I was thinking about high school and how I got through all that, by Allah’s great Mercy upon me, and then I thought about the Qur’an. It wasn’t until I started reading the Qur’an- attaching myself [by Allah’s Mercy] to reading the translation so that I understood it (man it’s deep!) and then falling in love with hearing its recitation…walking through school with headphones on which no one could see because it was under my hijab… hearing Abdul Basit rahimahullah recite the last verses of surah Hashr with Allah’s Beautiful Names subhanahu wa ta’ala, and shaykh Ajmy’s recitation of surah Raad, and shaykh Sudais’s recitation of surah al Kahf… just remembering those times brings sweetness back to my heart, walHamdullahiRabil’alameen. AlHamdullilah, it was worth the struggle. TRULY ALLAH guides from the dholomaat [darknessES] to the [one] Noor.

it’s such a struggle sometimes -a lot of times- to be a young Muslim in America– and parents ask me, what helped you get through all that?? parents sometimes lament the situation of their children– may Allah help our youth!- and it’s like—well, parents, do YOU read the Qur’an and try to at least read a translation so you understand it? do you help them love it and help them want to establish a strong relationship with it? how can we cry over our children when we don’t make the commitment ourselves?

All of this I feel…subhanAllah, our struggles, our anxiety, our desperate attempts to fix ourselves after we have fallen- again- our struggle to keep straight despite the pressure around us…to keep up with our prayers despite the workplace, the house conditions, being on campus…what could sum it up better than “Iyyakan’abodo wa iyyakannastaeen’ … “It is You alone we worship and it is You alone we beseech for assistance.”

Who better to reveal for us ONE verse which sums up our ENTIRE LIVES than the Rabul’alameen? Well, not only Who better, who else? No ONE else! That ONE VERSE is proof of ALLAH’s Existence and proof that only ALLAH deserves our worship!

we ask Allah to keep us sincere and firm on the siratal mustaqeem, and help us develop a sincere relationship with His Words subhanahu wa ta’ala.