‘How true it is that the human is never satisfied. No matter how many blessings God bestows on us, our spirits fret in frustrated agony, feeling resentful about what we don’t have. Oh how we eagerly throw ourselves to ruin by following our every desire while neglecting the very essence of our existence: the soul. But what will you do, O child of Adam, when you have no more desires of the flesh and no more wealth to amass, and when the tongue that you cannot keep still lies limp in a lifeless body beneath the ground?’
—from the journal of Umm Zakiyyah
By the sun and its [glorious] splendor,
By the moon as it follows it,
By the day as it shows up [the sun’s] glory,
By the night as it conceals it,
By the heaven and Him Who built it,
By the earth and Him Who spread it,
By the soul and Him Who perfected it in proportion,
Then He showed it what is wrong and what is right.
Indeed, he succeeds who purifies it.
And indeed he fails who corrupts it.
—Qur’an (Al-Shams) 91:1-10
O You Who turns hearts! Make our hearts firm upon Your religion!
Allahuma Ameen