاءِ، كَأَنَّهُ يَقُولُ‏:‏ أَضَرَّ بِكَ، فَقَالَ‏:‏ دَعْهُ، فَإِنَّ الْحَيَاءَ مِنَ الإِيمَانِ‏.‏

Salim reported from his father that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, passed by a man who was berating his brother about his modesty. He told him, “Let him be. Modesty is part of faith.” [Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 602]

Modesty is an action of the heart and prevents a person from doing haram. Actions are part of modesty, and actions, speech, and belief are part of iman (faith). The one that Allah has blessed with this characteristic prevents them from falling into this sin, because they feel too shy to commit that sin against their Lord.

Another way that the niqab has aided me is in strengthening my tawakkul and sincerity. On days when I might struggle, remembering the reason why I wear it and renewing my intention encourages me to continue. Sincerity is the cornerstone of every action, and setting my intention to please my Lord is what motivates me.

On the flip side, the niqab also exposed the weaknesses that I had to work on. It made me realize how little trust I had and that I kept prioritizing what people said about me. If I believe that Allah is the One Who provides, I need to show it in my actions. Realizing this, the niqab forced me to work on these shortcomings.

It would be dishonest to pretend that there are no hard days. But this does not negate sincerity. Struggle does not cancel obedience. In fact, it may be the very thing that gives it weight. To struggle and still choose Allah is where sincerity lives. Steadfastness is not the absence of difficulty. It is choosing Him in the presence of it.

On Beauty and Discipline

What comes with the niqab is a softened and strengthened heart. When I’ve spoken to other niqabis, they say that the niqab has made them more patient, grateful, and a means to restrain the desire to beautify oneself publicly. I previously wrote an essay on beauty and how it affects every woman—whether she wants to conform or not—and I’m always reminded how the niqab can save Muslim women from falling into tabarruj (beautifying oneself unlawfully).

One thing I think most women don’t expect is that the need to completely change the way they look decreases significantly. Of course, you should beautify yourself in your home, take care of yourself, and not neglect your well-being, but freeing yourself from the public performance of beauty that all women are subjected to is a feeling I didn’t think I would experience.

I will always emphasize this: the niqab is a means to curb tabarruj. Most people don’t realize the hold that beauty has on women, how predatory these industries can be, and that it starts from birth. When the society you live in tells you that your worth is tied to your beauty, you internalize it and think it is intrinsic to your value.

The kind of beauty I feel now does not invite admiration, but the kind that feels protected. I feel strength and firmness in knowing that my worth is not tied to my appearance. I feel secure not because I am immune to people’s opinions, but because I have learned to measure myself differently. Stepping outside of that framework is liberating.

From there, it is a sign that wearing the niqab is both an act of obedience and social resistance for me. It is submission to Allah first, and resistance secondly, because it pushes back against beauty standards, the constant visual performance from women, and the cultural narratives that flatten Muslim women into caricatures.

Allah, al-Malik al-Quddus, has told us that our value lies in worshipping Him and how hard we strive to please Him. Everyone wants to look and feel beautiful, as this is a natural urge, but when you do in ways that are legislated and pleasing to Allah, it offers a joy that is unmatched.

Remaining Steadfast

I used to fear people in how they might react, what they might say, or how they might view me. But then it registered that another person’s view of me shouldn’t make me stumble in my path. If anything, it strengthens me now when I know that the first thing people see is that I’m a Muslimah. That I am covered, regardless of what they believe.

One of the strongest commands of steadfastness is in Surah al-Hud. Allah said,

فَاسْتَقِمْ كَمَا أُمِرْتَ وَمَن تَابَ مَعَكَ وَلَا تَطْغَوْا ۚ إِنَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ

“So remain steadfast as you have been commanded, you and those who have turned in repentance with you, and do not transgress. Indeed, He is Seeing of what you do.” [11:112]

I want to note that this mindset did not come easy. Some days you will feel like it is difficult, and other days it is as easy as taking your next breath. When you find yourself feeling the desire to sin or getting the urge to take off your niqab, remind yourself of the path it took to get to where you are now. That Allah knows how we will fall short every time, yet the doors of repentance are open for the believer as long as they are alive.

And when you do sin, turn to Allah and repent. Remember, your responsibility is not to calculate outcomes. It is to worship and please your Lord. Work daily to get to a point where you fear displeasing Allah more than displeasing the creation, because what is their validation worth if it costs you your relationship to Him?

عَنِ الْمُسْتَوْرِدِ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَا أَخَذَتِ الدُّنْيَا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ إِلا كَمَا أَخَذَ مِخْيَطٌ غُرِسَ فِي الْبَحْرِ مِنْ مَائِهِ

Al-Mustawrid reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “What is the world compared to the Hereafter but like a needle dipped into the ocean compared to its vast waters?” [al-Mu’jam al-Kabir lil-Tabarani 20/308]

When I stand before my Lord, I can only hope that this act of obedience testifies for me. That the struggles for His sake are not lost. That my reliance on Him alone outweighs my sins and becomes a shade for me. That He allows me to be among those He loves.

For the one reading this and for all of the Muslimeen, may Allah love us and be pleased with us so deeply that He calls Angel Jibril عليه السلام and tells him to love us, and Jibril loves us and announces to the heavens that Allah loves us, honoring us and allowing the inhabitants of Paradise to love us and those on Earth to honor us.

May Allah make our hardships a means of elevation and our obedience a source of closeness. May He aid the sisters who wear the niqab and keep them steadfast, and guide those who long to wear it to do so with taqwa and conviction. May we be amongst those loved by Allah, the Angels, and the inhabitants of Heaven and Earth.

In this post, I want to share some of these timeless lessons. These are only a few out of all of them, but I hope these benefit the one who reads this.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Observant of one’s own deficiencies (ناظرٌ في عيبه)

This trait is the essence of rectification and reflection. The believer is not obsessed with the faults of others, nor are they impressed by their own deeds. They are aware that only Allah ﷻ truly knows their shortcomings. Two narrations come to mind:

قَالَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ إِذَا أَرَدْتَ أَنْ تَذْكُرَ عُيُوبَ صَاحِبِكَ فَاذْكُرْ عُيُوبَ نَفْسِكَ

Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه said, “If you intend to mention the faults of your companions, then remember your own faults.” [al-Adab al-Mufrad lil-Bukhari 328]

أبو هريرة رضي الله عنه‏ يُبْصِرُ أَحَدُكُمُ الْقَذَاةَ فِي عَيْنِ أَخِيهِ وَيَنْسَى الْجِذْلَ أَوِ الْجِذْعَ فِي عَيْنِ نَفْسِهِ

Abu Hurayra رضي الله عنه said, “One of you sees the speck in his brother’s eye while he forgets the log in his own eye.” [al-Adab al-Mufrad 592]

There is a saying, “A person should look at their own ‘ayb (عيب).” We should examine our own faults, shortcomings, and moral deficiencies first. We should look at our own splinters and faults before we look at others, and rectify ourselves first. As Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه said,

حَاسِبُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ قَبْلَ أَنْ تُحَاسَبُوا وَزِنُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ قَبْلَ أَنْ تُوزَنُوا فَإِنَّهُ أَهْوَنُ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الْحِسَابِ غَدًا أَنْ تُحَاسِبُوا أَنْفُسَكُمُ الْيَوْمَ

“Hold yourselves accountable before you are held accountable and evaluate yourselves before you are evaluated, for the Reckoning will be easier upon you tomorrow if you hold yourselves accountable today.” [Muhasabat al-Nafs li-Ibn Abi Dunya 2]

Having this quality protects the heart from self-righteousness, comparison, and performative worship. The one who knows their flaws approaches situations with humility, not entitlement. The Salaf feared their deeds would be rejected more than they feared they would be few in number.

Do not neglect the acts of worship for the sake of aesthetics or vain ends, but rather to rectify yourself in this dunya and akhira. Ibn Qudama رحمه الله said,

فكن أحد رجلين: إما مشغولاً بنفسك، وإما متفرغاً لغيرك بعد الفراغ من نفسك. وإياك أن تشتغل بما يصلح غيرك قبل إصلاح نفسك، واشتغل بإصلاح باطنك وتطهيره من الصفات الذميمة، كالحرص، والحسد، والرياء، والعجب، قبل إصلاح ظاهرك

“Be one of two people: either fully occupied with your own reform, or devoted to others only after completing your own. Do not busy yourself with correcting others before correcting yourself. Occupy yourself with reforming your inner self and purifying it of blameworthy traits—such as greed, envy, ostentation, and vanity—before turning to outward reform.” [Mukhtasar Minhaj al-Qasidin 1/20]

Wings are lowered/gentle in manner (لينُ الجناح)

SubhanAllah, Arabic is such a descriptive language. The phrase ‘لينُ الجناح’ refers to being a humble person. It describes humility in behavior, not just in belief. The believer is gentle in speech, slow to anger, and easy to approach. They don’t assert themselves harshly, nor do they dominate others with their presence. Aisha رضي الله عنها said,

قَالَتْ إِنَّكُمْ لَتُغْفِلُونَ أَفْضَلَ الْعِبَادَةِ التَّوَاضُعَ

“Verily, you are neglecting the best act of worship: humility.” [al-Zuhd wal-Raqa’iq 391]

Humbleness is one of the most praised attributes that every Muslim should observe. When a person is humble towards others, they will earn love and respect from them. People will gravitate towards you if you have this characteristic.

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ خِيَارُكُمْ أَحَاسِنُكُمْ أَخْلَاقًا الْمُوَطَّؤُونَ أَكْنَافًا وَشِرَارُكُمُ الثَّرْثَارُونَ الْمُتَشَدِّقُونَ الْمُتَفَيْهِقُونَ

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The best of you are those with the most excellent character and are careful of those around them. The worst of you are the pompous, the braggarts, and the pretentious.” [Shu’ab al-Imān lil-Bayhaqī 7621]

Another part of humility is that we should see everyone as better than us in some way. In some shape or form, there will always be someone more knowledgeable, more generous, more appreciative. This doesn’t mean that you should think lowly of yourself, but instead realize that the opposite of humility is pride. There is always someone better, and when you recognize this, this is a sign of humility.

قَالَ خَرَجَ الْحَسَنُ وَيُونُسُ وَأَيُّوبُ رحمهم الله يَتَذَاكَرُونَ التَّوَاضُعَ فَقَالَ لَهُمُ الْحَسَنُ وَهَلْ تَدْرُونَ مَا التَّوَاضُعُ التَّوَاضُعُ أَنْ تَخْرُجَ مِنْ مَنْزِلِكَ فَلَا تَلْقَ مُسْلِمًا إِلَّا رَأَيْتَ لَهُ عَلَيْكَ فَضْلًا

“Al-Hasan, Yunus, and Ayyub, may Allah have mercy on them, were outside discussing humility. Al-Hasan said, ‘Do you know what humility is? Humility is that you leave your house and you do not meet any Muslim but that you view him as better than yourself.’” [al-Tawadu’ wal-Khumul 116]

Lowering the wing means choosing gentleness over sharpness, mercy over winning, and patience over pride. Allah ﷻ raises those who humble themselves for His sake.

Subscribe now

Expansive-hearted (واسعُ الصدر)

This is referring to a person who has a big heart. The characteristics they embody are friendly, easy-going, ignoring the shortcomings of others, and easy to be around. An expansive chest is a heart that can endure hardship, tolerate difficult situations, and overlook small offenses.

النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى الِلَّهِ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ لَا يَبْلُغُ عَبْدٌ حَقِيقَةَ الْإِيمَانِ حَتَّى يُحِبَّ لِلنَّاسِ مَا يُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِهِ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ

The Prophet ﷺ said, “The servant does not attain the reality of faith until he loves for people what he loves for himself of goodness.” [Sahih Ibn Hibban 235]

If you have good things going for you in life, such as a good marriage, family, a good job, etc., then you want it for your fellow muslimeen. A spacious heart carries immense reward.

النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ أَقْوَامٌ أَفْئِدَتُهُمْ مِثْلُ أَفْئِدَةِ الطَّيْرِ

The Prophet ﷺ said, “People whose hearts are like the hearts of birds will enter Paradise.” [Sahih Muslim 2840] Al-Nawawi رحمه الله said that “hearts of birds” means “those who rely upon Allah, or those who have soft hearts.” [Riyad al-Salihin 1/45]

The one who is like this brings people ease and comfort, and through that, they bring people closer to the deen. The believer is not constantly constricted by bitterness, suspicion, or emotional tightness. They trust Allah to let things pass. A narrow heart is easily disturbed; a spacious heart is difficult to shake.

Who wouldn’t want to be around someone who embodies this characteristic? SubhanAllah. This is what we should aspire to be, because nothing except khayr comes from a person like this.

Abundant in gratitude (غزيرُ الشكر)

Gratitude should be the Muslim’s default state. We should notice blessings quickly and complain slowly. Even hardship becomes a doorway to thankfulness.

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ مِنَ النَّعِيمِ الَّذِي تُسْأَلُونَ عَنْهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ظِلٌّ بَارِدٌ وَرُطَبٌ طَيِّبٌ وَمَاءٌ بَارِدٌ

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “By the One in whose hand is my soul, among the blessings you will be questioned about on the Day of Resurrection are the cool shade, fresh dates, and cold water.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2369]

The believer should be grateful for everything they have and use every moment to be grateful to Allah. We should stop to think enough about the things we overlook.

عَنْ ثَوْبَانَ، قَالَ لَمَّا نَزَلَ فِي الْفِضَّةِ وَالذَّهَبِ مَا نَزَلَ قَالُوا فَأَىَّ الْمَالِ نَتَّخِذُ قَالَ عُمَرُ فَأَنَا أَعْلَمُ لَكُمْ ذَلِكَ ‏.‏ فَأَوْضَعَ عَلَى بَعِيرِهِ فَأَدْرَكَ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ وَأَنَا فِي أَثَرِهِ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَىَّ الْمَالِ نَتَّخِذُ فَقَالَ ‏ “‏ لِيَتَّخِذْ أَحَدُكُمْ قَلْبًا شَاكِرًا وَلِسَانًا ذَاكِرًا وَزَوْجَةً مُؤْمِنَةً تُعِينُ أَحَدَكُمْ عَلَى أَمْرِ الآخِرَةِ ‏”‏ ‏.‏

Thawban said: “When the Verse concerning silver and gold was revealed, they said: ‘What kind of wealth should we acquire?’ Umar said, ‘I will tell you about that.’ So he rode on his camel and caught up with the Prophet, and I followed him. He said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, what kind of wealth should we acquire?’ He said: ‘Let one of you acquire a thankful heart, a tongue that remembers Allah, and a believing wife who will help him with regard to the Hereafter.’ ” [Sunan Ibn Majah 1856]

This hadith emphasizes the wealth we should seek. If we intend to be more grateful, it will add to our faith. There is so much goodness that comes from this. However, there is also the opposite, where it will be your downfall if you don’t have this characteristic. These blessings in our lives are due to the grace and mercy of Allah.

وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ ۖ وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌۭ

And ˹remember˺ when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will certainly give you more. But if you are ungrateful, surely My punishment is severe.’” [14:7]

Gratitude grounds us in humility and reminds us of the gifts that Allah has bestowed upon us. He ﷻ will give us more if we remember Him. When someone thanks you for an act, it makes you want to continue to do it. This is not even comparable to the favors Allah ﷻ showers upon us, but this connects with us as an example of how being grateful motivates us to do good.

Does not hold grudges (نقيُّ الجيب)

This is a person who doesn’t keep things in their heart. Holding a grudge only harms you because it carries a burden of resentment and anger. It doesn’t make us feel better, nor does it heal the hurt in our hearts. Granted, there are times when this is warranted, especially if someone has oppressed you. This does not include those situations; however, I hope that this can be of help in some way to ease the affairs of those who have been oppressed and want to deal with their feelings in a way legislated by Allah (اللهم أعن المظلومين).

While going over this text, Ustadha Umm Meryem حفظها الله said, “We turn our grudges into objects and hold them out as proof of what we have suffered and to remind others of our pain and deservingness. But our grudge is disconnected from our own heart because it becomes a construction of the mind, a story of what happened to us. A grudge can morph into a boulder that blocks the light of kindness from reaching your heart. In the effort of giving ourselves empathy, we end up depriving ourselves of it.”

You forgive because you want Allah to forgive you. An example of this is in the Incident of Ifk, where Aisha رضي الله عنها was slandered, and Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه found out how the rumor was spread. Allah ﷻ revealed a verse about this [24:22]. What we take from this is that we hear and obey, and not to let a grudge build in you to the point where you deprive yourself of the mercy of Allah and goodness.

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَعَافُوا تَسْقُطُ الضَّغَائِنُ بَيْنَكُمْ

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Forgive each other and drop the grudges between yourselves.” [Musnad al-Bazzar 5403]

Holding a grudge prevents you from being the better version of yourself. It can be very hard to forgive someone who wronged you. In situations of oppression, it’s not always necessary to forgive. There are sins that are between a person and their Lord, and others with the rights of people. Each situation is different, but the one who forgives receives their own reward.

النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ‏:‏ ارْحَمُوا تُرْحَمُوا، وَاغْفِرُوا يَغْفِرُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ، وَيْلٌ لأَقْمَاعِ الْقَوْلِ، وَيْلٌ لِلْمُصِرِّينَ الَّذِينَ يُصِرُّونَ عَلَى مَا فَعَلُوا وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ‏.‏

The Prophet ﷺ said, “Show mercy, and you will be shown mercy. Forgive, and Allah will forgive you. Woe to the vessels that catch words (i.e., the ears). Woe to those who persist and consciously continue in what they are doing.” [Al Adab al Mufrad 380]

One of the best ways to earn Allah’s forgiveness is to rush to forgive others. It is our finite mercy and forgiveness towards others in exchange for Allah’s infinite mercy and forgiveness.

أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏”‏ تُفْتَحُ أَبْوَابُ الْجَنَّةِ يَوْمَ الاِثْنَيْنِ وَيَوْمَ الْخَمِيسِ فَيُغْفَرُ لِكُلِّ عَبْدٍ لاَ يُشْرِكُ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا إِلاَّ رَجُلاً كَانَتْ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ أَخِيهِ شَحْنَاءُ فَيُقَالُ أَنْظِرُوا هَذَيْنِ حَتَّى يَصْطَلِحَا أَنْظِرُوا هَذَيْنِ حَتَّى يَصْطَلِحَا أَنْظِرُوا هَذَيْنِ حَتَّى يَصْطَلِحَا ‏”

The Prophet ﷺ said, “The gates of Paradise are not opened, but on two days, Monday and Thursday, and then every servant (of Allah) is granted pardon who does not associate anything with Allah except the person in whose heart there is rancour against his brother. And it would be said: Look towards both of them until there is reconciliation; look toward both of them until there is reconciliation; look towards both of them until there is reconciliation.” [Sahih Muslim 2565a, b]

Imagine you have gotten to the point of Yawmul Qiyamah, but cannot go through the gates of Jannah yet because you and another person have not settled a grudge. Ask yourself: is there any issue that is worthy of holding you back from entering Jannah? Forgiveness and letting go are hard, and don’t mean you condone or excuse bad behavior. But the act of forgiving someone is given whether they do or don’t deserve it, because it is for you.

The believer understands that resentment hardens the heart and poisons worship. They strive to cleanse their heart; not because others deserve forgiveness, but because they need purity to stand before Allah. Forgiveness is choosing to meet Allah with a heart unburdened.

Easy in character; soft and gentle (سهلُ الخلق، رقيقٌ، رفيق)

Good character is not loud, but it is felt and seen. The believer is easy to be around, gentle in disagreement, and comforting in presence. I’ve heard some people use soft as an insult, but softness does not equal naivete or being unrealistic. It is a strength molded by one’s faith. The heaviest thing on the scale is good character.

أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ أَلَا أُخْبِرُكُمْ عَلَى مَنْ تُحَرَّمُ النَّارُ غَدَا عَلَى كُلِّ هَيِّنٍ لَيِّنٍ قَرِيبٍ سَهْلٍ

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Shall I not tell you upon whom the Hellfire is forbidden tomorrow? It is everyone gentle, lenient, accessible, and easy-going.” [Musnad Abi Ya’la 1853]

النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ الْمُؤْمِنُ مُؤْلَفٌ وَلَا خَيْرَ فِيمَنْ لَا يَأْلَفُ وَلَا يُؤْلَفُ

The Prophet ﷺ said, “The believer is friendly, for there is no goodness in one who is neither friendly nor befriended.” [Musnad Ahmad 8945]

These qualities can be the things that save you from hellfire. The believer who is soft, friendly, and easy-going is someone who reflects and thinks before speaking. They know that kindness may not come easily in all situations, but that it is what is best and what we should strive for. Reacting to every situation is not beneficial. How many marriages have ended, friendships that collapsed, all because a wrong word was said? A person might even leave the religion due to it (اللهم احفظنا واختم لنا بحسن الخاتمة).

The person evil and crude in speech is given a wake-up call when reading this hadith:

عَنْ عَائِشَةَ، أَنَّ رَجُلاً، اسْتَأْذَنَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَلَمَّا رَآهُ قَالَ ‏”‏ بِئْسَ أَخُو الْعَشِيرَةِ، وَبِئْسَ ابْنُ الْعَشِيرَةِ ‏”‏‏.‏ فَلَمَّا جَلَسَ تَطَلَّقَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي وَجْهِهِ وَانْبَسَطَ إِلَيْهِ، فَلَمَّا انْطَلَقَ الرَّجُلُ قَالَتْ لَهُ عَائِشَةُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ حِينَ رَأَيْتَ الرَّجُلَ قُلْتَ لَهُ كَذَا وَكَذَا، ثُمَّ تَطَلَّقْتَ فِي وَجْهِهِ وَانْبَسَطْتَ إِلَيْهِ فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏”‏ يَا عَائِشَةُ مَتَى عَهِدْتِنِي فَحَّاشًا، إِنَّ شَرَّ النَّاسِ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ مَنْزِلَةً يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مَنْ تَرَكَهُ النَّاسُ اتِّقَاءَ شَرِّهِ ‏”‏‏.‏

Aisha reported: A man asked permission to enter upon the Prophet. When the Prophet ﷺ saw him, he said, “What an evil brother of his tribe! And what an evil son of his tribe!” When that man sat down, the Prophet ﷺ behaved with him in a nice and polite manner and was completely at ease with him. When that person had left, ‘Aisha said (to the Prophet), “O Allah’s Apostle! When you saw that man, you said so-and-so about him, then you showed him a kind and polite behavior, and you enjoyed his company?” Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said, “O ‘Aisha! Have you ever seen me speaking bad and dirty language? (Remember that) the worst people in Allah’s sight on the Day of Resurrection will be those whom the people leave (undisturbed) to be away from their evil (deeds).” [Sahih al-Bukhari 6032]

There is so much goodness in a kind gesture and a kind word. People have accepted Islam, friendships and marriages have been formed, and it makes a person’s day when a kind word is said. Even when we look at the worst kind of people, Firaun was from the worst (if not the worst) tyrants, and Allah still ordered Musa ﷺ to speak to him kindly.

فَقُولَا لَهُۥ قَوْلًۭا لَّيِّنًۭا لَّعَلَّهُۥ يَتَذَكَّرُ أَوْ يَخْشَىٰ

Speak to him gently, so perhaps he may be mindful ˹of Me˺ or fearful ˹of My punishment˺.” [20:44]

If the most wretched were in need of this kindness and softness in speech, then what about your friends, family members, and people today? To be forbidden from hellfire, these qualities have to be practiced regularly, not occasionally. It needs to be present in all of your endeavors.

A good tip to remember before reacting: will this affect me a day, week, or month from now? If not, then let things go and choose to be easy-going instead. It is easier said than done, but with the right intentions and the aid of Allah, it will happen.

When admonished, they accept (إذا زُجِرَ انزجر)

A sign of sincerity is the ability to be corrected without resistance. If you are given advice, you accept it. A true believer is one who wholeheartedly accepts sincere advice and counsel. They do not argue for their ego when reminded of Allah. Instead, they pause, reflect, and adjust.

We need to embrace when we have done something wrong and be thankful that someone has taken the time to advise us. If not for love and care towards us, why would they? There are prescribed etiquettes for giving advice, but we must reflect on why we are rejecting it, because that was the reason many nations were destroyed in the Quran. Our deen is defined as sincere advice. [Sahih Muslim 55a]

There are many reasons why a person rejects sincere advice. Whatever the reason, if you are someone who tends to do this, it may be time to reflect and see why rejection is your immediate response. If someone were to give you guidance for your betterment, regardless of the manner in which it is said, you should accept it.

This is difficult for many people, and we see the label “haram police” put on someone who is trying to advise, or those advised respond with, “Only Allah can judge me.” Many people say this to continue in their sin, but we should not be like this. Yes, only Allah can determine what someone’s final destination is, but this should make us think: isn’t that scarier if what is being done is wrong? Why would you want to die in this state? The Judge and the Witness is Allah.

When the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم were advised to fear Allah, they would thank the person and have tears in their eyes. But today, someone who gets upset or angry replies with, “You can’t tell me what to do,” or “No one is perfect.” Imam an-Nawawi رحمه الله said it is not a condition for one to be perfect to forbid evil and call to good, rather it IS a command to forbid evil and call to good even if he sins. [Riyad as-Saliheen]

Allah is the Most Merciful, but He ﷻ is also severe in punishment. We do not despair in the mercy of Allah, and we remember that He is forgiving, but we must remember that He gives punishment to those whom He wills. Some people think they shouldn’t even bother to advise others, but when someone falls into sin, it affects all of us. Narated by Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه,

رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه و سلم يَقُولُ: “مَنْ رَأَى مِنْكُمْ مُنْكَرًا فَلْيُغَيِّرْهُ بِيَدِهِ، فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِلِسَانِهِ، فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِقَلْبِهِ، وَذَلِكَ أَضْعَفُ الْإِيمَانِ”.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever among you sees evil, let him change it with his hand. If he cannot do so, then with his tongue. If he cannot do so, then with his heart, which is the weakest level of faith.” [Hadith 34, 40 Hadith an-Nawawi]

Taking care of those around us is indirectly taking care of ourselves. It is a building block of a strong community. When one of us falls into sin openly and it spreads unchecked, the community weakens. If you see a fellow Muslim falling into sin, your heart is affected by that slowly but surely. Advising is necessary because it affects all of us.

This doesn’t mean that every situation requires harshness. In truth, many people do not know how to advise correctly. There is a difference between advising and shaming. But even with harsh or rude advice, take the good and leave the bad, especially if what you are doing needs to be corrected. But remember: a word will take you far, especially if it is a kind one.

The Prophet ﷺ was harsh and gentle whenever it was needed. A perfect example is this hadith:

أَنَسُ بْنُ مَالِكٍ، - وَهُوَ عَمُّ إِسْحَاقَ - قَالَ بَيْنَمَا نَحْنُ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ مَعَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِذْ جَاءَ أَعْرَابِيٌّ فَقَامَ يَبُولُ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ فَقَالَ أَصْحَابُ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم مَهْ مَهْ ‏.‏ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏”‏ لاَ تُزْرِمُوهُ دَعُوهُ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ فَتَرَكُوهُ حَتَّى بَالَ ‏.‏ ثُمَّ إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم دَعَاهُ فَقَالَ لَهُ ‏”‏ إِنَّ هَذِهِ الْمَسَاجِدَ لاَ تَصْلُحُ لِشَىْءٍ مِنْ هَذَا الْبَوْلِ وَلاَ الْقَذَرِ إِنَّمَا هِيَ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ وَالصَّلاَةِ وَقِرَاءَةِ الْقُرْآنِ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ أَوْ كَمَا قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏.‏ قَالَ فَأَمَرَ رَجُلاً مِنَ الْقَوْمِ فَجَاءَ بِدَلْوٍ مِنْ مَاءٍ فَشَنَّهُ عَلَيْهِ ‏.‏

Anas bin Malik رضي الله عنه reported: “While we were in the mosque with Allah’s Messenger ﷺ, a desert Arab came and stood up and began to urinate in the mosque. The Companions of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said: Stop, stop, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Don’t interrupt him; leave him alone. They left him alone, and when he finished urinating, Allah’s Messenger ﷺ called him and said to him: These mosques are not the places meant for urine and filth, but are only for the remembrance of Allah, prayer, and the recitation of the Qur’an, or Allah’s Messenger said something like that. He (the narrator) said that he (the Holy Prophet) then gave orders to one of the people who brought a bucket of water and poured it over.” [Sahih Muslim 285]

This is the ideal way that brings people closer to the deen. You may have the truth, but without good speech, it can have a negative effect. It is important to remember to be kind to others when giving nasiha.

A heart that cannot be corrected cannot be purified. Accepting admonishment is not weakness. I always say that if we look at the biographies of the Salaf رضي الله عنهم, you will know where you’re falling short. You will know your deficiencies compared to what these giants were like. When we look at the Salaf, we are exposed because of our inadequacies.

As Muslims, we should remember that it is not about how many of these traits we will develop, but the path we take to become the person who embodies them and how hard we strive to achieve it. The person who has a soft, clean, teachable heart is the successful one. May Allah make us amongst them.

Subscribe now

READ ⋆.𐙚 ̊

The End of Postcolonialism and the Rise of Internal Empire by Ghufrane Daymi

• A brilliant Substack read by Ghufrane Daymi. She argues that while postcolonialism once provided a vital lens for understanding historical oppression, it is now an analytically insufficient framework for explaining the modern world, suggesting that we have transitioned into a post-postcolonial era where power is no longer defined by a simple West-versus-East binary, but is instead exercised through internal empires and regional authoritarian powers. Discussing the noosphere, her point about continuing to view all violence as an external colonial product risks obscuring the agency of local oppressors was a point I was unfamiliar with!

Why love matters most by Cathy Mason

• An interesting read on morality, love, and ego. Although I disagreed with Iris Murdoch’s definition of morality, I agree with her about the practice of loving attention toward other people. The author explains that our ego naturally creates a self-centered fantasy that distorts how we perceive those around us, often leading to unfair judgments or indifference. By reorienting our vision toward servitude and love, we can overcome these internal biases and see the individual as they truly are.

Glorious and mundane by Diana Saverin

• In this reflective essay, the author brilliantly challenges the feminist and societal narratives that dismiss caretaking and motherhood as a trivial trap, arguing instead that these mundane rhythms possess a profound, quiet beauty. Drawing inspiration from Virginia Woolf, she explores her evolution from a young woman who spent chasing high-stakes “moments of being” to a motherhood defined by the repetitive, often invisible “non-being” of domestic life. A charming reminder that embracing the ordinary, everyday acts of life can be a more sustainable and stable form of happiness.

The Imperial Boomerang: How colonial methods of repression migrate back to the metropolis by Connor Woodman

• This has been on my mind in light of recent events. The author discusses the concept of the imperial boomerang effect, a concept discussed by the likes of Aimé Césaire and Hannah Arendt, where methods of social control, repression, and surveillance originally developed in colonies eventually return to be used within the imperial nation itself. Rather than viewing imperialism as a one-way process that only impacts foreign territories, the author argues that colonies serve as laboratories for counter-insurgency and racial ideologies that restructure the political and social fabric of the West.

قِصة حُب مِن بيت النبوة: السيدة زينب وأبو العاص by whjone

• A lovely reflection about the marriage between Zaynab bint Muhammad and Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi رضي الله عنهم. Written in Arabic.

WATCHED ✎ᝰ.

stop trying to be cool girl

• A video on analyzing the myth of the “cool girl” and talking about how we can create a more realistic self-identity.

to be loved is to be understood, but to be human is to change

• An interesting video essay on “understanding” and “love,” and how love changes us.

مجالس شهر رمضان | محمد بن صالح العثيمين

• A playlist by Shaykh ibn Uthaymeen رحمه الله going over Ramadan and its merits. Perfect to go through before Ramadan. This is in Arabic.

Game Theory #1: The Dating Game

• This video was so interesting; never would I think Professor Jiang would talk about relationships on his page, but here we are! In this video, he discusses the concept of game theory and how it applies to the dating game.

how to read critically in the age of bad media literacy

• A brilliant video guide on how to engage more critically with the books we read and WHY we should improve our media literacy skills. Engaging with your books on a deeper level is important because you are able to understand and analyze what the author is trying to communicate, while also forming your own ideas and opinions about the book!

LISTENED TO ˙⋆✮

التعليق على كتاب آداب الدارس والمدرس

• هذا مقطع يتناول كتاب ”آداب الدارس والمدرس“ تأليف محمد جمال الدين القاسمي، يشرحه الشيخ مطلق الجاسر، وهو درس مهم في بيان آداب المعلّم والمتعلّم. This lecture is in Arabic and is going over the book “Etiquette of the Student and the Teacher,” explained by Sheikh Mutlaq al-Jasser.

As always, feel free to reply and share what’s kept you company this month. 💌

اللهم انفعنا بما نقرأ ونسمع ونشاهد

The habits we carry into the month are the ones that shape our experience of it, so it’s important to make sure that what we do in our day-to-day lives is beneficial. It doesn’t have to be a big change or a perfect routine. What you need is intention, sincerity, and practical goals to implement.

With this in mind, I wanted to create a short guide on how to prepare yourself for Ramadan, through both character and action.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Why Preparation Matters

Ramadan is a month of goodness and blessings, the month of bestowal and flourishing. It is the month in which the Quran was sent down as a guide for mankind, with clear Signs for guidance and judgment. The Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ said:

‏إِذَا دَخَلَ شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ فُتِّحَتْ أَبْوَابُ السَّمَاءِ وَغُلِّقَتْ أَبْوَابُ جَهَنَّمَ وَسُلْسِلَتِ الشَّيَاطِين‏

When the month of Ramadan begins, the gates of heaven are opened, the gates of Hellfire are closed, and the devils are chained. [Sahih al-Bukhari 1899]

This is a month that is known for mercy, forgiveness, and safety from the Fire. The gates of Heaven are opened during this month in response to the increase in good actions and good desires from humans. Because this beloved month carries immense virtue, how we enter it matters just as much as how we observe it.

The Merits of the Month of Ramadan

From the greatness of this month is the beauty of fasting. Fasting (الصوم) is one of the greatest acts of worship for a number of reasons. Allah says in Surah al-Baqarah,

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ

O believers! Fasting is prescribed for you—as it was for those before you—so perhaps you will become mindful ˹of Allah˺. [2:183]

Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, has prescribed fasting for all nations and made it obligatory for them, with the intention of doing so sincerely for Allah alone. This is because fasting purifies the souls and cleanses them from the evil that might mix with them and their ill behavior. Allah mentioned that He has ordained fasting for Muslims just as He ordained it for those before, and they are an example for them in that, so they should vigorously perform this obligation more obediently than the previous nations.

Fasting is beloved to Allah because He has chosen this act out of the many other acts to be for Himself. It shows sincerity to Allah, because it is a secret between the servant and their Lord that no one else can see. This is why the Prophet ﷺ said,

وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَخُلُوفُ فَمِ الصَّائِمِ أَطْيَبُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى مِنْ رِيحِ الْمِسْكِ، يَتْرُكُ طَعَامَهُ وَشَرَابَهُ وَشَهْوَتَهُ مِنْ أَجْلِي، الصِّيَامُ لِي، وَأَنَا أَجْزِي بِهِ، وَالْحَسَنَةُ بِعَشْرِ أَمْثَالِهَا ‏‏‏

By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, the smell coming out from the mouth of a fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk. (Allah says about the fasting person), ‘He has left his food, drink, and desires for My sake. The fast is for Me. So I will reward (the fasting person) for it, and the reward of good deeds is multiplied ten times.’ [Bukhari 1894]

One of the wisdoms of fasting is that it causes a person to act in obedience and leave off disobedience. The Prophet ﷺ said,

مَنْ لَمْ يَدَعْ قَوْلَ الزُّورِ وَالْعَمَلَ بِهِ وَالْجَهْلَ فَلَيْسَ لِلَّهِ حَاجَةٌ أَنْ يَدَعَ طَعَامَهُ وَشَرَابَهُ

Whoever does not give up false statements (i.e., telling lies), and evil deeds, and speaking bad words to others, Allah is not in need of his (fasting) leaving his food and drink. [Bukhari 6057]

When we abstain from food, drinks, and more, it causes us to remember the amount of blessings that Allah has favored us with. It will make us reflect and be grateful, and also cause us to become more generous in giving to those who have less. It is a training to control the soul, restrain yourself, and make you humble.

This is also a time to remember that not everyone can reap the benefits of this month, either because they passed before it came, or they are not able to perform the obligations due to personal issues. We should be grateful to Allah for blessing us to be able to see this month and giving us the chance to receive His forgiveness.

The Salaf رضي الله عنهم used to strive to perform good deeds while also being in a state of worry after performing them, because they would be worried about whether their good deeds would be accepted by them or not. This was due to their knowledge of Allah, who does not accept anything except that it be sincerely for His sake. They would use as much of their free time as possible to maximize their worship and minimize their actions pertaining to this dunya.

SubhanAllah, if this was the attitude of the people who came before us, who Allah praised and who the Prophet ﷺ loved, then who are we to not follow in their footsteps? It is an important reminder not to waste any time, as it can work in your favor or against you.

How To Prepare Now

Here are some practical steps you can take today to ready yourself for the month of Ramadan:

Make up your missed fasts

If you have any missed fasts from last Ramadan, do your best to complete them before the month begins. Enter the month with a clean slate if possible.

Set your intentions

Make a sincere intention to maximize your worship and spiritual growth this Ramadan. Everyone will get what they intended, so be sincere in your intentions and aim to achieve what you set out to. The Prophet ﷺ said,

إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى

Verily, deeds are only with intentions, and every person will have only what they intended. [Bukhari 54]

Create a plan

Set realistic goals that you can achieve during the month. There are so many things you can do, such as reading more Quran, increasing your istighfar, consistent sunnah prayers, staying up for Qiyam al-layl, reading more, spending more time with your loved ones, volunteering at the masjid, helping out around the home, and more. Multiple narrations talk about the benefits of doing consistent deeds:

حَدَّثَنَا الْعَبَّاسُ بْنُ عُثْمَانَ الدِّمَشْقِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا الْوَلِيدُ بْنُ مُسْلِمٍ، حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ لَهِيعَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ الأَعْرَجُ، سَمِعْتُ أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ، يَقُولُ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ ‏:‏ "‏ اكْلَفُوا مِنَ الْعَمَلِ مَا تُطِيقُونَ فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الْعَمَلِ أَدْوَمُهُ وَإِنْ قَلَّ

Abu Hurairah narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Take on only as much as you can do of good deeds, for the best of deeds is that which is done consistently, even if it is little.” [Sunan Ibn Majah 4240]

حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَرْعَرَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ سَعْدِ بْنِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، عَنْ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ ـ رضى الله عنها ـ أَنَّهَا قَالَتْ سُئِلَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَىُّ الأَعْمَالِ أَحَبُّ إِلَى اللَّهِ قَالَ ‏"‏ أَدْوَمُهَا وَإِنْ قَلَّ ‏"‏‏.‏ وَقَالَ ‏"‏ اكْلَفُوا مِنَ الأَعْمَالِ مَا تُطِيقُونَ ‏.”

Narrated Aisha: The Prophet ﷺ was asked, "What deeds are loved most by Allah?" He said, "The most regular constant deeds, even though they may be few." He added, 'Don't take upon yourselves, except the deeds which are within your ability." [Sahih al-Bukhari 6465]

The deeds of the Prophet ﷺ were continuous and consistent. From the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ was that when he performed a deed, he made it firm and lasting.

We shouldn’t burden ourselves with deeds that cause hardship or be harsh on ourselves in worship, because it can be a cause for us to abandon them later. A small deed done consistently produces far more benefit than a large deed that is forsaken.

Fix your sleep schedule

Start adjusting your routine now to wake up for suhoor and tahajjud more easily. Changing your sleep habits is important so that you are well-rested and your body is able to adjust so it isn’t as hard for you when Ramadan comes. You can find some advice here.

Reduce your screen time

Slowly decrease distractions such as social media so that it’s easier to focus on worship. In order to make the most of your time, you have to put away the things that will easily distract you. Just think, “Is what I’m doing now going to benefit me, or could I be using this time for something else, such as reading the Quran or watching a lecture?”

Strengthen your dua list

Make a list of personal duas that you want to ask for in Ramadan. Our duas are answered in 4 ways: it may be answered immediately, delayed and answered later, may not bring a worldly benefit but instead avert an unseen harm, or its reward may be reserved entirely for the Hereafter. Nothing is too great for Allah. He always answers.

Increase in good deeds

Focus on very specific acts that will increase your good deeds. Do what you can and increase in a few deeds that you will be consistent in. Once you start this now, it will be carried through Ramadan, and even after that, inshaAllah.

Improve your salah

When people think about Ramadan, they often think about adding acts of worship. But one of the most transformative things you can do before Ramadan is improve the quality of what you’re already doing. Salah is something that we do daily, and there are many ways to improve it.

If it feels rushed, distracted, or inconsistent now, Ramadan will only magnify that. But the opposite is also true: even a small improvement before Ramadan can carry immense weight during it. It can be as simple as making sure you pray on time consistently, familiarizing yourself with what you’re reciting, allowing yourself a few extra seconds in sujud, and taking things slow. Start doing these acts and watch how your life will illuminate.

Repent and seek forgiveness

Cleanse your heart before entering this blessed month. This is obligatory at all times and for every sin, but it is even more necessary and obligatory at this time because you are approaching a season of obedience. Allah says,

وَسَارِعُوٓا۟ إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَةٍۢ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتُ وَٱلْأَرْضُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ

And hasten towards forgiveness from your Lord and a Paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, prepared for those mindful ˹of Allah˺. [3:133]

The believer should love to seek forgiveness from their Lord, just like the Prophet ﷺ did.

عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه قال‏:‏ سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول “والله إني لأستغفر الله وأتوب إليه في اليوم أكثر من سبعين مرة‏"‏ ‏(‏‏(‏رواه البخاري‏)‏‏)‏‏.‏

Abu Hurairah said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying, “I swear by Allah that I seek Allah’s Pardon and turn to Him in repentance more than seventy times a day.” [Riyad as-Salihin 1870]

Understand the value of time

Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله said,

إضاعة الوقت أشدُّ من الموت؛ لأنّ إضاعة الوقت تَقْطَعُكَ عن اله والدار الآخرة ، والموت يقطعك عن الدنيا وأهله

Wasting time is worse than death, because wasting time cuts you off from Allah and the Hereafter, while death only cuts you off from this world and its people. [Al-Fawa’id]

Every bit of time that passes that is empty of righteous deeds deprives the servant of happiness to that extent. Since Ramadan is amongst the most precious moments of our lives, what helps us not waste a single moment of it is remembering how fast it goes by. The person who is prepared is the one who succeeds. The hardship of what you tried to accomplish will disappear, but the reward will remain, along with its effects.

Hasten to Obedience

We should hasten to seek forgiveness of our Lord and to Paradise. We also should take heed of the warnings that Allah has told us in His Book about the Hellfire and the punishments it contains. This is a mercy to us so that we may fear Him and be cautious.

If there’s one thing that I want the reader to take from this, it is to start and end this month with istighfar (seeking forgiveness). Conclude this month with repentance to Allah from disobeying Him and with returning to Him with what pleases Him. All of the children of Adam are sinners, but the best of sinners are those who repent. Every day is a new day to turn a new leaf and become a better version of yourself.

As Ramadan approaches, know that it will either be a witness for you or against you. Allah has prescribed for you at the end of the month acts that will bring you closer to Him and increase your iman and good deeds. So strive to obey Allah and leave the sins that you struggle with so that you can achieve a successful life in this world and the next.

Ya Allah, You are the One who has allowed us to reach this blessed month. Ya Rabb, have mercy on the ones who did not reach this Ramadan, and make it easier for those who couldn’t participate. Allow us to enter Ramadan with hearts that are sincere, humbled, and ready to return to You. Do not allow us to enter it heedless, distracted, or burdened by sins. Purify our intentions for Your sake alone. Forgive us for our shortcomings and the time we wasted. Allow this Ramadan to be a witness for us, not against us. Ya Rabb, accept our fasting, our standing, our duʿas, and our repentance. Allow us to leave Ramadan better than we entered it, closer to You than we were before it, and steadfast upon goodness after it departs.

اللهم صل وسلم على نبينا محمد وآله وصحبه اجمعين

“Do the right thing.”

“Do good for goodness’ sake.”

“You’ll sleep better at night.”

“What goes around comes around.”

Across cultures and belief systems, these phrases are repeated so often that they almost fade into the background of everyday speech. They are usually offered as reminders to act with integrity, to do good when others aren’t watching, and to trust that goodness is not meaningless, even if it goes unrecognized.

I was reminded of this idea when I encountered a similar expression in Arabic:

At first glance, this phrase appears to echo the same sentiment. Yet it also raises a deeper tension, one that becomes especially visible in contrast to sentiments I read online a while back, where some people argued that there is no virtue or reward for being a good person. That goodness and striving to be a good person are either naive, self-serving, or ultimately pointless.

It raises an important question: is goodness truly unrewarded, or is there a misunderstanding of the nature of its reward?

Subscribe now

What Is Goodness?

‘Goodness’ is commonly defined as the quality or state of being good. In ethics, goodness usually refers to who you are, what you do, what results from your actions, and why you act. Various philosophical traditions emphasize these components differently, resulting in competing moral frameworks. Utilitarianism, for example, defines goodness primarily in terms of outcomes, arguing that the best action is the one that maximizes overall happiness and minimizes suffering for the greatest number of people. Other traditions shift their focus away from consequences and toward character or intention.

One of the most influential of these approaches comes from Immanuel Kant. In his book Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), he begins by calling moral values the only values that are “good without qualification.” He writes,

“It is impossible to conceive anything at all in the world, or even out of it, which can be taken as good without qualification, except a good will.”1

Here, he argues that the only thing truly good without exception is the intention to do what is right purely because it is right, not because of reward, recognition, or personal gain. Kant emphasizes that moral value lies in the intention behind an action, not in its outcome. If you were to sincerely help someone, even if the outcome fails, then that is still good; but if you were to achieve it through “selfish” morals, then that is not truly moral.

But what does “selfish” mean?

For Kant, selfishness does not refer simply to cruelty or greed, but to any motivation or action grounded in self-interest rather than duty. An action becomes selfish when it is performed because it benefits the actor—whether through pleasure, approval, avoidance of guilt, or the hope of reward—rather than because it is morally required. Even actions we typically praise lose their moral worth if they arise from these motives in Kant’s view. To him, what matters is not what is achieved, but why it is done.

It is at this point that Kant’s understanding of goodness (as well as many other philosophical understandings) differs from Islamic ethics.

The Question of Reward

The key distinction between Kantian ethics & other philosophical foundations versus Islam’s framework lies in how we understand intention, action, and reward. Islam places intention (نية) at the foundation of all actions while allowing the believer to seek reward from Allah, so long as the act is sincerely performed for His pleasure and not worldly gain.

The Prophet ‎ﷺ said,

إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى

“Verily, deeds are only with intentions, and every person will have only what they intended.”2

In his explanation of the 40 Hadith by Imam an-Nawawi رحمه الله, Shaykh Abdussalam ash-Shuway’ir حفظه الله stated,

“Intentions are related to two rulings by consensus: those related to taxations of the heart and those related to physical actions. As for actions of the heart, there are three things related to intention: faith, sincerity, and objectives, and there is overlap between them.”3

When doing acts of worship and righteous deeds, Muslims should intend to seek the pleasure of Allah only and have hope that the good they do will be actualized, whether it be in this life or the next. This principle can also be seen in the way Allah responds to the dua of His servants.

Even the effect of a sincere du’a may take different forms. It may be answered immediately, delayed and answered later, may not bring a worldly benefit but instead avert an unseen harm, or its reward may be reserved entirely for the Hereafter. In all cases, the act of calling upon Allah and performing righteous deeds for His pleasure is never wasted, even if the benefit is unseen in the moment.

Someone who does this only for worldly desires will have no gain or share in the Hereafter, as Allah says in the Quran,

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةَ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتَهَا نُوَفِّ إِلَيْهِمْ أَعْمَـٰلَهُمْ فِيهَا وَهُمْ فِيهَا لَا يُبْخَسُونَ

Whoever desires ˹only˺ this worldly life and its luxuries, We will pay them in full for their deeds in this life—nothing will be left out. (11:15)

In his tafsir about this ayah, Shaykh as-Sa’di رحمه الله said,

“That is, all their aspirations are limited to the life of this world and its adornments…Thus, they force their ambitions, efforts, and striving on these things, and they do not aspire to the hereafter at all. Such a person can be nothing but a disbeliever, because if they were a believer, their faith would have prevented them from focusing all their attention on this world; rather, their faith and whatever they were enabled to do of righteous deeds would be a sign of their aspiring for the hereafter…But for such doomed individuals, who are as if they were created for this world alone, they will be given what was allocated for them in al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh (the Preserved Tablet) of the reward of this world.”4

Wanting Allah’s reward does not corrupt an action because seeking Allah’s pleasure is itself a righteous intention. In fact, it is the only intention one should have for acts of worship, and it is perfectly in line with our moral compass.5 This can be seen through many actions prescribed in our religion:

النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ رِضَى الرَّبِّ فِي رِضَى الْوَالِدِ وَسَخَطُ الرَّبِّ فِي سَخَطِ الْوَالِدِ

The Prophet ‎ﷺ said, “The pleasure of the Lord is in the pleasure of the parents, and the displeasure of the Lord is in the displeasure of the parents.”6

النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه و سلم قَالَ: “مَنْ نَفَّسَ عَنْ مُؤْمِنٍ كُرْبَةً مِنْ كُرَبِ الدُّنْيَا نَفَّسَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ كُرْبَةً مِنْ كُرَبِ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ، وَمَنْ يَسَّرَ عَلَى مُعْسِرٍ، يَسَّرَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ، وَمَنْ سَتَرَ مُسْلِما سَتَرَهُ اللهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ ، وَاَللَّهُ فِي عَوْنِ الْعَبْدِ مَا كَانَ الْعَبْدُ فِي عَوْنِ أَخِيهِ، وَمَنْ سَلَكَ طَرِيقًا يَلْتَمِسُ فِيهِ عِلْمًا سَهَّلَ اللَّهُ لَهُ بِهِ طَرِيقًا إلَى الْجَنَّةِ، وَمَا اجْتَمَعَ قَوْمٌ فِي بَيْتٍ مِنْ بُيُوتِ اللَّهِ يَتْلُونَ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ، وَيَتَدَارَسُونَهُ فِيمَا بَيْنَهُمْ؛ إلَّا نَزَلَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ السَّكِينَةُ، وَغَشِيَتْهُمْ الرَّحْمَةُ، وَ حَفَّتهُمُ المَلاَئِكَة، وَذَكَرَهُمْ اللَّهُ فِيمَنْ عِنْدَهُ، وَمَنْ أَبَطْأَ بِهِ عَمَلُهُ لَمْ يُسْرِعْ بِهِ نَسَبُهُ”

The Prophet ‎ﷺ said, “Whoever removes a worldly grief from a believer, Allah will remove from him one of the griefs of the Day of Resurrection. And whoever alleviates the need of a needy person, Allah will alleviate his needs in this world and the Hereafter. Whoever shields [or hides the misdeeds of] a Muslim, Allah will shield him in this world and the Hereafter. And Allah will aid His slave so long as he aids his brother. And whoever follows a path to seek knowledge therein, Allah will make easy for him a path to Paradise. No people gather together in one of the Houses of Allah, reciting the Book of Allah and studying it among themselves, except that sakeenah (tranquility) descends upon them, and mercy envelops them, and the angels surround them, and Allah mentions them amongst those who are with Him. And whoever is slowed down by his actions, will not be hastened forward by his lineage.”7

رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ “إِنَّكَ لَنْ تُنْفِقَ نَفَقَةً تَبْتَغِي بِهَا وَجْهَ اللَّهِ إِلَّا أُجِرْتَ عَلَيْهَا حَتَّى مَا تَجْعَلُ فِي فَمِ امْرَأَتِكَ”

Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said, “You will be rewarded for whatever you spend for Allah’s sake, even if it were a morsel which you put in your wife’s mouth.”8

These narrations show that Islam integrates action, intention, and reward seamlessly. Serving your parents, being active in your community, feeding your spouse, removing trash from the street, etc., are all actions with the main motivator being Allah’s pleasure.

When a person does good for Allah alone, they are freed from disappointment, ingratitude, and unmet expectations, because their reward is not dependent on human response. In this way, intentions transform ordinary acts of kindness into worship and protect the heart from being tied to outcomes beyond its control.

Goodness is not restricted to selflessness in the philosophical/Kantian sense, but rather it allows the moral agent to seek reward from Allah while doing good towards others and striving to be upright while they are on this Earth. Seeking reward from Allah is not weak or naive, but it is the highest orientation of the heart. As Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله wrote,

“Which pleasantry is better than the righteousness and comfort of the heart? The knowledge of the Lord, loving Him, and complying with His commands? And is there any other life in reality worth living other than the one with a sound heart?”9

Khayr (خير)

The word خير means good. It is the opposite of evil. It is primarily a noun of preference and evaluation, rooted in خير – يَخير – خِيرة (to choose, to select).

Linguistically, خير means that which is chosen, preferred, and valued because of the benefit and perfection found in it. Goodness is that which is inherently good and brings pleasure, benefit, or happiness. Everything good & beneficial to humanity, individually or collectively, is good.

The word خير in “افعل الخير وارمه في البحر” is a reminder to do good in ways that Allah has commanded by the example that the Prophet ﷺ set forth, and to protect yourself by releasing expectation & creating satisfaction with what Allah will give you solely, even if it does not look like what you originally desired or imagined.

Allah says in Surah al-Muzzammil,

روما تقدموا لأنفسكم من خير تجدوه عند اللّه هو خيرا

“Whatever good you send forth for yourselves, you will find it with Allah far better and more rewarding.” (73:20)

By doing good & throwing it into the sea, it frees you from the mental attachment to the outcome. You do the good because it is good, not because someone must acknowledge it. Most importantly, Allah sees it & the angels record it.

Throwing It Into the Sea

As humans, sometimes it may feel like being a good person reaps no reward in our day-to-day lives. But goodness is not weakness, nor naivete, nor delayed gratification alone. Islam does not teach that goodness is defined solely by intention and will, but by intention aligned with action and outcome.

Allah is explicit that goodness has fruits in both worlds, though the form of that reward may differ. What’s important to remember is where you place the expectation of good to come from and to be satisfied with His Decree. When the expectation is placed on people, disappointment is bound to follow, but when it is placed on Allah, goodness becomes a source of peace rather than resentment. In this way, being good is an investment whose return is guaranteed, even when unseen.

The believer protects themselves from falling into the mindset of despair or pessimism by building a foundation in this life that carries them forward into the next.

هَلْ جَزَآءُ ٱلْإِحْسَـٰنِ إِلَّا ٱلْإِحْسَـٰنُ

Is there any reward for goodness except goodness?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

READ ⋆.𐙚 ̊

Japan Is What Late-Stage Capitalist Decline Looks Like

• A really interesting read on Japan’s social and economic struggles and how they serve as a predictive map for the future of the United States. The author’s main contention is that the “weirdness” often associated with Japanese culture is actually a byproduct of late-stage capitalist decline, characterized by extreme overwork and financial stagnation, which has led to social atomization and causing birth rates to plummet and parasocial relationships with media figures.

A bittersweet return, and a persistent longing

• A beautiful reflection on the trials and tribulations of a now liberated Syria. I highly recommend reading it.

Sister-to-Sister Recommended Resources

• A wholesome resource guide that serves as a holistic blueprint for Muslim womanhood, blending devotion with a proactive approach to physical and emotional wellness. The author included an expansive list including topics on aqeedah, fiqh, traditional nutrition, women’s health, and more. I loved so many of the recommendations here.

WATCHED ✎ᝰ.

Colonial Infrastructure Was No Gift to the Global South

• A video essay challenging the popular myth that colonialism “modernized” Africa and Asia by bringing them technology and civilization. The creator argues that colonial rule instead actively dismantled indigenous industries, redirected local economies toward raw material extraction, and concentrated technological development in imperial centers. The creator’s point on colonial infrastructure was also quite interesting.

Neo-feudalism: Are today’s workers free agents or modern-day serfs?

• Fascinating episode that explores the argument that modern capitalism is evolving into a form of neo-feudalism. While workers are told they are independent contractors and “free agents,” corporations increasingly control access to labor, data, income, and social participation. The discussion interrogates whether the gig economy represents freedom, or simply a rebranding of serfdom under corporate sovereignty. It leaves you thinking: are we participants in the economy, or subjects within it?

read deeply & engage more with your books

• A great video on taking time with the books you read and engaging with them deeply. She provides the framework to do so and also discusses I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpmen which I personally loved.

love letter to clarice lispector

• Need I say more than the title?! Clarice Lispector, you will always be famous.

Civilization #END: The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

• In this lecture, Professor Jiang Xueqin traces how the United States rose to global dominance through monetary power and how that dominance is now destabilizing. He goes through so many historical events, tracing back what gave the U.S. its “exorbitant privilege” and how it maintained its global demand.

You’re ambitious but overwhelmed | Here’s why ukhti

• A beautiful video by a sister about the factors that could be causing you to be inconsistent and undisciplined.

I Betrayed My True Self In A Way That Hurt Me So Bad I Could Not Forgive Myself For Twenty-Two Years

• A former doctor shared his story, his life, and self-betrayal. An eye-opening video (and the comments might make you cry).

I didn’t listen to music for 3 months (a science experiment)

• Super cool self-experiment that this creator did on herself by not listening to music. As a Muslim, this made me reflect on what our religion says about the impermissibility of music.

LISTENED TO ˙⋆✮

قصة بناء الكعبة | د. مطلق الجاسر (podcast)

• Of course I have to include one of my favorite podcasts. This episode features Dr. Mutlaq Al-Jasser حفظه الله , a doctor & faqih of comparative fiqh and Islamic governance at Kuwait University. The discussion explores how faith grows in the heart, the relationship between Islam and complete submission to Allah, and the foundations of the Kaʿbah and the rituals of Hajj. To see the full description of the podcast in Arabic, click the link attached to the title.

الخشوع في الصلاة | محاضرة نفيسة للشَّيخ أ.د عبدالسلام الشويعر

• Shaykh Abdus-salam ash-Shuway’ir حفظه الله discussing how to attain humility in prayer. A beautiful video full of benefits.

How Kindness Boosts Your Immune System, The Power of Visualization, & The Importance of Empathy with Dr. David Hamilton

• An interesting episode with Dr. David Hamilton on how empathy and kindness can impact various markers of our health, including the functioning of our immune systems and cardiovascular health, and the societal effects of kindness.

Reminder: these are not recommendations or reviews, but just a personal media log. As always, feel free to reply and share what’s kept you company this month. 💌

اللهم انفعنا بما نقرأ ونسمع ونشاهد

When I think about hope, what comes to mind is not only knowing that things can get better, but it is also the willingness to keep going, just on the possibility that they might change, whether or not the outcome is what you wanted. It is being willing to get up and try again, even if everything feels like it’s falling to pieces and the light at the end of the tunnel feels too far away.

Every day, we are confronted with reminders of uncertainty in our media and personal lives. It’s easy to feel small, powerless, or even lost. For the believers, hope in Allah is not just an emotion, but a conscious choice that we are reminded of every time we open the Quran. Realistically, whether or not your desired outcome is achieved, the act of hope has immense value. And we know this because our belief regarding hope (الرجاء) is to believe in it and to be steadfast.

Hope (الرجاء) is an act of worship, an ‘ibadah. It is an action of the heart, as Allah says in Surah al-Kahf,

فَمَن كَانَ يَرْجُوا۟ لِقَآءَ رَبِّهِۦ فَلْيَعْمَلْ عَمَلًۭا صَـٰلِحًۭا وَلَا يُشْرِكْ بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِۦٓ أَحَدًۢا

“So whoever hopes for the meeting with their Lord, let them do good deeds and associate none in the worship of their Lord.” [18:110]

The belief of a Muslim is to worship Allah alone and devote their worship to Him ‎ﷻ. It’s important to remember that this goes hand in hand with fearing Allah. The believer hopes for Allah’s mercy and spends their life hastening to please Allah, just like Musa ﷺ did in Surah Taha,

وَمَآ أَعْجَلَكَ عَن قَوْمِكَ يَـٰمُوسَىٰ

˹Allah asked,˺ “Why have you come with such haste ahead of your people, O Moses?”

قَالَ هُمْ أُو۟لَآءِ عَلَىٰٓ أَثَرِى وَعَجِلْتُ إِلَيْكَ رَبِّ لِتَرْضَىٰ

He replied, “They are close on my tracks. And I have hastened to You, my Lord, so You will be pleased.” [20:83-84]

A true believer fears the punishment of Allah and avoids doing what He dislikes and hates, while also rushing to please Him and doing what He loves. The characteristic of a believer is that they follow in the footsteps of the Messengers and the Salaf, are restrained by the Quran and Sunnah, and know that it is a protection from what can destroy them.

Our lives are not focused or driven by our desires. In our day-to-day activities, we should ask ourselves how Allah will be pleased with us before any action. We should look at life through the lens of what pleases our Lord.

Subscribe now

When Hope Feels Impossible

These days, we see images and videos of our brothers and sisters across the world being oppressed, and many feel hopeless. The feelings of uselessness, despair, and dejection are easy to fall into. On an individual level, sometimes the problem isn’t that you don’t believe in Allah’s mercy, but that you cannot imagine how your reality could ever change. You might read the verses of Allah, but not feel them. Depending on the hardship that a person has gone through, those who let go of the words of Allah can end up going down a road that makes them despondent.

Most people wait for things to get better before they feel close to Allah, thinking that a solution will drop from the sky as if Allah did not already give us ways to deal with our issues. Rather, it is the opposite: we must come close to Him first, and that nearness becomes the strength you need for whatever test you’re going through.

When the believer gets to this point, a revival of certainty in Allah and an increase of love for Allah in one’s heart is needed. When we feel weak, the Quran is our anchor. In moments of struggle, we should remember Allah’s promises more than we remember our pain, return to the verses that revive us, even if our heart feels numb, and let the Quran reshape our perspective before our tests shape our reality.

Hope does not come from predicting outcomes. It comes from knowing who Allah is. Hope attached to your circumstances is fragile, but hope attached to Allah is sustainable. Allah does not tell you to have hope because your situation is easy. He tells you to have hope because He is capable. This is why the Quran presents hope as an act of worship. Something you cultivate, return to, and insist upon, even when the heart struggles to follow.

Holding on to the Rope of Allah

Allah says in Surah al-Imran,

وَٱعْتَصِمُوا۟ بِحَبْلِ ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعًۭا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا۟

“And hold firmly together to the rope of Allah and do not be divided.” [3:103]

This verse indicates a few things, but I will mention only two things here. Firstly, it is a clear statement that the religion of Islam is one of unity and not division. Secondly, it is a great blessing that Allah has bestowed upon us, which is a rope to hold onto. It is a source of strength, stability, and hope.

For the believer, hope is rooted in trusting in Allah’s promise, and success is found in following the Quran and Sunnah. The person who believes in Allah, follows His Messenger ﷺ, leaves off their desires, and does righteous deeds will reap rewards; in this life they will have a restful heart and an enlivened life, and in the next they will be rewarded with Paradise and the company of the Prophet ﷺ. This is a means of peace, because they know that Allah never abandons those who hold firm to Him. It is hope in action and an assurance.

When we think about hope, it is the motivator that urges the heart towards Allah and the Hereafter, and makes the journey sweet. In a hadith qudsi, the Prophet ﷺ narrates from Allah,

يا ابن آدم إنك ما دعوتني ورجوتني غفرت لك على ما كان منك ولا أبالي

“O son of Adam, as long as you call upon Me and place your hope in Me, I will forgive you for whatever you have done, and I do not mind.” [Hadith 34, 40 Hadith Qudsi]

This is one of my favorite narrations. Allah عز وجل gives hope to us and shows that His attributes of Mercy and Compassion should never cause us to despair because of how great His mercy is that He gives us, no matter how many sins we’ve committed. How great a Lord is He, how Kind is our Rabb, that He knows of our shortcomings, mistakes, how we transgress against Him, ourselves, and others, that we are prone to fall into sin, yet He tells us that the door of repentance is open for us as long as we are alive and sincere.

What does the believer gain from being hopeless when Allah promises us that if we keep hope in Him and the Last Day, and remember Him, that we will be rewarded? He will forgive us, and He does not mind.

Hope and Its Types

Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله writes in his book مدارج السالكين that hope is of three types:

وهذه الأنواع إلى سبقت ذَكَرَهَا ابن القيم رحمه اللَّه في منزلة الرجاء فقال: “الرجاء ثلاثة أنواع: نوعان محمودان، ونوع غرور مذموم، في الأولان: رجاء رجل عمل بطاعة اللَّه على نور من اللَّه فهو راج لثوابه، ورجل أذنب ذنوبا ثم تاب منها فهو راج لمغفرة اللَّه تعالى وعفوه وإحسانه وجوده وحلمه وكرمه، والثالث: رجل متماد في التفريط والخطايا يرجو رحمة اللَّه بلا عمل فهذا هو الغرور والتمني والرجاء الكاذب” (١)، ثم في شرح تقسيم شيخ الإسلام الهروي لدرجات الرجاء قال: “الدرجة الثالثة: رجاء أرباب القلوب، وهو رجاء لقاء الخالق. . . .” قال رحمه اللَّه: “هذا الرجاء أفضل أنواع الرجاء وأعلاها، قال اللَّه تعالى: {فَمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُو لِقَاءَ رَبِّهِ [(١) مدارج السالكين (٢/ ٣٧)].

“Hope is of three types: two praiseworthy types, and one blameworthy type of delusion. The first two are:

1. The hope of a man who acts in obedience to God based on God’s guidance, so he hopes for His reward,

2. And the hope of a man who commits sins and then repents from them, so he hopes for God’s forgiveness, pardon, kindness, generosity, forbearance, and magnanimity.

The third is: a man who persists in negligence and sins, yet hopes for Allah’s mercy without doing any action. This is delusion, wishful thinking, and false hope.” [Madarij al-Salikin 2/37]

Then, in explaining Shaykh al-Islam al-Harawi’s رحمه الله categorization of the degrees of hope, he said: “The third level is the hope of the people of hearts, which is the hope of meeting the Creator…” He said: “This hope is the best and highest type of hope. Allah Almighty said: {So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord.}”

He also addresses the statement of Al-Harrawi, where he says,

فأما قوله: «الرّجاء أضعف منازل المريدين»، فتعقبه بأنه «ليس كذلك، بل هو من أجلِّ منازلهم وأعلاها وأشرفها. وعليه وعلى الحبِّ والخوف مدارُ السَّير إلى الله. وقد مدح الله أهله وأثنى عليهم ... » إلخ (٢/ ٢٦٦ - ٢٦٨).

Regarding al-Harawī’s statement, “Hope is the weakest of the stations of the seekers,” Ibn al-Qayyim critiqued it, saying: “This is not the case. Rather, it is among the greatest, highest, and most noble of their stations. Upon it, along with love and fear, revolves the entire journey to Allah. Allah has praised the people of hope and commended them…”

And further saying,

وأمَّا قول الشيخ: «إن التنزيل نطق به لفائدةٍ واحدة، وهي كونه يبرِّد حرارة الخوف»، فتعقبه ابن القيم بقوله: «بل لفوائد كثيرةٍ أُخَر سوى هذه». ثم ذكر إحدى عشرة فائدة (٢/ ٢٨٠ - ٢٨٣)، نكتفي هنا بذكر واحدة منها، وهي: «أنَّ الرجاء حادٍ يحدو به في سيره إلى الله، ويطيِّب له المسير، ويحثُّه عليه، ويبعثه على ملازمته. فلولا الرجاء لما سرى أحدٌ، فإن الخوف وحده لا يحرِّك العبد، وإنّما يحرِّكه الحبُّ، ويزعجه الخوف، ويحدوه الرّجاء».

As for al-Harawī’s statement that “Revelation mentions hope for only one benefit: to cool the heat of fear,” Ibn al-Qayyim responded: “Rather, it is for many other benefits besides this.”

He then listed eleven benefits (2/280–283). We will mention only one here:

“Hope is a driver that drives the servant along their journey to Allah. It sweetens the path for him, urges him onward, and compels him to remain steadfast upon it. If not for hope, no one would travel the path. For fear alone does not move the servant; rather, love moves him, fear unsettles him, and hope leads him forward.”

Of course, Ibn al-Qayyim concluded this critique of al-Harrawi’s statements by making dua for him, excusing himself for objecting to him, and acknowledging the shaykh’s virtue over him, all wrapped in eloquent language befitting the shaykh.

The overall message here is that hope is the central force centered in knowing Allah’s mercy, and without it, a believer cannot stay on the journey to Him.

The Benefits of Hope

One of the benefits of hope is that it motivates action. It is recognizing that you can never be independent of Allah’s bounty and kindness for even a moment. It is understanding that Allah loves that His servant hopes in Him, seeks from Him, and asks Him of His bounty, for He is the True King, the Most Generous, more generous than anyone and more expansive in giving than anyone who gives.

Hope places the servant at the threshold of love. When this hope intensifies, and our dua’s are accepted and answered, the more our love, gratitude, and satisfaction with Allah increase. Hope increases one’s knowledge of Allah and His Attributes, as the hopeful person is attached to His Beautiful Names, worshipping Him through them and supplicating by them.

If the servant’s heart is attached to hope in their Lord and Allah grants them what they hoped for, it is sweeter and more delightful than receiving something they did not hope for. What is important to remember is that Allah wants to perfect in His servants the ranks of solitude. For this, He decreed sin and tests His servants so that these stations may be perfected through repentance, which is among the most beloved forms of servitude to Allah.

The Best Station of the Believer

Hope is the anticipation of what brings bliss and contentment to the soul. Fear is the anticipation of what is displeasing to the soul. This hadith beautifully illustrates the balance of hope and fear in the believer’s heart:

عن سعيد بن المسيب: أن عمر بن الخطاب اشتكى فدخل عليه النبى - صلى الله عليه وسلم - يعوده فقال كيف تجدك يا عمر فقال أرجو وأخاف فقال رسول الله - صلى الله عليه وسلم - ما اجتمع الرجاء والخوف فى قلب مؤمن إلا أعطاه الله الرجاء وأمنه الخوف (البيهقى فى شعب الإيمان) [كنز العمال ٨٥٢٧] أخرجه البيهقى شعب الإيمان (٢/٥، رقم ١٠٠٣) .

Narrated from Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyib: When ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab complained of illness, the Prophet ﷺ entered to visit him and asked, “How do you find yourself, ʿUmar?” He replied, “I hope and I fear.” The Prophet ﷺ said: “Hope and fear never come together in the heart of a believer except that Allah grants him the hope and secures him through fear.” [Al-Bayhaqī, Shu‘ab al-ʾĪmān, 2/5, no. 1003; also referenced in Kanz al-‘Ummāl 8527]

يا رب، نرجو رحمتك، ولا تذرنا لأنفسنا طرفة عين. أصلح أحوالنا واهدنا، لا إله إلا أنت

Ya Rabb, we hope for Your mercy. Do not leave us to ourselves even for a blink of an eye. Correct our affairs and guide us. There is none worthy of worship except You.

إضاعة الوقت أشدُّ من الموت؛ لأنّ إضاعة الوقت تَقْطَعُكَ عن اله والدار الآخرة ، والموت يقطعك عن الدنيا وأهلها . الدنيا من أولها إلى آخرها لا تساوي غَمَّ ساعة ، فكيف بِغَمِّ العمر؟ محبوبُ اليوم يَعْقُبُهُ المكروه غداً ، ومكروه اليوم يَعْقَبُهُ المحبوب غداً . أعظم الربح في الدنيا أن تَشْغَلَ نفسَك كلَّ وقت بما هو أولى بها ، وأنفعُ لها في معادها . كيف يكونُ عاقلاً من باع الجنةَ بما فيها بشهوةِ ساعة؟ يخرج العارف من الدنيا ولم يقضِ وَطَرَه من شيئين: بكاؤه على نفسه ، وثناؤه على ربه . المخلوق إذا خِفْتَهُ استوحشتَ منه وهربتَ منه ، والرب تعالى إذا خِفْتَ أنسْتَ به وقرُبْت إليه . لو نفع العلمُ بلا عمل لما ذمَّ اللّٰه سبحانه أحبارَ أهل الكتاب ، ولون العمل بلا إخلاص لما ذمَّ المنافقين. [الفوائد ٤٨]

“Wasting time is worse than death, because wasting time cuts you off from Allah and the Hereafter, while death only cuts you off from this world and its people. This worldly life, from its beginning to its end, is not worth even one hour of grief; so how about grief for a lifetime? What is beloved today may become hated tomorrow, and what is hated today may become beloved tomorrow. The greatest gain in this world is that you occupy yourself at every moment with what is most worthy and beneficial for your Hereafter. How can one be considered intelligent who sells Paradise and all it contains for a desire that lasts only a moment? The true knower of Allah leaves this world without fulfilling his desire in two things: his weeping over himself (out of remorse), and his praise of his Lord. If you fear a created being, you run away from him. But if you fear Allah, you draw closer to Him and find intimacy with Him. If knowledge without action were beneficial, Allah would not have condemned the scholars of the People of the Book. And if action without sincerity were beneficial, Allah would not have condemned the hypocrites.”

Time has always been the unseen currency of life. You are made by how you spend your minutes. But in our age, it has also become its greatest casualty. Minutes are devoured by distraction, hours dissolved by scrolling, and years lost to pursuits that have no weight on the scale of the Hereafter. Some people invest in their akhirah every day through prayer, charity, knowledge, service, and dhikr, while some burn their time with regretful memories, arguments, comparison, envy, and sins that consume more than they ever give.

We fear death, yet we do not fear the slow death of the heart through wasted time. This is why wasted time is worse than death, because it is not just the loss of life, but the loss of meaning, purpose, and closeness to Allah. This cuts deeper today than perhaps any other time in human history, because no generation has been as conditioned to waste time as ours. He further expands:

دافِع الخَطْرَةَ؛ فإن لم تفعل صارت فكرة ، فدافع الفكرة؛ فإن تفعل صارت شهوة ، فحاربها؛ فإن لم تفعل صارت عزيمة وهمَّة ، فإذ تدافعها صارت فعلاً؛ فإن لم تتداركه بضدِّه صار عادة ، فيصعب ء الانتقال عنها. [الفوائد ٤٨]

“Repel the evil thought (خاطرة); if you do not, it becomes an idea (فكرة). Repel the idea; if you do not, it becomes a desire (شهوة). Fight the desire; if you do not, it becomes a determination (عزيمة) and a will (همة). If you do not resist it, it becomes an action; if you do not prevent it with its opposite, it becomes a habit—then it becomes difficult to abandon.”

For many, personal freedom is defined as pursuing whatever we want without restraint. But that is not legislated by Allah; true freedom is pleasing only Allah and doing things for His sake. Weakness before desire is bondage, and entertaining sins without true repentance or remorse can turn into a habit that chains a person for life. Compared to doing good deeds that benefit you in this world and the next.

This narration is pertinent to this:

حَدَّثَنَا هَدَّابُ بْنُ خَالِدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا هَمَّامٌ، حَدَّثَنَا قَتَادَةُ، عَنْ مُطَرِّفٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ أَتَيْتُ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَهُوَ يَقْرَأُ ‏{‏أَلْهَاكُمُ التَّكَاثُرُ‏}‏ قَالَ ‏”‏ يَقُولُ ابْنُ آدَمَ مَالِي مَالِي - قَالَ - وَهَلْ لَكَ يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ مِنْ مَالِكَ إِلاَّ مَا أَكَلْتَ فَأَفْنَيْتَ أَوْ لَبِسْتَ فَأَبْلَيْتَ أَوْ تَصَدَّقْتَ فَأَمْضَيْتَ.‏‏" [2958 صحيح مسلم كتاب الزهد والرقائق]

Mutarrif reported on the authority of his father: “I came to Allah’s Apostle صلى الله عليه وسلم as he was reciting: {‏أَلْهَاكُمُ التَّكَاثُرُ‏}. He said: The son of Adam claims: My wealth, my wealth. And he (the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: O son of Adam. Is there anything as your belonging except that which you consumed, which you utilised, or which you wore and then it was worn out, or you gave as charity and sent it forward?” [Sahih Muslim 2958a]

This hadith emphasizes the importance of not becoming too attached to one’s wealth and possessions, as they are only temporary. It is also a reminder to be mindful about how we use our resources and to be content with what we have, as they are blessings from Allah. Use them for good deeds, help those in need, be content with what we have, and be grateful for all blessings from Allah. The author goes on to say:

قلةُ التوفيق، وفسادُ الرأي، وخَفاءُ الحق، وفساد القلب، وخُمولُ الذكر، وإضاعة الوقت، ونَفْرَة الخَلْق، والوحشة بين العبد وبين ربه، ومنع إجابة الدعاء، وقسوة القلب، ومحْقُ البركة في الرزق والعمر، وحرمان العلم، ولباس الذلّ، وإهانة العدوّ، وضيق الصدر، والابتلاء بقرَناء السوء الذين يُفسدون القلب ويضيعون الوقت، وطول الهمّ والغمّ ، وضَنْكُ المعيشة وكَسْفُ البال.... تتولد من المعصية والغفلة عن ذكر اللّٰه كما يتولّد الزرعُ عن الماء ، والإحراقُ عن النار. وأضدادُ هذه تتولد عن الطاعة. [الفوائد ٥٠]

“Lack of success, corruption of opinion, hidden truth, corruption of the heart, weakness of motivation, waste of time, alienation between the servant and his Lord, blocked supplication, hardness of the heart, loss of blessings in provision and lifespan, deprivation of knowledge, humiliation, subjugation by enemies, tightness of the chest, affliction with evil companions who corrupt the heart and waste time, long grief and distress, misery in life and restlessness of the soul… all of these are born from sin and heedlessness of the remembrance of Allah, just as crops grow from water and fire burns whatever it touches. And the opposites of these result from obedience to Allah.”

Here, Ibn al-Qayyim links disobedience to mental distress. Many people today experience emptiness despite their success. Why? Because they are not getting to the root cause of their issues. Sin doesn’t just affect your afterlife; it damages emotional well-being, stability, and relationships in this life.

And when judgment comes, we will not be asked only about what we did, but also what we wasted. Every moment is a door—either to Allah or away from Him. The worst tragedy is not death, but living a life without trying to please Allah. May Allah rectify the muslims.

Recently, there have been claims floating around social media, specifically by some Muslim women, that Islam has been “taken over by patriarchal, misogynistic, male scholars.” This is a serious assertion that comes off as being disillusioned with religious authority, disliking certain rulings and hadiths, and a broader struggle to reconcile revelation meant for all time with changing social contexts. At its core, the critique is less about the message of Islam itself and more about the structures of knowledge, power, and authority that developed over centuries.

In this essay, I will be responding to the claim that Islam has been taken over by male scholars who interpret the religion for their own benefit, arguing that this is not only a shallow and reductionist view but also one that aligns with Orientalist critiques and Western secular values rather than with the religion itself. I will also be discussing why we must rely on authentic Islamic scholarship.

Defining Terms and Our Understanding

Before I begin, it’s important to clarify definitions so that the reader can know how I am using these terms. What is the patriarchy, and how is it defined?

“Patriarchy” does not carry a single, universal meaning. It has manifested differently all over the world. Its definition and application change depending on context; what patriarchy looked like in Victorian England is not identical to what it looked like in Mughal India or in contemporary corporate America. Some define it narrowly as a society in which the eldest male is the leader of the family, or more broadly as one in which men collectively control power to their own advantage. Others describe it as a system where men hold primary authority in political leadership, moral authority, social privilege, or control over property. Feminist and sociological literature have further expanded it to encompass cultural structures that privilege men and masculinity over women and femininity.

Within much of Western feminist thought, any formalized gender distinction is often taken as a sign of patriarchy. Despite this, it is necessary to recognize that Islam and feminist theory operate from entirely different epistemological foundations. In secular frameworks, authority is understood as a social construct, an arrangement created and maintained by human power. In contrast, authority is theological in Islam; it is grounded in revelation and moral accountability before Allah. This distinction is central because it shifts the question from “who holds power” to “who bears the most responsibility before Allah.” Authority in Islam is not a license for oppression or exploitation; it is tied to accountability before God. A man’s failure in his responsibilities is condemned both in this world and in the Hereafter.

From the perspective of those who define patriarchy as any system where men hold primary authority, Islam would indeed fall under that definition: men lead the prayer, men are obligated to provide, and men are generally heads of households. So my questions are to the Muslim women who claim Islam while also aligning with the feminist position: how is this not directly going against the commands of Allah and what the Prophet ‎ﷺ did? On what basis can one cling to Islam while simultaneously applying a lens that undermines the commands of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ? Is this position not just directly attacking what is in the Quran and Sunnah?

Orientalism, Victimhood, & The Critiques Against Islam

Those who hold to one of the definitions I stated previously tend to look at Muslims as inherently backwards, oppressive, or diseased. The issue with this position is that it pathologizes entire civilizations. Particularly in discussions surrounding Muslim women, this manifests in the belief that Islam is intrinsically misogynistic and that Muslim women therefore require “saving” from Muslim men. Such claims echo long-standing orientalist tropes that have been historically imposed on the East and weaponized against Islam.

Touching on orientalism is crucial here. Edward Said redefined the term in his 1978 book Orientalism as both a way of thinking and a system of power. According to Said, orientalism is a “created body of theory and practice” (Said 6) which constructs images of the Orient or the East directed toward those in the West. It produces the East as an object of Western knowledge and domination. Said elaborates that even “simply the vocabulary employed whenever the Orient is spoken or written about is a set of representative figures, or tropes” (Said 71) that are too unfamiliar with the subject it is trying to signify.

At its core, orientalism is the Western construction of the “Orient” (the Middle East, Far East, and North Africa) as exotic, backward, irrational, and inferior, in contrast to the “Occident” (the West), imagined as modern, rational, and superior. Said argued that this wasn’t just a set of stereotypes, but a disciplinary framework—produced through scholarship, literature, art, and later media—that allowed Europe (and later the U.S.) to understand and dominate the East.

In his analysis, orientalism functions as a discourse (borrowing from Foucault) that ties knowledge to power: the way the West described the Orient helped justify colonial rule, military intervention, and cultural dominance. For Said, orientalism was not simply prejudice, but an entire epistemological system that shaped how the West engaged with the East politically, militarily, and intellectually, reinforcing imperial hierarchies while presenting itself as objective knowledge.

Edward Said laid the groundwork for interrogating homogenizing racial panics about Islam. He says,

“The Orientalists—from Renan to Goldziher to Macdonald to von Grunebaum, Gibb, and Bernard Lewis—saw Islam, for example, as a ‘cultural synthesis’ (the phrase is P. M. Holt’s) that could be studied apart from the economics, sociology, and politics of the Islamic peoples. For Orientalism, Islam had a meaning which, if one were to look for its most succinct formulation, could be found in Renan’s first treatise: in order best to be understood, Islam had to be reduced to ‘tent and tribe.’ The impact of colonialism, of worldly circumstances, of historical development: all these were to Orientalists as flies to wanton boys, killed—or disregarded—for their sport, never taken seriously enough to complicate the essential Islam” (Said 105).

Contemporary theorists have expanded this to examine how orientalist logic nonetheless persists in current law and policy, particularly in relation to Muslim women. As Harsha Walia explains in Border and Rule (2021):

“Under the guise of liberalism and feminism, laws banning the niqab or burqa in Australia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands mark Black and Brown Muslim women for surveillance and white feminist savior missions through a seductive representation of Muslim women’s victimhood. Sheren Razack maintains, ‘For Muslim societies, the veil’s significance and functions have varied historically, whereas for the West, the veil has remained a static colonial image that symbolizes Western superiority over Eastern backwardness.’

Compulsory unveiling is posed as a liberating, racialized discourse in which Muslim women are simultaneously projected as victims of patriarchy and as gendered subjects unwilling to integrate into secular (Christian) society. The patronizing proposition that women can be rescued through professed humanitarian intervention is antithetical to feminist principles of autonomy over one’s body, clothing, gender identity, and labor. Writing about gender and sexuality as a generated political structure, Judith Butler observes that ‘the body gains meaning within discourse only in the context of power relations” (Walia 188).

If orientalism functions to essentialize the East as inferior, feminism has often provided its gendered vocabulary. The Muslim woman becomes the perfect site for this convergence: she is simultaneously the symbol of patriarchal oppression and the justification for Western intervention. This is because feminism, far from standing outside Western hegemony, is historically bound to it.

Emerging from Enlightenment liberalism, it inherits the same abstraction of the “universal individual”—a fiction that masked bourgeois Eurocentrism—by constructing the equally fictitious category of the “universal woman.” This idealized “liberated woman” is modeled on Western bourgeois aspirations and imposed as a global norm, delegitimizing other cultural frameworks of womanhood.

As a result, Muslim women are cast as brainwashed, while non-Muslim, Western women are deemed as progressive and civilized. In contemporary form, this cultural imperialism persists through feminist NGOs and state departments, which mobilize women’s rights discourse to justify sanctions, invasions, or regime change (see Iraq and Afghanistan). Within this framework, critiques of Islam as misogynistic cannot be seen as neutral assessments of women’s freedom but as part of a larger Orientalist and imperial feminist discourse that reduces Muslim women’s choices to signs of oppression to affirm Western cultural dominance.

This is relevant to this conversation because when Muslim women regurgitate these claims, it only further exacerbates this agenda. It doesn’t do anything to help Muslim women or those who are oppressed; it only makes the conversation worse by presenting Islam as a religion that has only been interpreted by men who want to oppress women since its very inception, and that Muslim women need to be saved from it by any means necessary. This doesn’t address the issue but instead adds further inflammatory commentary.

The Social Causes of Disillusionment & Responding to the Claim that Our Scholars are Misogynistic

When Muslims today repeat the idea that Islam has been taken over by misogynistic male scholars, they are often unknowingly repeating these very projections. The claim rests on an oversimplified reading of the religion that flattens its complex methodologies, erases its history of female scholarship, and judges its ethical framework against Western liberal standards that themselves are unstable and ever-shifting.

Culture and religion are not discrete spheres but deeply intertwined: religion is always lived through cultural forms, while culture often draws its authority from religious meaning. Culture can enrich religious life by giving flesh to principles legislated in the religion through local forms, such as the principle of عُرف (customs) in fiqh, but culture can also drift, masking itself as religion while contradicting revelation. This principle (عُرف) demonstrates that the shari’ah recognizes the customs of a community, so long as they do not contradict the Quran and Sunnah.

Our rulings are in the Quran and Hadith, and fiqh is knowledge of the rulings of the shari’ah, along with their specific evidence to increase our understanding. It is disingenuous to ignore the tradition passed on from the time of the Prophet ‎ﷺ, because it is precisely this tradition that ensures the distinction between authentic religion and cultural habit. Recognizing this interplay is crucial because it allows us to see that when injustices occur in Muslim societies, the fault does not lie with Islam itself but with cultural distortions of its teachings.

The Quran and Sunnah did not reach us in a vacuum; they were preserved, systematized, and explained through the painstaking efforts of scholars who dedicated their entire lives to safeguarding this religion. Without their tireless work (by the will of Allah), we would not know Islam as we do today. These were not scholars seeking to impose their personal preferences but jurists working within rigorous methodologies designed precisely to guard against arbitrary opinion. Quite literally everything we know today is due to these efforts, which is why it makes no sense to ignore this reality.

To reduce this intellectual legacy to misogyny is to erase the very structures that make the religion accessible and practicable for ordinary Muslims. It also raises a question: if the scholars cannot be trusted, by what standard do today’s critics presume to judge them? In reality, our scholars did not make Islam more difficult; they made it easier by clarifying rulings, categorizing evidence, and providing us with tools to live our lives in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah. To undermine them wholesale is to undermine the very possibility of practicing Islam with coherence and certainty.

We do not deny that there have been many people, both past and present, who have twisted the religion to benefit their agenda and personal desires rather than operating from the Islamic framework of the Quran and Sunnah. It would be unrealistic for us not to recognize that many rulings have been weaponized against women to oppress them, and cultural biases have seeped into practices in many regions that have restricted women’s access to spaces of knowledge and to live with honor. This is where a lot of the frustration comes from.

Contemporary skepticism often arises not only from past exclusions but also from the persistence of specific gendered injustices in Muslim-majority societies today. This has always existed both in Muslim and non-Muslim spaces. Should it exist? Of course not, but it does, and this reality should be dealt with in the way that Allah has legislated. When people see women being discouraged from pursuing religious knowledge, silenced when speaking against harm, or taught Islam incorrectly, critics see this as evidence of Islam’s “misogynistic” capture. Yet such practices contradict the very sources of Islam, which affirm women’s rights to knowledge, property, participation, and dignity.

If I must acknowledge this honestly, part of the resentment some Muslim women hold toward the tradition does not stem from Islamic teachings themselves, but from the failure of some Muslim men to embody them. The erosion of responsible male leadership in some places is one of the driving factors behind the turn toward feminist responses among Muslims. The Quran, Sunnah, and the life of the Prophet ‎ﷺ convey and exemplify masculinity, protection, and moral integrity.

Yet, many women today experience the opposite: fathers who are emotionally or physically absent, husbands who provide the bare minimum financially while neglecting emotional and spiritual responsibility, and male relatives who fail to embody prophetic character. The problem is not the Islamic framework of qiwamah, but its abandonment. When women feel unsupported, unsafe, or forced into roles that Islam never obligated them to shoulder alone, it becomes easier for them to view feminism not as rebellion, but as their only way out, when in reality it is insidious.

With this in mind, this doesn’t excuse those who abandon the Quran and Sunnah and resort to other ideologies for justice, nor does it excuse those who dislike rulings because of their own desires. One of the main issues I have with influencers who acquire a significant following is that they use their platforms to spread rhetoric that tarnishes the image of Islam. They are rarely ever informed critiques, but just speaking from a point of view that usually emerges from personal grievances or harmful past experiences.

While it’s fine to sympathize, it does not justify reshaping the religion to fit emotional narratives. This act doesn’t aid the religion of Allah or solve real issues. Two things can be true at once. I emphasize this point: this is not to make anything a gender war, nor do I aim to point fingers at anyone; it is a sincere request for both men and women to look at our actions and see how we can realign our actions with the justice Allah has legislated and what we owe each other.

The Quran explicitly emphasizes justice, mercy, and God-consciousness as criteria of value. What is crucial to remember is that Islamic sciences were built upon structured methodologies designed to prevent personal whims and desires from being a motivator when deriving rulings. This does not mean that Islam itself has been taken over by male bias and that our entire corpus is corrupted. To believe this is disbelief, as Allah said He will preserve this religion [15:9]. The problem is not revelation but misapplication, or, in some cases, cultural hegemony masquerading as religion.

This reflects a broader postmodern trend to view all systems of knowledge as socially constructed and therefore suspect. The task before contemporary Muslims, then, is neither to reject the tradition as hopelessly misogynistic nor to defend every historical interpretation uncritically, but to recover the principles of justice and mercy embedded in revelation, while recognizing how human societies have sometimes failed to embody them.

Preserving Revelation & Scholarship in an Age of Pseudo-Intellectualism

To dismiss over a millennium of Islamic scholarship as being corrupted by “male bias” is dishonest. It denies the intellectual agency of the countless female scholars who, equipped with the same Quran and Hadith, reached the same conclusions as their male counterparts. It also makes it seem like none of our male scholars had good intentions or sincerely tried to preserve our religion. To reference my previous point, these arguments originate from similar critiques historically used to attack Islam.

The claims and critiques that say, “Islam is inherently misogynistic and patriarchal, so women will always be oppressed under it,” are rooted in reductionist readings that fail to grasp the depth and nuance of Islamic rulings. This talking point is usually regurgitated by non-Muslims, but many Muslims today have co-opted this message, just with a different language. I have a few questions to ask the Muslims who say this: Where do you draw the line between these takes and the rulings of Islam? At what point do you realize that this path will make you start questioning fundamentals and rulings that are clear, such as whether the hijab is really part of Islam, and if doing your nails actually does prevent your wudu? When did personal proclivity and false erudition take precedence over the Quran and Sunnah?

This new obsession with superficial debates and pseudo-intellectualism is not a genuine attempt at inquiry but a symptom of a broader shift in trying to disregard anything you and non-Muslims perceive as “patriarchal” and “misogynistic.” The Muslim women agreeing with these posts forget that the Western understanding of the patriarchy and misogyny is against almost all of Islam’s understanding of male and female societal participation. By such definitions, hijab is misogynistic, marriage is misogynistic, and any role assigned in Islam based on gender is misogynistic. Ask yourself: where does this understanding of patriarchy & misogyny fit in when Islam has a specific understanding and placement of gender dynamics for some things? To conflate the two is to impose a Western frame onto a religion with its own ontological categories.

This is why the critique cannot be reduced to a “battle against male scholars.” It is, more fundamentally, a rejection of Islam itself under the guise of modern critique. When Muslims internalize these frameworks, they risk falling into a cycle where Western values become the ultimate criterion, and revelation is subordinated to secular ideologies. The West has successfully conquered minds through cultural hegemony in schooling, media, and social platforms that subtly recalibrate what feels “natural” and what feels “oppressive.” This is the same road that leads to modernist reinterpretation, and then all of a sudden, you reject Islam as a whole, and you become an apostate.

Many Muslims today have been shaped by secular schooling and media, and through each of these means have been influenced by Western values. They then use these values to judge Islam and treat them as an objective standard, even though they are nothing more than shifting ideological opinions that change their morals every few years.

The Efforts of Our Scholars and What We Owe Them

Our religion honors those who have put time and effort into preserving it and transmitting it. Scholars play a pivotal role in learning the religion, interpreting it, and making it easier for laymen to understand. The amount of time it takes to master one science alone takes years, sometimes decades, and it is not something that should be belittled, especially when you look at what it takes to become a faqih, a qadi, do ijtihad, and all of these things that a layman is not qualified to do. This is why Allah said in Surah an-Nahl,

فَسْـَٔلُوٓا۟ أَهْلَ ٱلذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

‘So ask the people of knowledge if you do not know’ [16:43]

The Prophet ‎ﷺ said,

الْعُلَمَاءُ خُلَفَاءُ الأَنْبِيَاءِ إِنَّ الأَنْبِيَاءَ لَمْ يُوَرِّثُوا دِينَارًا وَلا دِرْهَمًا إِنَّمَا وَرَّثُوا الْعِلْمَ

“The scholars are the successors of the prophets. Verily, the prophets do not pass on gold and silver coins, but rather they only impart knowledge.” [Musnad al-Bazzar 10/68]

Scholars are not infallible. We are also not expected to accept every fatwa. They are humans like us and can make mistakes. Some claim to be knowledgeable, while in reality, they aren’t. What is important to remember is that our sources (the Quran and Sunnah) are perfect, and the efforts that a sincere scholar makes with the right intention are seen by Allah. This is why Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ said,

إِذَا حَكَمَ الْحَاكِمُ فَاجْتَهَدَ ثُمَّ أَصَابَ فَلَهُ أَجْرَانِ وَإِذَا حَكَمَ فَاجْتَهَدَ ثُمَّ أَخْطَأَ فَلَهُ أَجْرٌ

“If a judge makes a ruling, striving to apply his reasoning, and he is correct, he will have two rewards. If a judge makes a ruling, striving to apply his reasoning, and he is mistaken, he will have one reward.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 7352]

You may believe you are engaging in “critical thinking,” but instead, you are just belittling the works of scholars who have dedicated their whole lives to interpreting the Quran and Sunnah for our benefit. Backbiting, slandering, and undermining these efforts is sinful. The flesh of the scholars is poisonous. It is extremely dangerous to believe that we don’t need scholars at all, because the average Muslim is not able to derive rulings, interpret hadith, be skilled in nahw and sarf, and give out fatawa like a scholar can.

The Prophet ‎ﷺ said,

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَقْبِضُ الْعِلْمَ انْتِزَاعًا يَنْتَزِعُهُ مِنْ الْعِبَادِ وَلَكِنْ يَقْبِضُ الْعِلْمَ بِقَبْضِ الْعُلَمَاءِ حَتَّى إِذَا لَمْ يُبْقِ عَالِمًا اتَّخَذَ النَّاسُ رُءُوسًا جُهَّالًا فَسُئِلُوا فَأَفْتَوْا بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ فَضَلُّوا وَأَضَلُّوا

“Verily, Allah does not withhold knowledge by snatching it away from his servants, but rather he withholds knowledge by taking the souls of scholars, until no scholar remains and people follow ignorant leaders. They are asked, and they issue judgments without knowledge. Thus, they are astray and lead others astray.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 100]

Lay Muslims are encouraged to increase their understanding of the religion, and it is great when we see the efforts some make to learn beyond the basics. You don’t need a shaykh to open up the Quran, read it, and feel a personal connection towards a specific verse, even if it might have been revealed for a different reason. However, two things to remember: 1) it isn’t a requirement for every Muslim to be an expert, and 2) deriving a ruling from it or understanding the text according to the religion is not something a non-expert can do.

When the scholars are around, knowledge, action, and piety are widespread. When the scholars are abandoned, it diminishes. What is expected of us as laymen is to benefit from them, both past and present, honor them, and uplift those who are upon the truth and strive to uphold the religion of Allah.

There Is No Better Ruling Than Allah’s Rulings

This subtitle may sound obvious, but many Muslims today have not fully reflected on what it means. It is one thing to affirm that Allah is the Most Just and the Most Fair, and another to truly believe that His rulings suffice for every aspect of our lives. If we recognize that our knowledge is limited and His is perfect, then how can we seek justice through frameworks outside the one He revealed to address injustice, oppression, and mistreatment? Allah says in Surah at-Tin,

أَلَيْسَ ٱللَّهُ بِأَحْكَمِ ٱلْحَـٰكِمِينَ

‘Is Allah not the most just of all judges?’ [95:8]

In his tafsir, Shaykh as-Sa’di رحمه الله said,

“Does Allah’s wisdom dictate that He should leave humankind without purpose, with no commands or prohibitions, never to be rewarded or punished? Or will the One Who created them in stages and bestowed upon them innumerable blessings and favours, and took good care of them, inevitably bring them back to their final and ultimate abode, to which they are headed and where they will end up?” [Tafsir as-Sa’di, juz 28-30, vol 10]

This ayah points us back to trust in the justice and wisdom of Allah as the ultimate Judge and Lawgiver. When Allah asks, “Is Allah not the Most Just of all judges?” it is rhetorical, reminding us that His shari’ah is rooted in absolute justice, unlike human systems that are limited, biased, and shifting. Allah did not leave us without direction or guidance. The Quran and Sunnah are our guide, with the actions of the Prophet ﷺ and his companions رضي الله عنهم set as examples.

If Allah is the Most Just, then dismissing His commands as unjust reflects a deeper issue with your iman, because a Muslim believes that whatever Allah decrees is better than what humans can do. The very existence of commands and prohibitions, reward and punishment, is evidence of His perfect justice. We have several ahadith as well that discuss the danger of oppression and the solution:

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَة قَالَ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِيَّاكُمْ وَالظُّلْمَ فَإِنَّ الظُّلْمَ ظُلُمَاتٌ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَالْفُحْشَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْفُحْشَ وَالتَّفَحُّشَ وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَالشُّحَّ فَإِنَّهُ دَعَا مَنْ قَبْلَكُمْ فَاسْتَحَلُّوا مَحَارِمَهُمْ وَسَفَكُوا دِمَاءَهُمْ وَقَطَّعُوا أَرْحَامَهُمْ

Abu Huraira reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Beware of committing injustice, for injustice will be darkness on the Day of Resurrection. Beware of obscenity, for Allah does not love obscenity and immorality. Beware of greed, for it tempted those before you and caused them to make lawful what is unlawful, to shed blood and sever their family ties.” [Musnad Ahmad 9569]

عَنْ ابْنِ عُمَرَ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِنَّ الظُّلْمَ ظُلُمَاتٌ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ

Ibn Umar reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, oppression will be darkness on the Day of Resurrection.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 2447]

Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه said,

إِنَّا كُنَّا أَذَلَّ قَوْمٍ فَأَعَزَّنَا اللَّهُ بِالْإِسْلَامِ فَمَهْمَا نَطْلُبُ الْعِزَّةَ بِغَيْرِ مَا أَعَزَّنَا اللَّهُ بِهِ أَذَلَّنَا اللَّهُ

“Verily, we were a disgraceful people, and Allah honored us with Islam. If we seek honor from anything besides that with which Allah honored us, Allah will disgrace us.” [al-Mustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn 207]

The religion of Allah is enough for us to use as a framework to address injustice and promote justice. You do not need to resort to other ideologies to deal with oppression; you do so by using the tools legislated by Allah and through the sunnah of the Prophet ‎ﷺ because this religion is complete and has all of the answers we need. Ask yourself: if all other ideologies are not even close in comparison or perfection to what Allah has given us, then can you really use them as a tool for liberation from oppression when the religion of Allah is the only one that upholds true justice?

This is how we address problems in the Muslim world, and for the secular world, it should be calling to Islam first before anything else. Islam is the only force capable of crushing the arrogance of Western chauvinism, hegemony, and a holier-than-thou attitude. Islam is framed not merely as a religion but as a comprehensive ethical and social framework capable of challenging this and offering alternative norms of justice, community, and moral accountability.

Undergoing this path will just further strip away the Islamic defense against oppression. Rather than guiding Muslim communities out of the un-Islamic, existing practices that harm women, this undertaking actually just further accomplishes the colonial, capitalist, Western agenda that pushes for the complete dominance of their ideologies and total erasure of Islam. Given that the issues in the Muslim world exist due to this already happening, adopting another ideology, whether it be feminism, liberalism, etc, can and most likely will be co-opted by the same movements that fuelled post-colonialism and will not benefit the Muslim world.

Muslims need to start engaging in these issues and offer practical solutions under the fold of Islam to women’s issues. Many actively reject those ideologies, but at the same time, want everything to stay the way it is because they don’t want to confront the behavior of those who uphold systems of oppression for Muslim women. To properly respond to this issue and internalize this understanding that Islam is all we need, the core issues of oppression, lack of knowledge, and resorting to other ideologies needs to be addressed and then countered by increasing accountability, knowledge (for both men and women), and going back to the Quran and Sunnah according to the salaf, relayed by our scholars.

These other ‘-isms’ will not save Muslims because they fundamentally disagree with Islam. No matter how frustrated you get with misogyny in your communities, you cannot depend on those who stigmatize and demonize Muslim women for their choices to uphold justice for Muslim women in Muslim spaces. Within secular contexts, engaging in this dialogue demands careful thought and solutions from the Islamic framework.

Works cited:

• Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Vintage Books, 1978.

• Walia, Harsa. Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism. Haymarket Books, 2021.

Yet today, this is not the reality. Many sisters shy away from studying Islam deeply. Sometimes it’s because they feel the doors of scholarship are only open to brothers. Other times, it’s because family, lack of access, society, or even their own self-doubt convinces them that it’s not their place. However, these are surmountable, meaning it is something that can be overcome for most.

Understanding Islam starts with solidifying your aqeedah. It is the foundation of our faith and relationship with Allah. It shapes how we see the world, how we respond to hardship, how we raise children, and how we live as Muslims in societies that constantly pull us away from Him. Without the correct aqeedah, our worship is useless.

Why is aqeedah so important?

If you ask Muslims around you and see if they have the same kind of beliefs, you’ll notice that many differ, even if they claim to be Muslims. Anyone can say they’re muslim, but what does that mean? The shahada (testimony) that none has the right to be worshipped in truth except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah is the first thing that enters a person into Islam; however, it is not sufficient to simply pronounce the shahada, rather you must know its meaning and act upon what is necessitated by it inwardly and outwardly.

There are many things in the deen that are necessary to study, or maybe you have a subject that is more dear to you. For me, it's fiqh and usul al fiqh, so I relate to those who spend more time studying other fields. But aqeedah is the thing that will enter you into the gardens of Paradise forever and save you from the Hellfire. If a person does not have the correct aqeedah and understanding of tawhid, then their worship will not benefit them.

Tawhid is the foundation of the aqidah of Ahlul Sunnah and the religion of Allah. It is what all the prophets and messengers called to, and is what Allah commands in the Quran. Allah says in Surah al-Baqarah:

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ رَبَّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُمْ وَٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ

O humanity! Worship your Lord, Who created you and those before you, so that you may become mindful ˹of Him˺.

And as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said in Al Aqeedah al Wasitiyyah:

ومن الإيمان بالله بما وصف به نفسه كتابه العزيز وبما وصفه به رسوله محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم من غير تحريف ولا تعطيل ومن غير تكييف ولا تمثيل

Part of faith in Allah is to have faith in the way He described Himself in His honorable book and in the way described by His messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, without distortion and negation, and without asking ‘how’ or likening Him to something else.

So, aqeedah is something that we all need to study. However, the reason why I am emphasizing this for women, especially, is that we don’t have enough sisters studying the sciences of Islam in general, and we don’t have enough sisters studying the most important thing that is our foundation, which is aqeedah.

Imagine more women trained in aqeedah, fiqh, tafseer, Qur’an, and hadith. Women who write, teach, guide, mentor, and bring balance to spaces that often lack female scholarly voices. Imagine the strength that would give to future generations. We need women in these fields, not just as students, but as scholars. And the first step is aqeedah.

In today's digital age, knowledge is at our fingertips. We have every opportunity to study Islam from those more knowledgeable than us, to learn Arabic and read the language of the Quran, to learn about our beloved Prophet ﷺ and his companions, and more. What is truly stopping us from learning?

One of the things that my ustadha shared with me that stuck is that when we seek knowledge, we should only seek it for the sake and pleasure of Allah ﷻ because this will give us the ability to learn, understand, and memorize. You should constantly be renewing your intentions. Imam Ahmad رحمه الله said a person obtains knowledge based on the level of their sincerity. Whoever is truthful with Allah, Allah will bless them.

What keeps me motivated are these tips below:

• You are not accepting just a little bit from yourself and what you are capable of, but instead have high ambitions.

• Nothing is too high for Allah, so we should keep in mind that our goals and ambitions are not too high. Even if you don’t achieve them, you at least paved the way to do so. Allah ﷻ says in Surah Ibrahim,

وَمَا ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ بِعَزِيزٍۢ ٢٠

And for Allah that is not hard or difficult (i.e., very easy for Allah). [14:20]

• Ask yourself: Women today pursue demanding fields like medicine or engineering with determination. Why should the sciences of the deen be considered beyond our reach?

To my sisters: don’t think this path isn’t for you. Knowledge is a form of worship, and seeking it is an obligation on every Muslim. Don’t let anyone convince you that this path is beyond your reach. Start with aqeedah, even if it feels daunting. It will anchor you in clarity, give you confidence in your faith, and open the doors to every other science. Ground yourself in it, and let it become the key to everything else.

We ask Allah to purify our intentions and to allow us to seek His face, pleasure, and reward, and to lift ignorance off ourselves.

The irony, of course, is that the standard itself is never stable. What was considered beautiful two decades ago is now dismissed as outdated, and what is fashionable in one culture is scorned in another. This endless shifting of the standard ensures that women remain trapped in a cycle of insecurity and self-criticism, always striving, never arriving. It is not a coincidence that billion-dollar industries feed on this cycle—cosmetics, plastic surgery, weight loss, fashion, skincare—all built on the promise that if you just try a little harder, buy a little more, change a little further, then you will finally be enough.

Yet this obsession is fragile because beauty is fragile. It is tied to the fleeting qualities of youth, health, and time. No matter how much a person resists, the body changes, the skin wrinkles, the hair thins, and the strength declines. The culture that worships beauty inevitably comes to despise aging. Women are told to fight their own natural progression as if growing old were a personal failure, as if the marks of life on their faces were shameful rather than dignified. This is where Islam turns the entire discussion on its head. Where society pities the aging woman, Islam honors her. Here are just a few narrations from our beloved Prophet ﷺ on being elderly:

عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ الْبَرَكَةُ مَعَ أَكَابِرِكُمْ

559 صحيح ابن حبان كتاب البر والإحسان باب الصحبة والمجالسة ذكر استحباب التبرك للمرء بعشرة مشايخ أهل الدين والعقل

Ibn Abbas reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Blessings are with your elders.” [Sahih Ibn Hibban 559]

عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لَا حَلِيمَ إِلَّا ذُو عَثْرَةٍ وَلَا حَكِيمَ إِلَّا ذُو تَجْرِبَةٍ

2033 سنن الترمذي كتاب البر والصلة باب ما جاء في التجارب

Abu Sa’id al-Khudri reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “There is no forbearance unless one has blundered, and there is no wisdom unless one has experience.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2033]

عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ عَبَسَةَ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ مَنْ شَابَ شَيْبَةً فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَانَتْ لَهُ نُورًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ

1635 سنن الترمذي كتاب فضائل الجهاد باب ما جاء في فضل من شاب شيبة في سبيل الله

‘Amr ibn ‘Abasah reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Whoever has grown a gray hair in the way of Allah, it will be a light for him on the Day of Resurrection.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhi 1635]

From childhood, women are taught to view beauty as a kind of social currency. Careers, relationships, and even self-worth are filtered through how closely one matches fleeting cultural ideals. Entire industries are built on women’s insecurities: cosmetics, fashion, plastic surgery, dieting, filters, and apps. The result is an exhausting cycle of self-criticism and comparison. A woman may spend hours perfecting her appearance, only to step outside and feel inadequate next to another standard. Her “value” becomes something external, fragile, and constantly shifting.

What happens when it fades? What happens when age sets in, when illness marks the body, when the mirror no longer reflects youth? A culture that worships beauty inevitably despises aging, turning something natural and dignified into a curse. In Islam, wrinkles are signs of survival, patience, and nearing the meeting with Allah.

The Temporary Nature of the World and True Value

The very signs that modern culture teaches women to conceal are signs of honor and nearness to their Creator. In Surah al-Hadid, Allah constantly reminds humanity that this world and all its adornments are fleeting:

ٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌۭ وَلَهْوٌۭ وَزِينَةٌۭ وَتَفَاخُرٌۢ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌۭ فِى ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَوْلَـٰدِ ۖ كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ ٱلْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُۥ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَىٰهُ مُصْفَرًّۭا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَـٰمًۭا ۖ وَفِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ عَذَابٌۭ شَدِيدٌۭ وَمَغْفِرَةٌۭ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرِضْوَٰنٌۭ ۚ وَمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا مَتَـٰعُ ٱلْغُرُورِ

“Know that this worldly life is no more than play, amusement, luxury, mutual boasting, and competition in wealth and children. This is like rain that causes plants to grow, to the delight of the planters. But later, the plants dry up and you see them wither, then they are reduced to chaff. And in the Hereafter, there will be either severe punishment or forgiveness and pleasure of Allah, whereas the life of this world is no more than the delusion of enjoyment.” [57:20]

Adornment is not denied, but put in its correct place. It is part of this dunya, and the dunya itself is temporary. How Islam reframes beauty is perfect. The Prophet ﷺ said,

إِنَّ اللَّهَ جَمِيلٌ يُحِبُّ الْجَمَالَ وَيُحِبُّ مَعَالِيَ الْأُمُورِ وَيَكْرَهُ سَفْسَافَهَا

“Verily, Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty. He loves the loftiest of affairs and disapproves of pettiness.” [al-Mu’jam al-Awsaṭ lil-Ṭabarānī 6906]

Beauty is real, valuable, and beloved to Allah. In Al-Fawa’id, Ibn al-Qayyim writes that some scholars have debated the permissibility of beauty in outward appearance and clothing. One view considers it forbidden, while another argues that beauty is a manifestation of truth and refers to it as an “aesthetic manifestation.” Beauty in appearance, clothing, and posture can be classified into three types: praiseworthy, blameworthy, and neutral.

1. Praiseworthy beauty is that which is intended for Allah and aids in obeying Him and following His commands.

2. Blameworthy beauty arises when appearance or dress is used for arrogance, showing off, or sinful purposes.

3. Neutral beauty, on the other hand, neither merits praise nor blame. Thus, beauty itself is not inherently forbidden; its moral value depends entirely on intention and use.

Yet, even when women acknowledge this intellectually, they often still feel emotionally trapped. For example, many women who wish to wear hijab delay it because they do not feel “confident enough yet.” They believe that to cover, they must first love themselves, feel secure, and believe in their own beauty. It makes beauty the prerequisite to obedience. It says, in effect, “I cannot honor Allah until I first honor my reflection.” But why should beauty be the foundation for dignity, modesty, or self-respect? Why should a woman’s worth depend on whether she feels attractive in a given moment?

True self-love is not waking up every morning and believing you are flawless; it is caring for the body Allah entrusted to you, accepting what He created, and refusing to be enslaved by its outward form. Hijab is not about announcing that you feel beautiful. You do not need to be confident in your appearance to be obedient to Allah.

Labels, Prescriptions, and Self-Perception

When we think about beauty standards, labels play a huge role in shaping how people see themselves. Descriptive labels describe what is (“she is beautiful,” “he is unattractive”), while prescriptive labels dictate what should be (“women should always be pretty,” “men should always be strong”). The problem is that prescriptive labels often become burdens, pressuring people to conform to expectations that may not reflect their reality or worth.

For women especially, being constantly told they should be beautiful to be valued creates insecurity and fuels unhealthy comparison, while descriptive labels about appearance can either reinforce or challenge those same pressures. Recognizing the difference helps us see how language shapes self-perception, and how shifting away from prescriptive beauty ideals opens space for healthier, more liberating ways of relating to our bodies.

Islam cuts through this by grounding human value not in fleeting traits but in taqwa (God-consciousness). The Quran reminds us that the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you (49:13), not the most outwardly beautiful. This shift dismantles harmful prescriptive labels about beauty and replaces them with a focus on inner character and devotion. When we internalize this perspective, we are freed from the endless cycle of measuring our worth against arbitrary standards and instead anchor our identity in something lasting and dignified.

This classification strips beauty of its tyranny. It is no longer the center of existence. It is a blessing to be used, a test to be managed, or a distraction to be avoided, depending on the heart’s intention. Islam, therefore, does not call women to erase beauty, nor to worship it. It acknowledges beauty, reorients it, and grounds it in servitude to Allah.

Conditioning & True Liberation

When Muslim women describe hijab as “empowerment,” critics often respond with suspicion: “Isn’t that still conditioning? Haven’t you just traded one standard for another?” The critique assumes that modesty is not freedom, but merely another form of submission: to patriarchy, to culture, to religion. This tension raises a deeper question: What is the role of beauty in a woman’s life? Is it truly liberating, or is it another form of bondage, whether women embrace it, reject it, or cover it?

Modern feminism has tried to resist this obsession in its own way. Some strands call on women to reject beauty standards altogether: stop shaving, stop wearing makeup, stop hiding your wrinkles, and embrace your imperfections. At its best, this resistance is a step toward breaking the cycle of unattainable ideals. But even here, beauty remains the central point of reference. Whether you conform to it or rebel against it, it is still the measure by which choices are being made.

This type of resistance is ultimately reactionary. It reacts to beauty culture instead of transcending it. Islam, by contrast, moves women out of the endless loop. In Islam, a woman’s value is neither in chasing beauty nor in rejecting it. Her value lies entirely with Allah. Beauty can be acknowledged, enjoyed, and appreciated, but it is not worshipped, nor is it despised. It is a gift, not a prison.

This reframing changes how we see aging, how we see self-worth, and how we see empowerment. The modern world often assumes that empowerment means exposure: to show oneself, to display one’s body, to claim ownership by making it visible. But empowerment in Islam is not tied to visibility. It is tied to agency and purpose. A woman who covers is not disempowered, because her covering is not submission to man but submission to Allah.

Critics argue that this is still conditioning. Yet the truth is that every culture conditions women, whether it is to reveal or to conceal, to strive for thinness or for curves, to paint their faces or to bare them. The question is never whether conditioning exists, but what its source is and to what end it leads. If society conditions women to be slaves of the gaze, Islam tells them to be servants of Allah. Only one of those paths frees them from the tyranny of ever-changing human standards.

Body Neutrality, Reducing Tabarruj, & What Self-Love Actually Is

To embrace this truth requires a profound shift in what we mean by self-love. In contemporary culture, self-love often translates into endless affirmations of beauty: every woman is told she must see herself as stunning, radiant, powerful, flawless. But this is exhausting, and for many, dishonest.

Some days you will not feel beautiful. Some phases of life will not look radiant. If your self-worth depends on always affirming beauty, then you will collapse the moment you feel less than that. Islam offers something steadier. Your worth does not rise and fall with your appearance. Your worth is anchored in your Creator, who honored you long before you looked in the mirror. To be “ugly” in this sense is not to neglect yourself or abandon dignity, but to release yourself from the slavery of needing to be beautiful every waking moment.

Adopting body neutrality can completely change the way a Muslim woman experiences hijab. When we stop measuring our worth by beauty, we also stop feeling pressured to beautify ourselves for public validation. This naturally reduces the struggle with tabarruj (beautifying yourself in front of non-mahrams), because the urge to display beauty lessens when we accept our bodies as they are. Tabarruj often stems from social pressures to be “seen” or validated for appearance. Struggling with it can involve constantly measuring yourself against others, which is precisely what body neutrality challenges.

Hijab, when understood correctly, isn’t about hiding because your body is shameful, nor about suppressing beauty entirely; it’s about redirecting focus and is an identifier. Body neutrality can reinforce that: you don’t need to perform beauty for others, and the hijab is a tool for agency and self-respect, not a punishment. The hijab then becomes less about hiding flaws or denying femininity and more about reclaiming agency: it is a choice to direct attention toward our character, our actions, and our devotion to Allah. By pairing body neutrality with the spiritual purpose of hijab, women can cultivate freedom and confidence, learning that their presence, intellect, and character are far more significant than appearances, and that true beauty is measured in virtue, not visibility.

Eternal Beauty, Freedom, & Moving Towards What Lasts

This is the liberation Islam gives. Not the denial of beauty, nor its worship, but its rightful place. The Prophet ﷺ described the people of Jannah as eternally youthful, without blemish, radiant beyond imagination. That eternal beauty is not earned through surgeries, cosmetics, or filters, but through worship, patience, and service to Allah. Worldly beauty will fade no matter what you do. Eternal beauty, granted by Allah, never fades. The Quran calls us back to this perspective again and again, reminding us that the pleasures and adornments of this world are limited, while what is with Allah is far better and everlasting.

Beauty is not oppression. Nor is beauty salvation. It is a sign from Allah al-Jamīl, the Most Beautiful. To “be ugly” in this context does not mean to neglect yourself, but to prepare for the eternal beauty of Jannah, where perfection is granted by Allah, not purchased.

So the real question is not: “Am I beautiful enough?” The real question is: “What have I built that will remain when beauty fades?” When you stand before Allah, He will not ask whether your features match the ideals of your century. If He asks you if you did anything with the blessings He gave you, or what you pursued, who you served, how you lived, how will you answer? When your reflection no longer matches the world’s fleeting standard, what will remain? What deeds, what character, what worship, what service to Allah will carry you forward when the mirror no longer can?

Yet, despite the appeal of individual freedom, it is important to ask: at what cost does this growth in individualism come? If you examine the same nations in this study that are wealthier, they tend to have higher rates of loneliness. They fear that an isolated future in a hyper-individual society is on the rise.

In 2023, the World Health Organization identified loneliness as a pressing global public health concern, with social isolation exacerbated by the pandemic’s restrictions. Similarly, the U.S. surgeon general stated that it is a “major public health risk for both individuals and society.”

Small social acts such as asking your neighbor for some sugar, or saying hi to a person on the street, or giving charity without expecting something in return, are all things that slowly become less valuable externally first and then eventually, internally. The hyper-individualistic mindset, the idea that life should be about "me first," protecting "your peace," and ignoring problems that don’t directly affect you, leads to no longer feeling moral responsibility towards others. We have a moral obligation to care about each other and to improve our lives to please Allah, even if the issues we hear about aren't happening in front of us.

Muslims should return to the factors necessary for our communities to flourish. Our purpose as Muslims is to worship Allah (Surah adh-Dhariyat, ayah 56). Understanding our purpose with this in mind helps fix these issues and serves as an important step towards fostering social cohesion. Islam builds a balance between recognizing individuality and personal rights without allowing those rights to override the rights of others, the needs of the community, or your accountability before Allah.

The hadith that comes to mind about this issue is when the Prophet ‎ﷺ said,

رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ لَا ضَرَرَ وَلَا ضِرَارَ مَنْ ضَارَّ ضَرَّهُ اللَّهُ وَمَنْ شَاقَّ شَقَّ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ

“Do not cause harm or return harm. Whoever harms others, Allah will harm him. Whoever is harsh with others, Allah will be harsh with him.” [al-Sunan al-Kubra lil-Bayhaqi 11384]

In Islam, the idea of "no absolute autonomy" means that personal freedom is real, but it is bounded by responsibility. A human being is not an isolated unit whose choices affect no one else (besides individual acts). Our actions can have ripple effects on others, so freedom is framed within the principle by the Prophet ‎ﷺ. This hadith sets these boundaries:

1. That you cannot harm yourself

2. That you cannot harm others

3. That you cannot retaliate with harm in a way that perpetuates injustice

Our lives are interconnected, and we are held accountable for how we interact with one another. This hadith is also used as a basis for many legal rulings that show that harm (ضرر) is negated first, then reciprocal harm (ضرار) is negated second, indicating there is a difference between the two terms. The closest understanding is: negating ضرر means that there is no harm inherent in what Allah has legislated for His servants, while negating ضرار means forbidding believers from committing actions that cause harm to others. The negation of harm shows that this religion emphasizes mercy and ease, never burdening a person beyond their capacity. Its rulings never command something harmful nor forbid something with a clear overriding benefit.

Another aspect of shari’ah is the individual obligation (فرض عين) and communal obligation (فرض كفاية). The communal obligation (فرض كفاية) is the collective obligation that is incumbent upon the Muslim community as a whole. The phrases "No one owes you anything” and "You don't owe anyone anything" are not for us Muslims. We have many narrations from the Prophet ‎ﷺ on the rights we have over each other, such as returning the salaam, visiting the sick, attending a funeral, accepting invitations, saying yarhamuk Allah to the one who sneezes, and giving sincere advice if asked (Bukhari 1240, Muslim 2162).

Allah says in Surah al-Imran,

كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ ۗ وَلَوْ ءَامَنَ أَهْلُ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ لَكَانَ خَيْرًۭا لَّهُم ۚ مِّنْهُمُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمُ ٱلْفَـٰسِقُونَ

“You are the best community ever raised for humanity—you encourage good, forbid evil, and believe in Allah. Had the People of the Book believed, it would have been better for them. Some of them are faithful, but most are rebellious.” [3:110]

Imam as-Sa’di رحمه الله explained this verse in his tafsir:

“Here, Allah praises this Ummah and states that it is the best of communities that Allah has ever brought forth for (the benefit of) humanity, because they perfected themselves by having faith, which requires them to do everything that He enjoined and to strive in perfecting others by enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil. That includes calling the people to Allah, striving for that purpose, and doing their utmost to turn people away from their misguidance, transgression, and sin. By doing that, they (the Muslims) become the best community ever brought forth for the benefit of humanity. In a previous verse (3:104), Allah said: “Let there arise from among you a group of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong.” This is a command from Allah to this Ummah, and when there is a command, the one who is commanded may or may not do it. But in this verse, Allah states that the Ummah has carried out what Allah instructed it to do and obeyed the command of its Lord; thus it deserves to be favoured above all other nations or communities.”

The Sunnah supports this as well. Below are some of my favorite ahadith and riwayat:

عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ الْمُؤْمِنُ مِرْآةُ الْمُؤْمِنِ

2114 المعجم الأوسط للطبراني

Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ said, “The believer is the mirror of another believer.” [al-Mu’jam al-Awsat lil-Tabarani 2114, Sahih]

عَنْ عُمَرَ بْنِ الْخَطَّابِ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَنْ أَرَادَ بُحْبُوحَةَ الْجَنَّةِ فَعَلَيْهِ بِالْجَمَاعَةِ فَإِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ مَعَ الْفَذِّ

86 السنة لابن أبي عاصم باب ما ذكر من أمره بلزوم الجماعة

Umar ibn al-Khattab reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever desires the best place in Paradise must stick closely to the united community, for Satan is with the loner.” [al-Sunnah li-Ibn Abi ‘Asim 86, Sahih]

عَنْ عَائِشَةَ أَن ّرَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ لَيْسَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِ الَّذِي يَبِيتُ شَبْعَانَ وَجَارُهُ جَائِعٌ إِلَى جَنْبِهِ

2166 المستدرك على الصحيحين

Aisha reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “He is not a believer who spends the night satiated while the neighbor to his side is hungry.” [al-Mustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn 2166, Sahih li ghayrihi]

عن يُونُس بْن عَبْدِ الأَعْلَى الصَّدَفِي قال الشَّافِعِي رحمه الله الانْقِبَاضُ عَنِ النَّاسِ مَكْسَبَةٌ لِلْعَدَاوَةِ وَالانْبِسَاطُ إِلَيْهِمْ مَجْلَبَةٌ لِقُرَنَاءِ السُّوءِ فَكُنْ بَيْنَ الْمُنْقَبِضِ وَالْمُنْبَسَطِ

13738 حلية الأولياء لأبي نعيم الإمام الشافعي

Yunus al-Sadafi reported: Al-Shafi’i رحمه الله said, “Being withdrawn from people will earn hostility, and being pompous with them will result in bad companions. Thus, be between an introvert and an extrovert.” [Hilyat al-Awliya’ 13738]

When we are aware of the rise in hyper-individualism and the side effects it brings, we must make an effort for the betterment of the collective. How do we as Muslimeen do that? By following the Quran and Sunnah by way of the salaf.

Reach out to your distant family that you haven’t spoken to in a while. Take your friend out for a cup of coffee and enjoy their company. Go to the masjid and attend a halaqa with your friends. Think about how you can support the people in your life who may need it or in your community, in whatever way that looks like. Make dua for the well-being of yourself and the Ummah. Enjoin the good and forbid the evil as Allah commanded.

Good people exist. May we be them and may we meet them.

Due to this, many people have come online giving their unsolicited opinions on why they believe wearing the niqab is inherently oppressive and isolates women from society.

Addressing the Assumptions

No one has ever said that wearing the niqab entails that you should disappear from public life and be completely isolated. As muslims, the religion is made to be easy. It is correct to state that women should never be marginalized from society, but why do some people assume that wearing a niqab necessitates that?

Take the Middle East, for example, where it’s worn culturally more than religiously for some. There are plenty of niqabi women as doctors, microbiologists, teachers, managers, law students, etc., because society encourages them and is structured around supporting its citizens. If people are being forced to wear the niqab by others, banning it isn't going to stop abusive behaviors. They're just going to find other ways.

Giving the state the power to forcefully dictate what people should wear has more negative outcomes than positive ones. Although it does happen, there is no evidence that suggests that most women who wear the niqab today are forced to wear it. In fact, qualitative studies often show the opposite: many women report spiritual fulfillment, empowerment, and even a sense of control over how they interact with the world. Post-COVID, many women in the West adopted the niqab because walking around with a covered face became less daunting as more people appeared in public with face masks.

Coercion can happen and does; however, it isn't the standard, nor does it dismiss the women who choose to do so freely. Calling the niqab systemic oppression while endorsing a state-enforced dress code is peak cognitive dissonance. Wearing the niqab or dressing modestly does not mean that the female body is sinful. If that were the case, then a muslim woman who covers up in the way Islam decrees would gain a sin for a man who stares at her. But this isn’t the case; the Quran calls for the lowering of the gaze before the commanding of the hijab.

This is still dictating what women should wear, but in reverse. Hijab is not rooted in the assumption that men are inherently incapable of controlling themselves; rather, it is part of a broader ethical framework of modesty that applies to both men and women. Islam places the responsibility of lowering the gaze and maintaining respectful conduct on everyone. To reduce it to a mere reaction to the male gaze is to strip it of its significance and reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of both the purpose of hijab in Islam and the concept of objectification itself.

Moreover, claiming that hijab reinforces objectification ironically centers the male gaze in the analysis, rather than respecting the woman’s choice to define her own boundaries. In societies saturated with beauty standards, women are already trained to see themselves through the male gaze: how they look, how they walk, how they smile, how attractive they are. Muslim women are subjected to this as well, which is why the hijab counters that.

On the Question of Identity

The claim that the niqab strips a woman of her identity is a fallacious one. While some people choose to express themselves through clothing, I don’t believe the niqab erases identity because your identity is not solely based on how you dress. It just assumes that identity equals facial visibility. Identity is not just the way we look; it’s who we are through our mannerisms, voice, values, choices, and presence. Reducing identity to clothing rejects all other aspects of a person that make up who they are, that is, a mix of internal values & outward expressions.

But even if I conceded to the point that clothing is part of a person’s identity, then by that same token, the niqab cannot erase identity. Niqab is an identifier and a piece of clothing; it shows that the woman who wears it is a Muslim woman, the same way a nun is a nun because of her clothing, and a police officer is a police officer due to his or her uniform. Saying women are reduced to nothing when they wear the niqab just reinforces that looks are a woman’s most important feature and nothing else matters. You don’t know someone by glancing at their face; that’s like saying I know my local barista because I saw what they look like. My face is just what I was born with. You know people by engaging with their character.

With this logic, we can say makeup, filters, and editing apps change your identity. Entire billion-dollar industries exist to mask or reshape the body and face. These actually do change appearances, whereas a niqab just conceals it from certain groups of people. Yet no one says, “Makeup strips you of identity” or that we should ban makeup until we’re sure women aren’t being pressured by beauty culture. But they will say, “Let’s ban the niqab just in case women are being forced.”

The logic is not consistent, the harm argument is selectively applied, and the moral panic around the niqab is not about harm but about control, politics, and discomfort with visibly Muslim women. Only one is seen as erasure, and we must ask why. You don’t have to love the niqab, but you do have to ask yourself: why do I trust some women’s choices and not others? Am I actually listening to the women who wear it and hearing what they prefer, or just speaking about them and deciding what I think is best based on my paradigm?

If your concern is harm, then where is the mass outrage about pornography? About the commodification of women’s bodies on a mass scale? About makeup culture, anti-aging culture, and the beauty industry as a whole? Why is this the hill you’re willing to die on, a piece of cloth worn by a tiny percentage of women in a country that isn’t even yours?

Beauty, Control, and the Double Standard of Liberation

To call the niqab inherently misogynistic is to ignore both its historical context and the frameworks through which meaning is assigned to clothing. Misogyny refers to the systemic devaluation of women, yet the niqab does not in itself degrade women because it is a form of dress that gains meaning within cultural, religious, and political discourses. Veiling practices have always existed and have been adapted differently across societies, often functioning as markers of status, piety, or community identity rather than as simple tools of oppression.

The claim of misogyny assumes that women who wear the niqab lack agency, but ethnographic studies of Muslim women demonstrate that many articulate their choice as an exercise of autonomy, a rejection of the commodification of the female body, or an expression of religious devotion (see Algerian women during the French occupation). Moreover, critiques that label the niqab as oppressive frequently universalize a Western notion of liberation without acknowledging that concepts of freedom and dignity vary across cultures. By situating the niqab within the lived experiences of Muslim women and the plurality of feminist thought, it becomes clear that the garment itself is not misogynistic; rather, it is the structures of power, whether it be states that impose it or regimes that ban it, that instrumentalize women’s dress in ways that can perpetuate inequality.

The issue that I have with these takes is that it is incredibly inconsistent and show that these people pick and choose what they deem to be oppressive. The more a woman participates in beauty culture, the more value and status she is given. Islam is against this and states that our value is given to us by Allah. Allah did not create us or any creation in vain. Allah says in the Quran,

وَمَا خَلَقْنَا ٱلسَّمَآءَ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا بَـٰطِلًۭا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ظَنُّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ ۚ فَوَيْلٌۭ لِّلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلنَّارِ

We have not created the heavens and earth and everything in between without purpose—as the disbelievers think. So woe to the disbelievers because of the Fire! [Sad 38:27]

The greatest purpose of why we are here is to worship Him, as He says,

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ

I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me. [Adh-Dhariyat 51:56]

The disbeliever rejects this and thinks we are just mindless bots. We can flip this point towards them: you don’t wear makeup, shave, lose extra weight, scrub every inch of your body, or wear tight clothes for yourself. You do it because society has told you that your value comes from being pretty and that being pretty is about fighting your natural state. You do it because you’ve been told there’s something wrong with who you are naturally, and that if you always tend to your body to “fix” these issues, then you will finally be acceptable. But there’s only public outcry for one thing, which is women choosing to dress modestly.

Mainstream feminism has already conceded that beauty norms are oppressive and that women are socialized from girlhood to tie their value to appearance. That opting out isn’t easy. Yet when Muslim women do opt out, they're punished, mocked, or told they’re brainwashed. Why can't that same nuance and compassion be offered to all women? If you understand that women feel pressured to wear makeup, why is it so hard to believe that some women reject that pressure, not out of oppression, but out of agency, modesty, or faith?

Subscribe now

Selective Solidarity & What Structural Oppression Actually Is

When people say, “Your choices don’t exist in a vacuum,” they’re usually trying to make a legitimate point about social influence. They’re correct; no one’s choices happen in a total void. But what’s hypocritical is how selectively that logic gets applied, especially when it comes to Muslim women. These people will say, “You can’t really choose the niqab—society or a man made you think you want it.” But never, “You can’t really choose a bikini—society made you think you want it.”

Some people believe both are inherently patriarchal and that both choices occur in a broader social context, but somehow only one of them gets framed as a delusion, a symptom, or a cry for help. If no choice is made in a vacuum (and we all agree that social influence is real), then why is only one kind of influence pathologized? Essentially, this view just says the only choice you can make is one that aligns with their ideals. It reveals that what’s being protected isn’t women’s freedom to choose, but a very narrow cultural ideal of what women should be.

Modern-day feminism is limited because the majority of feminists who claim that they fight for oppressed women around the world have contributed to the oppression of women in the global south. The majority of countries in the West that proclaim themselves as mercenaries of feminism are the main suspects that have destabilized countries and placed dictators who have oppressed women, funded groups that have oppressed women, and assassinated leaders who aimed to improve women’s rights.

I saw a video of a woman talking about the death of Mahsa Amini and how the world was lit up with outrage about it. Feminists around the world felt deeply convinced to protest about it, chop off their hair in solidarity, and more, and the phrase “Women, Life, Freedom” was expressed everywhere. It was so easy for them to empathize with Iranian women, but when Iranian women are also being unalived by the same colonial settler state that Palestine is, there’s no hashtag being shared or protests being held for them. Why? Because this time the violence comes from a Western ally. Those photos you see of “Iran before the Islamic revolution” are always posted and praised when they are pictures of women in bikinis and mini skirts, showing that they only care about them when it comes to their orientalist beauty standard.

The same thing happened in Afghanistan. In Harsha Walia’s book ‘Border & Rule,’ she brings up a brilliant point. I’ve highlighted the excerpt below:

This just shows that these people who say policies like these are fine for the “greater good” instead of actually looking at what helps marginalized women, or women who wear the niqab, are disingenuous. Even if we specifically discuss things like the porn industry that has an overwhelming amount of evidence about why it’s detrimental to men, women, and adolescents, and considered by some public health experts and feminists to be the “crisis of the digital age” due to the way it is inherently violent towards women in the ways they are employed in this industry and how they’re portrayed in this type of media, there are people who believe that it is actually progressive and a good thing to keep around.

Not only does this industry prey on women in the ways I mentioned previously, but it also disproportionately affects women in the global south. Yet you don’t see any laws globally being pushed for this to end, and instead will see the huge divide amongst politicians, feminists, and people in general regarding this topic, but somehow, a face veil that a minority of women wear is the biggest issue for people today and they are willing to die on the hill that most muslim women are forced to wear, with little to no evidence supporting this.

For women who are forced, the ban isolates them further. For women who choose it, the ban takes away freedom. So instead of solving oppression, it doubles it by limiting the agency of all niqabi women, regardless of how they came to it. Banning face veils or hijabs doesn’t do anything to liberate women. If anything, it contributes to the isolation of women, both those who genuinely want to wear it and those who are expected to due to cultural or familial expectations, complicating integration and relationship building within their local community. When people cheer this on, they’re aligning with right-wing, Islamophobic rhetoric under the guise of “feminism.” If you cheer on bans on niqab while ignoring the global harm of other industries that harm women, then your advocacy isn’t about women, it’s about control.

The niqab itself, whether it be a personal or cultural choice, is not structural oppression. But what is structural oppression is how societies and institutions respond to the niqab. Structural oppression is the systemic and institutionalized way in which social, political, and economic systems create and maintain inequality and disadvantage for certain groups of people based on characteristics. It’s not just about individual acts of discrimination or prejudice, but about the embedded policies, cultural norms, and institutional practices that produce unequal access to resources, rights, and opportunities. When governments impose bans on the niqab, these laws create systemic barriers that restrict religious freedom and bodily autonomy. Even if only a small number of women wear the niqab, these bans target and marginalize them as a group. This legal exclusion limits their access to public spaces, education, jobs, and civic life.

These attitudes get embedded in institutions like workplaces, schools, and media, making it harder for these women to fully participate in society. Why should they not be able to participate as functioning members of society just because they dress differently from what might be the norm? This is structural oppression: when biases and inequalities become normalized and enforced through policies and cultural norms. Ironically, forcing a woman to remove her covering to make others more comfortable, or assuming she must be oppressed because of how she dresses, is objectifying. It reduces her to her appearance and strips away her right to define herself.

How Visibility Became a Litmus Test for Liberation

Saying that the question isn’t “Should women be free to wear what they want?” but rather “Should we let women disappear?” implies that covering the face means women vanish from society. This narrative positions outsiders as saviors rescuing supposedly oppressed Muslim women. It assumes Muslim women are helpless victims who lack agency and need saving by Western intervention.

Muslim women do not need saving. They are fully capable of making their own choices, understanding their contexts, and living with their decisions. This type of rhetoric actually erases women who choose to dress a certain way from society, and why they’re treated differently and ostracized, because it perpetuates the idea that a face veil means you aren't liberated as a woman.

5 years ago, we all had to wear face masks to help combat COVID-19. Today, in the public health field, some people have called for societies to implement wearing face masks post-COVID, even though the mandate has been lifted, to combat the spread of disease and to prevent transmission. As Katherine Bullock said in her article ‘We Are All Niqabis Now,’ “Is a face mask used to help block coronavirus really that different from a niqab? Both are garments worn for a specific purpose, in a specific place, and for a specific time only. It is not worn 24/7. Once the purpose is over, the mask and niqab come off. The calling of the sacred motivates some to wear the niqab. A highly infectious disease propels many to wear face masks. If we all start wearing masks, does it mean we have succumbed to a form of oppression?”

Misogyny, Orientalism, and the Myth of Muslim Women’s Oppression

It’s a subtle form of dehumanization when people claim that niqabi women must not know what’s best for themselves. The assumption that a Muslim woman’s agency is always compromised doesn’t free women; it infantilizes them. There’s no room for complexity or nuance; only the default assumption that the niqab is oppression, even when a woman says otherwise. It’s not progressive to say, “These poor Muslim women can’t think for themselves.” It’s patronizing. It implies that unless a woman is performing freedom in a way the West recognizes—tank tops, sexual visibility, capitalist femininity—she must be oppressed.

Muslim women need to realize that a system that believes they are oppressed cannot be the same one to liberate them. When people say that you are conditioned to believe this is your choice, this argument is based on the idea that no woman would truly choose modesty, so if she does, she must be brainwashed. But this itself is a form of internalized misogyny: the belief that you aren’t capable of agency unless they choose the “correct” kind of freedom; the kind that looks theirs. The belief that the niqab equals being forced and that men are controlling women is a lazy, reductionist, Orientalist stereotype. If people actually cared, they would pass laws to directly address coercion. But instead, the state attacks choice, and many people support it, revealing that this isn’t about protecting women at all.

Muslims should ask themselves: how can you rely on these different ideologies and systems that were intended to harm you, not uphold the deen, and allow deplorable crimes to be committed against women to define liberation for us? To tell us what is right & wrong? They legislate by their desires and for their own benefit, whereas the Muslim has objective morals that are legislated by Allah, the most concrete framework to uphold justice.

No matter how frustrated you get with oppression in your communities, you can’t rely on the same ideologies and people who demonize muslim women for covering themselves to enforce justice in Muslim spaces. This conversation deserves far more care, and more Muslims should be offering practical solutions based on the Quran and Sunnah.